《城市生命线》City Footprints - the Marine Champions episode!
on the ashira v3.0b blog
Connectivity of Coral Reefs within the Singapore Strait
(Qualifying Examination) on the Raffles Museum News blog
New record of a crab in a pitcher plant
on the wild shores of singapore blog
I and the Bird carnival
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog
Letter to the Editor: Additional logging in Tembat, Petuang
WWF-Malaysia 26 Nov 08;
WWF-Malaysia refers to the Terengganu Menteri Besar’s reply on logging. In particular, WWF-Malaysia would like to address the comments made by the MB with regard to the submerging of forests for dam purposes and the existence of ‘‘plenty of wildlife”. There is a need to clarify some perceptions which the MB’s statement might have created.
The additional logging of 12,620ha proposed by the Terengganu State government is not part of the area to be submerged by the dams. This proposed additional logging is strictly for timber revenue generation and is not connected to the building of the said dams. It is important to note that only 6,130ha of forests needs to be cleared for the purpose of building the proposed dams, including the area to be submerged. Therefore, it is false to suggest that the Tasik Kenyir incident will reoccur if the proposed logging by the state government does not take place.
According to the Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA), the state proposes to use the clear felling method to extract timber even from the areas that will not be inundated by the dam.
As WWF-Malaysia has previously highlighted, the Tembat and Petuang Forest reserves are where signs of various endangered species, including the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros have been reported. Signs of this elusive species are not easily found in other parts of the peninsula.
The increase in reports of human-wildlife conflict, especially human-elephant conflict, within the area strongly infers that wildlife habitats are being encroached and or are diminishing. More land clearing in the future will result in more elephants, and other wildlife, being displaced. WWF-Malaysia does not agree with the MB’s view that the translocation of displaced elephants to the closest elephant sanctuary is a viable solution. This would be too costly and the sanctuary would not be able to accommodate all the elephants in the state in the long term.
The proposed mitigating measures in the DEIA to reduce the impacts of logging will not be effective in retaining the function of the forests as a water catchment forest. Forests take many years to regenerate and fully resume its ecosystem function as water catchment and prevent soil erosion. Logging in a dam catchment forest will increase sedimentation and could reduce the dam lifetime in the long run, even if logging was only carried out during the construction stage of the dam. In recognising this, the National Physical Plan has identified all catchment forests of existing and proposed dams as Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) Rank 1. Logging, development and agricultural activities are not permitted in these areas.
WWF-Malaysia strongly calls on the state government to gazette the Petuang and Tembat Forest Reserves as water catchment forests under the National Forestry Act 1984 urgently and not after logging has taken place. This conforms to the directive from the National Forestry Council to the States to protect water catchment forests under the National Forestry Act.
From: Dato' Dr. Dionysius S.K. Sharma D.P.M.P., Executive Director/CEO, WWF-Malaysia
Plenty of forest left for wildlife, says Ahmad
The New Straits Times 14 Nov 08;
KUALA TERENGGANU: World Wildlife Fund Malaysia "need not worry" about logging in the Tembat and Petuang forest reserves, says Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said.
It was reported on Wednesday that the endangered Sumatran rhinoceros and Malayan tiger would face a bleak future after forests the size of 7,000 football fields were cleared to build the Puah and Tembat hydroelectric dams in Hulu Terengganu.
A recent detailed environmental impact assessment report said the state government also proposed to log the adjacent forests, an area double the size of the forest reserves.
The Tembat and Petuang forest reserves act as water catchments for Tasik Kenyir. The logging threatens rare wildlife and risks polluting rivers.
Ahmad said the state would have plenty of virgin forest left and that efforts were being made to care for the wildlife.
"The area will be submerged when the second dam is built in 2011. We have to fell the trees or the Kenyir Lake incident will be repeated," Ahmad said yesterday.
The completion of the Kenyir dam in 1986 left more than 60,000 ha of forest to rot in the lake, and the state lost timber revenue.
"The revenue from the timber will be pumped into development in the state."
No worry over logging
R.S.N. Murali, The Star 19 Nov 08;
KUALA TERENGGANU: The Terengganu government will not compromise on the impact to the environment caused by logging in the Tembat and Petuang forest reserves for the construction of two dams fringing Kenyir Lake.
“There is no need to worry as efforts are in place to safeguard the environment,” Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Said said recently in response to concerns from World Wildlife Fund Malaysia over the logging.
It was reported last Wednesday that the endangered Sumatran rhinoceros and Malayan tiger faced an uncertain future as 6,130ha of forests, the size of 7,000 football fields, was being cleared.
Details in an Environmental Impact Assessment released recently showed that the state had also proposed the logging of adjacent forests, an area double the size of the forest reserves.
The logging poses a threat to wildlife and risks polluting rivers as the Tembat and Petuang forests reserves act as water catchment areas for Kenyir Lake.
WWF also expressed concerns over erosion due to logging in the catchment areas leading to a decrease in freshwater fish such as kelah.
Ahmad said that efforts were being made to protect wildlife.
These include the establishment of an elephant sanctuary with the co-operation of the National Parks and Wildlife Department, which will relocate endangered animals in the area.
Ahmad explained that the logging was to prevent the area from being submerged when the second dam was built in 2012.
He referred to 1986 when the Kenyir dam was completed and 60,000ha of forest was inundated, causing loss of revenue.
“The trees have to be felled. Otherwise, there will be a repetition of the Kenyir incident,” he said.
If the trees were not chopped, they would degenerate under water, and it would be costly for the state to retrieve them later, he said.
“We are gaining logging revenue, which will be channelled into the state’s development fund.
“Terengganu is making a sacrifice for the nation,” he said in reference to the construction of the two dams to generate hydroelectric power for the country.
More widespread logging threatens critically-endangered animals
The New Straits Times 13 Nov 08;
KUALA LUMPUR: The critically-endangered Sumatran rhinoceros and endangered Malayan tiger face an even more uncertain future as a massive chunk of their habitat in Terengganu forests, roughly the size of 7,000 football fields, is being chopped down.
About 6,130ha in the Tembat and Petuang forest reserves in the state are being logged to make way for the Puah and Tembat dams.
A Detailed Environmental Impact Assesment (DEIA), released recently, shows that the state government is proposing to log the adjacent forests, an area double the size of the forest reserves.
The ongoing and proposed logging threatens rare wildlife and risks polluting the river.
The Tembat and Petuang forests reserves act as water catchment areas for Tasik Kenyir.
In a statement yesterday, the World Wildlife Fund Malaysia claimed that satellite images in the DEIA indicated that felling of the reservoir area and adjacent hills started three years ago.
The DEIA stated that the catchment sites had changed by 20 to 30 per cent between 2005 and 2006 and that new logging tracks were visible.
"Evidence on the ground also suggests that logging and clearing of the reservoir area has already started prior to the approval of the DEIA.
"There seems to be little regard for relevant laws and the DEIA process," said WWF-Malaysia CEO Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma.
The DEIA also stated that 30 per cent of the existing elephant population within the project area will be forced into nearby plantations, creating more human-elephant conflict.
"Conflict is already occurring near the Tembat Forest Reserve, with cases reported in Hulu Setiu and Hulu Nerus.
"This will result in loss of revenue to plantation owners and property damages. In the long run, the government will incur higher cost for human-wildlife conflict management."
Sharma also expressed his concern over the anticipated high erosion rate due to logging activity in the catchment areas.
"The kelah fish population found in rivers there will undeniably decrease. Kelah has high conservation and commercial values," he said, adding that eco-tourism activities would also be affected.
This, Sharma said, was also confirmed by the DEIA report which stated that ecotourism activities in Sungai Tembat and Sungai Terengganu Mati would be affected as high soil erosion and sedimentation affects fish biodiversity and spawning grounds.
"Increased siltation from logging could reduce the dam lifetime in the long run even if logging was only carried out during the construction stage of the dam.
"Forests take many years to regenerate and fully resume their water catchment ecosystem and soil protection functions," he said.
"The Federal Government has recognised this and that is why the National Forestry Council had directed all state governments to gazette catchment forests as water catchment forests in 2005."
The Terengganu state government has gazetted about 49,107ha of forests as catchment forests. The Petuang and Tembat Forest Reserves, however, are yet to be gazetted as catchment forests.
Mohd Farhaan Shah, The Star 26 Nov 08;
A TOTAL of 125 children were given a crash course on birds and marine life and how to protect them during a colouring contest at Senai Airport in Johor Baru recently.
The course given by Malaysian Nature Society of Johor adviser Vincent Chow touched on birds that migrate to Johor during the European winter.
Among the birds are waders, redshanks and flycathers.
Chow also spoke on conservation of marine life around Pulau Merambung near the Port of Tanjung Pelepas.
Besides the course, there was an exhibition about birds and marine life in Johor.
Accountant Ling Seah, 39, who works in London, found the exhibition informative, especially on the different types of birds found in the state.
“I was surprised to find that birds from Australia and Europe come to Johor when they migrate,” she said.
Senai Airport Terminal Services Sdn Bhd corporate communications manager Bob Lee said it was the second time the airport had organised a colouring contest.
