Best of our wild blogs: 6 Apr 09

Any moray eel experts out there?
on the Lazy Lizard's Tales blog

Somewhere Near Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
on the Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature blog

Flowerful day at Semakau
on the wild shores of singapore blog with special shore tree and check up on Avicennia marina

A Great-Rhinoceros Hornbill hybrid
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

von Schrenck’s Bittern takes a frog
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Ant farm
on the annotated budak blog and feel my finger and on a limb (a stunning snake shot) and Amblypygid

Mangroves Workshop
what happened on the Leafmonkey Workshop blog

Chek Jawa Walk
upcoming walk on the Cicada Tree Eco-Place blog

Upcoming workshops on the Leafmonkey Workshop
Pioneer Plants Workshop and Get Web with Singapore Spiders Workshop and Pulau Ubin Stories: History and Geography Workshop

Balloon release gone wrong
on Dee Kay Dot As Gee

Monday Morgue: 6th April 2009
on the Lazy Lizard's Tales blog

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Hornbills can thrive in urban Singapore

Straits Times Forum 6 Apr 09;

WE REFER to the ST Online letter, "Have we done homework on hornbills?" (March 28).

Hornbills play an ecological role in the germination of trees with large seeds, and the sustainability of our forests depend on these large birds.

With this in mind, the Singapore Hornbill Project was undertaken in 2004 to enhance the population and distribution of the Oriental Pied Hornbill, a native species of Singapore. The success in using artificial nests on Pulau Ubin has facilitated the spread of these hornbills on mainland Singapore.

Besides the Oriental Pied Hornbill, the Rhinoceros Hornbill is the other native hornbill of Singapore.

There is a lone female Rhinoceros Hornbill in the Bukit Timah area and our intention is to find it a male partner to facilitate their breeding in the wild.

We are aware of the need to ensure that the sub-species of hornbill is compatible, and are working with the National University of Singapore (NUS) to analyse the DNA of the female Rhinoceros and other hornbills that are considered for a release.

Given the success of the Singapore Hornbill Project, we believe that hornbills can thrive in urban Singapore.

There are natural tree cavities around the nature reserves that the hornbills can use for nesting. Artificial nests have also been installed as they are a tried-and-tested method, in other countries as well, for assisting hornbills to breed.

Poaching is illegal and we will continue to endeavour to do our part to enhance the native wildlife and apprehend any poachers. We also hope that the public will help to report any poaching activities to us should they come across them.

We agree that public education is important to bring awareness of Singapore's amazing biodiversity and that it can thrive if everyone plays a role in conserving it.

We thank the writer for his feedback and welcome him to contact us on 1800-4717300 (toll-free) or e-mail nparks_mailbox@nparks.gov.sg should he have any more queries regarding the research project.

The Singapore Hornbill Project:

Dr Geoffrey Davison
Assistant Director (Terrestrial)
National Parks Board

Biswajit Guha
Assistant Director (Zoology),
Singapore Zoo
Wildlife Reserves Singapore

Marc Cremades
CVM Pte Ltd

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Illegal wildlife trade in Singapore active despite heavy penalties

Lynda Hong, Channel NewsAsia 5 Apr 09;

SINGAPORE: Despite heavy penalties for smuggling wild or exotic animals into Singapore, animal welfare groups say illegal wildlife trade here is still active.

Exotic spiders and reptiles were some of the 48 wild animals confiscated by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) during its recent raid in March.

The animals are now housed at the Singapore Zoo's Wildlife Healthcare and Research Centre.

Some of these animals were smuggled into Singapore from as far as Madagascar.

AVA said the animals could transmit diseases to human beings and other domestic animals. Further more, people who keep them as pets may not know how to take care of them.

Deputy director of risk communication at AVA, Wong Hon Mun, said: "If the wild animals escaped, this will cause the public to go into a panic... The other thing is that if these animals are abandoned for whatever reason, if they get into the nature reserves, they will damage the eco-system because they will threaten our native local species."

Many of the wild animals are smuggled in under poor conditions, and as many as half of them do not survive the long journey.

Singapore is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which is an international agreement to ensure that international trade of wildlife species does not threaten their survival.

As trading of highly endangered species like the ploughshare tortoise is prohibited under CITES, those caught smuggling it into Singapore could be fined up to S$50,000 and jailed for up to two years. Those caught keeping it could be fined up to S$1,000.

But animal welfare groups say illegal wildlife trade is lucrative enough for many to take the risk.

Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) says the number of wild animals seized in raids over the past few years have been constant.

Executive director at ACRES, Louis Ng, said: "I think this year in particular, there's been quite a number of seizures (of wild animals). Earlier last month, there was a seizure of 2,000 birds on the way from Batam to Singapore. So I think... trade is quite active."

- CNA/yt

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Singapore underground: Imagine a city 50m below ground

Limestone deposits in western Singapore ideal for building caverns to store food and house people
Jermyn Chow, Straits Times 6 Apr 09;

NO SPACE in Singapore for buildings? Try digging underground.

In the west are limestone deposits - fertile ground for urban planners to build caverns that can be used to store water and food, or even house people.
A team of 10 geologists and researchers from the Defence Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) has found limestone deposits sitting underneath a 10km stretch of land from Telok Blangah to West Coast Road, including Kent Ridge and Boon Lay. Limestone and granite, both stronger than concrete, can also be found in Changi in the east.

Dr Zhou Yingxin, a DSTA senior principal engineer, said the abundance of limestone deposits, found 50m below ground, is enough to 'build an underground city'.

'We could replicate what you see above ground...shopping centres, schools, offices and streets, among other things,' he said, adding that a more detailed study will have to be done to determine the amount of underground space urban planners can tap on.

DSTA is documenting the presence of limestone deposits in Singapore's geological maps for the first time since they were first found in 1987 in Pulau Merlimau on Jurong Island. Its findings have been published in the second edition of Geology Of Singapore, first published in 1976.

So far, Singapore has used underground caverns for ammunition storage for defence forces. The Government is also building the first five caverns beneath Jurong Island to store crude oil and attendant oil products. They will start operations at the end of next year.

The DSTA, with geologists from the Nanyang Technological University and the Building and Construction Authority, studied soil samples over the past two years to compile the book.

It will be a useful reference for construction and urban planning experts as they continue to look for space to develop amid the concrete jungle.

The 90-page dossier also lists Singapore's oldest rock, in Pulau Tekong, and 200 million-year-old fossils in Jurong.

Another key finding is what lies underneath the city centre between Fort Canning Park, Middle Road and Telok Ayer Street: A hard rock, christened the Fort Canning Boulder Bed by the researchers.

Mr Michael Lee, who co-authored the book, said the sandstone boulder is three times tougher than concrete and a nightmare for civil engineers. 'It slows down and hampers excavation work, pushing up the construction costs,' said the geologist at the former Public Works Department.

He added that knowledge of this 'troublesome' rock, which is half the size of the Central Business District, is a bonus for construction companies.

Mr Colin Tan, senior project manager of local construction firm Tiong Seng, said the information will come in handy as contractors could halve the month- long soil investigation at some sites.

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Save the planet? This is a job for... school kids

Schools are stepping up efforts to raise environmental awareness among students
Grace Chua & Jalelah Abu Baker, Straits Times 6 Apr 09;

HOME owners are not the only ones poring over their electricity bills any more - their children are, too.

For science and social studies classes, some schools are asking their students to bring electricity bills from home to track their month-to-month energy use and are teaching them to save energy.

Lakeside Primary School, for instance, aims to have at least half its 600 Primary 4 and 5 pupils take part in such an exercise.

Primary 4 pupil Nicholas Chee, 10, is tracking his electricity bills this term. Meanwhile, his sister, 11-year-old Sabrina, a Primary 6 pupil, learns about energy and the environment in her science lessons.

The exercise is already having a knock-on effect at home.

Their mother, Mrs Cynthia Chee, 47, said: 'The kids reminded me to turn off the television set when I forgot one day. It's great. I don't have to nag them any more.'

Bill tracking is also part of a competition called Project Carbon Zero, organised by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) to get students to reduce their home energy use.

When it was held for the first time last year, more than 1,300 students from 56 schools took part.

Schools, however, are themselves stepping up emphasis on issues like energy conservation and climate change.

While the Ministry of Education (MOE) has designated two schools as centres of excellence for environmental education, many others have their own Save-the-Earth programmes.

The emphasis on environment education is 'timely, given the growing awareness of environmental issues around the world', Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said last year at the opening of Commonwealth Secondary School, one of the two centres.

The ministry said environment education has always been a part of its geography, science and social studies curricula.

But it is gaining new currency as the effects of climate change begin to be felt all around.

