Best of our wild blogs: 10 Feb 09

Job opening at WWF Singapore: Manager, Coral Triangle Partnerships
on ecotax

Maiden trip to Terumbu Raya
on the wild shores of singapore with reefs of raya and virgin adventures on a great reef on the leafmonkey blog and chair marks the spot on the annotated budak blog.

Close Encounters with a Large Fish @ Semakau
videoclip on the sgbeachbum blog

Changi Beach with MGS girls
on the wonderful creation blog

Dragon, damsel and shrimp&goby on Pulau Semakau
on the wild shores of singapore blog

Night camping at Pulau Ubin
some tips on Ubin.sgkopi

Bathing birdies
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Crimson Sunbird taking nectar from snakeweed
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Lunar Eclipse On Last Day of Lunar New Year
on the Manta Blog

Massive reclamation at Labrador continues to Aug 09
on the wild shores of singapore blog

Status of our Coral Reefs: After 40 years of policy and development
on the Pulau Hantu blog

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Hundreds of dolphins beached in the Philippines

Hundreds of dolphins sighted in Bataan waters
abs-cbnNEWS.com 10 Feb 09;

A large pack of at least 300 dolphins were sighted swimming slowly in the shallow waters of Bataan on Tuesday morning, an "unusual, strange" phenomenon as described by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

BFAR chief Malcolm Sarmiento said the 200 to 300 dolphins are swimming slowly between the waters of Orion and Pilar town in Bataan province. He said the dolphins were only at least one kilometer away from the beach of the two towns.

“We will try to determine the actual reason for the phenomenon. It is something unusual. It is the first time that such a large pack [of dolphins] entered Manila Bay, and it’s acting strangely,” Sarmiento told ANC’s Dateline Philippines on Tuesday noon.

Sarmiento, who was on his way to the site, said BFAR experts are looking at two possible reasons why the dolphins found their way in the shallow waters of Bataan.

He said the dolphins could have been caught by a strong seaquake while diving for food underwater.

He explained that a strong seaquake can damage the dolphins’ eardrums.

“Once their eardrums are injured, they would lose their sense of direction and they would become disoriented,” he said, adding that the BFAR and experts from the Ocean Adventure in Manila would have to move faster to save the mammals from growing weak due to starvation.

“They cannot dive for food anymore resulting in a situation where they become weak with hunger and they just with the current,” the BFAR chief explained.

Another possibility, he said, is that the pack has a sick leader.

He said there is a possibility of mass beaching if the supposed sick leader is not isolated from the pack.

“If the leader would beach itself, the healthy dolphins will follow him,” Sarmiento said.

He said that while he was on his way to the site, he is in contact with experts from the Ocean Adventure and the local government unit.

Sarmiento said they would have to come up with a strategy on how to isolate the leader from the healthy dolphins.

He said he had also asked the local government in Bataan to secure the site and keep off fishermen who might see an opportunity of the unusual phenomenon.

Sarmiento said as soon as he gets to the site, he will instruct BFAR divers to look for the pack’s leader.

He said the pack’s leader is usually the “oldest” and is “battle scarred.” He added that the leader usually swims at the end of the pack.

'Hundreds' of dolphins beached in Philippines
AFP 10 Feb 09;

MANILA (AFP) — More than 200 dolphins have beached themselves on Manila Bay, officials in the Philippines said Tuesday as they tried to work out why the marine mammals had come ashore.

Residents saw huge pods of dolphins near the towns of Pilar and Abucay on the Bataan peninsula west of Manila.

Bataan governor Enrique Garcia said at least three have died.

"This is an unusual phenomenon," Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources director Malcolm Sarmiento told local radio, estimating the number of dolphins at "more than 200."

He said they could be reacting to a "heat wave or disturbance at sea" such as a possible major underwater earthquake.

Since they are mammals, the dolphins have ears that are sensitive to large changes in pressure underwater, he said.

"If their eardrums are damaged they become disorientated and they float up to the surface," he added.

Sarmiento said authorities' first concern was to keep the dolphins alive, and experts are being summoned to the area to help.

He said smaller pods of dolphins numbering "in the tens and twenties" had beached themselves elsewhere in the Philippines previously, but this was the first time so many had done so at the same time and place.

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Study needed on nuclear option for Singapore: Minister Yaacob

Straits Times 10 Feb 09;

NUCLEAR power remains an option for Singapore as an alternative energy source, but there are serious issues that require careful attention.

Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, reiterated the Government's stance on nuclear energy when he spoke in Parliament yesterday, saying: 'We have not ruled out any fuel option, nuclear or otherwise, in the long run.'

He noted, however, that there is a need to study carefully the issues, such as safety, siting and waste disposal, given Singapore's small size and high population density.

International standards require a 30km-wide safety zone around a nuclear plant. Singapore measures around 40km from east to west.

Dr Yaacob was responding to Dr Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang GRC) who asked if the Government would consider nuclear energy in the near future, as an alternative source of carbon-free energy.

At a lunch hosted by the Foreign Correspondents' Association last December, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Singapore may consider using nuclear power in the long term, and even look into the option of an underground plant.

He stressed, however, the difficulties associated with a nuclear plant, and the relatively small size of the domestic energy market.

KOR KIAN BENG

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A $90-million boost for tourism in Singapore

Leong Wee Keat, Today Online 10 Feb 09;

Wildlife Reserves Singapore — the company behind attractions such as the Singapore Zoo — will be creating a “River Safari” in Mandai. River habitats from around the world will be re-created to complement existing attractions around the area. Details will be announced at a later date.

AGAINST the backdrop of a projected slide in visitor arrivals, the Government will roll out a $90-million boost — literally — to the tourism sector.

The initiative “Building On Opportunities to Strengthen Tourism” (Boost) aims to stimulate demand in the immediate and short term, Senior Minister of State(Trade and Industry) S Iswaran said yesterday in Parliament.

First, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) will partner stakeholders in a marketing campaign — “2009 Reasons toEnjoy Singapore” — targeted at key regionalmarkets and the Republic’s resident population.

Second, STB will gun for Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition events aligned to Singapore’s economic priorities, such as digital media and environmental technology.

Some examples include the Anime Festival Asia and the inaugural Clean Energy Expo Asia, which are expected to attract more than 11,000 visitors, saidMr Iswaran.

Besides enhancing the tourism sector’s capabilities, such as workers’ skills, new projects are in the pipeline, he added.

Wildlife Reserves Singapore — the company behind attractions such as the Singapore Zoo — will be creating a “River Safari” in Mandai.

River habitats from around the world will be re-created to complement existing attractions around the area. Details will be announced at a later date.

During the Committee of Supply debate yesterday, the Trade and Industry Ministry used the tourism industry as an illustration of how Government agencies will partner the private sector to seek opportunities to boost demand whenever possible.

Visitor arrivals this year could fall by as much as 11 per cent as the global recession curtails consumer spending and holiday plans. Tourist arrivals may decline to between 9 million and 9.5 million this year, down from 10.1 million last year.

“In 2009, the global tourism industry faces a difficult year,” said Mr Iswaran. “Nevertheless, our tourism industry approaches this challenging period from a position of strength.”

He added that tourism projects secured in recent years would generate an estimated 3,000 jobs this year.

This will be in addition to the 9,000 jobs this year from the two integrated resorts, which are set to hire a total of 20,000 people when completed.

STB gives tourism a $90m boost
Nisha Ramchandani, Business Times 10 Feb 09;

TO keep tourism ticking in the short term and build capacity for the upturn, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is putting together a $90 million package - Building On Opportunities to Strengthen Tourism (Boost).

A key initiative is a promotional campaign based on '2009 Reasons to Enjoy Singapore' - aimed at regional markets as people turn to short trips amid the economic slowdown.

'STB will also reach out to the resident population as a complementary strategy to generate demand,' Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry S Iswaran told Parliament yesterday.

