wildsingapore news: Nov 22, 2008

Coral rocks sold to droves of pilgrims in India

'Ram Setu' rocks selling like hot cakes
Times of India 22 Nov 08;

RAMESWARAM: Ram Setu, the mythical bridge which got embroiled in a controversy over the Sethusamudram project, is back in news. This time for the trade of coral rocks, considered to be a part of the holy structure.

Droves of pilgrims here are buying coral rocks being sold by the agents and tourist guides, who claim that the rocks were a part of the bridge built by the 'Vanara Sena' for Lord Ram to crossover to Lanka to rescue Sita.

"Pilgrims visiting this temple town buy these stones thinking that they are from the Ram bridge. But they are actually coral rocks," an official of the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park said.

As coral rocks tend to float naturally, pilgrims believe that the rocks are the ones used by Rama's army and buy it, he said.

Despite a ban on the trade of coral rocks under the Wild Life and Marine Life Protection Acts, they are being sold at five places -- 'Seetha Theertham,' 'Ram Theertham,' 'Lakshman Theertham,' 'Kandhamadhanaparvam' and at an ashram -- in the island at rates varying between Rs 500 and Rs 1000 per piece, he said.

Gopinathan, a tourist guide, said they get a nominal commission for each stone sold through them. The stones were even presented to VIPs visiting the island, stating that it was auspicious to keep them at home, he said.

According to officials here, many marine species like sea horse, turtles and dugong, whose sale is prohibited under the Marine Life Protection Act, are also being sold openly.

Denying receiving any complaint about sale of coral rocks in the area, Gulf of Mannar Marine National park officials say they are not in a position to monitor such a vast coastal belt but they would look into the matter.

The 'Ram Setu' (Adams Bridge) has been in the limelight after BJP and its allied outfits protested the present alignment of the Sethusamudram project, charging that it would damage the mythical structure.

Following the protest, dredging of the bridge has been stopped and the case is being heard in the Supreme Court which has suggested that the government explore alternative site for the project.

The Sethusamudram project aims to create a navigable channel from the Gulf of Mannar to the Bay of Bengal through the Palk bay and Palk Straits.

Best of our wild blogs: 22 Nov 08

Nordmann’s Greenshank at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Observing the nesting of the Mangrove Pitta
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Rock Louse
on the annotated budak blog

Mangrove's many uses: Good news, bad news, ugly truth

By Peter Ng, Wang Luan Keng & Kelvin Lim
Straits Times 22 Nov 08;

Sweet offeringsThe Nipah Palm is the only true mangrove palm in Singapore. The attap chee commonly found in chendol desserts are nipah palm seeds preserved in heavy syrup. The sugary sap from the inflorescene stalk can be used to make toddy (an alcoholic beverage), fermented to vinegar, or boiled down to make palm sugar, known locally as gula melaka . The large, feathery leaves can be used for thatching huts (hence the term attap huts). Bags, baskets, hats and brooms can be made from the mid-rib of the leaflets. The young leaves may also be used as cigarette wrappers. Leaves grow up to 9m long.-- PHOTO: COURTESY OF WANG LUAN KENG

Water purifier
The Avicennia spp found in mangroves are able to desalinate the water their roots dwell in, leaving pure salt crystals on their leaf surfaces that fall off in the breeze. Scientists hope it could help them uncover cheaper ways to desalinate water. -- PHOTO: COURTESY OF JEAN YONG

A sturdy presenceAn extremely sturdy wood, timber from mangrove trees is used in scaffolding for builders and to prevent landslides. One of the best sources of charcoal is wood from the mangroves, Rhizophora apicolata is grown throughout South-east Asia to make charcoal. After controlled burning, the charcoal absorbs odours, pesticides, chemicals, metals and even drugs from the air and water. -- PHOTO: COURTESY OF JEAN YONG

See, food
One of four species of mud crabs found in Singapore, the Giant Mud Crab is the largest of the edible crabs which can be found in mangroves. This ferocious species is named after Scylla, the many-headed monster in Greek mythology. It feeds on cockles, clams and oysters. It is found in many parts of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. It weighs close to 3 kg. -- PHOTO: COURTESY OF PETER NG

Clotting agent
There are two species of Horseshoe Crabs in Singapore. In existence for more than 400 million years, they have blue blood which has, for decades, been tapped for medicine because it clots in the presence of bacteria toxic to man. After being killed for years for this property, researchers at the National University of Singapore learnt how to clone the proteins responsible for this important clotting activity. The crabs can measure up to 45cm, including the tail. -- PHOTO: COURTESY OF WANG LUAN KENG

ONE of the classic westerns is Sergio Leone's The Good, The Bad And The Ugly. In this movie, the moral lines between the good, bad and ugly are often blurred. Good men turn bad, and 'criminals' become heroes.

As to man's use of mangroves, the issues can be just as confusing.

As much as we realise how important mangroves are to us in terms of coastal protection, useful products and seafood, we also destroy them as we develop our economies, build new factories, start new developments and begin fresh ventures.

Mangroves can also be killed, damaged or affected by many indirect human activities.

Huge amounts of human waste, dumped in the seas, end up on the shores of mangroves. And nylon nets continue to tangle and kill crabs and fish years after they have been discarded.

Mangrove forests are very much a threatened habitat. Two-thirds of the world's mangroves were lost during the 20th century.

There is a regional awareness to want to reverse what has been done - replanting mangroves, mitigating developments and factoring conservation into projects.

Take, for example, Singapore's Semakau Landfill - even a national marine landfill that started in controversy over a decade ago had a mangrove replanting programme.

Ten years down the road, these mangroves have grown - and stand as a symbol of how Singapore can balance development and conservation.

Well-managed mangrove forests like Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and Pasir Ris Park are fantastic outdoor classrooms for students to learn about habitats, conservation and sustainable living.

If for nothing else, mangroves need to be conserved for our own selfish human needs.

Mangroves provide many important ecological services. Perhaps one of the most important of these is coastal protection. Mangrove forests not only reclaim land naturally, but also can prevent shoreline erosion and reduce sedimentation in coastal waters.

Their roots can absorb heavy metals and certain pollutants. The development of a mangrove forest stabilises sediment profiles and improves soil chemistry.

Various studies have also shown that areas with healthy mangroves have better quality sea water.

Mangrove trees are the best natural protection against tsunamis.

During the catastrophic tsunami in December 2004, many coastal zones and towns in Aceh, Sumatra, were wiped out. However, in areas where mangrove forests were still intact, the villagers escaped unscathed.

The mangrove forests, with their complex natural barrier of roots and trunks, substantially reduced the force of the destructive waves.

This prompted some governments in South-east Asia to start planting mangroves as a natural defence against storms.

In Singapore, Nyrieh, or xylocarpus granatum, is a useful tree species that assists in the removal of the dangerous metal boron - used in the metal industry - from coastal mangrove areas.

