World leaders 'failing to get' climate message

Fred Pearce, New Scientist 15 Dec 08;

The politicians just don't seem to get the seriousness of the global warming crisis. Scientists attending the recent UN climate conference in Poznan, Poland, complained that the gap between political rhetoric and scientific reality on climate change is growing.

"It doesn't matter what the politicians promise," said French climate scientist Philippe Ciais. "Even if we stop emissions growing today, the world will still warm by 2 °C – a lot more in some places. It is too late to prevent that."

Ciais was at Poznan to present the latest findings of the Global Carbon Project, a network of scientists that monitors how humans are influencing the natural carbon cycle.

While politicians boast of their progress in cutting CO2 emissions, in the real world the gas is actually accumulating at an accelerating rate. Emissions have risen 28% already this decade, compared with 9% for the whole of the 1990s, said Ciais.
'Negotiations needed'

In Poznan, world leaders spent two weeks trying to negotiate a successor to the Kyoto protocol, ahead of a deal intended to be signed this time next year in Copenhagen. But progress was slow.

The meeting did make progress on establishing an adaptation fund to help poor countries hit by inevitable climate change, and on paying tropical countries to protect their rainforests and so lock up the carbon they contain.

But no rich nations made new promises about their own future emissions, though at a separate meeting, the EU agreed a package that could lead to 20% cuts by 2020.

As proceedings closed, the UN's chief climate negotiator Yvo de Boer said that "serious negotiations must begin now." However, he said that after last year's talks in Bali too.
Obama vacuum

The small band of scientists at the event said politicians still didn't get the seriousness of the problem.

Minister after minister claimed that the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had said dangerous climate change can be stopped by preventing average global temperatures from rising by 2 °C, and that this can be done by reducing CO2 emissions by 50% by 2050. Neither statement is true, said Ciais.

"We need an 80% cut by 2050, and that would only give a 70% chance of avoiding [a 2 °C rise]," said Martin Parry, co-chair of the last IPCC report on the impacts of climate change.

One man who did seem to get it was UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, whose attendance in Poznan signified how climate change has become his overriding priority. He promised to call one, and perhaps two, meetings with world leaders next year.

In part, the Poznan paralysis arose because, as many leaders admitted, the world is waiting for Barack Obama. All agree that no deal is worth having without the US signing up. A deadline for countries to make firm proposals on emissions cuts was set for April 2009 specifically to meet the president-elect's timetable.
'Tipping point'

Also missing is a way to work out long-term entitlements to emit greenhouse gases. Developing nations are reluctant to accept targets until there is a fair formula. One idea is to base entitlements on population.

The EU has said that reducing global emissions 50% by 2050 would require that "average emissions per capita should be reduced to around 2 tonnes of CO2, and that in the long term, gradual convergence ... of national per capita emissions would be necessary."

Most scientists say average emissions per capita should be reduced to around 1 tonne, but if the EU plan is followed up, a deal to make per capita emissions fair, according to country, could form part of the Copenhagen compromise next year.

Will the planetary crisis wait? Maybe not: Ciais warned that we could soon pass a climate-change "tipping point" – if we haven't already.

"Once it is past, even zero emissions of CO2 won't stop the warming," he says.

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 15 Dec 08

NUS-LKYSPP Climate Change Essay Competition
on the Water Quality in Singapore blog

WOW shore
with lots of WOW encounters especially the fascinating eight-armed sea stars on the wonderful creation blog, literally a garden of everything on the psychedelic nature blog and other surprises on the wild shores of singapore blog

First Sentosa walk of December
on the Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs blog

Eh, I Am Not An Underwater Caterpillar Okay
on the colourful clouds blog

St. John's Island
on the Where Discovery Begins blog and urban forest blog

More glimpses of Semakau
on talfryn.net and the Southernmost WC in Singapore and a Shy spearer on the annotated budak blog

Stranded stars
on the annotated budak blog

Does Asian Koel ejects House Crow’s eggs?
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Read more!

Greater Mekong a biological treasure trove

WWF 15 Dec 08;

Gland, Switzerland – Over a thousand new species have been discovered in the Greater Mekong Region of Southeast Asia in just the last decade, according to a new report launched by WWF.