“The theme for this years competition was I Love Nature to inspire children to be close with nature,” he said, adding that the exhibition would be held for a month.
Year Five student Khoo Shi Yen beat 34 other participants when her drawing was picked as the winner in category C for children aged 10 to 12 years.
“I feel excited as it is the first time I’ve won a drawing contest,” said Khoo, who had taken part in five similar competitions previously.
She received RM300 in cash, a Diamoney hamper and a certificate.
“Maybe I will spend a little of the money on new clothes and put the rest in the bank,” she said.
The competition was divided into three categories.
In category A, the first prize winner was Lee Xin Yi, four, followed by Nur Athirah Baharuddin, five, and Mohd Aiman Malik. four.
In category B, the first prize winner was Wang Teyy Yu, eight, followed by Khoo Siti Yun, nine, and Divya Darshini Sivanandar, seven.
In category C, the first prize winner was Khoo Shi Yen, 11, followed by Chai Kheng How, 10, and Heng Xin Ni, 10.
There were side activities including a nursery rhyme karaoke session, lucky draw and quiz.
The Marrybrown mascot was present to entertain the children.
Some parents had their portraits done by a artist Ismail Attan, who was one of the judges in the colouring competition.
Liang Kaixin, Channel NewsAsia 25 Nov 08;
SINGAPORE : Vegetable prices have risen by 10 to 15 percent on average during the past month due to the rainy season.
The rainy season, which began a month earlier this year, has affected harvests in Malaysia, where half of Singapore's vegetable imports come from.
The rains have also affected chilli harvests in Thailand, Vietnam and other neighbouring countries.
Chilli prices have doubled to some S$6 a kilogramme, the highest in 10 years. - CNA /ls
Malaysian vegetable prices soar
Supply dips after monsoon wrecks crops; chillies, leafy greens hit hard
Jessica Lim, Straits Times 27 Nov 08;
GETTING one's fiery chilli fix is now costing more than it has in a decade.
The prices of several other varieties of Malaysian vegetables are also up as a result of the north-east monsoon arriving early and wrecking harvests.
At some wet markets, customers are paying about $10 a kilogram for green and red chillies, double the price two months ago.
Wet-market stall owners The Straits Times spoke to say chilli prices are the highest in at least 10 years.
Another Malaysian-grown vegetable that has become more costly in the last two months is Chinese lettuce. Wet markets now charge $6 a kilogram for it, up from $4.
Spring onions are now tagged at $8 a kilogram, up from $5, and old cucumbers have jumped from $2.80 to $3.50 a kilogram. The prices of leafy vegetables such as cai xin and kai lan have also gone up by about $1 in the last two months to $2.50 a kilogram.
The persistent wet weather has caused Malaysian vegetable harvests to rot, and the resulting short supply is sending prices up, say importers here.
The wet weather looks set to continue into January, said the weatherman here of the monsoon, which brings moderate to heavy rain lasting a few days to Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore.
Singapore Fruits and Vegetables Importers and Exporters Association chairman Tay Khiam Back said: 'Leafy vegetables and chillies are grown outdoors and are easily destroyed by heavy rain. They get rotten before they are harvested.'
Vegetables grown in greenhouses, such as tomatoes, eggplants and capsicums, are unaffected, he added.
Wet-market vegetable stall owners like Mr Jimmy Koh are feeling the pain. The owner of a stall in Serangoon Gardens wet market has been dumping about half a kilogram of rotten Malaysian chillies daily, an eighth of what he buys.
While some greens rot even before they leave the farms and are not brought in here, some start to go bad en route but are sold anyway to importers like Mr Koh.
Tagging the remainder of his stock at $9.50 a kilogram yesterday, he said: 'Last time, we never had to throw any away.'
Wholesalers are, in the meantime, turning to alternative sources.
Mr Gary Ong, 42, who owns Vat Thoa Vegetables Wholesaler, now brings in 700kg of China chillies daily, up from none two months ago. He has cut back on his imports of the Malaysian variety from 740kg daily two months ago to about 350kg.
He explained that the China variety is in abundant supply and can be sold at half the price of the Malaysian type.
'We still need to supply the same amount, and some clients who buy in bulk demand low prices,' he said.
He added, however, that the demand for Malaysian chillies is still brisk because they are hotter and look better than the Chinese ones.
Consumers like Madam Lim Sok Hwa, 51, are doing without Malaysian chillies for now.
She said: 'What's the point buying the ones from China? They are not spicy enough anyway.'
Price is often the clincher, so Government should consider providing incentives
Esther Ng, The New Paper 26 Nov 08;
ALL things being equal, most Singaporeans would be willing to buy a more energy-efficient household appliancebecause, in the long run, we stand to save on our utility bills.
But cost can be a stumbling block, especially where big-ticket items such as refrigerators, washing machines and air-conditioners are concerned, as energy-efficient models tend to cost more.
For example, a four-tick inverter air-conditioner for two rooms costs around $2,500 compared to $1,800 for a one-tick unit. Those on a tight budget may go with the cheaper model even though it would cost them more in the long run — as much as $900 a year, according to retailers.
One thing for sure is that we have developed an appetite for air-conditioners in Singapore, going from one in five households with air conditioning in 1988 to about seven in 10 last year.
These energy guzzlers form some30 per cent of a household’s utility bill.
While the Government has introduced a mandatory energy-labelling scheme for refrigerators and air-conditioners — and by 2010, for clothes dryers, lightings and water heaters — “to help consumers make more informed choices”, perhaps more needs to be done, especially in the coming downturn.
We may consume less now because of higher electricity prices, but energy efficiency is a crucial long-term solution — and a win-win one — to achieving the goal of reducing energy consumption by 2012.
I am referring to the five-year campaign to get households to reduce their electricity consumption by at least 10 per cent.
So, if cost can be an issue when it comes to buying energy-efficient appliances, would an incentive serve to motivate Singaporeans?
I think so, and it should come from Government.
After all, there are official schemes such as the Grant for Energy Efficient Technologies ($22 million) and EnergyEfficiency ImprovementAssistance Scheme ($10 million) toincentivise businesses. There should be an equivalent for households.
In Taiwan, consumers get a rebate from the government if they buy energy-efficient electrical appliances.
Singapore could tailor this so households that need it more — from one-room to five-room HDB flats — are given the incentive, perhaps in the form of a voucher, and the Government could work out such a scheme with retailers.
A straw poll among friends suggested that a discount in the region of 10 to 20 per cent, depending on the costs of the appliances, would be enticing enough.
My friend Yasmine, who just got married, said: “I think vouchers could help, but it has to be of an amount that makes the difference between aless-efficient and more-efficient appliance quiteinsignificant.
“For example, if we had $200 in vouchers, we probably wouldn’t mind paying the extra $100 it would cost to get a four-tick fridge (compared to a less-efficient one). But if the voucher is only $50 or $100, and we’d still have to fork out $200 more, we wouldn’t bother.”
Yasmine and her husband tried as much as possible to get energy-efficient appliances within their budget, but in cases where an energy-efficient appliance cost significantly higher than a less energy-efficient one, they went with price.
“We’re broke newly-weds,” she said.
Price is often the clincher, and with some incentives, more people might be persuaded to buy green.
Singaporeans hate to waste a good deal, after all.
The New Paper 26 Nov 06;
AMID sagging financial markets, Temasek Holdings has put off the sale of its wholly-owned power generation company PowerSeraya.
“We launched the tender process early last month based on indications of interest from investors. In light of the market conditions, we have decided not to proceed further,” Ms Gwendel Tung, Temasek Holdings’ director for investment, said yesterday in a statement.
A person familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires that Temasek was not happy with the prices the bidders were quoting. The firm had divested Senoko Power and Tuas Power earlier this year.
Ms Tung said Temasek was flexible on how and when it would revisit the third divestment, but did not give details.
“In the meantime, PowerSeraya will continue to operate as usual under the supervision of its board of directors and management,” Temasek said.
Many companies are either suspending expansion plans or deferring investment decisions, as the credit crunch is making it difficult to arrange financing.
Yesterday, BHP Billiton abandoned its US$188-billion hostile offer for iron ore producer Rio Tinto, citing adverse market conditions.
The transaction is the largest ever cancelled, according to business research firm Thomson Reuters.
Withdrawn merger-and-acquisition (M&A) deals totalled :US$322 billion so far this quarter, not far from the level of completed M&As, said Thomson Reuters. It added that for 100 M&A deals completed this quarter, seven were scrapped.
PowerSeraya is the last power plant to be put on sale, after Temasek sold Senoko Power and Tuas Power this year. Senoko Power was sold in September to Japan’s Marubeni Corp for $4 billion, while China’s Huaneng Group bought Tuas Power for $4.2 billion in March. AGENCIES
Temasek shelves sale of PowerSeraya
It cites current market conditions as the cause, but sale not off the table
Fiona Chan, Straits Times 26 Nov 08;
TEMASEK Holdings has halted its sale of power generation company PowerSeraya, as deepening pessimism about the global economy thwarts corporate deal-making plans around the world.
