wildsingapore news: Feb 6, 2008

Bird flu spreads to urban Bangladesh, officials say

Reuters 6 Feb 08;

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bird flu has spread to the Bangladesh capital Dhaka and to the port city Chittagong despite efforts by authorities to contain it, livestock officials said on Wednesday.

Dozens of dead crows found over the past two days in Dhaka have tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu. City authorities have ordered a ban on the sale of undressed chicken in Dhaka markets, the officials said.

In Chittagong, officials confirmed the spread of bird flu in several farms and also in crows that tested positive for the strain.

The virus has spread to 38 out of Bangladesh's 64 districts, and forced the culling of nearly 500,000 birds across the country.

Bird flu was first detected in Bangladesh at a poultry farm

near the capital last March, but so far has not infected humans in the densely populated country.

Lack of awareness about the virus is still widespread in the country, officials and media reports said.

On Wednesday, a Dhaka newspaper printed a photograph of a man collecting dead crows at the city's main Ramna Park with no mask and using his bare hands.

Touching or eating sick poultry can lead to infection by the H5N1 virus that has killed more than 220 people globally since late 2003.

(Reporting by Ruma Paul; Writing by Anis Ahmed; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

Kashmir Pashmina goats face death in icy Himalayas

Reuters 6 Feb 08;

SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Thousands of goats that provide fine wool for Kashmir's famous Pashmina shawls are facing death because of heavy snow in India's mountainous Ladakh region, officials said on Wednesday.

Nearly 100,000 Pashmina goats have been affected by a shortage of food because winter pastures near the Chinese border have been covered after unexpected heavy snowfall.

"Over 90,000 goats are facing shortage of food and many of them will die if fodder could not be provided immediately," said Tsering Dorjay, a government official in Ladakh.

Pashmina goats, which grow a thick warm fleece, survive on grass in Ladakh where temperatures plunge to as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 29 degrees Fahrenheit).

Local newspapers reported stocks of winter fodder provided by the government had already been exhausted.

"We have requested the army to airdrop fodder into areas which are cut off due to unexpected heavy snowfall," Dorjay said.

After a ban on shahtoosh, the world's finest wool derived from the hair of an endangered Tibetan antelope, shawls made from Pashmina wool are considered some of the world's finest and they are exported worldwide.

(Reporting by Sheikh Mushtaq; Editing by Alistair Scrutton)

Singapore: One more chikungunya case reported

Channel NewsAsia 6 Feb 08;

SINGAPORE : The number of chikungunya cases in Singapore has gone up by one more to 13.

According to the National Environment Agency and the Health Ministry, the latest probable case is a female Singaporean with no recent travel history.

She lives at Mackenzie Road and was admitted to hospital for suspected dengue fever on January 16.

She was later found to have chikungunya fever.

So far 2,626 people have been screened for the disease.

More than 4,800 inspections have been been conducted.

Officers have detected and destroyed 77 breeding sites. - CNA/ms

Culture in peril as satellite TV comes to Borneo's Penan

M. Jegathesan Yahoo News 6 Feb 08;

As the roar of heavy chainsaws echoes in the distance, 54-year-old Ajang Kiew, once a nomadic Penan tribesman, wages a losing battle to save his culture in Borneo's rainforests.

The environmental damage wrought by the timber companies that are cutting swathes through Penan territory is not the only challenge faced by his people who now mostly live in villages.

As the loggers build roads through the once-impenetrable jungle to enable them to extract the timber, they also open up access to the modern world -- including television, junk food and new ideas.

At the timber camps and in Penan settlements, satellite televisions are now commonplace, powered by electricity supplied through diesel generators or mini hydro-electric pumps.

And Ajang says that as the forest shield is cleared, the young Penans no longer have an appetite for the natural environment or their ancient cultural traditions and ways of life.

They prefer pop music to the sounds of wild animals and insects, and crave for McDonalds and Coke rather than the pulp of a sago palm, the staple diet of the Penan which is eaten with meat from wild boar or barking deer.

"Yes I want a school, a clinic, but we need the jungle to preserve our culture," Ajang says in the Long San region about 200 kilometres (124 miles) southeast of Miri, an oil-rich coastal town in Malaysia's Sarawak state.

"In my village in Long Sayan, logging has destroyed the forest, including my ancestral graves," continues Ajang, chairman of the Penan Association in Sarawak, on Malaysia's half of Borneo island which it shares with Indonesia.

"If the habitats and the jungle products disappear, our culture will also disappear."

But 21-year-old Roland Allen, a Penan undergraduate student who attends university in Sarawak, says he has no love for the forest or his culture.

"I like to live in the town. I want to enjoy a modern lifestyle," he tells AFP during a visit to his ancestral home of Long Main village, half an hour's helicopter flight from Long San.

"We need to sacrifice the forest to move on. Education is a powerful weapon. We need roads. We need schools. We need medical clinics," he insisted.

Just behind Allen's house is a mini-hydroelectric pump sponsored by timber giant Samling which generates electricity and powers a huge satellite dish.

Some 20 children from Long Main attend boarding school, trekking four hours through the jungle to reach the nearest timber road near the town of Long Benalih.

Samling's plans to build a new road to Long Main have been halted by a blockade mounted by Penans aimed at protecting their forest.

The firm, which is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, flew a group of international journalists to the area to hear both sides of the story.

Allen said that without the road, life is difficult for the 150 residents of Long Main, especially during the wet season when trekking through the forest or by river becomes even more difficult.

Another young man there, 22-year-old Paul John who came back to the village after becoming unemployed, felt the same way.

"I help my parents hunt for wild boar. I am happy here. But we have to change. We need jobs. Life in the jungle is difficult. The Penans need to develop," he said.

"Yes, I enjoy pop music and whenever I want fun, I go into town for a drink and to smoke." Drinking alcohol and smoking is banned in the village.

Ajang is greatly troubled by the new generation's lack of interest in protecting the forest.

In the past he has himself organised blockades to prevent timber companies from carrying out logging and has been jailed three times for his campaign.

As he leads a group of journalists struggling along a wet and slippery jungle trail, Ajang's hunting skills are on display as his eyes scan the wilderness and his sharp ears detect any animal sound.

"Look, that is a young petai plant," he says with a smile as he points out a popular long bean-like vegetable that is eaten raw. "Over there, that is a sago plant. This forest here is alive."

