Best of our wild blogs: 30 Mar 09

The Great Reef- Terumbu Raya
on the wonderful creation blog and wild shores of singapore

First Seagrass-Watch newsletter for 2009
on the teamseagrass blog

Cute Cuttlefish@ChekJawa
video clip on the sgbeachbum blog

Mousedeer sightings
and thoughts about Ubin wildlife on Ubin.sgkopi

Oriental Pied Hornbill and grasshoppers
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Wildflowers in Semakau
on the Urban Forest blog

Connecting with Nature Week at HortPark and Southern Ridges
on the Garden Voices blog

Monday Morgue: 30th March 2009
on the Lazy Lizard's Tales blog

Pangkor Island: Not Just another Holiday
on Wild Asia

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Dry season to start early in Indonesia

The Jakarta Post 30 Mar 09;

Any potential drought in Indonesia this year would most likely occur due to environmental damage rather than a prolonged or extreme dry season, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said Sunday.

“This year will not see any extremities in the dry season, besides a rather early start,” agency head of the climatology division Soetamto told The Jakarta Post.

“Environmental damage, such as deforestation, will most likely be the culprit for any drought cases that may hit the country.”

According to the agency’s report, in some areas the country’s dry season will begin as early as late March or early April. This is premature when compared to the average season commencement times between 1971 and 2000.

“However, the country displays a wide variety of climates, so certain areas will enter the dry season earlier than others,” Soetamto said.

The areas most likely to enter the dry season early will be Java, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara and South Sulawesi.

For those five areas, Soetamto said, the dry season would most likely reach its peak in August.
“Some areas will experience longer periods of dry weather than others. In East Nusa Tenggara, for example, the hot weather could extend for up to eight months, while some areas in Sumatra will likely experience less than a month of the season,” he said.

The country had been through several severe droughts. In 1997, droughts triggered a national food crisis that forced the government to import five million tons of rice. Five years later, another drought led to the failure of more than 500,000 hectares of crops.

“Environmental damage, especially deforestation, will most likely be the cause of any drought or water crisis that may occur,” Soetamto said. In Jakarta, for example, water shortages normally occur when there has not been adequate rain for around a four-month period.

“However, nowadays just two months of dryness can cause the city to scream for water.”

Hydrologist and water resources engineer from the Public Works Ministry Agung Bagiawan Ibrahim said after a seminar on climate change earlier this week that the country’s water supply was being threatened by deforestation, especially along riverbanks.

“Deforestation along riverbanks decreases the crucial impact of water catchments, causing water crises,” Agung said.

In Java the water supply is traditionally scarcer in the eastern parts of the island compared to the west.

“The authorities responsible for managing riverbank areas must take necessary steps, such as replanting trees, to ensure better water management systems in the future,” Agung said. (dis)

Areas likely to start the dry season prematurely

West Java
Northwestern Karawang
Northern coast of Karawang/Subang/
Indramayu
Central Java
Southern Blora
Eastern Karanganyar
Southern Bojonegoro
East Java
Central part of Magetan
Madiun,
Eastern Ngawi
Eastern Pasuruan,
Northeastern Jember,
Bali
Southwestern Buleleng
Western Jembrana,
Eastern Karangasem
Lombok
Southeastern Central Lombok,
Southern East Lombok
Eastern Nusa Tenggara
Northern Ende
Northwestern East Flores
Northern Sikka
Eastern Alor.

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Shark fin out of vogue among young Asians

Ralph Jennings and Cheong Kah Shin, Reuters 29 Mar 09;

TAIPEI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singaporean groom Han Songguang took his campaign to stop consumption of one of Asia's top delicacies to a new level when he placed postcards of a dead shark on each guest's seat at his own wedding banquet.

Instead of shark's fin soup, a must at many ethnic Chinese wedding banquets, Han offered his guests lobster soup.

"If we can do our part to save 'X' number of sharks ... why not?" said Han, a geography teacher, who married a diving enthusiast in December.

Wildlife conservationists, who have long railed against the popularity of shark fin soup, are finally seeing signs that consumption is dropping as young Asians become aware of the environmental impact of this much prized dish.

Added to that is the global financial crisis, which is causing Asians to tighten their belts and either cut down on visits to restaurants or order more frugally from menus.

A symbol of wealth and status in Chinese culture, shark fin soup has long been an essential part of banquet celebrations for weddings and to welcome in the Lunar New Year.

Until recently, only the rich could afford the soup. But demand has soared in recent years, hand-in-hand with rising affluence in East Asia.

The quantity of shark fins demanded, around 800,000 metric tonnes a year, has caused a sharp decline in shark numbers. About 20 percent of all shark species are now endangered.

Wildlife conservationists also decry the killing of sharks through "finning," whereby the fins are cut off and the live shark is tossed back into the sea. Unable to swim properly, the shark suffocates or is killed by predators.

"Today we have incredible access to information. It has become much harder to say 'I didn't know'," said Glenn Sant, marine program leader of the British wildlife group TRAFFIC.

He urged young Asians to take a stand and say: "'It shouldn't be an insult not to put shark fin on our wedding menu.'"

Despite efforts to ban "finning," environmentalists say it is still carried out across the region as fishermen want the valuable fin but don't want to store the rest of the shark as its flesh fetches low prices at fish markets.

