Best of our wild blogs: 16 May 08

Talk on Life and death at Chek Jawa
A UROPs research experience in Life Sciences on the cj project blog

Another run away idea for Changi
on the wildfilms blog

Knobbly sea stars of our shores
a compilation of all past sightings reported on blogs on the star tracker blog

Star Tracker in action
video clip on the sgbeachbum blog

What is a park connector?
From someone who works on them, on the garden voices blog

Serpentine delivery
the travails of being a snake courier on the ashira blog

Sharing about our shores with MUIS
on the wildfilms blog

Semakau overnight
on the discovery blog and tidechaser blog

Common Iora nesting
on the bird ecology blog

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An epidemic of extinctions: Decimation of life on earth

Species are dying out at a rate not seen since the demise of the dinosaurs, according to a report published today – and human behaviour is to blame. Emily Dugan counts the cost

The Independent 16 May 08;

The world's species are declining at a rate "unprecedented since the extinction of the dinosaurs", a census of the animal kingdom has revealed. The Living Planet Index out today shows the devastating impact of humanity as biodiversity has plummeted by almost a third in the 35 years to 2005.

The report, produced by WWF, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the Global Footprint Network, says land species have declined by 25 per cent, marine life by 28 per cent, and freshwater species by 29 per cent.

Jonathan Loh, editor of the report, said that such a sharp fall was "completely unprecedented in terms of human history".

"You'd have to go back to the extinction of the dinosaurs to see a decline as rapid as this," he added. "In terms of human lifespan we may be seeing things change relatively slowly, but in terms of the world's history this is very rapid."

And "rapid" is putting it mildly. Scientists say the current extinction rate is now up to 10,000 times faster than what has historically been recorded as normal.

As nations meet for the Convention on Biological Diversity in Bonn, these alarming figures will cast a shadow over government pledges to make a "significant" reduction in biodiversity loss by 2010. In fact, the report's authors say that global inaction has already made such a goal totally unattainable.

"It's very damning for the governments that are party to the convention that they are not able to meet the target they set for themselves," said Mr Loh. "The talk doesn't get translated into action. We are failing, and the consequences will be devastating."

Tracking nearly 4,000 species between 1970 and 2005, the team has not only revealed the destruction of the Earth's wildlife, but also pointed the finger at the perpetrators of this devastation.

Ben Collen, extinctions researcher at ZSL, said: "Between 1960 and 2000, the human population of the world has doubled. Yet during the same period, the animal populations have declined by 30 per cent. It's beyond doubt that this decline has been caused by humans."

The study picked out five reasons for species decline, all of which can be traced back to human behaviour: climate change, pollution, the destruction of animals' natural habitat, the spread of invasive species, and the overexploitation of species. At a time when America has finally added the polar bear to the endangered species list, it is emerging that the scale of species destruction reaches far beyond the headline animals. But as in the case of the polar bear, mankind's behaviour needs to be radically changed in order to stop this pillaging of the Earth's biodiversity.

The Yangtze river dolphin is a case in point. Scientists believe it is extinct, as successive searches for the freshwater mammal have proved fruitless. There are many reasons for its rapid path to extinction: collisions with boats, habitat loss and pollution. These factors all point back to one perpetrator: mankind.

Aside from tackling global emissions, the report recommended two ways that species decline could be combated – by avoiding the destruction of animals' natural habitat by overdevelopment or cultivation; and in avoiding the over-farming or fishing of individual species.

The implications of such drastic reductions in biodiversity are already having an impact on human life. "Reduced biodiversity means millions of people face a future where food supplies are more vulnerable to pests and disease and where water is in irregular or short supply," said James Leape, director general of WWF.

"No one can escape the impact of biodiversity loss because reduced global diversity translates quite clearly into fewer new medicines, greater vulnerability to natural disasters and greater effects from global warming. The industrialised world needs to be supporting the global effort to achieve these targets, not just in their own territories where a lot of biodiversity has already been lost, but also globally."

World wildlife numbers down 25% in three decades
David Adam, The Guardian 15 May 08;

More than one in four of all individual animals, birds and fish on the planet have disappeared in just over thirty years, according to a report that highlights a massive loss of biodiversity across the world. Human activities are to blame, say the authors.

The study of 4,000 separate populations of hundreds of different species across land, marine and freshwater habitats reveals they shrunk by an average of 27% between 1970 and 2005. Large sea fish such as the swordfish and the scalloped hammerhead were hit particularly badly, losing 28% of their numbers in the last decade alone. Environment group WWF, which compiled the figures with experts from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), said they were "alarming". It said there was no little chance that the world would meet a UN target to significantly slow the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.

