Norway says aims to go carbon neutral by 2030

John Acher and Camilla Bergsli, Reuters 17 Jan 08;

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway, which last year set what it called the world's most ambitious target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, said on Thursday it aimed to go "carbon neutral" in 2030, which is 20 years earlier than its previous target.

The new target was set when the Labour-led coalition government reached agreement with three opposition parties to bring the goal forward from 2050.

The government said last year that Norway would aim to cut net emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) to nil by 2050 by reducing emissions at home and investing abroad in environmental projects that will give Norway CO2 reduction credits.

The plan includes offsetting Norwegian emissions by spending around 3 billion crowns ($553.1 million) per year to combat deforestation in developing countries. Forests act as a sink for CO2, the main greenhouse gas blamed for causing global warming.

Under the Kyoto Protocol curbing greenhouse emissions, countries do not get credit for the effect of their own forests, but they can get credits by planting trees in developing lands.

"The parties now think it is realistic to assume reductions in Norwegian climate gas emissions of 15-17 million metric tons of CO2 equivalents by 2020 when forests are included," the government said in a statement.

Three million metric tons of that reduction would come from Norway's forests absorbing carbon, it said.

The initial target was to cut 13-16 million metric tons of CO2.

Achieving the target will require cutting Norway's total emissions by two-thirds domestically, the statement said.

Environmental groups said the deal was too vague, and Oil and Energy Minister Aaslaug Haga acknowledged: "We don't know how we will achieve the goals yet, and that is challenging."

A "significant sum" of money will be earmarked for investment in renewable energy, mass transport and measures to reduce emissions from the transport sector, while tax on diesel fuel will rise by 0.1 crowns ($0.018) per liter and on gasoline by 0.05 crowns, the government said.

"Both carrot and stick will be used to promote more environmentally friendly behavior and to reduce climate gas emissions," the centre-left coalition said.

Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen of the Socialist Left (SV) party said the policy would lead to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions both in Norway and abroad.

"The agreement gives Norway a far-sighted climate policy that can stand independently of shifting governments," Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said in the statement.

MOON LANDING

Stoltenberg, who heads the Labour Party, has said Norway's policy on cutting CO2 emissions is the world's most ambitious and he has likened the challenge of fighting climate change to a "moon landing" for the 21st century.

Norway, with a population of just 4.7 million, is the world's fifth-biggest exporter of oil and Western Europe's biggest exporter of natural gas.

Endowed with rivers and waterfalls, it gets almost all its own electricity from non-polluting hydroelectric stations. But the Nordic country aims to begin burning natural gas for power generation in the future to satisfy growing demand.

The government wants emissions from such power plants to be captured and buried, a technology still under development.

"The agreement implies technologies that are not known yet," Stoltenberg told a news conference.

The government said it would spend an extra 70 million crowns ($12.91 million) this year on research into renewable energy and carbon capture and storage this year, and funding for such research would rise to at least 600 million in 2010.

(Reporting by John Acher; editing by Anthony Barker)

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Jobs arise from ashes of Finland forestry industry

Terhi Kinnunen, Reuters 17 Jan 08;

KUUSANKOSKI, Finland (Reuters) - When Finland's UPM-Kymmene bowed to tough market conditions and shut its Voikkaa paper plant two years ago, Raimo Loytty readily swapped a 30-year career in the mill for a stone mason's chisel.

He and 677 co-workers were among the first victims of heavy layoffs by paper companies facing rising production costs, weak demand growth and overcapacity.

But Loytty turned what could have been a personal disaster into success, starting a stoneworks business with a colleague.

Nor is he alone. The inventiveness of many former forestry workers, along with a shift in Finland's once timber-dominated economy into new areas, has helped limit the economic fallout from the job cuts.

On the face of it, the numbers look bleak.

More than 8,000 forestry jobs have vanished in the past three years in Finland, the world's sixth-largest paper producer with 63,000 employed by the industry. More will go this year.

UPM launched the country's largest-ever layoff program in May 2006, with a planned 2,500 job cuts over three years, including Loytty's. In October 2007, rival Stora Enso said it would cut 1,100 Finnish positions.

A decision by neighbor Russia to raise wood export duties has made things tougher for forestry firms since some 20 percent of wood used in Finnish paper and pulp mills comes from Russia.

Stora Enso, which plans to close mills this year in the towns of Anjalankoski and Hamina in southeastern Finland and Kemijarvi in northern Finland, has threatened more closures if Russia raises duties as much as it now plans.

So far, though, the layoffs have had little visible effect on Finland's economy, which grew an estimated 4.4 percent in 2007, or on the overall job market, which created 50,000 new positions last year while unemployment fell.

COMMUNITY REINVENTION

The economy's health may be one reason why Loytty and many of his Voikkaa mill colleagues found new work just a year after the closure of one of Kuusankoski's largest employers sent shockwaves through the community.

Back then, residents were convinced the town might take years to recover from the blow.

They demanded the plant be sold to a buyer who would keep it open, while local voters turned away from then-governing Social Democrat party in March 2007 elections.

"People changed quite a lot, happy and joking guys became serious," said Jari Lukkari, 39, a former mechanic at the plant.

"I thought about studying or selling my house and moving somewhere else."

But Lukkari struck lucky, finding work "immediately" at industry maintenance company Enpower, where he now works with many of his former UPM co-workers, although the associated travel has complicated life for the single father.

Timo Mikkela, 44, said it took time to get past his anger.

"At first I was furious and did not want to do anything. But my thoughts changed during the summer and I started an industrial painting course in the autumn," he said.

The painter-to-be said while the career change will mean a drastic cut in income, losing his job at UPM gave his life needed structure as he swapped shift work for a day job.

"This has been an opportunity for me. I doubt I would have changed career otherwise."

Like its people, the town is reinventing itself.

Out of the 678 laid off in the Voikkaa closure, only about 160 are still out of work, 50 are in training programs and some 20, like Loytty, have started their own businesses.

"The employment situation in Kuusankoski has been rather good," said Marjukka Matikka of the regional employment office, adding that most who have found new work still live in the town.

The UPM facility has been re-named the Voikkaa Business Park and is home to 17 businesses, including the workshop of Loytty and his partner. More are set to move in.

In October, Swiss engineering group ABB said it would hire 40 people at a new component plant there due to start production during the first quarter of this year.

"We want to find new use for this industrial area," UPM's property manager Hannu Lahtinen said. "We want to take part in developing employment in Kuusankoski."

The town's jobless rate was 10.9 percent in November, up from a year-earlier 10.7 percent but a clear improvement from the 13.1 percent in December 2006 when UPM paid its last wages.

DOWNWARD TRACK

The reinvention in Kuusankoski mirrors a broader trend in Finland, where metals, machinery and electronics have overtaken wood and paper as the country's dominant exports.

The timber industry suffered a steep reversal since the golden 1990s, when prices were so high that media mogul Rupert Murdoch paid a 1995 visit to Helsinki to "beg for paper."

Seduced by the strong market, many European paper producers overexpanded, which has only fed the price decline since 2001.

"The companies started to build up capacity in the turn of the century encouraged by growing paper demand," said Evli Bank analyst Teemu Salonen.

According to research group RISI, paper prices fell some 19 percent in North American markets in 2001-2002. In Europe, prices dropped about 20 percent from 2001 until 2005.

Meanwhile, wood, energy and labor costs have risen, eating up savings reached through cost cuts.

However, as the forestry sector has contracted, other industries have stepped into the breach.

According to 2006 data, some 34 percent of Finland's exports were metal and machinery products, 25 percent electronics products and 20 percent forestry products.

Spurred on by Nokia, Finland's largest company and the world's biggest mobile handset maker, electronics has been on a particularly strong growth track since the 1990s.

Loytty said the economic transformation of Kuusankoski may yet prove precarious since many of his colleagues have found only temporary replacement jobs.

"A year from now will show what the situation really is like," he said.

(Reporting by Terhi Kinnunen; Editing by Eddie Evans)

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Is There A Better Way To Handle The Malaysian Flood Situation?

Ravindran Duraisamy, Bernama 17 Jan 08;

MENTAKAB, Jan 17 (Bernama) -- During the recent floods, Pahang was one of the worst affected states other than Kelantan, Terengganu and Johor.

Not only did the mighty Pahang river in Temerloh burst its banks in many places but so too did smaller rivers like the Semantan river near Mentakab, which joins with the Pahang river in Kuala Semantan.

It was a bitter experience for people in Mentakab and Temerloh, who last experienced such a calamity during the great flood of 1971, as old-timer and former Survey Department clerk, M. Duraisamy, 78, vividly recall.

Nonetheless the manner in which the situation was handled, left a negative impression on the minds of the flood victims and raised lingering doubts at preparations to tackle anticipated floods.



SITUATION NOT HANDLED PROPERLY?

Selamat Ahmad Kamal a retiree in Taman Sagumpas Mentakab related that he was one of the few lucky ones whose houses were left intact in the deluge, as the water only reached till his front porch. According to him, the water level of the December 2007 flood that inundated many homes in the vicinity was just about 8 feet (2.43metres) lower than that of the one in 1971.

Though happy that no untoward incident happened to him or his neighbours, Selamat is nevertheless disappointed at the manner in which the situation was handled by the authorities.

