Best of our wild blogs: 2 Aug 08

An Activist’s Confession
some inspiring and thoughtful insights on the It's Getting Hot In Here blog

Random Wish list
some green wishes on the blooooooooooo blog

Blog about our reefs and win!
an IYOR event by Underwater World Singapore on the singapore celebrates our reefs blog

What happened to the East Coast?
on the wonderful creations blog and wildfilms blog

More of Changi explored
stars and other wonderful stuff on the wonderful creations blog with features on special snails and strange worms and the Kiasi Krab revisited on the wildfilms blog

Red-bearded Bee-eater: Green above, black below…
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Are we really recycling?
on The Biodiversity crew @ NUS blog

Read more!

Polluted beaches: Health warnings push water sports under

Water sports bodies scramble to find alternative venues for regular activities
Shobana Kesava & Daryl Tan, Straits Times 2 Aug 08;

WATER sports organisations are in a tizzy after receiving advisories about unhealthy water quality at two popular areas.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) warned on Wednesday that the waters off Pasir Ris Beach and in Marina Reservoir are unsafe for those sports where total immersion is likely. These include wakeboarding, waterskiing and swimming.

Even sports with less water contact are affected. Kayaking, canoeing and dragon boating, for example, require capsize tests, where athletes must swim back to shore with boats in tow, among other things.

Such tests are a definite no-no in light of the health advisory, which said high levels of a type of bacteria normally found in the faeces of warm-blooded animals were present in the two areas. The bacteria could cause illnesses such as diarrhoea and conjunctivitis.

The loss of Marina Bay as a watersports venue hits enthusiasts hardest. Waterskiers, wakeboarders, canoeists - all are affected. 'It's a headache,' said Mr Henry Sim, secretary of the Singapore Canoe Federation, whose 35 affiliates handle about 30,000 canoeists a year.

Mr Paul Fong, programme director with the Singapore Waterski and Wakeboard Federation (SWWF), said the organisation has had to move all its activities to Bedok Reservoir.

SWWF has about 50 wakeboard and ski enthusiasts attending its Marina Reservoir courses every weekend. Organisations like the Singapore Canoe Federation plan to meet PUB officials next Wednesday to come up with a Plan B.

Said Mr Sim: 'We will ask if we can carry our canoes out to the sea, across the pontoon on the marina; it's designed for it.'

Until a decision is made, the federation will conduct its activities at Changi Point or off East Coast Park.

Over at Pasir Ris Beach, the People's Association's (PA) Water-Venture will need to make adjustments. Kayaking and sailing are now carried out there, said Mr Tan Mong Kiang, its assistant director of recreation. Capsize tests will now have to be done at one of the other seven PA outlets, probably Changi.

While organisations are beside themselves trying to heed the advisory, individuals, it seems, could care less.

All eight people spotted by The Straits Times at Pasir Ris Beach yesterday said they did not think the problem is serious and would not curb activities there, which include wading.

Said Mr Isaac Loh, 25, a training officer: 'It's not that dangerous as long as nobody submerges in the water for too long.

'If the water was really that dirty, then all water activities would have been stopped.'

Most beaches and reservoirs score well
Straits Times 2 Aug 08;

THE National Environment Agency (NEA) has rated the beaches and the national water agency, PUB, has done the same for the reservoirs.

Tests were done for the bacteria called enterococcus, which is found in the faeces of warm-blooded animals, including humans.

To 'pass' the test, the level of enterococcus cannot hit or exceed 200 counts for every 100ml of water more than 5 per cent of the time.

If the water at a beach or reservoir scores more than 200, the agencies will advise against all water activities involving immersion, such as swimming, skiing and wakeboarding.

Reservoir waters are subject to an additional test for chlorophyll-a, a pigment found in blue-green algae, the level of which cannot hit or exceed 50 micrograms per litre.

NEA rated the following beaches, all with bacteria counts of between 40 and 200, 'good' and suitable for swimming:

# Seletar Island,

# Sembawang Park,

# Changi and

# East Coast Park.

Sentosa, with a bacteria count of under 40, was rated 'very good'. Pasir Ris, with a bacteria count of 200 to 500, managed only a 'fair' rating. Signs have gone up there advising against swimming.

PUB, which tested reservoir water over three years, said all passed the enterococcus test except Marina Reservoir, which has been monitored for just over a year. All also passed the chlorophyll-a test.

Pasir Ris catch safe, says AVA
Straits Times 2 Aug 08;

ANGLERS at Pasir Ris need not fear that their catch is contaminated with the enterococcus bacteria commonly associated with the faeces of warm-blooded animals such as birds, rats or humans.

The Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) said the seafood is safe, but advises those who engage in recreational fishing to wash and cook their catch before consumption, irrespective of where it is caught. The AVA said the bacteria does not affect fish as much, and any bacteria on the skin can be killed by cooking.

The AVA conducts regular spot checks at its fish farms 350m from the shore for bacteria, which can harm humans when consumed through seafood.

Farmers contacted said they were not concerned by the advisory, adding that the waters had not changed in the decade or more they had worked on the farms at sea.

'Sometimes, the sea is so polluted at low tide it turns black, but the fish have never had bacterial infections,' said Mr Goh Khoon Heng, 53.

Marine biologist Beverly Goh said those who fish for filter feeders such as mussels and clams should be more careful as, unlike fish, they can retain bacteria and be harmful when consumed.

'These are generally safe to buy because they must be placed in clean sea water for up to 48 hours to cleanse their systems before they are sold in the market,' she said.

Fishing for sport is only allowed in designated areas of the Bedok, MacRitchie, Lower Seletar and Pandan reservoirs, but not at the Marina Reservoir, where the water quality is not good.

Steps taken to ensure water around Marina Bay remains clean
Lip Kwok Wai/Heather Tan, Channel NewsAsia 1 Jul 08;


SINGAPORE : With National Day drawing near, Singapore's national water agency PUB is ensuring the water around the Marina Bay remains clean.

In the last two weeks, it has deployed more manpower and boats to patrol the area.

CCTV cameras have also been set up at Marina Bay, the Singapore River and Kallang River to help officials keep an eye on things.

And to prevent any potential pollution from construction work at the nearby integrated resort, filters have been set up to prevent unwanted sand and soil from being discharged into the bay. - CNA/ms

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Singapore detects 3 new cases of chikungunya fever

Channel NewsAsia 2 Aug 08;

SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Health (MOH) said there are new three cases of chikungunya fever involving two foreign workers and a local delivery driver.

MOH said its preliminary investigations revealed that the three cases are probably local cases with the likely source of infection being in Kranji Way as they have not travelled out of Singapore recently.

The two foreign workers are working and residing at a site in Kranji Way while the local delivery driver had delivered goods to the same site in Kranji Way.

The two foreign workers are currently in hospital for isolation and treatment while the Singaporean driver is currently well and has returned to work.

The Health Ministry is currently carrying out active case detection at and around the site in Kranji Way and blood samples are being sent to the Environmental Health Institute for testing.

The ministry advises those who have travelled to Kranji Way recently and who have developed fever and joint pains to consult their doctors.

The National Environment Agency officers are also conducting intensive mosquito control operations within the vicinity.

Mosquito breedings were found in 10 factory premises in the neighbourhood including the workplace and quarters of the patients.

All mosquito breedings were destroyed and insecticide fogging is being carried out. - CNA/vm

Three more down with chikungunya
Kranji Way likely to be source of spread; two victims still in hospital
Gracia Chiang, Straits Times 3 Aug 08

Three more people have fallen victim to chikungunya fever, bringing the total to 51 cases this year.

The trio comprise two foreigners - a 37-year-old Bangladeshi and a 41-year-old Indian working and living in Kranji Way - and a Singaporean.

The 39-year-old Singaporean, a delivery driver, had sent goods to the same location.

The two foreigners are still in hospital while the Singaporean has recovered and returned to work. All three cases happened last week.

Last Friday, it was reported that a 60-year-old woman who lived off Holland Road was also diagnosed with chikungunya, after she fell ill on July 24.

Preliminary investigations showed that in the latest cases, the virus was likely to have been transmitted locally. This means the cases were not 'imported' - the victims were not bitten by an infected mosquito while overseas. In fact, none of the four travelled out of the country recently.

Chikungunya, like dengue, is a mosquito-borne disease. The Ministry of Health (MOH) advises those who have visited Kranji Way recently and those who develop fever and joint pains to consult their doctors.

Of the 51 cases this year, 31 have been confirmed to be imported. The first local outbreak surfaced in January, when 13 people in Little India were infected. In June, there were three more local cases.

If the latest cases are confirmed as local ones, that would mean 20 people contracted the disease in Singapore this year.

Meanwhile, National Environment Agency officers went into action last week, conducting checks in the Kranji Way area.

They found mosquitoes breeding in 10 factory premises, including the workplace and living quarters of the two foreigners.

All breeding sources were destroyed and insecticide fogging is being carried out.

The MOH has been testing the blood samples of people in the vicinity.

It said that while the number of local cases has risen, most are still imported.

The virus is mainly carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, similar to the way dengue is transmitted.

The number of dengue cases up to July 26 has dropped by almost a third, compared with the same period last year.