Colin Butfield, head of campaigns at WWF-UK, said: "Biodiversity underpins the health of the planet and has a direct impact on all our lives, so it is alarming that despite an increased awareness in environmental issues, we continue to see a downward trend."

The WWF Living Planet Index surveys the health of populations of 241 fish, 83 amphibian, 40 reptile, 811 bird and 302 mammal species. It combines published surveys of everything from polar bear dens in Russia and green turtle nests in Costa Rica, to the estimated population of sperm whales in the North Pacific. It does not include all species or populations, but the experts say the results are robust enough to "assess the state of global biodiversity".

It finds that land species have lost a quarter of their number since 1970, marine species populations have declined by 28% and freshwater species by 29%.

Jonathan Loh, of the ZSL, said: "We have seen a precipitous decline in the number of animals, birds and fish since 1970, while the human population has doubled. Those two trends are not unrelated."

Loss of natural habitat and over-exploitation of species, such as over-fishing, are to blame for the collapse, the report says. Pollution and the spread of invasive species are also responsible. Climate change is thought to have played a minor role so far, but could become "the greatest threat to biodiversity over the next few decades".

World species dying out like flies says WWF
Jeremy Lovell, Reuters 15 May 08;

LONDON (Reuters) - World biodiversity has declined by almost one third in the past 35 years due mainly to habitat loss and the wildlife trade, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said on Friday

It warned that climate change would add increasingly to the wildlife woes over the next three decades.

"Biodiversity underpins the health of the planet and has a direct impact on all our lives so it is alarming that despite of an increased awareness of environmental issues we continue to see a downtrend trend," said WWF campaign head Colin Butfield.

"However, there are small signs for hope and if government grasps what is left of this rapidly closing window of opportunity, we can begin to reverse this trend."

WWF's Living Planet Index tracks some 4,000 species of birds, fish, mammals, reptiles and amphibians globally. It shows that between 1970 and 2007 land-based species fell by 25 percent, marine by 28 percent and freshwater by 29 percent.

Marine bird species have fallen 30 percent since the mid-1990s.

The report comes ahead of a meeting in Bonn next week of member states of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity to try to find out how to save the world's flora and fauna under threat from human activities.

Some scientists see the loss of plants, animals and insects as the start of the sixth great species wipe out in the Earth's history, the last being in the age of the dinosaurs which disappeared 130 million years ago.

Scientists point out that most of the world's food and medicines come initially from nature, and note that dwindling species put human survival at risk.

"Reduced biodiversity means millions of people face a future where food supplies are more vulnerable to pests and disease and where water is in irregular or short supply," said WWF director general James Leape.

"No one can escape the impact of biodiversity loss because reduced global diversity translates quite clearly into fewer new medicines, greater vulnerability to natural disasters and greater effects from global warming.

The head of Britain's world-renowned Kew Gardens in an interview last month likened biodiversity -- the broad array of plants and animals spread across the planet -- to a planetary health monitor.

"First-aiders always check the ABC -- Airway, Breathing and Circulation -- of a patient to see if anything needs immediate attention," Stephen Hopper said.

"Biodiversity is the ABC of life on the planet -- and it is showing it is in deep trouble," he added.

Kew is doing its part through the Millennium Seed Bank project, which is well on the way to collecting and storing safely 10 percent of the world's wild plants.

The next goal -- as yet a wish without any financial backing -- is to raise that total to 25 percent by 2020.

(Editing by Richard Williams)

Wildlife numbers plummet globally: WWF
Yahoo News 16 May 08;

The world's wildlife populations have reduced by around a quarter since the 1970s, according to a major report published Friday by the WWF conservation organization.

Marine species have been particularly hard hit as the human population booms, while numbers of birds and, fish and animals have also gone down, said the WWF in a report.

The study comes ahead of next week's UN convention on biological diversity in the former West German capital Bonn, which will discuss aims to achieve a "significant reduction" in the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.

The WWF, the world's largest independent conservation body, said it was "very unlikely" that the UN would meet its targets, despite the decline appearing to flatten off in recent years.

The WWF's Living Planet Index, which tracks the fortunes of nearly 4,000 populations of 1,477 vertebrate species from 1970 to 2005, showed an overall decline of 27 percent.

Over-fishing and hunting, along with farming, pollution and urban expansion, were blamed.

WWF director general James Leape warned: "Reduced biodiversity means millions of people face a future where food supplies are more vulnerable to pests and disease and where water is in irregular or short supply.

"No one can escape the impact of biodiversity loss because reduced global diversity translates quite clearly into fewer new medicines, greater vulnerability to natural disasters and greater effects from global warming."

The marine LPI showed a 28-percent decline with a dramatic drop between 1995 and 2005. The overall freshwater LPI fell by 29 percent between 1970 and 2003.

