Mangroves of Kranji Canal
from wild shores of singapore blog and blooming Buta-buta
Life History of the Malayan
on the Butterflies of Singapore blog
WildLife of the week!
on the Biodiversity Singapore blog
Oriental Pied Hornbill sunbathing
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog
Bill diversity of shorebirds and food competition
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog
Octopod
on the annotated budak blog
The Straits Times: old articles (1845-1982) now searchable
on Otterman speaks
Will we be last of the Mohicans?
Without more babies, Singapore must take on new citizens, PRs and challenges that they bring
Leong Wee Keat and Lin Yanqin, Today Online 21 Mar 09;
EVEN after the millions spent on Baby Bonuses and other parenthood incentives, policy-makers are confounded by a problem that goes to the very heart of survival: Singaporeans are still not reproducing themselves.
And on Friday, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew reflected on this challenge :at the National University of Singapore Society’s (NUSS) dialogue on “Singapore and Singaporeans: A Quarter Century From Now”.
In Singapore, he said, it is becoming a “lifestyle choice” for women past the age of 30 to stay single as they are well-travelled and have no one to worry about.
“My daughter is one of them. What can I do? When she was in her early 30s, my wife used to tell her, what you want is a ‘MRS’. She did not think it was funny.
“Now she is 50-plus, her mother is bedridden, I’m on a pacemaker, I got this rambling house. Everything is looked after now. What happens if we are both not there?...
“She says, “I’ll look after myself’. But we know she has not been looking after herself all these years. When she went to Boston for training, her cooking was to just to put her salmon into the microwave.”
Mr Lee added: “But that’s life. It’s a choice that she has made, and a choice that 30 per cent of our women are making. Who am I to complain? Society lives with the consequences it is making.”
The problem that this trend creates: “Without new citizens and permanent residents, we are going to be the last of the Mohicans. We are going to disappear”.
But immigrants bring their own challenges to a society.
Some Singaporean parents have complained about migrants entering schools and competing with local children. He urged parents: “Would you want them to compete against you or with you as part of the team? If you don’t have them with you as part of your team, they will be on the Chinese and Indian team.”
Some of these migrant students, he acknowledged, use Singapore as a stepping stone to other countries. So “why are we so stupid” in allowing this?
“Because more than half (of these students) do not make the grade to go to America, and the second tier is not bad for us.”
Singapore needs to draw from a big talent pool beyond its own shores, “so that we can continue to punch above our weight. No other way”.
“Would you want the pie to grow? You want a small pie with your children taking the last portion, or a big pie where you get a bigger portion, even though the talented person may get a bigger slice? That’s life. If you are afraid of talent, you will not succeed.”
One catch he foresees: Even as the second generation of today’s immigrants become more Singaporean, one dubious habit they might also adopt, is to have only one child.
“So we got to make this breakthrough, otherwise we are going to have a constant problem.
“We got to get people to realise that if we don’t have 2.1 (babies) to replace ourselves, we are always dependent.”
Earlier in the evening,Mr Lee officially opened the new NUS Alumni Complex, which comprises the redeveloped NUSS Kent Ridge Guild House and Shaw Foundation Alumni House.
We can't be like the Last of the Mohicans
MM Lee highlights dilemma of Singapore's low birth rate and need for talent
Lee U-Wen, Business Times 21 Mar 09;
ONE constant worry on Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's mind these days is babies - specifically, a shortage of them.
The country's poor birth rate of just 1.29 is a problem, he said, and unless that figure can move up to the replaceable level of 2.1, there is a fear that foreigners in Singapore could well make up the majority of the population in time to come.
But at the same time, the Republic's hands are tied as, like most countries around the world, it cannot prosper without the contributions of foreign talent in society.
'We are caught in a bind. We have got to decide that this is our country, our society and we must remain the majority. Yes, we will take in immigrants, but we must be the majority, otherwise they will change us,' he said yesterday as he mapped out his vision for Singapore in the next 25 years.
He was speaking in a 75-minute dialogue organised in conjunction with the official opening of the National University of Singapore Society's new alumni complex at its Kent Ridge campus.
