Kusu Quickly
some intriguing encounters on the wild shores of singapore blog
Life History of the Peacock Royal
on the Butterflies of Singapore blog
Striped Tit Babbler: A failed nesting
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog
“Plastic in the Open Ocean”
on the News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore blog
Alvin Lim, Straits Times 31 Aug 08;
A new sweetener has been offered to the unhappy cabbies who drive compressed natural gas (CNG) taxis supplied by the Smart Group.
From tomorrow, the group will give its CNG taxi drivers a fuel rebate of between five and 15 cents for every kilogramme of CNG sold at the refuelling station it owns, which is in Mandai.
This is on top of the 12 per cent discount these drivers now get at the station.
The extra rebate will kick in only if the price of CNG at the station rises above $1.50 before discount. The current price at the station before discount is $1.71.
The Sunday Times reported two weeks ago that Smart's CNG cab drivers, upset over poor earnings due to high CNG prices and other grouses, had wanted to return their Kia Carens cabs without any penalty.
The other gripes were long queues and few pumps in Mandai, and the alleged poor fuel economy of the Kias.
About 15 of its 50 Kia Carens CNG taxi drivers had met with Smart's managing director Johnny Harjantho.
That meeting two weeks ago ended with Smart offering monthly payouts of $100 to the Kia drivers, over the next six months.
Smart has also started constructing its second CNG station in Serangoon last week.
But even so, not all cabbies were reassured. Cabby Willy Neo, 60, who has been driving his CNG taxi for five months, had told The Sunday Times: 'The $100 translates to only about $3 a day. How is this going to help us?'
The latest move by Smart came after 17 of the Kia drivers met the management last week for a second time.
Cabby Lau Kok Chiew, 48, who was involved in arranging the talks, said: 'The company is listening to us. We are very happy and appreciative.'
Michael Casey, Associated Press Yahoo News 30 Aug 08;
Preecha Jiabyu used to take tourists on a rowboat to see the banks of the Mae Klong River aglow with thousands of fireflies.
These days, all he sees are the fluorescent lights of hotels, restaurants and highway overpasses. He says he'd have to row a good two miles to see trees lit up with the magical creatures of his younger days.
"The firefly populations have dropped 70 percent, in the past three years," said Preecha, 58, a former teacher who started providing dozens of row boats to compete with polluting motor boats. "It's sad. They were a symbol of our city."
The fate of the insects drew more than 100 entomologists and biologists to Thailand's northern city of Chiang Mai last week for an international symposium on the "Diversity and Conservation of Fireflies."
They then traveled Friday to Ban Lomtuan, an hour outside of Bangkok, to see the synchronous firefly Pteroptyx malaccae — known for its rapid, pulsating flashing that look like Christmas lights.
Yet another much-loved species imperiled by humankind? The evidence is entirely anecdotal, but there are anecdotes galore.
From backyards in Tennessee to riverbanks in Southeast Asia, researchers said they have seen fireflies — also called glowworms or lightning bugs — dwindling in number.
No single factor is blamed, but researchers in the United States and Europe mostly cite urban sprawl and industrial pollution that destroy insect habitat. The spread of artificial lights also could be a culprit, disrupting the intricate mating behavior that depends on a male winning over a female with its flashing backside.
"It is quite clear they are declining," said Stefan Ineichen, a researcher who studies fireflies in Switzerland and runs a Web site to gather information on firefly sightings.
"When you talk to old people about fireflies, it is always the same," he said. "They saw so many when they were young and now they are lucky now if they see one."
Fredric Vencl, a researcher at Stonybrook University in New York, discovered a new species two years ago only to learn its mountain habitat in Panama was threatened by logging.
Lynn Faust spent a decade researching fireflies on her 40-acre farm in Knoxville, Tenn., but gave up on one species because she stopped seeing them.
"I know of populations that have disappeared on my farm because of development and light pollution," said Faust. "It's these McMansions with their floodlights. One house has 32 lights. Why do you need so many lights?"
But Faust and other experts said they still need scientific data, which has been difficult to come by with so few monitoring programs in place.
There are some 2,000 species and researchers are constantly discovering new ones. Many have never been studied, leaving scientists in the dark about the potential threats and the meaning of their Morse code-like flashes that signal everything from love to danger.
"It is like a mystery insect," said Anchana Thancharoen, who was part of a team that discovered a new species Luciola aquatilis two years ago in Thailand.
The problem is, a nocturnal insect as small as a human fingertip can't be tagged and tracked like bears or even butterflies, and counting is difficult when some females spend most of their time on the ground or don't flash.
And the firefly's adult life span of just one to three weeks makes counting even harder.
European researchers have tried taking a wooden frame and measuring the numbers that appear over a given time. Scientists at the Forest Research Institute Malaysia have been photographing fireflies populations monthly along the Selangor River.
But with little money and manpower to study the problem, experts are turning to volunteers for help. Web sites like the Citizen Science Firefly Survey in Boston, which started this year, encourages enthusiasts to report changes in their neighborhood firefly populations.
"Researchers hope this would allow us to track firefly populations over many years to determine if they are remaining stable or disappearing," said Christopher Cratsley, a firefly expert at Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts who served as a consultant on the site run by the Boston Museum of Science.
Scientists acknowledge the urgency to assess fireflies may not match that of polar bears or Siberian tigers. But they insist fireflies are a "canary in a coal mine" in terms of understanding the health of an ecosystem.
Preecha, the teacher turned boatman, couldn't agree more. He has seen the pristine river of his childhood become polluted and fish populations disappear. Now, he fears the fireflies could be gone within a year.
"I feel like our way of life is being destroyed," Preecha said.
Taranjit Kaur, Virginia Tech LiveScience.com Yahoo News 30 Aug 08;
This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.
As the sun rises, my commute to work begins. There is no traffic at all to speak of except for a few baboons frolicking about and a couple warthogs at their favorite grazing spot for breakfast.
I am at 6 degrees south of the equator and 30 degrees east of the prime meridian, where there is an enchanted forest, called Mahale Mountains. It is situated along the shores of a vast lake, Lake Tanganyika in East Africa. Mahale Mountains National Park is a foot-walking Park. It stretches across 623 square miles in a remote location in western Tanzania, East Africa. Mahale is very remote. The nearest town is between 10 - 12 hours by steamship.
I come here to study the wild chimpanzees. They are habituated to human presence.
Lucky to find them
Each morning I wake up and wonder where the chimpanzees are today - high up in the mountain range or lower and closer to my base camp. Trekking through the forest, I listen for their vocalizations. On a good day, I hear some vocalizing and can work towards finding them. A great day is one where I actually find them and can spend some time with them as they roam around in perfect liberty.
I am humbled; their appearance and behavior command my respect. After all, chimpanzees are the closest living relative of humans. Less than about 2 percent of their DNA sequence differ ours. This close genetic relationship makes chimpanzees susceptible to many of the same diseases that we are susceptible to.
I study chimpanzee health. I want to determine how and why they are getting sick and dying.
Eco-friendly research
I have developed a software program for this research. It enables me to collect data rapidly using a handheld computer. I can download the data automatically directly into a database that I built. I need a reliable power source in the field though to run the system.
Mahale is very remote and there is no source of power available. A gasoline-powered generator or solar power is the only options available.
I decided to go all solar since I believe it is the most environmentally friendly approach. I needed a physical structure to work out of. I wanted my research station to be eco-friendly and leave the smallest possible footprint in the forest. So I worked with architects and engineers to design and develop my eco-friendly lab.
Human disease
For my research, I observe the chimpanzees. Also, I collect specimens for analysis. Research on chimpanzees here is "hands-off." I can only collect feces and urine, and saliva can sometimes be collected from leftover pieces of fruits that the chimpanzees were eating.
Using samples collected from sick chimpanzees, I can do forensics of sorts. Following this approach, I was able to detect a virus in the feces. After doing further molecular analysis on this virus, I was able to tell that this virus was closely related to a human virus called the metapneumovirus. Metapneumovirus in humans causes acute respiratory disease. It can sometimes lead to death, most often in young children. Looking at my data, it was very clear that most of the chimpanzees that were getting sick and dying were the younger ones, as is the case with humans.
Now, the question arises, how the virus came to infect and cause disease in chimpanzees at Mahale. At this moment in time, it is very hard to answer this question. Currently, I am doing further research. Hopefully, I will be able to determine the origin of this human-related chimpanzee metapneumovirus which has been causing disease and death in chimpanzees at Mahale. The work goes on...
Chet Brokaw, Associated Press Yahoo News 30 Aug 08;
On the grasslands a few miles from the pinnacles and spires of Badlands National Park, federal wildlife officials have been waging a war since spring to save one of the nation's largest colonies of endangered black-footed ferrets.