Swordfish numbers plummeted by 28 percent in the decade from 1995, while ocean birds suffered a 30 percent decline since the mid 1990s.

"Biodiversity underpins the health of the planet and has a direct impact on all our lives so it is alarming that despite an increased awareness of environmental issues we continue to see a downward trend," said Colin Butfield, head of campaigns at WWF-UK.

The British-based conservation charity also warned that a failure to halt biodiversity loss would have negative impacts for humans.

In the next 30 years, climate change is expected to become a significant threat to species, said the WWF.

The declines come at a time when humans are consuming ever more natural resources, and are now using 25 percent more than the planet can replace, it said.

The WWF urged governments to take urgent action to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, calling for cross-ministry protection plans.

They should also set up financial incentives to support the establishment and maintenance of protection zones, it said.

"The fact that human activities have caused more rapid changes in biodiversity in the last 50 years than at any other time in human history should concern us all," said Britain's Biodiversity Minister Joan Ruddock.

"Supporting wildlife is critical to all our futures and the UK will continue to give strong support to international action.

"The rate of wildlife loss needs to be slowed both in the UK and internationally.

"International action is needed to tackle the worldwide decline in wildlife, with all countries working together."

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Europe is fishing the oceans dry

The EU's appetite for seafood has led to an imbalance between supply and demand, and a thriving illegal trade
Elisabeth Rosenthal, Business Times 16 May 08;

SURROUNDED by parrot fish, doctor fish, butter fish, Effa Edusie is engulfed by pieces of her childhood in Ghana. Caught the day before, far off the coast of West Africa, they have been airfreighted to London for dinner. Her relatives used to be fishermen. But no more. These fish are no longer caught by Africans.

Under the waterlogged brown cardboard box that holds the snapper is the improbable red logo of Chinese National Fisheries, one of the largest suppliers of West African fish to Europe. Europe's dinner tables are increasingly supplied by global fishing fleets that are depleting the world's oceans to feed the ravenous consumers who have become fish's most effective predators.

Fish is now the most traded animal commodity on the planet, with a global turnover of more than 100 million tons each year. Europe has suddenly become the world's largest market for fish, each year worth more than 14 billion euros (S$29.9 billion). Europe's appetite has grown as its native fish stocks have shrunk, so that 60 per cent of fish sold in Europe now needs to be imported, according to the EU.

Motivated by demand

'So much of fishing is motivated by consumer demand,' said Rupert Howes, chief executive of the Marine Stewardship Council, a private global group. 'The world wants more seafood at a time when 50 per cent of stocks are exploited as hard as we can and 25 per cent overexploited. There is a real disconnect.'

In Europe, the imbalance between supply and demand has led to a thriving illegal trade. About 50 per cent of the fish sold in the EU originates in developing nations, and much of it is laundered like contraband, caught and shipped illegally beyond the limits of government quotas or treaties. It is a well-financed, sophisticated smuggling operation, carried out by large-scale mechanised fishing fleets able to sweep up more fish than ever, chasing threatened stocks from ocean to ocean.

The European Commission estimates that more than 1.1 billion euros worth, or US$1.6 billion, of illegal seafood enters Europe each year. The World Wildlife Fund says that up to half of fish sold in Europe is illegal.

While some of the 'pirate fishing' is carried out by foreign vessels far afield, European ships are also guilty, some of them operating close to home. An estimated 40 per cent of cod caught in the Baltic Sea is illegal, said Mireille Thom, spokeswoman for the European Union's Fisheries and Maritime Affairs commissioner, Joe Borg.

If cost is an indication, fish is poised to become Europe's most precious contraband: Prices have doubled and tripled in response to surging demand, scarcity and recent fishing quotas imposed by the EU in a desperate effort to save native species. In London, one kg of the lowly cod, the central ingredient of fish and chips, now costs £pounds;30 (S$81), up from £pounds;6 four years ago.

'Fish and chips used to be a poor man's treat; but with the prices, it's becoming a delicacy,' said Mark Morris, a fishmonger for 20 years in London's vast Billingsgate market.

In Billingsgate at 5 am, as wholesalers unpack fresh fish from all over the world, the vast international trade that feeds Europe's appetite was readily apparent, even if the origins of each filet and steak was not.

Less than 24 hours before, many of these fish on sale were passing through the port of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, a port with five inspectors to evaluate 360,000 tons of perishable fish that must move rapidly through each year. The Canaries, a Spanish archipelago off the coast of Morocco, have become the favoured landing point of illegal fish as well as people.

Once cleared there, the catch has entered the EU and can be sold anywhere within it without further inspection. By the time West African fish get to Europe, the legal fish is offered for sale alongside the ill-gotten.

'In the fish area, we're so far behind meat where you can trace it back to the origins,' said Heike Vesper, who directs the World Wide Fund for Nature Fisheries Campaign.