Just then a barking deer hops out of the forest into a clearing and then quickly disappears into the thick undergrowth which has grown back after timber giant Samling logged the area.

As we climb over fallen logs, carefully avoiding the blood-sucking leeches, Ajang kneels down to the forest floor to identify the "iput" leave that is used to heal body aches.

He laments however that the "ipo" tree species, which produces latex used to make traditional poison darts for blowpipes, has become scarce due to logging.

Samling insists that they conduct selective logging, and only trees with commercial revenue are felled while other plants like rattan and sago are left untouched.

It also uses the logged area to promote eco-tourism -- sponsoring locals to be trained as guides, and helping bring in foreign tourists to visit waterfalls and villages, and to witness traditional skills and culture.

The plight of the Penan was made famous in the 1990s by environmental activist Bruno Manser, who waged a crusade to protect their way of life and fend off the loggers.

He vanished in 2000 -- many suspect foul play.

Raymond Abin, of the Borneo Research Institute in Miri, says Penan culture is being devastated.

"As they are exposed to outside influence, social problems like alcohol drinking is becoming a concern," he says.

Raymond says the divorce rate is also rising, especially among Penan women who marry outsiders who work for the logging companies.

"When the timber companies complete their logging in one area, the workers then leave behind their Penan family," he says.

Raymond says there are at least 15,000 Penans in Sarawak, including about 300 who still live a nomadic existence in the jungle.

Best of our wild blogs: 6 Feb 08

Another dolphin sighting!
at Pulau Semakau on the ashira blog

Massive reclamation off Labrador: photos!
by joseph lai on the flying fish friends blog

Flamebacks duo
on the bird ecology blog

How Will the U.S. Produce 36 Billion Gallons of Biofuel by 2022? from the Worldwatch Institute by Raya Widenoja

Singapore hawkers at wet markets say business has dropped by 20%

Channel NewsAsia 5 Feb 08;

SINGAPORE: Some hawkers at wet markets are complaining that business has dropped by some 20 percent as customers are staying away due to rising food prices.

In the past years, many Singaporeans would have completed their shopping at the wet market to prepare for the Lunar New Year reunion dinner the following night.

Stallholders at the Chinatown wet market said shoppers are more cautious this year. Fewer are buying seafood like prawns and pomfrets even though the prices have not changed much from last year.

There is also ample supply of live poultry from Malaysia, which has kept prices affordable. The price of pork, though, has been going up.

Some stallholders said they are absorbing the costs so that they can sell more.

Fruits and vegetables have seen the biggest price fluctuations. In some cases, prices have shot up by as much as 50 percent.

Citrus fruit tangor cost S$8 per kilogramme on Monday, but overnight, the price rose to S$12.

Stallholders said rainy weather in Malaysia has affected the harvest of most vegetables, and some now cost 30 percent more.- CNA/so

Chikungunya: 340 Little India shopowners told to remove roof gutters

Lee Hui Chieh, Straits Times 6 Feb 08;

180 have already complied; eight fined for non-compliance; rest ask for more time

THE battle against the mosquito-borne disease chikungunya has moved from the streets to the roofs.

Over the last 10 days, 340 shophouse owners in Little India - the centre of an outbreak of the dengue-like disease - have been told to remove the damaged or clogged gutters on their roofs.

The gutters can collect rain water and become a breeding ground for the Aedes mosquito, which transmits chikungunya and dengue.

So far, 180 shopowners have dismantled their gutters, while eight others were fined $2,000 each for refusing to comply, said the National Environment Agency (NEA).

The rest have asked for more time, citing difficulties in finding workers during the Chinese New Year season, NEA chairman Simon Tay said yesterday.

During a visit to Little India, Associate Professor Tay said most of the shopkeepers were cooperative, as they realise 'the reputation of Little India is at stake', and the outbreak is affecting their businesses.

'We need that kind of ownership. We cannot inspect every single house, we really have to work with them to make sure that their housekeeping is better,' he added.

Shopowners who ignore clean-up orders can be fined up to $20,000, or jailed for up to three months.

Singapore is in the midst of its first outbreak of chikungunya, a viral disease that causes symptoms similar to dengue, such as fever and joint pains.

Since the first patient was reported on Jan 14, 11 others who lived or worked in Little India have been found infected.

All 13 previous appearances of the disease in Singapore were in people who had been infected overseas, and the virus had not spread to others.

Since Jan 14, NEA has inspected more than 4,700 properties in Little India, and destroyed 75 mosquito breeding sites.

It has also enlisted the Little India Shopkeepers and Heritage Association to distribute its posters and booklets with tips on preventing mosquito breeding in seven languages, including Tamil, Hindi and Bengali.

The association has also been advising shopkeepers to be more vigilant against mosquito breeding.

One of them, Mr K. Nadarajan, 52, who owns four vegetarian restaurants in Little India, has had a pest control operator spray his restaurants with insecticide two to three times a week, instead of only once.

Fewer tourists have been coming to the area, and business has been halved in the last two weeks, said the shopkeepers association's chairman, Mr Rajakumar Chandra.

While acknowledging that stamping out the outbreak would not be easy, Prof Tay said that it has been confined to Little India and 'is still containable'.

'This is not a fatalistic outcome, we must not give up. Singapore has always been known to prevail despite outside conditions. The battle can actually be won,' he said.

NEA fines 8 shop owners
They did not remove roof gutters, a prime mosquito habitat
Jinny Koh, Today Online 6 Feb 08;

IN the first such enforcement action taken since the chikungunya outbreak at Clive Street, eight shop owners in Little India have been fined by the National Environment Agency (NEA) for refusing to remove their roof gutters.

Roof gutters are one of the major mosquito breeding habitats. So far, the NEA has issued 340 legal notices to property owners to remove them but only 180 have complied.

If they refuse, a fine of $2,000 will be imposed for the first offence, followed by $4,000 and $5,000 for the second and third offences respectively, after which the matter would be taken to court.

According to Mr Rajakumar Chandra, 49, chairman of the Little Indian Shopkeepers and Heritage Association, one reason for the delayed response from many retailers could be because they do not own the shophouses they occupy, and thus cannot make decisions about the removal.

Tenants occupy 99 per cent of the more than 700 shop houses in Little India.

These cases aside, however, cooperation between the NEA and shop occupants has been good.

