Forest birds
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog
World Ocean Conference - Manado, 12-14 May 2009
on the Psychedelic Nature blog
Beneath The Earth - Termites
on the Manta Blog
How sea level changes affect mammals in the Malay Peninsula
on the wild shores of singapore blog
ABC Far North 6 Mar 09;
Bramston Beach's Russell Constable was enjoying a quiet walk on the beach with his partner when they encountered tracks that led them to a sea turtle nest.
They had a hunch that there might be more breeding sites in the area - and they were right.
A sea kayak paddle across to Joyce Creek and a closer look along the shoreline uncovered forty seven nests between Blue Metal Creek and Ella Bay.
The nests belong to flatback and green turtles according to experts from the Sea Turtle Foundation and Environmental Protection Agency.
Both species have vulnerable status.
Constable says sea turtles are one of the flagship species of the area and one of the most vulnerable.
"They're up there with cassowaries and dugongs and the one time [the female turtles] are vulnerable is when they do come onto shore and lay their eggs."
Turtle nests are particularly vulnerable to predation, erosion and human activity and there is growing concern that the new resort planned for Ella Bay will further endanger the nesting sites.
Satori Resorts has lodged an application to build a $1.81 billion, 450 hectare five-star tourism and residential resort less than a kilometre from the beach.
The resort will be built on land that was once a cattle station. The site is surrounded by World Heritage rainforest, home to the cassowary and several endangered frog species.
"To put a development there is insanity; it's not a sound judgement environmentally," says Constable.
"From the people I've spoken to around Flying Fish Point and in Bramston Beach which is the next bay up [from Ella Bay], the general feeling is people care but they don't know how to do something about it."
The new findings have alarmed environmental activists, who are calling on the government to step in and review Satori Resorts' original environmental impact statement.
The result could delay the resort's development process by six to nine months. The resort would have to resurvey the area, says company chairman Rod Lamb.
"We've always expected that there would be nests. But in our two surveys that we did, we didn't find any, so I welcome the information," says Lamb.
He says, however, their plans already take the local wildlife into account.
"We've put management plans and the design of the resort is based around having down lights and not having illumination that could be seen from the beach," says Lamb, adding that heavy vegetation separating the beach and the future resort will lessen light pollution that would otherwise confuse baby sea turtles from finding the sea.
Video clip of the interview on the ABC website.
Editor's comment:
Russell Constable wrote to wildsingapore to appeal for support for his effort on plans that would affect Ella Bay. He writes:
"I have recently completed a marine turtle survey near Ella Bay in Far North Queensland Australia. After discovering previously unrecorded marine turtle nesting areas I submitted the survey to the Cairns and Far North Environment Center and the Environmental Defenders Office. Within a day these two groups prepared a legal request for the minister to consider the marine turtles when assessing a multi million dollar resort which threatens to destroy this magnificent wild bay. The minister has opened up this information to public comment and I wish to make an appeal for the public to leave a comment here. You can also go directly to www.cafnec.org.au where you will find a pro forma letter to our Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett AM MP (deadline 11 March 2009)."
More on the wild shores of singapore blog.
Straits Times 7 Mar 09;
IF YOU build it, they will come.
So goes the line from the hit movie Field Of Dreams. Singapore has already built the pieces that will allow it to become a big tourism draw - from the upcoming integrated resorts to the Gardens by the Bay. There is even a brand-new international cruise terminal in the works.
What the country needs to do next is to shout this out to the world, the new head of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), Ms Aw Kah Peng, said yesterday.
There are many people out there who are not aware of the transformation Singapore has undergone, said Ms Aw, who took over the top post from Mr Lim Neo Chian in January.
This lack of awareness is an important area that needs to be addressed in a time of falling tourist arrivals, she said.
In her first interview since taking over, the 41-year-old said that despite the downturn, people still want to travel. Singapore is well-placed to take advantage of this because it offers travellers experiences they cannot find elsewhere, she said.
Take dining, said Ms Aw, who pointed out that there is something for everyone here, from cheap local food to expensive high-end cuisine.
On the switch in her portfolios, the former assistant managing director of industry at the Economic Development Board (EDB) said there is little difference in her work. At the end of the day, whether she is at STB or EDB, her job is 'still a business'.
'It is still about creating something different so that people will want to buy it or visit it.'
Apart from advertising Singapore's charms to the rest of the world, Ms Aw said another important part of her job is to find ways to add 'more buzz' to the city.
This, she said, does not always have to involve the building of new projects. Sometimes, even little things count.
For instance, she said, keeping stores on Orchard Road open till 2am or making it a pedestrian-only area on weekends would add excitement to the city.
She said: 'We are not such a big country, so we have to take advantage of all that we have.'
Rude bumboat service at Changi ferry terminal
Straits Times Forum 7 Mar 09;
LAST month, I boarded a bumboat at Changi ferry terminal and had to put up with rude service by the steersman, just because I did not have the exact fare.
I handed him $10 for the $2.50 fare. He told me to leave, mouthing vulgar insults at the same time, if I did not have the exact fare.
I am a frequent ferry commuter to Pulau Ubin and this is not the first time I have encountered such rude service. Other customers are treated the same way, including tourists visiting the island.
Do the authorities conduct checks on bumboat operators and crew? Or are such services always overlooked and compromised?
Jervis Lim
Some comments left on the ST online website to this letter:
"The requirement to have the exact fare is posted on the a sign board somewhere near the jetty.
The reasons for using a exact fare with no change offer are many, but I guesss some of them will be:
1. Safety, if the steermans keep changing fare with passengers wil he have time to steer the boat?
2. Saving time, same argument, do you want to waste time at the jetty for everyone to get their change before the boat leave.
Even on our buses if you pay cash you need exact fare.
This is all in the interest of efficiency.
So next time you take a bumboat again get the exact fare."
Posted by: novicereporter at Sat Mar 07 20:19:55 SGT 2009
"Aiyah Jervis Lim, hire or buy yourself a luxury yatch complete with crew so you need not have to put up with these steersmen. Get the exact fare in future. Be considerate. I do not find them rude."
Posted by: Melifont at Sat Mar 07 09:16:23 SGT 2009
"You said this is not the first time you are encountering this. In the past also you probably faced it. Then why it didnot occur to you to bring correct change? You people never learn lesson, uh..? If everybody produces a $ 10 note for $ 2.50 ticket where will the guy go for change?