The long distances and chain of fishermen and traders make that a difficult task, and every effort to regulate catches, it seems, pushes fishing fleets to other regions.

At Billingsgate, for instance, the colourful boxes of shrimp called African Beauty, bearing a drawing of a beautiful woman in tribal dress, were fished in Madagascar and processed in France. 'Ten years ago, it was just from Britain, Norway and Iceland,' said Mr Morris, whose family has been in the fishmongering business for generations. But many kinds of fish, like tuna and swordfish and cod, are not available in European waters anymore. In September, the European Commission banned the fishing of endangered bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean for the rest of 2007. Such rules barely slow the industry.

'There isn't a market we can't access anymore,' said Lee Fawcitt, selling tuna from Sri Lanka, salmon and cod from Norway, halibut from Canada, tilapia from China, shrimp from Madagascar and snapper from Indonesia and Senegal.

Tracing where the fish comes from is nearly impossible, many experts say. Groups like Greenpeace and the Environmental Justice Foundation have documented a range of egregious and illegal fishing practices off West Africa.

Huge boats, owned by companies in Europe, South Korea and China, fly flags of convenience from other nations. They stay at sea for years at a time, fishing, fuelling, changing crews and offloading their catches to refrigerated boats at sea, making international monitoring extremely difficult.

Even when permits and treaties make the fishing legal, it is not always environmentally sustainable. Many fleets far overstep the bounds of their agreements in any case, studies show, generally with total impunity.

Under international law, the country where the boat is registered is responsible for disciplining illegal activity. Many of the ships fly flags from distant landlocked countries that collect registration fees but put a low priority on enforcement.

When the Environmental Justice Foundation, which has studied the fishing industry, teamed up with a Greenpeace boat last year, more that half of 104 vessels it followed off the coast of Guinea were fishing illegally or were involved in illegal practices, they said.

Their cameras recorded boats whose names were hidden to prevent reporting; boats whose names were changed from week to week, presumably to comply with a name on a permit; the catch from a licensed boat being offloaded in the dead of night to another vessel, so that the boat could start fishing again.

Chinese National Fisheries, which first sent boats to the Atlantic in 1985, now has offices up and down the coast of West Africa, accounting for more than half its international offices. It also has a huge compound in Las Palmas.

Large seagoing boats use practices that are dangerous to the environment, particularly their habit of trawling the seabed with vast nets. The nets destroy coral, and unsettle eggs and fish breeding grounds. They gulp up fish that cannot be sold because they are too small. Their competition decimates local fishing industries.

By the time huge mechanised vessels have thrown the unsaleable juveniles back into the sea, they are often dead, bringing stocks another step closer to extinction. Of the estimated 90 million tons of fish caught each year, about 30 million tons are discarded, Ms Vesper of the World Wide Fund for Nature said.

Many experts feel that a better way to control overfishing is to end the system of flags of convenience, to close Las Palmas and to improve port inspections. But enforcement requires resources, and that will most likely only push fish prices even higher. Procuring genuinely sustainable fish means buying more expensive fish or not eating fish at all. - IHT

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Asian firms gain playing socially responsible roles

Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 16 May 08;

ASIAN firms and investors are taking an increasing interest in corporate social responsibility (CSR), a top regional banker said yesterday.

Practices by companies that reflect these concerns present opportunities for financial investments, said Merrill Lynch's Pacific Rim president, Mr Jason Brand.

For instance, as climate change awareness grows, solutions are needed for a whole host of social and environmental problems, he said. This is where businesses in Asia can get involved and display leadership, he said on day two of the bank's four-day Asia Rising Stars conference.

He singled out local property developer City Developments (CDL) as a firm whose corporate and social responsibility practices have helped it build a green reputation and a stronger brand.

Yesterday, at the conference, CDL launched its inaugural Social and Environmental Report, which documents the company's social and environmental impact, and includes a disclosure of its carbon dioxide emissions. This is the first local environmental report to be checked by the Global Reporting Initiative, a global sustainability reporting standard backed by the United Nations Environment Programme.

With investors increasingly demanding such information from businesses, firms that comply get ahead of the game, said the Singapore Environment Council's executive director, Mr Howard Shaw. 'Carbon disclosure will be an eventuality for all firms in future,' he noted.

Also speaking to the event's 500-strong audience via satellite was former US vice-president Al Gore, who spoke of balancing the need for developing nations to lift themselves out of poverty and the need to achieve this growth without polluting the environment.

CapitaLand launches programme to encourage adoption of green lifestyle
Channel NewsAsia 16 May 08;

SINGAPORE: CapitaLand has launched a new programme to encourage more people to adopt a green lifestyle.

Called "Building a Greener Future", the programme features a range of environmental-friendly initiatives.

