Nature Blog Networking: Sing Sing Singapore pt 1
our tiny island is featured on Nature Blog Network!
Sustainable Singapore and our shores
on the wild shores of singapore blog
Role of the camera in birdwatching
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog
Splendid super-low at Changi
on the wild shores of singapore blog and hairy and sluggish and full of crab.
Nightcrawler
on the annotated budak blog
Stephen Then, The Star 29 Apr 09;
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: Countries in the southern part of South-East Asia are preparing early for the possibility of a transboundary haze due to an anticipated prolonged dry spell.
The ministers in charge of environmental issues from Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei and Thailand met at the Brunei capitol here Wednesday for a sub-regional ministerial committee meeting on the issue.
They warned that a prolonged dry spell may hit the region from June to September.
Malaysia’s Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Douglas Unggah said there will be an anticipated surge of hotspots due to fires during the coming dry season.
“The Asean (Association of South-East Asian Nations) Specialised Meteorological Centre reported that occasional showers interspersed with short dry spells can be expected in May, with brief surges in the number of hotspots during the drier periods.
“The traditional dry season in the southern part of the Asean region is likely to start around June and will last until September.
“Increased hotspots can be expected in the region, with the possibility of transboundary haze during the more persistent dry periods. Vigilance should be stepped up in anticipation of this escalation of hotspots,” he said after the meeting at a resort here.
The ministers agreed that not only should Asean member countries increase their alertness for hotpsots inside their own borders, they must also share more detailed and specific information concerning the air-pollution situation in each others’ countries with the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC).
The ministers decided that Asean member countries should share data about their country’s environmental particulate matters of less than 10 microns and furnish the ASMC with these details so that it can monitor the dispersion of smoke and the impact caused by the transboundary haze in the region.
They must share these data in addition to reporting to the centre on the number of existing hotspots and the prevailing weather outlook in their respective countries.
During the meeting here, Asean member countries expressed their appreciation to Indonesia for “the substantial effort it has put in to implement its action plan to tackle transboundary haze pollution.”
The ministers noted that Indonesia had implemented several new moves to try to prevent and mitigate forest fires and open-burning.
Among other measures, it has enforced a zero-burning campaign that included the enactment of laws that prohibit using fire as a means of land-clearing.
The Indonesian government had also made efforts to provide the appropriate machinery and equipment that would enable land-clearing by farmers to be carried out without resorting to open-burning in southern Sumatra and central Kalimantan.
Indonesia has also developed a fire-danger rating system that enabled more efficient control, the meeting noted.
As for Malaysia and Indonesia’s joint efforts to tackle the haze, the two governments had jointly collaborated to install an air-quality monitoring station in Riau Province in Indonesia.
The station is expected to be fully operational next month and will go a long way in helping to detect fires and haze early, the ministers said.
Indonesia and Malaysia are also aggressively carrying out fire prevention programmes in five selected villages in Rokan Hilir Regency (in Indonesia) by trying to rehabilitate and manage the peatlands there.
During the meeting yesterday, Asean also thanked Thailand for contributing US$50,000 to the Asean Transboundary Haze Pollution Control Fund.
Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and Vietnam had earlier contributed US$50,000 each to the fund.
Asean To Step Up Vigilance Against Haze
Jackson Sawatan, Bernama 29 Apr 09;
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, April 29 (Bernama) -- Asean ministers have agreed to step up vigilance against haze in the wake of an anticipated dry season between June and September this year.
Malaysian Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas said they also agreed to share haze pollutant data for regular reporting by the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC).
"A slightly-below normal rainfall is expected between June and September and this can cause an increase in hotspot activities in the region, with the possibility of transboundary smoke haze during the more persistent dry period."
Uggah was speaking to reporters here after chairing the 7th Meeting of the Sub-regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution, here, today.
Malaysia is the current chair of the sub-regional committee, which also comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand -- the countries affected most by the recurring haze problem.
For the May period, Uggah said, the ASMC reported that there would be occasional showers interspersed with short dry spells, which could cause brief surges in hotspot activities.
On the sharing of haze pollutant data, he said the move was to enable monitoring of the dispersion and impact of transboundary haze, in addition to reporting on the weather outlook and number of hotspots.
Asked how bad the haze would be this year, Uggah said it would not be as bad as the 2006 haze owing to the numerous measures taken by member countries.
"We have taken note and expressed appreciation on the efforts by Indonesia in implementing its plan of action to deal with the issue and urged that the efforts be sustained," he said.
A media release issued at the end of the meeting said among the measures taken by Indonesia -- the country often blamed for the haze caused by forest and peat fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra -- was to issue early notice to the stakeholders, asking them to be on the alert to prevent land and forest fires.
The country had also mobilised teams to conduct ground checking in Riau apart from implementing good agricultural practices in West Kalimantan.
It also launched a zero-burn campaign and provided machinery for land clearing, among other things.
Uggah said collaborative efforts between Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia had also shown progress in checking transboundary haze.
"The haze prevention programme implemented by Malaysia and Indonesia in Riau, including the installation of an air quality monitoring station in Bagan Siapi-api will be in full operation next month.
"A fire and haze prevention programme through improved management of peatlands in the Rokan Hilir Regency in Riau is also being implemented," he said.
Singapore and Indonesia had also initiated an action plan to reduce peat fires through mitigative water management and conservation methods in Jambi province, he added.
-- BERNAMA
Bad environmental days beginning June
Joniston Bangkuai, The New Straits Times 29 Apr 09;
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Wed: MORE hotspots are expected in the region between June and September, with the possibility of transboundary haze during the more persistent dry periods.