CONSERVATION

As young Asians such as Han take a stand against shark fin soup, environmentalists hope for a long-term drop in consumption. Still there is a robust market of older consumers who demand the soup at auspicious events.

"Students and people in their 20s wouldn't go to a shark eatery, and $15 for a dish is no cheap price," said Joyce Wu, program officer with TRAFFIC.

Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and China, including Hong Kong, are all major shark fin consumers, according to a TRAFFIC report. Trade in shark products was worth $310 million in 2005, with fins 40 percent of the total, the report says.

Those numbers are coming down as younger consumers eschew the delicacy of their parents.

Worldwide shark consumption dropped from a peak of 897,000 metric tonnes in 2003 to 758,000 in 2006, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. Fins make up an increasingly small percentage of the total, TRAFFIC says.

Indonesia's overall 2006 haul of 98,250 metric tonnes compares to a 2003 peak of 117,559 metric tonnes, while Taiwan's 40,000 to 45,000 metric tonnes of shark caught per year is down from around 70,000 annually in the early 1990s.

Hong Kong shark fin hauls have held steady at about 10,000 metric tonnes per year since 2004, the region's government says.

"They live a long time. They have a low reproductive rate. In other words they produce just a few young every year or every few years," said Yvonne Sadovy, a biology professor at the University of Hong Kong. "So you just can't take a lot."

CHANGING TASTES

Tastes have changed along with awareness for young Asians.

Shang-kuan Liang-chi, a National Taiwan University student who has tried the crunchy jelly-like dish twice at formal events, prefers other food and avoids a shark fin restaurant near campus. "University students never go in there," he said.

Even chefs are hoping to turn the tide. At Singapore's Annual Chefs' Association dinner, shark fin traditionally served at the occasion was taken off the menu.

"It is much harder to stop serving shark's fin in our restaurants as the consumers still demand it. However, in our personal capacity, we can make a stand," said Otto Weibel, a food manager at one of Singapore's top hotels.

Global entertainment giant Disney bowed to pressure from animal rights activists and took the delicacy off its menu when it opened Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005.

Some Asian fishery authorities have banned "finning" and monitor boats for illegal catches of endangered species.

"We care a lot about the problems that environmental groups have raised," said Chen Tain-shou, Taiwan Fisheries Agency deputy director-general.

Authorities in south China recently rescued a nurse shark from a tank after learning that it was to be slaughtered and its fins turned into soup for a 70-person banquet.

Shark fin sellers say their sales have also been tested by the economy. With Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong in recession, the restaurant business is flagging. Older consumers would buy more in better times, they say.

"If people are eating it, it's a major event," said Shen Lee-ching, a Taipei vendor of 30 years who sells dried fins by the bag for about $90 apiece. Some bags of dried, chopped fin have sat for years on her shelves.

In south China's hub city Guangzhou, the 1,200 dried seafood stores have seen shark fin prices fall by about 40 percent since the financial crisis began, said Wu Huihan, an official from the city's dried seafood association.

"People are keeping their money to spend on necessities, things that fill their stomach," said Singapore fin seller Jeff Poon.

(Additional reporting by James Pomfret in Hong Kong; editing by Doug Young and Megan Goldin)

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Dugong deaths in Johor remain a mystery

New Straits Times 30 Mar 09;

JOHOR BARU: The cause of death of two dugong found in the waters off Tanjung Langsat and Gelang Patah last week will likely remain a mystery because only the carcasses were found.
Malaysian Nature Society Johor Branch chairman Associate Prof Dr Maketab Mohamed said: "We know little about these gentle creatures, and research is difficult because of the absence of live specimens."

He said the common causes of death are injuries from boat engines and getting caught in fishing nets, besides pollution and disease.

"There is a need to create a dugong sanctuary so more are not killed by human activity."

On Friday a 300kg male was found floating in the waters off Tanjung Langsat, near Pasir Gudang.
The fisherman who found it said there were wounds on its belly.

The discovery came three days after another 300kg dugong was found near the Sungai Pok Besar jetty in Gelang Patah.

Between the much publicised discovery of a baby dugong named Si Tenang in 1999 and 2004, no fewer than 12 dugong carcasses have been found in Johor waters.

The dugong is a protected species and is considered a part of Johor's heritage.

Maketab said dugong often graze on sea grass in the Sungai Pulai estuary on the southeast coast, Sungai Johor in Kota Tinggi and along the state's eastern coastline until Pulau Sibu.

A source at the state Fisheries Department doubted the latest deaths were caused by fishermen.

"It is common for dugong to sustain small cuts and wounds from debris and rocks in the water.

"The marine unit would have to take samples from the carcasses and study them to determine how they died," said the source, adding a dead dugong was found near Gelang Patah on Feb 14 but it was not reported.

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Asean conference on biodiversity

Hosted by Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) and the National Parks Board (NParks) of Singapore
The Business Mirror 29 Mar 09;

Southeast Asia occupies only 3 percent of the earth’s surface but contains more than 20 percent of all known plant, animal and marine species. Three of the world’s mega-diverse countries are in the region: Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. This richness makes the region a crucial component of global environmental sustainability.

