Best of our wild blogs: 30 Aug 08

Nature Society: The struggle for Singapore’s nature areas
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog and habitatnews blog and wild shores of singapore blog

Starry morning at Changi
on the manta blog

Hello, it's my day!
let's hope it will be a happy day for this special fish, on the colourful clouds blog

Cartoon about the whale shark at Sentosa
on the my sketchbook blog

URA replies to my feedback on the Draft Master Plan!
on the wild shores of singapore blog

Seagrass snippets
mating manatees and seagrass thatching revival in Denmark on the teamseagrass blog

Read more!

Shark concerns: One step forward, two steps back?

Letter from Mariann Maes, Today Online 30 Aug 08;

I REFER to the report “Plea to set them free” (Aug 29).

The upcoming Resorts World at Sentosa (RWS) has decided to include whale sharks as one of the attractions for its Marine Life Park.

It is very disturbing to see RWS ignoring expert advice from the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society, the Singapore Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Nature Society of Singapore.

The first two groups are usually incorrectly dismissed as activist groups, but surely the mention of the Nature Society should provide substantial credibility, given that it has given expert advice on wildlife several times to government bodies about their projects.

I do applaud RWS’ initial move to remove sharks’ fins off their menu, but I’m afraid that this act of corporate responsibility will be tainted by the mixed signals it sends to the public with live whale sharks in its possession.

RWS’ act of denial also tarnishes the image of Singapore as a city-state that cares for the environment.

There is no point in Singapore being advocated as a green global hub if it chooses to ignore the plight of flora and fauna in its care.

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Nature Society chief aims to grow member numbers

Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 30 Aug 08;

IF MEMBERS of the Nature Society of Singapore (NSS) were classified like the plants and animals they are passionate about, they could well end up on the endangered species list.

In the last decade, the society's numbers have plummeted to about 1,200 from 2,000, because fewer young people are signing up.

A far cry from its heyday in the late 1980s. In 1989, it played a major role in saving the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve from redevelopment.

So the first job of the society's new chief, Dr Shawn Lum, will be to boost these numbers - he hopes even beyond its peak of 2,000 members.

'If Britain can have over a million members in its Royal Society for the Protection of Birds - that's one in 20 people there, I don't see why all green groups here can't grow or help each other grow,' said Dr Lum, 45, who became its president in May.

He plans to boost figures by casting its net wider, reaching out to heartlanders and companies keen on corporate social responsibility, he told The Straits Times, in his first interview as NSS president.

He took the post after eight years as vice-president to former nominated MP Dr Geh Min, and admits that he is a reluctant chief because of the big shoes he has had to fill.

'It was a walkover,' he said, noting no one else wanted the job.

'Dr Geh gave the society a close link to the Government. They were just a phone call away and they would listen,' said Dr Lum, a botanist with the National Institute of Education.

Dr Geh, an ophthalmologist, said however: 'Conservation is no longer the hot potato it once was, and it would be good to have scientific know-how that Dr Lum has after years of work in the field, to bring all groups closer together.'

Dr Lum also conceded that internal politics has become an issue, with factions forming within the society, but is not too worried about it.

'Disagreements are a natural thing which we needn't obsess over. Environmentalists are very passionate about nature and they can have different ideas of how to realise their vision of keeping the natural world secure,' he said.

Dr Lum said he will hear out all sides, and hopes to come up with solutions that everyone can agree on.

Former society president Professor Wee Yeow Chin, 71, who now runs a blog on bird ecology, worries that NSS is not attracting the next generation of members.

'We're oldies who have become complacent, not attracting the young, especially for leadership, who are very tech-savvy and who connect with each other on the Net,' he said.

Most of these younger groups are marine focused, Dr Lum noted. 'We can complement each other's work,' he said.

He also plans to get existing members to take on more active roles.

'Now fewer than 100 members actually go out and lead walks. I'd feel I've been a success if I see at least a third of our members getting their hands dirty by the end of my term,' he said.

