Jail and penalty for international wildlife smugglers

WWF website 29 May 08;

On 27 May, international smugglers were sentenced to imprisonment and penalties as they were found guilty of trading Amur tiger derivates and bear paws between Russia and China.

The damage to the Far Eastern Russia nature is huge: around 900 paws of brown and black bears, 4 tiger skins, 531 saiga horns and more than 60 kilos of tiger bones.

WWF and TRAFFIC experts were involved for independent expert evaluations of confiscated wildlife products. They estimated the commercial value to more than US$ 200,000.

The criminal group consisted in six people: three Russian and three Chinese. The most active members of the band, one Russian and one Chinese, were sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment and a penalty of US$ 8500.

“The unprecedented huge number of smuggled derivatives makes this case highly interesting. The latest prosecution marks the start of wildlife crime being treated with the seriousness it deserves”, said Natalia Pervushina, co-ordinator of TRAFFIC’s Russian Far East programme.

“No damage was compensated to the State from the criminal activity of poachers” said Gennady Zherebkin, law enforcement advisor of the WWF Russia Amur branch.

“Unfortunately, this is not the only case when the objects of crime are the animals and plants and the persons under trial are not condemned for ecological crimes.”

The smugglers were caught for the first time by law-enforcement services in January 2007. They were transporting 8 bags of bear paws, 3 tiger skins, several horns and various fragments of different animals’ carcasses.

In March 2008, an attempt to get some 120 bear paws across Khanka Lake to China did not succeed as the police managed to confiscate the goods. But the criminals were able to flee.

Read more!

World's rarest rhinos make first video trap appearance - then toss camera

WWF website 28 May 08;

JAKARTA--After just a month in operation, specially designed video cameras installed to capture wildlife footage in the jungles of South East Asia have twice recorded remarkable images of a mother and child pair of the world's rarest rhino.

But the success was not without incident as after a short inspection, the rhino mother charged the camera installation in Ujung Kulon National Park and sent it flying.

"With fewer than 60 Javan rhinos left in the wild, we believe this footage was well worth the risk to our equipment," said Adhi Rachmat Hariyadi, who leads WWF-Indonesia's project in Ujung Kulon National Park.

“It’s very unusual to catch a glimpse of the Javan rhinos deep inside the rain forest. The motion triggered infrared video traps are a useful way to observe them and the ways they use their habitat in a more detailed way."

Recordings of the Javan rhino are the highlight so far of the installation over recent months of improved video-based wildlife recording equipment, which in its pioneering phase in Malaysia has already provided footages of rare Malayan tigers in the wild and a Sumatran Rhino in Borneo.

“Setting cameras such as these is always a challenge, especially with animals as rare and elusive as the Javan rhino,” said WWF Malaysia photographer Stephen Hogg, who designed the video-traps. “The assault on the camera still has us baffled because we specifically use Infra Red (IR) lights as the source of illumination when we designed and built these units so as to not scare animals away when the camera activates.”

The use of video traps over camera traps is yielding valuable insights into the behaviour of target and other species which will aid in their conservation.

In the case of Javan rhinos, the new video traps replace wooden bamboo platforms nearly 10 metres off the ground at wallowing sites, which were difficult and time-consuming to construct, required safety training and precautions for users and offered limited viewing angles. From a scientific viewpoint, adverse angles and larger distances meant it was often impossible to identify particular rhinos.

By contrast, the video traps are readily relocated, generally safe to operate and surprisingly robust. “The camera tossed in our footage was relocated by a survey team and put back on its stand next day and hasn’t suffered molestation by a rhino since,” said Adhi Rachmat, WWF team leader in Ujung Kulon.

"We are proposing a test translocation of a few Javan rhinos in the near future to establish a new population in a new area. This requires hard data and reliable science and settting up video traps allows us to do that without stop sending researchers to spend the night on rickety bamboo platforms trying to observe these highly endangered rhinos," said Adhi. "Since the video traps don’t have any moving parts and are very silent, they can be placed much closer than humans along the favourite haunts of the Javan rhinos, like salt licks, trails and mud wallows."

Javan rhinos are found only in two locations in the world with Ujung Kulong NP in Java, Indonesia estimated to have around 60 rhinos -- more than 90 percent of the global population.

To prevent the rhino population from going extinct from a sudden catastrophe like a diseases or other natural disasters, the Government of Indonesia recently launched rhino conservation strategy titled “Project Rhino Century (Proyek Abad Badak) in partnership with WWF, International Rhino Foundation (IRF), Yayasan Badak Indonesia (YABI), dan US Fish and Wildlife Service to create additional Javan rhino populations by translocating a few individuals from Ujung Kulon to another suitable site.

The video trap instalment was done and monitored by a survey team consisting of biologists, including Ujung Kulon park rangers, WWF, and local people.

Watch the video on the WWF website.

Cameras catch glimpse of world's rarest rhino: WWF
Aubrey Belford Yahoo News 29 May 08;

Hidden cameras in the jungles of Indonesia's Java island have captured rare footage of the world's most threatened rhino, boosting efforts to save it from extinction, conservationists said Thursday.

Two camera traps set up in the remote Ujung Kulon national park yielded new footage of the endangered Javan rhinoceros, said Adhi Hariyadi, leader of the project by the environmental group WWF.

The footage will help conservationists fighting to save the species, which numbers only around 60 in the wild, by giving new information on the rhinos' health as well as vital insights into their breeding habits, said Hariyadi.

"We have already been able to observe a mother and calf walking and rearing and in the process of separation," he told AFP.

The motion-triggered, infra-red cameras caught night-time footage of one female rhino and her calf in the lush forest of Ujung Kulon.

Seeing the unfamiliar device hanging against a tree, the mother charges the camera with a full-force headbutt and the picture disappears.

In spite of the blow from the rhino mother's head, the green camera box was retrieved and set up to capture more footage the next day, Hariyadi said.

The footage will be key in efforts to save the endangered species, Hariyadi said. The roughly 50 Javan rhinos living in Ujung Kulon make up the only viable population capable of reproducing.

Despite the rhino knocking the camera to the ground, the footage of mother and calf beforehand will be useful for understanding how the Javan rhinos care for their young, and how and when they force their children to fend for themselves, he said.

"(The footage) basically fills in the puzzle, and since we are challenged to increase the population of Javan rhinos in the future it basically helps us to identify suitable environments for them," he said.

"We know very little about their behaviour unfortunately."

Conservationists and the Indonesian government are studying the possibility of relocating some of Ujung Kulon's rhinos to a new home on either Java or Sumatra island to avert catastrophe if the community collapses.

"If something happens to this population they will be all gone," said WWF spokeswoman Desmarita Murni.

"Knowing how they live we can find a way to protect them to prevent them from going extinct from disease or competition from other animals for food," she said.

The new footage is the first to be taken of the Javan rhino from camera traps and the first from any source in the last five years, Hariyadi said.

The Javan rhino, which is distinguished by its small size, single horn and loose skin folds, is likely the most endangered large mammal on the planet, according to WWF.

Roughly 90 percent of the world's Javan rhinos live in Java's Ujung Kulon park, an oasis of wilderness on the western edge of one of the world's most densely populated islands.

The Javan rhino is classified as critically endangered by the environmental group and none of the animals currently live in captivity.

World's rarest rhino caught wrecking video camera
Yahoo News 30 May 08;

The world's rarest rhino does not like the limelight. A Javan Rhino was captured on video attacking a camera set up in an Indonesian jungle to study the habits of the animal, apparently because she sensed the lens was a threat to her calf, the WWF said Thursday.

There are around 70 Javan Rhinos in the wild, about 60 of which live in Ujung Kulon National Park on the western tip of Java island. The remainder live in Vietnam.

In the first month of operation, five infrared video traps have captured two images of the camera-shy mother and calf, said Adhi Rachmat Hariyadi, head of the Ujung Kulon project for the environmental group.

"It is very unusual to catch a glimpse of the Javan Rhino deep inside the rain forest," he said, adding the camera was undamaged and put back on its stand the day after the incident.

WWF officials say they plan to relocate several of the rhinos in the park to another part of Indonesia in the hope that they breed. Otherwise, they fear the species could be wiped out in the event of disease or natural disaster.

Rhino numbers in Indonesia over the past 50 years have been decimated by rampant poaching for horns used in traditional Chinese medicines and destruction of forests by farmers, illegal loggers and palm oil plantation companies.

Apart from the 60 Javan Rhinos, there are thought to be around 300 Sumatran rhinos still alive in isolated pockets in the forests of Malaysia and Sumatra island.

Rhino rarely seen by humans is photographed
Thomas Bell, The Telegraph 29 May 08;

A camera trap in the Indonesian jungle has recorded two rhinoceros from a species so rare that it is almost never observed by humans.

A motion sensitive infra-red camera recorded the mother and calf of the Javan rhinoceros species at Ujung Kulon national park on Java.

When the mother saw the camera she charged the unfamiliar object, breaking it.

Adhi Hariyadi is from the conservation group WWF, who is running the project.

He said: "We have already been able to observe a mother and calf walking and rearing and in the process of separation."

The information could help preserve the species, which was once widespread in Asia.

"We know very little about their behavior unfortunately," Mr Hariyadi said.

The Javan rhinoceros exists only in a population of around 50 animals at Ujung Kulon and another 10 in Vietnam.

It has been brought to the brink of extinction by poaching and habitat loss, including due to defoliants used in the Vietnam war.

"If something happens to this population they will be all gone," said Desmarita Murni, a WWF spokeswoman.

"Knowing how they live we can find a way to protect them to prevent them from going extinct from disease or competition from other animals for food."