Mr Iswaran also said Singapore collected $168 million in incremental tourism receipts from the Formula One motor race last year - significantly more than the $100 million forecast.

'Hotels across all tiers benefited substantially in terms of revenue per available room during the race weekend,' he said, adding that a review of plans for 2009, including the F1 accommodation levy, is in its final stages.

Last year, trackside and non-trackside hotels had to fork out respective levies on room revenue of 30 and 20 per cent during the race weekend.

In light of the economic climate, STB has set a lower target of 9-9.5 million visitor arrivals this year. Total receipts are also expected to come in lower, at $12-12.5 billion.

Under Boost, STB will also provide more support for businesses to train and upgrade employees.

In addition, it will ramp up efforts to bolster the MICE sector by securing more events that are in line with Singapore's 'economic priorities such as digital media and environmental technology', which will mean spin-offs for hoteliers and F&B businesses.

Meanwhile, tourism projects landed in recent years will create 3,000 new jobs, on top of the 9,000 jobs stemming from the integrated resorts this year.

Singapore to roll out $90m plan to boost tourism
938LIVE, Channel NewsAsia 10 Feb 09;

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Tourism Board will roll out a S$90m initiative to stimulate demand in the tourism sector.

Speaking in the Committee of Supply debate, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, S Iswaran, told Parliament that the new initiative is called Building On Opportunities to Strengthen Tourism, or BOOST.

Mr Iswaran said the key initiative under BOOST is a marketing campaign with the theme "2009 Reasons To Enjoy Singapore".

He said: "Travel patterns are expected to change in the current climate with a switch from long-haul to shorter-haul holidays. The campaign will target this potential higher intra-regional traffic from our key regional markets.

"STB will also reach out to our resident population as a complementary strategy to generate additional demand for our tourism sector."

In addition, STB will continue to work on attracting more events to Singapore over the next two years.

It will target MICE events that are aligned to Singapore's economic priorities such as digital media and environmental technology as well as other specific segments that are resilient in the global downturn.

As part of BOOST, STB will also provide more support for businesses to train and upgrade the skills of their employees under the Training Industry Professionals in Tourism scheme.

Singapore expects visitor arrivals to drop as much as 11 per cent this year as the global recession curtails consumer spending and holiday plans.

Mr Iswaran said 2009 will be a difficult year for the global tourism industry and that tourist arrivals may fall to between 9 and 9-and-a-half million this year. Tourist arrivals fell 1.6 per cent to 10.1 million last year.

Total tourism receipts generated are also expected to fall to a range of S$12b to S$12.5b this year, down from S$14.8b in 2008.

- 938LIVE.

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Singapore electricity tariff formula to be revised from Q3

Using 3-month average will reflect prevalent oil prices, smooth out volatility
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 10 Feb 09;

EFFECTIVE from this third quarter, the Energy Market Authority intends to use a revised formula - which will be more reflective of the prevailing market prices of fuel - to set electricity tariffs here.

The market regulator is also considering an interim measure to enable smaller consumers and households to benefit from market competition ahead of full opening of the electricity market, S Iswaran, Senior Minister of State (Trade & Industry) disclosed in Parliament yesterday.

This is because while consumers who account for about three-quarters of the market - especially the big ones such as refineries and petrochemical plants - have been able to choose which retailer they want to buy electricity from and at what price, the rest, including some 1.2 million small consumers, have so far been unable to do so.

The first move to revise the electricity formula follows public anger over a 22 per cent spike in electricity tariffs in Q4 last year - the highest quarterly increase in eight years here - even as oil prices were sliding.

This arose because the existing pricing formula uses fuel oil prices in the first month of the previous quarter - that is July 2008 - to set Q4's tariffs. Unfortunately, July last year was the month when oil spiked to its all-time record of over US$147, with this consequently causing the record electricity rates here as well.

EMA now intends to revise the electricity tariff formula by using the average of fuel oil prices in the preceding three months to determine the tariff for the current quarter.

For example, the new formula would have used the average fuel oil price from October to December, rather than just October alone, to set the tariff for Q1 2009.

The new approach has two advantages, Mr Iswaran explained.

Firstly, it will help reduce volatility of electricity tariffs by averaging fuel oil prices over a longer time period. Secondly, with a three-month average, more recent fuel oil price data will be used to determine the tariff, making the latter more reflective of prevailing fuel oil prices.

After consulting key stakeholders and industry players - as the move involves adjustments to their hedging operations and processes - EMA will use the revised formula to set the electricity tariff from Q3 onwards, he said.

Mr Iswaran said that overall, competition in the power sector has helped exert downward pressure on energy prices. 'While fuel oil prices have risen by 143 per cent since 2001, tariffs have risen by only 15 per cent.'

In Q1, household electricity tariffs fell by 25 per cent, and 'we can expect a further reduction in April for the second quarter, in tandem with global fuel oil prices,' he added.

While EMA is now carrying out pilot trials of the Electricity Vending System (EVS), or smart meters, to allow households to purchase electricity directly from competing providers, it is also considering other interim steps to bring more benefits of competition to small consumers, Mr Iswaran said.

This is because full retail market contestability - once the EVS trials end this September, and if the system is proven - is expected to take another three years to implement, BT understands.

In the interim, one idea is for the power generating companies - with three of the biggest sold to foreign buyers recently - to bid for the portion of the domestic electricity load on a competitive basis, he disclosed.

The overall price of electricity for domestic consumers will then be determined as a weighted average of the tender price and the price from the tariff formula. EMA expects to complete a detailed study of this proposal by the end of this year and implement the idea next year.

Bumps get minimised
Less volatility with new tariff formula; lower prices expected for next quarter
Neo Chai Chin, Today Online 10 Feb 09;

HAD a different formula been used in calculating electricity tariffs then, the shocking 21 per cent increase would have been a less painful 12 per cent.

Change is on the cards, prompted by public outcry after last October’s spike in electricity prices.

To moderate such wild swings and better reflect prevailing oil prices, power tariffs will, from the third quarter of this year, take into account the average forward fuel oil prices over three months, instead of just one month.

But don’t expect to pay less on the whole for power — because the moderation swings both ways. Had the new formula applied then, during the last tariff reduction in April to June 2007, households would have enjoyed roughly a 2 per cent cut, instead of about 6 per cent shrinkage in their bills.

Said the Energy Market Authority (EMA): “Based on fuel oil prices over the last four years, the average level of tariffs under the revised formula would be about the same as that under the current formula.”

Nor does the EMA plan to revise tariffs more frequently — some have suggested, perhaps as often as every month — because this would mean “more changes and greater uncertainty for consumers”.

Experts told Today the new formula would be fairer than the existing one. “It seems to be an improvement of the old regime,” said Mr Dave Ernsberger, Asia editorial director of energy news provider Platts.

The existing formula is “very hit-or-miss”, and if consumers are unlucky, tariffs would be based on the month where forward fuel oil prices spiked, he said. Therevised formula would be “neutral” in capturing prices on an upward or downward trend.

The old formula — in place since 2001 — had served Singapore well in an “era of less volatile oil prices”, said Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry S Iswaran in Parliament yesterday.

But the sharp ups and downs of global energy prices in recent times made it clear that tweaks were needed.

Looking ahead this year, the Energy Studies Institute’s economist Benjamin Tang expects oil prices tobe less volatile, barring any further shocks to the economy. With crude oil prices tumbling from highs of US$147 per barrel last year to about US$40 now, power tariffs were slashed25 per cent for this quarter.

The good news? Expect even lower electricity prices from April to June due to lower fuel oil prices, saidMr Iswaran.

NEW FORMULA: GOOD, BUT CAN BE IMPROVED

Even as he praised the tariff formula revision as a step in the right direction, Mr Ernsberger said it could better capture prevailing conditions in oil markets.