First Contact in the Greater Mekong reports that among the 1068 species newly identified by science, between 1997 and 2007, were the world’s largest huntsman spider, with a leg span of 30 centimetres, and the startlingly hot pink coloured cyanide-producing “dragon millipede”.
While most species were discovered in the largely unexplored jungles and wetlands, some were first found in the most surprising places. The Laotian rock rat, for example, thought to be extinct 11 million years ago, was first encountered by scientists in a local food market, while the Siamese Peninsula pitviper was found slithering through the rafters of a restaurant in Khao Yai National Park in Thailand.

“This region is like what I read about as a child in the stories of Charles Darwin,” said Dr Thomas Ziegler, Curator at the Cologne Zoo. “It is a great feeling being in an unexplored area and to document its biodiversity for the first time… both enigmatic and beautiful,” he said.

The findings, highlighted in this report, include 519 plants, 279 fish, 88 frogs, 88 spiders, 46 lizards, 22 snakes, 15 mammals, 4 birds, 4 turtles, 2 salamanders and a toad. The region comprises the six countries through which the Mekong River flows including Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the southern Chinese province of Yunnan. It is estimated thousands of new invertebrate species were also discovered during this period, further highlighting the region’s immense biodiversity.
“It doesn’t get any better than this,” said Stuart Chapman, Director of WWF’s Greater Mekong Programme. “We thought discoveries of this scale were confined to the history books. This reaffirms the Greater Mekong’s place on the world map of conservation priorities.”

The report stresses economic development and environmental protection must go hand-in-hand to provide for livelihoods and alleviate poverty, and ensure the survival of the Greater Mekong's astonishing array of species and natural habitats.

“This poorly understood biodiversity is facing unprecedented pressure… for scientists, this means that almost every field survey yields new diversity, but documenting it is a race against time,” said Raoul Bain, Biodiversity Specialist from the American Museum of Natural History.

The report recommends what is urgently needed to protect the biodiversity of the region is a formal, cross-border agreement by the governments of the Greater Mekong.

“Who knows what else is out there waiting to be discovered, but what is clear is that there is plenty more where this came from,” said Chapman. “The scientific world is only just realizing what people here have known for centuries.”

Read more!

Expect heavy rain, high tides in Singapore

Straits Times 15 Dec 08;

KEEP the umbrella handy, if you are heading outdoors over the next few days.

The weatherman expects periods of 'moderate to heavy rain' on at least a day or two till Wednesday.

Heavy rain, coinciding with high tides, could lead to flash floods in low-lying areas such as Kampong Lorong Buangkok, Jalan Seaview, Mountbatten Road, Meyer Road, Lorong 101 to Lorong 106 Changi and Everitt North Road, said the National Environment Agency (NEA).

Tides of up to 3.2m are also expected these few days - at 12.11pm today and at 1pm tomorrow. Usually, high tides here are about 2.7m to 2.8m.

The national water agency, PUB, had sent earlier advisories to residents and shop-owners in these low-lying areas to warn them of possible flash floods and alert them of precautions they could take to protect their property.

The PUB has also stepped up the inspection and cleansing of 90 flooding 'hot spots' islandwide to ensure that the drainage system is not blocked.

Even though the recently-opened Marina Barrage, a dam built across the Marina Channel, acts as a tidal barrier to alleviate flash floods in low-lying areas in the city, residents and shop-owners in areas such as Chinatown, Boat Quay, Geylang and Jalan Besar are also advised to protect their property if the skies pours continuously.

The public can get the latest weather reports, including heavy rain warnings, by calling NEA's weather forecast hotline at 6542-7788. They can also check the weather report at www.nea.gov.sg.

People can also call PUB-One at 1800-284-6600 to report obstructions in drains or to check on the flood situation.

Monsoon rain may bring flash floods: NEA
Straits Times 15 Dec 08;

RESIDENTS and shopkeepers in flood-prone areas such as Kampong Lorong Buangkok, Jalan Seaview, Mountbatten Road/Meyer Road, Lorong 101 to Lorong 106 Changi and Everitt North Road, as well as motorists driving through these places, are advised to exercise caution over the next few days, when the monsoons are forecast to bring moderate to heavy rain.

According to the National Environment Agency’s (NEA) Meteorological Services Division, moderate to heavy rain is expected to fall islandwide from now until Wednesday, coinciding with high tides ranging from3.1 to 3.2 metres between noon and 2pm. As a result, flash floods may occur in these areas, it warned.