Posted by: unewokle at Sat Mar 07 08:44:16 SGT 2009"
See also Ubin bumboat and rude visitors on the wild shores of singapore blog.
Amanda Tan, Straits Times 7 Mar 09;
FOR young people grappling with self-esteem issues and personal problems, life can seem like an uphill slog.
What better way to teach them how to overcome challenges than by giving them some real hurdles to get past?
Throw in abseiling, tunnelling and a high-ropes course and you have Project Aramsay, an 'adventure-assimilation programme' designed to help youth boost their self-worth, rediscover themselves and develop strength and resilience.
As many as 2,000 people aged 13 to 21 are expected to participate in the course over the next two years. The first session starts today.
Activities include a two-night camp on Pulau Ubin. Each camp will take in about 20 participants, typically those recommended by school counsellors and voluntary welfare organisations such as Touch Youth and Youth Guidance Outreach Services.
Over five days, they will be supervised by trainers from Republic Polytechnic's (RP) Adventure Learning Centre.
The programme to help these young people reintegrate into society, which costs $1.26 million, is funded by the Singapore Totalisator Board and the polytechnic.
According to its press statement, the programme takes its name from the Hindi word 'Aram-se', which means 'to give ease and to restore to health and being at ease with oneself and others'.
Mr Wilson Ang, deputy director of RP's office of student and graduate affairs, said the programme would give young people a chance to reflect on their lives.
'The key thing is for them to develop life skills, such as making responsible choices and finding self-identity. We also want them to develop social integration skills such as communication and the ability to socialise and trust.'
He added: 'After that, they can apply it to themselves and their community.'
Yahoo News 6 Mar 09;
SINGAPORE (AFP) – Diesel made from palm oil, vegetable oil and animal fat in Singapore may soon be powering cars in Europe and North America, Finland's Neste Oil said Friday.
Neste Oil, which is building the world's biggest biodiesel plant in the city-state at a cost of 1.2 billion Singapore dollars (776 million US), said it was also looking to market the fuel in Japan and South Korea.
The plant will have an annual capacity of 800,000 tonnes when it becomes operational next year.
It will produce Neste Oil's patented NExBTL renewable diesel which the company said is the cleanest diesel fuel in the world.
NExBTL can be used in all diesel engines and significantly reduces exhaust emissions compared with regular diesel, the company said.
The plant was originally planned to target the European market, Neste Oil deputy chief executive Jarmo Honkamaa told reporters during a media visit to the plant site, which is 30 percent complete.
"We know now already that part of the volume will go to North America... the west coast of Canada."
Company executives said the move towards cleaner fuel worldwide in a bid to reduce global warming was likely to drive demand.
Neste Oil was also talking with companies in Japan and South Korea to buy the renewable diesel, Honkamaa said, adding that Singapore would also be a potential market.
"I don't see that the marketing of this product is very challenging. The main challenges will be on the raw material side," Honkamaa said.
He said the Singapore facility could be beefed up to produce jet fuel from the same feedstocks if there was a need.
Renewable diesel would have a 200-300 US dollar premium per tonne over regular diesel but Neste Oil said there was demand because of the benefits of using cleaner fuel.
While crude oil prices have plunged from their peak at 147 dollars in July 2008 to current levels around 44 dollars, palm oil prices have also plummeted from 1,245 dollars per tonne a year ago to about 526 dollars a tonne.
Neste Oil chief executive Matti Lievonen said Singapore was chosen partly because its proximity to raw materials.
Singapore is close to Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's two leading crude palm oil producers.
Despite a global economic crisis, Neste Oil is in a healthy financial state, with a 1.6 billion euro (2.0 billion US) credit facility with European banks, Lievonen said.
Neste Oil is also building a renewable diesel plant with similar capacity in Rotterdam, the Netherlands which is expected to come on stream after the Singapore facility.
Biggest renewable diesel plant on track
Neste Oil's $1.2b project on time and on budget; firm to hire 100 staff
Elizabeth Wilmot, Straits Times 7 Mar 09;
THE Finnish energy firm building the world's biggest renewable diesel plant here says the project is still on track despite the economic downturn.
Neste Oil president and chief executive Matti Lievonen told a ceremony at the site yesterday that the $1.2 billion project was on time and on budget.
'The market has been highly unpredictable in the past year but the Singapore plant is an important part of our long-term strategy for growth and our commitment to seeing the project through remains absolutely solid,' added Mr Lievonen.
The plant is due to be finished next year and will allow Neste to use any vegetable oil or animal fat to produce renewable diesel.
Yesterday's ceremony involved burying a time capsule that contained, among other items, a copy of The Straits Times and Finnish and Singapore currencies.
Mr Lievonen reiterated that Neste is cashed up and will not have difficulty financing the plant.
Norway's Renewable Energy Corporation (REC) has started building its estimated $6.3 billion solar cell plant here. Last November, chief executive Erik Thorsen said the firm was concerned about financing for its second phase.
But Mr Lievonen said: 'Our company is very healthy in financing and our liquidity is secured until 2011.' The firm had other positive news too, announcing that it plans to hire up to 60 people by the end of this year with 100 in total to be employed by the middle of next year.
The renewable diesel project comes at a time when Singapore is playing an active role in the field of renewable energy. The Government has invested about $170 million to boost clean energy research and pledged $1 billion to fund sustainable development in the recent Budget.
Yesterday's guest of honour, Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang, said: 'Despite the immediate challenges, we are confident that the outlook of the energy and chemicals industries remains positive.
'Singapore wants to grow our industries in a sustainable and responsible way. We may be a small city state lacking in natural resources, but we are committed in supporting the implementation and creation of technologies that can address the environmental challenges facing us.
'This could, in turn, lead to new energy solutions in niche verticals including solar and biofuels.'
The Economic Development Board echoed these sentiments in an e-mail to The Straits Times: 'The (Neste) project is very much in line with Singapore's vision to enhance our position as Asia's undisputed oil and oil products hub.
'Investments such as Neste Oil and REC will drive much growth in our renewables sector in terms of creating new and exciting career opportunities.'
Neste oil’s new $1.2b plant
Today Online 7 Mar 09;
Finnish energy firm Neste Oil has begun constructing the world’s largest renewable diesel plant in Tuas. The $1.2-billion plant will produce NexBTL biodiesel, which can be used in existing vehicle engines. Neste Oil will hire 100 Singaporean staff over the next two years. Channel NewsAsia
Neste basks in a green glow
Growing market for Singapore renewable diesel plant
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 7 Mar 09;
OTHER investors may be scrapping their projects but it's flashing 'green' for Neste Oil's $2.4 billion investment in Singapore and Rotterdam. The Finnish giant is brimming with confidence about its two renewable-diesel refinery plants that cost $1.2 billion apiece and that will start operations in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
In fact, it is already considering adding second lines at both to produce either more renewable diesel, or even renewable jet fuel for aircraft.