The Singapore investment company yesterday said it would shelve tender plans for PowerSeraya, the last of three local generators to be auctioned off this year, owing to 'market conditions'.
The deal, which reports suggested could be valued at up to US$2.5 billion (S$3.82 billion), has been dogged by rumours of delay as the financial turmoil intensified in recent weeks.
Temasek's announcement came hours after another billion-dollar plan was pulled off the table yesterday. BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company, abandoned its US$66 billion hostile bid for rival Rio Tinto in a surprise decision, citing concerns about the deterioration of global economic conditions.
Temasek's director of investment, Ms Gwendel Tung, said the Singapore investment company launched the tender process for PowerSeraya early last month 'based on indications of interest from investors'. 'In the light of the market conditions, we have decided not to proceed further,' she said in a statement.
But Temasek added that it 'remains committed to divest all its power-generating companies in Singapore'.
In March, Temasek sold Tuas Power for $4.235 billion to China Huaneng Group, while Senoko went to Japanese/ French consortium Lion Power in September for about $4 billion.
The sale of PowerSeraya, along with the other two, is a bid by Temasek to liberalise the domestic energy market.
'We are flexible as to how and when we will revisit the divestment of PowerSeraya,' said Ms Tung. Temasek has said that its deadline for selling the 3,100MW power generation company is the middle of next year.
PowerSeraya, which has a 30 per cent share of Singapore's power market, will continue to operate 'as usual' under its board of directors and management.
The Business Times reported this month that three foreign groups had been shortlisted for the PowerSeraya tender: Malaysia's YTL, Bahrain's Arcapita and a consortium led by Hong Kong's CLP Group. YTL and CLP were said to be among the bidders shortlisted for Senoko Power, Singapore's biggest power generation company, while Arcapita had put in an offer for Tuas Power, the smallest.
PowerSeraya posted a 30 per cent jump in full-year profit to $218 million two months ago, on the back of a 6 per cent increase in revenue to $2.79 billion.
Earlier this year, it opened its own desalination water plant in Jurong Island, making it South-east Asia's first combined heat, water and power supplier. It is also building a $800 million cogeneration plant to be ready in 2010.
Lights go out on PowerSeraya sale
Temasek pulls the plug on genco divestment; market conditions cited
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 26 Nov 08;
(SINGAPORE) The financial turmoil has claimed another casualty: Temasek Holdings yesterday abruptly stopped its sale of the third and remaining generating company, PowerSeraya, 'in the light of market conditions'.
Industry observers said that relatively poor investor interest - marked by the absence of big power players, unlike in the earlier two Singapore genco sales - and lower-than-expected indicative bids by investors in the first round of the Seraya sales process led to the decision.
In a statement yesterday evening, announcing a halt to the PowerSeraya sale, Gwendel Tung, Temasek's director of Investment, said: 'We launched the tender process early last month based on indications of interest from investors. In light of the market conditions, we have decided not to proceed further.'
But the Singapore investment company stressed that it remains committed to sell PowerSeraya - the remaining genco to be divested after Tuas Power and Senoko Power.
BT understands that the PowerSeraya sale was to have closed next week on Dec 2, when the two shortlisted bidders - Malaysia's YTL and a consortium led by Hong Kong's CLP - were to have submitted their final binding offers.
'No one knows what happened, and whether there was a last-minute withdrawal,' an industry observer said. What is clear, though, is that no new timeline has been set for resumption of the sale.
Ms Tung said: 'We are flexible as to how and when we will revisit the divestment of PowerSeraya.'
Sources said that this will clearly 'be dependent on market conditions' improving.
'While Temasek had earlier hoped to complete the divestment of its three gencos (which started in October last year) by mid-2009, it doesn't make sense now to put a deadline for completion,' one source said. The intention to divest was still there and it was a question of if, not when, he said.
Industry observers said that the two shortlisted groups for PowerSeraya will obviously be disappointed, after having gone through their 'road shows' and due diligence processes for the genco.
'I would have expected Temasek to complete the sale rather than leave it dangling,' one said.
It means that China Huaneng's Tuas Power and Japanese/French Lion Group's Senoko Power will meanwhile have to compete with Temasek-owned PowerSeraya in the electricity market here, he added.
Temasek had indicated from the outset that 'as with the sale of the two other gencos, the sale of PowerSeraya will be subject to acceptable price and commercial terms'.
What is an 'acceptable' price is, however, moot, given the current financial crisis.
Tuas Power fetched S$4.23 billion, while Senoko Power got about S$4 billion. But indicative bids in the first round of the sales process for the 3,100 megawatt PowerSeraya - the second largest genco here after the 3,300 MW Senoko Power - were apparently below these earlier benchmarks, sources said.
This clearly signalled to Temasek that it was not likely to obtain those kind of prices. PowerSeraya, with a 30 per cent share of the power market here, has strong cash flow, and has plans to grow to a fully integrated energy company.
Michelle Tay, Straits Times 26 Nov 08;
TEMASEK Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL) has set up a joint venture company with Tata Chemicals to commercialise its jatropha-related biotechnologies and discoveries globally.
JOil, as the firm is called, will work with the India-based subsidiary of Tata Group to 'exploit the potential of the renewable energy industry', said the chairman of TLL, Dr Tan Guong Ching.
Jatropha is a plant that has been touted as a possible alternative to palm oil as feedstock for biodiesel.
When jatropha seeds are crushed, the resulting jatropha oil can be processed to produce a high-quality biodiesel that can be used in a standard diesel car, while the residue can also be processed into biomass to power electricity plants.
One of the key advantages of jatropha as a biofuel plant is that it is hardy, and can be cultivated even on poor quality farmland. JOil hopes to develop technologies to 'generate superior jatropha planting materials with customised traits', so that plantations and countries can secure ample supplies of biofuel feedstock.
By developing such tough, high-yielding varieties of the plant, JOil 'would be able to address the often cited criticism of countries diverting scarce arable resources away from food production to biofuels', said JOil's general manager, Dr Hong Yan.
Tata Chemicals' executive vice-president and chief financial officer, Mr P.K. Ghose, expressed delight at the venture, which he said 'could in future have a significant benefit for the production of biodiesel from jatropha both in terms of yield and cost'.
Tata Chemicals also made it clear that it intends to enter the biodiesel business, and to make JOil its exclusive partner in its operations in India and East Africa - two regions where the jatropha plant grows naturally.
TLL has already developed 'several key platform technologies' to 'address current issues confronting the bioenergy industry'. This partnership will give both firms 'the advantage of being able to customise planting materials to suit different regions and environments', said Dr Hong.
Reef guide to benefit research
The Sydney Morning Herald 26 Nov 08;
A new book looks at the extraordinary world of the endangered Great Barrier Reef, writes Jennie Curtin.
'I mean we're not going to have reefs for much longer but we can at least have them a bit longer." Pat Hutchings, a 40-year veteran of coral reef research, is not optimistic for the long-term future of the Great Barrier Reef but she is determined to do everything within her power to help its survival.
So, together with some of the best and brightest scientific minds in this country, Hutchings has helped compile a comprehensive guide to the reef, its fascinating plants and animals, its diverse ecosystems and the mysterious processes that go into creating and maintaining coral reefs.
Hutchings has been poking around reefs since her student days, before scuba diving existed outside the armed forces. "When I went to learn in the mid to late '60s, we had to make our own wetsuits - you couldn't buy them," she says. "There were a few naval divers but it wasn't available to students. Prior to that people swam around with a box with glass on the bottom to look through."
She completed her PhD in the bitter conditions of the North Sea so her first experience of wading into the warm waters of the Great Barrier Reef in 1970 convinced her she had found her nirvana. Hutchings, now senior researcher at the Australian Museum and an expert in marine worms, has been exploring the reef ever since.
The Great Barrier Reef: Biology, Environment And Management, which will be launched in Queensland tomorrow, was designed to fill a massive gap between, on the one hand, beautiful coffee table-type books about the reef with magnificent photos but minimal text and, at the other extreme, highly technical scientific textbooks.
It was also born of a need to educate the next generation of science students who will be responsible for protecting the reef against the ravages of climate change, Hutchings says.
Hutchings and her co-authors, Mike Kingsford and Ove Hoegh-Guldberg from James Cook and Queensland universities respectively, have been taking groups of university students to the reef since the late 1990s as part of a tropical marine network course. The students spend two weeks on Heron Island to learn about reef ecology, biological processes and its flora and fauna.
"It was really to introduce them to the reef," Hutchings says. "But we realised there was absolutely nothing that we could give these students. So we decided, Ove and Mike and I, that we really should write up these lecture notes into a book."
At the same time, the Australian Coral Reef Society decided it wanted an income stream to be able to provide research grants for students studying the reef. A book seemed the perfect solution.
The book is aimed at students and also at anyone seeking more detail about the way the reef works. Hutchings sees potential interest from teachers who bring classes to the reef or from divers "who don't just dive for the sake of it but are actually interested in what they're looking at".