To curb the clearing of undergrowth using fire, the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee (MSC) on Transboundary Haze Pollution which held its Seventh meeting here agreed to step up vigilance.
The meeting was attended by representatives from Brunei, Malaysia , Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand and the Asean Secretariat.
Malaysian Environment and Natural Resources Minister Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas, who chaired the meeting, said member countries will share data on the haze for regular reporting by the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre.
ASMC reported to the meeting that slightly below normal to slightly above normal rainfall was expected during the period.
Uggah said the ministers appreciated Indonesia’s “substantive” efforts in implementing its Plan of Action (PoA) in dealing with transboundary haze pollution and urged that the efforts be sustained.
“The ministers also noted several new actions taken by Indonesia to further enhance its efforts to prevent and mitigate land and forest fires,” he told Malaysian journalists.
He said there was also “encouraging progress” in the collaboration between Indonesia and Malaysia in the implementation of fire and haze prevention programmes in Kalimantan’s Riau Province.
The collaboration includes the installation of an air quality monitoring station which is expected to be in full operation next month and the rehabilitation and management of peatlands.
At the meeting, representatives from Riau shared their experiences on the effectiveness and impacts of the action programmes under the bilateral collaboration with Malaysia for possible replication in other fire-prone provinces in Kalimantan.
The committee will hold its next meeting in Singapore in October in conjunction with the 11th Asean Ministerial Meeting on the Environment.
Kenny Lim Financial Times 28 Apr 09;
SINGAPORE – TBWA Singapore has resigned the Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) account with immediate effect, citing "creative and strategic differences".
“Much progress was made in RWS’s branding and marketing since TBWA’s appointment in 2007, most notably the launch of a new logo and tagline for the resort last year,” said Angela Lam, head of marketing, Resorts World at Sentosa.
“TBWA has a fantastic team, but both companies have decided that this would be the best move at this point in time. We thank the TBWA team for their contribution, and we hope to have the opportunity to work with them again someday.”
In a statement, Dan Paris, managing director of TBWA Group Singapore, said: “We have been working with Resorts World Sentosa for two years now and we have reached the point where it is time to move on and let someone more appropriate pick up from here.”
He added: "Resorts World Sentosa will be a tremendous experience when it opens and we wish the team at Resorts World Sentosa all the best for their launch."
The city-state’s second integrated resort operator is on course for a soft opening in the first quarter of 2010.
Resorts World at Sentosa to seek new agency
Kenny Lim, Financial Times 29 Apr 09;
SINGAPORE - Resorts World at Sentosa (RWS) is to launch a search for a creative agency after parting ways with TBWA yesterday.
According to a spokesperson representing the integrated resort, RWS is currently “looking at options” and would be “on track” to hiring a new agency given that it would be opening its doors in the island-state early next year.
Other sources have suggested that “several” agencies have already held talks with the client, while one argued that a pitch consultant could be brought in to invite agencies to pitch in time.
TBWA Singapore resigned the RWS creative business after two years, citing "creative and strategic differences".
Angela Lam, head of marketing at Resorts World at Sentosa, said: “Both companies have decided that this would be the best move at this point in time.”
Government Dolphin Trade to be Scrutinized by International Body
Earth Times 28 Apr 09;
WASHINGTON, April 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Solomon Islands controversial trade in wild-caught dolphins is to be subject to an in-depth review under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), as decided by the CITES Animals Committee at its annual meeting last week in Geneva.
Evidence from leading cetacean experts in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Cetacean Specialist Group (CSG) reveals a lack of population data for bottlenose dolphins in the Solomon Islands. This led the specialists to conclude that it is impossible to determine that the export of bottlenose dolphins is not detrimental to the wild population - a CITES requirement. Despite these findings, the Solomon Islands exported 28 wild-caught dolphins in 2007 and 19 more to the Philippines this past winter.
The CSG's evidence was critical to the decision to place this dolphin trade into the CITES significant trade review process, a mechanism to ensure compliance with Convention. If the Solomon Islands is violating the rules, it will be given a chance to comply before trade sanctions could be implemented.
"This should be a wake-up call to the Solomon Islands' government that the sustainability of its controversial trade in wild-caught dolphins will now be under CITES scrutiny," says D.J. Schubert, Wildlife Biologist of the Animal Welfare Institute, who attended the CITES meeting. "The government is obligated to comply with the rules of CITES - rules that it has, to date, ignored. AWI encourages the government to suspend future live captures and exports of bottlenose dolphins, pending completion of the review process."
The Animals Committee also recommended that the Solomon Islands' government set a more cautious dolphin export quota. A total quota (including all causes of dolphin mortality and live captures) of ten bottlenose dolphins per year for up to four years as a precautionary standard until population surveys are completed was suggested by a CSG representative. Currently, the government has established an annual export quota of 100 wild-caught dolphins - a level of trade the CSG deemed unsustainable.
Though only a CITES member since June 2007, the Solomon Islands is quickly developing a rogue reputation. Its role in the illegal international trade of wild-harvested giant clams was also discussed at the Geneva meeting with the clams also being placed into the significant trade review process.
SOURCE Animal Welfare Institute
Dolphin export quota drops
Solomon Star 29 Apr 09;
THE Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species (CITES) has endorsed that Solomon Islands will now only export 10 dolphins a year.
This has reversed government’s current annual export quota which allowed 100 animals to be exported annually.
Christopher Porter, Director of Solomon Islands Mammal Marine Entertainment Centre (SIMMEC) and Marine Export Limited (MEL) confirmed this after the CITES Animal Committee endorsed the recommendation during its annual meeting in Geneva last week.