The SEC's Schools' Green Audit programme, which measures how 'green' a school is, has blossomed from just 28 schools receiving awards in 2000 to 170 schools this year.

For its environment-education efforts, Lakeside Primary received a Lotus Award - the highest possible certification - from the council.

'We believe that to make environmental efforts sustainable, we need to start them young,' said Lakeside's department head for science, Mrs Naseema Ansar.

Some primary schools have taken that to heart.

Pupils of Elias Park Primary contribute fruit peels to the school's three compost bins. Once a month, Primary 3 pupils bring fruit from home as part of a healthy-eating exercise.

They then get to throw fruit waste into the worm compost bins, which convert food waste into fertilisers.

At the early age of nine, the school's pupils learn about recyclable materials as part of a science lesson.

Madam Sally Ong, 39, said her daughter Calleen, who took part in the exercise last year, 'used to come home and ask for vegetable peels and eggshells to compost every day. She told me it was to save the Earth'.

At the Commonwealth and Marsiling Secondary schools, both MOE centres of excellence for environment education, saving the Earth is definitely a hands-on experience.

Commonwealth Secondary has its own wetland which treats grey water from bathroom sinks. Students test how clean the treated water is and study the wetland's plants and animals.

At Marsiling Secondary, all lower secondary students take an environment-

education module. For two hours a week, they do experiments like testing the air quality in their school.

'Through these lessons, I've learnt how the Earth has been harmed, and that the worst is yet to come if it is not taken care of,' said Mohamed Iqbal, a Secondary 4 student.

He said he does not leave electronics on standby mode any more, and instead switches them off when not in use.

Secondary 4 students have the option of taking a term-long elective on clean energy at Singapore Polytechnic or waste management at Republic Polytechnic - and the popular course is filled up straight away.

At another secondary school, students decided that cardboard takeaway boxes in the canteen should be banned.

The pilot project by the Green Club in Nanyang Girls' High School was so successful that the school decided to continue with the ban.

Students and teachers bring their own boxes to pack their food instead.

Club member Germaine Tan, 16, said: 'I have become a naggy person. When I see my friends or brother wasting anything, I nag. But it actually works! They listen and pick up the habit.'

At the district level, initiatives like the South West Community Development Council's Junior Environment Ambassador programme trains students who are interested in the environment to serve as peer advisers, encouraging their schoolmates to recycle, keep the classrooms clean, and turn off lights and fans.

Some believe Singapore still has a long way to go, especially when compared to other developed countries.

Fuhua Secondary School student and Junior Environment Ambassador Muhammad Fajar Abdul Rahim, 13, agreed that convincing his schoolmates was an uphill task, but it had to be done.

'I just talk to my classmates and try to start small,' he said.

Providing a greener path for schools
Straits Times 6 Apr 09;

THE Singapore Environment Council (SEC), the Education Ministry (MOE) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) have come up with a host of initiatives for schools to go green. Here are some:

Curriculum

Schools' geography, science and social studies syllabi include environmental education, an MOE spokesman said.

For instance, in geography, students explore environmental issues such as global warming and ozone depletion.

In primary schools, pupils learn in social studies how to track and reduce their electricity use.

Centres of excellence

Marsiling Secondary and Commonwealth Secondary schools are the two MOE-designated centres of excellence for environment education.

They were picked for their prior green accomplishments and are expected to share their knowledge with others.

Schools' Green Audit Awards

The SEC measures how environmentally- friendly a school is through a Green Audit programme started in 2000.

The awards are based on schools' self-report and an SEC visit, taking into account indicators like the number of trees and plants in a school and the amount of paper it uses each year.

Out of 181 schools which applied for the award this year, 170 received awards for completing an audit manual, taking part in environment competitions and projects, and 'showing a high level of environmental concern', or maintained that level of achievement.

Training 'environment advisers'

Last month, the NEA introduced a training workshop for teachers to help them identify and implement environmental initiatives in their schools. So far, 50 teachers have been trained. And in the last year, the agency trained about 850 student Environment Champions from primary to pre-university levels. These students serve as peer advisers, imparting what they have learnt to their schoolmates.

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Sentosa dream gets hazy

Fewer than 1,000 homes at Sentosa Cove are likely to be completed by end of 2009; several developers are delaying their projects further
Uma Shankari and Nisha Ramachandani, Business Times 6 Apr 09;

(SINGAPORE) It was supposed to be Asia's answer to glitzy Monaco, but plans to remake Sentosa into an island playground where rich foreigners and locals live and play are going to take longer than expected to materialise.

