Best of our wild blogs: 9 Feb 09

TeamSeagrass at Pulau Semakau
on the teamseagrass blog and wild shores of singapore blog

First Semakau walk for 2009
on the Urban Forest blog and wonderful creations blog and discovery blog

Semakau Book team trip
on the wild shores of singapore blog and the colourful clouds blog

Attack of the hairy pincer
on the Manta Blog

Out of dormancy - Off to Tanah Merah!
on the Psychedelic Nature blog

Of “toky” calls and Coppersmith Barbets
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Yellow-vented Bulbul swallows figs
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Monday Morgue: 9th February 2009
on the Lazy Lizard's Tales blog

Saving Nemo
on the upgraded FiNS Blog which also announces FINS TV

Ticked off
on the Lazy Lizard's Tales blog

Tick talk
on the annotated budak blog

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Public pests: Better control, please

Straits Times Forum 9 Feb 09;

I SUGGEST the National Environment Agency (NEA) adopts more preventive measures in its control of public health pests. Recent problems with rats and persistent problems with birds are bound to recur, unless more preventive measures are in place. Preventive action should take centre stage, because Singapore has a conducive environment for pests to take root and proliferate.

First, the high-density sewerage system gives rats plenty of space to hide away unnoticed during the day. Second, there are plenty of trees and 'perch-friendly' building configurations where birds can roost. Finally, there is food almost everywhere to keep these vectors well fed.

Aside from the public health concern, the sight of rats in public places and buildings, particularly hawker centres and markets, soiled by bird droppings can seriously harm the image of Singapore as a clean city.

I suggest NEA considers these preventive measures:

- Require that food refuse in all eateries be removed at night to deprive nocturnal pests like rats;

- Have sweepers on night shift in public eating places to prevent litter from accumulating; and

- 'Bird-proof' hawker centres and markets for long-term bird control. Special attention should be paid to food storage or preparation areas. Bird droppings can transmit diseases.

Jolly Wee

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Recycling: All that effort gone to waste

Straits Times Forum 9 Feb 09;

DESPITE the drive to go green and up household recycling efforts, the actions of the recycling service provider in my HDB estate in Upper Boon Keng seem to undermine the cause. Trying to find the recycle bins is like playing hide-and-seek as their locations are changed randomly to the void decks of different blocks.

On Jan 31, when I took down three bags of recyclables, the bins were not to be found anywhere. I walked through all 10-odd blocks trying to find one, and in the end, had to dump the bags in the dustbin as I had to leave for an appointment. This has happened more than five times in the past two years.

In the past couple of months, the bins were left in the open on a grass patch (see photo at right), leaving their contents open to the elements. Who is to say that mosquito breeding will not occur if water collects there?

I believe the town council or HDB pays SembEnviro to provide this service. Surely there should be some level of consistency. Locations of the bins should not be changed on a whim.

In fact, each household generates so much waste, there should be at least one bin per block, and collection should be daily. Then bins will not be stuffed to overflowing, which deters other residents from recycling as bins with bags and boxes stacked on top become an eyesore.

If bins have to be removed to be cleaned, stick to a regular schedule and inform residents of the dates.

Reuel Royston Wee

Recycling bins now back in original locations
Straits Times Forum 13 Feb 09;

I REFER to Monday's letter by Mr Reuel Royston Wee, 'Recycling: All that effort gone to waste'.

Our investigation showed that some of the six recycling bins in the Upper Boon Keng area where Mr Wee lives were moved from their original location. The service provider for the estate, SembWaste, has since moved them back to their original locations - that is, one each at Blocks 2C, 3A and 5 Lorong 1 Geylang, Block 20 Lorong 3 Geylang, and Blocks 13A and 39 Upper Boon Keng Road.

The recycling bins were designed with wheels for ease of collection. Unfortunately, this also means they could be moved easily. SembWaste will take measures to deter unauthorised removal of the bins in the future.

Regarding the possibility of mosquitoes breeding in the recycling bins, we assure Mr Wee that the recycling bins are designed with side openings to minimise entry of rain water. The bins are also designed with drainage holes at the bottom to drain out any water.

We thank Mr Wee for his feedback. The National Environment Agency will continue to work with SembWaste and other waste recyclers to improve the service. Mr Wee can contact us on 1800- 2255-632 should he encounter any recycling problems in future.

Ong Seng Eng
Director, Resource Conservation Department
National Environment Agency

Recycling bin woes: Same problem in Sengkang
Straits Times Forum 14 Feb 09;

I REFER to Monday's letter by Mr Reuel Royston Wee, headlined 'Recycling: All that effort gone to waste'.

Residents of Sengkang Estate face a similar problem. The recycling bin initially placed in the open space along the linkway between Block 203A and Block 203C was moved three times, and now it has been missing since Sunday.

I believe these bins are moved at the waste collector's convenience, with no consideration for residents. Perhaps it would be better to have permanent recycling depositories.

My neighbour and I have noted the eyesore created by the pile of bags and recyclables placed outside the bins after they overflowed.

Residents generate a great amount of recyclables and bins are filled within a day or two after they are emptied. On many occasions, water has accumulated in the bins due to open or missing lids.

An e-mail reply from the National Environment Agency dated July 9, 2008 mentioned that stagnant water will not collect in the bins because they have drainage holes. However, rain water still accumulates in the bins.

We have also noted that distribution of recycling bags has stopped and we now have to use our own trash bags for recyclables.

Joel Ong

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Two projects at Seletar Aerospace on hold

Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney postpone opening of new facilities
Karamjit Kaur, The Straits Times 9 Feb 09;

THE downturn in the aviation industry has put the brakes on the development of Seletar Aerospace Park.

Engine-makers Rolls-Royce and Pratt & Whitney have postponed plans to open new facilities at the site this year.

The projects are now expected to be completed next year, at the earliest.

When The Straits Times visited Seletar last week, the two plots of land were lying idle.

Confirming the delay, Mr Sia Kheng Yok, the director of transport engineering at the Economic Development Board (EDB), stressed that both companies are 'long-term investors in Singapore' and remain committed to their plans.