The MOH urges people going overseas to take precautions, especially in countries like India, Indonesia and Malaysia, which have had outbreaks.

MOSQUITO-BORNE DENGUE-LIKE VIRUS
Chikungunya fever is caused by a dengue-like virus usually carried by the Aedes aegypti and also by the Aedes albopictus and Culex mosquitoes.

Symptoms include fever, chills, headache, nausea, joint pain and fatigue; rashes may occur - all signs similar to those of a dengue victim, making chikungunya hard to detect.

There is currently no effective vaccine for chikungunya fever.

Aspirin should be avoided as it may increase the risk of bleeding.

Gracia Chiang

Read more!

Singapore's urban identity: Creating islands of history in a sea of change

Ooi Giok Ling, Straits Times 2 Aug 08;

THE more things change, the more they become the same.

Globalisation has led to essentially the same 'glamour zones' springing up in major cities and in those aspiring to join their league. These are places for a city's wealthy and elite, who divide their time between restaurants, golf courses and brand-name stores, when they are not shuttling between the airport and their upmarket homes.

Despite their lack of individuality, these urban spaces flourish, perhaps because they reassure and comfort the professionals who cross borders to take up high-level jobs requiring their particular skills. After all, a move to the other side of the world would not be so bad if Prada, DKNY and Starbucks are there to meet you.

These universal, 'placeless' enclaves have taken root in cities competing to join the likes of New York, London, Frankfurt and Paris - global cities that commandeer a chunk of the global economy.

Yet we see much evidence too of resistance to cultural globalisation. Many have become conscious that the competitiveness of their cities depends not on becoming like every other city in the world but on recognising what makes the cities unique. They have come to realise that their cities can stay on the mental maps of international investors and businesses if they developed and conserved places important to their denizens.

So unlike the cities that have gone for super-expressways and iconic, ultra-modern buildings and airports, such cities seek recognition of their history and architectural heritage and a place in Unesco's list of World Heritage Sites.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is doing an admirable job putting Singapore on the global map through integrated transport systems. Yet after all the efforts to connect people to their destinations, will Singaporeans still have places that they want to go to? Though the LTA has made several bids at conservation, its tunnels and road-widening efforts have, nonetheless, erased spots meaningful to Singaporeans.

The latest to bite the demolition dust is the New Seventh Storey Hotel in Bugis. Both the LTA and Urban Redevelopment Authority have given sound explanations of why the hotel had to go but it was something that contributed to Singapore's urban identity. Unlikely to be found anywhere else, places like the hotel weave themselves into the story of a neighbourhood and help it stick in the collective memory of the city's residents.

Spots like these make us ask questions: How did the New Seventh Storey Hotel get its name? And why was it built in that particular neighbourhood rather than somewhere else? In seeking and finding the answers to such questions, we invest ourselves in the city where it is found.

Unique buildings also lend an identity to a particular road when we try to remember where it is and what it looks like. Much of the charm of the Champs-Elysees, for instance, lies in the places strung along its length - from the Arc de Triomphe to the Tuileries Gardens - as well as the history behind them.

And places that linger in our minds do more than help us visualise a road: They also enable us to see our past.

Many Singaporeans who have gone abroad for an extended period to work or study have lamented the disappearance of favourite haunts such as hawker centres or coffee shops when they return. Still others have expressed frustration that they can't show their children where Mum and Dad used to live or go to school; they can only indicate the general area. They may not even be able to point out the streets along which they walked to school if these have been cleared to make way for highways and so on.

We should never forget what centralised planning has done for Singaporeans. Public housing, neighbourhood conveniences, schools, polyclinics, public transport, parks, open spaces, city centres and such - it would be churlish to quibble about decisions to demolish the old to make way for such newer and better amenities.

Yet urban planning in the new millennium clearly must involve more than meeting our basic needs. It must take into account places that remind us of who we are.

Urban planning can be meaningful only if it encompasses diversity and absorbs the views of the citizens using these places.

By keeping this in mind, those responsible for shaping our landscape, such as the Singapore Land Authority, will be able to build a city that truly accommodates people and their need for places both new and historic.

Because, sometimes, the more things change, the more we need them to stay the same.

The writer is a professor at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University.

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Sumatra hot spots spell hazy days ahead

Dry weather and fires burning in Indonesia are bad news for Singapore
Tania Tan in Singapore & Salim Osman in Jakarta, Straits Times 2 Aug 08;

SINGAPORE'S 43rd birthday next week may be a hazy one.

Dry spells in parts of neighbouring Indonesia have led to fires flaring up in north and central Sumatra.

Over 350 hot spots were detected yesterday, up from about 300 the day before, said the National Environment Agency (NEA).