'We have no other competitor in 2G, or second-generation, biodiesel manufacturing,' Matti Lievonen, Neste's president and CEO, told media after a foundation stone-laying ceremony at its Tuas site. The two plants, when completed, will make Neste - until now, mainly a traditional oil refiner - the leading global producer of renewable diesel.
Both plants are 'on schedule and on budget', he said. Financing is not an issue at all, as Neste has a credit line of 1.6 billion euros (S$3.1 billion) until 2011, plus it has over 500 million euros in cash flow from last year.
Besides, given growing environmental concerns, the European Union is expected to pass legislation enforcing greater use of such renewable fuels soon. 'This is the whole logic for our renewable diesel - a market which mandates use of biofuels,' said deputy CEO Jarmo Honkamaa.
After earlier targeting 5.75 per cent mandatory biofuel use by 2010, the latest EU directive is that measures must be taken by all member countries to replace a minimum 10 per cent of all transport fossil fuels (petrol and diesel) with biofuels by 2010.
The Neste officials said this in response to questions on whether today's low oil prices of around US$40 - which means that normal diesel is roughly half the price of biodiesel - would impact the economics of its Singapore and Rotterdam biodiesel investments.
Each plant will produce 800,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of renewable diesel - the largest such facility in the world - from one million tpa of renewable materials comprising vegetable oils such as palm oil, animal fat or tallow.
Neste - which operates two crude-oil refineries in Porvoo and Naantali with a total capacity of 260,000 barrels - already has a 170,000 tpa biodiesel plant at Porvoo, and is set to start up a second biodiesel plant of similar scale there this July.
'Neste is sourcing its biodiesel raw materials like palm oil and tallow on a group-wide basis, and is in talks with suppliers, like for instance, for jatropha in Thailand,' Mr Honkamaa said. Depending on the costs, over half of each plant's raw materials can be palm oil, with the rest tallow, although the biofuel refineries are completely flexible in their feedstock mix.
Neste is already in talks with big oil companies to take biodiesel from its Singapore and Rotterdam plants. 'We don't see a challenge in (securing) markets, the challenge is more in raw materials,' Mr Honkamaa said.
Speaking at the ceremony, Trade & Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang said that Neste's project 'affirms Singapore's position as a trusted business destination', adding that 'the outlook of the energy and chemicals industries remains positive'. Underlying this, he said, are two main factors: the increasing emphasis on addressing environmental challenges and the Asian growth story, especially in China and India, and increasingly, Asean.
Katharine Adraneda, The Philippine Star ABC CBN 7 Mar 09;
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MANILA, Philippines - Metro Manila was ranked seventh “most vulnerable” to climate change among provinces and districts in Southeast Asia.
This is based on a study made by an organization that supports training and research in environmental and resource economics.
Dr. Herminia Francisco, director of the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA), and Dr. Arief Yusuf Anshory conducted the study.
“To assess the level of vulnerability of an area or a province, we compared each province or area to the others through a composite index,” Francisco said.
“We determined their ability to be resilient to climate change adaptation. We based our study on their exposure to climate hazards using information from historical records based on the assumption that past exposure is the best available proxy for future climatic risks.”
The study aims to help policy-makers and external donors in resource-allocation decisions on climate change initiatives in the region.
“We also based the study on their adaptive capacity, which include existing infrastructures, poverty situation, people’s income, literacy, inequality, life expectancy, as well as available technology,” Francisco said.
During the Philippine launch of the New Regional Climate Change Vulnerability Map for Southeast Asia in Makati yesterday, Francisco identified 13 other provinces in the Philippines as “climate hot spots.”
“This may not be a perfect map but we hope this would bring people together to come up with effective adaptation programs to climate change,” Francisco said.
“Climate change is here, it’s been happening. We just have to perhaps correct some adaptation behavior and teach communities on what must be done, as well as help policy-makers and donors in determining the direction of programs and funding efforts.”
The study covered 530 sub-national areas in seven countries.
It specifically covered 341 districts in Indonesia, 19 provinces in Cambodia, 17 provinces in Laos, 14 areas in Malaysia, 14 provinces in the Philippines, 72 provinces in Thailand, and 53 provinces in Vietnam.
A majority of provinces or areas in the study’s 10 most vulnerable to climate change are found in Indonesia, with Central Jakarta ranked as 1st; North Jakarta, 2nd; West Jakarta, 3rd; East Jakarta, 5th; South Jakarta, 8th; Kota Bandung, 9th; and Kota Surabaya, 10th.
Mondol Kiri and Rotanokiri in Cambodia were ranked 4th and 6th, respectively; while Metro Manila in the Philippines was ranked 7th.
The 13 other “climate hot spots” in the Philippines are the Cordillera Administrative Region, ranked 27th; Central Luzon, 30th; Cagayan Valley, 34th; Bicol, 36th; Ilocos, 40th; Southern Tagalog, 44th; Eastern Visayas, 60th; Northern Mindanao, 74th; Central Visayas, 86th; Western Mindanao, 87th; Western Visayas, 96th; Southern Mindanao, 103rd; and Central Mindanao, 105th.
The study, which includes a map showing all climate hot spots in Southeast Asia, was funded by the International Development Research Center (IRDC) of Canada.
14 areas ‘overfished’
At least 14 areas in nine regions nationwide are “overfished,” resulting in economic losses of about P6.25 billion a year, a recent government study revealed.
The National Stock Assessment of Marine Fisheries Resources was done by experts from the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI) and Fisheries Improved for Sustainable Harvest (FISH) between 1998 and 2008.
The 10-year study showed that the most overfished areas were the Lingayen Gulf in the Ilocos Region, Davao Gulf, and Lagonoy Gulf in the Bicol Region.
Overfishing occurs when the ability of fish stocks to replenish is impaired because of massive commercial and local fishing.
“The marine fisheries of the Philippines are in a critical state because of overfishing,” the study said.
A fishing area is measured by experts through a ratio of fish caught and the number of fish killed due to natural causes.