What is the current status of biodiversity in the region? What are the challenges facing Southeast Asia’s flora, fauna and other natural resources, and how do these affect the lives of more than 500 million people? What can we do to conserve biodiversity for us and for future generations?

These and more questions will be addressed at the Asean Conference on Biodiversity (ACB 2009) from October 21 to 23 in Singapore.

The conference, with the theme “Biodiversity in Focus: 2010 and Beyond,” will be hosted by the Asean Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) and the National Parks Board (NParks) of Singapore.

ACB 2009 is envisioned to be one of the most important gatherings of key biodiversity stakeholders and players in the Asean region who will discuss emerging trends, issues and concerns on biodiversity conservation and management. About 250 of Southeast Asia’s key personalities from academia the research and scientific community, government and high-level policymakers will come together for 2009’s most awaited event in the environment arena.

“In 2002 the participants to the World Summit on Sustainable Development committed themselves to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national levels as a contribution to poverty alleviation, and for the benefit of all life on Earth. As 2010 draws near, the targets set in the 2002 Summit need to be assessed and progress made has to be reported to the global community,” ACB executive director Rodrigo Fuentes explained.

The ACB, he added, will provide a forum for exchanging perspectives on initiatives that address biodiversity issues in the region, and discussing steps forward in advancing the Asean biodiversity agenda with the context of meeting the 2010 Biodiversity Target.

The plenary will feature key conference papers on the state of Southeast Asia’s biodiversity, as well as conservation efforts of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The conference will also have parallel sessions on “Biodiversity and Climate Change,” “Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity—the Asean Region’s Contribution” and “Access to Genetic Resources and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising Out of Their Utilization.”

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Mother Nature’s Dow

Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times 28 Mar 09;

While I’m convinced that our current financial crisis is the product of both The Market and Mother Nature hitting the wall at once — telling us we need to grow in more sustainable ways — some might ask this: We know when the market hits a wall. It shows up in red numbers on the Dow. But Mother Nature doesn’t have a Dow. What makes you think she’s hitting a wall, too? And even if she is: Who cares? When my 401(k) is collapsing, it’s hard to worry about my sea level rising.

It’s true, Mother Nature doesn’t tell us with one simple number how she’s feeling. But if you follow climate science, what has been striking is how insistently some of the world’s best scientists have been warning — in just the past few months — that climate change is happening faster and will bring bigger changes quicker than we anticipated just a few years ago. Indeed, if Mother Nature had a Dow, you could say that it, too, has been breaking into new (scientific) lows.

Consider just two recent articles:

The Washington Post reported on Feb. 1, that “the pace of global warming is likely to be much faster than recent predictions, because industrial greenhouse gas emissions have increased more quickly than expected and higher temperatures are triggering self-reinforcing feedback mechanisms in global ecosystems, scientists said. ‘We are basically looking now at a future climate that’s beyond anything we’ve considered seriously in climate model simulations,’ Christopher Field, director of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University, said.”

The physicist and climate expert Joe Romm recently noted on his blog, climateprogress.org, that in January, M.I.T.’s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change quietly updated its Integrated Global System Model that tracks and predicts climate change from 1861 to 2100. Its revised projection indicates that if we stick with business as usual, in terms of carbon-dioxide emissions, average surface temperatures on Earth by 2100 will hit levels far beyond anything humans have ever experienced.

“In our more recent global model simulations,” explained M.I.T., “the ocean heat-uptake is slower than previously estimated, the ocean uptake of carbon is weaker, feedbacks from the land system as temperature rises are stronger, cumulative emissions of greenhouse gases over the century are higher, and offsetting cooling from aerosol emissions is lower. Not one of these effects is very strong on its own, and even adding each separately together would not fully explain the higher temperatures. [But,] rather than interacting additively, these different effects appear to interact multiplicatively, with feedbacks among the contributing factors, leading to the surprisingly large increase in the chance of much higher temperatures.”

What to do? It would be nice to say, “Hey, Mother Nature, we’re having a credit crisis, could you take a couple years off?” But as the environmental consultant Rob Watson likes to say, “Mother Nature is just chemistry, biology and physics,” and she is going to do whatever they dictate. You can’t sweet talk Mother Nature or the market. You have to change the economics to affect the Dow and the chemistry, biology and physics to affect Mother Nature.

That’s why we need a climate bailout along with our economic bailout. Hal Harvey is the C.E.O. of a new $1 billion foundation, ClimateWorks, set up to accelerate the policy changes that can avoid climate catastrophe by taking climate policies from where they are working the best to the places where they are needed the most.

“There are five policies that can help us win the energy-climate battle, and each has been proven somewhere,” Harvey explained. First, building codes: California’s energy-efficient building and appliance codes now save Californians $6 billion per year,” he said. Second, better vehicle fuel-efficiency standards: “The European Union’s fuel-efficiency fleet average for new cars now stands at 41 miles per gallon, and is rising steadily,” he added.

Third, we need a national renewable portfolio standard, mandating that power utilities produce 15 or 20 percent of their energy from renewables by 2020. Right now, only about half our states have these. “Whenever utilities are required to purchase electricity from renewable sources,” said Harvey, “clean energy booms.” (See Germany’s solar business or Texas’s wind power.)