On why work has not started, Pratt & Whitney's communications manager for commercial engines and global services, Mr Greg Brostowicz, said: 'The aerospace environment has been very challenging, and we want to make sure we are taking actions that best support our airline customers.'

A Rolls-Royce spokesman said: 'The development of the facility will proceed in line with our engine delivery programme requirements.'

The Singapore plant will be Rolls- Royce's only major engine-making facility for large commercial aircraft outside Britain. It will make engines for Boeing 787 and Airbus 350 aircraft.

The Boeing jet was due to enter commercial service in May last year, but the launch has now been delayed till the first quarter of next year.

In May last year, JTC Corp, which is overseeing the development of the 140ha park surrounding the existing Seletar Airport, announced that Phase I of the project was off to a good start.

All the available land had been taken up by four companies: Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney, and existing Seletar tenants Singapore Technologies Aerospace (ST Aero) and Jet Aviation.

ST Aero has completed its expansion works, but Jet Aviation's plans to build a second hangar - which would be twice the size of its existing 3,000 sq m unit - have been delayed.

This is not because of the business slowdown, but because the authorities have yet to release the plot of land required for the expansion. A fuel station that now sits on the site has to be relocated before Jet Aviation can go ahead and start work on its new hangar.

The company, which already faces capacity constraints on busy days, is hoping that things will get moving as soon as possible, said senior vice-president and general manager Sebastian Groeger.

In the meantime, road widening as well as other infrastructure works, such as the construction of a new power station, are proceeding as planned.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has also started work to extend the existing runway, so bigger

aircraft such as the Boeing 737 and Airbus 320 can land and take off at the airport.

From now until the middle of next year, when the project is due to be completed, the runway will be closed daily from 6.30pm until 8.30am the following day, said a CAAS spokesman.

EDB's Mr Sia said: 'In unveiling its Budget recently, the Government highlighted that Singapore should use the opportunity in this downturn to build up its capabilities and infrastructure, to position Singapore for its next phase of growth.

'In this spirit, we are maintaining the momentum of development at Seletar Aerospace Park.'

Due to be fully completed by 2018, the new aviation hub will create 10,000 jobs and boost output in the aerospace sector, which hit a record $6.9 billion in 2007.

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The root of civilisation

Today Online 9 Feb 09;

THE United Kingdom’s University of Newcastle recently surveyed 500 dairy farms and discovered that those where the cows were treated well were more productive than others.

I knew that 60 years ago in my first career as a farmer. Every one of our cows had a name; each was an individual. We pandered to their little foibles and encouraged their quirky personalities. They repaid us by producing more milk.

Then came the Farming Revolution — something like the City of London’s Big Bang, only without the same devastating consequences. Every creature was tagged with a number; they were herded, sometimes cruelly, with impartiality and insensitivity. To plough the soil became an act of powerful aggression; to sow became an act of rape.

Now the wheel is coming full circle. Why?

In my day, we treated our livestock decently because we felt at one with nature. Cattle, pigs and chickens were all part of us and we were part of them. We treated them as we would treat our own children. It produced a harmony many people do not have today.

The reasons for now reverting to this behaviour are more commercial. Treating your cows well makes you better profits. A slightly cynical approach, perhaps, but good behaviour is good for whatever reason it is practiced.

Are we becoming too cynical? The definition of a cynic is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Is that how we are looking at the world today? I fear it may be.

A good, healthy skepticism helps us to deal with liars and cheats, enables us to see through some of the promotional hyperbole that surrounds us. We must not take it too far or we shall become like the man I recently met at dinner who told me the age of morality is past.

I reacted strongly to this provocative thought, saying that my experience, especially where the young were concerned, was that there were plenty of moral people around. It’s just that the immoral ones got the headlines and made the best-selling news stories. Much of our cynicism came, I suggested, from a lack of transparency, an unwillingness to come clean even when what we had to say about ourselves was not very flattering.

My opinion has been reinforced recently by the behaviour of the British Parliament. In the UK, there is a Freedom of Information Act. Under this legislation, a great deal of information previously hidden may have to become public. The Members of Parliament at Westminster are now in the process of voting to exclude their expenses from this Act.

What a scandal. The legislators — the people who passed the Act in the first place — want to be exempt from it. Not about matters of national security but about their grubby little expense accounts.

Transparency and naming cows have a lot to do with each other. Both are acts of honour to a fellow creature, and as every Asian knows, an act of honour given is an honour doubly received. The rituals of civilised behaviour often mask underlying problems and animosities, but they do make dealing with those problems easier and more successful. We cannot gossip about what we know, only about what we suspect.

So my Lunar New Year resolution is to encourage transparency at all levels. I would like to see everybody’s wealth, income, bonus and benefits published. Those who are underpaid would have a chance of a fair deal. Those earning more than is reasonable would have to perform or bow out. The biggest benefits would be an increase in productivity and a more agreeable life.

Good behaviour is good behaviour, whatever the motive.

John Bittleston mentors people in business, career and their personal lives at www.TerrificMentors.com

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Kiribati Islanders Seek Land to Buy as Rising Seas Threaten

Subramaniam Sharma, Bloomberg 9 Feb 09;

Kiribati, a Pacific island-nation in danger of being submerged because of global warming, may purchase land elsewhere to relocate its people, President Anote Tong said.

“We would consider buying land,” Tong said in an interview in New Delhi. “The alternative is that we die, we go extinct.” Kiribati, between Hawaii and Australia, is the second island-nation after the Maldives that’s floated the idea of buying land should their islands be swamped by rising seas and more powerful storms.

Warmer temperatures are melting icecaps, expanding the volume of oceans and causing more intense storm systems. Higher tides in Kiribati’s 33-island archipelago are making potable water for its 100,000 residents too salty to drink. Tong appealed Feb. 5 to leaders who will meet in Copenhagen in December to turn their attention to islanders hurt by global warming.

“I can fully understand why responsible leaders of countries like Kiribati and the Maldives want to take action now and I think we’ll see more of this,” said Kim Carstensen, climate-change program director for the environmental group WWF International.