While still a long way from the 8,000 hot spots recorded in 2006, during Singapore's worst recent episode of haze, 'this is probably just the beginning', said Mr Chia Aik Song.

The associate scientist with the Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing from the National University of Singapore added: 'If the weather continues, then we may have a problem.'

According to NEA, the forecast for the next two weeks is more dry weather. So expect more hot spots in Sumatra - and depending on the wind direction, the acrid pall could be headed this way.

'If fires occur in forest and plantation land in Sumatra next week, you can expect the wind to blow the smoke towards Malaysia and Singapore,' said Mr Blucher Doloksaribu, weather analyst from Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics agency (BMG).

More fires are expected this month in Indonesia as the peak of the dry season coincides with farmers and plantation workers stepping up their land-clearing activities, warn weathermen and environmentalists in Indonesia.

Smoke plumes from Sumatra shrouded Penang on Thursday, with some areas experiencing poor visibility of between 2km and 6km.

But so far there have been no reports of the smoke haze affecting population centres in Sumatra.

'This is probably because of the wind direction, blowing away the smoke,' said environmentalist Zulfahmi of the Save the Riau Forest movement.

No haze-related incidents were reported in the seaports of Sumatra too, said Mr Hendra Budi, spokesman for the Indonesian state port operator PT Pelindo II.

The company runs seaports in Jambi, Bengkulu, Lampung, Palembang, and Padang.

Said Mr Hendra: 'We have not received reports of haze-related disturbance. At the worst point last year, we had to temporarily cease operation at Palembang port for half a day. Vessels couldn't get in or leave due to thick haze.

'There were a number of days with thick haze last year, but not this year so far.'

He said that no haze had occurred because of the wind direction, even though there were fires in Sumatra.

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Developers must take own initiatives to go green: Leng Joo

CDL MD says it's not sustainable to have long-term govt subsidies
Jamie Lee, Business Times 2 Aug 08;

DEPENDING on the government for more subsidies to encourage developers to go green is not sustainable, said City Developments managing director Kwek Leng Joo.

'I don't think it's sustainable to look to the government for grants and subsidies on a long-term basis,' said Mr Kwek, who was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the memorandum of understanding signed between the company and NUS School of Design and Environment's Master of Science, Environmental Management (MEM) programme to work on green solutions for the building sector.

'We have to make our own plans and it's not a one-way street,' he said, adding that while the returns may not be 'direct and apparent' now, green buildings will become more attractive to buyers who can lower their utility bills through green features such as photovoltaic cells when their prices fall over time.

City Developments currently audits the green practices of its contractors and those who score better stand a higher chance to bid for tenders for subsequent projects.

But Mr Kwek added that smaller developers are less likely to be able to influence construction and architectural firms to go green because they have little influence over the supply chain.

'Perhaps if you are a very small developer. . . then you will not be in the position to influence, to help direct the other players in the whole value chain,' said Mr Kwek. 'But we can take up that role and we've been doing it.'

During the event, Tommy Koh, who chairs the MEM advisory committee, said he had proposed to the government in 1992 about the potential of solar energy, but the idea was shot down because it was not seen to be commercially viable.

'How wrong they are,' said Prof Koh, adding that Singapore is just at the beginning of its 'green journey'.

'We've not done a bad job in balancing the need to provide adequate housing for 4.6 million people and having room for garden, parks and nature,' he said.

'But we've also done some bad things. We've largely destroyed our mangrove forest. We need to reclaim land because we need additional space but in the process, we've destroyed most of our coral reefs,' he added.

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East Timor opens first national park

Yahoo News 1 Aug 08;

East Timor opened its first national park Friday, turning a remote former rebel stronghold into a conservation area of forests, mountains, pristine beaches and sea.

The 123,600 hectare (305,400 acre) Nino Konis Santana National Park incorporates the entire eastern tip of East Timor, previously home to pro-independence rebels fighting Indonesia's 24-year occupation.

The protected area comprises 68,000 hectares of land and 55,600 hectares of sea. It covers one of the largest remaining intact tropical lowland and monsoon rainforests in the region, as well as extensive coral reefs.

"The government and all of us should be joyful, because this is something that must be defended, something that our children and grandchildren will depend on for their livelihood," Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao said.

"We'll only succeed if all the community is aware that we have to preserve our wealth, which gives rain and refreshment to our country, to ensure the future of our sons," he said.

The park is to be jointly managed by the government and local communities, with assistance from Birdlife International and the Australian state of New South Wales.

It is named after Nino Konis Santana, a commander of Falantil, the armed wing of the movement that fought for independence from Indonesia, who was born in the village of Tutuala within the park.