Light to moderate rain fell in many parts of Singapore yesterday and there were no reports of flooding as of 6pm.

The Public Utilities Board (PUB), the national water agency, has stepped up monitoring and intensified the inspection and cleansing of 90 hotspots island-wide to ensure that the drainage system is not blocked.

While the Marina Barrage acts as a tidal barrier to alleviate flash floods in low-lying areas in the city, residents and shop-owners in areas such as Chinatown, Boat Quay, Geylang and Jalan Besar are also advised to take the necessary precautions to protect their belongings in the event of prolonged heavy rain coinciding with high tides.

The NEA will issue warnings through the media when heavy rain or prolonged monsoon rain is expected. The public can obtain the latest weather reports by calling the NEA’s weather forecast hotline at 6542 7788, or visiting www.nea.gov.sg. They can also call PUB-One at 1800 284 6600 to report obstructions in drains or to check the flood situation.

Read more!

Cycling on footpaths in Tampines

Decision on allowing cycling on Tampines footpaths expected after Jan 31
Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia 14 Dec 08;

SINGAPORE: Errant cyclists in the Tampines neighbourhood will now have to answer to the Traffic Police if they run foul of the system.

Pedestrians and cyclists have been sharing footpaths in Tampines since mid-2007 as part of a year-long trial.

That trial was extended by another six months in August after a dialogue session with residents which saw mixed views.

Some of the issues being sorted out by the Tampines neighbourhood in the latter part of this cycling trial are those related to safety.

For example, some residents said that the paths are sometimes used by motorcyclists who use it as a short cut.

Even when there are no motorcyclists misusing the paths, some legitimate users still find it difficult to co-exist on the same pavement.

One cyclist said: "Old ladies walk inside and block the bicycle. Then their leg gets hit and they have a problem. So there must be a sign so that they know where to walk."

One pedestrian said: "The youngsters cycle very fast and they never ring the bell. I've encountered many of these (cases). So, that's quite dangerous.”

That's partly why the number of volunteer cycling wardens who encourage residents to cycle safely is being increased from nearly 200 to 250.

To give them more teeth, police have also done at least two enforcement blitzes there.

MP for Tampines GRC, Irene Ng, said: “We have so far been giving them warnings but there are no summonses given at this stage. Usually when the public see the police, as in any other situation, they will behave very well. But the point is that the residents know that the police are around so errant cyclists will not get away with it."

To make things easier, there are dedicated cycle tracks for those who go faster and widened footways for slower speeds where cyclists and pedestrians can share the same path.

Whether this will become a permanent way of life in Tampines is expected after 31 January 2009 after consultation with residents, the police and the Land Transport Authority. - CNA/vm

Safety concerns over bicycle pathway trial
Residents wantmore signs and paths to aid the elderly:
Channel News Asia, 938 LIVE, Today Online 15 Dec 08;

After more than a year of trial, residents in Tampines still feel strongly about having to compete for walking space with cyclists. This despite wider footpaths for residents and new bicycle tracks built.

Started in mid-2007, the trial was extended by another six months in August after a dialogue session with residents, which saw mixed views. :Now some of the issues being sorted out are those related to safety.

While some residents want more signs put up to demarcate the footpaths, they prefer separate paths for the safety of the elderly. Others want motorcyclists to stop taking advantage of the wider footpaths.

And even when there are no motorcyclists misusing the paths, some legitimate users still find it difficult to co-exist on the same pavement.

One cyclist said: “Old ladies walk ‘inside’ and block the bicycle. Then their leg gets hit and they have a problem. So there must be a sign so that they know where to walk.”

One pedestrian said: “The youngsters cycle very fast and they never ring the bell. I’ve encountered many of these (cases). So, that’s quite dangerous.”

That’s partly why the number of volunteer wardens who encourage residents to cycle safely is being increased from nearly 200 to 250.

To give them more teeth, police have also done at least two enforcement blitzes there.

MP for Tampines GRC, Irene Ng, said: “We have so far been giving them warnings but there are no summonses given at this stage. Usually when the public see the police, as in any other situation, they will behave very well. But the point is that the residents know that the police are around so errant cyclists will not get away with it.”