The ideal values of such ratio are between 0.3 to 0.5, said Geronimo Silvestre of the FISH Project.
“A ratio that is higher than 0.5 indicates overfishing,” he said.
The study was conducted in partnership with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources of the Department of Agriculture.
“Unless regulatory measures such as fishing gear restriction and fish size limit, closed seasons and law enforcement are effectively carried out, the country’s marine fisheries could be depleted,” the study said.
Results of the study were provided to The STAR by the Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology.
The total catch of commercial and municipal fishers was estimated at l.74 million metric tons and valued at more than P65 billion, according to the study.
The NFRDI, an agency under the DA, was created under Republic Act 8550.
On the other hand, FISH is a project of the government and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
It aims to support the efforts of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and local government units to conserve biological biodiversity in the target areas.
The primary purpose of FISH is to conserve biological diversity in at least four biologically and economically important marine ecosystems in the Philippines, namely: the Calamianes Islands in Palawan, Danajon Reef in Bohol, and Tawi-Tawi and Surigao del Sur in Mindanao. – With Helen Flores
Triwik Kurniasari, The Jakarta Post 5 Mar 09;
After more than a decade of tourism malaise on the Thousand Islands regency, the city has plans in store for a revival.
The city administration will procure more accessible public transportation to serve the regency, including enlarging its airport runway from 930 meters to 1,400 meters to allow bigger planes to land at the airport, first built in 1990.
“[The runway development] requires about Rp 180 billion [US$14 million], while we need Rp 300 billion to rebuild sea ports,” Regent Abdul Rachman said Wednesday.
The islets have faced a “tourism crisis” in the last 10 years, with more and more tourism business owners going bankrupt due to the decline in visitor numbers to the regency’s resorts, Abdul said.
“Of nine resorts on 45 islands, five are still in business, while the remainder are dying, with the occupancy rate dropping,” he said.
He added tourism on many islands was “dead or dying out”, including on Pelangi and Bira islets, famous for its golf course.
“Some islets still surviving are Pramuka, Sepa, Kotok, Putri, Ayer, Bidadari and Pantara,” Abdul added.
He blamed the lack of transportation and issuance of travel warnings from other countries for the drop in visitor numbers to the islets.
“Global warming and environmental degradation have also damaged out beautiful reefs,” he said.
“Garbage is also a big problem for us. Plastic bags and bottles, and oil spills that are sometimes found along the coastline, are very harmful to the coastal ecosystem. Nobody wants to visit to a dirty tourism destination, right?”
Culture and Tourism Agency head Arie Budhiman said the administration would try to provide cheap public transportation there.
“People are reluctant to go to the Thousand Islands because it’s so hard to get there. So we’re considering securing more access to the area,” he said.
“Besides rebuilding the public transportation system, we will also improve public facilities there.”
The regency, located 45 kilometers off the Jakarta coast, boasts a unique ecosystem comprising 110 islets, with most of the residents working as traditional fishermen.
Every islet has its own attractions. Pramuka, for instance, is famous for its raptors.
Bidadari is also a favorite place for family vacations or corporate meetings and getaways. It offers marine adventure activities for team-building exercises.
They can be reached by boat from Marina Ancol or Muara Angke Port.
In the 1980s, the Thousand Islands ranked third on a list of the world’s best islands, but are now renowned for the polluted surroundings, Abdul said.
“After 1998, when the economic crisis hit the country, tourist numbers dropped by 80 percent.
Fortunately, though, we’ve seen an increase in the past couple of years,” Abdul said, adding there were about 50,000 tourists in 2008.
Arie said the administration would hold a workshop and invite stakeholders, as well as the owners of some islets, to seek solutions to the problems.
“We hope more people will invest in the islands. The administration and government can’t just work this program ourselves; we need private companies to support this,” he said.
What the wild things are
Charles Siebert, Straits Times 7 Mar 09;
IT'S common to hear, in the wake of someone's sudden lethal outburst, exclamations of shock along the lines of: 'He seemed so pleasant and mild-mannered.' But when those same sentiments are voiced in the aftermath of a chimpanzee attack like the one in Stamford, Connecticut, last month - in which a pet chimp named Travis mauled a woman, robbing her of her hands, eyesight and much of her face, and possibly causing brain damage - they raise serious questions about us, the primates with the so-called higher cognitive functions.
There is something about chimpanzees that has always driven human beings to behavioural extremes, actions that reflect a deep discomfort with our own animality, and invariably turn out bad for both us and them.
The first live chimpanzee to set foot on Europe's shores arrived in The Hague in 1641, on board a Dutch merchant ship returning from Angola. The only known visual record of this unwitting pioneer's existence is an engraving done that same year by the Dutch physician and anatomist Nicolaes Tulp. A leading figure of the Enlightenment with its emergent emphasis on objective observation and realistic representation, Tulp proceeded to compose one of the more surreal depictions of a chimpanzee imaginable. The creature - seated atop a boulder with its mostly hairless torso and limbs, tapered elfin hands and feet, and sweetly smiling face - looks like a potbellied forest nymph dreamily sleeping off a good drink. Not a chimpanzee so much as an ape-human hybrid.
The fact that Tulp refused to let his hand depict what his eyes were seeing goes to the heart of the threat that the chimpanzee's near-humanness has long posed to our consciousness. By depicting a nymphlike creature, he reinforced an age-old anthropocentric conception of human-like apes as mythic beings.
Travis' tragic end is a sadly familiar occurrence within today's equally distorting framework of trying to coerce evolution in a direction it didn't quite go for chimps, by making them be us: living on our turf and terms, dressing in our clothes, acting in our films and commercials, suffering in our research labs.
While researching a book about my days living in a retirement home for former chimp actors - chimps work as actors only until about the age of six, after which they become too strong and wilful; they then spend the rest of their lives, often 40 to 50 more years, behind bars - I happened to visit Mike and Connie Casey, the breeders who originally sold the baby Travis to Ms Sandra Herold.
Mrs Casey saw Travis' mother, Suzy, shot dead in 2001 when this chimp, too, escaped and got into a tussle with a dog.
Chimps are, like us, given to occasional violent outbursts, but they have exponentially greater strength. Chimps also have, like us, minds enough to lose and memories that can hasten the process. Wild chimps 'recruited' by poachers for entertainment watch as their mothers are gunned down - the only way a chimp mother would ever relinquish a child.
