Indonesia plans drastic emissions cuts by 2025

Emily Dugan, The Independent 24 May 08;

Indonesia outlined a plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent by 2025 yesterday, a potentially bold move which could shame wealthier nations into announcing tougher targets of their own.

The country, with a population of 235 million people, has one of the largest carbon footprints outside of the developed world.

Environment ministers from the Group of Eight leading industrialised countries, as well as from emerging economies such as China and India, begin talks in Kobe, Japan, today to pave the way for a G8 summit in Hokkaido in July.

Speaking ahead of today's meeting, the Indonesian Environment Minister, Rachmat Witoelar, said. "I'd like to voice my concerns that if the issue is not carefully managed, it will threaten the existence of humanity in Asia in particular, and the world in general.

"Indonesia realises the importance of this issue and has committed itself to play an active role in climate change negotiations."

If Indonesia turns what is still a set of proposals into official targets the move could spell a new era for the developing world's role in climate change negotiations.

Yvo de Boer, the head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, said that a policy outlined by President George Bush last month that would cap United States emissions in 2025 was "not enough" and paltry compared with Indonesia's latest pledge.

Poorer nations have often objected to footing the bill for a process begun by wealthier countries. Yet, amid speculation that China may already be the world's biggest carbon dioxide producer, many believe it is time for the developing world to sign up to similar targets.

However, it is still unclear how Indonesia would deliver such radical cuts. Mr Witoelar claimed that the goal could be achieved with reductions in forest burning and in cutting the use of oil. But since Indonesia also aims to increase the amount of coal it uses to produce energy by the same date, some observers fear the promise amounts to little more than hot air.

Indonesia's proposal is in accord with the United Nations' hope that carbon reduction targets will be based on less distant dates than 2050. Mr De Boer said: "My hope for the G8 is that it does not just discuss 2050 but tries to come up with intermediate ranges."

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Methane rise points to wetlands

Richard Black, BBC News 23 May 08;

Higher atmospheric levels of the greenhouse gas methane noted last year are probably related to emissions from wetlands, especially around the Arctic.

Scientists have found indications that extra amounts of the gas in the Arctic region are of biological origin.

Global levels of methane had been roughly stable for almost a decade.

Rising levels in the Arctic could mean that some of the methane stored away in permafrost is being released, which would have major climatic implications.

The gas is about 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, though it survives for a shorter time in the atmosphere before being broken down by natural chemical processes.

Northern lights

Indications that methane levels might be rising after almost a decade of stability came last month, when the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) released a preliminary analysis of readings taken at monitoring stations worldwide.

Noaa suggested that 2007 had seen a global rise of about 0.5%.

Some stations around the Arctic showed rises of more than double that amount.

One is the station at Mount Zeppelin in Svalbard, north of Scandinavia.

In addition to the long-term monitoring carried out there by Norway and Sweden, a British team has recently started gathering samples and analysing them in a way that could reveal where the methane is coming from.

Methane produced by bacteria contains a high proportion of molecules with the lighter form (isotope) of carbon, carbon-12, rather than the heavier form, carbon-13.



"Anything where bacteria form methane, you get depletion in C-13 because methanogens (the bacteria) preferentially use C-12," said Rebecca Fisher from Royal Holloway, University of London, who has been running the Svalbard experiments.

"The results we have so far imply a predominantly biogenic source," she told BBC News.

The researchers also match methane levels with wind direction, so they can see where the gas is being produced. This analysis also implies a source in the Arctic regions, rather than one further afield such as the additional output from Asia's rapid industrialisation.

Warm and wet

Ed Dlugokencky, the scientist at Noaa's Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) who collates and analyses data from atmospheric monitoring stations, agrees that the 2007 rise has a biological cause.

"We're pretty sure it's not biomass burning; and I think 2007 is probably down to wetland emissions," he said.

"In boreal regions it was warmer and wetter than usual, and microbes there produce methane faster at higher temperatures."

Dr Dlugokencky also suggested that the drastic reduction in summer sea ice around the Arctic between 2006 and 2007 could have increased release of methane from seawater into the atmosphere.

A further possibility is that the gas is being released in increasing amounts from permafrost as temperatures rise.

Researchers will be keeping a close eye on this year's data which will indicate whether 2007 was just a blip or the beginning of a sustained rise.

Methane concentrations had been more or less stable since about 1999 following years of rapid increases, with industrial reform in the former Soviet bloc, changes to rice farming methods and the capture of methane from landfill sites all contributing to the levelling off.

In the recent past, concentrations have risen during El Nino events, whereas the world is currently amid the opposite climatic pattern, La Nina.

Solid evidence

An upturn in methane concentrations emissions could have significant implications for the Earth's climatic future.

A sustained release from Arctic regions or tropical wetlands could drive a feedback mechanism, whereby higher temperatures liberate more of the greenhouse gas which in turn forces temperatures still higher.

A particularly pertinent question is whether methane is being released from hydrates on the ocean floor.

These solids are formed from water and methane under high pressure, and may begin to give off methane as water temperatures rise.

The amount of the gas held in oceanic hydrates is thought to be larger than the Earth's remaining reserves of natural gas.

In collaboration with other British institutions, Dr Fisher's team will begin work this summer sampling water near hydrate deposits to look for indications of gas emerging.

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Japan turns back clock to give new life to lost storks

Emily Dugan, The Independent 24 May 08;

When Japan's last oriental white stork died in 1971 it was thought that the birds had disappeared forever. The wetlands where the stork nested had been irrigated, and development damaged its habitat. But in a remarkable success story, the storks are thriving again after a reintroduction programme.

After more than three decades of extinction, the first captive storks were released into the wild in 2005. By 2007 the first chick had hatched, and this year a further nine chicks arrived.

Yoshito Ohsako, who heads the breeding programme at Toyooka, said: "We were so happy when we found the nests. It's not so long since we started, and this is real progress; a lot of people didn't even think we'd succeed at all."

Japan was forced to do the unthinkable: it had to go back in time. Aggressive development had driven the birds to extinction, so the only option left was to attempt to return the ecosystem to its pre-1971 state.

The Hyogo district – once the birds' heartland – bore the scars of heavy industrialisation and modern farming. Land that was not polluted or developed was used for farming, so the paddyfields which had once supplied plentiful food for fish, frogs and snakes dried up and became contaminated with pesticides.

To make this landscape hospitable again has meant going back to more traditional irrigation systems that allow rivers and ditches to flow into paddyfields. This creates pools of shallow stagnant water that encourage the ecosystem that the birds can feed on.

Cutting pesticides and using more traditional cultivation methods has also helped make the wetlands less toxic. Some electricity cables have been put underground to stop the birds flying into them.

Professor Ohsako said: "The connections between the paddyfields and the streams and ditches disappeared. In our project we reinstated the aquatic connection to create 'fish ways', that channelled fish to shallow water."

The total number of oriental white storks in the world is believed to be as low as 2,500, with most in China, Korea and Russia.

The renaissance of the birds comes as biodiversity takes centre stage in global politics. Biodiversity will be high on the agenda today when environment ministers gather for pre-G8 summit talks in Kobe.

Yuri Onodera, of Friends of the Earth Japan, said that while such reintroduction schemes were laudable, Japan lacked commitment to biodiversity on a global scale. "Japan may be putting energy into conserving its own domestic landscapes, but its commitment internationally is failing," said Mr Onodera.

"It has been a strong opponent of a binding commitment to global biodiversity; its domestic commitment has little impact while they are lagging behind on international commitment."

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Tough new rules brought in to curb Scottish seal killings

As headless animals are found on a Skye beach, the government takes action to stop year-round slaughter

Ian Johnston, The Independent 25 May 08;

Tough new regulations are to be introduced to curb the killing of seals by Scottish fish farmers, The Independent on Sunday has learned. The move comes as two headless seals – one heavily pregnant, the other a juvenile – were discovered last weekend on a beach on Skye.

A company that runs a nearby fish farm admitted last week it had shot two seals. Campaigners believe up to 5,000 seals are shot by fish industries in Scotland each year. The firm, Marine Harvest, said it did not know how or why the seals were decapitated.

The new rules will prevent fish farmers from shooting seals to protect their stocks for the first time during the closed season, according to a confidential draft of new legal guidelines.

Common and grey seals are supposed to be protected during their respective breeding seasons under the 1970 Conservation of Seals Act. However, the so-called "netsman's defence" – which permits fishermen to kill seals that threaten to damage their equipment – has been used by the growing numbers of fish farms that now occupy virtually every sea loch on the west coast of Scotland.

But draft guidelines to be published by the Scottish government next month will make clear for the first time that the defence does not apply to fish farms. The Act has been criticised by conservationists and the police for effectively permitting the shooting of seals by anyone with a reason to do so all year.

For common seals the closed season runs from 1 June to 31 August; for grey seals, it runs from 1 September to 31 December.

Scotland is home to the majority of the UK's seal population of about 180,000, and conservationists estimate that up to 5,000 seals are shot every year. This figure is disputed by the industry, but it is not required to record shootings. Seals were hunted until 1914, when numbers of grey seals in the UK were put at just 500. That species' numbers have since grown to an estimated 120,000, about a third of the total world population.

Andy Ottaway, of the Seal Preservation Action Group, said that, in the wake of the latest killings, the group would renew calls to supermarkets to sell only salmon reared by farms that use non-lethal methods to deter seals,such as acoustic deterrent devices, or scarers, and tensioned nets.

