Whale shark at Sentosa: thin edge of the wedge
on the wild shores of singapore blog
Sea turtles and Singapore's shores
on the wild shores of singapore blog
reticulated slug @ cyrene
on the sgbeachbum blog
Mountain Fulvetta eating a hopper?
from Bird Ecology Study Group blog
What are the benefits of corn based plastic?
on the azsustainability.com blog
Yahoo News 28 Aug 08;
Dozens of massacred narwhals, an Arctic whale with a single long tusk, have been discovered on the east coast of Greenland in what local police said Thursday could be a case of poaching.
"We received a complaint that there may have been a possible violation of the Greenlandic law regarding the protection of narwhals, after the discovery of cadavers in Illoqqortoormiut," the deputy chief of Greenland police Morten Nielsen told AFP.
A scientific expedition from New Zealand discovered the carcasses as they sailed along the coastline "about two weeks ago," Nielsen said.
According to Danish and Greenlandic media, 48 animals were killed, but police refused to confirm those reports.
People in Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, are authorised to hunt narwhals "but there are rules that say you can't shoot females and that you have to remove the body" after killing the animal, Nielsen said.
There were females and calves among the dead, Danish news agency Ritzau reported, adding that only the males' long tusks and some meat had been removed from the carcasses.
"We're now trying to investigate the incident and figure out what has happened and if the law has been broken," Nielsen said.
Narwhals can grow up to five metres (16 feet) in length and live primarily in the Arctic Ocean.
Males have a single long, twisted tusk that protrudes from the upper left side of the jaw and which can grow up to three metres (10 feet). It is sought after by poachers for its ivory.
Some females may also grow tusks, albeit much smaller.
The export of narwhal tusks is banned in Greenland, and imports are banned in the European Union, according to Ritzau.
Resorts World promises 'top-class' care as animal welfare groups raise issue
Ang Yiying, Straits Times 29 Aug 08;
NATURE and animal welfare groups in Singapore have banded together again to oppose the move by the integrated resort on Sentosa to bring in whale sharks for its oceanarium.
The Singapore Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), the Nature Society of Singapore and the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) had objected publicly to the plan when Resorts World at Sentosa unveiled it in 2006.
With International Whale Shark Day being observed tomorrow, the groups said it was timely to again raise awareness of the issue.
SPCA executive officer Deirdre Moss said the society was concerned about the welfare of the whale shark as some have died in captivity overseas.
She said: 'When we're talking about the biggest fish in the ocean, one has to ask the question, 'Who is benefiting? Is it the animal or is it the human?' The animal's welfare will definitely be compromised.'
Whale sharks can grow to 12m long and possibly up to 20m.
Acres executive director Louis Ng said: 'They shouldn't gamble on the lives of whale sharks.'
The spokesman for Resorts World at Sentosa, Ms Krist Boo, said the whale sharks in the Marine Life Park 'will be loved and will receive top-class care'.
She added that the park's mission was to 'inspire guests of all ages to appreciate the world's aquatic biodiversity and promote conservation action'.
However, Nature Society of Singapore president Shawn Lum said there was no wide consensus that keeping these whale sharks in captivity was good conservation strategy.
There has been no sign of official disapproval of Resorts World's move.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), noting that these gentle giants are listed under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Flora and Fauna, said this meant their import and export had to be controlled.
AVA spokesman Goh Shih Yong said Singapore would abide by the convention and require Resorts World to provide good care.
Resorts World launched a marine life fund this year and said shark's fin would not be available on its menu, except to high-rollers.
Plea to set them free
Today Online 29 Aug 08;
AS THE world prepares to mark International Whale Shark Day tomorrow, three groups here have once again expressed their opposition to having these creatures as “exhibits”.
The upcoming Resorts World at Sentosa (RWS) had announced in late 2006 that it would have whale sharks as one of the attractions for its Marine Life Park.
“We hope that Resorts World will reconsider their decision to keep whale sharks in captivity,” said Mr Louis Ng, executive director of the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres), one of the three groups which issued a joint press statement to mark the event. The other two were the Singapore Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and Nature Society (Singapore).
“They have already taken the progressive step of leaving sharks’ fin off their menu ... To truly contribute to marine conservations, let us focus on keeping the whale sharks safe in the wild,” Mr Ng said.
The SPCA noted that two whale sharks died within five months of each other at the Georgia Aquarium Atlanta last year. The deaths, they said, prove that “whale sharks are not meant for confinement to glass walls”.
When contacted by Today, a RWS spokeswoman pointed out that the autopsies on the two whale sharks “linked their deaths to the use of a chemical pesticide used to treat tank parasites”.
“The animals did not die because they were in captivity,” said Ms Krist Boo, the company’s vice-president of communications. She gave the assurance that the acquisition of animals “will be done in full compliance with international standards”.
“The whale sharks in the Marine Life Park will be loved and they will receive top-class care: The finest veterinary care, technology and food,” saidMs Boo, who added that the launch this year of RWS’ Marine Life Fund underlined its commitment to conservation.
The fate of whale sharks are not the only concern of some groups here. Last month, international dolphin charity Marine Connection raised concerns that dolphins might be imported into Singapore after 12 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins were captured near Solomon Islands and housed in sea pens for export to marine parks.
While RWS told Today it had no plans to import dolphins, Underwater World did not reply to Today’s email queries.
In 2004, Acres uncovered evidence that some of Underwater World’s pink dolphins were caught in the wild but the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority ruled it was legal for the park to keep them.
'No whale sharks'
Ang Yiying, Straits Times 28 Aug 08;
NATURE and animal welfare groups in Singapore have banded together again to oppose the move by the integrated resort on Sentosa to bring in whale sharks for its oceanarium.
The Singapore Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), the Nature Society of Singapore and the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) objected publicly to the plan when Resorts World at Sentosa unveiled it in 2006.
With International Whale Shark Day being observed on Saturday, the groups said it was timely to create awareness of the issue again.
SPCA executive officer Deirdre Moss said the society was concerned about the welfare of the whale shark as some have died in captivity overseas.
She said: 'When we're talking about the biggest fish in the ocean, one has to ask the question, 'Who is benefiting? Is it the animal or is it the human?' The animal's welfare will definitely be compromised.'
Whale sharks can grow to 12m long and possibly up to 20m.