Chimps born in captivity are spared that experience, but they suffer the same premature separation from their mothers, isolation from their normal social groups and often mistreatment from trainers and keepers, all traumatic events that have been shown to cause deep psychological scarring and, as in human beings, can lead an animal to overreact to the slightest stimuli: the look in someone's eye, the colour of someone's hair or, as with Ms Herold's friend that day, hair done up in an unaccustomed style. These are, in short, deeply conflicted beings, evolutionary anomalies that only we could have created: chimps with names and yet no recollection of trees!
The most tragic example of this is Lucy, who lived in the late 1960s and early 70s. Raised from infancy to age 10 as a human child by the psychologist Maurice Temerlin and his wife, Jane, Lucy made her own meals, mixed her own cocktails, flipped through magazines, slept on soft mattresses, raised a pet cat, learned sign language - and had no contact whatsoever with other chimpanzees. By the time she reached sexual maturity, however, she became more and more difficult to handle, and the Temerlins decided they had to let Lucy go.
They chose to send her to a place that was the complete opposite of what she knew, a refuge that reintroduces captive chimps into the wild. Lucy, it will perhaps come as little surprise, struggled mightily. She refused to socialise with the other chimps, to climb trees, forage for food, make nests. She took to waiting beneath trees for the others' crumbs to fall.
Eventually, Lucy adopted an orphan baby chimp and mothered him until he died three years later of a stomach parasite. She herself barely survived a bout of hookworm, then began to show enough positive signs of socialising with the others that they were all left for a time to their own devices.
A year later, Lucy's skeleton was found near the shores of the island refuge, without, some reports said, her hands or feet. The cause of her death isn't known, but speculation is that Lucy, always the first to greet human visitors, one day unwittingly approached a group of poachers, who readily seized upon their overeager prey.
Lucy, Travis and all the others died for the same reason that Tulp couldn't draw the actual being seated before him: our ongoing inability to see animals outside our own fraught frame of reference. The chimp that Tulp, in fear of science, preserved as a mythic human, Temerlin tried to make a human, in science's name. Lost in the shuffle of either agenda were the animals themselves, creatures we still can't regard and respect for what they are and just leave alone.
NEW YORK TIMES
Reuters 6 Mar 09;
KARACHI (Reuters) - Dozens of dolphins washed up on a Pakistani beach on Friday to the amazement of villagers who frolicked with them in the shallows, but wildlife officials warned that mishandling the mammals could endanger them.
The dolphins came ashore at Gadani beach, about 40 km (25 miles) west of the city of Karachi, on the Arabian Sea.
"They were most probably pushed toward the beach by a high tide," wildlife official Hussain Baksh Bhagat told Express News television.
"We'll try to send these innocent animals back to sea as soon as possible as the longer they stay at the shore the more their lives will be at risk," he said.
Excited villagers picked up the animals to pose for television cameras while men pulled some by the their tails through the surf.
Some boys tried riding dolphins in knee-deep water.
"This is dangerous for the dolphins. It could create stress and lead to heart failure," wildlife expert Ghulam Akbar told the Samaa television channel.
Hours after the animals first came ashore most had returned to sea but about six were still trapped, witnesses told television channels.
(Writing by Augustine Anthony; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Yahoo News 6 Mar 09;
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama's administration said Friday it would firmly oppose whaling as nations gather for a meeting of the divided International Whaling Commission (IWC) next week.
The meeting from Monday through Wednesday in Rome is part of efforts to salvage the global body, which has been wracked by disputes pitting pro-whaling Japan against Western nations led by Australia.
Japan hunts hundreds of whales a year using a loophole in a 1986 IWC moratorium that allows "lethal research" on the ocean giants. Norway and Iceland defy the moratorium altogether.
"The United States continues to view the commercial whaling moratorium as a necessary conservation measure and believes that lethal scientific whaling is unnecessary in modern whale conservation management," said Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House's Council on Environmental Quality.
She said the Obama administration would wait and see the proposals on the table in Rome but stressed: "It is our view that any package, to be acceptable, must result in a significant improvement in the conservation status of whales."
Japan has repeatedly threatened to leave the IWC if the 84-member body does not shift to what Tokyo believes is its original purpose -- managing a sustainable kill of whales.
Faced with the deadlock, the US representative to the IWC, William Hogarth, who was appointed by former president George W. Bush, launched a drive to salvage the global body.
In closed-door talks earlier this year in Hawaii, Hogarth -- also the outgoing chairman of the IWC -- floated a compromise to let Japan hunt whales near its coast while scaling down its controversial Antarctic hunts.
Both Australia and Japan publicly shunned the compromise.
Congressman Nick Rahall, who heads the House Natural Resources Committee and has called for Obama to remove Hogarth, applauded the administration Friday for sending "a strong and timely message" against whaling.
"The United States must stand firm, and serve as a model, in its pursuit to support, encourage and convince countries such as Japan, Iceland and Norway who wish to see commercial whaling continue to join the emerging global consensus for whale conservation in the 21st century," Rahall said.
Obama toughens US line against whaling
Shaun Tandon Yahoo News 7 Mar 09;
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama's administration has admitted it would firmly oppose whaling, delighting environmentalists ahead of a key international meeting with pro-whaling Japan.
Anti-whaling campaigners said Obama was signaling a tougher US stance leading into the meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) opening Monday in Rome which is set to look at a controversial compromise proposal.
Japan hunts hundreds of whales a year in the Pacific and Antarctic using a loophole in a 1986 IWC moratorium that allows "lethal research" on the ocean giants. Norway and Iceland defy the moratorium altogether.
"The United States continues to view the commercial whaling moratorium as a necessary conservation measure and believes that lethal scientific whaling is unnecessary in modern whale conservation management," said Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House's Council on Environmental Quality.
She said the Obama administration would wait and see the proposals on the table in Rome but stressed: "It is our view that any package, to be acceptable, must result in a significant improvement in the conservation status of whales."
Japan has repeatedly threatened to leave the IWC if the 84-member body does not shift to what Tokyo believes is its original purpose -- managing a sustainable kill of whales.
Japan's Antarctic whaling missions infuriate nearby Australia and New Zealand and have been dogged by environmental militants, whose harassment has cut down the total catch.
Faced with the deadlock, the US representative to the IWC, William Hogarth, who was appointed by former president George W. Bush, launched a drive to salvage the six-decade-old global body.
In closed-door talks this year in Hawaii, Hogarth -- also the outgoing chairman of the IWC -- floated a compromise to let Japan hunt whales near its coast while scaling down its Antarctic hunts.