Increasingly, “we’re facing a situation where hundreds of millions of people will be at risk from the consequences of climate change in the form of rising sea levels for small island-states and low-lying countries like Bangladesh,” Carstensen said Feb. 6 in a telephone interview from Copenhagen.

“We are the face of the victims,” Tong said. “There has to be an international commitment that those countries that are willing to provide land will be compensated and a fund will be provided. But we will be willing to spend our own money if nothing else was coming forth.”

Rising Seas

The United Nations has called on 192 countries to negotiate a new climate-protection treaty to be signed in Denmark. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has predicted sea levels will rise 18 to 59 centimeters (7 inches to two feet) by 2100, having climbed 17 centimeters during the last century. The panel also said tropical cyclones likely will increase in intensity.

Islands in the Pacific like Kiribati are vulnerable because many of them are low-lying atolls only a few meters above sea level. Kiribati, much of it no higher than five meters above the ocean, has 1,143 kilometers of coastline and 21 inhabited islands.

The sea level around Kiribati, the former Gilbert Islands, has been rising 5.1 millimeters a year since 1991, Australia’s National Tidal Centre reported.

People have been steadily moving their homes back from the shoreline as the sea level rises, said Tong, in India for a conference on sustainable development that ended Feb. 7.

“There is inundation of our shoreline,” Tong said. “The high tide with moderately strong winds has resulted in sea water coming into the soft water. It has affected food crops.”

Emigrating Islanders

The government is now training its people with skills such as plumbing to help them find jobs overseas as world demand for coconut affects its economy. Fish and seaweed are among its main exports. New Zealand is among the areas its people go now for work.

“Until the global economic crisis, we were hopeful that we can penetrate the labor market in different countries,” Tong said. “We are looking at a solution that allows our people to live with dignity and not as second-class citizens.”

Tong, who holds a masters degree from the London School of Economics, was elected Kiribati president in 2003 and re-elected in 2007. The country won independence from the U.K. in 1979.

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Blessed With Gold Finds, Southeast Sulawesi Province Tries to Avoid the Resource Curse

Kafil Yamin, Jakarta Globe 9 Feb 09;

Farms and fields lie abandoned, and towns, villages and streets in Southeast Sulawesi Province have been unusually quiet ever since the discovery of vast gold deposits on Kabaena Island in Bombana district, 230 kilometers from the provincial capital of Kendari.

People from all over this predominantly rural province of some 2 million people, as well as from other provinces, have been abandoning the drudgery of their usual jobs and flocking to the area in a hectic, disorganized gold rush.

Since gold was discovered by local people in early September, Kabaena — an island of lush, virgin forests — has become an economic magnet, drawing hundreds of thousands of people hoping to strike it rich.

Southeast Sulawesi’s governor, Nur Alam, said there gold in the area worth an estimated Rp 277 trillion ($19.5 billion). He expressed confidence that “the people of Southeast Sulawesi are set to enjoy an era of prosperity if our natural treasures are well managed.”

Indeed, the province should be one of Indonesia’s richest regions, given its extensive nickel, asphalt and timber resources. Its nickel deposits alone are estimated at 97.4 billion tons, worth some Rp 23 trillion, while its 3.8 billion tons of asphalt deposits are believed to be worth Rp 1.841 trillion.

Besides these riches, Southeast Sulawesi also boasts bountiful agricultural, fishing and forestry resources.

“We really have the potential to be among the most prosperous people in the world,” the governor asserted.

But despite its abundant natural blessings, like so many other resource-rich provinces across the country Southeast Sulawesi continues to be impoverished. Official data put the province’s poverty rate at about 35 percent, though many believe that the real figure is significantly higher. A lack of access to education and medical services, combined with environmental degradation and a stagnating rural economy, are keeping people down.

Many are worried that the discovery of the Bombana gold will only benefit giant mining companies, with little money trickling down to the local people.

State-owned mining firm PT Aneka Tambang Tbk, or Antam, Australian gold miner Rio Tinto Ltd., and PT Bakrie Prima Moramo are among the major mining companies that have already set up shop in the province, and to date they have reaped billions of dollars from exploiting its mineral resources.

In 2007, Antam’s total profit from all its operations was Rp 3.7 trillion, while Moramo, which quarries marble, earned Rp 2.4 trillion from Southeast Sulawesi alone.

Governor Nur Alam said that 35 percent of Antam’s overall revenue, and 27 percent of Muramo’s revenue, are derived from their operations in Southeast Sulawesi. However, under the previous mining concession Antam secured with the central government before Nur Alam took office, as late as 2007 the company only paid Rp 16 billion annually in royalties to the province.

In an interview with the Jakarta Globe in Jakarta, Nur Alam said: “There was something seriously wrong with the profit-sharing arrangements with the mining companies. And this had been going on for decades.

“The agreement [with the central government] was opaque and blatantly unfair,” Nur Alam complained. He said that after taking office he forced Antam to renegotiate the deal.

After a series of tough negotiations, Antam agreed to increase its annual payment to the province from Rp 16 billion to Rp 111 billion.

La Ode Kamaludin, who took part in the negotiations and serves as the governor’s special investment advisor, said Antam had no choice but to meet the governor’s demands as they were calculated based on real figures.

“We confronted them with the fact that 35 percent of Antam’s annual profit came from its operations in Southeast Sulawesi, so the administration was entitled to the Rp 111 billion per year based on the current profit-sharing arrangements,” Laode said.

The governor said he also managed to increase the provincial budget from Rp 756 billion to Rp 1.02 trillion in 2008 following an agreement with the central government to boost transfers. He has also expanded the local tax base.

The area’s newfound gold is not the only resource attracting attention.

Nur Alam granted Rio Tinto a 4,000 hectare coal mining concession in the province, and he has said he is considering expanding the concession even further. India’s Jindal Stainless Ltd. has invested $800 million in a local nickel mine, and a Middle Eastern conglomerate, the Saudi Binladin Group, is in the preliminary stages of establishing a 100,000 hectare rice cultivation project.

Rio Tinto has also committed to invest $2 million in a nickel mine that Nur Alam says will employ some 8,000 workers.

Still, not everything is rosy. Most of the province’s natural wealth is hidden within its protected forests. More investment means more felling of trees and destruction of these areas.

