Volunteers needed for planning for Earth Hour (Singapore) 2009
on the earth hour singapore blog
Enjoying Pulau Ubin on a bicycle
a quick guide to “where to go?” and “how long will it take?” on the Toddycats blog
More about Cyrene
stars and stars and more on the discovery blog and video clip of anemoneshrimp on the sgbeachbum blog
Otter footprint at Chek Jawa?
on the nature spies blog
A pair of munia’s nests: A misadventure
from Bird Ecology Study Group blog
WWF website 24 Jul 08;
An area of the Democratic Republic of Congo containing the largest body of fresh water in Africa has been added to the Ramsar Convention’s list of Wetlands of International Importance, making it the largest region ever to be designated as such.
At more than six-and-a-half million hectares, the Ngiri-Tumba-Maingombe area is twice the size of Belgium and has one of the highest concentrations of biodiversity anywhere in the world. It is also a major carbon sink.
"WWF is delighted that Ramsar has recognized the importance of this extraordinary wetland and the efforts of the Democratic Republic of Congo to protect it," said James P. Leape, Director General of WWF International. "This is a significant step forward for the welfare of communities who depend on this wetland for their livelihoods and for the wildlife that lives there."
Recognition by the Convention, which was signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971, means that there is now a framework to conserve the wetland, which is under threat from illegal logging, fishing and poaching, and a decline in water levels that is most likely attributable to climate change.
In addition, proper management will help to maintain the ecosystem services that the site already provides, and ensure that its defences remain robust in the face of unpredictable environmental changes;
“The Ngiri-Tumba-Maindombe area contributes to the regulation of flooding and regional climate and ensures that the quality of the water remains good enough for millions of people who depend upon it,” said WWF project Manager Bila-Isia Ingwabini.
Wetlands, however, do not merely provide water for drinking and sanitation. The commercial value that can be derived from them is noteworthy. It is hoped that prudent and measured extraction of resources, including palm oil, groundnuts and fish, will contribute to sustainable economic growth for nearby cities such as Kinshasa and Brazzaville.
Globally, the total economic value of wetlands is estimated at more than $70 billion.
It is also the 5th costliest in Asia for expats: Mercer survey
Arthur Sim, Business Times 24 Jul 08;
SINGAPORE is the world's 13th most expensive city for expatriates, and the fifth most expensive in Asia.
According to Mercer's Worldwide Cost of Living Survey 2008, Singapore ranks above Sydney (15th), New York (22nd) and Shanghai (24th).
Mercer's survey, which covers 143 cities on six continents, measures the comparative cost of more than 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.
For instance, a fast-food hamburger meal costs US$4.50 in Singapore, US$3.18 in Hong Kong and US$5.97 in Tokyo.
Mercer's managing director (Asean) Su-Yen Wong said: 'Singapore's rise in the rankings is partly due to the appreciation of the Singapore dollar against the US dollar.' At the same time, Singapore's strength as a regional hub and its 'high quality of living' have attracted talent from overseas. 'Consequently, this has increased demand for items such as housing, food and transport.'
Rents have increased significantly here. According to Mercer, a 'luxury' two-bedroom unfurnished apartment now costs US$3,539.77 a month, an increase of about 20 per cent from US$2,946.09 in 2007.
But 'luxury' rent here is lower than in Hong Kong at US$6,411.89 a month and Tokyo at US$5,128.84.
On the upside, Singapore's annual ranking has not increased as rapidly as before. Its 13th place this year is only a notch up from its 14th last year. In 2006 it ranked 17th - way up from 2005 when it was 34th.
In the latest survey, Moscow has been ranked the world's most expensive city for expatriates - for a third straight year. London dropped one place to third.
Yvonne Traber, a principal and research manager at Mercer, said: 'Although the traditionally expensive cities of Western Europe and Asia still feature in the Top 20, cities in Eastern Europe, Brazil and India are creeping up the list. Conversely, some locations such as Stockholm and New York now appear less costly by comparison.'
With New York as the base city at 100 points, Moscow scored 142.4 and is close to three times costlier than Asunción in Paraguay, the least expensive city with a score of 52.5.
Mercer noted that contrary to a trend last year, the gap between the world's most and least expensive cities now seems to be widening.
In its report, it says: 'Our research confirms the global trend in price increases for certain food items and petrol, though the rise is not consistent in all locations. This is partly balanced by decreasing prices for certain commodities, such as electronic and electrical goods. We attribute this to cheaper imports from developing countries, especially China, and to advances in technology.'
Straits Times 24 Jul 08;
The $6 billion Sentosa integrated resort, called Resorts World at Sentosa, is taking shape on the 49ha of land.
The project, by Genting International, will include a Universal Studios theme park, a giant oceanarium with 700,000 aquatic creatures, and six hotels with more than 1,800 rooms.
The resort's soft opening is expected to be in 2010.
Blog updates on work at the Sentosa IR
How are corals relocated from Sentosa IR worksite doing? on the wildfilms blog
A quick view of the Sentosa Integrated Resort worksite on the wildfilms blog
Reclamation starts at Sentosa on the wildfilms blog
MORE blog entries about work at the Sentosa IR.