More links
Whale shark at Sentosa: thin edge of the wedge
on the wild shores of singapore blog
SUFFERING, NOT SMILING: The Truth About Captive Dolphins
on the Acres website
Sentosa IR: Captive dolphins to be used for spa therapy
Dolphins at your doorstep? Cara van Miriah, Electric New Paper 22 Dec 07;
Plans underway for dolphins to be released from oceanarium daily to swim to posh water bungalows on stilts
Dolphins at the Sentosa Integrated Resort
Dolphin export, Solomon Star 14 Apr 08;
Dolphin therapy a dangerous fad?
CDNN - CYBER DIVER News Network 23 Dec 07;
Nature groups against oceanarium at Sentosa
Letter from SPCA, NSS, Acres Straits Times Forum 21 Oct 06
No critical need to keep whales prisoners
Letter from Dudley Au, Straits Times Forum 28 Oct 06
Rethink idea of having whale sharks in Sentosa lagoon
Letter from Thomas Paulraj Thamboo, Straits Times Forum 19 Oct 06
Sea Shepherds on the Whale Sharks at Sentosa IR
Letter from Grant W. Pereira Asian Education Advisor Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, unpublished letter to the media
Allison Lai, The Star 29 Aug 08;
MALACCA: A week-long stakeout has paid off for the World Wide Fund (WWF) Malaysia. At about midnight on Aug 13, a Hawksbill turtle appeared at the Terendak Camp beach in Sungai Udang here.
The turtle took half an hour to lay her eggs. Then she was tagged.
Weighing 42kg and having a 71cm shell, the turtle made her way back to the open sea three hours later.
WWF Malaysia project team leader Lau Min Min said it was the third tagging of a satellite transmitter on a Hawksbill turtle since July 29 and Aug 3.
WWF is researching the migration patterns of the Hawksbill turtle along the Straits of Malacca with data gathered to be used to better protect the critically-listed endangered species.
“They undertake a long journey every few years to the beaches here to complete their reproductive cycle,” said Lau.
Last year, two Hawksbill turtles, Puteri Tanjung Dahan and Puteri Pulau Upeh, named after their nesting homes, were tracked by satellite all the way to Singapore and the Riau Archipelago.
“Terendak Camp and Pulau Upeh were chosen as deployment sites because these nesting grounds support two of the largest nesting populations of Hawksbill turtle in peninsular Malaysia with an average of over 300 nestings recorded each year,” said Lau, adding that the next largest nesting ground is Sabah’s Turtle Islands.
“As the Hawksbill’s marine home extends beyond Malaysian territorial waters, regional co-operation and partnership is an important factor in saving these ancient mariners,” she said.
D. Arvind, researcher of the Conservation of Hawksbill Turtles and Painted Terrapins Programme, said officers were pleasantly surprised to discover that the turtle they recovered had previously nested along the Malacca beaches.
“We were a little concerned as our team did not spot any turtles for the first few nights,” he said, adding that the eggs were retrieved and hatched at the Padang Kamunting Hawksbill Turtle Hatchery Centre in Alor Gajah.
Links to more
Satellite tracking of Hawksbill turtles
on the WWF website
35% of families with power bill woes stay in larger 4- or 5-room flats
Theresa Tan, Straits Times 29 Aug 08;
MORE families here are having trouble paying their electricity bills.
And in what social workers described as 'surprising', a significant number - about 35 per cent - are those who live in larger four- and five-room flats.
As of June this year, about 13,700 households have been put on a pre-paid metering scheme after they had their power supply cut off or were in danger of having the supply disconnected.
This is up from about 12,200 in December 2006, according to SP Services, the customer service arm of utility company Singapore Power.
The bulk of these families live in rental flats and smaller one- to three-room ones. But social workers say they are astonished that many families who cannot pay their bills live in larger flats.
Those interviewed say this is an indication of how rising prices and stagnant incomes are affecting more people.
MP Halimah Yacob (Jurong GRC) said: 'If you look at it, inflation has also affected not only the low-income group, but also the lower-middle class.'
The high numbers, they added, point to a Singapore phenomenon: Of being 'asset rich but cash poor'. With little savings, such households are affected by sudden changes, such as when the breadwinner loses his job, or the economy starts slowing down, as it is doing now.
Mr Shawn Koh, centre head of Pasir Ris Family Service Centre, said: 'Inflation and bad times do not discriminate according to flat types.'
Social worker Sophie Cheng added that some Singaporeans buy larger flats without thinking 'very hard' if they can afford them - a point also made by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan in February.
The pre-paid metering scheme, called Payu, for Pay As You Use, involves replacing conventional power meters with special ones that work only if an account has sufficient credit in it.
Users can top up amounts from $10 to $250 into their accounts. As electricity is used, the sum is drawn down and has to be topped up. Twenty per cent of what they top up goes into settling their outstanding balances with SP Services.
Madam Noorfarizan Abdul Rahim, 30, went on the scheme after failing to pay her bills for three months. Her family owes SP Services over $400, but with four children to feed on a single income of $850 a month, putting food on the table, not paying bills, gets top priority.
Madam Noorfarizan, whose husband is a cleaner and whose children are aged between eight months and 10 years old, said: 'The price of rice has gone up, the price of cooking oil has gone up and everything has gone up.'
To help a little go a long way as far as energy is concerned, she restricts activities like watching TV. Social workers say that other such families also resort to leaving their flats in darkness. Many throw doors and windows open to catch available light from common corridors.
Madam Noorfarizan topped up her Payu account with $10 a few days ago, but just $3 remains. She will head to the Post Office today to top up another $10 - good for 'two to three days of power'.
Help for some of these families, meanwhile, is on the way. Two Community Development Councils - North West and South West - have started a scheme that gives utility vouchers to help residents whose power supply has been cut off or is danger of being cut off.
Rising rates drive homes to reduce electricity usage
Poll finds many also cutting back because of recent cooler weather and awareness drive
Tessa Wong & He Zongying, Straits Times 29 Aug 08;
WARY of increasing electricity tariffs and recent reports of unusually high utility bills, Singapore residents have been consciously cutting down their power consumption.
Out of 100 households The Straits Times polled, 78 have tried to use less power in the past month.
Most did so because of the rising cost of electricity. Rates have inched up every quarter since April last year, from 18.88 cents per kilowatt-hour to 25.07 cents per kwh last month.
Aside from electricity becoming more expensive, people are cutting back also because they are now more aware of the need to save electricity as a result of the public education campaigns by the National Environment Agency (NEA) and Singapore Power.
The recent cooler weather has also given people less reason to turn on their air-conditioners, one of the biggest guzzlers of electricity in the home.