Some 68 percent of the province is covered by forest, much of it enclosed in national parks, nature reserves and protected forests that, at least on paper, are off-limits to mining.

Kabaena Island, where the Bombana gold rush is focused, is largely comprised of protected forest. And according to Hartono, chairman of the Indonesian Environmental Forum, or Walhi, nickel mining licenses being issued on Lemo Island in Kolaka district overlap with the Padamarang Marine Reserve.

The governor said that local autonomy legislation limited his power over district heads and made it difficult for him to curb further forest destruction. Many district heads in Indonesia, particularly in traditionally impoverished areas, will do just about anything to increase local revenues, often without regard for environmental destruction.

It is clear, however, that as provincial governor Nur Alam also has a vested interest in expanding of the mining sector, especially given the hope the people of Southeast Sulawesi have riding on it.

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Giant marine park plan for Chagos

Islanders may return to be environmental wardens
Sadie Gray, The Independent 8 Feb 09;

An ambitious plan to preserve the pristine ocean habitat of the Chagos Islands by turning them into a huge marine reserve on the scale of the Great Barrier Reef or the Galapagos will be unveiled at the Royal Society next Monday.

Unpopulated for 40 years since the British government forcibly evicted inhabitants so the Americans could build a strategic military base on Diego Garcia, the Chagos Islands offer a stunning diversity of aquatic life.

The absence of human habitation has been a key factor in the preservation of the pristine coral atolls, the unpolluted waters, rare bird colonies and burgeoning turtle populations that give the archipelago its international importance.

The plan will be launched in London by the Chagos Environment Network, which includes the Chagos Conservation Trust, the RSPB, the Zoological Society and the Pew Environmental Group, a powerful US charity which successfully lobbied the Bush administration for marine reserves in America.

The Chagos Islands, which belong to the British Indian Ocean Territory, were emptied of about 2,000 residents between 1967 and 1971 to meet US demands that the islands be uninhabited. Most islanders were exiled to Mauritius and the Seychelles, where many ended up in poverty. Proposals for the new reserve tentatively broach the possible return of some of the Chagossian refugees to their homeland as environmental wardens.

"It is going to be compatible with defence and do something for the Chagossians," said William Marsden, the chairman of the Chagos Conservation Trust, adding that the islands were "by far Britain's richest area of marine biodiversity" and that at 250,000 square miles, the reserve would be in the "big league" globally.

Professor Callum Roberts, a marine biologist at the University of York, said the plan would mean far better environmental monitoring, especially where incursions from Sri Lankan fishing boats had depleted fish stocks. "The attitude of the British towards the Chagos Islands has been one of benign neglect," he said.

A formidable hurdle lies in the shape of US security fears and the refugees' continuing legal battles with the British Government over the court rulings that have prevented them going home.

Refugee groups say that of the 5,000 people eligible to return, half wished to do so permanently. Resettlement plans have called for the construction of a small airport and limited development to allow environmentally sustainable tourism, raising fears that designation as a reserve would be a further blow to the islanders' hopes. In 2000, the Chagossians won the right to return to 65 of the islands – although not Diego Garcia, the largest – only to see the ruling nullified in 2004 by the Government, using the Royal Prerogative.

The islanders succeeded in overturning that action in the High Court and the Court of Appeal, but in June last year the Government went to the House of Lords, arguing that allowing the islanders to return would damage defence and security.

The Government appeal was allowed by the law lords in October, and now experts say the case may be taken to the European Court of Human Rights. The Diego Garcia base has been used for bombing raids on Iraq and Afghanistan, and as a staging post in CIA "extraordinary rendition" flights.

A Foreign Office spokesman told Economist.com that the Government "welcomes and encourages recognition of the global environmental importance of the British Indian Ocean Territory", adding that it would "work with the international environmental and scientific community to develop further the preservation of the unique environment".

Haven of safety: Species at risk

Red-footed booby (Sula sula)

This seabird is the smallest of all the boobies, with distinctive red legs and pink and blue bill and throat. The spectacular diver has elaborate greeting rituals between mates.

Green turtle (Chelonia mydas)

Endangered; feeds mostly on seagrass; has found the waters around the Chagos Islands a haven. Elsewhere, it has suffered from habitat loss, pollution and fishing nets.

Variable flying fox (Pteropus hypomelanus maris)

A species of "megabat", it feeds on fruit and roosts in large colonies in forests, usually on small islands or near the coast. Under threat elsewhere because of deforestation and hunting.

Cuvier's beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris indicus)

Also known as the goose-beaked whale, this mammal was thought in the Middle Ages to have a fish's body and an owl's head. Can live up to 40 years and grow to seven metres long. Occasionally seen off western and northern Scotland.

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Save our seas: Ministers go back on promise to protect UK waters

Geoffrey Lean, The Independent 8 Feb 09;

Ministers are reneging on promises to safeguard vital wildlife areas around Britain's coasts from destruction through "world-leading" legislation, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.

They have diluted plans to set up highly protected areas where dredging and drilling are banned in the Marine Bill that is working its way through Parliament.

Baroness Young, a Labour peer who was until recently the chief executive of the Environment Agency, accused them of "failing to rise to the challenge of protecting our marine environment", and green groups were furious.

Britain's coastal waters – which cover three times the area of its land – are, perhaps surprisingly, some of the richest and most diverse in the world's oceans. They are home to some 44,000 different species – ranging from colourful coldwater corals to the basking shark, the world's second biggest fish after the whale shark.

But vast areas have been devastated by industrial-scale fishing and trawling, dredging and exploitation for aggregates, gas and oil.

They are also almost unprotected. While about 9 per cent of Britain's land surface is safeguarded in more than 6,500 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), only two tiny patches of coastal water – a 3.3sqkm patch off Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel and Lamlash Bay on the Isle of Arran – receive similar protection.

Establishing "no-take zones" like these has been strikingly successful around the world; marine life has rapidly recovered and spread to surrounding areas, greatly increasing fish catches. Lobsters have increased sevenfold since the small Lundy zone was established just six years ago.

