Green sea turtle reveals oceanic highway

Narelle Towie, news.com.au 28 Apr 08;

AFTER a remarkable 1400km journey, she has finally arrived in Western Australia.

For two months green sea turtle Dorte has hitch-hiked the ocean currents from Java to WA in search of shallow waters full of lush green sea beds.

She is one of the first green turtles whose migratory route has been tracked by conservationists, who plan to study the lifecycle of this ocean giant.

Dorte, who is thought to be at least 20-years-old, was tagged with a satellite tracking device as she lay a clutch of 136 eggs at a nesting beach in Java.

Scientists believe she is heading to Eighty Mile beach, halfway between Broome and Port Hedland.

“After laying her clutch she is now in her feeding phase. The best place to find sea grass beds is in shallow coastal waters and the west coast of Australia is perfect in that regard,” the ocean programme manager with WWF Australia, Dr Gilly Llewellyn told PerthNow.

“Dorte’s journey is unique. She has revealed an ‘oceanic superhighway’ that helps us better understand how marine turtles navigate around the world’s oceans as well as highlighting the strong ecological and evolutionary connections between Indonesia and Australia’s Kimberley-Pilbara coast,” she adds.

Although turtles are known to instinctively return to the beach they were born to lay their own eggs, it was previously thought that they do not travel great distances.

The discovery of Dorte's migratory route could be used to influence decisions makers on which areas of the ocean should be better protected, scientists say.

“This new finding throws the spotlight on the true natural values of the magnificent Kimberley marine ecosystem and its link to the Indonesian Coral Triangle to the north – the world’s epicentre of marine biodiversity and the cross-roads of migration routes and breeding grounds for whales, turtles, dolphins and other precious marine species," Dr Llewellyn said.

“We think of Australia as an island, but it is also a cross roads of the world’s oceans.”

Dorte’s tracking device will run out of battery in about six months time and eventually fall off her shell.

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Urban Miners Look For Precious Metals In Cell Phones

Miho Yoshikawa, PlanetArk 28 Apr 08;

HONJO, Japan, - Thinking of throwing out your old cell phone? Think again. Maybe you should mine it first for gold, silver, copper and a host of other metals embedded in the electronics -- many of which are enjoying near-record prices.

It's called "urban mining", scavenging through the scrap metal in old electronic products in search of such gems as iridium and gold, and it is a growth industry around the world as metal prices skyrocket.

The materials recovered are reused in new electronics parts and the gold and other precious metals are melted down and sold as ingots to jewellers and investors as well as back to manufacturers who use gold in the circuit boards of mobile phones because gold conducts electricity even better than copper.

"It can be precious or minor metals, we want to recycle whatever we can," said Tadahiko Sekigawa, president of Eco-System Recycling Co which is owned by Dowa Holdings Co Ltd.

A tonne of ore from a gold mine produces just 5 grams (0.18 ounce) of gold on average, whereas a tonne of discarded mobile phones can yield 150 grams (5.3 ounce) or more, according to a study by Yokohama Metal Co Ltd, another recycling firm.

The same volume of discarded mobile phones also contains around 100 kg (220 lb) of copper and 3 kg (6.6 lb) of silver, among other metals.

Recycling has gained in importance as metals prices hit record highs. Gold is trading at around $890 an ounce, after hitting a historic high of $1,030.80 in March.

Copper and tin are also around record highs and silver prices are well above long term averages.


RECYCLING METALS

Recycling electronics makes sense for Japan which has few natural resources to feed its billion dollar electronics industry but does have tens of millions of old cell phones and other obsolete consumer electronic gadgets thrown away every year.

"To some it's just a mountain of garbage, but for others it's a gold mine," said Nozomu Yamanaka, manager of the Eco-Systems recycling plant where mounds of discarded cell phones and other electronics gadgets are taken apart for their metal value.

At the factory in Honjo, 80 km (50 miles) southwest of Tokyo, 34-year-old Susumu Arai harvests some of that bounty.

A ribbon of molten gold flows into a mould where it sizzles and spits fire for a few minutes before solidifying into a dull yellow slab, on its way to becoming a 3 kg (6.6 lb) gold bar, worth around $90,000 at current prices.

Wearing plastic goggles to protect his eyes while he works, Arai said he was awestruck when he started his job two years ago.

"Now I find it fun being able to recover not just gold, but all sorts of metals," he said.