Such multiple roles of mangroves are important for Singapore as the country is becoming increasingly reliant on coastal sea water for desalination.

In addition, there is emerging scientific evidence that mangroves are important for the well-being of coral reefs and even the ocean's bio-geochemical cycle, with regard to its sources of marine organic carbon.

On Semakau, the mangroves planted there not only help to protect the shore, but also act as an excellent bio-indicator for the landfill. If any of the toxic substances inside the landfill leak (though the engineers assure us this cannot happen), the trees will be among the first to feel the effects.

Their death will be a sure sign that something has gone wrong.

More recently, the idea of mangrove forests as 'carbon sinks' is becoming more apparent.

It has been estimated that one hectare of mangrove forest can roughly absorb 1.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide generated by a vehicle (using about 2,500 litres of fuel) in a year.

Indonesia, with its 4.5 million hectares of mangroves, can thus use them to absorb the carbon dioxide emissions of about five million cars, a scenario presented by Professor Ong Jin Eong, a mangrove expert from Penang, Malaysia.

This surely is a bargaining chip for any carbon sequestration and trading, given that mangrove plants are able to photosynthesise and grow using undrinkable sea water, unlike our inland rainforest plants.

A group of scientists from the National Institute of Education (Nanyang Technological University), Universiti Sains Malaysia and Australian National University are building on these earlier findings and conducting further experiments to understand how tides and increased air temperatures due to global warming will affect the ability of our mangrove forests to absorb carbon dioxide.

We are only beginning to realise how valuable mangroves are to us. How many more bioactive substances do the plants and animals there have? How much can we learn from them about building and architecture? Can they help us reduce erosion and in greening Singapore? Can they help desalinate sea water to help with Singapore's freshwater needs?

The good news is that despite the grave threat to mangroves, a large number of new discoveries have been made in recent years, including new species found in Singapore.

The bad news is that very little is known about this complex ecosystem.

The ugly truth: Mangrove forests are greatly under-appreciated and undervalued.

We must not lose them only to then realise that their loss is fatal to our own survival.

This passage was adapted from a new book, Private Lives: An Expose Of Singapore's Mangroves.

Professor Ng is the director of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research at the National University of Singapore, Ms Wang is an education and research officer at the museum, and Mr Lim is its collections manager.

Mangroves - more than mud and mozzies
Only about 5 per cent of mangrove swamps are left in Singapore, but this muddy land where salt water meets fresh is a safe haven for a wealth of plants and animals, as highlighted in a new book here.

WWF gala dinner for the Coral Triangle

Boost for coral cause
Straits Times 22 Nov 08;

A WORLD Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) gala dinner last night raised between $400,000 and $500,000 to help protect South-east Asia's coral reefs.

The money will go to conservation projects in the Coral Triangle, which spans the waters off Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and the Solomon Islands.

The area is home to more than 75 per cent of the world's coral species, as well as over 3,000 species of fish, turtles and marine mammals. It faces problems such as overfishing, destructive fishing methods, and coral bleaching, in which corals lose their colour due to pollution and climate change, among other things.

Millions of people who live in the Coral Triangle depend on the ecosystem for food and income.

The funds raised will support WWF initiatives such as coral research and a consumer guide on sustainable seafood.

At the dinner, a gown worn by South African Olympic swimmer and model Charlene Wittstock was auctioned off.

WWF officials said tentative totals suggested that the event raised $400,000 to $500,000 in donations. That total does not include the auction proceeds.

GRACE CHUA

Eating Green

How that burger, nugget or plate of chicken rice hurts the earth
Carol Leong, Today Online 22 Nov 08;

THIS month, Al Gore, the Nobel Prize-winning ex-Vice-President of the United States, pleaded with President-elect Barack Obama to “begin an emergency rescue of human civilisation”.

The President of the Maldives has floated the radical idea of buying another nation because his beautiful island state might sink beneath the turquoise waves from climate mayhem. And Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao reminded rich nations of their responsibility to ditch their “unsustainable way of life”.

The world’s finest brains are struggling to come up with solutions to allow humanity to live a fairly prosperous life without gouging our carbon footprints even deeper on Mother Nature’s battered face.

It can be argued that climate change is, at heart, a lifestyle problem. Dr Rajendra Pachauri, the 2007 Nobel prize-winning head of the United Nations inter-governmental panel on climate change, suggested that people living in rich nations should be vegetarian once a week.

“Give up meat for one day (a week) initially, and decrease it from there,”Dr Pachauri, who is a vegetarian, told The Observer newspaper in September.

He pointed out that if people in rich countries just halved their meat consumption, it would do more to reduce CO2 emissions than if they halved their car usage.

“The human appetite for animal flesh is a driving force behind virtually every major category of environmental damage now threatening the human future: Deforestation, erosion, fresh water scarcity, air and water pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, social injustice, the destabilisation of communities and the spread of disease,” the Worldwatch Institute has warned.

It says that each person on the planet eats on average 43kg of meat a year. Americans, the world’s most extravagant carnivores, ate double the world’s average — about 90.7kg of meat and fish per person per year.

Singaporeans have the dubious distinction of matching the Americans; according to the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore, we ate 90kg of meat and fish per person in 2007. The difference in the numbers is 700 g of roast chicken. Cowabunga!

Do we really want an American reputation of resource profligacy?

Here are some mind-numbing factoids of the devastation wrecked by our addiction to eating animals.

Global warming: A 2006 UN report concluded that global livestock farming generates roughly one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than allof transport combined. Jokes aside, cowsbelch and fart methane, which is 23 times more poisonous than CO2, the gas belched by jumbo jets, SUVs, and 18-wheeler trucks. Animal manure generates nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that has 296 times the warming effect of CO2.

Rainforest destruction: Every year,32 million acres of rainforest — an area the size of England — is destroyed for the meat industry.

Water scarcity: Environmental author John Robbins estimates that it takes about 1,135 litres of water to feed a vegan for a day, while a carnivore consumes about 14 times more.

Ocean depletion: Very tiny ocean fish are turned into animal feed. A New York Times report says: “When it comes to farmed fish, there is a net protein loss: it takes three pounds (1.36kg) of fish feed to produce one pound of farmed salmon. This protein pyramid is unsustainable. It threatens the foundation of oceanic life.”

So, are Singaporeans willing to give up chicken rice, beef rendang, roast pork and curry fish head permanently?

“No,” said Loh Yeow Nguan, a vegan triathlete and education officer of the Vegetarian Society. “To them, no chicken rice is unthinkable. But I think they’re willing to reduce it.”

He added: “I’ve noticed a subtle shift in attitudes in the past year — people pay more attention now when we talk of meat reduction to slow down climate change. Three years ago, they would not have listened.”