The deadly disease sylvatic plague was discovered in May in a huge prairie dog town in the Conata Basin. The black-tailed prairie dog is the main prey of ferrets, and the disease quickly killed up to a third of the area's 290 ferrets along with prairie dogs.
The disease stopped spreading with the arrival of summer's hot, dry weather, but it poses a serious threat to efforts to establish stable populations of one of the nation's rarest mammals, said Scott Larson of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Pierre.
The plague, which is carried by fleas, is the biggest danger to ferrets' survival in the Conata Basin and other sites that still have ferrets, said Larson, who is coordinating ferret conservation efforts among five federal agencies.
"It has the capacity to take out more ferret habitat than anything we've run up against, and do it in such a short order," Larson said. "For ferrets, it's the most challenging issue we face."
The ferrets were once considered extinct. But one colony was discovered in Wyoming in 1981, and a captive breeding program succeeded in increasing their numbers. Since then, ferrets have been reintroduced at 17 sites in South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, Utah, Kansas and Mexico, said Nancy Warren, endangered species program leader in the Rocky Mountain Region of the U.S. Forest Service.
Reintroduction efforts failed in some locations, and plague has hit most of the ferret colonies to some degree, Larson said.
Establishing many reintroduction sites helps protect the overall ferret population from being wiped out by plague, Larson said. "I guess it's the old risk management of having your eggs spread out among many baskets."
Representatives of federal agencies and some conservation groups have taken a double-barreled approach to try to stop the spread of plague and save prairie dogs and ferrets in the 20-mile-long Conata Basin, a portion of the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands that lies just south of the Badlands in southwestern South Dakota.
This summer, a crew of four has buzzed across the prairie on all-terrain vehicles, pausing frequently to spray white insecticide dust into prairie dog burrows to kill fleas.
After dark, another crew moved into the area during part of the summer to shine spotlights across the grasslands, trap ferrets and vaccinate them against the plague.
Officials want to dust about 11,000 acres with insecticide by this fall, and have covered about two-thirds of that area so far. More than 60 ferrets have been vaccinated, with 15 of them already getting the desired two doses.
Of the 25,000 acres of prairie dog habitat managed for ferrets in the basin, the plague had spread to about 9,700 acres before its growth halted in August. Officials expect the plague might start spreading again this fall or next spring. The disease has not been found inside Badlands National Park itself.
Warren said the insecticide appears to be effective, but it's too early to tell if it will save the ferrets.
"We're learning as we go. We really don't know the answer to that yet," Warren said. "We're hopeful with the dusting, which is something new we're doing now, we'll be able to at least contain the extent of this plague."
The basin also has been the focus of controversy as the Forest Service tries to balance the protection of prairie dogs and ferrets with the needs of ranchers who graze cattle on leased sections of the national grasslands.
Prairie dogs once were routinely poisoned as pests. However, the rodents expanded rapidly in the region, moving from federal land to private ranches, during an extended drought and a halt to poisoning on federal land while government officials considered whether they should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. The Fish and Wildlife Service decided in 2004 not to protect prairie dogs, but the agency is now reconsidering the issue.
Jonathan Proctor, Great Plains representative for Defenders of Wildlife, a conservation group, said the Conata Basin is the last remaining large complex of black-tailed prairie dogs on the Great Plains since the plague destroyed two in Montana and Wyoming. Prairie dogs must be protected because they are important not only to ferrets, but also to hawks, burrowing owls and many other species, he said.
"Even with the loss of almost 10,000 acres of prairie dogs, Conata Basin still remains the largest and most important prairie dog complex on federal lands in the Great Plains. It's worth all these efforts to save it," Proctor said.
But Shirley Kudma, who ranches in the basin with her husband, Donald, said the prevalence of plague confirms the predictions of ranchers overrun by prairie dogs in the past decade. They argued more should have been done to limit the spread of prairie dogs because the hungry rodents strip the ground of grass and leave little for cattle.
"Nature took care of it, didn't it?" Shirley Kudma said. "There's the plague and the prairie dogs, and that's nature taking care of the expansion."
Ranchers don't want to wipe out prairie dogs, she said.
"I think we want to get along. We want to be able to survive just the same as the prairie dogs want to survive. We don't want to annihilate them. We don't. Just get them under control so they're not sick. Give the ferrets something healthy to eat."
About 5 to 15 people are infected by plague in the United States each year, but it can be cured with antibiotics if treatment is prompt.
Kirsty Scott, The Guardian 30 Aug 08;
In the long grass near the edge of a small loch, Toby the springer spaniel is hard at work. Harness on, head down, he zigzags through the undergrowth until something stops him in his tracks. He puts his nose to the ground, tail flicking frantically. Before him, hidden in the vegetation, is a remnant of a bumblebees' nest.
Toby is the latest weapon in an effort to try to understand what is happening to Britain's bumblebees. He is the world's first bee-sniffing dog, trained by the army, and based at Stirling University, where researchers have a £112,000 grant to study the bees' decline.
Like honeybees, the British bumblebee is under threat. There used to be 25 different species of bumblebee in the UK. Three are extinct and up to seven more are close to extinction. Habitat loss is the biggest threat. Intensive farming means fewer areas where the bees can flourish, such as hay meadows and clover leys.
"If we are going to conserve them, we need to know more about them, where they live, what causes the nests to die," says Professor Dave Goulson of the university's school of biological and environmental sciences. "The last few years have been really bad for bumblebees. We think it's probably the weather, but we don't know. We need to know how many nests there are. We need to find the nests to know how long they live and what destroys them."
The trouble with bumblebees is that their nests are smaller than a honeybee hive and are often hidden underground. As few as 50 bees can live in one nest. One of the bees' main predators is the badger, and it occurred to the Stirling team that if badgers could sniff out bee nests, then so could a dog. They approached the army and provided the funds to train Toby, who had been rescued from an animal pound in the Midlands and now lives on a farm with his handler, PhD student Steph O' Connor.
It is absolutely crucial work, says Goulson. "Bumblebees are very important to the environment as pollinators of crops and flowers, but sadly they are struggling to survive in the modern world of habitat loss, pesticides and intensive agriculture," he said. "Further decline in bumblebees could result in a downward cycle of poorer harvests and sweeping changes to the countryside, as wild flowers set less seed and disappear, which, in turn, could have catastrophic effects for other wildlife."
The university team works alongside the Stirling-based Bumblebee Conservation Trust, which, with the help of the RSPB, recently set up the world's first bumblebee sanctuary in Fife, a large wildflower meadow, which is attracting a wide variety of bees.
Sabine Vollmer, Raleigh News & Observer Yahoo News 26 Aug 08;
RALEIGH, N.C. — Bayer CropScience is facing scrutiny because of the effect one of its best-selling pesticides has had on honeybees
A German prosecutor is investigating Werner Wenning , Bayer's chairman, and Friedrich Berschauer , the head of Bayer CropScience , after critics alleged that they knowingly polluted the environment.
The investigation was triggered by an Aug. 13 complaint filed by German beekeepers and consumer protection advocates, a Coalition against Bayer Dangers spokesman, Philipp Mimkes, said Monday.
The complaint is part of efforts by groups on both sides of the Atlantic to determine how much Bayer CropScience knows about the part that clothianidin may have played in the death of millions of honeybees.
Bayer CropScience , which has its U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park , said field studies have shown that bees' exposure to the pesticide is minimal or nonexistent if the chemical is used properly.
Clothianidin and related pesticides generated about $1 billion of Bayer CropScience's $8.6 billion in global sales last year. The coalition is demanding that the company withdraw all of the pesticides.
"We're suspecting that Bayer submitted flawed studies to play down the risks of pesticide residues in treated plants," said Harro Schultze , the coalition's attorney.
"Bayer's ... management has to be called to account, since the risks ... have now been known for more than 10 years."
Under German law, a criminal investigation could lead to a search of Bayer offices, Mimkes said.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the Natural Resources Defense Council is pressing for research information on clothianidin.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the pesticide in 2003 under the condition that Bayer submit additional data. A lawsuit, which the environmental group filed Aug. 19 in federal court in Washington , accuses the EPA of hiding the honeybee data.
Bradley Brooks, Associated Press Yahoo News 30 Aug 08;
Amazon deforestation jumped 69 percent in the past 12 months — the first such increase in three years — as rising demand for soy and cattle pushes farmers and ranchers to raze trees, officials said Saturday.
Some 8,147 square kilometers (3,088 square miles) of forest were destroyed between August 2007 and August 2008 — a 69 percent increase over the 4,820 square kilometers (1,861 square miles) felled in the previous 12 months, according to the National Institute for Space Research, or INPE, which monitors destruction of the Amazon.
"We're not content," Environment Minister Carlos Minc said. "Deforestation has to fall more and the conditions for sustainable development have to improve."