While key hotel projects and the Resorts World at Sentosa integrated resort are largely on schedule, things are not going as well at Sentosa Cove, the stretch of land on the island set aside for mainly residential use.

The plan was for some 2,500 oceanfront villas, waterway bungalows, hillside mansions and upscale condominiums to be built on the 117-hectare site. Earlier projections were that the bulk of the new homes would be ready by 2010.

But industry sources now say fewer than 1,000 homes are likely to be completed by the end of this year, and several developers are expected to delay their projects further.

City Developments, for example, has postponed its $580 million project comprising luxury apartments, shops and a five-star, 320-room Westin Hotel, originally slated to open this year.

One problem is that sales and prices of new homes on the island have dropped sharply in the last two quarters, exacerbated by the number of foreigners leaving Singapore.

Sentosa Cove was popular with foreigners as they could get permission to own land there with relative ease.

'The bulk of purchasers of luxury homes, both on the mainland and on Sentosa, were foreigners,' said Tay Huey Ying, director for research and advisory at Colliers International.

Colliers' data, based on caveats lodged, shows that only one non-landed residential unit in Sentosa was sold in Q4 2008. In the first three months of this year, the number rose slightly to eight.

This is a far cry from transaction volumes at the height of the property boom in 2007. In Q1 2007, some 279 non-landed homes were sold in Sentosa. In Q2 that year, the transaction volume was 243.

Prices have also come down. Colliers' data shows that the transacted price of non-landed properties at Sentosa Cove averaged $1,318 per square foot (psf) in Q1 2009 - down 45.8 per cent from the peak average of $2,431 psf recorded exactly one year ago in Q1 2008.

It should be noted, however, that these averages are based on small transaction volumes of eight units for Q1 2009, and 33 units for Q1 2008.

Occupancy levels are low too. Even for properties that are completed and fully sold, not every unit is occupied, said Nicholas Mak, director of research and consultancy at Knight Frank. At the fully sold The Berth by the Cove, which obtained its temporary occupation permit in 2006, occupancy is at 93-94 per cent, but market watchers say islandwide, the occupancy levels are much lower.

The picture is, however, somewhat brighter for other new and upcoming developments on the island.

Luxury hotel Capella Singapore, which opened its doors last week, is seeing strong demand - despite the fact that room rates start at $750. 'Response in our first week has been very positive, with an average of about 70 rooms per night,' revealed general manager Michael Luible. The hotel has 111 rooms.

Mr Luible acknowledged that the hotel would not escape the effects of the economic slowdown, but pointed out that its guests are high net worth individuals who will continue to travel. 'We will, of course, monitor the economic situation carefully and plan our strategies accordingly,' he added.

Resorts World at Sentosa remains on-track for its soft opening, which will see Universal Studios, four of its six hotels as well as the casino ready in Q1 2010.

The four hotels - Hotel Michael, Maxims Tower, Festive Hotel and Hard Rock Hotel - will add about 1,350 rooms to Singapore's inventory. The rest of the resort, which includes a spa and Maritime Museum, will open progressively thereafter.

Indeed, hopes are now pinned on the integrated resort which is designed to draw in visitors.

According to Suzanne Ho, deputy director of communications for Sentosa, foreign visitor arrivals have dipped since last September, in line with the downward trend of tourist arrivals into Singapore.

The lower visitor numbers are affecting food and beverage operators adversely. Ken Hasegawa, manager of Japanese restaurant Si Bon, reckoned that revenue has fallen by about 20 per cent recently.

Similarly, at Cool Deck, a bar along Siloso Beach, business is slow. Selina Huang, Cool Deck's assistant manager, attributed the decrease to falling tourist arrivals. Just three months ago, close to 90 per cent of the bar's clientele were tourists, most of whom stayed at the Rasa Sentosa Hotel. Now, only 40 per cent of patrons are tourists, she noted.

The decrease in demand is prompting some outlets to modify their pricing. Even il Lido Italian Restaurant has cut prices by about 20 per cent on average in response to a 40 to 50 per cent decrease in revenue over the past three months. Its seven-course meal now costs $120 instead of $180, and it has removed some expensive items - such as truffles and caviar - from the menu.

