Best of our wild blogs: 6 Oct 08

Zoos: Why a Revolution is Necessary to Justify Them
a thought-provoking article on mongabay.com

Gardening for native wildlife
a pretty garden is not as wild-friendly as a messy one. Find out how to make a wild garden on the cicada tree eco place blog

Bee-eater catching fish in lake?
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Sluggish on F1 day and other recent reef happenings
on the singapore celebrates our reefs blog

Interns with Marine Biology Lab bag top prize in blogging contest
on The Biodiversity crew @ NUS blog

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Climate change will damage Australian fish stocks

Laura Anderson, Adelaide Now 6 Oct 08;

CONSUMERS will find it harder to buy salmon, king prawns and barramundi in coming years with a report showing climate change is threatening the nation's fish stocks.

Rising temperatures, ocean currents, rainfall and extreme weather will have negative impacts on the $2.1 billion fish industry and will also upset marine ecosystems, the Federal Government report to be released today warns.

Compiled by the Department of Climate Change, the report says the Tasmanian salmon, rock lobster and abalone industries, and barramundi, prawns and mudcrab fisheries in the north of Australia are most at risk.

The report did not specify any impact on South Australia's major fisheries, which has an export value of about $519 million.

Major industries include southern bluefin tuna and Spencer Gulf prawns out of Port Lincoln and southern rock lobster out of Eyre Peninsula and the South-East.

It says coral reefs will also be affected, with coral bleaching likely to have flow-on effects for species such as the coral trout and red emperor.

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said the report found climate change "is likely to affect not only the fishing industry itself, but also the regional and coastal communities the industry supports".

In relation to aquaculture production, South Australia's most profitable species are tuna and oysters.

The report says climate change is expected to have "direct and indirect impacts on all Australian aquaculture production environments". Meanwhile, the South Australian Government has warned that climate change is posing a "considerable" threat to the state's coastal homes.

The State Government has sounded the warning to a federal parliamentary committee, which will head to Adelaide on Wednesday to investigate the impact of climate change on coastal communities.

The State Government has called for a review of existing coastal communities to determine those most at risk, and a high-resolution digital elevation model of the coast, to evaluate the potential impacts of climate change.

Fish stock at risk in climate change
Mark Metherell, Sydney Morning Herald 6 Oct 08;

CLIMATE change is likely to hit supplies of many of Australia's favourite eating fish, including barramundi, salmon, rock lobster and prawns, the most extensive study on the subject yet undertaken by the Federal Government has warned.

The CSIRO study, commissioned by the Department of Climate Change and to be released today, reports the overall impact of global change "will pose some very significant risks to the sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture in Australia".

Projected changes in temperature, ocean currents, rainfall and extreme weather events due to climate change are all likely to significantly influence fish stocks and marine ecosystems in the $2.1 billion Australia fishery and aquaculture industry, the report finds.

It predicts that in the cooler southern waters, adverse impacts will hit the $220 million-plus Tasmanian salmon industry, which represents a third of the country's aquaculture production.

The spread of the long-spined sea urchin south along the east coast of Tasmania, holds "serious implications" for the Tasmanian rock lobster and abalone fisheries, which are together worth more than $150 million.

"Considerable impacts" would also hit the northern prawn fisheries. Impacts on coral reefs, such as an increased incidence of coral bleaching, would have flow-on effects for fisheries based on reef-associated species, such as coral trout and red emperor.

Changes in rainfall patterns would endanger catches of prawns, barramundi and mud crabs in the northern fisheries.

The Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong, said the report, a preliminary assessment of the challenges posed by climate change, found it was likely to affect the fishing industry, as well as the regional and coastal communities the industry supports.

Climate change impacts would vary by region, and some data suggests that effects may have already occurred.

Senator Wong said the report was another reminder of the need to tackle climate change through reducing carbon pollution.

The Rudd Government is working on the final design of its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, to be released in a white paper by the end of the year.

The study says there is "little consolidated knowledge of the potential impact of climate change".

Fisheries in south-eastern Australia were most likely to be affected by changes in water temperature, northern fisheries by changes in rainfall and fisheries in Western Australia by changes in the Leeuwin Current.

Global warming set to shake our eating habits
Paul Maley, The Australian 6 Oct 08;

CLIMATE change is likely to deprive us of the pleasures of eating beef and lamb, instead forcing us to contemplate platefuls of kangaroo meat and threatening another Australian table staple -- seafood.

A report to be released by the CSIRO today says changes in temperature, ocean currents, rainfall and extreme weather events could cost Australian fisheries tens of million of dollars.

Hardest hit could be stocks of Tasmanian salmon, estimated to be worth $221million in 2005-06 and representing 30 per cent of the total national aquaculture production.

The report says projected ocean warming of 2-3 degrees by 2070 could render salmon farming unviable, leaving open the possibility of salmon farmers having to shift their operations offshore to deeper, cooler waters.

And the retreat of mangrove forests and seagrass beds could leave commercially farmed banana prawns, mud crabs and barramundi without their habitats, the study found.

Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said the report was a preliminary assessment of the effect climate change could have on Australia's commercial fishing and aquaculture industry, worth about $2.1 billion.

"The report finds climate change is likely to affect not only the fishing industry but also the regional and coastal communities the industry supports," Senator Wong said.

"It finds climate change impacts will vary by region and that many impacts are expected to be negative, with some data suggesting that effects may have already occurred."

The CSIRO assessment comes on the back of a similar warning issued by the Rudd Government's climate adviser, Ross Garnaut, who warned that sheep and cattle farming was "highly vulnerable" to climate change.

Professor Garnaut backed kangaroo meat as an alternative, on the grounds that kangaroos emit "negligible" levels of methane gas.

"For most of Australia's human history -- around 60,000 years -- kangaroo was the main source of meat. It could again become important," the CSIRO report says.

However, the report says climate change may have positive impacts on some fish stocks.