'I think 25 years from now, Singapore will be more cosmopolitan. There are many people from China, India, Malaysia; we have European children doing National Service. Their parents have come here, seen that this is a nice place, and have chosen to stay here because we offer equal opportunities,' he said.
What puzzles Mr Lee, however, is why Singaporeans are still not reproducing even with various incentives such as baby bonuses and the provision of top-quality child care.
He cited a number of worrying statistics: many Singaporean women are marrying later, well into their 30s, with some not tying the knot at all. About a third of male Singaporean graduates also choose to remain single.
'Maybe their standards are too high,' he said to much laughter from his audience of academics, policymakers, government officials and students. 'The same is happening in China. Even in Japan, the women are not marrying. And this creates a problem for us, and without new citizens or PRs, we are going to be like the Last of the Mohicans.'
Turning to another big worry - the global economic crisis - Mr Lee said that Singapore's economic growth model will still largely remain focused on exports even when the world makes a recovery. Singapore does not have a big domestic market, and has to rely mainly on exports, to the extent that its imports and exports are 'the highest in the world' as a percentage of gross domestic product.
'The optimistic scenario is that two to three years pass and we are out of this. At the worst, four to six years. The IMF (International Monetary Fund) and World Bank have said that Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan are all going to be hit, because we are export-dependent. But when recovery takes place, we know we are going to bounce back,' he said.
As far as Singapore's political future is concerned, the Minister Mentor said that he would not be perturbed if an opposition government comes into power in future. Rather, he would be more concerned over whether the people forming that new ruling party had the right mix of integrity, ability, experience and a willingness to do what is necessary for the country, and not for their personal interests.
As the dialogue drew to a close, Mr Lee once again stressed the fact that Singapore had to be 'sufficiently flexible and imaginative' as the world changes. And to fit in well would require a steady stream of talented people, both local and foreign.
'We will make Singapore a city that offers opportunities to all, and rewards everybody according to their contributions. There will be no discrimination,' he said. 'This will bring a lot of talent here. Can we do this? Yes, we can. Will it cause discomfort? Sure. Will it be right in the end? Yes.'
Singaporeans could not afford to be 'afraid' of talent, because not embracing them would hinder the country's progress, he said.
They sign petition urging NParks to let 32-year-old facility in East Coast stay in business
Estelle Low, Straits Times 22 Mar 09;
Long-time customers of Parkland Golf Driving Range are swinging hard into action.
Upset that the facility closed on Friday after a run of about 32 years, some 200 golfers have signed a petition urging the National Parks Board (NParks) to let it stay in business.
The public driving range in East Coast Parkway, which was built in 1977, was due to shut down last October. However, the lease was extended to last Friday to allow leaseholder Pan-West more time to make new plans, an NParks spokesman said.
'We have decided to take the opportunity to reconfigure the area to free up some park space, and to bring in new recreational activities that can better complement the coastal character of the park,' the spokesman added.
The spokesman noted that there are 'similar facilities in the vicinity like the Marina Bay Golf Course'. Plans for the site are being finalised.
The organiser of the petition is Mr Stephen Ong, 58, who has been a Parkland patron for 30 years.
'I feel very sentimental about it because this is where many golfers in Singapore and I started playing golf. It is the meeting place for us and where we forged strong friendships,' said the owner of Eagle Golfing Network, which organises golf events and tournaments.
When The Sunday Times visited the site at 11pm last Friday, over 30 golfers and their families were still present and reluctant to leave.
Despite the no-frills ambience compared to newer ranges, patrons said they were sad over the decision to close the range.
Operations manager Mohamed Fadir Mohamed Ali, 42, who visited the place almost every day in the last five years, said: 'This is my second home. The people here are all very friendly - it reminds me of my kampung days.'
The driving range also used to house eateries such as the Singa Inn seafood restaurant and Artz Pizza, a pizza joint.
But golf was the main draw and two farewell parties were held on Thursday and Friday at the range.