But Australia has demanded a complete end to Antarctic whaling. Japan has said it will not halt research whaling but is expected to make its own proposal in Rome that could reduce the number it kills.
US Congressman Nick Rahall, who heads the House Natural Resources Committee and has called for Obama to remove Hogarth, applauded the administration Friday for sending "a strong and timely message" against whaling.
"The United States must stand firm, and serve as a model, in its pursuit to support, encourage and convince countries such as Japan, Iceland and Norway who wish to see commercial whaling continue to join the emerging global consensus for whale conservation in the 21st century," Rahall said.
Paul Kline, oceans campaigner for Greenpeace USA, said the environmental group was "thrilled" with the Obama stance.
"It's great to see the United States putting out a strong position and positioning itself to truly be a world leader in whale conservation, which really supports the broad sentiment across America," he said.
"The past few years US leadership hasn't been there at all and the strongest voice has been taken over by Australia and a block of Latin countries led by Brazil," he said.
Environmentalists argue either that whale stocks are still too low to support a hunt or that it is immoral to kill the giant mammals.
Japan says whaling is a tradition and accuses Westerners of disrespecting its culture.
Despite the whaling stance, Obama has moved quickly to show the US commitment to its alliance with Japan, inviting Prime Minister Taro Aso as the first foreign leader to see him at the White House.
Whaling by Norway and Iceland has drawn less global attention, in part because they hunt closer to home.
But the United States last week denounced Iceland after the island's new left-wing government maintained a decision to go ahead with a sharply higher whaling quota.
• US group to vote in June on destructive fishing gear ban
• 23,000 square miles of coral reefs would be affected
McClatchy newspapers, guardian.co.uk 5 Mar 09;
A few miles from the south-east Florida coast, at a depth of crushing pressure and frigid temperatures, lies an eerie world of snowy coral, undiscovered forms of life and rock towers thrusting through ink-dark water.
Although the deep ocean reefs of the south-eastern United States rose before the pyramids, their existence had only been hinted at by geological evidence until ruggedly built submersibles reached them in the late 1990s. Now, before commercial fishing damages a still-pristine ecosystem, the federal government is considering protecting a stretch of ocean floor from the Florida Keys to North Carolina, an area six times the size of Yellowstone National Park.
The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council plans to vote in June on banning bottom trawls, bottom longlines and other destructive fishing gear across 23,000 square miles, an area thought to encompass the largest deepwater reef system in the world. Although elsewhere such reefs have been mown down by commercial fishing gear, the reefs being considered for protection have sustained little impact from human activities, and the council wants to act before any damage takes place.
"We want to protect these very fragile, vulnerable ecosystems that we know very little about," said Myra Brouwer, a biologist with the Fishery Management Council. "They grow very slowly, and they're thousands of years old."
More remote than the polar ice caps or the Himalayan peaks, the deep ocean has surrendered its secrets slowly. It took the use of submarine-hunting sonar, for example, for scientists in the 1950s to map out the oceans' submerged mountain ranges. And while they suspected the existence of reefs in the ocean depths, they only acquired the tools to study them with the development of deep-diving submersibles, multibeam sonar and remotely operated vehicles.
John Reed, senior scientist at the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Florida Atlantic University, discovered many of the deepwater reefs off Florida riding the submersible Johnson-Sea-Link 2,500 feet below the surface, where no sunlight penetrates and the water temperature drops into the 30s. During undersea trips from Jacksonville to Miami, he counted about 400 coral mounds, one reaching a height of 400 feet, mostly composed of a delicately branched, snow-white coral called Lophelia pertusa. He saw eels, scorpion fish and several examples of the huge sixgill shark, a primitive species that hunts near the surface at night and spends the day in the depths.
During a dive off south-east Florida, he peered through the submersible's acrylic bubble as the craft inched toward the coast. Searchlights swept the black water, revealing only small fish and sandy bottom. But as the craft came within 15 miles of the hotels and condominium towers of Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton, the ocean floor sloped sharply upward, in a rugged, rubble-strewn ascent of more than 1,000 feet.
At the top, about 900 feet below the surface, a lush undersea landscape of sea fans, black corals, sponges and other creatures covered the reef called the Miami Terrace. New species of fish, crab and coral have been found in these reefs, and scientists expect to find many more.
"We really don't understand a lot about the ecology of these deepwater reefs," Reed said. "We're still learning what lives there - what animals, what fish."
Despite encompassing a vast stretch of ocean floor, the plan is not particularly controversial. A small amount of commercial fishing takes place along the periphery of the reef systems, mostly for shrimp and golden crab. The new rule would allow the fishing to continue, although it would freeze the footprint of the golden crab fishery in place.
But a group of recreational fishermen called deep-droppers, who catch fish at depths of 400 feet to 3,000 feet, are worried that the protected zone could be a prelude to restrictions on their activities. Mark Sagerholm, president of the 100 Fathom Fishing Club, said he supports protecting the coral, so long as it doesn't lead to restrictions on deep-dropping.
"Our real concern is any time someone says, 'Hi, I'm from the government and I'm here to help,'" he said. "Even though right now there's no restrictive language against deep-dropping, we're concerned that later restrictive language will be put in."
Unlike famous landscapes such as the South Dakota badlands, Florida Everglades or Amazon rain forest, the reefs of the deep ocean can't be experienced except through photographs and videos. Pressed for an explanation of why we should care about protecting them, scientists talked of the pharmaceuticals that could be developed from deep reef species and spoke of our duty to prevent harm to ecosystems with their own integrity and beauty, whether or not we can see them directly.
"This is a unique ecosystem that occurs right in our backyard, and we should act as stewards," Reed said. "They're very similar to ancient redwood forests. Once they're clear-cut, they're not going to grow back in our lifetimes."
Matthew Brown And John Flesher, Associated Press Yahoo News 6 Mar 09;
BILLINGS, Mont. – Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Friday he was upholding the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision to remove gray wolves from the federal endangered list in the Northern Rockies and the western Great Lakes.
Wolves would remain a federally protected species in Wyoming because the state's law and management plans were not strong enough, he said. But management of the predator will be turned over to state agencies in Montana and Idaho and parts of Washington, Oregon and Utah, in addition to the Great Lakes states of Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The Obama administration had ordered a review of the decision made by the Bush administration shortly before departing. Salazar said he had concluded that dropping the wolf from the list was justified by its strong comeback in the two regions, which together have a population of nearly 5,600 wolves.