The CSIRO's Richard Matear, who helped write the report, said some species could benefit from expanded habitats.

"There are other fisheries that will benefit from having expanded range because temperatures are warning and they can move further south," Dr Matear told The Australian.

But he said that given the long lead time with some aquaculture facilities such as salmon farms, the industry needed to start thinking about the potentially destructive effects.

"When people put these aquaculture facilities in place they're looking at investments for 10-20 years, so people need to start thinking about the potential effects now," he said.

Dr Matear said it was not certain all of the changes documented in the report were attributable to climate change.

The infestation of long-spined sea urchin that threatened Tasmanian rock lobster and abalone fisheries was not necessarily the product of climate change, he said. "Is that a climate change signal or is it more likely a human impact of fishing? I don't think it's certain."

Climate Change Threatens Australian Fisheries
Michael Perry, PlanetArk 7 Oct 08;

SYDNEY - Climate change threatens Australia's A$2.1 billion (US$1.6 billion) commercial fishing and aquaculture industry, but may create new wild fisheries as tropical marine species move south as sea temperatures rise.

Changes in sea temperatures, currents, winds, rainfall, sea levels and extreme weather events threaten to adversely affect fish and shellfish numbers, said a report by the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

"It is apparent that climate change will impact the biological, economic and social aspects of many fisheries," said the CSIRO report released on Monday.

"South-east fisheries are most likely to be affected by changes in water temperature, northern fisheries by changes in precipitation, and western fisheries by changes in the Leeuwin Current (a warm southerly current), said the report.

It said many marine species "may be lost as the climate continues to warm" and alters the island nation's two main ocean currents, the East Australian Current and the Leeuwin Current, which support several commercially important species like rock lobsters, scallops, sardines, whitebait and tropical tuna.

Australia's A$220 million salmon industry off the southern island state of Tasmania could be the hardest hit as salmon are already cultivated close to their upper thermal limit.

By 2030 sea surface temperatures in the South Tasman Sea are expected to rise by 0.6 to 0.9 degrees Celsius and along the northwest coast of Australia between 0.3 and 0.6 degrees Celsius, says Australia's Bureau of Meteorology.

The CSIRO report said a changes in rainfall could reduce catches of barramundi, prawns and mud crabs in northern fisheries of Queensland and the Northern Territory. Rainfall patterns affect nutrient levels and algal blooms containing toxins

Coral bleaching as a result of higher sea temperatures could have flow-on effects for reef-associated species, such as coral trout and red emperor.

"This report is yet another reminder that climate change imposes costs on this nation -- costs not only in terms of our way of life, but in terms of the economic costs to our industries and to our communities," said Climate Change Minister Penny Wong.

"Climate change impacts will vary by region and that many impacts are expected to be negative, with some data suggesting that effects may have already occurred," Wong said.

"The report finds there may be new opportunities for some wild fisheries where tropical species shift southward."

Australia's aquaculture industries would have to adapt to climate change through selective breeding and by regulating their marine environments, said the CSIRO report.

"Australian fisheries and aquaculture management policies do not currently incorporate the effects of climate variability or climate change in setting harvest levels or developing future strategies," said the report. (US$1=A$1.32) (Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

Read more!

Shellfish hunting in Bedok: From canal to dinner table

Tay Shi'an, The New Paper 6 Oct 08;

LOCALS climbing into smelly canals to dig for shellfish for the dinner table.

A scene out of a rural village? No, this is Singapore and the canal is the Sungei Bedok, off Bedok Road.

On weekends, and when the water in the canal is shallow, families and groups of friends can be seen squatting in the shin-deep water, running their hands in the murky water to look for lalas.

Never mind the 'Danger' and 'Do not enter the water' signs, or the faint, vaguely unpleasant smell from the 4m deep canal.

Or that both PUB, the national water agency, and the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority have warned the public against climbing into canals, and eating food from unreliable sources.

Mr Yeo Ah Yong, 48, a deliveryman, was there during the Hari Raya public holiday with two friends.

They came with a broken off fan cover as a sieve, a floating styrofoam box to toss lalas into and pails for storage.

Said Mr Yeo: 'We come here once a week, when the tide is low. It's a good way to spend time, and no need to spend money.'

They've known about this place for a few months, and spend about two hours per lala-hunting session.

His friend, deliveryman Mr Tan Ah Swee, 40, said that on a good day, they can get up to 5kg of lalas each.

They then head back to their homes in Bedok and Sengkang and cook the lalas for their families.

Mr David Ye, 38, also brought his fishing rod. On lucky days, he catches one or two little ni qiu (loaches) - though he wasn't quite so lucky on Wednesday.

After setting up his fishing rod, he waded into the water with his mother-in-law, while his wife watched their 2-year-old son on a bench.

They left with two plastic bags of lalas, which they planned to fry with chilli.

Mr Ye said he's not concerned about the lalas being dirty, as he follows his mother's advice - to soak the lalas overnight in water, so they would excrete the sand and grit. 'It tastes like those you buy from the market, but it's free.'

Housewife Madam Lim, who is in her 60s, was also not worried about the food safety. She said: 'We've eaten this for so long. If anything had happened, we would not have come and caught them anymore.'

She came with two cars full of children and grandchildren, from as far as Sengkang and Woodlands.

She said in Mandarin: 'There are fewer lalas now. Last time, you could just scoop, and your basket would be half full. Now, you must find one by one, and feel for them in the sand.'

The family brought bottles of water to rinse themselves after emerging from the canal. 'Just rinse, then go home and bathe,' said Madam Lim.

She was not worried about her adult children climbing into the canal, as they leave when the water hits knee level, and they are very careful.

She said they had never slipped or had any accidents while lala-hunting.

But they don't allow the grandchildren to climb into the canal.

So they amuse themselves by walking along the cycling and pedestrian path that runs parallel to the canal.