"As far as I am aware of, the authorities did not inform us of the rising waters and worst still, made no effort to enquire whether the neighbourhood of retired government servants needed any help. Luckily none of us were sick at the time or else we could not have made it through the knee high, and at certain places even up to the thigh, waters," said Selamat who has not seen such a major flood in Mentakab town since 1971.

While mindful of the fact that the authorities could have been engaged in more pressing situations in other parts of the town, he still feels that the relevant parties should have accorded top priority to flood relief operations.

"Its about time they buck up and be more professional in times of crisis. During a flood, they should check on the victims to see if any help is needed, and since communication lines are down, update them on the latest situation concerning the water level."

"They (Rela, the army or police) could have used boats to visit us and enquired if we needed help, especially when we could not even use our hand phones as there was no electricity to recharge our phone batteries," said an energetic Selamat.

When asked why he did not move out, he said that since his was a double-storey house, he decided to remain upstairs to guard his belongings.

Mentakab town was inundated from 12 to 16 December with many shops and even commercial banks along the busy Jalan Tun Abdul Razak under water, some up to 5 feet (1.52 metres) deep.

The Mentakab market has never been flooded ever since it was built, but this time, it was about 7 feet (2.13 metres ) deep in water.



EARLY WARNING IS CRITICAL

Another affected resident Krishnan Maries told Bernama that the Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID), being aware of the rainfall upstream in Bentong and Bukit Tinggi, should have been able to gauge the expected rise in the water level in the Semantan River in Mentakab over the next 2 to 3 days and warn residents accordingly.

Taharin Abdul Shukor of Kerdau also shared similar views, saying that the authorities have everything at their disposal, from satellites to state-of-the-art gadgets and meteorology experts who are able to predict when and where the waters will rise.

"For example if there is too much rainfall upstream in the Semantan or Pahang River then the rivers downstream in places like Kerdau, Temerloh, Mentakab, Lanchang and Batu 4 Jalan Karakwill will overflow its banks, thus residents there should be warned of the impending rise in the water level in the river. The people here should have been alerted of the possibility of a massive flood like the one experienced in December 2007, " added Taharin.

Meanwhile, a resident of Taman Mentakab Indah of Batu 4 Mentakab who only wanted to be known as Chelliah told Bernama that he did not expect the waters to rise so high.

He said that although the authorities had reinforced the embankment after it collapsed during a flash flood here in 2002, it still gave way and water gushed into the villages in the early hours of the morning. Many were caught unawares and some houses were submerged in almost 8 feet (2.43 metres) of water.



LOSS COULD BE MITIGATED IF ONLY HELP CAME SOONER

The authorities could have mitigated our losses if they had helped us move our belongings to higher grounds, said Chelliah who like most others, lost his refrigerator, washing machine, television, radio, stove and computers.

Chelliah's house is now bereft of possessions and his wife was sitting on the floor when the writer met them.

A resident of Taman Mentakab Indah who wanted to be known as Chudalandy told Bernama that he lost his future earnings in the music business because his entire PA system and computerised music sets worth RM50,000 was washed away when his single-storey low cost house was flooded almost till the ceiling.

When asked whether he had an insurance policy to cover his possessions, Chudalandy held his head down, indicating he had none.

A quick check with BH Insurance Pahang manager Wong Weng Keong revealed that although flood insurance is available to businesses and individuals, it might not be applicable to businesses and individuals in low lying areas.

The writer visited many affected places during the flood in the Temerloh district and found that despite the shortcomings, most of the aid reached the victims on time. Various government agencies played their role in aiding the flood victims and the police were at strategic locations to direct traffic and were seen putting up warning signs of floods.

Apart from individuals and Non Governmental Organisations (NGO), political parties had also helped to ease the burden of the victims by handing out basic necessities like food, cooking stoves, rice cookers, shoes and mattresses.

At least one corporate giant in Pahang also donated some household goods and food to the victims.

Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob who visited much of Pahang during the floods helped to ensure flood supplies were dispatched in time to the victims.



FUTURE EXPECTATIONS OF THE PEOPLE

Although much is now in the hands of the government and the relevant authorities like DID and the Public Works Department, the fact still remains as to how predictions of impending floods could be effectively disseminated to those affected, to ensure that their losses and sufferings would be minimised.

-- BERNAMA

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Fishermen Will Use New Ways to Avoid Snaring Endangered Seabirds

NOAA website 16 Jan 08;

Fishing fleets from more than 30 countries on the high seas of the Atlantic and Pacific will now use new ways to avoid accidentally snaring seabirds going after bait on long lines. The new protections are the focus of strong international measures, promoted by NOAA, that go into affect this year.

The measures will protect many albatross and seabird species that fly far from land and whose populations are declining faster than most birds around the world, in part due to their incidental catch in fishing long lines used to catch tuna, swordfish and other tuna-like fish.

“Some of the most vulnerable seabird populations travel entire oceans in search of food. Seabird conservation will require nations with longline fishing fleets to work together to adapt their fishing practices to avoid seabirds wherever they fish,” said Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., NOAA administrator and under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere.

In November, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas adopted a requirement that the European Commission and 44 other nations use special gear and techniques to reduce the unintended catch of seabirds. The techniques include fishing at night when few birds are active, weighting fishing lines so the baited hooks sink out of reach of birds, and using devices to scare birds away from the fishing lines. These measures will govern fishing for tuna and tuna-like species in the Atlantic Ocean.

In December, the European Commission and 24 fishing nations that make up the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission set technical specifications for the use of bird-scaring lines and other techniques that help fishermen avoid hooking seabirds by accident. Bird-scaring lines, also called tori lines, are streamers that hang from a line attached at the stern of a fishing vessel. They help prevent birds from reaching the bait when fishing lines are set in the ocean.

The negotiations in the Pacific were particularly significant for the United States because two of the three albatross species found in the North Pacific Ocean - the Laysan albatross and the black-footed albatross - breed on Hawaii. A third species affected by fishing lines — the short-tailed albatross — breeds in Japan and is found in U.S. waters. It is listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and there are only about 2,200 short-tailed albatross alive today.

“The fate of these vulnerable seabirds is important to the United States and to our longline fishermen, who, under U.S. law, are already taking significant precautions to avoid seabird bycatch.” said Lautenbacher. “We are pleased that some of the same effective measures will now be adopted by fishermen from many other nations.”

Measures similar to those adopted by the two international organizations have proven to be effective in international waters off Antarctica. Since they were adopted by the Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Living Marine Resources in 1991, they have reduced the unintended catch of seabirds by a remarkable 90 percent. No albatrosses were unintentionally caught for the second consecutive year in 2007 in the regulated longline fisheries in these waters.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

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Parts of China's Yangtze at lowest level in 140 years: report

Yahoo News 17 Jan 08;

A severe drought has left parts of China's famed Yangtze river suffering their lowest water levels in at least 140 years, state media reported Thursday.

The drought has made navigating the Yangtze a risky affair, with more than 40 ships running aground since October, according to the China Daily, which quoted officials rejecting any link with the Three Gorges Dam.

In Hankou, a major port city on the Yangtze, the water level has hit a low not seen since records began in 1866, the newspaper said.

"This year's dry season came a month earlier than usual and water levels fell sooner than expected," an unnamed official with the Yangtze river administration told the paper.

Spurred by the situation, the transportation ministry issued an emergency warning to remind cargo vessels to steer clear of shallow waters.

The paper said officials stored large amounts of water behind the massive Three Gorges Dam across the Yangtze last month, causing the flow volume in the river to fall by 50 percent.

Still, it quoted the Yangtze River Water Resource Commission as saying the drought had nothing to do with the dam.

"The lack of rain is the major reason for the drying-up of the Yangtze," an unnamed official at the commission said.

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Delhi residents cough, wheeze as pollution soars

Tripti Lahiri Yahoo News 16 Jan 08;

A stay in India's capital often leads to a case of the notorious "Delhi belly," but as pollution rises, many visitors and residents are suffering from the Delhi itchy eye and hacking cough too.

Authorities blame the rise in pollution squarely on a jump in diesel cars, whose fumes are routinely cited in medical studies as a major health risk.

About a third of the nearly 1,000 new cars that hit the city's roads every day are diesel models, which are becoming popular because the fuel is cheaper than petrol.

But while there is a financial saving, it comes at a serious pollution and health cost, warn experts, who say New Delhi is rapidly losing the air quality gains made after switching its diesel bus fleet to compressed natural gas six years ago.

Pollution figures show a steady rise in diesel-linked pollution during the past five years, a period that saw the total number of cars in Delhi leap 50 percent to 1.6 million.

Anumita Roychoudhury, from New Delhi's Centre for Science and Environment, noted carbon monoxide levels were falling despite an increase in the number of petrol cars.

However, "for diesel cars, the increase in vehicle numbers and increase in nitrogen dioxide are strongly correlated," she said.

She pointed to "horrendously" high levels of lung-irritating soot linked to tailpipe diesel emissions, which environmentalists regard as one of the most toxic forms of air pollution.

Roychoudhury urged India to adopt ultra-clean car standards cutting diesel sulphur levels. "You need a technology leapfrog," she told AFP.

The planned launch of the world's smallest car, the Nano, by India's Tata Motors has further heightened concerns about increased congestion in the city even though it is only producing a petrol version.