The species has always fared badly in captivity and no zoo has held a specimen for over a century.

Read more!

New Zealand Marineland loses last hope for new dolphins

Bernard Carpinter, The Dominion Post stuff.co.nz 20 May 08;

Napier's Marineland looks doomed to die with its last dolphin, after a failed attempt to change the rules to acquire new dolphins.

Marineland will not be allowed to get new dolphins and Mayor Barbara Arnott indicated that it would not be able to continue as a zoo once its last survivor, the elderly Kelly, dies.

A report by Parliament's local body and environment select committee has upheld the Conservation Department's policy of banning the importation or capture of dolphins.

Performing dolphins have been the main attraction at Marineland since it opened in the mid-1960s, and the city council believes that, without dolphins, the zoo will not attract enough visitors to pay its way.

"The council will now look at ways of using this space that will not be an ongoing rates burden for our people," Mrs Arnott said.

To keep Marineland going without dolphins would cost the council $800,000 a year in operating costs and that was too much, she said.

There had been hopes that Marineland could attract outside funding to continue its work as a marine animal hospital, but Mrs Arnott said that was unlikely.

She said if the facility on Marine Pde could no longer be a zoo-it also holds seals, sea lions, penguins and other marine animals - other uses suggested included a Maori tourism centre and a Hawke's Bay wine centre.

Staff had prepared plans for possible uses, but the council had made no decisions, Mrs Arnott said.

More than four million people have visited Marineland since it opened, but numbers have been dropping since dolphin Shona died in April 2006, leaving Kelly as the sole survivor.

The select committee was reporting on a petition lodged by Napier's Labour list MP Russell Fairbrother, asking Parliament to take note of another petition, organised by Napier city councillor Harry Lawson. That petition, with 13,500 signatures, asked for Marineland to be allowed to acquire new dolphins.

In declining to change the policy, the committee said it accepted scientific evidence about the detrimental impact of captivity on dolphins provided by the department and others.

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 29 May 08

Sudden increase in Singapore’s hornbill population
on the bird ecology blog

A Sorrier Sight We Are Than Death Stars
on the Flying Fish Friends blog

Petrochemical industry and our southern shores
on the wildfilms blog

Common Iora collecting spider silk for nest material
on the bird ecology blog

Read more!

Another major Shell plant on the cards for Singapore

Decision soon on whether US$500m SMPO plant will be sited in Singapore
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 29 May 08;

(SINGAPORE) Shell Chemicals is considering Singapore as a possible site for a significant new styrene monomer/propylene oxide (SMPO) plant investment - expected to cost at least US$500 million. This comes even as it is building a US$3 billion-plus petrochemical complex here from which the plant can get its feedstock.

This was disclosed by Iain Lo, its vice-president, ventures & developments for the Asia Pacific/Middle East, in an interview with BT yesterday.

Mr Lo, speaking on the sidelines of the Asia Petrochemical Industry Conference (APIC) here, said that a 'decision is expected soon' on the SMPO project, with the Republic - one of Shell's main manufacturing hubs - competing with other sites in the Middle East and Asia for the investment.

A plus for Singapore will be the availability of feedstock like ethylene, propylene and benzene from Shell's new US$3 billion petrochemical cracker which will start up in late 2009/early 2010, he said. Another advantage is that Singapore is already the site of a Shell SMPO facility through its Ellba joint venture.

Mr Lo declined to give project details at this stage but he indicated that, to be economic, the new SMPO investment should ideally be as large as the world-scale US$500 million Ellba Eastern joint venture of Shell and Germany's BASF.

Ellba on Jurong Island is currently the largest SMPO plant in Asia producing the chemical intermediates used to make final products like polystyrene containers and rubber soles. It produces 250,000 tonnes of PO and 550,000 tonnes of SM annually.

Mr Lo was elaborating on Shell Chemicals' executive vice-president Ben van Beurden's remarks yesterday that it was considering significant new manufacturing investments - including another SMPO plant - to meet the needs of customers in Asia Pacific. Shell has already added four such SMPO plants in the last decade.

The new projects will build on new multi-billion- dollar petrochemical crackers it is currently establishing in Singapore and Nanhai, China.

By 2010, around 30 per cent of Shell's chemical manufacturing assets will be located in Asia Pacific and the Middle East, and focused primarily on supplying the burgeoning Asia Pacific market, Mr van Beurden said.

In Singapore, Shell is currently building its new Shell Eastern Petrochemicals Complex (SEPC), comprising an 800,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) ethylene cracker, a 750,000 tpa monoethylene glycol downstream plant and a new 155,000 tpa butadiene plant.

And if not the mega new SMPO investment, SEPC is set to secure more downstream investors at least.

'We are talking to a number of companies, both international and Asian players, some big and others smaller, on using the remaining cracker feedstock available,' Mr Lo said. There will be further announcements, although the final number of additional downstream plants at SEPC will depend on their size, he added.

What makes Singapore attractive to downstream investors is security of feedstock supply because of the number of petrochemical players here, Mr Lo stressed, saying that this comes from the 'critical mass' of having four crackers here come 2010, with the Republic looking to add another two in the future.

Apart from SEPC, ExxonMobil is building its second petrochemical complex here - this time a US$5 billion-plus, 1 million tpa project, adding to its earlier 900,000 tpa cracker. Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore (PCS) - in which Shell has a half share with a Japanese consortium - operates a 1.4 million tpa cracker.

While the new SEPC, which is integrated with Shell's Bukom refinery, will undoubtedly be 'far more efficient' than that of PCS, Mr Lo said that Shell is 'quite happy' with its PCS investment.

'Our view of PCS is that it is an extremely well-run asset which has been very profitable over the last four years. As far as stand-alone liquid crackers are concerned, it is one of the best around.' But he conceded that PCS will face challenges, especially in the current industry down-cycle.

Despite upcoming new, more cost-efficient gas- fuelled crackers in the Middle East, Mr Lo said that one advantage of PCS is that it is well integrated with a dedicated customer base and does not need to compete in the spot market.

Read more!

Transforming Singapore: Draft Master Plan 2008

Business Times 29 May 08

More nature areas and nature parks have been opened up, in a sensitive way, for public enjoyment. Examples include Chek Jawa where the National Parks Board has completed the boardwalk, and the boardwalks, observation tower and suspension bridge opened at MacRitchie Reservoir.

Regardless of the market sentiment, the three "L's" - Location, Location, Location - will always remain fundamental to the property sector. As such, it pays to know where the best real estate locations are likely to be.

And with the Draft Master Plan 2008 having outlined new key growth areas, hot spots and hubs, there is no guesswork required.

So read on to find out where we will Live, Work, and Play in the future.

Supplement editor: Arthur Sim; Copy editor: Elaine Koh; Sub-editor: Gouw Huat May; Cover design: Jennifer Chua; Artist: Ludwig Ilio, Sarah Loyola

Achievements of the past 10 years
Caroline Seah, Business Times 29 May 08;

THE Master Plan 2008 exhibition, launched at the URA Centre on May 23, is an important event for all here in the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). Not only is it the fruit of many months of brainstorming, discussions with various stakeholders and plain hard work, it also gives us an opportunity to share our excitement about the plans for Singapore's future development.

For those unfamiliar with the Master Plan, it is the statutory land use plan that URA develops to guide Singapore's development over the next 10 to 15 years. The Master Plan is reviewed every five years, and details the land uses and development intensities for land parcels in Singapore. It translates broader, longer-term development strategies formulated as part of the Concept Plan, which is the plan that sets the direction for Singapore some 40 to 50 years ahead. Both the Concept Plan and Master Plan work to ensure that there is sufficient land to cater to Singapore's future needs, while maintaining a good quality of living for our population.

The launch of the Master Plan 2008 exhibition marks a significant milestone in URA's history. Ten years have passed since the completion of the URA's 1998 Master Plan. Though Singapore's first statutory Master Plan was completed way back in 1958, it was the 1998 Master Plan that took planning one step forward by clearly spelling out a vision for Singapore in years to come.

For the first time, each plot of land in Singapore had a specific planning intention and development strategy. Changes in the Master Plan now signalled changes in the future landscape, rather than changes in existing uses on the ground. With the 1998 revision, the Master Plan became the forward-looking plan that we are familiar with today, a plan which enables land owners to make decisions with greater certainty.

As we prepare to complete and gazette Master Plan 2008, it would be interesting to review how successful our past Master Plans have been.

New commercial centres

Over the past 10 years, Singapore has developed new areas for businesses to flourish. Our vision for Marina Bay as an expansion of our CBD is being transformed into reality, as we speak. New developments like the Esplanade Theatres by the Bay, One Fullerton, Marina Centre, The Sail, the Marina Bay Financial Centre have been realised within the decade.

Beyond development of the city centre, these 10 years have also seen the growth of other commercial hubs. The Tampines Regional Centre, Buona Vista Sub-regional Centre (now known as One-North) and the Novena Fringe Centre are three such centres outside of the city centre being developed.

Both Tampines and Novena are now bustling commercial centres, with a mix of offices, retail and entertainment facilities that cater to the needs of residents in the eastern part of Singapore. One-North is an established hub for research, and looks set to become home to a dynamic blend of commercial, residential and recreational uses.

Thanks to this strategy to develop new commercial centres outside the Central Area, businesses now have a variety of locations to choose from, which are more affordable than those found in the city centre and which are well-suited to back-offices.