Retiree Allan Ee, 85, now switches his on only for a few hours and uses a fan the rest of the night. He has also switched from a 50-inch television to a 21-inch one.
He said: 'My wife is also very helpful. She does not watch so many Chinese serials now.'
In some households, family members share rooms to cut down on the use of air-conditioners. Retired teacher Khoo Gim Si, for instance, shares a room with a tenant.
Other families, like drama coach Tony Quek's, religiously switch off their appliances that are not in use.
His family even turns off all lights in the living room from 8pm. 'The light from the television is enough,' said the 51-year-old, who lives in a four-room HDB flat with four other family members.
Some people are spending money to save money. Major electrical appliance retailers Harvey Norman and Best Denki have reported 20 per cent increases in the sales of energy-efficient appliances such as air-conditioners and refrigerators.
But an electricity usage tracking device called ETrack launched this month has not been selling well.
Do-it-yourself chain Home-Fix, the chief retailer of the device, said it has so far sold only 28 units of the gadget that costs $160.
Those who are using it say it has helped them become more aware of power consumption.
Technician Wong You Kin, 49, reckons he has saved about $50 in the past month using electric fans instead of air-conditioners.
He said: 'I get scared every time I see the numbers on the device jump.'
The electricity bill for his four-room HDB flat, usually at about $240, hit a high of $300 last month, which he put down to July's raised tariffs and the hot spell which led to the air-conditioner being turned on for longer hours.
With the ETrack in his home now, his latest bill has come down to $230.
'Everything is so expensive now, we just have to try to save as much as we can,' said Mr Wong, the father of two.
His household is one of 200 trying out the device under a six-month pilot project of NEA, which aims to raise consumers' awareness of the amount of electricity needed to power certain appliances.
Separately, the Energy Market Authority is also putting on trial smart meters in 1,000 households in November.
The NEA has also been running its '10% Energy Challenge' to get households to cut their energy bill by 10 per cent.
Besides putting up energy-saving tips and information on a website, it is holding a lucky draw for which a hybrid car and energy-efficient appliances are on the list of prizes.
Other grassroots bodies have also kick-started save-electricity drives among their residents. The North West and South West community development councils recently installed energy-saving bulbs in more than 5,000 low-income households.
Additional reporting by Daryl Tan
Volunteer figures have doubled to 1,800; six get Watermark Award
Tania Tan, Straits Times 29 Aug 08;
THE flow of volunteers devoted to water conservation is gathering strength, as the country opens up its rivers and reservoirs for leisure activities.
The number of people actively involved in cleaning up waterways has more than doubled over the past year, hitting some 1,800 and still counting.
Comprising groups and individuals, their combined efforts are invaluable in preserving Singapore's water bodies, said Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim at an event to pay tribute to them yesterday on the picturesque Marina Barrage.
The movement, known collectively as Friends of Water, was first started in 2006 by national water agency PUB, to promote a 'greater sense of ownership' of local waterways.
It brings together organisations or individuals who are actively involved in some form of waterway clean-up, maintenance or education.
Some of its members as well as other organisations and individuals received the second annual Watermark Award yesterday for going 'the extra mile' for conservation.
One winner, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, recently installed a high-tech monitoring system, which tracks water usage on campus. If excessive use is detected, for example, when a hose is left running, the school estate manager immediately sends an alert to the wasteful party.
A total of six individuals and organisations were honoured, including a company and three schools.
Over 40 nominations were received, down from 50 nominations last year, when the award was first established. Nine awards were given out last year.
But though the number of entries has dropped, the quality of the nominations was 'exceptional', said a PUB spokesman.
The growing fraternity of volunteers is not the only sign that Singaporeans are showing more concern for the environment.
To gather feedback from the public on how to promote environmental sustainability, www.sustainablesingapore.gov.sg was launched last month.
Over 800 suggestions have already been received in Singapore's first green public consultation.
The responses will be tabled in a report for next year's Budget.
Among the ideas floated are rooftop rainwater collection tanks, which can be used for flushing toilets; building reservoirs beneath expansive golf courses and parks; and rewarding households whose monthly water consumption falls below the national average.
'No idea is too small,' said Dr Yaacob.
And the winners are...
Straits Times 29 Aug 08;
THESE are the winners of the second Watermark Award.
# Ngee Ann Polytechnic
For using technology and teaching students how to conserve water. The campus has reduced consumption by 25 per cent over the past two years.
# Senoko Power
For building its own desalination plant in 2004, which it uses together with Newater in electricity generation. This has saved about 750,000 cu m (300 Olympic-size pools) of fresh drinking water annually.
# People's Association
For marshalling grassroots leaders to educate Singaporeans on water-saving tips.
# Singapore Polytechnic
For adopting the Singapore River, which it cleans periodically, in 2006. And for reducing its water consumption by 50 per cent, after installing water saving devices on all campus taps last year.
# Commonwealth Secondary
For rolling out its environmental education curriculum to all Secondary 1 students to get them started early on going green. And for recycling waste water from toilet sinks, for watering plants.
# Mr Chiang Heng Liang
For ensuring enthusiastic involvement from residents in the Kolam Ayer Waterfront, as the chairman of one of Singapore's first community maintained waterfronts.
May Wong, Channel NewsAsia 28 Aug 08;
SINGAPORE: More are coming forward to do their part to save water. The national water agency PUB saw a 140 per cent jump in its "Friends of Water" membership in the last one year - from 750 members to 1,800.
The "Friends of Water" programme recognises those who help raise awareness about water and what it takes to sustain Singapore's supply.
And to recognise those who have gone the extra mile in water conservation, they are given the Watermark Award. There are six award winners this year, one of them being Commonwealth Secondary School.
Here, used water from bathrooms is channelled to wash common areas and water the plants in the school. The school even converted its pond into a treatment wetland. This allows students to conduct experiments and research on water recycling and urban agriculture.
Students also learn more about chemistry and biology beyond the classrooms.
Annie Seng, a teacher from the school, said: "This has helped to make learning exciting for them... the school will (also) be able to save a considerable amount in its water and electricity bills, because what we're doing is recycling used water. On top of that, what we want to advocate is to have our students have this practice of water conservation."
Another Watermark Award winner is Senoko Power. It built its own desalination plant to use sea water instead of potable water for its operations.
Roy Adair, president and CEO of Senoko Power, said: "Climate change is an issue on every agenda, be it political or corporate. We therefore have an obligation as a good neighbour within the Singapore community to ensure that not only do we produce competitively-priced electricity, we do so in the most environmentally-friendly manner possible."
