Best of our wild blogs: 18 Nov 08

Rare sand dollars and other surprises
on the wild shores of singapore blog

Sad state of Labrador
on the annotated budak blog

Asian Emerald Cuckoo: Confirmed record for Singapore
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Flowering umbrella tree and birds
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Stars without five arms at Pasir Ris
on the wonderful creation blog

Thoughts on the D’Kranji Farm Resort
on AsiaIsGreen

Ubin Lodge is now open!
and other updates including safe cycling on Ubin on the Pulau Ubin Stories blog

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Scientists try to revive Japan's biggest coral reef

AFP 16 Nov 08;

TOKYO (AFP) — Scientists are in an unprecedented project to restore Japan's largest coral reef by planting thousands of baby corals growing on tiny ceramic beds.

Corals in Sekisei Lagoon stretching between the Okinawan islands of Ishigaki and Iriomote have plunged by 80 percent over the past two decades due to rising water temperatures and damage by coral-eating starfish.

"No projects in the world have ever restored a coral reef artificially... but we aim to restore the lagoon in some 10 years," said Mineo Okamoto, associate professor at the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology.

The isles of Okinotori, 1,700km south of Tokyo

In a joint project with Japan's environment ministry, scientists will plant some 6,000 baby corals in the seabed in December over a 600 square-metre (6,450 square-foot) district.

The corals are 18 months old and grow on round ceramic beds that measure four centimetres (1.6 inches) in diameter and have single legs for planting.
It follows the implantation of 5,300 baby corals in 2006. Only one-third of them have survived, with many dying off or damaged by dead and collapsed corals stirred up in the sea by typhoons, Okamoto said.

"We have learned lessons from the previous planting regarding what are the best places to plant and other conditions for survival. We'll make a fresh try," he said.

The attempt is the world's only large-scale project to restore a coral reef artificially, rather than trying to clean the environment for corals or nipping off branches of living corals for transplanting elsewhere, Okamoto said.

If experiments are successful, the Japanese team wants to try the method in other countries, Okamoto said, adding preparations in Indonesia have already being made.

"Corals are marine creatures but are functioning like seaweed in southern seas as they engage in photosynthesis to disperse oxygen," Okamoto noted.

"They invite plankton and then plankton-feeding fish, creating an ecosystem and fishing ground," he said.

Related articles

Japanese experts develop breakthrough method to help restore precious coral reefs
Channel NewsAsia 9 Feb 06

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Continents of garbage adrift in oceans

As much as 10 per cent of plastics produced end up inside giant marine vortexes
Alex Roslin, Canwest News Service 17 Nov 08;

Scientists are growing alarmed about massive floating dumps that are believed to be building up in centres of nearly all of the world's oceans.

The best-known patch, known by some as the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch, consists of an estimated 100 million tonnes of plastic debris that has accumulated inside a circular vortex of currents known as the North Pacific gyre. Environmentalists call it the Pacific Trash Vortex.

It is estimated to be anywhere from 700,000 square kilometres -- an area larger than Alberta -- up to 15 million square kilometres (the size of two Australias), depending on how it is measured. Plastic from the vortex is increasingly washing up on Hawaiian atolls and being found in the guts of seabirds and fish.

An estimated 100,000 marine mammals die each year from eating or being entangled in debris -- mostly plastic -- in the North Pacific alone. Hence the vortex's other nickname: the Plastic Killing Fields.

Plastic in the sea doesn't biodegrade like other garbage. Instead, it slowly breaks up into tinier and tinier pieces that float on the ocean surface or sink to the sea bottom and can take years to reach the ocean gyres.

These vortexes are increasingly seen as environmental disaster zones. Plastic contains many toxic chemicals; it also soaks up other dangerous substances already present in the ocean, like carcinogenic PCBs and DDT.

Eighty per cent of the plastic in the ocean gyres is believed to come from the land, while the remainder is litter from cargo ships, cruise boats and other vessels.

Richard Thompson, a marine biologist at England's University of Plymouth, is one of the few scientists studying plastic in oceans.

In a 2004 study, Thompson found microscopic pieces of plastic in the water that had been scooped up with plankton samples in the North Atlantic starting in the 1960s, but there was four times as much plastic in recent samples, coinciding with a 25-fold increase in plastic production worldwide between 1960 and 2000.

Even more alarming, the water samples were from an area of the Atlantic north of Britain that isn't even in the gyre. No one has studied the amount of plastic in the Atlantic gyre itself.

Ocean currents and winds are slowly bringing debris -- estimated to be 10 per cent of the world's plastic production -- to the centre of five major ocean gyres in the North and South Atlantic, North and South Pacific and the Indian Oceans, said Marieta Francis, executive director of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, based in Long Beach, Calif.

But despite the ever-growing plastic blobs in other oceans, the Pacific gyre is the only one that has been studied.

The Algalita foundation's founder, a yachter named Charles Moore, chanced upon the Pacific Garbage Patch during a 1997 boat race.

"Here I was in the middle of the ocean, and there was nowhere I could go to avoid the plastic," he told the U.S. News and World Report.

The vortex was in the North Pacific gyre, where a high-pressure zone forces debris into a central area that has low currents and winds.

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Coastal protection in the Gulf of Thailand

Swimming against the tide
Sombat Raksakul, Bangkok Post 16 Nov 08;

Residents of coastal areas want to protect their shorelines against erosion, and they say the government is going about it the wrong way.

The fertile muddy coast along the upper Gulf of Thailand is a fisherman's paradise. Neither trawlers nor modern fishing equipment are needed to make big catches due to a combination of delta marshes and mangrove forest that provide an abundant supply of food for marine life.

But soon the marshes and the forests could be gone, washed away by the waves. Much of the coastline of the capital and its adjacent provinces is suffering serious erosion. For decades, the seaside provinces have been experiencing extensive losses of shoreline each year.

Bangkok, Samut Songkhram, Samut Sakhon, Samut Prakan and Chachoengsao provinces are suffering severe erosion according to Master Plan on Coastal Erosion Management for the Upper Gulf of Thailand, published in September by the Thammasat University Research and Consultancy Institute, which studied the coastline covering 100km of shoreline from the mouth of the Mae Klong river in Samut Songkhram to the mouth of the Bang Pakong river in Chachoengsao. Some 2,667 hectares of this coastline was washed away in the 54 years from 1952 to 2006. The problem is severe and the rate of erosion is increasing. Local communities are suffering economic damage estimated at more than 100 million baht a year, according to the institute's report.

Among the worst affected areas are Bang Khun Thian district, the site of Bangkok's fastest-disappearing coastline, and its neighbouring district, Phra Samut Chedi in Samut Prakan province.

Located in the Chao Phraya river delta, these two districts are at greater risk than most coastal areas due to land subsidence caused by excessive commercial use of groundwater over many years.

Analysis of the Thammasat University research shows that Ban Khun Samut Chin in Phra Samut Chedi is hit by strong waves all the year round and loses roughly 28m of coast a year.

For decades, people in the village have been forced to move inland, abandoning parts of their community and farmland to the encroaching seas, said Samon Khengsamut, Ban Khun Samut Chin's headwoman, who has been fighting coastal erosion for 30 years.

With a slow response from government agencies, residents have had to try to combat the erosion themselves. They have built small seawalls of soil, and some residents have tried strengthening their seawalls with rocks and old tyres.

The problem for state officials is that coastal erosion mostly occurs on private land, not public or state-owned land, and this has made them reluctant to take responsibility for the problem, said Assoc Prof Uruya Weesakul, Thammasat University's research project manager.

"By pouring huge sums of state money into solving problems on private land, the authorities think they risk allegations of corruption," Assoc Prof Uruya explained.

But as the erosion becomes worse and is more publicised, someone has to take responsibility.

