Best of our wild blogs: 11 Sep 08

Slim Sreedharan: Field ornithologist extraordinary
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Only Pulau Ubin available for individual registrations
for last minute sign ups on the News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore blog

Disappearing fishes: fresh and marine
on the wild shores of singapore blog

Who's the cuddliest on our shores?
some echis considered on the wild shores of singapore blog

Eyes for you
on the annotated budak blog

Rat meets duck
on the annotated budak blog

Reef celebrations roundup
on the blue water volunteers blog

Natural History Museum Malaysia
announcing a publication on the Raffles Museum News blog

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How to keep the water flowing

The Singapore Experience
Yaacob Ibrahim, Straits Times 11 Sep 08;

CITIES today are homes to more people than at any other time in human history. The largest wave of rural-to-urban migration, especially in developing regions, will present cities with many challenges. One is a sustainable and safe supply of water - for, without it, a city cannot function, much less prosper.

How do we manage water resources to keep pace with the economic growth of our cities while ensuring that such efforts are sustainable over the long term? For many governments, finding the right balance between economic growth and the management of water resources is proving to be a tricky challenge.

In view of the need for the world to come together to share expertise in water technologies and governance, the Singapore International Water Week was conceived. It provides a platform for policymakers, industry leaders and experts to address challenges, showcase technologies and discover opportunities. Their insights were distilled in the 1st Singapore International Water Week 'Blue Paper'.

By 2030, analysts project that towns and cities of the developing world will make up 81per cent of the world's total population, creating enormous stress on water and sanitation infrastructure. The problem is not the lack of water but the lack of sound water management practices. The Blue Paper notes that improvements in technology can help but these technological improvements are not translating into practical water solutions for cities because of poor governance.

When Singapore was a fledgling independent state in the 1960s, it recognised that it was critical to place water issues right at the top of the political agenda. As Mr Lee Kuan Yew so aptly put it at the Singapore International Water Week: 'Every other policy has to bend at the knees for our water survival.'

To ensure water sustainability, we looked into developing local sources of water from water catchments, reservoirs, rivers and streams. It was a daunting task in view of the highly urbanised land use. For example, the Singapore River was polluted with industrial and household effluent. In the 1970s, we embarked on an ambitious plan to clean up the river. By the 1980s, it was clean again. More recently, we have dammed up the river, converting it into a reservoir right in the heart of the city centre.� This, among other developments, has made it possible to tap two-thirds of Singapore's limited land area as water catchment.

Given our island's physical constraints, we have to constantly look for new technologies that will assist us in achieving our vision of water sustainability. As early as the 1970s, we recognised the need to look into non-conventional solutions. The technologies we sought had to ensure that our water supply could be expanded and multiplied, while ensuring that the sources as well as the product were of satisfactory quality and safe for use. We experimented with several technologies at that time, but they were at the development stage then and costly.

With improvements in membrane technology in the late 1990s, Singapore revisited the use of this technology. This led to the introduction of Newater, which is produced by further treatment of the effluent from our used-water treatment plants using advanced membrane technologies. With Newater, Singapore has successfully married technology with our comprehensive used-water collection system to produce high-quality water valued by the commercial and industrial sectors.

Newater now accounts for about 15 per cent of Singapore's water demand.� By 2010, we will have five Newater plants. Together, they will be able to meet 30per cent of our water demand.

We will continue to find new and better ways to manage our water resources, and also to work with other countries and organisations to share expertise and good, practical solutions. Currently, the (national water agency) PUB is test-bedding many promising water technologies.

These include a variable salinity treatment plant and membrane distillation. We have also launched a 'challenge call' for breakthrough technologies in seawater desalination. Energy-intensive processes currently inhibit seawater desalination in many developing countries. We have selected a Siemens Water Technologies proposal to develop a treatment process based on a novel electrochemical desalination technology.

�Ensuring an adequate water supply is only half the equation: equally important is managing water demand. The PUB has in place a water demand management programme that incorporates the proper handling of the transmission and distribution network to minimise losses, as well as the implementation of water conservation measures. Singapore's per capita consumption of water in households has dropped from 165 litres a day in 2003 to 157 litres a day now. We have also seen a considerable reduction in the level of unaccounted-for water, from 11per cent in the 1980s to 5per cent today - one of the lowest levels in the world.

Our willingness to work directly with industry partners in seeking solutions has attracted international water companies to conduct research in Singapore and use it as a base for the region.

Today, more than 50 international and local companies have set up operations in Singapore, spanning the entire water value chain. In fact, with the water industry as a promising growth sector, the Government will be further investing $330million over the next five years to promote R&D in water technologies and to support the growth of the water industry.

Every city faces unique challenges in resolving its water problems amid rapid urbanisation and economic growth. The Singapore experience may or may not be applicable elsewhere. But it underscores the point that water resource constraints can be overcome, that practical solutions can be found through a mix of good governance and technologies.

This is an excerpt from a speech delivered by Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim at the Local Governments' Day in Vienna, Austria, on Tuesday. The full text of the speech is available at www.straitstimes.com

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Green buildings: Bright ideas to cut power use

Elizabeth Wilmot, Straits Times 11 Sep 08;

A COMBINATION of energy-saving factors to slash consumption and a cutting- edge solar technology called photovoltaics can add up to what every boss wants - a zero-energy building.

Zero energy means the building is sustained with renewable sources of power, which saves hugely on costs over the long term.

It is a Holy Grail but highly achievable, said Mr Poul Kristensen, managing director of IEN Consultants, a Kuala Lumpur-based company that advises clients on green buildings.

He told the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies yesterday about office buildings in Malaysia that would typically consume about 200 to 300kw of energy per square metre a year.

That can be cut to about 100kw by using energy-saving measures such as daylighting, which uses tubes and reflectors to illuminate a room using natural light.

Energy-efficient server rooms, lighting, office equipment and proper insulation to prevent unnecessary heat loss and wastage can also cut power use.

With the reduced consumption, the building can then rely on solar panels integrated in the roof and walls to provide the rest of the needed energy.

The PTM Zero Energy Office of the Malaysia Energy Centre in Selangor is one example of a building aiming at zero energy consumption.

It has already reduced energy use to 35 to 40kw per sq m a year and is still fine-tuning its systems.

Zero-energy buildings have been developed in Canada, the United States, Germany and Switzerland.

Singapore's Building and Construction Authority is also aiming to turn an existing block of its academy into one powered by solar panels.

The task comes with challenges. Constructing an energy-efficient building can increase costs by up to 21 per cent. The figure jumps to 45 per cent if photovoltaics technology is included.

'It might be more expensive at first, but after the payback time, which is

between five and 10 years, the cost savings are for a lifetime,' said Mr Kristensen.

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The changing power game that gencos play

Impact of Senoko's sale to Lion Power consortium expected to be felt soon
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 11 Sep 08;

THE dynamics of the power game here are set to change - and likely pretty soon too, some observers suggest - as the second of the three biggest generating companies (gencos) here, Senoko Power, was sold by Temasek Holdings last Friday for S$4 billion to yet another foreign owner, the Japanese/French Lion Power consortium.

While market sources say that Tuas Power's strategy, under new Chinese owners China Huaneng since mid-March, is not apparent in the electricity market here yet and may only surface later, they add that it may be a different ball game with Lion-owned Senoko, given that four of its five consortium members are very experienced power players.

'We may see the impact of this (sharper marketing) from Lion as soon as in the coming three months,' one source said. 'Electricity tariffs may come down as a result of increased competition, which is good for consumers. But margins will be trimmed for the gencos.'

China Huaneng - China's largest coal-fuelled power producer - is seen to have bought natural gas-firing Tuas Power for technology transfer and to learn about gas, plus also to have a stake outside China for business expansion.

But the opposite also holds true, as Tuas Power could also possibly go the coal route in future, given its owner's access to coal, once appropriate technology, such as for coal waste disposal, becomes available.

Both China Huaneng and Lion are said to have paid high prices for their respective Singapore power assets, with Tuas, the smallest but newest of the three Singapore gencos, having been sold for a whopping S$4.23 billion. But as one observer said, especially of Lion's latest purchase: 'They are buying a stake in the future.'

This is because Senoko Power's new Japanese/French owners are clearly going to play the LNG (liquefied natural gas) card. Consortium leader Marubeni Corp (with 30 per cent) and France's GDF Suez (30 per cent) are both big LNG buyer/ traders, and the latter also has stakes in LNG terminals worldwide, as well as 30 per cent in the upcoming S$1 billion Singapore LNG terminal being built by PowerGas on Jurong Island.

Two other Lion members, Kansai Electric Power and Kyushu Electric Power (with 10 per cent stake each), are also LNG consumers. But Lion will be constrained in the meantime from doing its own LNG trades for Senoko Power, as it has to wait till an LNG-buying monopoly given by Singapore to UK's BG Group runs out.