"It is ironic. We have public boycotts of Canadian products over the slaughter of seals, and we have the same slaughter on our own shores," Mr Ottaway said.

"We want the law changed from a licence to kill seals to one that protects our globally significant seal population. We believe that killing seals is too high a price to pay for Scottish salmon."

Chief Inspector Paul Eddington, wildlife crime co-ordinator for Northern Constabulary, said the Skye shootings had been investigated but there was no evidence a crime had been committed. "The legislation on this is woefully inadequate. The Conservation of Seals Act does not help us one bit in investigating these cases," he said.

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Pesticides: Germany bans chemicals linked to honeybee devastation

Alison Benjamin, The Guardian 23 May 08;

Germany has banned a family of pesticides that are blamed for the deaths of millions of honeybees. The German Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) has suspended the registration for eight pesticide seed treatment products used in rapeseed oil and sweetcorn.

The move follows reports from German beekeepers in the Baden-Württemberg region that two thirds of their bees died earlier this month following the application of a pesticide called clothianidin.

"It's a real bee emergency," said Manfred Hederer, president of the German Professional Beekeepers' Association. "50-60% of the bees have died on average and some beekeepers have lost all their hives."

Tests on dead bees showed that 99% of those examined had a build-up of clothianidin. The chemical, produced by Bayer CropScience, a subsidiary of the German chemical giant Bayer, is sold in Europe under the trade name Poncho. It was applied to the seeds of sweetcorn planted along the Rhine this spring. The seeds are treated in advance of being planted or are sprayed while in the field.

The company says an application error by the seed company which failed to use the glue-like substance that sticks the pesticide to the seed, led to the chemical getting into the air.

Bayer spokesman Dr Julian Little told the BBC's Farming Today that misapplication is highly unusual. "It is an extremely rare event and has not been seen anywhere else in Europe," he said.

Clothianidin, like the other neonicotinoid pesticides that have been temporarily suspended in Germany, is a systemic chemical that works its way through a plant and attacks the nervous system of any insect it comes into contact with. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency it is "highly toxic" to honeybees.

This is not the first time that Bayer, one of the world's leading pesticide manufacturers with sales of €5.8bn (£4.6bn) in 2007, has been blamed for killing honeybees.

In the United States, a group of beekeepers from North Dakota is taking the company to court after losing thousands of honeybee colonies in 1995, during a period when oilseed rape in the area was treated with imidacloprid. A third of honeybees were killed by what has since been dubbed colony collapse disorder.

Bayer's best selling pesticide, imidacloprid, sold under the name Gaucho in France, has been banned as a seed dressing for sunflowers in that country since 1999, after a third of French honeybees died following its widespread use. Five years later it was also banned as a sweetcorn treatment in France. A few months ago, the company's application for clothianidin was rejected by French authorities.

Bayer has always maintained that imidacloprid is safe for bees if correctly applied. "Extensive internal and international scientific studies have confirmed that Gaucho does not present a hazard to bees," said Utz Klages, a spokesman for Bayer CropScience.

Last year, Germany's Green MEP, Hiltrud Breyer, tabled an emergency motion calling for this family of pesticides to be banned across Europe while their role in killing honeybees were thoroughly investigated. Her action follows calls for a ban from beekeeping associations and environmental organisations across Europe.

Philipp Mimkes, spokesman for the German-based Coalition Against Bayer Dangers, said: "We have been pointing out the risks of neonicotinoids for almost 10 years now. This proves without a doubt that the chemicals can come into contact with bees and kill them. These pesticides shouldn't be on the market."

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Oil: A global crisis

The Independent 25 May 08;

The Iraq War means oil costs three times more than it should, says a leading expert. How are our lives going to change as we struggle to cope with the $200 barrel? Geoffrey Lean reports

The invasion of Iraq by Britain and the US has trebled the price of oil, according to a leading expert, costing the world a staggering $6 trillion in higher energy prices alone.

The oil economist Dr Mamdouh Salameh, who advises both the World Bank and the UN Industrial Development Organisation (Unido), told The Independent on Sunday that the price of oil would now be no more than $40 a barrel, less than a third of the record $135 a barrel reached last week, if it had not been for the Iraq war.

He spoke after oil prices set a new record on 13 consecutive days over the past two weeks. They have now multiplied sixfold since 2002, compared with the fourfold increase of the 1973 and 1974 "oil shock" that ended the world's long postwar boom.

Goldman Sachs predicted last week that the price could rise to an unprecedented $200 a barrel over the next year, and the world is coming to terms with the idea that the age of cheap oil has ended, with far-reaching repercussions on their activities.

Dr Salameh, director of the UK-based Oil Market Consultancy Service, and an authority on Iraq's oil, said it is the only one of the world's biggest producing countries with enough reserves substantially to increase its flow.

Production in eight of the others – the US, Canada, Iran, Indonesia, Russia, Britain, Norway and Mexico – has peaked, he says, while China and Saudia Arabia, the remaining two, are nearing the point at of decline. Before the war, Saddam Hussein's regime pumped some 3.5 million barrels of oil a day, but this had now fallen to just two million barrels.

Dr Salameh told the all-party parliamentary group on peak oil last month that Iraq had offered the United States a deal, three years before the war, that would have opened up 10 new giant oil fields on "generous" terms in return for the lifting of sanctions. "This would certainly have prevented the steep rise of the oil price," he said. "But the US had a different idea. It planned to occupy Iraq and annex its oil."

Chris Skrebowski, the editor of Petroleum Review, said: "There are many ifs in the world oil market. This is a very big one, but there are others. If there had been a civil war in Iraq, even less oil would have been produced."

David Strahan: What happens next? The expert's view

At just under 86 million barrels per day, global oil production has, essentially, stagnated since 2005, despite soaring demand, suggesting that production has already reached its geological limits, or "peak oil".

Recession in the West may not provide relief on prices. There is increasing demand from countries such as China, Russia and the Opec countries, whose consumers are cushioned against rising prices by heavy subsidies. The future could unfold in a number of ways:

Oil price collapses

Fuel subsidies could suddenly be scrapped, dousing demand. Cost pressures have forced Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan to cut them, but China is hardly strapped for cash. Opec producers are under no pressure to abolish subsidies; as the oil price rises they get richer. Prospect: very unlikely.

Peace could break out in Iraq, the long-disputed oil law agreed, and international oil companies start work on the world's largest collection of untapped oil fields. Prospect: vanishingly unlikely.

Oil price stabilises or moderates

Deep recession in the West might cut oil consumption enough to offset growth in the developing world and Opec, or even engulf them too, softening prices. Prospect: unlikely in the short term.

Oil price soars

Russian oil output has gone into decline; Saudi Arabia has shelved plans to expand production capacity, and advisers to the Nigerian government predict its output will fall by 30 per cent by 2015. More news like this, expect oil at $200 a barrel. Prospect: likely.

Big oil producers will increasingly divert exports for home consumption. Opec, Russian and Mexican exports expected to fall, pushing oil to $200 by 2012. Prospect: highly likely.

The writer is author of 'The Last Oil Shock', John Murray, lastoilshock.com

Peak oil

After 150 years of growth, the oil age is beginning to come to an end. "Peak oil" is the common term for when production stops increasing and starts to decline. At that point what have been ever-expanding and cheap supplies of the resource on which all modern economies depend become scarcer and more expensive, with potentially devastating consequences.

Pessimists believe that production has passed its peak. Optimists say it may be 20 years or so away – which would give us some time to prepare – but are now muted. Last week the hitherto optimistic International Energy Agency admitted that it may have overestimated future capacity. Chris Skrebowski, editor of 'Petroleum Review' and once an optimist himself, believes that the world is now in "the foothills of peak oil". Prices may ease a bit over the next few years, but then the real crunch will come. The price then? "Pick a number!"

Travel

Oil provides 95 per cent of the energy used in transport, so this will be hit hard and soon. People are likely to go on using their cars, but airlines are expected to be the first to suffer. On Thursday, British Airways' chief executive Willie Walsh declared that the era of cheap flights was over, suggesting that those environmentalists who have made them their main target for combating climate change may have been wasting their breath.

At least three carriers have already gone bust this year. Last week, American Airlines said it was cutting routes, laying off staff, and charging US passengers $15 to check in a bag because of a $3bn rise in its fuel bills. Even Michael O'Leary, chief executive of Ryanair, says the oil price is "really hurting". On Thursday, Credit Suisse analysts said his company would slip into the red if oil prices rose just a little more, to $140 a barrel.

Cars

The world's biggest oil well, it is said, lies beneath Detroit. US vehicles get an average of only 25 miles per gallon. Dramatically improving this would do more to ease the oil crunch than any likely new discovery. But new measures recently approved by Congress would increase the average only to the 35mpg already being achieved by China. Europe does better, if not well enough, at 44mpg.

Rising fuel prices are already beginning to drive change. Sales of 4x4s are plummeting in both the US and Britain, and those of hybrids – which do 60mpg are soaring. As the price climbs further, manufacturers will unlock long-prepared plans for much more efficient vehicles. "Plug-in" hybrids, charged up with electricity overnight, save another 45 per cent in petrol consumption. Further down the line is the "hypercar" – made of tough, light plastic – which could cross the US on a single tankful.

Houses

All new houses in Britain will have to be zero carbon – burning no fossil fuels such as oil – by 2016, the Government announced, and housebuilders are struggling to meet the target. At present the standard can be reached only at great expense, but the industry is confident of bringing the cost down as mass production kicks in. It is even more important to adapt existing homes.