Jamie Ee Wen Wei, Straits Times 21 Mar 09;
Singapore is in the midst of a region largely expected to be 'ground zero' for the next disease pandemic.
That is why the Government is making serious efforts to tackle infectious diseases, said the permanent secretary for health, Ms Yong Ying-I, at the opening yesterday of a conference on the genetics and genomics of infectious diseases.
The keynote speaker at the four-day international event, she said Singapore's brush with infectious diseases - most notably the Sars epidemic in 2003 - makes the threat not just a 'theoretical one, but a very real one'.
'One of my own friends, who headed the Intensive Care Unit at one of our hospitals, caught the disease from a patient and almost died,' said Ms Yong, who was the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) at the time.
'I was one of those government leaders who said 'never again.''
More recently, the resurgence of dengue and chikungunya has been worrying.
In the first two months of this year, 1,102 people came down with dengue fever. Another 211 people were infected with chikungunya, which struck Singapore for the first time in January last year.
Ms Yong said that life sciences research was one of the areas the Government is developing to deal with the potential threat.
She highlighted several key efforts that are currently under way.
One is the merging of university and hospital campuses into academic medical centres under a unified governance structure. One such example is the merger of the National University of Singapore School of Medicine and the National University Hospital.
The Government has also allocated substantial grants to support clinical research and translational - the so-called 'bench to bedside' - research.
One example is the $25 million flagship grant awarded to a collaboration involving the Genome Institute of Singapore, three hospitals, the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases and some other agencies.
This consortium is studying the genetic epidemiology of dengue and aims to improve clinical management and develop new preventive measures and medicines.
Ms Yong said the economic downturn will not affect the Government's commitment or funding to build capabilities in this area.
ABC 21 Mar 09;
There are calls for a natural disaster to be declared over half of the Great Barrier Reef because of damage caused by Cyclone Hamish.
Queensland commercial fishing operators say most of the fish have disappeared from between Bowen and the Wide Bay because of damage caused by the last month's category five storm.
Neil Green from the Queensland Seafood Industry Association says he expects the disaster declaration to be made early next week after speaking to State Government ministers last night.
He says more than 1,000 jobs are at stake.
"Half the reef has been completely overturned from Bowen South. It'll affect tourism, it'll affect certainly commercial fishers - about 50 per cent or 300 jobs are at risk with 30 guys put off yesterday," he said.
"There's just nothing left out there to fish on."
He says the damage is having a similar effect to Cyclone Larry's destruction of banana farms three years ago.
"We've had our boats out there working this week for the first time after the cyclone and people with 20 years experience can't recognise the damage being done," he said.
"Their catches where they'd catch 150 fish a day have been down to five fish a day."
The Department of Primary Industries says such a disaster declaration would be a first.
But director-general Jim Groves says the circumstances are unusual.
"This is what we call a quota management fishery. These fishermen, some of them have actually paid to go and catch these fish so they've paid for a right they no longer have because of a natural disaster, so that's what makes it different to past events," he said.
Many firms, folks committed to 'lights off' bid
Koh Lay Chin, New Straits Times 22 Mar 09;
IT will be Malaysia's first Earth Hour try next Saturday at 8.30pm, and how will it stack up against other countries' inaugural attempts? Will Malaysians turn off their switches?
Judging by the endorsements from the government, the private sector and the public in the months leading up to next week's one-hour "blackout", the effort may be one to be proud of.
As more companies and ministries pledge their support to Earth Hour, promotional videos and materials have been making their rounds in newspapers, television, radio and cyberspace.
Thousands of individuals have signed up online, such as on the Earth Hour website and Facebook.
World Wide Fund For Nature-Malaysia (WWF Malaysia), which is spearheading the initiative, is pleased with the co-operation and support from so many quarters.
The individuals and corporations have willingly donated their time, talents and resources without asking for a penny, says WWF Malaysia Earth Hour project manager Devan Subramaniam.
"There are a lot of good folks out there. We had a limited budget but we got (advertising agency) Leo Burnett and (director and Earth Hour ambassador) Yasmin Ahmad onboard quickly. The government's support also came very easily," he said.