Other attempts to protect British sea life have been largely unsuccessful because fishing and other activities have been allowed. When the Marine Bill was announced, the then Environment Secretary, David Miliband, said it would "raise planning for the management and protection of our seas to a world-leading level".

Ministers promised to set up "an ecologically coherent network" of safeguarded sites, "including some Highly Protected Marine Reserves", effectively no-take zones. But the Bill does not provide for them. It does propose to establish "marine conservation zones", but these are expected to be less well protected. And whereas SSSIs on land are established for their conservation value alone, ministers will be allowed to bear economic considerations in mind for the sea zones.

Lady Young said that, as a result, "very few" even of these less-protected areas will be set up, and then only in areas where there are no damaging activities anyway.

Joan Edwards, head of marine policy for the Wildlife Trusts, said she is "very, very unhappy" with the provisions. Dr Sharon Thompson of the RSPB called them "an outrage".

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Delays block China's giant water scheme

Michael Bristow, BBC News 8 Feb 09;

A multi-billion-dollar project to divert water from southern China to the arid north is already four years behind schedule.

The news comes as parts of northern and central China struggle to cope with severe drought.

Officials recently admitted that water would not flow along the project's central route - a total of three are planned - until 2014. But there appears to be a difference of opinion about what is actually causing the delay.

One official said it was because of environmental concerns, another said it was taking longer than expected to resettle affected farmers.

Whatever the reason, the entire scheme is unlikely to solve northern China's dire water shortage, even when it is finished.

To solve that problem, experts say the region must conserve what little water it has.

Environmental problems

China first started considering building the South-to-North Water Diversion Project in the 1950s.

The need is obvious. An area along three major rivers in northern China has 35% of the country's population, but only 7% of its water resources.

A recent severe drought is a reminder of just how dry some parts of China can be.

Nearly four million people are short of water. Livestock and crops are also under threat.

It is problems like this that prompted numerous studies into the water diversion scheme, which finally gained the go-ahead in 2001.

The $62bn (£42bn) project includes eastern, central and western routes that will divert water from China's Yangtze River to the parched north.

Some parts of the eastern and central routes have already been completed, although work has yet to start on the western route.

China has shown in the past that it is unafraid to tackle massive engineering projects, such as the Three Gorges Dam. This scheme is no different.

Engineers will have to tunnel under the Yellow River in two places to send the water north.

The recently announced delay has occurred on the central route, which is nearly 1,300km (800 miles) long and stretches from Hubei Province to Beijing.

One project official, Wang Fangyu, told a conference that environmental concerns were holding up the scheme.

The main problem appears to involve the Danjiangkou Reservoir, which is being enlarged as part of the central water route.

The reservoir's dam is also being heightened.

Mr Wang said enlarging the reservoir would have a "profound" influence on the area's natural environment, according to a report of the conference in the Yangtze Business News.

He said the extended dam would prevent flooding downstream from the reservoir on the Han River, a tributary of the Yangtze.

But he also told the conference: "When the project is finished, the Han River's ability to clean itself will be reduced.

"This means that in the lower reaches of the river in Hubei we will need to build even more pollution treatment facilities."

This is why the central route is being delayed by four years, said Mr Wang.

But the minister in charge of the diversion project, Zheng Jiyao, recently denied that environmental problems were the cause of the delay.

He blamed it on the need to relocate 300,000 people to make way for the reservoir's expansion.

This is proving a challenge because the area is already densely populated and there is little land for migrants.

Emergency

There are other controversies too - not least whether the western route is even viable.

It will be built on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and there is a debate about what impact this will have on the local environment.

And there is a bigger problem.

Experts say the billions of tonnes of water that will be sent north will still not satisfy northern China's water demands, even when the project is completely finished.

Chinese water expert Ma Jun said: "It is an emergency project because certain cities in the north are seeing dire water shortages.

"But in the long term this is not the final answer because the water being transferred is simply not enough."

Mr Ma said that water supplies in the north cannot expand any further and so the government needs to encourage water conservation if it is to find a permanent solution.

"There is huge potential, but it hasn't yet been fully tapped," added the author of China's Water Crisis.

A recent World Bank report made a similar call for improved water conservation, and recommended increasing its price to reflect its scarcity.

The report gives a grim account of the various water problems facing some parts of China, which for years have suffered from shortages, pollution and flooding.

"There is no doubt that China is facing a major challenge in managing its scarce water resources to sustain economic growth in the years ahead," said David Dollar, head of the World Bank in China.

Even if everything goes according to plan, China's south-north diversion project will only solve some of those problems.

Drought-hit China to divert waters from two longest rivers: report
Yahoo News 8 Feb 09;

BEIJING (AFP) – China will divert water from its two longest rivers to help farmers hit by the country's worst drought in decades, state media said Sunday.

Water from the Yangtze River, the country's longest, will be diverted to the northern areas of eastern Jiangsu Province, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing Zhang Zhitong, a senior Ministry of Water Resources emergency official.

The announcement came after Beijing last week raised its drought emergency to the highest level for the first time and sent relief supplies and technical specialists to eight major drought-hit regions.

Floodgates will also be opened in Inner Mongolia along the Yellow River, the country's second longest river, to increase water supply for central Henan and eastern Shandong provinces, Zhang according to the report.

China has released more than five billion cubic meters (177 cubic feet) of water from the Yellow River to fight the drought that has hit most of its north since November, Xinhua said.

The drought is also affecting central and southwestern rice-growing provinces.

More than 4.3 million people and 2.1 million head of livestock are short of water, the relief headquarters said this week, as parts of the nation experience their worst drought since the early 1950s.

About 43 percent of the country's winter wheat supplies are at risk, as some areas have seen no rain for 100 days or more, state media said previously.

The dry spell highlights one of China's main long-term worries, as water resources are being rapidly depleted due to the country's fast economic growth.

The capital, Beijing, is particularly badly hit, with experts warning the city of 17 million people will soon face water shortages.

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Australian bushfires kill 116, dozens more missing

Simone Giuliani, Reuters 8 Feb 09;

WHITTLESEA, Australia (Reuters) - Australia's deadliest bushfires eased on Monday, but the death toll rose to 116 as firefighters and families searched for the missing in the twisted, charred ruins.