BG, appointed the sole LNG aggregator by the Energy Market Authority, will initially supply between 800,000 and 1.2 million tonnes per annum (tpa) of LNG starting in 2012 when Singapore's LNG terminal is operational, with the imports building up to three million tpa by 2018, or whichever comes earlier.

Lion, however, could route some of its own LNG shipments through Singapore - without injecting it into the gas system here - parking it at the Jurong Island terminal (where GDF Suez has a 30 per cent stake) for arbitrage purposes.

This - if allowed - would give Lion consortium members, such as the Japanese gencos, the flexibility to re-route some of their LNG here during periods of low electricity demand in Japan.

There has also been a buzz of activity following each genco's sale, with the deep-pocketed new owners planning to re-power older plants at the Singapore gencos to make them more efficient and competitive. China Huaneng is, for instance, looking at building a cogeneration plant on Jurong Island, and also 're-powering' some of its older steam plants and converting these to gas-firing combined cycle gas turbines (CCGTs). As earlier mentioned, coal-firing remains on the cards.

Marubeni Corp is also on an expansion path, with its executive officer Chihiro Shikama announcing on the day of Senoko's acquisition that 'Lion has committed significant additional investment to construct new, more efficient gas-fired units' at Singapore's largest station.

With 3,300 MW capacity, only 1,945 MW or 60 per cent of Senoko is currently CCGT, which leaves another 40 per cent to be boosted.

PowerSeraya, the last big genco here being sold, has in the meantime been diversifying from being just a power company (with power generation accounting for 80 per cent of its net profits) into an integrated energy company where in five years' time, it expects oil and gas trading to account for half of its net profits. It has also gone into desalination, to enable it to sell water and steam to industries.

While some feel that PowerSeraya should perhaps remain locally owned, whose hands it ultimately ends up in, whether foreign or local - such as Sembcorp or Keppel Corp - depends on which party considers it the best fit for their own plans and their willingness to pay for the genco.

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Food-powered fans,at your hawker centre?

Lin Yanqin, Today Online 11 Sep 08;

THE food scraps you leave behind on the hawker centre table could soon become the key ingredient in keeping the lights on and the fans whirring.

With the combined efforts of Republic Polytechnic and Ecovac systems — and funding from the National Environment Agency — hawker centres could one day become self-sufficient in energy, by processing their own food waste.

Such is the vision of Ecovac director Jenson Chia and RP professor Wong Luh Cherng who, together with RP students, are working to pilot this system at one hawker centre come November.

“At a push of a button, the hawker’s waste will be sucked and collected into a bioreactor,” said Mr Chia.

The waste is then processed by the bioreactor to produce methane to generate electricity. The waste can also be recycled for use as fertilisers or processed into biofuels.

The bioreactor, said Dr Wong, will be located at the hawker centre itself — unlike most current bioreactors which are usually larger-scale systems that collect waste and generate electricity at a centralised location.

With the polytechnic aiming to make “Converting Wastes to Resources” its niche, its inaugural Environmental Technology Day held yesterday showcased projects by its Environment Science students.

One other project, also overseen by Dr Wong, will make use of plant compost to dehumidify air, improve air quality and make the cooling of air a less energy-intensive process.

“If air is dehumidified before being fed into air-conditioning systems, the air-con does not have to remove the moisture from the air before cooling it, and that reduces the energy used,” said Dr Wong.

The plant compost — to be collected from Admiralty Park adjacent to the school — will be treated to produce gases that generate heat, so as to regenerate the desiccators — materials that absorb moisture from air.

These desiccators can then be used repeatedly to dehumidify air.

The polytechnic plans to pilot the system on its premises. “We will find out if the energy that can be saved will compensate for the energy used in the process,” said Dr Wong. “If there are savings, it can be marketed to the public.”

Marketing such products is often the hardest part, said Mr Tan Hai Woon, chief technological officer of Alpha Synovate — which makes biodiesel from used cooking oil.

“The science was the easy part,” he said at the event. “If there is no market, you have to build it ... it’s important to reach out to the community to create awareness.”

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Singapore a conducive place for grooming NGO leaders: Jet Li

Emilyn Yap, Business Times 11 Sep 08;

'It's difficult to find the people who have the (good) heart but also the business mind... I need that kind of people and I need to build up the base,' said Mr Li.

SINGAPORE offers the right conditions for grooming future leaders of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), said international movie star Jet Li yesterday, who was here to talk about his charity organisation One Foundation.

Based in China, One Foundation could also be setting up an office here in Singapore, said Mr Li. According to him, the foundation has been approaching companies such as SingTel for support.

One Foundation has also contacted the Commissioner of Charities' office on this. 'We have advised them on the charity registration requirements,' the office told BT.

Mr Li was sharing his philanthropic cause with the media as part of the Forbes Global CEO Conference, and highlighted Singapore's potential role in grooming NGO leaders.

'In the next five or ten years, (there will be) more and more (NGOs) in Asia, but we don't have a lot of future leaders,' said Mr Li.

Because of its good education system and experience in solving issues related to healthcare and the environment, for instance, Singapore would be a suitable place to educate and prepare future NGO leaders for their roles.

'It's difficult to find the people who have the (good) heart but also the business mind... I need that kind of people and I need to build up the base,' said Mr Li.

To him, One Foundation is somewhat similar to a public company - donating to it is akin to owning a share. Therefore, the foundation needs to maintain high standards of professionalism, transparency and accountability, said Mr Li.

For instance, Deloitte audits One Foundation's financial records independently. The foundation also issues quarterly updates on its work to the public.

One Foundation's focus is on providing disaster relief, said Mr Li. It raised around 100 million yuan (S$20.9 million) in donations in the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake in May.

But the organisation is also taking up the role of an 'agent' in China, linking up companies with other NGOs to distribute aid where needed.

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Residents call it 'cemetery road'

Two cyclists have died on this Pulau Ubin slope
Desmond Ng, The New Paper 11 Sep 08;

IT'S called Jalan Wat Siam, but its nickname has a more sinister ring - 'cemetery road'.

And true to its nickname, this road at Pulau Ubin has already claimed two lives.

On Sunday, Madam Lee Yan Inn, 41, died after she was flung off a tandem bicycle together with her daughter.

The housewife had lost control of the bike while they were going down a steep slope.

She hit her head, lost consciousness and died 11 hours later in hospital.

Another fatality occurred two years ago when student Zawiyah Mohd Muliana, 18, fell and hit her head while cycling on the same slope.

She slipped into a coma and died later in hospital.

The slope looks deceptively easy to navigate but it's a 200m- long, curvy slope with a sharp incline of about 30 to 40 degrees.

To novice cyclists, it can be quite a challenge, said seasoned cyclist November Tan, who helps organise guided cycling tours of the island.

And there's an average of one accident along the stretch every month, though most are minor, islanders told The New Paper.

There are four street signs along the stretch of the slope warning cyclists and motorists to go slow.

But old-timers on the island have dubbed it 'cemetery road' because there's an old Chinese cemetery on top of the slope.

Longtime resident Ong Kim Cheng, 50, said he avoids cycling along that stretch because of stories about an old female ghost lurking there.

He said in Mandarin: 'I don't like to ride around this area because of the stories about this place being haunted. People say that they've seen a female ghost here while picking durians, so I am not surprised about the accidents.

'But the slope is really quite steep and can be quite dangerous if you're not careful.

'I've seen cyclists with scratches and bruises walking back to return their damaged bikes after falling along this slope.'

Superstition aside, the islanders agree that this is one of Ubin's most dangerous roads to cycle on.

It's called Jalan Wat Siam because there was previously a Thai temple there. It was relocated to Jalan Kayu last year.

When The New Paper visited Jalan Wat Siam yesterday, four cyclists, all foreigners, were riding on the slope.

All had no problems cycling there.

Japanese expatriate Momo Matsutani, 28, was shocked to hear about the death.

She said: 'It's not difficult to cycle here. We just came down slowly and we didn't speed.'

At the bottom of the slope, there's also an NParks signboard with a map of the area and a warning: 'Always wear a helmet when riding in this area'.

Warning ignored

But it seems very few visitors pay heed to the warning.

All four bike rental shops we visited at the main village offer helmets for rent at $2 to $3 each, but they have found few takers.

Yen Fa Bike Rental's Mr K H Sit, 55, said in Mandarin: 'Some people think it's too expensive to rent the helmets. To many people, it's just not a habit here to wear helmets and cycle.'

Mr Sit had rented the bikes to Madam Lee and her family on Sunday.

He said that if she had worn a helmet, the accident may not have been fatal.

Owners of bike rental shops there said that only one out of every 10 people rent helmets.

It costs about $3 to $15 to rent a bicycle for the whole day.

When The New Paper was on the island yesterday, no cyclist was seen wearing a helmet.

