Will there be a whale shark at Resorts World Sentosa?
from wild shores of singapore
6 Dec (Sun): Raffles Museum Open House
from wild shores of singapore
Teach the young ones
from Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs
Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker - Pipturus argenteus
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Nee Soon
from Singapore Nature
Monday Morgue: 30th November 2009
from The Lazy Lizard's Tales
SIEW 2009: Plug-In Singapore 2009
from Green Business Times
AFP Google News 30 Nov 09;
SINGAPORE — Asia needs to craft out a new growth plan because the export-led model that has served the region well is no longer feasible, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said Monday.
"Going back to the growth model of the last two decades is tempting as it brought Asia the dynamic momentum for rapid growth and signs of prosperity," the UNDP said in a report on the impact of the global crisis on the region.
"But this is neither feasible nor desirable, and so the crisis is also an opportunity for many countries in Asia to re-orient their growth and development strategy," it said.
The export-led model pursued by many Asian economies, while it has created stellar growth rates, has also resulted in rising urban-rural inequality, the UNDP said.
"Asia's record growth performance has come at a price," it said.
The UNDP said Asia must recognise that the imbalances created by the export-led model will only worsen further if policymakers fail to address the issues effectively.
"On current trends, Asia's growth imbalances -- with growth driven by investment in industry and services in urban areas, environmental strains, and income inequality -- are likely to become worse."
In the report, the UNDP called on Asia's policymakers to look to building up domestic demand and boosting intra-regional trade rather than continue to rely on the Western economies which have been squeezed badly by the global crisis.
"Given the sharp actual decline and projected stagnation in export demand, it is critical that domestic demand rises rapidly in these countries," the UNDP said.
To a certain degree, this is already taking place within the region, it said.
"There have already been significant moves towards this, especially through extension and deepening of bilateral and regional free trade agreements... The potential for expansion in such areas is now greater than ever before."
The UNDP said Asia is already showing signs of recovery but cautioned there were risks of asset bubbles in some economies and unwinding the vast fiscal spending measures would be a key challenge for governments in 2010.
"To a certain extent, the recovery in some countries in the region has been associated with quick and proactive counter-cyclical monetary and fiscal policies that were designed to avoid the kind of sharp collapses in output and employment that were experienced during the Asian financial crisis," it said.
"However, unwinding these policies will be tricky and will remain a major issue in early 2010 as asset bubbles may have formed in some markets which have exceeded fundamentals."
The aim: To observe the Toddy Cat's population size and habits
Ang Yiying, Straits Times 30 Nov 09;
MRS Janet Chaw thought her son had heard one too many bedtime stories when he started telling her about a creature he was seeing around their neighbourhood about four years ago.
It had the face of a possum, the ears of a cat, and the tail of a monkey.
Students from the NUS department of biological sciences search for the elusive Toddy Cat (right) at the entrance to a campsite in Opera Estate. -- PHOTOS: ALPHONSUS CHERN, COURTESY OF MR ASAD SHIRAZ
'We thought he was joking,' said Mrs Chaw, a housewife in her 40s, 'until my husband saw it. Later, I saw it for myself.'
She spotted it one morning about two years ago when it was walking on the top of the wall separating her house and the vacant house next door. 'I was a bit scared. I thought it might harm us, but my son said it was the animal he had been seeing.'
Patting Wei Yang, now nine, on his back, she said: 'Mummy believes you now!'
Down the street from them, Dr Ooi Teik Huat, 62, has also seen it. He had put out traps for stray animals whose droppings he had noticed in his garden.
The traps caught something unexpected, two or three of them within a few months. He said, 'They were greyish and definitely not domestic but wild animals.'
What he and the Chaws saw was the musang, a species of civet believed to be the last, wild small carnivore left in Singapore.
Also known as the Singapore Toddy Cat or Asian Palm Civet, it averages 3.2kg, with a body length of 53cm and a tail almost as long as its body (48cm).
According to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), members of the public have turned over more than 20 musangs each year in the last couple of years.
Some 90 per cent have come from the Siglap and Opera Estate area, said an AVA spokesman.
And that is where a musang stakeout is currently being carried out, by a team from the Wildlife Reserves Singapore and the National University of Singapore's (NUS) department of biological sciences.
The main people working on the project, the animal management officer at the Night Safari, Mr Abdul Razak Jaffar, 29, and NUS department of biological sciences student Xu Weiting, 22, have been spending their free time and weekends at the estate. They also tap on a pool of volunteers made up of more than 10 Night Safari and Zoo staff and Ms Xu's course mates and friends.
For this month, the small group has been attempting to sight the creatures in the Siglap and Opera Estate area - sometimes all night - to determine their population size and habits.
So far, it has been unable to determine their number but the survey will go on at least until January.
Starting from last month, the group has been to the area at least nine times to note down where the fruit trees - a source of food for the musangs - were in the area and try to track the animals through this.
Said Miss Xu: 'At first, we were like, 'It shouldn't be so many fruit trees'. But as we plot, it's like 'So many!'.'
She thinks the musangs could be attracted to the area because of the high number of fruit trees that has been planted by residents in the largely private residential areas.
Though the animal is classified as a carnivore based on its skeletal and teeth structure, it is known to feed on both animals such as rats and birds as well as plant matter.
Miss Xu said the trees include mango, rambutan, papaya, banana, coconut and palm. 'It's unusual to find such a high density of fruit trees in a residential area but it's good for the Toddy Cats,' she said. 'They don't need to go very far to get food.'
The cats have been sighted at dawn, dusk and in the wee hours of the morning; they walk across the power cables in the estate, using them as 'highways'; and they are known to trample across rooftops and make their way into residents' attics.
After talking to residents out on walks, the team shortlisted a number of 'hot spots' in the area and mounted stakeouts.
One spot where there has been a number of sightings is a camp site in the Opera Estate where the group has organised night-long watches.
It is, more often than not, a waiting game.
Through the long night, they shine torchlights into trees, hoping to pick out the civets' yellow eyeshine - the colour that is reflected from their eyes when a light shines on them, listen for shuffling among trees and bushes, and sniff the air for what they describe as a 'pandan' smell that they say is the musang's distinctive musk.
The musang is common to the region. It has a body covered with coarse, shaggy grey hair, and sports three rows of black markings on its feet, ears and muzzle. The markings on its face also resemble that of a raccoon's.
The numbers of this shy creature in Singapore are not known.
The Night Safari's assistant director of zoology, Mr Kumar Pillai, said one of the aims of the project is to promote greater awareness and acceptance of the musangs in the residential area.
It also hopes to stop people trapping and removing the creatures, especially if the population is self-sustaining.
'Through heightened awareness, we hope to make people realise that living among these creatures should be a cause for celebration instead of concern. That despite rapid urbanisation, we are still fortunate to have them as part of our natural heritage,' he said.
He said the musang may be the only wild animal that is living in a residential area, while other wild animal sightings - such as those of the long-tailed macaque and smooth otters - would be in protected nature areas.
An AVA spokesman said most of the musangs that are turned over to it are released into nature areas while those that are weaker may be sent to the zoo.
Some residents find the cats a nuisance. Based on some initial responses received from a survey the team made among households in the area, Miss Xu said there were some negative responses.
'They're scared of them. Basically, they tend to be noisy when they walk on the rooftops. They are scared that they will transmit Sars. They think it's more dangerous than a normal cat.'
But others welcome them saying they liked having a bit of nature around.
A Frankel Avenue resident, Mr Asad Shiraz, 52, said he had not seen one in about six months, which was 'kind of sad'.
'They added a lot of interest to the neighbourhood,' said the marketing director, and former head of the Wildlife Reserves Singapore.
Opera Estate resident Rosean Neilsen, who has seen them on occasional late nights, said: 'I personally think they have the right to live here. They don't cause any harm.'
The private school lecturer from Australia added, 'I think they're cute.'
Members of the public have turned over more than 20 musangs each year in the last couple of years, according to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority. Some 90 per cent have come from the Siglap and Opera Estate area.
Population surveys of animals
Straits Times 30 Nov 09;
THE next population survey to be conducted by Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) will be on fireflies at the Pasir Ris mangroves. The study will begin next month.
Mr Kumar Pillai, the assistant director of zoology at the Night Safari, said fireflies in Singapore are shrinking in number and are hardly seen nowadays. There is a small population in Kranji and near the mangroves, he noted.
Most of the time, WRS carries out population surveys of animal species found around the forested areas of the Singapore Zoo and the Night Safari.
For instance, it did a count of the flying lemurs - a tree-dwelling mammal known to be able to glide from a height - in the area a few years back. This was done through counting and photo taking and identification.
Such surveys can last for anything from three to six months, and help to determine the sustainability of certain animal species, Mr Kumar said.
The survey being carried out on the population of musang in Siglap is the first by WRS in a residential area.