Two more workers die while preparing to ventilate an LPG vessel's tank
Teh Joo Lin, Straits Times 24 Jul 08;
THE death toll in the shipyard and repair industry has risen to seven since June 8, with two more workers dying yesterday afternoon.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said the two men were believed to have fallen into a tank in a ship. The Formosagas 3, a Liberia-registered liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanker, was anchored in the Western Anchorage in Singapore's southern waters.
The cause of death is still being investigated, but the accident happened while six workers were preparing to ventilate the tank, which was 3m deep.
The ship was anchored at the Western Anchorage while waiting for its next assignment, following repairs that were completed on July 9 at ST Marine's shipyard in Tuas.
But the ship's crew apparently wanted additional repairs done and yesterday afternoon's work was to ventilate the tank before it returned to the shipyard.
It is unclear how the accident happened or what caused the workers to fall in.
According to MOM, which has stopped all work on the ship, ventilation work does not involve any workers entering the tank.
It is not known what the oxygen level in the tank was, or if there were other toxic fumes present at that time.
The workers, a 35-year-old Malaysian and a 25-year-old Indian national, hired by a subcontractor of ST Marine, a shipyard with an international customer base in the naval and commercial markets.
It is believed the Indian national fainted and fell into the tank first and his Malaysian colleague was trying to rescue him when he also fell.
After the accident, a tugboat took the casualties back to shore.
The two latest deaths bring the death toll in shipyard accidents in the last seven weeks to seven. Eighteen more have been hurt.
The casualties prompted an education drive by the industry-led Workplace Safety and Health Council and the Association of Singapore Marine Industries, to raise safety standards.
The MOM also launched inspections into the 89 shipyards here.
When contacted, Madam Halimah Yacob, a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Manpower, had strong words on the seven deaths in less than two months.
It was a 'cause for alarm', she said.
'I think what's happening is that although the precautions and inspections have been stepped up, there's a need to look at how this can be improved in making sure every worker down the line understands safety.
'It's not really sunk in. Accidents don't just happen. They are created due to human error, negligence or oversight.'
Margaret Perry, Channel NewsAsia 24 Jul 08;
SINGAPORE : A lack of refuelling stations is not the only concern worrying drivers who are considering switching to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). Drivers of CNG vehicles may have to pay an additional tax from 2010.
Sales Manager Isaac Tan drives 35,000 kilometres a year - much of it for his job.
Earlier this year, he bought a new car and planned to convert it for CNG use, to save fuel costs and the environment.
But he changed his mind at the last minute, because of costs - even though buyers of hybrid and CNG vehicles benefit from the Green Vehicle Rebate. This gives the buyer a 40 per cent discount on the car's Open Market Value until 31 December 2009.
Mr Tan said, "I was surfing... the LTA website, ONE.MOTORING, and I realised there is this Special Tax involved on CNG. Right now, the government has waived it until 31 December 2009, but beyond that it's unclear."
Recovering fuel duty and discouraging the use of polluting vehicles are reasons for the Special Tax.
Currently drivers of petrol vehicles pay duty of 41 cents per litre of intermediate grade petrol every time they top up their tanks.
So the owner of a 1,500cc petrol car who drives the average 21,000 kilometres a year spends about S$3,550 on petrol, of which about S$660 is petrol duty.
But duty is not charged on diesel or CNG at the filling station.
And diesel engines create more pollution. For example, the latest EURO IV diesel engines create five times more of the pollutant called PM2.5 than a petrol-driven car.
Special tax for EURO IV diesel vehicles is pegged at S$1.25 per engine cc. So the owner of a 1,600cc diesel vehicle pays S$2,000 a year in Special Tax.
The owner of a 1,600cc diesel vehicle who drives the average 21,000 kilometres a year would spend about S$1,900 a year on diesel.
But CNG vehicles produce cleaner emissions than petrol vehicles, so are exempt from Special Tax until 31 December 2009.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has not yet decided whether to extend the exemption. But it said if Special Tax is imposed on CNG cars, it will not necessarily be the same as that on Diesel IV vehicles.
Mr Tan said: "The way the government is setting the policies - or not setting the policies, rather - is not helping the public. And in fact, if they really want to encourage the public to go to greener vehicles, then they should set the policies right in the first place."
LTA said it will announce its decision on the Special Tax for CNG cars in due course. So for now, drivers considering a CNG vehicle will have to live with the uncertainty of higher taxes in future or wait until a decision is made. - CNA/ms
Lee Poh Onn, Straits Times 24 Jul 08;
BETWEEN 1990 and 2005, Indonesia lost some 28 million ha of forest. Its rainforest cover has fallen from 82 per cent in the 1960s to 49 per cent in recent years.
A recent World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) study, which focuses just on the Riau province in Sumatra, nevertheless throws up facts that are representative of the entire country's challenges.
During the past 25 years, Riau has lost 65 per cent or four million ha of forest cover. That cover fell from 78 per cent in 1982 to 27 per cent last year.