Brazil's government has increased cash payments to fight illegal Amazon logging this year, and it eliminated government bank loans to farmers who illegally clear forest to plant crops.
The country lost 2.7 percent of its Amazon rain forest in 2007, or 11,000 square kilometers (4,250 square miles). Environmental officials fear even more land will be razed this year — but they have not forecast how much.
Minc says monthly deforestation rates have slowed since May, but environmental groups say seasonal shifts in tree cutting make the annual number a more accurate gauge.
Most deforestation happens in March and April, the start of Brazil's dry season, and routinely tapers off in May, June and July: Last month, 323 square kilometers (125 square miles) of trees were felled, 61 percent less than the area razed in June.
Environmentalists also argue that INPE's deforestation report wasn't designed to give accurate monthly figures, but to alert and direct the government to deforestation hot spots in time to save the land.
The Amazon region covers about 4.1 million square kilometers (1.6 million square miles) of Brazil, nearly 60 percent of the country. About 20 percent of that land has already been deforested.
Richard Alleyne The Telegraph 31 Aug 08;
The waters of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus is said to have once sailed are at their lowest level on record due to drought and demand from Israel, it has been claimed.
The freshwater lake which supplies Israel with much of its drinking water and irrigation has been hit by a combination of four years of drought and relentless demand from homeowners and farmers in the region.
The waters are now at their lowest on record and are set to fall even lower.
Critics say the Israeli government seems oblivious to the damage being caused to the largest lake in the country.
Despite the water falling below the lowest red line, which denotes serious hazard, the pumping has continued until it is due to reach an even lower black line, seen previously as a point of no return.
Gidon Bromberg, the Israel director of Friends of the Earth Middle East, said: "There is a very real danger that this could lead to over-salination.
"The lower red line indicates the level at which the sustainability of the lake is threatened. We are certainly very alarmed by the authorities' willingness to go to the black line. This development could well be irreversible."
The main factor driving the unending thirst is Israel's projection of itself is a country of pioneering farmers who made the desert bloom while the previous Palestinian owners of the land were prepared to live in a barren environment without seeking progress.
Attempts by the Israeli government to bring in strict restrictions on water usage would be politically suicidal with an election on the horizon. No party would be willing to put forward such proposals against the powerful farming lobby.
Israeli farmers consume 40 per cent of the country's fresh water using some of it, environmental campaigners point out, to grow fruit such as bananas and types of berries alien to the desert, for export to the West.
The Galilee region had been verdant through the ages with a ribbon of flourishing towns and villages beside the lake. The historian Flavius Josephus, writing in the first century, was so taken with the area that he wrote: "One may call this place the ambition of nature." He reported 230 fishing boats working each day.
Ari Binyamin, a fisherman, said the water levels have also affected fish stocks.
"We used to say even a few years ago that one place where you couldn't go wrong fishing was Kinneret [Hebrew name for the Sea of Galilee] but now it is getting very, very hard because the stocks are so low.
"Many fishermen fear for their livelihood and so do I. But it seems no one really cares about us."
Melting ice opens up North-west and North-east passages simultaneously. Scientists warn Arctic icecap is entering a 'death spiral'
Geoffrey Lean, The Independent 31 Aug 08;
Open water now stretches all the way round the Arctic, making it possible for the first time in human history to circumnavigate the North Pole, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. New satellite images, taken only two days ago, show that melting ice last week opened up both the fabled North-west and North-east passages, in the most important geographical landmark to date to signal the unexpectedly rapid progress of global warming.
Last night Professor Mark Serreze, a sea ice specialist at the official US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), hailed the publication of the images – on an obscure website by scientists at the University of Bremen, Germany – as "a historic event", and said that it provided further evidence that the Arctic icecap may now have entered a "death spiral". Some scientists predict that it could vanish altogether in summer within five years, a process that would, in itself, greatly accelerate.
But Sarah Palin, John McCain's new running mate, holds that the scientific consensus that global warming is melting Arctic ice is unreliable.
The opening of the passages – eagerly awaited by shipping companies who hope to cut thousands of miles off their routes by sailing round the north of Canada and Russia – is only the greatest of a host of ominous signs this month of a gathering crisis in the Arctic. Early last week the NSDIC warned that, over the next few weeks, the total extent of sea ice in the Arctic may shrink to below the record low reached last year – itself a massive 200,000 square miles less than the previous worst year, 2005.
Four weeks ago, tourists had to be evacuated from Baffin Island's Auyuittuq National Park because of flooding from thawing glaciers. Auyuittuq means "land that never melts".
Two weeks later, in an unprecedented sighting, nine stranded polar bears were seen off Alaska trying to swim 400 miles north to the retreating icecap edge. Ten days ago massive cracking was reported in the Petermann glacier in the far north of Greenland, an area apparently previously unaffected by global warming.
But it is the simultaneous opening – for the first time in at least 125,000 years – of the North-west passage around Canada and the North-east passage around Russia that promises to deliver much the greatest shock. Until recently both had been blocked by ice since the beginning of the last Ice Age.
In 2005, the North-east passage opened, while the western one remained closed, and last year their positions were reversed. But the images, gathered by Nasa using microwave sensors that penetrate clouds, show that the North-west passage opened last weekend and that the last blockage on the north- eastern one – a tongue of ice stretching down to Russia across Siberia's Laptev Sea – dissolved a few days later.
"The passages are open," said Professor Serreze, though he cautioned that official bodies would be reluctant to confirm this for fear of lawsuits if ships encountered ice after being encouraged to enter them. "It's a historic event. We are going to see this more and more as the years go by."
Shipping companies are already getting ready to exploit the new routes. The Bremen-based Beluga Group says it will send the first ship through the North-east passage – cutting 4,000 nautical miles off the voyage from Germany to Japan – next year. And Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, last week announced that all foreign ships entering the North-west passage should report to his government – a move bound to be resisted by the US, which regards it as an international waterway.
But scientists say that such disputes will soon become irrelevant if the ice continues to melt at present rates, making it possible to sail right across the North Pole. They have long regarded the disappearance of the icecap as inevitable as global warming takes hold, though until recently it was not expected until around 2070.
Many scientists now predict that the Arctic ocean will be ice-free in summer by 2030 – and a landmark study this year by Professor Wieslaw Maslowski at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, concluded that there will be no ice between mid-July and mid-September as early as 2013.
The tipping point, experts believe, was the record loss of ice last year, reaching a level not expected to occur until 2050. Sceptics then dismissed the unprecedented melting as a freak event, and it was indeed made worse by wind currents and other natural weather patterns.
Conditions were better this year – it has been cooler, particularly last winter – and for a while it looked as if the ice loss would not be so bad. But this month the melting accelerated. Last week it shrank to below the 2005 level and the European Space Agency said: "A new record low could be reached in a matter of weeks."
Four weeks ago, a seven-year study at the University of Alberta reported that – besides shrinking in area – the thickness of the ice had dropped by half in just six years. It suggested that the region had "transitioned into a different climatic state where completely ice-free summers would soon become normal".
The process feeds on itself. As white ice is replaced by sea, the dark surface absorbs more heat, warming the ocean and melting more ice.
Yahoo News 30 Aug 08;
Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is leaking from the permafrost under the Siberian seabed, a researcher on an international expedition in the region told Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter on Saturday.
"The permafrost now has small holes. We have found elevated levels of methane above the water surface and even more in the water just below. It is obvious that the source is the seabed," Oerjan Gustafsson, the Swedish leader of the International Siberian Shelf Study, told the newspaper.
The tests were carried out in the Laptev and east Siberian seas and used much more precise measuring equipment than previous studies, he said.
Methane is more than 20 times more efficient than carbon dioxide in trapping solar heat.
Scientists fear that global warming may cause Siberia's permafrost to thaw and thereby release vast amounts of methane into the atmosphere. The effects of global warming are already most visible in the Arctic region.
Nature Society: The struggle for Singapore’s nature areas
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog and habitatnews blog and wild shores of singapore blog
Starry morning at Changi
on the manta blog
Hello, it's my day!
let's hope it will be a happy day for this special fish, on the colourful clouds blog
Cartoon about the whale shark at Sentosa
on the my sketchbook blog
URA replies to my feedback on the Draft Master Plan!
on the wild shores of singapore blog
Seagrass snippets
mating manatees and seagrass thatching revival in Denmark on the teamseagrass blog
Letter from Mariann Maes, Today Online 30 Aug 08;
I REFER to the report “Plea to set them free” (Aug 29).
The upcoming Resorts World at Sentosa (RWS) has decided to include whale sharks as one of the attractions for its Marine Life Park.
It is very disturbing to see RWS ignoring expert advice from the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society, the Singapore Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Nature Society of Singapore.
The first two groups are usually incorrectly dismissed as activist groups, but surely the mention of the Nature Society should provide substantial credibility, given that it has given expert advice on wildlife several times to government bodies about their projects.