The three academics approached 32 of their colleagues to contribute chapters for the book. "The author list is really a cast of who's who in coral reef science in Australia," Hutchings says. "And everybody agreed that all the profits would go back into the society. Nobody said, 'Look I want to get my royalties."'
The authors also contributed all of the marvellous photographs free, minimising costs and increasing the funds to be returned to the society. The result is a complete picture of the reef, with a difference. As Hutchings explains about a chapter on snails, for example: "We didn't just want the classification of the snails on the reef. We wanted a little bit of information on that but we wanted to know what are the interesting aspects of snails on the reef, what do they actually do, what role do they play, what happens if we lose them, are there some that have really interesting sex lives? Just little snippets to get to the reader."
And there are millions of creatures to be written about, from plankton, algae and sponges to jellyfish, sea anemones, corals, worms, crustaceans, fish, seabirds and mammals. The reef is teeming with life, though not as much as when Hutchings first investigated it. Hutchings says humans have overfished it but she believes Australia's reefs are better than those elsewhere.
"If you go to the Caribbean you hardly see any big fish any more … Remember where reefs are - they are straddled either side of the equator. If you look at that band, most of those countries are Third World. How can you tell an Indonesian that he can't go and fish? He's got to feed his family."
Overfishing is only one of the threats to the reef (see panel); climate change is the big one. Hutchings fears that, even if carbon emissions are reduced immediately, which in itself is unlikely, it would still be 10 to 15 years before there is any noticeable effect. This is why it is critical that conservation and research work continues. "If you talk to young kids now … these students have realised that this reef is precious and we need to look after it. I think this next generation is going to be incredibly important."
The Great Barrier Reef: Biology, Environment And Management is published by CSIRO Publishing.
Human harm
OVERFISHING Fishing of herbivores results in algae replacing corals. Fishing of carnivores depletes numbers. Dugongs on the Great Barrier Reef have declined by more than 90 per cent in the past 30 years.
RUN-OFF FROM LAND Brings in unnaturally high nutrients from agricultural land and increased sediments from land eroded through clearing.
CLIMATE CHANGE is not just a prospect; it is happening now. Coral bleaching due to higher water temperatures reduces growth, makes corals more susceptible to disease and can eventually kill corals.
RECREATION Fishing impacts (see above), anchor damage, accidental boat grounding, fin damage from divers, trampling and littering.
BIG PICTURE Coral reefs are in serious decline globally. About 30 per cent of coral reefs are severely damaged; up to 60 per cent may be lost by 2030.
From a chapter on human impacts on coral reefs by Terry Hughes, director of the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.
Ending the reef madness
Jill Rowbotham, The Australian 26 Nov 08;
OVE Hoegh-Guldberg is blunt about the gloomy prospects for the Great Barrier Reef.
"We have no time to lose," said the director of the University of Queensland's Centre for Marine Studies.
"We are three decades away from having a reef with no coral and less than half the species we have today. It is crunch time."
Speaking on the eve of the publication of a unique book, The Great Barrier Reef, the first comprehensive field guide to the world's largest continous reef, he stressed the imperative to act. "Part of the mission for us as scientists is to pass on the urgency and excitement about these issues."
His ambition is for the book to change the lives of school students, undergraduates and members of the public. "We need people who are waking up and getting active and making big changes in the way we live."
His co-editors were Australian Museum senior principal research scientist Pat Hutchings and James Cook University's school of marine biology and aquaculture head Michael Kingsford.
The book grew out of undergraduate courses on the biology of coral reefs that the universities collaborated on with the University of Sydney, conducted on Heron Island.
In addition, more than 30 reef experts contributed articles on themes including threats and issues, such as coral bleaching and coral diseases, and the challenges of coral reef fisheries. "By understanding the reef better through resources like this book, we stand a better chance of preserving this wondrous ecosystem."
National Geographic News 25 Nov 08;
Photograph by Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, National University of Singapore
During the Santo 2006 biodiversity expedition, funded in part by the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration, scientists from all over the world collected some 10,000 different species in and around the remote South Pacific island of Espiritu Santo in the Republic of Vanuatu. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)
About 600 of these were crab species. This two-horn box crab is able to crack and peel open snails' shells using a sharp "tooth" on its right claw to cut open shells and long, slender "fingers" on the left claw to yank out its prey. A glimpse of the island's astonishing diversity of crabs appears in the photos that follow.
Matt Kaplan, National Geographic News 25 Nov 08;
Strong hurricanes have been known to wipe out bird and bat populations, but a new study has discovered a silver lining in those storm clouds.
Hurricanes may actually blow helpless bats in the Caribbean from one island to another, eventually reconnecting geographically isolated species and boosting genetic diversity, the research found.
"After Hurricane Ivan slammed into the West Indies, we were not particularly surprised to find bat populations depressed," said study lead author Ted Fleming at the University of Miami in Florida.
"With such powerful winds, there was going to be high mortality, but we never expected to find what we found."
Fleming and colleague Kevin Murray analyzed bat species in the West Indies before and after Hurricane Ivan slammed into the region in 2004.
The team used nets and tools to collect small bits of live bats' wing tissue for DNA analysis.
While all species showed population declines following the event, one population of the common fruit bat on Grand Cayman Island actually showed an increase in genetic diversity.
The results will appear in the journal Biotropica in January 2009.
Winds of Change
Before the storm, only one genetic variant of the fruit bat was common on Grand Cayman, Fleming said, but afterward, two other variants appeared.
The only other island where these different bats lived was Cayman Brac, 87 miles (140 kilometers) away.
There is little chance that the bats voluntarily flew this distance over water, the team said, which suggests that the hurricane literally picked up a few bats off Cayman Brac and plopped them on Grand Cayman.
"When you hear about winds distributing animals, it is typically anecdotal," Fleming said.
"We got lucky and just happened to be analyzing the right animals at the right time."
Genetic diversity is important for keeping animal populations robust. For example, if a population has little genetic variation, offspring become weaker and may eventually become inbred.
Biologist Scott Pedersen at South Dakota State University in Brookings was not involved in the study.
"It's good work and is a very welcome bit of data that we all pretty much suspected, [because] our own radio-tracking shows that bats are not moving amongst islands on their own," Pedersen said.
Perfect Storm
Fleming cautioned that hurricanes do not always have this distributing effect.
In the Bahamas, for instance, bats did not become more genetically diverse after Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne.
Clearly, a perfect storm of factors—the right bat populations on the right islands in the right storm—must exist for hurricanes to help bats.
"It looks like it takes really powerful storms to get the job done," added South Dakota State's Pedersen.
Reuters 25 Nov 08;
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian scientists are using mobile telephones to eavesdrop on koalas to understand what they are saying when they bellow and how this can help conserve the marsupial which is threatened by habitat destruction.
The researchers tagged koalas on St Bees Island off northeast Australia with satellite tracking devices to monitor movements and placed mobile telephones in the trees which are programed to turn on every 30 minutes and record for two minutes.
The mobiles, charged by solar power and car batteries, record the koala bellows, then download the recordings to a computer at the University of Queensland in Brisbane.
"Koala bellows can go from really quite short, sharp, and quite agitated sounding bellows to long, slow, deep bellows that can last for over a minute," said researcher Bill Ellis.
"Interestingly most of the bellowing seems to occur around midnight, not around dawn or dusk when we thought it might've occurred," he said on Tuesday.
Ellis said he was studying whether male koalas communicate by bellowing to each other to mark out territory and whether bellowing was used to attract females during breeding season.
"Over the breeding season males are quiet active at the start but their movements die down and females have a spike in movement somewhere in the breeding season," Ellis said.
"After a male and female encounter, and we can't see what they are doing, the female lets out a high-pitched scream and immediately after the male emits a loud bellow," he said.
Ellis said results from his study could help manage koala populations by informing wildlife officials when is the best time to introduce new animals to a population and when is best time to allow changes to koala habitats such as urban development.
(Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
PlanetArk 25 Nov 08;
SYDNEY - Australian wildlife officials were using satellite tracking on Monday to monitor a group of 11 pilot whales returned to the sea after a mass stranding on the island state of Tasmania.
The whales were the only ones from a group of 64 long-finned pilot whales that survived the mass stranding on Saturday.
Global Positioning System (GPS) devices were attached to five whales, a mix of adult and juvenile whales, and authorities said the surviving pod was swimming strongly away from land.
"These units have told us that the animals did all join up again even though they were released in a three hour period and their survival prospects are very good." Rosemary Gales from Tasmania's Department of Primary Industries told local media.
The whales were found stranded on Saturday along a stretch of Anthony's Beach at Stanley on Tasmania's northwest coast, a site where repeated strandings have occurred in the past. Around one-third of them were juveniles.
On Sunday, rescuers released 11 surviving whales into the ocean after day-long effort which involved relocating them by road to another beach.
Gales said it was the first time GPS devices have been used to track whales after a stranding in Australia.
Pilot whales are among the smaller whales, typically up to about five metres in length and dark with a grey underbelly.
Environmentalists said the chances of whales surviving a mass strading were usually low, but the relatively small size of the pilot whales may have helped rescuers save them.