The key step is to super-insulate the house to make it as energy-efficient as possible – and only then to provide renewable energy sources. Solar water heaters, ground source heat pumps and boilers powered by wood pellets are favourites. Rooftop windmills do not work well enough yet. Photovoltaic panels, which get electricity from the sun, are expensive but their price should come down. Britain has lagged behind other countries. Soaring energy prices should shake things up.

Shopping

Effectively, almost everything is partially made of oil, and so is going to get more expensive. About 10 calories of oil are burned to produce each calorie of food in the US, and farming a single cow and getting it to market uses as much as driving from New York to Los Angeles. Some 630g of fuel is used to produce every gram of microchips.

The cult of local, seasonal produce will enter the mainstream, as everyone learns about food miles and a modern-day Dig for Victory grips gardeners – bad news for the farm workers overseas who provide 95 per cent of our fruit and half our vegetables. Trips to out-of-town supermarkets will seem extravagant, heralding a high street renaissance and a new surge in online grocery shopping, and soon we'll all be eating our own potatoes.

Third World

Poor countries and their peoples will be hit by a devastating double whammy as both their fuel and food prices increase. Last year, when oil cost only about half as much, countries from Nepal to Nicaragua were hit by fuel shortages. At least 25 of the 44 sub-Saharan nations are facing crippling electricity shortages.

As oil is used in agriculture, its increased cost will also drive up the price of food, making more and more people go hungry. Worse, expensive petrol is bound to increase the drive towards biofuels made from maize and other crops, which then brings the world's poorest people into competition with affluent motorists for grain – a contest they cannot win. Just one fill-up of a 4x4's tank with ethanol uses enough grain to feed one person for a year.

Emerging economies

China and India and other developing countries will help to drive up demand for oil and compete for scarce supplies. This has already helped to raise prices: demand for oil from Western countries has actually fallen over the past two years, but the emerging economies have more than made up the slack. And they have the money to do so.

Chinese and Indian consumers have so far been insulated from the effects of the price increase by heavy government subsidies, and their industrial revolutions and rapid growth are largely fuelled by oil. There is little sign that the growth in demand will slacken These countries are also likely to follow the time-honoured Western tradition of making deals with oil-exporting countries – and backing unpleasant regimes – to try to secure supplies.

Conflict

Last week. the embattled Gordon Brown – "incredibly focused" on oil, according to his spin-doctors – began playing the blame game. "It is a scandal," he said, "that 40 per cent of the oil is controlled by Opec and that their decisions can restrict the supply of oil to the rest of the world."

Someone should tell him that he should be blaming geology – or God – and that, as oil production peaks, Opec countries simply will not be able to pump more. But he is not alone; four US senators warned Saudi Arabia that if it did not step up the flow, the US might withdraw its military support.

There will be much more of this as supplies tighten. Three years ago, a US army report predicted oil would soon peak, and security risks increase. Expect oil wars. But, of course, we have already had one – in Iraq.>

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Ethical bling gives designers a golden opportunity

Demand is surging for gold from mines that don't destroy the enviroment or the lives of local people

Ian Johnston, The Independent 25 May 08;

Gold rings are given as a symbol of love. But for the thousands of people who get married every year, the way they choose to display their pure intention is mired in suffering.

According to campaigners for "ethical bling", the wedding rings exchanged in the UK in a year are produced using three-quarters of a million tonnes of poison, mainly cyanide and mercury. In addition to the environmental damage and risk to health caused by such practices, thousands of the world's poorest people have been forced from their homes to make way for mines.

However, there are signs of a rebellion among small-scale jewellers, with hundreds queuing up to join a new ethical association – months ahead of its launch in September – that will ensure its members use gold produced to high environmental and social standards.

The ethical jewellery market has become the industry's fastest growing sector, rising from almost no sales at all two years ago to more than £1.5m projected for this year.

Vivien Johnston, who is setting up the British Ethical Jewellery Association, said jewellers were flocking to the cause, with close to 300 asking to become members. "There's quite a demand for membership. We haven't even been actively looking for any," she said. "I don't know what the response will be like when we really advertise."

Ms Johnston runs her own jewellery business, Fifi Bijoux, in Glasgow, sourcing her gold directly from mines run by collectives such as Ora Verde in Colombia and Eco Andina in Argentina. She has seen sales treble since 2006.

One fan of Ms Johnston's work is Livia Firth, who together with her actor husband Colin, runs an ethical shop called Eco in west London, where Ms Johnston's designs are sold. "I didn't really know about some of the things that happen in the jewellery trade. People buy without thinking. Every time you buy something you are giving a vote to what you are buying, saying it is OK," Mrs Firth said.

"If you don't have the information necessary to express that vote, it's not right. You need someone to give you that. There's absolute ignorance in this field."

The charity Cafod, which has been campaigning on this issue, has a photographic exhibition showing conditions in mines around the world at the Oxo Gallery in London, which runs until next Sunday.

The exhibition highlights the experience of a family in the Philippines. In 2006, they were restrained by armed mining company police as their house near Cagayan de Oro was destroyed. After being beaten and threatened with guns, 51-year-old Anna-Garcia told Cafod: "They took a metal cable and attached it to a bulldozer and then pulled it. Our house collapsed. We saw them cover our house with earth."

For many in the ethical jewellery movement, the mainstream is moving too slowly, but Cafod's policy analyst, Sonya Maldar, said people power could force the pace. "I think more and more people will be shocked to hear about these things. I'm sure people wouldn't want to be giving a ring when they know about the hidden harm behind gold mining."

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Best of our wild blogs: 25 May 08

Pulau Ubin Tua Pek Gong Temple Celebration
glimpses of traditional wayang on the Pulau Ubin Tour with Justin blog

7 Jun (Sat): Reefwalk at Kusu Island
Registration now open on the singapore celebrates our reefs blog

Baby nemo and fishes of Cyrene reef
on the wonderful creations blog

Do not touch!
some lessons on the lazy lizard blog

Where did all the dead crabs come from?
Released as part of Vesak Day? on the lazy lizard blog

What is the value of seagrasses?
on the teamseagrass blog

Beautiful Cyrene - Brahminy Kite
video clip on the sgbeachbum blog

Semakau walk
on the manta blog and discovery blog

Nature Workshop with Dunman High
on the tidechaser blog

Sentosa stroll
on the wildfilms blog

Feather damage in birds
on the bird ecology blog

Reef briefs
summary of recent articles on global reef and marine issues on the singapore celebrates our reefs blog

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Exotic marine creatures in home aquariums

Aqua wonders
They suck, they sting, they even bite, but people are filling their aquariums with these exotic marine creatures
Tan Yi Hui, Straits Times 25 May 08;

Singapore may be one of the world's biggest exporters of ornamental fish, but here at home, something with a lot more bite than goldfish and guppies can be found lurking in living-room fish tanks.

Some fish collectors are now hooked on more exotic marine creatures - the type you would more usually see on your dinner plate than bobbing around your neighbour's aquarium.

Hermit crabs, seahorses and shrimps are some of the novelty creatures now making a splash as pets.

A few fish fanatics have even taken the plunge and are pampering stingrays - never mind that they have a poisonous barb that could stab the hand that feeds them.

Take Mr Lincoln Goh, a 33-year-old brand executive who lives in a bungalow with his parents. The bachelor has six freshwater rays housed in two tanks and an outdoor pond.

He has spent 'tens of thousands' on his hobby so far. No wonder, as one specimen can cost anything from $3,000 to $7,000.

The rays are high maintenance and not the easiest of fish to keep, he admits, but he adds: 'It's rewarding because they recognise who their owners are, and they are gorgeous to look at.'

Another sucker for stingers, account manager Eddy Poon, 37, says of his five rays: 'You see them on TV but never in your wildest dreams would you think that you can keep them.'

He became interested in them after his father, who is a fishing enthusiast, brought back photographs of marine rays.

Mr Goh and Mr Poon buy their rays from fellow hobbyists. The sale of rays in shops is banned, but not among private enthusiasts, even though industry regulator the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) discourages it.

Some ray-keepers sell surplus pets to others, rather than throw them back to nature. Athough rays are a foreign species, they are capable of adapting and breeding here. Indeed, The Straits Times reported last year that rays have been found in Singapore reservoirs.

Releasing animals into the wild is illegal and offenders can be fined up to $50,000, jailed up to six months, or both.

As for crabs, shrimps and seahorses, collectors here buy them from shops, although stocks don't come in very often.

Exotic aquarium species comprise under 10 per cent of all animals sold or exported, say industry insiders.

Singapore is a big fish in the global ornamental fish pond, with exports last year totalling about $100 million, says the AVA, while at home, keeping ornamental fish - fish bred to be pets or kept for decorative purposes - has really caught on.

As at 2005, there were 238 aquarium retail outlets, compared with 119 in 2000.

However, keeping exotic varieties in your home is a different kettle of fish, warn experts.

Such creatures, whether freshwater or saltwater, are not for beginners, they say. For example, ray-keeper Mr Goh points out that rays are very sensitive and one drop of medication for a goldfish can wipe out an entire tank of rays.

However, unusual freshwater shrimps are less complicated to care for, they point out.

Growing to just 2.5cm in size, these little critters come in different varieties. Most popular are Crystal Red Shrimps (CRS), known for their striking red and white markings.