Flexibility for businesses

Another pro-business move by URA over the past years is to introduce more flexibility for businesses through new zoning policies that take into account changing business needs. New business zones, Business 1 and Business 2, were proposed in the 2003 Master Plan. Under the new zoning system, industrial and business activities are grouped according to their impact on the surrounding environment. The new 'impact-based' zoning approach allows businesses to house different uses under one roof and change activities easily without re-zoning.

Similarly, Business Parks and Business Park White zones were introduced, which facilitated the development of Changi Business Park and International Business Park which are now key employment centres.

URA also introduced a new type of zoning - the White Zone - which allows for the development of a variety of different uses like commercial, residential and hotel within the zone. This gives the market greater flexibility and creativity in planning for developments that provide a mix of uses like residential and retail. Today, several successful and innovative developments have been built on white sites.

For example, Central at Clarke Quay, built on a white site, is not only a busy shopping centre, but also pioneers the 'Small Office Home Office' concept here in Singapore by offering custom-built offices that function as residential units as well. Another white site that was successfully developed is Square2 at Novena. This development seamlessly integrates a medical centre with a trendy mall, and strengthens Novena's position as a medical hub. Similarly, the white site in Farrer Park which was awarded in 2007, will see the introduction of a 'mediplex', which combines a hospital, hotel and specialist medical centre.

Good quality of living

Singapore has experienced substantial population growth over the past 10 years, from 3.9 million in 1998 to 4.6 million today. New housing had to be provided. Across the island, new HDB towns like Sembawang, Sengkang and Punggol have sprouted up to cater to the housing needs of our growing population. Since 1998, there have been 170,000 new homes created. We have also created a variety of housing choices, such as waterfront housing in areas like Tanjong Rhu. Industries in Bukit Timah and Hillview have also been relocated since the 1990s, and replaced with high-quality residential developments.

Recreation and leisure

Beyond housing, URA has also planned for the recreation and leisure needs of our population. As part of the Master Plan 2003, URA drew up the Parks and Waterbodies Plan and Identity Plan. The Parks and Waterbodies Plan set out proposals for an islandwide network of parks and park connectors. The park connector network has been implemented in stages, with the 42 km-long Eastern Loop running through Bedok, Pasir Ris and Tampines being completed last year.

The Parks and Waterbodies Plan and the Identity Plan also set out our vision for various areas like the Southern Ridges. As part of the Master Plan 2003, there was a proposal to connect the three Southern Ridges for a nine-km walk. This vision for a beautiful walk through nature has become a reality. Today, the Southern Ridges are linked by two bridges and an elevated walkway and are now open to the public.

More nature areas and nature parks have been opened up, in a sensitive way, for public enjoyment. Examples include Chek Jawa where the National Parks Board has completed the boardwalk, and the boardwalks, observation tower and suspension bridge opened at MacRitchie Reservoir.

The past decade has also seen the revitalisation of areas like the Singapore River. Through URA's land sales programme and environmental improvement works, the three quays of the river are now popular nightspots offering a array of entertainment and dining options for locals and tourists alike.

Conservation

It has not just been a decade of unrestrained urban development, however. Even as condominiums, shopping malls and office towers are being built, pockets of Singapore remain carefully shielded from the pressures of development. The Identity Plan, created as part of Master Plan 2003, set out to conserve historical areas and buildings that have a special place in our hearts. In the past decade, 1,200 additional buildings have been conserved, in areas like Holland Village, Joo Chiat and Tiong Bahru. These buildings not only help Singapore's streetscape to remain distinctive, they also provide our people with physical anchors for shared memories.

The next 10 years

Going forward, the Master Plan 2008 looks to build on the good foundations set by the past Master Plans. This time, the focus is on providing great opportunities and a good life. We have plans to develop new areas like the Jurong Lake District, Paya Lebar Central, Kallang Riverside, as well as continue growing Marina Bay as a 24/7 live-work-play environment. Tanjong Pagar and the Beach Road/Ophir-Rochor corridor will also be developed as strategic gateways to the city centre.

We also have an extensive Leisure Plan, which showcases a diverse range of leisure opportunities around the clock, island-wide, for people of all ages.

Our city's achievements and the garnering of international accolades in the past decade bear testament to the strength of the vision for Singapore. However, this vision was not created solely by URA. It was drawn up together with other government agencies, private sector representatives and various stakeholders through focus group discussions, public forums and dialogues.

More importantly, the transformation of the past 10 years was achieved through joint efforts by the public, private and people sectors. The draft Master Plan 2008 exhibition, open to the public until June 20, is an opportunity for URA to gather comments and suggestions on these plans that will shape the way we all live, work and play in the years to come. Together, we can make Singapore a home of choice, a magnet for business, an exciting playground and a place to cherish.

The writer is head of physical planning and policies at URA

Plans to improve urban spaces
Business Times 29 May 08;

CHUA YANG LIANG gives an overview of the proposals in the Draft Master Plan 2008 and presents a wish list to planners

BESIDES the three strategic commercial hubs of Jurong Lake District, Kallang Riverside and Paya Lebar Central, which will strengthen the CBD alongside with development plans for Tanjong Pajar and the Beach Road/Ophir-Rochor corridor, there were no major changes or surprises to the zoning, plot ratio and planning directions in the 2008 Draft Master Plan. This observation is based on our brief review of three areas in particular - Buona Vista, Paya Lebar, and Harbourfront (which includes Telok Blangah) that will house the interchanges of two major transit lines (existing and the future Circle Line).

The 2008 Draft Master Plan maintains the time-tested planning vision that focuses on improving the overall quality of life, supported by a pro-business environment. It maintains the central planning philosophy found in the 2003 Master Plan - that of improving the quality of urban spaces and supporting general economic growth. This vision is inherent within the four key thrusts of 'home of choice, magnet for business, exciting playground, and home to cherish' and the zoning maps that developed from there.

Market trends

This planning deliverable is a highly practical one and focuses on concretising market trends that are conducive to improving the quality of living spaces and favourable to the overall business environment in Singapore.

The 2008 Draft Master Plan has not only respected the organic development trends, such as supporting the interim uses of vacant government buildings and sites, for example, Dempsey Road and Wessex Estates, it has also formally accepted and recognised other key market forces that would help improve the overall quality of living in Singapore. For example, a notable change in Buona Vista was the re-zoning of a popular area in Holland Village from 'Residential with commercial at first storey only' and 'Commercial and Residential' to purely commercial use.

The continual agglomeration of retail and commerce activities in this neighbourhood over the past few years has permitted retail activities to reach a threshold level thereby strengthening the area's image and attractiveness as an F&B neighbourhood that is well patronised by foreigners and young locals. Coupled with the upcoming Holland Village MRT station and the one-north intellectual cluster located slightly further south, re-zoning to permit full commercial activities within this area is practical and will further enhance the overall quality of living in and around the immediate vicinity.

Similarly, taking its cue from current market trends, the 2008 Draft Master Plan has also proposed more housing in key areas where demand has been strongest. The urban planners have proposed an additional 300,000-plus housing units (both private and public) islandwide with an emphasis on 'water-fronting'. This is similar to that proposed in the 2003 Master Plan where over 300,000 housing units were also suggested.

The largest increase is in the central and north-east regions where some 39 per cent and 38 per cent of additional housing units (over the existing stock) have been proposed. Likewise, in terms of the distribution of total new supply, the central and north-east regions again topped the list at 40 per cent and 24 per cent respectively. This can be expected given the strong residential demand as reflected in the recent surge in property values in these regions. This proposed new supply should help ease the values in these areas in the longer term horizon.

Echoing this trend is Buona Vista, which witnessed several residential sites being introduced. A site in Holland Drive, which was previously zoned for a civic and community institution, was re-zoned as a residential site with a plot ratio of 4.2, while sites at Slim Barracks Rise and Dover Close East, which were initially zoned white, are now zoned residential. The re-zoning of these three sites will support the area's growing prestige as an education and research hub in Singapore.

For the other planning regions, new housing has been proposed around existing water bodies, for example, reservoirs in Bedok and Lower Seletar, and the proposed 4.2 km waterway in Punggol. This concept of urbanising Singapore's waterways is not new but it has been given a greater push with the strong market response to developments in the Sentosa and Harbourfront area over the past two years. This emphasis on providing more waterfront homes would greatly enhance social equity by making such homes more affordable to the regular guy on the street and not just limited to the affluent.

Shifts in preferences

However, the danger of following market trends is sudden shifts in preferences. Just like dark undercurrents are a result of changing tides, a sudden turn in market preference may send urban plans out of orbit. The secret is providing sufficient free play to accommodate such shifts. In line with the evolving landscape of Buona Vista as an R&D and education hub, a site next to Buona Vista MRT station, which was initially zoned commercial, has been re-zoned White. This gives the future developer more flexibility in its development, providing the free play that could potentially eliminate any shifts in market preferences and possibly enhance the area further.

Likewise, the Harbourfront has seen a similar trend in providing more 'planning flexibility'. Notable changes in the region were the shift in sites at Telok Blangah Road that were initially zoned 'Subject to detailed planning - Residential' to 'Reserve' sites.

The 'planning flexibility' in this instance is not accorded to the private market but given to the statutory planners. The 'Reserve' zone effectively buys the planners some extra time to evaluate and deliberate on the optimal land use zones on these sites.

This shift in zoning could also be a reflection of the evolving market dynamism in the area, i.e. the shift in demographic profile in the surrounding neighbourhood, particularly in light of current developments such as Resorts World at Sentosa, Reflections at Keppel Bay, VivoCity and the HarbourFront offices.

Coupled with the government announcing its intention to create a leisure and recreational destination along the Southern Ridges by introducing a 2.2 km linear park along the Southern Ridges Park, this could potentially be an indication of future alternative plans for the area other than simply residential. Whatever the intention, we do know that the statutory planners are deliberating on the potential uses and are not ready to disclose the plans for these areas as yet.