The scrap electronics and other industrial waste is first sorted and dismantled by hand. It is then immersed in chemicals to dissolve unwanted materials and the remaining metal is refined.

Eco-System, established 20 years ago near Tokyo, typically produces about 200-300 kg (440-660 lb) of gold bars a month with a 99.99 percent purity, worth about $5.9 million to $8.8 million.

That's about the same output as a small gold mine.

Eco-System also recovers metals from old memory chips, cables and even black ink which contain silver and palladium.


RECYCLING CELL PHONES

But despite growing interest in the environment and recycling, the industry struggles to get enough old mobile phones to feed its recycling plants.

Japan's 128 million population uses their cell phones for an average of two years and eight months.

That's a lot of cell phone phones discarded every year, yet only 10-20 percent are recycled as people often opt to store them in their cupboards due to concerns about the personal data on their phones, said Yoshinori Yajima, a director at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Just 558 tonnes of old phones were collected for recycling in the year to March 2007, down a third from three years earlier, industry figures show.

As metals prices rise, the Japanese industry faces growing competition for scrap, which is pushing up prices.

"We are seeing more competition from Chinese firms, and naturally the goods go where the money is," Dowa's Takashi Morise said.

In response, Japanese firms are importing used circuit boards from Singapore and Indonesia, as they also contain valuable minor metals that Japan is particularly eager to recover.

These minor metals such as indium, a vital component in the production of flat panel televisions and computer screens, antimony and bismuth are indispensable for producing many high-tech products.

However, they are often not easy to acquire as China has tightened export controls, making it harder for Japanese manufacturers to buy these metals.

That's where the "urban miners" step in.

"Our wish is to be able to help Japanese manufacturers that need these metals," Eco-System President Sekigawa said.

Editing by Nick Trevethan and Megan Goldin

(US$1=101.96 Yen)

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Best of our wild blogs: 28 Apr 08

Talk on Cyrene Reef on 3 May (Sat)
more on the wildfilms blog

Hantu Dive!
fishies, nudies and more sightings on hbing's blog and an unfortunate stinging encounter on the colourful clouds blog and more creatures manta blog

Sex in the Tropics: Coral Spawning '08
on the blooooooooooo blog and more about the coral spawning dive on the hantu blog

Cyrene Carnival 2
a roundup of Cyrene specials on the budak blog

Call for guest writers
to be featured on the AsiaIsGreen blog

Chek Jawa with the Naked Hermit Crabs
sea eagles, hornbills and more on the adventures with the naked hermit crabs

Chek Jawa boardwalk and hornbill babies with OBS
on the wildfilms blog and adventures with the naked hermit crabs blog

Differentiating between Diadema setosum, Diadema savignyi & Echinothrix calamaris on the tidechaser blog

Here be dragonet
a marvellous creature on the budak blog

Life History of the Vinous Oakblue
on the butterflies of singapore blog

A family of Red-legged Crakes
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

ssssscaly
on the budak blog and birds of the botanic gardens

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Nakheel has 'factored in' climate threat in land reclamation

Parag Deulgaonkar, Emirates Business 28 Apr 08;

Nakheel, the frontline developer when it comes to land reclamation for iconic property development, has already factored in adversities of climatic change to safeguard its reclaimed projects.

“Even looking at the most conservative figures [in the worst case scenario], the body of scientific evidence from around the world indicates a maximum sea level rise over the next hundred years of the order of half a metre. We have factored this into the final design levels of our reclamation projects,” a Nakheel spokesperson told Emirates Business.

Nakheel, which is now exporting its methodology and technology worldwide, was responding to statements by Dr RK Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC), which won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

Speaking in Dubai at the launch of ETA Star Property Developers’ green building called Verde, Dr Pachauri said reclaimed land, which is often not very high above the sea level, and low-lying areas possibly face the danger of subsidence.

“There is enough reason to be concerned about sea rise, especially in those areas which are low-lying or reclaimed and they are in the danger of subsidence. We cannot really say it could happen or whether it will happen, but it certainly is a distant possibility,” he said.

However, the Nakheel statement added: “We have also factored in king tides, storm surge, high seas [big waves], giving us a minimum height of four metres above chart datum. Rather than consider the shores of the UAE, which are very well managed, we should consider the thousands of other human centres occupying very low-lying coastal land around the world and assist them in planning for future developments.”