Iconic landmarks in Kuala Lumpur such as the Kuala Lumpur City Centre, the Sultan Abdul Samad building and Kuala Lumpur Tower have promised to honour Earth Hour. The lights on Penang Bridge will also be turned off.
Penang, Shah Alam, Kota Kinabalu and the Federal Territories are committed to the "lights off" move, which aims to promote environmental awareness and is a symbol of the fight against global warming.
The impressive list of corporate organisations on board include Media Prima Bhd, HSBC Amanah Bhd, PricewaterhouseCoopers, YTL Corporation Berhad and major hotels such as Mandarin Oriental Hotel KL and Hilton KL, as well as Klang Valley's major shopping malls.
But as the pledges of support continue to roll in, some quarters have expressed misgivings about the endeavour, calling it merely a symbolic affair or publicity stunt which has to be supported by actual efforts for the environment.
"I don't want to sound like a spoilsport, but this is all a little cliched. Some people may turn off their lights for an hour but will leave their air-conditioners on unnecessarily, wash their cars three times a week and waste paper," says engineer Anne Tan.
She says she will support Earth Hour, but hopes for more concrete green efforts.
Flashes of cynicism from the public are normal for new efforts such as Earth Hour, says Devan, but they must understand that the symbolic act is intended to spread awareness.
"There are a lot of sceptics out there, but we are not interested in them. We are interested in getting people to rethink environmental matters.
"If we can change the perception of 10 per cent of the people taking part in this, we have achieved our target."
The goal is to make Earth Hour a platform to think about green issues such as recycling, he adds.
Straits Times 22 Apr 09;
Kuala Lumpur - Conservationists have slammed plans to create a tiger park on Malaysia's resort island of Penang, warning yesterday that the project would be too expensive to maintain and could lead to illegal wildlife trade.
The Penang government recently proposed setting up a 40ha tiger park to boost tourism, a key revenue-earner for the northern state.
But the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers said the country already has 40 zoos and that maintaining them is already a challenge for the authorities.
It also warned that some reserves - like the Harbin Siberian Tiger Park and Guilin Tiger Park, both in China - are essentially farms that breed thousands of tigers and have been implicated in the illegal killing and sale of their animals.
The group added that the plan also violates the federal government's commitment to protect and increase wild tiger populations.
Illegal hunting and the destruction of natural jungle habitat have reduced Malaysia's wild tiger population from 3,000 to 500 in the last half-century.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng promised yesterday his government will consider all public views before making a final decision.
APa
Malaysia tiger park plan attacked
BBC News 21 Mar 09;
Conservationists have attacked a Malaysian plan to set up a tiger park on the resort island of Penang.
Wildlife groups say the park would violate the government's pledge to double the population of wild tigers.
Penang's government recently proposed creating a 100 acre (40 hectare) tiger park to attract tourists.
Illegal hunting and destruction of the tigers' jungle habitat has reduced Malaysia's wild tiger population from 3,000 to 500 in the last 50 years.
The Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers said the country already had 40 zoos and that maintaining them was posing a challenge to authorities.
In a letter to the Penang government, the alliance said that tiger reserves in China similar to the Malaysian proposal were little more than farms to breed tigers.
They have been implicated in the illegal trade in tiger parts, the alliance said.
It also pointed to the expense of maintaining tigers in captivity.
The group said the project would violate a federal government commitment to protect jungle corridors in order to double the wild tiger population to 1,000 by 2020.
Procurement issues
Conservation group WWF-Malaysia said the issue of procuring tigers for the proposed park was problematic.
"Wild tigers cannot be removed from their natural habitat as they are protected under the Protection of Wild Life Act," said Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma, WWF-Malaysia's chief executive officer.
"Tigers caught due to human-tiger conflict incidents are currently managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Departments at the Malacca Zoo while importing tigers from other countries would require a CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) permit," the Malaysian Star newspaper quoted him as saying.
Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has said the island needs a new eco-tourism project to attract more visitors but pledged that all public views would be considered before a final decision was made.