He suggested the new formula use “next month contracts” — prices of fuel oil for delivery a month later — instead of three-month forward prices, which are not “the most frequently or actively traded”.

Consumers such as IT professional Koh Choong Yong said the new formula was more equitable and would help smoothen price fluctuations. “The objective of the tariff revision is to better capture an average price, so from this point ofview, it is an improvement,” he said.

But Mr Koh — who spends $100 to $120 monthly on power bills for his five-room flat — would still like to see a tiered pricing system, where those who exceed a certain level of consumption pay proportionately more.

This would benefit low- and middle-income households, which presumably use less, he said.

2nd-quarter power tariffs set to fall
Price drop likely in line with lower oil prices; new tariff formula proposed
Fiona Chan, Straits Times 10 Feb 09;

HOUSEHOLDS' electricity bills are likely to fall again in the second quarter of this year, in line with the decrease in global fuel oil prices, said Mr S. Iswaran, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry.

Tariffs have already dropped 25 per cent in the first quarter, after peaking in the fourth quarter last year, he told Parliament yesterday.

And from July, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) will adopt a new formula to calculate electricity tariffs that will smoothen out the spikes caused by volatile oil prices.

Electricity rates shot up 21 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, posting their biggest jump in eight years. This caused an outcry as oil prices were just starting to plunge in that period.

The timing discrepancy was due to the formula that EMA uses. To set tariffs for each quarter, EMA takes the oil prices at the beginning of the previous quarter.

This could give rise to larger fluctuations if oil prices are volatile, and means that tariffs are not very reflective of prevailing market conditions.

So a new formula is being proposed. Instead of just referring to the prices at the beginning of the previous quarter, EMA will take the average of the oil prices over all three months of the previous quarter.

This means that to calculate the rate for January to March this year, it would take the average of all the oil prices between October and December last year.

According to EMA, if the new formula had been in place last year, the tariff would have risen only 12 per cent in the fourth quarter rather than 21 per cent.

To keep energy costs competitive, the agency is also looking at ways to further open up the electricity retail market.

One idea is for power generation companies to submit bids to provide a portion of domestic electricity consumption. EMA plans to complete a detailed study of this proposal by the end of the year and implement the tender next year.

Another scheme to increase competition in the market is the Electricity Vending System, which allows households to buy electricity directly from individual competing providers. This has been introduced in Marine Parade and West Coast, and will be widened if it proves feasible.

'Competition in our power sector has been a bulwark against rising energy prices,' Mr Iswaran said. Singapore is particularly vulnerable to volatility in global energy prices as it imports almost all its energy supplies.

Since the Government began to liberalise the electricity market in 2001, domestic electricity tariffs have risen much less than worldwide oil prices. Global fuel oil prices have shot up by 143 per cent between April 2001 and last month, but local tariffs have gone up by only 19.9 per cent in the period, Mr Iswaran said.

New formula for calculating electricity tariffs to reduce volatility
Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia 9 Feb 09;

SINGAPORE: The cost of electricity in Singapore is expected to be less volatile and more reflective of current oil prices with a revision in the tariff formula.

The revision was announced by the Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, S Iswaran, in Parliament on Monday.

Instead of using the fuel oil price in the first month of the previous quarter to set tariffs for the current quarter - that is, using October oil prices to set rates for the January-March quarter - the Energy Market Authority (EMA) will use the average of fuel oil prices in the preceding three months to determine the tariff for the current quarter. That means using the average October to December oil price to set tariffs for the January-March quarter.

Mr Iswaran said: "The new approach has two advantages. First, it'll help reduce the volatility of the electricity tariff by averaging fuel oil prices over a longer time.

"Second, with a 3-month average, more recent fuel price data will be used to determine tariff. This will allow the tariff to be more reflective of the prevailing market prices of fuel."

If the new formula were to be applied to the fourth quarter of last year, the EMA said, tariff rates would have gone up by only 12 per cent instead of 21 per cent.

The EMA will apply the revised formula starting the third quarter of this year. Other measures to keep electricity rates low is to introduce more competition into the domestic energy sector.

One idea the EMA is exploring is for power generation companies to bid for a portion of the domestic electricity load on a competitive basis. The EMA expects to complete a detailed study of this proposal by the end of this year.

Mr Iswaran said Singapore is vulnerable to volatility in global energy prices as the country imports virtually all its energy supplies.

He added consumers can expect a further reduction of tariffs in April for the second quarter in tandem with global fuel prices.

- CNA/ir

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S$8m fund to encourage companies to reduce, reuse, recycle

Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia 9 Feb 09;

SINGAPORE: The amount of solid waste has been increasing in Singapore. So an S$8 million 3R Fund has been set up to get companies to reduce, reuse and recycle. The 3R Fund will co-fund projects up to 80 per cent, subject to a S$1 million cap.

To get households to recycle more, the National Environment Agency (NEA) will make it compulsory for all condominium and private apartments to provide recycling bins on their premises by the end of this year.

Since 2007, Public Waste Collectors have provided 1,600 centralised recycling bins in the common areas of HDB estates. This works out to a set of bins for every five blocks of HDB flats, though some members of the public have complained that they cannot find these bins.

However, the government said it does not plan to make recycling compulsory in the near future as this will raise business costs, an effect that it wants to avoid in the current economic climate.

Nonetheless, in the longer term, legislation is something the government is considering.

In the meantime, to help recycling businesses tide through the economic crisis, it will give recycling companies located at the Sarimbun Recycling Park a 15 per cent monthly rental rebate from January to December this year. This is a move that will translate into savings of S$187,000 for these businesses.

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, said: "The prudent use of natural resources is particularly pertinent during this period of economic uncertainty.

"By continuing to take a long-term view and sustaining investments in resource efficiency, our economy and companies can emerge from the economic crisis with leaner cost structures, higher productivity and greater competitiveness."

So the government is offering generous subsidies to promote efficient resource use.

For example, businesses can seek subsidies for the retrofitting costs involved in switching to NEWater, while Small and Medium Enterprises can receive co-funding of up to 80 per cent for water efficiency projects.

For commercial buildings, the government will co-fund half the cost of an energy audit.

The savings after an audit can be substantial. For example, the Manpower Ministry is saving about S$150,000 in utilities bills annually after retrofitting its air-conditioning system.

By March 2010, all government buildings with more than 15,000 square metres of air-conditioned floor area will have to undergo such audits.

So far, 12 out of 48 government buildings have done this, achieving S$3 million in savings annually.

To encourage consumers to be similarly resource efficient, retailers will not be allowed to sell air-conditioners and refrigerators that do not meet Minimum Energy Performance Standards by 2011.

Currently about 20 per cent of retailers' stocks comprise such items, but many retailers said they do not expect this to be a problem as they have been importing energy-efficient models in line with market demand.

Ching Khim Huat, deputy director, Corporate Development, Daikin Air-Conditioning Singapore, said: "We are seeing a lot of consumers actually choosing energy-efficient models, which are the inverter models. Easily we see 60 per cent of our sales are made up of the inverter models."

To encourage efficient resource use on roads, the government will also introduce the mandatory fuel economy labelling scheme for passenger cars from April to help car buyers choose more fuel-efficient vehicles.

In addition, the Green Vehicle Rebate will also be extended by another two years till December 2011. Since the rebate was introduced in 2001, the number of green vehicles has increased from about 200 to more than 5,400 at the end of 2008.

Mr Yaacob said that while the number of green cars here is still low, they make up about one per cent of the total car population, a figure which is comparable to countries such as UK and the US. - CNA/vm

Government introduces $8m recycling fund
Spread over 2 years, it will co-fund up to 80% of projects
Jamie Lee, Business Times 10 Feb 09;

BUSINESSES looking to invest in recycling can tap a new $8 million government fund, the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) said yesterday.