Mass strandings of whales occur periodically in Australia and New Zealand for reasons that are not entirely understood. Theories include disturbance of echo-location, possibly by interference from sound produced by human activities at sea.
(Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
Center for Biological Diversity 25 Nov 08;
Federal Protection of Coral Habitat in Florida and the Caribbean Falls Short
SAN FRANCISCO— The Center for Biological Diversity on Wednesday will give the Bush administration official notice of its intent file a lawsuit for illegally excluding global warming and ocean acidification threats from a new rule protecting habitat for elkhorn and staghorn corals.
The federal government announced today that it will designate almost 3,000 square miles of reef area off the coasts of Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands as critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act for the threatened corals. The new rule, to be published in Wednesday’s Federal Register, was required by a court-approved settlement of a 2007 lawsuit brought by the Center.
Although the polar bear has gained more notoriety, elkhorn coral and staghorn coral — which were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2006 — have the dubious honor of being the first species protected under the Endangered Species Act due to threats to their survival primarily caused by global warming.
The law requires that when a species is listed under the Act, the federal government must protect habitat that is essential to its survival and recovery. In the new critical-habitat rule, the federal government designated important areas to be protected for the corals, but created a giant loophole that disregards the primary threats to coral habitat: elevated seawater temperatures and ocean acidification.
“The critical-habitat rule exposes the Bush agenda to ignore global warming, while rising temperatures are driving corals extinct,” said Miyoko Sakashita, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “The rule shows the double standard of the Bush administration. On one hand, the law required the federal government to identify areas to protect for the threatened corals. On the other hand, the administration skirted the real threats to coral habitat, global warming and ocean acidification, by inserting language into the rule that carves out an exception for those threats. It is not only irrational, but it is illegal under the Endangered Species Act.”
Once the most abundant and important reef-building corals in Florida and the Caribbean, staghorn and elkhorn corals have declined by more than 90 percent in many areas, mainly as a result of disease and “bleaching,” an often-fatal stress response to abnormally high water temperatures in which corals expel the symbiotic algae that give them color. The rising temperature of the ocean as a result of global warming is the single greatest threat to these two coral species, as well as coral reefs more generally worldwide. A related threat, ocean acidification, caused by the ocean’s absorption of carbon dioxide, impairs the ability of corals to build their protective skeletons. Scientists have predicted that most of the world’s coral reefs will disappear by midcentury due to global warming and ocean acidification under a business-as-usual emissions scenario.
“Critical habitat protection can be an important factor leading to the recovery of our coral reefs, because changes to the ocean habitat are some of the primary threats to the corals,” Sakashita said. “This rule, however, misses the mark by ignoring the simple fact that carbon dioxide pollution is degrading coral habitat and killing coral reefs.”
Once an area is designated as critical habitat, the Endangered Species Act requires federal agencies to ensure that any activities they authorize do not destroy or adversely modify that habitat. Federal authorizations resulting in substantial greenhouse gas emissions should be subject to this prohibition. While today’s critical habitat rule properly identifies important coral areas off Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands for increased legal protection, the rule bizarrely and illegally states that elevated water temperatures will not be analyzed as a factor impacting critical habitat.
The Center for Biological Diversity on Wednesday will file an official 60-day notice letter to the Bush administration outlining the Center’s intent to sue over the Administration’s misguided critical-habitat rule.
More information regarding the elkhorn and staghorn corals is available at: www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/invertebrates/staghorn_coral/index.html.
Photos are also available for use with attribution to photographers: www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/invertebrates/staghorn_coral/coral_images/.
The Center for Biological Diversity is a nonprofit conservation organization with 200,000 members and online activists dedicated to protecting endangered species and wild places. www.biologicaldiversity.org
Severn Barrage should be scrapped in favour of tidal reef - RSPB
Conservationists are calling for a "tidal reef" to be built across the River Severn to generate electricity rather than a barrage.
Louise Gray, The Telegraph 25 Nov 08;
The tidal power at the mouth of the River Severn has the potential to generate up to 5 per cent of the UK's electricity needs.
At the moment the Government is currently looking at 10 different proposals on how to harness the power, including a tidal reef and a barrage.
A barrage from Cardiff in Wales to Weston-super-Mare in Somerset on the other side of the river, is the most well known option. However it is unpopular with conservationists who say that the 10 mile dam will be unsightly and cause major ecological damage by preventing the migration of fish and destroying bird habitats.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Europe's largest conservation organisation, insists a tidal reef is a better idea than a barrage.
Unlike a barrage, the 12 mile reef from Minehead in Somerset to Aberthaw, in south Wales, will be lower in the water and further down stream. It will also be better for the environment because the slower moving turbines are less dangerous to migrating fish.
However the technology is untested.
Now the RSPB has commissioned a study by Europe's largest firm of consulting engineers to look into the feasibility of a reef.
It concluded that the 12 mile structure of a reef would generate more electricity than a barrage because there will be more turbines working over a longer period of time. The reef would also cost less to build and last longer, according to the report.
Professor Rod Rainey, of engineering consultants Atkins, who authored the report, said: "We believe this scheme could be more powerful but less costly than other plans being put forward, particularly the Cardiff to Weston barrage."
The RSPB also claims a tidal reef would keep intact most of the estuary's saltmarshes and mudflats on which at least 68,000 birds feed in winter.
Dr Mark Avery, director of conservation at the RSPB, said harnessing the Severn's tidal power must not harm wildlife.
"A tidal reef could reign in that damage, cost the taxpayer much less and be built more quickly. Ministers should look seriously at the enormous pitfalls of a conventional barrage and the potential for using the Severn's tidal energy in a much better way," he said.
Ministers are to shortlist some of the 10 proposals for the Severn next month, including the Cardiff-Weston barrage and the tidal reef, stretching from Minehead in Somerset to Aberthaw, in the Vale of Glamorgan.
Related articles
The ebb and flow of tidal power Mark Kinver, BBC News 12 Jun 08;
UK Severn barrage will be costly ecological disaster, say environment groups
John Vidal, The Guardian 12 Jun 08;
Britain should not build Severn Barrage says report
Jeremy Lovell, Reuters 11 Jun 08;
Factory waste and sewage from growing cities has severely polluted major waterway, according to Chinese research
Tania Branigan, guardian.co.uk 25 Nov 08;
Severe pollution has made one-third of China's Yellow river unusable, according to new research.
Known as the country's "mother river", it supplies water to millions of people in the north of China. But in recent years the quality has deteriorated due to factory discharges and sewage from fast-expanding cities.
Much of it is now unfit even for agricultural or industrial use, the study shows.
The survey, based on data taken last year, covered more than 8,384 miles of the river, one of the longest waterways in the world, and its tributaries.
The Yellow River Conservancy Committee, affiliated to the ministry of water resources, said 33.8% of the river system's water sampled in 2007 registered worse than level five. That means it is unfit for drinking, aquaculture, industrial use and even agriculture, according to criteria used by the UN Environment Programme.
Only 16% of the river samples reached level one or two, the standard considered safe for domestic use.
The Yellow River is China's second-longest after the Yangtze, flowing west to east across the country through areas with high concentrations of factories.
The report said waste and sewage water discharged into the system last year totalled 4.29bn tonnes. Industry and manufacturing made up 70% of the discharge into the river, with households accounting for 23% and just over 6% coming from other sources.
"It's not surprising," said Wen Bo, China programme director of the US-based environmental group, Pacific Environment. "They are just treating the river as a dumping site. It's basically a sewage channel for the provinces that share the river."
He told Associated Press that many polluting firms in the upper and middle reaches of Yellow river have avoided close local government scrutiny or had been protected because they provided jobs. There was no mechanism to allow richer provinces downstream to help poorer, polluting neighbours clean up, he added.
Li Xiaoqiang, publicity chief with the Yellow River Conservancy Committee, told the state news agency, Xinhua, that people needed to become aware of saving and protecting water if the problem was not to spread further.
China's State Council launched a nationwide campaign among industrial enterprises to save energy and slash the discharge of pollutants in the second half of last year.
"I wish a harmony could be achieved between development, utilisation, and protection of the river someday," said Li.
A survey taken the previous year showed that 31.1% of the water was of level five standard, although the area sampled was slightly smaller. The total waste and sewage water discharged into the system was also slightly lower.
The ministry of environmental protection warned this summer that pollution of China's waterways remained "grave". More than 20% of water tested in nearly 200 rivers was not safe to use, it added.
The ministry has tried to shut down polluting factories along China's main waterways, but its power is limited because local environmental protection bureaus are under the control of local governments.
Yellow River too polluted to drink
The Yellow River, which provides water to millions of people i
Malcolm Moore, The Telegraph 25 Nov 08;
China's heavy industries have tipped so much waste into the river that enormous stretches of it, amounting to over a third of its entire length, cannot be used at all anymore, either for drinking, fishing, farming or even in factories, according to criteria used by the United Nations Environmental Programme.
The Yellow River is the second-longest waterway in China after the Yangtze and the sixth-longest in the world, at 3,398 miles. Originating in the mountains around the Tibetan plateau at Qinghai, it empties out into the Bohai Sea on China's East coast.