For a start, 100,000 re-usable shopping bags will be given out to shoppers through tenants at the 11 CapitaLand Malls.

The bags come with a loyalty programme that rewards shoppers for using the bags, instead of plastic bags.

CapitaLand has also arranged for 168 recycling bins for paper, metal and plastic materials in 20 malls, offices and Ascott serviced residences. - CNA/de

Bags and bins as CapitaLand goes green
It will offer re-usable shopping bags in its malls, recycling bins at all its properties
Nicholas Fang, Straits Times 16 May 08;

PROPERTY giant CapitaLand has launched a new campaign to encourage users of its malls, offices and serviced apartments here to adopt a green lifestyle.

It is starting the initiative with 100,000 re-usable shopping bags that come with a novel incentive programme.

CapitaLand president and chief executive officer Liew Mun Leong said that, while the idea of re-usable shopping bags is not new, the company has added a new twist.

'It will have a mini loyalty programme to further influence our shoppers to adopt a greener way of shopping.'

Those who pick up one of the bags - to be given out at CapitaLand malls - will be able to collect stamps when they use the bags. Three stamps will entitle them to a limited edition umbrella.

CapitaLand's 'Building a Greener Future' programme kicked off yesterday, with a ceremony at the Raffles City shopping centre officiated by Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources.

The programme will comprise a series of further initiatives over the next few years.

Mr Liew said that, from today, 168 customised recycling bins will also be placed at the company's 22 malls, offices and Ascott serviced residences.

'We hope this will encourage the recycling of paper, metal and plastic by making it more convenient for our shoppers, tenants and residents to do so at our CapitaLand properties.'

An estimated 600,000 shoppers pass through the company's 11 malls every day, or some 18 million each month.

CapitaLand vice-president for corporate social responsibility Baey Yam Keng said that more initiatives will be rolled out in the coming months. It is understood that these will include programmes for schools and the possible adoption of water bodies such as reservoirs.

Dr Yaacob said the Government is heartened to see the private sector embracing and spreading the green message.

'It is obvious that they know best how to implement this at their operations and we do not want to legislate this but rather work with them.

'We encourage more private sector parties to take up such initiatives in the future.'

CDL reveals what it does for society and environment
Conrad Tan, Business Times 16 May 08;

CITY Developments Ltd (CDL) yesterday launched its first annual report focusing on the property developer's impact on the environment, such as energy usage and carbon emissions.

The 54-page voluntary report, one of the first of its kind for a Singapore public-listed company, also details CDL's activities and performance on various social and environmental issues, including efforts to improve the efficiency of energy and water use at its property projects and to reduce the amount of waste it generates.

But profits still come first, managing director Kwek Leng Joo said at a media conference to launch the report yesterday.

'Businesses are for profit. Companies are out there not primarily to do charity work, think about how they should protect the environment or how they should repay kindness to society,' he said. 'The primary obligations are to the shareholders and investors.'

A company needs to be profitable first 'before it can even put itself in a position to talk about CSR (corporate social responsibility) or anything else', Mr Kwek said.

Just a day earlier, CDL reported a 31 per cent jump in net profit to $165 million in the first quarter from a year earlier. And last year saw record revenue and profit for the second-largest developer here amid the boom in property prices.

But a public-listed company must also be sure that 'whatever kind of business it is in is sustainable', which is where CSR issues are relevant, Mr Kwek said.

As a major property developer, paying attention to environmental conservation and protection issues is necessary to ensure that its core business of developing and managing new projects is sustainable in the long term, he added.

According to the report, CDL invests 2-5 per cent of the construction cost of a project in environmentally friendly 'green' design and features.

The company said it aims to track and measure its social and environmental efforts and performance against international benchmarks, and is setting up a formal CSR committee comprising senior management that will report directly to Mr Kwek.

Zoe Knight, head of socially responsible investment research at Merrill Lynch, said the report is a 'breakthrough' for Singapore.

Other Singapore-listed companies that have published separate environmental impact reports include Singapore Airlines and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing.

Seeing green with Capitafrog
Arthur Lee Business Times 17 May 08;

CAPITALAND unveiled a green mascot called Capitafrog as it launched its Building a Greener Future programme at Raffles City on Thursday. The property group is looking at making the mascot into a soft toy and will unveil further green initiatives in the coming months.

To drive home the green message, some 100,000 green shopping bags will be distributed to shoppers via CapitaLand mall tenants. Shoppers get one stamp on a loyalty card each time they use the bag. They can exchange three stamps for a limited edition Building a Greener Future umbrella adorned with Capitafrog. In addition, 168 customised recycling bins for paper, metal and plastics will be strategically placed in CapitaLand malls, offices and Ascott service residences to encourage the green habit.