I do applaud RWS’ initial move to remove sharks’ fins off their menu, but I’m afraid that this act of corporate responsibility will be tainted by the mixed signals it sends to the public with live whale sharks in its possession.
RWS’ act of denial also tarnishes the image of Singapore as a city-state that cares for the environment.
There is no point in Singapore being advocated as a green global hub if it chooses to ignore the plight of flora and fauna in its care.
Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 30 Aug 08;
IF MEMBERS of the Nature Society of Singapore (NSS) were classified like the plants and animals they are passionate about, they could well end up on the endangered species list.
In the last decade, the society's numbers have plummeted to about 1,200 from 2,000, because fewer young people are signing up.
A far cry from its heyday in the late 1980s. In 1989, it played a major role in saving the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve from redevelopment.
So the first job of the society's new chief, Dr Shawn Lum, will be to boost these numbers - he hopes even beyond its peak of 2,000 members.
'If Britain can have over a million members in its Royal Society for the Protection of Birds - that's one in 20 people there, I don't see why all green groups here can't grow or help each other grow,' said Dr Lum, 45, who became its president in May.
He plans to boost figures by casting its net wider, reaching out to heartlanders and companies keen on corporate social responsibility, he told The Straits Times, in his first interview as NSS president.
He took the post after eight years as vice-president to former nominated MP Dr Geh Min, and admits that he is a reluctant chief because of the big shoes he has had to fill.
'It was a walkover,' he said, noting no one else wanted the job.
'Dr Geh gave the society a close link to the Government. They were just a phone call away and they would listen,' said Dr Lum, a botanist with the National Institute of Education.
Dr Geh, an ophthalmologist, said however: 'Conservation is no longer the hot potato it once was, and it would be good to have scientific know-how that Dr Lum has after years of work in the field, to bring all groups closer together.'
Dr Lum also conceded that internal politics has become an issue, with factions forming within the society, but is not too worried about it.
'Disagreements are a natural thing which we needn't obsess over. Environmentalists are very passionate about nature and they can have different ideas of how to realise their vision of keeping the natural world secure,' he said.
Dr Lum said he will hear out all sides, and hopes to come up with solutions that everyone can agree on.
Former society president Professor Wee Yeow Chin, 71, who now runs a blog on bird ecology, worries that NSS is not attracting the next generation of members.
'We're oldies who have become complacent, not attracting the young, especially for leadership, who are very tech-savvy and who connect with each other on the Net,' he said.
Most of these younger groups are marine focused, Dr Lum noted. 'We can complement each other's work,' he said.
He also plans to get existing members to take on more active roles.
'Now fewer than 100 members actually go out and lead walks. I'd feel I've been a success if I see at least a third of our members getting their hands dirty by the end of my term,' he said.
He wants to rope them into active conservation work such as surveys of natural sites with researchers.
He added that the society is working with PUB, the national water agency, to adopt a piece of land the size of a football field bordering Kranji Reservoir.
'It's a bit of marsh which we hope to convert into an area that people can call their own, while they learn about freshwater swamp,' he said.
Dr Lum does not mind if the advocacy group works itself to extinction: 'Imagine that! We could revert to being primarily a hobby group because everyone in Singapore made nature a big part of their lives.'
Former NSS president Wee Yeow Chin and Vice-President Richard Hale have published an article on 'The Nature Society (Singapore) and the struggle to conserve Singapore's nature areas' in the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research's online journal, Nature In Singapore, which can be accessed on
http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/nis/bulletin2008.php
Lifelong passion for nature
Straits Times 30 Aug 08;
DR SHAWN Lum, 45, first arrived in Singapore as a botany student from Hawaii in 1989, when he embarked on research at the National University of Singapore.
He joined the then-Singapore branch of the Malayan Nature Society and saw the advocacy group's strong lobby to make Sungei Buloh a nature reserve and to avert redevelopment plans that would destroy biodiversity.
He left briefly in 1993 to complete his doctoral thesis at the University of California in Berkeley, returning to make Singapore his home later that year.
Since then, he has been a lecturer and researcher with the National Institute of Education.
He has led the Nature Society of Singapore's plant group for over a decade and was elected vice-president of the society in 2000. Appointed president in May this year, he intends to spread his love for nature to the community in Singapore and the region.
Dr Lum, who is single, spends most of his spare time in nature.
He also supports green groups like the Jane Goodall Institute and the Blue Water Volunteers.
Related links
Nature Society: The struggle for Singapore’s nature areas
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog
A spongy kind of love
Expert finds 40 new species to add to rich haul in local waters
Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 30 Aug 08;
SINGAPORE'S only sponge expert has uncovered 40 new records of this primitive life form in local waters over the past year.
This is just a fifth of the total number now known in Singapore, says Mr Lim Swee Cheng, 31.
'It was rather easy to find them. Every trip I made to places like Cyrene Reef and Pulau Semakau, I'd see 20 to 30 species. Our tropical waters make the biodiversity very rich with species,' the researcher said.
The new finds all come from the inter-tidal zone - the shoreline which receives the most exposure to the elements with the rise and fall of the tide.
In all, Mr Lim has found 102 sponge species.
'Most in our records were from coral reefs in the 1800s. Now it's about 50-50, half in the inter-tidal zone,' he said.
The taxonomist has even spotted one brand new species not found anywhere else in the world, which has not been named yet.
Mr Lim, who is a scientist with the Tropical Marine Science Institute of the National University of Singapore, said he made discoveries on most of the over 20 shores scoured, including the Chek Jawa wetlands, Labrador Nature Reserve and Pulau Hantu.
The top sponge-spotting area turned out to be at the Pulau Semakau landfill, south of the main island of Singapore, said Mr Lim. This large expanse - covered with sandy, silty areas, coral rubble and sea meadows - allows a greater diversity of sponges to thrive, he pointed out.
Mr Lim's work is part of a $45,000 project to study sponges in the inter-tidal zone, sponsored by the National Parks Board.
The board's biodiversity centre promotes the understanding of our local natural heritage.
The centre's assistant director, Dr Nigel Goh, said that sponges here are little studied.
'If we can't even name a species, there is no way of going any further, to find out what special properties it may have.'
Chemicals from natural products are a source of interest to pharmaceutical companies which see potential life-saving compounds in them.
Asked why he pursues this form of work which no other Singaporean has ventured into since the 19th century, Mr Lim said: 'There's a need for this work because sponges are a key component of the marine environment. Plus, sponges in my opinion are beautiful.'
RED MAIDEN FAN: Arguably Singapore's prettiest sponge, the Oceanapia sagittaria is just 7cm high. The fanlike protuberance is not always present and its body is buried in soft sediment, making it hard to spot despite it being common in local waters. -- PHOTOS: LIM SWEE CHENG
NEW SPECIES: Yet to be named, this wiry specimen looks rather like roti jala. It was spotted on estuarine reefs in the Johor Strait, attached to gravel. Its diameter measures up to 20cm.
STELLETTA CLAVOSA: Commonly found in the inter-tidal zone, these look like bristly olives. The sponge is covered in tiny spicules which are sharp enough to prick bare skin.
BATH SPONGE: Spongia ceylonensis is often found insilty environments here. Bath sponges are noted for the amount of water they can hold within their porous bodies.
HALICHONDRIA CARTILAGINEA: A massive branching sponge commonly found in lagoons of the Southern Islands. It is able to photosynthesise as well as feed on microscopic animal matter. 
NEPTUNE'S CUP: First sponge ever found in Singapore, Cliona patera was spotted in 1822. It is commonly known as Neptune's Cup. Standing up to 1m tall, it is among the world's largest sponges. Now believed to be extinct here, it can be found in the Gulf of Thailand and in Australian waters. But sightings are rare.
SPONGILLA SP: This is Singapore's only freshwater sponge, Its gemmules, or seeds, could have been brought in on the feet of migratory birds. A 300m long carpet of it was found in Yishun.
Related link
Found in Singapore: A new species of sponge
Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 9 Aug 08;
Water quality at all recreational beacheshas not got worse
Reply from S Satish Appoo, Director, Environmental Health Department
Today Online 30 Aug 08;
WE REFER to “Beach safety: What about the water quality?” (Aug 1) and “Clean up the coast” (Aug 7) by Mr John Lucas, as well as “The hard facts, please” (Aug 7) by Dr Mark Wong Vee-Meng.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) wishes to emphasise that the quality of the water at our recreational beaches, including Pasir Ris beach, has not deteriorated. Rather, we have adopted a more stringent recreational water quality standard based on the latest guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO).
The WHO guidelines serve as a framework to guide individual countries in the development of national standards that best suit their local context. The latest WHO guidelines have introduced a new microbial indicator, enterococcus. The NEA has drawn up the guidelines to be adopted in Singapore based on these WHO guidelines.