The award attracted over 40 nominations this year.
Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, said:
"Ensuring Singapore's environmental and water sustainability is a national effort. This requires everyone to think and act - not just the government or public sector, but also the private sector, and most importantly, the people sector."
For the first time, the award ceremony was held at the Marina Barrage, as a recognition of Singapore's new icon that offers an additional source of water supply to the city-state.
With more people pledging to do their part in water conservation, it shows the growing commitment to build a more sustainable country for the future.
- CNA/ir
Shortage oftalent with boomin gardening,landscape projects
Lin Yanqin, Today Online 29 Aug 08;
THERE are plenty of creative ways to add green space in Singapore, such as roof gardens. But before Singapore grows in the space set aside for parks and gardens by a quarter, as announced in the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Leisure Plan in May, more talent is needed to support such growth in the sector.
Behind Singapore’s Garden City reputation, some 19,000 professionals — ranging from landscape architects to horticulturists — are hard at work growing green spaces and keeping them thriving.
But that number is barely enough, say industry experts.
“Due to the expanding horticulture and landscape industries, there is a shortage of trained and skilled manpower in these areas. Many of our graduates are offered jobs before they graduate,” said Dr Hedy Goh, deputy director of Ngee Ann Polytechnic School of Life Sciences and Chemical Technology, which offers a diploma in Horticulture and Landscape Management.
Far Horizon Nursery and Landscape managing director John Gwee said that although manpower shortage has been always been a problem, the amping up of landscaping activities in Singapore recently — new condominiums, the integrated resorts, the planned Gardens by the Bay at Marina — means he now sees more work than he can handle.
“I specialise in private homes, but even if I wanted to take on bigger projects, I won’t be able to handle them because I don’t have enough workers,” said Mr Gwee, who is also president of Singapore’s Institute of Parks and Recreation.
At the national level, the plans are to grow Singapore’s park spaces from covering9 per cent of the island, to more than 11 per cent over the next 15 years.
To support the growth of the industry, the Workforce Development Agency developed the Landscape Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) framework and set up the Centre for Urban Greenary and Ecology (Cuge) with the National Parks Board as the flagship institute for training landscape workers.
As of last month, the centre has certified more than 1,100 workers under the WSQ, close to about 12 per cent of the local workforce. “Cuge is on track to certify 20 per cent of the workforce by the end of 2009, as more employers recognise the benefits of staff training,” said centre director Teva Raj.
The challenge to training workers, he said, was getting employers to recognise the benefits. Also, workers may job-hop after companies invest in their training. Attracting talent to the industry is also an issue.
Mr Henry Steed, director of landscaping firm ICN Design International, agreed, saying: “It’s a job with a lot manual labour involved and there’s technique involved, so there’s a challenge in getting people interested.”
Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia 28 Aug 08;
SINGAPORE : Changi Airport Terminal 3 has opened a new Butterfly Garden.
Located at its Departure and Transit Mall, the two-storey garden also lets visitors observe the life cycle of the butterflies at close range.
There are about 47 varieties of them at the garden, and educational corners located within the garden enable visitors to gain a deeper understanding of butterflies.
There are also individual enclosures that allow visitors to witness the breeding and feeding of butterflies.
The airport said the new addition is part of its efforts to introduce novel facilities to its passengers. - CNA /ls
LiveScience.com 28 Aug 08;
A new census in Cambodia reveals remarkably large populations of two monkey species that are threatened with extinction.
The monkey tally, announced today, represents the largest known populations of these species in the world.
Scientists with the Wildlife Conservation Society counted 42,000 black-shanked douc langurs and 2,500 yellow-cheeked crested gibbons in Cambodia's Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area, which is about the size of Yosemite National Park.
The WCS surveys were conducted with the Royal Government of Cambodia's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
The two primate species are found in much lower numbers at other sites in Cambodia and Vietnam. Before the recent discovery, Vietnam was thought to be home to the largest known populations of both species, with 600 black-shanked douc langurs and 200 yellow-cheeked crested gibbons.
Yellow-cheeked gibbons (Nomascus gabriellae) spend their time in the upper canopy of the forest where they eat fruits, leaves and insects. The other Cambodia resident, the black-shanked douc langur (Pygathix nemaeus nigripes) also lives in forests, eating mostly leaves but also some fruits and seeds.
The report comes in the same month as a WCS announcement of the discovery of 125,000 western lowland gorillas in northern Republic of Congo.
WCS scientists attribute the Cambodian boon in the two monkey species to several factors, including successful management of the area and cessation of local logging activities. The conservation area in Cambodia was once a logging area where the two monkey species were extensively poached. Then in 2002, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries declared the region a conservation area and began working with the Wildlife Conservation Society for management of the site.
Other contributors, the researchers say, include a nation-wide gun confiscation program implemented in the 1990s as well as habitat within the conservation area that provides plenty of primate food.
The report doesn't deliver a completely stellar update.
"Despite this good news in Cambodia, the area still remains at risk from conversion to agro-industrial plantations for crops, including biofuels, and commercial mining," said Tom Clements, lead author of the WCS report.
He added that WCS scientists will continue to work with the Cambodian government to help to ensure the survival of the primate populations there.
The research was supported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Great Apes Conservation Fund, MacArthur Foundation, Liz Claiborne Art Ortenberg Foundation, ADB Greater Mekong Subregion Core Environment Program and the Danish Government's Danida program.
New Rare Primate Groups Found in Cambodia
Sara Goudarzi, National Geographic News 3 Sep 08;
Two new populations of rare primate species, both numbering in the thousands, have been discovered in a Cambodia preserve.
A 2008 survey estimates 42,000 black-shanked doucs and 2,500 yellow-cheeked crested gibbons live in Cambodia's Seima Biodiversity Conservation Area.
"These Cambodian animals represent undoubtedly the largest [known] remaining global populations of either species," said lead report author Tom Clements, a researcher at the nonprofit Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which led the survey.
Before this survey, the largest known populations of either species were 600 black-shanked doucs and 200 yellow-cheeked crested gibbons in neighboring Vietnam—the only other country where the two species are found. (See a photo of another rare primate group found recently in Vietnam.)
The primates are listed as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List of Threatened Species.
They are among the more than 70 percent of Asia's primate species in sharp decline.
Animal Spotters
Sporting long white whiskers, the black-shanked douc lives high in the trees and feasts on leaves and fruit.
Yellow-cheeked crested gibbons are also tree dwellers, eating and sleeping in the upper canopy of evergreen forests.