Of that, 29 per cent was cleared for oil palm plantations, 24 per cent for pulpwood plantations, and 17 per cent due to general deforestation. A major driver of deforestation in the 1990s was oil palm. Now, it is pulp and paper.
The Sumatran elephant population, which has declined by 84 per cent, stood at 210 last year. The tiger population has fallen by 74 per cent, numbering 192 last year.
Elephants like to feed especially on oil palm trees, so they are viewed as pests by plantation owners.
Tigers are killed because the rapid loss of forest cover means they have increasingly come into contact with humans.
The WWF study has found that Riau's dry lowland forests have the highest plant species diversity among all tropical forests in the world. Wildlife aside, the loss of primary forest cover also leads to loss of biodiversity.
The study also reports a clear link between deforestation, forest fires and the haze which spreads from Indonesia to Singapore and Malaysia. The intensity of the haze, which has been a recurring event since the mid-1990s, depends on the extent of open burning in Sumatra and Kalimantan as well as prevailing weather conditions.
Last month, Singapore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim said the haze was expected to return in the coming three months due to a combination of hotter and drier conditions in the region.
Since then, hot spots have again been detected in the Riau and West Kalimantan areas, and the authorities are preparing for a haze outbreak, given that the dry season is about to start again.
Economists call the haze an externality, where certain groups (in this case, business conglomerates and some corrupt officials) reap benefits without paying the costs. These costs include negative health consequences within and without Indonesia, reduction in visibility for aircraft, biodiversity losses as well as a diminishing number of forest products for indigenous communities.
Profits for oil palm conglomerates are estimated to be worth US$100 (S$135) per ha this year. Palm oil exports last year earned an estimated US$4 billion for Indonesia.
To make matters worse, there have been no incentives offered to farmers to give up open burning. Clearing land using fire costs an estimated US$5 against US$250 if fire is not used.
While eight out of the 10 member states have ratified the landmark Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, which came into force in November 2003, Indonesia's lawmakers have refused to do so, even as recently as March this year.
To be fair, some segments of the Indonesian polity have signalled support for the agreement. Last year, Indonesia managed to reduce the number of hot spots by half compared with the 2006 figure.
However, the upcoming general election next year will distract the government from this issue.
Finally, deforestation has been linked not only to the haze, but also to climate change.
Indonesia is the world's third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Between 1990 and last year, Riau alone produced more carbon annually than the fourth-largest industrial nation, Germany
Peat decomposition and burning together account for 40 per cent of its carbon emissions, mostly triggered by deforestation linked to oil palm and pulp and paper industries.
Indonesia could stay complacent about its environmental obligations. But the climate change lobby outside Asean could hurt it where it matters.
For example, last year, US office supplies giant Staples stopped buying from Asia Pulp & Paper Company, an Indonesian firm, precisely because of environmental concerns.
At some point, Indonesia must sit up and listen.
The writer is a fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Ivy Sam, Yahoo News 23 Jul 08;
Malaysia's plan to build a series of hydroelectric dams on Borneo island threatens the World Heritage status of a key national park, environmentalists warned Wednesday.
Parts of Mulu National Park in Sarawak state would be flooded if the proposed 220 megawatt hydropower plant on the Tutoh river went ahead, said Swiss-based group the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF).
Activists warned the damage would change the boundary of the park, which could see its World Heritage status revoked under the regulations of the UN cultural body UNESCO.
The sensitive 52,864 hectare (130,627 acre) park contains some 3,500 species of plants with 109 species of palms, according to the UNESCO website.
The park is dominated by Gunung Mulu, a 2,377 metre (7,799 feet) high sandstone pinnacle containing at least 295 kilometres of explored caves that are home to millions of cave swiftlets and bats, it said.
"One of the requirements under the heritage site listing is that no boundary changes should be done in the area without prior consent from UNESCO," said Gurmit Singh, chairman of the Centre for Environment, Technology and Development Malaysia.
"It has asked the Malaysian government to clarify this but they have not received a reply so far and it has been a month," he said.
"If there is a change without consent... then UNESCO can revoke the heritage site listing for the park."
Deputy Energy, Water and Communications Minister Joseph Salang Gandum said the proposed Tutoh dam by state energy firm Sarawak Energy Berhad was "necessary to meet energy demands in the state", according to the Star daily.
But BMF said ethnic groups who live in the national park would have to be relocated if the project went ahead.
"If these plans were to be realized, several thousand natives would lose their traditional lands in the Bornean rainforest and would have to be relocated," it said in a statement.
The Tutoh dam is part of plans for 12 new hydroelectric projects in Sarawak and with the 2,400 megawatt Bakun Dam project, will increase the state's total power generating capacity by 600 percent in 2020, the Star reported.
Currently, the state's power production of 933 megawatts is enough to meet its daily needs, but the government plans to expand the aluminium smelting industry which will need more power, the paper reported.
The Star said power from the 12 new hydroelectric projects will meet this increased demand, with excess output transferred to peninsular Malaysia to help meet the rest of the country's energy needs.
However, environmentalists disagree with the government's forecast.