When culinary authority Mark Bittman, who fronts the influential Minimalist column in New York Times and who describes himself as a “meat-first kind of guy” writes a 996-page vegetarian cookbook, you know attitudes have shifted by a quantum of solace. He’s now a “flexitarian” — because “the world is changing in a way that is going to push all of us, reluctantly or not towards being at least semi-vegetarian.”

Do a green, effective “Pachauri” sacrifice for Earth; ditch the chicken rice once a week and learn to cook buckwheat noodles with garlicky peanut sauce instead. If being a herbivore seems impossible, aim for green carnivore status.

Anyway, did your frugal great-grandmother ever say you’ve got to eat meat three times a day? She treated her meat like a very precious condiment, because she knew its real price. We’ve forgotten.

Green energy in Singapore

Power to the greenies
Some home owners enjoy free energy, thanks to their green efforts
Tay Suan Chiang, Straits Times 22 Nov 08;

Home owner Christophe Inglin's utilities bill is the envy of most people. For at least the past two months, he has not had to pay a single cent.

In fact, SP Services, which provides electricity, water and piped gas supplies, had to credit him about $30 each month.

It is all thanks to the solar panels that he has installed on the roof of his semidetached home in Siglap. They use the sun's heat to generate energy to power all the appliances in the house, including air-conditioners and water heaters.

These panels are plugged into the national electricity grid and contribute power to it, hence saving him the need to pay for electricity.

Mr Inglin, 46, is managing director of solar systems integrator Phoenix Solar and has been running the Singapore office for the last two years. He has 90 panels from the 10-year-old German company on his 2 1/2-storey house, harnessing sunlight to give him this free power.

On average, the utilities bill for a conventional home of the same size can be as much as $600 a month.

The panels cost $105,000 to install, with a 30-year payback at today's tariff rates. But before you rush out to buy them, he says the goal of using solar panels is to keep energy usage levels low. 'They are definitely not for saving money,' he cautions, because of the high cost.

The electricity generated by the solar panels can power his home's 20 fans, eight air-conditioners and other appliances such as the refrigerator and TV.

During the monsoon season when there is less sun, the family taps on electricity from the power grid.

The Swiss-born Singapore permanent resident lives with his Singaporean wife, Patricia, a management consultant, their twin boys Sean and Martin, and daughter, Yvonne.

Tapping on solar power

They moved in seven months ago from a terrace house in Joo Chiat.

Mr Inglin, who also chairs the clean energy committee of the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore, made the conscious effort to make his home green.

He has a rainwater collection system at the back of his home where water is collected and stored in a 6,000-litre underground tank. It is used to water the garden and wash his car. He says that with the rainy season now, the tank rarely runs dry.

He declined to reveal how much he paid for the house but says he spent about $800,000 on renovations. It includes the installation of the solar panels.

Part of the renovations included creating a 20m lap pool, which can be expensive to maintain as its pump requires lots of energy to run.

To keep costs low, Mr Inglin sets the pump to run only twice a day. It is powered by energy generated from the solar panels.

When it came to choosing appliances for the home, the family went for those that were energy-efficient, such as their washing machine and air-con.

They did away with air-con entirely on the ground floor as they wanted the indoors and outdoors to blend seamlessly.

While sliding doors by the dining area allow direct access to the pool, architect Cheng Liang Gek of Art & Architecture Collaborative installed aluminium louvres below the glass roof to prevent too much sunlight from entering the home.

Lawyer Lee Boon Siong, 70, is another home owner who is going green. He installed solar panels in his two-storey-plus-attic conservation shophouse in Neil Road to help power appliances in his home and heat water up for his use.

He also has a special lighting system in his attic which captures light through a roof dome and channels it down an internal reflective system.

'I don't need to use lights powered by electricity anymore,' says Mr Lee, who is also honorary president of the Poh Ern Shih temple at Pasir Panjang. He spent about $23,000 on the solar panels and he estimates that he saves $755 a year on his energy bills.

He was inspired to turn his home into an eco-friendly one after putting in green features at the temple such as solar panels.

'Solar power is free, so why not tap it?' he asks.

10 tips on saving energy at home
Straits Times 22 Nov 08;

1 The air-conditioner may do a good job at keeping your home cool but it also uses the most electricity. Use a fan instead, especially during this rainy season. Switching to a fan can save about $70 a month on your electricity bill.

2 If you must use the air-con, set the temperature to 25 deg C or higher. The colder you set it, the more energy the air-con needs to run. Every degree raised saves you about $25 in electric bills annually.

3 Switch off all home appliances at the socket instead of leaving them on standby, which still consumes power. Doing this saves about $70 a year.

4 Choose energy-efficient light bulbs which use up to 80 per cent less electricity than incandescent ones to produce the same amount of light.

Switching to energy-efficient bulbs can save about $20 a bulb annually.

Look for labels on the packaging which indicate they are energy-efficient.

5 When buying a new air-con or refrigerator, check the energy labels. Pick an appliance that has a four-tick mark over a one-tick model. The more ticks, the more energy efficient it is. An air-con with four ticks saves about $460 in power bills a year compared to a one-tick model, and a four-tick fridge saves about $130 a year over a model that has only one tick.

6 Clean your air-con filter regularly. A dirty filter means it has to work harder and so consumes more energy.

7 Do not fill your fridge to the brim. Overloading hinders air circulation and reduces the machine's cooling capabilities. Also, allow hot food to cool before putting it in the fridge so that the fridge does not have to work harder to keep its items cool.

8 Switch off the computer completely when not in use for long periods. Leaving a desktop switched on for eight hours daily will cost about $20 monthly. Alternatively, consider buying a laptop as it uses less energy than a desktop one.

9 Keep your curtains drawn during the day, and especially on warm afternoons. The home will feel cooler and this lessens the need for air-conditioning.

10 Air-dry your clothes instead of using a dryer. When ironing, start with items that need lower temperatures; avoid heating and re-heating the iron.

# Tips from the National Environment Agency

Other green buildings
Straits Times 22 Nov 08;

# Fusionopolis@one-north

This science and technology centre was opened last month and is not just a hub for research and innovation, but a green one to boot.

Not only are there lots of greenery on the ground floor but there are also 13 sky gardens which provide green 'lungs' to the development.

The centre uses special glass for its facade that reduces heat gain. It also has motion light sensors in its meeting rooms and toilets, which result in energy savings of 50 per cent compared with conventional lighting.

# Cliveden at Grange

Talk about clean and green. The restrooms at the condo's clubhouse will have waterless urinals. These use an eco-friendly biotechnology cleansing system that requires no flushing. Instead, cultured bacteria eradicates the stench from waste liquids, doing away with the need to use water.

The 110-unit condo in Grange Road, due to be completed in 2011, will have a rainwater 'harvest' system to irrigate its landscaped grounds. Also, the carpark has sensors that activate ventilation fans when carbon monoxide levels hit a preset level, helping to reduce maintenance costs.

# Treelodge@Punggol

This is the first public housing project to win a government award for being environment-friendly.