Across its portfolio, Nakheel, which is developing The Palm Trilogy and The World on reclaimed land, has invested in more than a dozen innovative research projects pertaining to environmental conservation. More than 20 different international and national research institutes and consultancies are currently associated with the company in efforts to promote environmental sustainability.

Dr Pachauri, meanwhile, called for “strict” zoning and building laws to ensure that structures continue to exist for a long time.

“One of our projections is that the sea level will rise by 59 centimetres in the next 50 to 60 years and that could be very serious. Although there is no question of threat of submergence or rehabilitation, we need to look at implications and bring rules and laws that could ensure safety to life and property.”

Apart from the rising sea level, climatic changes will have an impact on health and agriculture as well.

“There could be spread in vector-bound diseases across the world. Moreover, agriculture yield could come down, creating food imbalance and riots in some countries.”

Although demand for energy is increasing in Dubai and is adding to global greenhouse gas emission, Pachauri praised the emirate for initiating the sustainability agenda. “Half of the greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings and so there is urgent need to have more green buildings.”

In October last year, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, issued a decree ordering builders and developers to comply with green building standards to boost the country’s eco-credentials. The eco-friendly decree, which is the first of its kind in the region, came into effect from January this year.

“Dubai is committed to supporting the international community in addressing the global environmental challenge. It is the first city in the Middle East – and, in fact, one of the few cities in the world – to adopt green building standards, setting a benchmark for other global cities,” Mohammed Al Gergawi, the Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, Chairman of The Executive Office, and the Executive Chairman and CEO of Dubai Holding had said.

Green building is the practice of increasing the efficiency with which buildings use resources – energy, water, and materials – while reducing impact on human health and the environment, through better design, construction, operation, maintenance.

The related concepts of sustainable development and sustainability are integral to green building. Effective green building can lead to reduced operating costs by increasing productivity and using less energy and water, improved public and occupant health due to improved indoor air quality, and reduced environmental impact by, for example, lessening storm water run-off and the heat island effect. Practitioners of green building often seek to achieve not only ecological but aesthetic harmony between a structure and its surrounding natural and built environment, although the appearance and style of sustainable buildings is not necessarily distinguishable from their less sustainable counterparts.

Green buildings often emphasise taking advantage of renewable resources such as using sunlight through passive solar, active solar, and photovoltaic techniques and using plants and trees through green roofs, rain gardens, and for reduction of rainwater run-off.

Many other techniques, such as using packed gravel for car parks instead of concrete or asphalt to enhance replenishment of ground water, are used as well. Besides adopting the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, Pachauri advocated creation of an indigenous rating system that will consider the lifestyle and culture of the place.

In July 2007, Emirates Business reported the Emirates Green Building Council was planning to launch a rating system to assess environmentally friendly buildings in the UAE. The voluntary system, which will be tailored to the local climate and culture, will set a range of benchmarks including the reduction of energy demand and water consumption, and satisfying sustainability criteria for the use of materials.

“We already have rules in place. We will adopt those measures from the rating system that we feel are most applicable and useful for us,” Kamal Mohammed Azayem, senior mechanical engineer, Building Department, Dubai Municipality said.


Threat to small islands

Sea level rise is expected to exacerbate inundation, storm surge, erosion and other coastal hazards, thus threatening vital infrastructure, settlements and facilities that support the livelihood of island communities, according to the 2007 synthesis report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Deterioration in coastal conditions, for example through erosion of beaches and coral bleaching, is expected to affect local resources.

By mid-century, climate change is expected to reduce water resources in many small islands, such as in the Caribbean and Pacific, to the point where they become insufficient to meet demand during low-rainfall periods.

With higher temperatures, increased invasion by non-native species is expected to occur, particularly on mid- and high-latitude islands, the report said.

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Malaysian worker dies in industrial accident at Shell's construction site

Channel NewsAsia 28 Apr 08;

SINGAPORE : A 30-year-old Malaysian worker died in an industrial accident on Pulau Ular, south of Singapore, on Saturday.

The accident occurred at the Shell Eastern Petroleum's construction site for a petrochemical cracker which is part of a refinery.

Police say they received a call at 11am on Saturday.

On arrival, they found the body of the worker from Sarawak on the ground near a boom lift.

The worker was earlier pronounced dead at the scene by an on-site doctor.

Police are investigating the unnatural death.

In a statement, Shell Petroleum says the company is deeply saddened to learn of the fatal accident.