Between 2005 and 2008, Clements and his team conducted annual surveys in a 300-square-mile (789-square-kilometer) area of Cambodia.
The surveys are the first known attempts to obtain accurate population estimates for the region's native wildlife.
"Although we expected to find a reasonable number of animals, based on the frequency of ad hoc sightings in previous years, we did not anticipate that both primate species would be present in such considerable numbers," Clements said.
Comparisons with other areas suggest that both species are at or near carrying capacity, the maximum number of animals that the habitat can support.
"This suggests that other adjacent areas, which have much lower densities, could support equivalent numbers of animals if successful conservation programs [such as those in Seima] were established," Clements said.
Conservation Success
Hunting and deforestation are among the greatest threats to the newfound primates, experts say.
The survey also highlights the success of establishing conservation programs like the Seima preserve.
"These animals have probably been maintained in Cambodia due to a combination of factors—principally the area's inaccessibility, successful protection of the habitat by the logging concessionaire in the 1990s, and more recently the government-backed conservation program," Clements said.
Patricia Wright is the director of the Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments at Stony Brook University in New York State.
She believes the find is an indication of the potential of biodiversity in the region, where resources should be safeguarded.
"This region where [the two species] were found is an unexplored area, filled with forests on steep karst [limestone] mountains," a habitat which these leaf-eating primates specialize in, said Wright, who was not involved with the study.
"There is much work ahead to make sure this habitat and these new populations of these rare primates are protected for the future."
mongabay.com 28 Aug 08;
Palm oil companies operating in Indonesia have rejected a proposed moratorium on clearing forests and peatlands for oil palm plantations, reports the Jakarta Post.
The Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (GAPKI) — a group with 250 palm oil producers — said that a ban on converting natural ecosystem for oil palm estates would hurt the economy, increasing unemployment and poverty.
"Indonesia does not need to apply a moratorium on its forest. GAPKI strongly rejects the forest conversion moratorium idea," GAPKI executive Derom Bangun was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Post at a Greenpeace-organized conference on palm oil in Semarang, Indonesia.
Derom's comments come three months after Didiek Hadjar Goenadi, executive director of GAPKI, said that palm oil companies would only develop "idle land" — including former forest concession areas, some of which include rainforests and peatlands. At the time Didiek estimated that Indonesia has some seven million hectares of idle land suitable for oil palm or rubber plantations.
Speaking at the Greenpeace meeting Tuesday, Derom also said that efforts to fight climate change by conserving forests are a way to let developed nations off the hook for their emissions.
"If we stop expanding our business, many rich nations will be happy because then they don't need to take action to tackle global warming. We don't want to be the good boy."
Instead, Derom said that palm oil producers are working voluntarily to reduce their impact when establishing new plantations by following guidelines set forth by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). The initiative, founded in 2003 by the palm oil industry and environmental groups as a way to "green" operations and reward members for compliance, was recently eviscerated by a Greenpeace report which uncovered evidence of "cheating" by members, including sub-contacting to unscrupulous operators. Since the report, RSPO has promised stricter rules.
In recent months palm oil has seen rising consumer backlash in the United States and Western Europe as a result of campaigns by environmental groups who say oil palm expansion in Indonesia — especially on the islands of Sumatra, Borneo (Kalimantan), and New Guinea (Papua) — is fueling deforestation and threatening endangered species like the orangutan. Earlier this month, the San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network started tagging palm oil-containing goods in grocery stores with stickers warning the product "May contain rainforest destruction".
Indonesia is the world's largest palm oil producer, producing 17.2 million tons from 6.7 million hectares of plantations in 2007, but recent research indicates that its expansion has indeed come partly at the expense of natural forests. A study published in the journal Conservation Letters showed that more than half of oil palm expansion in Indonesia between 1990 and 2005 occurred on forest land.
Overall, Indonesia lost more than 1.8 million hectares (4.7 m acres) of forest annually between 2000 and 2005, giving it the second highest rate of forest loss after Brazil. Scientists say the clearing of forest and peatlands is also releasing large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. By some estimates, Indonesia is the third largest emitter of carbon dioxide globally, largely due to land degradation.
Indonesia's deforestation — and the fires associated with land-clearing — has sparked regional controversy in recent years. Tired of the choking haze that emerges from forest fires each dry season and causes wide-ranging health and economic impacts, Malaysia and Singapore have asked Indonesia to crack down on burning. While Indonesia is now collaborating on fire prevention and control strategies with its neighbors, the country notes that fires are often set by Singaporean and Malaysian oil palm firms operating on Indonesian soil.
Paul Eccleston, The Telegraph 28 Aug 08;
Israeli scientists have paved the way for a possible kosher caviar. After 15 years of research they have established a sturgeon farm where fish are bred to produce the eggs for caviar.
A company, Caviar Galilee, has been set up at Kibbutz Dan in northern Israel and expects the industry to be worth more than $7m per year by 2010.
The Caspian Sea close to the former USSR and Iran has traditionally provided most of the world's caviar but over-fishing and pollution brought the wild sturgeon to the brink of extinction.
Ten years ago CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna) warned of the extinction threat and since then there has been much tighter control and regulation of the caviar trade.
Despite warnings that beluga sturgeon stocks in the Caspian have declined by as much as 90 per cent CITES earlier this year allowed some permits to harvest the fish.
Prof Berta Levavi-Sivan of the Hebrew University's Robert H Smith Faculty of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences and Dr Avshalom Hurvitz began rearing the fish eight years ago when they brought fertilised sturgeon eggs to Israel from the Caspian.
It takes eight to 15 years for the female sturgeon to reach maturity and start producing eggs, while the male sturgeon matures after four or five years.
Before the age of four, it is impossible to tell the gender of the fish and an endoscopy is carried out on the fish annually.
Once the sex of the fish is determined, they are then separated. Male sturgeon will be sold as fish on the market, while the female sturgeon will be kept in order to produce caviar.
Dr Hurvitz, who is a member of Kibbutz Dan, said they had learned how to breed the fish artificially in ponds and had succeeded in bringing the female fish to maturity at a much younger age to produce the valuable black roe.
While there is significant demand for caviar in Israel among the country's Russian population, the company aims to expand markets in Europe and north America.
Sturgeon - and caviar - is not generally considered to be kosher, due to the fish's apparent lack of scales. Kosher fish must have both fins and scales in order to be deemed kosher.
But, Prof Levavi-Sivan, said "If you ask me, it's kosher! I can even prove it has scales," she said, insisting that the sturgeon does have tiny scales which can be seen using magnifed 3D images.