Cyclist Nick Ward, 25, said: 'I don't think there's a need to (wear helmets). It's not that dangerous.'

Some islanders felt that the road should be closed.

Said Mr Sit: 'There's nothing to see there, so there's really no point for anyone to cycle up there.

'If people tell me that they plan to cycle there, I'll just tell them to go elsewhere. The authorities should either close the road or make it safer for cyclists.'

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I was a foodcourt cleaner...

...and my experience last week taught me that it's our attitude that needs a good scrub
Kimberly Spykerman, Straits Times 11 Sep 08;

I WAS a cleaner in an HDB neighbourhood one morning, and spent another afternoon picking up after diners in a foodcourt.

I popped in and out of a cinema hall five times in a day to see what cinemagoers leave behind when the lights come on. And I rushed from cubicle to cubicle in a mall toilet, yes, for the same reason: to see what toilet users leave behind.

Throughout last week, I was at ground zero in the daily business of keeping Singapore clean, as part of a Straits Times assignment to find out what it was like.

The verdict: We are a nation of people who cannot clean up after ourselves because too many of us have disgusting social habits.

And, we have this grand excuse: Picking up after ourselves when an army of cleaners has been hired for that singular purpose - what for?

'It's their job. They're paid to do it,' was what I was told, time and again, when I asked people to explain their behaviour.

Or this other retort: 'If we did it ourselves, then we'd be putting them out of a job.'

I have pondered hard about what is in our upbringing or education that has resulted in this sorry state of affairs.

Could it be that we are long accustomed to the idea of cleaning as a lowly paid job for the uneducated?

'If you don't study hard, you'll become a roadside sweeper!' - that is the message that has been embedded in many Singaporeans' childhood memories, from when parents reacted badly to a less than stellar report card.

Is this why some of us look down on cleaners, because somehow they deserved it for not being smarter or working harder when they were younger?

During my stint as a foodcourt cleaner, I encountered a middle-aged woman who had been a housewife before becoming a foodcourt cleaner. A recent separation from her husband forced her to get a job to support herself and her son.

I am (almost) certain that most people would think twice about spitting bones on their dining tables and simply walking away, or clogging up their toilets at home with excess toilet paper.

I say 'almost' because growing affluence means that many homes now employ maids who 'do it so that we don't have to'. Imagine if children grew up in households with no conception of keeping the home tidy or cleaning up after themselves because 'the maid is there'. Singapore would need to double the number of cleaners.

This, by the way, is a national problem. Not because the Prime Minister himself raised it in his National Day Rally speech, but because visitors to the country start changing their own habits to suit what they think is a norm in Singapore culture.

Foreigners who said that they would ordinarily have disposed of their own trash back home did not because they realised that it just was not the way things were done here.

In fact, they get ticked off by Singaporeans for 'spoiling the market', so to speak.

Many who were polled seemed to think that Singaporeans react only to threats disguised in the form of fines, incentives, or some degree of law enforcement.

A clip screened on a recent episode of the Straits Times RazorTV's current affairs programme Point Blank featured a woman, who when asked why she had left her messy tray behind at Ikea's cafe, had this excuse: 'But there's no sign that says I have to return my tray!'

Have we become so socially awkward that we need to be told what is the 'right' way to behave?

Not that it has not been tried.

Remember the annual courtesy campaign that has since morphed into the far meeker Singapore Kindness Movement?

Let us face it, nobody likes being told that they are behaving badly, and they are not about to take advice from a bright orange lion - even if he does have a great big smile.

I did another stint that had less to do with cleanliness than with civility. I helped man the VivoCity information counter. What I encountered was not in the least pleasant: People were gruff when making enquiries and all wanted my immediate attention.

It seems that is the only way they know how to ask for help. In return, I was not about to go out of my way to help someone who treated me like, well, trash.

Perhaps, what Singaporeans need is a huge psychological shake-up.

A town council initially pondered a 'down-tools day'. Would residents better appreciate the work cleaners do if for one day no one cleaned the estate for them? The idea was never implemented; no one dared risk the wrath of HDB residents.

One foodcourt manager suggested placing food in disposable bento boxes to encourage people to clean up after themselves. A moviegoer even suggested having rubbish bins placed inside the cinemas.

None of these suggestions will mean much because, ultimately, it's our attitudes that need a good scrub.

Absolutely spot on, Kimberly...
Singapore's Third World, say expats who've lived here seven years
Letter from Marco and Cynthya Preisig, Straits Times Forum 13 Sep 08

WE SHARE Ms Kimberly Spykerman's viewpoint on Singapore as a First World nation still lacking one of the basic attitudes of a modern civilisation. When it comes to litter-free public areas, we are no better than any underdeveloped nation. And this will not change, even if we employ twice as many cleaners. It will not change, even if our universities are ranked among the best in the world. The seeds for change must be planted in everyone's home, in each family.

We are foreigners with three children who have lived in Singapore for seven years. Despite bad examples in our vicinity at East Coast Park (where the beach looks like a rubbish dump after the weekend), we don't adopt these bad habits and walk extra metres to the next litter bin. Despite the privilege of employing a maid, our children clean their table and tidy their rooms since they were toddlers. As the saying goes, 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks'.

Bad Kimberly: So, who's prejudiced against whom?
Letter from Liew Yeng Chee, Straits Times Forum 13 Sep 08

I NEARLY threw up my porridge this morning, when I read Wednesday's article, 'I was a foodcourt cleaner' by Ms Kimberly Spykerman. Why? She was so self-righteous to denounce Singaporeans (obviously she was not included) to be fine and law-attuned, and looking down on cleaners, without realising that, subconsciously, she fit the mould perfectly.

My question is: Why the big fuss over this 'table manners' subject only after the Prime Minister mentioned it categorically in his National Day Rally speech?

If Ms Spykerman is so concerned about people's table manners, she should be expounding her views not after the PM's speech, make it her cause or mission to get people to look into the issue seriously. All this 'working as a cleaner' stuff is only for show, just because the PM mentioned it. Is she not doing what she accuses everyone else of - that Singaporeans (much more so press people) respond only to directions from authority, be they in the form of a law, a fine or just a mention by the PM?

Second, who is looking down on whom? I don't think the public look down on cleaners. The way Ms Spykerman felt could just be her own conclusion based on her own prejudice. In the first place, what is there to crow about 'I was a foodcourt cleaner'? Was it a job she thought so lowly, no one in her right mind would want to try, unless she needs the money badly?

In conclusion, we hope for a press which is more spontaneous, to reflect more what people think and not just follow orders from the top, and stop belittling blue-collar workers subconsciously.

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Diver goes missing while repairing ship underwater

Carolyn Quek, Straits Times 11 Sep 08;

A DIVER who was underwater repairing a ship at the Eastern Petroleum A Anchorage was swept away by a sudden undercurrent on Tuesday evening and is still missing at sea.

Police Coast Guard and Maritime and Port Authority boats, as well as the Naval Diving Unit, have been combing the seas around the anchorage, which is about 5km off the coast around Bedok.

Commercial diver Mohammed Borhan Jamal, 26, who recently became a father, was with two colleagues, aged 34 and 48, during the repair works.

At that time, all three men were about 10m underwater, fixing a metal grating on the hull of a Very Large Crude Carrier, Olivia, which arrived in Singapore from Karimun port in Indonesia last Friday.

The ship, registered in the Isle of Man near Britain, had been docked at the anchorage since Saturday. It was undergoing maintenance work and resupplying.

At about 6.20pm on Tuesday, an undercurrent was believed to have swept the men away. They surfaced, and two of them managed to cling onto a frame at the rear of the oil tanker.

Mr Mohammed Borhan surfaced a few metres away for a brief moment, but the currents swept him away.

The trio work for Underwater Contractors, which specialises in underwater ship maintenance services, such as doing underwater cutting and welding work.

The company was set up almost 30 years ago and has 13 full-time employees.

The firm's representative, Mr Eddy Gan, told The Straits Times that Mr Mohammed Borhan was a very good diver, with about six years of experience.

Mr Gan was with his missing employee's father last night. 'We're still looking for him. We would like to find him first and do not want to say too much yet,' he said.

Three weeks ago, three commercial divers were hurt off Marina South Pier when the propeller blades of an oil tanker started whirling while they were cleaning it. One man was critically hurt with multiple injuries. The other two suffered minor injuries.

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British team capture first pictures of Africa's 'unicorn'

Yahoo News 11 Sep 08;

The okapi, an African animal so elusive that it was once believed to be a mythical unicorn, has been photographed in the wild for the first time, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) said Thursday.

Camera traps set by the ZSL and the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) captured pictures of the okapi in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The pictures have dispelled fears that the species had died out in more than a decade of civil war.