The fourth is decoupling — the program begun in California that turns the utility business on its head. Under decoupling, power utilities make money by helping homeowners save energy rather than by encouraging them to consume it. “Finally,” said Harvey, “we need a price on carbon.” Polluting the atmosphere can’t be free.

These are the pillars of a climate bailout. Yes, some have upfront costs. But all of them would pay long-term dividends, because they would foster massive U.S. innovation in new clean technologies that would stimulate the real Dow and much lower emissions that would stimulate the Climate Dow.

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Don't chop trees to build estate

Straits Times Forum 30 Mar 09;

LAST year, HDB decided to build a new residential estate at the corner of Woodlands Road and Senja Way. The move will mean cutting an excessive number of trees. These trees are over 30 years old. My question is, why take so much effort to destroy these trees, while spending million of dollars to create new parks in remote locations?

There is plenty of vacant ground to build new flats in Singapore, including one beside these trees. HDB need not chop down these trees. The space is more than enough for the new estate.

The landscape is on the slope. Therefore any rain water drains away and the area is almost mosquito-less. It is also lively because there are birds and cute animals like squirrels. Every morning, we enjoy the pleasant fresh air. Compared to my previous place in Bukit Merah, Senja Road is much cooler, especially in the hot season.

I do not understand why HDB chooses to 'un-green' our environment, instead of putting in more effort to preserve it. Singapore is small, and it is our duty to preserve nature for future generations.

Harris Ho

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5% off meals if you bring own container

Goh Yi Han, Straits Times 30 Mar 09;

IN THE past, many Singaporeans would carry along their own tiffin carriers when they bought food from street hawkers.

Now, foodcourts in Singapore are helping to revive the practice of using one's own containers for takeaway food.

Most local chains already charge customers an extra 10 or 20 cents for takeaway food in plastic microwaveable containers. This is to cover the extra costs incurred by stallholders.

However, at least one operator is now offering a discount on food purchased if patrons provide their own containers.

Banquet Holdings, which runs the Banquet chain of halal foodcourts, gives customers a 5 per cent discount if they supply their own containers. This promotion is available at most eateries owned by the company, including more than 10 Banquet foodcourt outlets located across the island.

'This is a step that we have taken in order to persuade our customers to be more environmentally friendly,' said a company spokesman. It also saves money for the company, which does not have to spend as much on buying and storing disposable cutlery and containers.

And at least one educational institution is of like mind.

From this month onwards, students and staff at the National University of Singapore (NUS) are being encouraged to use reusable containers for takeaway food. It is a joint project by Students Against Violation of the Earth, which is a standing committee under the NUS Student Union, and two university offices.

Project leader Ong Wei Tao, a third-year social work student, said the 'Project Box' campaign is aimed at reducing the use of disposable containers in the school's foodcourts. This would benefit consumers, vendors and the environment, he added.

Environmental organisations have welcomed the move.

'There are benefits to avoiding the use of disposables,' said Mr Howard Shaw, the executive director of the Singapore Environment Council. 'Plastic containers are made with non-renewable resources. It's a terrible waste for a product to be manufactured for a single use of less than half an hour.'

It is an uphill battle though. Despite Banquet's efforts, customer reactions have been mixed.

Salesgirl Winnie Choy, 36, said: 'Disposable containers are more convenient - after eating, you just throw the box away.'

Ms Samsiah Siron, 49, who is unemployed, said the throwaway boxes cost only 10 cents each and she 'can reuse them many times'.

However, Mr Shaw cautioned against such reuse. Studies have shown that these containers cannot stand up to such usage as they are not made for this purpose. Constant exposure to heat could cause toxic plastic compounds to leach out, Mr Shaw said.

Other foodcourts are, for now, not actively encouraging customers to use their own containers.

'If a patron should suffer food poisoning, it would be difficult to ascertain the cause: the patron's own wares or the stall involved,' said a spokesman for Horizon Food Mall.

The National Environment Agency said that while food establishments must maintain sound hygiene standards, members of the public should also take personal responsibility and use only clean containers for takeaway food.

Second-year NUS business student Meryl Lee, 20, agreed. 'In our parents' time, there weren't any problems with hygiene when they used tiffin carriers. Besides, I would actually feel safer using my own containers than the crockery at cafeterias, which has been cleaned by other people.'

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Switching off lights alone won't save Mother Earth

Straits Times Forum 30 Mar 09;

I SUPPORT any initiative to highlight the threat of global warming because Mother Earth is indeed suffering. However, I wonder whether switching off lights for an hour can serve more than a symbolic purpose.

Why did the Earth Hour campaign not urge people to switch off energy-guzzling appliances like air-conditioners rather than lights? That would have been a more meaningful gesture.

Anyway, once electricity is generated in power plants, it will be distributed throughout the web of power grids to our households. Either we use it or we lose it, because electricity cannot be stored like water in tanks.

In my view, a long-term sustaining strategy is to develop highly efficient, renewable, clean energy-generating methods. I believe more than half of the electricity on earth is generated by burning fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas and petroleum. These are the real culprits that emit tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

I am not optimistic that we can replace them entirely by green energy in the foreseeable future. But once we reduce that dependency to less than, say, 40 per cent, we will leave a little better environment to our children than we inherited.

Millions of cars on the road, as well as factories in both developed and developing countries, release immeasurable amounts of greenhouse gases. A highly fuel-efficient engine is the most promising future of the automobile industry.