The makers of the car, mean to retail for 100,000 rupees (2,500 dollars), insist its emissions are as low or lower than any two-wheeler on Indian roads and meet European standards.

That's only half the point, said Sunita Narain, who directs the Centre for Science and Environment, who got the Supreme Court to order the New Delhi bus system to shift to natural gas.

"I am not fighting the small car," she added. "I am simply asking for many more buses and bus lanes -- a complete change in mobility.

"The solution is not to ban the 100,000 rupee car," Narain urged, but "tax it like crazy until it (India) has a proper mass transit system."

Doctors, too, say they have seen the worrying effects of the rise in diesel car numbers.

Randeep Guleria, a chest specialist at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, the country's largest public hospital, said the high pollution level triggered asthma in people where the condition previously had been latent.

"We are seeing a lot of such patients, who did not have any problems when they were outside and when they move to Delhi they suddenly develop symptoms," he said.

One of Guleria's patients said her asthma symptoms improve during the six months she spends with a son in New Jersey, in the United States. But it is a different story when she comes back to the Indian capital.

"It has been really bad since I came back in November. I cough all night," said Madhu Puri, 59. "If I go to America or a foreign city I feel better."

A US environmental Protection Agency panel has called diesel fuel exhaust a "likely human carcinogen," linking it with lung cancer and asthma attacks.

Some studies show children are among the worst-affected by the dense haze that often shrouds the city, and doctors frequently tell parents to keep their children indoors when smog levels are particularly high.

Researchers believe particulates, or tiny particles of soot, interfere with the respiratory system because they are so small they can be breathed deeply into the lungs.

In a survey of almost 12,000 city schoolchildren late last year, 17 percent reported coughing, wheezing or breathlessness, compared to just eight percent of children in a rural area.

What researchers saw were the effects of "chronic exposure from living in Delhi," said Twisha Lahiri, of India's Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, who led the study.

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Best of our wild blogs: 17 Jan 08

Daily Green Action: 16 Jan 07
on the leaf monkey blog

Notes from seminar on Post-Bali UN Climate Change Conference: What Lies Ahead? on the AsiaIsGreen blog

Crown-of-thorns: a nasty star?
on the singapore celebrates the reefs blog

Save our Seahorses newsletter Jan 08
about the effort in Johor on the teamseagrass blog

Scratching an itch
a feat in midair on the bird ecology blog

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Singaporean wildlife encounters: who do we call?

When birds die mysteriously ...
... are our agencies ready to coordinate a course of action?
... which agency do we call during such incidents?

Today Online 17 Jan 08;
Letter from CHUA TEE LIAN
Letter from THOMAS LEE ZHI ZHI

THE report, "The eagles have landed" (Jan 15), may read like a light-hearted story, but there is a serious lesson to be learnt from this.

The National Environment Agency's (NEA) response shows that they do not understand Mr Chris Lau's concerns over the two white-bellied sea eagles which landed on the balcony of his Jalan Kayu home.

The issue here is not about animal welfare or the disposal of carcasses.

It is about our readiness if and when avian influenza hits us, which sadly, is non-existent judging from the responses Mr Lau was given and the attitude demonstrated by the various agencies.

When birds die mysteriously, a network alert system must be in place so that the relevant authorities in charge of wildlife and public health can communicate with one another whenever an agency receives an alert from a member of the public.

A coordinated action plan must immediately follow, which should include a quarantine of the area, checking the birds for infection and if necessary, testing those who may have been exposed, as prompt action is needed to curb the spread of any diseases.

Let's not forget the painful lessons from Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

Although the authorities had acted swiftly, it was too late for some.

Without being too much of an alarmist, the question we have to ask ourselves is: Are we prepared for an avian influenza epidemic?

I REFER to the report about the eagles which landed in a house at Jalan Kayu (Jan 15).

I can sympathise with the resident who had called the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), the National Environment Agency (NEA), the Singapore Zoological Gardens and Jurong BirdPark.

The report also carried some advice from the AVA about which agency to call during such situations.

Singapore's civil service has been touted to be world-class and efficient, but is this really the case?

In a truly world-class system, the first agency approached would have coordinated action with the other relevant agencies.

Citizens need a quick and easy reference point on who to approach the next time another injured animal finds its way into our homes.

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My Johor: The simple life at Sungai Pulai

R. Sittamparam, New Straits Times 17 Jan 08;

THE Sungai Pulai estuary has always been the home and fishing grounds of the Orang Laut, an Orang Asli tribe who dwell along coastal areas in Johor. Although I am a Chinese, my family, dating back three generations, has lived with the Orang Laut sharing their trials and tribulations.

Our association started with my grandfather, Tang Tek Chai. He operated a junk at Kuala Redap, on the western bank of Sungai Pulai. He supplied mangrove logs to charcoal kilns, mainly in Singapore.

He was a wealthy merchant who had strong business links with Singapore. But he chose to live with the Orang Asli, hiring them to work on his huge wooden junk.

During the Japanese occupation, the Orang Asli suffered. They were hunted down and their women kidnapped and raped by Japanese soldiers.

My grandfather provided protection, giving them food and teaching them how to plant tapioca and other basic survival skills.

Many of the Orang Laut did not live on land, preferring to stay in their pau kajang, a covered dugout. They were skilled fishermen and expert swimmers who knew when and where to find the best fish, crabs and prawns.

My father, Tang Soon Teck, however, did not take up my grandfather’s trade.

Instead, he started a provision shop and traded with the Orang Asli, buying their daily catch.

When I was 12, I remembered seeing my grandfather’s large junk abandoned near the river.

It was in bad shape and I don’t know what happened to it afterwards as it went missing.

My father had many business dealings with Singapore. He had many friends and relatives in the republic, so when I reached schooling age, he sent me there to stay with a relative.

I studied at St Anthony’s School until Year Three. During a school break, I returned to the village and refused to go back to Singapore.

I was having such fun frolicking with the Orang Asli boys and girls my age at the village that I didn’t want to return.

Life at the village was enjoyable for children as we would swim in the rivers, catch fish and crabs or look for fruits in the jungle.

I lost interest in studying or learning about my father’s business and got attracted to an Orang Asli girl, Rom Anbot, whom I married when I was 16.

Getting married was very easy. All I had to do was give my 15-year-old bride’s parents RM1.15 and a set of clothes, and they allowed her to become my wife.

However, the marriage has not been officially registered. Even after 46 years, we have yet to do this.

Some government officials have urged me to register the marriage, something I intend to do soon.

I started my life as a fisherman then because my father had lost all his wealth after his business ventures in Singapore failed. He was even forced to sell his 40ha fruit orchard cheaply to cover his losses.

My five brothers, two sisters and I were left with hardly anything. We had to fend for ourselves.

One of my sisters and three of my brothers have since settled in Singapore.

My eldest brother, Keng Hiang, is also married to an Orang Asli and has remained in the village.

A younger brother, Keng Ngee, married a Chinese and is now taking care of our father’s provision shop.

In the 1970s, the government relocated us from Kuala Redap Orang Asli village to this spot, Kampung Simpang Arang. It got its name from a charcoal-making factory located beside the village.

Many Orang Asli families from our village have moved to Masai, Plentong and Ulu Tiram. Some have married outsiders, stay in towns and are doing well in life.

Of my five children, four sons are married to Orang Asli girls and have settled down here, earning a living as fishermen. Only my daughter is married to a Chinese.

As the fishermen’s head, I buy and sell the fish landed by the Orang Asli.

However, their catch has dwindled over the last decade because of the destruction to the environment. Mangrove forests are destroyed and rivers are silted because of land reclamation works for projects such as the Port of Tanjung Pelepas, the Second Link bridge and the power plant at the Sungai Pulai estuary.

Dugong were plentiful in the estuary before this and used to be a source of meat for the Orang Asli.

I have tasted dugong meat, but now, the Orang Asli are concerned about the conservation of the animal and the sea-horses found in the estuary.

In 2006, an Orang Asli caught a baby dugong in his net at Sungai Pulai. We kept it in the village pond for a while before it was released into the sea.

A new worry is the proposed industrial estate right in front of our traditional fishing grounds at the mouth of Sungai Boh and Sungai Karang.

Our fishing grounds are affected by an underwater pipe to supply water from Sungai Tiram Duku to the Tanjung Bin power plant.

I hope my grandchildren get a chance to enjoy the natural richness of the Sungai Pulai estuary which I have grown to love. I would not give up living in my village for anything in the world.

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Days of cheap tofu, tempeh are gone for Indonesians

Staples disappear off menus because of surging price of soya bean imports
Salim Osman, Straits Times 17 Jan 08;

JAKARTA - CUSTOMERS at Jakarta's food courts and roadside stalls have been missing some of their favourite dishes for several days now.

The popular tofu and tempeh (fermented beancurd), two staples made of soya beans, have disappeared from the menu as a result of the rising price of soya beans imported by Indonesia.

It has made business a little tougher for stall assistant Rini at a Plaza Indonesia food court who has had to explain the shortage to disappointed customers.

'All I could say is that we couldn't buy enough tofu and tempeh in the market to cook their favourite dishes,' she told The Straits Times.

Cheap and nutritious, tofu and tempeh are considered staples by Indonesian families who eat them with rice.