Madam Annie Low, 36, an IT consultant, lets her two daughters, aged 8 and 4, climb in with her husband and mother. She said: 'My children like it, especially my elder daughter. She's always asking us to come.

'It's better than going to shopping centres, nothing to do.

'And she loves to eat it! My mother will fry with spring onion or sambal, or we barbecue and grill it, very nice.'

The adults make sure the children are always close by, and don't climb into the drain holes along the side of the canal.

Madam Low said that at first, she did not dare to eat the lalas.

'But other people ate, and nothing happened. Then I dare,' she said.

Fun but unsafe, say authorities

IT may be fun, but it's dangerous. A spokesman for PUB, the national water agency, said canals are designed to move stormwater away quickly.

So, heavy rainwater from other parts of the drain network upstream may suddenly flow into a dry canal.

'This rapid surge of water within minutes can pose a danger to people who are in a canal,' said Mr Tan Nguan Sen, PUB's director of catchment and waterways.

'For this reason, the public are not allowed to enter any canals as they may not be able to get out of the canal in time when that happens.'

To ensure public safety, there are railings and warning signs along deep drains and canals to prevent people from accidentally falling in.

PUB said it will step up its surveillance and put up more warning signs at the canal. It also encouraged members of the public to call PUB's 24-hour call centre at 1800 284 6600 if they see people in canals without authority from PUB.

And, are the lalas safe to eat?

A spokesman from the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority said that such shellfish are 'high-risk' food, and advised Singaporeans to always purchase their food from reliable sources, which fall under AVA's existing surveillance programme to check on the safety of seafood.

Said the spokesman: 'Certain seafoods are considered high risk as they are more likely to cause food-borne illness. They include raw or partially cooked oysters, cockles, clams and lalas. They tend to accumulate viruses and bacteria from the surrounding water.'

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AVA investigates illegal import of arowana

Fish without the chips
Neo Chai Chin, Today Online 6 Oct 08;

THE Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) is investigating the illegal import of 50 arowana fish, an endangered species, into Singapore last Thursday.

The fish, worth about $1,000 each, were discovered by AVA officers at its Changi Animal and Plant Quarantine Station at the Changi Air Freight Centre. They had been flown in from Kalimantan in Indonesia by a local breeding farm, Imperial Arowana.

The farm, at Lim Chu Kang, is owned by award-winning breeder Vincent Chong, who is being questioned by the AVA, which said that investigations are ongoing.

When contacted, Mr Chong said: “There was an importing misunderstanding, that’s all. Basically, it’s not a big issue. There was some misunderstanding between Singapore and Indonesia.” He declined to provide further details.

The catching of wild arowana is prohibited under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites). Under the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act, illegal traders can be fined up to $50,000 per specimen (or up to $500,000), jailed up to two years, or both. Singapore became a party to Cites in 1986.

According to its website, Imperial Arowana specialises in the export of Asian Arowana species like the Super Red and Xback, which are sourced from Cites-registered farms in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Recent advances have resulted in the breeding of the fish in captivity but they have to be micro-chipped as proof that they were not captured from the wild.

Asian arowana, prized for its brilliant gold and red-gold colours, are often kept by businessmen who believe that the fish brings good fortune. A top specimen can cost around $20,000, a breeder told Today.

There are over a dozen Cites-registered arowana breeding farms in the Lim Chu Kang area. Their operators inform the AVA when breeding pairs have spawned.

When each fish reaches six months of age, a microchip is embedded, in the presence of an AVA official.

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Consider charming Seletar Airbase, Jalan Kayu for Heritage Site status

There is history in the air
Letter from George Pasqual, Today Online 6 Oct 08;

I REFER to “From pub crawls to children’s books” (Sept 30). The National Heritage Board, in its plan to spend $8 million on heritage projects, should consider including the development of the former Seletar Airbase area and the adjacent Jalan Kayu precinct.

The $60-million plan of the Economic Development Board and the Jurong Town Corporation to upgrade Seletar Airport to an Aero Space Park to meet the growth of the aerospace industry will be completed by 2018. This area, the size of 100 football fields, will be home to about 100 aerospace companies.

It has a tranquil country charm and luxuriant greenery with abundant bird life, quaint low-slung black and white homes,colonial buildings and the historical Royal Air Force base.

The first Singapore British naval and air bases were in Seletar. Starting in 1927, mangrove swamps were filled in, while rubber trees and some hills were completed in the early 1930s, it was the site of the first Royal Air Force base east of India and Singapore’s first civilian airport.

It saw the arrival of famous personalities including the aviatrix Amy Johnson and the famous British actor-director Noel Coward, and saw the development of the first commercial airmail and passenger services in Singapore and Malaya.

With this proud history, this area should be designated a Heritage Site.

The guardhouse at the entrance to the airbase as well as an adjacent building should be refurbished and preserved. The building, with its colonial military facade, could be turned into a mini-museum to house airbase memorabilia.

Nearby Jalan Kayu “village town” — once upon a time noted for its “papa and mama” shops, eateries serving fish and chips and other Western cuisine, a few bars and its famed roti prata — was the favourite haunt of the hundreds of British families living in the airbase and in the surrounds of Seletar Hills.

Pasar malams were a popular, frequent event in the area. Every night, throngs of British residents revelled in its countryattractions and the local and foreign fare.

The heritage of the airbase and Jalan Kayu must not be lost to future generations.

Extend conservation to Seletar, Jalan Kayu area
Letter from George Pasqual, Straits Times Forum 8 Oct 08;

I REFER to last Saturday's report 'Twelve iconic structures'. It is good news to read that the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is extending its conservation efforts beyond buildings to include structures, places and landmarks that are reminders of our past. It is hoped that other organisations will take its cue.

The National Heritage Board, as part of its plan to expend $8 million on heritage projects, should consider including the development of the former Seletar Airbase area and the adjacent Jalan Kayu precinct as one of its priorities.