Said NEA chairman Simon Tay during a walkabout at Little India yesterday: "Most have responded but of course there are still people we need to talk to, and they are coming around."

Mr Tay added that the NEA and the association had been distributing pamphlets on prevention tips to educate members of the public.

To date, some 10,000 pamphlets in different languages including Bengali and Sinhala have been given out.

As of Feb 1, there were 12 probable cases of chikungunya fever reported.

The NEA has stepped up its inspections in Little India, with 4,700 conducted since the first notification.

The number of NEA officers and pest control operators involved has also been boosted from 13 to 30. So far, 41 shop owners have been fined for mosquito breeding.

Owner of Ananda Bhavan Restaurant Mr Nadarajan, 52, is going all the way to ensure that his four outlets — he owns one unit and is renting the other three — are kept clean.

He sends his employees for hygiene courses, keeps his kitchen brightly lit and makes sure all unnecessary receptacles are discarded.

"Although we were careful before the outbreak, we are now more vigilant. We don't want anything to affect our image," he said. Business, he added, had dipped by 5 per cent, which is better than during the Sars epidemic when it plunged by some 30 to 40 per cent.

But not everyone has been so lucky — according to Mr Rajakumar, business at Little India is still down by 50 per cent for some.

8 building owners fined for not removing roof gutters
Channel NewsAsia 5 Feb 08;

SINGAPORE: No new cases of chikungunya fever have been reported since 1 February, but Singapore is still not free of the disease.

So far, all cases have been linked to Little India, so work to clean up the area continues.

National Environment Agency (NEA) officers have started fining homeowners who do not comply with measures to reduce mosquito-breeding sites.

More than 4,700 inspections have been carried out in Little India since the first reports of chikungunya disease in mid-January.

A total of 75 mosquito-breeding sites have been found so far. The most common problem areas are plastic pails, flower pots and roof gutters.

NEA has issued 340 orders to remove roof gutters. So far, 180 building owners have brought them down and eight owners have been fined S$2,000 for not complying.

Simon Tay, chairman of NEA, said: "Sometimes we just have to come in and fine people, no apologies for this. This is an important time for us to try to deal with this problem and to solve it."

Mr Tay said one problem is that many properties in Little India are rented out, so tenants are not able to comply with orders, and time is needed to track down the owners.

He added: "We have this resident migrant population in and out, and they will always have some issues. The habits from other countries might be different but we in Singapore are trying to educate them. We have been handing out pamphlets in other languages, really reaching out to them and we feel we will make progress."

NEA is also working with businesses and residents to tackle the problem.

K Nadarajan, restaurant owner, said: "We have taken a lot of steps in our internal housekeeping. We try to prevent mosquito breeding outside and we are hiring private pest control companies to come and fog our premises."

Many Little India businesses have been hit hard by the chikungunya disease.

Rajakumar Chandra, chairman of Little India Shopkeepers and Heritage Association, said: "The business here has definitely been affected – almost 50 percent down for the last two to three weeks, especially after media reported that it's been detected in Little India, so people try to avoid these places."

So far 12 people have caught the chikungunya disease. There must be no new cases within 24 days from the last case before Singapore can be considered free of the disease.- CNA/so

Jakarta governor told to tackle floods

Salim Osman, Straits Times 6 Feb 08;

Indonesian President promises central govt help in curbing the annual problem

Even if there was no rain in north Jakarta, flooding could take place during high tide. The problem is that many of our mangrove swamps that act as natural barriers have been replaced by shopping malls and housing estates so that sea water can flow inland during high tide.

JAKARTA - SIX months after the Jakarta Governor's election promise to end the city's annual floods, and with parts of the capital currently under water, Indonesia's President has told him it is time to solve the problem.

Heavy rain last Friday inundated several parts of Jakarta, cutting off the access road to the Soekarno-Hatta airport in Cengkaring for three days and leaving President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono among those trapped by rising waters.

And with more heavy rain predicted, the President met Governor Fauzi Bowo yesterday, telling him he had to work with the central government to end the flooding problem, provincial government spokesman Arie Soedarto told The Straits Times.

But the head of state appeared to be offering a carrot as well as a stick, as Mr Soedarto added: 'The President also promised that the central government would share the load with the Jakarta provincial government.'

Mr Fauzi had said on Monday, during his rounds of flood-hit areas, that funding was a problem, as getting flood-relief projects off the ground would cost the province around 1.2 trillion rupiah (S$182 million).

According to the spokesman, the President and the governor agreed on a number of projects they wanted to work on, including construction of the East Flood Canal to channel flood water to the Java Sea, and the building of relief reservoirs.

Meanwhile, four days after last Friday's deluge, some low-lying areas in west and north Jakarta were still knee-deep in water yesterday.

Office manager Sutrisno, 43, who lives in the flood-prone Rawabuaya district of West Jakarta, told The Straits Times: 'We are tired of having to put up with this annual flooding.

'The governor promised to solve the flood problem during his election campaign but has not done much to ease our suffering.'

But there may be limits to what can be done, as environmentalists say that Jakarta is prone to flooding partly because 40 per cent of the city of 12 million people is below sea level.

And Mr Fauzi told reporters after meeting the President yesterday that Jakarta was now 40cm lower than it was 18 years ago because of subsidence caused by intensive tapping of ground water by residents.

Mr Hasbi Abdul Azis of environmental group Walhi Indonesia told The Straits Times that even if there was no rain in north Jakarta, flooding could take place during high tide.

He added that rapid development of shopping malls and housing estates in catchment areas were also contributing factors to the severe flooding.

'The problem is that many of our mangrove swamps that act as natural barriers have been replaced by shopping malls and housing estates so that sea water can flow inland during high tide,' he said.

Millions in China to greet CNY without power

Business Times 6 Feb 08;

Whole cities have had power and water cut for over a week

(KAILI, China) Trains and planes are starting to return to normal across China, but millions are likely to spend the biggest holiday of the year without power and water in what for some is the coldest winter in a century.

The freezing weather in the run-up to the Chinese New Year break, which begins today and offers the only chance for poor migrant workers to visit loved ones, has killed scores of people and left millions stranded.

Whole cities have had their power and water cut off for over a week and, so far, 11 electricians have been killed trying to reconnect lines or break ice encasing poles and cables.

Kaili, with a population of half-a-million in the subtropical southern province of Guizhou, was cut off for several days by thick ice and hail.