The 712-unit project, due to be completed in four years, won a platinum award under the Green Mark scheme, an annual award introduced three years ago by the Building and Construction Authority which evaluates buildings for their environmental impact and performance.

Developed by the HDB, the project at the junction of Punggol Road, Punggol Drive and Punggol Place has been dubbed an 'eco-precinct'.

Green features include solar-powered corridor lighting, the use of recycled rainwater to wash common areas and plenty of greenery on its rooftop to help lessen the effects of heat.

# Ocean Financial Centre

It may be providing prime office space in bustling Raffles Place but this commercial building has much to offer the global, not just corporate, environment.

The centre, due to be completed by 2011, will use glass on its exterior that is said to have a 'low emissive coating' to allow more light to enter while minimising heat gain.

Among other green features is the use of an Eco Switch Control Programme to control temperature and light fittings to minimise power consumption during off-peak and lunch hours.

Like the residential Punggol HDB project, this building, too, has already won a Green Mark platinum award.

The greening of Singapore's industrial estates

Paya Lebar iPark is leading the way with greater openness and accessibility.
Emilyn Yap, Business Times 22 Nov 08;

WITH concrete buildings, high fences and heavy trucks going in and out, industrial parks tend to have a drab image. But JTC Corporation aims to change that, starting with Paya Lebar iPark (PLiP) - an industrial estate with green open spaces and specially designed buildings.

The 15-hectare PLiP is a pilot project that reflects JTC's take on industrial parks in the 21st century. The corporation's iPark 21 initiative aims to make industrial estates more attractive by incorporating work, learn and play elements. 'Young people going into the workforce . . . they want something different,' says JTC's director of industrial park development Tang Wai Yee.

Managed by JTC, PLiP comprises 20 land parcels with leases of up to 30+30 years; 17 have been taken up. There are plans to acquire three more plots to expand PLiP about 10 per cent.

A key feature of the estate is greenery, with 15 per cent of PLiP landscaped so far. This includes trees and shrubs put in place by JTC and other companies under design guidelines.

To enhance a sense of openness and accessibility, plots within the estate are not separated by fences. And to minimise clutter, companies should locate loading and unloading bays away from the main road or hide them with landscaping.

Complying with these guidelines does not mean higher costs because companies are aware of them from the start and will incorporate them into building design, says Ms Tang; in fact, companies are 'very happy' because the guidelines ensure consistency in park design. Some are even taking the initiative to give their buildings a more modern look - through the extensive use of glass, for example.

Of the three parcels left in PLiP, one is a Business 2 white site for commercial use such as food-and-beverage outlets. Located in the centre of PLiP, it can be linked to the upcoming MRT station via an underpass. Because of its strategic location, the site could be PLiP's networking hotspot. JTC hopes to tender it out next year to add buzz to the estate.

'Generally, industrial developments that incorporate lifestyle features will be an added draw for companies,' says Knight Frank's head of industrial business space, Lim Kien Kim. Such features improve the working environment and help attract more skilled workers, he believes.

Sites in PLiP have a plot ratio of 2.5 for relatively high-density facilities. This is why PLiP has attracted companies in light manufacturing and lifestyle-related sectors such as shoe retailer Charles & Keith, air-conditioning provider Natural Cool Holdings and Luxasia Distribution Services. PLiP also houses the print media hub, a centre that brings different companies in the printing value chain under the same roof.

PLiP's location and design led Charles & Keith to set up its headquarters there. 'I like to give my colleagues a good working environment,' says company founder Charles Wong. The premises also boost the firm's image when it comes to recruiting staff or meeting overseas partners, he reckons. 'I think the urban design guidelines are good. The area looks like an international business park.'

Landlords in such a modern industrial park can benefit from higher rents, says Knight Frank's Mr Lim. For PLiP, JTC charges land rent of $45.92 per square metre (psm) per annum, or an upfront premium of $759 psm on a 30-year lease.

Beyond PLiP, JTC will extend its iPark 21 concept to other estates. 'We are looking for suitable sites for the second park,' says Ms Tang. And industrial estates undergoing redevelopment, such as those at Tukang, will incorporate the new elements where possible.

Rangers return to Congo gorilla park after a year

Hereward Holland, Reuters 21 Nov 08;

GOMA, Congo (Reuters) - Park rangers returned to a reserve that is home to nearly a third of the world's remaining mountain gorillas Friday, more than a year after fighting forced them to abandon the area, a park chief said.

Armed Tutsi rebels loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda occupied the gorilla sector of Virunga National Park in September 2007, forcing rangers to leave.

An offensive by Nkunda's rebels forced the rangers to abandon the rest of the park, Africa's oldest, late last month when the Rumangabo park headquarters, from which conservation operations were run, fell to a rebel assault.

Nkunda's offensive against the North Kivu provincial capital Goma and other towns in North Kivu province has displaced around 250,000 people, bringing to more than 1 million the number of people displaced by two years of conflict in North Kivu.

"It is a huge step that all sides have agreed that the protection of Virunga as a World Heritage Site and its mountain gorillas is of sufficient priority to transcend political differences," park Director Emmanuel de Merode said in a statement.

After meeting U.N. envoy Olusegun Obasanjo, a former Nigerian president, Nkunda pulled his fighters back from some positions seized during the past few weeks.

The U.N. Security Council agreed Thursday to send 3,000 reinforcements to the Congo peacekeeping force, the world's biggest at 17,000-strong.

"Rangers are neutral in this conflict, and it is right that they should be allowed to do their job," de Merode said.

MOUNTAIN GORILLAS

Virunga's gorilla sector is home to 200 of the last remaining 700 mountain gorillas in the world, who live in forested hills on the border with Uganda and Rwanda.

"The re-establishment of a Ranger presence in Virunga National Park is paramount to the protection of the flora and fauna in the park," park authorities said in the statement.

"The rangers are now planning to initiate a census of the habituated mountain gorillas in coming days; the last census in August 2007 indicated there are 72 habituated gorillas, but this figure is expected to have changed due to births, death, and interactions," it said.

Some of the rangers forced to flee Virunga ended up squatting in squalid refugee camps while they waited to return to their posts.

More than 150 rangers have been killed in eastern Congo in a decade of conflict that has claimed more than 5 million lives -- more than any conflict since World War Two -- through violence, hunger and disease.

Congo's five-year regional war officially ended in 2003, but various armed factions have continued to fight in the east, often competing for valuable resources such as gold and tin mines and timber.

Park authorities say gorillas and other animals such as elephants, hippos and antelopes are vulnerable to the armed groups who roam the hills and forests of eastern Congo, often using National Parks to camp or move around unseen.

The animals also face threats from poachers, squatters and charcoal burners who destroy their forest habitat.

Virunga's Gorilla Sector suffered repeated attacks in 2007 during which 10 mountain gorillas were killed.