Continuously occupied for more than 40,000 years, the area is rich in archaeological heritage and has many sites from the colonial Portuguese and World War II Japanese occupation eras.

East Timor gained formal independence in 2002 and despite rich deposits of oil and gas, it remains one of the world's poorest nations.

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Brazil launches ambitious fund for Amazon forest

Rodrigo Viga Gaier and Ana Nicolaci da Costa, Reuters 1 Aug 08;

RIO DE JANEIRO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva launched an international fund on Friday to finance conservation and sustainable development in the Amazon as deforestation rates rise.

The fund will support forest conservation, scientific research and sustainable development projects, such as rubber tapping, forestry management or developing drugs from plants.

"We are conscious of what the Amazon represents for the world," Lula said during an inauguration ceremony in Rio de Janeiro.

"It's better for the country's image to do things right, so we can walk in international forums with our heads high," Lula said.

The government hopes to raise $1 billion within one year and as much as $21 billion by 2021, according to Brazil's National Development Bank (BNDES), which will manage the fund.

It is open to companies, countries and nongovernmental organizations.

In September, Norway will make the first donation -- $100 million -- said Eduardo Bandeira de Mello, head of Environment and Social Responsibilities at BNDES.

Brazil has for some time urged industrialized nations to help pay for the conservation of the Amazon.

Not chopping down trees had a cost, especially to millions of people living in the Amazon, Lula told visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in May.

But Brazil would not accept foreign meddling in its Amazon policies, Roberto Mangabeira Unger, minister for strategic affairs, said in an interview in Brasilia.

"The fund is a vehicle by which foreign governments can help support our initiatives without exerting any influence over our national policy," Unger said.

"We are not going to trade sovereignty for money."

Illegal loggers usually pave the way for farmers and cattle ranchers to move deeper into the forest in search of cheaper land.

The Lula government has increased police raids on illegal loggers and expanded protected areas. But it is also building roads and hydroelectric plants which conservationists fear could increase deforestation in the long term.

In the 12 months through July, deforestation will have totaled around 13,000 sq km (5,019 sq miles), the government estimates. Last year 11,224 sq km (4,332 sq miles) were destroyed, down from a peak of 27,379 sq km (10,570 sq miles) in 2004.

(Writing by Raymond Colitt; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Brazil launches rainforest fund
BBC News 1 Aug 08;

Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has launched an international fund to protect the Amazon rainforest and help combat climate change.

The fund will promote alternatives to forest-clearing for people living in the Amazon, and support conservation and sustainable development

Officials will seek donations abroad and aim to raise $21bn (£11bn) by 2021.

But a government minister said Brazil would not accept foreign interference in its Amazon policy.

The environmental group Greenpeace said it was the first time Brazil had accepted a link between global warming and preserving the rainforest.

'Sovereignty non-negotiable'

Speaking at the launch in Rio de Janeiro, President Lula said Brazil was aware of how much the Amazon meant to the wider world.

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

A look at the rainforest Brazil has launched a fund to protect

"It's better for the country's image to do things right, so we can walk in international forums with our heads high," he added.

But the Brazilian leader also insisted that the Amazon's preservation was Brazil's responsibility.

"We... want the sovereignty that we hold over Amazonian territory and the decisions that are made in this region to be respected," he said.

Roberto Mangabeira Unger, minister for strategic affairs, put the point more forcefully:

"The fund is a vehicle by which foreign governments can help support our initiatives without exerting any influence over our national policy.

"We are not going to trade sovereignty for money."

New thinking

Greenpeace in Brazil said that the country was accepting the link between global warming and preserving the forest for the first time.

"For a long time, Brazil was violently opposed to this, insisting fossil fuel was to blame," said Sergio Leitao, director of public policies for Greenpeace Brasil.

"That's true, historically speaking, but today forests play an important role."

Brazilian Environment Minister Carlos Minc called for a radical change in environmental attitudes:

"We are committed to reducing the destruction of the rainforest, to eliminating illegal burning and to guaranteeing a better quality of life for all.

"Our war is not won by simply reducing illegal burning in one month, it will be won once this environmental model that is destroying our communities and biodiversity is history."

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Aral sea rescue plan a 'partial success'

Juliette Jowit, guardian.co.uk 1 Aug 08;

One of the 20th century's great ecological disasters has been partly reversed, according to a report that claims the waters are rising once more in part of the Aral sea.

The team behind an Aral sea restoration plan claims that the water level in the northern part of the sea in central Asia has risen by 30% in three years because a dyke has been built and leaking irrigation channels mended. As a result the amount of water flowing down the Syr Daria River into the sea has increased.