Surging prices of soya beans, which Indonesia imports, have made food products produced from the beans more expensive. This has discouraged food sellers from buying tofu and tempeh.

The shortage of such food staples in Indonesia reflects a global trend. Rising prices combined with booming demand for such basic commodities as soya beans and palm oil have resulted in shortages that threaten to inflate living costs.

In Indonesia, the soya bean price has more than doubled from 2,750 rupiah (42 Singapore cents) per kilogram a year ago to almost 8,000 rupiah now - inflating the cost of producing tofu and tempeh. The weaker rupiah and rising freight costs make the situation worse.

One tofu and tempeh producer, Mr Tukino, 54, said that his factory in south Jakarta had been closed for four days.

'I am not sure when I can open it because I can't get my supply of soya beans to make tofu and tempeh,' he said.

The rising prices have driven thousands of tofu and tempeh producers and vendors to go on strike in the Indonesian capital this week in protest.

On Monday, they rallied outside the Presidential Palace for a one-day protest, demanding that the government lower prices.

As Indonesia does not produce enough soya beans to meet domestic demand, it relies on imports, mainly from the US, for 70 per cent of its requirements. Four licensed importers bring in about 1.3 million tonnes of soya beans each year to help meet the country's demand of 2 million tonnes.

Indonesian farmers do not plant enough of the crop because of the relatively low price it fetches at the market.

Said Vice-President Jusuf Kalla yesterday: 'You earn only 3.5 million rupiah if you plant soya bean in one hectare. But you'll earn 8 million rupiah if you grow corn.'

The shortage has prompted the government to take steps to curb prices of staples, as other countries such as China have done.

After meeting his economic ministers late on Tuesday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced the scrapping of import duties on soya beans in a bid to keep prices down.

The state procurement agency Bulog may also be assigned to import cheaper soya beans to help the local food industry.

'The government has asked us to seek a new source for soya bean imports,' said Bulog spokesman Mustafa Abubakar.

Separately, Agriculture Minister Anton Pariyantono said that Indonesia plans to reduce its dependence on imports by boosting domestic soya bean output to 900,000 tonnes this year. Last year, the country produced about 600,000 tonnes.

Read more!

Biofuels protectionism

Biofuels protectionism trumps climate concerns
Inae Riveras, Reuters 17 Jan 08;

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Despite world concerns about global warming and the impact of biofuel production on food prices, policy makers have done little to boost international trade of cheaper and more environmentally friendly fuels for consumers, experts said.

Import tariffs and trade barriers have prevented, for example, an increase in cane-based ethanol exports from Brazil, the world's most competitive producer of the biofuel. Shipments are actually expected to be lower in 2008 than last year.

In Europe, biodiesel producers have been hit by an increase in U.S. imports, which benefit from subsidies if they are blended with mineral diesel. To counterattack, the EU bloc may impose countervailing duties, industry leaders said.

The EU has also been affected by large volumes of Argentine biodiesel at cheap prices, which are encouraged by preferential taxes. The product is charged a 5 percent tariff by Argentina's government, while edible oil exports have a 30 percent duty.

"Some countries are trying to solve a world problem, which is global warming and climate change, just with national solutions," said the head of Brazil's Sugar Cane Industry Union (Unica), Marcos Jank, at the Reuters Global Agriculture and Biofuel Summit.

According to Unica, cane-based fuel has higher productivity than other feedstocks. Sugar cane yields seven liters of ethanol per hectare compared with three liters with corn.

Production costs are lower, and energy efficiency -- amount of energy used in the process versus energy resulting -- is five times higher with cane than with corn, Unica said.

Moreover, its impact on food prices is much more limited than the one caused by corn or wheat. Almost a third of the next U.S. crop may be turned into fuel, increasing upward pressure on food inflation.

But tariffs in some of the world's largest fuels markets like the U.S. and Europe will limit ethanol exports. Shipments from Brazil are to drop this year to 3.4 billion liters, down from 3.8 billion liters in 2007, Datagro consultants said.

GLOOM PERSPECTIVES

Unica argues its position is not self-promotional as cane-based ethanol could come also from Asia, Africa or South America. More than 100 countries -- most of them poor nations -- have natural conditions to grow cane.

"Europe is trying to subsidize their farmers to produce ethanol from beet and wheat instead of buying ethanol from abroad. The same happens in the U.S. Most of the ethanol there will come from corn, probably from biomass in the future, but not imported (ethanol)," Jank said.

"We believe that if these countries consider to import more from developing countries, the energy and environmental balance would be much better, and costs would be much lower."

But signals from these countries point to the opposite direction.

The chairman of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Collin Peterson, said on Tuesday tax credits and tariffs on ethanol would have to be maintained to create the necessary conditions for the development of cellulosic ethanol.

"We are hoping that we won't have any changes in the tax or tariffs any time soon," he said.

Brazilian ethanol is charged with a 54-cent-a-gallon tariff to enter the U.S. market. This makes direct sales possible only on specific and uncommon occasions, depending on low prices in Brazil and high prices in the United States.

And perspectives remain negative as the U.S. passed in December its Energy Bill, which sets a target for biofuel use of 36 billion gallons -- none of them imported, in principle.

"They (U.S.) won't open their market. They will stick to its import tariff and create a quota, and then administrate this quota under geopolitical criteria," said the president of Brazil's Datagro consultants, Plinio Nastari.

Wallace Tyner, professor at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, said it would be necessary either alter the mandate or change the tariff for U.S. to meet its goal.

"Brazil and a lot of Central American countries have a capacity to expand pretty quickly their ethanol production if they get signals that there's a market for it," Tyner said.

(Additional reporting by Christine Stebbins in Chicago and Tom Doggett in Washington; Editing by Reese Ewing and Christian Wiessner)

Read more!

Iconic brands and the ethics of luxury

Dr Jem Bendell, Today Online 17 Jan 08;

It is time to turn the question "what are you made of" onto the companies and examine what lies beneath the brand.

"What are you made of?" From London to Little India, stars of sport and screen ask us as they peer from billboards and magazines.

The watch company Tag Heuer suggests wearing their brand provides the answer: You are made of something strong, successful and beautiful. George Clooney now chooses Omega; so do actresses Ivy Lee and Kym Ng.

Luxury brands sell status. They are the highest-priced and highest-quality item in any product or service category, providing the consumer with an elite experience. Watches, jewellery, high fashion, exclusive resorts and restaurants comprise a sector worth about US$150 billion ($214.6 billion) per annum.

Working with celebrities and spending billions on advertising, iconic brands such as Dior and Prada have become a global language of luxury, influencing what people admire and aspire to worldwide. A new social order defined by brands is taking hold in Asia.

That is good news for big-name brands. Louis Vuitton and Chanel have doubled the size of their flagship stores at Ngee Ann City, while Changi Airport hosts a luxury-retailing "island" featuring Bulgari, Cartier, Fendi and Bottega Veneta outlets. There are more brand connoisseurs now, illustrated by the attendance at the Sincere Watch Academy.

Swiss luxury firm Chopard, known for adorning the stars, chose Singapore for the worldwide launch of its L.U.C Crono One watch, in October. Luxury services are also doing well, with the St Regis Singapore opening before Christmas with chauffeur-driven Bentley and personal butler service.

But all is not as it seems. In recent months, journalists have begun to question whether luxury has "lost its lustre", suggesting the globalisation of luxury brands has emptied them of their meaning. Some complain that French-labelled haute couture is made in China, with cost-cutting leading to a decline in quality.

Others question the ethics of luxury, encouraged by films such as Blood Diamond, which show how the trade in precious stones has fuelled conflict. Other problems for luxury goods companies include labour rights and environmental degradation throughout their supply chains.

It is time to turn the question "what are you made of" onto the companies and examine what lies beneath the brand.

The report, Deeper Luxury, from the World Wildlife Fund did just that and ranked the 10 largest, publicly-traded luxury companies on their environmental and social performance.

Their brands include Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and IWC amongst dozens of others. The Paris-based L'Oréal Group, which owns Giorgio Armani and Ralph Lauren, emerged top, but only with a C+.

The report describes growing environmental awareness across Asia. Ms Issy Richardson, co-founder of Singapore's organic company Belle and Dean, said: "With increasing press coverage and celebrity endorsements of green living and eco-fashion brands, attitudes are changing".

The craze over the designer shopping bag by Anya Hindmarch, branded with the phrase "I'm NOT a plastic bag", illustrates the potential demand.

The notion of "luxury" is changing. In future, the highest quality product or service may be regarded as the one that generates the most benefit to all involved in its creation.

Some brands embrace this approach. The Banyan Tree hotel group has developed a sustainable form of luxury since its founding. In the early '90s, Banyan Tree Bintan built villas on stilts and around existing trees and boulders to protect the rainforest and installed waste-water treatment to recycle water for irrigation.

The company has adopted the United Nation's Millennium Development goals to guide its efforts. Its managing director of retail operations, Ms Claire Chiang, is encouraging others through the Singapore Compact for Corporate Social Responsibility, now with over 170 corporate members.

Such efforts remind us that the products we consume do not magically appear in malls, but rely on life. Pick any product and consider its history — the grazing cows, swaying trees, ingenious designers, busy labourers and calculating bankers.

The cooperation of millions of people and a sustaining environment underpins all that we buy. By embracing corporate responsibility, iconic brands could remind us of this deep connection between our things, our selves, our communities and our planet.