The $60 million master plan of the Economic Development Board and JTC Corporation to upgrade Seletar Airport to an aerospace park will be completed by 2018. It will be the size of 100 football fields, home to aerospace companies.

The area currently has a tranquil country charm with abundant bird life, quaint black-and-white homes and a historical military past. The first Singapore British naval and air bases were in Seletar. Starting from 1927, mangrove swamps were filled in, rubber trees cut down and some hills removed. The work was completed in the early 1930s and the area became the first Royal Air Force base east of India and the first civilian airport in Singapore. It welcomed famous personalities like aviator Amy Johnson and British actor-director Noel Coward, and saw the development of the first commercial airmail and passenger services in Singapore and Malaya.

With such a proud history, it is hoped that this area will be designated a heritage site.

There is a guard house at the entrance to the airbase and an adjacent administration building which should be refurbished and preserved. The building with its colonial military fa�ade could be turned into a mini museum to house memorabilia of the airbase.

Nearby 'village town' Jalan Kayu, once noted for its papa and mama shops, eateries serving delicious fish and chips and other western cuisine, a few bars and its famed roti prata, was the favourite haunt of the hundreds of British families living in the airbase and in the surrounds of Seletar Hills. Pasar Malams were also a popular frequent event in Jalan Kayu.

The heritage of the airbase and Jalan Kayu must not be lost to future generations. By designating it a heritage site - and with further enrichment by the relevant authorities - its rich colourful history could be preserved for posterity.

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Ubin scenes on canvas

Tara Tan, Straits Times 6 Oct 08;

He said Pulau Ubin still has the feel of Singapore in the 1950s and 1960s, and urged artists to capture it before it gets 'developed into another Sentosa'.

During his 30 years in politics, Dr Ho Kah Leong occasionally dabbled in oil paintings. Now, the former Senior Parliamentary Secretary and MP has turned his hobby into a full-time pursuit, spending weekends capturing the idyllic scenes of Pulau Ubin.

An exhibition, Poetic Ubin, showcasing 20 of these paintings opened last Friday at the Black Earth Art Museum in Joo Chiat Road.

'When you're in politics, your weekends are never really yours. But now, I have the time to pursue my interest in art,' said Dr Ho, 73. He was the principal of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa) from 1997 to 2003. He retired from politics when he stepped down as MP for Jurong in 1996.

The 20 paintings were done over a few decades on his visits to Pulau Ubin with a group of artist friends and his wife, Madam Grace Chan, 70, who does calligraphy. The Hos have three children - a son and two daughters. One of his daughters is photographer Ho Hui May, 32, who lectures at Nafa.

'I am a big advocate of on-the-spot paintings,' he said. 'You immerse yourself in the ambience and get a real sense of the place.'

He said Pulau Ubin still has the feel of Singapore in the 1950s and 1960s, and urged artists to capture it before it gets 'developed into another Sentosa'.

His paintings cost about $12,000 each and are for sale at the exhibition.

They capture scenes of villages, bumboats and the busy jetty.

Dr Ho is also launching a calendar for next year with 13 paintings from this series. Proceeds from 300 copies costing $10 each will go towards the charity B'Well in Geylang East, which caters to the healthcare needs of senior citizens.

Dr Ho, who is a senior consultant at publishing firm Pioneers & Leaders, said his passion for painting started when he was a student at Chung Cheng High School.

'I used to stay back after school just to paint,' he recalled. 'Once you get started on painting, you will never forget how to do it,' he said with a chuckle.

Where: Black Earth Art Museum, 352 Joo Chiat Road
When: Till Oct 19, Tuesday to Sunday, noon to 9 pm
Admission: Free

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Help with electricity hikes on the way

Li Xueying, Straits Times 6 Oct 08;

MEASURES to help ease the impact of the 'rather large' hike in electricity tariffs could be introduced in next year's Budget.

Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam hinted at it yesterday during a dialogue with residents of Toa Payoh East.

He said: 'We know the large increase this quarter has unsettled many people. We will take that into consideration in next year's Budget when we decide on the U-Save (Utilities-Save) rebates and the total package solution for the economy.'

Electricity tariffs shot up 21 per cent last Wednesday - the biggest one-time increase in seven years.

Grassroots leader Rashid Hussein, 67, questioned the timing of the hike, given that oil prices had just gone down.

Mr Tharman acknowledged that it was 'sudden and surprising for most people'. But he placed it in context, saying that in the course of this year, the price of electricity had risen 'much less' than oil prices.

'If you take the year as a whole, you take the electricity tariffs this year compared to last year's, the increase is going to be 26 per cent,' he said.

In contrast, oil prices from January to September had gone up by 45 per cent, he noted. 'So the electricity increase has been reasonable, compared to the oil price increase.'

He reiterated the Government's stance on not subsidising oil prices, noting that the practice had proved problematic for countries in the region and for developed countries.

'When they try to subsidise, it either leads to shortage because the suppliers don't want to supply, or it leads to the government having a bigger and bigger bill on its budget and eventually taxpayers have to pay,' he said.

Instead, Singapore's approach is to set a realistic price based on the global market price, but help the poor through measures such as the U-Save rebates.

For instance, families in one or two-room HDB flats would have received rebates amounting to four to five months of their utilities bills, he said. 'People say the Government gives with one hand and takes with another,' he said to smiles. 'But the hand giving is much much bigger than the hand taking back.'

Mr Tharman also held out hope that electricity tariffs would go down, on the heels of lower oil prices. 'Many people have forgotten that last year, for six months, the tariffs went down, so it is not always going up.'

Power bills: More give than take
Today Online 6 Oct 08;

IN THE wake of a 21-per-cent hike in electricity tariffs for the rest of this year, could the low-income expect more help in next year’s Budget?

Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam acknowledged that the latest electricity hike is “rather large” and said the Government would consider that, as well as the cost of living and economic outlook “as a whole”, in deciding on Utilities-Save (U-Save) rebates and the “total package” next year.