"The projects...are not sustainable. The current Bakun Dam would be enough for the aluminium smelter the state has planned to build right now," Singh said.
"Even if they could generate that much (excess) power, it would be very costly to bring the electricity to peninsular Malaysia via undersea cables."
Malaysia already faces fierce criticism over the environmental impact of the Bakun dam project in Sarawak, which involves flooding an area the size of Singapore island.
Some 10,000 residents have had to evacuate the project site, including the indigenous Penan tribe, a nomadic people who live off the forests in Borneo. The plight of the Penan was made famous in the 1990s by environmental activist Bruno Manser, who campaigned to protect their way of life and fend off the loggers. He vanished in 2000, a suspected victim of foul play.
Outcry over Sarawak's plans for 12 dams
Environmentalists say projects could cause a national park to lose its World Heritage status
Straits Times 24 Jul 08;
PETALING JAYA - SARAWAK plans to build 12 hydroelectric dams to meet its future industrialisation needs, but environmentalists say the projects threaten the World Heritage status of a key national park.
Deputy Energy, Water and Communications Minister Joseph Salang Gandum said the remote dams were necessary to meet energy demands.
The 12 new dams are in addition to the 2,400MW Bakun dam.
The projects will increase the total generating capacity of Sarawak to 7,000MW by 2020 - from the current 933MW.
The plans were part of a presentation - titled Chinese Power Plants In Malaysia - at a forum in Nanning, China, last October.
Companies from China were expected to design, build and commission the dams, according to the presentation.
Officials say the new capacity is needed as Sarawak wants to expand its aluminium-smelting industry.
But environmentalist Gurmit Singh expressed concerns, saying the proposal to build dams and then look for energy-guzzling industries was wrong.
'This is also a typical example of the 'not-in-my-backyard' mentality where a country puts its polluting industries in other countries,' he said, referring to the foreign companies being lured to start aluminium smelter and other energy-guzzling industries in Sarawak.
There is also concern that parts of Mulu National Park in Sarawak would be flooded if a proposed dam on Tutoh river was built, said the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), a Swiss-based group.
The 52,864ha park contains some 3,500 species of plants, including 109 species of palms, according to the Unesco website.
The park is dominated by Gunung Mulu, a 2,377m-high sandstone pinnacle containing at least 295km of caves that are home to millions of cave swiftlets and bats, it said.
Activists warned that the flooding would change the boundary of the park, which could see its World Heritage status being revoked.
'One of the requirements under the heritage site listing is that no boundary changes should be done in the area without prior consent from Unesco,' said Mr Singh.
BMF said ethnic groups who live in the national park would have to be relocated if the project went ahead.
Some 10,000 residents were evacuated from the Bakun project site.
THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Alison Feeney-Hart, BBC News 23 Jul 08;
A new white humpback has been sighted off Byron Bay on the east coast of Australia.
The newcomer, which was filmed by a television news helicopter, has excited marine scientists who think it may be related to Migaloo - to date, the only known all-white humpback whale.
Migaloo is somewhat of a celebrity down under. Why? "Because as far as we know, he is globally unique," said Professor Peter Harrison from the Whale Research Centre, Southern Cross University.
It now seems that Migaloo, (whose Aboriginal name means "white fellow") might have competition.
Although predominantly white, the new whale does have some black markings near its head and tail. So who is the newcomer?
A white calf was spotted with a normal humpback mother in Byron Bay two years ago. Experts say the new whale could be the offspring of Migaloo but further tests need to be carried out.
A record number of humpbacks have been spotted off the Australian coast this year on their annual migration north to their breeding grounds.
One thing scientists do agree on is that this second white whale has never been seen in these waters before.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/science/nature/7519263.stm
Michael Graczyk, Associated Press Yahoo News 23 Jul 08;
A "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico off the Texas-Louisiana coast this year is likely to be the biggest ever and last longer than ever before, with marine life affected for hundreds of miles, a scientist warned.
"It's definitely the worst we've seen in the last five years," said Steve DiMarco, a Texas A&M University professor of oceanography who for 16 years has studied the Gulf of Mexico dead zone, so named because the oxygen-depleted water can kill marine life.
The phenomenon is caused when salt water loses large amounts of oxygen, a condition known as hypoxia that is typically associated with an area off the Louisiana coast at the mouth of the Mississippi River. The fresh water and salt water don't mix well, keeping oxygen from filtering through to the sea bottom, which causes problems for fish, shrimp, crabs and clams.
This year's dead zone has been aggravated by flood runoff from heavy spring rains and additional runoff moving into the Gulf from record floods along the Mississippi.
DiMarco, joined by researchers from Texas A&M and the University of Georgia, just returned from an examination of 74 sites between Terrebonne and Cameron, La. He said the most severe hypoxia levels were recorded in the mid-range depths, between 20 and 30 feet, as well as near the bottom of the sea floor at about 60 feet.
Some of the worst hypoxic levels occurred in the western Gulf toward the state line.
"We saw quite a few areas that had little or no oxygen at all at that site," DiMarco said Tuesday. "This dead zone area is the strongest we've seen since 2004, and it's very likely the worst may be still to come.