Without public participation, the officials, in their bureaucratic way, have instigated mammoth and expensive shore protection schemes such as placing submerged off-shore breakwaters in ecologically and socially sensitive areas, which inevitably created conflict with local people.

The reasoning behind such plans seems to be "because they think the big hard structures are strong, have longer life spans and are low-maintenance", said Mr Uruya.

But what is convenient for officials may not be so for local people. Moreover, such hard structures are not suitable for muddy beaches. That is why the residents at Ban Khun Samut Chin opposed the sandbag-seawall project proposed by Samut Prakan's administrators.

"For many years, we sought help from them. But they only came around recently and offered a project that we don't want," Ms Samon said bitterly.

"Residents prefer breakwaters," said the 52-year-old community leader, referring to the design of a team of engineers and coastal experts from Chulalongkorn University.

That team, lead by Assoc Prof Thanawat Jarupongsakul, a lecturer on climatology at the science faculty's Unit for Disaster and Land Information Studies, is experimenting with the construction of an off-shore breakwater for the village's muddy beach. The barrier consists of around 500 concrete pillars arranged in a zigzag pattern, with the aim of dissipating the force of the waves _ preventing them from damaging the beach _ and trapping sediment in the spaces behind the breakwater to help build-up the beach.

In order to avoid conflict with local people, in the first stage of the experiment, the team hired 10 locals to help with gathering information and monitoring the accumulation of sediment.

"The breakwater not only protects existing areas but it also brings more mud to the beach for aquaculture, which many people can use to earn money farming prawns and mussels," Ms Samon said.

Bang Khun Thian is facing similar problems, with a reported a loss of more than 160 hectares along its 5km shoreline.

In response to the problem, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration officials proposed a 316 million baht project to construct breakwaters and groynes. And again, local residents disagreed with the officials' plans. Living with, and earning their living from the sensitive coastal ecology, Bang Khun Thian residents have learned from the mistakes of other coastal communities, and say the groynes would do more harm than good.

"The groynes, breakwaters and sandbag walls may work on sandy beaches, but they are not the right solution to the problems in this area," said Suthin Onfung, chairman of Bang Khun Thian's community organisation council. Mr Suthin said residents were afraid of using groynes, and a sandbag-wall would have an immense effect on the fragile muddy beach.

In the neighbouring provinces of Samut Prakan and Samut Sakhon, said the 58-year-old community leader, local officials protect their coastlines with sandbag walls, but the bags break up and the sand from them could cause damage to the sensitive ecology, particularly on mud beaches that are a vital habitat and nursing ground for marine life.

In an attempt to stop the BMA project, a group of Bang Khun Thian residents recently petitioned His Majesty the King. They demanded that City Hall review its plans, and they proposed the construction of breakwaters made of bamboo.

"The idea of the bamboo wall comes from the local knowledge of our ancestors, and is appropriate for the ecology of a mud beach," said Mr Suthin.

Locals are in the process of surveying locations along the shoreline, and the planned construction and budget estimates for the bamboo breakwater, they say, are expected to be completed within four months, before proposing the project to His Majesty for consideration.

In addition to the breakwater, residents of communities in Bang Khun Thian, led by Seksai Chindachom, 40, are planning social and ecological conservation projects. Firstly, they say they are planning to establish a learning centre to promote tourism and raise public awareness of the issues.

Bang Khun Thian Aquaculture Centre is described as a "nature-learning centre", and residents are looking for a site in the area for a new building for seminars and meetings. Mr Seksai said the group would also encourage villagers to open their homes to tourists.

This eco-tourism project, he said, would be promoted in six seaside villages in tambon Thakham of Bang Khun Thian, which would not only create income for local people but also encourage them to realise the importance of the conservation of their coast.

Nature's greatest threat
Study says human activity - not climate change - is the cause of coastal erosion.

Sombat Raksakul, Bangkok Post 16 Nov 08;

Every year, coastal erosion causes misery to millions living in the upper Gulf of Thailand - Bangkok, Samut Prakan, Samut Sakhon, Samut Songkhram and Chachoengsao. Politicians, the authorities and environmentalists alike commonly attribute the problem to climate change. But according to a study by Thammasat University Research and Consultancy Institute, they are wrong.

Many reports on coastal erosion blame climate change, but this is partly because records on the impact of global warming on climate change and sea levels are not systematic and partly because state agencies and academics work separately, and lack information on climate models. Assoc Prof Uruya Weesakul, the research project study's manager, however, thinks there is no evidence to link erosion with climate change.

In the Master Plan on Coastal Erosion Management for the Upper Gulf of Thailand, published in September, the research team found that global climate change is not a cause of coastal erosion.

The coastal expert said the results of the research point to human activity causing coastal erosion. For example, the excessive commercial use of groundwater in Bangkok and its neighbouring provinces over the years has caused land subsidence - one of the principle causes of coastal erosion.

Contrary to popular belief, the report says, in reality climate change has had only a limited effect on coastal erosion.

"The rise in sea levels is small when compared with the rate of subsidence. Sea levels are predicted to rise in the long term, but analysis of 50 years' data shows that the effect of land subsidence in the upper Gulf of Thailand is a key factor," says the report, which studied the area from the mouth of the Mae Khlong river in Samut Songkhram province, to the mouth of the Bang Pakong river in Chachoengsao province and 100km of coastline that has suffered severe coastal erosion.

Although the rate of subsidence in Bangkok has reduced since the Groundwater Department in 2006 implemented its plan for the reduced use of groundwater, the rate is rising in Samut Sakhon where a number of factories moved from neighbouring provinces and are now pumping increasing amounts of groundwater, the report says.

The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry appointed the Thammasat University team, led by Assoc Prof Uruya, to research coastal erosion in the upper Gulf of Thailand. The one-year project finished in September, and the results are now on the table of the chief of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources.

"It is true that climate change has caused temperature changes over the past few years," said Assoc Prof Uruya, dean of the engineering faculty, "but the results indicate that other factors are the real culprits behind the erosion, including land subsidence, high waves in monsoon season, loss of sediment from rivers and changes of land use, mainly the loss of mangroves and the excavation of soil for aquatic farming."

One finding - the impact of two dams, Bhumibol, constructed in 1964, and Sirikit, constructed in 1974 - is the most surprising. Both dams have long disrupted the natural flow of water, but they also interrupt the flow of sediment to downstream areas, causing disaster for the shoreline of the upper Gulf of Thailand. Fortunately, the research team did not suggest the demolition of the dams to increase sediment supply, only suggesting solutions such as using breakwaters to trap sediment.

In the study's comprehensive report, apart from the background and causes of coastal erosion, there is also an evaluation of coastal protection structures, classified in four main sections - bamboo breakwaters; revetments, concrete seawalls and dykes; concrete breakwaters; and sandbag breakwaters. The report explains the strengths and weaknesses of each structure, for example sandbag breakwaters are hard structures that can effectively protect shorelines almost completely, but they cannot trap sediment, which is an important function for the process of coastal rehabilitation.

The report also aims to assess the changes to our coastline and provide efficient measures to protect it, taking into account environmental and aesthetic considerations. The target of the study is to propose measures to rehabilitate the eroded areas, and these areas will be made coastal ecosystem conservation areas.

Like other contemporary studies, the research team's report also emphasises the importance of public participation, which would help government agencies avoid conflicts with local communities.

But if the results of the one-year study say that climate change has nothing to do with erosion, why does it seem to be getting worse?

The problem is that more people now live and work near the coast - urban areas have spread, despite the risk of erosion, the coastal expert said, adding the rapid coastal population growth is mainly a reflection of population growth, increased investment in infrastructure. "Coastal erosion, in fact, is no worse today than it was in the last century," Assoc Prof Uruya concluded. "It's Bangkok that's sinking, not the sea level rising".