The new guidelines require at least 95 per cent of the water samples collected to have enterococcus levels of below 200 counts per 100 ml before a beach is considered suitable for primary contact activities. Pasir Ris beach is not able to meet this guideline and the public is therefore advised not to swim in the water there. However, we wish to clarify that 90 per cent of the samples from Pasir Ris beach for the past three years had enterococcus counts below 200 per 100 ml of water.
The presence of flotsam is not adefinitive indicator of the suitability of the beach water for primary contact activities. That said, the NEA agrees that it is important to address and minimise the impact of rubbish and flotsam on the beaches so as to ensure that beaches are clean and healthy spaces for the public to enjoy.
The NEA has regular clearing regimes for our beaches and the task is particularly challenging during the north-east and south-west monsoons, when more flotsam is washed ashore from the open seas. The NEA would also like to urge beach users to play their part to keep the beaches clean by disposing of their rubbish properly and not littering.
Mr Lucas mentioned that ships anchored offshore should be monitored for chemical and faecal pollution.
The Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) strictly enforces rules governing the prevention of pollution from ships calling at our port. These rules are based on the International Maritime Organization’s International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, or Marpol, and cover comprehensively oil, chemicals, harmful substances in packaged forms, sewage, garbage and air pollution from ships.
The MPA conducts regular surveillance of ships to ensure that they comply with the regulations and do not discharge waste into the water. In addition, an MPA-appointed contractor provides a daily garbage collection service for the ships anchored in our port.
On the health problems associated with recreational water, doctors are required to inform the Ministry of Health (MOH) of certain notifiable diseases, and the MOH will then undertake investigations into clusters of gastrointestinal and respiratory illness. The MOH has not received any reports of gastrointestinal and respiratory disease outbreaks linked to poor recreational water quality.
Water sampling and testing is currently conducted once a week at the monitored recreational beaches. This is in line with the practice in other cities and countries such as California in the United States, New Zealand and Canada, which also conduct weekly sampling.
We would also like to assure the public that the NEA will continue to issue advisories as and when the water quality at specific beaches fails to meet the guidelines and is hence not suitable for swimming.
We thank Mr Lucas and Dr Wong for their feedback.
Sean Augustin, New Straits Times 29 Aug 08;
KUALA TERENGGANU: The state government 'fastened' the first batch of the Reefscape, a beehive-shaped concrete artificial reef, off Redang Island here yesterday.
About 500 reef units were deployed by divers, led by State Industrial, Trade and Environment Committee chairman Toh Chin Yaw, in 10 sites. There are 2,000 units altogether.
The Reefscape, weighing about 60kg each, were placed near existing reefs, some of which were damaged, to help corals grow faster. Corals are said to grow an average of one to 2cm a year.
"Some corals around the island have been damaged due to careless snorkelling and by divers as well as litterbugs and the weather," he said.
"The reef, we hope, can restore the damage and at the same time encourage new growth around the island not only for our tourism industry but also because it is part of our natural heritage.
"It's also a great place for fish to aggregate which would be a plus point for divers," he said, adding that should this pilot project prove to be a success, more such reefs would be deployed in other islands in the state.
Toh was speaking to reporters after launching the project in conjunction with the International Year of Reefs which also saw the launch of the Seabed Cleaning programme 2008.
Also present was Terengganu Riverine and Coastal Authority (Trevicosta) director Datuk Wan Zahari Wan Ngah.
Trevicosta is the department under the state government that carried out the project.
The Reefscape, which has been in development for the past two years, has two models.
The first is designed for corals to grow by themselves, while the other is meant for seeding of corals.
The project was done in collaboration with the Marine Park Department and other related agencies.
Evan T. Allard, CDNN - CYBER DIVER News Network 27 Aug 08;
DAHAB, Egypt (27 Aug 2008) — Dive tourism is a primary threat to coral reefs according to a new scientific study.
The study by H. Hasler and J. A. Ott compared reefs in Dahab, South Sinai, Egypt, one of the world's most popular scuba diving destinations, with coral reef sites in the same area that are not visited by recreational scuba divers.
The findings, which will be published in the August edition of the internationally esteemed Marine Pollution Bulletin, showed that areas visited by scuba divers had significantly higher levels of broken and damaged corals, and reduced levels of coral cover.
The study found that a staggering 95% of branching corals were broken at coral reef crest areas frequented by recreational scuba divers.
The authors said that although the alarming damage caused by scuba divers to coral reefs does not appear to have had an effect on the abundance of coral-eating fishes, they may be at risk if coral cover decline continued.
In addition to broken corals, the study found that sedimentation caused by scuba divers stirring up sand and other bottom detritus also damages reefs.
Hasler and Ott concluded from their research that the number of dives per reef per year must be limited, a conclusion shared by previous scientific studies of the damage recreational scuba divers cause to fragile coral reef ecosystems.
They also emphasized the importance of educating both the dive industry and dive travelers to adopt ecologically sustainable dive practices that actually work to conserve coral reefs.
Bjorn Lomborg reduces everything to numbers. But by putting a price on the priceless, we risk losing it
Oliver Tickell, guardian.co.uk 29 Aug 08;
To a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. To Bjorn Lomborg, every problem is reducible to a cost benefit analysis. At the end of it a number emerges – if it is positive, there is a benefit, if it is negative, there is a cost. Faced with a choice of policy options, all we have to do is to carry out a cost benefit analysis of the alternatives, and go with the biggest number. All other considerations are extraneous.
In Lomborg's world, the numbers he plays with take on a godlike role as representations of Platonic truths. But they are, of course, no such thing. Reality is complex and tangled – so your model has to be a highly simplified before it is even computable. Numerous assumptions must be made, and fudge factors applied. All of these inevitably reflect the values of the modeller. And so do the numbers that emerge at the end of the exercise.
For example, Lomborg's analysis of climate change impacts is entirely indifferent as to who wins and who loses. All that matters is the sum of gains and losses. This automatically places a far higher value on the interests of rich countries, where assets are valuable and incomes are high, than on those of poor countries, where assets are cheap and incomes low.
It would thus be a benefit to increase the gross product of the USA ($14tn) by 1% – a gain of $140bn – while halving the combined gross products of Nigeria ($200bn) and Bangladesh ($70bn) – a loss of $135bn. A small increment in the incomes of 300 million mainly rich people outweighs a collapse in the incomes of 300 million mainly poor people.
And then how do you put a price on Venice? On the life of a child? On the biodiversity of all those ecosystems and species at risk from climate change, from coral reefs to tropical forests, from penguins to polar bears? For the sake of simplicity many economists simply ignore the issue. And so the invaluable becomes without value.
Economic methods also systematically undervalue the future. Typically economists value a gain a year hence as worth a few percent less than the same gain right now. Applied over a longer time span, this makes a gain worth taking today if balanced by a loss 10 times greater in a century's time, or by a loss 10,000 times greater after four centuries. The Lomborgian oracle speaks: profit now, even at the risk of ruinous catastrophe a few hundred years' hence.
This may explain why Lomborg's discussion of sea-level rise stops at 2100, at which time the IPCC conservatively projects a sea-level rise of under 0.6m. Potential sea-level rises of tens of metres by 2300 simply don't matter, as the costs, however huge, can be discounted to the point of irrelevance. Just as the disastrous losses of the world's poorest billion people under the regime of drought, flood, storm and famine predicted by the IPCC is as nothing to a small increment in the wealth of the richest billion.
Not that I disagree with Lomborg about everything. He proposes a tenfold increase in expenditure on energy R&D, which he has argued elsewhere, should be financed by a global $2 carbon tax, raising some $50 billion. This is a perfectly sensible suggestion, and indeed financing for energy R&D on this scale forms part of the package of measures proposed in Kyoto2.
But this alone is an insufficient response. Clean energy sources need to be deployed as well as developed, and especially in poor countries that will otherwise commit to fossil fuel based economies. Experience shows that R&D spending will produce some wonderful new technologies, but it is only with mass production that they will become commercially competitive against fossil fuels. This deployment phase will require additional spending in poor countries many times greater than the initial R&D cost, and will need to be stimulated in the developed world by a long-term carbon cap.
The global carbon market, or a carbon tax as proposed by Lomborg, is the obvious place to look for the funds to finance our clean energy revolution. We also we need to help poor people, and poor countries, adapt to the climate change to which the Earth is already committed, to the tune of $100 billion per year. The same goes for programmes to preserve forests, maintain peatlands and sequester carbon into soils – essential measures to buffer continuing emissions from fossil fuels, increase the biosphere's resilience in the face of climate change, and conserve biodiversity.