The hunt for this species of civet has kept student Xu Weiting fully occupied since she took up the survey for her final-year project at the department of biological sciences at the National University of Singapore. Project supervisor N. Sivasothi, who lectures at the department, said lecturers often suggest local projects for final-year students to do. Such projects usually last from August to March.
During one such project, another student conducted a survey of medium-sized mammals in Pulau Ubin and found a population of Greater Mouse Deer - thought to be extinct in Singapore. There were 100 sightings over six months.
The project, completed in March, was carried out in collaboration with the National Parks Board and its volunteers.
As part of efforts to collect records of wild animals in Singapore, a website has been set up at http://mammal.sivasothi.com/ for the public to submit photographs and information about sightings.
ANG YIYING
Grace Chua, Straits Times 30 Nov 09;
SO, the National Parks Board has a campaign to get people to recognise 10 different types of trees.
Can you name this tree? (Answer: It is a rain tree.) An NParks campaign hopes to encourage people to learn to recognise 10 different types of trees. -- ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN
I'm not sure I can even name 10, let alone recognise them from their leaves or bark or flowers.
Which sets me thinking: The youth green movement, which pushes for recycling, environmental protection, and climate change agreements at Copenhagen, is now louder and stronger than ever.
But what does greenery mean to us on a personal level?
When I was about six years old, my father and I would go on walks on Sunday mornings at East Coast Park, and he would teach me the names of the plants and trees around us.
We played a game: I had to name a plant as I walked past it, or else it would, my father warned, uproot itself and chase me. Ixora! Hibiscus! Bougainvillea!
I can now reliably inform you that terror is an excellent motivation for learning.
Thanks to my father, I can recognise the scaly, cracked bark of a mahogany tree and the fiery orange-red beaks of the flame of the forest, and I even know that the Botanic Gardens' logo is the bright red heart of a sealing wax palm.
Somewhere along the line, however, I grew up and stopped bothering. I can't even name you half the plants in the rooftop garden at my office.
I like having them around. But because I don't know what they are, I can't be bothered with their survival. Some gardening contractor can do the job...
That is why I think NParks' 'Know 10 Trees' initiative, which is aimed not just at young people but at all citizens, is important and timely.
Even as the abstract concept of environmentalism gains ground, we are losing the ability to identify the actual plants and animals around us.
Lest anyone suggests this is too difficult, I will argue that we are already experts at taxonomy.
Why, most of my girlfriends can spot a genuine Louis Vuitton bag from a fake at 20 paces, or tell a Lexus from a Toyota Camry at a hundred yards. See? We are pretty good at it.
Why is knowing the names of trees so important?
I believe it is an integral part of our sense of rootedness (pardon the pun) and, indeed, citizenship.
It is only when you know you are going to live somewhere for a while that you bother to learn the names of your neighbours, where they work, or what their hobbies are.
These native plants are the country's natural heritage. But who knows how long that natural heritage will stick around?
Botanists now know more about the ways that urban growth drives native plants extinct. And urban growth is something we have in spades.
I don't just want to care about the environment. I want to care about my environment because I can touch it, smell it and see it, and because it is all I've got.
And in turn, I hope that seeing and sensing the very real state of environmental and climate change might just scare the next generation of young greenies straight, just as it did my six-year-old self.
It is time to go and introduce myself to some trees.
Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia 29 Nov 09;
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO: Commonwealth leaders have thrown their full support behind the United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen next month.
At their summit in Trinidad and Tobago, all 53 member states pledged their commitment to seal a legally binding agreement, aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
World leaders need to agree on stringent cuts that have to be in place by the end of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.
It is a big boost for the climate meeting, as the Commonwealth nations represent two billion people - a third of the world's population.
The Commonwealth summit is the last international gathering before the Copenhagen talks.
The leaders issued their statement after a special session on climate change with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen.
"We, as the Commonwealth representing one-third of the world's population, believe the time for action on climate change has come," said Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. "The clock is ticking to Copenhagen, we've achieved one further significant step forward with this communique."
Leaders said a crucial breakthrough in the Commonwealth statement is a resolution on the importance of a "fast start fund" to help poorer nations cope with climate change.
The proposed Copenhagen Launch Fund aims to start in 2010 and build to US$10 billion annually by 2012.
Leaders also agreed that 10 per cent of this fund should immediately go towards helping small island states which are most vulnerable to rising sea levels.
There is overall optimism about the upcoming Copenhagen summit, a stark contrast from a few weeks back when talks looked set to derail because countries could not agree on standards. Now, the target for a full legally binding climate change treaty is no later than 2010.
Leaders from about 90 countries have confirmed that they will be attending the UN climate change summit in Denmark next month.
The Danish Prime Minister and the UN Secretary-General have welcomed the Commonwealth declaration.
Mr Ban said: "We need the leadership and commitment of all the leaders and as Secretary-General of the United Nations, I will continue to devote all my energy and time under my authority to make this - seal the deal in Copenhagen, which has very serious implications for the future of our humanity and for the future of our planet."
UN Chief Ban has spent the past two days trying to shore up support from Commonwealth leaders, including Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Mr Ban's call on Mr Lee, which lasted for about half an hour, saw both leaders discussing the Copenhagen meeting, which the Singapore PM has said he will attend.
Singapore has pledged its full backing for a successful outcome in Copenhagen.
However, the city-state's position is that any treaty or political declaration must take into account the different circumstances among different countries.
For example, there are no energy sources such as hydro or nuclear energy in Singapore. Mr Lee has said the country will reduce emissions from a "business-as-usual" level provided other countries also commit to do their part in a global deal.
There is also general consensus that developed nations should lead the way as they are the largest emitters of greenhouse gas.
Separately, PM Lee took the opportunity to brief Commonwealth leaders on the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Singapore next year.
He gave a presentation to delegates providing insights into areas such as the Olympic Village, sporting events, cultural education programme and the YOG torch journey.
Mr Lee invited Commonwealth countries to send their best youth athletes to the Games.
Later in the day, Mr Lee had a bilateral meeting with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed.
- CNA/yb
Euston Quah & Qiyan Ong, Straits Times 30 Nov 09;
IN CASE you missed it, there's been more bad news from the climate scientists: The world is on the brink of an environmental calamity. That's the conclusion of the United Nations-sponsored Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The good news is that this purportedly man-made apocalypse can be averted if carbon emissions by developed countries are drastically cut by 25-40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020 and developing countries reduce their emissions too. As the report has been presented as representative of the main scientific consensus, its findings have been widely perceived to constitute the truth.
The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference next month seeks to reach a binding global climate pact among 192 nations. Coincidentally or not, the only 'politically correct' option seems to be 'cap and trade': a system where those who emit more than their permitted caps would have to buy the right to emit more from those who pollute less.
But that's just one side of the story. A study by another group of scientists known as the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) has concluded that the increase in man-made greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere is not responsible for global warming. To make it more confusing, the NIPCC argues that 'a warmer world would be safer and healthier world for humans and wildlife alike'.
Although scientists have yet to reach a consensus on the issue, many are already urging cuts in carbon emissions. But the expense of switching to cleaner sources of energy would not be the only cost entailed in carbon cuts.
The battle against climate change can divert the world's attention from efforts to fight global hunger. In the recent food summit in Rome, world leaders failed to pledge funds for agricultural aid that the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation deemed necessary. An attempt to rally world leaders to commit themselves to eradicating hunger by 2025 has been unsuccessful.
The fact is the needs of the present generation have yet to be fulfilled and there are other equally deserving problems besides climate change that require attention. A drastic global climate change measure may affect the world's ability to grapple with these other problems. World leaders should adopt a balanced and pragmatic approach in combating climate change while alleviating poverty in the present generation.
The other major question is whether 'cap and trade' is the best option. A prerequisite for the system is that there must be sufficiently large differences in the marginal abatement cost - the cost of reducing a unit of pollution - across industries for trade to occur within a country. Thus, 'cap and trade' is not practical in small countries or countries with relatively uniform marginal abatement costs.
But trading across countries, although ideal, entails complex problems associated with sovereign rights since monitoring must be conducted across borders and uniform regulations must be enforced. It is also unclear how participating countries will share the revenue from auctioning the permits.
So what stand should Singapore take at the Copenhagen talks?
Limited in space and natural resources, Singapore cannot substitute fossil fuels with alternative energy sources such as wind or hydroelectric power. Furthermore, the current technologies of harnessing and storing solar power have yet to become economically viable.
To uphold its international reputation for environmental conservation, however, Singapore should do its part as a global citizen. In terms of controlling carbon emissions, it can contribute through continually revising its fuel mix composition to ensure energy efficiency. It can also use its experience in urban and environmental management practices to aid poor countries in these areas.