One Toa Payoh East resident pointed out the coincidence in timing of the Oct 1 electricity price hikes and the Government’s second instalment of Growth Dividends.

To this, Mr Shanmugaratnam said it could appear to some like the Government was giving with one hand and taking back with the other. But he assured that the “giving” hand was much larger than the one taking back, citing how the U-Save rebates would more than cover electricityincreases for poorer households. For example, households living in three-room flats wouldreceive $310 in U-Save rebates this year, exceeding their average utilities bill increase of $223.

The U-Save rebates, which will be increased by 50 per cent next month, are part of the GST Offset Package and meant to help HDB households cope with higher costs of living.

Some Singaporeans have highlighted Singapore Power’s nett profit of $1.085 billion in this financial year and Power Seraya’s profits of $218 million, an increase of 30 per cent from the previous year.

Mr Shanmugaratnam said the right approach, though, is to allow local prices to reflect global prices.

“Help the poor directly, rather than subsidise oil prices,” he said. “Avoid a subsidy scheme, because every country has found out that you run into trouble, sooner or later, once you start subsidising oil prices.” NEO CHAI CHIN

Read more!

The Singapore solar sector is heating up

Joint venture with topinstitutes raises $800,000 to develop solar cell industry:
Esther Ng, Today Online 6 Oct 08;

Picture this: There is a new solar panel in the market with the latest technology to reduce your electricity bill drastically. You want to buy it because it means huge savings on your energy bill and you’re prepared to pay for the initial investment. The question on your mind, however, is — will the product last 20 years as claimed by the manufacturer?

This is where testing and certification come in. Energy experts told Today that by 2050, half of the world’s electricity will come from renewable energy and sales of solar panels and other energy efficient products are expected to take off, especially in Asia. As such, testing and certification of these products will become an important measure of quality control for consumers.

VDE, one of the world’s most trusted certification marks, and Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Europe’s premier solar R & D centre, have pumped in $800,000 in a joint venture with the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (Seris).

The aim is to ensure that the solar panels manufactured in Asia are of the highest quality and to support the development of a photovoltaic industry (the harnessing of light into electricity) in this region.

Said VDE’s chairman Wilfried Jaeger: “When a buyer buys a product, he wants to be assured of its quality. Buyers prefer to trust the certification of an independent third party rather than a manufacturer — this is where we come in.”

According to energy experts, photovoltaic modules in solar panels have to withstand a range of elements — high exposure to UV radiation; high humidity; large temperature variations; extreme rainfall; snow; hail — and last for at least 20 years with no significant performance reduction.

“Also, as with new developments in technology, you need to test whether the product is ready for commercial use,” said Dr Hans-Martin Henning, Fraunhofer’s head of department.

Seris will invest $3 million to set up a laboratory to test these products and send the results to VDE and Fraunhofer.

Singapore was chosen because of the city-state’s positioning as a clean energy hub.

Indeed, last year, the Singapore Government identified the Clean Energy industry as a strategic growth area for our economy.

Said Mr Manohar Khiatani, assistant marketing director of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB):”Our clean industry may be small but it has tremendous growth potential. We have already a number of manufacturing and R & D projects in the solar sector — Renewable Energy Corporation, one of the biggest solar manufacturing plants in the world has invested $6 billion in a project here. Other projects include Oerlikon Solar, Norsun and Bosch.”

EDB expects the clean energy industry to contribute $1.7 billion to the GDP and create 7,000 jobs in manufacturing, training and R & D by 2015.

Seris, a joint venture between the EDB and the National University of Singapore, with a five-year budget of $130 million, hopes to be one of the key industry players.

Read more!

Conservation congress kicks off with dire warning on biodiversity

Yahoo News 5 Oct 08;

The world must act quickly if it is to brake an unprecedented die off of the Earth's animal and plant life that could have dire consequences for humans as well, top conservationists warned on Sunday.

"There is a clear sense of urgency," Valli Moosa, president of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and a former environment minister from South Africa, told the opening session of the World Conservation Congress here.

"We must push our conservation movement to step up to the 21st century challenges, and meet the twin menace of climate change and the degradation of ecosystems," he said at the opening ceremony.

More than 8,000 ministers, UN officials, NGOs, scientists and business chiefs have gathered in the Spanish city of Barcelona to brainstorm for 10 days on how to slow the rate of species extinction and steer the world onto a path of sustainable development.

The congress, held every four years, will release an update on Monday of the benchmark "Red List", deemed the global standard for conservation monitoring.

The 2007 edition already shows more than a third of 41,000 species surveyed are facing extinction: a quarter of all mammals, one out of eight birds, one out of three amphibians, and 70 percent of plants.

The new biodiversity "bible" -- compiled from the work of 1,800 scientists -- is even grimmer, say researchers who took part in the effort.

Conservation work can no longer be confined to the narrow task of saving animals and plants from extinction, Nobel Peace laureate Mohammad Yunus told AFP before addressing the convention.

"Conservation of nature cuts across everything -- the sustainability of the planet, of the lives of poor people, and the environmental degradation that is harming nations," said Yunus, who was awarded the Nobel for helping to spread the practice of microcredit for poor people around the world.

With 11,000 volunteer scientists and more than 1,000 paid staff, the IUCN runs thousands of field projects around the globe to monitor and help manage natural environments.

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Vanishing African wildlife threatens livelihoods: scientists

Fran Blandy, Yahoo News 4 Oct 08;

Africa's rich abundance of life seems inexhaustible, but growing pressure on animals and plants could lead to greater poverty, more wars and migration to other continents, experts warned.

From fish in Burkina Faso, to Ethiopian wild coffee, Kenyan forests and traditional medicine plants in the Congo, the continent's natural resources are being threatened by human activity and climate change, experts say.