Urban sustainability

While the 2008 Draft Master Plan has clearly articulated the medium-term planning objectives, it could be further enhanced with an expression of how our statutory planners perceive and support the issue of environmentalism, particularly on the concept of urban sustainability, which stems from greater environmental awareness today. Increasingly, we have seen more private occupiers demanding, and developers providing, environmentally friendlier buildings.

Urban sustainability is more than just green buildings; it contains the same basic principles of social, economic and environmental sustainability but applied to a bigger spatial context, i.e. the urban conurbation in which sub-systems such as transportation, housing, retail, education and tourism should be duly considered.

We have the first ever Leisure Plan that would see to the tripling of existing park connectors, providing residents 150 km of round-island access 24 hours a day. Could we see an Urban Sustainability Plan that sets the targets, deliverables and specific actions of each sub-system, all towards a sustainable urban environment?

The writer is the head of research, South-east Asia and Singapore, Jones Lang LaSalle

New vision for Kallang Riverside
Business Times 29 May 08

The area is set to evolve into the next prime area at the edge of the city, say NICHOLAS MAK and TEO JUNRONG
THE Kallang planning area, positioned along the picturesque Kallang River and within close proximity to the Central Business District (CBD), has enormous development potential. Made up of nine sub-zones, it covers a land area of about 920 hectares that includes 101 hectares of water body.

Since the announcement of the 1998 Master Plan, planners have envisaged the Kallang area as an urban waterfront district. This vision includes it being a centre for sports, recreation and leisure with residential developments flanking the riverbanks. There were also plans to transform the Kallang planning area into a major commercial centre to capitalise on its proximity to the Central Area.

In particular, under the 1998 Master Plan, Kampong Bugis, a sub-zone of the Kallang planning area, was slated to be a transition between the Central Area and the sports and recreation areas at Kallang Basin.

High-density residential buildings along with recreational facilities will be orientated towards the river to take advantage of the waterfront view. Some of these plans have already materialised. Waterfront residential developments, such as Pebble Bay and Camelot, can now be found facing the Kallang Basin.

The latest Master Plan aims to build on the earlier vision for Kallang. The new planning sub-zone will be the Kallang Riverside, which refers to the areas on both sides of the Kallang River, bounded by Nicoll Highway, Kallang Road and Sims Way. With a total land area of 64 hectares available for development, Kallang Riverside is to be transformed into a new lifestyle district, offering waterfront homes with an exciting mix of retail and entertainment facilities.

In addition, the area will also be developed into a commercial hub outside the city centre, providing various business alternatives and employment opportunities. Kallang Riverside will embrace the nationwide vision to make Singapore a great city in which to live, work and play.

Work

As mentioned earlier, Kallang Riverside aims to become a major commercial hub outside the city centre. There will be over 200,000 square metres of new office space added to the area. Its proximity to the CBD will be an advantage, as it will provide an alternative location to the existing CBD. The resulting projected increase of 21,000 office workers in Kallang could provide the necessary pool of demand for the upcoming retail and entertainment outlets.

Live

Homes with waterfront views usually command a premium and the prices of some of these homes fall within the high-end price segment in Singapore. Distinctive waterfront homes within a lush park setting are planned to be developed on the western side of the Kallang River.

The proposed 4,000 new waterfront homes will have a range of heights to ensure that scenic views of the beachfront will not be obstructed. For instance, there will be varying residential plot ratios of 3.5 to 5.6 under the 2008 Master Plan for the area to the west of the Kallang River. Future developments can also adopt a resort-style design, to take advantage of the beaches and water edge location. These new homes could also be relatively more affordable and could be priced in the mass market and mid-tier segments.

In order to allow the water features and landscaping elements to seamlessly extend the lush park setting, developments here will be encouraged to go 'fenceless'. This will be similar to one-north Residences, where such a fenceless environment was created to enable pedestrian connectivity and interaction among the community.

This will also pose challenges and opportunities for architects, as they need to create this seamless environment for the developments in Kallang Riverside without compromising on the security of the residents.

With the presence of the various live-work-play elements, together with its waterfront location and proximity to the CBD, these developments are likely to be attractive to homeowners and investors.

Kallang Riverside will also take advantage of its distinctive tropical character and surrounding water features by forming a substantial hotel cluster to cater to family and business travellers. Under the 1998 Master Plan, the area to the east of the Kallang River had been zoned for residential purposes. Under the 2008 Master Plan, the zoning has now been changed to hotel and white sites.

The hotel zoning will have plot ratios ranging from 2.1 to 3.5 while the white sites zoning will have plot ratios ranging from 1.5 to 4.9. There are plans for up to 3,000 hotel rooms available along the banks of the Kallang River.

Due to tourism initiatives such as the Formula One race, Youth Olympics and the integrated resorts, the number of visitors to Singapore is anticipated to rise over the medium term from the 10 million in 2007 to about 17 million by 2015. As a result, more hotels are needed to meet the rising demand. Tourists should find hotels along the Kallang Riverside an attractive choice, with their scenic views, proximity to the CBD as well as major tourist attractions.

Play

Kallang Riverside will go through a metamorphosis to become a new lifestyle hub, with a vibrant mix of retail, food and beverage outlets, and entertainment facilities. It is close to key attractions such as the Sports Hub and the Illuma entertainment centre.

Costing some $1.2 billion, the Singapore Sports Hub would be completed by 2011. The integrated complex includes a 55,000-seat capacity stadium with a retractable roof, a 6,000 capacity aquatic centre, a multi-purpose arena and over 41,000 square metres of commercial space. It will be Singapore's premier land and sea sports, entertainment and lifestyle hub, hosting major international events and playing a critical role in taking sports in Singapore to a new level. Due to its close proximity, the Sports Hub is likely to add vibrancy to Kallang Riverside.

Illuma, located in the Bras Basah-Bugis district, is slated to be Singapore's first urban entertainment centre. Spanning a site area of 8,921 sq m, the complex aims to provide an exciting mix of arts and entertainment facilities all in one location, drawing both locals and tourists alike.

Within the development, public spaces will be provided to serve as venues for street performances, bazaars and open-air concerts. Likewise, this upcoming project would be something that the residents in Kallang can look forward to.

With its sandy beaches, waterfront views, and close proximity to the city, Kallang Riverside is indeed situated in a unique spot in Singapore. As the Master Plan gradually materialises, Kallang Riverside will evolve into the next prime area at the edge of the city. The growing population in the area would provide the critical mass to support these upcoming residential and commercial developments. In time to come, Kallang Riverside might become one of the places in which residents can truly live, work and play.

The writers are with Knight Frank's Research & Consultancy Department

Creating more buzz in the Central Area
Leonard Tay, Business Times 29 May 08

OF ALL the changes made in the recent announcement of the new draft Master Plan 2008, those being effected within the Central Region in general and within the Central Area in particular would have the most telling impact on commercial land use in Singapore.

The Central Area lies at the heart of the Central Region and includes the sub-zones of the Downtown Core, Singapore River, River Valley, Outram, Museum, Rochor, Newton and Orchard, as well as new areas for development comprising the sub-zones Marina East, Marina South and Straits View.

In the years since the last Master Plan in 2003, the Central Area has been evolving from a land use that was predominantly commercial to include a wider diversity of other uses, such as residential, lifestyle/entertainment and recreation. Yet, despite the influx of uses that were not typical to the Central Area 10 years ago, it is the commercial elements (especially the office sector) within the Central Area that look poised to grow in terms of both quality and quantity.

The confirmed supply of new office space in Singapore in the next five years is estimated to be about 10.2 million square feet and about 44 per cent of these new office buildings (Marina Bay Financial Centre, Marina View North Tower and Marina View South Tower) would be in the new commercial area of Marina Bay, and would be of Grade A quality.

In addition, 64 per cent of the future office supply islandwide would be Grade A buildings, undoubtedly raising the quality of office stock in the Core CBD, thereby contributing to the attractiveness of the city-state as a major financial centre.

At the same time, the Draft Master Plan 2008 provides the quantity of development space, as an additional 6.4 million sq m (69 million sq ft) of commercial space is planned for the Central Area in 10-15 years.

Rail network

A glance at the sites from the Draft Master Plan in the Marina Bay area shows that almost all the sites are 'white' sites, where mixed-used developments can be constructed.

Moreover, the plot ratios of the undeveloped sites range from 8.0 to 25.0, with most of the sites having a plot ratio of 13.0. These would mostly comprise modern office buildings, while at the same time suggesting that Marina Bay would have a diversity of uses that should see complementary retail space as well as residential homes. Therefore, offices with large floorplates, homes overlooking the 101-hectare Gardens by the Bay, or shops within walking distance of the entertainment highlights at the soon-to-be-completed integrated resort look set to transform Marina Bay.

In anticipation of these exciting changes, the government is also investing in significant infrastructure. In the LTA's Land Transport Masterplan, the rail transit network would increase from the present 138 km to 278 km by 2020.

Not only will this make the rail network comparable to those in cities like New York and London, it would facilitate the injection of even more activity into the Central Area. It is envisaged that commuters would have access to a rail transit station within 400 metres, or five minutes' walk, from any location in the Central Area, bringing people to an array of activities in the new downtown.

Not all the action will be in Marina Bay though as the Tanjong Pagar area south of the existing CBD will also be rejuvenated, and the Beach Road/Ophir-Rochor Corridor will house a number of varied mixed-use developments. The development of these areas would provide another tier of commercial facilities on the fringe of the CBD, supporting businesses that do not require a Core CBD location.