The fund, to be spread over two years from April 2009, will co-fund up to 80 per cent of the cost of waste management projects, capped at $1 million.

Grant sizes will depend on the type and amount of waste reduced or recycled.

Examples of projects include waste sorting systems such as bringing in separate bins for recyclable materials, and process changes to reduce waste during production, such as re-designing packaging or products.

But with the economic slump, there is no push to make recycling compulsory at present.

'We are aware that some developed countries have used legislation to mandate recycling,' Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim told Parliament. 'In view of the current economic downturn, we are not looking at introducing legislation in the near future, as it would likely increase costs for businesses and households.'

But the government will look at legislation over the longer term to improve Singapore's recycling rate and will review the cost impact of waste management measures, he said.

MEWR will also give a 15 per cent monthly rebate to recycling companies at the Sarimbun Recycling Park this year to help tide them over the downturn.

On water efficiency, several applications have been approved under a scheme launched last year to help fund projects that reduce consumption.

The Public Utilities Board increased the co-fund cap for small-and-medium enterprises to 80 per cent from 50 per cent in December 2008 and is working with Spring Singapore to promote the fund.

The government will also rule out the least-efficient air-conditioners and refrigerators by 2011 under its new minimum energy performance standards.

These models will fall between the one-tick and two-tick range defined under the mandatory energy labelling scheme (MELS).

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said that the move would affect less than 20 per cent of existing appliance models.

NEA has also extended its waiver on registration fees for air-conditioners and refrigerators under MELS for a year, and has removed registration fees for clothes dryers under MELS.

MEWR also said that 12 out of 48 government buildings have completed and implemented energy audits, saving a total of $3 million a year.

The ministry also provided an update on dengue cases. In 2008, there was a 20 per cent drop in reported cases to just over 7,000, from about 8,800 in 2007.

$8 million for 3Rs
Today Online 9 Feb 09;

THE Government is launching an $8 million 3R Fund to get companies to reduce, reuse and recycle. It will co-fund projects up to 80 per cent, subject to a $1 million cap per project.

In addition, recycling companies located at Sarimbun Recycling Park will enjoy a 15-per-cent rebate on rent this year,Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, told MPs who wanted to know whether there could be incentives for recyclers.

Nominated MP Edwin Khew pointed out that segregation of waste at source needs to improve especially “food waste from recyclables as food waste contaminates recyclables, rendering them non-recyclable”.

The minister agreed, saying that the National Environment Agency has received several preliminary proposals from its industry consultations. “These include the separate collection and recycling of food and garden waste, glass and batteries,” he said.

While some developed countries have used legislation to mandate recycling,Dr Yaacob said his ministry will not be adopting this tack for now “as it would likely increase costs for businesses and households”.

“However, in the longer term, we will study the use of legislation to further improve our recycling rate. We will also review our gate fee regularly, taking into consideration the need to appropriately price our waste disposal operations and the cost impact on businesses and households.” ESTHER NG

22 government buildings get energy efficient
Neo Chai Chin, Today Online 10 Feb 09;
THE Ministry of Manpower (MOM) last year put in place measures that trim annual energy costs by about $150,000 in its premises.

It was the first public building to do so under the Guaranteed Energy Savings Performance (GESP) contract, which assures savings over five years. MOM’s project consultant and guarantor, Chesterton International Property, guaranteed energy savings of at least 20 per cent.

For instance, MOM replaced its 20-year-old air conditioning system with a new $2.5 million system that employs smaller chillers to cater to the building’s off-peak hours.

The GESP, announced in 2006, is part of the Government’s efforts to lead the way in energy efficiency. All large public buildings must do energy audits by March next year. So far, 22 of the 48 have become energy efficient, or are in the process of doing so. Five are undergoing audits, and the rest will do so by this year.

While a scheme similar to the GESP exists in the private sector,Mr Foong estimates three in four private-sector buildings are not energy efficient. Which is where the National Environment Agency’s (NEA) co-funding schemes come in.

In Parliament yesterday, Minister for the Environment, Water and Resources Yaacob Ibrahim noted how, to train building managers, NEA launched the Singapore Certified Energy Manager Training Grant last September; 82 applicants are now in training.

The Energy Efficiency Improvement Assistance Scheme, which co-funds energy audits, drew 121 applications, which will cost NEA $3.22 million but result in savings of about $30 million a year.

$8m fund to spur recycling
Straits Times 10 Feb 09;

THE National Environment Agency (NEA) yesterday launched an $8 million fund to encourage companies to get into the habit of cutting back on waste and recycling.

The Reduce, Reuse and Recycle - or 3R - Fund will co-fund eligible projects for up to 80 per cent of the costs over a period of two years. It will have a cap of $1 million per project.

Any local organisation, including companies, schools, town councils and industry associations, can apply for the fund, an NEA spokesman said.

'They need to show relevant costs and benefits, such as the tonnage of waste recycled,' he said.

The percentage of funding will be higher for projects involving waste that has low recycling rates - such as food and plastic waste - and hence are more difficult to segregate.

News of the fund came when Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim responded to Mr Charles Chong (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC), who asked about the progress of recycling efforts.

Dr Yaacob said Singapore's recycling rate has improved steadily from 40 per cent in 2000 to 56 per cent last year and is on track to meet the Singapore Green Plan target of 60 per cent by 2012.

More households are also taking part in the National Recycling Programme.

Participation rate was just 15 per cent when the programme first started in 2001. But today, about 63 per cent of households recycle.

The amount of items in recycle bins also went up from 65kg per month in 2007 to 103kg last year.

While the results were 'encouraging', Dr Yaacob said it was an increasing challenge to sustain this progress as waste matter such as glass, food and plastic are not easy to separate and recycle.

Nominated MP Edwin Khew said during the debate on the budget estimates for the ministry that the low recycling rates of plastic, horticultural, glass and food waste meant that these categories had 'no chance' of reaching the Singapore Green Plan 2012 target.

He suggested, among other things, introducing legislation to mandate recycling.

But Dr Yaacob said that for now, Singapore will not follow other developed countries in introducing such legislation: 'In view of the current economic downturn, we are not looking to introduce legislation in the near future as it would likely increase the costs for businesses and households.'

But this stance will be studied in the longer term, he added.

AMRESH GUNASINGHAM

Efforts to save costs and resources stepped up
Channel NewsAsia 9 Feb 09;

SINGAPORE: Plans by the PUB to restructure used water charges into a single volumetric fee will be delayed. Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, said this in Parliament on Monday during debates on the expenditure for his ministry.

He said the revisions will be held off in light of the economic downturn and in recognition of the fact that the changes could add to the sense of uncertainty for households.

He added that to help needy households, PUB will spend S$600,000 to install water-saving devices in such households with above-average water consumption.

For non-domestic customers, Dr Yaacob said the PUB will increase the co-funding for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) involved in water efficiency projects carried out under the Water Efficiency Fund and help SMEs switch to using lower priced NEWater by helping to defray part of the retrofitting costs involved in making the change.

To conserve water, the water efficiency labelling of taps, dual-flush low capacity flushing cisterns (LCFCs) and urinals will be mandatory from July onwards.

All new developments and existing premises undergoing renovation must also have, from July onwards, taps and dual toilet flushing systems that have at least a "one-tick" water efficiency rating.

In terms of energy use, the National Environment Agency (NEA) will extend until 30 June 2010 its waiver on the registration fee that companies must undertake to offer energy efficient clothes dryers, air-conditioners and refrigerator models under the mandatory energy label (MELS).

The registration fees borne by companies offering vehicles under mandatory fuel economy labelling scheme, or FELS, will also be waived till 2010.

In the household sector, NEA will implement Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for household air-conditioners and refrigerators by 2011 to remove the least efficient models from the market.