"This new quota was endorsed during last week's CITES meeting in Geneva," he said.
Mr Porter who closely monitored the meeting said the drop in quota from 100 to 10 is better than being stopped at all and said he has no problem with the new recommendation.
He said the new quota will still benefit the country if it continues to export dolphin this year and the coming years.
“With the world wide endorsement it should encourage Solomon Islanders to work hard and value these natural resources,” he said.
Mr Porter said when he first arrived in the country he knew what he was doing based on the recommendations from CITES.
Over the past seven years, the country has benefited much from such export, he said.
Last year about 28 animals were exported and early this year, 11 were sent to the Philippines.
By MOFFAT MAMU
Sira Habibu, The Star 28 Apr 09;
GEORGETOWN: More than 80 types of fish have either become extinct or gone missing from local waters, said Sahabat Alam Malaysia president S. M. Mohd Idris.
These include various varieties of yu, pari, gelama, pelata, bagok, semilang and kurau.
Describing the situation as alarming, Mohd Idris said it was high time the authorities implemented preventive measures to safeguard the fisheries sector.
“Our fisheries sector is in crisis because of the lack of effective policies and laws on the conservation of marine resources, as well as a lack of enforcement of existing laws,” he said at the National Fisheries Dialogue here Tuesday.
Mohd Idris said the dialogue was organised by Sahabat Alam Malaysia to identify weaknesses in policies and practices, and to suggest ideas for sustainable and effective management of fisheries resources.
“The other objective is to advocate strong and sustainable fisheries policies that emphasise the interdependency of ecosystems and communities,” he said.
“The authorities must also take measures to check the destruction of marine life habitats. There must be a concerted effort to protect mangrove forests, sea grass and coral reefs,” he said.
He said that the impact of modern fishery practices must also be looked into, and added that there was no long-term policy to protect the coastal ecosystem.
“Extinction, over-exploitation and the depletion of fisheries resources must be addressed in the fourth Malaysian Fisheries Policy that is currently being formulated.
“Draft copies of the policy should be made available to the public, and a platform must be given for groups to give feedback and highlight concerns,” he added.
The 5km road will be the most expensive in S'pore, costing $4 billion
Maria Almenoar, Straits Times 29 Apr 09;
WORK on Singapore's 10th expressway, and its most complex and expensive one to date, started yesterday.
The Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE) is meant to deal with traffic expected at the new attractions, offices and residences going up in the Marina Bay area.
These include the new integrated resort, the Gardens by the Bay and the Marina Cruise Centre at Marina South.
With five lanes in each direction, it has the capacity to move up to 10,000 cars per hour each way, compared to the 6,000 cars per hour each way on the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE).
Once completed in 2013, the MCE will link the KPE and East Coast Parkway (ECP) in the east, and with the Ayer Rajah Expressway in the west.
Motorists who are not headed downtown can also use the MCE to bypass the Marina Bay area.
There will be four exits and four entrances along its 5km length.
To ease congestion, the ECP stretch just after Benjamin Sheares Bridge will be converted into a network of normal arterial roads to serve the area. Currently, this portion of the ECP splits the Marina area into two unlinked sections.
Said Transport Minister Raymond Lim at the launch of the mammoth project yesterday: 'The MCE will be a valuable addition to our expressway network. It will improve our road connectivity and help to support the future development of our city.'
Of its 5km length, 3.6km will be underground, including a 420m stretch parallel to the Marina Barrage which will duck 20m below the mean sea level.
It will be 120m wide at some points, almost three times the width of the KPE.
The project is so massive that civil works have to be carved up into six portions so that the construction crews are not overstretched.
So far, the cost of the project has come up to $4.1 billion - far exceeding the $2.5 billion estimated in 2007.
In comparison, the 12km-long KPE, which has 9km of road underground and some parts under the Singapore River, cost $1.7 billion.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said that it considered alternatives like building a network of bridges to link the area, but decided against it as it would 'devalue' property in the area and 'look messy'.
Reasons for the high costs include:
# Large-scale excavations of up to 25m deep and 120m wide;
# Difficult soil conditions - the soil is made up mostly of soft marine clay;
# The need to drill up to 59m - or 20 storeys - in some areas of the seabed to get to solid ground for piling work;
# Reclamation of 13.1ha of land at the Marina Wharf and Marina East area;
# High raw material costs when tenders were awarded. A clause in LTA's contracts ensures that if raw materials are purchased by contractors at lower prices, the Government will be reimbursed the difference; and
# The cost of Electronic Road Pricing gantries at the entrances and exits, which is included in the construction cost.
Despite the technicalities of the project, Mr Lim assured the public that all work will be done safely.
Among the safety measures employed for the MCE is an SMS alert system that will send continuous alerts to engineers on data like ground movements that is collected and analysed on a regular basis.
Professor Robert Mair, who is on an international panel of consultants called in to review the MCE, noted that the complexity of the project was 'right up there with the toughest in the world'.
Similar projects include Shanghai's Yangtze River tunnel and Japan's Tokyo Bay Aqua Line.
The head of civil and environmental engineering at Cambridge University added, however, that LTA is well-equipped and experienced to handle this project.
Said Prof Mair: 'Looking at their robust structures, soil investigations and monitoring systems, they have taken on board the lessons learnt from Nicoll Highway.'
Work begins on Singapore's 10th expressway
Completion due 2013; it is first road tunnel under the sea
Joyce Hooi, Business Times 29 Apr 09;
(SINGAPORE) The Land Transport Authority (LTA) broke ground yesterday on the construction of Singapore's first road tunnel under the sea, the Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE).