He wants to rope them into active conservation work such as surveys of natural sites with researchers.

He added that the society is working with PUB, the national water agency, to adopt a piece of land the size of a football field bordering Kranji Reservoir.

'It's a bit of marsh which we hope to convert into an area that people can call their own, while they learn about freshwater swamp,' he said.

Dr Lum does not mind if the advocacy group works itself to extinction: 'Imagine that! We could revert to being primarily a hobby group because everyone in Singapore made nature a big part of their lives.'

Former NSS president Wee Yeow Chin and Vice-President Richard Hale have published an article on 'The Nature Society (Singapore) and the struggle to conserve Singapore's nature areas' in the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research's online journal, Nature In Singapore, which can be accessed on
http://rmbr.nus.edu.sg/nis/bulletin2008.php

Lifelong passion for nature
Straits Times 30 Aug 08;

DR SHAWN Lum, 45, first arrived in Singapore as a botany student from Hawaii in 1989, when he embarked on research at the National University of Singapore.

He joined the then-Singapore branch of the Malayan Nature Society and saw the advocacy group's strong lobby to make Sungei Buloh a nature reserve and to avert redevelopment plans that would destroy biodiversity.

He left briefly in 1993 to complete his doctoral thesis at the University of California in Berkeley, returning to make Singapore his home later that year.

Since then, he has been a lecturer and researcher with the National Institute of Education.

He has led the Nature Society of Singapore's plant group for over a decade and was elected vice-president of the society in 2000. Appointed president in May this year, he intends to spread his love for nature to the community in Singapore and the region.

Dr Lum, who is single, spends most of his spare time in nature.

He also supports green groups like the Jane Goodall Institute and the Blue Water Volunteers.

Related links

Nature Society: The struggle for Singapore’s nature areas
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Read more!

40 new sponge records for Singapore

A spongy kind of love
Expert finds 40 new species to add to rich haul in local waters
Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 30 Aug 08;

SINGAPORE'S only sponge expert has uncovered 40 new records of this primitive life form in local waters over the past year.

This is just a fifth of the total number now known in Singapore, says Mr Lim Swee Cheng, 31.

'It was rather easy to find them. Every trip I made to places like Cyrene Reef and Pulau Semakau, I'd see 20 to 30 species. Our tropical waters make the biodiversity very rich with species,' the researcher said.

The new finds all come from the inter-tidal zone - the shoreline which receives the most exposure to the elements with the rise and fall of the tide.

In all, Mr Lim has found 102 sponge species.

'Most in our records were from coral reefs in the 1800s. Now it's about 50-50, half in the inter-tidal zone,' he said.

The taxonomist has even spotted one brand new species not found anywhere else in the world, which has not been named yet.

Mr Lim, who is a scientist with the Tropical Marine Science Institute of the National University of Singapore, said he made discoveries on most of the over 20 shores scoured, including the Chek Jawa wetlands, Labrador Nature Reserve and Pulau Hantu.

The top sponge-spotting area turned out to be at the Pulau Semakau landfill, south of the main island of Singapore, said Mr Lim. This large expanse - covered with sandy, silty areas, coral rubble and sea meadows - allows a greater diversity of sponges to thrive, he pointed out.

Mr Lim's work is part of a $45,000 project to study sponges in the inter-tidal zone, sponsored by the National Parks Board.

The board's biodiversity centre promotes the understanding of our local natural heritage.

The centre's assistant director, Dr Nigel Goh, said that sponges here are little studied.

'If we can't even name a species, there is no way of going any further, to find out what special properties it may have.'

Chemicals from natural products are a source of interest to pharmaceutical companies which see potential life-saving compounds in them.

Asked why he pursues this form of work which no other Singaporean has ventured into since the 19th century, Mr Lim said: 'There's a need for this work because sponges are a key component of the marine environment. Plus, sponges in my opinion are beautiful.'