To make things easier, there are dedicated cycle tracks for those who go faster and widened footways for slower speeds where cyclists and pedestrians can share the same path.

A decision on whether this will become a permanent way of life in Tampines is expected after Jan 31, 2009, following a consultation with residents, the police and the Land Transport Authority.

More footpaths in Tampines will be wider soon
Nicholas Yong, Straits Times 15 Dec 08;

FOOTWAYS in Tampines are being widened in an attempt to accommodate cyclists and pedestrians.

At least 600m of footpaths in the Tampines estate have already been expanded to as much as 2m and another 600m will be broadened by the end of March next year.

The move is part of the Tampines Town Council's efforts to try and assess if a 18-month-long pilot project to allow cycling on pedestrian footpaths in the neighbourhood will work

In May last year, Tampines GRC Members of Parliament started a year-long trial of the pilot project. The trial period was extended by six months in August.

Based on feedback from residents and from a committee made up of representatives from the police, the Land Transport Authority and grassroots organisations, the town council decided to widen stretches of footpaths because they were too narrow to take both groups of users.

Further, the town council has been experimenting with putting up more safety features, such as signage and strips, to prevent cyclists from speeding along these footpaths.

They are also increasing the number of wardens, whose role is to provide advice and reminders to cyclists. If necessary, they may also report incidents of reckless cycling to the police. Forty-six more wardens will be deployed, bringing the total number to 236.

Tampines GRC MP Irene Ng, who spoke to reporters after handing out brochures on cycling safety with other MPs, including National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, said another survey will be done after the extended trial ends next month.

The results of the trial and feedback from residents and the joint committee will be taken into account before a final decision is made, Ms Ng said.

The scheme has received a 'quite positive' response so far, she said. 'We are still educating that cyclists and pedestrians can share footways safely if both exercise their rights responsibly. There's no reason to feel threatened.'

Ms Ng stressed that the scheme is not for the whole of Singapore, noting that other estates may lack the comprehensive system that Tampines has put in place.

Tampines has set aside $1 million to build 2.3km of bike paths in the cycling-heavy areas, with a further 7km of paths which will link up with park connectors to other towns in the east.

Retiree Nuji Murtak, 75, who cycles to the market every day, thinks the scheme is a good idea. 'Before, I had to use the main road. Now with this new scheme, it's safer for me. I am a safe rider and I don't disturb other pedestrians.'

Fellow retiree Kar Ti Ni, 65, who has been cycling for 10 years, also supports the scheme but remains mindful of safety. A long time Tampines resident, Madam Kar gets off and pushes her bike when she sees pedestrians ahead.

Since the trial was extended, enforcement blitzes by the Traffic Police have been carried out against errant cyclists there.

Even if the scheme to allow cyclists on footpaths is approved, cyclists still have to exercise caution.

Those caught riding without due regard for the safety of others are liable to face a composition fine of $20. Reckless cyclists can also be jailed up to a year, or fined up to $5,000 or both.

Last year, 340 summonses were issued to errant cyclists islandwide.

Read more!

Number of litter bugs in Singapore up nine-fold in past two years

Number of litter bugs issued CWO up nine-fold in past two years
Pearl Forss/Ng Lian Cheong, Channel NewsAsia 14 Dec 08;

SINGAPORE: The number of litterbugs caught has been on the rise over the last two years. As of end November, over 1,050 offenders have been issued with Corrective Work Orders (CWO) so far this year.

If not for Sunday morning's downpour, littering offenders would've had to serve out their Corrective Work Orders amid the full glare of the media. They'd all been caught littering more than once.

But since the rain didn't stop, their CWO session had to be postponed.

Since 2006, the number of litterbugs caught has gone up significantly.

In the first 11 months of this year alone, 30,200 tickets for littering were issued.

This is in part due to stepped-up enforcement by the National Environment Agency.

In the last two years, it's increased time spent on enforcement by 3.5 times to 322 man hours per day.

Consequently, the number of CWOs meted out over the same period has also gone up nine-fold to 1,052 as of last month.

In 2006, only 122 offenders were issued with CWOs.

Tai Ji Choong, head, Operations, Environmental Health Department, National Environment Agency, said: "CWO has up till now still been effective because the number of repeat offenders has remained low and fairly consistent over the years. In fact, for the last five years, repeat offenders have not exceeded three per cent."