Dr Noelle Kumpel, ZSL's Bushmeat and Forests Conservation Programme Manager, said: "To have captured the first-ever photographs of such a charismatic creature is amazing, and particularly special for ZSL given that the species was originally described here over a century ago.

"Okapi are very shy and rare animals, which is why conventional surveys only tend to record droppings and other signs of their presence."

The okapi, which have a black, giraffe-like tongue and zebra-like stripes on their behind, were last spotted in the Virunga National Park nearly 50 years ago on the west bank of the Semliki River.

The new ZSL survey revealed a previously unknown okapi population on the east side of the river.

Thierry Lusenge, a member of ZSL's Democratic Republic of Congo survey team, said: "The photographs clearly show the stripes on their rear, which act like unique fingerprints.

"We have already identified three individuals, and further survey work will enable us to estimate population numbers and distribution in and around the park, which is a critical first step in targeting conservation efforts."

The exact status of the okapi is unknown as civil conflict and poor infrastructure makes access to the forests of DRC difficult.

But ZSL warned that even the newly-discovered okapi population was under threat from poachers.

Okapi meat, reportedly from the Virunga park, is now on sale in the nearby town of Beni and ZSL warned that if hunting continues at the current rate, okapi could become extinct in the park within a few years.

First photos of African 'unicorn' captured
Louise Gray, The Telegraph 11 Sep 08;

An African animal so rarely seen it was once believed to be a mythical unicorn has been caught on camera in the wild for the first time.

he okapi, a deer-like creature with the long blue tongue of a giraffe and the rear of a zebra, was only discovered at the beginning of the 20th century when a British explorer sent a skin home to London.

Before this the animal had only been glimpsed in passing with the characteristic small bump in the corner of its head leading to claims that it could have been the unicorn written about in fantasy story books.

Even in the modern age humans had until now only fleetingly seen the creature's huge ears and stripey hind legs in the jungles of Africa.

The forest-dwelling mammal was not seen in the wild for 50 years ago and there were fears it had died out in the wake of the civil war in the Democratic of Congo.

However, zoologists did not give up hope. In 2006 tracks were found in the Virunga National Park and camera traps were put down by the Zoological Society of London in the hope of capturing the wild animal on film.

Now, the last few wild okapis have been captured on film.

Because the zebra stripes on the animal's behind are unique like a fingerprint, researchers have been able to identify different animals and survey a previously unknown population.

Dr Noelle Kumpel, ZSL's Bushmeat and Forests Conservation Programme Manager, was relieved to see the species has survived despite a decade of civil conflict.

"To have captured the first ever photographs of such a charismatic creature is amazing," he said.
"Okapi are very shy and rare animals - which is why conventional surveys only tend to record droppings and other signs of their presence."

Okapis are the closest living relative of the giraffe

The species were unknown to the western world until 1901 when the British governor of Uganda Sir Harry Johnston sent a complete skin and a skull belonging to the creature back to London.

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Myanmar: Cyclone, starvation - now plague of rats

Cyclone, starvation - now plague of rats devastates Burmese villages
Generals ignore a once in 50-year freak of nature that wrecks communities
Pete Pattisson, The Guardian 10 Sep 08;

It is an impressive arsenal - more than 100 weapons, each with a sensitive trigger - but it is a feeble defence against the enemy threatening Mgun Ling and his village in Chin state, deep in the jungles of western Burma.

Theirs is an unconventional war: their weapons are traps, their enemy rats.

"We can catch hundreds of rats a night, but it makes no difference," said Mgun Ling. "They just keep coming. They've destroyed all our crops, and now we have nothing left to eat."

Four months after Cyclone Nargis devastated Burma, another natural disaster has struck the country. This time the ruling military regime has had 50 years to prepare for it, yet it has still proved unable and unwilling to respond.

The disaster, known in Burma as maudam, is caused by a cruel twist of nature. Once every 50 years or so the region's bamboo flowers, producing a fruit. The fruit attracts hordes of rats, which feed on its seeds. Some believe the rich nutrients in the seeds cause the rodents to multiply quickly, creating an infestation. After devouring the seeds, the rats turn on the villagers' crops, destroying rice and corn. In a country once known as the rice bowl of Asia, thousands of villagers are on the brink of starvation.

The last three cycles of flowering occurred in 1862, 1911 and 1958, and each time they were followed by a devastating famine. The current maudam is proving just as disastrous. A report last month by the Chin Human Rights Organisation estimates that up to 200 villages are affected by severe food shortages and at least 100,000 people, or 20% of the population of Chin, are in need of immediate food aid.

Chin, home to the ethnic minority Chin people, is one of the most undeveloped and isolated regions of Burma. These remote mountainous communities, which survive on subsistence farming, have reached breaking point.

"We have no food left," said the head of one village. "Last year during the harvest the rats came and ate almost all our rice. Our corn has also been totally destroyed. I have just one bag of rice left for my family. After that there's nothing. People in my village are going into the jungle to find wild vegetables, like leaves and roots to mix with a little rice. Our situation is desperate."

Leisa, 74, who witnessed the last maudam, claimed that this famine was worse. "In the past the bamboo flowered all at one time. The rats came, destroyed our crops, and then left. This time the bamboo is flowering in patches and each time it flowers, a new wave of rats come. Previously, we suffered for just one or two years, but now we are worried it may last seven or eight years."

The crisis is turning villages into ghost communities, as the Chin leave their homes in search of food, or a new life, in India. One village headman said: "Last year, we had 60 households in our village but half have already moved to India due to the food crisis. Even with only 30 households there is still not enough food for everyone."

Every day, scores of villagers follow a tortuous mountain track to an unmanned border post into India, battling monsoon downpours, knee-deep mud and malaria. Some move to India for good, others like Chitu trek for days to buy food and haul it home. "Every single week we have to walk to India to buy rice there. The round trip takes four days. My children have had to stop going to school because they have to spend all their time carrying rice."

Despite the predictability of the disaster, there has been no sign of help from the Burmese junta. One village chief said: "We made a formal request to the chairman of the township council and the local army commander for food, but we got no response from them."

In fact, rather than tackling the crisis, the military is compounding it. Since the junta took power in Burma in 1962, the Chin have suffered violent oppression at the hands of the army. The use of unpaid forced labour, forced substitution of staple crops for cash crops and arbitrary taxation is rife. A report last year by the Women's League of Chinland accused the army of systematic sexual violence against Chin women.

"Every month we receive a letter ordering us to attend a meeting at the local army camp," said one village head. "At the meetings they demand work from us and force us to send villagers to construct their barracks. Worst of all they order us to send them food, like chickens, cooking oil and chillies, but since we don't have any we have to collect money from villagers to send in its place.

"Last month, I failed to attend the meeting, because I was too busy collecting rice from India. When I got back to my village I found an envelope with a bullet in it. I was terrified. I thought they were going to come and kill me."

Cheery Zahau of the Women's League of Chinland said: "The maudam has affected India and Burma equally, but the Indian government has been preparing for it since 2002. For example, they pay their citizens for every rat they catch. The Burmese junta has done nothing. It's not just that they don't care. In my opinion, they are deliberately ignoring the disaster because they want the region to be cleansed of Chin people. Chin groups in the border region have been trying to mobilise aid, but our resources are very limited. We desperately need international assistance."

While the Chin await aid, the exodus to India continues. "We love our native land," said one villager. "But we don't know how we can survive here any longer."

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Australia Being Hit by More "Extreme Waves" - Study

Rob Taylor, PlanetArk 11 Sep 08;

CANBERRA - Australia's vast coastline is increasingly being battered by destructive "extreme waves" driven in part by climate change, scientists said on Wednesday.

Research into wave size changes over the past 45 years showed waves of 3 metres (9.8 feet) in height or more were increasing, hitting Australia's southern coasts as severe storms become more frequent and intense, government experts said.

"Extreme wave conditions are greatest south of the Australian continent, associated with the passage of extra-tropical storms along Australia's southern margin," they said in a report.

Australia, the world's driest inhabited continent, is feeling an accelerated version of global warming, climate scientists say, leading to extreme droughts and sudden severe storms.

The country is vulnerable to shifts in temperature and rainfall because it already has many arid and semi-arid areas, and was recently included by the United Nations in a list of vulnerable climate shift "hotspots".

Average yearly temperatures are projected to increase by as much as 6 degrees Celsius by 2070.

Most Australians live in large coastal cities and towns in the continent's southeast, meaning storm surges and extreme waves will increasingly threaten communities with flooding and severe coastal erosion caused by pounding surf.

Ocean wave measuring buoys off the island state of Tasmania showed "increased wave heights and anticlockwise rotation of wave direction" in response to a shifting south of storms due to climate shift, the report said.

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said while more active surf could help Australia harness the power of waves to generate electricity and produce less pollution, it also posed risks.

"Large waves can also be destructive, leading to coastal inundation, erosion and the disturbance of marine habitats," Wong said.