Although Malayan tigers have been protected by wildlife laws since the early 1970s, their numbers have been hit by demand for their meat and for body parts, which are sometimes used in traditional Chinese medicine.
Malaysia's tropical forests are home to a wide range of threatened animals, including orang-utans, Borneo sun bears, Sumatran rhinoceroses and pygmy elephants.
CM defends tiger park idea
Looi Sue-Chern, The Star 21 Mar 09;
GEORGE TOWN: Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has defended his proposal to start a tiger park in Relau, saying that the state needed a new eco-tourism project.
“Some people have suggested a zoo but it is not economical to have one presently. The people, especially children, are generally interested in big animals. The ‘wow’ factor is there,” he said when asked to elaborate on his idea.
Lim had announced that the state government planned to create a tiger park on a 40ha plot owned by the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) known as the Pondok Durian Cap Kaki.
He said Penang, in its pursuit to become an international city, should have such a park as most international cities had zoos.
The park could have a few other animals but it would mainly feature tigers which symbolised bravery and dynamism, he added.
“It will be a private-driven project and a tender will be called if the state government goes ahead with the plan.
“Currently the state is collecting public feedback. Those who want to contribute ideas or suggestions can write to the state government in Komtar or the MPPP,” he added.
The project, he said, would also help the state government and the MPPP tackle illegal farming activities at the proposed site.
It was reported earlier that the proposal had received negative feedback from the public and several non-governmental organisations like the Malaysian Nature Society Penang branch. They are concerned about the safety issues and felt that the state should concentrate on promoting Penang’s heritage, culture and arts.
Meanwhile, Penang National Park and Wildlife Department director Noor Alif Wira Osman said the state government and private parties involved in the project would have to iron out legal problems if the plan goes ahead.
He said it was not like setting up a bird park.
“The location for the park must be suitable. The safety around the tiger enclosures and surrounding areas is also a main priority,” he said, adding that the care for the tigers would also be subjected to close monitoring by the department.
“There are strict guidelines to follow to get the permit,” he said.
Antara 21 Mar 09;
Bengkulu (ANTARA News) - Wild elephants in Bengkulu province are under threat of extinction because illegal loggers and land squatters have begun to operate in areas close to the Seblat Elephant Training Center in North Bengkulu district, a local nature conservation official said.
If the illegal activities were not stopped soon, the forest corridor linking the Elephant Training Center with the Kerinci Seblat National Park would be breached and the habitat of elephants under the center`s care destroyed, Andi Basral, head of Bengkulu`s Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), said on Friday through Aswan Bangun, coordinator of the Seblat Elephants Training Center.
"We can do little to overcome the illegal activities because of lack of support from the local law-enforcing agencies," Bangun said.
The BKSDA had the authority to act against the illegal loggers and squatters but the agency`s personnel were limited in number and could therefore not achieve much, he added.
Bangun said about 1,500 heactares of the 6,865-hectare forest-covered zone belonging to the Seblat Elephant Training Center were now in seriously damaged condition because of the illegal activities.
The Seblat Elephant Training Center could only be saved if the local administration, including law-enforcing agencies, took part in efforts to protect the center and the elephants` habitat, Bangun said.
In the past, he said, he had asked for and received assistance from the local forestry service and police to drive away the illegal loggers and squatters but it was only temporary.
"When they (illegal loggers and squatters) get wind of an imminent joint operation against them, they cease their activities but as soon as the officers have gone, they are at it again," he said.
If the illegal activities were not halted, the elephants` habitat would gradually disappear
and leave the protected animals nowhere to live.
Bangun said he believed 85 percent of Bengkulu`s wild elephant population was living outside the center and the Kerinci Seblat National Park but did not know exactly how many wild elephants there were in Bengkulu province. (*)
Yahoo News 21 Mar 09;
OTTAWA (AFP) – Environmental groups on Saturday condemned Canada's decision to boost its annual quota for seal hunting, warning that with an expected European ban on any seal products the increase makes little sense.