The company will also invite architectural students in China to participate in a design competition for a Green CapitaLand Hope Foundation school as part of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) and green campaign.

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Please Don't Feed Bread To The Birds, Says Charity

Peter Griffiths, Planet Ark 15 May 08;

LONDON - Bird-lovers have fed their feathered friends with scraps of bread for generations, but wildlife experts say they may be doing more harm than good.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has warned that bread is a "filler" that lacks the nutrients birds need to thrive.

Instead, bird tables should be stocked with a healthy mix of seeds or worms, grated cheese, porridge oats or soft apples, bananas or strawberries.

Birds are also partial to biscuit crumbs, leftover jacket potatoes, cooked rice, breakfast cereals and pastry.

"Bread is often thrown out to the birds but it doesn't actually contain any of the vital ingredients to provide birds with the energy they need to breed and feed," said Val Osborne, the RSPB's head of wildlife inquiries. "We are asking people to consider alternatives."

Birds' diets are particularly important at this time of year when they are trying to feed chicks.

Their young need food that is high in nutrients if they are to stand a good chance of reaching adulthood. Peanuts and pieces of fat can also harm nestlings.

The RSPB says that garden birds may need extra food throughout the year.

A spokesman said: "The RSPB believes that whilst not harmful, it doesn't actually provide birds with any goodness or nutrients.

"It could even prove detrimental, as the birds will fill up on it and not other, more nutritious foods."

In a survey earlier this year, the charity said the average number of birds spotted in each garden has fallen by a fifth since 2004.

Milder winters, fewer hedgerows, the use of pesticides and wooden decking in gardens are all thought to have fuelled the long-term decline of some species

More information about what food to give to birds is available at the RSPB website: www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/feeding/whatfood/index.asp (Editing by Steve Addison)

Bread is not for birds: let them eat cake
Lewis Smith, The Times 14 May 08;

Throwing bread to the ducks is the simple sort of pleasure that parents love to pass on to their children, but now experts are throwing cold water on the practice.

Bread, they say, holds little nutritional value for birds, is a waste of their digestive juices and fills them up without doing them any good. Instead, those serious about dishing out treats should choose grated cheese, leftover jacket potatoes, breakfast cereals, crumbled biscuits and even cake.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) also recommends porridge oats, overripe strawberries, rice or scraps of pastry. Val Osborne, the RSPB’s head of wildlife inquiries, said: “There are many other household foods that would be much better for them. Bread doesn’t actually contain any of the vital ingredients to provide birds with the energy they need to breed and feed. The RSPB is asking people to consider alternatives such as porridge oats, cake crumbs and potatoes.”

The issue is said to be particularly important at this time of year when chicks are being raised. Filling their stomachs with bread will damage their chances of reaching adulthood, because they do not get the nutrients they need to grow.

The RSPB’s advice was aimed primarily at people who feed birds in their gardens, but with the approach of summer there were also concerns about the health of ducks, swans and other birds found on ponds and lakes.

Gemma Rogers, also of the RSPB, said that it did not matter whether the bread was mass-produced white or specialist Italian ciabatta. “They are all basically a filler, especially at the moment when the adult birds are flying back and forth to feed their young. It wouldn’t help them in any way.”

Breads that contain seeds will be marginally better for the birds than plain white or brown, but they are still too low in nutrients.

Seed cake and fruit loaf would be slightly better than a Victoria sponge but the sugar content would mean that any cake should be a useful source of energy.

Feeding birds in gardens has been increasingly important for wild birds in recent years and some species, including cirl buntings and tree sparrows, depend heavily on handouts for survival.

It is believed that the rise of the goldfinch to become one of the most frequent visitors to gardens is because more people are leaving out high-energy seeds for them.

Chris Packham, the naturalist and broadcaster, who is a vice-president of the RSPB, said that feeding the ducks was an important childhood experience. “I understand where they are coming from – bread is not the best thing to feed birds, but I would be reluctant to tell people to stop,” he said.

“One of my formative memories was being taken to a lake near Arun-del when I was about 4. I remember feeding the ducks – there was an extraordinary variety of shapes and colours. It was amazing.”

He said that the quality of commercial birdfood had risen dramatically. “If you are serious about feeding a bird you really have to put your hand in your pocket these days,” he added.