Carbon trading would be a premature resolution for Singapore as the marginal abatement cost is relatively uniform across local industries. Some suggest that with its mature capital market and sound financial management system, Singapore can position itself as the regional carbon trading centre. But it is unlikely that South-east Asia will achieve the level of integration necessary for regional carbon trading in the near future.
A more realistic way for Singapore to reduce carbon emissions is to introduce a carbon tax. This would be simpler to administer and would cover all carbon in the economy. As the price of 'dirty' goods increases, consumers will turn to green goods. This will in turn attract private initiatives for green technologies. Receipts from the carbon tax can either be used to reduce other taxes or channelled into green research.
Fraught with uncertainties and practical problems, the Copenhagen summit is unlikely to achieve the goal of binding quantity cuts. Nevertheless, it has successfully attracted the public's attention to a global environmental problem.
Euston Quah is professor of environmental economics and head of economics at NTU. Qiyan Ong is pursuing her PhD at the university.
A more realistic way for Singapore to reduce carbon emissions is to introduce a carbon tax. This would be simpler to administer and would cover all carbon in the economy. Receipts from the carbon tax can either be used to reduce other taxes or channelled into green research.
Carbon tax? No, offer incentives
Straits Times 3 Dec 09;
I REFER to Monday's commentary by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) professor Euston Quah and NTU researcher Qiyan Ong, 'What stance should Singapore take at Copenhagen?', and the suggestion to introduce a carbon tax.
To achieve the objective of a policy, why must its implementation always be in the form of a payment? Why pay, pay and pay?
It reminds me of the Electronic Road Pricing situation. You go into the Central Business District, you pay. You go to the heartland, you pay. You go to work, you pay. You go home, you pay. Please have mercy.
Why can't the implementation be in the form of an incentive? In the form of carbon credits, to be exact.
So, when you travel on a bus or a train, instead of driving your own vehicle, you get carbon credits. Accumulated carbon credits can then be used as discounts when you use public transport.
Carbon credits can also be accumulated when you buy 'green' products.
Robin Chua
Trane Singapore sets the example with its energy-efficient cooling systems
Joyce Hooi, Business Times 30 Nov 09;
TRANE Singapore is discovering how greed can save the environment.
The air-conditioning solutions company is one of the thousands of firms learning how to delicately pair the lofty concept of energy-efficiency with the grubby one of fatter bottom lines.
'Decision-making is not driven by the engineers any more, it's driven by the money guys,' says Pay Ngiap Poh, vice-president of Trane's Asia energy services division.
The division has seen leaps in revenue now that its pitches highlight the enormous cost savings of more energy-efficient cooling systems, with these 'money guys' in mind.
'If I were a chief financial officer, I'd get excited over the numbers too. You're looking at an ROI of 45 per cent. CEOs are listening a lot to us now, too,' says Mr Pay.
The upshot of all of this is 40 per cent growth in revenue per year on average since Trane's energy services division started in end-2007.
The company's shift in strategy reflectsthe changing landscape of the environmental industry.
Cost savings have been mentioned in the same breath as saving the planet by virtually every speaker throughout the recent Singapore Energy Week - a sign that the environmental industry realises that placard-waving and hemp cargo pants alone will not get big business on board.
Where Trane is concerned, the numbers it is bandying about are arresting ones.
One of its customers, Singapore Post, spent $1.9 million in 2007 to retrofit its Paya Lebar headquarters with Trane's cooling system, and now saves $1.2 million a year through this system that is expected to last 15-20 years.
Another of its projects, at The Galen in Singapore Science Park, is projected to save the client $1.06 million a year.
With this particular project, Trane outdid itself, producing an efficiency of 0.57 kilowatt per tonne - the amount of energy required to produce one tonne of cooling. Previously, 0.6 kilowatt per tonne was the value to aspire to.
Mr Pay estimates that if every commercial building in Singapore were to achieve an efficiency of 0.6 kilowatt per tonne, it would be the equivalent of taking 80 per cent of cars off the roads, in terms of carbon emission volumes.
In fact, so keen is Trane to drive the point home that it is becoming the proverbial Navratilovian pig by committing to a banker's guarantee for its clients if it fails to deliver a promised cost savings amount.
'Like the pig, our guarantee is kind of life-threatening. If we tell a client that we will save them $1.2 million per year, we will put nearly $300,000 into their bank account and we have to top it up every quarter if we don't deliver,' says Lee Eng Lock, general manager of Trane's energy and contracting division.
'So if I save them only $500,000, I'm liable for the balance of the contract. If the contract is for three years, I am on the hook every year for $700,000,' says Mr Lee.
This approach appears to have struck the right chord at a time when going green and saving money have conveniently converged.
'15 years ago, I walked around on Orchard Road and looked at the buildings. I thought, 'These buildings are all non-Trane users'. So I decided to convert at least half of the buildings facing Orchard Road to Trane,' says Mr Pay.
Today, Trane - one of the three big boys alongside Carrier and Johnson Controls - can lay claim to half the buildings on Orchard Road.
'Nothing can be better than saving the environment and making some profits,' says Mr Pay. Apart from saving the environment and making even more profits, of course.
AVA to help improve pet shop standards and owner responsibility with new pet-care course
Ansley Ng TOday Online 30 Nov 09;
SINGAPORE - From next year, pet buyers can expect better service when they go to pet shops. And instead of just getting help to choose a pet, customers can turn to pet sellers for continued guidance on animal care and ownership.
This will be possible when a bid to raise standards in the industry takes effect in January.
Unlike now, all pet shop operators will be equipped henceforth with certifiable skill sets, through a compulsory pet care course taught by Temasek Polytechnic and supported by the Pet Enterprises and Traders Association and the Workforce Development Agency.
Shop owners and staff who have worked for more than six months will bone up on regulatory requirements, animal care and business ethics, among other topics, Parliamentary Secretary (National Development) Mohamad Maliki Osman announced yesterday.
The Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) expects about 120 pet shops and farms selling small mammals such as dogs, cats, rabbits and hamsters - out of the 277 in total - to sign up in the first half of next year. All operators should eventually do so when they renew their annual licences.
"I believe the new compulsory training programme will be well received by the pet retail industry, as well as by discerning customers who patronise shops that maintain a high standard of animal care," said Dr Maliki at the finale of a series of Responsible Pet Ownership roadshows.
The roadshows, organised by the AVA, come as the number of dog attacks have risen this year. The attacks, numbering 65 so far, have involved not just bigger dogs such as rottweilers and dobermans, but also smaller ones such as shih tzus and Jack Russell terriers.
Last week, a businessman was charged in court after his two rottweilers bit two people in the Toh Tuck Road area.
When asked how the new course will increase pet owner responsibility, Dr Maliki said that improved pet shop standards means that pet buyers get better "after-sales service".
"We want pet shops to have responsibility to ensure that pet owners understand what their roles are as far as pet ownershp is concerned, and therefore, create that awareness and ensure that skills to manage pets when they are at home (are passed down)," he said.
In an ongoing public consultation exercise, there have also been calls for dog owners to buy insurance and for dogs to be categorised according to their breeds, said Dr Maliki.
Mr Owen Sim, a master trainer of dogs and who breeds Siberian huskies in his Telok Kurau shop, welcomed the course, as there were pet shop operators who are like the "blind leading the blind". He recalled a customer telling him that another pet shop owner had advised him to reach into his puppy's mouth and pull its tongue if it was naughty and wanted to nibble him.
"I told him there was no logic behind it," said Mr Sim, who described some pet shop operators as "businessmen ... motivated by profits", not pet experts.
"Having the course would be a boost for the industry, but we need to know what will be taught and how the course will really benefit us."
The lessons, which can be done intensively or part time, include 16 hours of lectures and eight hours of workshops as part of TP's veterinary technology diploma, covering areas of laws, animal health, occupational health and client education.
There will be a fee subsidy of up to 90 percent under the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience.
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Singapore) education executive Selina Sebastian said: "We're very heartened, and this is definitely a step in the right direction. Hopefully, the course will have a knock on effect on owners and owners-to-be."
She added that SPCA has received dogs dumped by owners who were frustrated because the pets were disobedient.
"In fact, the first thing you should do when you get a dog is to sign up for an obedience course," she said.
Rabies quarantine requirement to be dropped
Dr Maliki also announced yesterday that as a result of risk management measures such as rabies vaccines, blood testing and microchip identification for animals, the AVA will waive quarantine requirements from Jan 1 for pets imported from countries with minimal rabies risk.
This means dogs and cats imported from places such as Japan, Hong Kong and Norway can enter Singapore without the need for quarantine. Currently, pet dogs and cats imported from countries other than Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland are quarantined for 30 days.
Pet shop owners question new rule
They say seasoned retailers don't need mandatory training
Straits Times 1 Dec 09;
PET shop owners are taking issue with a new ruling that from next month will require them to take a course on animal care.