The research found strong correlations between wave power and changes in climate drivers such as the length and strength of the northern tropical monsoon season.

Prepared by Australia's national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, the report said the country must prepare a network of long-term coastal observation sites to improve large wave understanding. (Editing by Alex Richardson)

'Extreme waves' worry Australia
Phil Mercer, BBC News 10 Sep 08;

Australia's coastline is increasingly being battered by extreme waves that are driven in part by climate change, government scientists say.

Research has shown that bigger waves are bearing down on the coastline as severe storms become more frequent.

The waves could threaten communities with flooding and coastal erosion.

The national science agency said a network of coastal observation sites should be established to monitor shifting wave patterns.

Climate 'hotspot'

Australia has always borne the brunt of nature's extremes, from drought to bushfires and destructive tropical cyclones.

Scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have identified an emerging threat - monstrous waves that have increasingly pummelled Australia's southern shores.

These ferocious conditions are associated with the passage of extra-tropical storms through the south of the continent.

Researchers believe that a shifting climate could be partly to blame.

They have said that Australia is vulnerable to an accelerated version of global warming, which is causing serious droughts and sudden severe storms.

This vast, arid land was recently listed by the United Nations as a climate change "hotspot".

Large towns and cities dotted along the south-eastern coast, which are home to most Australians, could suffer as a result.

There is a warning that storm surges and pounding seas will increasingly threaten those communities with flooding and erosion.

Research has shown that waves greater than 3m (9 ft) in height are becoming more common.

While acknowledging the risks, Australian Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said that larger, more active surf also presented opportunities to generate greener electricity and to produce less pollution.

Australia needs all the help it can get on that front as it is one of the world's worst per capita emitters of greenhouse gases.

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Virus Threatens World's Biggest Wild Abalone Fishery

PlanetArk 11 Sep 08;

SYDNEY - The world's biggest wild abalone fishery, which accounts for 25 percent of the global annual harvest, may be under threat from a destructive virus, Australian officials said.

The ganglioneuritis virus has been detected in two abalone from waters off Australia's southern island state of Tasmania and tests are under way to determine the extent of the threat.

The virus has already devastated the abalone industry in nearby Victoria state on the Australian mainland.

"Our current activities are aimed at trying to determine the location and extent of any disease in the wild so we can develop appropriate control measures," Tasmania's chief veterinary officer Rod Andrewartha said in a statement.

Abalone is a rare and expensive shellfish eaten as a delicacy in parts of Asia and regarded as a symbol of wealth in Chinese society. Tasmania's abalone export industry is worth about A$335 million (US$418 million) a year.

The abalone virus, which affects the nervous system of abalone and has a high mortality rate, was first detected in Australian waters in 2006 off the Victorian coast.

The virus was recently detected in two abalone processed in a plant on Tasmania's southeast coast.

"We are not seeing signs of contamination within the live holding facility that held the two that tested positive," Tasmanian Abalone Council president Greg Woodham told the Mercury newspaper on Wednesday in Hobart, Tasmania.

Divers were gathering samples from wild abalone for scientific testing.

"We are targeting our surveillance and sampling from the wild fisheries to see if there any signs of this disease out there," said Andrewartha. (US$1=A$1.25) (Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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Wild Animals Suffer on 'Junk Food' Diets

Stephan Reebs, LiveScience.com Yahoo News 10 Sep 08;

In the Baltic Sea, birds called common guillemots raise their young on herringlike fish called sprat. In the 1990s, local sprat became unusually abundant after populations of their main predator, cod, plunged because of overfishing and climatic changes.

Yet during that time, guillemot chicks grew poorly. Why?

The answer may lie in the "junk food hypothesis," which holds that poor-quality food can hamper the reproductive success of marine predators just as badly as low-quantity food.

Henrik Österblom, the biologist from the Baltic Nest Institute at the University of Stockholm who studied the guillemots, noted that sprat were leaner when they were abundant and had to compete for limited supplies of zooplankton. The lean sprat made less-nutritious meals for the guillemot chicks. The chicks' parents tried to compensate by bringing home more sprats, but because they catch and carry just a single fish at a time, it was hard to keep up.

The guillemots aren't alone: recent experiments have shown that many marine fish-eaters, including Steller's sea lions and kittiwakes, either can't raise healthy young or can't maintain their own weight when fed low-energy food, however plentiful.

With colleagues, Österblom reviewed all the papers he could find on the subject and concluded that the junk food hypothesis could explain, at least in part, recent cases of breeding failure among northern marine predators.

The research was detailed in the journal Oikos. /span>

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Over-fishing, not climate change, is greatest danger to world's oceans

Louise Gray, The Telegraph 10 Sep 08;

The biggest current threat to marine life is not climate change but over fishing and mankind's demand for water, experts have warned.

A study, drawing on the expertise of more than 100 top aquatic ecologists, looked at the world's water-based ecosystems, including lakes, rivers, tropical waters and Arctic seas.

The state of the world's oceans has been of much concern recently, particularly the affect of increasing temperatures on marine life as global warming takes hole.

However the research, led by Professor Nicholas Polunin of Newcastle University, found man's serious impact on aquatic life will happen long before climate change takes full effect.

He said: "Across the 21 different ecosystems we have looked at, direct human actions have long been exceeding - and will long continue to exceed - the effects of climate change in almost every case.

"That is not to say that climate change isn't happening or is unimportant.

"Coral reefs are threatened by oceanic warming and the release of carbon frozen and buried in wetlands has major implications for the Earth.

"But the demise of fish stocks through fishing and decline of rivers through excessive off-take are just two dramatic examples of how people are directly changing aquatic ecosystems and threatening the natural services that they deliver."

He urged the science community not to overplay the effect of global warming, in comparison to the direct effect mankind has had on the natural world.

"Climate change has got people thinking about the future at all levels and the next step in our ecological planning of the planet's water resources needs to be more comprehensive, encompassing growing human consumption, its causes and consequences."

Fishing for bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean should be banned, an independent panel has said. The expert panel was commission by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).

In its final report, which has been seen by the World Wildlife Fund, it concluded all activity should be suspended in the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery, and sanctuaries should be created in all main spawning areas as a matter of urgency in order to save the endangered species.

"Such staggering conclusions from independent experts only reinforce what WWF has been saying for years - this is a fishery grossly out of control, and if the fishery is not closed now pending a radical management overhaul, this majestic species may be confined to the history books," Dr Sergi Tudela, head of fisheries at WWF Mediterranean said.

The bluefin tuna is considered to be endangered. However it is still in high demand in restaurants around the world. A recent investigation by Greenpeace and WWF found the fish was being served at a Michelin-starred restaurant part owned by Robert De Niro.

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Cold water rings dinner bell for West Coast salmon

Jeff Barnard, Associated Press Yahoo News 9 Sep 08;

A federal oceanographer says a flip-flop in atmospheric conditions is creating a feast for salmon and other sea life off the West Coast, reversing a trend that contributed to a virtual shutdown of West Coast salmon fishing this summer.

Bill Peterson of NOAA Fisheries in Newport, Ore., said Tuesday the change in cycle of an atmospheric condition known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation last fall has brought cold water flows from the Gulf of Alaska, which are carrying an abundance of tiny animals known as copepods that are the foundation of the food chain.

It's unknown how long the good times will last, but Peterson said ocean surveys of chinook salmon in June found lots of yearling juveniles, which should grow up to be plentiful stocks of adults by 2010. Coho surveys start in a couple weeks.

Peterson said last spring that he expected the rebound, and the confirmation of his expectations were reported by The Oregonian.

While the cycle used to last as long as 20 years, it has lately taken about four years for conditions to change; but no one knows for sure what the future will bring, Peterson added.

Ed Bowles, fisheries chief for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said salmon that spend most of their time in the ocean close to the coast, such as fall chinook, coho and Willamette River spring chinook, should reap the greatest benefits, but crab, ling cod, rockfish, sea birds and other ocean life are rebounding as well.

Bowles was cautious in his assessment.

"Overall, we are seeing more years of poor ocean conditions than we are good," he said. "This is a welcome respite in what more typically has been discouraging news."

Bowles added that Columbia River salmon have also benefited from court-ordered increases in the water spilled over hydroelectric dams, which speeds their migration downriver to the ocean and increases the number that survive.

The Pacific Decadal Oscillation switched last November, developing into the most favorable conditions for West Coast fisheries since 1999, which was the gateway to several good years for fish, Peterson said.

The boost in copepods meant more food for baitfish, such as sand lance and smelt, which are food for larger fish such as salmon.

That changed in 2005, when starvation conditions developed for young salmon migrating from their native streams to the ocean.

Three years later, there were so few adults that federal authorities practically shut down commercial and sport fishing off Oregon, Washington and California.