The writer is a director of CBRE Research

Paya Lebar Master Plan is long overdue
Business Times 29 May 08;

We owe it to ourselves to give this culturally rich area our best shot - and preserve part of our heritage, says COLIN TAN
NOT many Singaporeans, especially younger ones, would know that Paya Lebar Central - the Master Plan area unveiled last week - was once a booming commercial hub.

Those of us who grew up in the area remember the old wet market at Geylang Serai as the heart of all the bustling activity. So it was amusing to see the area described in the weekend newspapers as a sleepy industrial estate. Apart from the city centre, it was one of the earliest and busiest commercial hubs in Singapore's early history.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Paya Lebar boasted one of Singapore's earliest department stores - operated by Emporium Holdings at the Haig Road-Geylang Road junction, next to the Lion City Hotel. The area was teeming with people - especially at night. It was lit by gas-filled halogen lamps from the stalls of street hawkers, which bathed the entire area in a warm, golden glow.

Although Singapore's car population back then was minuscule compared with today, there were frequent traffic jams in Paya Lebar, even though most people either walked to where they wanted to go or took a trishaw.

The area was also home to Singapore's first 24-hour supermarket at Tanjong Katong complex. But the concept was way ahead of its time. And once the novelty wore off, the supermarket drew fewer and fewer shoppers.

And time stood still in Paya Lebar as the forces of change started to exert themselves elsewhere in Singapore. The population of Paya Lebar was slowly relocated to new housing estates such as Chai Chee and Bedok, and onwards to Tampines. Shorn of its population base, the area went into a slow decline. So in a sense, the unveiling of the Master Plan for Paya Lebar Central is long overdue. The area has been forgotten for far too long.

Its key strengths are its proximity to the city, its cultural heritage and the fact that it will have an MRT interchange. Its main weakness is the absence of a large population base. The nearest housing estates are at Geylang East and Eunos, which are small compared with the likes of Bedok, Tampines and Ang Mo Kio. As such, Paya Lebar is not a natural hub.

Having an MRT interchange helps, but it is no longer such a big deal. Soon there will be many more interchanges - all competing for the same market. Similarly, being close to the city is an attraction, but there are plenty of competing areas that are even closer, such as Kallang and Lavender. On the other hand, places like Novena have a huge head start.

Where will companies locate their backroom operations at Paya Lebar? If it is too expensive to be in the city, why stop at the edge of the city where rents are only a shade cheaper? Why not go all the way to Tampines or Jurong East, where rents are not just affordable but way cheaper? Is Paya Lebar a place for SMEs? Maybe. If property prices shoot up with all the upgrading and new improvements, as some analysts suggest, we can forget about SMEs setting up offices there.

The edge that Paya Lebar Central has over other areas is its cultural heritage. Geylang Serai - which maybe the Master Plan area should have been named - can be to the Malay Muslim community what Chinatown and Little India are to the Chinese and Indians. Ironically, what gives these two areas their vibrancy is the presence of the large number of work permit holders from India and China. It lends the area much-needed authenticity. Many Singaporeans are Westernised, preferring Starbucks or McDonald's instead of the traditional coffee shops or sarabat stalls.

Paya Lebar's cultural heritage also means it has strong tourism potential. At the moment, the celebrations during the month of Ramadan attract few tourists. It is mainly a local event. The number of non-Muslim local visitors is dismal. Singapore and STB have already achieved a difficult task - getting the numbers to even come to Singapore. And if the two integrated resorts and the hosting of global events such as the Formula One race and the Youth Olympics mean many more people will come to Singapore, the next step then is to increase their average length of stay. Increasing the number of must-see attractions is one way.

While it has been decided to do away with the Malay Village, there should be efforts to find an alternative. Having a civic centre with designs inspired by traditional Malay stylistic elements is good. But expecting it to take off like it did in Toa Payoh may not be realistic, as there is not much of a population base in the area. We do not want the place to be alive only during Ramadan. The tourists, if they come, will help supplement the market.

Maybe a museum celebrating Malay culture and heritage in the region - similar to the Peranakan museum at Armenian Street - can be set up. In fact, the Peranakan museum may be relocated to Paya Lebar Central, as the nearby Joo Chiat area was once an area populated by Peranakans. Chinatown and Little India are slowly coming back despite the pace of Singapore's modernisation. In the case of Paya Lebar Central or Geylang Serai, it will not be easy. But we owe to ourselves to give it out best shot - and preserve part of our heritage.

The writer is head of research and consultancy at Chesterton International

Read more!

Panther meat up for sale in Malaysian black market

Seized: Seven monitor lizards, 115kg of croc meat and one dead panther
Malaysian authorities seize $42,000 worth of protected animals sold for consumption
New Paper 29 May 08;

FINDING the carcass of a black panther was a first for the Selangor Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan).

Its meat was destined for the black market.

It was among some RM100,000 ($42,000) worth of meat and animals seized from a house in Taman Segar Perdana, a Kuala Lumpur suburb, the officers said at a press conference on Monday.

Perhilitan had raided the house at 7pm on Sunday, thanks to tip-offs by neighbours, reported New Straits Times.

Two men were arrested on suspicion of trafficking in protected animals.

Other items seized included 115kg of crocodile meat, seven monitor lizards, 16kg of venison, 70 live pythons and three dead ones.

State director Rahmat Topani said the suspects, in their 40s, were not part of a larger ring of exotic meat traffickers but were instead middlemen between illegal hunters and restaurants in Kuala Lumpur.

It is believed the men were paid RM20 per kg of meat and were using the house as a storage facility.

In a separate raid last week, Perhilitan arrested three men who sold endangered animals on the Internet.

The officers, posing as buyers, met the men in the carparks of two hypermarkets in Puchong, Selangor, and arrested them.

One of them was known as 'Rich Snake Man', who ran a thriving Internet service selling snakes to overseas subscribers.

His customers paid between RM1,000 ($420) and RM2,000 for each snake they picked, based on photos posted online, reported Harian Metro.

As the snakes he sold were no bigger than the size of a palm, he often carried them in a small bag.

The snakes could live without food for a month, so they easily survived their journey out of Malaysia.

NABBED

Rich Snake Man had been in business for about three years, said Mr Rahmat.

'Based on information from the public and inquiries, we found his website and succeeded in making contact with the suspect.

'We arranged to meet to buy several snakes for a few thousand ringgit.'

At the Puchong hypermarket, the suspect took the undercover Perhilitan officers to a luxury SUV.

The man was caught and the snakes seized included five ball pythons and one burmese python.

He was fined the maximum RM3,000, Harian Metro quoted Mr Rahmat as saying.

The cases against the other two is being heard in court.

Read more!

The beach that turned back the commercial tide

The Guardian 27 May 08;

Robert L White reports on a how a determined group of locals in Mexico saved their paradise beach from the developers

Picture a perfect beach. From an expanse of flawless white sand, implausibly turquoise water shelves out over a stoneless seabed to a clear horizon. Overhead, pelicans wheel lazily in search of fish. One suddenly folds its wings, like a prehistoric umbrella, and hurtles downward. The splashdown is the first sound you can remember hearing for several minutes.

Now imagine a whacking great hotel plonked on all this; plus a golf course and a few jetskis, of course, just to keep the decibel levels up. This is the fate that has befallen so many of the world's idyllic places that there seems something almost inevitable about it. Thanks to a determined and organised grassroots campaign, however, it won't be happening on this particular, Mexican strand.

Balandra beach, outside the city of La Paz, state capital of Baja California Sur, has been spared from future development after residents, civil society groups and environmentalists organised themselves into a collective, amassing a petition of 18,440 signatures calling on the regional authorities to protect the area. On March 25, after a protracted struggle by the Colectivo Balandra, state officials finally designated a total of 2,131 hectares of land and sea a Natural Protected Area, in a move that could signal a shift in Mexico's approach to tourism and conservation.

Baja California is the long, bottle-opener shaped peninsula that descends for over 1,000 miles from the US border at San Diego. La Paz, and Balandra, lie in the hook-shaped bit of the opener, on the Sea of Cortéz, the narrow strip of water that separates Baja from the Mexican mainland. As the place where the marine ecologist Jacques Cousteau did much of his filming, it has a strong claim to be the real site of his Undersea World, a unique and diverse ecosystem resplendent with rare and endangered species.

Environmental issues were, naturally, one of the main planks of the collective's campaign. As the group warned on its website: "The landscapes of the rest of the beaches of La Paz have already been modified with various types of constructions and installations; Balandra is the only one that remains to us."

But there were social considerations at stake here, too, because Balandra is essentially a beach for the people of La Paz, where tourism is of the unobtrusive variety. In stark contrast to the super-rich celebrity playground of Cabo San Lucas, just down the road, this is not a place that exists to service the appetites of deck shoe-wearing management consultants from LA.

When I was there last year, the beach was full of Paceños relaxing, on the air the sound of children's laughter, distinctive Mexican Spanish and just the occasional, hunger-inducing waft of grilling sardine. It was a friendly, democratic space – albeit one, as I quickly learned from the petitions that festooned La Paz's bars and ice-cream parlours, that some very rich people were eager to make a little more hierarchical.

The threat came, specifically, from a business consortium headed by the son of a former state governor of Veracruz, whose family own land in the area. Miguel Alemán Magnani's hotel-and-golf vision involved international capital, according to the Mexican newspaper El Universal, and the group had been trying since at least 2005 to get the go-ahead for the project.