"Since most of the water from the Midwest is still making its way down to the Gulf, we believe that wide area of hypoxia will persist through August and likely until September, when it normally ends."
Last year, DiMarco discovered a similar dead zone off the Texas coast where the rain-swollen Brazos River emptied into the Gulf.
The zone off Louisiana reached a record 7,900 square miles in 2002. A recent estimate from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Louisiana State University shows the zone, which has been monitored for about 25 years, could exceed 8,800 square miles this year, an area roughly the size of New Jersey.
DiMarco said a tropical storm or hurricane likely would have no impact on this year's zone, believed to be caused by nutrient pollution from fertilizers that empty into rivers and eventually reach the Gulf.
Will Dunham, PlanetArk 24 Jul 08;
WASHINGTON - Disease spread to wild bees from commercially bred bees used for pollination in agriculture greenhouses may be playing a role in the mysterious decline in North American bee populations, researchers said on Tuesday.
Bees pollinate numerous crops, and scientists have been expressing alarm over their falling numbers in recent years in North America. Experts warn the bee disappearance eventually could harm agriculture and the food supply.
Scientists have been struggling to understand the recent decline in various bee populations in North America. For example, a virus brought from Australia has been implicated in massive honeybee deaths last year.
Canadian researchers studied another type of bee, the bumblebee, near two large greenhouse operations in southern Ontario where commercially reared pollination bees are used in the growing of crops such as tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumbers.
The researchers first observed that the commercial bumblebees regularly flew in and out of vents in the sides of the greenhouses, escaping from the facilities.
The researchers then devised a mathematical model to predict how disease might spread from this "spillover" of runaway commercial bees to their wild cousins.
The model predicted a relatively slow build-up of infection in nearby wild bumblebee populations over weeks or months culminating in a burst of transmission generating an epidemic wave that could affect nearly all of wild bees exposed.
The model also predicted a drop-off in infection rates as you get further from the greenhouses.
GREENHOUSE BUMBLEBEE PARASITES
The researchers then sampled wild bumblebee populations around the greenhouses, catching bees in butterfly nets, holding them in vials and taking them back to a laboratory to screen for pathogens, including testing their feces.
The patterns that had been predicted by their mathematical model were borne out by studying the wild bees, they said.
Most of the parasites in the wild bumblebees were found to be at normal levels except for one intestinal parasite known as Crithidia bombi that is common in commercial bee colonies but typically absent in wild bumblebees.
The researchers found that up to half of wild bumblebees near the greenhouses were infected with this parasite.
"All of the different species of bumblebees that we sampled around greenhouses showed the same pattern: really high levels of infection near greenhouses and then declining levels of infection as you moved out," said Michael Otterstatter of the University of Toronto, one of the researchers.
"It was quite obvious that this was coming from the greenhouses and it was a general adverse effect on the bumblebees," Otterstatter added in a telephone interview.
He said the parasite weakens and often kills bees. The "spillover" of disease from commercial colonies may be a factor in the decline of bee populations in North America, he added.
The study, published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS ONE, can be read at http://www.plosone.org/doi/pone.0002771.
(Editing by Maggie Fox and Sandra Maler )
Pete Harrison PlanetArk 24 Jul 08;
BRUSSELS - The European Commission adopted proposals on Wednesday to ban the import of pelts from seals that have endured excessive suffering while being killed, risking possible trade conflicts with hunting nations.
While stopping short of calling for a total ban, the EU's executive body said products from the 900,000 seals hunted each year should be accepted in the EU only with guarantees that the seal has been killed as humanely as possible.
None of the 15 seal species that are currently hunted is endangered, but European environmentalists and politicians have demanded action after finding what they say is evidence that seals are often skinned while still conscious.
Typically, the animals are first shot or bludgeoned over the head with a spiked club known as a hakapik.
"European citizens find these practices repugnant," Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas told reporters. "Seal products coming from countries which practise hunting methods that involve unnecessary pain and suffering must not be allowed to enter the EU."
Last year, Belgium and the Netherlands imposed their own bans on imports such as seal furs and vitamin products, prompting a trade complaint from Canada on the grounds that their accusations of cruelty were unfounded.
The Canadian government said the seal hunt off its east coast -- which kills around 300,000 animals a year -- is humane and urged the EU not to "bow to misinformation and emotional rhetoric" from critics.
Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn said he expected the EU to quickly begin discussions to ensure Canadian seal products would be exempted from any ban.
"We would like to caution European decision-makers -- adopting broad regulations to ban products from a responsible, sustainable and well-regulated hunt is a slippery slope," he said in a statement.
Dimas said the ban would not cover subsistence hunting by Inuit or hunts that had been proved humane.
"It is very difficult to define what is humane," he said. "Personally, I don't like killing of any kind, but we will follow what science is telling us does not cause unnecessary pain and suffering to animals."
A European Food Safety Authority report last year highlighted various causes of unnecessary suffering, such as trapping seals underwater where they die by drowning.