These crustaceans are all the rage with owners such as Mr Benson Chia, 33. The bank executive, who lives with his wife and mother in an HDB flat, came across them in CRS Haven, a shop describing itself as a 'shrimp boutique' in Tampines. It specialises in various versions of CRS but also sells other varieties. It has over 30 different kinds of shrimps.

Mr Chia's wife and mum were sold the moment they set eyes on the tiny creatures. He started with a hardier species, the Cherry Shrimp, which cost about $1.50 to $2 each, and moved to his most expensive so far, a $15 Yellow Shrimp.

He now has about 30 to 40 shrimps at home in a tank just over half a metre long.

Mr Chia says: 'It's relaxing to watch them. When they breed and you see them carrying eggs, it's exciting.'

Another shrimp-lover, Mr Seddrick Teo, says: 'All these little fellows brighten up my day when I get home.'

The 35-year-old, who works in the advertising industry, has about 50 to 60 shrimps in his collection.

CRS Haven's owner Colin Chin, 24, reckons his is the only such shop here. It opened last August and since then, sales have jumped 50 per cent. Up to 20 new customers visit it each week.

Prices range from $1 a shrimp to $450 or more for a prized specimen, depending on the colour and pattern.

He says: 'You don't need a big tank. They are easier to keep than fish. But you need to know some general rules such as substrate (soil) and temperature.'

Mr Chin adds that he has seen more people converting from keeping fish to shrimps because they find the tiny creatures a lot cuter and more interesting.

Mr Conrad Chua, 37, founder of the Singapore Reef Club - a popular 11,000-member online forum for marine aquarium enthusiasts - says keeping exotic marine species 'is a rising trend', although it's still a niche group.

Mysterious and exotic

Indeed, Mr Daniel Tay, 46, from Jireh Marine Aquarium, says: 'Fish are quite boring so my shop is going for more exotic things.'

He points out, though, that while some seawater creatures such as shrimps and eels can be housed together with a reef community in a home aquarium, others such as seahorses and cuttlefish require their own tanks.

Jireh sells seahorses from 8 to 10cm in size for $35 each, and has about a dozen buyers in a week. This is up from only one a month, half a year ago. Their seahorses are tank-raised, not caught at sea.

Fish-lover Farida Ithnin, 42, a doctor, has recently fallen for the charms of seahorses. She introduced two into her $7,500 reef aquarium, but plans to start a separate enclosure for them soon.

The mother of four says: 'Seahorses look mysterious and exotic. My kids get very excited and they keep looking for them.'

Student Phuah Chee Chong, 19, used to keep cuttlefish and octopuses, but they either died because of his inexperience in tending them, or because of short life-spans - cuttlefish live for only about a year.

He spent $1,000 on them. His fondest memory: 'Once, while cleaning the tank, I frightened one of them so much it squirted black ink. The whole tank was black. I had to clean it up.'

For hardier animals, another student, Sharon Yap, 21, went for hermit crabs, which can live for up to 30 years if conditions are right.

'Sometimes they will do really interesting stuff so you can sit there and watch their antics,' she says. Her four specimens, costing $8 each, are housed in a small tank with sand and dishes of water for moisture. She feeds them fresh fruit and vegetables, and 'the occasional dead fish'.

But if you're thinking of taking the plunge into exotic water wonders, owners such as Ms Yap caution: 'You have to realise that there is a lot of research to do. It's for people who are more patient. It's not like fish where a lot of information is readily available.'

Mr Henry Ko, 55, owner of aquarium shop MarineLife at Hong Leong Garden Shopping Centre, sums it up: 'Don't buy on impulse. Such organisms are hard to get.

'When you bring them back and can't sustain them, it's a shame.'

Some are great escape artists
Straits Times 25 May 08;

Before you dive into your nearest fish shop to splash out on your own aquatic family, do your homework. Online forums such as Arofanatics.com and Sgreefclub.com (Singapore Reef Club) are good sources of information. Here are some things you need to know:

RAYS

Very sensitive to water conditions and chemicals. Avoid contact as they are poisonous and some species might be lethal. High maintenance and only for advanced hobbyists.

FRESHWATER SHRIMPS

Require cool temperatures - about 23 deg C. Can be kept with small fish, but avoid this if you intend to breed them. Fish will eat up the shrimp fry.

SEAHORSES

Need to be fed two to three times daily with frozen shrimps, available at shops. Best kept in isolation as they are slow feeders. As with all marine animals, a saltwater aquarium requires proper set-up and systems.

OCTOPUSES/CUTTLEFISH

In captivity, lifespans range from just six months to a year. Best kept in isolation as they are predatory. For octopuses, ensure your tank is well-covered as they can escape easily. Proper marine aquarium set-up and systems required.

HERMIT CRABS

The species sold here is semi-aquatic so they need a combination of sand and water, both salt- and freshwater. Ensure the sand is deep enough for burrowing. The tank must be securely covered as they are great escape artists.

Read more!

Kranji's growing needs

Farmers need more help to thrive if area is to fulfil its potential as a countryside draw
Tan Hui Yee, Straits Times 25 May 08;

Trying to get out of the Kranji countryside without a car of your own used to require a mixture of charm and luck. Since there were no bus services, and no taxi driver would take a booking from that far-flung corner of Singapore, I had to beg for rides out from other farm visitors.

Today, the farmers run a minibus service from the nearby Kranji MRT Station, and growing public interest has been mirrored by increasing development of farms that incorporate facilities such as farmstays and cafes.

To cap it off, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) unveiled plans last week for 21ha of new parkland, walking trails as well as more farming plots with space for leisure facilities there. It declared that the 1,400ha Kranji and Lim Chu Kang area - dotted with 115 farms - has potential to be 'a unique countryside destination close to nature'.

But farmers from the Kranji Countryside Association will tell you that it has been a long, hard slog to get the authorities to recognise the gem in this north-western district - and how, despite this recent vindication, it will continue to be so.

They tried selling this concept of 'agri-tainment' to the authorities in 2003. This marriage of agriculture and entertainment on farmland, they said, could be used to bolster farms' income and nurture greater interest in local produce.

In 2005, the URA eased its rules to let farms open shops and restaurants, and offer farmstays. The Singapore Land Authority followed that up the following year by putting up new farmland for tender for 'agri-tainment' uses.

By then, the farmers' continual promotion - driven by the flamboyant former Netball Singapore chief Ivy Singh-Lim and fourth-generation farmer Kenny Eng - had generated enough attention for even listed firms to muscle in on the action.

HLH Agri R&D, a subsidiary of mainboard-listed PDC Corp, is now developing 20 farm villas, a restaurant and beer garden just behind Mrs Singh-Lim's organic vegetable farm, Bollywood Veggies, off Neo Tiew Road.

But the grand plans to turn Kranji into a rustic haven belie the continual problems the farmers face.

There is still no proper bus service. SMRT service 925 - the only one that goes anywhere near - ventures only to the tip of the farming area in Neo Tiew Crescent on Sundays and public holidays.

The association's farmers pay about $7,000 a month to run an hourly minibus service plying the inner sections of the countryside. They charge $2 a ride, which barely covers half their costs.

A bus service is a lifeline for lower-income folk who otherwise cannot afford to visit the area. But the farmers' repeated appeals for a proper service, which they have offered to subsidise, have not borne fruit.

Until the authorities and bus companies relent, they will have to dig deep into their pockets to keep that private service going.

Indeed, up till last week, one could be forgiven for thinking that the Kranji farmers were pretty low on the nation's priority list.

The area was unceremoniously picked for a granite stockpile last year to stabilise the supply of construction materials after Indonesia imposed a ban on land sand exports and detained barges shipping granite to Singapore.

Explaining its move, the Building and Construction Authority said the area was 'away from built-up areas' which, ironically, was one of the main reasons for its appeal to locals and tourists alike.

The stockpile remained, despite a 1,000-signature petition and a protest by 20 farmers. And the signs are that it will stay even in view of the longer-term plans to develop Kranji as a leisure destination.

Perhaps an even bigger issue is the short lease of farmland in Singapore. While developers downtown have the luxury of 99-year leases, farmland is leased out for 20 years at a stretch. This policy betrays the transient nature of farmland in Singapore - and bolsters the perception that land can be used for agriculture only until a more pressing or profitable use comes along.

While it is hard to justify shielding farmers from rising land costs when the rest of Singapore feels the pinch, it wouldn't hurt to give them a greater sense of certainty now that Kranji has been earmarked as a countryside destination.

It need not be a massive gesture. Simply letting the farmers renew their leases a few years before they run out - similar to letting owners of downtown developments 'top up' their 99-year leases before a collective sale - can help spur hesitant farmers to develop more visitor facilities.

It would also help stave off developers with deep pockets but little interest in farming who snap up land to build commercial facilities surrounded by token planting.

Agriculture is the lifeblood of Kranji, and the farms need to thrive if the area is to fulfil its newly minted role as Singapore's next big countryside attraction.

Lose them, and we will be left with nothing but a theme park.

Read more!

Making of Singapore into a lively, liveable global city

URA's Master Plan looks at softer features of urban life and new needs like population growth
Joyce Teo, Straits Times 24 May 08;

EVERY five years, Singapore's city planners draw up a plan that will change the face of the island and affect the lives of everyone living and working here.

It is a gargantuan undertaking, ironically made more difficult by the country's small size.

This is because the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) needs to pack a good number of objectives into planning for a space that is just 704 square km.