Over 60 per cent of offenders are young people below the age of 30.

S$37 million of taxpayers’ money is spent each year cleaning the streets. - CNA/vm

Numbers that bug
Nine times more Corrective Work Orders dispensed than two years ago; NEA says scheme is effective

Zul Othman, Today Online 15 Dec 08;

TRIPLING its enforcement efforts to net litterbugs has paid off for the National Environment Agency (NEA): Already this year, 30,214 have been ticketed, a third more than those caught last year, and four times up from two years ago.

The culprits are mostly male, under 30 and usually smokers. They are, contrary to some assumptions, also mostly local — just 35.9 per cent of those caught were foreigners, as of August.

While nine times more Corrective Work Orders (CWOs) have been handed out this year than in 2006 — and twice more than last year — is this mode of punishing litterbugs proving effective?

This question comes at a time when the authorities are looking at the touted success of the 15-year-old CWO scheme as a model for alternative sentences to jail and a fine, for other minor offences.

The NEA believes it has proven most effective. “The number of repeat offenders have remained low and fairly consistent over the years,” said NEA head of operations Tai Ji Choong.

“In fact, over the last year, the number of repeat offenders has not exceeded 3 per cent.”

Under the law, those caught throwing cigarette butts and sweet wrappers are fined $200, but repeat offenders and those who throw more serious trash, such as plastic bags and food wrappers, are sent to court and may be sentenced to a CWO.

CWO exercises are held three or four times a year and require litterbugs to clock a number of hours to clean up public places. :In yesterday’s latest exercise, 155 litterbugs had been ordered to clean up the streets, but the downpour saw the event cancelled with many having to return another day.

Mr Mohd Hassim, 22, told Today the punishment was like community service. “It is my fault I am here, since this is the second time I was caught throwing my cigarette butt in town.”

Help for the enforcers?

Still, while offenders like him may now think twice before dropping their trash anywhere but the trash bins, some people think more is needed to curb the proliferation of litterbugs.

“Perhaps offences are up because people are unaware of the strict penalties. Also, it seems to me that no matter what you do, the number of offenders will always outnumber the NEA inspectors,” said Ms Trina Lim, a 29-year-old sales manager. “Perhaps another body, maybe town council officials, could help catch the litterbugs.”

In 2006, the NEA enhanced its enforcement efforts by dedicating 322 man-hours to catching litterbugs: 500 officers were empowered to take action against them, while another 50 were tasked to catch both litterbugs and those who flout the smoking ban.

Currently, the NEA says, some town councils have enacted their own by-laws to take action those who litter.

But Member of Parliament (MP) for Tanjong Pagar GRC Indranee Rajah believes that any suggestion for town council officials, for instance, to help enforce litter laws should be looked into “more carefully”.

“Town councils are basically a service agency,” she said. Hong Kah GRC MP Alvin Yeo agreed: “Grassroots leaders are members of public like you and me. They could help with counselling offenders, but it makes a lot of sense to leave the enforcing solely to the NEA.”

Rehabilitate and repay

It is ironic that a scheme perceived as a way to “shame” and deter litterbugs when it was launched in 1993, is today the potential model for sentences that would, instead, rehabilitate offenders without stigmatising them.

It was revealed last week that the Government is looking at communty-based options for minor offences. Under the proposed Criminal Procedure Code Bill, such sentences could be mandated in lieu of jail time, to cover a wider range of offences and types of community work to be performed by offenders, up to a cap of 40 hours.

Said Ms Indranee: “I would opt for work orders for non-serious offenders, like in minor vandalism cases, because it gives them a chance to give back to the community.”

Mr Aaron Wong is glad the courts are looking beyond the “blunt instrument” that is jail time. “I think it’s harsh to chuck people in jail if they’re caught stealing a handphone or for vandalism,” said the 26-year-old communications executive. “Working with the community could help set them straight.”

More ordered to pick up litter
About 1,000 litterbugs subject to Corrective Work Order this year
Kimberly Spykerman & Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times 15 Dec 08;

EIGHTY litterbugs took up brooms at four locations around Singapore yesterday and swept the streets as a penance for their anti-social behaviour.

The punishment was part of the 100th instalment of Corrective Work Order (CWO), which is meant to deter people from littering by making them pick up rubbish in public places.