A number of Jewish sources - including the 13th century Jewish rabbi and scholar Moses Maimonides - approved the kashrut (dietary law) of a fish called the esturgeon but it has yet to be determined whether this is the same fish as the sturgeon.
Andrea Thompson, LiveScience.com 28 Aug 08;
Changes that the Bush administration is proposing to make to Endangered Species Act regulations just aren't sound science, various scientists and conservation groups say.
They're concerned that the loss of scientific oversight resulting from the changes will leave some species vulnerable to federal projects that could damage habitats.
The Endangered Species Act (ESA), signed into law by President Nixon on Dec. 28, 1973, does more than just provide for the creation of the Endangered Species List. The act also requires that "recovery plans" be drawn up and implemented to protect and ultimately restore the populations of endangered species, and it charges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service with detailing and enforcing these plans.
The ESA "is one of our bedrock environmental laws," said Melissa Waage, a campaign manager with the Natural Resources Defense Council, a non-profit advocacy group.
But the act also charges other federal agencies with "a special duty," as Michael Bean, an environmental lawyer with the Environmental Defense Fund puts it, not to jeopardize these plans by authorizing, funding or carrying out activities that would further endanger any listed species. It is this duty that the proposed changes would affect.
"These changes will affect any federal project that affects any endangered species," Bean told LiveScience. "It puts every endangered species at particular risk."
Conservation tool
In the 35 years since its inception, the ESA "has allowed for many important successful conservation efforts," said George Amato, a conservation biologist with the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
The proposed changes are "of grave, grave concern to conservationists," Amato said, adding that it wasn't just extreme environmental groups voicing their opposition, but "very, very mainstream efforts."
Some of the act's major successes at recovering populations of endangered animals include the bald eagle, grizzly bear, gray wolf, and American alligator. (Species covered under the act don't just include familiar charismatic birds and mammals, but also invertebrates and plants.)
Of the species that have been placed on the list, 99 percent are still with us, Waage said.
Several prominent creatures on the Endangered Species List are also on a Red List of Threatened Species put out by the International Union for Conservation of Nature that monitors endangered species all over the world. These species face an extremely high risk of extinction in the immediate future, the IUCN states.
Amato, who works on many international conservation efforts, said that the ESA is "the single most important tool in conserving endangered species," at least in the United States, and that it is held up as a model of the role that governments can play in conservation efforts all over the world.
Bean agrees with this sentiment and said that, in his opinion, the greatest accomplishment of the Endangered Species Act has been "in changing the behavior of other federal agencies" in relation to how their projects affect threatened wildlife.
It is precisely this accomplishment that the proposed changes threaten, conservationists say.
Bean also said the Fish and Wildlife scientists he has spoken with said they had no opportunity to weigh in on the changes, which were proposed by those in the service's senior political levels.
Oversight
Since the 1970s, the Fish and Wildlife Service has had regulations in place that govern how other federal agencies consult with them on proposed projects, such as building a dam or highway, but also including any privately-funded projects that would require a federal permit, Bean said.
When a federal agency, for example the National Park Service or the Army Corps of Engineers, proposes a project, they must first determine if any endangered species are present in the area. If so, they must carry out a biological assessment to determine what, if any, impact the project may have on the species.
If they determine there will be an impact, they report it to the FWS, which does a more detailed examination and issues a written opinion on the project. If, however, the agency determines their project won't have an impact on the species, they must still report to Fish and Wildlife, who must issue a letter agreeing with the agency's assessment before the project can proceed. This consultation with the FWS often results in changes to proposed projects.
Making the changes proposed by the Bush administration would be "significantly gutting that consultation provision," Waage said.
Best available science
The Interior Department, which houses the Fish and Wildlife Service, argues "that this is no big deal," Bean said. They point out that usually the FWS agrees with a federal agency when they determine that a certain project won't have any effect on an endangered species. Bean agrees that this is typically the case.
But, "the [FWS] doesn't always agree," Bean said. And it is the exceptions that he and others are worried about.
He cited a recent example where the Federal Emergency Management Agency argued that their practice of issuing flood insurance to new development in the Florida Keys did not hurt endangered species there. But the Fish and Wildlife Service argued that issuing flood insurance encouraged development in the Keys, and that development did threaten endangered species. A U.S Court of Appeals agreed with Fish and Wildlife and ruled against FEMA.
"If these changes had come into place, FEMA would have been able to make that decision," without any input from the FWS, Bean said.
The oversight provided by the Fish and Wildlife Service reviews is necessary "to ensure that decisions aren't being made for political reasons," Amato said.
An official at the Interior Department said the agency is not trying to remove any informal consultation between federal agencies and the FWS.
"What we're looking to do is remove some of the bureaucratic red tape ... on common-sense projects" where it is agreed that no harm will come to any endangered species as a result of the project," said Chris Paolino, a spokesman for the Interior Department.
"What this doesn't do is offer a federal agency a sort of 'get-out-of-jail-free card,'" Paolino said in a telephone interview. Any federal agency that did damage to an endangered species or its habitat would still be held responsible, he said.
The Interior Department has also argued that each federal agency has enough expertise now to determine whether their projects will harm endangered species. Bean said that while these agencies may have biologists, they are not necessarily as well-versed in evaluating conservation issues as FWS scientists are.
"They have an expertise that is unrivaled by any other agency," he said.
Waage agreed, saying that the act requires the use of the best available science, which lies with the wildlife experts at the Fish and Wildlife Service.
Public comment
According to an Associated Press report, the public comment period for the proposed changes is only 30 days (set to end mid-September), which some conservationists and lawmakers say is too short. Many, including Bean, have requested an extension to the comment period.
"We always consider requests for extensions," Paolino said. He added that no final decision has been made on whether to extend the comment period.
The Environmental Defense Fund and NRDC both plan to submit public comments criticizing the proposed changes; and Amato, Bean and Waage all said that they expect a very large, strong reaction to the changes from environmental groups, scientists and lawmakers alike.
Several senators, including Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, have sent a letter to Interior Department Secretary Dick Kempthorne, who will make the ultimate decision on whether or not to adopt the proposed changes, expressing their concern over the changes.
What impact the public comments will have is uncertain. Groups like the Environmental Defense Fund and NRDC that oppose the changes hope they will cause the administration to withdraw the proposal and leave the Endangered Species Act intact.
If the changes are enacted though, whether or not they stay will be up to the next administration, in which case, "this'll be decided in November," Amato said.