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Pulau Ubin's Ketam Mountain Bike Park: A rocky, rough ride

Every Monday in the Singapore at Large series, we profile Singapore's sports scene with a national or grassroots perspective. Today, JOYCE LIM reviews the Ketam Mountain Bike Park in Pulau Ubin

Joyce Lim, The New Paper 18 Nov 08;

BARELY six months after it was officially opened in May this year, a large part of the million-dollar Ketam Mountain Bike Park has been covered with undergrowth.

A fortnight ago, The New Paper team visited the mountain-biking trail in Pulau Ubin twice over the two weeks.

On both occasions, we found thick undergrowth covering a large part of the 8km cross-country loop, making it unsafe to ride on even for the experienced cyclists.

And with the recent wet weather conditions, rainwater gets trapped easily in the thick vegetation, causing the trails to be muddy and difficult to pedal on.

Ketam Mountain Bike Park is Singapore's first bike park to be constructed based on International Mountain Bicycling Association standards, in consultation with Singapore Amateur Cycling Association and DirTraction, a privately-owned organisation which has been the pioneering force behind cycling-related sports in Singapore and Malaysia.

The 45-hectare bike park which came ahead of the 2010 Youth Olympic Games to be held here, where mountain biking will be one of the 26 events, is meant to offer a safe environment for bikers to practice and hone their various mountain biking techniques.

But for now, the undergrowth poses a danger to the adventurous riders who try to negotiate that off-road obstacles, sharp corners or dropping off a rocky slope.

Problems

Said Lim Hui Min, 30, trail specialist from DirTraction: 'Bikers riding overgrowth trails would have problems seeing the riding lines. To be able to see the proper lines is critical to a safe and fun ride.

'Overgrowth trails encourage bikers to stray off the trails, hence, creating illegal unmanaged trails.'

Biking enthusiast Jocelyn Wee, 29, who has been to the Ketam Mountain Bike Park thrice, finds the undergrowth a turn-off.

She said: 'It is a well-designed bike park. But with the undergrowth, the elementary blue square trails have become more difficult to ride on. It's annoying when your bike gets stuck in the mud.

'Otherwise the trails are properly designed and marked according to their different difficulty levels. You can see how 'dangerous' the trails and obstacles are and it is entirely within one's discretion whether to take them.

Wee finds it more challenging to ride on the rough terrains than on the tarmac roads on the island.

The National Parks Board (NParks) had built the Ketam Mountain Bike Park at a cost of $1 million and even had 1,000 trees planted at the site.

The bike park, which was officially opened by senior ministor of State for National Development and Education, Grace Fu earlier this year, offers scenic rides next to the Ketam Quarry lake and a good view of the coast.

The trails are graded according to three difficulty levels ranging from the blue square (elementary) trails which offer some steep slopes and narrow tracks.

The (advanced) black diamond trails have more obstacles like long step climbs and drop-offs.

And the double black diamond (more advanced) trails are not for the faint-hearted as riders faced much more tricky obstacles and have to jump over steep, rocky slopes and sharp corners.

More than 300,000 visitors visit Pulau Ubin yearly for cycling, hiking, camping and other activities.

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Traffic cameras to watch for flooding in Singapore

Tania Tan, Straits Times 18 Nov 08;

CAMERAS designed to monitor traffic flow will now also keep an eye out for a different kind of congestion - flooding that comes with the year-end wet weather.

The national water agency PUB yesterday said it will tap the Land Transport Authority's 24-hour closed-circuit television system to keep track of potential flooding.

The CCTVs will surely be called to duty as the north-east monsoon bites late this month. Weathermen at the National Environment Agency (NEA) expect the rain that it brings to continue into January, including periods of exceptionally heavy downpours.

Over 560 locations islandwide, including the Orchard Road shopping strip, will be watched, and flood alerts will be sent out to motorists through the Expressway Monitoring and Advisory System (EMAS), said PUB.

Besides the CCTVs, PUB will also rely on about 20 wireless water-level sensors installed in drains and canals in flooding 'hot spots' like Neram Road off Yio Chu Kang Road.

If the water levels in these areas rise above the high-tide mark, flooding may occur. The sensors will then send out remote warning signals.

Selected PUB officers will receive SMS alerts, upon which they will personally check on the sites. If necessary, they will inform residents in the area.

PUB's director of catchment and waterways Tan Nguan Sen, noting that litter can choke up drains, said heavy rains and choked drainage systems make for a lethal combination to produce flash floods.

'It's important to keep drains and canals free-flowing during this monsoon season,' he added.

Major drains will be cleared of debris every month during the wet season, instead of every three months.

Daily inspections of smaller drains which feed the larger ones will continue to be carried out in over 90 flood-prone areas, including Little India and Geylang.

The wettest part of the island - the central part, including the Bukit Timah area - has already been drenched with about 320mm of rain in the first two weeks of this month.

With nearly two weeks more to the month, it remains to be seen whether this will be wetter than the wettest November on record - in 1874, when 521mm of rain fell.

The upside to all the rain: It has washed away the year's haze. The NEA declared haze season over for the year.

'Wetter-than-usual weather helped curb hot spot activities in Sumatra and Kalimantan, keeping the haze away from Singapore,' it said.

The hot spots come from the slash-and-burn method of farming in Sumatra, which have led to putrid smoke being blown over to Singapore by prevailing winds.

June to October is the traditional haze season here, marked by light rainfall, high temperatures and south-easterly winds which blow the smoke haze here.

Scientists at the National University of Singapore Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing have reported 'undetectable' fire activity over the past several weeks.

'There has been heavy cloud cover over Sumatra that the satellites may not be able to see through,' said a centre spokesman.

'But clouds usually also mean rain too.'

New sensors and borrowed ‘eyes’
PUB steps up alert systems ahead of monsoon season
Today Online 18 Nov 08;

ASIDE from monitoring traffic on our roads, the Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) CCTV cameras will also be used to check on Singapore’s drainage facilities.

The Public Utilities Board (PUB) said that it is working with other national agencies, such as the LTA, to ensure that the drainage systems in tunnels and underpasses are flowing well as the North-east Monsoon season approaches.

“Tapping on LTA’s 24-hour CCTV monitoring of expressways, major road junctions and road tunnels, PUB is now able to view road conditions at over 560 locations,” said the agency. It added that it will work with the LTA to warn motorists if there is any flooding on the roads via the Expressway Monitoring and Advisory System.

In addition, the PUB has installed 20 wireless sensors to keep tabs on water levels in drains and canals in flood-prone areas.

“When the water in these drains and canals reach a certain level, alerts are sent to PUB officers who then check the sites and take action to inform residents in the areas,” said the agency.

According to the National Environment Agency’s (NEA) Meteorological Services Division, the monsoon season is likely to hit the island later this month and is expected to last until January. Singapore is likely to experience afternoon and late evening showers.

The PUB said that inspection and cleansing of 90 hotspots island-wide, including known flood-prone areas in Little India and Geylang, have increased to ensure there is no choking from fallen leaves or litter in the drains. Checks at more than 170 worksites have also intensified to ensure that the drainage system is not blocked.

“These efforts supplement PUB’s ongoing flood alleviation programme, under which recent completed projects have reduced Singapore’s flood-prone areas from 135 hectares in 2006 to 98 hectares today, about 0.15 per cent of Singapore’s total land area,” it said.

The public can obtain the latest weather forecasts by tuning in to radio broadcasts or calling the NEA for weather forecast at 6542 7788.

PUB has flood controls in place to battle monsoon season
Cheryl Frois, Channel NewsAsia 17 Nov 08;

SINGAPORE: Singapore's national water agency, the PUB is set to battle the upcoming rainy season with its best laid plans.

The national agency is working double time to ensure drains are clean and flowing freely during the upcoming monsoon season.

The northeast monsoon, which lasts from late-November till January, sees some of the island's wettest weather.