This will affect less than 20 per cent of existing appliance models and suppliers have a two-year lead time to clear existing stock and bring in new models.

- CNA/sf

Read more!

Heavier penalties for litterbugs

Jermyn Chow, Straits Times 10 Feb 09;

LITTERBUGS will have to pay heavier fines in a move by the Government to curb the problem.

From April 1, first-time offenders will pay $300 - or $100 more - for failing to dispose of small items such as cigarette butts, car parking coupon tabs and sweet wrappers in litter bins.

Those who do it again will also face harsher penalties. Besides having to pick up rubbish in public under a Corrective Work Order (CWO), they could also face fines of up to $5,000.

The harsher penalties, revised for the first time in 10 years, are part of the National Environment Agency's (NEA) drive to maintain public cleanliness in Singapore, including at hawker centres and in public toilets.

The littering problem in Singapore has worsened. A record 33,164 litterbugs were caught last year, eight times the 3,800-plus nabbed in 2005. Many were young men.

About 94 per cent of litterbugs are smokers who drop their cigarette butts. About 80 per cent were men, with more than half under 30 years old.

Acknowledging that Singapore has yet to overcome this anti-social behaviour, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim said penalties 'must act as effective deterrents'.

He was responding to calls by Mr Charles Chong (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC) and Mr Ong Kian Min (Tampines GRC) to step up efforts to combat the littering scourge.

Dr Yaacob said the NEA would review the need to beef up punitive measures to arrest the problem.

Besides the new fines, enforcement officers will continue to target littering hot spots, such as shopping belts, bus stops and parks in areas like Geylang, Little India and Chinatown.

Beyond the punishments, Dr Yaacob urged people to do their part to keep Singapore clean.

The NEA will launch a new national cleanliness campaign in the middle of this year, via the grassroots, schools and businesses to promote the habit of keeping places clean.

Mr Howard Shaw, executive director of the Singapore Environment Council, said the move to raise penalties was 'unfortunate, but necessary'.

'Public shaming via the CWO has not stopped more people from littering, so we have to hit them where it hurts most - their pockets.'

Mr Shaw added that a public campaign was essential to change people's attitudes and behaviour.

NEA will also continue to improve hawker centres and public toilets.

To date, 71 food centres have been upgraded. Eight are now getting a facelift, with 32 more in the pipeline.

Dr Yaacob said this would ensure hawker centres continued to provide a clean, hygienic and pleasant dining environment.

In his reply to a call from Madam Ho Geok Choo (West Coast GRC) to look into hawker hygiene, he said 86 per cent of 5,000 or so cooked food stalls here received a B grading last year, up from just 46 per cent in 2002. Those who flout hygiene rules receive demerit points, while repeat offenders can have their licences suspended or revoked.

Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Environment and Water Resources) Amy Khor also outlined how NEA will continue to police public hygiene and cleanliness with a strict licensing regime for food outlets and supporting a nationwide drive to have clean public toilets.

She said NEA would continue its partnership with The Straits Times and the Singapore Kindness Movement in the Goodness Gracious Me! project to get customers to return their trays after meals. She said the four-month-old campaign would be rolled out to more hawker centres later this year.

Biting where it hurts
Penalty up by $100 for first-time offenders as number of litterbugs snowballs
Esther Ng, Today Online 10 Feb 09;

BE PREPARED to pay more if you are caught littering. From April 1, the fine for first-time offenders will increase from$200 to $300. The hike comes amid rising complaints about the careless discarding of rubbish and the surge in the number of litterbugs caught — about 33,000 last year, up from some 4,000 in 2005.

Members of Parliament (MPs) attributed this to more enforcement efforts and the increasing number of foreigners working, studying and living here.

But Singaporeans were just as guilty of littering. Nominated MP Edwin Khew used the National Environment Agency (NEA) Littering Behaviour Study yesterday to highlight that 13.6 per cent of Singaporeans think that littering is socially acceptable, while 8.6 per cent said it would not lead to hygiene problems.

Tampines and Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MPs Ong Kian Min and Charles Chong wanted to know what else was being done apart from hiring more cleaners, enforcement officers and public education.

Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim told Parliament that the NEA had put in additional resources to clean up littering hotpots such as Chinatown, Geylang and Little India, but he acknowledged that “this cannot continue indefinitely”. “We must tackle the source of the problem,” he said.

The NEA will continue to adopt a “multi-pronged approach to sustaining public cleanliness” which comprises public engagement, penalties and enforcement.

As such, the composition fine for first-time minor offenders will be raised by $100. The fine for littering was last revised 10 years ago. Minor litter is defined as items that do not give rise to serious public health issues. These include parking coupon tabs, sweet wrappers, cigarette butts and matchsticks,

The penalty for a repeat offender will now include a fine in addition to the Corrective Work Order imposed by the courts.

Stiffer penalties for litterbugs
Channel NewsAsia 9 Feb 09;

SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency (NEA) will be increasing the penalties for littering. From April 1, first-time offenders will be fined S$300 for minor littering - up from the existing fine of S$200.

Minor littering is classified as irresponsibly discarding items like cigarette butts, match-sticks, parking coupon tabs or even sweet wrappers.

Repeat offenders will be slapped with a fine and corrective work order or CWO.

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, stressed that this is necessary to ensure continued deterrence as statistics have shown the problem to be on the rise.

Speaking in Parliament, he said: "NEA has already committed additional resources to clean up littering hotspot areas such as Little India, Chinatown and Geylang. This cannot continue indefinitely.

"We must tackle the source of the problem - littering. NEA has stepped up enforcement against littering and the number of offenders caught increased from about 4,000 in 2005 to 33,000 in 2008. The increase clearly shows that littering remains a concern in Singapore and we should work hard to tackle this problem."

Dr Yaacob noted that NEA is aware of their enforcement limitations, but the agency will continue to focus its efforts at littering hotspots to achieve maximum effectiveness.

Similarly, NEA will continue to review the need to increase other punitive measures against littering.

- 938LIVE.

Read more!

Fire razes forested area in Sengkang

Straits Times 10 Feb 09;

FIRE broke out in a forested area in Sengkang yesterday afternoon.
An area the size of two football fields was razed to the ground at the junction of Sengkang East Drive and Sengkang East Avenue.

Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) firefighters brought the blaze under control about an hour after arriving at the scene. But small pockets of the fire blazed on and fire crew continued monitoring to prevent the flames from spreading.

Mr Lai Muy Tuck, who fishes regularly at a river next to the forest, was surprised by the fire.

'I never expected that the forested area here would catch fire. There are very few people around this area in the afternoons. It's a very peaceful place,' said the 58-year-old.

In the first two weeks of last month, northern parts of the island around Seletar recorded less than 10mm of rainfall, which is between 95 and 100 per cent below the long-term average of 244mm, according to the National Environment Agency website.

SCDF is looking into the cause of the fire.

No one was hurt and no property was damaged.

ESTHER TAN

Read more!

Dry weather, but no cause for concern

Amresh Gunasingham, Straits Times 10 Feb 09;

LAST month may have been the country's driest January in 10 years, and February is traditionally a dry month.

But Singapore has enough resources to meet the water needs of the public, Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said yesterday.

Two of Singapore's diversified water sources - desalinated water and NEWater, a high-grade reclaimed water - are not affected by fluctuations in rainfall, he explained.

'While our reservoirs are not as full as they usually are, I would like to assure Singaporeans that we have adequate water to meet our needs.'

But he said the vagaries of weather may still affect Singapore. As such, it was still vital that people conserve water and use it efficiently: 'The current dry season is an opportune time to remind ourselves of the significance of this, and to play our part.'

Several MPs, including Mr Charles Chong (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC) and Dr Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim (Marine Parade GRC), asked about climate change and how water and energy efficiency standards are being improved in households and businesses.