Lomborg already supports one component of the Kyoto2 package. If he considers it with an open mind, further points of agreement may yet emerge. But first he needs recognise that economics is not a pure, value-free science. Economic models reflect the values of their creators. If an economic model tells us that it is correct to risk extinguishing much of the world's life, and perhaps the human species in the process, it is not because life is uncompetitive – the fault is in the economics.
Paul Eccleston, The Telegraph 29 Aug 08;
Thousands of people will be taking part in events aimed at celebrating one of our most misunderstood mammals - the bat.
The UK has 17 different species of bat, most which are in decline, and all which are now protected by law.
Bats make up almost a third of mammal species in the UK and are seen as key indicators of a healthy environment.
A celebratory weekend - August 30/31 - has been organised by the Bat Conservation Trust, with support from Defra, as part of European Bat Weekend.
Dozens of bat walks and talks have been arranged by local bat groups, wildlife trusts, countryside rangers and other organisations across the country to bring people a little closer to bats and to mark the contribution bats make to biodiversity in the UK.
Amy Coyte, chief executive of the Bat Conservation Trust, said: "Bats are fascinating animals which are sadly under threat in the UK, largely due to the destruction of habitats and loss of roosts.
"European Bat Weekend is an ideal way for people to learn more about the problems facing bats, and to find out how they can help.
"Bat walks offer people a truly magical way of seeing and hearing bats in their natural environment. The Bat Conservation Trust is happy to be able to share this experience with so many people."
Environment Minister Jonathan Shaw said: "The importance of bats as a group species and as an indicator of the health of the rest of our wildlife is not always recognised, which is why the Bat Conservation Trust's work to raise the profile of these unique animals is so valuable."
Those taking part in the bat walks will be using devices called 'bat detectors' which enable people to hear bats as they fly by.
Bats use a sonar sense called echolocation to find their way around at night. With bat detectors, we can tune into the sounds they make and determine what species of bat are present.
European Bat Weekend was born out of a European-wide celebration of bats held every August.
The Bat Conservation Trust has developed an interactive events guide for European Bat Weekend which can be found at www.bats.org.uk
Junk floats
Raft: Hawaii voyage focuses on ocean debris
Nalea J. Ko, Star Bulletin 28 Aug 08;
Joel Paschal and Marcus Eriksen nearly encountered numerous hurricanes in their 88 days sailing across the Pacific Ocean aboard the so-called Junk raft to publicize the dangers affecting the oceans.
"We have in 50 years turned our ocean into a plastic soup," said Eriksen, director of research and education for the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. "The solution, we think, is to end the age of disposable plastic."
Curious onlookers gathered on the Ala Wai Boat Harbor docks yesterday to gawk at the unusual sailboat. It was the first time the Junk raft docked since departing from Long Beach, Calif., on June 1. The crew landed on Oahu on Tuesday after anchoring the boat offshore.
The Junk raft, with four sails, is made of garbage. Discarded fishing nets stuffed with 15,000 plastic bottles serve as pontoons, and part of a Cessna 310 airplane is the cabin.
The voyage was meant to bring attention to the rise of plastic pollution in the ocean.
"Plastic, like diamonds, are forever," said Charles Moore, head of the Algalita. "These are not innocent little bits of confetti; they're poison pills. They are like sponges for pollutants." Moore has been collecting data and plastic samples in the North Pacific gyre for years.
"Hawaii is a net receiver of marine debris," Paschal continued. "We need to clean up our own house before we tell other people to stop sending rubbish to our beaches and shores."
One way for Hawaii residents to do that is to follow Maui's lead and ban plastic bags for businesses, Paschal said to a group of friends, media and supporters gathered at the Ala Wai fuel dock.
Plastic particles turned up everywhere on the trip: in a net dragging alongside the Junk raft, and even on their dinner plates. While filleting a fresh catch for supper, Eriksen and Paschal said they found plastic in the fish's stomach.
"We traveled through the gyre collecting debris, and they (marine life) also traveled through the gyre collecting debris," said Paschal.
Anna Cummins, the education adviser with Algalita, also greeted Paschal and Eriksen. Engaged to Eriksen, Cummins said Junk's homecoming was long overdue.
"They looked great. I thought they would be all emaciated," said Cummins of the crew who survived on fish jerky and peanut butter for two weeks. The sailing duo arrived a little more bronzed and a little thinner but unscathed.
Expected to be six-week-long voyage, the Junk raft was at sea nearly twice as long. Nearing the end of their journey, food was scarce. Roz Savage, who is rowing solo across the Pacific to also raise awareness of ocean pollution, met up with the seafarers for a rare midocean rendezvous arranged by satellite phone.
"She actually gave us food and we gave her water. An amazing meeting in the middle of nowhere," said Eriksen.
Back on land after about three months, the adventure is not quite over for Junk's crew.
After heading back to California, Eriksen and Cummins will ride amphibious bicycles along the West Coast to Mexico in the third part of the Message in a Bottle awareness campaign.
"What's next? I'm going to go take a shower, drink a beer and eat a pizza," Paschal said, opening a Pacifico beer dockside. He lives on a sailboat in the Ala Wai Harbor.
Junk is not leaving Hawaii so soon. Still intact after three months at sea, the raft is expected to be displayed on the front lawn of the Waikiki Aquarium starting Aug. 30. It will remain there for about a week before being dismantled and shipped to California.
Yahoo News 29 Aug 08;
The World Meteorological Organisation said Friday it expects the ozone hole over Antarctica to be "normal" this year, two years after it reached record size.
"Looking at the preliminary data so far, it looks as if the Antarctica ozone hole of 2008 in size and severity will be something in-between the record 2006 and the much weaker one in 2007," WMO ozone expert Geir Braathen told journalists.
"We expect an 'average' or 'normal' ozone hole," he said.
The hole in the layer over the Antarctic was discovered in the 1980s. It regularly tends to form in August before it fills again in mid-December, but the size it reaches is dependent on weather conditions.
Braathen said there is still more than enough chlorine and bromine in the atmosphere to cause complete ozone destruction in a certain height region (an altitude of 14-20 kilometres, or 9-12 miles).
Stratospheric ozone provides a natural protective filter against harmful ultra-violet rays from the sun, which can cause sunburn, cataracts and skin cancer and damage vegetation.
Its depletion is caused by extreme cold temperatures at high altitude and a particular type of pollution, from chemicals often used in refrigeration, some plastic foams, or aerosol sprays, which have accumulated in the atmosphere.
Most of the chemicals, chloroflurocarbons (CFCs), are being phased out under the 1987 Montreal Protocol, but they linger in the atmosphere for many years.
Jean-Louis Santini, Yahoo News 29 Aug 08;
A simple and cheap technique of applying fertilizer in small doses at the right time can double wheat crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa and feed millions of people, agronomists said in a report.
A four-year experiment with the technique in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger has boosted sorghum and millet production by 44 to 120 percent, and family incomes by 50 to 130 percent, said an International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) report published Thursday.
The successful technique coupled with awareness of soil type, grain variety and irregular rainfall in the region "has the potential to end widespread hunger in drought prone areas of sub-Saharan Africa", said ICRISAT Assistant Director for West and Central Africa Ramadjita Tabo.
He hopes the system will be adopted by 500,000 farmers in the region over the next five years.
Farmers are quick to learn and can be trained in just one week, Tabo told AFP.
He said they are shown that only six grams of fertilizer per plant is enough, and that small holes dug in the dry ground and filled with manure before the rainy season will hold water for a longer time.
When it starts to rain, a micro-dosis of fertilizer and a plant are placed in each hole so roots can spread quickly an retain even more water, Tabo said.
"Land degradation is particularly acute in sub-Saharan Africa where the soil has been overused, coupled with low, unpredictable rainfall," he stressed.
Farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are so poor they exploit the land to the maximum and consider the cost of fertilizer too high a risk in case of a bad harvest.
"With microdosing, they don't invest much and that reduces their risk," Tabo said.
Fertilizer in Africa is difficult to find and costs two to six times more than the average world price because of low sale volumes, difficulty of transport and because it is not produced locally.
With micro-doses, farmers only need 10 percent of the fertilizer used for wheat and five percent for corn, the ICRISAT report said.
In soils low in nutrients like phosphate, pottasium and nitrogen, micro-doses of fertilizer are enough to double crop yields, Tabo said.
"Reports indicate that land degradation affects more than half of sub-Saharan Africa, leading to loss of an estimated 42 billion dollars in income and five million hectares (12.5 million acres) of productive land each year," ICRISAT said.
"The majority of farmlands suffer from poor soil fertility due to poor farming techniques, nutrient deficiency and lack of water," which also degrades the environment, it added.
Unable to feed their families or afford to buy food, farmers abandon unproductive land to clear forests and plow new land, a practice blamed for an estimated three fourths of the deforestation in sub-Saharan Africa.
ICRISAT has also come with a system allowing poor farmers to borrow against their crops, which they store and sell when the prices go up, eliminating the middle man.