Life without shopping may not be complete, but more Singaporeans today realise that shopping is not complete without life.

The writer is director of Lifeworth Consulting, associate professor at Griffith Business School and founder of the Singapore environmental community EcoSing.com. He will be speaking on sustainable luxury at the Singapore Compact for CSR on Jan 23.

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Singapore to supply China's oil guzzling

New field for marine, offshore firms

Business Times 17 Jan 08;

China's rise as a marine and offshore player offers opportunities for Singapore's companies, reports CHUANG PECK MING

CHINA'S red-hot economy has turned the country into an oil guzzler matched only by the United States - and that should have Singapore's marine and offshore industry salivating at the prospect of more business.

The Chinese consume over 7.4 million barrels of oil daily. Last year, China spent US$81.9 billion on oil imports. All the signs point to China's demand for oil escalating.

Coupled with a global shortage of the commodity, this has led China to step up its oil and gas exploration efforts, pumping more money to build up its marine and offshore industry.

China's rise as a marine and offshore player spells opportunities for Singapore's seasoned offshore and marine players, according to International Enterprise (IE) Singapore, the government agency pushing Singapore business to go international.

'In tandem with the growth of its oil and gas industry, China will need to build more platforms and other offshore facilities, repair some existing structures and decommission others, and move operations into deeper waters,' says Tham Poh Cheong, director of Corporate Group for Infrastructure Services and Environmental Services at IE Singapore.

At the same time, China has also opened up its oil markets - once monopolised by Chinese state-owned enterprises - to the private sector and foreign players, making it a more level playing field.

To be sure, Mr Tham says the development of China's marine and offshore industry - backed by the Chinese government - is a double-edged sword. It will also produce Chinese competition for the Singapore companies.

But Singapore's strong position and long experience in the business will stand its companies in good stead to seize the opportunities that come with China's rise as a marine and offshore player.

'Singapore, as one of the world's leading integrated marine and offshore centres, can effectively collaborate and support China in its drive to develop its offshore and advanced marine sectors,' says Mr Tham.

'Singapore currently plays host to a comprehensive cluster of marine and offshore companies with vessel owners, shipyards, fabricators, key equipment manufacturers and engineering service providers undertaking a wide range of activities,' he adds.

Since 1981, when the first tanker was converted to a floating production storage offloading (FPSO) unit, Singapore shipyards have finished well over 30 related jobs, making it the undisputed leader in FPSO conversions.

According to a Reuters report, Singapore-listed yards have cornered more than half of the 92 oil drilling rigs under construction worldwide.

Meanwhile, smaller Singapore yards are making their presence felt in building offshore support vessels (OSVs) for anchor handling and towing as well as supply vessels.

'These OSVs are deemed the 'workhorses' of the offshore industry, helping transport, moor and supply staff and goods to offshore rigs and platforms,' Mr Tham says.

'Singapore yards such as Labroy Marine, Jaya Holdings, Pan United Marine and ASL Marine are building nearly a quarter of the 300 or so OSVs on order worldwide, vying with leading global players such as Norway's Aker and Kleven Verft and Bollinger Shipyards of the United States.'

Mr Tham says Singapore's marine and offshore companies can concentrate in three areas when venturing into the Chinese market - collaborating with the Chinese on offshore constructions; setting up yards in China; and supplying equipment and services to Chinese shipyards.

'As a comprehensive offshore engineering centre, Singapore has capabilities in floating production, processing, subsea equipment, pipelines and installation engineering,' he says. 'Singapore has also benefited from the strong growth of the offshore industry with several leading players, including MODEC, Prosafe, GPS and APL, strengthening their presence here in Singapore over the past year.'

He says offshore engineering, procurement and construction contractors and shipyards here should team up with China shipyards to build and integrate top modules for FPSO. IE Singapore can play match-maker - and there are various incentive schemes that Singapore companies can tap.

Singapore offshore and marine companies can also take advantage of China's skilled labour and ample waterfront space for shipyards and fabrication yards to expand their capacity for orders in the booming offshore and marine market. Keppel Nantong Shipyard, owned by Keppel Offshore & Marine, is one prominent Singapore company that has done so.

To upgrade China's marine capabilities and develop its offshore sector, which is a primary goal of the country's 11th Five-Year Plan, the country would need high technology, machinery and management for the shipbuilding industry, says Mr Tham.

'The best prospects for Singapore companies looking to leverage on China's growing shipbuilding companies are in the supply of raw materials, coating equipment and coating materials, computer-aided design software and associated technology for ship design and construction, equipment maintenance, high-tech equipment such as GPS, navigation and on-board computer systems, cutting and welding technology and related equipment,' he says.

Other areas in demand by the Chinese, and which Singapore can meet, are state-of-the-art equipment and products like welding gears, cathodic protected steel items such as fasteners, bolts and nuts, high-quality thermal expansion joints and specialised services like on-site machining for oil rigs and platforms and FPSOs construction.

'Although the supporting industry for the marine industry in China is fairly established, the offshore industry is relatively new and undeveloped,' Mr Tham says. 'Hence ample opportunities are available for Singapore offshore suppliers and service providers.'

But he cautions that labour costs in China are rising and there is local competition.

'One of the findings during IE Singapore's mission to eastern China in November 2007 was that the average wages for shipyard workers in the wealthier eastern region was not as low as perceived,' Mr Tham says. 'The wages for workers in shipyards in the Zhejiang and Jiangsu regions came up to around 3,000 yuan (S$594) monthly for skilled welders and 10,000 yuan for experienced engineers.'

Competition will come from many local Chinese companies which have started to manufacture and supply related equipment, he says. But Singapore companies can sidestep the threat by stepping up their research and development efforts and move up the value chain in manufacturing and engineering services, according to him.

Read more!

Cultural renaissance in Singapore? Start with built heritage

Letter from Png Eng Huat, Straits Times 17 Jan 08;

VALUE OF HISTORICAL BUILDINGS: Historical buildings and landmarks may be expensive to conserve but they add immeasurable value to our heritage and culture over time.

I REFER to the article, 'Be like Italy - aim for a cultural renaissance' (ST, Jan 12).

Living in a country that places economic growth above everything else, it is interesting to read that Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew now hopes to see a cultural renaissance in Singapore in 10 to 15 years.

For a start, keeping our brick-and-mortar heritage alive could be a good investment for a cultural renaissance.

The Government should not equate conserving historical buildings and landmarks with plain economics. These old structures may be expensive to conserve but they add immeasurable value to our heritage and culture over time.

I always wonder why the Raffles City complex, which could have been built anywhere in town, had to occupy the grounds of Raffles Institution, a school founded by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1823. One would sense a feeling of loss rather than awe looking at an inconspicuous plaque which now marks the historical site.

Similarly, the SMRT headquarters could have been located anywhere in Singapore but it had to eat into the historical site of the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus in Victoria Street, a school founded by early missionaries in 1852.

The fact that the Government did not even blink an eye to the destruction of such important historical sites could lead one to infer that conservation is definitely not a priority in Singapore.

When such old buildings and structures disappear, it may be difficult for a cultural renaissance to take root in Singapore.

The Renaissance era that defined 14th- to 16th-century Europe encompassed a cobweb of intellectual and artistic movements. The renaissance covered not only achievements in the cultural arena but also in areas like politics, religion and social life.

Thus, a cultural renaissance by itself may not happen in a society without any corresponding changes in the sociopolitical scene. The ramification of a cultural transformation has wide-reaching influence on all aspects of life in a society.

The question then is will the Government allow such a renaissance to take place? When such a situation arises, I am afraid 'out of bounds' markers will pop up like clockwork to put the strays back into their places.

Where does that leave us? We will probably end up with a pseudo-cultural renaissance that is engineered to perfection but lacking in depth and substance.

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Food from cloned animals: Singapore to conduct own review, says AVA

Straits Times 17 Jan 08;

ASIA'S food safety and agriculture authorities said that they would conduct their own checks on the safety of cloned food, following the US government's declaration on Tuesday to allow meat and milk from cloned animals into the food supply.

In Singapore, the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) plans to do its own risk assessment on such products, spokesman Goh Shih Yong told The Straits Times.

Singapore's beef imports amounted to 24,385 tonnes last year, with US beef making up just 1.5 per cent of that figure - or 374 tonnes, the AVA said.

Before the 2003 ban on US beef in Singapore, about 5 per cent of the Republic's 18,393 tonnes of beef imports that year came from the US.

The authorities in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan, which was the largest overseas market for US beef in value terms in 2003, have said that their countries will need to conduct their own reviews on the issue.

Asia, which was the destination of 55 per cent of all US beef exports in 2003, remains a lucrative market for the meat, although some countries, including South Korea, have kept a ban on US beef imports after the US case of mad cow disease.

REUTERS

Already on our plates?
Straits Times 17 Jan 08;

WHILE many of America's biggest grocers are dead set against the idea of selling cloned products, food from the offspring of clones may already be on the market, said cattle cloning industry officials.

Executives from the nation's major cattle cloning companies conceded on Tuesday that they have not been able to keep track of how many offspring of clones have entered the food supply chain, despite a years-old request by the Food and Drug Administration to keep them off the market pending completion of the agency's safety report.