Dr Yaacob said programmes aimed at getting the public involved in and aware of water conservation practices, and helping households save on their water bills, have resulted in a reduction of domestic water consumption per person per day from 157 litres in 2007 to 156 litres last year.

This figure is on track to meet a planned target of 155 litres by 2012.

More will also be done to help needy families save water and cut costs.

From April, the PUB, working with the People's Association and the five Community Development Councils, will spend $600,000 to install water-saving devices such as thimbles and cistern water-saving bags in the homes of low-income families that have higher than average water consumption.

This can also help educate residents about water conservation practices.

About 15,000 such families can expect to save as much as 5 per cent on their water consumption with the new measures.

The PUB will also increase the level of co-funding for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) under the Water Efficiency Fund from 50 per cent to 80 per cent of the qualifying cost of the projects, Dr Yaacob said.

Commenting on the measure, he said the aim was to help SMEs reduce water costs in these economically lean times.

He also spoke about energy efficiency, his ministry's key strategy to mitigate climate change.

The Government was taking the lead by conducting energy audits on government buildings with more than 15,000 sq m of air-conditioned floor area. This is about the size of four football fields.

The audits will be completed by March next year. Twelve of 48 buildings have already had energy audits and implemented changes that have saved them $3 million a year.

He also spoke about energy savings in households. Average monthly household electricity consumption fell by about 4 per cent last year compared with the previous year.

The National Environment Agency will also implement standards to remove from the market models of household air-conditioners and refrigerators that are the least energy-efficient by 2011.

Beyond that, a similar standard could be imposed for lighting.

Read more!

250 more officers join battle against dengue in Singapore

NEA to beef up 'spot & destroy' team to 1,000 officers at an extra cost of $6.8 million a year
Jessica Jaganathan, Straits Times 10 Feb 09;

THE battle against dengue is to be intensified, with the National Environment Agency (NEA) adding 250 more officers this year to spot and destroy mosquito breeding sites.

With the increase, it will have 1,000 officers combing areas around the island for mosquito breeding spots. An additional $6.8 million a year will be set aside for the extra manpower.

An NEA spokesman said the additional staff will also help to address the emergence of chikungunya, another febrile disease spread by mosquitoes, which requires more checks in vegetated areas.

A test to detect dengue and chikungunya simultaneously is also being developed by the Environmental Health Institute, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology and Tan Tock Seng Hospital.

Currently, three separate tests are done to detect the dengue virus, its serotype and the chikungunya virus. By having one test to detect all three will reduce time and money, said the NEA.

Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Environment and Water Resources) Amy Khor announced some of these measures in Parliament yesterday.

She was responding to calls by Mr Charles Chong (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC) and Dr Mohamad Maliki Osman (Sembawang GRC) on steps taken to control the number of dengue cases here, given a surge in cases in neighbouring countries.

Dengue cases usually follow a six- to seven-year cyclical trend, with each year surpassing the one before. Singapore is now in the third year of a cycle that began in 2007.

Overall, while the rest of the region saw an upswing in cases last year, Singapore bucked the trend, recording 7,032 cases, compared to 8,826 in 2007.

But the number of dengue cases here increased in the first four weeks of this year. A total of 622 people were infected, compared with 472 during the same period last year.

Last year, the NEA carried out over 2.7 million inspections islandwide, which uncovered more than 20,000 mosquito breeding habitats.

The number of cases of mosquito breeding in homes also rose from 5,000 in 2005 to 8,800 last year, due to more inspections, added Dr Khor.

'Singapore is a travel hub with as many as 10 million visitors a year, and with workers transiting in and out of Singapore daily, it is continually at risk of outbreaks from mosquito-borne diseases contributed by imported cases,' said Dr Khor.

Dengue was still a threat, she said, and the public should 'not let their guard down and must continue to remain vigilant'.

An NEA spokesman said the number of dengue cases per year is still high and with the continued increase in Singapore's population and given the endemic region it is situated in, the risk of transmission of dengue will likely increase.

The NEA has been focusing its manpower in areas that are highly susceptible to outbreaks, averting large dengue clusters.

For this year, these 21 areas, scattered over the island, have been identified based on past data and risk factors, including areas not exposed to Den-2 serotype in the past several years and areas with high Aedes aegypti population.

Den-2 serotype was the predominant strain circulating last year.

People infected with one of the four strains of the virus can fall sick again if exposed to a different strain.

Read more!

Full moon is a lot fuller these days

Straits Times 10 Feb 09;

IF YOU thought the full moon appeared larger in the sky over the last few weeks than it usually does, you were not wrong.

It was because the moon has come closest to the Earth than at any time since 1957.

The full moon appeared the largest on Jan 10, when it was just about 300,000km from Earth, compared to the average distance of 350,000km.

Last night, the 15th day of the Chinese New Year, it was about 305,000km from Earth, said the Singapore Science Centre's chief executive, Dr Chew Tuan Chiong, 51.

He explained that the phenomenon occurs because of the shape of the moon's orbit around the Earth.

'The distance between the Earth and the moon varies because the moon's orbit around the Earth is an ellipse. It follows an oval-shaped path, not a round one,' he said.

'When the moon is closer to the Earth it looks bigger, and conversely, it looks smaller when further away,' added Dr Chew.

The difference between the closest point of the moon's orbit around Earth, known as the perigee, and the furthest point, or apogee, is 50,000km. Full moons at the perigee appear much larger and brighter than regular full moons.

Dr Chew said yesterday's full moon, however, appeared dim from about 8.55pm to 1am because there was a penumbral eclipse.

As the moon was thrown into Earth's partial shadow for a few hours, its brightness was affected.

DIANA OTHMAN

Read more!

Environmentalists urge luxury Dubai hotel to release whale shark into wild

Resort condemned over using endangered species as aquarium attraction after rescue from shallow waters in Gulf
Associated Press, guardian.co.uk 9 Feb 09;

Environmentalists renewed their call yesterday for a marine-themed luxury Dubai resort to release a whale shark on display inside the hotel's giant aquarium.

Wildlife activists and environmentalists claim the managers of the $1.5bn Atlantis hotel are endangering the life of the whale shark, which is listed as a threatened species, by keeping it in the massive resort's open-air aquarium along with 65,000 fish, stingrays and other sea creatures.

"The risk to the animal being held is greater than if the animal is released," Lisa Perry of the Emirates Wildlife Society/World Wild Fund told The Associated Press. Releasing the 13-foot long female whale shark back into the wild "is the right thing to do for Atlantis and for the animal," she said.

Representatives of Atlantis resort, which is located on an artificial island built in the shape of a palm tree, were not immediately available for comment yesterday. They have said they rescued the whale shark in August after it swam into the shallow waters of this city-state's Gulf coast.

Activists commended the hotel for nurturing the fish back to health but urged its managers not to turn the animal into a pet. Keeping the whale shark to attract tourists has jeopardised its chances for a long life in the open sea, environmentalists said.

"Holding a whale shark in a constraining artificial environment where it is unable to feed ... and has a limited area to move can have fatal consequences," the activists wrote in a letter to the hotel's management. The letter was sent to the local media earlier this week.

Whale sharks are the world's largest fish species and listed as a threatened species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, the world's largest conservation network.

Whale sharks can live up to 100 years and can grow to 46-feet long. It is normally found in parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The environmentalists did not give a precise age for the whale shark at the Atlantis but say she is a juvenile.

"Taking a potential breeder ... from the wild, takes not only one whale shark from an already weakened whale shark population, but also the possible offspring she could produce," the letter said.

This is not the first environmental controversy that has plagued the Atlantis resort in Dubai. In 2007, activists protested against the sale of dolphins from the Solomon Islands to Dubai. The mammals were transported 30 hours by plane from the South Pacific to a man-made lagoon, where hotel guests can swim with them.

Atlantis opened for guests last September. The resort's developers threw a $20m party that included Hollywood celebrities for its official opening in November.