Last year, we heard a lot of news of efforts to develop green energy when the price of crude oil reached a historic high. Now fuel prices have dropped significantly, and so have cries for renewable energy.

Only coherent, cohesive and lasting efforts - from the micro level of individuals to the macro level of collaboration among nations - can promise a better and healthier Mother Earth for future generations.

Lor Choon Yee

Candles won't help Mother Earth
Straits Times Forum 31 Mar 09;

I HATE to be a party pooper, but in the excitement to switch off the lights for Earth Hour, I fear many may have lost the plot.

I witnessed families switching off a couple of lights and then lighting 20 or more candles. At the Esplanade, the scene was repeated a hundredfold and it is mind-boggling how many candles were lit all over the world.

If the campaign is about global warming and not merely about minimising the use of electricity, then one ought to consider the carbon footprint of a myriad of naked candle flames all over the world.

How much carbon did eco-disciples discharge by switching to candle power?

One also needs to factor in the processes that go into producing candles - their transportation and marketing, for example. These could be far more eco-unfriendly than the careful generation of electricity, which is then efficiently channelled to our homes.

If it was about making sacrifices for the environment, couldn't we have savoured the darkness for one hour?

Errol Goodenough

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Response to Earth Hour Singapore 2009 better than last year

Lynda Hong, Channel NewsAsia 29 Mar 09;

SINGAPORE: Response to Saturday's Earth Hour event in Singapore was better than the inaugural one in 2008.

Organisers said that besides those who had pledged to take part in the event to raise awareness of climate change, thousands of others observed it in their own way.

More than 2,000 people were at the Esplanade Park to see hotels and office buildings in the area switch off their lights for one hour.

Thousands more took part in activities in the heartlands, organised by Singapore's community development councils.

Earth Hour is a global initiative by the World Wide Fund for Nature to highlight global warming and climate change.

- CNA/yt

What they did in the darkness
Hotels cashed in and guests rejoiced
Today Online 30 Mar 09;

As the lights dimmed and temperatures soared, the cash registers began to ring.

Earth Hour proved to be lucrative for some hotels that took part in the initiative to help spread the message of energy conservation, with their restaurants and bars packed with customers who embraced the cause or, were at least enticed by promotional discounts and free beer.

Marriott Hotel’s Crossroads Café — which gave a free half-pint of beer for every pint ordered during Earth Hour from 8.30pm to 9.30pm on Saturday night — enjoyed a full house of patrons who wined and dined in candlelight.

“The turnout was overwhelming. The response from the guests and associates alike were encouraging. They were supportive of the idea of switching off the lights at Crossroads Cafe and were happy to be able to participate and support this worthy cause,” its hotel spokesperson told Today.

Over at Parkroyal Hotel, its Spice Brasserie and Hai Xiang restaurants were also full, with many of the guests going there specially to support the “lights off” initiative, a hotel spokesperson told Today. Diners broke into cheers and applause when lights were turned off at Spice Brasserie and candles lit, she said.

And a couple who got married at the hotel had the lights turned down in the foyer outside the wedding ballroom, and instead bathed it in the soft romantic glow of candlelight.

At Grand Copthorne Waterfront, its “sleep naked” campaign in line with Earth Hour aroused the interest of many of its guests. Guests and staff were encouraged not only to switch off the lights but also turn off the air-conditioning.

Earth Hour is a global initiative by the World Wide Fund for Nature to raise awareness of climate change.

Singapore is one of 88 countries around the world that took part this year, the second year it is being observed here. This year, more than 10,000 people took part and more than 450 businesses switched off or dimmed their nonessential lights for60 minutes. Neo Chai Chin

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Who wins when the lights go out?

Earth Hour will be marked here by over 500 organisations, but sceptics question the real impact on environmental sustainability
Brittany Khoo and Jamie Lee, Business Times 28 Mar 09;

AS individuals and corporate Singapore turn off their lights tonight at 8.30 pm to mark Earth Hour, some wonder if it's just a pie in the sky.

Organised by WWF Singapore, Earth Hour will see over 500 institutions and agencies here switching off their lights as a stand against climate change. Out of these, more than half are corporate organisations.

Most businesses, such as Maybank, CapitaLand and McDonald's, are marking the occasion by turning off facade and 'non-essential' lights at their properties islandwide.

Some are also offering discounts and Earth Hour-themed packages. Alcoholic beverages go cheap at various bars and cafes while at restaurants in Wisma Atria and Four Seasons Hotel, diners can opt for candlelight dinners and organic food menus.

Hong Leong Group leads the pack by turning off the lights at 25 local buildings, hotels and offices during Earth Hour. The Group's five hotels under the Millennium & Copthorne Hotels umbrella are also encouraging staff and guests to 'sleep naked', or without air-conditioning.

Yet, cynics question the real impact that these corporate organisations can have.

'Earth Hour is just for the publicity,' says National University of Singapore associate professor Wong Poh Poh. 'I have doubts about merely switching lights off for an hour - what real impact can this generate on saving our climate? It's far better if people and corporate organisations take more effective measures on a daily scale, rather than observing one hour in the calendar year.'