The course, announced by Parliamentary Secretary for National Development Mohamad Maliki Osman on Sunday, will be compulsory for shop owners and employees who have worked for more than six months. It will teach animal care, business ethics and how to educate customers on pet care.
There will also be workshops on determining animals' sex, proper handling of domestic pets, and checks on animal health.
The course will be conducted by Temasek Polytechnic over three days or six evenings.
Course fees have not been determined yet, but subsidies of up to 90 per cent will be provided by the Government.
The move is part of the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority's ongoing drive to improve pet welfare, and was announced at the end of a month-long responsible pet ownership roadshow.
There are 277 pet shops here, and about 80 complaints a year.
The authorities are making the education programme compulsory as they see stores as the first link in the chain of responsible pet ownership.
Most of the complaints concern the sale of unhealthy or underage animals, overcrowding, and unsanitary conditions.
While pet shop owners contacted yesterday agreed that there were a number of bad hats in the industry, they said the new move was excessive.
They pointed out that shops are already graded when their annual licences come up for review, including checks on cleanliness and how well they care for their pets.
Those given a D grade have to send staff for remedial training and risk being shut down if they get the grade consistently. There are four such shops here.
And some owners asked why even experienced retailers need to attend the course.
Mr Eugene Chua, who has worked in the industry for 15 years and owns Pets City on Koon Seng Road, said: 'Pet shop owners are generally people who love pets and already have some knowledge.'
Pet owners disagreed with operators who think there are enough controls, however.
Flight attendant Samantha Lim, 28, said more needs to be done.
Last month, she bought a mini schnauzer which turned out to be unhealthy. She suggested regulations making stores which sell such pets give refunds or reimburse veterinary fees.
'That way, pet shop owners will be more responsible about selling healthy pets.'
TESSA WONG
Getting dog owners to heel
Fido may be cute, but it has instincts which need to be kept in check
Tessa Wong, Straits Times 2 Dec 09;
LIKE many puppies of her breed, Ziggy the golden retriever can literally bowl you over with her friendliness.
The seven-month-old's over-enthusiasm when greeting people - she lunges and pounces on them - is the reason her owners have sent her to the German Shepherd Dog Club for training.
'We're training her because it's being responsible,' said her owner, Mr Dennis Cheah, 57, as he fondly patted his dog's head.
Not many owners share Mr Cheah's attitude though.
New rules announced this week to train pet store owners in animal care - in the hope they pass on this knowledge to customers - are a step in the right direction. The move will help keep a lid on the number of dog attacks - which have been rising, more than doubling from 28 in 2004 to 65 so far this year.
But tackling pet store owners' ignorance is one thing. It would do little to improve matters if dog owners don't give a hoot about the danger of their pets causing injury to humans.
Take a walk in a park this evening, and chances are you will see dogs unleashed. This despite a law that requires owners to keep dogs on a leash in public places.
With more Singaporeans owning dogs - there are now a record 55,220 dogs here - it is more important than ever to make sure that owners are responsible. Which is why the suggestion of pet associations here that both the animals and their owners are trained is timely.
Right now, there are only basic regulations governing pet dogs - such as compulsory microchipping, leashing them in public places and muzzling certain breeds deemed to be relatively dangerous.
But the Singapore Kennel Club, the German Shepherd Dog Club, and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) are calling for mandatory training for all breeds and the setting of minimum standards:
# That dogs obey owners when they issue simple commands such as heel, sit, and stay.
# That dogs are adequately socialised, so they are used to the presence of other dogs and humans.
# That owners can assert adequate authority over their dogs.
# That owners are equipped with a suitable method of disciplining their dogs.
Training advocates say all dogs should be trained - no ifs or buts.
Statistics bear this out. The common perception is that snarling rottweilers, dobermans with clipped ears and german shepherds are the dogs most likely to make a beeline for our necks.
But this is not totally correct.
A variety of breeds have been behind the dog attacks here: Mongrels and mixed breeds have, in fact, topped the list of biters in the last two years.
The latter include 'designer dogs' that have become fashionable in recent years, particularly crosses like labradoodles and shetland spitzes. According to experts, such cross-breeding can give rise to dogs with uncertain temperaments.
So-called 'family friendly' dogs can be occasionally nasty too - including golden retrievers, jack russell terriers, and shih tzus.
Here's a startling statistic: Golden retrievers have been responsible for seven attacks this year. By comparison, rottweilers were behind with three.
In February, a three-and-a half-month-old baby in South Wales was mauled to death by a jack russell terrier and a staffordshire bull terrier.
Experts say such incidents should teach us one thing - however cute Fido might be, it has instincts that need to be kept in check.
It is not only about dogs, however.
The SPCA wants new owners to be trained too. If we are serious about stamping out this problem, we need to seriously consider this suggestion.
Not only would compulsory training help first-time owners grasp the basics of pet care, it would also deter those who buy a dog on a whim only to discover they lack the commitment to handle their pooch when it becomes unruly.
Switzerland would be a good example to emulate. A new law there makes it compulsory for first-time dog owners to attend classes. They learn, among other things, how to train their dogs, how to walk them correctly in public, and how to understand their needs.
Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) could look into similar laws here, and tailor training requirements to different types of owners.
For instance, only first-time owners - or those whose dogs have attacked people in the past - should attend mandatory classes with accredited trainers or dog clubs.
The rest can choose whether to send their dogs for professional training or 'home-school' them to pass a test.
As different members of the family may be responsible for walking the dog, the AVA should make sure that all the main handlers of the dog be trained, and not just the person whose name is on the dog's licence.
Meanwhile, Singaporean owners could ensure they are responsible pet carers by doing research on their breeds and asking the AVA and dog associations for advice on keeping their pets out of trouble.
In this way, they will be following the lead of owners of so-called dangerous breeds, who, with a few exceptions, usually take greater pains to control their dogs, precisely because they realise their pets are dangerous.
If such steps aren't taken soon, dog attacks may increase further, as would tensions between dog owners and non-owners. Already, the AVA has observed an increase in the number of complaints about dogs, from 3,292 in 2007 to 3,924 last year.
The facts are staring at us in the face, and we ought to realise that it is time to bring irresponsible dog owners to heel.
Tiny transparent flower from Ecuador one of 60 new species discovered by botanist
Lewis Smith, The Independent 30 Nov 09;
The smallest species of orchid in the world has been discovered hidden among the roots of a larger plant in a nature reserve in Ecuador.
Lou Jost, an American botanist, found the tiny orchid by accident when he was inspecting a plant collected from the Cerro Candelaria reserve in the eastern Andes, which was created by Ecuador's EcoMinga Foundation in partnership with the World Land Trust in Britain.
The plant is just 2.1mm wide, and instantly supercedes the species Platystele jungermannioides as the world's smallest orchid. The petals are so thin that they are just one cell thick and transparent.
The flower is just one of 60 new orchids and 10 other plant species that Dr Jost has discovered in the past decade. "I found it among the roots of another plant that I had collected, another small orchid which I took back to grow in my greenhouse to get it to flower," he said of his latest discovery. "A few months later I saw that down among the roots was a tiny little plant that I realised was more interesting than the bigger orchid.
"Looking at the flower is often the best way to be able to identify which species of orchid you've got hold of – and can tell you whether you're looking at an unknown species or not."
Dr Jost, who works for the EcoMinga Foundation, is one of the world's leading orchid hunters. "It's an exciting feeling to find a new species. People think everything has been discovered but there's much more," he said
A second tiny orchid collected in the Rio Anzu Reserve in central Ecuador is among his other discoveries. "It was so small, it looked like a piece of dirt at first. I was going through the moss on a fallen tree branch – they're good places for orchids to grow – when I spotted it. The flower was 3mm across," he said.
Dave Roberts, of Royal Botanical Gardens Kew, said of the area where the flower was found: "That region of the world is where the majority of very, very small orchids live."
More than 1,000 orchid species have been discovered in Ecuador in the past century, as plant collectors enjoy a bonanza made possible by the construction of roads which have allowed access to some of the most remote and unspoilt forest habitats in the world.
A group of 28 types of orchid which evolved in a mountainous area the size of London was perhaps the most exciting of Dr Jost's recent finds. They are part of the Teagueia genus, which had previously been thought to be restricted to just six species. The evolution of the 28 closely related orchids in such a small patch of land was described as a botanical version of Darwin's finches.
More on Lou Jost's website.
Associated Press 29 Nov 09;
BALI, Indonesia — Two young whales are stranded on Indonesia's resort island of Bali and will die on the beach because they are too weak to survive even if returned to the water, an official said Sunday.
Attempts to rescue the beached whales, a rare occurrence on Bali, have been abandoned, said Bali's Fisheries and Marines Department officer Nyoman Wirna Ariwangsa.
"They are in critical condition now," he said.