Table manners

— Food is best placed on a bird table that should have a rim to catch feed and a channel to allow rain water to drain away

— Mesh or tubular feeders can also be used but should be protected against foraging squirrels

— Ensure you place your feeder somewhere out of the reach of cats and other predators

— Mixture to feed birds can be made at home. Pinhead oatmeal and black sunflower seeds are suitable for most birds and make an excellent base

—Small seeds, such as millet, will attract house sparrows, dunnocks, finches, reed buntings and collared doves

— Flaked maize is favoured by blackbirds

— Crushed or grated peanuts will attract robins and wrens. Tits and greenfinches prefer whole peanuts and sunflower seeds

—Nyjer seeds are enjoyed by goldfinches and siskins

— Doves, pigeons and even pheasants are drawn to wheat and barley grains

— Split peas, beans, lentils and rice should be avoided as they can only be eaten by larger species

— Fat smeared on a trunk will attract nuthatches, treecreepers and woodpeckers. Try to provide water

Sources: RSPB; The Wildlife Trusts

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Benidorm - the new face of eco-tourism

BBC News 15 May 08;

Home to high-rise hotels and bus-loads of tourists, Benidorm is not an obvious destination among tourists looking for an eco holiday. But maybe it should be, says Tom Heap, presenter of Radio 4's Costing the Earth.

Of all the choices you'll make this year, where to go on holiday may well be the one with the biggest environmental consequences. Maybe you fancy trekking with the Kalahari bushmen and living on grubs; a quick lounge on the hot sand; or a long lunch in Dubrovnik.

To reach a decision you'll weigh up the usual things - cost, excitement, relaxation and available time. But increasingly people are beginning to add environmental impact into the mix.

The travel industry has, of course, spotted this and green claims abound. But holidaymakers may be surprised to find out that frequently it's not the painted lady of eco-tourism, but the modest, unpretentious beach break, that should win the plaudits.



Sadly, I couldn't afford to sample some of the latest "eco-tourism" offers to Rwanda, Saudi Arabia or Algeria in practice. A more sustainable solution was to seek the view of John Swarbrook, head of Sheffield Hallam University's Centre for International Tourism Research.

"I think it's absolutely disastrous news for people interested in the environment," says Mr Swarbrook, who likes to refer to the movement as "ego tourism".

"What it does is it takes people to places where they really shouldn't go. It's given the idea that so called sustainable tourism can only ever be practised by a tiny minority of people who can afford to or wish to go to places like that."

"Eco" destinations such as Antarctica make no sense, he says.

"Why? There's no reason to go. It would be better if you didn't go. We know from around the world where tourism takes off today small time, by tomorrow it's going to be big time."

Bucket and spade destinations such as Benidorm tend not to excite the independent, environmentally-conscious traveller. Yet on a trip to the Mediterranean resort, self-confessed eco-geek Gemma Roberts noted they have much to commend them.

Pump-operated taps

At one hotel, all the room lights automatically switch off on leaving. Street lighting is low energy and many of the taps are foot pump-operated to save water.

Much of the food is locally sourced; the beach immaculately clean and visitors can walk, rather than drive, everywhere. But perhaps most importantly, the sheer volume of tourists has an environmental upside. Stacking thousands of guests in such a small area limits the size of place they're impacting.

"I was expecting to arrive in a very developed, built-up area that would be doing absolutely nothing towards looking after the natural environment," says Ms Roberts.

"I've been really pleasantly surprised by lots of small things that are going on within the resort itself."

The proximity of facilities is impressive, she says.

"I really love the fact that everything is within walking distance. There are lots of lights on the promenade and they're all low energy, there are recycling bins everywhere. All the hotels have energy-saving devices.

"There's lots of local produce available. Even in a high density resort like Benidorm there are opportunities to become as sustainable as possible; to make sure the impact is kept to a minimum."

Goldilocks approach

But there's no denying the environmental damage caused by actually getting there - the aeroplane trip.

One economy trip from Birmingham to Benidorm leaves 464kg of CO2 in its wake, according to calculations by the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management. Yet, if two people shared a car from Birmingham to Cornwall, each passenger would be responsible for just 84kg of CO2.

So the journey to Cornwall itself has one fifth of the global warming potential - making it, on one level at least, a greener choice. A next obvious step for visitors would be one of the growing number of "eco hotels".

Emma Stratton, who manages the Bedruthan Steps hotel at Morganporth near Newquay, warns potential guests not to arrive expecting to be pampered. She is trying to change the philosophy of hotels - to break the link between enjoyment and consumption.

She believes instant luxury is just a sugar rush and true holiday pleasure is to be found in what you DO.

"The whole experience is about bloating the guest with far too much and what we're trying to do is reverse that and say actually you might be happier if you have less," explains Ms Stratton.

"We want to go as far as we can to be eco friendly and sustainable and still have guests. But we've still got to make sure our guests have a fabulous time otherwise they'll make sure their neighbours will come to us."

But the nearby presence of Newquay airport is a niggling reminder that if tourism is about anything, it's about transport… and the tourist business really wants more of it.

Wouldn't the greenest holiday of all be to stay put, at home?

Leo Hickman, the Guardian's green guru, has just written a book, the Last Call, questioning if our love of travel can be sustained.