(Writing by Alistair Thomson; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Canadian hunters killing narwhals trapped in ice

Reuters 21 Nov 08;

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian hunters in a remote Arctic community have started killing a large number of narwhals -- small, white whales best known for their long tusks -- that are trapped by ice, a federal official said on Friday.

The whales -- which number between 100 and 200 -- are stuck near Bylot Island, close to the tiny town of Pond Inlet on the northern end of Baffin Island. The nearest open water is 30 miles away.

The narwhals are now breathing through small cracks in the ice and face a slow death.

"The community has started a humane harvest to take these animals before they perish," said Keith Pelley, a spokesman for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

The hunters, using rifles and harpoons, should be finished by the weekend, he added.

While narwhals had become trapped by ice in the past, it was unusual for so many to be stuck in the same place at the same time, Pelley said. The narwhal population in the area was in good condition, he said.

Narwhal's tusks can stretch up to 10 feet. Excluding the tusk, an adult animal is between 13 to 16 feet long and can weigh up to 3,500 lb (1,600 kg).

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Frank McGurty)

Over 200 narwhal trapped in Canadian ice
Yahoo News 21 Nov 08;

OTTAWA (AFP) – At least 200 narwhal whales in Canada's Arctic, trapped by winter ice that is setting in around them and facing starvation or suffocation, must be culled, officials said Friday.

Hunters from the village of Pond Inlet on Baffin Island discovered the animals trapped near Bylot Island, about 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) from Pond Inlet, on November 15, and checked on them periodically.

The local hunters are allowed to harvest only 130 whales each year for food, according to standards set by the federal department of Fisheries and Oceans.

But department spokesman Keith Pelley told AFP: "It's unlikely the animals are going to survive the winter, so the hunters have been given authorization to cull them."

The hunters have been on the ice slaughtering the whales since Thursday and are likely to accomplish their task over the coming days, he said.

Narwhal are found mostly in the Arctic circle, and are renowned for their extraordinarily long tusk, which is actually a twisted incisor tooth that projects from the left side of its upper jaw and can be up to three meters (10 feet) long.

"A couple of weeks ago, when the ice was still moving, there were quite a few narwhal seen out there in the open water," Jayko Allooloo, chairman of the Pond Inlet hunters and trappers organization, told public broadcaster CBC.

"About a week later, they're stuck."

Community elders and officials feared the whales would die from a lack of oxygen as the ice grew thicker around them, Pelley explained.

There are about a dozen areas of open waters where they could come up for air, but it is a tight squeeze for all of them.

Blue whales and penguins at risk in krill harvest

Frank Pope, The Times 21 Nov 08;

Companies are scrambling to harness the power of Antarctic krill for health supplements, causing mounting concern over the ocean ecosystem among conservationists. Krill, thought to be the most successful species on the planet, are tiny crustaceans found in every ocean.

In the vast Southern ocean that encircles Antarctica, krill form the bottom of the food chain for much marine life, including the blue whale. The total biomass of Antarctic krill is estimated to be 400 million tonnes - roughly twice that of the human population.

For decades the Soviet Union was the only country to harvest krill. Krill mince became a Polish and German speciality in the 1970s, and in the Far East krill is still eaten, with a premium paid for females carrying extra fat. But the biggest krill market has always been as animal feeds and aquaculture.

“If ever evidence were needed that we’ve fished our way down the food chain, then here it is,” said Willie Mackenzie, of Greenpeace’s oceans campaign. “Krill is the basis of the Antarctic food web, on which fish, seals, penguins and whales all rely.”

He added: “It’s simplistic short-termist spin to refer to krill fishing as sustainable when there are huge gaps in knowledge of the species’ life history, population dynamics, and the impacts that climate change is having on its abundance.”

Scientists are concerned about fishing efforts becoming concentrated in small areas, starving land-based predators, such as seals and penguins, which cannot travel far but rely on krill for their survival.

Urban growers go high-tech to feed city dwellers

Jacob Adelman, Associated Press Yahoo News 21 Nov 08;

POMONA, Calif. – Terry Fujimoto sees the future of agriculture in the exposed roots of the leafy greens he and his students grow in thin streams of water at a campus greenhouse.

The program run by the California State Polytechnic University agriculture professor is part of a growing effort to use hydroponics — a method of cultivating plants in water instead of soil — to bring farming into cities, where consumers are concentrated.

Because hydroponic farming requires less water and less land than traditional field farming, Fujimoto and researchers-turned-growers in other U.S. cities see it as ideal to bring agriculture to apartment buildings, rooftops and vacant lots.

"The goal here is to look at growing food crops in small spaces," he said.

Long a niche technology existing in the shadow of conventional growing methods, hydroponics is getting a second look from university researchers and public health advocates.

Supporters point to the environmental cost of trucking produce from farms to cities, the loss of wilderness for farmland to feed a growing world population, and the risk of bacteria along extensive, insecure food chains as reasons for establishing urban hydroponic farms.

However, the expense of setting up the high-tech farms on pricey city land and providing enough year-round heat and light could present some insurmountable obstacles.

"These are university theories," said Jim Prevor, editor of Produce Business magazine. "They're not mapped to things that actually exist."

The roots of hydroponically produced fruits and vegetables can dangle in direct contact with water or be set in growing media such as sponges or shredded coconut shells. Most commercial operations pump water through sophisticated sensors that automatically adjust nutrient and acidity levels in the water.

Hydroponics are generally used for fast-growing, high-value crops such as lettuces and tomatoes that can be produced year-round in heated, well-lit greenhouses. So far, production is not large enough for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to track.

The country's largest hydroponic greenhouse is Eurofresh Inc.'s 274-acre operation in southeastern Arizona, where more than 200 million pounds of tomatoes were produced in 2007. Most large-scale commercial operations are in the arid Southwest, where water-efficiency is prized, or the sometimes frigid Northeast, where the method can be used year-round in heated greenhouses.

The technology has benefited from nearly three decades of NASA research aimed at sustaining astronauts in places with even less green space than a typical U.S. city.

Hydroponics bears the dubious distinction of being a growing method for marijuana.

Fujimoto said one of his research assistants got a call from the FBI after using a credit card to buy nutrients for the campus greenhouse at a hydroponic-supply store.

There's clearly nothing illicit going on at the greenhouse, where thin streams of water pass silently though dozens of long white plastic tubes arranged in rows across chest-high stands. Rose-shaded lettuce leaves, pale-green stalks of bok-choy and sprigs of basil poke from the holes in the tubes.

Fujimoto aims to prepare his students to operate the urban hydroponic businesses that he thinks will gain importance in the future. They sell their lettuces, peppers, tomatoes and other produce to an on-campus grocery store and at a farmers market.

In Ohio, the ProMedica Health System network of clinics used a Toledo hospital roof to grow more than 200 pounds of vegetables in stacked buckets filled with a ground coconut shell potting medium. The tomatoes, peppers, green beans and leafy greens were served to patients and donated to a nearby food shelter, hospital spokeswoman Stephanie Cihon said.