Perhaps the strength of the resistance the consortium met has something to do with geography. As a neighbour of the most powerful nation on earth, Baja has a ringside view of the caprices of trickledown economics. Every morning, its workers take the tram from Tijuana to make the beds of San Diego's hotels and toil in California's vineyards. Every holiday season, underage US fratboys head over the border to carouse. And every year, in road races such as the Baja 1000, the authorities open up the state's already rutted, potholed road system to hordes of gringo petrolheads who tear up what little remains of it and go home leaving many highways downright impassable. All for a few dollars more.

Development of Balandra would surely have brought jobs: margaritas would have had to be served, tour parties guided and pets pampered (the tourist publication Baja Traveler magazine last year, without irony, printed a picture of a waistcoated Mexican smilingly massaging a blond spaniel). As in Acapulco or Cancún, air-conditioned boutiques would have sold trophy watches while wandering hawkers flogged hand-plaited wristbands. But the people of La Paz have looked into that particular future and dared to choose another path. They have shown that it is possible to take on the inevitable - and win.

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Biodiversity: Germany pledges 500 million euros at UN talks

Yahoo News 28 May 08;

Germany on Wednesday pledged half a billion euros (785 million dollars) to help defend threatened forests and called on others to join its effort as a UN conference on biodiversity engaged top gear.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country wanted to set down a "very clear marker" on attaining the UN's Millennium goal of braking biodiversity loss by 2010.

"The Federal government, between 2009 and 2012, will earmark an additional amount of 500 million euros," Merkel told the meeting.

"We want to use this money in those areas where forests and other ecosystems are under threat and to find quick solutions for conserving them."

From 2013, Germany will stump up half a billion dollars, annually, she promised, but added, "obviously, Germany cannot shoulder this enormous global burden alone."

The three-day "high-level" section of the conference is gathering 87 ministers, with the goal of crafting a new global deal on preserving Earth's wildlife.

"Noting less that the basis of our own survival, our very existence, is at stake," Merkel told the 6,000 representatives from 191 countries attending the meeting, launched 11 days earlier.

Participants at the conference are hoping to establish a roadmap towards negotiating, by 2010, an "Access and Benefit Sharing" regulatory framework governing access to genetic resources and sharing the benefits from their use.

Amid sharp debate on the issue, Merkel called for "striking fair balance between rich and poor countries" in the economic exploitation of biodiversity.

The UN Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) was established at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso underlined the links between species loss and climate change, and said the world must see protecting biodiversity as an economic imperative.

"Biodiversity underpins our economies ... and we cannot afford to deplete our public capital in this way," he said.

Barroso singled out deforestation as one of the main causes of species loss, and said the European Union was reviewing measures to combat illegal logging, and trade in illegally harvested forest products.

But environment groups have criticised the EU for sitting on a draft law that would ban the importation of such products into Europe.

"The law is finished and ready to go, but because of commercial and business lobbying, the Commission has not gone forward," said Saskia Richartz, policy director for biodiversity at Greenpeace.

Scientists say that species are becoming extinct at a dizzying rate -- between 100 and 1,000 times the natural pace of extinction.

One in four mammals, one bird in eight, one third of all amphibians and 70 percent of plants are under threat.

Development economist Pavan Sukhdev has handed the conference a preliminary report in which the lost of the benefits of biodiversity are put at 3.1 trillion dollars a year, or six percent of the planet's gross national product (GNP).

Group of Eight (G8) environment ministers met in Kobe, Japan, earlier this week, issuing a joint statement acknowledging the fundamental importance of biodiversity and spelling out their support for the Millennium Development Goal of reaching a "significant reduction" in species loss by the end of this decade.

Greenpeace's Martin Kaiser praised Merkel for sending "a very strong and important signal" for reaching a strong agreement in Bonn.

He called on other industrialised countries to pitch in, and estimated around 30 billion euros (47.1 billion dollars) a year were needed to finance the protection of ancient forests.

Germany pledges millions to save forests
Madeline Chambers, Reuters 28 may 08;

BONN, Germany (Reuters) - Germany has pledged 500 million euros ($786.2 million) by 2012 to help protect the world's forests, a move activists said could give impetus to U.N. talks on preserving the earth's biodiversity.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, who won praise from environmentalists last year for her part in pushing through EU and G8 deals to fight climate change, made the commitment at a U.N. conference as it entered its decisive phase.

"We need a turning point on the issue of biodiversity," Merkel told delegates from 191 states participating in the 12-day conference which ends on Friday.

U.N. studies say the planet is facing the most serious spate of extinctions since dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago, and experts meeting in Bonn are trying to agree on ways to slow down the rate at which plants and animals are dying out.

Human activity, including greenhouse gas emissions, are largely to blame, say the experts, who also warn of the economic costs of the loss of biodiversity.

Politicians have started to take biodiversity more seriously because of a surge in food prices which has been linked to booming demand in fast-growing economies, including China, and the growing use of crops to provide fuel.

Experts say crops will suffer if wild stocks die out.

"We're ready to take responsibility," said Merkel. "We're ready to do everything we can to safeguard the riches of our earth and the foundation of life for mankind," she said, adding some 150 animal and plant varieties die out every day.

She told delegates Europe's biggest economy would spend an additional 500 million euros on a network of protected forest areas until 2012. After that, Germany would boost spending to 500 million euros per year from an annual 200 million now.

About 20 percent of the world's greenhouse gases come from the destruction of forests, say experts, and paying farmers in developing countries to keep them is seen by some as a way of slowing down climate change.

BREAK DEADLOCK

Environmental groups welcomed Merkel's announcement, saying it sent a strong signal to other countries and may help break the deadlock in the talks.

"After years of talk with little action, this new commitment will put the air back in the lungs of conservation funding," said Olaf Tschimpke, president of the Nature Conservancy and Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU).

The conference is working on a range of possible measures, including new rules on access to genetic resources and sharing their benefits, boosting the area of land and sea in protected areas and finding ways to combat invasive species.

A U.N. summit in 2002 set a goal of slowing the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010 but most experts say that target is out of reach.

"The time for action is now," EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told delegates.

"Extinction is forever. We cannot wait until the degradation of ecosystems reaches a point of no return."

(Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)

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Ministers line up to protect world's forests at UN meet

Marlowe Hood, Yahoo News 28 May 08;

Ministers from nearly 60 nations pledged Wednesday on the sidelines of a UN biodiversity conference to support a global effort to halt deforestation by 2020.

Top environment officials from every continent literally lined up to make the pledge, organised by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a highly influential environmental protection group.

"Wildly successful" is how WWF International's director general James Leape described the event, even as more ministers straggled in after the deadline. "We expected 20 countries, but we got more than 50," he told AFP.

Deforestation has emerged as one of the most pressing -- and contentious -- issues at the United Nation's Conference on Biodiversity, a two-week conclave in Bonn of more than 6,000 representatives from 191 countries.

The world's primary forests, especially in the tropics, are the richest repositories of plant and animal species anywhere on land.

They also soak up at least 20 percent of the atmosphere's carbon dioxide -- acting as an essential sponge for the greenhouse gases that are heating up the planet.

Every year more than 30 million hectares (74 million acres) of forest are lost to largely illegal logging and slash-and-burn agriculture, but agreement on how to halt the devastation has proved elusive.

On Wednesday, several heads of state and nearly 100 ministers arrived in Bonn for a three-day "high level" meeting to boost flagging negotiations on how best to craft a new global deal on preserving Earth's wildlife.

"The conservation of our forests is of primoridal importance," German Chancellor Andrea Merkel told the assembly Wednesday. "The forests are the natural habitats of many species and the world's lungs."

Merkel announced that Germany would give 500 million euros (785 million dollars) -- mainly for forest protection -- over the next four years, and an additional 500 million euros annually thereafter.

Leape said the WWF initiative was a way of "putting a boost behind this convention to conserve forests." The unexpected turnout of ministers showed "an eagerness to find a way to break through," he added.

All of a half-dozen signatories interviewed by AFP thought the goal of "zero net deforestation by 2020" -- ensuring that any forests felled would be replaced by new trees -- should be incorporated in the UN convention itself.

"This is critically important for a mountainous country like Nepal," said Krishna Pandel, head of the Himalayan nation's delegation. "When we lose forest, we not only lose biodiversity, but bring environmental disasters -- especially mudslides -- onto the poorest of the poor."

In Nigeria, said its environment minister Halima Alao, the main problem is the ravaging of forests for firewood for heating and cooking.

Some 40 million tonnes of firewood are burned every year, according to Kabiru Yammama, head of the National Forest Conservation Council. Nigeria will lose all of its remaining forests in the next 12 years if the rate of deforestation remains unchecked, he said.

Among the other signatories were EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas; Ahmed Djoghlaf, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity; and German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel.

A representative from Indonesia -- the world's third largest carbon emitter due to deforestation -- also signed the initiative.

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Scientists warn of rising Pacific Coast acidity

Dan Catchpole, Associated Press Yahoo News 28 May 08;

A panel of marine scientists are warning that the Pacific Coast's increasing acidity could disrupt food chains and threaten the Pacific Northwest's shellfish industry.

The increasingly corrosive water threatens the survival of many organisms, from microscopic plants and animals at the base of the food chain to shellfish, corals and the young of some marine species, the researchers told a congressional field hearing Tuesday at the Seattle Aquarium.

The data indicates acidic water is appearing along the Pacific Coast decades earlier than expected. The acidified water does not pose a threat to humans, but it could dissolve the shells of clams, oysters and other shellfish.

The acidic seawater is moving closer to shallow waters containing the bulk of marine life, according to a recent article in the journal Science.