Federal authorities are investigating a variety of factors that could have contributed to the collapse of salmon returns from British Columbia to California.

One of the leading suspects is irrigation withdrawals from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in California. Salmon from the Sacramento River saw some of the sharpest declines, and a federal judge is working to reduce the harm on young salmon from irrigation withdrawals from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

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Is 'Green' Fashion Sustainable? Designers Say Yes

Chelsea Emery, PlanetArk 11 Sep 08;

NEW YORK - Fashion trends come and go, but "green" is here to stay, say designers and sponsors at New York's fashion shows this week.

Scores of lines boasting biodegradable fabrics, recycled thread or organic materials are sashaying down the catwalks and, if sales of the often more-costly clothing meet expectations, designers and labels will have profitable new revenue streams.

But fashion is fickle, and any hot fad risks being pushed to the back of the closet like 1980s' shoulder pads.

Still, companies such as cosmetics powerhouse Aveda and designers such as Abi Ferrin are banking that the sustainable approach to style has staying power.

"To characterize the environment as a 'trend' is extremely shortsighted," said Aveda spokeswoman Ellen Maguire. "Going green is good business."

Backstage at the Rodarte, 3.1 Phillip Lim shows and others at the semi-annual Fashion Week sponsored by Mercedes Benz, Aveda stocked steel bottles filled with New York tap water.

The designers, in turn, agreed to avoid fur and use only post-consumer recycled paper for invitations.

Aveda is one of the fastest growing brands in cosmetics giant Estee Lauder Companies Inc's portfolio, said Maguire.

"Consumers are gravitating to companies that care for the environment," she said. "It's not a niche, it's not a trend."

So-called green clothes are being stocked in top venues. Macy's high-end department chain Bloomingdale's carries organic cotton tops and jeans, while Saks Fifth Avenue offers a US$2,815 Behnaz Sarafpour organic wool coat.

"Sales people today care about how your product is made," said designer Ferrin, whose flowing garments feature environmentally friendly thread and buttons carved by Nepalese women rescued from the sex trade.


CAN IT LAST?

Ferrin also uses recycled materials for her clothing tags and, while her recycled paper printing costs are 15 percent higher, "you have more people buying your products so it evens out," she said.

Ferrin said she expects to double her sales this year to more than US$1 million.

Environmentally conscious fashion "is a megatrend," said Margaret Jacob, sustainability director at Invista, which owns Lycra, a synthetic fiber used in garments to increase wear and strength. "It's a mentality, a way of thinking about business."

The focus on green manufacturing and recycled materials is galvanizing the fashion trade but will not last unless the industry sets specific standards or until consumers believe green materials will noticeably improve their lives, said Susan Scafidi, a Fordham University fashion law professor.

"The consumer needs to be convinced it's not only good for the environment but also for her," she said. "That's true of sustainability in architecture. No one wants to work in a sick building. But do we feel the same about our clothes? Not yet."

Even eco-conscious designers know the trend won't expand unless the world's highest profile stars bring "green" sensibilities into their fashions.

"It's really when you have the Tom Fords and the Michael Kors of the world using (non-plastic fibers) that we'll really start seeing an impact," said designer Elisa Jimenez, who uses soy and bamboo fiber in her garments.

Jimenez, who competed in Bravo cable channel's "Project Runway" reality show and grabbed attention for marking her fabric with spit, said most of her private clients ask for gowns using alternative fabrics, despite the higher costs.

Jimenez said events like Fashion Week are vital for making trends like eco-fashion cool and lasting.

"It has to be the highest price-point before middle class America wants it," she said. "It's like a red velvet rope." (Editing by Michelle Nichols and Vicki Allen)

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Falling palm oil price makes palm biodiesel viable, may offer target for NGOs

mongabay.com 10 Sep 08;

Plunging palm oil prices are increasing its attractiveness as a biofuel feedstock and thereby helping buoy demand for the oilseed, reports Reuters.

With the feedstock accounting for as much as 80 percent of the cost of producing biodiesel, surging palm oil prices due to rising demand as an ingredient in food, consumer, and industrial products have undermined the economics of biodiesel production using the oilseed. Now that prices have fallen by about half since peaking in March at 4,486 Malaysian ringgit per metric ton, it is again profitable to produce biodiesel from palm oil.

"Biofuels have become attractive again, that is one thing which will support prices. CPO is now cheap," James Fry, chairman of LMC International, told Reuters at a palm oil producers conference in Singapore. "Palm oil prices will find support around 2,300 ringgit because of the biofuels demand, unless crude oil falls faster than I think."

"Biofuels can generate some instant demand which can mop up the surplus [palm oil production]" Dorab Mistry, a leading industry analyst and director of Godrej International, told Reuters.

The run-up in the price of palm oil since early 2005 has been linked to rising demand for crude oil, which has effectively driven up the price of all other vegetable oils. Producers in the U.S. and Europe have been diverting vegetable oils (canola/rapeseed and soy) and other agricultural feedstocks (especially corn) to the production of biofuels, buoying the high price for grains and oilseeds worldwide.

Most palm oil is currently used in food products, cosmetics, and for industrial purposes — less than one percent of Malaysia's 2007 production was used for biodiesel. Such use has helped deflect some of the criticism levied by environmentalists against the industry, which maintains that palm oil is helping "feed the world" and has a favorable energy balance relative to biofuel feedstocks grown in Europe and the United States. However now that more palm oil will be going into biofuel production, it may make the industry an easier target for green groups who say that oil palm expansion is destroying large tracts of rainforests and peatlands, releasing greenhouse gases and putting endangered species like the orangutan at risk.

Already facing an onslaught from activists — including a recent "consumer-awareness" campaign by the Rainforest Action Network in the U.S. — the palm oil industry has launched a two-pronged response: cleaning up operations by establishing criteria for sustainable production (the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil - RSPO) and a global PR campaign to promote the virtues of palm oil while simultaneously attacking critics via editorials, blogs and web sites. The marketing effort has included what scientists say are misleading claims on the carbon balance and biodiversity value of plantations. One promotional video features iguanas and hummingbirds apparently living in harmony with a Malaysian oil palm plantation even though the species are only found in the Americas.

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The Philippines lost forest fastest in Southeast Asia: EU official

Country also 7th in the world
Veronica Uy, Inquirer.net Global Nation 10 Sep 08;

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippines lost forest cover at a rate of 2.1 percent every year from 2000 to 2005, the fastest in southeast Asia and the seventh in the world, said Juan Echanove, a project officer of the Delegation of the European Commission to the Philippines.

"The Philippines' total forest area, including degraded forest, is now just 24 percent of the land area, the second smallest to urban Singapore in southeast Asia, and one of the smallest of all tropical countries in the world, and even well below dry Mediterranean countries like Greece or Italy," he said.

In his report, Echanove also said the forest to population ratio in the Philippines is only 0.1 hectares of forest per head, "one of the worst in the world -- at the level of Saharan countries."

He said that in Southeast Asia, there has been a net 2 percent decrease of forest area a year, equivalent to 2.8 million hectares per year, much of it in Indonesia

Myanmar had the second fastest rate of forest decline after the Philippines, he said.

Echanove said that for Asia, overall efforts to conserve biodiversity through a system of protected areas has been "positive" as there has been a net increase of forest area during the same period.

This, he said, is a change in trend from the 1990s, when the region "suffered a dramatic net loss of forest."

Echanove attributed the improvement to China's efforts to stop forest loss through massive investments in reforestation and log bans. He said China's efforts have resulted in an increase of forest area of four hectares a year.

He also noted India's small net increase of forest area.

However, he pointed, "although the approaches for protected areas management have changed considerably, human-animal conflicts remain unsolved and hunting and habitat destruction is resulting in continuous loss of wildlife in the Asian forests, illegal trade of endangered wildlife is still a major concern in many parts of Asia."

Echanove said the rise of the middle class in Asia, particularly in China, with a huge demand for forest products and eco-tourism services are taking its toll on the environment.

"Despite various efforts to conserve forest in Asia through logging bans, acceleration and reforestation programs, the pressure on natural resources will remain severe," he said.

Echanove said balancing demand for diverse array of products and services from different segments of society in poverty alleviation, population control, and equitable trade will continue to be the most important challenge facing Asia.

"The environment is the base of the survival of the poor. Forests cannot be protected without securing the interests of the people," he said.

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Alaska, Russia Forests Overlooked in Climate Fight

Alister Doyle, PlanetArk 11 Sep 08;

OSLO - Old forests from Alaska to Russia soak up vast amount of greenhouse gases as they age and are wrongly overlooked as a weapon in a UN-led fight against global warming, a study said on Wednesday.

"New growth continues in forests that are centuries old," an international team of scientists wrote in the journal Nature of old forests outside the tropics that make up 15 percent of the world's total tree-covered area.