Referring to the effort by the Blackberry manufacturer to set up a mobile site for users to receive Earth Hour updates, Meng Yew Choong, a public relations agent for an events management company, asked: 'Shouldn't people be switching their smartphones off during Earth Hour too?'

'Promoting a sustainable lifestyle unfortunately requires much more than just flicking the switch off for an hour. The danger is that people may feel this gesture is enough, and walk away feeling smug that they did their part,' he added. 'This will make Earth Hour nothing more than meaningless tokenism.'

Others also reckoned that if the lights are 'non-essential' to begin with, then businesses ought to switch them off throughout the year, rather than for this event only.

But businesses argued that helping the environment is part of their business ethic.

City Developments has been encouraging its tenants to cultivate eco-friendly habits on a daily basis, such as turning off electrical equipment when not in use, and recycling paper.

And at Lend Lease, too, Earth Hour does not stop with today's action. 'This is only one part of our sustainability initiatives - putting words into action,' said Ooi Eng Peng, CEO of Lend Lease Investment Management Asia. Since 2008, its head office in Singapore and centre management offices have been turning off their lights for an hour during lunch time every day.

A spokesman for Singapore Marriott noted that besides participating in Earth Hour, the hotel is also using energy-saving bulbs and light sensors in toilets.

'From rising sea levels to droughts, climate change is real,' said Anjna Nihalani, marketing and communications director for Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Centre. 'We can be sceptical about it or we can start by playing our part for the planet and the environment that we live in.'

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Environmentalists hail Earth Hour as a big success

Vanessa Gera, Associated Press Yahoo News 29 Mar 09;

BONN, Germany – For environmental activists, the message was clear: Earth Hour was a huge success.

Now they say nations have a mandate to tackle climate change.

"The world said yes to climate action, now governments must follow," the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said Sunday, a day after hundreds of millions of people worldwide followed its call to turn off lights for a full hour.

From an Antarctic research base and the Great Pyramids of Egypt, from the Colosseum in Rome to the Empire State building in New York, illuminated patches of the globe went dark Saturday night to highlight the threat of climate change. Time zone by time zone, nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries dimmed nonessential lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

WWF called the event, which began in Australia in 2007 and grew last year to 400 cities worldwide, "the world's first-ever global vote about the future of our planet."

The United Nations' top climate official, Yvo de Boer, called the event a clear sign that the world wants negotiators seeking a climate change agreement to set an ambitious course to fight global warming.

Talks in Bonn this week are the latest round in an effort to craft a deal to control emissions of the heat-trapping gases responsible for global warming. They are due to culminate in Copenhagen this December.

"Earth Hour was probably the largest public demonstration on climate change ever," de Boer told delegates from 175 nations. "Its aim was to tell every government representative to seal a deal in Copenhagen. The world's concerned citizens have given the negotiations an additional and very clear mandate."

Earth Hour officially began when the Chatham Islands, 500 miles (800 kilometers) east of New Zealand, switched off its diesel generators. It moved on through Asia, Europe and then crossed the Atlantic to North and South America.

"Earth Hour has always been a positive campaign," said Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley. "It's always around street parties, not street protests, it's the idea of hope, not despair. And I think that's something that's been incredibly important this year because there is so much despair around."

___

Associated Press writers around the world contributed to this report.

Act on Earth Hour call, UN climate chief tells delegates
WWF 29 Mar 09;

Bonn, Germany – UN climate chief Yvo de Boer today urged delegates to crucial negotiations starting today to take heed of yesterday’s Earth Hour call from hundreds of millions of people wanting decisive global action on climate change this year.

The head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) had earlier received a symbolic blue Earth Hour ballot box of “votes for earth” from a group of German scouts.

Taking the ballot box into the opening session of the climate talks, de Boer told delegates from nearly 190 nations meeting to negotiate towards a new global climate agreement due to be decided in Copenhagen in December that they should heed the voices of millions.

"Around the world, millions of people in thousands of cities switched their lights off last
night in order to send a clear message that we must act on climate change," he said.

"Earth hour was probably the largest public demonstration on climate change ever. Its aim was to tell every government representative to seal the deal in Copenhagen.”

If concluded, a Copenhagen agreement would provide the basis for global action on climate change causing emissions past the 2012 expiry of the current – and clearly inadequate – Kyoto Protocol.

From the Sydney’s Harbour Bridge soon after WWF’s Earth Hour commenced to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge shortly before it concluded, lights went out around the globe as hundreds of millions of people from around 4000 towns and cities in 88 countries voted for earth with their light switches.

“The world’s concerned citizens have given the negotiations an additional clear mandate,” de Boer said.

Throughout the session the blue box remained standing on the main negotiation table, visible to all delegates, observers and journalists from around the world.

“The suggestion that government delegates should take heed of their population’s voice and concerns on climate change is very heartening ,” said WWF’s global climate initiative leader Kim Carstensen.

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US 'fully committed to UN climate talks'

Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 29 Mar 09;

BONN, March 29, 2009 (AFP) – The US administration is "fervently engaged" in UN talks to forge a global climate treaty but cannot rescue the troubled process on its own, its top climate negotiator said Sunday.

"Yes, the US will be powerfully and fervently engaged in this process," Todd Stern said as the 11-day United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) technical meeting got under way.