The new expressway, slated for completion in 2013, will connect the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) and the East Coast Parkway (ECP) to the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE).
'The MCE underscores the government's commitment to continue investing in Singapore's road network,' Transport Minister Raymond Lim said at the ground-breaking ceremony.
'The MCE will be our 10th expressway, after the KPE which opened last year. We will continue to invest in road infrastructure for the future, within the constraints of our limited land space. By 2020, we will complete the North South Expressway (NSE), which will provide an additional route from the north to the city.'
The 5 km MCE is the most ambitious project undertaken by the LTA and involves the widest road tunnel in Singapore, with five lanes going in each direction.
A 420 m section of the expressway will be beneath the sea bed. At its deepest point, it will be about 20 m below mean sea level. Some 13.1 ha of land will be reclaimed for the project - 9.1 ha at Marina Wharf and 4 ha at Marina East.
Singapore's 10th expressway is also notable for another superlative - it will be the country's most expensive expressway, with the value of contracts awarded so far coming up to $4.1 billion.
Exceeding a budgeted figure of $2.5 billion, based on lower construction and engineering costs in 2006, the contracts awarded so far comprise six major civil contracts and four major system-wide contracts. One minor civil contract and three other system-wide contracts are still to be awarded.
In comparison, Singapore's second most expensive expressway, the KPE, cost $1.8 billion to build.
According to LTA, some of cost of the MCE may be recovered if the prices of materials fall, due to a price fluctuation clause in contracts.
Apart from higher tender prices, construction of the MCE in difficult ground and soil conditions, as well as additional safety requirements for the sub-sea tunnel, added to the overall cost.
Construction will take place in soft clay that runs as deep as 60 m in some places.
'Soft clay is not very good for construction,' said Chuah Han Leong, LTA's director of the MCE project. 'It is like working with toothpaste. So we have to conduct extensive ground improvement to enhance the safety of the excavation.'
Planning for the MCE was done with an eye on property values. To increase the development potential of prime land in Marina Bay, the section of the ECP that runs through Marina South will be realigned and downgraded to an arterial road.
'The MCE will add to the long-term growth of Singapore and increase accessibility to the Marina Bay downtown area,' said LTA chief executive Yam Ah Mee.
Marina Coastal Expressway to cost more than S$4b to build
Lin Jiamei, 938LIVE Channel NewsAsia 28 Apr 09;
SINGAPORE: Construction for Singapore's most expensive highway, the Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE), has begun.
Costing more than S$4 billion, it is much higher than the initial estimation of S$2.5 billion due to the difficult soil conditions.
When completed, the 5-kilometre road will serve as a high speed link to the new Downtown area in Marina Bay. It will also link up to the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway, East Coast Parkway and the Ayer Rajah Expressway.
The connection will in turn allow a section of the ECP to be coverted into arterial roads serving nearby developments such as the integrated resort.
Commuters who are not heading to the area can also use the MCE to bypass Marina Bay.
A special feature of the new expressway - Singapore's tenth - is the road tunnel that runs under the sea, parallel to the Marina Barrage.
Transport Minister Raymond Lim, who broke ground for the project at the barrage, explained the complexity of the construction process.
"A 420-metre section of the MCE will be directly beneath the sea bed, making it one of LTA's most technically challenging projects yet. At its deepest point the MCE will be at about 20 metres below mean sea level," he said.
The difficult soil condition in the area means that excavation works could run as deep as 60 metres in certain sections, not to mention the width of the expressway - five lanes in each direction.
Director of the MCE project, Chuah Han Leong, said part of the road will also be constructed on reclaimed land.
He said: "We are working very close to the coast and also quite far away from all the developments that are happening now, like the IR, the Marina Bay and the Financial Centre.
"We are basically next to the sea and we will use the right material as well as construction methods to make sure that all our construction is safe."
The MCE is expected to be ready by 2013.
- 938LIVE
It also boasts best infrastructure in the world: Survey
Fiona Chan, Straits Times 29 Apr 09;
SINGAPORE has risen six places in a global ranking of cities with the highest quality of living, overtaking cities such as Paris in France and Honolulu and San Francisco in the United States.
At 26th place, the Republic also surpassed all its Asian neighbours to be the region's best performer in the latest Worldwide Quality of Living Survey by human resource consultancy Mercer.
As the icing on the cake, Singapore also topped Mercer's list of cities with the best infrastructure in the world. It proved superior in various areas, including electricity and water supply, telephone and mail services, public transport, traffic congestion and range of international flights from local airports.
Although it is often taken for granted, infrastructure 'has a significant effect on the quality of living experienced by expatriates', said Ms Cathy Loose, Mercer's Asia Pacific global mobility leader.
The development of Marina Bay and Sentosa Cove as new waterfront living areas appear to have boosted Singapore's position in the rankings.
'Singapore already has excellent housing, but now its new ocean-front and seafront living options have allowed the ranking to move even higher,' said Mr Derrick Kon, Mercer's Singapore global mobility leader.
He added that the 'high-quality houses and apartments' that are available for rent and the 'excellent selection of appliances and furniture' for residents definitely helped elevate Singapore's quality of life.
The other factor that contributed to Singapore's higher ranking is the presence of 'many good schools' in the city, said Mr Kon.
'Singapore has always had a lot of good schools and international schools, but now there are also more private schools offering university degrees,' he said.
'If expatriates come here with their children, this is one area they would be looking at, and in Singapore they would have a lot of options, with international programmes and university programmes.'
Singapore's strong position in quality of life rankings such as these could stand the nation in good stead in the current financial crisis, said Mr Mark Ellwood, managing director of Robert Walters, another human resource consultancy.