90 hotspots prone to flooding, such as Little India and Geylang, have been identified. The PUB will step up inspections in these areas in addition to having 20 wireless water level sensors installed in drains and canals.

The sensors act as an alert system for the authorities to warn residents of impending floods.

More is also being done to step up warnings to motorists. The PUB will tap on the Land Transport Authority's (LTA) 24-hour CCTV cameras to monitor major roads and expressways in over 560 locations.

Drivers will be warned through the LTA's Expressway Monitoring and Advisory System. - CNA/vm

Read more!

Green Mark scheme designed to suit Singapore

Business Times 18 Nov 08;
Letter from Building and Construction Authority

WE would like to clarify some of the points stated by your interviewee in the report 'Developers may not green and bear it' (BT, Nov 10).

In the last paragraph of the report, Peter Rawlings was quoted as saying that the green-building rating system, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) 'is a very black-and-white system which warrants either a pass or fail credit to developers, while the criteria for Green Mark are less defined, though it does not mean Green Mark is lax'.

As the authority which developed the BCA Green Mark Scheme, we wish to clarify that the Green Mark criteria are based on very clear objectives, with energy efficiency as a main priority. Indeed, it has a clear-cut point scoring system for energy efficiency and is pegged against expected quantifiable energy savings.

Moreover, higher-end Green Mark ratings are required to demonstrate energy savings through quantitative 'energy modelling', as well as meet specific design requirements for natural ventilation. There are also clearly defined objectives on water savings, indoor air quality, environmental protection, etc.

Mr Rawlings was also quoted as saying that 'in a more international context, the real dominant rating system is the LEED'.

We note that LEED has been implemented extensively in the US and adopted in some other countries. However, for any green building rating system to be effective, it has to suit the local context. As such, the BCA Green Mark scheme is specially designed to suit the environmental needs and priorities of Singapore.

For example, the BCA Green Mark places more than 50 per cent weightage on energy efficiency, as this is a critical area for Singapore, while LEED points for energy efficiency are around 25 per cent.

Following the launch of Green Mark in Singapore in 2005, there are already 135 Green Mark buildings, with another 200 on the waiting list to be Green Mark-certified. Since January 2008, Green Mark has been the legislated Green Building standard in our Building Control Act - all Singapore buildings will be measured against this standard.

We have also stepped up our efforts to promote the value and business case for green buildings to developers and building owners. To incentivise building owners and developers to go beyond legislative requirements, the Green Mark Incentive Scheme provides incentive funding up to $3 million for projects achieving the Green Mark Platinum rating.

We will continue to engage the industry to create greater awareness of the benefits of green buildings in our drive for a sustainable built environment.

Tan Tian Chong
Director
Technology Development Division
Building and Construction Authority

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The impact of climate change on Singapore small-medium enterprise

The impact of climate change on SMEs
The responsibility of climate change control doesn't just rest on governments and multinationals. SMEs can also play a key role and benefit from such schemes
Licardo Prince, Business Times 18 Nov 08;

THE year 2009 will be an important one for the world's response to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. US president-elect Barrack Obama has an ambitious plan to reduce America's emissions. And the objective of governments in general is to reach a binding global agreement on climate change post-2012 at the Copenhagen meeting of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in December 2009.

But business does not need to wait to see what will come out of Copenhagen. It is clear that the central response to climate change of most OECD member countries is to use 'cap-and-trade' schemes. The end-result of such schemes is to put a price on emissions, which will be an additional cost for business. Putting a price on emissions will drive a structural shift in such countries - from an economy that creates emission-intensive goods, technologies and processes towards one that creates low-emission goods, technologies and processes. This is a result of consumers and business changing the goods and services they demand in response to the price signal.

Cap-and-trade schemes already operate in the 27 member nations of the European Union. In addition, 30 states and provinces of the US and Canada are in the process of introducing an emissions trading scheme. Mr Obama has made a commitment to introduce a cap-and- trade scheme in the US. Japan is trialling emissions trading and intends to introduce a scheme in 2010 or 2011. Australia intends to introduce a scheme in 2010 and New Zealand is introducing a scheme this year.

What does this mean for SMEs in Singapore? First, cap-and-trade schemes are designed to place direct obligations only on the largest emitters, so it is unlikely that an SME here will have a direct obligation. However, this should not mean SMEs should be indifferent. With all the fundamental changes, cap-and- trade schemes and other policy responses to climate change present challenges and opportunities to businesses of all sizes in all locations.

What are the challenges?

For SMEs that have suppliers in countries where cap-and-trade schemes exists, or have a presence in such countries, costs will increase. Your ability to pass on such costs will depend on whether your competitors are also incurring them.

For SMEs that do not have such additional costs imposed on them, their products will become more competitive against those that do. However, competitors in countries with a cap-and-trade scheme in place will seek to improve their processes to become less emission-intensive, which by itself can be a competitive advantage. With consumer sentiment in many developed countries now moving towards considering the emissions produced from the goods and services they consider purchasing, businesses that respond quickly to this trend will have a competitive advantage. And with costs increasing in countries with schemes, the likelihood of businesses in such countries moving quicker is higher.

It should also be noted that if you have competitors in countries with cap-and-trade schemes, they are likely to receive some form of assistance from their governments so they don't lose competiveness against your business. These businesses will, therefore, have longer to reduce their emission intensity, so the cost impact on them of introducing such a scheme will be reduced, thus reducing the price advantage that may otherwise emerge.

Another important challenge is that if you supply large businesses in countries with a scheme, it is increasingly likely that these businesses will seek from you information on the emissions you generate to produce whatever they buy from you. While such information is not related directly to the requirements of cap-and-trade schemes, it does reflect the concern of such businesses over changing consumer sentiment on emission intensity. Therefore, not only will you need to put in place methods to measure your emissions to keep such customers, but your big-business customers may also insist that you reduce your own emissions, which will mean you will have to invest in improving or replacing current plant and equipment and or improving processes.

What are the opportunities?

The policy responses of the major developed economies on climate change present a number of opportunities for SMEs. The obvious opportunity is for businesses operating in countries that do not impose the additional cost on business that a cap-and-trade scheme will impose on competitors. Such businesses will find that on price they may be more competitive than competitors based in countries with a cap-and-trade system. Such businesses can take advantage of this price distinction to grow their business in existing markets and compete in new markets.

Another opportunity arising from the introduction of cap-and-trade systems in other countries is that businesses from these countries may be seeking suppliers from outside such countries or even to move production to non cap-and- trade countries to take advantage of the price advantage. If you are seeking new clients for your products or investment, this is an additional competitive advantage you may find useful in winning business and/or investment.

Businesses that produce their products with less emissions than their competitors will find that they have a competitive advantage as consumers and business will be looking for such products. This not only applies to low-emission products but also producing high-emission goods with less emissions than competitors. While it is predicted that growth for low-emission products over the next 40 years will outpace growth in demand for high-emission products, there will still be growth opportunities in high-emission products for those that can produce such goods with lower emission than others.

The major opportunity will be for SMEs that can research, develop and commercialise new low-emission technology or processes. The introduction of cap-and-trade schemes will encourage businesses and governments to invest heavily in new technologies. For SMEs that can develop and commercialise such technologies, the opportunities globally are significant. In fact, the whole purpose behind a cap-and-trade scheme is to ultimately reduce emissions, and the only way the proposed significant cuts in emissions can be achieved is significant investment in new low-emission/low-energy intensive technologies.

What are the mechanics of a cap-and-trade scheme?

# A government will set a cap on the total amount of carbon pollution allowed in an economy by sectors covered by the scheme.

# The government will issue permits up to the annual cap each year.

# Only entities that generate more than a certain quantity of carbon pollution each year - liable entities - will need to acquire a permit for every tonne of greenhouse gas they emit.