All activities at the construction site have been temporarily suspended to focus on investigations but it plans to resume construction work on Monday.

Shell Petroleum adds that the incident does not impact operations at its Pulau Bukom refinery.

Stressing that safety remains the company's top priority, it says it will continue to remind staff and contractors on the importance of working safely.

In 2005, a technician died after suffering serious chemical burns at Shell's premises on Pulau Bukom.

Following investigations, Shell Eastern Petroleum was fined $25,000 in 2007 for failing to implement safe work procedures under the Factories Act. - CNA/de

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No quick fix to soothe Asia's rice shortage fears

Business Times 28 Apr 08;

Policymakers should focus on sustainable increases in productivity

(MANILA) Asia's fear of impending rice shortages looks to have become something of a self-fulfilling prophecy and exposed the over-reliance of many of the region's economies on food subsidies and other market-imbalancing steps.

Economic analysts and experts said that the sense of crisis should begin to ease with harvests arriving in markets in coming weeks, but policymakers should take this as a wake-up call to start focusing on sustainable increases in productivity.

Spooked by the possibility of a shortfall and surging prices, Asian nations have in recent weeks slapped export curbs on their staple food and subsidised prices, reversing years of economic reform. The measures have helped stoke inflation and sowed more panic, the analysts said.

'The current rice crisis is sort of man-made,' said Randy Barker, acting head of Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute's social sciences division. 'We sort of created this situation by restricting exports and even on the imports side, countries are trying to build stocks.'

Trade officials are now urging the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to push food-producing countries to maintain exports to prevent a worsening of the crisis.

'At the moment, there is no shortage but the controls are based on the national security point of view. It's a decision by governments,' said Kazuyuki Tsurumi, representative of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations in Manila. 'When the harvest in 2008 becomes clear, maybe some countries' export bans will be relaxed or lifted, I hope.'

Because rice is a staple in most Asian nations and any shortage could lead to unrest and instability, governments are extremely sensitive to its price. Food prices have led to deaths in street protests elsewhere in the world in recent weeks.

In Asia, workers have rioted in Bangladesh over soaring food costs and there is unease, although no violence, in Indonesia and the Philippines, among the world's biggest rice importers.

The current rice crisis has not only challenged some Asian governments' commitment to free trade, analysts said, but has exposed the soft underbelly of fundamentally healthy economies.

On the face of it, the region's economies are healthier after ambitious reforms following the turmoil of the 1997/98 financial crisis. Governments beefed up their balance sheets with current account surpluses and banks strengthened their capital bases. But without strong welfare systems to provide a safety net for millions of people living close to subsistance levels, governments still fall back on food and fuel subsidies as their main social policy.

'It has been a main tool of this (Philippine) administration and past administrations but there are moves to see if this can be avoided in the future,' said Jose Mario Cuyegkeng, economist at ING Bank.

India, the world's second largest rice exporter in 2007, and Vietnam have imposed trade bans. Indonesia has raised planned food subsidy spending in its revised 2008 state budget. In the Philippines, the state's National Food Authority could be almost US$1 billion in the red this year against about US$62 million last year, newspapers have said.

Price controls are quick, costly to governments and they tend to become entrenched over time, analysts said. Instead, the authorities should target financial help to special groups and boost investments, Mr Cuyegkeng said.

'It's making sure that the next harvest season will produce a better yield. To a certain extent, it's a wake-up call to attend to the agricultural sector.' - Reuters

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Investment portfolios turn green

Business Times 28 Apr 08;

Socially responsible investing is gaining favour among high net worth individuals, reports OH BOON PING

INTEREST in environmentally-friendly investments is rising in Asia, and could gather momentum in the months ahead. According to the Merrill Lynch Cap Gemini World Wealth Report 2007, environmental and socially responsible investing (SRI) are no longer niche categories as high net worth investors become more aware of social and environmental concerns.

Globally, SRI assets under management totalled US$2.29 trillion in 2005, while socially screened separate accounts have increased 10-fold since 1995, reaching US$1.5 trillion in 2005.

Last year, Dutch bank ABN Amro polled some 300 clients across Asia and found strong receptiveness towards green financial products related to climate change and global warming.

Eight in 10 respondents are considering investing in a green investment product in the next 12 months while four in 10 indicated that they would allocate 5-10 per cent of their investment portfolio to green investment products.