"If Africa's systems degrade and human wellbeing becomes an issue, cycles of poverty, violence and wars will get worse," John Donaldson of South Africa's National Biodiversity Institute told AFP.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a conference in Cape Town that gathered over 300 policymakers, scientists, and activists from 15 African countries and Germany to discuss research into the protection of plants and animals around the continent.

Surging populations, overuse of land, and climate change threaten to kill off creatures around Africa, where up to 15 percent of all species currently face extinction, the conference heard.

However, on a continent where economies depend heavily on natural resources for mining, agriculture and tourism, changing the behaviour of people to protect animal and plant life is a challenge.

"If you are really hungry and you don't know how to feed your children the next day, you don't care about biodiversity or anything else which isn't of instant importance to you," said Edward Linsenmair of the African conservation group BIOTA.

According to Donaldson, the key is to get governments and individuals to make long-term plans for the environment.

"With poor communities you have to understand the dynamics driving land use in the first place."

Jakob Fahr from the German University of Ulm gave an example from West Africa where Mount Nimba, teeming with diverse flora and fauna, represents a "deadly cocktail" for long-term conservation.

The mountain has been declared by the United Nations as a World Heritage in Danger.

It straddles the borders of Ivory Coast, Liberia, and Guinea and is home to threatened West African bats and frogs.

The threatened species live in an area with remarkable mineral wealth, which places the animals in even greater danger, Fahr told AFP.

"Because of skyrocketing prices for base metals such as iron ore, they are currently being targeted by mining companies and this would result potentially in a major extinction," he said.

The mountain also provides a critical service to surrounding human communities, capturing water which is filtered by the forests still present on the slopes.

"So if you have a open cast mine there you can easily imagine what tremendous and grave consequences that will have on water supply on surrounding communities," he said.

In countries such as Ghana, where a long tradition of gold mining has already shown communities the devastation caused by vanishing animals and plants, locals are much more willing to say no to mining projects.

"The promise of jobs usually is of much more interest in a short term perspective compared to what is being lost in the long term," said Fahr.

Across the continent scientists are trying to inform governments and communities about the impacts of their actions, and get them to implement environmentally-friendly policies.

Disappearing forests and arable land could have a profound effect on the world beyond Africa's borders.

"We are living in one world. If we are destroying a system of a whole continent we are the ones who will suffer greatly, especially Europe," said Linsenmair.

"Africa is before our door, we already have huge problems with refugees. In many cases these are refugees because there are not enough natural resources where they come from."

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Venus flytraps caught in shrinking natural habitat

Mike Baker, Associated Press Yahoo News 5 Oct 08;

Laura Gadd pauses at the edge of a pristine savanna, delicately lifting her feet to avoid trampling any venus flytraps hidden underfoot.

Buried below wisps of wire grass, a few of the plants advertise their presence with a single white flower — perched atop a long stem like a flag of surrender. Gadd finds a half-dozen this day, enough to warrant a spray of glue and inconspicuous powder used to identify the plants and track down poachers who pluck them.

"Let me mark these — this is a good cluster," she says, crouching in the shadow of a longleaf pine.

One of nature's most recognized wonders, the venus flytrap's ability to snatch living prey makes it a favorite of elementary school science classes everywhere. Yet the flytrap is falsely ferocious: It's hardly the man-eating Audrey Jr. from "The Little Shop of Horrors," but a tiny plant only a few inches tall with leaves no bigger than a thumbprint.

These days, the little plant is more vulnerable than ever. And despite its popularity, the people who could protect it seem focused on other problems.

The flytrap's natural habitat exists only within a hundred miles of the Carolinas' coast, where much larger and more territorial plants have always held forth. Booming growth and development along the coast threatens to overrun the few sensitive and thin populations of venus flytraps that still exist in the wild.

An Associated Press review of state botany records found that nearly 80 percent of the 117 identified wild populations of flytraps in North Carolina have little chance of surviving, have been wiped out altogether or haven't been seen in years. Most of the viable clusters are in nature preserves, yet experts believe some of those could be thinned by encroaching humans.

"When you go out looking for these populations that have been recorded, you find you're either in a golf course or a subdivision, or a road or a shopping center," said James Luken, a professor at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C., who studies wetland ecology. "It's a biological hotspot, but it's a development hotspot. These areas are being transformed as fast as the bulldozers can roll."

In South Carolina, flytraps were once found in as many as four counties. But experts there now believe populations exist only in Horry County, on the North Carolina line, and they're quickly retreating to a single nature preserve.

Flytraps also are being wiped out by logging and efforts to suppress wildfires in their slim stretches between dry Carolina savannas and mucky pocosins, a type of wetland. As forest personnel dig firelines to prevent frequent savanna fires from spreading into the pocosins, where fires can rage for weeks in the sandy, peaty soil, they often trample the fragile flytraps.

Poachers also target the carnivorous plant that's a big seller in nurseries, at roadside stands and on the Internet. Flytraps are especially popular overseas, and they're increasingly used for medicinal purposes, but poaching prosecutions are rare because other plants and animals take a higher priority.

"Plants are a challenge because they don't have big brown eyes and fur," said Tom Chisdock, an Asheville-based special agent with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. "So, when you're trying to get people excited about doing enforcement and prosecuting them, sometimes that can be a challenge."

North Carolina officially considers the plant a "special concern," but the state laws protecting the flytrap are lax. The North Carolina Plant Conservation Program, part of the state Department of Agriculture, has long desired stronger protections, but admits that with a staff of three it wouldn't be able to enforce stricter rules.

Gadd, a botanist with the program, said the state considered upgrading the flytrap's protection status to "threatened," but decided against it because the designation is largely reserved for plants that have less than 20 populations remaining in the state. The flytrap has more, although only 16 are graded with "excellent" or "good" viability.

"When you look at the grand scope of things, all of those populations are in one small corner in the whole world," Gadd said.