# The quantity of carbon pollution produced by each liable entity will be monitored and verified.

# At the end of each year, each liable entity will need to surrender a permit for every tonne of carbon pollution the entity produced in that year.

# Liable entities compete in the market to buy the number of permits that they require. Liable entities that value the permits most highly will be prepared to pay the most for them, either at auction or in a secondary trading market. For some liable entities, it will be cheaper to reduce emissions than to buy permits.

# As a transitional assistance measure, certain categories of entities may receive some permits free or cash compensation. Liable entities could use these permits or sell them.

The price of permits is not set by the government. Rather, it emerges from the market. If an entity can reduce carbon pollution more cheaply than the prevailing market price of permits, it will chose to reduce pollution rather than buy permits. Therefore, the scheme can provide a strong incentive for liable entities to reduce carbon pollution if the price for permit prices is high. At the same time, the price on emissions provides a financial incentive for firms to develop and/or adopt technologies to reduce emissions.

Conclusion

For SMEs in Singapore, there will be issues to consider, even though they may not be directly liable under a cap-and-trade scheme. The importance of these issues depends on how exposed your business is to international competition and markets - particularly countries with cap-and-trade schemes - and how emission-intensive your inputs or processes are.

All businesses can also use the shifting demand that the price signals from a cap-and-trade scheme will create, as an opportunity to consider developing and commercialising new technologies that reduce emissions.

Licardo Prince is communications adviser, external affairs at CPA Australia.

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Earth needs all the friends it can get

Andy Atkins, BBC The Green Room 17 Nov 08;

After years of being a lone voice in the battle to save the planet, environmental NGOs now find themselves being joined by politicians and businesses, says Friends of the Earth's Andy Atkins. However, he argues, green groups are just as relevant as they were 30 years ago.

These days it can feel as though the environment is holding us to ransom.

Floods, storms and droughts across the world are attributed to the global rise in temperatures, and as we run short of fossil fuels, price rises are affecting our transport, heating and even food bills.

Small wonder, then, that the environment has moved from a minority passion to a hot topic in today's world, with politicians and businesses competing to be seen to be green.

So what role can non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like Friends of the Earth play in driving forward today's environmental debate?

Over the last 30 years, environmental NGOs have played a lead role in speaking up for the environment when few others were doing so.

A key role has been to raise the alarm about damaging activities - including deforestation, GM crops, futile road schemes and spiralling waste - that most threaten our planet's life support systems and the resources we all depend upon.

Back in 1971, Friends of the Earth marked its UK launch by dumping 1,500 non-returnable bottles on the doorstep of Schweppes HQ to raise awareness of the extra waste destined for landfill because of the switch from reusable to throwaway products.

Today, the UK has a major landfill problem - but we had the foresight to predict this, and in 2003 Friends of the Earth led the campaign to bring doorstep recycling to most homes in Britain.

Leading the way

So NGOs have also been in the vanguard of advocating practical solutions to specific environmental problems, and implementing them through political action.

Many environmental NGOs have funded practical projects to conserve the environment in this country and abroad.

Without this, there's no doubt that more species would already have entered the history books.

During the decades when most people and politicians did not rank environmental concerns high on their priority list, green NGOs fought a long and hard battle protesting, protecting and proposing ways forward.

In 2008, the emerging reality of climate change has forced environmental issues to unprecedented prominence in public awareness. Now, environmental NGOs have to share the airwaves with businesses and political parties.

So what roles can NGOs best play now? The need for protest and protection remain, but vital roles for the future are:

Communicating solutions : while the public and politicians are much more aware of environmental problems, there remains an urgent need for clarity on the best practical solutions, and innovation on the policies which will drive these.

This is a challenge for those whose view of the political landscape has been shaped by years of protest, but we can do it.

The UK's Climate Change Bill, which is set to become law in the coming days, is one example.

It will make the UK the first country to introduce legislation to commit the government to legally binding reductions in carbon dioxide emissions.

This was a policy solution initially conceived and proposed by Friends of the Earth.

Encouraging public support : understandably, busy politicians with competing demands tend not to adopt far-reaching policy solutions on complex subjects just because they're a good idea.

Public backing, indeed a groundswell of public pressure, is vital.

And as climate change and other stresses on the environment intensify, we will increasingly need ambitious, far-reaching proposals to prevent catastrophe.

Individual NGOs can mobilise significant numbers of grassroots campaigners.

They can further multiply public support for a proposal by forming alliances, or backing each other's campaigns, in a way that is simply not possible for business.

We've already seen potent examples. Friends of the Earth's own local groups and activists were at the vanguard of The Big Ask campaign for a strong climate change law.

Crucially, the idea was taken up by the Stop Climate Chaos coalition which counts other major environmental organisations and development NGOs amongst its active membership. More than 200,000 people took action to persuade the government to deliver the world's first national climate change law.

Building international agreement : as a species, we are bringing upon ourselves two tightly linked global catastrophes - climate change and the rapid loss of biodiversity.

Solutions are out there, but it will require international, as well as national, action to apply them fast enough.

Critically, agreement is needed between rich and poor countries where issues of fairness will be central.

NGOs can help here too; environmental and development organisations have easy access to the experiences and perspectives of people in developing countries, as a result of projects they fund and the international networks they belong to.

They also have a critical role to play in forging international civil society agreements and putting co-ordinated public pressure on governments.

This will be vital if we are to achieve workable global political agreements, especially when it comes to hammering out the future shape of the international agreement to tackle climate change in Copenhagen in 2009.

Critical times

The seachange in public, political and business awareness of environmental issues is a dream come true for many environmentalists.

But it has not reversed the dire environmental trends that have led to the extreme weather and economic problems we are now seeing.

It simply provides a critical opportunity for NGOs now to drive much more urgent and substantive change.

Communicating real solutions, mobilising public support and forging international agreements will be critical to achieving this.

Andy Atkins recently took up the post of executive director with Friends of the Earth UK

The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website

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"Extinct" Primate Found in Indonesia

It may look like a gremlin, but this tiny animal is actually a pygmy tarsier, recently rediscovered in the forests of Indonesia.

The 2-ounce (57-gram) carnivorous primate had not been seen alive since the 1920s. That was until researchers on a summer expedition captured, tagged, and released three members of the species (including this individual, above).

"Everyone's always talking about pygmy tarsiers," said lead researcher Sharon Gursky-Doyen, a professor at Texas A&M University.

"There have been dozens of expeditions looking for them—all unsuccessful. I needed to go and try to see for myself if they were really there or if they were really extinct," added Gursky-Doyen, whose research was funded in part by the National Geographic Society's Conservation Trust.

Once relatively abundant among the mossy, forested mountain slopes of Lore Lindu National Park in central Sulawesi, the pygmy tarsier population may have shrunk when logging in the 1970s destroyed its habitat, Gursky-Doyen said.

The nocturnal creatures rely on darkness to avoid predation. However in fragmented forests, the canopy lets in more moonlight, exposing the small animal to birds and other predators as it leaps from tree to tree.

Gursky-Doyen said she hopes the find will inspire the Indonesian government to protect the species and its habitat.

"[The] government needs to figure out a compromise between people and animals living in Lore Lindu."

—Tasha Eichenseher
Photograph by Sharon Gursky-Doyen

Gremlins Thought Extinct, Found After 85 Years
Jeanna Bryner, livescience.com Yahoo News 18 Nov 08;

Mouse-sized primates called pygmy tarsiers, not seen alive in 85 years, have come out of hiding from a mountaintop in a cloud forest in Indonesia.

Weighing just 2 ounces (57 grams), they resemble mini gremlin creatures, as they have big eyes and are covered in dense coats of fur to keep warm in a damp, chilly habitat. Unlike most other primates that sport fingernails, pygmy tarsiers have claws, which scientists say might be an adaptation to grasping onto moss-covered trees.