Now, the salty drying waters which had dwindled and contained only a single species of fish, host 15 different species of fish and more birds, reptiles and plants, says a report by the Kazakhstan government.

Fishing has also been rejuvenated, and a second phase of the scheme is underway to restore pasture and improve grazing.


30 years apart … the Aral Sea in 1973 and 2004, before the start of the restoration. Photograph: Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World/PA

"The return of the north Aral sea shows that man-made disasters can be at least partly reversed, and that food production depends on the sound management of scarce water resources and the environment," said the World Bank president, Robert B Zoellick, in a statement released through the government.

The Aral Sea became an internationally famous example of environmental mismanagement after the then Soviet government decided in the 1950s to licence a big increase in irrigation from the two rivers feeding the sea to increase rice and cotton production.

As the water level shrank from a depth of 53m to 30m and retreated 100km from the shore, the concentration of salt killed most remaining wildlife.

The rescue plan, funded by the Kazakhstan government and a loan from the World Bank, was agreed in 2001 and the 13km-long dyke was finished in 2005. The water level has now risen to 42m north of the dam, and the surface area has increased even more dramatically thanks to the shallow shoreline, from 2,550 sq km to 3,300 sq km.

"Even though the current level of different species has not reached yet the level before the 50s, this is improving every year,' said a spokeswoman.

However the scheme only saves a very small portion of what was once the world's fourth largest sea - the new surface area is less than half the total sea in 1960, and although some of the southern part remains studies have concluded some areas cannot be saved.

Practical problems also remain: for example the port of Aralsk is still stranded 25km above the shoreline.

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Japanese tuna fishermen halt operations to boost stock

Yahoo News 1 Aug 08;

Japanese tuna fishermen on Friday temporarily suspended operations in a bid to revive stocks that are rapidly declining under pressure from a worldwide sushi craze, officials said.

Tuna vessels from Japan's largest fisheries cooperative are taking part in the suspension.

Some 230 longline vessels, accounting for 60 percent of such ships in Japan, will stay ashore for a total of two months spaced out across the next two years, an official at the cooperative said.

The suspension is expected to cut by five percent the catch of tuna on Japanese vessels, a cooperative official said.

"The main reason of our suspension is sluggish fishing offshore," the cooperative said in its website.

The move is part of coordinated efforts with fishermen in China, Taiwan and South Korea to recover tuna stock, it said.

Tuna stocks across the world have fallen dramatically in recent years as more people around the world take a liking to sushi and sashimi, reputed to be healthy.

The European Commission in June closed early the industrial bluefin tuna fishing season in the Mediterranean over fears that quotas were being filled too quickly.

The Japanese fishing cooperative said it also hoped to draw public attention to the problem of surging fuel costs.

Last month, thousands of Japanese fishermen kept their boats idle in a one-day strike to protest against the high price of fuel.

In response, the government on Tuesday announced an emergency 690-million-dollar package to help the country's fishermen.

Tuna fishing suspended in Japan
BBC News 1 Aug 08;

Tuna fishermen from Japan's largest fisheries co-operative have suspended operations temporarily in a bid to replenish dwindling stocks of the fish.

About 230 Japanese vessels will stop fishing for periods totalling more than two months over the next two years.

Tuna stocks globally have fallen dramatically in recent years as more people opt to eat sushi and sashimi in an effort to be more healthy.

The suspension is expected to cut Japan's catch of tuna by 5%.

"The main reason for our suspension is sluggish fishing offshore," the co-operative said in its website.

The suspension will mean that almost two-thirds of Japan's longline tuna vessels will stay ashore for short periods at a time over the next two years.

The BBC's Chris Hogg in Tokyo says that in itself will not be enough to restore stock levels, but Japan says co-ordinating the action with similar bodies in China, South Korea and Taiwan will maximise its impact.

Japan has by far the largest tuna fleet in the world and the Japanese are the world's biggest consumers of fish.

Our correspondent says global demand for Japanese seafood delicacies like sushi and sashimi is also growing, leaving environmentalists deeply concerned.

Activists say even greater restrictions on fishing are needed and consumers should be given more information about the problem of sustainability.

Otherwise, they say, the species will not survive.

Read more!

A month without plastic

Christine Jeavans, BBC News 2 Aug 08;

I am giving up plastic for the whole of August.

By this I mean not buying or accepting anything which contains plastic or is packaged in plastic.

So, no take-away coffees, bottles of water or pre-packed sandwiches.

I'll be forsaking punnets of strawberries and packs of chicken, supermarket milk and bottled cleaning products, and switching to reusable nappies for my toddler.

No longer will my other half and I be able to slump in front of the telly of an evening with the latest DVD, a takeaway curry and a bottle of wine (the cork could be plastic).