Read more!

Salamanders "Completely Gone" Due to Global Warming?

Christine Dell'Amore, National Geographic News 9 Feb 09;

Silent and secretive creatures, salamanders are just as quietly falling off the map in tropical forests throughout Central America, a new study says.

Two common species surveyed in the 1970s in cloud forests of southern Mexico and Guatemala are extinct, and several others have plummeted in number, researchers say.

The tiny amphibians seem to be on the same downward spiral as their frog cousins, which have been mysteriously declining for years.

Scientists have identified chytrid, a fast-killing fungus that may spread in waves, as responsible for wiping out frogs around the world.

But among the Central American salamanders, "there's no way we can attribute the declines we've found to chytrid," said study author David Wake, an biologist at the University of California, Berkeley.

Instead, Wake said global warming "makes perfect sense."

"Completely Gone"

In the 1970s, Wake spent several years researching lungless salamanders in the San Marcos region of western Guatemala, one of the most diverse and well-studied salamander communities in the American tropics.

Between 2005 and 2007, he and colleagues returned to that region and previous study sites in Mexico to survey salamanders and compare their results to the historical data.

Their data-collecting strategy remained the same: Spot as many salamanders as possible in a standard amount of time.

(See a photo of the world's largest land salamander.)

The results, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shocked Wake.

"Cold facts written on a piece of paper don't convey the impact on my psyche when I went there," he said. Species that could be seen 10 to 15 times an hour in the 1970s were "completely gone."

These species lived in forests at mid-elevations, up to 2,800 feet (853 meters)—a zone where global warming is most intense, Wake said.

Seven out of 62 salamanders tested showed signs of chytrid fungus—not enough direct evidence to link the fungus to the drop in numbers, the authors said.

But Karen Lips, a biologist at the University of Maryland, College Park, who has studied amphibian decline, said the disappearance "sounds like chytrid."

She pointed out there is "no data that climate change is killing frogs and causing this level of disaster."

(Related: "Amphibian Extinctions: Is Global Warming Off the Hook?" [December 1, 2008].)

Lips believes that in the 1980s, an epidemic wave of chytrid fungus passed through Central America, when civil strife had kept researchers out of those countries. The 2006 level of chytrid infection—11 percent—bears out this theory, she said.

Out of Whack

An unseen "carpet of salamanders" make up the most biomass in some forests—more than birds and mammals combined, Lips said.

If the amphibians—which also eat large volumes of insects—are gone, "things go out of whack," Lips said.

As for saving the elusive creatures, there are few solutions, study author Wake said. But it's clear that "locking up nature" in reserves is not going to work.

Climate change and chytrid fungus don't respect borders, Wake said. "We need to promote activities that reduce the impact of climate change."

Salamander Losses in Mexico, Guatemala Cause Worry
Will Dunham, PlanetArk 10 Feb 09;

WASHINGTON - Many salamander species in Mexico and Guatemala have suffered dramatic population declines since the 1970s, driven to the brink probably by a warming climate and other factors, US scientists said on Monday.

The salamanders' fate provides the latest evidence of striking losses among the world's amphibians, a phenomenon some experts see as a harbinger of doom for many types of animals.

Biologist David Wake of the University of California Berkeley and colleagues tracked about two dozen species of salamanders at several sites in Guatemala and southern Mexico.

They put a special emphasis on the San Marcos region of Guatemala, boasting one of the most thoroughly studied and diverse salamander populations in the tropics.

Compared to levels measured in the 1970s, the population of half of the species in the two countries declined markedly. Four species were apparently completely gone and a fifth virtually wiped out, Wake said.

The cause is probably a complex combination of factors including climate change -- with warming temperatures forcing salamanders to higher and less hospitable elevations -- as well as habitat destruction and a fungal disease, Wake said.

"We have documented what has long been feared -- that tropical salamanders are being hit hard by something and are disappearing," Wake, whose findings appear in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said in a telephone interview.

The species that formerly were the most common were the ones hit the hardest, Wake said.

Many scientists worry that climate change will have a terrible impact on animal populations, with those in the most sensitive places, like polar bears in the Arctic, hit first.

Some experts view today's amphibians, whose ancestors were the first land vertebrates, as sort of a canary in the coal mine, warning of future disaster for the animal kingdom.

"If we are convinced there is something going wrong and these are canaries in the coal mine, what are you going to do about it? This is a problem," Wake said. "One major avenue is global climate change. That is clearly a factor."

While not included in this study, Wake said similar losses are occurring in salamanders in Costa Rica.

A lot of the research into amphibian losses had focused on frogs. This study adds valuable data on salamanders.

The various species in this study ranged from about 1.5 inches to 5 inches long. Ground-dwelling salamanders were found to be the hardest hit, as opposed to those living in trees and other types of vegetation.

(Writing and reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Bill Trott)

Read more!

Fires, Floods Pressure Australia Government on Climate

James Grubel, PlanetArk 10 Feb 09;

CANBERRA - Australia's deadliest bushfires increased pressure on the national government to take firm action on climate change on Monday as scientists said global warming likely contributed to conditions that fueled the disaster.

At least 130 people were killed in bushfires, set off by a record heatwave in southern Victoria state over the past week days, while large areas of Queensland state remain flooded by tropical downpours.

Scientists said Australia needed to prepare for more extreme weather events due to global warming, while the Greens and environmentalists said the fires and floods proved the government needed to toughen its targets to curb Greenhouse emissions.

"It's very clear, both globally and in Australia, there has been a warming trend since about 1950," leading Australian climate scientist Kevin Hennessy told Reuters.

"In a nutshell we can say the heatwaves and the fires we've seen in Victoria recently maybe partly due to climate change through the contribution of increased temperature.

"Going forward, we anticipate there will be continued increases in greenhouse gases and that locks in a certain amount of warming, and in the case of southern Australia further drying, and this will increase the fire weather risk."

Australia is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change because of its hot, dry climate, with the nation's south in prolonged drought and temperatures tipped to rise by 3 degrees Celsius by 2050 across the tropical north and desert interiors.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has set a target to cut overall greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent by 2020, and will only cut further, to about 15 percent, if there is widespread international agreement on tougher action.

But Green groups want Australia, which creates about 1.5 percent of global emissions, to cut emissions by at least 25 percent by 2020 as an example to the developing world, particularly India and China, about the need to take firm action.

Greens climate spokeswoman Christine Milne said all Australians had been deeply touched by the fire tragedy and the increased risk of fires from global warming.

STARING AT THE FUTURE

"As the community comes together to heal, we also will need to grapple with the fact that climate change is with us and is dramatically increasing Australia's bushfire risk," Senator Milne said in a statement to Reuters.

"Over the last few days, we Australians have looked our own future in the face."

Rudd, elected to power in late 2007, promised voters to take firm action on climate change. He has also promised to introduce carbon trading from July 2010 to help curb greenhouse gas emissions, with the laws to hit parliament in May.

Brian Fisher, a leading climate policy analyst and economist, said it was crucial for Australia to try to influence the world's top emitters to rein in greenhouse gas pollution.

"The key issue is what we can persuade others to do in concert with Australia. That determines what will happen to the world's climate," said Fisher, an author for the UN Climate Panel's Second, Third and Fourth Assessment Reports.

Bushfires and tropical floods are a normal part of Australian life, and can be crucial to help natural ecology. More than 250 people have died from bushfires in the past 40 years, making fires the most dangerous natural hazards in Australia.

But after years of drought, and with record high temperatures in Victoria over the weekend, fuelled by hot north winds blowing down from Australia's arid centre, the conditions were set for a major disaster.

"I have never seen weather and other conditions as extreme as they were on Saturday. The fire weather was unprecedented," said Sydney University bushfire analyst Professor Mark Adams.