"Thousands of successful experiments across the dryland areas of West and Southern Africa demonstrate that microdosing can boost yields enough to eliminate the need for food aid," ICRISAT Director General William Dar said in the report.
ICRISAT is funded by international donors including the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Inae Riveras, Reuters 29 Aug 08;
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Dozens of small and medium-scale farmers in Brazil's Sao Paulo state will grow sugar cane certified as meeting strict social and environmental standards, the region's cane producers association said late on Thursday.
Several ethanol companies like Cosan and Louis Dreyfus signed deals to produce and export verified sustainable ethanol in the last couple of months to address consumers' concerns over the impact of ethanol which powers almost all the country's new cars.
But now some of the state's small producers in the world's top sugar cane producer will be able to join them.
"We want to have a product with total traceability, from cane seeding to the final product. We believe there's a market for this kind of product, especially in Europe," said Fernando Cesar Gregorio, head of the Bariri Sugarcane Suppliers Association.
The sustainability of Brazil's cane-based ethanol has been called into question by Europe, which is likely to demand stricter environmental and labor standards on imports.
The program will have 50 small and medium-scale cane suppliers who farm up to 3,500 hectares and produce an estimated 260,000 tonnes of cane per year. Some of them are family farmers.
They must refuse the use of child or slave labor, limit their use of agrochemicals, and gather their cane with mechanical harvesters as opposed to cutting it manually. Manual cutting involves burning the plant's foliage, which pollutes the air.
Production standards, which will come into force on August 30, were set by Organizacao Internacional Agropecuaria (OIA), a private company which provides inspection and certification services.
All of the cane supplied under the plan will be crushed at the Dela Colletta mill which will also produce according to these standards. The entire process will be audited by an independent company.
Some of the requirements -- many of them set by law -- are already observed by these producers, but they want to certify "they are doing it right," Gregorio said.
Jose Carlos Reis, agroenergy coordinator at Sebrae, a consultancy for small and medium firms which will provide technical assistance to the growers, said this was the first time small-scale growers were offered the chance to join an environmental and social certification program.
The program also encourages alternating the planting of cane with grain to boost food production and avoid problems associated with monoculture, which can exhaust soil fertility.
"Many people say sugar and ethanol are only for large-scale producers, and we're showing this is not true. These are small suppliers who are organized and looking ahead," Reis said.
Gregorio added no deal had yet been clinched with any foreign importers, but he said certified biofuel was likely to attract a premium as it would be more marketable.
(Editing by Reese Ewing and Jim Marshall)
Whale shark at Sentosa: thin edge of the wedge
on the wild shores of singapore blog
Sea turtles and Singapore's shores
on the wild shores of singapore blog
reticulated slug @ cyrene
on the sgbeachbum blog
Mountain Fulvetta eating a hopper?
from Bird Ecology Study Group blog
What are the benefits of corn based plastic?
on the azsustainability.com blog
Yahoo News 28 Aug 08;
Dozens of massacred narwhals, an Arctic whale with a single long tusk, have been discovered on the east coast of Greenland in what local police said Thursday could be a case of poaching.
"We received a complaint that there may have been a possible violation of the Greenlandic law regarding the protection of narwhals, after the discovery of cadavers in Illoqqortoormiut," the deputy chief of Greenland police Morten Nielsen told AFP.
A scientific expedition from New Zealand discovered the carcasses as they sailed along the coastline "about two weeks ago," Nielsen said.
According to Danish and Greenlandic media, 48 animals were killed, but police refused to confirm those reports.
People in Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, are authorised to hunt narwhals "but there are rules that say you can't shoot females and that you have to remove the body" after killing the animal, Nielsen said.
There were females and calves among the dead, Danish news agency Ritzau reported, adding that only the males' long tusks and some meat had been removed from the carcasses.
"We're now trying to investigate the incident and figure out what has happened and if the law has been broken," Nielsen said.
Narwhals can grow up to five metres (16 feet) in length and live primarily in the Arctic Ocean.
Males have a single long, twisted tusk that protrudes from the upper left side of the jaw and which can grow up to three metres (10 feet). It is sought after by poachers for its ivory.
Some females may also grow tusks, albeit much smaller.
The export of narwhal tusks is banned in Greenland, and imports are banned in the European Union, according to Ritzau.
Resorts World promises 'top-class' care as animal welfare groups raise issue
Ang Yiying, Straits Times 29 Aug 08;
NATURE and animal welfare groups in Singapore have banded together again to oppose the move by the integrated resort on Sentosa to bring in whale sharks for its oceanarium.
The Singapore Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), the Nature Society of Singapore and the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) had objected publicly to the plan when Resorts World at Sentosa unveiled it in 2006.
With International Whale Shark Day being observed tomorrow, the groups said it was timely to again raise awareness of the issue.
SPCA executive officer Deirdre Moss said the society was concerned about the welfare of the whale shark as some have died in captivity overseas.
She said: 'When we're talking about the biggest fish in the ocean, one has to ask the question, 'Who is benefiting? Is it the animal or is it the human?' The animal's welfare will definitely be compromised.'
Whale sharks can grow to 12m long and possibly up to 20m.
Acres executive director Louis Ng said: 'They shouldn't gamble on the lives of whale sharks.'
The spokesman for Resorts World at Sentosa, Ms Krist Boo, said the whale sharks in the Marine Life Park 'will be loved and will receive top-class care'.
She added that the park's mission was to 'inspire guests of all ages to appreciate the world's aquatic biodiversity and promote conservation action'.
However, Nature Society of Singapore president Shawn Lum said there was no wide consensus that keeping these whale sharks in captivity was good conservation strategy.
There has been no sign of official disapproval of Resorts World's move.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), noting that these gentle giants are listed under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Flora and Fauna, said this meant their import and export had to be controlled.
AVA spokesman Goh Shih Yong said Singapore would abide by the convention and require Resorts World to provide good care.
Resorts World launched a marine life fund this year and said shark's fin would not be available on its menu, except to high-rollers.
Plea to set them free
Today Online 29 Aug 08;
AS THE world prepares to mark International Whale Shark Day tomorrow, three groups here have once again expressed their opposition to having these creatures as “exhibits”.
The upcoming Resorts World at Sentosa (RWS) had announced in late 2006 that it would have whale sharks as one of the attractions for its Marine Life Park.
“We hope that Resorts World will reconsider their decision to keep whale sharks in captivity,” said Mr Louis Ng, executive director of the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres), one of the three groups which issued a joint press statement to mark the event. The other two were the Singapore Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and Nature Society (Singapore).
“They have already taken the progressive step of leaving sharks’ fin off their menu ... To truly contribute to marine conservations, let us focus on keeping the whale sharks safe in the wild,” Mr Ng said.
The SPCA noted that two whale sharks died within five months of each other at the Georgia Aquarium Atlanta last year. The deaths, they said, prove that “whale sharks are not meant for confinement to glass walls”.
When contacted by Today, a RWS spokeswoman pointed out that the autopsies on the two whale sharks “linked their deaths to the use of a chemical pesticide used to treat tank parasites”.
“The animals did not die because they were in captivity,” said Ms Krist Boo, the company’s vice-president of communications. She gave the assurance that the acquisition of animals “will be done in full compliance with international standards”.
“The whale sharks in the Marine Life Park will be loved and they will receive top-class care: The finest veterinary care, technology and food,” saidMs Boo, who added that the launch this year of RWS’ Marine Life Fund underlined its commitment to conservation.
The fate of whale sharks are not the only concern of some groups here. Last month, international dolphin charity Marine Connection raised concerns that dolphins might be imported into Singapore after 12 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins were captured near Solomon Islands and housed in sea pens for export to marine parks.
While RWS told Today it had no plans to import dolphins, Underwater World did not reply to Today’s email queries.
In 2004, Acres uncovered evidence that some of Underwater World’s pink dolphins were caught in the wild but the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority ruled it was legal for the park to keep them.
'No whale sharks'
Ang Yiying, Straits Times 28 Aug 08;
NATURE and animal welfare groups in Singapore have banded together again to oppose the move by the integrated resort on Sentosa to bring in whale sharks for its oceanarium.
The Singapore Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), the Nature Society of Singapore and the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) objected publicly to the plan when Resorts World at Sentosa unveiled it in 2006.
With International Whale Shark Day being observed on Saturday, the groups said it was timely to create awareness of the issue again.
SPCA executive officer Deirdre Moss said the society was concerned about the welfare of the whale shark as some have died in captivity overseas.
She said: 'When we're talking about the biggest fish in the ocean, one has to ask the question, 'Who is benefiting? Is it the animal or is it the human?' The animal's welfare will definitely be compromised.'
Whale sharks can grow to 12m long and possibly up to 20m.