Dr Teo Ho Pin, mayor of the North West district, said: 'It sends a strong message to everyone living in Singapore that littering is an anti-social act.'

Since it was implemented 15 years ago, more than 5,800 people have been made to pick up litter as punishment for their crime.

It is a weapon that has become increasingly popular in Singapore's long-running battle against litter.

This year, about 1,000 people have been subject to the order, a far cry from the roughly 120 in 2006, according to the National Environment Agency (NEA).

Of the more than 30,000 people issued littering tickets since August this year, about one-third were foreigners.

The agency said stepped-up checks have helped catch more litterbugs, particularly those in 'hotspots' like popular food belts, shopping areas and bus interchanges.

The agency has tripled the number of man hours per day dedicated to doing this.

A CWO is usually imposed only on repeat offenders and those who dispose of items, such as food wrappers, drink cans and plastic cups, which can lead to infestations that compromise public health.

Under the scheme, offenders can be made to spend up to 12 hours picking up rubbish. Each session is capped at three hours.

The agency said CWOs are an effective way of curbing a perennial problem.

Numbers from the last five years show that less than 3 per cent of litterbugs forced to pick up rubbish were likely to repeat the offence.

Studies carried out by the NEA have shown that the majority of the offenders are likely to be men under 30 who are smokers. Ms Ellen Lee, MP of Sembawang GRC, suggested the younger set could be prone to such behaviour because 'they have maids at home to take care of many things including tidying and cleaning up after them'.

Deputy chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee (National Development and Environment) Lee Bee Wah, said that public education is the key to wiping out littering - not shaming offenders.

'I don't think the CWOs are very useful, she said. 'We should go (with the) softer approach of education.'

One repeat offender who wanted to be known only as Mr Wan, 22, received a three-hour CWO after he was caught stubbing out a cigarette on the street.

The 22-year-old said the penalty was not much of a deterrent, especially compared to a $200 fine he received for his first offence.

'I'll just do this and get it over and done with. It's not like the first time which really made me learn my lesson. I consciously kept a lookout for dustbins.'

Read more!

Seeds of hope: Freezing vaults guard Earth's flora

Gregory Katz, Associated Press Yahoo News 14 Dec 08;

ARDINGLY, England – The underground bunker can block nuclear fallout, withstand a direct hit by a jetliner, and is cooled to a deathly chill.

The ultramodern facility in the tranquil English countryside looks like a perfect lab for a James Bond villain, but it doesn't hide anything sinister. The only thing kept here are seeds, lots of them — more than a billion, in fact.

Scientists say this is the world's most diverse seed bank, but its keepers worry that the global financial crisis could cut its government and corporate funding and cause the seed gathering to wither at the end of next year, well short of its goal.

"This is the world's biodiversity hot spot," said Paul Smith, director of the Millennium Seed Bank Project, standing outside two room-size vaults filled with precious seeds which are kept at minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit to slow their metabolism.

"That's important for mankind. But if the funding situation doesn't improve, we'll have to stop collecting."

He has already seen a tightening of philanthropic budgets in recent months that is affecting the seed bank's future. "We have not raised the kind of money we had hoped to at this point," Smith said.

There are more than 1,000 seed banks — including a newly opened, unmanned "doomsday" facility in the Arctic wastes of Norway that will ultimately house more than 1 billion crop seeds. But the one at Wakehurst Place, about 30 miles south of London, says it's the only global facility of its kind, unique for its focus on wild species, not just crops.

It says it aims to store a quarter of the world's species by 2020, and could eventually house half of them. It currently has 25,000 species and 1.5 billion seeds.

The seed bank's scientists gauge the total number of plant species at 300,000, which represents a middle figure in the widely varying, constantly changing, global estimate.

It doesn't just take in seeds — it sends them out. Millennium Bank seeds are being used in Australia to figure out what plants can grow in salty reclaimed land, and in Pakistan and Egypt to find plants that can withstand drought and slow desert encroachment.

The bank is helping to restore tall prairie grass in the United States and a tropical forest in Madagascar.

Saving the world's seeds does not come cheap.

At the Millennium Seed Bank, it costs about $3,000 per species to ship in the seeds, meticulously clean them, X-ray them for insect damage and freeze them for possible future use as medicine, a commercial product, or a reviver of a plant that has gone extinct.