The recent sighting has conservation implications. And researchers said they hope that with new information about where the species lives, the Indonesian government will protect them from the encroaching development occurring in the animals' home range.

Hide-n-seek

The last sighting of this primate alive was in 1921 when live specimens were collected and processed for a museum collection.

Decades went by without another sighting. And scientists thought the pygmy tarsier (Tarsius pumilus) had possibly gone extinct. Then, in 2000, two Indonesian scientists who were trapping rats on Mt. Rore Katimbo in Lore Lindu National Park in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, reported they had accidentally trapped and killed a pygmy tarsier.

So Sharon Gursky-Doyen of Texas A&M University and her grad student Nanda Grow, along with a group of Indonesian locals, went looking for the teacup-sized primates on that same mountaintop. This past summer, the team trapped two males and a female. They placed radio collars on the animals for tracking.

Since pygmy tarsiers can turn their heads 180 degrees, this process can be dangerous, as Gursky-Doyen found out.

"I have the dubious honor of being the only person in the world to have been bitten by [a pygmy tarsier]," Gursky-Doyen told LiveScience. "My field assistant was holding the tarsier and I was attaching a radio collar around its neck and while I was attaching the radio collar he bit me [on the finger]."

The female has since been eaten by a hawk, Gursky-Doyen said.

Wacky primates

From the radio collars and observations, the researchers are learning more about the animals' behavior. For instance, even though the pipsqueaks weigh just one-half the body weight of other tarsiers, their legs are just as long. The tiny tots use their super-long legs to bound from treetop to treetop high up in the forest canopy.

And for sleeping, the nocturnal creatures tuck into hollowed-out trees. They also are much quieter than other tarsiers, such as the spectral tarsier that vocalizes for up to five minutes when returning from a night of foraging.

The researchers hope to continue studying the pygmy tarsier to glean more information, for instance, about why the animals are so much smaller than other tarsiers and to refine the extent of their home range.

The research was funded by National Geographic Society, Conservation International Primate Action Fund, Primate Conservation Incorporated and Texas A&M.

Tiny, long-lost primate rediscovered in Indonesia
Will Dunham Yahoo News 19 Nov 08;

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – On a misty mountaintop on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, scientists for the first time in more than eight decades have observed a living pygmy tarsier, one of the planet's smallest and rarest primates.

Over a two-month period, the scientists used nets to trap three furry, mouse-sized pygmy tarsiers -- two males and one female -- on Mt. Rore Katimbo in Lore Lindu National Park in central Sulawesi, the researchers said on Tuesday.

They spotted a fourth one that got away.

The tarsiers, which some scientists believed were extinct, may not have been overly thrilled to be found. One of them chomped Sharon Gursky-Doyen, a Texas A&M University professor of anthropology who took part in the expedition.

"I'm the only person in the world to ever be bitten by a pygmy tarsier," Gursky-Doyen said in a telephone interview.

"My assistant was trying to hold him still while I was attaching a radio collar around its neck. It's very hard to hold them because they can turn their heads around 180 degrees. As I'm trying to close the radio collar, he turned his head and nipped my finger. And I yanked it and I was bleeding."

The collars were being attached so the tarsiers' movements could be tracked.

Tarsiers are unusual primates -- the mammalian group that includes lemurs, monkeys, apes and people. The handful of tarsier species live on various Asian islands.

As their name indicates, pygmy tarsiers are small -- weighing about 2 ounces (50 grammes). They have large eyes and large ears, and they have been described as looking a bit like one of the creatures in the 1984 Hollywood movie "Gremlins."

They are nocturnal insectivores and are unusual among primates in that they have claws rather than finger nails.

They had not been seen alive by scientists since 1921. In 2000, Indonesian scientists who were trapping rats in the Sulawesi highlands accidentally trapped and killed a pygmy tarsier.

"Until that time, everyone really didn't believe that they existed because people had been going out looking for them for decades and nobody had seen them or heard them," Gursky-Doyen said.

Her group observed the first live pygmy tarsier in August at an elevation of about 6,900 feet.

"Everything was covered in moss and the clouds are right at the top of that mountain. It's always very, very foggy, very, very dense. It's cold up there. When you're one degree from the equator, you expect to be hot. You don't expect to be shivering most of the time. That's what we were doing," she said.

(Editing by Sandra Maler)

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Humans and elephants on collision course in South Asia

WWF website 17 Nov 08;

Kathmandu, Nepal: Massive international investment in large-scale infrastructure projects in southern Asia will increase human-elephant conflict and cause more deaths on both sides unless much greater care is taken.

A new report released today, funded by the World Bank as part of the World Bank-WWF Alliance for Forest Conservation & Sustainable Use, warns international investors that a clear strategy for keeping human-elephant conflict under control makes economic as well as environmental sense.

It is estimated that the economic damage caused by human-elephant conflict amounts to millions of dollars in some countries and in many cases it is those responsible for new land developments that have to foot the bill.

“Billions of dollars lined up for regional and national level infrastructural investments such as the Trans-Asian highway project and various hydro-power and irrigation projects are going to significantly increase human-elephant conflict across Asia,” said Christy Williams, Coordinator of WWF’s Asian elephant and rhino conservation program.

“Banks and investors need to show leadership when it comes to human-elephant conflict by adding mitigation options into their large infrastructure plans in places where elephants are found from the beginning.”

Human-animal conflict is exacerbated whenever land where the animals traditionally find food and living space is taken away as human population and aspiration increases. In this situation elephants frequently raid crop fields and break down houses to get at stored crops.

Chance encounters between elephants and people, as well as efforts of people to guard against elephants, result in injury and death of humans. Harmful methods employed by people in the process result in death and injury of elephants, thereby escalating the conflict.

The report – Review of Human-Elephant Conflict Mitigation Measures Practised in South Asia – was compiled by WWF-Nepal, the Centre for Conservation and Research Sri Lanka (CCR) and the Nature Conservation Foundation.

It analyses case by case the methods local people are using to keep elephants away from their houses and finds that, in order to reduce the many costs of human-elephant conflict, a strategy that explains the most effective ways to mitigate the conflict is urgently needed.

The report notes that a comprehensive strategy could help investors planning infrastructure projects in south Asia to include human-elephant conflict mitigation options from the beginning, which would lead to both economic and conservation gains.

"Most mitigation measures currently being used are just akin to bandaging the wounds and not treating the root cause,” said Prithiviraj Fernando, chairman of CCR-Sri Lanka. “Good land-use planning that takes both people and elephant needs into account is the only long-term solution.”

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Africa in biggest ever crackdown on wildlife crime

Yahoo News 17 Nov 08;

NAIROBI (AFP) – A tonne of ivory items and 57 suspects were netted in a four-month operation billed Africa's largest-ever crackdown on wildlife crime, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said Monday.

The crackdown -- code-named Operation Baba -- also seized cheetah, leopard, serval cat and python skins as well as hippo teeth at several markets, airports and border crossings in Congo Brazzaville, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Zambia.

"All the participating countries simultaneously struck at the illegal domestic markets over the weekend in a coordinated manner to ensure that illegal ivory dealers who would try to cross borders were intercepted," KWS said in a statement.

Interpol, which co-ordinated the operation, said similar crackdowns could be carried out in the future in other regions affected by smuggling.

"Co-operation among countries in east, west and southern Africa against wildlife crime has set an inspired example," said Giuliano Zaccardelli, the Interpol head of operational assistance and infrastructure support.

"Similar operations could also be conducted in Asia, the Americas and in any other region where (the activity is) criminal," he added.

In Kenya, at least 113 pieces of ivory weighing 358 kilogrammes were seized and 36 poachers and brokers -- including three Chinese nationals -- were arrested in the operation.