On the road from the provincial capital Guiyang, many areas are still covered in thick ice with pine trees wilting or broken under the weight. Local television has shown downed powerlines and towers.

Kaili and other larger county capitals are receiving electricity, but officials and locals say many villagers in the countryside remain without power and it could be many days, if not weeks, before it is restored.

Travelling through the countryside at night, hamlets were in thick darkness with only candles providing flickering light.

'The situation has been improving with all the outside assistance, but fixing supplies to smaller towns and villages will take a long time,' said engineer Zhang Xuejiang. 'Once a tower is down, it takes a lot of work to bring in a new one, especially with roads like they are.'

But for many locals, the biggest headache is skyrocketing prices with pork, rice, vegetables and other staples doubling in price, or going even higher.

Army and civilian trucks are bringing in diesel generators and boxes of blankets and food.

'The electricity is back on now, but the problems certainly aren't all over,' said a vendor named Xu Song. 'Food is so expensive.' He said he knew that leaders in Beijing were working to fix the problems. 'But we're very poor and out of the way. Anything always takes a long time.'

Another headache for residents, with telephone connections either ruptured or weak, has been trying to trace family members working as migrant workers elsewhere and planning to return for the holiday, also known as the Spring Festival.

Zhang Dehua, waiting for his son at Kaili station, had called him on a borrowed phone a couple of days ago but hadn't heard from him since.

'I was hoping he would be on that train but I don't think he was,' he said forlornly. 'I will just have to wait for the next one and maybe the next one.'

About 80,000 commuters were still stranded at the railway station in Guangzhou, capital of the booming southern province of Guangdong, but the figure was down from a peak of 800,000 last week, Xinhua news agency said\. \-- Reuters

Malaysian palm oil prices hit record high on supply woes

Business Times 6 Feb 08;

(KUALA LUMPUR) Malaysian crude palm oil prices surged to a record high of RM3,458 (S$1,515) a tonne yesterday after Indonesia said it could increase export taxes, raising concerns about supplies.

The market also took a cue from a buoyant US soyoil market, which rose to a record high in the previous session. But late profit-taking in the soyoil market during Asian trade spilled over to palm oil, eroding gains made earlier in the day.

Indonesia said on Monday that Jakarta would would impose a 20 or 25 per cent export tax on crude palm oil and by-products if international prices climbed to US$1,200 or US$1,300 a tonne.

'If prices go on as they do, the new export taxes will definitely kick in and impact the market then,' said one Kuala Lumpur- based trader.

Palm oil prices, up 10 per cent this year, have risen on expectations of higher Chinese demand in coming months and bullish energy prices.

The benchmark April contract on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange jumped as much as RM113, or 3.4 per cent, to RM3,458 a tonne. The contract settled up RM4 at RM3,349. 'Malaysian stockpiles have been rising because of a lack of demand, but the situation will change as China will be forced to buy. And the new Indonesia export measures will leave little palm oil available,' said a local broker.

US soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade surged on Monday on fund buying, Brazilian crop concerns and spillover buying from soybean oil. But they fell during Asian trading.

'Traders had a change of heart. They realise that soyoil cannot always prop up palm oil and it's best to cash in since soyoil has wiped out all its gains and more,' said a trader with a foreign commodities brokerage.

Spot palm oil is still relatively cheaper at US$1,066 per tonne, roughly 14 per cent lower than spot Argentine soyoil at US$1,240 a tonne, traders said.

Shares of Malaysian palm planters have been boosted by strong palm oil prices with local broker TA Research raising its call on shares in firms like Sime Darby , IOI Corp and Kuala Lumpur Kepong to 'buy'.

Sime shares were flat at RM12, KL Kepong was up 0.6 per cent at RM18.40 and IOI rose 0.5 per cent to RM7.75. The plantation index was up 4.3 per cent. -- Reuters

Olympic-size skating rink in Jurong by 2009

Current ice rink to undergo $7m to $8m overhaul
Joyce Teo, Straits Times 6 Feb 08;

SINGAPORE is to get its first Olympic-size ice skating rink as part of a $138.2 million overhaul of Jurong Entertainment Centre.

The announcement by CapitaMall Trust (CMT) that it will build the new rink came two days after the Singapore Ice Skating Association complained about the difficulty of finding sponsors for a rink big enough for competition purposes.

Without a 30m by 60m Olympic-size rink, Singapore cannot be a member of the International Skating Union (ISU) and compete in ISU-sanctioned events such as the Olympics.

Ice skating association president Sonja Chong had said that she had tried for the past four years to get an Olympic-size rink built here. The body had held talks with various parties - and there is finally good news.

'We have been working with CMT and the Singapore Sports Council for the past two years,' she told The Straits Times yesterday.

CMT, a trust which owns various retail properties including the Jurong Entertainment Centre, said in a statement yesterday that it will replace the current 20m by 40m rink, operated by Fuji Ice Palace on level three of the centre, with the Olympic-size rink.

CMT said the Government granted it permission for more space at the entertainment centre last year. This allowed for a 62 per cent rise in the gross floor area of the entertainment centre to about 275,500 sq ft. The net lettable area would climb by over 89 per cent to about 209,700 sq ft.

Among CMT's plans are a rooftop landscaped garden and a newly created floor on level five for a six-screen cineplex, which is being moved from level one.

CMT is also hoping for approval to have the rink classified under a special government scheme, allowing it to donate the rink for public use in exchange for about 35,000 sq ft of extra gross floor area.

It would then be able to build more shops - which can generate higher rents.

Yesterday, Mr Pua Seck Guan, chief executive officer of CapitaMall Trust Management, said it is going ahead with the Olympic-size rink, with or without the scheme.

'Our first preference is to pass it on to the Singapore Sports Council.' But if it doesn't work out, CMT will find an operator for the rink.

He said when CMT bought the centre three years ago, it had intended to remove the rink as it generated low rent.

'But our customer survey feedback tells us that it was a major draw,' said Mr Pua.

'By bringing better facilities, we will be able to draw more sales and traffic for the centre,' he added.

About $7 million to $8 million of the $138 million capital expenditure will be spent on the rink.

Work will start at the end of this year and the new rink, together with the rest of the upgrading works, is expected to be completed at the end of next year.