With companies looking to cut costs, many are reducing the number of international assignments and localising their expat compensation packages where possible, which means not giving out the 'hardship' allowances or benefits that are offered to expats who have to live in cities with a lower quality of life.
'There is perhaps less of an argument these days that Singapore is a hardship posting, so you don't have to give many expat benefits in terms of additional bells and whistles,' said Mr Ellwood.
Singapore is the only Asian city on the top 100 list that managed to increase its ranking this year, with the rest largely maintaining their previous positions.
China's capital, Beijing, moved up three places from 116 to 113 due to public transport improvements stemming from the Olympic Games last year, but Bangkok in Thailand and Mumbai in India both dropped in the rankings amid worsened stability and security.
Globally, the Austrian city of Vienna overtook Switzerland's Zurich to boast the best quality of life this year. European cities continued to dominate the top positions in the ranking, amid a sprinkling of Canadian and American cities.
Mercer publishes this list annually to help multinational companies determine an appropriate amount of compensation for expatriates sent to work in difficult locations.
Higher energy efficiency standards to apply to fridges, air-conditioners in 2 years
Amresh Gunasingham, Straits Times 29 Apr 09;
TWO ticks and you're in. One or none, and you're out.
Under a new easy-to-follow ratings system for energy efficiency, major home appliances will need to get more than one tick out of four to be sold here in two years' time.
The higher standards - some appliances now have no ticks - mean that 20 per cent of existing refrigerators and air-conditioners will be phased out of the market by 2011.
The Minimum Energy Performance Standard, or MEPS, scheme, run by the National Environment Agency (NEA), aims to encourage consumers to conserve energy.
The appliances which must comply are fridges and air-conditioners, which can contribute up to 50 per cent of a typical utilities bill.
The tick ratings, which indicate energy consumption, are based on criteria set by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).
Suppliers and retailers have been given a grace period of two years to phase out energy inefficient models that do not meet the new standards.
And retailers appear to be heeding the call.
In the first three months of this year, only 18 per cent of new air-conditioning models registered under NEA were zero or one-tick models, while no energy inefficient refrigerator models were registered.
Mr Andy Toh, an operations manager at electrical retailer Harvey Norman, said consumers like energy efficient appliances due to their long-term cost savings.
An energy efficient refrigerator with a three-tick rating can cut up to 30 per cent off a household's utility bill compared with a zero-tick rated fridge, he said.
The measures are part of the $1 billion sustainable development report released on Monday to enhance energy efficiency and sustainability standards here.
Speaking at the launch, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said: 'If we want to face the challenges of the future - living in a more resource-scarce world while also tackling global warming - then we have to start taking action now.'
The Government also introduced water efficiency labels for appliances such as taps, cisterns and urinals earlier this year. This may be extended to shower heads and washing machines.
From July, new developments and renovated properties will also have to install more efficient low-capacity flushing cisterns.
amreshg@sph.com.sg
Rating energy efficiency
# Energy labelling was made mandatory for air-conditioners and refrigerators in January last year. It was extended to clothes dryers earlier this month.
# An appliance with a poor efficiency rating carries a zero tick, while an 'excellent' rating carries the maximum four ticks.
# From 2011, all refrigerators and air-conditioners sold here must meet minimum energy performance standards.
# About 20 per cent of the 475 air-con models and 403 refrigerator models registered under the National Environment Agency will be phased out in two years' time.
# From July, new and renovated properties must install flushing cisterns with at least a 'one-tick' rating.
AMRESH GUNASINGHAM
Rating energy efficiency
# Energy labelling was made mandatory for air-conditioners and refrigerators in January last year. It was extended to clothes dryers earlier this month.
# An appliance with a poor efficiency rating carries a zero tick, while an 'excellent' rating carries the maximum four ticks.
# From 2011, all refrigerators and air-conditioners sold here must meet minimum energy performance standards.
# About 20 per cent of the 475 air-con models and 403 refrigerator models registered under the National Environment Agency will be phased out in two years' time.
# From July, new and renovated properties must install flushing cisterns with at least a 'one-tick' rating.
AMRESH GUNASINGHAM
Straits Times 29 Apr 09;
SAVING the Earth starts at home for environmentally conscious Cindy Chng, a 20-year-old undergraduate.
She coaxed her mother to stop overloading the fridge and to switch off unused lights and appliances.
With the cooperation of everyone else at home, she shrank the family's utility bill by nearly a third.
The Chngs, who live in Choa Chu Kang, were among the finalists in a South West Community Development Council (CDC) energy-saving competition, run under the council's district-level 'sustainability' plan.
Other CDCs also have such district-level plans to promote energy saving, recycling and protecting the environment, all of which are in sync with the national sustainable-development blueprint launched on Monday.
The messages in this national drive are expected to reach an estimated 700,000 households - two million people in all.
The South West CDC, which looks after Hong Kah, Jurong, Clementi and other estates in south-west Singapore, aims to get 80,000 households there to switch to energy-efficient light bulbs and plant a million native plants in its HDB estates.
Likewise, the South East CDC has its '10% Energy Challenge', under which it urges households to cut their energy usage by 10 per cent.
Schoolchildren are another target of environment-education plans.
For instance, pre-schoolers in the North West District are drilled on good toilet etiquette and how to keep toilets clean.
And in the South East District, schoolchildren are trained as 'eco-ambassadors' and given the job of spreading the sustainability message to their peers.
GRACE CHUA
Straits Times 29 Apr 09;
SINGAPORE'S target of recycling 70 per cent of all its waste by 2030 is an achievable one, the chairman of the Sustainable Energy Association here has said.