"We do not have all the evidence yet to fully explain this day in terms of climate change. However, all the science to date shows that we can expect more extreme weather in the years to come -- that includes hotter days and drier landscapes across southern Australia."

(Additional reporting by David Fogarty; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

Australian wildfire ferocity linked to climate change: experts
Neil Sands Yahoo News 9 Feb 09;

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia is naturally the most fire-prone continent on earth but climate change appears to be making the wildfires that regularly sweep across the country more ferocious, scientists said Monday.

The intensity of the firestorm that killed at least 126 people in Victoria state has stunned Australians, even though they have a long history of dealing with bushfires.

The government-run Bureau of Meteorology said Australia's dry climate and naturally combustible vegetation, including oil-rich eucalyptus forest, meant fire was an intrinsic part of the country's landscape.

The history books back up the theory -- 75 dead in the "Ash Wednesday" fires of 1983, 71 killed in "Black Friday" 1939 and dozens more stretching back to the early days of white settlement in Australia.

But the wildfires that hit Victoria on the weekend were the nation's deadliest and experts believe the problem is linked to climate change.

"Climate change, weather and drought are altering the nature, ferocity and duration of bushfires," said Gary Morgan, head of the government-backed Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre.

"This weekend's fires highlight the importance of scientific research in order to improve our understanding of the multiple impacts of bushfires."

Australian poet Dorothy McKeller described the country as a land "of drought and flooding plains" and University of Sydney bushfire expert Mark Adams said there was evidence it was becoming even more volatile.

"I have never seen weather and other conditions as extreme as they were on Saturday, the fire weather was unprecedented," Adams said.

"We don't have all the evidence yet to fully explain this day in terms of climate change, however all the science to date shows that we can expect more extreme weather in the years to come.

"That includes hotter days and drier landscapes across southern Australia."

Research by the Bureau of Meteorology and the government science organisation CSIRO predicts the number of days when bushfires pose an extreme risk in southeastern Australia could almost double by 2050 under a worst-case climate change scenario.

Australia's wild weather included a once-in-a-century heatwave that sent temperatures soaring to 46 degrees Celsius (115 Fahrenheit) in the southeast just before the bushfires erupted, along with severe flooding in the north.

Environmental group Greenpeace said such occurrences would become more commonplace if climate change continued unabated.

"As climate change continues to gather pace, Australia is at risk of more frequent drought, higher temperatures, more frequent and intense bushfires, as well as increased severity of cyclones and flooding," Greenpeace campaigner leader John Hepburn said.

"The scale of this tragedy should be a clarion call to politicians for the need to begin treating climate change as an emergency."

Monash University researcher David Packham said authorities had failed to properly manage Australia's forests, providing fuel for the fires.

He suggested they could learn from Aborigines, who for thousands of years conducted controlled burn-offs in the forests in order to prevent massive conflagrations.

"We have thumbed our noses at what these people did and knew and we just can't keep on doing it," he said.

Read more!

Amazon Forest May Get Drier, But Survive Warming

Alister Doyle, PlanetArk 10 Feb 09;

OSLO - Amazonian forests may be less vulnerable to dying off from global warming than feared because many projections underestimate rainfall, a study showed.

The report, by scientists in Britain, said Brazil and other nations in the region would also have to act to help avert any irreversible drying of the eastern Amazon, the region most at risk from climate change, deforestation and fires.

"The rainfall regime in eastern Amazonia is likely to shift over the 21st century in a direction that favors more seasonal forests rather than savannah," they wrote in this week's US Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, released on Monday.

Seasonal forests have wet and dry seasons rather than the current rainforest, which is permanently drenched. That shift could favor new species of trees, other plants and animals.

The findings contrast with past projections that the Amazon forest could die and be replaced by savannah.

A 2007 report by the UN Climate Panel, which is a snapshot of global warming science by the world's leading experts, said: "By mid-century, increases in temperature and associated decreases in soil water are projected to lead to gradual replacement of tropical forest by savannah in eastern Amazonia."

The new study said that almost all of 19 global climate models underestimated rainfall in the world's biggest tropical forest after the scientists compared the models with observations of 20th century climate.

Lowland forests in the Amazon have annual average rainfall of 2,400 mm (94 inches), it said. Projected cuts in rainfall meant the region would still be wet enough to sustain a forest.

The experts also examined field studies of how the Amazon might react to drying. It said that seasonal forests would be more resilient to the occasional drought but more vulnerable to fires than the current rainforest.

"The fundamental way to minimize the risk of Amazon dieback is to control greenhouse gas emissions globally, particularly from fossil fuel combustion in the developed world and Asia," said Yadvinder Malhi, the lead author from Oxford University.

But he said that governments led by Brazil also needed to manage the forests better.

Global warming is "accompanied by an unprecedented intensity of direct pressure on the tropical forests through logging, deforestation, fragmentation, and fire use," the scientists wrote.

And fires, including those touched off by lightning, were more likely to cause wide damage to forests already fragmented by roads or by farmers clearing land to plant crops such as soya beans.

(Editing by Alison Williams)

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Trees Migrating North Due to Warming

Bruce Dorminey, National Geographic News 9 Feb 09;

Other than the Ents of Lord of the Rings fame, trees generally aren't known for their mobility. So news that some tree species may be headed north at an average clip of 62 miles (100 kilometers) a century may come as a surprise.

At that rate, stands of yellow birch in the U.S., for example, may move well north of the Canadian border by the early 2100s.

That's the finding of a new study led by the U.S. Forest Service, which concludes that a few dozen tree species in the eastern U.S. are moving north at an unexpected rate, likely due to global warming.

In a paper appearing this month in the journal Forest Ecology and Management, the study authors documented the northward march of 40 major tree species over 30 eastern states based on the distribution of seedlings versus mature trees.

Previous studies of plant migrations had been done using only computer simulations, or they focused on how some species are climbing up hills and mountains, said co-author Chris Oswalt, of the Forest Service's Southern Research Station in Knoxville, Tennessee.

By contrast, the new study looked at movement based on latitude, using a sampling of the forest service's most recent ground-based data.

The finding confirms a link between global warming and forest migration, said lead study author Chris Woodall, of the Forest Service's Northern Research Station in St. Paul, Minnesota.

"This is no longer conjecture," he said.

Trees on the Move

Woodall and colleagues studied data from 15 northern species, 15 southern species, and 10 species found in both regions. They compared the latitudes of seedlings—trees less than 20 years old, on average—with those of their older counterparts.

Eleven of the 15 northern species appear to have shifted more than 12 miles (20 kilometers), on average, from their historic ranges.

Among the species headed north are the northern white cedar, American basswood, sugar maple, black ash, bigtooth aspen, and yellow birch.

The basswood and maple appear to have moved the most, perhaps as much as 30 miles (50 kilometers).

"This is the first serious attempt at documenting a forest shift for a wide array of species across a broad geographical setting," said Mark Schwartz, a plant-conservation biologist at the University of California, Davis, who was not involved in the study.

"I find it very significant that a cohesive climate change signal emerges from the data."

"Baseball Bat" Trees

Northern trees don't do well in very warm conditions, so the hope is that the climate won't change faster than the species can move.

Some tree species, however, are at the mercy of intervening wildlife when it comes to where and when their seeds take root.

Unless a cedar's pinecone is snatched up by a waiting blue jay, for example, the seed likely won't fall far from the tree.

Meanwhile, cottonwoods, poplars, ashes, and maples have seeds that are light enough to be dispersed by the wind over several miles.

Such highly mobile seeds might allow some species to migrate at rates that even exceed the Forest Service estimate—creating the potential for economic busts—said Dan Botkin, an ecologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who was also not a part of the research.

"Northern Pennsylvania and southern New York State are where the best white ash for baseball bats are grown," Botkin noted, "so few [people in those states] would be happy if the trees head north."

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