Fortis Investments also notes that there are 'clear signs of interest from investors in specialty products such as SRI funds'. Rositsa Shivacheva, senior investment specialist (SRI), adds that 'funds with global themes and more innovative product structures have continued to gain market share'. The firm says annual growth in such investments in Europe and the US ranged between 30 and 40 per cent in the last two years .

Citi Private Bank says the trend arose as weather and environmental issues are increasingly in the spotlight due to the wide-ranging ramifications of climate change on the environment and the global economy.

'As public anxiety escalates, investors are paying more attention to this recurring theme and seeking investment opportunities as a result of the way in which governments, regulators, corporations and individuals are reacting to the perceived threats,' says Nigel Sze, managing director and Asia-Pacific head of investments at Citi Global Wealth Management.

Mr Sze believes that climate change will impact a diverse range of industries. 'The obvious one would be the energy sector where investors consider companies in alternative energy sources, such as wind and solar power, as well as biofuels, as worthy considerations,' he says.

He believes that Asian high net worth investors are increasingly aware that social responsibility and investment returns need not be mutually exclusive.

Even though the number of SRI instruments is still very limited, Mr Sze expects 'this product line to continue expanding in conjunction with the growing awareness (of) the potential risks of environmental issues'.

According to Roger Groebli, regional head of equity at ABN Amro Private Bank, SRI has drawn a great deal of attention in recent years as 'growing evidence of climate change is also pushing renewable energy sources even further into the limelight'.

'So far the performance of alternative energy stocks, such as hydro, wind and solar energy, have been quite rewarding, outperforming the MSCI by almost 20 per cent. While valuation has been moving up in tandem, this segment will remain attractive in the long run,' he says.

The Dutch bank believes that alternative energy sources, especially those that have environmentally-friendly features, will remain popular for some time, driven by climbing oil prices and other factors.

'Nuclear energy, in particular, has seen rapid expansion recently, evidenced by the price of uranium which has doubled over the past 12 months,' he says.

Citi says its wealth management team organised a number of small group seminars on climate change-related investment strategies for its high net worth clients last year. The investment options include structured products linked to baskets of shares in companies which are expected to benefit as global warming ensues. There are also funds focused on companies that could benefit from climate change technologies, water treatment/ distribution, and alternative/clean energy sources.

Says Mr Sze: 'We offer mutual funds that identify companies with strong commercial potential providing technology, products and services designed to alleviate and help overcome the effects of climate change. Such funds that allow clients to gain exposure to the climate change theme are usually recommended for long-term equity investors.'

Still, there are challenges such as a lack of transparency by Asian corporates on environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues despite tougher enforcement trends and greater customer oversight, said Ms Shivacheva of Fortis Investments.

'This issue has become particularly prominent in the last few years due to the trend of European/US companies outsourcing manufacturing to increasingly complex global supply chains,' she says.

Fortunately, Chinese corporates in certain sectors are starting to show greater willingness to disclose and engage in ESG-related issues and investors as a result are starting to gain access to more direct environmental, social and governance-related metrics.

On environmental issues in particular, Ms Shivacheva notes, governments in Asia have begun to understand that environmental problems are likely to undermine economic growth. The Chinese government, for instance, has raised its budget for environmental protection by 31 per cent to US$14.47 billion in 2008.

'Finally, our task as a sustainable asset manager is to ensure that investors' capital is allocated to those innovative companies in Asia that will become the winners as a result of the increased demand for products and solutions in the environmental areas such as renewable energy, water and waste management, and profit in the long-term from the increased spending on environment and infrastructure in the region,' adds Ms Shivacheva.

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Mushrooms could come to the rescue

Today Online 28 Apr 08;

FORT BRAGG (California) — On a warm April evening, 90 people crowded into the cafeteria of Redwood Elementary School here to meet with representatives of the State Department of Toxic Substances Control.

The substance at issue was dioxin, a pollutant that infests the site of a former lumber mill in this town north of San Francisco. And the method of cleanup being proposed was a novel one — mushrooms.

Mushrooms have been used to clean up oil spills, a process called bioremediation, but they have not been used to treat dioxin.

"I am going to make a heretical suggestion," said Ms Debra Scott, who has lived in the area for more than two decades. "We could be the pilot study."

Fort Bragg, which is in Mendocino County, was the first in the United States to legalise medical marijuana and to ban genetically modified crops and animals.