But new laws will have to be enacted for that extra push towards it, said Mr Edwin Khew, who heads the lobby group of small and medium-sized enterprises interested in green initiatives.
He is also the chief executive of local waste recycling firm IUT Global and a Nominated Member of Parliament.
Mr Khew called for new laws, for instance, to require waste to be separated by type at the source, and for more food waste to be recycled.
Of the 570,000 tonnes of food waste generated here last year, only 12 per cent was recycled.
He noted that current efforts to promote recycling have skewed it towards construction debris, metal and paper, and that recycling rates were still low for food waste, glass and plastics.
The overall rate of recycling - the total amount of waste recycled out of the total amount generated - is now 56 per cent.
The new recycling target of 70 per cent was announced on Monday at the unveiling of the blueprint for building a greener, more energy-efficient and sustainable nation over the next 20 years.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) said it is looking into following the example of Japan, which has laws governing the recycling of food waste.
Over the last decade, the push for recycling among consumers has raised the rate from 40 per cent in 2000 to last year's 56 per cent.
Under the National Recycling Programme launched in April 2001, those living in HDB estates are given recycling bags and those living in landed property are given bins, into which can be deposited recyclable paper, plastics, glass, clothing, metal cans and drink cartons.
Waste collectors who make fortnightly visits have been picking up these recyclables. This programme has raised the proportion of participating households from 15 per cent to 63 per cent in eight years.
Recycling has also been made more convenient. More than 3,800 recycling bins dot HDB estates, shopping centres, MRT stations and bus interchanges across the island.
Most residents live no more than 150m from a recycling bin, said the NEA.
Another move taken: urging companies to cut waste by redesigning their product packaging and using recyclable packaging materials.
The latest move in this direction came last week, with the NEA launching its $8million Reduce, Reuse and Recycle Fund, or the 3R Fund for short. It subsidises up to 80 per cent of the cost of recycling projects by companies for two years, subject to a maximum of $1 million a project.
Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim called on the public to also 'take 3R as a way of life - as far as possible reduce, reuse and recycle'.
In other words, people need to get into the habit of cutting back on the waste they generate and of separating their recyclables.
'Singapore is no different from most other countries in having to deal with the environment issue in a more creative way,' he said.
AMRESH GUNASINGHAM
A lot of carrots but where are the sticks?
Letter from Lucia Maes, Today Online 29 Apr 09;
I REFER to “$8m recycling fund” (April 23), and wonder how sustainable is it?
It is one thing to provide start-up capital to new projects and another to ensure that these are self-sufficient. Although much of the latter is dependent on the company’s business model, a lot has to do with equally strong Government intervention in the form of legislation that will subsequently impart public support to them.
During my one-years stay in Singapore, I was confused about the Government’s initiatives and the reality on the ground when it came to recycling practices. There are recycling trucks making collections, but communities are not provided incentives nor forced by law to recycle their waste.
There is no critical mass to support the recycling companies’ operations due to the lack of holistic Government schemes to ensure that everyone recycles their product waste.
Singapore is fortunate to enjoy strong political will in the programmes it rolls out, but communities do not have the desire to better the environment. The only way to do this is to use a combination of sticks and carrots. The carrots have been generously offered to the industry, but the sticks are lacking. The grant sounds just like any other handouts which will send companies into a sprint, only to end up breathless.
New ways to recycle the karung guni spirit
Straits Times 29 Apr 09;
IN LAUNCHING an $8 million 3R (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle) Fund, the National Environment Agency (NEA) is aptly reworking something old into something new as well as useful and sustainable. The karung guni habit is diminishing among holdouts of the older generation, to whom hard times had taught thrifty ways. Younger Singaporeans need to cut out waste by reducing consumption, reusing what is still usable, and recycling much of the rest. They face a more complex challenge in environmental conservation than the economic necessity that drove their parents and grandparents to making the most of available castaways.
The rag-and-bone trade has survived and, indeed, rallied briefly a year ago when high raw commodity prices made it worthwhile to recycle rather than discard old newspapers, clothing and such. The present economic downturn will likely help discourage waste. Household appliances will get used longer. More people might salvage and sell disposable items to the karung guni man even if prices have dropped. The 3R system, however, must go beyond purely economic motivation and rely more enduringly on awareness of environmental protection.
The NEA deployed 1,600 sets of recycling bins in Housing Board estates in recent years, each no farther than 150m from any flat. Yet, how well have residents responded? How many take the trouble to sort out household waste and take it to the bins, instead of dumping it all down the chute? The campaign to persuade shoppers to take along their own bags on certain days of the week also shows little sign of developing into a habit.
Going beyond HDB estates, the new NEA fund will substantially offset the cost of waste-sorting projects among landed households as well as food and beverage outlets and students. Environment Minister Yaacob Ibrahim offered two principles that also made the national water recycling project a success: Rely on technology; and view waste as a useful resource, not as a problem. Public support, nevertheless, will be more critical than in the water initiative. Participants literally need to get down and dirty, unless technological ingenuity spares them the chore.
It is still a matter of cultivating a habit that must be sound and also sufficiently strong to survive any loss or absence of financial incentive. With the new fund, the NEA continues to focus on public awareness and education to promote an environmentally friendly lifestyle. Making recycling mandatory with warnings and fines can wait. It might not even be necessary, if 3R converts recapture the old karung guni spirit out of environmental concern as well as economic necessity.
IUCN 28 Apr 09;
IUCN is delighted that Sakhalin Energy followed the advice of an expert panel and stopped all seismic surveys affecting the Western Gray Whale.
The Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel, set up by IUCN, recommended on Friday that all oil and gas companies working just off Sakhalin Island in eastern Russia stop any activity that might harm the whales.
“The fact that Sakhalin Energy decided to listen to the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel is excellent,” said Finn Larsen, of IUCN’s Global Marine Programme. “We are now calling on all other oil and gas companies operating in the same area to follow Sakhalin Energy’s lead and make the right decision for the sake of these magnificent creatures.”
There are only an estimated 120 Western Gray Whales left in the world, with 25 to 35 reproductive females. The whales come to feed in the waters off Sakhalin Island in summer and autumn, in preparation for the breeding season.
The Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel said it is extremely concerned by observations in 2008 suggesting whale distribution and behaviour have changed.
It concluded that all activities planned for 2009, including Sakhalin Energy’s seismic survey, should be postponed until the Western Gray Whale population has been fully monitored and assessed.
It added that if the monitoring in 2009 reduces the uncertainty and concern over the Western Gray Whale population, the panel may be able to accept a seismic survey in 2010.
For more information about the Western Gray Whale Advisory Panel, please visit: http://www.iucn.org/wgwap/
Catherine Brahic, New Scientist 28 Apr 09;
Willy was never really free. The killer whale star of the Hollywood movie Free Willy had to be cared for by humans even after he was released and he never successfully integrated with his wild kin. Researchers now say attempts to return him to the wild were misguided.
"We believe the best option for [Willy] was the open pen he had in Norway, with care from his trainers," says Malene Simon of the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources, who participated in efforts to reintegrate the cetacean in the wild and is lead author of the study. "He could swim as much as he wanted to, had plenty of frozen herring – which he was very fond of – and the people that he was attached to kept him active."
The killer whale, whose real name was Keiko, died in December 2003, at about 26 years old. Despite efforts to integrate him with wild killer whales in Iceland towards the end of his life, he proved unable to interact with them or find food.
"While we as humans might find it appealing to free a long-term captive animal," the researchers say in the paper, "the survival and well-being of the animal may be severely impacted in doing so." The only cetaceans that have successfully been returned to the wild have been young and only kept in captivity for short periods.
The team's comments contradict those made by members of the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation, who declared in 2003 that his case had challenged the perception that whales cannot be returned to the wild. But Simon's account of Keiko's last few years shows just how unsuccessful his release was.
Public pressure
Keiko was born into a wild group of killer whales, also called orca, in Icelandic waters. He was captured in 1979 at about two years old and spent over a decade in a small tank in a Mexican amusement park, isolated from others of his species.
It was during this time, in 1993, that Keiko made animal stardom when he "played" a leading role in the hit film Free Willy, which tells the story of a boy who befriends and eventually releases a captive orca.
The film's success engendered an international letter-writing campaign, Free Keiko, which sought to release him into the wild. "There was a strong public pressure to release Keiko to the wild, preferably to his 'family' group in Iceland," say the researchers.
Yielding to this pressure, Keiko's owners transferred him to Iceland and in the summers of 2000 and 2001, he was trained to follow a boat out into the open water where wild orcas were feeding.
Going hungry
In 2002, he was fitted with tracking devices, and once again led out to join the wild orcas. This time, his trainers would hide below deck when Keiko approached in an attempt to minimise human contact. But lacking the necessary social skills, Keiko at first mostly floated motionless at the surface, facing towards the wild pods several hundred metres away.
After 10 days, he returned of his own accord to his penned-off area in a nearby bay. Vets extracted a sample from his stomach – the transparent, slimy liquid they found suggested Keiko had not fed.
Two days later he was led back out to sea. Again he didn't feed, although he did start to make dives. The tracking devices showed that he spent most of his time above 4 metres, and most of his dives were less than 26 metres. In contrast, wild orcas spend most of their dive time between 50 and 75 metres.
He was seen diving among the wild orcas only once, on 30 July 2002. And after physical contact at the surface, Keiko swam away, seeking out human company on the tracking boat.
Crowded out
Keiko managed to migrate to Norway for most of August, arriving in apparently good health. However, his film-star status and love of humans were to bring to an end his stint in the wild.
"When Keiko arrived in Norway, he actively sought out human company, swimming to boats and people," say the researchers. "After a few days, he became inactive, staying near a small boat, possibly to avoid the large and steadily increasing crowd of people now seeking his attention."
Local authorities forbade people from approaching or touching him, and his trainers – who thought he may have caught an infection from his human admirers – eventually took him back to Iceland. "At that time there was a crowd of people very close to Keiko," says Simon. "All the kids of the town wanted to touch him and swim with him."
With encouragement from his carers, Keiko's activity levels increased to previous levels, but although he lived in a pen that was open to the ocean, he never again ventured outside the bay. A year after his failed migration, Keiko died at the age of 26 or 27, apparently of pneumonia.
Journal reference: Marine Mammal Science (DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-7692.2009.00287.x)
WWF 28 Apr 09;
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – In a major conservation decision, the United Arab Emirates has established the Wadi Wurayah Fujairah – home to the endangered Arabian Tahr and possibly the rare Arabian Leopard – as the country’s first protected mountain area.
The Wadi is a 129 km-square catchment that occupies the northern reaches of Fujairah between the towns of Masafi, Khor Fakkan and Bidiyah, and is an important natural and cultural region in the Middle East.
The area has been an important source of water for local communities for thousands of years, and is home to rare and endangered species such as the Arabian Tahr and Arabian Leopard.