'We are very, very pleased. It will allow us to apply for an ISU membership,' said Ms Chong. 'It will mean that the Singapore flag can fly at ISU events such as the Asian Winter Games.'

CDL luxury development garners green award

Business Times 6 Feb 08;

CITY Developments Limited (CDL) was yesterday conferred the Green Mark Platinum award by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) for its luxury residential development, Cliveden at Grange.

The award is for exemplary green projects that achieve 30 per cent energy and water savings. Such projects also need to have environmentally sustainable building practices, and innovative green features.

A joint press statement from CDL and BCA said some 3.5 per cent of Cliveden's construction cost was invested in the design of its green features.

These green features include the installation of '4 Green Ticks', the highest rating in energy efficiency for air-conditioners and refrigerators, and the use of renewal energy technology. Solar photovoltaic cells are installed to harness solar energy which then power up the lighting in the guardhouse and clubhouse areas.

Cliveden's green features are expected to achieve savings in energy costs of over $400,000 a year for the entire development, and cut carbon dioxide emission by 1,100 tonnes a year. As a gauge, it takes about 5,000 trees to absorb this amount of carbon emission.

Cliveden's award is the latest in a string of accolades CDL has received for its environmentally friendly projects.

Just last year, the property developer clinched two Green Mark Platinum awards - one each for The Oceanfront @ Sentosa Cove (residential), and City Square Mall (commercial).

Kwek Leng Joo, CDL's managing director, yesterday said CDL embarked on its green journey over a decade ago believing that it could make a positive contribution towards the environment. He called for the Green Mark to be made mandatory to help propel Singapore to become an eco-hub in the region.

Spring's Sprung Early in Britain

PlanetArk 6 Feb 08;

LONDON - Global warming is confusing British wildlife which has sprung to life too early in the unseasonably warm winter, a conservation charity said.

The Woodland Trust's Nature Calendar now fears some species are in danger if a cold snap hits before Spring properly arrives in March.

"Our notion of what spring means and what happens in spring is changing. Nature is beginning to respond to a warmer climate," said Dr Kate Lewthwaite, the Trust's Nature Calendar Manager.

"There are a lot of early sightings such as active ladybirds and butterflies out and about. We have had confirmation of frogspawn seen as early as December and even tadpoles hatched already," she told Reuters.

Despite wintry blizzards across northern England and the Midlands, January was much warmer than normal.

The Met Office said this January's UK average temperature was 5.3 degrees Celsius (41.54 Fahrenheit) -- almost 2 degrees warmer than the 30-year January average of 3.4 Celsius (38.12F).

January 2007 was the second-warmest on record, clocking in at 6 Celsius (42.80F).

Other key sightings by the Woodland Trust's volunteers include snowdrops as far north as the tip of Scotland and nest-building rooks hard at work in the southwest, Oxfordshire and Surrey just before Christmas.

The Trust says it would not normally expect to see nature so active until between mid-February and May.

Frogspawn was spotted on Christmas Eve in Penzance, Cornwall and tadpoles a month later in neighbouring Devon.

"It's tempting to say 'wow' but from a frog's perspective it's a calamity," said Lewthwaite.

"The frog is vulnerable, easily fooled into breeding too soon and the spawn can then be vulnerable to freezing," she added.

The Trust says that nature coming to life too early can also cause problems in the food chain, with insects responding faster to the warmer temperatures than some species of birds. Experts fear birds may be missing out on prime feeding.

"We believe global warming is the biggest potential threat to native woodland," said Lewthwaite. (Reporting by Georgina Cooper; Editing by Steve Addison)

Cane toads threaten rare crocodile population

ABC News 4 Feb 08;

North Australian environmentalists say time is running out to save a rare miniature crocodile from extinction.

Ten dead freshwater crocodiles have been discovered in a remote billabong on Auvergne Station near the Northern Territory and Western Australia border.

Post-mortem results showed they died from eating cane toads.

Toadbuster volunteer Sandy Boulter says the rare pygmy crocodile on Bullo River Station further west may suffer a similar fate.

"It doesn't matter the size of the animal, the toxin of the cane toad will kill all of our Australian fauna. Birds, fish, reptiles.

"Cane toads are mighty clever, vigorous little animals and ... they are only 20 kilometres from the pygmy crocodile population."

Toads moving on Kununurra

The Friends of the Kimberley Toadbusters group say almost forty cane toads have also been found on Newry Station, about fifty kilometres from the Northern Territory - Western Australia border.

The group says it's the first time large numbers of male toads have attempted to colonise this close to Kununurra.

Volunteer Sandy Boulter says the pest could reach Western Australia by the end of the year.

"One of (our) teams found three male toads in the culvert beside the Victoria Highway in Fish Creek.

"Five kilometres back they found 32 males and this is the closest that we have found the cane toads on the Victoria Highway corridor."

Cane toad threat to Australian pygmy crocodile

By Nick Squires in Sydney
Last Updated: 11:01am GMT 05/02/2008

A British zoologist is spearheading a campaign to save a unique pygmy crocodile from the depredations of Australia's most dreaded pest, the cane toad.

In a field of science which could scarcely be more Australian, Yorkshire-born Dr Adam Britton is one of the foremost authorities on crocodile conservation and research.

He fears that without prompt action, the toxic toads could wipe out the pygmy freshwater crocodiles, which may constitute a separate sub-species or even species.

Isolated in remote rivers and creeks by plunging waterfalls and steep sandstone escarpments, they are on average around half the size of normal freshwater crocs.

Both saltwater and freshwater crocodiles eat cane toads but quickly die from the poison contained in the amphibians' skin.

The pygmy crocodiles are found in just two known locations - around the Bullo River, on the border of the Northern Territory and Western Australia, and in the Liverpool River in Arnhemland, on the opposite side of the NT.

Their combined population is believed to be in the low hundreds, making them highly vulnerable to extinction.

Time is already running out. Cane toads have already invaded the Liverpool River, but it is so remote that scientists have no idea how badly they have impacted on the pygmy croc population. Toads are swiftly advancing on the Bullo River and are believed to be less than 25 miles away.

Wildlife volunteers have found nearly a dozen dead freshwater crocodiles in the region in recent weeks, all of which died after eating cane toads.

"In one particular incident we found a crocodile hauling itself out of the Victoria River, and it died in its tracks with its tail in the water and its snout on the bank," said Sandy Boulter, a volunteer with a local "toad-busting" conservation group which rounds up and kills the pests.