Some of the healthiest flytrap populations include tens of thousands of plants clustered in well-protected spots, including the vast Camp Lejeune and Fort Bragg military bases. There, the plants are dependent on programs of prescribed burns that clear out competing vegetation like wildfires would normally do.

Sgt. Charles Smith, of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, said repeated flytrap poachers face only misdemeanor charges and are generally fined less than $200. On rare occasions, they'll get a few days in jail. He recalls catching one poacher more than a dozen times digging up "thousands upon thousands" of flytraps on state land to sell for only a dollar or two each.

"What I understand is that him and his crowd are still at it," Smith said.

Smith and his staff of five cover four counties, where they are tasked with enforcing fishing and boating laws while keeping track of more than 250,000 acres of gamelands. "You could spend 60 days working this and maybe one out of 60 days be in the in the right place and right time to contact these individuals," he said.

Rarely used federal laws provide a little more protection, limiting interstate transport and sale of flytraps. But the plant's not considered an endangered species, lost behind hundreds of others on the waiting list.

Rep. Carolyn Justice, a Republican who represents the Wilmington area, pushed last year to begin regulating flytraps in the same fashion as ginseng, a plant used in a variety of herbal and Eastern medicines. The state has a permitting process that requires ginseng dealers to document where they acquired their crop, and North Carolina law makes harvesting ginseng on someone else's land a felony.

But Justice's proposal stalled in a legislative committee after the state Department of Agriculture said they didn't have people in place to enforce it.

"Our population down here is exploding," Justice said. "And as we encroach on these forests, we encroach on (the flytrap). We just need to be real careful monitoring how these are harvested and sold."

Some of the most delicate flytrap populations are found on the edges of civilization, just feet from schools or corridors for electrical transmission lines. Misty Buchanan, a botanist with the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, worries about a small patch of flytraps in the heart of Wilmington next to playground blacktop.

Only this year did the state recategorize the population from "fair viability" — not under threat — to "poor viability."

"It's being kept alive only by people who care and want to keep the natural habitat of the coastal plain," Buchanan said.

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Failure to fight ozone pollution 'puts lives in danger'

Lewis Smith, The Times 5 Oct 08;

Human health and food production are being damaged because too little is being done to control worldwide ozone levels, a report by the Royal Society says.

Ozone forms a protective layer that helps to block ultraviolet radiation high in the atmosphere, but at ground level it is a significant pollutant and a contributor to global warming.

Regulations to control the gas have been introduced by Britain and other industrialised nations but it is still present in quantities well above safe levels, largely because it is carried by air currents from other parts of the world. Levels close to the ground have risen 6 per cent each decade since the 1980s, the Royal Society says in its report, which calls for concerted international action.

Ozone is formed by the reaction between sunlight and chemicals - some naturally occurring and others from pollutants - in the air. Sources of ozone-promoting pollutants include vehicle exhaust fumes and shipping.

Children and the elderly are especially vulnerable to adverse reactions to ozone, which affects the eyes, lungs and nose. An estimated 1,582 people died in 2003 because of the effects of ozone. Deaths are conservatively forecast to rise by 51 per cent to 2,391 by 2020 because of pollution and climate change.

European Union nations, the United States and Japan have all managed to reduce the frequency of peak levels of ozone pollution but have failed to eradicate them.

Peaks occur during hot, sunny and stagnant conditions and can be particularly dangerous when they exceed 100 parts per billion (ppb). Background levels, which are 35-40 ppb in Britain, are worrying scientists because of their effects on human health and crop yields.

David Fowler, chairman of the Royal Society's ground level ozone working group, said: “Weather systems and jet streams transport ozone, and the pollutants that lead to its formation, often far from their point of origin. Here in the UK, for example, we receive most of our ozone from outside of Europe.

“Until we have a globally co-ordinated approach that addresses the international nature of the problem, national and even regional level controls are unlikely to deliver the kind of reductions that are necessary to protect human health and the environment.”

Significant reductions in crop yields because of ozone have been observed in Europe and North America, with £5 billion being knocked off the value of arable crops in Europe in 2000 alone. The nutritional values of wheat, rice and soya bean are all known to be reduced by the chemical.

The Royal Society report, published today, estimates that crop losses will increase over the next 30 years.

In regions including South Asia the losses to crops such as wheat and rice are forecast to be so serious that they may cause food shortages.

Climate change, the report says, will exacerbate the problem by increasing the quantities of ozone produced at ground level. It is also a greenhouse gas so will help to intensify climate change.

Professor Fowler added: “Ozone has become a global pollutant, with direct effects on human health, crop production, ecosystems and climate, yet control strategies are country or region based.

“A co-ordinated global strategy bringing ozone into international frameworks for controlling air pollutants and greenhouse gases is required. The reduction of methane emissions would, for example, contribute both to the reduction of climate change and ozone pollution, and all of the associated ecological and human health effects.”

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Hurricane Ike environmental toll apparent: oil spills and mo

Dina Cappiello, Frank Bass and Cain Burdeau,
Associated Press Writers Yahoo News 6 Oct 08;

Hurricane Ike's winds and massive waves destroyed oil platforms, tossed storage tanks and punctured pipelines. The environmental damage only now is becoming apparent: At least a half million gallons of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico and the marshes, bayous and bays of Louisiana and Texas, according to an analysis of federal data by The Associated Press.

In the days before and after the deadly storm, companies and residents reported at least 448 releases of oil, gasoline and dozens of other substances into the air and water and onto the ground in Louisiana and Texas. The hardest hit places were industrial centers near Houston and Port Arthur, Texas, as well as oil production facilities off Louisiana's coast, according to the AP's analysis.

"We are dealing with a multitude of different types of pollution here ... everything from diesel in the water to gasoline to things like household chemicals," said Larry Chambers, a petty officer with the U.S. Coast Guard Command Center in Pasadena, Texas.