Police believe some of the fires, which razed rural towns near the country's second biggest city, Melbourne, were deliberately lit.

"There are no words to describe it other than mass murder," Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told local television.

"These numbers (dead) are numbing ... and I fear they will rise further," he added.

One massive bushfire tore through several towns on Saturday night, destroying everything in its path. Many people died in cars trying to flee the inferno and others were killed huddled in their homes, yet some escaped by taking cover in swimming pools or farm reservoirs or hiding in their cellar.

"It's going to look like Hiroshima, I tell you. It's going to look like a nuclear bomb. There are animals dead all over the road," survivor Chris Harvey told the local media.

More than 750 houses were destroyed and some 78 people, with serious burns and injuries, are in hospital.

Many patients had burns to more than 30 percent of their bodies and some injuries were worse than the Bali bombings in 2002, said doctor De Villiers Smit at a hospital emergency department.

Wildfires are a natural annual event in Australia, but this year a combination of scorching weather, drought and tinder-dry bush has created prime conditions.

The fires, and major floods in the Queensland in the north, will put pressure on Rudd who is due to deliver a new climate policy in May. Green politicians are citing the extreme weather to back a tougher climate policy.

Scientists say Australia, with its harsh environment, is set to be one nations most affected nations by climate change.

"Continued increases greenhouse gases will lead to further warming and drier conditions in southern Australia, so the (fire) risks are likely to slightly worse," said Kevin Hennessy at the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Center (CSIRO).

The Victorian bushfire tragedy is the worst natural disaster in Australia in 110 years. In 1899, Cyclone Mahina struck Australia's northern Cape York, killing more than 400.

PLEAS FOR MISSING

Thousands of firefighters continued on Monday to battle the fire and scores of other blazes across the southern state of Victoria, as well as fires in neighboring New South Wales state.

While cooler, less windy, conditions helped firefighters, 10 major fires remained out of control in Victoria.

The fires burned out more than 330,000 ha (815,000 acres) of mostly bushland in Victoria, but a number of vineyards in the Yarra Valley were also destroyed.

Fire officials in Australia advised people to stay and defend homes, as most homes were damaged not by the actual firefront but burning embers blown onto roofs. Evacuation was a last resort as houses offered the best protection, the officials said, but if residents wished to leave they should go early.

"We really do need to look at our early warning systems, whether those ... are adequate and whether they can be enhanced on a national basis," said Attorney-General Robert McClelland.

As dawn broke in the town of Whittlesea, near Kinglake where most people died, shocked residents wandered the streets, some crying, searching for loved ones still missing.

"The last anyone saw of them, the kids were running in the house, they were blocked in the house," cried Sam Gents who had not heard from his wife Tina and three young children, aged 6, 13 and 15, since an inferno swept through Kinglake.

"If they let me up the mountain I know where to go (to try and find them)," Gents sobbed. Authorities sealed off Kinglake as bodies were still being recovered.

Handwritten notes pinned to a board in the Whittlesea evacuation center told the same sad story, with desperate pleas from people for their missing family and friends to contact them.

Rudd said it would take years to rebuild the devastated towns and has announced a A$10 million ($6.8 million) aid package.

The previous worst bushfire tragedy in Australia was in 1983 when 75 people were killed. The fires at the weekend were also the worst natural disaster in Australia in 110 years. In 1899, Cyclone Mahina struck Australia's northern Cape York, killing more than 400.

(Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by David Fox)

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Drought starts to bite in northern Kenya

David Clarke, Reuters 8 Feb 09;

WAREGADUD, Kenya (Reuters) - Clouds of dust rising above the harsh scrub herald the arrival of more livestock at a borehole in northeastern Kenya, the end for some of a 45-km (28-mile) trek for water that must be repeated every few days.

Drought is starting to bite in east Africa's biggest economy and the government has declared a state of emergency, saying 10 million people may face hunger and starvation after a poor harvest, crop failure, a lack of rain and rising food prices.

For an economy still recovering from post-election violence last year and facing fallout from the global slowdown on export markets, Kenya's looming food crisis risks putting more pressure on its fragile coalition government.

Kenyans have been horrified by multi-million dollar government graft scandals in the maize and fuel sectors in the middle of the food shortage, and at a time when the administration is appealing for international food aid.

The Kenya Food Security Meeting (KFSM), a coordinating body of government ministries and non-governmental organizations, said last month food security was critical for 3.7 million people, including half a million schoolchildren.

"High food and non-food prices, livestock disease, crop failure and conflict have compounded already precarious food insecurity," the KFSM said in its January update.

It said rains at the end of 2008 were generally poor after three successive poor seasons. In the area around Waregadud in Mandera, rainfall was just 10 to 20 percent of normal levels in the October-December period.

The Mandera region bordering Ethiopia and Somalia -- like much of Kenya -- is prone to drought. The lack of rain has left dams dry, pasture is dwindling and herders say tension is rising as animals and humans compete for resources.

SKIPPING MEALS

Abduallahi Abdi, head of the village council that manages the borehole at Waregadud, worries that children are becoming malnourished because of a persistently poor diet.

"We are skipping meals. We eat just one meal at night," he said. "In the next few weeks, things are likely to become serious as we are already in a dire situation."

"If we don't get assistance before then we will start getting human deaths," Abdi said. "It is shameful to ask for help -- we do it with a lot of reservations -- but when things are out of hand we have no choice."

The problem Kenya and neighboring drought-prone countries in the Horn of Africa face is that traditional donors struggling with economic crisis are not meeting aid demands.

Aid workers say, while drought is a regular feature here, this time the crisis has been compounded by high food and fuel prices worldwide, and in Kenya by post-election violence that meant farmers in the fertile Rift Valley failed to plant crops.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) launched an appeal for $95 million in December to help those at risk of starvation in the Horn of Africa, but it says pledges so far have met just 6 percent of the appeal.

"When the governments of the world are busy bailing out car companies ... it's a shame that for a fraction of that they can't intervene to save millions," said Andrei Engstrand-Neacsu, IFRC communications officer for east Africa.