One of the article's authors, Christopher Sabine, said Tuesday he watched small marine snails placed in water of similar acidity to that recorded last summer off the northern California coast.

"We actually saw the shells dissolving off these living organisms. They were dissolving off the terapods as they were swimming around," Sabine said. Such creatures comprise as much as 40 percent of the Pacific king salmon's diet.

Global ocean currents make the Pacific Northwest's coastal ecosystems particularly vulnerable to acidification's effects, Sabine said.

A worldwide "conveyor belt" very slowly carries colder water from the North Atlantic to the North Pacific. Along the way, the water accumulates carbon dioxide from dead organisms, so it naturally has a higher carbon dioxide concentration before man-made carbon dioxide is added. A process known as 'up-welling' drags this water into shallower, coastal areas.

"As long as CO2 continues to increase in the atmosphere, the oceans will continue to absorb that," Sabine said. "What we're seeing is only going to get worse."

Corrosive water could be disastrous for Washington state's shellfish industry, noted one panel member, Brian Bishop, owner of Little Skookum Shellfish Growers in Shelton, Wash. Washington state produces 85 percent of all shellfish on the West Coast, Bishop said.

"This acidity dissolves calcium carbonate, which is the thing that shells are made out of. If diatoms, corals, clams and oysters succumb to this it not only wipes out the shellfish industry but potentially the entire marine food chain," said Bishop, a fifth-generation shellfish harvester.

The panel members said they did not know exactly how acidification will affect Puget Sound and other Northwest coastal waters.

"We know very little about the biological effects of acidification on the West Coast," said Terrie Klinger, of the University of Washington's School of Marine Affairs. However, research has demonstrated that there will be early and strong effects in Northwest coastal ecosystems, she added.

"We won't see a total collapse in food chains, but we will see substitutions," Klinger said. "We may end up with food chains or food webs that are highly undesirable and not productive for the means that we use them today."

Related articles

Growing Ocean Acidity May Erode Coastal Ecosystems
John Roach, National Geographic News 22 May 08;

Read more!

Global warming to deplete Great Lakes even more

Andrew Stern, Reuters 28 May 08;

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Global warming will likely drain more water from the Great Lakes and pose added pollution threats to the region's vulnerable ecosystem, environmental groups said in a report issued on Wednesday.

Climate change could further reduce scant ice cover observed in recent winters, increasing evaporation rates and dropping water levels in the five lakes that collectively make up 20 percent of the world's surface fresh water.

Last year, Lake Superior water levels receded to their lowest in 77 years before rebounding, and the report by the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition predicted global warming could lower lake levels by up to 3 feet (1 meter) over the next century.

The lower levels will hamper lake shipping, expose polluted sediments, and further damage water quality.

"Climate change is threatening the health of the Great Lakes and jeopardizing efforts to restore them," the coalition's Jeff Skelding said in a teleconference.

The coalition represents groups including zoos, fishing and hunting interests, business organizations and environmental groups.

The report said global warming added to the urgent need for the U.S. Congress to act on more pieces of a $20 billion Great Lakes restoration plan, proposed back in 2005.

Spending priorities are billions of dollars needed to repair antiquated sewage treatment plants as well as cleaning up toxic sediments from past pollution, restoring coastal wetlands that naturally cleanse pollutants and stopping invasive species of fish, plants and mussels, the report said.

Scientists studying climate change have predicted more frequent droughts that will hurt the lakes' coastal ecosystem coupled with more intense storms that produce runoff containing toxic metals, viruses and other pollutants, the report said.

THIRSTY WORLD

The report blamed warming temperatures for ruining ice fishing in many areas, shortening the snowmobile season and harming Michigan's tart cherry crop. Warming could expand or create new oxygen-depleted "dead zones" in the lakes caused in part by uncontrolled algae growth and other processes.

"If Congress delays in acting to curb global warming and to restore the lakes, the problems will only get worse and the solutions more costly," Skelding said.

Perhaps the most promising avenue for new funding is contained in a proposal in Congress that calls for auctioning off permits to emit greenhouse gases in a so-called cap-and-trade system. Proceeds from the auctions could provide a stream of up to $3 billion a year for ecological restoration, said Andy Buchsbaum of the National Wildlife Federation.

Meanwhile, eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces bordering the lakes should enact a compact to prevent diversions of lake water to an "increasingly thirsty world," Buchsbaum said. All but three states have passed the compact, after which the federal governments of both countries would be asked to ratify it.

(Editing by Michael Conlon and Cynthia Osterman)

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Rice Byproduct Makes Biofuel

Charles Q. Choi, LiveScience.com Yahoo News 28 May 08;

All the straw from rice in China could get turned into an inexpensive new renewable source of biofuel, new research shows.

In fact, three facilities in China already are making use of the approach.

China is the world's largest producer of rice, a crop that leaves behind roughly 230 million tons of rice straw each year - the stem and leaves are left behind after harvesting the grains. Although there some uses available for rice straw, such as animal feed or papermaking, a significant amount of it remains unused and burned in open fields, boosting air pollution and the risk of disastrous fires.

All that biological matter, or biomass, could in theory get converted into biofuel with the aid of germs that break it down into useful chemicals. An approach like this already is used in more than 30 nations worldwide to help convert corn, sugarcane and other crops into ethanol fuel, a type of biofuel.

Scientists have not tapped rice straw to make biofuel because bacteria cannot easily break down its cellulose, due to the complex physical and chemical structures making up this biomass.

Now researchers in China have developed a pre-treatment for rice straw that increases its potential for biofuel production. They mix the straw with lye, or sodium hydroxide, before giving it to bacteria to ferment. The lye helps make the straw more biodegradable. All this is done at ambient temperature, without need to spend extra energy, and just minimal amounts of water, helping make the process "simple, fast, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly," said researcher Xiujin Li at the Beijing University of Chemical Technology.

All told, the lye technique allowed researchers to boost production of biogas - a mixture of methane fuel and carbon dioxide - by up to roughly 65 percent. Three prototype facilities using this technology have been built in China.

The plan is to build centralized biogas stations for towns, which would feed the biofuel to each household through underground pipelines. The rice straw residues left afterward will go back to the fields as organic fertilizer. "This way, the rice straw will be completely recycled," Li said.

While carbon dioxide is a byproduct of this process - of concern since it traps heat from the sun, leading to global warming - "rice will absorb back the carbon dioxide from air during rice growing," Li said. "The carbon dioxide is actually recycled completely and the net carbon dioxide contribution to global is zero."

Although there have recently been rice shortages worldwide, leading to deadly riots in Haiti, there is so much rice straw around that "we cannot use so much straw using this technology alone at present," Li told LiveScience. "Although the planting area of rice was decreased recently, the reduction was limited, therefore the recent rice shortage will not affect our research."

In principle, this process could be widely used for many different kinds of straw, and therefore "be widely applied in all the countries who plant crops, including both developed and developing countries, and provide renewable and clean energy," Li said.

The scientists are set to detail their findings in the July 16 issue of the journal Energy & Fuels. They were financially supported by the Hi-tech Research and Development Program of China.

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"Perfect Storm" in Food Prices Caused by Many Factors

Aalok Mehta, National Geographic News 28 May 08;

From Kenya's slums to India's rice paddies to Brazil's cafes, the skyrocketing cost of food has left no corner of the globe untouched. This is the first in a special series that explores the myriad local faces of the world's worst food crisis in decades.

In Australia a struggling farmer watches another harvest shrivel under the country's worst drought on record. Another new member of the Chinese middle-class finally has enough cash to buy his first steak. And a U.S. agricultural executive decides to grow corn instead of wheat to take advantage of the growing demand for biofuels.

Alone, none of these events would have been responsible for today's troubled stock markets, rampant civil unrest, and increasing famine and malnourishment for the world's poor.

Together, they've caused the world's worst food crisis in a generation.

"A convergence of factors has led to what is sort of a perfect storm for food prices," Erik Thorbecke, an economist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, told National Geographic News.

"I can't think of a time we've had this large an increase."

According to data from the International Monetary Fund, average global food prices have jumped nearly 50 percent since the end of 2006.

In response to the "agflation," belt-tightening has become commonplace even in affluent areas such as the U.S. and Europe.

But it's the world's poor—who already spend a disproportionate amount of their money on food—that are suffering the most.

Basic grains have shown one of the largest jumps, nearly doubling in cost since April 2007, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) calculates.

This cuts deeply into the pockets of the approximately 2.6 billion people the UN estimates live on the equivalent of U.S. $2 or less a day.

FAO says that price increases are expected to continue for the rest of 2008, particularly for developing nations.

"Supplies are relatively strong, but demand is stronger," said Ephraim Leibtag, an economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Economic Research Service.

Food and Fuel

One of the biggest factors in the global crisis is growing economic prosperity around the globe, especially in Asia.

The expanding economies of India, China, and other countries need ever-increasing amounts of fuel and raw materials, which has sent the prices of oil and other commodities skyrocketing.

At the same time, millions there are entering the middle class and for the first time have the cash for resource-intensive "luxury" foods like meat and dairy.

Up to seven pounds (3.2 kilograms) of grain, as well as large amounts of water and fertilizer, are needed to create a single pound (0.45 kilogram) of meat.

"Clearly, the rapid improvement in diets has had an impact on world markets," said Wallace Tyner, an economist at Purdue University in Indiana.

Oil prices, meanwhile, have exacerbated the situation by driving up costs for farmers and food distributors.

In the first four months of 2008 alone, fuel prices for U.S. farmers have gone up 43 percent, feed prices 23 percent, and fertilizer prices 67 percent, according to USDA data.