Plants soak up heat-trapping carbon from the air as they grow and release it when they die. Until now, most scientists have reckoned that mature forests have a neutral impact on the climate, with any new trees merely replacing others that die.

The report, by scientists in Belgium, the United States, Germany, Switzerland, France and Britain, estimated that old-growth forests outside the tropics absorbed a net 1.3 billion tonnes of carbon a year with ever denser vegetation.

That is almost as much as the total annual industrial greenhouse gas emissions by the 27-nation European Union.

"Until now there was a belief that ecosystems -- like weeds, bacteria in a pond or forests -- reach carbon neutrality when they age," lead author Sebastiaan Luyssaert of the University of Antwerp told Reuters.

"We find no support for that idea," he said. The scientists urged greater protection for temperate forests and northern pine forests such as in Siberia, Canada, the Nordic region or Canada.

The forests studied, from 15 to 800 years old, kept on growing thicker roots and branches while carbon-rich leaves and other debris built up in the soil. And new vegetation quickly replaced fallen trees that could take decades to rot.


REDWOOD LIMIT

Still, forests could not go on absorbing more carbon for ever. Forests along the Pacific coast of the United States, where giant redwoods flourish, seemed at the limit with between 500 and 700 tonnes of carbon per hectare (2.5 acres), they said.

And the scientists said there was too little data to know if tropical forests, less affected by seasonal swings and other factors, also kept accumulating carbon as they aged.

Deforestation, often burning of forests to clear land for farming, accounts for 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from human sources, according to UN data. Warming can stoke droughts, heatwaves, more powerful storms and rising seas.

Climate negotiators from 190 nations, meant to agree a new UN pact to fight global warming by the end of 2009, are debating ways to pay developing nations to slow deforestation from Brazil to Indonesia.

The Nature study urged wider protection for other forests and said that: "carbon-accounting rules for forests should give credit for leaving old-growth forest intact."

"The focus on deforestation has been limited to the tropics," Luyssaert said. "We kind of forgot about the forests in places like Siberia, Canada and Alaska. Hopefully we can draw attention to them."
(Editing by Matthew Jones)

Old forests help curb global warming too: study
Yahoo News 10 Sep 08;

Old-growth forests remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, helping to curb the greenhouse gases that drive global warming, according to a study to be published Thursday.

Many environmental policies are based on the assumption that only younger forests, mainly in the tropics, absorb significantly more CO2 than they release.

Partly as a result, primary forests in temperate and subarctic regions of the northern hemisphere are not protected by international treaties, and do not figure in climate change negotiations seeking ways to reward countries that protect carbon-absorbing woodlands within their borders.

Some 30 percent of global forest area -- half old-growth -- is unmanaged primary forest.

"Old-growth forests can continue to accumulate carbon, contrary to the long-standing view that they are carbon neutral," lead researcher Sebastiaan Luyssaert, a professor at the University of Antwerp in Belgium, told AFP.

An international team led by Luyssaert analysed scores of databases set up to monitor the flow of carbon into and out of the world's vegetal ecosystems.

They calculated that primary forests in Canada, Russia and Alaska alone absorb about 1.3 gigatonnes of carbon per year, about ten percent of the net global carbon exchange between the ecosystem and the atmosphere.

These forests need to be protected not just because they help to absorb carbon dioxide, but also because destroying them could release huge stores of greenhouse gases.

"Old-growth forests accumulate carbon for centuries and contain large quantities of it," Luyssaert said. If these pools of CO2 "are disturbed, much of this CO2 will move back into the atmosphere," he added.

The new study, published in the London-based science journal Nature, suggests that UN climate change negotiations underway should also include incentives for northern hemisphere countries to protect their forests.

"The discussions should be expanded to include boreal and temperate forests in Canada and Russia," Luyssaert said.

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Urban man cuts fuel intake, but will this lifestyle last, IEA asks

Yahoo News 10 Sep 08;

Businesses, lifestyles and urban behaviour in advanced countries led by the United States are adapting to high energy prices, the IEA said on Wednesday, but wondered if this energy dieting will last.

For example, "the shift from gas-guzzling SUVs (sports utility vehicles) to smaller, more efficient vehicles is becoming a stampede."

In the language of economists, the big question is whether the huge and rapid rise in prices in the last two years is causing a temporary "suppression" of demand or lasting "destruction" of some consumption.

However, "a more pertinent question is arguably whether the ongoing structural shift towards greater energy efficiency will be more pronounced than in the past," the International Energy Agency says, using behaviour in the United States as a leading indicator.

"The available evidence so far, albeit it admittedly anecdotal, suggests that US consumers are both expecting the oil price to stay high and the economy to remain subdued."

The ratio of sales of SUV-type vehicles in the US to total vehicles sales was now less than half for the first time since the early 2000s.

This was likely to have "significant consequences" for the overall efficiency of the 250 million vehicles in the United States, beyond the effect of tougher fuel-efficiency standards.

At current sales of 13 million new vehicles per year, replacement of the entire fleet would take nearly 20 years but "the potential effect could be dramatic," the IEA calculates.

The result could be "a thirty-percent efficiency improvement" to levels seen in Europe and Japan, and "a fall of some 3.0 million barrels per day in US gasoline (petrol) demand which currently accounts for close to 45 percent of total domestic oil demand."

The IEA insisted: "This figure may seem far-fetched, but the current trend may well be seen in retrospective as the inflexion point, the peak, of US gasoline demand."

US motorists were cutting back on their driving, and travellers were flying less, turning to other means of transportation such as trains, buses, motorbikes and even cruise ships.

The head of the oil industry and markets division at the IEA, David Fyfe, told AFP: "We haven't made root and branch changes to our 2009 (demand) forecasts because some of this evidence is anecdotal.

"But there's a growing body of evidence that high prices in conjunction with weakening economic conditions, are having an impact on people's lifestyles which could last."

The report says that data so far shows that "the oil price rise, combined with the economic downturn, has been devastating for the beleaguered US consumers", since retail fuel prices had "almost tripled in less than two years."

It is not evident that "old habits will return" when the economy recovers and if the recent price fall continues because "behavioural changes could by then be well entrenched" and experience as well as theory showed that people responded more to price rises than to price falls.

And "the suburban sprawl may be gradually losing its appeal," the IEA suggests.

House prices appeared to be falling slightly more in suburbs, away from the centres of economic activity, and in even more distant "exurbs".

This could suggest that "more Americans are considering living closer to their place of work... another structural trend that would eventually entail less driving."

And there is "increasing evidence that businesses, ranging from manufacturing to airlines, are fundamentally changing the way they operate, since many business practices were designed for an era of cheap energy."

The IEA concludes: "This trend could also signal a momentous structural change in the making."

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Global warming threatens Asia-Pacific security, warns Australian PM

Kevin Rudd announces increase in defence spending in response to accelerating arms race in region

David Batty and agencies, guardian.co.uk 10 Sep 08;

Food and water shortages caused by global warming could lead to military conflict among the Asia-Pacific's emerging superpowers such as China and India, the Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd, warned today.

Australia needed to strengthen its armed forces in response to an "explosion" in defence spending in Asia, he said. There was a growing arms race in the Asia-Pacific, and economic and political conflicts could lead to military confrontation, he said.

"Militarily ... as it has already become economically and politically, the Asia-Pacific will become a much more contested region," Rudd said.

Among the emerging challenges to Australia's security were the "increased militarisation" of the region and "preparing for the new challenges of energy security and anticipating the impact of climate change on long-term food and water security," he said. "Population, food, water and energy resource pressures will be great."

While the Asia-Pacific would increasingly be linked economically, the Australian prime minister said, longstanding disputes - such as those between North and South Korea and between China and Taiwan - were likely to remain potential flashpoints for conflict.

Rudd announced that Australia's defence budget would increase by 3% annually for a decade, and said strengthening the navy was the country's military priority.

"There is an arms build-up across the Asia-Pacific region and Australia therefore must look at the long-term future at the same time as advancing our diplomacy," he said.

Neil James, the executive director of independent thinktank the Australian Defence Association, said that due to inflation the spending increase would not be enough to maintain Australia's current military capability, let alone expand it.

"Australia underspent on defence for about three decades, so the current increases are really a catch-up," said James.

Rudd said Australia would strengthen security cooperation with Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, while maintaing its defence alliance with the United States as the bedrock of its security policy.

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'Emissions-free' power plant pilot fires up in Germany

Simon Sturdee, Yahoo News 9 Sep 08;

One of Europe's biggest power firms inaugurated a prototype coal-fired power station on Tuesday it says is almost emissions-free but environmentalists were less than impressed.

Located on the site of the existing Schwarze Pumpe power station in eastern Germany, Sweden's Vattenfall said the new technology has the potential to allow coal to be burnt without releasing harmful greenhouse gases.

"Today industrial history is being written," Vattenfall Europe's chief executive Tuomo Hatakka told a news conference.