It recommended that seals first be shot or clubbed and then monitored to check they are dead before being bled and skinned, to ensure they never regain consciousness during the process.
The animal welfare group IFAW welcomed the move, but a spokesman said that anything short of a full ban would be difficult to monitor or enforce.
Canada, Greenland and Namibia account for about 60 percent of the 900,000 seals hunted each year, the rest being killed in Iceland, Norway, Russia, the United States, Sweden, Finland and Britain.
Dimas said about a third of the trade in seal products crossed the 27-state EU en route to their final markets, making EU rules a powerful tool in controlling the trade.
The proposal is likely to get support from EU lawmakers, who have already called for a ban, he added. It will also need the approval of member states before it can become law. (Additional reporting by David Ljunggren in Ottawa; Editing by Peter Galloway)
EU to ban trade in 'cruelly' obtained seal fur
Bruno Waterfield, The Telegraph 23 Jul 08;
The outcry over horrific images of the clubbing and hunting of seals and their pups is behind new European Union proposals to ban the trade in "cruelly" obtained seal fur.
The move will deal a blow to Canada's centuries-old commercial harp seal hunt, which is worth over GBP16 million in exports. This year 275,000 harp seals were earmarked for slaughter.
Stavros Dimas, European Environment Commissioner, today announced plans EU ban on all seal products coming from countries that "practice cruel hunting methods".
"The images of seal hunting that circulate around the globe every year are a reminder of the oftentimes gruesome practices used to kill seals," he said.
"European citizens find this practice is repugnant and in contradiction to our standards of animal welfare."
None of the 15 seal species that are currently hunted is endangered but politicians across the EU have demanded action over claims that seals, shot or bludgeoned over the head with a spiked club known as a hakapik, are often skinned while still conscious.
Canada is expected to mount a legal world trade challenge to the EU ban after contesting similar legislation in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Loyola Hearn, Canada fisheries minister, has blamed "misinformation from anti-sealing organisations and extremist groups" on European public pressure for a ban.
Canada, Greenland and Namibia account for about 60 per cent of the 900,000 seals hunted each year, the rest are killed in Iceland, Norway, Russia, the United States, Sweden, Finland and Britain.
Risa Maeda, PlanetArk 24 Jul 08;
SAKURA, Japan - With animal feed and fertilizer prices at record highs, Japan's food recycling industry is seeing greater demand than ever before for pellets for pigs and poultry made from recycled leftovers.
Japan disposes of some 20 millions tonnes of food waste a year, five times as much as world food aid to the poor in 2007. The leftovers used to be dumped in land fills where they decomposed and produced the greenhouse gas methane.
But government legislation since 2001 has spurred a recycling industry that turns food scraps into animal feed and fertilizer, or ships leftovers off to facilities where the methane gas produced by rotting food is harnessed to power industrial plants.
"Given higher fuel and feed prices, the (food recycling) business is on the rise now," said Yasufumi Miwa, researcher at Japan Research Institute Ltd.
Farmers had been loathe to use recycled animal feed, but rising feed prices have made them more receptive to recycled feed, which is about 50 percent cheaper than regular feed.
A pig farm in Akita Prefecture, northern Japan, has offset a 20 percent jump in compound feed prices in the past year by making its own recycled feed from scraps disposed by local food manufacturers.
"We could have faced a critical situation this year if we didn't produce feed by ourselves," said Hideki Sato, a spokesman at Sugayo Co, which currently raises 20,000 pigs.
FED UP
Former garbage truck driver Hiroyuki Yakou became so fed up with dumping loads of discarded food every day that he started a food recycling company, Agri Gaia System Co, Japan's largest recycled animal feed maker.
"It really was a waste," said Yakou.
Nowadays, his drivers cart truckloads of rice balls, sandwiches and milk discarded by 1,200 Seven-Eleven stores to his factory on the outskirts of Tokyo where the food scraps are turned into dry and liquid animal feed for pigs and chickens.
The feed is not used for cattle or sheep due to strict health regulations to prevent Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), more commonly known as Mad Cow's disease.
Food recyclers often use leftovers from convenience stores and restaurants where strict health laws mean unsold items must be thrown out at the end of the day.
"They don't take disposed food from households as they are not in good conditions," said Miwa.
Japan imports about 75 percent of its feedstocks from abroad. It is the world's biggest corn importer to feed animals.
But recent price hikes due to high corn and soy meal prices, the main ingredients in animal feed, has made recycled feed more popular. Although it still accounts for only 1 percent of feedstocks in Japan, or about 150,000 tonnes in 2006, double the volume of 2003. In Japan, companies such as food manufacturers, retailers and restaurants produce some 11 million tonnes of food waste a year. They are responsible for disposing the waste, often paying hefty fees to have it carted away and dumped.
A revised recycling law introduced in Japan in December sets gradually increasing recycling targets for companies that dispose of more than 100 tonnes of food waste a year, adding to their incentive to work with feed recycling companies.
Japan's food industry, the biggest producer of food waste, recycles more than 70 percent of leftovers. About half is turned into feed, less than 5 percent into methane and the rest into fertilizer.