In the hamlet of Qalanqlesa in Mandera, a sprawl of traditional huts in a stark landscape of dust and grey, leafless trees, village chairman Aden Hassan says herders trekked 55 km (34 miles) in search of pasture but were turned back by other pastoralists.

They have a small borehole nearby but the quest for water has doubled the size of the village since December and they have started to ration the precious commodity.

"Competition for scarce resources is becoming acute ... there is a lot of friction," Hassan said.

(Editing by Andrew Dobbie)

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Green Purchasing Up, Despite Economy

Jennifer Berry, livescience.com 8 Feb 09;

According to a recent study released by Green Seal, an independent nonprofit product certification organization, and EnviroMedia Social Marketing, four out of five people say they are still buying green products and services today, even in the midst of a U.S. recession.

Although these products, which claim to be environmentally friendly, sometimes cost more, half of the 1,000 people surveyed reported they are buying as many green products now as they were before the downturn. Additionally, 19 percent say they are buying more green products, while 14 percent are buying fewer.

"This research proves people want to do what's best for the environment, but it needs to be easy and accessible. Companies should be clear about the environmental benefits of their products and services and make sure what they claim in the TV ad is backed up consistently on product packaging and on the Web site," said Valerie Davis, EnviroMedia principal and CEO.

Reputation vs. Ads

As many businesses have already found, reputation is everything in the green buying sphere:

* 21 percent of consumers surveyed said a product's reputation is the biggest factor they weigh when making purchasing decisions. Word of mouth was the next highest rated (19 percent), followed by brand loyalty (15 percent) and only 9 percent say green advertising is their primary influencer.

Education vs. Labeling

Even though green buying is up, what exactly qualifies as green is still a mystery to many consumers:

* About one in three consumers say they do not know how to tell if green product claims are true.
* One in 10 consumers blindly trusts green product claims.
* 24 percent of consumers are verifying green claims by reading the packaging.
* 17 percent are turning to research, such as using the Internet and reading studies.

Intent vs. Action

Consumers want to minimize their waste, but are they maximizing their opportunities to reduce their consumption and recycle what's left?

* 60 percent of those surveyed look for minimally packaged goods, an action statistically tied with buying green cleaning products (58 percent).
* While 87 percent of people surveyed say they recycle, the U.S. EPA reports only 33 percent of our waste is diverted from landfills.

According to Dr. Arthur Weissman, president and CEO of Green Seal, "This research suggests that consumers are buying green products second only to participating in recycling. This increased consumer demand sends a signal to manufacturers to produce products that are truly green."

The full results of the study will be released by Green Seal and EnviroMedia Social Marketing from the first-ever Greenwashing Forum in Portland, Ore.

The margin of error on the 2009 National Green Buying Survey is +/- 3.2 percent. The research was conducted by telephone in a random-digit-dial sample. See chart for more detail.

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Pollution preferable to unemployment for Romanian town

Mihaela Rodina Yahoo News 8 Feb 09;

COPSA MICA, Romania (AFP) – For the residents of Copsa Mica, a tiny town in central Romania, the closure of its local smelting plant is a worse catastrophe than having a reputation as the most polluted place in Europe.

"I know the plant was a threat to our health, but at least people had a job," said Diana Roman, a 22-year-old woman who sells potatoes and carrots on the market square of Copsa Mica, which has a population of 5,500 and is situated 250 kilometres (155 miles) northwest of Bucharest.

Roman's husband is one of the 820 workers being laid off -- out of a total workforce of 1,050 -- at the Sometra smelting plant, Copsa Mica's biggest employer.

At the end of January, its Greek owners, Mytilineos Holdings, announced a temporary suspension of production plus a drastic reduction of the workforce in face of "extremely adverse" conditions on the international metals market.

While Mytilineos suggested that Sometra might reopen if the situation improved, local authorities believe the plant will remain closed for good.

For Copsa Mica's mayor, Tudor Mihalache, the news came like a thunderbolt: the closure will deprive the town's coffers of a vital 60,000 dollars (47,000 euros) annually in taxes and donations.

"The smelter used to pay for running water, public lighting, emergency care and Christmas gifts for children, plus a re-forestation programme," he said.

"But it seems this chapter is over now and people will have to look for jobs elsewhere."

Mihalache acknowledged the heavy pollution caused by Sometra, making the air "unbreathable", despite investments to curb the emissions of sulphur dioxide and heavy metals such as lead, zinc and cadmium.

Indeed, for decades, Sometra and carbon-black producer Carbosin, which was shut down in 1992, had been belching out heavy metals and soot, earning Copsa Mica a reputation as Europe's most polluted town.

But Copsa Mica has cleaned up its act in recent years, thanks to the closure of Carbosin and investment in emission-reducing technology.

Mytilineos says it has invested 30 million euros in boosting production and curbing pollution, including the construction of the 325-metre (1,000-foot) smokestack.

Nevertheless, the smell of sulphur dioxide is unmistakable in the area around the plant.

Even a local non-governmental organisation, Dianthus, which had previously called for the plant's closure, said it was now more concerned about unemployment.

"From an environmental point of view it's a good thing, but socially it will create a lot of problems," said coordinator Feri Tedlas.

Those being made redundant will receive a lump sum of six months' pay or around 1,400 dollars in all.

"But what will we do when that money is gone?" asks Maricel Getner, a 47-year-old father of five.

When Carbosin was shut down, some of its 1,500-strong workforce were taken on at Sometra. Others returned to their native towns and villages, and many took advantage of early retirement schemes.

But if Sometra shuts down for good, there will be no other industry left in Copsa Mica.

"Pollutant or not, the smelter has kept us and our families alive," said one worker in his thirties.

Ioan Pipig, 72, says he is one of the lucky few pensioners to reach such a ripe old age after retiring from the plant.

"Most people die within four or five years. The lead they had been inhaling kills them," he said.

There also appears to be a connection between the heavy pollution and an increased number of children with handicaps in Copsa Mica.

Adriana Morariu, an expert with the local environment protection agency (APM), said: "Sulphur dioxide mainly affects the lungs. But heavy metal inhalation is the most dangerous because it can cause severe diseases. In children it causes rickets and delays growth."