"Project Baba was a huge success in Kenya. We in KWS strongly believe that ivory trade fuels illegal killing of elephants. The project was, therefore, a blessing to the African range states whose elephants have declined tremendously over the years," KWS director Julius Kipng'etich said.

The operation was named in honour of Gilbert Baba, a Ghanaian ranger killed a decade ago by poachers in the line of duty.

China has emerged as the largest importer of smuggled ivory mainly sourced from Africa despite a 1991 ban on importing elephant tusks, according TRAFFIC, a wildlife monitoring organisation.

China is also one of the world's biggest markets for ivory, which is traditionally used to make family seals to stamp documents as well as decorative antiques.

Chinese traders were the biggest buyers at a controversial series of auctions in four southern African countries recently in which 102 tonnes of government-owned ivory stocks were sold for just over 15 million dollars (12 million euros).

The legal sale, the first since 1999, came from elephants who died of natural causes or were culled to control their population.

The one-off sales, sanctioned by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), are aimed at funding efforts to protect wildlife but conservationists have warned they could encourage poaching.

Africa trade bust 'biggest ever'
BBC News 17 Nov 08;

More than one tonne of ivory products has been seized in Africa's largest-ever international crackdown on wildlife crime.

The operation, co-ordinated by Interpol and the Kenya Wildlife Service, led to the arrest of 57 illegal traders across five African nations.

The haul also included animal skins and hippopotamus teeth.

Interpol said that similar trans-national operations will be carried out worldwide to combat wildlife crime.

Planning for the bust, dubbed Operation Baba, started in June in response to a plea to Interpol from African nations dealing with illegal elephant killings.

Over the past weekend, undercover agents intercepted local dealers and brokers at ivory markets, border crossings and airports in the nations of Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Uganda and Zambia.

More than one tonne of ivory products - including powdered ivory and carved items - was recovered, as well as leopard, cheetah and serval cat skins.

"Co-operation among countries in East, West and Southern Africa against wildlife crime has set an inspired example," said Giuliano Zaccardelli, director of Interpol's Oasis programme that supports African law enforcement.

"Similar operations could also be conducted in Asia, the Americas and in any other region where criminal interests, including trafficking in illegal wildlife products, are common," he added.

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Australia presses Japan to end whale hunt

Rob Taylor, Reuters 17 Nov 08;

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia urged Japan to abandon its yearly whale hunt on Monday, launching its own scientific whaling study in the Southern Ocean to prove it was not necessary to kill the ocean mammals to study them.

Japan's annual cull, carried out for what it says is scientific research, will begin in weeks.

Tokyo has denied reports it plans to lower its quota target by 20 percent, meaning that its fleet could again harpoon close to 900 fin and minke whales around Antarctica in coming months.

"Modern-day research uses genetic and molecular techniques as well as satellite tags, acoustic methods and aerial surveys rather than grenade-tipped harpoons," Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett told reporters.

Garrett said Australia would fund a scientific research program hopefully involving other countries and would send an invitation to Japan to take part. The $3.8 million research study would include aerial surveys, genetic analysis and tagging.

"Australia does not believe that we need to kill whales to understand them," Garrett said. Activists say the research hunt is a front for commercial whaling, outlawed under an internationally agreed moratorium.

Japan, which considers whaling to be a cherished cultural tradition, abandoned commercial whaling in accordance with the international moratorium in 1986, but began what it calls a scientific research whaling program the following year.

Canberra last year sent a customs and fisheries icebreaker to shadow anti-whaling activists and the Japanese fleet, gathering photo evidence of the yearly research hunt for a possible international legal case against Tokyo.

Garrett said on Monday a legal case was still under consideration, but no decision yet had been made whether to send another patrol boat south this Antarctic summer amid threats from the hardline Sea Shepherd protest group to disrupt the hunt.

($1=A$1.56)

(Editing by Mark Bendeich)

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Japanese whalers set sail: Greenpeace

Harumi Ozawa Yahoo News 17 Nov 08;

TOKYO, Nov 17, 2008 (AFP) – Japan's whaling fleet set sail Monday, environmentalists said, apparently on an annual Antarctic hunt likely to provoke fresh friction with anti-whaling countries such as Australia.

Greenpeace said its activists saw the whalers depart from a port in western Hiroshima prefecture waved off by their families and whaling officials.

The Fisheries Agency and the operator of the factory ship refused to confirm whether the fleet had left on its annual five-month Antarctic voyage, which last year departed on November 18.

"We cannot disclose any information on its departure out of consideration for the safety of the crew," said a spokesman for boat operator Kyodo Senpaku.

Greenpeace said the fleet left from a pier on Innoshima island, instead of its usual departure point of Shimonoseki, led by the 8,000-tonne "Nisshin Maru" factory ship.

"The fleet attempted to leave Japan quietly," a Greenpeace statement said.

During the last Antarctic hunt, activists from the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society tracked down and hurled bottles of chemicals at the fleet in an attempt to disrupt operations, leading Japan to label them "terrorists."

Greenpeace also denounced the hunt but decided not to chase the whalers this year as it fights to clear two activists being prosecuted in Japan on charges of stealing whale meat during an investigation into alleged corruption.

Japan aims to kill 1,000 whales a year using a loophole in a 1986 global whaling moratorium that allows "lethal research" on the ocean giants.

Tokyo says whaling is part of its culture but makes no secret the meat ends up on dinner tables.

It argues that Western opponents of whaling, led by Australia, are insensitive to Japan's culture of whaling. But few Japanese eat whale on a regular basis and surveys show that many young people are questioning the hunt.

As the Japanese whalers apparently set off, Australia unveiled a four-million-dollar (2.58-million US) scientific research programme aimed at persuading Japan that it is not necessary to kill the mammals to study them.

The funding for the Australian programme will be used for research and scientific partnerships with other nations -- including Japan -- which will be invited to join the non-lethal research programme.

The package also includes money to develop commercial whale watching in the Pacific and an independent assessment of Japan's whaling programme.

"Australia does not believe that we need to kill whales to understand them," Environment Minister Peter Garrett told reporters in Sydney.

Japan's Fisheries Agency said Tokyo already has a non-lethal research programme jointly with the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

"We cannot really tell what Australia's intention is," agency official Shigeki Takaya told AFP. "We have done non-lethal research for some 20 years jointly with the IWC.

"Japan does not reject non-lethal research but also conducts lethal studies for data that can be only obtained through lethal programmes," he said.

Last season, Japan caught 551 whales in the northwest Pacific and Antarctic oceans, just over half its target, due to harassment by Sea Shepherd activists, who have vowed again to physically stop the Japanese whalers.

Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson said last week Hollywood star Daryl Hannah would join the militant conservationist group's ship, "Steve Irwin," for a looming confrontation with Japan's whalers in the Antarctic.

Japanese officials said last week the whaling fleet would again spare humpback whales from the Antarctic hunt this season. Japan last season initially planned to cull 50 humpbacks, enraging Australia, where whales are a major tourist attraction. Tokyo suspended its plan at the last minute.

Japan's whaling fleet sets out for Antarctic
Chisa Fujioka, Reuters 17 Nov 08;

TOKYO (Reuters) - The main ship in Japan's whaling fleet set out for the Antarctic on Monday for its first hunt in the region since limping home with just over half its planned catch in April following clashes with militant anti-whaling activists, environmentalist group Greenpeace said.

The Nisshin Maru set out from Innoshima in western Japan, Greenpeace said, part of a plan to take about 850 minke whales and 50 fin whales. Last year six ships took part in the hunt.

The vessel's movements will be followed by a ship belonging to Sea Shepherd, an anti-whaling group that skirmished repeatedly with the fleet at sea last year in an attempt to halt the hunt.

Earlier on Monday, Australia urged Japan to abandon its yearly hunt, launching its own scientific whaling study in the Southern Ocean to prove it was not necessary to kill the ocean mammals to study them.