Also, only about 20 percent of the cost of food for consumers comes from growing crops, USDA says. Oil-intensive labor, packaging, and transportation account for the remainder.

Adding to the supply crunch are weather-related problems. In addition to Australia's high-profile drought, unfavorable weather has hit the U.S., India, and Eastern Europe during recent harvests, cutting into food availability.

These events often occurred in line with predictions about global warming, the effects of which are expected in increase in coming years. (Related: "Warming May Cause Crop Failures, Food Shortages by 2030" [January 31, 2008].)

Many people also blame the prices on an increased use of biofuels in developed nations—in particular ethanol produced from corn—due to subsidies and changing fuel standards.

Government officials from several nations have claimed that biofuels are only a small contributor to the price increases. But critics counter that increasing food production in a time of crisis should outweigh energy needs.

Panic at Home

Those initial triggers have led to a cascade of further actions that have made the problem worse, experts say.

Markets have panicked, with countries rushing to make large purchases of grains and speculators also buying up stock in anticipation of even more price increases. Many countries have since launched efforts to stamp out hoarding and price-gouging and ensure the smooth flow of food to consumers.

"Speculators are probably betting prices are going to rise," Thorbecke said. "The whole process is feeding on itself."

Many countries have also responded by issuing export restrictions, taxes, or even outright bans on staple food items to help alleviate internal demand and keep domestic prices in check.

For example, "at the moment, only Thailand, Pakistan, and the United States, among leading exporters, are exporting rice without any constraints," FAO expert Concepcion Calpe said in a statement earlier this month.

"Net exports are going down," Thorbecke added. "In the past, there were much greater exports."

In addition, global markets are reacting quickly and uneasily to even small events, as stocks held by farmers and suppliers have dropped significantly because consumption outstripped production in seven of the past eight years.

"People got complacent," Tyner said. "So even a small shock leads to larger price jumps."

Far From Over

In the face of such high prices after years of low profit margins, farmers are rushing to return idle land to service and increase production.

Economists expect a slight increase in overall supply, moderating prices somewhat. But it's unlikely that the price of food will fall back to pre-crisis levels in coming years—if ever.

Hundreds of millions of people are expected to enter the middle class in the next decades, further pressuring fuel and food supplies.

But most of the available arable land in the world is already being used for crops.

In addition, vast areas, particularly in Asia and Africa, are expected to be lost to desertification, depletion, or pollution, and dwindling water supplies are expected to cut into usable land.

So the only answer, experts say, is to increase the amount of food grown on existing land, using more efficient methods—which will require years of research and investment.

Beginning in the early 1970s, after the last great food crisis, "there was a big and sustained increase in investment in agricultural productivity," Tyner explained.

New crop varieties and more efficient farming methods led to enormous increases in output, he said, but those gains begin to slow down in the '90s, helping to set the stage for the current crisis.

"We need to look long-term, because we've got a long-term problem," U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer said at a recent press briefing on food and fuel.

"If you look at how to deal with this, we need to convince other nations in this world to increase yields. And that means the use of biotechnology products. It means better water management, better fertilizer management, and precision farming methods," he said.

"If other countries do not increase yields comparable to those that we see here in the United States, people are going to go hungry. It's that simple."

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FAQ: The problems with rice

Small shocks bring big consequences
Felicity Lawrence, The Guardian 28 May 08;

Why is there a problem now?

The price of rice has reached record highs in recent months, moving from $327 a tonne a year ago to $1,000 a tonne last week. Yet there is no serious shortage of rice - global production and consumption are roughly in balance. Supply has been affected by floods in Bangladesh which forced it to buy more on the global markets than normal, and the cyclone in Burma will probably force it to do the same, but the UN's food and agriculture organisation says rice producers generally have not been not hit by large-scale climate shocks and supply and demand is not the main cause.

Instead the cost of producing rice and transporting it has gone up as oil prices have risen, and this oil-driven inflation seems to be the underlying factor in the recent rice crisis.

Rice differs from other agricultural commodities such as corn, wheat and soya, in that very little is traded internationally. Just 7% of the global harvest, about 30m tonnes a year, goes on to the world market, but precisely because the market is so thin, small shocks can lead to great volatility.

Half the world's population, more than 3 billion people, depend on rice for their staple food, and it is one of the most politically sensitive of agricultural commodities.

Several governments, worried by the political fallout from domestic inflation - in fuel, utility prices, and rent, not just food - have tried to mitigate against the effects by imposing controls on rice exports. In October 2007 India imposed price controls and then a full ban on its rice exports in an effort to keep prices of food, and overall inflation, down at home.

Several other rice exporters followed, including Vietnam, Egypt, Pakistan and Cambodia. That led other countries which are big importers, such as the Philippines and Indonesia, to panic buy, driving up prices. Between January and April 2008, they surged by over 70%.
Who has been hit?

The major rice importing countries are in Africa, Asia and Central America. Africa accounts for 30% of the global rice imports, and Asia 45%. Among the hardest hit are West African countries such as Senegal, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Cameroon, where the population has shifted as it urbanises from the traditional staples of millet and cassava to eating rice. These countries became significant importers of rice, and more dependent on food imports generally, when they liberalised their agricultural markets as a condition of IMF/World Bank loans from the late 1970s onwards. Haiti, Mexico and Honduras, whose own agricultural markets and production have been undercut by subsidised US crops dumped when prices were low, are also suffering from the high prices. Senegal, Cameroon, Haiti and Mexico have all seen food riots.

The Philippines and Indonesia are big producers of rice but as their populations have grown and yields stagnated they have needed to make up shortfalls with imports. Other big importers of rice include Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, but since they also benefit from rising oil prices, rising food prices have not had such an effect.
What will happen now?

The FAO predicts good harvests this year which should bring prices down in the short term but not immediately - since some exporting countries still have bans in place until the summer or autumn.

Experts are waiting to see what impact the Chinese earthquake has had on its capacity to produce rice. In the long-term they expect growing populations and growing economic demand to keep prices relatively high.

FAQ: The five factors that are driving up costs
The Guardian 27 May 08;

Why is there a problem with food prices now?

Several factors have come together to drive agricultural commodity prices up:

· Soaring oil and energy prices have pushed up the cost of food production dramatically in the last year: fertiliser is up more than 70%, fuel for tractors and farm machinery is up 30%, pesticides, which depend on oil, are up too, as are labour costs;

· Demand is rising as the global population grows and as people in emerging economies such as China and India use increasing affluence to buy more meat, eggs and dairy products. Over 30% of the world's grain now goes to feeding animals rather than people directly. Farming one acre of decent land can produce 138lbs of protein from grain, but one acre given over to beef farming will produce only 20lbs of protein;

· Droughts in grain-producing areas of the world have hit harvests in the last few years. Grain stocks are at a historic low;

· Biofuels are competing with food for arable land, with both the US and the EU mandating their use. About 30% of the US corn crop is expected to be diverted to biofuels this year;

· Speculative trading in agricultural commodities has grown dramatically. Several big investment banks have launched agricultural commodity index funds, as they look for new areas to make profits in following the credit crunch. The result has been enormous fluctuations in market prices that do not appear to relate to changes in fundamentals such as supply and demand. Four years ago $10-15bn was invested in agricultural commodities funds - now that figure is more than $150bn. Wall Street investment funds own 40% of US wheat futures and more than one fifth of US corn futures.

Different experts give different weight to each of these factors, but agree that their coincidence has led to the current turbulence.
Why have there been food riots?

High food prices and social unrest are historic bedfellows. Global inflation in food, as measured by the international food price index, increased by 40% in 2007 and the dramatic rise continued in first few months of 2008. Soaring food prices hit poorer people and poorer countries hardest, since they spend a much higher proportion of their income on food. In developed countries such as the UK, the average consumer spends 10% or less of income on food, but the poorest fifth of the population spends 25-30% of income on food. In developing countries, poor people may spend 50-80% of income on food, so price rises quickly translate into going hungry.
What's happening to wheat prices?

Wheat prices doubled between May 2007 and February 2008 when they hit record highs. Bread wheats were $900 a tonne in February. Now they are back to $346 a tonne, but still 50% up on last year. Global supply has been affected by the drought hitting some of the main wheat exporting countries - Australia, Ukraine and North Africa. When prices were low, farmers and governments also took arable land out of production. Europe took 20% of its arable land out of production in the 1980s. Unlike corn, most wheat is used for human consumption rather than animal feed or biofuels, but the markets are interrelated, and as more corn is used for fuel and feed, cereal prices overall have risen. The effect has been exacerbated by some exporting countries imposing export taxes to make sure they keep adequate domestic supplies of grain.
Who has been hit?

Egypt and Brazil are the largest importers of wheat; the US is the largest exporter. Thirty years ago Egypt was self-sufficient in grain but it now imports 8m tonnes a year - the equivalent of half the UK's total harvest - and livestock account for over a third of its total grain consumption. The shift in patterns of trade and in diets began in the 1970s, when the US poured food aid into the country in the form of subsidised grain and helped President Sadat's regime through riots over shortages in 1974. Brazil, one of the world's largest agricultural producers, has become a major importer of wheat because it uses huge amounts of grain to feed intensively-reared poultry for export.
What will happen now?

High prices have encouraged more production. The EU has abandoned its compulsory programme to set aside land, Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan have increased production, and Australia has recovered well. Record wheat production is expected in 2008 which will bring prices down. Over the long-term we can expect to prices to soar again: a Cabinet Office report predicted that by 2050, half of arable land in the world might no longer be suitable for production because of water shortages and climate change. By then the global population is expected to have grown from today's 6.3 billion to 9 billion.

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