Morariu said that conditions in Copsa Mica had improved. And air pollution has even become "insignificant" after the shutdown of most operations last week.

Nevertheless, "soil pollution will linger for about 40 or 50 years," she told AFP.

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United on climate change: Obama's Chinese revolution

The Independent 8 Feb 09;

US President wants the world's two biggest polluters to form a partnership in the battle against global warming. Geoffrey Lean reports

Barack Obama is to invite China to join the United States in an effort by the world's two biggest polluters to stop global warming running out of control.

Hillary Clinton, his Secretary of State, is to raise the prospect of a "strong, constructive partnership" to combat climate change on a visit to Beijing next week, and the President is seriously considering a proposal from many of his most senior advisers to hold a summit with the Chinese leadership to launch the plan.

Last week, China's ambassador to the US, Zhou Wenzhong, made it clear that his government would welcome "co-operation on energy and climate change" with the US. Such unprecedented teamwork would transform the world's prospects for agreeing radical measures to combat global warming, and – senior Obama administration officials believe – lay the foundation of a new relationship between the two most powerful countries in the world.

For years, progress towards negotiating a new international climate change treaty has been bedevilled by the two superpowers, each refusing to commit itself to action unless the other goes first, and mutual suspicion has been growing. Between them, the US and China produce over 40 per cent of the world's emissions of carbon dioxide. About two years ago, China overtook the world's largest economy as the planet's biggest polluter. But Americans still emit more than four times as much of the gas per person as their Chinese counterparts.

Neither country has to reduce its emissions under the Kyoto Protocol. China, like other developing countries, is excused the reduction targets placed on industrialised nations. Former president George Bush rejected the treaty partly because of China's exemption.

The stand-off has dogged negotiations on a new, much tougher treaty as the US has been unwilling to agree to any targets until China commits itself to act on its emissions. China, for its part, has insisted the US act first as it has made a far greater contribution to the crisis, spewing out more than three times as much carbon dioxide over the past two centuries.

The arrival of President Obama – and increasing concern about climate change within the Chinese leadership – has provided an unprecedented opportunity to break the deadlock.

Both the President and Mrs Clinton have made it clear that combating climate change is among their highest priorities, and top Chinese officials are now indicating that their government is ready to work with them. Both countries have included "Green New Deal" measures, amounting to scores of billions of dollars, in their stimulus packages.

Mrs Clinton will visit Beijing for two days on 20 February, on her first overseas tour as Secretary of State, with the climate and financial crises at the top of her agenda.

Todd Stern, her special envoy for climate change, said last week; "Secretary Clinton is keenly aware that the United States, as the largest historic emitter of greenhouse gases, and China, as the largest emitter going forward, need to develop a strong, constructive partnership to build the kind of clean energy economies that will allow us to put the brakes on global climate change. We need to put finger-pointing aside and focus on how our two leading nations can work together productively to solve the problem."

The Chinese ambassador to the US sounded much the same note and appealed to American commercial self-interest in helping his country tackle global warming. "Co-operation between our two countries on energy and environmental issues will enable China to respond to energy and climate change issues more effectively, while at the same time offering enormous business opportunities and considerable return to American investors," he said.

He was speaking at the Brookings Institution launch of one of two important reports on the prospects of a US-China partnership on climate and clean energy – published on Thursday by experts with enormous influence in the new White House – which both called on Mr Obama to hold a summit with the Chinese leadership on the issue.

The Brookings report is written by two of its fellows, David Sandalow and Professor Kenneth Lieberthal, who both worked in the Clinton White House and have been tipped for senior posts in the new administration.

The second report, published by the Asia Society and the Pew Foundation, has an even more impressive pedigree. It was produced by a committee chaired by Steven Chu, the new US Energy Secretary, and John Thornton, tipped as the new ambassador to China, and carries a forward by Richard Holbrooke, appointed as the President's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. It has contributions from Mr Stern and Professor John Holdren, President Obama's science adviser.

Chance for a green alliance that could still save the world
Geoffrey Lean, The Independent 8 Feb 09;

Maybe we are on the brink of one of those rare moments that transform the world for the better. For the Obama administration's moves to forge a climate partnership with China offer much the best chance yet of averting the most serious crisis civilisation has faced.

Hillary Clinton's visit to Beijing next week could prove far more important than President Nixon's "China initiative", which opened up the giant country to the world almost 40 years ago.

There is absolutely no hope of even beginning to get to grips with global warming without the United States and China, which between them account for nearly half of the world's emissions of carbon dioxide. Yet – even as science shows that time to avoid catastrophic climate change is running out – international negotiations on a new treaty have been paralysed by a deadly game of "after you, Claude", where both countries have refused to budge unless the other acts first.

If the partnership comes off, the relationship could be transformed, so that – as David Sandalow, a member of the Obama transition team who has just co-authored a new report, puts it – "instead of each country pointing to the other as a reason to do less, they spur each other on to do more". At the least, it would revolutionise the hitherto fragile prospects of international agreement at a vital meeting in Copenhagen in December, billed as the last chance to avoid disaster.

There are reasons to hope. Both countries are increasingly worried about the effects of global warming, whether droughts in California and northern China, or floods in southern China or New Orleans. More important, both have been doing a surprising amount while officially remaining obdurate.

Despite former President Bush's oil-soaked obstinacy, more than half of US states have acted to cut emissions, and more than 800 towns and cities have promised to meet or beat Kyoto Protocol targets. In a neat mirror image, the Chinese government has been admirably active – sparking a renewable energy boom and promising to cut the amount of carbon dioxide emitted for each unit of GDP by a fifth by 2010 – while finding it hard to get local governments to co-operate. With President Obama promising big emissions cuts, a deal seems possible.

Huge obstacles remain. Each country fears the other will use climate measures to obtain competitive advantage. And each is struggling with financial turmoil. So the best approach will be to emphasise the economic advantages in adopting a green new deal as the way to stimulate future growth.

Clean energy is central to this, and is rapidly expanding in both countries. So the place to start may be to focus on the opportunities to increase prosperity and reduce pollution through jointly developing things such as electric cars, boosting energy efficiency and renewable energy, and finding ways to clean up coal.

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