"Modern-day research uses genetic and molecular techniques as well as satellite tags, acoustic methods and aerial surveys rather than grenade-tipped harpoons," Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett told reporters in Canberra.

"Australia does not believe that we need to kill whales to understand them," Garrett said.

A Japanese Fisheries Agency official last week denied a newspaper report that Tokyo would cut by 20 percent the number of whales it planned to hunt due to anti-whaling protests.

But the official said that a moratorium on catching humpback whales would stay in place.

"Waved off only by the crew's families and whaling officials, the factory ship Nisshin Maru left Innoshima with no fanfare," Greenpeace said in a statement.

"Constant pressure on Japan's whaling industry by both Greenpeace and the international community has reduced the fleet to sneaking out of port in a fog of crisis and scandal, desperate to avoid attention," the statement quoted Sara Holden, Greenpeace International Whales Coordinator, as saying.

Japanese whaling officials declined to confirm the ship's departure, citing safety considerations, but a worker at a local hotel said about 10 people connected with the the Institute of Cetacean Research and whalers' families had stayed overnight.

DIPLOMATIC COMPLAINTS

Last season's row over whaling threatened to escalate when two of the group's members boarded a Japanese whaling ship without permission and were temporarily held by its crew.

The incident led to a string of diplomatic complaints between Japan and Australia, which has been a vocal critic of the whaling programme.

Canberra last year sent a customs and fisheries icebreaker to shadow anti-whaling activists and the Japanese fleet, gathering photo evidence of the yearly research hunt for a possible international legal case against Tokyo.

Australia's Garrett said on Monday a legal case was still under consideration, but no decision yet had been made on whether to send another patrol boat south this Antarctic summer.

Japan's Fisheries Agency blamed Sea Shepherd and a dearth of whale sightings for their catch of only 551 minke whales, compared with a target of 850 minkes and 50 fin whales last season. A plan to target humpback whales for the first time was dropped last year after protests from the United States.

Environmental group Greenpeace has said it will break with its tradition of sending a ship to follow the whalers this season, concentrating instead on a court case involving two of its activists in Japan, who are accused of stealing whalemeat.

The group says it took the meat to expose what it says are corrupt practices in the whaling industry.

Japan, which considers whaling a cultural tradition, abandoned commercial whaling after agreeing to an international whaling moratorium in 1986, but began what it calls a scientific research whaling programme the following year.

Critics say much of the meat ends up on dinner tables.

(Additional reporting by Rob Taylor in Canberra, Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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EU rule change 'threat to birds'

BBC News 17 Nov 08;

A key weapon in the fight against wildlife crime could be lost because of changes to European agricultural policy, the RSPB has warned.

Landowners and farmers currently lose EU cash if they use "non-selective" methods of bird population control, such as poisoning. However, the EU wants to break the link between Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments and wildlife laws.

The RSPB said a change in the rules would be a blow to Scottish wildlife.

The multi-millionaire owner of the Glenogil estate in Angus, John Dodd, recently had a record £107,650 in CAP payments withheld by the Scottish Government after police found poisoned baits and illegal pesticides on the estate in 2006.

However, the RSPB claimed EU member states are trying to streamline the CAP, pruning parts of the policy thought to be unnecessary or irrelevant, in a so-called "health check".

Cross-compliance - the name given to the links between CAP payments and environmental laws - is under close scrutiny and the European Commission has recommended the link with Article 8 of the Birds Directive, which bans the use of non-selective methods of capture or killing of birds, should be one of those dropped.

The Council of Ministers is to consider the matter this week.

RSPB Scotland called on the Scottish and UK Governments to fight for the link to be retained.

'Illegal pesticides'

Bob Elliot, head of investigations at RSPB Scotland, said: "The loss of this option from cross-compliance would be a blow for wildlife protection in the UK. It is a major deterrent in the armoury of the authorities.

"Deliberate poisoning is a major threat to birds of prey. We had 37 reports confirmed by the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency of raptors being poisoned last year. In Scotland a mixture of illegal pesticides killed a white-tailed eagle found on a Scottish estate this May."

Mandy Gloyer, head of land use policy at RSPB Scotland, said: "All land managers receiving public money must be required to ensure legal requirements are met on their land.

"Over half a billion pounds of taxpayers' money is paid to Scottish land managers every year, and it seems reasonable to ask them to meet their obligations to conservation and obey laws on wildlife crime in return.

"Given the importance of our wildlife tourism, the removal of this effective deterrent would be of particular importance in Scotland."

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Climate change: emissions from industrialised world still high

Yahoo News 17 Nov 08;

BONN (AFP) – Two weeks before the start of key talks on global warming, the UN's climate-change watchdog issued figures here Monday that reflected poor headway by industrialised countries towards curbing dangerous carbon pollution.

Greenhouse-gas emissions by 40 so-called Annex 1 countries under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change were almost unchanged in 2006, falling by a mere 0.1 percent from 2005, the UNFCCC said.

From 2000 to 2006, though, emissions increased by 2.3 percent as activity revived in the former Soviet bloc economies.

The annual inventory was published ahead of negotiations running in Poznan, Poland, from December 1-12 on commitments beyond 2012, when pledges under the treaty's Kyoto Protocol expire.

"The figures clearly underscore the urgency for the UN negotiating process to make good progress in Poznan and move forward quickly in designing a new agreement to respond to the challenge of climate change," UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said in a press release.

The next climate pact -- a treaty of daunting complexity -- is scheduled to wrap up in December 2009 in Copenhagen.

Optimism for the Poznan talks has been dimmed by the global financial crisis, crimping governments' room for concession.

"It's fortunate that we haven't a deal to be done in Poznan," De Boer noted at a press conference.

The UNFCCC, the offshoot of the 1992 Rio Summit, has 192 members, but only industrialised parties, not developing states, are required to provide data to the greenhouse-gas inventory.

When forestry, land use and conversion of land are taken into account, emissions by the "Annex 1" countries rose by 1.0 percent from 2000-2006 and by 0.4 percent from 2005-2006, UNFCCC said.

From the benchmark year of 1990 to 2006, emissions from Annex 1 countries fell by 4.7 percent, but this was mainly thanks to the collapse of carbon-spewing industries in the former Soviet bloc.

Emissions from these so-called transition economies have fallen by 37.6 percent since 1990.

Since 2000, though, they have risen by 7.4 percent.

The UNFCCC inventory shows that emissions by Spain in 2006 were 50.6 percent above 1990 levels and Portugal's were 40 percent higher. Australia was 28 percent above the 1990 benchmark, and the United States was 14 percent.

A total of 188 parties to the UNFCCC are also ratifiers of the Kyoto Protocol.

Thirty-nine of them, including the European Union, are industrialised parties that have signed up to targeted emissions curbs by 2012.

The big holdout is the United States, which abandoned the pact in 2001 although it remains a member of the UNFCCC.

Industrialised parties to Kyoto have promised an average cut of five percent over 1990 levels.

As of 2006, emissions from the Kyoto countries which reported their figures were around 17 percent below the benchmark, but also grew after 2000.

These figures "cannot be used as an indication of compliance," as they fail to take into account so-called flexibility mechanisms under Kyoto, the UNFCCC report said.

Under these provisions, countries can use three market mechanisms to offset their emissions by the treaty deadline.

Scientists have sounded ever louder warnings about greenhouse gases, saying they trap heat from the Sun instead of letting it rebound into space. As a result, rising temperatures are inflicting perceptible changes to ice and snow and could badly damage the climate system in coming decades.

There is no expert consensus of what is considered a safe level, but many climatologists have pleaded for emissions to peak within the next 10 to a dozen years and then fall afterwards to peg warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.

Carbon dioxide, emitted especially by fossil fuels, accounted for 82.5 percent of all emissions in 2006, as compared with 79.6 percent in 1990, the new figures showed.

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