Additional reporting by Victor Philip Katheyas

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Finding greener ways to light up the F1 circuit

Italian firm plans to set up centre here to test new sources to power the track lights
NIsha Ramchandani, Business Times 4 Apr 09;

THE man who lit up Singapore's Formula One Grand Prix is working on another bright idea.

Valerio Maioli's Motor Sports Green Powered (MSGP) company is setting up a centre here to test 'greener' ways to power the track lights, starting with this year's race in September.

If successful, the solution could also be used to offset energy consumption in other areas such as pit buildings and temporary facilities in the circuit park.

MSGP aims to complete tests by 2010 and hopes to extend the idea to 'the majority of major motor sport racing events' in 2011.

The idea is to open test centres worldwide, assuming the pilot project is a success, said Mr Maioli.

The equipment needed for the Singapore centre is being sponsored by several companies and MSGP is waiting to be told by the government where the centre should be located.

Mr Maioli is working with Italian counterpart Alessandro Leoni, who has extensive experience in green energy sources. The initiative is supported by F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone too.

'The International Automobile Federation has already taken a step in the right direction by encouraging teams to be more energy efficient,' Mr Maioli said.

'It should not stop there. MSGP represents a milestone in the environmental development of motor racing and is open to everyone in industry.'

For Singapore's 2008 GP, 1,500 custom-made lighting projectors were installed along the 5.067 km street circuit and pit lane to ensure near-daylight conditions, with a luminosity of 3,000 lux per lamp. This is about four times brighter than a typical stadium.

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Singaporean firm shows clean energy to Cambodian hospital

Fired up with clean energy
Tan Hui Leng Today Online 6 Apr 09;

WHEN business partners Allan Lim and Tan Hai Woon named their company Alpha Biofuels in 2004, it was so that they would appear at the top of search engine-generated pages. But while they were hoping for cyberspace to bring them customers, they didn’t quite expect to hear from someone like the Angkor Hospital for Children early last year.

“They found us through the Internet,” said Mr Lim, the company’s chief executive. The Cambodian hospital had already set up their own biofuel company, but what they needed help with was the process of making biodiesel. They thought Alpha Biofuels could provide the expertise.

The Singaporean start-up, upon learning of the hospital’s good cause, said “yes”, marking an unexpected foray into social enterprise.

Funded by non-governmental organisation Friends Without A Border, the hospital is staffed by an international team including doctors from Medecins Sans Frontieres. It is one of only two paediatric hospitals in the Siem Reap region and treats 300,000 children yearly. Common conditions include dengue fever, cholera and typhoid.

As the hospital is planning to boost its capacity to 1.5 million children a year and expand its services to include a surgery, it needs more energy to power everything from lights to machines. It is currently using a fossil diesel generator, not an uncommon sight in Cambodia, where many parts are not connected to the national power grid. Alpha Biofuel’s machine would convert used cooking oil to biodiesel, an environmentally-friendly method.

But building the machine was more difficult than Mr Lim and Mr Tan expected. Spare parts, for example, could not be bought easily or cheaply in Cambodia. Thus, Alpha Biofuels assembled the entire machine in Singapore and provided hospital staff with training on how to run it.

And when it was finally shipped over, it took a year to clear Cambodian customs. All this while, Alpha Biofuels was footing the bill for everything — from training and servicing to their own travelling costs to Cambodia — except the machine, which cost Angkor Hospital US$60,000 ($90,000).

“Not giving the machine at zero cost would promote a sense of ownership and a goal for them to work so as to pay back the loan,” said Mr Lim. The machine, which begins operating in June, will supply 50 to 80 per cent of the hospital’s power and will create some 20 jobs in the community.

So inspired are Mr Lim andMr Tan by the project, they are looking to take the project to Phnom Penh, and possibly other countries.

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Do it every day, not just during Earth Hour

Teh Jen Lee The New Paper 6 Apr 09

WHAT started out as a bright idea in Sydney, Australia, has gone round the world, causing lights to be turned off across continents between 8.30 and 9.30pm last Saturday. It goes to show that ideas can make a difference.

In Singapore, turning off lights and electrical appliances during Earth Hour saw a 42-megawatt drop in electricity demand. This is equivalent to 40 per cent of the electricity demand in Ang Mo Kio for that hour, said Energy Market Authority (EMA).

However, there was no real decrease in carbon emissions.

Since we only used 1 per cent less electricity as we normally would have in that hour, the generation companies (gencos) burnt just as much fuel as usual, said EMA.

So did Earth Hour help in Singapore's fight against climate change?