The two short-finned pilot whales, a protected species, were both extensively scratched and bruised, apparently from fishing nets at sea. Their carcasses will be buried before they decompose, Ariwangsa said.
The pair was among four whales that washed ashore Saturday near Tanah Lot Beach, one of the most popular and picturesque tourist destinations on the island province, Ariwangsa said.
Dozens of locals hauled all four of the 7-foot (2.1-meter), 1,000 pound (450 kilogram) whales into the shallow water. Fishing boats successfully led two back to sea, he said. But waves washed another two back to shore.
"Powerful tidal waves are believed to have separated them from their pod and left them stranded here," Ariwangsa said.
Live whales rarely become beached on Bali, although 10 dead whales — eight short-finned pilot and two giant sperm — washed ashore in February in stormy weather.
Locals butchered their carcasses for the oil, which they use as a traditional medicine.
Pilot whales stranded on Tabanan Beach
Jakarta Post 30 Nov 09;
TABANAN: Four short-finned pilot whales were found stranded along Nyanyi Beach in Tabanan regency, some 20 kilometers west of Denpasar, on Saturday.
Local fishermen found the stranded mammals alive on Saturday morning.
The two-meter long whales weigh about 100 to 200 kilograms each.
A number of members from the Bala Wisata beach security guards and local residents attempted to save the whales and get them back into the water.
Two of the whales were too weak to swim after suffering serious wounds.
Agus Rochdianto, spokesman for the Tabanan fishery agency, told news portal beritabali.com many whales had been found stranded along Balin's coast recently.
"We have also found pilot whales stranded in Serangan Beach last January and a humpback whale in Salamadeg beach," he said.
Many factors contribute to this phenomenon including changes in sea conditions such as unusually strong currents and ship sonar systems that affect the mammals's echolocation ability. - JP
Ruben Sario, The Star 29 Nov 09;
By RUBEN SARIO
KOTA KINABALU: An initial environmental report on a proposed 300mW coal fired plant on the state’s east coast has drawn concern from various Sabah groups, who say it is full of shortcomings.
Among others, the Terms of Reference for the project at the Felda Sahabat scheme appears to have ignored the long-term impact of the coal plant’s emissions into the pristine Darvel Bay.
This is especially important as several kilometres away from the proposed coal plant site in the bay is a sea grass area that is the habitat for the endangered dugong or sea cow.
Sabah Environmental Protection Association president Wong Tack said this was one of the findings at a first review conducted on the project’s Terms of Reference at the Department of Environment in Putrajaya on Nov 24.
“The Terms of Reference showed there was no study carried out on the cumulative effects of the coal plant emissions over a five to 15-year period.
“What is ironic is that the Darvel Bay is within the Coral Triangle Initiative which Malaysia has pledged to conserve,” he said here Sunday.
The Prime Minister had attended the summit on the Coral Triangle Initiative, dubbed the “Amazon of the Oceans,” in May and pledged USD1mil (RM3.4mil) to its protection.
Wong said at the review, state government officials had also voiced concerns that the emissions could have adverse impact on the Tun Sakaran marine park and world renowned diving haven of Pulau Sipadan over the long term.
He said the Terms of Reference was also drawn up based on climate conditions in the Tawau district - more than 200km away - and not within the Tengku area, the proposed site for the coal plant.
Wong said this was critical as the Tabin Wildlife Conservation area - home to Borneo Pygmy elephants, rhinos, orang utan and sun bears - was just 20km away.
He claimed that the consultants responsible for the Terms of Reference appeared not to have obtained feedback from state officials nor explored any alternative to the coal plant.
“Yet, we have a natural gas fired plant in Kimanis coming up and while a 300mW biomass power plant is not practical, it doesn’t mean we can’t have such smaller plants in the various districts,” he added.
Wong was among three Sepa representatives at the review that was also attended by officials from the Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry, Wildlife, state Environmental Protection, Forestry, Fisheries and Health Departments as well as Sabah Parks and the Lahad Datu district office.
Sepa was also representing Green Surf, which is a coalition of various groups including WWF-Sabah, Malaysian Nature Society, Land Empowerment, Animal and People, and Pacos Trust, at the review.
The Jakarta Post 29 Nov 09;
An official at the Environment Ministry has stated that five companies in South Kalimantan have ignored environmental aspects during their work in the province.
Gempur Adnan, the ministry's deputy for environmental pollution monitoring affairs, said Sunday that the firms were state-owned palm oil plantation PTPN 13 Kebun Danau Salak, PT Sinar Kencana Inti Perkasa, pulp firms PT Basirih Industrial Corporindo, PT Hendratna Plywood and PT Daya Sakti Unggul Corporindo.
“They have fallen under the ‘black’ category on the Proper rating system for not making an effort to manage the environment,” Gempur told kompas.com.
He added that 17 firms taking part in a recent environmental test had made no solid effort to better the environment.
“We will try our hardest to ensure the companies pay attention to the environment,” he said. “If they don’t, we will bring them to the court for alleged violation of the environment and may revoke their operational licenses.” (ewd)
Arti Ekawati, The Jakarta Globe 29 Nov 09;
The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries encouraged shrimp farmers on Sunday to use domestically produced vannamei prawn broodstock whenever possible. Using the domestic variety is seen to reduce the broodstock’s import volume, mostly from Florida in the United States.
Made L Nurdjana, the ministry’s director general of aquaculture and fisheries, said on Sunday that domestically produced broodstock is similar in quality to the imported ones, and more affordable.
“The shrimp fry from local broodstock has a better chance of survival because of its high resistance to disease and can adjust to local climate conditions,” Made said in a telephone interview.
According to ministry data, Indonesia still has to import 320,000 vannamei prawns for breeding stock to meet the annual domestic demand of about 900,000 to 963,000 yearly. By using domestic broodstock, Made expects to reduce imports to only about 100,000 by next year.
“Using local broodstock is more profitable for shrimp growers since it reduces production cost,” Made said.
The price of a pair of Florida shrimp broodstock costs Rp 300,000 to Rp 400,000 ($32 to $43), forcing farmers to pay Rp 35 for each fry.
During their life cycle, a pair of high quality broodstock could produce 700,000 shrimp fry.
In comparison, the local broodstock’s price was only about Rp 50,000 to Rp 75,000, about Rp 15 per shrimp fry.
Iwan Sutanto, chairman of Shrimp Club Indonesia, had earlier said using the local broodstock could reduce production costs by up to Rp 2,000 per kilogram, with recent average production costing about Rp 30,000 a kilogram of vannamei.
Apart from reducing production cost, using local broodstock could also trigger the local broodstock producers to improve their output.
“There will be profitable multiplier effect,” Iwan said.
Made emphasized that the ministry was not forbidding growers from importing broodstock. “If companies consider imported broodstock to support their production process, the ministry will not prohibit them,” he said.
The country is eventually looking to export vannamei, targeting an output of 1.3 million broodstock per year.
“With the demand expected to remain stable, we expect to export the broodstock in 2011,” Made said.
Shrimp cultivation is one of the country’s most important fisheries-related commodities. About $690.3 million worth were exported to the United States in 2007, or roughly 30 percent of total national shrimp exports of $2.3 billion.
Budi Otmansyah, Jakarta Globe 29 Nov 09;
A man walking across a destroyed forest in Pelalawan, Riau. The government’s upcoming participation in the UN conference for climate change in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December this year has thrown the spotlight on the massive deforestation taking place in parts of Riau, including those areas designated as protected. (Antara Photo)
Rakit Kulim, Riau. The destruction of some 1,800 hectares of tribal forest belonging to the Talang Mamak tribe of Riau was a betrayal of his people and the environment, a tribe leader says.
“I am deeply disappointed. I resent this situation. [The government] knows we’re illiterate and they think they can fool us just like that,” Patih Laman, the chief of Talang Mamak tribe, said during an interview at his house in Sungai Elok, Indragiri Hulu, over the weekend.
He claimed that the forest, acknowledged as a protected forest in a certificate Laman received from former president Megawati Sukarnoputri in 2003, has been partially converted into oil palm plantations, while parts have been abandoned after the trees were felled.
Laman claimed that while presenting the Kalpataru Award for his extraordinary undertakings in environmental conservation in June 2003, Megawati acknowledged the tribal control of the forest and in 2007 a joint decree signed by the head of Indragiri Hulu district, Thamsir Rahman, and the head of Indragiri Hulu Legislative Council, H. Marpolli, confirmed the tribe’s possession of the forest.
The Kalpataru is a government award presented to people or communities that have worked to preserve their environment.
“Suddenly in 2008, bulldozers started to arrive and began clearing our tribal forest. My opposition was met with death threats, but I’m not afraid to die,” the 90-year old man said.
Laman said the Talang Mamaks have refused to be provoked into settling the issue through violence.