The entry of the new US team into negotiations involving more than 190 states and riven by deep divisions between rich and developing countries has generated huge expectations, sharpened by the contrast with Obama's predecessor.

George W. Bush had rejected the Kyoto Protocol, whose provisions expire in 2012, and nearly torpedoed the 2007 "Bali Roadmap" agreement that set a December 2009 deadline for a new deal.

Stern addressed more than 2,500 participants at the opening plenary session of the UN forum.

"We are very glad to be back," he said to enthusiastic applause.

Reactions were broadly positive, even from nations that remain critical of parts of Obama's climate plan.

"I am very glad that the US is reengaging -- that is a very good sign," the top Chinese negotiator, Su Wei, told AFP.

"Stern sent a very important signal on the importance of the science and the urgency," said Alden Meyer, a climate expert at the Boston-based Union of Concerted Scientists.

But in his first press conference here as Special Envoy on climate for US President Barack Obama, Stern cautioned that the United States could not "wave a magic wand" to reconcile differences.

"I don't think anybody should be thinking that the US can ride in on a white horse and make it all work," he said.

He also made it clear that tough negotiations lay ahead.

Stern challenged China and other emerging economic powerhouses such as India and Brazil to take on stronger commitments in curbing carbon pollution.

China and the United States today vie for the title of top carbon polluter, and together account for about 40 percent of global greenhouse emissions.

"If you do the math, you simply cannot be anywhere near where science tells us we need to be if you don't have China involved, as well also other major developing countries," he said.

"How that is captured, understood, expressed and quantified is going to be extremely important," he said.

The other key issue to be resolved, he added, was how to divide up the cost of mitigating greenhouse gases and adapting to the devastating impacts of global warming.

Industrialised nations are prepared to take on the larger burden, but want emerging economies that are also major carbon polluters to undertake action of some kind.

These countries, in turn, say rich nations should take the lead in making deep cuts, and put money on the table to help them develop clean technology and adapt to climate change already under way.

Stern rejected criticism that Obama's national targets were not ambitious enough, or that they fell far short of European efforts.

The EU has promising to slash emissions by 20 percent compared to 1990 levels by 2020, and by 30 percent if other industrialised countries follow suit. By 2050, the cuts would be deepen to 80 percent.

During the US presidential campaign, Obama vowed to match the European Union's mid-century objectives.

He offered what appeared to be a more modest goal for 2020 of simply returning the United States to 1990 level emissions.

But Stern said this would represent a 16 or 17 percent reduction compared to today's levels. And in terms of cost, US and EU efforts would be on a par, he added.

He also sought to dampen expectations, pointing out that he had been in his new job for less than six weeks.

"We are still very much in a listening mode, collecting ideas," his newly appointed deputy, Jonathan Pershing, told journalists.

The Obama team was also clearly at pains to avoid getting too far ahead of climate and energy legislation taking shape in the US Congress.

"Let me speak frankly here: it is in no one's interest to repeat the experience of Kyoto by delivering an agreement that won't gain sufficient support at home," Stern told the plenary session.

In 1997, the US Senate voted 95 to 0 in a non-binding resolution to reject the new climate treaty as it did not impose commitments on developing countries.

U.S. to push for UN climate deal but no "magic wand"
Alister Doyle, Reuters 29 Mar 09;

BONN, Germany (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama's administration promised to push for a new United Nations climate treaty on Sunday but said Washington had no magic wand and that all countries had to help.

"The United States is going to be powerfully and fully engaged," U.S. special envoy for climate change Todd Stern said at the opening of 175-nation U.N. talks in Bonn, the first since Obama took office in January speaking of a "planet in peril."

"But we are all going to have to do this together, we don't have a magic wand," Stern told a news conference. The March 29-April 8 meeting is working on a U.N. climate deal meant to be agreed in Copenhagen in December 2009.

In a speech, Stern won two rounds of applause, each about 20 seconds long, in stark contrast to the frosty reception given to President George W. Bush's envoys who were often accused of inaction and were even booed at U.N. talks in Bali in 2007.

Even so, Stern laid out clear limits to Obama's ambitions. He said the United States wanted to work for a treaty that was economically "doable" and that countries could not expect Washington to "ride in on a white horse" to solve the problem.

"We can't," he said.

Calling for more action by all, he said the United States had a "unique responsibility" as the main historic emitter of greenhouse gases. And he said he was "enormously impressed" by actions by developing countries such as India, South Africa, Brazil, China and Mexico.

RECESSION

Some nations, racked by recession, have been waiting to hear more about U.S. policies before unveiling their own. The Bonn talks are due to consider issues including the levels of greenhouse gas cuts needed to slow global warming.

Obama wants to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by about 16-17 percent from current levels to take them back to 1990 levels by 2020 and to 80 percent below by 2050.

Under Bush, the United States was isolated among industrialized nations in opposing caps on emissions under the U.N.'s existing Kyoto Protocol.

"Everyone is very excited" by signs of a stronger U.S. commitment, said Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat. Environmentalists also welcomed the change of tone after eight years of the Bush administration.

But Stern said the United States could not make the deepest cuts in greenhouse gases advised by the U.N. Climate Panel for 2020 to avoid the worst of global warming, of between 25 and 40 percent below 1990 levels.