More links
Whale shark at Sentosa: thin edge of the wedge
on the wild shores of singapore blog
SUFFERING, NOT SMILING: The Truth About Captive Dolphins
on the Acres website
Sentosa IR: Captive dolphins to be used for spa therapy
Dolphins at your doorstep? Cara van Miriah, Electric New Paper 22 Dec 07;
Plans underway for dolphins to be released from oceanarium daily to swim to posh water bungalows on stilts
Dolphins at the Sentosa Integrated Resort
Dolphin export, Solomon Star 14 Apr 08;
Dolphin therapy a dangerous fad?
CDNN - CYBER DIVER News Network 23 Dec 07;
Nature groups against oceanarium at Sentosa
Letter from SPCA, NSS, Acres Straits Times Forum 21 Oct 06
No critical need to keep whales prisoners
Letter from Dudley Au, Straits Times Forum 28 Oct 06
Rethink idea of having whale sharks in Sentosa lagoon
Letter from Thomas Paulraj Thamboo, Straits Times Forum 19 Oct 06
Sea Shepherds on the Whale Sharks at Sentosa IR
Letter from Grant W. Pereira Asian Education Advisor Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, unpublished letter to the media
Allison Lai, The Star 29 Aug 08;
MALACCA: A week-long stakeout has paid off for the World Wide Fund (WWF) Malaysia. At about midnight on Aug 13, a Hawksbill turtle appeared at the Terendak Camp beach in Sungai Udang here.
The turtle took half an hour to lay her eggs. Then she was tagged.
Weighing 42kg and having a 71cm shell, the turtle made her way back to the open sea three hours later.
WWF Malaysia project team leader Lau Min Min said it was the third tagging of a satellite transmitter on a Hawksbill turtle since July 29 and Aug 3.
WWF is researching the migration patterns of the Hawksbill turtle along the Straits of Malacca with data gathered to be used to better protect the critically-listed endangered species.
“They undertake a long journey every few years to the beaches here to complete their reproductive cycle,” said Lau.
Last year, two Hawksbill turtles, Puteri Tanjung Dahan and Puteri Pulau Upeh, named after their nesting homes, were tracked by satellite all the way to Singapore and the Riau Archipelago.
“Terendak Camp and Pulau Upeh were chosen as deployment sites because these nesting grounds support two of the largest nesting populations of Hawksbill turtle in peninsular Malaysia with an average of over 300 nestings recorded each year,” said Lau, adding that the next largest nesting ground is Sabah’s Turtle Islands.
“As the Hawksbill’s marine home extends beyond Malaysian territorial waters, regional co-operation and partnership is an important factor in saving these ancient mariners,” she said.
D. Arvind, researcher of the Conservation of Hawksbill Turtles and Painted Terrapins Programme, said officers were pleasantly surprised to discover that the turtle they recovered had previously nested along the Malacca beaches.
“We were a little concerned as our team did not spot any turtles for the first few nights,” he said, adding that the eggs were retrieved and hatched at the Padang Kamunting Hawksbill Turtle Hatchery Centre in Alor Gajah.
Links to more
Satellite tracking of Hawksbill turtles
on the WWF website
35% of families with power bill woes stay in larger 4- or 5-room flats
Theresa Tan, Straits Times 29 Aug 08;
MORE families here are having trouble paying their electricity bills.
And in what social workers described as 'surprising', a significant number - about 35 per cent - are those who live in larger four- and five-room flats.
As of June this year, about 13,700 households have been put on a pre-paid metering scheme after they had their power supply cut off or were in danger of having the supply disconnected.
This is up from about 12,200 in December 2006, according to SP Services, the customer service arm of utility company Singapore Power.
The bulk of these families live in rental flats and smaller one- to three-room ones. But social workers say they are astonished that many families who cannot pay their bills live in larger flats.
Those interviewed say this is an indication of how rising prices and stagnant incomes are affecting more people.
MP Halimah Yacob (Jurong GRC) said: 'If you look at it, inflation has also affected not only the low-income group, but also the lower-middle class.'
The high numbers, they added, point to a Singapore phenomenon: Of being 'asset rich but cash poor'. With little savings, such households are affected by sudden changes, such as when the breadwinner loses his job, or the economy starts slowing down, as it is doing now.
Mr Shawn Koh, centre head of Pasir Ris Family Service Centre, said: 'Inflation and bad times do not discriminate according to flat types.'
Social worker Sophie Cheng added that some Singaporeans buy larger flats without thinking 'very hard' if they can afford them - a point also made by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan in February.
The pre-paid metering scheme, called Payu, for Pay As You Use, involves replacing conventional power meters with special ones that work only if an account has sufficient credit in it.
Users can top up amounts from $10 to $250 into their accounts. As electricity is used, the sum is drawn down and has to be topped up. Twenty per cent of what they top up goes into settling their outstanding balances with SP Services.
Madam Noorfarizan Abdul Rahim, 30, went on the scheme after failing to pay her bills for three months. Her family owes SP Services over $400, but with four children to feed on a single income of $850 a month, putting food on the table, not paying bills, gets top priority.
Madam Noorfarizan, whose husband is a cleaner and whose children are aged between eight months and 10 years old, said: 'The price of rice has gone up, the price of cooking oil has gone up and everything has gone up.'
To help a little go a long way as far as energy is concerned, she restricts activities like watching TV. Social workers say that other such families also resort to leaving their flats in darkness. Many throw doors and windows open to catch available light from common corridors.
Madam Noorfarizan topped up her Payu account with $10 a few days ago, but just $3 remains. She will head to the Post Office today to top up another $10 - good for 'two to three days of power'.
Help for some of these families, meanwhile, is on the way. Two Community Development Councils - North West and South West - have started a scheme that gives utility vouchers to help residents whose power supply has been cut off or is danger of being cut off.
Rising rates drive homes to reduce electricity usage
Poll finds many also cutting back because of recent cooler weather and awareness drive
Tessa Wong & He Zongying, Straits Times 29 Aug 08;
WARY of increasing electricity tariffs and recent reports of unusually high utility bills, Singapore residents have been consciously cutting down their power consumption.
Out of 100 households The Straits Times polled, 78 have tried to use less power in the past month.
Most did so because of the rising cost of electricity. Rates have inched up every quarter since April last year, from 18.88 cents per kilowatt-hour to 25.07 cents per kwh last month.
Aside from electricity becoming more expensive, people are cutting back also because they are now more aware of the need to save electricity as a result of the public education campaigns by the National Environment Agency (NEA) and Singapore Power.
The recent cooler weather has also given people less reason to turn on their air-conditioners, one of the biggest guzzlers of electricity in the home.
Retiree Allan Ee, 85, now switches his on only for a few hours and uses a fan the rest of the night. He has also switched from a 50-inch television to a 21-inch one.
He said: 'My wife is also very helpful. She does not watch so many Chinese serials now.'
In some households, family members share rooms to cut down on the use of air-conditioners. Retired teacher Khoo Gim Si, for instance, shares a room with a tenant.
Other families, like drama coach Tony Quek's, religiously switch off their appliances that are not in use.
His family even turns off all lights in the living room from 8pm. 'The light from the television is enough,' said the 51-year-old, who lives in a four-room HDB flat with four other family members.
Some people are spending money to save money. Major electrical appliance retailers Harvey Norman and Best Denki have reported 20 per cent increases in the sales of energy-efficient appliances such as air-conditioners and refrigerators.
But an electricity usage tracking device called ETrack launched this month has not been selling well.
Do-it-yourself chain Home-Fix, the chief retailer of the device, said it has so far sold only 28 units of the gadget that costs $160.
Those who are using it say it has helped them become more aware of power consumption.
Technician Wong You Kin, 49, reckons he has saved about $50 in the past month using electric fans instead of air-conditioners.
He said: 'I get scared every time I see the numbers on the device jump.'
The electricity bill for his four-room HDB flat, usually at about $240, hit a high of $300 last month, which he put down to July's raised tariffs and the hot spell which led to the air-conditioner being turned on for longer hours.
With the ETrack in his home now, his latest bill has come down to $230.
'Everything is so expensive now, we just have to try to save as much as we can,' said Mr Wong, the father of two.
His household is one of 200 trying out the device under a six-month pilot project of NEA, which aims to raise consumers' awareness of the amount of electricity needed to power certain appliances.
Separately, the Energy Market Authority is also putting on trial smart meters in 1,000 households in November.
The NEA has also been running its '10% Energy Challenge' to get households to cut their energy bill by 10 per cent.
Besides putting up energy-saving tips and information on a website, it is holding a lucky draw for which a hybrid car and energy-efficient appliances are on the list of prizes.
Other grassroots bodies have also kick-started save-electricity drives among their residents. The North West and South West community development councils recently installed energy-saving bulbs in more than 5,000 low-income households.
Additional reporting by Daryl Tan
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