“I have raised the issue with the district head, but what did they do? They remained quiet about it. Maybe it will take a Talang Mamak to die as a martyr to resolve this issue,” he said.
The father of four said he had no other choice but to accept the situation and that the last step he would take was to return the Kalpataru Award. “I am going to return the award to the president. What’s the use of hanging on to it if the tribal forests are gone.”
Kabuk, the chief of the Talang Mamak tribal council, said the local government had deliberately sold their ancestral land to Javanese and Batak ethnic groups.
“It is the newcomers who will be asked to manage the oil palm plantations and the profits are split between the owner and officials,” Kabuk said.
The practice, according to Laman, has threatened the way of life of Talang Mamak people who earn a living by hunting and growing rubber trees.
Meanwhile, Gunduk, head of Durian Cacar hamlet in Indragiri, said at least 1,300 Talang Mamak people were living in the buffer zone of the Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park.
According to Gunduk, they had refused to leave their forest despite a government campaign to move them to urban areas.
“We will never leave the graves of our ancestors. The Talang Mamak will never give up the forest because we have an oath to guard it for the Sultan of Indragiri,” Gunduk said.
Afdhal Mahyuddin, editor of World Wild Fund for Nature Eyes on the Forest in Riau, said that it was estimated that 2,000 hectares of tribal forest belonging to the Mamak people had been cleared in 2009. The land is a protected area in the buffer zone of the Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park. “Sumatran tigers, elephants, bears and deer populations live in the area. Losses here may threaten the future of the Bukit Tiga Puluh National Park,” Mahyuddin said.
United Nations University, Science Alert 30 Nov 09;
A landmark Australian project that mitigates the extent and severity of natural savannah blazes by deploying traditional Indigenous fire management techniques is being hailed as a model with vast global potential in the fights against climate change and biodiversity loss, and for protecting Indigenous lands and culture.
The enterprise is expected initially to generate at least 1 million tonnes worth of carbon credit sales annually, creating over 200 new jobs in traditional Northern Australia Indigenous communities.
Proponents heading to the December climate change talks in Copenhagen say similar projects can be adopted in the savannas of Africa, where the potential for reductions is very high.
Supported today by modern technologies like satellites, Indigenous fire management involves controlled early dry season fires to create fire breaks and patchy mosaics of burnt and un-burnt country. Pioneered centuries ago, the practice minimises destructive late dry season wildfires and maximises biodiversity protection.
In the last three years, the West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement (WALFA) project has reduced CO2-equivalent emissions in Northern Australia by 488,000 tonnes -- an annual average of 140,000 tonnes that can be sold as credits on the carbon exchange market, valued today at A$10 per tonne.
The WALFA project led to a landmark greenhouse gas offset agreement between ConocoPhillips, the Northern Territory Government, Northern Land Council, and Traditional Owners in west Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia.
Traditional Owners from West Arnhem have agreed to generate 100,000 tonnes of carbon credits annually through traditional fire management employing Indigenous Rangers, to offset greenhouse gas emissions from ConocoPhillips' liquefied natural gas plant in Darwin Harbour.
For its part, ConocoPhillips agreed to pay A$1 million per year into the project over 17 years. The offsets will be recognised under the proposed Australian Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.
Building on the WALFA pilot, the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA) has raised $7.8 million from the Australian government towards $30 million required to develop and administer four additional projects using Indigenous land managers with the goal of creating over 1 million tonnes of carbon credits annually.
"The many compelling side benefits of the initiative include the protection of biodiversity, cultural heritage and landscapes of global importance," says CEO Joe Morrison.
"Benefits for local communities include greater employment, the inter-generational transfer of traditional knowledge, and cross-cultural confidence essential to developing tourism and other sustainable business activities."
"In time, as the carbon market matures and world prices per tonne rise, these credits will more than pay for the costs of the fire abatement projects," adds Joe Morrison.
Project costs beyond labour relate to scientific monitoring and measurement of emissions, capacity building, community consultations and governance.
Landuse and biomass burning (including savanna wildfires) accounts for 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, a large portion of which comes from Africa and northern Australia.
NAILSMA, in partnership with United Nations University, is looking to share its experience with local communities and other stakeholders around the world through workshops, guides, video material and other sources.
The experience is directly applicable to other savanna areas worldwide. And many experts consider successful carbon projects vital to saving the world's tropical rainforests through.
Says UN Under Secretary-General Konrad Osterwalder, Rector of the United Nations University (UNU: "This experience is the best example in the world of indigenous and local communities using the emerging carbon market to develop culturally appropriate livelihoods. The lessons learnt from this experience are invaluable, especially now that there are billions of dollars available to local communities worldwide to help them take climate change mitigation and adaptation measures."
Professor Chris Justice from the University of Maryland USA and the NASA MODIS Fire Lead says global satellite data sets show extensive savannah fires throughout Africa.
"Some 37 per cent of global carbon emissions by biomass burning come from Africa, mostly released by human induced savannah fires," he adds. "Indeed, the vast majority of all savannah fires globally occur on the African continent. The ground-level ozone, smoke and accompanying gases and particulates create a public health hazard during an area's burning season."
"The WALFA Project demonstrates a valuable, alternative way to help Africa's poorest not only play a role mitigating climate change, but also to develop sustainable livelihoods to tackle their main issue – poverty."
In April, UNU helped convene a major conference on ways of using traditional knowledge to both mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Hosted in Alaska by the Inuit Circumpolar Council, the Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change was also designed to help strengthen the communities' participation in and articulate messages and recommendations to the Copenhagen conference, at which a successor agreement to the Kyoto protocol will be negotiated.
At the Summit, Indigenous Peoples from every world region shared observations and experiences of early impacts in their part of the planet, as well as traditional practices that could both ease climate change and help all humanity adapt to its anticipated consequences.
Over millennia, Indigenous Peoples have developed a large arsenal of practices of potential benefit in the climate change context, including:
* Traditional methods of shoreline reinforcement, land stabilization and reclamation;
* Protecting watersheds with Indigenous farming techniques; and
* Fostering biodiversity and the growth of useful species through planting, transplanting, and weeding techniques, the benefits of which have often gone unappreciated outside Indigenous communities until traditional peoples are relocated or their practices restricted.
Traditional drought-related practices used to hedge against the impact of climate variation include:
* Sophisticated small dam systems to capture and store rainfall;
* Planting simultaneously diverse varieties of crops; and
* Using alternative agricultural lands, food preservation techniques, hunting and gathering periods and wild food sources as required.
"The importance of local and individual efforts to tackle this global problem cannot be overstated," says research fellow Sam Johnston of UNU's Yokohama-based Institute for Advanced Studies. "Leadership will come from the ground not the top."
Says Vicky Tauli-Corpuz, Chair of the peak UN body on Indigenous Issues: "The clear voice of Indigenous Peoples needs to be heard by rest of the world community and their insights honoured in critically important climate change discussions now underway. When it comes to implementing mitigation and adaptation strategies, the world would gain greatly from proven ancient approaches built on profound respect for the Earth."
Australian wildfire scheme said model to cut CO2
Alister Doyle, Reuters 30 Nov 09;
OSLO (Reuters) - An Australian project tapping Aborigines' knowledge to avert devastating wildfires that stoke climate change is the world's best example of linking indigenous peoples to carbon markets, the U.N. University said on Sunday.
Other parts of the world, especially Africa, could also tap centuries-old local practices to help slow deforestation that releases heat-trapping carbon dioxide. In return, local peoples could get jobs and cash from carbon markets, it said.
A project backed by oil group ConocoPhillips in northern Australia has cut carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 488,000 tonnes over three years and generated 200 jobs by helping avert wildfires, it said.
Under the scheme, Aborigine rangers fight fire with fire -- setting small blazes early in the dry season to create fire breaks and a patchwork of burned and unburnt savannah.
That helps avoid far more damaging wildfires when vegetation gets tinder dry at the height of the dry season. Results can be monitored by satellites. It also protects wildlife by enabling animals, from snakes to kangaroos, to escape the small blazes.
"This experience is the best example in the world of indigenous and local communities using the emerging carbon market to develop culturally appropriate livelihoods," U.N. University (UNU) Rector Konrad Osterwalder said in a statement.
"The lessons learnt from this experience are invaluable, especially now that there are billions of dollars available to local communities worldwide to help them take climate change mitigation and adaptation measures."
COPENHAGEN
A U.N. conference from December 7-18 in Copenhagen is due to work out new ways to slow deforestation in developing nations. The United Nations estimates that deforestation accounts for about 20 percent of world greenhouse gas emissions.
Under the Australian project, ConocoPhillips agreed to pay 1 million Australian dollars ($900,900) per year into the project over 17 years to help offset emissions from a liquefied natural gas plant in Darwin Harbour.
The offsets are due to be recognized under the proposed Australian Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.