It is tremendously important in Chinese culture, and the first signs of civilisation in northern China sprang up around the Yellow River basin, despite its frequent and devastating flooding. The river flows through are China's industrial heartland, and many of the regions it passes are short on water.
But in recent years it has suffered from heavy pollution and from projects to divert its waters to cities. Li Xiaoqiang, a spokesman for the Yellow River Conservation Committee, said 4.3 billion tonnes of polluting effluent were tipped into the river last year, mostly by factories.
Mr Li called for "urgent action" to save the river, and added forlornly: "I wish that a harmony could be achieved between development, utilisation and protection of the river someday."
He said a move by the State Council, China's cabinet, to force factories to save energy and reduce pollution could eventually pay dividends. "It is a good thing, but it will take an arduous effort," he said.
Two years ago, the pollution levels of the Yellow River gained national attention when a stretch of water around the western city of Lanzhou turned magenta. Xinhua, the state news agency, blamed the "red and smelly" slick on a sewage discharge.
China boasts some of the world's most polluted cities. In February, 200,000 people had their water cut off in central China because of a spill into a river system. In September, a major lake near Kunming was heavily polluted with arsenic, leading to several cases of poisoning.
In one of China's worst cases of river pollution, potentially cancer-causing chemicals, including benzene, spilt into the Songhua River in November 2005. The northeastern city of Harbin was forced to sever water supplies to 3.8 million people for five days.
Pollution in China's waterways remains "grave," according to a June report by the Ministry of Environmental Protection on the state of the environment in 2007. More than 20 per cent of water tested in nearly 200 rivers was not safe to use, it said.
One-third of China's Yellow River polluted
Hernry Sanderson, Associated Press 25 Nov 08;
BEIJING (AP) — Newly released scientific results show one-third of the famed Yellow River, which supplies water to millions of people in northern China, is heavily polluted by industrial waste and unsafe for any use.
The Yellow River, the second-longest in China, has seen its water quality deteriorate rapidly in the last few years, as discharge from factories increases and water levels drop because of diversion for booming cities.
The river supplies a region chronically short of water but rich in industry.
The Yellow River Conservancy Committee said 33.8 percent of the river's water sampled registered worse than level 5, meaning it's unfit for drinking, aquaculture, industrial use and even agriculture, according to criteria used by the United Nations Environmental Program.
A 2007 survey covered more than 8,384 miles of the river, which flows from western Qinghai province across China into the Bohai sea, and its tributaries, a notice posted on the committee's Web site Saturday said.
Only 16.1 percent of the river samples reached level 1 or 2 — water considered safe for household use.
Industry and manufacturing made up 70 percent of the discharge into the river, the notice said, with 23 percent coming from households and 6.4 percent from other sources. The notice did not identify specific pollutants.
The results showed pollution has gotten slightly worse since 2006, when 31 percent of the water in the river was poorer than a level 5, according to an earlier survey.
"It's not surprising," said Wen Bo, of the San Francisco, California-based environmental group Pacific Environment.
Many polluting firms in the upper and middle reaches of Yellow River have not been well monitored by local governments, and even protected because they give jobs to workers, said Wen, who is the organization's China program director.
There is also no mechanism for richer provinces downstream to help the poorer ones upstream clean up, he said.
"They are just treating the river as a dumping site," Wen said. "It's basically a sewage channel for the provinces that share the river."
Some of the world's most polluted cities are in China, where many rivers and lakes are toxic after decades of breakneck industrial and economic growth.
In February pollution turned part of a major river system in central China red and foamy, forcing authorities to cut water supplies to as many as 200,000 people.
In one of China's worst cases of river pollution, potentially cancer-causing chemicals, including benzene, spilled into the Songhua River in November 2005. The northeastern city of Harbin was forced to sever water supplies to 3.8 million people for five days.
Pollution in China's waterways remains "grave," according to a June report by the Ministry of Environmental Protection on the state of the environment in 2007. More than 20 percent of water tested in nearly 200 rivers was not safe to use, it said.
The ministry has tried to shut down polluting factories along China's main waterways, but its power is limited because local environmental protection bureaus are under the control of local governments.
European leaders accused of ignoring their own scientific advice by driving through higher catch quotas for endangered Atlantic bluefin tuna
Juliette Jowit, guardian.co.uk 25 Nov 08;
Tuna may follow cod to become the second major Atlantic fish species to collapse after European leaders were today accused of driving through new catch quotas far above the levels recommended by scientists.
The international environment campaign group WWF renewed its call for a consumer boycott of Atlantic bluefin tuna - a staple of Japanese sashimi - after countries involved in its trade ignored their own scientific advice, despite a collapse in the fish populations.
WWF also accused the European commission (EC) of leading the pressure for higher quotas by using threats over trade to "bully" developing nations into switching sides from a rival proposal to stick to the scientists' recommendation and ban all fishing during the spawning season in May and June.
Sue Liebermann, head of species at WWF International, warned that the mistakes which led to the collaspe of Atlantic cod – and led the UN's food arm to warn that seven out of 10 of all marine species are depleted - were being repeated. "Bluefin is a symbol of what we're doing to the oceans, species by species," she said.
Xavier Pastor, executive director in Europe for marine conservation group Oceana, said: "They [the EC countries] gave in to the fishing industry's short-term economic interests. With this decision, we can only wait for the disappearance of bluefin tuna."
The EC did not want to comment on accusations of bullying. But, it said, because it was "mandated" by member states, it had "pushed for" a package of measures which included the higher quota, a shortening of the fishing season from six to two months and tougher rules to stop illegal catches.
"A [quota] is not enough in itself to protect fish stocks; a reduced [quota] accompanied by a shorter season and increased control is the solution to preserving this resource," said Nathalie Charbonneau, spokeswoman for the EC fisheries and maritime affairs department.
Scientists at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (Iccat) warned in 2006 that bluefish tuna numbers in the east Atlantic and Mediterranean had dropped to one-fifth of their levels in the mid-1970s, and massive illegal fishing was leading to annual catches as high as 50,000 tonnes.
Their report warned that "a collapse in the near future is a possibility". It called for the legal quota to be more than halved from 32,000 to 15,000 tonnes and for a ban on all fishing in the spawning period during May and June.
Yesterday, Iccat member nations, led by the EC and several north African countries, voted to cut the quota to 22,000 tonnes - defeating a rival notion to stick to the scientists' advice led by the US, Canada and Norway.
WWF said it would now ask the international body the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) to list Atlantic bluefin as an "appendix 1" species, which would put a ban on international trade and switch off the lucrative market in Japan where most of the fish are sold.
A previous attempt to get Cites to take action in the 1990s was defeated when Iccat pledged to take its own measures to protect the bluefin, said Sergi Tudela, head of WWF's Mediterranean fisheries programme. "Sixteen years later it's clear to the world that Iccat has failed, now it's time to go very serious with CITES," said Tudela.
Bluefin tuna: Call for boycott after quotas set higher than scientists recommend
Conservationists have called on consumers to boycott dishes containing endangered bluefin tuna after an international body set catch limits next year higher than scientists recommended despite warnings that stocks will collapse.
Charles Clover, The Telegraph 25 Nov 08;
Under pressure from the EU and North African countries, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) set catch limits at 22,000 tons of valuable bluefin tuna for next year, higher than the upper limit of 15,000 tons its own scientists recommended.
ICCAT scientists also recommended that fishing for bluefin, the most expensive ingredient used in sushi, should be banned during the months of May and June, but the decision allows industrial fishing until June 20, curtailing the season by only 10 days.
The UN-recognised Commission, meeting in Marrakech, brushed aside an internal review which branded its management of bluefin stocks in the Atlantic and Mediterranean as an "international disgrace."
Deletes to the Commission, from Atlantic and Mediteranean countries and the biggest importer, Japan, ignored a vote by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in Barcelona this autumn calling for a total moratorium on fishing until member states got rampant illegal fishing under control.
Illegal fishing has led to catches reaching a total of an estimated 61,000 tons of tuna this year.
The European Union led the successful proposal to set higher quotas and was supported by Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and Syria and later joined by Japan.
Japan had initially been party to a proposal by the United States, Canada, Mexico, Norway, Iceland and Brazil, supported by a developing nations, to fix the catch at 15,000 tons and close the fishery for the full spawning period.
Libya, host of the most prolific remaining tuna fishing area in the Mediterranean, walked out of the meeting.
Conservationists pointed to the Commission's decision as proof that ICCAT, which has ignored its own scientists' advice on quotas for a decade, had failed as a credible international regulatory body.
WWF called for the management of tuna to be taken over by the body which regulates trade in endangered species, CITES.
Dr Sergi Tudela, head of WWF Mediterranean's fisheries programme, said the outcome was a disgrace with the European Union squarely to blame.
"ICCAT's string of successive failures leaves us little option now but to seek effective remedies through trade measures and extending the boycott of retailers, restaurants, chefs and consumers," he added.
WWF says it will now push for trade in bluefin tuna to be controlled under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
CITES next meets in Doha in January 2010 with proposals for listings required by August next year.