The Bullo River population of pygmy crocodiles is in the middle of the toads' advance. "We need more testing to establish if the pygmies are genetically different from normal freshwater crocodiles, but either way they are unique," said Dr Britton.

"They're stunted because they live in a marginal habitat with poor food sources - fish are much smaller in the upper reaches of these creeks."

While normal freshwater crocodiles grow up to nine feet long, the pygmies reach barely half that length. Researchers have found adult females which measure just 25 inches.

The cane toad's march has been relentless since a small group was released into Queensland in the 1930s in the hope that they would prey on a destructive sugar cane beetle.

They have hopped across the Northern Territory and are poised to invade neighbouring Western Australia.

The only hope of saving the rare pygmy crocs, Dr Britton believes, is to set up a captive breeding programme at a cost of around £40,000 to £80,000.

But so far neither the Northern Territory nor federal governments has agreed to provide the funding.

"Everyone knows about the giant saltwater crocs of the Northern Territory, but these little pygmies are at the opposite extreme. I believe that like the big salties, they could be a huge tourist asset," said Dr Britton, who comes from Wakefield but moved to Australia 11 years ago.

"As far as we know, Australia is the only place in the world where these creatures are found. This is our last chance to get out there and do something about the threat posed by the toads."

Human Activities Triggering "Global Soil Change"

Scott Norris, National Geographic News 5 Feb 08;

"Humans are rapidly consuming the global soil reservoir. In light of the growing global population, this is obviously a very serious change."

Earth's climate and biodiversity aren't the only things being dramatically affected by humans—the world's soils are also shifting beneath our feet, a new report says.

"Global soil change" due to human activities is a major component of what some experts say should be recognized as a new period of geologic time: the Anthropocene, or human-made, age.

This new era will be defined by the pervasiveness of human environmental impacts, including changes to Earth's soils and surface geology, proponents of the theory say.

"Unquestionably we are entering the Anthropocene," said Daniel Richter of Duke University, who authored the new study of Earth's changing soils.

In the December 2007 issue of the journal Soil Science, Richter warns that Earth's soils already show a reduced capacity to support biodiversity and agricultural production.

As the amount of depleted and damaged soils increases, global cycles of water, carbon, nitrogen, and other materials are also being affected.

Richter's report supports an independent proposal in the current issue of the journal GSA Today that calls for official recognition of the Anthropocene epoch.

In that paper, Jan Zalaseiwicz of the University of Leicester in England and colleagues argue that the fossil and geologic record of our time will leave distinct signatures that will be apparent far into the future.

To future geologists, Zalaseiwicz said, "the Anthropocene will appear about as suddenly as [the transition] triggered by the meteorite impact at the end of the Cretaceous" 65.5 million years ago, when the dinosaurs became extinct.

Overworked Earth

Today about 50 percent of the world's soils are subject to direct management by humans.

But global soil change is also occurring in more remote areas due to the spread of contaminants and alterations in climate, Richter's report says.

Worldwide, soils are being transformed by human activities in ways that we poorly understand, with possibly dire implications.

"Properties and processes in the soil are more dynamic and susceptible to change than we previously thought," Richter said.

"Only recently are we documenting how [many aspects of soil chemistry and composition] are all highly responsive to human activities."

Rattan Lal, of Ohio State University in Columbus, is a past president of the Soil Science Society of America.

He said that severe soil degradation is increasing globally at a rate of 12.4 million to 24.7 million acres (5 million to 10 million hectares) annually.

In parts of Africa and Asia where the problem is most severe, soils are simply put to too many uses, Lal said.

"Crop residue is taken away for competing uses, animal dung is used as cooking fuel rather than as soil amendment, topsoil is used for brick making, and nutrients are harvested and not replaced," he said.

Such local impacts are causing global problems. Soil degradation plays much a larger role in climate change, for example, than was previously suspected.

That's because organic matter in soils store vast amounts of carbon—more than is present in the atmosphere and in all land vegetation combined.

But heavily cultivated and degraded soils lose their carbon-storing ability as exposed organic matter breaks down, noted geologist Bruce Wilkinson of Syracuse University in New York.

"Over the past half century or so, global soils have lost approximately a hundred billion tons of carbon [in the form of carbon dioxide] to the atmosphere through such exposure," said Wilkinson, who was not involved in Richter's study.

Recent studies by Wilkinson and others also show that humans are now the predominant geological force operating on the planet.

Rates of sedimentation and erosion caused by human activities—mainly agriculture—are ten times higher those attributable to natural processes.

And on agricultural land, he says, soil is being lost ten times faster than it is being replaced.

"Humans are rapidly consuming the global soil reservoir," Wilkinson said. "In light of the growing global population, this is obviously a very serious change."

Human Legacy

The idea that these and other human impacts on the environment could represent a new geologic age was first proposed in 2002 by Nobel Prize-winning chemist Paul Crutzen.

Scientists who embraced the Anthropocene idea say that the Holocene epoch—the period from the last ice age 11,5000 years ago up to modern times—has already ended.

Our legacy in geologic time will be marked by global soil changes now under way, Zalaseiwicz and colleague note in their proposal.

Other factors include the decline of coral reefs and changes in the fossil record brought about by climate change and accelerated rates of extinction.

"The changes we highlight [in the proposal] are inherently geological in nature, in that they are leaving a clear signal in the sediments accumulating today, and thus also in the strata of the far future," Zalaseiwicz said.

"Some will be long-lived even on geological timescales."

But official recognition of the Holocene-Anthropocene transition would require approval by a commission of the International Union of Geological Sciences, and that may still be some years away.

Climate Change Billions Not Going to Best Use

Gerard Wynn, PlanetArk 6 Feb 08;

LONDON - Private sector billions being spent on the fight against climate change may be leaving a stocks boom-and-bust legacy as money pours into listed companies but leaves private entrepreneurs starved of cash.

The private sector is expected to foot the bill for climate action, policymakers say -- with governments' role limited to tilting charges and subsidies in favour of low carbon-emitting renewable sources of energy like wind and solar, away from fossil fuels like coal.

And investment is soaring above US$100 billion annually after a blitz of government rhetoric, while continuing government backing will be needed to counteract a global credit crunch and economic slowdown.