Nichola Groom, PlanetArk 29 Aug 08;
PROVO, Utah - Five years after going public, geothermal company Raser Technologies Inc is on the verge of a major milestone: earning real revenue.
Later this year, the renewable energy producer will open its first power plant in the Utah desert near the tiny town of Minersville. The plant will use hot water from deep underground to produce power for about 9,000 homes in Anaheim, California, the hometown of Disneyland.
Seven more plants will come online next year, and Raser expects to see positive cash flow at the beginning of 2009.
"After these first couple of plants come online I believe we will be cash flow positive," Cook said in an interview at Raser's Provo, Utah, headquarters on Wednesday. He would not say when the company expects to turn a profit.
Heat from below the earth's surface is seen by many to have the potential to be a massive contributor to the nation's electricity supplies because it is available around the clock.
Geothermal energy, however, has received less investment and attention than wind and solar power, which are less consistent producers but faster to deploy.
It hasn't been an easy road for Raser, which began as a developer of electric motor technology for the transportation industry earlier this decade. When Chief Executive Brent Cook joined Raser in 2005, the former CEO of synthetic fuels company Headwaters Inc said the company should continue its electric motor business but meanwhile added a new pursuit -- geothermal energy. The two have no common thread.
"In the case of geothermal... the execution of that plan is all in our hands," Cook said. "The licensing side of our business requires convincing some other company to take the technology and deploy it into their marketplace, and that's a lot harder to predict."
To get into the geothermal business, Raser tried to acquire geothermal company Amp Resources, his former employer, though that deal ultimately fell through. Amp is now owned by Italian power company Enel SpA
FROM THE GROUND UP
Not to be dissuaded, Cook resolved to build Raser's geothermal business from the ground up, and the company has spent nearly two years acquiring land leases throughout the Western US and lining up financing for its geothermal projects.
Merrill Lynch earlier this year agreed to finance up to 155 megawatts of Raser power plants, including a commitment of up to US$44 million for the first plant.
Raser also tapped United Technologies Corp to supply the geothermal generating units for its plants.
To speed its growth, Cook said Raser is focusing on small power plants that can be built in just a few months, about the same time it takes to build a wind farm.
"Geothermal usually takes much longer to be built. We've tried to go with an off-the-shelf type of plant design," Cook said, adding that plants could be expanded later if there are enough geothermal resources to do so.
"It's like Legos that come together," he said.
Raser says its technology is unique because it can build a plant where underground water temperatures are relatively low, or below the 212 degrees Fahrenheit needed to boil water. That's because the company uses the hot water from the ground to turn a second liquid with a lower steam point into the steam used to power the turbines.
"That allows us to exploit sites that frankly were passed over or thought to not be useful 25 or 30 years ago," Cook said. "We are going back through and tying up a lot of those opportunities."
Raser has more than 200,000 acres of geothermal interests in six Western US states.
Cook said utilities are becoming more concerned about rising prices of natural gas, used to generate much of utilities' so-called baseload power.
"We're seeing a lot of utilities recognize that geothermal is much more competitive than natural gas and has zero fuel risk exposure," Cook said.
Raser shares were down 3 cents at US$7.85 in afternoon trade on the NYSE Arca exchange. (Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
Ho Binh Minh, PlanetArk 29 Aug 08;
HANOI - Vietnam will spend nearly 2.4 trillion dong (US$145 million) between now and 2010 to build dykes and relocate thousands of rice farmers because of heavy seasonal flooding in its fertile Mekong river delta.
The programme, approved early this week, would help 33,000 families resettle in areas away from landslides and floods, the government said in a statement.
Meanwhile, flash floods triggered by heavy rain on Wednesday night killed at least five people and five others were missing in the northernmost province of Ha Giang, bordering China, the provincial authorities said in a disaster report on Thursday.
Three siblings aged from 1 year to 4 years were swept away in Ha Giang's remote district of Hoang Su Phi, the report said.
The flood-hit area lies about 1,400 km (870 miles) north of Vietnam's coffee belt in the Central Highlands. Ha Giang is also outside Vietnam's main rice growing regions, namely the Red River Delta in the north and the Mekong Delta in the country's south. About 20 percent of Vietnam's 86.5 million people live in the Cuu Long River Delta, the Vietnamese name for the Mekong river, which produces more than half of the country's paddy output and supplies more than 90 percent of its commercial rice.
Funding for the programme will come from the state budget, grants and soft loans from state-run Vietnam Development Bank. The funds would be used for building dykes as well as foundations for new villages to ensure farmers' homes stay above the Mekong floods' peak level in 2000, the statement said. Floods arrive between August and November each year in the Mekong delta, a large area of fertile soil in southern Vietnam where the Mekong river reaches the South China Sea after travelling more than 4,000 km (2,500 miles) from Tibet.
In 2000, the Mekong delta experienced the worst floods in four decades as waters rose to more than 5 metres, killing nearly 500 people, more than 300 of them children.
Early this month, the governments of Vietnam and Cambodia said rising Mekong water levels may cause landslides and heavy flooding, but the seasonal floodwaters would also bring Vietnam's southern farmers good crops of rice and fish. (US$1=16,496 dong) (Reporting by Ho Binh Minh; Editing by Alex Richardson)
PlanetArk 29 Aug 08;
PATNA, India - Indian army troops helped evacuate more than 120,000 people from floods in eastern India, but more bad weather raised fears that rivers would continue to overflow, officials said on Thursday.
The flooding, which officials say is the worst in 50 years, was caused after the Kosi river burst a dam in Nepal where it originates, unleashing huge waves of water that smashed mud embankments downstream in Bihar state.
Many villagers offered prayers and slaughtered goats to appease the Kosi, known as Bihar's "river of sorrow" for its regular floods and tendency to change course.
"We are praying to the river goddess and offering her blood since only she can help us", a village woman in the worst affected Supaul district told a local newspaper.
At least two million people have been forced from their homes and a quarter of a million houses destroyed. So far 55 deaths have been officially reported in Bihar, but activists and local media put the toll many times higher.
Stranded villagers complained of an unbearable stench from rotting carcasses and the United Nations warned of the spread of water-borne disease.
TV stations showed swirling flood waters pouring into homes through windows, submerging hundreds of villages and roads and railway tracks. Telephone and power lines snapped.
SOME BLAME GLOBAL WARMING
Torrential rains have killed more than 1,000 people in South Asia since the monsoon began in June, mainly in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where 725 people have lost their lives. Other deaths were reported from Nepal and Bangladesh.