Using the mushroom method, Mr Paul E Stamets, author of Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World, said it is put in plots, strewn with straw and left alone with mushroom spawn. The spawn releases a fine, web called mycelium that secretes enzymes "like little Pac-Mans that break down molecular bonds." And presto: Toxins fall apart.

The proposal is not without critics.

"There still needs to be further testing on whether it works on dioxin," said Professor Edgardo R Gillera, a scientist for the State Department of Toxic Substances Control. "There has only been a handful of tests, in labs and field studies. I need to see more studies on a larger scale to consider it a viable option." — THE NEW YORK TIMES

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Warrior mosquitoe plan under fire in Malaysia: report

Yahoo News 27 Apr 08;

Environmentalists have condemned a trial plan to deploy millions of genetically modified mosquitoes in Malaysia to fight dengue fever, a report said Sunday.

Malaysia has expressed concern about the insect-borne scourge after 25 people were killed in the first three months of the year.

The New Sunday Times newspaper said the genetically modified (GM) male mosquitoes will be first freed in Ketam island, a fishing village south of Kuala Lumpur, in an attempt to kill Aedes mosquitoes which spread dengue fever.

Environmental groups, however, oppose the plan.

"Like all GM organisations, once they have been released in the wild, how do you prevent them from interacting with other insects and produce mutants which may be worse than the Aedes mosquito," said Gurmit Singh, chairman of the Center for Environment Technology and Development.

Dengue is endemic to Malaysia, which has seen a rise of 16 percent in cases every year since 2003, according to the government.

Fatalities from dengue in Malaysia reached record levels in 2004, when 102 people died.

Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said in the first three months of 2008, more than 9,800 cases of the mosquito-borne disease were reported, with 25 people killed.

The field trials for the GM mosquitoes will be undertaken by the Malaysian health ministry and British-based Oxiter Ltd, an insect bio-tech company.

The newspaper said lab trials conducted for the first time in the world during the past one year had produced success, and that field testing would begin by early next year.

The technique involves releasing GM-made Aedes mosquitoes to mate with the female mosquitoes of the same type, it said. The lethal genes from the warrior mosquitoes cause the larvae to die.

Only a female mosquito can transmit dengue fever because it has a proboscis that can pierce the skin.

Fear over impact on ecological system
New Straits Times 27 Apr 08;

ENVIRONMENTALISTS are not against new technologies to fight the dengue scourge but are against the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) which may cause more harm than good.
Acknowledging the need to progress with science, Cetdem's Gurmit Singh feared that the introduction of the GM mosquitoes into the wild to eliminate the aedes population could instead have serious consequences on the country's ecological system.

"And like all GMOs, once they are released into the wild, how do you prevent them from interacting or crossbreeding with other insects and producing mutants which may be worse than the aedes mosquito?" he asked.

"Although the technology sounds positive in getting rid of the dengue menace, we cannot take risks on a big scale because we really do not know the side effect these mosquitoes will have on other organisms and the eco-system.

"Unless they have done enough studies to ascertain the safety of the GM mosquito and until these questions are answered, I would be uncomfortable with the use of GMOs."
Fish and other insects such as the dragonfly feed on mosquito larvae.

Gurmit also questioned why Pulau Ketam was chosen for the field tests.

"Is it because it is prone to dengue or is it because it is an island and therefore easier to control in the event something goes wrong?"

He said there should also be effective monitoring of the project if it is implemented and suggested that it be done by a broad group of independent researchers from around the world.

Malaysian Nature Society president Datuk Dr Salleh Mohd Nor said it would be dangerous "to release these GMOs into the wild with the hope that it would do the things it should do".

He said although scientists should not be stopped from carrying out trials and pioneering new technologies for the benefit of mankind, they should approach it with caution.

"I'm concerned that releasing it into the wild without thoroughly understanding its implications may affect the ecology and cause other diseases to be transmitted."

Salleh also questioned whether the country was legally protected in the event something goes wrong with these field trials.

"These issues have not been raised. We need adequate laws to ensure there is a mechanism in place to protect the country under such circumstances."

Big hope for 'warrior' Aedes
By Heidi Fooheidi, New Straits Times 28 Apr 08;

KLANG: The Health Ministry will consider all factors when conducting field trials using genetically modified (GM) Aedes mosquitoes.
Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said it was too soon to conclude whether the method would be a success as it was at the research stage.