It needs to ensure, for example, that there is enough space for companies and businesses to site offices and factories. Otherwise, land cost issues could deter them from locating here and crimp economic growth.

But it also needs to pay attention to the living environment. This means setting aside land for homes in attractive surroundings and ensuring that there are enough leisure options to keep the island's residents entertained.

It is these principles that have guided the 2008 URA Draft Master Plan, released by Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan yesterday.
Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan said yesterday that Kallang Riverside will be the next prime area on the edge of the city.

'Together with the Sports Hub, Kallang Riverside will be a significant sports and lifestyle cluster with a slice of history, supported by attractive beachfront hotels,' he said.

'The challenge for our planners is to make it possible for this vision to be realised given our limited land resources,' he said.

And getting the balance right is crucial in what is increasingly becoming a high-stakes contest between global cities to attract investment and top talent.

'You have cities that are very environmentally friendly, but tend to be very boring,' said Mr Mah.

'Or, you have cities that are very lively, very vibrant but not so liveable...the air quality is not so good.'

This is why the theme of URA's new master plan is 'Where our future is. Great opportunities, good life', he added.

The plan envisions Singapore in 2020 as a city that is 'distinctive in its ability to offer a unique combination of economic opportunity, vibrant lifestyle and quality environment, for a cosmopolitan population'.

Urban planning is not new in Singapore and started before the country gained independence in 1965.

The first master plan was forged in 1958 by the British colonial government. It regulated land use by zoning areas and introducing land density and plot ratio controls that dictated how much built-up space would be allowed in a given area.

Land was reserved for schools, infrastructural facilities and other community uses. New satellite towns away from the city centre were also planned.

Since then, the master plan has undergone eight reviews and various amendments.

The most significant was in 1998, when the Government implemented major plot ratio changes in a forward-looking plan to make better use of land.

'There was a fundamental change in thinking in 1998. The Government put out 55 development guide plans, which gave a clear idea of its development directions for each region,' said Knight Frank's managing director Tan Tiong Cheng.

With that understanding, land owners and developers could, for the first time, plan confidently. They knew, for instance, what type of developments were slated for which site and how high the buildings could go.

'That was the first new Master Plan, so major changes were made then,' recalled Mrs Cheong Koon Hean, chief executive officer of the URA.

Before that, the planners made updates to the plan, rather than relook it from a fresh perspective, she said.

The next master plan review in 2003 was a broader, large-scaled plan that focused on parks and waterbodies as well as identity and heritage.

It was not a significant departure from before, as major changes had already been introduced in 1998.

Experts say this year's master plan review is more focused. Apart from detailed plans for Jurong, Kallang and Paya Lebar, the emphasis was also on the softer features of urban life and new needs like population growth.

In 2005, the URA started drawing up a plan for more leisure offerings.

'We were looking into how else to make Singapore an even more fun and restful place,' said Mrs Cheong.

URA planners looked at the whole island, took stock of what Singapore already had and acted on the results of a lifestyle survey which showed, for instance, that people liked to see parks near their homes.

Then, they worked out a plan - the first islandwide one - that capitalised on Singapore's green assets.

The resulting Leisure Plan, unveiled earlier this week, adds 900ha of park land and triples the size of Singapore's park connector network. One result: A stunning new 150km round-island cycling route.

In the North and West regions, for example, many of the new homes planned will be located near reservoirs and parks such as Jurong Lake and Lower Seletar Reservoir.

But the URA also looked carefully at each of Singapore's five regions.

A team of six key planners worked on the proposals for each region, while teams of around 10 key planners drew up the detailed plans for the new growth areas such as Kallang Riverside.

In all, more than 300 officers comprising urban planners, architects and technical staff got involved.

Hours were spent walking the ground to get a feel for the areas under study. And the URA went overseas to get ideas.

'We looked to cities like New York for its exciting nightlife and rich arts scene and to Seoul for its success in creating beautiful urban waterways,' a URA spokesman told The Straits Times.

The plans for Kallang Riverside, for example, have their roots in waterfront housing and hotel developments in the United States city of Miami as well as Barcelona, Spain.

Another theme that runs clearly through the 2008 Master Plan is the decentralisation of urban activity to commercial nodes outside the Central Business District.

It is a strategy that first made an appearance in the URA's 1991 concept plan, with the Tampines Regional Centre identified as the first decentralised commercial hub.

Today, Tampines is dubbed the 'Shenton Way of the East', with many banks having set up backroom operations there.

The idea, as Mr Mah puts it, is to 'bring jobs closer to homes and homes closer to jobs'.

Therefore, under this year's plan, Paya Lebar Central will be further developed and more jobs will be introduced to the North, North-east and East regions in various business and manufacturing parks.

Conversely, more housing will be introduced in the West region, which traditionally has been an industrial stronghold, in areas like the Jurong Lake District, Hillview and Choa Chu Kang.

With leisure amenities also coming up in all these regions, and transport links between the regions strengthened, the hope is that people will need to travel less to the city. And this will reduce the burden on the country's transport infrastructure.

Finally, with tourism now being a key pillar of growth, the new master plan has set aside more land for hotels to cater to tourists coming here to enjoy the attractions.

New hotels have been planned for areas such as Chinatown, Singapore River, Paya Lebar and Sentosa.

Initial reactions to the plan have been favourable, with developers applauding the clarity of the plans.

'It gives you a good idea of what the Government will be doing in the next five to 10 years and gives us investors more confidence,' said Mr Allen Law, director of the Park Hotel Group.

'In less developed countries, you don't know what type of supply may spring up next to your development.'

And for all the proposals for change mooted, some appreciated that certain policies would not change.

For example, there are no major plot ratio changes this year, which developers said may be a good thing, given the current market uncertainty.

The property market has had its quietest period in years as many buyers kept to the sidelines this year.

The URA has also pledged to release new land parcels at a pace that is in line with market demand and conditions.

Overall, Mr Simon Cheong, president of the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore, said the 2008 Master Plan provides for a very sustainable global city, which will offer a lot of opportunities for developers.

'It's very comprehensive and not a cut-and-paste approach,' added Mr Cheong. 'There's already a soul in Singapore and you want to maintain that.'


MAKEOVER #1: KALLANG RIVERSIDE
Beaches and waterfront homes at the edge of city
The area south of Kallang and Lavender MRT stations will be completely transformed
Fiona Chan, Straits Times 24 May 08;

THE year is 2020. The place: Kallang.

Gone are the unsightly gas tanks and drab industrial factories that once marked this area. Instead, it is sparkling with modern high-rise buildings, cool green parks and beachfront homes.

Families stroll down the tree-lined paths and frolic by the river, which has been cleaned up and beautified with sandy beaches, waterfront hotels and energetic water sports.

In the distance looms the Sports Hub, an impressive cluster of world-class sporting facilities, just minutes away to the south of the area.

This is the new Kallang - at least, the way Singapore's land planners envision it in 15 years.

Under the latest masterplan revealed by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday, the area south of Kallang and Lavender MRT stations will be completely transformed.

The URA will do away with the prosaic industrial estate of Kallang Basin, the site of the former Kallang Gasworks and some of Singapore's oldest public housing estates.

In its place will blossom the glamorous Kallang Riverside, an exclusive residential enclave, thriving commercial hub and nature-rich leisure seat at the edge of the city centre.

When the area takes shape, it could rival Novena and Sentosa as a prime living and working destination, property consultants said yesterday.

Kallang will have the added advantage of lush green parks and shimmering waterways to draw visitors, they added.

'Kallang is like a hybrid of Marina Bay and Sentosa, unique in that it will have beaches and waterfront homes so close to the city,' said Mr Chua Yang Liang, head of South-east Asia research at property firm Jones Lang LaSalle.

In all, the URA has set aside 64 hectares of land to be developed in the area - double the size of Raffles Place.

It will retain light industrial buildings that offer jobs in the neighbourhood, but eliminate Kallang's old, grey, stodgy feel.

Four thousand new waterfront homes will be created on the west side of the river, all to be built by private developers, said the URA.

They will be set in The Green, a halcyon housing suburb arranged around a long strip of grassy park to the west of the Kallang River.

This park will link Lavender MRT station to the waterfront, providing a verdant thoroughfare for residents and visitors alike.

On the river's east side, a commercial centre will spring up, with space for 400,000 sq m of offices, shops and entertainment venues. The offices here will allow businesses to expand outside the city and are envisaged as cheaper support offices for downtown firms, the URA said.

To accommodate overseas visitors, Kallang Riverside will host 3,000 hotel rooms in a tropical beachfront setting.

The river itself will realise its full potential as a recreational hub.

Already a popular dragon boating and waterskiing spot, it will also offer beachside lagoons for swimming and facilities for new sports such as boating or canoeing.

To top it all off, an extensive network of roads and walkways will be created to improve accessibility.

One is a sheltered walkway that will take pedestrians from Kallang MRT station all the way to the Sports Hub in air-conditioned comfort. This futuristic link will snake through the second storeys of office and entertainment buildings along the way.

A pedestrian bridge will also be constructed across the river, linking the mainly residential west bank to the commercial centre on the east.

But Kallang will not be all newfangled plans and sleek buildings. The URA stressed that care has been taken to preserve the area's historic identity.

One of the key landmarks is the former Kallang Airport, opened in 1937 as Singapore's first airport. The Art Deco-style building was once hailed as the 'gem of the British empire', with revolutionary facilities such as a circular aerodrome and a large open-air viewing gallery.