Observers say that the negotiations in Marrakech were dirtier than at any time in recent memory, with European officials threatening small Caribbean countries with trade retaliation against their banana exports should they vote in favour of lower catch limits and extended closed seasons.
Conservationists say the option of a moratorium, which ICCAT's scientific panel said would lead to the quickest recovery in bluefin stock and the best future prospects for a long-term sustainable fishery, was not even considered by the commission in Marrakech despite growing support for this option among European fishermen.
Conservation organisation Oceana said the new catch limits were "disastrous" for bluefin tuna.
Xavier Pastor, executive director for Oceana in Europe, said: "ICCAT's credibility has been destroyed by the negotiating countries who opposed responsible management measures for bluefin tuna.
"Instead of preserving the bluefin tuna stock from collapse, they gave in to the fishing industry's short-term economic interests. With this decision, we can only wait for the disappearance of bluefin tuna."
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had pushed for cuts to the eastern and Mediterranean bluefin tuna catch. The catch level for the western Atlantic stock was reduced from 2,100 tons to 1,800 tons by the year 2010. The US proposed the cut from about 29,000 tons to 15,000 tons, but it was set at 22,000 tons.
"I am extremely disappointed with the results of this meeting," said Dr Rebecca Lent, the head of the US Delegation and director of International Affairs at NOAA's Fisheries Service.
"While the Commission followed the recommendation to reduce catch levels for the western stock consistent with the science, it continues to put the species as a whole in jeopardy by authorising excessive fishing levels on the eastern stock."
EU condemned on tuna 'mockery'
Richard Black, BBC News 25 Nov 08;
Countries involved in the Mediterranean bluefin tuna trade have voted to maintain catches nearly 50% above what scientists say are "safe" levels.
Environment groups labelled the move, by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (Iccat), as a "mockery of science".
They put most blame on the EU which, they said, used trade issues to bully smaller nations into giving support.
Earlier this year Spain and Japan had called for a suspension of the fishery.
Iccat's scientists had said next year's total allowable catch (Tac) should not exceed 15,000 tonnes; but on the final day of its annual meeting, Iccat members set a figure of 22,000 tonnes.
They also rejected the scientists' call for a closure of the fishery in the spawning months of May and June.
The scientists had warned the commission that "a collapse in the near future is a possibility" given the high number of boats engaged in the lucrative trade.
No mandate
"The spawning closure was probably more important than the Tac issue because actually the Tac was never respected," said Sergi Tudela, head of the fisheries programme at the environment group WWF.
"It was the one thing that might have stopped overfishing", he told BBC News from the Iccat meeting.
"The decision is a mockery of science and a mockery of the world; Iccat has shown that it doesn't deserve the mandate to manage this iconic fishery."
Earlier this year, an independent expert report branded Iccat's management of the tuna fishery a "disgrace", and put the blame on the shoulders of major fishing nations which, it said, routinely flouted the rules.
In 2006, Iccat scientists estimated that illegal fishing in the Mediterranean added about 30% onto the official catch figures.
The bargaining position adopted by the European Commission - which represents all EU members on Iccat - came as something of a surprise.
At the World Conservation Congress in October, Spain - the biggest tuna-fishing country - backed a suspension of the fishery, and Italy was reported to have gone further and called for a moratorium.
The EU's opening statement at Iccat acknowledged that "the situation of the bluefin tuna is critical", and that "urgent action is needed to ensure the sustainability of this emblematic stock".
The reasons why the European Commission decided, against this backdrop, to argue for catches considerably above the scientific advice are not yet clear.
Some conservationists at the meeting said the EU had threatened developing nations with trade penalties on goods such as bananas unless they backed the European position.
Conservation groups which have long lobbied Iccat members to adopt scientists' advice are now likely to take their fight to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).
Numbers of the East Atlantic stock of bluefin have fallen so fast that listing it as a threatened species is a possibility. The southern bluefin is already categorised as Critically Endangered.
"The game is over - Iccat has missed its last chance to save the bluefin tuna from stock collapse," said Sebastian Losada, oceans campaigner for Greenpeace in Spain.
"It's time to take the fishery out of their hands and look to conventions like Cites to impose trade restrictions on the species."
Alister Doyle, Reuters 25 Nov 08;
OSLO (Reuters) - The economic downturn will test the world's resolve to do more to fight global warming at 190-nation talks in Poland next week, but the election of Barack Obama as U.S. president should temper the gloom.
The December 1-12 meeting of 8,000 delegates in Poznan, Poland, will review progress in a two-year push to work out a sweeping new U.N. climate treaty by the end of 2009.
So far, many countries have promised to fight global warming despite fears of deep recession, but few have come up with deep cuts in emissions that the U.N. Climate Panel says are needed to avoid the worst of heatwaves, droughts and rising seas.
"I'd expect the economic crisis to have an effect" on resolve, Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, said of the outlook for Poznan. And "lower oil prices will mean less of an incentive to invest in renewables."
"The minute the financial crisis struck, industries said 'this makes it difficult to take on expensive targets'," he told Reuters.
Among canceled investments, FPL Group, the largest U.S. wind power operator, has slashed planned 2009 spending by 25 percent to $5.3 billion. Shares in China's Suntech Power Holdings, the world's largest solar module maker, fell to an all-time low last week, down more than 90 percent in 2009.
For many nations, Obama's election is reason for optimism -- many U.S. allies accuse President George W. Bush of doing too little to diversify away from fossil fuels. China and the United States are the top greenhouse gas emitters.
Obama has promised to "engage vigorously" in climate change talks once he is president and plans a costly stimulus package to revive the economy, including green jobs.
CUTS
"There are positive influences -- Obama has got elected and he has said that the current economic crisis is not going to impair his resolve to tackle the problem of climate change," said Rajendra Pachauri, head of the U.N. Climate Panel.
Obama has promised to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020 -- Bush had foreseen a peak only in 2025 -- and by 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.
Pachauri said Obama might be able to come up with even more. The U.N. panel says rich nations need to cut by 25-40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 to keep temperatures below what some nations see as a "dangerous" 2 Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) rise.
"Maybe this is just the beginning of what we expect from him," Pachauri told Reuters. Pachauri's panel said it would cost less than 0.12 percent of global gross domestic product every year until 2030 to avert the worst of climate change.
The economic downturn means countries "are going to have all kinds of excuses to avoid making progress. So it (Poznan) will be a test," said Angela Anderson, director of the Pew Environment Group's global warming campaign.
The Poznan talks will mainly review progress and discuss new ideas such as new clean technology for developing nations such as China and India, ways to reward tropical nations for slowing deforestation or help poor countries adapt to climate change.
Poznan will also discuss an 86-page text of ideas for a new treaty, but hard decisions will wait for 2009. Environment ministers from 100 nations will attend the final two days.
The European Union may be distracted by the run-up to a December 11-12 summit at which leaders will try to agree details of a plan to cut emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Italy and Poland are among those worried about costs.
"The days are gone when the EU can hide behind the United States and still look good," said Jennifer Morgan, of the E3G environmental think-tank.
• Consumers around the world want governments to stop haggling and start acting on climate change, survey finds
• Nearly half of all 12,000 respondents in 12 countries chose climate change ahead of the economy
Alok Jha, guardian.co.uk 26 Nov 08;
Consumers around the world want governments to stop haggling and start acting on climate change, according to a survey carried out in 12 countries by a coalition of climate groups.
Despite the looming prospect of a deep global recession, 43% of the 12,000 respondents of the survey chose climate change ahead of the global economy when asked about their current concerns. Worldwide, 77% of respondents wanted to see their governments cutting carbon by their fair share or more, in order to allow developing countries to grow their economies.
The survey was carried out for the HSBC Climate Partnership, a collaboration between the international bank and climate NGOs including WWF, the Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Lord Stern, and adviser to HSBC on economic development and climate change and former adviser to the UK government, said: "This research demonstrates the need for decisive action on climate change. The urgent challenge is to build a framework for a global deal so that consensus can be reached in Copenhagen next year and the discussions in Poznan are a critical stepping stone to achieving this. Now is the time to lay the foundations of a new form of growth that can transform our economies and societies."
The results of the group's climate confidence monitor are based on an internet questionnaire presented to to 1,000 people each in 12 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Mexico, UK and the US. The survey was conducted between mid-September and early October 2008.
Even in many emerging countries, people said their governments must reduce greenhouse gases - 62% of respondents in China said they should reduce emissions and only 4% said the country's emissions should be allowed to increase. In Mexico and Brazil, more than 80% wanted emissions cuts that tallied with their fair share of global targets – as high a level as in developed countries. In the USA, 72% of people said their country should reduce emissions by at least as much as other countries.
David Nussbaum, the chief executive of WWF-UK, said: "The current global economic crisis is a stark reminder of the consequences of living beyond our means. As the world looks to restore its economies we must build in long-term environmental as well as economic sustainability."