But most environmental funds, which are launched on an almost weekly basis, particularly target listed stocks, prompting stock bubbles and crashes in some sectors while unquoted companies and entrepreneurs queue for cash.

"Clearly areas of the market are overvalued...(but) the environmental technologies sector has grown very fast and continues to do so," said Nick Smith, chief executive of Allianz Global Investors (AGI) UK, expressing concerns about over-valuation in Chinese solar stocks.

AGI next week launches a UK-domiciled Allianz RCM Global EcoTrends Fund which aims to build on the 1.7 billion euros (US$2.52 billion) AGI already holds in clean energy, pollution control and water stocks. AGI has to invest in listed companies for compliance reasons.

Shares in one of the world biggest solar power companies Norway's Renewable Energy Corp nearly halved last month, compared with a 7 percent drop on the MSCI index of world stock markets.

Many solar stocks have dived, due to a mix of falling oil prices, worries about a consumer downturn -- because households are important solar panel customers -- and concerns that a shortage of raw material silicon may become a glut, which could slash solar panel prices and profit margins.

Such falls follow a similar dive in the biofuels sector last year after a production glut joined spiralling input costs.

An economic downturn may weigh some renewable energy investments further.

Evidence is emerging that banks are already charging slightly higher rates for large wind power projects following the credit squeeze, according to Tom Murley, head of renewable energy investing at private equity firm HG Capital.

"Banks are more cautious to underwrite deals, they want club deals, and so are asking for a little bit more. It's certainly not as hard as leveraged finance but there are signs it could be getting more difficult."

SHORTAGE

Start-up unquoted companies in Europe are facing a money shortage across the board compared to counterparts in the United States. A lack of risk-taking spirit among investors with accounting rather than entrepreneurial backgrounds is blamed.

North American cleantech companies raised three times more such venture capital funding compared to their counterparts in Europe in 2007, according to the Cleantech Group.

"There are entrepreneurs and technologies in Europe but funding is the challenge -- call it entrepreneurial capital," said Nicholas Parker, chairman of Cleantech Group. "The danger for Europe is...on the prosperity agenda it will lose out. California is going there and will reap the benefit."

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso last month acknowledged that America was ahead on venture capital, a view backed by London-based operators.

"The Americans have the money," said Mungo Park, chairman of Innovator Capital, which advises cleantech and biotech companies on raising funding and other matters.

Promising technologies recently surveyed by Park included an electrically-active solar spray which can be applied to the windscreens of cars and scooters and now in the lab of a Dublin-based physicist.

UK homes urged to 'leave it off'

Richard Black, BBC News 5 Feb 08;

Britons are being asked to "leave it off" later this month, to show that cutting home energy use can have an impact on climate change.

During E-Day, which begins on 27 February, people will be asked to switch off electrical items not in use.

The National Grid will assess what difference it makes to electricity consumption, and power companies will offer support for home insulation.

E-Day builds on the Planet Relief idea developed but later dropped by the BBC.

"We're all using electricity, but we tend to have very little idea about how the amount we're using goes up and down," said Matt Prescott, the scientist and climate campaigner who developed Planet Relief and then E-Day.

"There are a million-and-one things you could be thinking about in relation to curbing climate change; but let's focus here on how the choices we make affect energy use, and try to take some small basic steps in everyday life," he told BBC News.

Disrupted planet

Planet Relief was first developed as an awareness-raising, comedy-led BBC TV programme.

The BBC justified the decision to drop it after 18 months of development by saying viewers preferred factual or documentary programmes about climate change.

The decision came after poor audiences for Live Earth, and public debate over whether it was the corporation's role to "save the planet".

After having worked with the BBC on Planet Relief, Dr Prescott then elected to see whether he could run the project as a stand-alone entity.

Energy companies, charities involved in climate change, other corporate backers and the National Grid decided to continue their support.

The grid's involvement is crucial. Initially it had been concerned that abrupt changes in demand could overload or disrupt supplies around the country.

Now, it will measure consumption during the 24 hours against a "business as usual" forecast, and report back what savings have been achieved.

"We are supporting E-Day because everyone can play their part, and also help to reduce their bills by only using the energy they need," said Joe Kwasnik, global head of the grid's climate change policy.

Supermarket giant Tesco is using the event to offer information and services that could help customers reduce energy use.

Major energy retailers are offering simplified access to the programmes they are obliged to operate under the government's Energy Efficiency Commitment (EEC) and Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (Cert).

People will be able to register their interest in measures such as loft or wall insulation through the E-Day website, and the companies will assess whether registrants are eligible for subsidies, which can be up to 100%.

The event is also backed by the Stop Climate Chaos coalition of charities, whose 50 members include such diverse groups as Christian Aid, Greenpeace and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

Small beginnings

The E-Day campaign hopes to achieve relatively modest cuts in electricity consumption of 1-3%.

"You have to start from somewhere," commented Matt Prescott, who has been in the vanguard of the campaign to ban incandescent lightbulbs.

"And I thought that if businesses and the government are going to make different decisions (about energy and climate issues) in future, then they need to know there's public support.

"We have 70% of the public saying they accept climate change and wanting to do something about it; but almost everybody feels powerless, and I wanted to find a way of making people feel powerful and that they could change something."

Government policy is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by the year 2050, and there is debate over whether this target is strict enough, with some scientists urging tougher targets, in the order of 80%, for developed countries.

There is general acknowledgement that individual actions alone cannot bring cuts of anything like this scale.

"E-day is useful in itself," observed Lord Robert May, a former chair of the Royal Society, who is supporting the event.

"But it is even more useful for its potential to engage people in the larger tasks ahead of us if we are to avoid catastrophic levels of climate change."

E-Day will run for 24 hours from 1800 GMT on 27 February.

U.S. moves to cut energy use by televisions

Reuters 5 Feb 08;

If all televisions sold in the United States were to meet Energy Star's new requirements, the savings in energy costs would grow to about $1 billion annually and greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by the amount spewed by 1 million cars.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday digital televisions will face more stringent requirements to earn its energy efficient label.

Starting November 1, televisions carrying the EPA's Energy Star label will have to be up to 30 percent more efficient than conventional models. This is the first time that the Energy Star designation will be given to televisions for using less energy while they are on and in standby mode.

"Energy Star's new specifications for televisions are turning the channel on energy guzzling sets - making them go the way of rabbit-ears and the black and white TV," said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson in a statement.