The Canadian government authorized Friday the hike in seal killing to 280,000 on the Atlantic seaboard, amounting to around a third of the number killed annually worldwide.
The figure is up 5,000 from a year earlier, and up 10,000 from 2007. The new quota is still 55,000 less than in 2006.
"This quota flies in the face of the best available science and common sense," said Rebecca Aldworth, director of the Canadian branch of Humane Society International.
"The last time Canada allowed this many seals to be killed, the harp seal population was reduced by as much as two thirds within a decade," she said in a statement.
"At a time when the Canadian government should be taking action to preserve harp seals, it instead seems determined to wipe them out."
Canada is home to the world's largest annual commercial seal hunt.
According to European animal rights group Equanimal, over 40 percent of the seals killed last year were still alive when they were skinned.
Equanimal has said it wants to pressure the European Parliament on the issue, as it is due to decide next month whether to impose a complete ban on seal products in the 27-member bloc.
The new quota for the "dangerous, dead-end industry" that is the seal hunt is "completely indefensible," according to Sheryl Fink, senior researcher at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
"It's not supported by markets, it's not supported by the DFO's (Department of Fisheries and Oceans) own management plan, and it's certainly not going to be supported by the majority of Canadians," she said.
"There are no markets for seal products, and with a potential European-wide ban on the horizon, no signs that the economic outlook is going to improve anytime soon."
IUCN 21 Mar 09;
Ministers at the World Water Forum need to pay more attention to the environment if they want to solve the world’s water crisis, according to IUCN.
“Governments have to realize that nature has a vital role to play in giving people clean drinking water, food and livelihoods,” says Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Director General of IUCN. “We don’t want an engineered agenda. If we invest in the natural environment we will see countless benefits – and leave a better world for future generations.”
More than 900 million people around the world lack access to a safe and adequate water supply and two-thirds of the world's population will face water shortages by 2025.
“The situation is only going to get worse in the face of the growing threats posed by climate change,” says Mark Smith, Head of IUCN’s Water Programme. “But if we look after the world’s river basins, lakes and wetlands, we stand a better chance of being able to cope with the effects of global warming. These areas can act as shields to help protect us from floods and store precious drinking water.”
Pressure on water resources is increasing rapidly as the world’s population grows, nature is destroyed and households, agriculture, industry and power generation demand more water.
“We need to find ways to make sure that everybody gets their fair share of water – but at the same time, make sure that the environment doesn’t miss out,” adds Smith. “The message from Istanbul is clear. As ministers prepare for the key climate change conference this December in Copenhagen, they must make sure water is firmly on the climate change agenda.”
“The end of the world isn’t nigh but it will be dry if nothing is done to protect this most precious of resources,” adds Marton-Lefèvre. “In this time of economic crises, IUCN calls on business leaders and governments to invest in nature as the best way of promoting a healthy economic future.”
Yahoo News 21 Mar 09;
ISTANBUL (AFP) – A global ministerial meeting was putting the final touches here Saturday to resolutions for tackling the world's water crisis but activists attacked the process as a corporate-driven fraud.
The communique to be issued by more than 100 countries on World Water Day on Sunday climaxes a seven-day gathering on how to provide clean water and sanitation for billions and resolve worsening water stress and pollution.
"The world is facing rapid and unprecedented global changes, including population growth, migration, urbanisation, climate change, desertification, drought, degradation and land use, economic and diet changes," according to a draft seen by AFP.
The document, which is non-binding, spells out a consensus for boosting cooperation to ease trans-boundary disputes over water, preventing pollution and tackling drought and floods.
It also describes access to safe drinking water and sanitation as "a basic human need." France, Spain and several Latin American countries were striving to beef up this reference, from "need" to "right," a change that could have legal ramifications.
But campaigners representing the rural poor, the environment and organised labour blasted the communique as a sideshow, stage-managed for corporations who are major contributors to the World Water Council, which organises the Forum.
Maude Barlow, senior advisor to the president of the UN General Assembly, said the Forum promoted privatisation of resources by "the lords of water" and excluded dissident voices.