When the project resumes in the spring, the hospital plans to expand into at least two community centers in economically depressed central Toledo, where fresh produce is hard to come by.

"From the health-care perspective, the more we can increase people's lifestyle changes and encourage them to eat better, it's going to impact our services greatly," Cihon said.

In a New York City schools program run by Cornell University, students grow lettuce on a school roof and sell it for $1.50 a head to the Gristedes chain of supermarkets.

Cornell agriculturist Philson Warner, who designed the program's hydroponics system, said his students harvest hundreds of heads of lettuce a week from an area smaller than five standard parking spaces by using a special nutrient-rich solution instead of water.

The numbers have some researchers imagining a future when enough produce to feed entire cities is grown in multistory buildings sandwiched between office towers and other structures.

Columbia University environmental health science professor Dickson Despommier, who champions the concept under the banner of his Vertical Farm Project, said he has been consulting with officials in China and the Middle East who are considering multistory indoor farms.

He is also shopping his concept to engineering teams in hopes of having a prototype built as he seeks funding.

"Most of us live in cities," he said. "As long as you're going to live there, you might as well grow your food there."

China's crops at risk from massive erosion

Emma Graham-Harrison, Reuters 21 Nov 08;

BEIJING (Reuters) - Over a third of China's land is being scoured by serious erosion that is putting its crops and water supply a risk, a three-year nationwide survey has found.

Soil is being washed and blown away not only in remote rural areas, but near mines, factories and even in cities, the official Xinhua agency cited the country's bio-environment security research team saying.

Each year some 4.5 billion tonnes of soil are lost, threatening the country's ability to feed itself.

If the loss continues at this rate, harvests in China's northeastern breadbasket could fall 40 percent in 50 years, adding to erosion costs estimated at 200 billion yuan ($29 billion) in this decade alone.

"China has a more dire situation than India, Japan, the United States, Australia and many other countries suffering from soil erosion," Xinhua quoted the research team saying.

Beijing has long been worried about the desertification of its northern grasslands, and scaled back logging after rain rushing down denuded mountainsides caused massive flooding along the Yangtze in the late 1990s.

But around 1.6 million square km of land are still being degraded by water erosion, with almost every river basin affected. Another 2.0 million square km are under attack from wind, the report said. The survey was the largest on soil conservation since the Communist Party took control of China in 1949.

($1=6.835 Yuan)

Rise in diseases spread globally by food

Both rich and poor countries hit; more research and action needed to fight problem: WHO
Straits Times 22 Nov 08;

GENEVA: Food-borne diseases appear to be on the rise in both rich and poor countries, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

More research is needed to determine how much sickness and death stems from contaminated food, such as the tainted Chinese milk that caused kidney problems in more than 50,000 children and killed four, and the United States salmonella outbreak that made more than 1,400 people ill, WHO director of food safety Jorgen Schlundt said.

An estimated 30 per cent of new infectious diseases originate in bacteria, viruses, parasites, chemicals and toxins introduced along food production chains, he told an experts' meeting on Thursday.

'There are some indications that the food-borne disease burden is increasing. But there is not very good data, it is difficult to say exactly what is happening,' Mr Schlundt said.

About 2.2 million children die each year from diarrhoeal illnesses, including cholera caused by dirty water, food, and poor sanitation, according to the United Nations agency.

Food products need to be monitored at every stage of their handling, Mr Schlundt said.

'If you want to deal with food safety, you have to go from the 'farm to the fork'. The notion that you can deal with it at the end of the food chain is clearly wrong.'

In many countries, the regulatory authorities fail to work together, he said. 'In China, there are 16 different authorities involved in some way in dealing with the melamine crisis.'

Harvard Medical School professor and paediatric nephrologist Julie Ingelfinger said many people overlooked the seriousness of complications caused by contaminated food. For instance, E. coli poisoning can cause haemolytic-uremic syndrome, a cause of kidney failure in children.

'Research into the long-term effects of food-borne disease is increasingly important because it is unquantified and goes on for decades,' she added.

Dr David Heymann, WHO's assistant director-general for health security and the environment, told the meeting that rich and poor countries were both vulnerable to food-borne diseases.

'Food-borne diseases occur on every continent and in every country...We never know where these events will happen,' he said.

Japan grappled with a series of food scares this year, with insecticides and insect repellents being found in foods like frozen meat dumplings, instant noodle pots and rice. It also recalled eight million bottles of US mineral water on Monday after receiving complaints that it smelled like insecticide and medicine.

Italy, too, faced a ban on its mozzarella cheese exports this year after it was revealed that the authorities found milk contamination following spot checks on buffalo herds in Naples. A Ukranian shipment of sunflower oil accidentally tainted with a hydrocarbon from mineral oil had also prompted a few European countries to issue an alert.

The recent salmonella outbreak in the US - its worst in a decade - was an example of the changing picture of food-borne diseases, said the WHO.

Although salmonella is often linked to poultry, eggs and dairy products, recent outbreaks have been tied to fresh produce, it said. Tomatoes were suspected in the US outbreak before the salmonella was traced to peppers from Mexico.

Ms Nancy Donley, president of US non-profit group Safe Tables Our Priority, said food safety needed to be taken more seriously as a public health concern. 'It's crucial to keep food-borne disease prevention as a top priority in the world.'

Her six-year-old son Alex died in 1993 from E.coli-contaminated meat. 'Behind every statistic is a face, a name, a life,' she said.

REUTERS

Shopping tips

# Check for cleanliness: Buy from retailers who follow proper food handling practices. Ask yourself if the food looks and smells clean.

# Keep certain foods separated: Separate raw meat, poultry and seafood from other food in your shopping cart. Place these items in plastic bags to prevent their juices from dripping on other food.

# Inspect cans and jars: Don't buy food in cans that are bulging or dented, and those in jars that are cracked or have loose or bulging lids, or whose seal seems tampered with or damaged.

# Inspect frozen food packaging: Don't buy frozen food if the package is damaged. Packages should not be open, torn or crushed at the edges. Avoid packages that are above the frost line in the store's freezer. If the package cover is transparent, look for signs of frost or ice crystals. Choose another as this could mean the food has either been stored for a long time or been thawed and re-frozen.

# Select frozen foods and perishables last: Meat, poultry, fish and eggs should be the last items placed in your cart. It is important to refrigerate perishables as soon as possible after shopping. They should not be left at room temperature for longer than two hours.

# Choose fresh eggs carefully: Before buying, open the carton and make sure the eggs are clean and none is cracked. Buy only refrigerated eggs and follow the 'safe handling instructions' on the carton.