Predicting that surging oil prices might put paid to budget flights anyway, he advocates a "Goldilocks approach" to tourism: a three-year cycle of - flight one year, Europe overland the next, and holidaying in Britain the next.

But he also has a more radical idea to address our seemingly insatiable thirst to witness first-hand the charms of places like Venice or the Taj Mahal - a global lottery for entry tickets.

"There's lots of places where we know they're already struggling to sustain the number of visitors each year: Venice, Macchu Picchu, the Great Barrier Reef. You can charge an entry fee but there's a fairness argument there," says Hickman.

"Does it mean that tourism becomes an elitist activity? Or do we enter into this concept of lottery based tourism? It instils a new mentality where you feel like you're having a privileged moment to be able to go. It brings us back to an approach to tourism that kind of guest mentality that I would love to see a return to."

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Expert warns climate change will lead to 'barbarisation'

James Randerson, The Guardian 15 May 08;

Climate change will lead to a "fortress world" in which the rich lock themselves away in gated communities and the poor must fend for themselves in shattered environments, unless governments act quickly to curb greenhouse gas emissions, according to the vice-president of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Prof Mohan Munasinghe was giving a lecture at Cambridge university in which he presented a dystopic possible future world in which social problems are made much worse by the environmental consequences of rising greenhouse gas emissions.

"Climate change is, or could be, the additional factor which will exacerbate the existing problems of poverty, environmental degradation, social polarisation and terrorism and it could lead to a very chaotic situation," he said.

The scenario, which he termed "barbarisation" was already beginning to happen, he said. "Fortress world is a situation where the rich live in enclaves, protected, and the poor live outside in unsustainable conditions.

"If you see what is going on in some of the gated communities in some countries you do find that rich people live in those kind of protected environments. If you see the restrictions on international travel you see the beginnings of the fortress world syndrome even in entering and leaving countries," he said.

The Sri Lankan-born expert on climate change and sustainable development was delivering the annual Clare College Distinguished Lecture in Economics and Public Policy. He said the IPCC's fourth assessment in 2007 predicted that developing countries would be hit hardest by climate change, especially rising sea levels.

"One of the most distressing aspects is that developing countries are the most vulnerable to climate change and the poorest people will be the hardest hit. This is in fact rather unfair because they had least to do with the problem – apparently they will pay the biggest costs," he said.

Bangladesh, for example, could lose 17% of its land – mostly highly populated areas – to rising seas, according to Munasinghe. But, he was positive about international efforts to tackle the problem. "I tend to be optimistic because I believe this can be done through rational processes, but I also feel that the consequences of failure are unimaginable and that's really the bottom line."

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Food crisis: A 'silent tsunami' for the world's poor

Straits Times 16 May 08;

WASHINGTON - THE global food crisis has sparked riots in more than 30 countries and poses a threat to 'peace and stability', the executive director of the United Nations World Food Program told a US Senate committee.

With more than 860 million people already going hungry worldwide, sharp price spikes threaten to put basic staples out of reach for another 100 million poor people this year alone, said UNWFP director Josette Sheeran.

She likened the surging catastrophe to 'a silent tsunami' washing over the world's poor and threatening to loosen the moorings that hold poor nations together.

'Some say there are only seven meals between civilisation and potential anarchy,' Ms Sheeran told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday.

'At the seventh meal lost, people are reduced to fending for their survival and the survival of their children,' she said. 'We are facing a challenge that is humanitarian as well as strategic.'

Democrat Senator Joseph Biden, the committee chairman, echoed those concerns.

'People are worried, they're angry,' said Mr Biden. 'From Haiti to Egypt to Bangladesh, riots have broken out as people demand the right for affordable food,' he said.

World food prices jumped 43 per cent last year and are on track to eclipse that this year. It is even worse for many staples of the developing world diet: wheat prices are up 146 per cent over just the past year. A tonne of rice fetched US$400 (S$550) on the world market last winter; by last month the cost had risen nearly threefold.

Economists blame soaring prices for oil and fertiliser; drought, cyclones and other weather disasters that have destroyed millions of acres of agricultural land in countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar and China; and the growing diversion of traditional food sources, especially corn, to make alcohol- based fuels.

Against that backdrop, food consumption is on the rise in emerging powerhouses like India and China, where hundreds of millions of people have risen to middle-class status in a single generation.

Skyrocketing food prices have hit US consumers as well, though prices overall rose just 4.5 per cent last year.

For most Americans, however, the issue is not life-threatening, as it can be for the estimated one billion people worldwide living on US$2 a day or less.

'For some it is a painful pinch,' said Ms Sheeran. 'For those living on less than a dollar, or even just 50 cents a day, it is a catastrophe.'

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