The Coast Guard, with the Environmental Protection Agency and state agencies, has responded to more than 3,000 pollution reports associated with the storm and its surge along the upper Texas coast. Most callers complain about abandoned propane tanks, paint cans and other hazardous materials containers turning up in marshes, backyards and other places.

No major oil spills or hazardous materials releases have been identified, but nearly 1,500 sites still need to be cleaned up.

The Coast Guard's National Response Center in Washington collects information on oil spills and chemical and biological releases and passes it to agencies working on the ground. The AP analyzed all reports received by the center from Sept. 11 through Sept. 18 for Louisiana and Texas, providing an early snapshot of Ike's environmental toll.

With the storm approaching, refineries and chemical plants shut down as a precaution, burning off hundreds of thousands of pounds of organic compounds and toxic chemicals. In other cases, power failures sent chemicals such as ammonia directly into the atmosphere. Such accidental releases probably will not result in penalties by regulators because the releases are being blamed on the storm.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry also suspended all rules, including environmental ones, that would inhibit or prevent companies preparing for or responding to Ike.

Power outages also caused sewage pipes to stop flowing. Elsewhere, the storm's surge dredged up smelly and oxygen-deprived marsh mud, which killed fish and caused residents to complain of nausea and headaches from the odor.

At times, a new spill or release was reported to the Coast Guard every five minutes to 10 minutes. Some were extremely detailed, such as this report from Sept. 14: "Caller is making a report of a 6-by-4-foot container that was found floating in the Houston Ship Channel. Caller states the container was also labeled 'UM 3264,' which is a corrosive material." The caller most likely meant UN3264, an industrial coding that refers to a variety of different acids.

State and federal officials have collected thousands of abandoned drums, paint cans and other containers.

Other reports were more vague. One caller reported a sheen from an underwater pipeline and said the substance was "spewing" from the pipe.

The AP's analysis found that, by far, the most common contaminant left in Ike's wake was crude oil — the lifeblood and main industry of both Texas and Louisiana. In the week of reports analyzed, enough crude oil was spilled nearly to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, and more could be released, officials said, as platforms and pipelines were turned back on.

The Minerals Management Service, which oversees oil production in federal waters offshore, said the storm destroyed at least 52 oil platforms of roughly 3,800 in the Gulf of Mexico. Thirty-two more were severely damaged. But there was only one confirmed report of an oil spill — a leak of 8,400 gallons that officials said left no trace because it dissipated with the winds and currents.

Air contaminants were the second-most common release, mostly from the chemical plants and refineries along the coast.

About half the crude oil was reported spilled at a facility operated by St. Mary Land and Exploration Co. on Goat Island, Texas, a spit of uninhabited land north of the heavily damaged Bolivar Peninsula. The surge from the storm flooded the plant, leveling its dirt containment wall and snapping off the pipes connecting its eight storage tanks, which held the oil and water produced from two wells in Galveston Bay.

By the time the company reached the wreckage by boat more than 24 hours after Ike's landfall, the tanks were empty. Only a spattering of the roughly 266,000 gallons of oil spilled was left, and that is already cleaned up, according to Greg Leyendecker, the company's regional manager. The rest vanished, likely into the Gulf of Mexico.

Ike's fury might have helped prevent worse environmental damage. Its rough water, heavy rains and wind helped disperse pollution.

Air quality tests by Texas environmental regulators found no problems even in communities near industrial complexes, where power outages and high winds in some cases knocked out emergency devices that safely burn off chemicals. But the storm also zapped many of the state's permanent air pollution monitors in the region.

"We came out of this a lot better than we could have been, especially thinking where the storm hit," said Kelly Cook, the homeland security coordinator for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Katrina ranked as among the worst environmental disasters in U.S. history, with about 9 million gallons of oil spilled. But Ike's storm surge was less severe than feared — 12 feet rather than 20-feet plus — and the dikes, levees and bulkheads built around the region's heavy industry mostly held.

Much of that infrastructure is protected by a 1960s-era Army Corps of Engineers system of 15-foot levees similar to the one around New Orleans that failed catastrophically during Katrina. In that storm, floodwaters dislodged an oil tank at a Murphy Oil Corp. refinery in Meraux, La., spilling more than 1 million gallons of oil into the surrounding neighborhoods, canals and playgrounds.

Ike's toll on wildlife is still unfolding. Only a few pelicans and osprey turned up oiled, but the storm upended nature. Winds blew more than 1,000 baby squirrels from their nests. The storm's surge pushed saltwater into freshwater marshes and bayous, killing grasses where cattle graze and displacing alligators. Flooding also stranded cows.

The storm also may mangle migration. The Texas coast is a pit stop for birds heading south for the winter. But Ike wiped out many of their food sources, stripping berries from trees and nectar-producing flowers from plants, said Gina Donovan, executive director of the Houston Audubon Society, which operates 17 bird sanctuaries in Texas.

"It is going to cause wildlife to suffer for awhile," she said.

Along the Houston Ship Channel, a tanker truck floating in 12-feet-high flood waters slammed into a storage tank at the largest biodiesel refinery in the country, causing a leak of roughly 2,100 gallons of vegetable oil. The plant, owned by GreenHunter Energy Inc., uses chicken fat and beef tallow to make biodiesel shipped overseas. It opened just months earlier.

Oneal Galloway of Slidell, La., called to report oil in his neighborhood. The town, north of Lake Pontchartrain, was flooded with Ike's surge. He said oil had washed down the streets.

"It looked like a rainbow in the water," Galloway told the AP. "The residue of the oil is all over our fences, there were brown spots in the yard where it killed the grass."

The likely culprit was not a refinery or oil well, according to Shannon Davis, the director of the parish's public works department, but a neighbor brewing biodiesel in his backyard with used cooking grease.

Cain Burdeau reported from Texas.

Multi-agency Post-Hurricane Ike Pollution Response: http://strikeforcenews.com/go/site/771/

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