It is a global effort: The bank has more than 120 different partners in some 50 countries where seeds are collected and stored. In many cases, seeds are kept both in their native countries and here as a backup.

Some countries, Brazil for instance, are unwilling to send precious seeds overseas, so they are kept in at least two seed banks inside the country, their standards monitored by Millennium Seed Bank experts.

The project, under the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, started in 2000 with 72 million pounds, then about $110 million, in funding from Britain's national lottery and governmental, corporate and individual sponsors.

Smith said the seed bank needs to raise about 10 million pounds ($15 million) a year for the next decade.

The futuristic facility, with its low-slung steel and glass structure over the vaults, is seen by scientists as an insurance policy against nature and human folly. It is a quiet place, where young scientists in white smocks spend hours cleaning seeds by hand, using microscopes, scalpels, forceps, and tiny brushes. The largest is the double coconut seed, almost as big as two coconuts; smallest is the Venus looking glass — with more than a million seeds fitting into a small canister.

Before depositing the seeds in the vaults, lab workers don floor-length parkas.

Even then, the temperature is so low that bodies start losing core heat in 15 minutes. So elaborate safety systems are in place in case anyone is trapped in a vault; an AP photographer inadvertently tripped a series of ringing alarms when he left the vault while a worker remained inside.

Scientists call the Millennium effort invaluable as climate change accelerates.

"The potential value of this project is almost unfathomable," said David Astley, head of the Genetics Resources Unit at the University of Warwick in England, who corroborated the Millennium Projects claim to be the world's most diverse seed bank.

"If you look at the way the world is going, it's inevitable that genetic material will be lost," said Astley, who is not connected to the project. "The big fear is that, if global warming comes sooner rather than later, it may be too late to conserve the material."

Scientists here are also developing new ways to germinate endangered species, including some like the South African faucaria that are down to a single population of plants in the wild.

"We don't know that they are useful for anything," Smith said, "but we don't know that they aren't useful either."

The same could be said of the roughly 80 percent of species here that have not yet been screened for possible medical use.

"Twenty years ago we didn't know the rosy periwinkle from Madagascar would reduce childhood leukemia to the extent that it has," said Smith.

"So who knows what we have in the bank? Our worry is that we're going to lose those in the wild before we even have a chance. So putting them in the seed bank is the most logical first step."

Already, a handful of species collected here have vanished in the wild as habitat is destroyed. Scientists believe these could be reintroduced in the next few centuries. Some seeds, they believe, may last one thousand years under ideal conditions.

Researchers here have already been able to germinate seeds that are more than 200 years old, bringing to life a "pin cushion flower" — known as the leucospermum — from seeds dating back to 1803.

The seeds tell the story of lost empire — they were first collected by a Dutch merchant trading in South Africa, but he was intercepted on his return voyage by a British privateer because Britain was at war with the Dutch at the time.

The seeds were taken from the Dutchman, who was imprisoned in the Tower of London, and were eventually discovered in the National Archives and given to the seed bank.

Scientists expected germination attempts to fail, but were pleasantly surprised when they were able to grow the flowering plant at the Millennium Seed Bank, where it can sometimes be seen in the greenhouse.

They take this as a hopeful sign that other seeds can lay dormant for hundreds of years and be brought back to life.

Read more!

Malaysia ranks third in Asia for green projects

Business Times 15 Dec 08;

(BANGKOK) Malaysia ranks third in Asia with 145 projects worth US$274 million lined up this year, according to the year-end snapshot of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol - the United Nations (UN) emission- reduction treaty.

The CDM projects running or in the pipeline in Malaysia represent 3.4 per cent of the global share, and showed a steady rise from just two projects in 2004 to seven in 2005, 23 in 2006 and 93 last year.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said last Friday that more than 4,200 projects were up and running, or in various phases of the pipeline across the globe in 2008, with China, India, Brazil and Mexico continuing to grab the lion's share with a total of 3,218 projects.

China topped the chart with 1,557, or 36.7 per cent of the global share, followed by 1,135 for India. The countries with the least projects are Fiji, Laos and Papua New Guinea with just one apiece.

Wind and geothermal power projects alongside those promoting energy efficiency and even the preservation of onions are emerging across the globe, courtesy of the UN-brokered carbon markets.