"At first, corporate waste was converted into manure, and more of the waste is now turned into feed, which is more lucrative," Miwa added.
Some have begun to use the waste to produce methane to save energy and at the same time reduce dumping costs.
Regional governments, which incinerate waste to reduce volume before dumping in landfills, are now trying to produce alternative energy from the waste. Methane from food waste is used to generate electricity in some parts of Japan.
The Tokyo metropolitan government's cleaning service agency and Tokyo Gas Co began a test plant in February to produce methane and ethanol from waste from school meals. It is the first plant in Japan to produce two types of fuel at the same time.
Patrice Novotny Yahoo News 23 Jul 08;
In the mountains of northern Japan, wind, sun and even cow dung are being turned into electricity as part of efforts to turn a whole town into an experiment in renewable energy use.
The town is a sprawling laboratory for the whole of the archipelago, which has almost no fossil fuels of its own and is seeking to diversify its energy sources to reduce dependence on Middle Eastern oil.
It was at the end of the 1990s that Kuzumaki, under its then-mayor Tetsuo Nakamura, made the push into clean energy.
"Global oil stocks were getting scarce. Energy was going to become the issue of the 21st century," Nakamura recalled.
The urgent task was to safeguard Kuzumaki's finances in the face of rural depopulation. The mayor set three priorities: the forest industry, dairy farming and clean energy.
At the time Kuzumaki had only three windmills, but it was also home to the biggest semi-public dairy farm in Japan with 3,000 cows, as well as a wine-growing industry, launched by the city with help from private companies.
Now even the cows are doing their bit as the town produces electricity in part from methane that comes from the manure of 200 of them.
According to a 2006 UN report cattle-rearing produces more greenhouse gases worldwide than vehicle traffic largely through methane, a heat-trapping gas.
The 37 kilowatts of power the cows here help to produce is modest and costly but the goal, as with the windmills and solar power, is to test a technology fresh out of the laboratory.
The state provided half of the 5.7 billion yen (53 million dollars) investment for the town's clean energy project, almost matching private companies. Kuzumaki invested 45 million yen (420,000 dollars).
The result: 12 additional windmills were constructed, raising the town's wind power to 22,200 kilowatts -- enough to supply 16,900 homes with electricity, far more than the 2,900 households in the city.
"Some said that the windmills would ruin the landscape. But it was the best possible choice, from both an economical and ecological viewpoint," said the former mayor.
Built at a blustery altitude of 1,000 metres (3,280 feet), the windmills overhang only pastures and no dwellings.
Home to 8,000 people, Kuzumaki is lucky enough to have a territory of 400 square kilometres (154.4 square miles), an area the size of Yokohama with its 3.6 million residents.
Wind is not the only natural energy the town is seeking to harness -- solar panels supply one quarter of the electricity used by a local school.
At the national level, use of solar panels has suffered since the end of public subsidies in 2005. Sharp Corp. -- once the global industry leader -- has been dethroned by a German rival, but the government of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is eyeing a resumption of the subsidies.
A small research site for fuel cells, a future source of clean energy for cars and houses, has also been set up here.
Authorities hope the forest industry will also help tackle global warming.
Japan, despite being the birthplace of the Kyoto Protocol, is far behind in meeting its obligation to cut greenhouse gas emissions by six percent from the 1990 level by 2012.
"Abundant wood in Japan was an important energy source until the 1950s, before being put to one side," said Nakamura.
The Japanese government is counting on an expansion of its forests to reduce its net emissions of greenhouse gases by 3.8 percent. To meet the goal, the forestry ministry estimates the industry needs annual subsidies of 100 billion yen (930 millions of dollars). Only 73.5 billion yen was provided in 2007.
With help from the state and its own finances, Kuzumaki has subsidised tree planting, forest maintenance and the sale of wood for construction or domestic use. A total of 190 hectares (469.5 acres) of forest was replanted in five years.
If the state does not follow the lead by providing more funding, the city will have difficulty continuing, said Nakamura.
Through a mixture of clean energy and reforestation, the city reduced its carbon footprint by 39,000 tonnes to just 6,000 tonnes a year.
And Kuzumaki, which presents itself as "the city of milk, wine and clean energy," now attracts 500,000 tourists a year, helping to spread the message.
Yahoo News 22 Jul 08;
The city of Los Angeles announced it will ban all plastic bags from retail stores as of July 1, 2010, following similar anti-pollution regulations already enforced in San Francisco.
The second-largest US city behind New York, Los Angeles, with its four million population, will ban plastic bagging in all supermarkets, grocery and retail stores, the Los Angeles City Council said in its new regulation.
After July 1, 2010, all store customers must provide their own bags or purchase bags made of paper or other biogradable material from the store for 25 cents (0.25 dollar), it added.
The goal is to rid the city of some 2.3 billion non-biodegradable plastic bags that are distributed each year and end up polluting waste dumps for a long time.
San Francisco, 600 kilometers (373 miles) north of here, also in California, in 2007 became the first US city to ban plastic bags from its stores.