Another group, the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance, has raised A$7.8 million from the government toward A$30 million needed for four extra projects, aiming to create a million tonnes of carbon credits a year.
And the project could be mimicked in other countries. Maasai herders in Kenya, for instance, use similar fire techniques.
Indigenous peoples also guard against drought with small dams, by varying plantings of crops, or switching from plantings to hunting and gathering, the UNU said. Traditional methods are also used to protect watersheds or coasts.
"There are real opportunities in climate change despite all the doom and gloom about designing projects," said Sam Johnston, of the UNU's Yokohama-based Institute for Advanced Studies.
The Australian project showed benefits for local peoples. "Generating income for remote communities in Sudan, for instance, is hard. This is a possible model," he told Reuters.
Michael Richardson, For The Straits Times 30 Nov 09;
ASIA is leading the world economy out of recession. The region's most populous nations - China, India and Indonesia - appear to be doing particularly well, setting the pace for renewed growth in North-east Asia, South Asia and South-east Asia.
Yet amid the buoyancy are some underlying concerns, especially over food security and rice prices. World Bank President Robert Zoellick warned last week that the combination of low interest rates, volatile commodity markets and poor harvests in some parts of Asia could make next year 'another dangerous year for food prices in poor countries'.
On the surface, the outlook for production of rice - Asia's staple food - seems solid enough. Just last month, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation forecast world output of milled rice this year would be 453 million tonnes, the second biggest since 2000.
However, on Nov 10, the United States Department of Agriculture issued a lower forecast, saying that global output for the 2009 to 2010 marketing year was expected to fall by 3 per cent from a year earlier to 438 million tonnes, about five million tonnes less than the minimum needed to meet demand.
Asia produces and consumes about 90 per cent of the world's rice. The amount of rice available and its price help determine progress in reducing poverty, since poor families spend as much as 40 per cent of their income to buy the grain.
Access to affordable rice also underpins social welfare and political stability. The record rice crop of last year helped reduce prices after they jumped to their highest level in 30 years in 2007 to 2008, triggering riots in several countries.
But Asia may be on the verge of another destabilising rice price surge following big weather-related crop losses in India, the Philippines and Australia.
India, which sustains almost 20 per cent of the global population with 3 per cent of the world's crop land, is set to become a net rice importer for the first time in two decades. It may need to buy three million tonnes. The Philippines wants a similar amount. Together, the countries' planned rice purchases for next year amount to over one-fifth of the normal international trade in the grain.
Fortunately, Thailand and Vietnam, the top two rice exporters, have so far been able to meet demand from Asian importers, while Indonesia - the world's third-biggest rice consumer after China and India - has had bumper harvests in the past few years and may be able to export a small amount.
However, as demand for rice outstrips anticipated supply, prices are starting to surge. The grade of rice the Philippines plans to buy jumped to US$465 (S$645) per tonne last week. In the five years to the end of 2007, when the food crisis started, the price of the grade averaged at US$200.
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) reckons that the only way to keep rice prices at about US$300 a tonne is to produce more rice, and lots of it.
It estimates that in each of the next 20 years, the world will need an additional eight million to 10 million tonnes of rice annually. Consumption is rising by about 1.5 per cent each year as the population of rice consumers increases.
However, average rice yields - the amount produced per hectare - have been falling. The global rice growing area is at an historic high, but yield has fallen. In the past eight years, nearly half the production increase has been from area expansion rather than productivity growth.
Yet a combination of better technology and farm management could lift rice output. China, the most efficient Asian producer, has an average yield of nearly 61/2 tonnes per hectare, compared to less than four tonnes for the Philippines, India, Thailand and Cambodia.
IRRI helped bring the 'Green Revolution' to Asia from 1970 to 1990, when annual rice yield growth averaged more than 2 per cent.
Now in its 50th year, IRRI is distributing new high-yielding rice varieties with built-in resistance to pests, diseases and the more extreme weather expected to come with climate change, including heat, flooding and drought.
It says that the salt-tolerant variety alone has the potential to lift rice production in the Philippines by up to one million tonnes a year if widely adopted on the 400,000ha of coastal rice growing land affected by salinity from sea water. This would treble the average yield to around three tonnes per hectare.
IRRI, which is based in the Philippines, is also developing rice crop management strategies to make the most efficient use of available land, labour, water and energy. It is identifying ways to cut wastage and reduce post-harvest losses so that more rice reaches markets.
But agricultural extension needs money, as well as cooperation from local communities and governments. With backing from the Singapore Government, IRRI last week launched a US$300 million fund-raising campaign in Singapore.
A major aim is to persuade private sector companies, which provided less than 2 per cent of IRRI's budget this year, to be more generous. After all, a successful rice economy would raise the incomes of a new generation of consumers.
The writer is a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
University of Queensland, Science Alert 30 Nov 09;
People have cleared more than a quarter of the world's forests and half of its grasslands, according to a paper published today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society by researchers from The University of Queensland and Imperial College London.
The research team also discovered a domino effect to wilderness destruction – that habitat clearance spread most rapidly in natural areas that had already been disturbed.
“A disease-like spread of clearance is bad for biodiversity. A previously intact area of wilderness that we thought was safe can suddenly become vulnerable to rapid decline as clearance of adjacent wilderness begins to threaten the area,” Dr Elizabeth Boakes of Imperial College London, and lead author of the study, said.
Study co-author, Dr Richard Fuller from The Ecology Centre at UQ, said: “Our results underline the importance of conservation in wilderness areas. If we can stop threats penetrating our remaining wildernesses, we should be able to conserve them for the long term.”
The researchers divided the world into 50km x 50km blocks to match preceding model scales which allowed them to compare how habitat clearance had spread over the past 300 years.
“A block of forest or grassland is far more likely to be cleared as soon as a single adjacent block is cleared. Conversely if surrounding habitat remains healthy, it is relatively safe from clearance,” Dr Fuller said.
“Typical reactive conservation measures will often not work because of the scale issue. We need broader instruments such as legislation and land stewardship arrangements that work less intensively but over much larger areas to prevent initial incursions into wildernesses as these can quickly develop into wholesale clearance.”
Chris Gallagher, PlanetArk 30 Nov 09;
TOKYO - Forget about designer brands and quirky gadgets: low-priced fashions and green products scored big in Japan in 2009, an advertising agency survey found, as consumers pinch pennies and take advantage of government stimulus subsidies.
Hybrid vehicles topped the rankings in Dentsu Inc's latest Hit Product Recognition Survey while other low-emission vehicles eligible for government tax breaks and subsidies placed fourth.
Flu masks were very popular, inexpensive fashions ranked third while cheaper store-brand products came in at No. 9 as companies targeted thrifty customers with affordable items, said Dentsu, Japan's biggest advertising agency.
Japanese consumers remain reluctant to open their wallets even as the economy has emerged from recession, but a few winners have bucked the trend.
Cost-conscious shoppers have been seeking out bargains at budget retailers such as Fast Retailing's Uniqlo casual-clothing chain, while hybrid cars have seen robust sales thanks in part to government stimulus measures.
Toyota Motor Corp's gas-sipping Prius hybrid was Japan's best-selling car for a fifth straight month in October.
Among retail products in the survey, heat-trapping underwear, came in at No. 12, jeans under 1,000 yen ($11.60) took 14th, and Michael Jackson-related items placed 20th.
But there were some bright signs for consumer spending beyond bargain-hunting for clothes: flat-panel TVs, low-priced notebook PCs and similar products made up more than half of the top 10 in a separate question on how people plan to spend their winter bonus.
And respondents said they plan to spend an average of 14 percent more on Christmas presents this year, boding well for the crucial year-end shopping season.
Here are the top 20 items in Dentsu's 2009 Hit Products survey, conducted over the Internet earlier this month with responses from 1,000 people:
1. Hybrid vehicles
2. Flu Masks
3. Low-priced fashion
4. Vehicles eligible for government subsidies
5. Energy-saving appliances that earn eco-points
6. Electronic toll collection systems for cars on highways
7. Digital broadcasting-equipped widescreen flat-panel TVs
8. Electric vehicles
9. Private-label products
10. B-grade products
11. Oscar-winning movie "Okuribito" ("Departures")
12. Heat-generating and heat-retaining underwear
13. Products, services benefiting from cheaper highway tolls
14. Jeans under 1,000 yen a pair
15. Low-priced notebook PCs
16. LED light bulbs
17. Alcohol-free beer
18. Products, services benefiting from stimulus cash handouts
19. Solar panels and household solar power systems
20. Michael Jackson-related products
(Editing by Paul Casciato)
Michael Richardson, Japan Times 30 Nov 09;
SINGAPORE — Nearly everyone is familiar with budgets. Households keep them. So do companies and national governments. But what about the carbon budget that measures the health of our climate system?