RED MAIDEN FAN: Arguably Singapore's prettiest sponge, the Oceanapia sagittaria is just 7cm high. The fanlike protuberance is not always present and its body is buried in soft sediment, making it hard to spot despite it being common in local waters. -- PHOTOS: LIM SWEE CHENG

NEW SPECIES: Yet to be named, this wiry specimen looks rather like roti jala. It was spotted on estuarine reefs in the Johor Strait, attached to gravel. Its diameter measures up to 20cm.
STELLETTA CLAVOSA: Commonly found in the inter-tidal zone, these look like bristly olives. The sponge is covered in tiny spicules which are sharp enough to prick bare skin.
BATH SPONGE: Spongia ceylonensis is often found insilty environments here. Bath sponges are noted for the amount of water they can hold within their porous bodies.
HALICHONDRIA CARTILAGINEA: A massive branching sponge commonly found in lagoons of the Southern Islands. It is able to photosynthesise as well as feed on microscopic animal matter.
NEPTUNE'S CUP: First sponge ever found in Singapore, Cliona patera was spotted in 1822. It is commonly known as Neptune's Cup. Standing up to 1m tall, it is among the world's largest sponges. Now believed to be extinct here, it can be found in the Gulf of Thailand and in Australian waters. But sightings are rare.
SPONGILLA SP: This is Singapore's only freshwater sponge, Its gemmules, or seeds, could have been brought in on the feet of migratory birds. A 300m long carpet of it was found in Yishun.

Related link

Found in Singapore: A new species of sponge
Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 9 Aug 08;

Read more!

The state of Singapore beaches: water quality issues

Water quality at all recreational beacheshas not got worse
Reply from S Satish Appoo, Director, Environmental Health Department
Today Online 30 Aug 08;

WE REFER to “Beach safety: What about the water quality?” (Aug 1) and “Clean up the coast” (Aug 7) by Mr John Lucas, as well as “The hard facts, please” (Aug 7) by Dr Mark Wong Vee-Meng.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) wishes to emphasise that the quality of the water at our recreational beaches, including Pasir Ris beach, has not deteriorated. Rather, we have adopted a more stringent recreational water quality standard based on the latest guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO guidelines serve as a framework to guide individual countries in the development of national standards that best suit their local context. The latest WHO guidelines have introduced a new microbial indicator, enterococcus. The NEA has drawn up the guidelines to be adopted in Singapore based on these WHO guidelines.

The new guidelines require at least 95 per cent of the water samples collected to have enterococcus levels of below 200 counts per 100 ml before a beach is considered suitable for primary contact activities. Pasir Ris beach is not able to meet this guideline and the public is therefore advised not to swim in the water there. However, we wish to clarify that 90 per cent of the samples from Pasir Ris beach for the past three years had enterococcus counts below 200 per 100 ml of water.

The presence of flotsam is not adefinitive indicator of the suitability of the beach water for primary contact activities. That said, the NEA agrees that it is important to address and minimise the impact of rubbish and flotsam on the beaches so as to ensure that beaches are clean and healthy spaces for the public to enjoy.

The NEA has regular clearing regimes for our beaches and the task is particularly challenging during the north-east and south-west monsoons, when more flotsam is washed ashore from the open seas. The NEA would also like to urge beach users to play their part to keep the beaches clean by disposing of their rubbish properly and not littering.

Mr Lucas mentioned that ships anchored offshore should be monitored for chemical and faecal pollution.

The Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) strictly enforces rules governing the prevention of pollution from ships calling at our port. These rules are based on the International Maritime Organization’s International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, or Marpol, and cover comprehensively oil, chemicals, harmful substances in packaged forms, sewage, garbage and air pollution from ships.

The MPA conducts regular surveillance of ships to ensure that they comply with the regulations and do not discharge waste into the water. In addition, an MPA-appointed contractor provides a daily garbage collection service for the ships anchored in our port.