"Coal has a future, we are convinced of that, but the carbon dioxide emissions from it have no future."

After first burning the coal, or in this case lignite, in pure oxygen -- itself a new method -- Vattenfall captures the carbon dioxide released using a technology called Carbon Capture and Storage, or CCS.

This involves compressing the gas, transporting it away in liquid form and sending it deep underground where it is safely sealed away, either in depleted gas or oil fields or in underground cavities full of saltwater.

Capturing the gases prevents them escaping into the Earth's atmosphere and contributing to global warming.

In the case of the pilot plant outside Spremberg close to the Polish border, the liquid carbon dioxide is taken 350 kilometres (210 miles) in lorries and injected "for permanent storage" into an empty gas field in northern Germany.

With around two-thirds of the world's power generated by burning fossil fuels and humanity set to rely heavily on these "for the foreseeable future," Vattenfall says the new technology is the way forward.

But environmental groups, which staged a small demonstration outside the plant on Thursday as some 400 guests arrived for the inauguration ceremony, said the technology would never catch on.

Germany's BUND pressure group slammed CCS as a "fig leaf" allowing new coal-fired power stations that chuck out millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide to be built while giving the appearance of addressing global warming.

"Vattenfall managers talk a lot about supposedly environmentally friendly coal power stations but they are still planning and building conventional coal-fired power stations with high levels of CO2 emissions," BUND's energy spokesman Thorben Becker said.

Greenpeace said that CCS decreases the amount of energy produced by coal-fired plants by 10 to 40 percent, meaning a much greater amount of coal must be burnt to produce the same amount of energy.

But the World Wide Fund for Nature was more forgiving, believing CCS "can serve as a technological bridge" until a better alternative is developed, WWF climate expert Regine Guenther told the Berlin daily Tageszeitung.

Vattenfall admitted that the technology has some way to go, not least with regard to its high cost, but also in terms of the infrastructure needed to transport and store the captured carbon dioxide.

At the pilot project around four trucks will be needed to take away the 240 tonnes of gas produced every day, and if CCS was applied on a large scale, the volume produced would mean that pipelines would need to be built, Vattenfall's vice-president for research Lars Stroemberg said.

The firm insisted that storing the gas was safe, however, saying underground reservoirs of carbon dioxide already occur naturally in geological formations where it has been trapped by sedimentary rocks in much the same way as oil or gas.

"There is much more storage capacity than will ever be needed," Stroemberg said.

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New Zealand Parliament Passes Carbon Trading Scheme

PlanetArk 11 Sep 08;

SYDNEY - New Zealand on Wednesday passed a climate change bill that will set up the country's first emissions trading scheme and help it meet obligations under the Kyoto Protocol, the government said.

Trading of carbon credits begins in 2009 and Wednesday's parliamentary approval means the system is the first national cap-and-trade scheme outside of Europe.

Neighbouring Australia has set a 2010 deadline for its scheme to begin operation.

The bill faced a rocky path to approval by lawmakers, with the minority-led government forced into months of negotiation with the Greens and New Zealand First parties to win majority support.

The bill was passed into law on a 63-57 vote in parliament.

The Climate Change (Emissions Trading and Renewable Preference) Bill will eventually bring all sectors of the economy under a regime that sets limits on the amount of greenhouse gas they can emit.

Those that breach their limit will have to buy credits from users that produced emissions below their ceiling.

The New Zealand trading scheme will phase in sectors across the economy and includes all emissions from forestry from 2008, transport by 2009, stationary energy such as coal-fired power stations by 2010 and agricultural waste by 2013.

About 60 percent of New Zealand's power comes from hydro-electricity, while agricultural emissions, such as methane from livestock, comprise about half the nation's total greenhouse gas emissions.

The plan would act as a catalyst to bring forward clean technology and would create incentives for climate-friendly behaviour and investments, according to David Parker, minister for climate change.

"For the first time we will start factoring in the true cost of greenhouse gas emissions into our economy," Parker said in a statement.

New Zealand was joining 27 others nations that had adopted emissions trading schemes, and many others that were developing them, Parker said.

Provisions in the bill meant New Zealand could meet its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol while helping the country reduce emissions at the lowest possible cost, Parker said.

"It does so in a fair and effective way by charging the polluter for increases in emissions and rewarding decreases," Parker said.

New Zealand aims to be "carbon neutral" in the total energy sector by 2040. (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by David Fogarty)

FACTBOX - Carbon Trading Schemes Around the World
PlanetArk 11 Sep 08;

Companies and governments are turning to emissions trading as a weapon to fight climate change, in a carbon market worth US$64 billion last year.

Cap-and-trade schemes force participants -- often energy-intensive industries -- to buy permits to emit greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, which is produced from burning fossil fuels.

New Zealand's parliament on Wednesday passed the Labour government's climate change bill, which will introduce emissions trading from 2009.

The scheme will eventually cover all emissions from the economy, but critics said it was too slow to phase in the crucial sectors such as agriculture, which makes up around half of the countries total emissions.

Australia's leading climate guru Ross Garnaut last week said the Australian government should aim for an emissions cut of at least 10 percent by 2020 (based on 2000 levels), or up to 25 percent if a tougher target is adopted.

He also recommended that Aussie carbon prices be pegged at A$20 (US$16) a tonne from 2010, with only marginal increases for the first two years.

The 27-nation European Union launched its cap-and-trade scheme in 2005, while Canada is set to launch a market of its own in 2010.

US senators in June defeated a proposed federal US climate change bill which included cap and trade.

In another type of carbon market, countries and companies can trade carbon offsets under three, UN-led Kyoto Protocol schemes.

A full list of established and proposed schemes follows.


INTERNATIONAL SCHEMES

KYOTO PROTOCOL (United Nations) (1)

Launched: 2005

Mandatory for 37 developed signatory countries

Target: 5 percent reduction in 1990 emissions by 2008-2012

Contains three sub-schemes to help signatories meet targets:

1- Clean Development Mechanism (CDM): Developed countries can invest in clean energy projects in developing nations

2- Joint Implementation (JI): Rich countries can invest in clean energy projects in former communist countries or "economies in transition"

3- Assigned Amount Units (AAUs): Signatories can trade surplus emissions rights among themselves

First commitment period expires in 2012 and governments scrambling to negotiate a successor agreement.

EU ETS - European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (2)

Launched: 2005 (Phase 1: 2005-2007, Phase 2: 2008-2012, Phase 3: 2013-2020)

Mandatory for 27 nations in EU

Covers around half of all EU emissions

Target: Reduce EU ETS emissions by 21 percent by 2020 compared to 2005 levels

Worth US$50 billion in 2007 (3)


PROPOSED NATIONAL SCHEMES

UNITED STATES

Mandatory cap-and-trade scheme proposed under Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act was rejected by the US Senate in June, but many observers expect either presidential candidate to introduce new climate legislation within first six months of their presidency.

CANADA (4)

Launch: 2010

Mandatory for all 10 provinces and three territories

Target: Reduce 2006 emissions by 20 percent by 2020

Scheme covers 50 percent of Canada's emissions

Potential problems: Alberta already has a provincial scheme and several provinces have joined US regional schemes.

JAPAN (5)

Currently a voluntary scheme (JVETS), and government trialling a mandatory scheme in autumn 2008.

Target: Cut emissions by 14 pct below current levels by 2020

JVETS (voluntary scheme) - Launched: 2005

Target: Cut emissions from a 2002-2004 average, using government-subsidised clean energy equipment

AUSTRALIA (6)

Launch: 2010

Mandatory - to cover 75 percent of Australian emissions

Target: First cap (2010-2012) to cut emissions to 8 percent above 1990 levels (Australia's Kyoto target). Medium-term caps could be 10-25 percent below 2000 levels by 2020, while long-term targets "should reflect increasing levels of ambition" and move country towards an eventual goal of reducing 2000 emissions by 60 percent by 2050.

NEW ZEALAND (7)

Launch: Obligations start in 2008, trading starts in 2009

Mandatory - includes forestry in 2008, electricity in 2010, transport fuels (16 pct of total emissions) in 2011 and agricultural waste (47 pct of total emissions) from 2013.

Target: To be announced

Participants will receive permits representing 90 percent of 2005 emissions between 2013-2018. Free permits will then be phased out from 2019 to have full auctioning by 2029. Importing HFC and PFC offsets to be restricted until 2013, and using AAUs for compliance will only be allowed between 2008-2012.

Auckland's TZ1 exchange has been appointed to be VCS (Voluntary Carbon Standard) registry.

Sources: (1) UNFCCC

(2) European Commission

(3) World Bank

(4) Environment Canada

(5) Japanese government

(6) Australian government

(7) New Zealand government, Barclays Capital (Compiled by Michael Szabo; Editing by David Fogarty)

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