The new specifications are expected to lower greenhouse gas emissions and save Americans money. If all televisions sold in the United States were to meet Energy Star's new requirements, the savings in energy costs would grow to about $1 billion annually and greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by the amount spewed by 1 million cars.

The United States has more than 275 million televisions in use.

The Consumer Electronics Association applauded the EPA's updated Energy Star guidelines, saying it worked with the agency to make the new-generation of televisions more energy efficient.

Energy Star, a voluntary, market based partnership that promotes energy efficiency, helped Americans save about $14 billion in energy bills in 2006 and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 25 million vehicles.

(Reporting by Ayesha Rascoe; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

BP suffers falling profits in 2007 as output slides

Roland Jackson Yahoo News 5 Feb 08;

British energy giant BP said Tuesday that net earnings fell last year, despite soaring crude oil prices, as it was hit by declining output following a turbulent 2007.

The world's third-biggest oil major also confirmed it would axe about 5,000 jobs in a cost-cutting drive that was signalled last year by chief executive Tony Hayward, who wants to breathe new life into the embattled group.

"We are absolutely determined to transform our downstream business as a whole," Hayward said in comments accompanying the annual results.

"It will not happen overnight, but we believe that the performance gap with our competitors can be progressively narrowed in the next few years."

Net profit dipped 5.25 percent to 20.845 billion dollars (14.15 billion euros) last year. Production fell 3.0 percent to 3.82 million barrels per day of oil equivalent but revenues rose 6.9 percent to 284.37 billion dollars.

BP said that net profit, excluding gains from the value of its crude oil inventories, tumbled 22 percent to 17.29 billion dollars.

In 2007, the world's major energy companies enjoyed soaring oil prices that h blazed a record-breaking trail on their way towards 100.09 dollars per barrel early last month.

Anglo-Dutch firm Royal Dutch Shell posted record net profits of 31 billion dollars and US titan ExxonMobil hit 40.6 billion dollars -- the largest US corporate annual profit in history.

Last year, however, BP faced a major boardroom scandal, and the continued fallout from a fatal blast at its Texas City refinery in 2005 and a major pipeline leak in Alaska in 2006.

Despite sagging profits, BP's share price jumped 2.68 percent to 556.50 pence on Tuesday as investors concentrated on news that the group has hiked its quarterly shareholder dividend by 25 percent.

In the fourth quarter, meanwhile, BP's net profit jumped 52.7 percent from a year earlier to 4.40 billion dollars (2.96 billion euros), reflecting higher oil prices and volumes.

But excluding the value of its crude oil inventories, net profit plunged by 23 percent to 2.97 billion dollars in the three months, BP added.

Hayward admitted the performance was "very disappointing in refining and marketing in particular."

Fourth-quarter output rose 2.0 percent to 3.91 million barrels per day of oil equivalent, while revenues jumped 28.9 percent to 79.85 billion dollars.

BP is the world's third biggest energy company in terms of stock market capitalisation behind number one ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell.

Unlike its peers, however, BP endured a torrid time in 2007.

In October, the British group admitted that its profits were hit by lower output, weak US gas prices and refinery outages.

The same month, BP agreed to pay 373 million dollars in fines and compensation to settle several US government probes, including allegations of trading abuses.

BP agreed to pay the fines, some of which were criminal penalties, for environmental violations relating to the Texas blast in 2005 and crude oil pipeline leaks in Alaska.

The explosion killed 15 people and raised serious safety concerns about BP's US facilities.

Last May, meanwhile, John Browne unexpectedly resigned as BP chief executive after a newspaper group won a legal battle to publish details of his relationship with another man.

Browne had been due to retire in July after 12 years at the helm of the group he had helped transform into an energy giant. He was replaced by Hayward.

Hayward was head of BP's production unit when in 2006 the group was forced into a partial shutdown of its 400,000-barrel per day Prudhoe Bay field in Alaska following a leak in poorly maintained pipelines.

Towards the end of last year, Hayward unveiled a major restructuring to help transform the group's fortunes.

BP was split into two divisions -- Exploration and Production, and Refining and Marketing -- compared to three currently. BP's Gas, Power and Renewables unit was absorbed into the other two.

Australian fisherman raises alarm on Indigenous dugong hunt

ABC News 5 Feb 08;

A Northern Territory fisherman says all Australians should be concerned about the impact of Indigenous hunting on dugong stocks.

Commercial barramundi fisherman Peter Manning says independent analysis is needed to assess the long-term sustainability of harpooning dugongs.

Aboriginal communities in northern Australia are allowed to hunt dugongs with harpoons for cultural reasons.

But Mr Manning says the impact of the hunt is not being regularly and independently monitored.

He says the last survey of Indigenous marine harvesting six years ago estimated 1,600 dugongs were killed annually in northern waters.

And he says dugongs could now be under greater threat than whales hunted by Japanese ships in the Southern Ocean.

"Whether it's because it's an Indigenous fishery and they don't want to upset people ... regardless of who it is, there needs to be management so that we know exactly what's been taken, and whether that amount is sustainable or not," he said.

"Some places are getting depleted. Every time people have trouble traditionally going to catch dugong, they usually blame the commercial fishermen.

"But we have done our bit to try and help not catch these species, so I just don't see how it can sustain such levels.

"We should have a monitoring program so they know exactly how many are being taken, whether they have been male or female, the size and so on.

"People in the south of Australia just don't realise that we have these animals here and they are being taken."

Mr Manning says Indigenous harvesting should be subject to the same scrutiny as commercial and recreational fishing.

"Previously there had been a big kill down the McArthur River," he said.

"I think it was 27 a few years ago, and as an industry we had to do something about that.

"Because they're a protected species, and as I say, very slow breeding and they need to be looked after."

But Northern Territory Environment Minister Len Kiely says there is no reason to be alarmed over Indigenous catches of dugongs.

He says a new survey of dugongs is underway to update the figures from the 2002 survey.

"Staff in the marine biodiversity section of my department are currently working with the James Cook University on an aerial survey of numbers of dugongs in northern waters," he said.

"This project will enable us to get clear scientific data to assist [study of] harvest and entanglement impacts."

"We are looking at sustainability into the future ... we'll have a look at the data and see just what it implies, and from there we will work out any plans that we have to. We always talk to all stakeholders."

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