Increased air traffic led to the airport being closed in 1955 and replaced by Paya Lebar Airport. The runway was converted into a road and the airfield to a recreational area, but the terminal building still stands as the People's Association headquarters.

Now, it will be one of the key development sites to be launched for sale in Kallang, along with the accompanying office buildings, former hangar, front lawn and other historic structures.

The blocks, centred around the historic Old Airport Square, will be conserved and adapted for new uses that could include a boutique hotel or a mall, said the URA.

It also intends to redevelop the bus interchange south of Kallang MRT station into high-rise buildings, and is studying whether to integrate the interchange into the new development or relocate it.

MAKEOVER #2: PAYA LEBAR
From quiet town to bustling cultural district
The Paya Lebar area will become one of S'pore's major commercial hubs under URA's new plan
Hong Xinyi, Straits Times 24 May 08;

IT'S been the site of plantations and kampungs, witnessed political intrigue and riots, and remained a distinctive neighbourhood cherished by the local Malay community.

Under the latest masterplan announced by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday, Paya Lebar will take on yet another incarnation as one of Singapore's new commercial hubs.

Close to 500,000 sq m of office, retail and hotel space will be added to the area, bolstering the 200,000 sq m already available. 'Over time, we hope to see Paya Lebar Central attracting small and medium-size enterprises, but we'll have to see how things develop,' said URA chief executive Cheong Koon Hean.

One of the first major changes to the area will be the new Paya Lebar MRT interchange station, ready by 2010, which will serve the Circle and East-West lines.

Land adjacent to both sides of nearby Tanjong Katong Road will be used for new developments that will feature office, retail and hotel space, including an outdoor pedestrian mall in Geylang Road.

The Geylang River, which is currently more of a canal, will be reconstructed and become a focal point for waterfront dining and shopping.

No date has been announced for the release of these land parcels for development under the Government Land Sale Programme.

But already, some of the neighbourhood's most iconic institutions are being primed for the big Paya Lebar makeover.

The area is no stranger to change. Geylang Serai was first earmarked for the Malay community by the colonial authorities in 1840, and takes its name from the 19th-century lemon grass plantations here (serai being the Malay word for lemon grass).

Political parties United Malays National Organisation and Barisan Sosialis were once active in the area, and the 1964 racial riots broke out nearby.

In 1965, the flood-prone area's kampungs began to be replaced with government-built flats. The now-trademark street lighting during Hari Raya was introduced in 1984, and planned developments such as pedestrian malls and arcades were announced by the URA as early as 1994.

Joo Chiat Complex, built in 1983, is expected to complete its current upgrading by August this year.

The new two-storey Geylang Serai market in Changi Road is expected to be completed next year and, at 9,300 sq m, will be twice as big as its famous predecessor.

The original market, which opened in 1964, was known as the Malay Emporium of Singapore and attracted busloads of regional tourists.

Ravaged by a fire in 1999, it was torn down in 2006. But the temporary market in Sims Avenue - which retains the tradition of selling only halal food - is still doing robust business.

But at least one neighbourhood landmark will not be part of the new Paya Lebar Central.

The Malay Village, in Geylang Serai Road, was set up in 1989 to showcase traditional Malay kampung life. Plagued by management changes, the attraction never really took off. But just last month, the current management team announced plans for a $50 million revamp.

The URA confirmed that the current site of the Malay Village, whose lease ends in 2011, will eventually be used for a new civic centre.

But the authorities maintain that the cultural heritage of the neighbourhood will play a key role in its redevelopment.

The proposed civic centre, which may include a library, could also feature a gallery showcasing the area's history, said the URA. The building's design may also be inspired by traditional Malay stylistic elements.

New plaza spaces near the Paya Lebar MRT station and the Geylang Serai market will provide more space for the area's annual Hari Raya bazaar, as well as year-round grassroots events and cultural performances.

Madam Suriana Sabtu, 31, welcomed the prospect of larger bazaars with stalls concentrated in the two new plazas.

Introducing new shopping outlets will add diversity to the retail scene here, she felt. 'It's good to attract more people here, not just Malays.'

But if this neighbourhood is indeed about to become sleek and bustling, some hope it won't be at the expense of its longstanding haphazard charms.

In its current pre-hub incarnation, old-school provision shops and textile stores still line its quiet streets and run-down shopping centres. Colours pop up in every corner, from festive fabrics in bandung-pink and Kickapoo-chartreuse, to the vials of scent with neon labels proclaiming names like Raja Musk and Amber Mecca.

Sipping teh tarik at the temporary Geylang Serai market, which he visits twice a month with his parents, national serviceman Mohd Farhan Abdul Rahman, 22, was candid: The neighbourhood could really use some sprucing up; the Malay Village is 'too messy', and he won't be terribly sad to see it go.

But he hopes some things will remain. 'Making this place a hub is great. But I hope the atmosphere here can still be retained. It's still a part of my culture.'

More space, more buzz in expanded city centre
Size will double with 23,000 new homes; wider lifestyle, leisure and business options
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 24 May 08;

THE heart and soul of Singapore is about to get bigger - and you might get to live closer to it.

The city centre is set for an injection of 23,000 new homes in the next decade, as the Central Business District (CBD) doubles in size to dwarf even that of London's famed Canary Wharf financial district.

In particular, Tanjong Pagar has been identified for rejuvenation, which will see new hotels, and commercial and residential sites being developed as the district becomes the 'Southern Gateway' to the city centre.

Plans for a bigger, bolder city centre - which will offer more lifestyle, business and leisure options - were released by Singapore's urban planners under the latest draft Masterplan 2008 yesterday.

Marina Bay will remain the mainstay of supply for Singapore's growing demand for office space. At 129ha and offering 2.82 millionsqm of office space, it will be the equivalent of Hong Kong Central, the city's main business district, said the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

While Marina Bay and the city centre will be the key commercial districts to meet demand, new 'commercial nodes' outside the CBD will offer attractive alternatives to businesses, said National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan yesterday at the launch.

This includes the Beach Road/Ophir-Rochor district, which will undergo a makeover previously announced by URA to become the 'Northern Gateway' to the city. Already under way is the development of the eco-friendly South Beach project designed by world-renowned British architect Norman Foster and his partners.

The development includes two towers of up to 45 storeys high, linked to the conserved military buildings of the old Beach Road camp. There will also be premium office space, two luxury hotels offering up to 700 rooms, service apartments and shops on the 3.5ha site.

In Tanjong Pagar, several sites have been sold in the past year for the development of new offices, hotel rooms and high-rise residential projects such as Pinnacle@Duxton and the Icon.

All this and more will further enhance the vibrancy and activities of the Tanjong Pagar commercial district, said URA.

In the broader central region, another 130,900 homes have also been planned, adding to the existing 335,400 units in the area.

These include new abodes in established towns Queenstown, Toa Payoh and Kallang. The proliferation of homes located close to commercial centres is also part of the strategy to 'reduce commuting by bringing jobs closer to home', said Mr Mah.

Public infrastructure, especially in transport, will be enhanced in the area, with the new Downtown and Thomson MRT lines and the Marina Coastal Expressway serving the expanded city centre.

Mr Danny Yeo, deputy managing director of property consultancy Knight Frank, said the latest plans will help alleviate some of the city's traffic problems.

'The increased residential component will also inject a lot more nightlife, and bring people closer to towns, reducing the need for travelling,' said Mr Yeo.

To give your feedback
Straits Times 24 May 08;

To give your views on the redevelopment plans, visit the Draft Master Plan 2008 exhibition at The URA Centre, 45 Maxwell Road from now till June 20.

Opening hours are 9am to 7pm (Monday to Friday), and till 1pm on Saturday.

Those who object to the proposals should write in to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of National Development, 5 Maxwell Road, Singapore 069110 - with supporting reasons - before June 20.

Read more!

Oil's not well that ends well

Tay Yek Keak, Straits Times 25 May 08;

I read about the price of oil shooting past US$135 (S$183) a barrel and I decided to find out what that mark-up means exactly.

It means that I shouldn't be leaving the air con on 24/7 in these hot, stir-fried days because it uses up too much electricity and in my consumerist way, I'm aiding and abetting the cost of oil to hit US$200 a barrel.

Apparently, the way things are going, that figure is considered by some experts to be a real possibility.

I think it'll coincide with our Great Singapore Blackout.

You don't know it yet but in future that could be the one day allocated every month for all the electrical lights at Orchard Road to be shut down - like North Korea's lights-out curfew - to save power.

Don't worry.

The Great Singapore Blackout runs concurrently with the Great Singapore Sale.

You can still shop till you drop by candlelight.

Oil, as you know, is the black gold that comes out of the ground, from the seabed, and everywhere the United States has enemies.

One of mankind's greatest jokes is that some of the most oil-rich countries in the world are also the ones which give the most trouble to Mickey Mouse's America, our planet's perceived good guys, although fewer and fewer are subscribing to that notion these days.

For verification, I wiki-ed those places and ascertained that, out of the Top 10 nations with proven oil assets, five - Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Russia and Libya - are iffy, may-turn-off-the-tap countries which won't dance the old Texas two-step with vigour at the United States Oil-Comers Jamboree.

The astonishing thing for me to discover is that, after the No. 1 oil gusher, Saudi Arabia, where oil flows out faster than poop from a camel, the country with the second highest reserves of oil anywhere is Canada.