Just as accountants check financial budgets, an international team of scientists is attempting to do the same for the planet's carbon budget. Carbon is the core of organic molecules from which all forms of life — from microorganisms to plants, trees, animals and humans — are built.
The carbon cycle is a complex series of processes in which all of the carbon atoms on Earth rotate through the land, sea and atmosphere, and are kept in a shifting balance. The ocean and land are natural sponges, or sinks, that absorb carbon in its gaseous form, carbon dioxide (CO2).
Ocean-dwelling plankton and land plants, including forests and grasslands, take in CO2 by photosynthesis. But there is a reverse process. Seawater also releases CO2 into the atmosphere, as do land plants and soils.
The natural carbon cycle has been influenced by the growing human population and its demands for resources, especially for fossil fuel energy and land. Carbon is the primary component of both fossil and biomass (wood and animal waste) fuels. Coal, oil and natural gas are called "fossil" fuels because they are made from buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago.
Carbon dioxide accounts for nearly 77 percent of the greenhouse-gas emissions from human activity blamed by many scientists for warming Earth to potentially dangerous levels. According to the 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, nearly all of this CO2 has come from two sources, burning coal, oil and gas; and clearing forests for farming and other uses. Most of the world's electricity is generated from fossil energy, while nearly all modern forms of land, air and sea transport are powered by oil-based fuels.
Compiling a global carbon budget is not easy. But a group of 31 oceanographers and other specialists attached to academic institutions and government-funded climate agencies in the United States, Europe, Japan, Australia and South America this month published their latest annual stock take. They found that despite the economic slowdown that started to bite in the second half of last year, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere rose by 1.8 parts per million in 2008, slightly below the annual average of 1.9 ppm between 2000 and 2008. This might not sound much. But 1 ppm of CO2 corresponds to over 2 billion tons of carbon and nearly 8 billion tons of CO2.
The increase brought atmospheric CO2 concentration to 385 ppm in 2008, 38 percent above the level of 280 ppm at the start of the industrial revolution in 1750, putting it at the highest point in at least 2 million years. The lead author of the Global Carbon Project study, professor Corinne Le Quere of the University of East Anglia and the British Antarctic Survey, says the only way to control climate change and keep the temperature rise to a tolerable level is through a "drastic reduction" in global CO2 emissions.
Yet the prospects for effective action when over 190 nations gather Dec. 7-18 for the U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen seems dim, with negotiations set to drag into 2010 and perhaps beyond.
At one level, an agreement should be feasible. Just three countries — China, the U.S. and India — were responsible for half of global CO2 fossil fuel emissions in 2008, while these three plus Russia, Japan and the 27 nations of the European Union accounted for 80 percent of emissions.
The leading polluters have been meeting as a group to try to decide how to apportion and pay for cuts but remain deeply divided. Finding an equitable and politically acceptable way of doing so is a test of statesmanship that appears beyond most of the key participants at a time when they are trying to accelerate economic growth, not slow it down.
The biggest rise in fossil fuel emissions in the past decade has taken place in developing countries, with close to 6 billion people, while developed countries, with less than 1 billion people, on average show steady emissions. From an historical perspective, developing countries with 80 percent of the world's population, account for only about 20 percent of cumulative fossil fuel emissions since 1750.
Moreover, about one quarter of the recent growth in developing country emissions resulted from the increase in international trade of goods and services produced there but consumed in developed countries. If these are added to the 45 percent emissions tally of developed countries in 2008, the advanced economies remain the main source of worldwide CO2 emissions.
This kind of accounting is a recipe for international contention. Meanwhile, the global carbon balance may be on the verge of serious deficit as the amount of CO2 from human activity being spewed into the atmosphere outstrips the capacity of natural sinks to absorb it all. Global emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are now about 37 billion tons of CO2 per year, 41 percent higher than in 1990.
Land and sea sinks removed an average of 57 percent (or 5.3 billion tons per year) of all CO2 from human activities between 1958 and 2008, leaving 43 percent in the atmosphere where it will stay for at least several centuries.
The research of professor Le Quere and her colleagues also indicates that the portion of CO2 remaining in the atmosphere may be rising.
Dr. Shobhakar Dhakal, an executive director of the Global Carbon Project at Japan's National Institute for Environmental Studies, says that this has occurred over the past 50 years and suggests that natural sinks are becoming "less efficient 'cleaners' of human carbon pollution."
U.S. oceanographer Richard Feely, who is also part of the Global Carbon Project, says: "We're concerned that if the natural sinks can't keep pace with the increased CO2 emissions, then the physical and biological impacts of global warming will accelerate over the next century." There is disagreement among scientists about whether the capacity of Earth's biosphere to keep the global carbon budget in balance has already been exceeded.
But even those who dispute that the tipping point has arrived say that it will certainly come without resolute steps to curb global greenhouse-gas emissions.
Michael Richardson is a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of South East Asian Studies in Singapore.
Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 29 Nov 09;
PARIS (AFP) – Whatever the outcome of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen, Nature may have some extremely nasty surprises up its sleeve, say scientists.
They say Earth's biosphere has numerous "tipping points" -- triggers that cause global warming and its impacts to lurch up a gear or two, rather than occur in a smooth, incremental way.
In other words, the planet itself would become the main driver of warming, making the crisis far more difficult to manage.
Many of the tipping points have only been discovered within the last decade or so, and experts admit to many unknowns as to how and when they could occur.
Here is a summary of the main triggers, outlined by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and in studies published in peer-reviewed journals:
ARCTIC SEA ICE LOSS
The Arctic ice cap, which in winter covers some 15 million square kilometres (5.8 million square miles), is shrinking. Whether the region's first ice-free summer happens in five years or 50 is only a matter of 'when', not 'if', many scientists say.
As the ice disappears, so too does a massive mirror that reflects sunlight back into space. The dark ocean left uncovered soaks up the Sun's radiative force, and the warming helps to melt neighbouring patches of ice.
This vicious cycle of warming is what scientist's call a "positive feedback loop" -- less ice means more heat absorbed, and more heat absorbed means less ice.
Sea ice floats on water, so its melting does not add to ocean levels, although its loss would have an impact on biodiversity.
GREENLAND AND WEST ANTARCTIC ICE SHEETS
Greenland is covered with a blanket of frozen water thick enough to lift global sea levels by seven metres (23 feet).
Less than a decade ago, there seemed no risk that the ice sheet would be lost except over a geological timescale, measurable in terms of thousands of years.
Since 2000, though, Greenland has lost 1,500 billion tonnes of ice, contributing 0.75 mm (0.03 inch) annually to sea levels, and some scientists fear it could collapse within a couple of centuries.
A global average temperature increase of 3.0 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) -- an unfortunately plausible end point for this century -- would mean a 9.0-to-11.0 C (16.2-to-19.8 F) jump in the Arctic region, enough to tip the balance, according to the IPCC.
The West Antarctic ice sheet was likewise considered relatively immune to global warming over the short term, but the recent dramatic collapse of ice shelves points to a more imminent danger.
Were the whole ice sheet to give way, it would add another five metres (16 feet) to the ocean watermark.
A big concern is that these masses of ice are so huge that, once the melting starts, seas will continue to rise for decades or centuries.
Even a one-metre (3.25-feet) rise -- a widely-shared forecast for 2100 -- would wipe several island states off the map and disrupt hundreds of millions of lives in low-lying deltas, especially in Asia and Africa.
PERMAFROST TIME BOMB
Locked inside permafrost, covering a fifth of Earth's land surface, are billions of tonnes of carbon in the form of methane, a greenhouse gas 30 times more potent than CO2.
The top three metres (10 feet) of this frozen landscape -- up to a kilometre (half-mile) thick -- contain as much carbon as Earth's atmosphere.
As temperatures rise, more and more methane is freed and enters the atmosphere, adding to the greenhouse effect.
The leakage is not only occurring on land. Methane ice formations called clathrates, in the Arctic and Antarctic oceans, are also bleeding the heat-trapping gas.
It was probably the same process that sparked runaway global warming some 635 million years ago, ending the longest ice age Earth has ever known.
IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri called this year for a special task force to study whether thawing permafrost could cause "abrupt, irreversible climate change."
SAGGING SINKS
More than half the CO2 humans generate is absorbed, in roughly equal measure, by forests and oceans.
Earth's plant life is so far keeping pace with emissions despite tropical deforestation. But oceans are showing signs of fatigue, according to a study released last week by the Global Carbon Project (GCP), an international consortium of climate scientists.
Over the last half century, the percentage of CO2 pumped into the atmosphere that stays there has gone up from 40 to 45 percent, fuelling the greenhouse effect.
Part of the decrease may be due to carbon saturation and rising emissions. But rising temperatures also cause ocean acidification, hampering the ability of marine organisms -- plankton, algae, coral -- to transform CO2 into calcium-rich shells that help to lock away carbon for millennia.
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