On the health problems associated with recreational water, doctors are required to inform the Ministry of Health (MOH) of certain notifiable diseases, and the MOH will then undertake investigations into clusters of gastrointestinal and respiratory illness. The MOH has not received any reports of gastrointestinal and respiratory disease outbreaks linked to poor recreational water quality.

Water sampling and testing is currently conducted once a week at the monitored recreational beaches. This is in line with the practice in other cities and countries such as California in the United States, New Zealand and Canada, which also conduct weekly sampling.

We would also like to assure the public that the NEA will continue to issue advisories as and when the water quality at specific beaches fails to meet the guidelines and is hence not suitable for swimming.

We thank Mr Lucas and Dr Wong for their feedback.

Read more!

First batch of 500 artificial reefs deployed in waters off Pulau Redang

Sean Augustin, New Straits Times 29 Aug 08;

KUALA TERENGGANU: The state government 'fastened' the first batch of the Reefscape, a beehive-shaped concrete artificial reef, off Redang Island here yesterday.

About 500 reef units were deployed by divers, led by State Industrial, Trade and Environment Committee chairman Toh Chin Yaw, in 10 sites. There are 2,000 units altogether.

The Reefscape, weighing about 60kg each, were placed near existing reefs, some of which were damaged, to help corals grow faster. Corals are said to grow an average of one to 2cm a year.

"Some corals around the island have been damaged due to careless snorkelling and by divers as well as litterbugs and the weather," he said.

"The reef, we hope, can restore the damage and at the same time encourage new growth around the island not only for our tourism industry but also because it is part of our natural heritage.
"It's also a great place for fish to aggregate which would be a plus point for divers," he said, adding that should this pilot project prove to be a success, more such reefs would be deployed in other islands in the state.

Toh was speaking to reporters after launching the project in conjunction with the International Year of Reefs which also saw the launch of the Seabed Cleaning programme 2008.

Also present was Terengganu Riverine and Coastal Authority (Trevicosta) director Datuk Wan Zahari Wan Ngah.

Trevicosta is the department under the state government that carried out the project.

The Reefscape, which has been in development for the past two years, has two models.

The first is designed for corals to grow by themselves, while the other is meant for seeding of corals.

The project was done in collaboration with the Marine Park Department and other related agencies.

Read more!

Dive tourism threatens Red Sea coral reefs according to new scientific study

Evan T. Allard, CDNN - CYBER DIVER News Network 27 Aug 08;

DAHAB, Egypt (27 Aug 2008) — Dive tourism is a primary threat to coral reefs according to a new scientific study.

The study by H. Hasler and J. A. Ott compared reefs in Dahab, South Sinai, Egypt, one of the world's most popular scuba diving destinations, with coral reef sites in the same area that are not visited by recreational scuba divers.

The findings, which will be published in the August edition of the internationally esteemed Marine Pollution Bulletin, showed that areas visited by scuba divers had significantly higher levels of broken and damaged corals, and reduced levels of coral cover.

The study found that a staggering 95% of branching corals were broken at coral reef crest areas frequented by recreational scuba divers.

The authors said that although the alarming damage caused by scuba divers to coral reefs does not appear to have had an effect on the abundance of coral-eating fishes, they may be at risk if coral cover decline continued.

In addition to broken corals, the study found that sedimentation caused by scuba divers stirring up sand and other bottom detritus also damages reefs.

Hasler and Ott concluded from their research that the number of dives per reef per year must be limited, a conclusion shared by previous scientific studies of the damage recreational scuba divers cause to fragile coral reef ecosystems.

They also emphasized the importance of educating both the dive industry and dive travelers to adopt ecologically sustainable dive practices that actually work to conserve coral reefs.

Read more!