I had no idea because I always thought it was another Arab country where people play Monopoly with oil rigs on the board instead of hotels.

So if you're thinking of moving over to Canada, here's another incentive - they're so booze-drunk in oil, one tank in the car may be cheaper than one can of beer.

Now, I know that talking about oil can be a snoozer because nobody cares about how a car moves, how a fridge works or how a country is bombed unless he's an oilman, leader, economist, businessman, the pizza delivery man or Dick Cheney.

But the price of oil to me is more serious than even the price of rice.

Without rice, you can still eat bananas.

But without oil, we can't eat banana split because, even in the darkest of days, you still need a generator to power up the blender, and something has got to make that generator work and it sure isn't water.

So, to folks out there who don't know how unwell the oil well is or how it's going to clean out our POSB account eventually, let me use classic reverse-psychology shock therapy.

Imagine this - three calamitous consequences of our life without oil (and catastrophically no wind, solar, hydro, nuclear or 10,000-donkeys energy too in a post-apocalyptical, back-to-basics, me-Tarzan-you-Jane, 10,000 BC kind of way):

1. Eating

Forget about the food court. We'll all be going futuristic alfresco, or what used to be known in the old days as 'sitting around a campfire singing kumbaya'. Because we won't be having any streetlight, spotlight, torchlight or mobile-phone light. We'll be eating under the moonlight, which actually is romantic in a bum-sleeping-at-the-bus stop way. Only problem is that in an oil-less, air con-less, comfort-less world, that airy bus stop is going to be fully packed at three in the morning.

2. Working

I don't know if there's still work going around without oil. What is there to work for? How do we go from our home to the office without becoming a marathon runner or an Olympic cyclist? How do we communicate? Maybe carrier pigeon-owners will be the Bill Gates of the Oil-less Age after the demise of e-mail, SMS and hand signals. Being kiasu, I better build my pigeon cage right now.

3. Having a great time

Is this still possible when oil has run out? Can we still chill, can we still thrill, can we still party? Will the clubs stay open with cavemen at Clarke Quay twirling fire torches? Man, don't look at me. I don't know. And I don't play. I'm the guy feeding the pigeons.

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Wasting food is totally unacceptable

Letter from Lester Lam, Straits Times 25 May 08;

I refer to the article last Sunday, 'Dumping food that's still good enough to eat?'.

I read with dismay of the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of food Singaporeans wasted last year. As the world community grapples with decreasing food supply and rising food prices, this wastage is totally unacceptable.

This is especially so when many Third World countries face food shortages, and millions suffer from malnutrition, while we can afford to throw away food.

Since I was young, I have always eaten all the food on the table, thanks to my grandmother's teachings. She always reminded me of the farmers who toil in the fields and do not earn much. Having worked in the fields herself, she understood the hardships faced by farmers and that we must always express our gratitude to them by finishing all our food.

I have several suggestions to ensure we are responsible citizens of the world.

To Miss Low Qiong Xia, who said her family throws away oranges used in religious offerings, oranges are not the only fruit that can be offered. One can buy food that is also enjoyed by the family. My family offers apples, and rice, which we can eat after offering.

To businesses which have no choice but to throw away food that is not fresh, may I suggest they sell it at low prices to the poor? It is still edible and will not cause any health problems. In this way, businesses can recoup some of their losses while the poor will save some money. In fact, my family often eats leftovers for up to three days without any problems.

Finally, to fellow Singaporeans, let us consume only what we need. Let us not forget the plight millions around the world face due to food shortages. Without excessive consumption, we can also reduce the problem of obesity and related diseases with which Singapore grapples.

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Fishing destroys reefs in disputed Spratlys: biologists

Yahoo News 24 May 08;

Coral reefs in the disputed Spratlys island chain in the South China Sea are either dead or dying due to destructive fishing, a study by Philippine biologists has said.

Use of dynamite and cyanide in fishing has destroyed most coral reefs around Pag-asa, a Spratly island occupied by Philippine forces, the scientists told the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Saturday.

Residents of Pag-asa, also known as Thitu island, blame Vietnamese and Chinese fishermen for the destruction, said marine biologist Ben Gonzales of the Western Philippines University.

Gonzales led a team from the university on a two-week survey around Pag-asa island earlier this month.

"The unabated use of cyanide fishing has destroyed the coral reefs around by Pag-asa island alone by over 60 percent," he said.

Gonzales said that at Pag-asa, the second largest of the Spratly islands, he saw Filipino soldiers prevent fishermen from getting too close to land but did not stopping them from using air compressors to catch fish.

Cyanide is used by diving fishermen to stun fish and catch them live for a higher commercial value, while compressors blow air into the corals, frightening fish out of their hiding places.

Both methods are highly destructive to corals.

"It is still a productive area for fishing but it is now increasingly being destroyed because there are no regulations," to govern fishing, Gonzales was quoted as saying.

The Spratlys, a chain of islands and atolls -- believed to be rich in oil and gas deposits -- are claimed in full or in part by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. All but Brunei have troops posted on some of the islands.

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Malaysia to help Indonesia curb forest fires

Yahoo News 25 May 08;

Malaysia will help Indonesian farmers practice safer farming methods to help curb forest fires blamed for the choking haze which shrouds the region annually, the environment minister said Friday.

Environment Minister Douglas Unggah Embas said both countries would sign a memorandum of understanding by June to enable Malaysian experts to assist farmers in the fire-prone Riau region on Indonesia's Sumatra island.

"Among the programmes lined-up after the MOU is signed includes capacity building to help them achieve their zero-burning target, rehabilitation of burned peat land and develop an early haze warning system," he told reporters.

Environment department director Rosnani Ibrahim said Malaysian farmers practiced controlled burning methods which could be shared with neighbouring Indonesia.

"We will provide training for planters and farmers, in our capacity building programmes, on the concept of zero-burning and controlled burning," Rosnani told reporters.

"We have very well established practices which have worked well in Malaysia and can be successfully prescribed to Indonesian farmers," she added.

Indonesia has said it was confident of reducing the number of illegal fires or "hotspots" this year, as the region braces for the annual dry season haze crisis.

Rosnani said Malaysian meteorologists last week recorded about 200 to 300 hotspots in the Riau region alone, causing skies to turn hazy in west Malaysia.

With the La Nina weather pattern expected to ease between June and August, the environment minister said "we have to be prepared for the possibility of increasing hotspots."

The region experiences an annual dry period from May until early October.

"This hot and dry season is something normal. During this time, open burning activities are expected to rise. We are taking steps to face any possibilities," Embas said.

Indonesia has yet to ratify a regional treaty charted in 2002 on preventing the haze although officials have said it was close to doing so.

Indonesia and the Philippines are the only members of the 10-nation Southeast Asian bloc which have not ratified the deal, which would compel Indonesia to create a strict zero-burning policy.

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To predict quakes, listen to the animals, China survivors say

Dan Martin, Yahoo News 25 May 08

Well before this city was destroyed by an earthquake 32 years ago, the coming disaster was loudly preceded by strange animal behaviour and other bizarre signals that survivors wish they heeded.

"The animals were trying to tell us something. If only we knew that, not so many people would have died," said Fu Wenran, a retired farmer whose wife was among the estimated 240,000 who perished in Tangshan's quake on July 28, 1976.

Several survivors of the disaster in this northern city -- still the deadliest earthquake of modern times -- said the toll in this month's quake in southwestern China could have been minimised if such clues had been validated.

Chinese media reports and Internet blogs have buzzed with reports of mass migrations of thousands of frogs and toads near the quake region in Sichuan province just before the May 12 disaster, which left more than 80,000 people dead or missing.

Whether linked to the quake or not, there is little dispute among scientists that animals can predict earthquakes, possibly through sensitivity to pressure waves.

"Physical and chemical stimuli emanate from the earth prior to an earthquake and animals probably sense that," said Dr. George Pararas-Carayannis, a chemist and oceanographer who is president of the Honolulu-based Tsunami Society.

"Eventually, studies of animal behaviour could lead to better and more sophisticated sensors for use in short-term prediction."

Scientists can detect heightened earthquake risks by monitoring build-ups of seismological pressure, ground tilting and magnetic field changes, although no quake has ever been accurately predicted this way, he said.

Yet there are many other strange precursors whose utility in forecasting remains unexplored, said Pararas-Carayannis.

The 1976 Tangshan quake was a tour de force of such clues, survivors say.

Fu, then a farmer on the city's outskirts, said dogs erupted in wild howling and barking hours before the quake struck at 3:42 am.

Mice and snakes skittered around crazily in the open. Horses and cows kicked at their stable walls.

Water levels in local wells plunged in the weeks before, only to rise sharply in the hours preceding the quake, with many overflowing, he said.

Even Tangshan's people behaved strangely, he said.

"People were irritable and confused. There were many fights that night," said Fu, now 66.

At the time, the bad tempers were blamed on a sudden heat wave, strangely unforeseen by weather forecasts, said Chang Qing, 71, then a local photographer.

"It was extremely hot. At 2:00 am, people threw water on themselves and fanned themselves. But you know what? After the quake, it was suddenly much cooler," he said.

Similar temperature rises have been reported in other quakes around the world, with some scientists suspecting geothermal forces.

The same goes for mysterious brilliant lights seen in skies before large earthquakes since ancient times.

"It looked like explosions. Bright sudden flashes. But there was no sound," said Jiang Mo, 59, who recalls seeing them while lying awake in the pre-dawn heat.

"Many people saw them but nobody had an explanation."