Some experts blame the floods on heavier monsoon rains caused by global warming, while others say authorities have failed to take preventive measures and improve infrastructure.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling Congress party, flew over devastated areas by helicopter on Thursday.
Singh later announced that more helicopters would be used to rescue thousands of villagers marooned in distant villages and assured more financial assistance.
The United States announced a US$100,000 flood-relief package for the victims. Aid agencies, including UNICEF are in Bihar distributing food, clothes and medicines.
State officials told Reuters more than 120,000 had been evacuated and kept in more than 100 temporary camps, but bad weather was hampering rescue and relief operations.
"We have the army, disaster management teams, police and other groups of rescuers making every effort to save the population," said R.K. Singh, a top disaster management official.
Officials said floods had destroyed more than 227,000 homes and damaged about 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) of vegetables, wheat and paddy crops. (Writing by Krittivas Mukherjee; Editing by Bappa Majumdar and Tony Austin)
Alister Doyle, PlanetArk 29 Aug 08;
ACCRA - Rich countries are pushing developing nations with the strongest economies to do far more to combat climate change, opening a faultline between rich and poor in UN talks on global warming.
The European Union, for instance, says that some developing nations such as Singapore, Argentina and some OPEC states have grown richer than some developed nations which have to shoulder the burden of cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
"We want some of the developing nations to do more," said Brice Lalonde of France, who led the EU delegation at Aug. 21-27 talks among 160 nations on a broader new climate treaty to be agreed by the end of 2009.
"There needs to be more differentiation among developing nations," he said.
The current fight against climate change is led by 37 developed nations in the Kyoto Protocol who have agreed to cut emissions by five percent below 1990 levels by 2008-12. Developing nations have no targets.
Many poor nations, which negotiate in a bloc at UN talks, strongly oppose any attempt by the rich to redefine the boundary between rich and poor, seeing it as a diversion from a need for the rich to make ever deeper cuts in emissions.
"The (1992 UN Climate) Convention did not provide for differentiation between developing countries," said Byron Blake of Antigua and Barbuda, chair of a group of more than 130 developing nations in Accra known as the G77 and China.
Any such talk would be a "diversion of effort", he told Reuters. Rich nations have to agree deeper cuts in greenhouse gases, mainly from burning fossil fuels, to slow impacts such as heatwaves, floods, desertification and rising seas.
The European Union, Japan and Australia are among nations that say it is unfair to expect the rich group from almost two decades ago to keep on taking the lead. Kyoto groups all rich nations except the United States, which rejected the pact.
NEW WORLD ORDER
Since the early 1990s, non-Kyoto countries such as Mexico and South Korea have joined the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, grouping rich nations.
Non-Kyoto nations such as Argentina or Qatar have higher per capita incomes than insiders Russia or some eastern EU members. And by some World Bank yardsticks of purchasing power, non-Kyoto Singapore has higher per capita income than the United States.
"Most developing countries are not in favour of differentiation," Yvo de Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, told Reuters. "I can't predict where that debate is going to go."
A new treaty will demand deeper cuts from developed nations by 2020 and only "actions" by developing nations to slow the rise of their emissions.
"It's a real chicken and egg situation," said Angela Anderson of the Washington-based Pew Environment Group, with both rich and poor wanting the other to promise more. "It is a big divide."
Developed nations say limited funds must focus on the poorest, such as in sub-Saharan Africa.
But Blake said rich nations should focus on keeping past promises to help the developing nations, which have contributed least to greenhouse gas emissions since the Industrial Revolution and now need to burn energy to end poverty.
"Nations with binding commitments have not, I repeat have not, delivered on those commitments," he said.
Some nations outside Kyoto are promising to do more. South Korea says, for instance, that it plans to set a binding target for emissions and wants to act as a bridge between the developing and developed nations.
And South Africa has laid out a scenario that could mean a peak in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2020-25.
Splitting up developing nations "is going to be an issue for further discussions," said Harlan Watson, head of the US delegation.
Developing nations are unanimous in saying they cannot be expected to do more when the United States has no goals. Both candidates to succed President George W. Bush, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, say they will do more.
(Editing by Diana Abdallah)
Mike Pflanz, The Telegraph 28 Aug 08;
More than 1,700 delegates at two conferences on global warming being held in Kenya and Ghana have largely failed to carbon-offset their travel to the meetings, The Telegraph has learned.
Some 140 participants have flown from as far as Japan to Nairobi for a forum of scientists and African and European MPs to discuss the devastating impact of climate change on the world's poorest people.
But few have opted to pay for the greenhouse gases that their travel to Nairobi produced, which totals 2.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide for each return flight from Japan, for example.
That is almost nine times the per capita CO2 output for the average Kenyan.
A straw poll of 29 participants found only one, a British climate researcher, who had offset his flight. Ten members of the organising committee had also paid the surcharge.
"We were not told anything about that, and these flights are expensive enough already", said Adam Boni Tessi, an MP from Benin in West Africa, whose 5,300 mile round trip produced 0.9 tonnes of CO2.
Others from Germany, Uganda and Ivory Coast all admitted that they had not paid. One Ugandan delegate said the conference organisers should have told them about carbon offset schemes.
"Whether to fly carbon neutral was a decision which was left up to each of the delegates themselves," said Femke Brouwer from European Parliamentarians for Africa (Awepa), the organisers of the Nairobi forum.
"I think you will find that the vast majority will not have [paid], but we as Awepa are developing a policy which will allow our members to fly carbon neutral, which will be in place for the next meeting early next year."
A separate conference with 1,600 participants is being held at the same time in Ghana's capital, Accra, for the latest round of UN-backed talks linked to implementing the Kyoto Protocol.
Again, organisers could not confirm that air travel was carbon neutral because the decision whether to pay the green surcharge on each flight was left to each delegation.
"It's up to the parties to decide for themselves," said Caroline Keulemans, spokesman for the Accra conference.
"The UN is working towards a mechanism in which all emissions for UN conferences will be offset. For now it's up to the parties, but as the UN we would very much like that all of these conferences would be carbon neutral."
Ms Keulemans could not say when this scheme would be introduced.
The conference organisers had advised delegates not to wear jackets and ties, to allow "discussions in a more comfortable environment, as well as [to] limit the use of air conditioning and thereby reduce greenhouse gas emissions", its website said.
Indonesia paid to offset all greenhouse gases produced during last year's Bali climate conference by planting 79m trees, but it was not clear if Ghana had made plans to do anything similar.
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