Leading are medium and small-scale hydroelectric projects, followed by biomass energy, wind power and electricity from industrial waste heat, while the CDM is also now triggering interest in a wider range of renewable energy projects, including solar and geothermal power, and one 250 MW tidal project in South Korea.

One novel project is emerging from Niger where an estimated 60 per cent of the national onion crop can be lost, leading to methane emissions as the vegetables rot. The idea is to use solar dryers and other systems to preserve the onions so that they do not rot in storage or on the way to the market. -- Bernama

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After dangerous lull, war on climate change faces crunch year

Richard Ingham And Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 15 Dec 08;

POZNAN, Poland (AFP) – After a year in which it nearly lost its compass, the campaign against climate change heads into 2009 needing top-level political commitment, creative thinking and a deep well of money.

Next year holds a big dream: by its end, the world will have forged a treaty in Copenhagen to shrink global warming from mankind-threatening juggernaut to manageable problem.

Unprecedented in scale and complexity, this accord, due to take effect from 2012, will rein in the greenhouse gases that stoke global warming and throw a lifeline to poor countries exposed to mutated weather patterns.

But realising this vision will now require extraordinary effort.

Climate change became the buzzword of 2007, when UN scientists published a bible-sized report spelling out perils from rising seas, drought, flood and storms, an achievement that earned them, with green guru Al Gore, the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 2008, the issue began to fade and almost vanished completely when the world financial crisis struck.

Compared with demands to muster trillions of dollars and save millions of jobs, climate change suddenly looked to many politicians like a threat beyond the horizon.

Global warming only made its return to the world agenda towards year's end.

Barack Obama, newly elected, promised to bulldoze President George W. Bush's controversial climate policies. He vowed to set binding caps to drive down US emissions of greenhouse gases and stage a return to the global arena after eight years of isolation.

The European Union overcame internal feuding on the cost of going green by agreeing to slash emissions by 20 percent before 2020 over 1990, and spur energy efficiency and renewable sources.

That accord, at a fraught summit in Brussels last week, breathed life into talks in Poznan.

Just before dawn on Saturday, the 192-member UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) approved a work programme for negotiations leading up to the Copenhagen Treaty.

The stage is now set for a 12-month haggle focussing on this question: who should restrain their carbon emissions, by how much and by when?

Should the burden be shouldered just by rich countries, historically to blame for global warming?

Or should emerging giants such as China and India -- already massive polluters and set to be the big problem for decades to come -- break new ground by joining advanced economies in committing to binding emissions goals of some kind?

In exchange for these or other concessions, developing countries will set down hefty demands for help. Inventive solutions will be essential.

Underpinning it all is money: the cost of easing addiction to cheap, dirty fossil fuels and shoring up defences against climate change.

"I can pretend that it's not the case, but we all know that it is," UNFCCC chief Yvo de Boer admitted, as he reflected on the financial heart of the quid pro quo.

With storm clouds over the world economy, the outlook for Copenhagen is not good, judging by the time-worn principle that an economic crisis always trumps an environmental problem.

"Remember, this is a political exercise," said Tim Wirth, a former Democratic US senator who led climate negotiations under Bill Clinton.

"The people making these decisions have got to get elected. It is not scientists and environmentalists that are making these decisions."

Greens have argued for decades that the link between economic growth and polluting fossil fuels must be smashed and this has found powerful backers in Obama and UN chief Ban Ki-moon.

Ban called for a "Green New Deal" in which a chunk of the billions earmarked for reviving the world economy would leverage the switch to a job-creating, low-carbon future.

And he said he may hold a special summit during the UN General Assembly in September to give an extra push to the climate talks.

So many hopes are riding on Obama. But the next US president has just months to prove his credentials on climate change before the Copenhagen showdown, while at the same tackle the US economic crisis and juggle with powerful lobbies.

British economist Nicholas Stern, author of the 2006 Stern Review on the costs of climate change, said 2009 demanded boldness.

The world had the chance to make a historic shift, he argued in Poznan.

"We can actually lay the foundations over the next two years for the low-carbon growth which will be the sustaining growth of the future," Stern said.

But, he added: "I don't take any of this for granted. The human race has an incredibly well developed capacity to screw up, and we may miss this chance."

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