HEALTHNEWSDIGEST.COM

Tropical Forest Aid Planned by Indonesia, Brazil, California

Adam Satariano, Bloomberg 19 Nov 08;

California pledged financial aid for efforts to curb logging in Indonesia and Brazil, aiming to slow deforestation that scientists say adds to global warming.

State officials and governors of the two rainforest nations reached a preliminary agreement that become a part of California's 2006 climate-change law.

Polluting companies in the state would get credit for meeting emissions-reductions rules by investing in forest-conservation efforts, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and officials from the two nations said at a climate-change conference yesterday in Beverly Hills, California.

Trees absorb carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, and cutting or burning them down around the world fosters more heat- trapping emissions than does transportation, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said. The agreement pioneers using forest preservation in developing nations to stem global warming, conservationists said at the conference.

``This is the first time policymakers are creating concrete rules and incentives to protect the world's remaining tropical forests,'' said Toby Janson-Smith, director of the forest carbon markets program for Conservation International, in an interview.

California's climate-change law, set to take effect Jan. 1, 2012, calls for the state to slash carbon-dioxide emissions from industry, vehicles and other sources by 2020 back to the 1990 level. Adding forest preservation to the law's regulations, which are yet to be written, may for example allow utilities such as PG&E Corp. or the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power to help meet their pollution caps by investing in anti-logging programs.

`Sending a Message'

Indonesia and Brazil respectively are the world's third- and fourth-largest emitters of greenhouse gases after China and the U.S., the World Bank has said. Deforestation contributes about 70 percent to 90 percent of the two developing nations' emissions, the environmental group Conservation International says. One- fifth of greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide stem from deforestation.

A signing ceremony for the deal was held yesterday evening at the conclusion of the first day of the Governors' Global Climate Summit that Schwarzenegger is hosting at the Beverly Hilton hotel.

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle and Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich also signed the ``declaration of understanding,'' along with leaders from the Indonesia provinces of Papua and Aceh and the Brazilian states of Amazonas, Para, Amapa and Mato Grosso. The six regions account for 60 percent of the world's remaining tropical forests, Schwarzenegger said.

The deal is ``sending a strong message that this issue should be front and center during negotiations for the next global agreement on climate change,'' Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

Challenge to Verify

To be accepted, the anti-logging investment projects will have to meet California standards that regulators will draft, according to the deal. The state's climate-change program already has guidelines for forest management projects within its borders.

The biggest challenges dealing with Brazilian and Indonesian state governments are finding dependable methods to measure, verify and accurately report the levels of greenhouse gases that are saved through the investments, said Michele de Nevers, a senior manager at the World Bank's environment department, in an interview.

``These are governments that have weak institutions to begin with, and this will put those institutions to the test,'' Nevers said in an interview.

`Add Value to Forest'

Amazonas Governor Eduardo Braga said poverty typically drives communities to sell forests to timber companies or convert it for farmland. Anti-logging investments through California's climate change program can provide a good alternative, he said.

``The only way to preserve the rainforests is adding economic value to the standing forest,'' Braga said.

The agreement signed by California, Wisconsin and Illinois may eventually allow investors in the Brazilian and Indonesian forest-preservation projects to earn credits that can be used in emerging regional U.S. emissions-trading programs.

California is devising a so-called cap-and-trade program as part of the Western Climate Initiative along with six other states and four Canadian provinces.

Wisconsin and Illinois are part of the Midwestern Regional Greenhouse Gas Accord. Ten Northeastern states have created a trading system opened earlier this year known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

United Nations negotiators in Bali, Indonesia, last year called for the next global climate-change treaty to reward developing nations for preserving forests. The existing accord, the Kyoto Protocol, expires in 2012 and didn't include deforestation credits. The next rounds of talks are scheduled to be held Dec. 1-12 in Poznan, Poland.

Janson-Smith said remote sensor imagery, satellite photos and on-the-ground verification are methods that can be used to ensure the forests aren't being burned down.

``Everyone recognizes the importance of including tropical forests in future climate agreements, but this is the first time we have concrete action towards that end,'' he said.

Preparing for a post-petroleum era

Business Times 22 Nov 08;

LIKE it or not, the world will enter the post-petroleum era, even without global warming, says Michio Kaku. 'The Saudi Arabians are worried that we are hitting the top of peak oil, that's the Hubbert's Peak.'

Marion King Hubbert was a Shell geophysicist who predicted in 1956 that America would hit the peak in oil production around 1965-1970. 'People laughed at him and thought he was a fool, but he hit it right on the button,' Professor Kaku notes.

'And now the big question everyone is asking is, are we hitting Hubbert's Peak for world oil production? When I interview the experts, they say that we are either on the top of Hubbert's Peak - at the top of the bell-shaped curve, at 50 per cent exhaustion of world supplies - or within 10 years of Hubbert's Peak.

We would have to discover a new Saudi Arabia every 10 years to maintain the current consumption of oil in the future. Now, that's impossible. We will always have oil, except that it's going to be very expensive in the future.'

The long-term strategy is to prepare for a post-petroleum world, and that's where nanotechnology can help, says Prof Kaku. 'Nanotechnology can help to increase the efficiency of solar cells. But the next 10 years are going to be very chaotic. No one clear winner will emerge to replace oil.'

Formed from plants and animals that lived even before the dinosaurs, oil is very efficient energy, Dr Kaku points out. 'The number of joules per kilogramme is enormous, it's concentrated sunlight. We cannot replace oil with electric batteries anytime soon. However, with the rising price of oil as we hit the top of Hubbert's Peak, and the falling price of solar hydrogen, the two curves will cross in about 10 years. Which means that now is the time to think about the transition that will take place 10 years from now. Now is the time to be at the forefront of this revolution, in renewable solar hydrogen technologies, which in 10 years will become as cheap as oil, in fact cheaper than oil. But it means then that in the next 10 years, there will be chaos - no clear winner will emerge. You take a look at wind, you take a look at natural gas, at coal, at nuclear energy, all have problems. But I think a winner will (eventually) emerge - solar hydrogen, that's where we're going to go. And then within 20 to 30 years, there's the possibility of fusion power. That's the long-term solution.'

In the near term, advances in nanotechnology will help to bring down the price of solar hydrogen. 'Right now, it's still several times more expensive than fossil fuels, but prices are going down, especially with new nanotechnology and thin films (with) which we hope to increase the efficiency of solar cells. Solar cells today have an efficiency of 12-15 per cent or so. You can get past 15 per cent efficiency but they're very expensive. To have cheap solar cells of 60, 70 per cent efficiency, that's like a holy grail. We don't have that yet.'

California's electric car plan

California switches on to an electric future
A network of kerbside charging points in cities and 'filling' stations will have a major impact in reducing emissions

Alok Jha, guardian.co.uk 21 Nov 08;

California's 36 million people have 21m cars between them, accounting for 40% of the state's greenhouse gas emissions. So replacing 1m of those petrol cars with electric cars will make a big difference.