Economics is not a value-free science

Bjorn Lomborg reduces everything to numbers. But by putting a price on the priceless, we risk losing it

Oliver Tickell, guardian.co.uk 29 Aug 08;

To a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. To Bjorn Lomborg, every problem is reducible to a cost benefit analysis. At the end of it a number emerges – if it is positive, there is a benefit, if it is negative, there is a cost. Faced with a choice of policy options, all we have to do is to carry out a cost benefit analysis of the alternatives, and go with the biggest number. All other considerations are extraneous.

In Lomborg's world, the numbers he plays with take on a godlike role as representations of Platonic truths. But they are, of course, no such thing. Reality is complex and tangled – so your model has to be a highly simplified before it is even computable. Numerous assumptions must be made, and fudge factors applied. All of these inevitably reflect the values of the modeller. And so do the numbers that emerge at the end of the exercise.

For example, Lomborg's analysis of climate change impacts is entirely indifferent as to who wins and who loses. All that matters is the sum of gains and losses. This automatically places a far higher value on the interests of rich countries, where assets are valuable and incomes are high, than on those of poor countries, where assets are cheap and incomes low.

It would thus be a benefit to increase the gross product of the USA ($14tn) by 1% – a gain of $140bn – while halving the combined gross products of Nigeria ($200bn) and Bangladesh ($70bn) – a loss of $135bn. A small increment in the incomes of 300 million mainly rich people outweighs a collapse in the incomes of 300 million mainly poor people.

And then how do you put a price on Venice? On the life of a child? On the biodiversity of all those ecosystems and species at risk from climate change, from coral reefs to tropical forests, from penguins to polar bears? For the sake of simplicity many economists simply ignore the issue. And so the invaluable becomes without value.

Economic methods also systematically undervalue the future. Typically economists value a gain a year hence as worth a few percent less than the same gain right now. Applied over a longer time span, this makes a gain worth taking today if balanced by a loss 10 times greater in a century's time, or by a loss 10,000 times greater after four centuries. The Lomborgian oracle speaks: profit now, even at the risk of ruinous catastrophe a few hundred years' hence.

This may explain why Lomborg's discussion of sea-level rise stops at 2100, at which time the IPCC conservatively projects a sea-level rise of under 0.6m. Potential sea-level rises of tens of metres by 2300 simply don't matter, as the costs, however huge, can be discounted to the point of irrelevance. Just as the disastrous losses of the world's poorest billion people under the regime of drought, flood, storm and famine predicted by the IPCC is as nothing to a small increment in the wealth of the richest billion.

Not that I disagree with Lomborg about everything. He proposes a tenfold increase in expenditure on energy R&D, which he has argued elsewhere, should be financed by a global $2 carbon tax, raising some $50 billion. This is a perfectly sensible suggestion, and indeed financing for energy R&D on this scale forms part of the package of measures proposed in Kyoto2.

But this alone is an insufficient response. Clean energy sources need to be deployed as well as developed, and especially in poor countries that will otherwise commit to fossil fuel based economies. Experience shows that R&D spending will produce some wonderful new technologies, but it is only with mass production that they will become commercially competitive against fossil fuels. This deployment phase will require additional spending in poor countries many times greater than the initial R&D cost, and will need to be stimulated in the developed world by a long-term carbon cap.

The global carbon market, or a carbon tax as proposed by Lomborg, is the obvious place to look for the funds to finance our clean energy revolution. We also we need to help poor people, and poor countries, adapt to the climate change to which the Earth is already committed, to the tune of $100 billion per year. The same goes for programmes to preserve forests, maintain peatlands and sequester carbon into soils – essential measures to buffer continuing emissions from fossil fuels, increase the biosphere's resilience in the face of climate change, and conserve biodiversity.

Lomborg already supports one component of the Kyoto2 package. If he considers it with an open mind, further points of agreement may yet emerge. But first he needs recognise that economics is not a pure, value-free science. Economic models reflect the values of their creators. If an economic model tells us that it is correct to risk extinguishing much of the world's life, and perhaps the human species in the process, it is not because life is uncompetitive – the fault is in the economics.