"It is a technological breakthrough and we are hoping that it can control the disease," he said, adding that research was also being done on vaccines.

Liow was commenting on fears expressed by environmentalists that the release of GM Aedes mosquitoes could cause more harm than good.

The New Sunday Times reported yesterday that the Institute of Medical Research and a company partly owned by the University of Oxford would release "warrior" mosquitoes in Pulau Ketam off Selangor to combat the den-gue scourge.

Speaking at a press conference after officiating the Federation of Alumni Associations of Taiwan Universities, Mal-aysia annual general meeting in Centro Mall yesterday, Liow said there was a shortage of about 9,000 doctors in the country, adding that in the past five years, more than 100 Malaysian specialists practising abroad had applied to return.

He said those who returned could apply for research grants from the government.

He said the eight Taiwanese universities that were recognised by the government were Medical School of Taiwan, Defence Medical School, Yang Ming Medical School, Chung Kung Medical School, Taipei Medical School, China Medical School, Chung Shan Medical School and Kaoshiung Medical University.

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Biologists rediscover rare cloud rat in Philippines: report

Yahoo News 28 Apr 08;

A rare rat species last seen over a century ago in the mountainous northern Philippines has been rediscovered by a team of American and Filipino biologists, a report said Sunday.

Lawrence Heaney, team leader and curator at the Chicago-based Field Museum of Natural History, said the rare dwarf cloud rat was last seen by British scientists some 112 years ago.

He said the rat was dead when the team found it in a canopy of a large tree whose branches were covered by thick moss, orchids and ferns at a national park in Mount Pulag in northern Luzon, the Philippine Daily Inquirer said.

The animal was described as small "with reddish brown fur, a black mask around its large dark eyes, small round ears, a broad and blunt snout and a long tail covered with dark hair," the report said.

"It is the animal whose existence had baffled biologists for so many years," Heaney said.

The animal has been preserved and is being prepared for shipment to Chicago for further studies.

The discovery proved a theory that the rare species lived only in high canopies with mature mossy forests in areas with an elevation of between 2,200- 2,700 metres (7,200-8,850 feet) above sea level. Mount Pulag is Luzon's highest peak at 2,922 metres above sea level.

"The cloud rats are one of the most spectacular cases of adaptive radiation by mammals anywhere in the world," Heaney said.

A British researcher, John Whitehead, first saw the rat in 1896 in another mountain region in the north, but little was known about the species.

"Since then the species became a mystery," Heaney said.

Cloud Rat Rediscovered after 112 Years
LiveScience.com, Yahoo News 1 May 08;

The greater dwarf cloud rat was thought to live in the canopies of tall trees in the Philippines, but the last sighting of one was 112 years ago. Now it has been found again.

One of the rodents was found in Mt. Pulag National Park in the Philippines.

The fist-sized mammal has dense, soft, reddish-brown fur, a black mask around large dark eyes, small rounded ears, a broad and blunt snout, and a long tail covered with dark hair.

"This beautiful little animal was seen by biologists only once previously - by a British researcher in 1896 who was given several specimens by local people, so he knew almost nothing about the ecology of the species," said Lawrence Heaney, curator of mammals at the Field Museum and leader of a team that rediscovered the rat. "Since then, the species has been a mystery, in part because there is virtually no forest left on Mt. Data, where it was first found."

The dwarf cloud rat (Carpomys melanurus) is a smaller relative of giant clouds rats, spectacular animals found only on Luzon Island in the Philippines, but widespread and comparatively well known.

The dwarf cloud rat was captured by Danilo Balete of the Philippine National Museum, in a patch of mature mossy forest (also called cloud forest) high on Mt. Pulag, at about 7,700 feet (2,350 meters) above sea level. It was in the canopy of a large tree, on a large horizontal branch covered by a thick layer of moss, orchids and ferns, Balete said.

"We had suspected from its broad, hand-like hind feet that it lived up in big trees, but this is the first evidence to confirm that," Balete said.

Since this is the first time the dwarf cloud rat has been seen in its natural habitat, the data collected from this specimen "will significantly augment our understanding of how these rodents evolved, what makes them tick, and how we can keep them around," said William Stanley, collections manager of mammals at the Field Museum. "Also, finding this animal again gives us hope for the conservation of one of the most diverse and threatened mammal faunas of the world."

The research team thinks that this species probably lives only high in the big canopy trees in mature mossy forests at high elevations.