I am, if you like, donning a polyester-free hairshirt - with the aim of seeing how possible it is to live without new plastic.

I will, however, be keeping the plastic I already own. But even so, it's going to be very difficult.

Durable, versatile, lightweight, hygienic, cheap and strong: synthetic plastic is arguably one of the most useful inventions of the last century.

It is essential in medical equipment, technology and thousands of devices which have increased our standard of living.

But those very same attributes of durability and cheapness make plastic one of the most pervasive forms of waste on the planet.

Plastic soup

Evidence of our failure to deal with plastic rubbish is everywhere, from bulging landfill sites and countryside litter in the UK to a toxic plastic "soup" swilling around the middle of the North Pacific, thousands of miles from continental land.

Island groups such as Hawaii and Midway which, by their location in the Pacific should be pristine, instead are awash with plastic, killing seabirds, turtles and other marine life.

The UN Environment Programme estimates that there are 46,000 pieces of plastic litter floating in every square mile of ocean on Earth.

Some marine scientists believe that microscopic plastic fragments in the ocean can soak up pollutants which may then get passed up the food chain into fish and, ultimately, humans.

Plastic audit

I'm as guilty as anyone of treating this useful resource as utterly disposable.

I do try to remember to take reusable bags to the shops and I drop my bottles into the recycling bag which the council collects every week.

But I, like almost everyone else in the UK, junk the vast majority of plastic which comes into my home.

I've kept a month's worth of my plastic waste, to use as a barometer for my month of abstinence. It isn't pretty - 603 items, including:

* 36 carrier bags
* 67 food packaging bags and films such as bread bags, cheese wrappers (and a jumbo pack of Maltesers!)
* 23 polystyrene tea cups with lids and 24 coffee cup lids
* 15 fruit punnets and vegetable trays
* 13 yoghurt pots
* 16 water bottles, 10 milk bottles, 7 juice bottles
* Two toothbrushes

Probably the least pretty aspect to my household's waste at the moment comes in the form of disposable nappies.

Our 18-month-old son gets through four or so a day so that's about 120 a month, plus individual nappy sacks, nappy bin bags and wipes, which go straight into landfill.

Inevitably, however, packaging forms the greatest part of my plastic haul.

Nationally we throw away 58 billion items - 1.5 million tonnes - of household plastic packaging a year, according to the government-funded Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) and it's growing annually by 2-5%.

Considering that most plastics are lightweight, that's a mind-boggling volume of rubbish, especially as it does not include non-packaging plastic waste (as government figures do not exist for this).

In theory, most household plastics can be recycled but in practice, most local authorities only offer the facility to collect and recycle plastic bottles. A handful do collect all plastics but they are few and far between.

These make up a third of household plastic packaging waste so even if every single bottle was recycled (currently 35% are), the majority of our plastic rubbish would still be destined for landfill or incineration.

It's something that annoys consumers admits Paul Davidson, plastics sector manager at Wrap.

"Plastics packaging waste in particular is a very visible part of the waste stream and it's also growing.

"Ironically as we become more successful at recycling generally, what's left in the bin tends to be just the plastic. So more and more people are looking in their bins and saying there's just bits of plastic here why can't I recycle them?"

The situation will improve in the next three to five years, he adds, as UK recycling plants are developed which can handle trays, tubs, pots and punnets as well as bottles.

Under-packaging - worse?

Everyone has their favourite over-packaging bugbear be it the infamous shrink-wrapped coconut or bananas packaged singly on polystyrene trays.

But the other extreme leads to food waste, which has a far greater environmental impact than excess plastic according to Dick Searle, chief executive of the UK Packaging Federation.

"A lot of packaging is designed to lengthen the shelf-life of the products that are being sold so if you take it out of the packaging there's a good chance that it will actually not last as long.

"And unless you're very, very disciplined - and most of us frankly aren't - then you're quite likely to end up by throwing more [food] away."

Meat is a prime example, he says, with so-called "modified atmosphere packaging" - gas-filled supermarket packs which delay deterioration - meaning that packaged cuts last as much as two weeks longer than the same product bought from a butcher.

Plastic-free wagon

And yet we used to manage without all this plastic. In the 1950s, less than five million tonnes of plastic was produced worldwide, today it is close to 100 million tonnes.

The clink of glass milk bottles on the doorstep has been replaced by the purchase of two-litre plastic bottles at the supermarket. Chocolate bars were once packaged in foil and paper; packed lunches used to consist of a homemade sarnie in some greaseproof and an apple.

But our lifestyles have changed too - we no longer shop for groceries every day, many more women go out to work and fewer meals are eaten or prepared at home.