And food which comes from the offspring of clones can be used for everything from the milkshakes served by restaurants to the steaks sold in supermarkets - without any special labelling.

At least one Kansas cattle producer also came forward on Tuesday to say that he has openly sold semen from prize-winning clones to countless US meat producers in the past few years, and that he is certain he is not alone.

'This is a fairy tale that this technology is not being used and is not already in the food chain,' said Mr Donald Coover, a Galesburg, Kansas, cattleman and veterinarian who has a speciality cattle semen business.

'Anyone who tells you otherwise either doesn't know what they're talking about or they're not being honest.'

WASHINGTON POST

To eat or not to eat?
Straits Times 17 Jan 08;

US agencies send mixed signals on safety of food from such sources
WASHINGTON - CONSUMERS in the United States have received a plateful of mixed messages as the US food safety authority declared food from cloned animals and their offspring to be safe, while farmers were told by the Agriculture Department to keep such animals off the market.

The ruling by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was the latest twist after years of debate over the reproductive technology, which advocates say will provide consumers with top-quality food by replicating prized animals that can breed highly productive offspring.

Mr Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Centre for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, who oversaw a six-year review of the safety of food from clones and their offspring, said: 'Meat and milk from cattle, swine and goat clones are as safe as food we eat every day.'

The FDA said that it did not have enough facts to make an assertion about cloned sheep.

In a controversial move, the agency also said that meat and milk from cloned animals and their offspring would not be labelled because it was the same as conventional food and did not pose a safety risk, despite a programme launched by US biotechnology firms last month to track cloned cattle and pigs.

Awkwardly meshed announcements by the FDA and US Department of Agriculture (USDA) officials, made at a joint news conference on Tuesday, reflected continuing divisions among US food-related agencies on how to deal with the cloned-food issue.

Farmers have long held back from selling cloned foods, and on Tuesday, USDA said this state of affairs should continue, pending consultations on introducing these foods into the market.

'USDA is encouraging the technology producers to maintain their voluntary moratorium on sending milk and meat from animal clones into the food supply,' USDA official Bruce Knight told reporters.

But the FDA decision to let cloned products into the food chain was hailed by cloning companies and some farmers, who hope to turn cloning into a routine agricultural tool.

As clones are costly, they will be used primarily for breeding, not for producing meat and milk.

But some US consumer groups suggested that the American public would be as tough a sell as the 'Frankenfood'-averse consumers in the European Union and Japan.

A September 2006 poll by the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology found that 64 per cent of Americans were uncomfortable with animal cloning. FDA focus groups found that a third of consumers would never eat food from cloned animals.

A number of US groups have also demanded that food from clones be labelled as such, so that consumers can exercise a 'right to choose'.

Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski, who is among a group of lawmakers pushing for a delay on the cloned-food issue until further studies are completed, accused the FDA of acting 'recklessly' on Tuesday.

'If we discover a problem with cloned food after it is in our food supply and it's not labelled, the FDA won't be able to recall it...the food will already be tainted,' she said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, ASSOCIATED PRESS, REUTERS, NEW YORK TIMES, LOS ANGELES TIMES, WASHINGTON POST


How cloning works
Straits Times 17 Jan 08;

WHEN scientists explain the practice of cloning livestock, they describe clones as genetic twins born at different times.

Cloning companies say it is just another reproductive technology, such as artificial insemination.

Here is how cloning works: Scientists take an immature egg, usually from a cow that went to the slaughterhouse, and remove the nucleus. They add DNA from a donor cow, often taken from the skin cell of a ear, and a tiny electric shock coaxes the egg to start dividing and grow into a copy of the original animal. The egg is then implanted into a surrogate animal for gestation and birth.

The first mammal cloned from an adult cell was Dolly the sheep in 1997.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Giant palm found on Madagascar flowers itself to death

Yahoo News 17 Jan 08;

Botanists on Thursday announced they had identified a new species of palm that is so enormous it can be spotted from space and whose bizarre life cycle requires the plant to kill itself after it has flowered.

The gigantic, pyramid-shaped plant was discovered accidentally by a French family walking in remote northwestern Madagascar, according to the publishers of their study.

The palm's trunk is over 18 metres (58.5 feet) high and its leaves are an extraordinary five metres (16.25 feet) in diameter, which could make them the largest ever known among flowering plants.

It is not only a new species, but also a new genus -- the taxonomic term for a group that incorporates species. In layman's terms, the plant is in a classification of its own.

Experts at Britain's Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, London, say the plant grows to dizzying heights before the stem tip bursts into branches of hundreds of tiny flowers.

"Each flower is capable of being pollinated and developing into fruit and soon drips with nectar and is surrounded by swarming insects and birds," British journal publisher Blackwell Publishing Ltd. said in a press release.

"The nutrient reserves of the palm become completely depleted as soon as it fruits and the entire tree collapses in a macabre demise."

It added: "The plant is so massive, it can even be seen on Google Earth."

The paper was to be published on Thursday in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. The London-based Linnean Society is an international association of naturalists devoted to the naming and classification of biodiversity.

Secrecy, though, surrounded the palm's taxonomic name.

The nomenclature was being kept closely under wraps until publication, in line with tradition involving new plant finds, the Royal Botanic Gardens told AFP on Wednesday.

A French couple, Xavier and Nathalie Metz, who run a cashew farm in Madagascar, stumbled upon the palm as they were walking with their family at a limestone outcrop in the hills of Analalava district, Blackwell said.

Stunned by the sight, they took pictures of it and posted them on the Web.

Kew research fellow John Dransfield, an expert on Madagascar's palms, saw the photos and asked a local researcher to send him material.

DNA analysis proved the plant to be a new genus within a palm tribe called Chuniophoeniceae. Only three other genera within this tribe exist, scattered across the Arabian peninsula, Thailand and China.

"Coupled with the great scientific interest of the palm is the fact that it is such an amazingly spectacular species and with such an unusual life cycle," said Dransfield.

"In a way, this palm is every bit as significant from a biological point of view as when the extraordinary Aye-aye lemur was first discovered."

The Aye-aye, a denizen of Madagascar first described in 1788, is the largest nocturnal primate in the world, and is believed to use echolocation to detect grubs in tree branches, which it extracts with its long fingers.

Less than a hundred individuals of the palm probably exist, which means protecting it from habitat loss and bounty hunters will be a huge challenge.

More than 90 percent of Madagascar's 10,000 plant species occur nowhere else in the world. But less than a fifth of the island's cover of native vegetation remains intact.

New tree species found in Madagascar
Jonny Hogg, Associated Press Yahoo News 17 Jan 08;

A self-destructing palm tree that flowers once every 100 years and then dies has been discovered on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, botanists said Thursday.

The name of the giant palm and its remarkable life cycle will be detailed in a study by Kew Gardens scientists in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society published Thursday.

"It's spectacular. It does not flower for maybe 100 years and when it's like this it can be mistaken for other types of palm," said Mijoro Rakotoarinivo, who works for the London botanical gardens in Madagascar.

"But then a large shoot, a bit like an asparagus, grows out of the top of the tree and starts to spread. You get something that looks a bit like a Christmas tree growing out of the top of the palm," he said.

The branches of this shoot then become covered in hundreds of tiny white flowers that ooze with nectar, attracting insects and birds.

But the effort of flowering and fruiting depletes the tree so much that within a few months it collapses and dies, said botanist Dr. John Dransfield, author of the study.

Dransfield noted that "even for Madagascar this is a stupendous palm and an astonishing discovery."

The world's fourth largest island, Madagascar is renowned for its unusual flora and fauna, including 12,000 species of plant found nowhere else in the world. Indeed 90 percent of its plant species are endemic.

The palm tree, which grows to 66 feet in height and has about 16-foot leaves, is only found in an extremely remote region in the northwest of the country, some four days by road from the capital. Local villagers have known about it for years although none had seen it in flower until last year.

The bizarre flowering ritual was first spotted by Frenchman Xavier Metz, who runs a cashew plantation nearby. After seeing it he notified Kew Gardens.

Puzzling Dransfield is how botanists had missed such a "whopping palm" until now. According to him it is the largest palm species in the country but there appear to be only about 100 in existence.

He also questions how the palm got to Madagascar. The tree has similarities to Chuniophoeniceae palms, however these are only found in Asia, more than 3,700 miles away.

Dransfield suggests the plant has been quietly living and dramatically dying in Madagascar since the island split with mainland India 80 million years ago.


Huge New Palm Found -- "Flowers Itself to Death"
Sara Goudarzi, National Geographic News 17 Jan 08;

A couple on a casual stroll in Madagascar recently discovered a new gigantic palm that flowers itself to death.

Taller than a six-story building, with a trunk 1.5 feet (0.5 meter) in diameter, it is the most massive palm discovered to date in Madagascar.

After the plant has rocketed to its full height, a vast candelabra-like structure of flowers develops above its leaves, said William Baker, a scientist with the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London.

Baker and colleague John Dransfield have studied and cataloged the plant.

"The [structure] produces hundreds of thousands of flowers, which drip with nectar when they are open," he said. "It is truly spectacular."

Once pollinated, each flower turns into a fruit. The palm's nutrient reserves then become depleted, the crown collapses, and the tree dies a prolonged death.