She called for the meeting to be placed under the UN flag.
"We demand that the allocation of water be decided in an open, transparent and democratic forum rather than in a trade show for the world's large corporations," Barlow told a press conference.
David Boys, with an NGO called Public Services International, said "transparency, accountability and participation" were absent from the Forum, and dismissed the ministerial statement as "vapid."
Around 880 million people do not have access to decent sources of drinking water, while 2.5 billion people do not have access to proper sanitation, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in a report on Tuesday.
By 2030, the number of people living under severe water stress is expected to rise to 3.9 billion, a tally that does not include the impacts of global warming, according to the OECD.
The World Water Council, based in the southern French city of Marseille, holds the World Water Forum every three years. The Istanbul conference, the fifth in the series, drew a record more than 25,000 participants, and registrations from at least 27,000.
The Council's website says it is funded by more than 300 member organisations from 60 countries, including water utilities, governments, hydrological institutions and associations involved in research, environment and education.
Its president, Loic Fauchon, rejected charges of elitism and exclusion.
"Everyone is invited, and in any case, everyone comes these days," he told AFP.
He added: "If it (the Forum) were organised by the United Nations, it would lose its characteristic of being open to all. In a UN conference, not everyone who wants to come can participate. In the World Water Forum, anyone can take part."
The Istanbul Forum has focussed overwhelmingly on issues of policymaking and includes a big trade fair by water utilities and engineering firms.
It has also staged side events on issues of civil society, but to a far smaller degree than in other big environmental meetings.
Grassroots campaigners have complained of high registration fees, of geographical separation from the main conference events and of overbearing security.
Feinstein seeks block solar power from desert land
Kevin Freking, Associated Press Yahoo News 21 Mar 09;
WASHINGTON – California's Mojave Desert may seem ideally suited for solar energy production, but concern over what several proposed projects might do to the aesthetics of the region and its tortoise population is setting up a potential clash between conservationists and companies seeking to develop renewable energy.
Nineteen companies have submitted applications to build solar or wind facilities on a parcel of 500,000 desert acres, but Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Friday such development would violate the spirit of what conservationists had intended when they donated much of the land to the public.
Feinstein said Friday she intends to push legislation that would turn the land into a national monument, which would allow for existing uses to continue while preventing future development.
The Wildlands Conservancy orchestrated the government's purchase of the land between 1999-2004. It negotiated a discount sale from the real estate arm of the former Santa Fe and Southern Pacific Railroad and then contributed $40 million to help pay for the purchase. David Myers, the conservancy's executive director, said the solar projects would do great harm to the region's desert tortoise population.
"It would destroy the entire Mojave Desert ecosystem," said David Myers, executive director of The Wildlands Conservancy.
Feinstein said the lands in question were donated or purchased with the intent that they would be protected forever. But the Bureau of Land Management considers the land now open to all types of development, except mining. That policy led the state to consider large swaths of the land for future renewable energy production.
"This is unacceptable," Feinstein said in a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar. "I urge you to direct the BLM to suspend any further consideration of leases to develop former railroad lands for renewable energy or for any other purpose."
In a speech last year, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger complained about environmental concerns slowing down the approval of solar plants in California.
"If we cannot put solar power plants in the Mojave desert, I don't know where the hell we can put it," Schwarzenegger said at Yale University.
But Karen Douglas, chairman of the California Energy Commission, said Feinstein's proposal could be a "win-win" for energy and conservation. The governor's office said Douglas was speaking on the administration's behalf.
"The opportunity we see in the Feinstein bill is to jump-start our own efforts to find the best sites for development and to come up with a broader conservation plan that mitigates the impact of the development," Douglas said.
Douglas said that if the national monument lines were drawn without consideration of renewable energy then a conflict was likely, but it's early enough in the planning process that she's confident the state will be able to get more solar and wind projects up and running without hurting the environment.
"We think we can do both," Douglas said. "We think this is an opportunity to accelerate both."
Greg Miller of the Bureau of Land Management said there are 14 solar energy and five wind energy projects that have submitted applications seeking to develop on what's referred to as the former Catellus lands. None of the projects are close to being approved, he said.