Steve Howard, chief executive of the Climate Group, a coalition of businesses and governments aimed at moving towards a low-carbon economy, said the survey showed that "politicians have the political will of the people behind them to come to an agreement on climate change. Politicians now have the support they need to seize this historic opportunity and secure a global deal on climate change."
'World mandate' on climate action
Richard Black, BBC News 26 Nov 08;
An opinion poll in 11 countries has produced what organisers term a "global mandate" for action on climate change.
About half of the respondents wanted governments to play a major role in curbing emissions, but only a quarter said their leaders were doing enough.
In developing countries, a majority of people were prepared to make "lifestyle changes" to reduce climate change.
The survey was commissioned by the HSBC Climate Partnership, which includes business and environmental groups.
Lord Nicholas Stern, who led the 2006 Stern Review into the economics of climate change and now works as a special advisor to the HSBC partnership, said this amounted to a global mandate for stronger action.
"It does show that people in the world expect their governments to take strong action as as matter of responsibility, and hope they will work with other governments to take action," he told BBC News.
"It is not a story which says 'I will do something only if others do'."
The survey is published just five days before this year's United Nations climate conference opens in the Polish city of Poznan.
More than money
The survey revealed that 43% of people questioned put climate change ahead of the world's financial instability as an issue of current concern, even though the surveys ran in the turbulent months of September and October.
"Despite the fact this research took place at a time when the global financial crisis was taking off, climate change was very much in the minds of the general public as an issue of concern," commented Francis Sullivan, HSBC's environmental advisor and a former director of conservation with the environment group WWF.
However, the numbers saying they would alter their lifestyles to reduce climate change had fallen in the year between the previous survey, in 2007, and this one.
This still left sizeable majorities in most of the developing countries polled - Brazil, India, Malaysia and Mexico - saying they were willing to make changes.
In China it was just under half, as it was in the industrialised countries taking part - Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK and US.
The 2007 poll, conducted in a subset of these countries, had shown a larger proportion of people saying they would spend extra time or money to curb climate change.
The proportion who said they "heard a lot about" the issue also fell between 2007 and 2008, perhaps indicating a decline in media reporting. Last year saw blanket coverage of the series of reports put out by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Overall, the findings broadly agree with a survey commissioned by the BBC last year, which found that two-thirds of people polled in 21 countries backed urgent action on climate change.
The HSBC Climate Confidence Monitor polled 1,000 people in each of the countries mentioned above, and in the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong.
Surveys call for Unity to Combat Climate Change
UNEP website 27 Nov 08;
Nairobi/Kenya, 27 November 2008 - The environment remains a top concern for people around the world despite the financial crisis, according to a global poll by the HSBC Climate Partnership, which includes HSBC, The Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and WWF.
The new poll, released on 26 November, finds that 43 per cent see climate change as a bigger problem than the economy.
The survey confirms the findings of a UNEP poll released in October that showed that nearly 90 per cent of young people across the globe think world leaders should do "whatever it takes" to tackle climate change.
As representatives around the world prepare to gather in Poland next week for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, the two surveys are an unequivocal call from people around the world for unity in the fight against climate change.
The Climate Partnership poll interviewed 12,000 people in total: 1,000 people each in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Britain and the United States.
Three-quarters of those polled said they want their countries to reduce their "fair share" of greenhouse gas emissions, and a further 55 per cent of people believed their government should invest in renewable energy.
In the USA, 72 per cent of people said their country should reduce emissions by at least as much as other countries. In China, 62 per cent of people said their country should reduce emissions by at least as much as other countries and only 4 per cent said their country's emissions should be allowed to increase.
People in emerging markets also want their governments to be generous with emission cuts, with only 4 per cent believing that their country's emissions should be allowed to increase to enable their economies to grow. In Mexico and Brazil, over 80 per cent of people want to cut emissions by their 'fair share' or more - as high a level as in developed markets.
Nicholas Stern, the author of the Stern report and an advisor to HSBC, said the research "demonstrates the need for decisive action on climate change".
"The urgent challenge is to build a framework for a global deal so that consensus can be reached in Copenhagen next year and the discussions in Poznan are a critical stepping stone to achieving this," he added.
The HSBC survey strongly echoes UNEP's own survey of young people's views on climate change, in which a majority of 12 to 18 year olds in Brazil, Russia, South Africa and the United States said "it is necessary to take major steps starting very soon" to fight climate change.
Young people in South Africa, the United States and Brazil were particularly critical of world leaders' efforts to address climate change, with seven in ten or more across these three countries saying world leaders are not doing enough (82 per cent in South Africa; 79 per cent in the United States; and 73 per cent in Brazil).
UNEP commissioned the youth survey as part of the launch of the UNite to Combat Climate Change campaign, which supports the call for a definitive agreement on climate change at the Copenhagen climate talks in December 2009.
Mary Sibierski Yahoo News 25 Nov 08;
KISIELICE, Poland (AFP) – Standing in the shadow of a massive windmill, Mayor Tomasz Koprowiak thinks part of the answer to Poland kicking its coal habit is blowing in the wind and growing in farmers' fields.
"Our new straw-fired heating plant serves 80 percent of the community and is saving everyone money," Koprowiak says of Kisielice, a poor north-eastern rural municipality of 6,500.
He is something of a pioneer in Poland, where green energy is still rare in a rapidly growing economy almost entirely reliant on coal for electricity and heat.
The fossil fuel is largely responsible for the 2004 EU member's annual 300 million tons of CO2 greenhouse gas emissions -- 1.1 percent of the global annual total and nearly twice the annual EU per capita average.
But Kisielice's enterprising mayor insists he is more interested in saving money than the environment.
"You don't have to be an ecologist to go green," he says. "People are interested in cheaper heat, promoting ecology wasn't really a factor in our decision to go green -- it just really paid-off."
The switch in 2004 from imported oil and Polish coal to plentiful local straw to fuel a three megawatt central heat and hot water plant has brought 1.3 million zlotys (340,000 euros, 425,000 dollars) in annual savings, Koprowiak boasts.
Extra cash raked-in by farmers from annual sales of the 3,000 tons of straw burned in the biomass furnace, is ploughed back into the local economy, he adds.
Solar panels to heat water during the summer for even greater savings are Koprowiak's next step.
But this is just the tip of the ... haystack.
Thanks to his early planning, Kisielice has attracted two Spanish wind farms, generating an additional 1.3 million zlotys per year in property taxes on 27 windmills.
Koprowiak expects an extra million zloty annual windfall in 2009 when blades begin to spin on 20 new 85 meter-high (279 feet) turbines.
Farmers earn a handsome 5,000 euros annually in lease fees for each windmill on their land.
"Nobody's complaining," Koprowiak says of the wind farms, oft slammed in the West as noisy eye-sores.
For Roman Adamski, principal at the local public school, hooking up to the municipal straw-fired heating plant in 2005 has saved his chronically underfunded school an average 51,000 zlotys each year. With the extra cash he installed energy efficient windows, further boosting savings.
"It's economically viable, environmentally friendly and, especially important for us, it has educational value for the children," Adamski says.
Indeed, at 15, pupil Ewka Okonska is lobbying her parents to install solar panels, but laments that "it's still too expensive."
CO2 emissions from biomass plants like the one in Kisielice are up to 60 percent lower than those produced using fossil fuels, says Antoni Faber, an academic and Polish biomass expert.
But he cautions that the price of biomass like straw could skyrocket as demand grows.
With 30 percent of Poland's total annual emissions coming from small coal or oil furnaces in households and small businesses, Kisielice could serve as a blueprint for emissions reductions in small communities, says Grzegorz Wisniewski, head of the Warsaw-based think tank, the Institute for Renewable Energy.
"It's important to reduce coal use in small furnaces, because it's impossible to filter emissions for CO2," he says. "On the other hand it's in these small systems that it's easiest to introduce renewables and increase energy efficiency."
The European Union's planned climate package sets industrial targets of giving renewables a 20-percent stake in the electricity market, reducing CO2 emissions by 20 percent and increasing energy efficiency by 20 percent by 2020 compared with 1990 levels.
Poland will host the United Nations' December 1-12 climate conference in Poznan, although its liberal government has threatened to torpedo the flagship EU climate deal should costly auctions of CO2 emission quotas risk stunting its developing economy.
According to World Coal Institute figures for 2007, Poland and South Africa are the most coal-dependent countries in the world.
An estimated 150 years of reserves also make comparatively clean-burning hard coal Poland's number one conventional energy resource.
Its 105 industrial coal-fired power and heating plants produce 60 percent of its annual CO2 emissions.
"We need to invest billions of euros in the modernization of our energy sector and we want to combine this process with reducing emissions," Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, Poland's Secretary of State for European Affairs told AFP in comments on the mammoth task of upgrading the communist-era energy infrastructure to curb CO2 emissions through improved efficiency.
"Poland's economy is based on coal and any real alternative like nuclear, is a long way off," says Tadeusz Skotnicki, production chief at the 110-year-old Wujek coal mine in the heart of southern Poland's Silesian coal basin.
"At the moment our company and really Poland's entire coal sector is having a hard time just keeping up with rapidly growing demand."
Posts
visitors since Nov 07