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UK Bat weekend takes flight

Paul Eccleston, The Telegraph 29 Aug 08;

Thousands of people will be taking part in events aimed at celebrating one of our most misunderstood mammals - the bat.

The UK has 17 different species of bat, most which are in decline, and all which are now protected by law.

Bats make up almost a third of mammal species in the UK and are seen as key indicators of a healthy environment.

A celebratory weekend - August 30/31 - has been organised by the Bat Conservation Trust, with support from Defra, as part of European Bat Weekend.

Dozens of bat walks and talks have been arranged by local bat groups, wildlife trusts, countryside rangers and other organisations across the country to bring people a little closer to bats and to mark the contribution bats make to biodiversity in the UK.

Amy Coyte, chief executive of the Bat Conservation Trust, said: "Bats are fascinating animals which are sadly under threat in the UK, largely due to the destruction of habitats and loss of roosts.

"European Bat Weekend is an ideal way for people to learn more about the problems facing bats, and to find out how they can help.

"Bat walks offer people a truly magical way of seeing and hearing bats in their natural environment. The Bat Conservation Trust is happy to be able to share this experience with so many people."

Environment Minister Jonathan Shaw said: "The importance of bats as a group species and as an indicator of the health of the rest of our wildlife is not always recognised, which is why the Bat Conservation Trust's work to raise the profile of these unique animals is so valuable."

Those taking part in the bat walks will be using devices called 'bat detectors' which enable people to hear bats as they fly by.

Bats use a sonar sense called echolocation to find their way around at night. With bat detectors, we can tune into the sounds they make and determine what species of bat are present.

European Bat Weekend was born out of a European-wide celebration of bats held every August.

The Bat Conservation Trust has developed an interactive events guide for European Bat Weekend which can be found at www.bats.org.uk

Read more!

Raft of junk: Hawaii voyage focuses on ocean debris

Junk floats
Raft: Hawaii voyage focuses on ocean debris
Nalea J. Ko, Star Bulletin 28 Aug 08;

Joel Paschal and Marcus Eriksen nearly encountered numerous hurricanes in their 88 days sailing across the Pacific Ocean aboard the so-called Junk raft to publicize the dangers affecting the oceans.

"We have in 50 years turned our ocean into a plastic soup," said Eriksen, director of research and education for the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. "The solution, we think, is to end the age of disposable plastic."

Curious onlookers gathered on the Ala Wai Boat Harbor docks yesterday to gawk at the unusual sailboat. It was the first time the Junk raft docked since departing from Long Beach, Calif., on June 1. The crew landed on Oahu on Tuesday after anchoring the boat offshore.

The Junk raft, with four sails, is made of garbage. Discarded fishing nets stuffed with 15,000 plastic bottles serve as pontoons, and part of a Cessna 310 airplane is the cabin.

The voyage was meant to bring attention to the rise of plastic pollution in the ocean.

"Plastic, like diamonds, are forever," said Charles Moore, head of the Algalita. "These are not innocent little bits of confetti; they're poison pills. They are like sponges for pollutants." Moore has been collecting data and plastic samples in the North Pacific gyre for years.

"Hawaii is a net receiver of marine debris," Paschal continued. "We need to clean up our own house before we tell other people to stop sending rubbish to our beaches and shores."

One way for Hawaii residents to do that is to follow Maui's lead and ban plastic bags for businesses, Paschal said to a group of friends, media and supporters gathered at the Ala Wai fuel dock.

Plastic particles turned up everywhere on the trip: in a net dragging alongside the Junk raft, and even on their dinner plates. While filleting a fresh catch for supper, Eriksen and Paschal said they found plastic in the fish's stomach.

"We traveled through the gyre collecting debris, and they (marine life) also traveled through the gyre collecting debris," said Paschal.