The results of our poll showed that the majority of the 50 people polled (74 per cent) said it wouldn't help.

My answer? Yes and no and maybe.

Yes because 1 per cent is better than nothing.

The difference may be small to start with, but isn't it true that the biggest difference is between zero and one?

When Earth Hour was first observed unofficially in Singapore last year, EMA did not observe any significant drop in the system demand.

So between no action at all and some kind of action, no matter how small, I'll take the latter anytime.

Having said that, there is no reason to be smug and think that we have done our part for global warming because the truth of the matter is that gencos did not power down their capacity.

So no, it didn't make a real difference?

I come to the third part of my answer, which is that it was a good beginning, but like all good beginnings, it needs to have a good end.

Can we envision that one day, we all don't switch on lights unnecessarily, no matter what time it is?

Where switching off is not an option, can we envision that we use the best that technology has to offer, supporting with our dollars those products that are eco-friendly?

I've always believed that where there's a will, there's a way.

Now that we've voted against global warming by switching off our lights, let's continue to vote for Planet Earth with our everyday actions.

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Flash floods in various parts of Singapore

Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia 5 Apr 09;

SINGAPORE: There were flash floods in various parts of Singapore, including Marine Parade and Chai Chee Road, on Sunday.

A video sent in by a Channel NewsAsia viewer shows dark clouds gathering in Tampines. The clouds there looked like a small twister, but dissipated after a while.

The flash floods caused a huge headache for some living in the Upper Paya Lebar area.

Once the rain subsided, many in the area were busy cleaning up inside and outside their houses. Some said the water level reached their ankles during the heavy downpour.

For others - they had to deal with damage to their cars.

One car owner said: "(The water level was) about one metre, and my car was flooded. There's a short circuit now. I can't start (my car) and I think a few cars here also have (the same problem)."

The Public Utilities Board’s (PUB’s) director of catchment and waterways, Tan Nguan Sen, said PUB is investigating the cause of the flash floods.

The places with localised flash floods included the MacPherson area, as well as the Upper Paya Lebar Road, which was the worst hit area on Sunday.

The flash floods subsided within 30 minutes.

According to data collected by the National Environment Agency (NEA), the highest rainfall recorded on Sunday was 97.6 mm, which is more than 50 per cent of the monthly average rainfall in April alone.

But this is not unusual during the inter-monsoon season.

- CNA/yt

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connect2earth now links young people directly with world’s top experts to debate green issues

IUCN 6 Apr 09;

The popular online community connect2earth.org has launched a new service that links young people directly with the world’s top environmental experts to talk about headline-grabbing topics that they care about such as climate change, the energy crisis, and species loss.

Community members can debate by posting text, images, audio, video and then follow the discussion live as it plays out on the web or on their mobile phone. connect2earth community members, together with a jury of green experts, will then pick a winning contribution, giving the winner an opportunity to take even more action.

The winner could snag a trip to be part of an official delegation to the United Nations climate negotiations in Copenhagen later this year, or even get hands-on experience in a real on-the-ground conservation project somewhere in the world.

“connect2earth lets you talk directly with people all over the world and some of the world’s top experts. Participate in the community and you may even get to be part of the global UN climate change negotiations, or take part in a real conservation project!” says Skandar Keynes, star of Hollywood hits The Chronicles of Narnia: “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe” and “Prince Caspian”.

“connect2earth is a great way for young people to engage with environmentalists, but also for us to learn from young people. They are the future of our planet and they need a voice in the global debate – in both the corridors of power and on the ground,” says Julia Marton-Lefèvre, IUCN Director General.

More information: www.connect2earth.org

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Vital corridor for Asian elephants to be severed by government development in India

Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com 5 Apr 09

The largest wild population of Asian elephants in the world is threatened by development over a 2.5 kilometer wide corridor, according to Rainforest Informatin Centre which is apart of an international campaign to change the location of the development. The corridor, located in the Western Ghats of India, is the last unbroken forest leading the elephants from wet season to dry season feeding grounds. Unfortunately the corridor also connects two different Indian states: Kerala and Karnataka.

Already, a busy interstate highway passes through the elephants' forest, used by hundred of vehicles around the clock. Currently checkpoints leading from one state to another are located in three different places, leaving the forest corridor free for elephants to pass. However, a recent decision has been made to combine the checkpoints of the three states in the center of the elephant corridor.