If plastic in general, and plastic packaging in particular, is all about facilitating our current way of living, will I have to return to the labour-intensive shopping patterns of previous decades to complete my non-plastic mission? I'm about to find out.

I will be keeping a record of my progress - and any falls from the plastic-free wagon - in a blog http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/monthwithoutplastic/

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Conservation no longer a farming priority

BBC News 2 Aug 08;

The EU's response to the food crisis is to encourage greater production - meaning conservation is much less of a priority, finds the BBC's Paul Henley.

"We heard for years and years that we were producing too much and now that's changing. It's a turn-around for farming in Europe. And I think it's a big improvement for us," says Kris Colsoul.

He is showing me around his farm, 200 hectares (500 acres) of arable land on rolling hills on the outskirts of Landen, in the centre of Belgium. We are walking through shoulder-high maize on a piece of land by a railway line that, until recently, was uncultivated.

Since the European Commission - an hour-and-a-half away in Brussels - suspended the obligation for farmers to set aside some of their land last autumn, there has been a quiet revolution in European farming.

The reason is the rise in food prices and what is increasingly being referred to as the "global food crisis".

Surplus - in the form of butter mountains and wine lakes - is a thing of the past, according to the EU officials, as Europe reacts to the recent up-swing in demand for food by putting more and more land into production.



In less than a year, 5% more of the EU's countryside is being farmed - 1.3m extra hectares. Quite suddenly, Europe is growing around 14% more food, because there is a market for it and a profit in it.

The changes are visible. The view from the car window on the drive across Belgium is one of intensive cultivation.

Fields tend to be ploughed right up to the edges of roads, woods and rivers. It is very rare to see anything resembling a meadow.

And across the EU, the picture is becoming similar. It is not that farmers have lost their subsidy for set-aside land - that has been incorporated into other areas of their grant income - it is that they are now also allowed to bring disused pieces of land back into production.

And, thanks to the increase in prices, for the first time in many years, they can do this profitably.

'Threat to species'

Alarm bells have been sounding among conservationists. Set-aside was designed to protect the farmers, not the environment, but the accidental benefits to plant, animal and bird species have been significant.

The non-use of fertilisers and pesticides on disused land has meant an improvement in ground-water quality. The aesthetics of the countryside, it has been argued, have been improved.

Ariel Brunner, who monitors the changes in European Agriculture for Birdlife International, one of the more influential environmental lobby groups in Brussels, says the bureaucrats have made big mistakes.

"Basically, what we are seeing is a big drive towards intensification which will put huge strains on the environment," he says.

"Set-aside has been abolished with hardly any thought to the implications. We are predicting a threat to many wild species. Biodiversity will feel the heat from this.

"One of the most important issues will be water quality. We are already facing very severe ground water and river pollution problems in Europe's most heavily-cultivated regions.

"What we are saying is that when you take set-aside away, you need to replace it with a targeted scheme which will keep its environmental benefits, or face the consequences."

The European Commission itself denies that it is running risks with the environment.

Michael Mann, spokesman for the agriculture commissioner, says the abolition of set-aside shows that the Common Agricultural Policy - that most derided of Brussels expenditures - is capable of moving with the times.

"We were widely criticised for over-producing", he says, "having huge surplus and dumping them on world markets.

"The whole philosophy now is to free farmers to follow the market and not just chase after the biggest subsidy from Brussels."

And, indeed, there are still funds available to encourage farmers to safeguard the environment through what is called the Countryside Stewardship Scheme.

Farmers can opt in and out of it, though. And set against market incentives to plough up every spare scrap of land for greater profit, they do not stand much of a chance.

'Change coming'

Pekka Pensonen, general secretary of Copa-Cogeca, which represents farming unions across the EU, is candid about the situation.



"The pressures are quite controversial for farmers", he says.

"We are asked to deliver food for reasonable prices and, at the same time, we are asked to maintain biodiversity.

"And it's a difficult question; should we do the biodiversity thing or should we respond to the market requirements? I don't think we can do both.

"The main issue over the last one or two years is the high food prices internationally. And if we didn't respond to that by producing more, then the accusations against farmers would be more serious.

"There is definitely no doubt that the drive is on at the moment to produce more".

Roger Waite is editor of a newsletter called AgraFacts in Brussels.

"For years", he says, "I've been following agricultural policy and it's the sort of subject that stops dinner parties in their tracks.

"Suddenly it's on the front pages and everyone is crucially interested in how farming affects what they're paying in the supermarkets.

"I think a fundamental change is coming. It's that farmers will concentrate less on their role as custodians of the countryside and more on providers of food. The return a farmer gets from the market will always come first."

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