"We should be guided by a combination of science and pragmatism," Stern said. Many developing nations, led by China and India, have said that Obama should do more.

Almost no developed nations have laid out goals within the 25-40 percent range. Among the most ambitious, the European Union plans cuts of 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.

The U.N. Climate Panel projects more floods, droughts, more powerful storms, heatwaves and rising sea levels from a gradual build-up of heat-trapping gases from burning fossil fuels.

Some Pacific island states fear they could be wiped off the map by rising seas. "We welcome the new-look United States. We hope the rhetoric matches the reality," Ian Fry, of the Pacific island state of Tuvalu, told the meeting.

De Boer has in the past called Obama's 2020 goals an "opening offer" that he hopes will be toughened in Copenhagen.

Stern said that it was unclear whether Congress will manage to pass climate legislation before the Copenhagen talks. If a law is passed by then, he said, it would be unrealistic for Washington to sign up to any tougher cuts.

(Editing by Louise Ireland)

Obama envoy: Time to act on climate change
Arthur Max, Associated Press Yahoo News 29 Mar 09;

BONN, Germany – Once booed at international climate talks, the United States won sustained applause Sunday when President Barack Obama's envoy pledged to "make up for lost time" in reaching a global agreement on climate change.

Todd Stern also praised efforts by countries like China to reign in their carbon emissions, but said global warming "requires a global response" and that rapidly developing economies like China "must join together" with the industrial world to solve the problem.

The debut of Obama's climate change team was widely anticipated after eight years of obdurate participation in U.N. climate talks by the previous Bush administration.

"We are very glad to be back. We want to make up for lost time, and we are seized with the urgency of the task before us," Stern said to loud applause from the 2,600 delegates to the U.N. negotiations.

They clapped again when Stern said the U.S. recognized "our unique responsibility ... as the largest historic emitter of greenhouse gases," which has created a problem threatening the entire world.

The two-week meeting by 175 countries that began Sunday was the latest stage of talks aimed at forging a climate change agreement to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on emissions targets for rich countries, which expires in 2012.

The United States was instrumental in negotiating Kyoto, but failed to win support at home. When George W. Bush took office, he renounced it, calling Kyoto a flawed agreement that would harm the U.S. economy and unfair because it demanded nothing from countries like China or India.

Stern said his team did not want a repeat of the Kyoto debacle. The latest agreement is due to be finalized in December in Copenhagen, Denmark.

"Ultimately, this is a political process," he said. "The way forward is steered by science and pragmatism."

Stern said no one on his team doubted that climate change is real. "The science is clear, the threat is real, the facts on the ground are outstripping the worst-case scenarios. The cost of inaction or inadequate action are unacceptable," he said — a total change of tone from his predecessors.

Scientists warned recently that climate change is happening more rapidly that previously calculated and said the Earth could be in danger of major climatic changes that would trigger widespread social disruption. U.N. scientists say rising sea levels caused by global warming threatens to swamp coastlines and entire island states, and predicted increasing drought for arid countries, especially in Africa.

Obama has set aside $80 billion in his economic stimulus package for green energy, promised $150 billion for research over 10 years, and was tightening regulations on auto emissions, Stern said.

"America itself cannot provide the solution, but there is no solution without America," he said.

"It sent chills up my spine seeing the U.S. applauded," Keya Chatterjee of the Worldwide Fund for Nature said after Stern's speech.

It was only 15 months ago at Bali, Indonesia, that U.S. negotiators were booed when they threatened to veto an accord laying down a two-year negotiating process to replace Kyoto. They backed off when the delegate from Papua New Guinea, Kevin Conrad, told them if "you are not willing to lead ... please get out of the way."

Stern urged delegates Sunday to adopt a long-range vision for reducing climate change, rather than to focus on "a series of short-term, stopgap measures," and repeated Obama's determination to cut emissions by 80 percent by mid-century.

His speech was meant to shift the debate from persistent demands by developing countries for industrial nations to reduce emissions by 25-40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. Stern has said previously that goal was unattainable for the U.S.

Speaking earlier to reporters, Stern defended the U.S. administration's goal of reducing U.S. carbon emissions by roughly 16 percent over the next dozen years from current levels.

"We don't think (the target) is low at all," he said, adding it was "consistent with what other countries are willing to do."

Others disagreed.

"The target that the United States has put forward is not going to be sufficient," said Chatterjee.

Jake Schmidt of the Nature Resources Defense Council said the Obama administration was talking behind the scenes about setting an annual emissions reduction target leading up to 2050.

"It's hard to turn a big ship around, but it would show we are serious about our commitments to cut emissions from the medium to the long term," Schmidt said.

With time running out before the pact is due to be completed in December, delegates are trying to narrow vast differences over how best to fight climate change.

Issues include how much countries need to reduce emissions, how to raise the tens of billions of dollars needed annually to fight global warming and how to transfer money and technology to poor countries who are most vulnerable to increasingly fierce storms, droughts and failing crops.

Stern said the U.S. position will be guided by whatever deal Obama can strike with Congress.

"I do not think that it is realistic to believe that we will then be able to go into an international setting and get a higher number than that," he said.

___

AP correspondent Vanessa Gera contributed to this article.

(This version CORRECTS name of Natural Resources Defense Council.)

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