"The recovery of the gray wolf throughout significant portions of its historic range is one of the great success stories of the Endangered Species Act," he said in a conference call from Washington, D.C.
Wolves elsewhere in the Lower 48 states remain on the endangered list.
Courts have overturned previous attempts to remove the wolf from the list, and future legal battles appear likely.
Environmental groups immediately pledged a lawsuit over the estimated 1,600 wolves in the Northern Rockies. A federal judge in Missoula, Mont., last year sided with the groups when they filed a lawsuit saying the animal's long-term survival remained at risk, particularly in Wyoming.
The government in January came back with its plan to leave out Wyoming.
"What we had hoped was the new administration would have taken a deep breath and evaluate the science," said Jamie Rappaport Clark, vice president of Defenders of Wildlife and a former Fish and Wildlife Service director under President Bill Clinton.
"Whether it's (Bush Interior Secretary Dirk) Kempthorne or Secretary Salazar, the concern remains the same," she added. "It's the same plan that I fear doesn't protect the wolf's long-term sustainability."
Wyoming's attorney general previously said his state probably would challenge the latest plan in court.
The Fish and Wildlife Service has been unable to agree on a protection plan with Wyoming, which had sought a "predator zone" covering almost 90 percent of the state where wolves could be shot on sight.
"The scientists at the Fish and Wildlife Service do not feel the recovery plan is adequate in Wyoming," Salazar said. He said his department would work with Wyoming to "come up with a joint way forward."
The northern Rocky Mountain wolf segment includes all of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, the eastern third of Washington and Oregon and a small part of north-central Utah.
Idaho and Montana already have crafted plans for public hunts to keep wolf populations in check. There are no immediate plans for hunts in the western Great Lakes, which has nearly 4,000 wolves.
Idaho Gov. C.L. Butch Otter on Friday repeated his desire to get the first available wolf hunting tag in the state so he can try to shoot one of the animals.
"The fish and game population is really counting on a robust population of trophy animals to maintain that part of our economy," he said.
___
Associated Press writers Matt Joyce in Cheyenne, Wyo., and Sarah D. Wire in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this report.
(This version corrects estimated number of wolf population in Northern Rockies.)
Yahoo News 6 Mar 09;
MANILA (AFP) – The Philippines has banned a pesticide widely used in pineapple plantations, the government said Friday, citing public safety concerns.
Environment Secretary Lito Atienza said he had ordered the immediate temporary ban on the importation, distribution and use of endosulfan, a highly toxic synthetic pesticide used on food and non-food crops.
"Our overriding concern is the safety of our people, especially the pesticide applicators, and the environment," Atienza said in a statement without giving specific details.
Endosulfan can be absorbed through the skin and cause skin irritations but can quickly pass through the body in small doses.
The department's spokeswoman, Marissa Cruz, said the ban was imposed after concerns were raised following a passenger ferry capsizing last year carrying a consignment of the deadly pesticide.
"The department has held a number of consultations with non-government organisations, the private sector, civil society and Senate," she said.
The Princess of the Stars capsized near the central island of Romblon in the central Philippines at the height of Typhoon Fengshen on June 21 last year.
Only 58 of the 850 passengers and crew survived the disaster.
There were fears at the time that the pesticide, which has since been removed, would leak out and poison local waters and fishing grounds.
The department said the fertilizer authority outlawed the use of endosulfan in 1993 but lifted the ban in 1995 to control the spread of diseases that were threatening the pineapple industry.
"Alternatives to endosulfan that are less toxic and environment-friendly are now available," the department said, without elaborating.
Yahoo News 6 Mar 09;
KINSHASA (AFP) – Democratic Republic of Congo authorities have signaled their intention to reverse forest reforms and expand industrial logging, a statement from major environmental groups said Friday.
"Congolese government authorities are ... signalling their intent to backtrack on decisions and expand industrial logging activities in the DRC," a statement from Global Witness, Greenpeace and Rainforest Foundation said.
"Such a move would ... demonstrate a disregard for the rights of local communities, undermine efforts to reduce deforestation and degradation and thwart opportunities for the DRC to benefit from climate-related payments."
Countries such as the DR Congo may be able to benefit from a UN forest programme aimed at fighting climate change.
The organisations urged international donors to work to prevent the reversal of forest sector reforms.
In January, Global Witness hailed the Congolese government for cancelling a raft of logging contracts but warned it needs to do more to ensure forest wealth benefits its people.
The organisation, which combats the corrupt exploitation of natural resources, said that despite the decision to revoke the contracts, the government's control over the forestry sector remained "extremely weak".
It was responding to a January decision to cancel some 60 percent of all contracts with logging companies, and convert others into long term concessions which are subject to strict social and environmental rules.
The decision followed a lengthy review of timber contracts aimed at stamping out corruption in the sector.
DR Congo contains the world's second largest forested area after the Amazon and exports 200,000 cubic metres of timber annually.
But of the 49 million dollars (37 million euros) generated in foreign revenue, the government receives only 1.8 million in taxes and duties.
David Fogarty, Reuters 6 Mar 09;
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The financial crisis has slashed industrial output and trade but it will be months before there is an accurate picture of how much the downturn has curbed greenhouse gas emissions, two leading scientists said on Friday.
Preliminary data from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows carbon dioxide levels rose last year to a global average of 384.9 parts per million, an increase of 2.2 ppm over 2007.
But since then, the financial crisis has deepened, and analysts have been hoping the long-term growth in emissions will slow or stall now that many big economies are in recession.
So far though, preliminary trends do not show this and it could be 2010 before an accurate picture emerges.
"To see the effect of this recession, if it's reducing emissions, I'd say it would take one to two years to see that signal properly in the atmosphere. I don't think we've seen any signal yet," said Paul Fraser of Australia's state-backed Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
CSIRO runs one of a global network of monitoring stations that measure atmospheric concentrations of planet-warning greenhouse gases including CO2, methane and nitrous oxide. California-based Scripps Institution of Oceanography is also part of the network.
CAPE GRIM
Measurements are done about every two hours at the site at Cape Grim in the far southern Australian state of Tasmania.
"You already have a huge bank of these gases in the atmosphere so the changes you're making to the emissions each year have a relatively small impact on current concentrations," said Fraser, chief research scientist at CSIRO's division of Marine and Atmospheric Research in Melbourne.
"You're looking for subtle changes and there are lots of process that can contribute to those and sometimes it takes years to see the underlying pattern that you might think should have been there earlier," he told Reuters.