Dubbed "earthquake lights", some scientists believe they may be the products of a traumatised mind, while geologists suggest a link to electromagnetic forces from deep underground.

Yet animal behaviour is widely believed to hold the most promise in forecasting.

China set up a group, now-disbanded, to study the issue in the 1960s. It was widely credited with accurately predicting a 7.3-magnitude 1975 quake in the northeastern Liaoning province.

But unless vastly more research is done, such oddities will remain more a source of wonder than part of a practical and accurate forecasting method, said retired biologist Huang Zhujian, former head of the team.

"We know animals can see an earthquake coming, but that can play only a supplemental role. We must depend principally on geological methods, and even those cannot clearly predict earthquakes," he said.

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Race for Antarctic krill a test for green management

David Fogarty, Reuters 24 May 08;

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - In the global rush for resources, a tiny pink crustacean living in the seas around Antarctica is testing man's ability to manage one of the world's last great fisheries without damaging the environment.

Krill, which grow to about 6 cm (2 inches), occur in vast schools and is the major source of food for whales, seals, penguins and sea birds. Without it, scientists say, the ecosystem in and around Antarctica could collapse.

But krill is rich in oil brimming in omega-3 fatty acids that Norwegian and Canadian companies sell in pills. The crustaceans are also harvested for special enzymes that can be used by surgeons to clean wounds, even to clean contact lenses.

And the pinkish remains after processing can be used as fish meal, for example to give salmon flesh a richer pink color.

So far, difficulties in processing krill on ships, high fuel prices and the expense of sending fleets to the bottom of the globe has kept a lid on annual catches, which remain far below levels set under a treaty governing Antarctic marine life.

But the economic equation is changing fast, scientists and fishery regulators say because of soaring food prices, falling global fish stocks and better ship-based processing technology.

Within five years, the annual krill catch could jump from just over 100,000 tonnes to several million tonnes.

"The potential of the krill story is that the competition for protein of whatever form is becoming more and more acute," said Denzil Miller, Executive Secretary of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), based in Hobart in southern Australia.

"I think in the next two to three years we are going to see a lot of changes in the way governments and the international community addresses problems of expectation around food security," he said.

He said the commission has created guidelines that managed how and where krill were caught to try to minimize the impact on whales, seals and other predators. The idea is to spread out the catch once it reaches a certain size, particularly in the south Atlantic, where the bulk of the krill fishing occurs.

Failure to do so could have disastrous consequences, he said.

KRILL SEEKERS

Krill catches are already rising quickly.

"The most recent total notified catch was about 684,000 tonnes for the year 2007/08 (December-November). That's all the countries that have notified -- about 25 vessels from 7 members of the commission and two non-members," Miller said.

While it is still unclear if 684,000 tonnes will be taken during the 2007/08 fishing season, the figure presents a sharp jump from 109,000 tonnes caught the previous season but still way below the total allowed catch of 6 million tonnes set under commission rules.

But new processing techniques by Norwegian firm Aker BioMarine has recently changed the whole krill fishery, scientists and environmentalists say.

The company has created a new way to harvest and process krill continuously. Previously, it was hard to catch and then later process large amounts of krill because the enzymes inside them break down quickly, spoiling much of the catch.

"The upshot of all this is that instead of one fleet catching 100,000 tonnes in a season, one boat can catch 100,000 tonnes in one season," said Gerry Leape, director of the Antarctic Krill Conservation Project.

"All of a sudden if that technology is replicated, you could go from a conservative catch to something that could start being a problem," said Leape, also of the Washington-based Pew Environment Group, which runs the krill project as one of its campaigns.

"We are not against krill fishing. We're just against an explosion of it that will not only jeopardize the krill but also have the impacts on the predators and not take into the necessary changes that will be caused by climate change," he said.

Aker BioMarine says it cooperates with global environmental group WWF to ensure its krill harvesting methods are sustainable.

The company also says it wants to increase production of its krill products, including krill oil and krill meal and is building a high-tech harvesting and processing vessel to go into service in 2009.

The problem with krill, though, is that there are a lot of unknowns. Scientists say no one really knows how abundant krill are, with estimates ranging from about 200 million tonnes to 500 million. And no one really knows the exact numbers of whales, seals and penguins that rely on krill or how climate change will affect those populations or krill numbers.

Krill rely heavily on sea ice for breeding and feeding, particularly during winter months. They eat tiny phytoplankton that thrive on the underside of sea ice but global warming is changing the amount of sea ice down south, particularly around the Antarctic Peninsula where temperatures have risen dramatically in recent years.

In Hobart, scientist Andrew Constable is leading a project to create a management program that will help fishing firms adapt to changing conditions in the Antarctic ecosystem.

"There are a number of different elements to consider with krill. One is the food-web function and being confident the food web can be self-sustaining in the future and not impact on the recovery of whales," he said.

"How do we make sure that the recovery of whales is not going to be jeopardized by krill fishing because they are going to targeting the same locations that the krill fishers will," said Constable, a leader in the Antarctic Marine Ecosystems Program of the Australian Antarctic Division and the Cooperative Research Centre for Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems.

OPEN AND CLOSED FOR BUSINESS

One idea was to learn by a structured fishing approach. "You actually have fishing in one location and not in another and you can compare the two to see what affect the fishery might have.

"And can you arrange the fishery in such a way that you have a mosaic of areas where they fish and a mosaic of areas where they are not fishing and you measure a few key parameters in each of those areas. You can then start to tease out 'this is how we think the system works'," Constable said.

And on top of all that, scientists needed to know what impact climate change will have. "That's another reason I think we need areas which are closed to fishing so we can tease out what the effects of climate change might be from the effects of fishing."

Krill expert Steve Nicol said it was crucial for any management tool to be very conservative.

"When you calculate how much krill it's safe to take, you put an awful lot of precaution in every aspect of the modeling you use to do it," said Nicol, program leader of the Southern Ocean Ecosystems Group at the Australian Antarctic Division in Hobart.

He also said with grain prices rising, krill could soon become economic to catch as fish meal.

"The supply of fish meal has gone right down, so you are actually getting a double-whammy on fish meal and the cost of what people are prepared to pay for good-quality fish meal is going up all the time.

"At some point it's going to become economic to go fishing for krill just as a fish meal product."

Miller said krill was already part of the bigger picture of global food security and that a robust management system was crucial for Antarctica's future.

"We've got to get this one right, because if we don't there's a whole lot of dominoes that follow afterwards that just looks too horrendous to contemplate," Miller said.

(Editing by Megan Goldin)

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Southern Utah tortoise continues decline

Mike Stark, Associated Press Yahoo News 24 May 08;

It's been a tough few years for the shelled sentinels scratching out a living in Utah's southwestern desert.

The population of desert tortoises in the scrubby 62,000 acres of Red Cliffs Desert Reserve has been declining steadily since 2000. New numbers for 2007 show the lowest count since regional monitoring began in 1998.

Drought, fire, disease and other factors have taken a toll. Eight years ago, the number of adult tortoises there was estimated at more than 3,200. Now it's around 1,700.

"We definitely have a level of concern," said Ann McLuckie, a biologist with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources in St. George.

McLuckie traveled to Zion National Park Friday to mark World Turtle Day with school kids and others interested in the survival of one of the desert's most peculiar residents.

Desert tortoises spend up to 95 percent of their time in underground burrows, can have shells 15 inches across, bob their heads oddly during courtship and are capable of noises described as hisses, grunts and whoops.

"They're fascinating," McLuckie said. "They've maintained basically the same body shape for over 200 million years so they're kind of vestiges of the past."

The Red Cliffs reserve was established 12 years ago to protect wildlife from human encroachment in Utah's rapidly growing Washington County.

The desert tortoise, a federally protected species, has benefited from that designation but that doesn't mean life is easy.

Although the tortoises are desert dwellers, they can only survive so many dry years. Drought dries up freestanding water sources needed to digest food and expel salt from their bodies. With less water available, tortoises tend to eat less and weaken.

The proliferation of nonnative cheatgrass is also a problem, as it provides fuel for fires to move quickly across the desert.

Some tortoises either burn up in the flames or see their primary food sources — wildflowers, cacti and grasses — destroyed, McLuckie said.

There's an indirect threat, too: Predators such as coyotes have shifted their diets toward tortoises as other sources disappear from fire or drought.

A large fire roared through the reserve in 2005, and the tortoises are still feeling the effects, McLuckie said.

"I definitely think there's long-term impacts," she said.

There's also a concern that weakened turtles might be more susceptible to disease, including an upper-respiratory ailment first discovered in Utah's wild tortoises in the 1970s.

"Whenever there's stress in a population like drought, that exacerbates the disease," McLuckie said.

The Red Cliffs area has long been seen as a stronghold for the Mohave desert tortoise, which lives in parts of Utah, Nevada, California and Arizona. Density there tends to be higher than other populations in the region, according to Roy Averill-Murray, desert tortoise recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Reno, Nev.

Although scientists keep a closer eye on the number of tortoises per square mile than the overall population, Averill-Murray said he's concerned with the mortality rates in the Red Cliffs area.

There's been some discussion about transplanting tortoises to the area but nothing formal has been proposed.

Keeping track of them can be difficult because they often live in remote places and tend to stay out of sight. Some are affixed with tracking devices.

"We know they can live 60 years in the wild and even longer in captivity," Averill-Murray said. "They can even live longer than the researchers studying them."

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