The palm is dubbed Tahina spectabilis—in the local language, Malagasy, spectabilis means "blessed" or "to be protected." It's the only known palm in a genus new to science, the researchers say.

Their research appears in the January 17 issue of the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.

Mystery Palm

Xavier and Nathalie Metz, a French couple who run a cashew plantation in remote northwestern Madagascar, first noticed the mystery palm in September 2006 at the foot of a limestone outcrop.

The enormity of the plant and its large flowers at the top caught their eyes. They posted photos of the palm on the International Palm Society bulletin board in December 2006, where Dransfield and his team soon caught wind of the discovery.

"Clearly this was going to be an extremely exciting discovery, and I just couldn't wait to examine specimens in detail," Dransfield said in a statement.

The data and material Dransfield's team collected suggested that T. spectabilis belongs to a new genus within the palm tribe Chuniophoeniceae.

Henk Beentje, an expert on Madagascar flora at the Royal Botanic Gardens, was not involved with the study.

"The fact that [the palm] is described by some of the world's major palm experts makes [the find] pretty solid in my eyes," Beentje said.

"It will enhance our understanding of palm taxonomy, and a new genus is a substantial contribution in its own right—there are less than 200 palm genera known so far," he added.

"There might be new genera lurking elsewhere but I doubt if they would be as spectacular as this one."

Eggs in One Basket

The only three other known genera in this tribe are dotted across the Middle East, Thailand, and China.

The researchers don't know how the newly discovered palm reached the large island off the African continent, or why it destroys itself after flowering.

"The new palm is one of a small, select group of palms that behave in this way," Baker told National Geographic News.

"There is little evidence that the palm flowers frequently, suggesting that it might be rather long-lived and that reproduction is a rare event. It is certainly an extreme way to reproduce—putting all your eggs in one basket."

Conservation Efforts

Researchers have identified 90 T. spectabilis specimens so far, most scattered around a tiny patch of limestone forest just 820 feet (250 meters) in length.

"Our analyses suggest that only a very small coastal area would be suitable for the palm, and much of the vegetation in this area is highly degraded," Baker said. "Apart from a lone individual at a nearby village, no other localities are known."

To conserve the palm species, Dransfield and local assistants have set up a patrol to guard the plants.

The Millennium Seed Bank and the Royal Botanic Gardens are also working to sell T. spectabilis seeds to raise funds for the villagers and help spread the palm.

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Critically Endangered Porpoise May Be Doomed To Extinction

Science Daily 16 Jan 08;

ScienceDaily (Jan. 16, 2008) — An international research team, including biologists from NOAA's Fisheries Service, reported in the scientific journal Conservation Biology, that the estimated population of vaquita, a porpoise found in the Gulf of California, is likely two years away from reaching such low levels that their rate to extinction will increase and possibly be irreversible.

Scientists believe only about 150 vaquita remain.

The research team, led by Armando Jaramillo, Instituto Nacional de Ecología, Mexico, included researchers Barbara Taylor, NOAA's Fisheries Service, and Randy Reeves Reeves, Chair of the Cestacean Specialist Group, IUCN -- the World Conservation Union.

The group assessed the number of vaquita based on past estimates of abundance and deaths in fishing nets together with current fishing effort. Approximately 30 vaquita drown each year in the Gulf of California when they become entangled in nets set for fish and shrimp.

Vaquita are found only in a small area of productive, shallow water in the northernmost Gulf of California. They are listed as endangered species by the United States and Mexico and critically endangered by the World Conservation Union.

Researchers cite worrisome parallels between vaquita and the baiji, a freshwater dolphin in the Yangtze River, which was recently declared likely to be extinct; primarily from entanglement in fishing gear.

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Endangered sea turtles found dead in Bangladesh

Straits Times 17 Jan 08;

COX'S BAZAR (BANGLADESH) - DOZENS of endangered sea turtles have washed-up dead along the southern Bangladesh coast over the last week, conservation officials said yesterday.

At least 20 turtles, ranging from 40kg to 60kg, were found dead on Monday and Tuesday alone, and more were reportedly found on other parts of the sandy coast, conservation official M.A. Hannan said.

Pollution and the use of illegal nets by fishermen near the shoreline were believed to be responsible for the deaths of the Olive Ridley turtle species in Cox's Bazar district but conservationists were investigating, he said.

Olive Ridleys, the smallest of all sea turtles, are endangered. They come ashore during September to March to lay eggs along Bangladesh's coast, Mr Hannan said.

Last year, several hundred of the turtles died along the same coast, officials said.

Dr Ainun Nishat, local head of the Geneva-based World Conservation Union, said the government should focus on informing fishermen how to properly release turtles caught in their nets.

'We can prevent most of the deaths of the turtles if the fishermen are aware enough,' Dr Nishat said.

The government has launched a conservation project with the help of the United Nations Development Programme to protect turtle eggs on beaches.

'We have already collected more than 1,500 eggs for breeding this year,' said Mr Hannan.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Bangladesh finds dead turtles on beach
Reuters 17 Jan 08;

COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Bangladesh found at lest 40 dead turtles, some weighing 40 kg pounds) or more, on the beach of the Bay of Bengal over the past week, officials said on Thursday.

At least 10 of them were found dead on Thursday.

"I have seen more than a dozen carcasses of turtles, some of them were Olive Reedley, scattered on the vast beach, during my resent tour," a senior ecological official told Reuters in Cox's Bazar, 400 km (250 miles) southeast of the capital Dhaka.

The turtles die mostly in winter and last year officials and fishermen reported the death of more than 200 turtles along the Cox's Bazar sea beach.

No one seems to know why the sea creatures are dying.

Marine officials believed the turtles died after being caught in fishing nets. But fishermen said they avoided such big turtles, as they often tear their fishing nets and other gears.

Environment experts said the deaths could be caused by increased pollution in the bay, from waste disposal of ships or perhaps other unknown natural causes.

Bangladesh has a 120-km (75 miles) natural beach from Cox's Bazar to Teknaf, which is poorly maintained and monitored.

(Reporting by Mohammad Nurul Islam, writing by Nizam Ahmed)

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Whalers vs activists: High-seas stand-off

Straits Times 17 Jan 08;

Two activists held on Japanese ship as whalers, activists trade accusations

SYDNEY - A HIGH-SEAS stand-off has emerged in the icy waters of the Antarctic as Japanese whalers and anti-whaling activists traded accusations of piracy and terrorism yesterday.

At the centre of the row are two activists who remained locked up on a Japanese ship after boarding the vessel in a protest action.

The whalers said that they would release the two men only if the militant Sea Shepherd Conservation Group promised not to take any 'violent action' against their ship and keep the protest ship Steve Irwin 10 nautical miles from the whaling ship Yushin Maru No.2.

But Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson, the captain of the Steve Irwin, demanded the immediate and unconditional handover of the two activists.

'When you start making demands for the return of hostages, that sounds like terrorism to me,' he told AFP from on board the Steve Irwin.

'We will continue to chase them until they stop their hunt,' he said.

The Japanese have accused the activists of attempting to entangle the ship's propeller with ropes and throwing bottles of acid onto the decks.

Sea Shepherd group said the pair - Australian Benjamin Potts, 28, and Briton Giles Lane, 35 - boarded the ship to deliver a letter demanding an end to the hunt, but they were assaulted, dunked in icy water and tied to the radar mast by the Japanese crew.

The Japanese side said that the two men were briefly tied up near the bridge of the Yushin Maru, and later moved them to a cabin.

'It was the only way, you couldn't have them running around the deck not knowing what they're going to do,' said Mr Glenn Inwood, a spokesman for Japan's Institute for Cetacean Research that organised the hunt.

He added that the pair had been given hot meals, a bath and had a good night's sleep.

Mr Inwood yesterday accused Sea Shepherd of stalling the handover to get more publicity.

'It is completely illegal to board anyone's vessel... on the high seas so this can be seen as nothing more than an act of piracy by the Sea Shepherd group,' he added.

A spokesman for Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Tomohiko Taniguchi, said that it was incorrect to call the two men 'hostages'.

'The two crew members were intentionally left behind on board,' he was quoted as saying by BBC News.

'According to the International Whaling Commission, what the Japanese whaling fleet is doing in the South Pacific and Antarctic region is legal,' he added.

Despite a moratorium on whaling, Japan is allowed an annual 'scientific' hunt, arguing whaling is a cherished cultural tradition and the hunt is necessary to study whales.

The programme is widely condemned as a front for commercial whaling.

'The pirates down here are the Japanese,' Mr Watson of Sea Shepherd told Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) radio.

The stand-off was an escalation of the annual contest between the fleet that carries out Japan's controversial whale hunt in the ocean at the bottom of the world and the environmental groups who try to stop them.

One way to resolve the stand-off could be for the two activists to be handed to an Australian fisheries ship en route to the area.

The two anti-whaling protesters were detained inside Australia's declared Antarctic waters and a southern whale sanctuary declared by Canberra but not recognised by Japan.

Australia criticised both sides for behaving in a potentially dangerous way in a region that is thousands of kilometres from the nearest help in case of an emergency.

'From the very first day I urged all parties in this matter to exercise restraint,'Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told ABC radio, referring to previously known plans for the environmentalists to chase the whalers.

'It's quite clearly the case that restraint hasn't occurred here.'

ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS

Group known for aggressiveness
Straits Times 17 Jan 08;

ANTI-WHALING group Sea Shepherd has been labelled 'eco-terrorist' for its aggressive tactics.

It has rammed whaling ships in the past, sinking some of them.

Its founder Paul Watson said he would do everything he could to stop whaling.

'Greenpeace claims they don't like our tactics, but they are protesting against whaling and we are policing whaling,' said the former member.

Greenpeace, which kicked out Mr Watson in 1977 because of his militant style, says it will not cooperate or share information with his group.

Its spokesman Sara Holden said Sea Shepherd placed lives at risk while Greenpeace only disrupted whaling by placing inflatable boats between harpoon boats and the whales.

'Our actions are peaceful and are not designed to do anything other than defend the whales,' she said.

In response, Mr Watson was quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald as saying: 'You don't go down the street and watch a dog being kicked to death and do nothing.

'You don't sit there and watch a whale being harpooned and killed and do nothing except take its picture.'

His group's reckless act of sending two members to board a Japanese whaling ship has achieved its goal - at least for now.

The harpoon ship has halted whaling until the activists are handed over.

REUTERS

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Which Whales are Most Endangered?

PlanetArk 17 Jan 08;

Japan plans to hunt almost 1,000 minke and fin whales for what it says are scientific purposes this year, continuing a hunting tradition that dates from the 12th century.

Minkes, numbering about 200,000 northern minke, (hunted by Japan), and more than 700,000 southern minke, are said by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) to be at low risk of extinction. Fin whales, numbering more than 40,000, are classed as endangered.

Here is a ranking of the world's smallest whale populations and some facts about the impact of whaling upon them:

1. NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE

-- Population: Approximately 350. Endangered.*

-- Found off the US East Coast and Canada, the slow swimmers were targeted for centuries for their abundant oil. In 1935 it became the first whale protected from commercial hunting.

2. BLUE WHALE

-- Population: About 5,000. Endangered.

-- The world's largest animal, weighing up to 100 tonnes and growing to 100 feet (30 metres). Distributed throughout the world's oceans.

-- Hunted to near extinction, numbers shrank from 250,000 to around 1,000 by 1950s. Now rebounding since 1960s whaling ban.

3. BOWHEAD WHALE

-- Population: About 8,000. Low extinction risk.

-- Found in the Arctic, where its 70 cm thick blubber helps it survive icy waters.

-- Hunted for its oil and baleen, or "whale bone", from the 17th century to the early 1900s; protected since 1946.

4. HUMPBACK WHALE:

-- Population: Between 10,000 to 20,000. Vulnerable.

-- Humpbacks live in all the world's oceans. Known for their agility and acrobatics, they also "sing" for up to 30 minutes.

-- Japan dropped plans to hunt 50 humpbacks this year after strong international protests.

5. GRAY WHALE

-- Population: 25,000. Low extinction risk.

-- Found mainly in the northeast Pacific. Gray whales are already extinct in the North Atlantic. The 100 or so Western Pacific gray whales are classed as critically endangered.

-- Decimated by hunters in the 1850s. International Whaling Commission protection has seen numbers rebound since the 1940s.

* Conservation status classified according to the IUCN.

Sources: Reuters, World Wildlife Fund (http://www.worldwildlife.org), World Conservation Union (http://www.iucnredlist.org), International Whaling Commission (http://www.iwcoffice.org/index.htm)

(Writing by Shahida Patail, Singapore Editorial Reference Unit)

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Bush exempts Navy from environmental law

Noaki Schwartz, Associated Press Writer Yahoo News 17 Jan 08;

Conservationists on Wednesday blasted President Bush's decision to exempt the Navy from an environmental law so it can continue using high-power sonar in its training off Southern California — a practice they say harms whales and other marine mammals.

The president's action by itself won't allow the anti-submarine warfare training to go forward because an injunction is in place, but the Navy believes it will significantly strengthen its argument in court. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is expected to make a determination on the future of the Navy exercises on Friday.

The White House announced Bush signed the exemption Tuesday while traveling in the Middle East. In his memorandum, Bush said the Navy training exercises "are in the paramount interest of the United States" and its national security.

Peter Douglas, the executive director of the California Coastal Commission, which joined in the lawsuit to provide the mammals greater protections from sonar, called the exemption unprecedented in California.

"I'm not surprised at all," he said. "It's typical for this Republican administration to ignore environmental protections under the banner of fear."

Attorneys for the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has been fighting the Navy's sonar training, said the group would file papers with the appeals court to challenge Bush's exemption.

"The president's action is an attack on the rule of law," said Joel Reynolds, director of the Marine Mammal Protection Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council in Santa Monica. "By exempting the Navy from basic safeguards under both federal and state law, the president is flouting the will of Congress, the decision of the California Coastal Commission and a ruling by the federal court."

A federal judge in Los Angeles issued a preliminary injunction this month requiring the Navy to create a 12-nautical-mile, no-sonar zone along the Southern California coast and to post trained lookouts to watch for marine mammals before and during exercises. Sonar would have to be shut down when mammals were spotted within 2,200 yards, under the order.

The court found that using mid-frequency active sonar violated the Coastal Zone Management Act and Bush exempted the Navy from a section of that act. Complying with the environmental law would "undermine the Navy's ability to conduct realistic training exercises that are necessary to ensure the combat effectiveness of carrier and expeditionary strike groups," Bush said.

Scientists say loud sonar can damage marine mammal brains and ears. Sonar may also mask the echoes some whales and dolphins listen for when they use their own natural sonar to locate food.

But much is still unknown about how sonar affects whales and other marine mammals. For example, the sound can hurt some species while not affecting others, and experts don't fully understand why.

In an argument that has been going on for years, the Navy has continually said that the exercises are vital for training and that it works to minimizes the risk to marine life.

A statement from the Defense Department said that the new exemption covers the use of mid-frequency active sonar in a series of exercises scheduled to take place off California through January 2009 and that the Navy already applies 29 measures to mitigate the effects.

In a separate development, the Pentagon statement said, Navy Secretary Donald Winter signed a memo Tuesday agreeing to greater public participation and better reporting on the issue while officials complete an environmental impact study for Southern California.

Use of sonar "is part of critical, integrated training that must be done in the Navy's operating area off the coast of San Diego to take advantage" of features there related to water depth, as well as extensive ranges, airfields and other infrastructure needed for training, the Pentagon statement said.

About half the Navy's fleet will receive "its most critical, graduate level training" there before it deploys its forces around the world, it said.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead said that exercises with sonar train sailors to detect quiet submarines that might threaten its ships.

"We cannot in good conscience send American men and women into potential trouble spots without adequate training to defend themselves," said Roughead.

"The Southern California operating area provides unique training opportunities that are vital to preparing our forces, and the planned exercises cannot be postponed without impacting national security," he said in the Pentagon statement.

Associated Press writers Erica Werner and Pauline Jelinek in Washington contributed to this report.

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Amazon deforestation seen surging

Stuart Grudgings, Reuters 16 Jan 08;

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Deforestation of the Amazon has surged in recent months and is likely to rise in 2008 for the first time in four years, a senior Brazilian government scientist said on Wednesday.

The rise raises questions over Brazil's assertion that its environmental policies are effectively protecting the world's biggest rain forest, whose destruction is a major source of carbon emissions that drive global warming.

"I think the last four months is a big concern for the government and now they are sending people to do more law enforcement," Carlos Nobre, a scientist with Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, told a seminar in Washington.

"But I can tell you that it (deforestation) is going to be much higher than 2007."

Nobre, whose government agency monitors the Amazon and gathers data, said that 2,300 square miles of forest had been lost in the past four months.

That compares with an estimated 3,700 square miles in the 12 months ended July 31, which Brazil officials hailed as the lowest deforestation rate since the 1970s.

Brazil's government has said that policies such as more controls on illegal logging and better certification of land ownership were reducing the deforestation that has destroyed about a fifth of the forest -- an area bigger than France -- since the 1970s.

But environmental groups have warned that rising global commodity prices are likely to fuel more clearing of land for farms, as occurred in 2004 when Brazil recorded the highest deforestation rate of more than 10,400 square miles (27,000 square km ).

LAND USE CHANGES

Nobre said the cause of the recent surge was unclear, but that the major drivers of deforestation such as illegal logging and land clearing for cattle farming remained intact, despite the recent annual declines in forest clearing.

"All those drivers of change are there. The three years of reduced deforestation ... did not bring by themselves a cure for illegal deforestation," he said.

Destruction of forests produces about 20 percent of man-made carbon dioxide emissions, making conservation of the Amazon crucial to limiting rises in global temperatures.

But the government has struggled to stem deforestation, partly due to strong global demand that has made Brazil one of the world's biggest food suppliers. Environmental groups also warn that a rash of planned infrastructure projects in the coming years could bring more settlers to untapped regions.

"Infrastructure is associated with aggressive and progressive land use change," said Nobre, noting that 90 percent of Amazon deforestation occurred within 30 miles (50 km) of roads.

He also warned that continued high world oil prices were likely to result in a surge in demand for Amazon land to produce ethanol, the alternative transport fuel for which global demand is already booming.

"If oil prices keep increasing there will be an explosion of biofuel production in the Amazon, contrary to Brazilian government policy," Nobre said.

(Reporting by Stuart Grudgings; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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