Under joint plans published overnight by the state government, local transport and energy companies these electric cars will hit the streets of California's major cities within the next decade.

Yesterday, the mayors of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose announced investment of around $1bn to make electric cars a commercial reality in the Bay Area by 2012.

"The bay area mayors are looking to become the electric vehicle capital of America," said Jason Wolf, California business development manager for Better Place, the electric transportation company that will build the infrastructure in the state.

Globally, cars generate about 20% of the world's output of carbon dioxide. Cutting that figure would have a big effect on reducing emissions that contribute to global warming. Electric cars can also use energy to charge batteries at night when demand on the national grid is low.

Chuck Reed, the mayor of San Jose, said: "While the private sector can build the vehicles, the public sector has an enormously important role to make sure that we have the infrastructure to make sure that somebody who buys the vehicle is able to drive it, to recharge it."

Under California's plans, Better Place will build a network of kerbside charging points around the various cities and also the equivalent of filling stations, where electric car owners will be able to replace their flat batteries for fully charged ones. With a full charge on one of Better Place's batteries, a typical saloon car will be able to travel 100 miles, which is ideal for commuting around metropolitan areas.

Most users of the system would pay a monthly subscription for unlimited access to the company's services but visitors with electric cars could also access the charging points for a one-off fee.

"That's a very important element to remember — you can plug in any car," said Wolf. "In California, everyone who's bought Teslas, everyone who has bought plug-in hybrids or electric cars that are not in tight relationship with us, will be able to plug into our network."

California, the world's eighth largest economy, already has some of the most progressive climate change legislation — authorities have already put in place a low-carbon fuel standard for cars and legislation that aims to reduce the state's levels of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020. Further forward, authorities want to reduce greenhouse gas levels by 80% compared to the 1990 level by 2050.

Dan Kammen, director of the transportation sustainability research centre at the University of California, Berkeley, said: "This kind of public-private partnership is exactly what we need to create new jobs building a clean energy infrastructure, and contribute to economic and environmental recovery locally and globally."

He added: "This initiative will help to put the Bay Area in the forefront of developing the science, engineering, and public policy innovations that simultaneously reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lead us to the next economic boom — the clean energy century."

The California electric car plan will also encourage people to take advantage of an incentive announced by the federal government, which plans to give tax credits of up to $7,500 for up to 250,000 electric cars bought until 2014.

Wolf said that the first cars in the California scheme would be deployed in 2010, with a mass launch in around 2012. The first years would see around 50,000-100,000 cars introduced to the network, with 100,000 more cars introduced every year when the Better Place network is fully functional.

Better Place already has plans to build its its infrastructure in Israel, Denmark and Australia and said it was in discussions with other governments around the world. The UK government is also thought to be interested in the Californian company's business model.

Kammen said: "The international community is watching. Europe and the climate conference in Poland and a year from now in Copenhagen are all looking for innovative options."

Asia not responsible for 'brown haze': India

Yahoo News 21 Nov 08;

NEW DELHI (AFP) – India on Friday dismissed as "propaganda" a UN report suggesting the formation of a brown cloud over Asia was due to the burning of fossil fuels by countries in the region.

The UN report earlier this week said enormous brown clouds of pollution hanging over Asia, including India, were killing hundreds of thousands of people, melting glaciers, changing weather patterns and damaging crops.

Traffic, factory emissions and indoor cooking were among the culprits for the "Atmospheric Brown Clouds", which are up to three kilometres (1.8 miles) thick, according the landmark report on the phenomenon.

However, India's Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said, "our scientific community has gone into the issue... there cannot be a brown haze in India because of the pollution levels here."

Noting that greenhouse gas emissions were 1.2 tonnes per capita in India compared with 23 tonnes in the US and 10 tonnes in European countries, Sibal said: "For anybody to say India and China are responsible for this, I can only say we certainly are not."

"The atmosphere knows no territorial boundaries. So the source of the haze might be the increasing levels of pollution because of the great contribution of the western world," Sibal said.

But while per capita emissions are low in India, its huge population puts it among the world's top five greenhouse gas emitters.

"The road to Copenhagen is going to be very tough and this is I think one of the propaganda issues," Sibal said, referring to a climate change conference in Denmark next year to deliberate on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.

India, like China, says that having to meet binding emission cuts now will prevent it from bringing its people out of poverty as rich countries have already done on the back of industrial growth fuelled by coal, oil and gas.

Per capita income in India, which has over a 1.1 billion population, hovers at just above 700 dollars.

Africa, Europe 'seeking to harmonise climate-change demands'

Yahoo News 20 Nov 08;

ALGIERS (AFP) – Africa seeks a common position with the European Union going into climate-change negotiations next year, Algeria's environment minister said Thursday following pan-African agreement.

Environment ministers from almost all of Africa's 53 nations agreed a united front Wednesday to take into December 2009 talks in Copenhagen on replacing the Kyoto Protocol, covering efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

With the current and next holders of the EU's rotating presidency, France and the Czech Republic, in attendance at the Algiers meeting, hopes are rising that a summit in Ethiopia of foreign ministers from the African Union and the EU can agree a declaration by Monday.

The idea is to formulate a standard position covering effectively one third of the earth's populated landmass going into the next United Nations conference on climate change which gets under way in Poznan, Poland, in 11 days time.

"The ministers have decided to enlarge the African alliance to (include) the EU (position): that (united negotiating stance) could be put on the table in Poznan," between December 1 and 12, Cherif Rahmani said.

"It's about launching a win-win partnership under which each party must share equally the risks," he added. "Africa has accepted its responsibilities, the politics of the empty chair are finished."

A complication might be Rahmani's stated desire that any such partnership be signed under AU auspices as well as common negotiating frameworks sought by the Group of 77 developing nations, a coalition which has grown to number 130 countries at the UN, including China, a major investor in Africa.

French minister for sustainable development Jean-Louis Borloo and Czech counterpart Jan Duzik said they had been given an EU mandate on October 20 to advance discussions on a common EU-Africa position for Copenhagen.

The critical summit in just over 12 months' time is intended to bring about agreement across the international community on a new climate-change treaty to replace the one signed in Kyoto, Japan, whose commitments run out in 2012.

Potential deal-breakers for Africa include what to do about deforestation, which scientists say creates substantially more greenhouse gases globally than the world's entire aviation industry.

The AU will also seek special aid on dealing with the impact of existing climate change -- with World Bank representative Hocine Chalal pointing out that the continent is responsible for 7.5 percent of the planet's emissions (four percent when narrowed down to sub-Saharan Africa) yet is exposed to some of its most brutal side-effects, including drought, flooding and population migration.

The level of investment needed to bring electricity into every African home could also run to some 24 billion dollars (19 billion euros) every year for the next 10 to 20 years, Chalal added.

However, Borloo stressed that Africa has enormous potential to develop renewable energy from solar, wind, wave and its mammoth river sources.

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