Anna Cummins, the education adviser with Algalita, also greeted Paschal and Eriksen. Engaged to Eriksen, Cummins said Junk's homecoming was long overdue.

"They looked great. I thought they would be all emaciated," said Cummins of the crew who survived on fish jerky and peanut butter for two weeks. The sailing duo arrived a little more bronzed and a little thinner but unscathed.

Expected to be six-week-long voyage, the Junk raft was at sea nearly twice as long. Nearing the end of their journey, food was scarce. Roz Savage, who is rowing solo across the Pacific to also raise awareness of ocean pollution, met up with the seafarers for a rare midocean rendezvous arranged by satellite phone.

"She actually gave us food and we gave her water. An amazing meeting in the middle of nowhere," said Eriksen.

Back on land after about three months, the adventure is not quite over for Junk's crew.

After heading back to California, Eriksen and Cummins will ride amphibious bicycles along the West Coast to Mexico in the third part of the Message in a Bottle awareness campaign.

"What's next? I'm going to go take a shower, drink a beer and eat a pizza," Paschal said, opening a Pacifico beer dockside. He lives on a sailboat in the Ala Wai Harbor.

Junk is not leaving Hawaii so soon. Still intact after three months at sea, the raft is expected to be displayed on the front lawn of the Waikiki Aquarium starting Aug. 30. It will remain there for about a week before being dismantled and shipped to California.

Read more!

WMO expects 'normal' ozone hole over Antarctica in 2008

Yahoo News 29 Aug 08;

The World Meteorological Organisation said Friday it expects the ozone hole over Antarctica to be "normal" this year, two years after it reached record size.

"Looking at the preliminary data so far, it looks as if the Antarctica ozone hole of 2008 in size and severity will be something in-between the record 2006 and the much weaker one in 2007," WMO ozone expert Geir Braathen told journalists.

"We expect an 'average' or 'normal' ozone hole," he said.

The hole in the layer over the Antarctic was discovered in the 1980s. It regularly tends to form in August before it fills again in mid-December, but the size it reaches is dependent on weather conditions.

Braathen said there is still more than enough chlorine and bromine in the atmosphere to cause complete ozone destruction in a certain height region (an altitude of 14-20 kilometres, or 9-12 miles).

Stratospheric ozone provides a natural protective filter against harmful ultra-violet rays from the sun, which can cause sunburn, cataracts and skin cancer and damage vegetation.

Its depletion is caused by extreme cold temperatures at high altitude and a particular type of pollution, from chemicals often used in refrigeration, some plastic foams, or aerosol sprays, which have accumulated in the atmosphere.

Most of the chemicals, chloroflurocarbons (CFCs), are being phased out under the 1987 Montreal Protocol, but they linger in the atmosphere for many years.

Read more!

Simple fertilizer technique promises to feed Africa's hungry

Jean-Louis Santini, Yahoo News 29 Aug 08;

A simple and cheap technique of applying fertilizer in small doses at the right time can double wheat crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa and feed millions of people, agronomists said in a report.

A four-year experiment with the technique in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger has boosted sorghum and millet production by 44 to 120 percent, and family incomes by 50 to 130 percent, said an International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) report published Thursday.

The successful technique coupled with awareness of soil type, grain variety and irregular rainfall in the region "has the potential to end widespread hunger in drought prone areas of sub-Saharan Africa", said ICRISAT Assistant Director for West and Central Africa Ramadjita Tabo.

He hopes the system will be adopted by 500,000 farmers in the region over the next five years.

Farmers are quick to learn and can be trained in just one week, Tabo told AFP.

He said they are shown that only six grams of fertilizer per plant is enough, and that small holes dug in the dry ground and filled with manure before the rainy season will hold water for a longer time.

When it starts to rain, a micro-dosis of fertilizer and a plant are placed in each hole so roots can spread quickly an retain even more water, Tabo said.

"Land degradation is particularly acute in sub-Saharan Africa where the soil has been overused, coupled with low, unpredictable rainfall," he stressed.

Farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are so poor they exploit the land to the maximum and consider the cost of fertilizer too high a risk in case of a bad harvest.

"With microdosing, they don't invest much and that reduces their risk," Tabo said.

Fertilizer in Africa is difficult to find and costs two to six times more than the average world price because of low sale volumes, difficulty of transport and because it is not produced locally.

With micro-doses, farmers only need 10 percent of the fertilizer used for wheat and five percent for corn, the ICRISAT report said.

In soils low in nutrients like phosphate, pottasium and nitrogen, micro-doses of fertilizer are enough to double crop yields, Tabo said.

"Reports indicate that land degradation affects more than half of sub-Saharan Africa, leading to loss of an estimated 42 billion dollars in income and five million hectares (12.5 million acres) of productive land each year," ICRISAT said.

"The majority of farmlands suffer from poor soil fertility due to poor farming techniques, nutrient deficiency and lack of water," which also degrades the environment, it added.

Unable to feed their families or afford to buy food, farmers abandon unproductive land to clear forests and plow new land, a practice blamed for an estimated three fourths of the deforestation in sub-Saharan Africa.

ICRISAT has also come with a system allowing poor farmers to borrow against their crops, which they store and sell when the prices go up, eliminating the middle man.

"Thousands of successful experiments across the dryland areas of West and Southern Africa demonstrate that microdosing can boost yields enough to eliminate the need for food aid," ICRISAT Director General William Dar said in the report.

ICRISAT is funded by international donors including the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Read more!

Small farmers to join Brazil sustainable cane move

Inae Riveras, Reuters 29 Aug 08;

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Dozens of small and medium-scale farmers in Brazil's Sao Paulo state will grow sugar cane certified as meeting strict social and environmental standards, the region's cane producers association said late on Thursday.

Several ethanol companies like Cosan and Louis Dreyfus signed deals to produce and export verified sustainable ethanol in the last couple of months to address consumers' concerns over the impact of ethanol which powers almost all the country's new cars.

But now some of the state's small producers in the world's top sugar cane producer will be able to join them.

"We want to have a product with total traceability, from cane seeding to the final product. We believe there's a market for this kind of product, especially in Europe," said Fernando Cesar Gregorio, head of the Bariri Sugarcane Suppliers Association.

The sustainability of Brazil's cane-based ethanol has been called into question by Europe, which is likely to demand stricter environmental and labor standards on imports.

The program will have 50 small and medium-scale cane suppliers who farm up to 3,500 hectares and produce an estimated 260,000 tonnes of cane per year. Some of them are family farmers.

They must refuse the use of child or slave labor, limit their use of agrochemicals, and gather their cane with mechanical harvesters as opposed to cutting it manually. Manual cutting involves burning the plant's foliage, which pollutes the air.

Production standards, which will come into force on August 30, were set by Organizacao Internacional Agropecuaria (OIA), a private company which provides inspection and certification services.

All of the cane supplied under the plan will be crushed at the Dela Colletta mill which will also produce according to these standards. The entire process will be audited by an independent company.

Some of the requirements -- many of them set by law -- are already observed by these producers, but they want to certify "they are doing it right," Gregorio said.

Jose Carlos Reis, agroenergy coordinator at Sebrae, a consultancy for small and medium firms which will provide technical assistance to the growers, said this was the first time small-scale growers were offered the chance to join an environmental and social certification program.

The program also encourages alternating the planting of cane with grain to boost food production and avoid problems associated with monoculture, which can exhaust soil fertility.

"Many people say sugar and ethanol are only for large-scale producers, and we're showing this is not true. These are small suppliers who are organized and looking ahead," Reis said.

Gregorio added no deal had yet been clinched with any foreign importers, but he said certified biofuel was likely to attract a premium as it would be more marketable.

(Editing by Reese Ewing and Jim Marshall)

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