"Now that we know where to look for them, it will be possible to learn more," Heaney said.

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Barn owl helps to find new Irish shrew

Paul Eccleston, The Telegraph 28 Apr 08;

A species of shrew has been found in Ireland for the first time - after it was discovered it was featuring on an owl's menu.

Scientists were alerted by the size of a skull found in food remains passed by a Barn owl. They eventually managed to trap several of the greater white-toothed shrew to prove that it has taken up residence.

It is only the third new mammal to be found in Ireland in almost 60 years.

The shrew is normally found in parts of Africa, France and Germany and the closest it has previously been spotted to Ireland is the Channel Islands.

It is not known how the shrew arrived but the scientists believed it was introduced only recently.

Dave Tosh, from the School of Biological Sciences at Queens University, found the shrew in Tipperary and Limerick in the south-west of Ireland.

He was studying the diet of the Barn owl in Ireland as part of his PhD last winter when he was sent pellets - regurgitated food remains - from owls to help with the study by John Lusby, Barn Owl Research Officer from Bird Watch Ireland.

"It was amongst a batch that I was about to dry in an oven, that I noticed a very large shrew skull," he said.

"Having looked at hundreds of pellets from Ireland already I knew that what I was looking at was very unusual as our native pygmy shrew is very small in comparison.

"I ended up looking through more and more pellets and discovered more and more of the strange shrew skulls."

In March seven greater white-toothed shrews were trapped at four locations in Tipperary and their existence has now been recorded in the scientific journal Mammal Review.

Professor Ian Montgomery, Head of the School of Biological Sciences at Queen's, who helped trap the shrew, said the discovery of a new mammal species in Ireland is extremely rare.

"Most species which occur in Ireland also occur in Britain but the nearest this species of shrew has been found is on the Channel Islands and the Scilly Isles," he said.

"These records are evidence of at least one recent introduction event, probably accidental, from continental Europe to Ireland and has resulted in a rapid increase in numbers over a short period."

He said the shrew - which is a prolific breeder producing multiple litters of up to 11 kits at a time - had found perfect conditions in the Irish countryside.

"The shrew is at time communal and it may be that a whole nest arrived at the same time allowing them to spread out quite quickly. A wildlife survey was carried out in the area in 2002-2003 and there was no trace of the shrew so it is quite possible it has been here for only five years."

The biologists will now investigate the ecological impact of the shrew's arrival. While it will provide an additional source of food for birds of prey, it may also be a competitor of small native mammals including the pygmy shrew.

The two other mammals new to Ireland are the Bank vole - thought to have arrived in a consignment of German-made hydro-electric equipment in the 1950s, and the Nathusius pipistrelle bat which probably crossed the Irish Sea from mainland Britain.

New shrew discovered in Ireland
Yahoo News 28 Apr 08;

Ireland, which has seen an immigration surge in recent years, has a new foreigner on its shores, scientists said Monday: the greater white-toothed shrew.

The mammal, Crocidura Russula, has been discovered in parts of the midlands and south-west of the republic. Its natural range is in parts of Africa, France and Germany.

Professor Ian Montgomery, head of the School of Biological Sciences at Queen's University in Belfast, says the animal is likely to have been introduced recently to Ireland and the discovery of a new mammal species in Ireland is extremely rare.

"Most species which occur in Ireland also occur in Britain but the nearest this species of shrew has been found is on the Channel Islands and the Scilly Isles."

He said the discovery was probably the result of an accidental introduction from "continental Europe to Ireland and has resulted in a rapid increase in numbers over a short period".

The shrew, which has been spotted in Counties Tipperary and Limerick, is only the third new mammal to be found on the island in almost 60 years.

The presence of the new immigrant came to light when Dave Tosh, from Queen's University, was studying the diet of the Barn Owl while working with University College Cork and BirdWatch Ireland.

Analysing owl pellets (regurgitated food remains) sent to him by John Lusby, Birdwatch's barn owl research officer, Tosh began to find large shrew skulls, too big to be the skulls of Ireland's native pygmy shrew.

Last month, the presence of the greater white-toothed shrews was confirmed when seven were trapped at four locations in Tipperary.

The discovery now raises issues of ecological impact and control.

The scientists say that while the new shrew is likely to sustain threatened birds of prey including the barn owl, it could lead to the loss of small native mammals including the pygmy shrew.

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