“This development would include all manner of infrastructure - building complexes, housing, offices, toilets and dormitories for drivers, a fuel filling station and so on,” writes the nonprofit conservation group, Rainforest Information Centre. “The checkpoint clearance takes hours, so there would be hundreds of lorries parked along the road throughout the night on either side of the checkpoints within the forests preventing elephants from using the corridor.”

Rainforest Information Center notes that work has already begun: a trench has been dug which prevents elephants “from crossing the road, cutting [the elephants] off from the the river and whatever little fodder available on the river margin”. Working with the Indian environmental organization, Wayanard Nature Protection Group, and Forests.org, an online activist center, Rainforests Information Centre has encouraged supporters to contact government officials.

“The best solution would be the relocation of the checking stations to outside the forest on the Kerala side of the corridor where suitable land for this is available,” suggests Rainforests Information Centre. “It is also necessary to prohibit vehicle movement during certain night-time hours for example, between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m.”

John Seed of Rainforests Information Centre told Monagabay.com: "we feel confident that international attention can persuade the Kerala government to move the site of its planned development out of the corridor and out of the jungle."

For more information on the corridor: Rainforests Information Centre or Forests.org.

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Trees are growing faster and could buy time to halt global warming

Plants and trees are growing faster because of rising carbon dioxide levels, potentially buying Earth more time to address global warming, according to scientists.

Urmee Khan, The Telegraph 5 Apr 09;

The phenomenon has been discovered in a variety of flora, ranging from tropical rainforests to British sugar beet crops.

It means they are soaking up at least some of the billions of tons of CO2 released into the atmosphere by humans that would otherwise be accelerating the rate of climate change.

Plants survive by extracting CO2 from the air and using sunlight to convert it into proteins and sugars.

Since 1750 the concentration in the air has risen from of CO2 278 parts per million (ppm) to more than 380 ppm, making it easier for plants to acquire the CO2 needed for rapid growth.

A study by the University of Leeds, published in the science journal Nature, measured the girth of 70,000 trees across 10 African countries and compared them with similar records made four decades ago.

On average, the trees were getting bigger faster and researchers found that each hectare of African forest was trapping an extra 0.6 tons of CO2 a year compared with the 1960s.

If this is replicated across the world's tropical rainforests they would be removing nearly 5 billion tons of CO2 a year from the atmosphere.

Scientists have been looking for a similar impact on crop yields and the experiments generally suggest that raised CO2 levels would boost the yields of mainstream crops, such as maize, rice and soy, by about 13 per cent.

Professor Martin Parry, head of plant science at Rothamsted Research, Britain's leading crop institute, said: "There is no doubt that the enrichment of the air with CO2 is increasing plant growth rates in many areas.

"The problem is that humans are releasing so much that plants can remove only a fraction of it," he said.

Humans are believed to generate about 50 billion tons of the gas each year.

However, scientists have warned against drawing false comfort from such findings. They point out that although levels will boost plant growth, other factors associated with climate change, such as rising temperatures and drought, are likely to have a negative effect.

Fred Pearce, environment consultant for New Scientist, said: "We know that trees do absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and about half is taken up from nature and half of that is by forests. But it doesn't change the story greenhouse gases are accumulating more than 2 per cent a year.

"It won't buy us much time as humans are releasing much more CO2 into the air, but it is useful information if it helps to protect existing forests."

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Ice bridge holding Antarctic ice shelf cracks up

Alister Doyle, Reuters 4 Apr 09;

OSLO (Reuters) - An ice bridge which had apparently held a vast Antarctic ice shelf in place during recorded history shattered on Saturday and could herald a wider collapse linked to global warming, a leading scientist said.

"It's amazing how the ice has ruptured. Two days ago it was intact," David Vaughan, a glaciologist with the British Antarctic Survey, told Reuters of a satellite image of the Wilkins Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula.

The satellite picture, from the European Space Agency (ESA), showed that a 40 km (25 mile) long strip of ice believed to pin the Wilkins Ice Shelf in place had splintered at its narrowest point, about 500 meters wide.

"We've waited a long time to see this," he said.

The Wilkins, now the size of Jamaica or the U.S. state of Connecticut, is one of 10 shelves to have shrunk or collapsed in recent years on the Antarctic Peninsula, where temperatures have risen in recent decades apparently because of global warming.

The ESA picture showed a jumble of huge flat-topped icebergs in the sea where the ice bridge had been on Friday, pinning the Wilkins to the coast and running northwest to Charcot Island.