The land lies in the southeast corner of California, between the existing Mojave National Preserve on the north and Joshua Tree National Park on the south.
"They all have to go through a rigorous environmental analysis now," Miller said. "It will be at best close to two years out before we get some of these grants approved."
Feinstein's spokesman, Gil Duran, said the senator looks forward to working with the governor and the Interior Department on the issue.
"There's plenty of room in America's deserts for the bold expansion of renewable energy projects," Duran said.
Peter Henderson and Timothy Gardner, Reuters 21 Mar 09;
SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. states have spearheaded moves to curb global warming and are not ready to pass the leadership baton to President Barack Obama.
Regional markets to trade air pollution credits, aimed at cutting emissions that heat the planet, could be overshadowed by a federal system Obama sees as central to his environmental policy.
But states plan to proceed with their own emission control programs until the White House and Congress pass a credible federal market mechanism such as "cap-and-trade" to meet Obama's targets for greenhouse gas cuts.
State officials say the federal program might never happen, or be too weak to help reduce the chances of catastrophic droughts, floods and heat waves from global warming.
"There is no guarantee that this federal program will in fact come into existence," said the California Environmental Protection Agency's Michael Gibbs.
"We need to continue to press ahead," said Gibbs, the top state official working in the Western Climate Initiative, a group of 11 U.S. states and Canadian provinces that plan to start trading in 2012.
Ten Eastern U.S. states in January set emissions limits that get tougher over time. The program requires power companies to obtain permits to pollute and allows them to sell excess permits to companies that lag their own targets. This system is designed to push companies to conserve energy or switch to cleaner fuels such as natural gas.
New York is the biggest polluter in the group known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The state's Climate Change Director Peter Iwanowitz said he welcomed federal action as long as New York had room to be tougher and experiment.
"We would always want the option to sort of break off and do it ourselves," he said.
Obama wants to cut carbon emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 percent below that by 2050, which is in line with California's goal and international plans.
Leaders in Congress want to introduce a climate bill this year, but interest groups already are lining up to soften the targets or to prevent a plan from going forward.
Industry also is wary of inconsistency. "It ought to be passed at the federal level and not have a patchwork of regulation at the state level," said Duke Energy Corp spokesman Tom Williams.
INNOVATION LABS
The devil is in the details. The regions differ on specific reduction targets, how many greenhouses gases they track and whether to regulate transportation as well as industry.
Some systems give credits for cutting pollution outside the region -- by saving endangered rainforest, for example -- while others limit such so-called offsets. And the Western plan includes Canadian, and potentially Mexican, provincial and state governments.
The Western group may give away a substantial number of credits to polluters. The Eastern plan's biggest gift to global carbon markets has been proving that polluters, speculators and environmentalists will buy tradable permits in auctions. The revenues can help customers deal with costs of carbon regulation.
RGGI auctions off permits every quarter and so far the first three auctions have raised $263 million for the states.
Obama's budget plans said national auctions could raise $646 billion from 2012 to 2019 and fund clean energy investments and tax cuts.
AMBITIOUS STATES
Allowing states to set more stringent standards than the federal system would not be simple. Without adjustment to the system, a California power producer that meets tough state efficiency standards could simply sell unneeded credits out of state -- so total U.S. carbon output would not be affected.
Environmentalists say one plan would be for states to set local premiums -- requiring companies to buy 1.1 tons of federal credit for every ton of pollution allowance needed.
Dereck Walker, director of Environmental Defense's California Climate Change office, said there are no unmanageable state-federal conflicts. But he added, "Let's not be naive. Congress is going to want to put their strong stamp on federal policy ... they don't want to just take things at the state level."
Derek Murrow, the director of policy analysis at Environment Northeast, said the tougher the federal plan, the more likely Washington will argue that it preempts the states.
"But that doesn't mean states will be willing to give up the role to be laboratories for innovation," he said.
(Reporting by Peter Henderson and Timothy Gardner; Editing by David Gregorio)
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