Both city regulations are intended to pressure state lawmakers who are considering a bill to eliminate plastic bags across the state by 2012.
Several countries around the world have already adopted laws banning plastic bags, which often end up killing animals that swallow or get caught up in them.
Charles Whelan Yahoo News 22 Jul 08;
Beijing's so-called "Green Olympics" will not solve China's environmental problems but they could point the way to a more sustainable future, according to officials and experts.
As part of its efforts to to make next month's Games environmentally friendly, more than a quarter of the energy used at Olympic venues will come from renewable sources.
That means hot water from solar power for athletes' showers, rain water for plumbing systems, and street lighting from green energy photovoltaic panels on stadium walls and roofs.
Rates of up to 50 percent energy savings in many green Olympic buildings will be achieved through state of the art technology, while wind turbines have been built out of town to help supply energy to the venues.
Sceptics say all that amounts to a drop in the bucket in terms of Beijing's overall energy use, which itself is only three percent or less of China total consumption -- especially as coal use continues to soar across the country.
Meanwhile, the number of cars going on to Beijing's roads climbs by 1,000 a day, deepening the city's carbon footprint further.
"But that's not the point," said Rory McGowan, director of the Beijing operations for engineers Arup, which helped design the main Olympic stadium known as the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube.
"China sees the writing on the wall with its energy costs rising and energy sources dwindling. So it is looking for a sustainable future and using the Olympics as a guide."
For decades China has been hell-bent on growth at any cost, resulting in massive damage to the environment. Last year Premier Wen Jiabao said reducing energy consumption and pollution which were "critically important tasks".
But little has changed and China has since climbed up alongside the United States as the world's top producer of greenhouse gases.
The focus on a green Olympics may help change peoples attitudes and reverse that trend, said Ding Jianming, deputy chief engineer of the city government's ofice in charge of Olympic construction.
"The green Games shows us a way forward," said Ding.
"They will set standards for future building projects in Beijing and elswhere. And that will be one of the major legacies of the Beijing Olympics."
Liu Yingling, China programme manager for the Washington-based Worldwatch Institute, which monitors the environment, said China's conversion to sustainable energy may be late but it was geneuine.
"These are not empty words, but concrete deeds," she said. "The Chinese government has sincere political will to (host a green Games), since it is in line with the country's top priority to sustain te economy."
Green energy also makes business sense for China, despite its poor enviromnent record, because it is already a world leader in many renewable energy technologies that has produced a batch of Chinese billionaires.
Liu said China led the world in manufacturing and utilisation of solar water heaters, and in making solar photovoltaic cells and energy efficient light bulbs.
It is also on the way to becoming the world leader in wind turbine manufacturing and installation.
But so far many of the green technologies have been for export only, too expensive for China to use itself.
"As costs continue to come down thanks to China's manufactruing capabilities, China's market for those renewable energy technologies will expand dramatically, enabling the country to enjoy the environmental benefits that those technologies bring about," said Liu.
Yahoo News 23 Jul 08;
Within the Arctic circle there are 90 billion barrels of oil and vast quantities of natural gas waiting to be tapped, most of it offshore, the government-run US Geological Survey said.
The top of the world, shared by half a dozen countries including the US, Russia, Canada, Sweden, Norway and Greenland, holds an estimated 90 billion barrels of crude, 1,670 trillion cubic feet of gas and 44 million barrels of natural gas liquids, the USGS said in a report.
Eighty-four percent of that potential energy resources is expected to lie offshore, said the report, which comes a week after the US government lifted a 17-year ban on offshore drilling hoping to ease a spiraling fuel price crisis.
"The resources account for about 22 percent of the undiscovered, technically recoverable resources in the world," the USGS said, meaning the estimated volume is not added to the world's known recoverable resources.
The Arctic estimate, said USGS geologist Donald Gautier, includes some degree of uncertainty.
Broken down, the Arctic energy reserves would account for about 13 percent of the undiscovered oil, 30 percent of the undiscovered natural gas, and 20 percent of the undiscovered natural gas liquids in the world, the report said.
The majority of the undiscovered 90 billion barrels of crude oil, USGS experts estimate, are lying in Alaska, where 30 billion are hiding, Russia's Barents Basins, East and West Greenland and East Canada.
"The Alaska platform really looms as the most obvious place to look for oil in the Arctic right now," said Gautier.
Some 40 billion barrels of oil and 1,100 trillion cubic feet of gas have already been found in the Arctic region.
By comparison, US oil reserves stand at 22 billion barrels, and its production level at 1.6 billion barrels per year.
Across the world, proven oil reserves stand at a record 1.24 trillion barrels. Production is stable but consumption -- some 30 billion barrels per day -- is on the rise.
The natural gas the Arctic region is estimated to hold, 1,670 trillion cubic feet, is potentially a more important find since it would represent nearly one third of all the undiscovered gas reserves in the world.
Most of the untapped gas reserves in the Arctic region (70 percent) lie in the West Siberian Basin and East Barents Basin, in Russia, and Arctic Alaska, the USGS said.
One cubic foot equals 0.028 cubic meters.
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