"Charcot Island will be a real island for the first time in history," Vaughan said.

Vaughan, who landed on the flat-topped ice bridge on the Wilkins in January in a ski-equipped plane with other scientists and two Reuters reporters, said change in Antarctica was rarely so dramatic. It was the first -- and last -- visit to the area.

The loss of the ice bridge, jutting about 20 meters out of the water and which was almost 100 km wide in 1950, may now allow ocean currents to wash away far more of the Wilkins shelf.

"My feeling is that we will lose more of the ice, but there will be a remnant to the south," said Vaughan. Ice shelves float on the water, formed by ice spilling off Antarctica, and can be hundreds of meters thick.

Nine other shelves have receded or collapsed around the Antarctic Peninsula in the past 50 years, often abruptly like the Larsen A in 1995 or the Larsen B in 2002 further north.

DISAPPEAR FROM MAP

Cores of sediments on the seabed indicate that some of these ice shelves had been in place for at least 10,000 years. Vaughan said an ice shelf would take many hundreds of years to form.

In January, the remaining ice bridge had been surrounded by icebergs the size of shopping malls, many of them trapped in sea ice. A few seals were visible lolling on sea ice in the low Antarctic sunshine.

On that visit, Vaughan put up a GPS satellite monitoring device and predicted the ice bridge would break within weeks. The plane left quickly, in case the ice was unstable on a part of the world about to disappear from the map.

Temperatures on the Antarctic Peninsula have risen by up to about 3 Celsius (5.4 Fahrenheit) in the past 50 years, the fastest rate of warming in the Southern Hemisphere.

"We believe the warming on the Antarctic Peninsula is related to global climate change, though the links are not entirely clear," Vaughan said. Antarctica's response to warming will go a long way to deciding the pace of global sea level rise.

About 175 nations have been meeting in Bonn, Germany, since March 29 as part of a push to agree by the end of 2009 a new U.N. treaty to combat climate change. The talks end on April 8.

The loss of ice shelves does not affect sea levels -- floating ice contracts as it melts and so does not raise ocean levels. But their loss can allow glaciers on land to slide more rapidly toward the sea, adding water to the oceans.

The Wilkins does not have much ice pent up behind it. But bigger ice shelves to the south on the frozen continent, where no major warming has been detected, hold back far more ice.

Ice bridge ruptures in Antarctic
BBC News 4 Apr 09;

An ice bridge linking a shelf of ice the size of Jamaica to two islands in Antarctica has snapped.

Scientists say the collapse could mean the Wilkins Ice Shelf is on the brink of breaking away, and provides further evidence or rapid change in the region.

Sited on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula, the Wilkins shelf has been retreating since the 1990s.

Researchers regarded the ice bridge as an important barrier, holding the remnant shelf structure in place.

Its removal will allow ice to move more freely between Charcot and Latady islands, into the open ocean.

European Space Agency satellite pictures had indicated last week that cracks were starting to appear in the bridge. Newly created icebergs were seen to be floating in the sea on the western side of the peninsula, which juts up from the continent towards South America's southern tip.

Professor David Vaughan is a glaciologist with the British Antarctic Survey who planted a GPS tracker on the ice bridge in January to monitor its movement.

He said the breaking of the bridge had been expected for some weeks; and much of the ice shelf behind is likely to follow.

"We know that [the Wilkins Ice Shelf] has been completely or very stable since the 1930s and then it started to retreat in the late 1990s; but we suspect that it's been stable for a very much longer period than that," he told BBC News.

"The fact that it's retreating and now has lost connection with one of its islands is really a strong indication that the warming on the Antarctic is having an effect on yet another ice shelf."

While the break-up will have no direct impact on sea level because the ice is floating, it heightens concerns over the impact of climate change on this part of Antarctica.

Over the past 50 years, the peninsula has been one of the fastest warming places on the planet.

Many of its ice shelves have retreated in that time and six of them have collapsed completely (Prince Gustav Channel, Larsen Inlet, Larsen A, Larsen B, Wordie, Muller and the Jones Ice Shelf).

Separate research shows that when ice shelves are removed, the glaciers and landed ice behind them start to move towards the ocean more rapidly. It is this ice which can raise sea levels, but by how much is a matter of ongoing scientific debate.

Such acceleration effects were not included by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) when it made its latest projections on likely future sea level rise. Its 2007 assessment said ice dynamics were poorly understood.

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