A major task was filtering out "synoptic noise" from weather patterns moving the gases around locally and across the planet.
He said his team studying the stream of data from Cape Grim regularly checked for trends.
"We keep saying one of the huge drivers of these CO2 increases is the 1 to 2 percent growth that's been going on for a long time in the global economy and clearly that's not happening at the moment.
"So you would expect to see a signal, yes. I just don't know how quickly we can resolve that from the noise."
Preliminary data from a NOAA monitoring station at Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii shows CO2 levels at 386.66 ppm in January this year, compared with 385.16 ppm a year earlier and 382.62 ppm in January 2007.
Ralph Keeling, director of Scripps' CO2 program, said stopping a CO2 rise would require roughly a 57 percent drop in fuel emissions.
"What we would expect to see eventually is a slowing in the rise of CO2 tied to the reduction in emissions, not a cessation of the rise," he told Reuters in an email.
"But it will probably take a year or more to clearly pick out this change. Our records suggest that CO2 is still rising, as expected."
(Editing by Alex Richardson)
Pete Harrison, Reuters 6 Mar 09;
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an audience Friday "never waste a good crisis," and highlighted the opportunity of rebuilding economies in a greener, less energy-intensive way.
Highlighting Europe's unease the day after Russia warned that gas flows via Ukraine might be halted, she also condemned the use of energy as a political lever.
Clinton told young Europeans at the European Parliament that global economic turmoil provided a fresh opening. "Never waste a good crisis ... Don't waste it when it can have a very positive impact on climate change and energy security," she said.
Europe sees the United States as a crucial ally in global climate talks in Copenhagen in December, after President Barack Obama signaled a new urgency in tackling climate change, in stark contrast to his predecessor George W. Bush.
Europe has already laid out plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions to about a fifth below 1990 levels in the next decade, while Obama has proposed a major shift toward renewable energy and a cap and trade system for CO2 emissions.
But with many countries in the grip of a punishing recession, some question whether businesses can muster the hundreds of billions of dollars needed to cut carbon emissions.
"Certainly the United States has been negligent in living up to its responsibilities," said Clinton, on her first visit to Europe as secretary of state.
"This is a propitious time ... we can actually begin to demonstrate our willingness to confront this."
Clinton said she was encouraged by China's stance on climate change during a visit there last month.
"It is very important that at the beginning of this effort, China has expressed a willingness to participate," she told reporters. "They realize they've just surpassed the unfortunate record that we just held of being the largest carbon emitter."
POLITICAL LEVER
Many politicians argue that the economic crisis, energy security issues and climate change can all be dealt with in a "New Green Deal," replacing high-carbon infrastructure with green alternatives and simultaneously creating millions of jobs.
"There is no doubt in my mind the energy security and climate change crises, which I view as being together, not separate, must be dealt with," Clinton added.
She attacked the use of energy as a political weapon, echoing Europe's worries after repeated spats between Russia and gas transit country Ukraine hit EU supplies in recent years.
"We are ... troubled by using energy as a tool of intimidation," she said. "We think that's not in the interest of creating a better and better functioning energy system."
Clinton is set to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for dinner in Geneva in the hope of improving relations after a post-Cold War low during Bush's presidency.
The latest cuts to Russian gas exports in January forced the closure of factories, hospitals and schools in Eastern Europe in mid-winter.
A new row between Ukraine and Russia appeared to have been averted Thursday after state-owned Gazprom said Ukraine settled payments at the heart of the disagreement.
But European leaders were rattled by the warning of cuts to supply by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
(Additional reporting by Anne Jolis; Editing by David Brunnstrom and Charles Dick)
U.S. needs to do more on climate: EU official
Reuters 6 Mar 09;
LONDON (Reuters) - The United States must make deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions than proposed by President Barack Obama if the world is to stand a chance of avoiding devastating climate change, an EU official said.
Jos Delbeke, the European Commission's deputy director-general of the environment, said a goal of bringing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions back to 1990 levels by 2020, set by Obama last month, will probably not be enough.
"I doubt whether that will bring us to the average required by developed countries," he told Reuters on Friday. "We in Europe would hope the U.S. will do more than stabilization of 1990 levels. I will not hide that."
Scientists say global emissions must stabilize by 2015, then fall by some 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050 if the world is to keep temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius.
A rise of over 2 degrees may trigger widespread flooding, droughts, disease and famine, United Nations scientists said.
The 27-nation European Union has committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, upping that target to 30 percent if a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol climate pact is signed.
"The EU's position is that developed countries, as a group, must cut 30 percent below 1990 levels by 2020," Delbeke told a clean energy conference held by analysts New Energy Finance.
With its carbon dioxide emissions rising nearly 20 percent since 1990, the United States is the most polluting developed country.
Stabilization of U.S. emissions at 1990 levels in 2020 would make it near impossible for developed countries to reach the EU's 30 percent group target.
Delbeke said although the U.S. target falls short of what is required, he remains hopeful.
"This was an important first step ... I understand that this is just the opening of discussions and not their last word."
CARBON TRADING
The European Union has adopted a cap-and-trade approach, which involves setting a cap on emissions then allocating a corresponding number of carbon permits that participants can trade amongst each other.
Delbeke advised the United States against wasting time by considering different methods of putting a price on carbon dioxide, including the idea of a government-imposed carbon tax.
"Please do not lose time on the carbon tax debate," he said. "We lost almost a decade before we came to cap-and-trade, and if we would have started it earlier it would have been a major step forward."
Last week, Obama indicated he favored cap-and-trade by including in his budget $646 billion in future revenues from permit auctions to be held between 2012-2019.
Europe launched its cap-and-trade scheme in 2005 but design flaws have caused carbon prices to fluctuate wildly.
In the latest market trend, cash-strapped firms in Europe began dumping 2008 permits late last year to raise short-term funds, with a view to borrowing from their 2009 quota.
As a result, EU carbon prices have plummeted some 75 percent from a 2-year high of 30 euros a metric ton ($37.93) hit last July.
This has prompted some analysts to call for EU intervention, possibly by setting a minimum price floor, a reserve price for permit auctions, or reducing the permits issued in future years.
"We are reticent to go into price management ... The (emissions) cap that was agreed creates a stable regulatory environment," he said, referring to 2013-2020 EU climate targets agreed by member states in December.
(Reporting by Michael Szabo; Editing by Anthony Barker)
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