The Arabian Leopard (Panthera pardus nimr) is considered critically endangered with less than 250 adult leopards left, according to the IUCN Red List. The Arabian Tahr (Arabitragus jayakari) is endangered, with fewer than 2,500 adults in the wild. Both species face threats from hunting and habitat loss because of development.
In addition, the Wadi is located within WWF’s Ecoregion 127 Arabian Highlands and Shrublands, one of the conservation organization’s global ecoregions grouping the richest, rarest and most distinctive of the Earth's natural habitats.
Under the proposed protection plan reviewed by the royal court, EWS-WWF calls for management and park rangers to patrol the area and help educate visitors. Visitors will also be fined for leaving litter behind, polluting the water and painting graffiti – problems that currently threaten the Wadi.
“Wadi Wurayah is of considerable ecological significance allowing among the rarest species found in the UAE, Arabian Peninsular and the world to survive this harsh climate,” said Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Managing Director EWS-WWF. “Over the past 3 years, we have revealed the presence of 12 species of mammals, 73 species of birds, 17 species of reptiles and amphibians, and one species of fish and 74 invertebrate families, of which 11 are new species for science.”
More than 300 species of plants have been recorded in the area, including species that are found only in wetlands such as Typha dominginsis and the unique orchid species of UAE: Epipactis veratrifolia, Al Mubarak said.
His Highness Shaikh Hamad Bin Mohammad Al Sharqi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Fujairah, issued a decree this week that officially establishes the Wadi’s protected status.
The decree comes after the completion of a successful 3 year project launched in 2006 by Emirates Wildlife Society (EWS) - WWF and the Fujairah Municipality with the support of HSBC Bank Middle East ltd, to assess the importance of Wadi Wurayah for nature conservation and to establish it as a protected area.
“We are extremely excited about the decree and thank HH Shaikh Hamad Bin Mohammad Al Sharqi for signing the official document, making history and securing that this gem of nature and culture is here for future generations to enjoy. We also thank Fujairah Municipality and HSBC Bank Middle East for their on-going support and dedication to this important cause,” Al Mubarak said.
The decision follows a 2006 survey Fujairah among the residents of the areas surrounding Wadi Wurayah and its visitors to measure support for the area’s protection.
The survey, conducted by EWS-WWF and students from the Higher Colleges of Technology, found that 67% of residents and visitors supported the move. Only 18% of those surveyed objected to the plan and 13% of respondents were ambivalent. Significantly, the survey also revealed the amount of wildlife seen by residents in the area has dropped dramatically over the past 10 years.
“Wadi Wurayah is an extremely important part of the UAE’s national heritage and our on-going discoveries of the species residing in the area, and support of the locals is a testament to that fact,” said Dr. Christophe Tourenq, Science and Research Manager at EWS-WWF and manager of the Wadi Wurayah project. “At the start of the project we discovered that the endangered mountain wildlife was increasingly threatened, either by direct transformation or through unregulated recreational use.”
“This decree will go a long way in ensuring the wildlife and area is closely monitored and protected for future generations,” Tourenq said.
In 1995, His Highness Shaikh Hamad Bin Mohammad Al Sharqi, ruler of Fujairah, created the first marine protected areas of the UAE.
“The declaration of Wadi Wurayah as the first mountain protected area of the country shows the commitment of the Fujairah government to the conservation of their natural and cultural heritage. The project also illustrates perfectly the collaboration between a local NGO, a local government to protect our heritage with the support of the private sector,” Tourenq said.
Growing pressure from poaching and human encroachment in Zimbabwe has driven hundreds of elephants to migrate from the country, conservationists have said.
The Telegraph 28 Apr 09;
As many as 400 elephants have crossed the Zambezi River, which separates Zambia from northern Zimbabwe, in recent months, said Johnny Rodrigues, head of the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force.
Three elephants also roamed into the eastern border city of Mutare this month and state wildlife authorities "want to shoot them before they kill somebody," he said.
The task force and a Zimbabwe animal group received official authority to capture and transport the elephants to Chipinda Pools, believed to be their original home area 125 miles to the south.
"The problem is funding for the relocation," Mr Rodrigues said. State game rangers "won't wait much longer before destroying the elephants."
He said changes in Zimbabwe's countryside had also forced a leopardand its cub out of its natural habitat and into an upmarket Harare suburb.
Mr Rodrigues said the task force set up drugged, baited traps for predators so they could be returned to the wild, but none has been caught since a guard dog was attacked earlier this month.
The independent task force has appealed for more action — and money — to preserve the troubled nation's wildlife.
In Zimbabwe's economic meltdown, "humans are encroaching more and more into areas previously reserved for wildlife," the task force said.
Tourism and photographic safaris have dropped sharply during years of political and economic turmoil since the often violent seizures of thousands of white-owned farms began in 2000, disrupting the agriculture-based economy in the former regional breadbasket.
Longtime ruler President Robert Mugabe blames Western sanctions for the economic crisis that has led to acute shortages of food, gasoline and the most basic goods.
Poaching of small animals has intensified, with villagers torching the bush to drive even rodents and rock rabbits into traps for food, conservationists say.
Mr Rodrigues said more animal fencing was needed at wildlife preserves to combat poaching and the escape of animals from their natural habitat after being made skittish by gunfire.
Conservationists already have raised the alarm for Zimbabwe's rare rhinos after a sharp increase in poaching over the past year because of a breakdown of law enforcement in the country.
Yereth Rosen, PlanetArk 29 Apr 09;
ANCHORAGE - The Obama administration said on Tuesday it rolled back a Bush-era rule excusing oil and gas companies in polar bear habitat from special reviews designed to ensure they are not harming the animals.
The Alaska energy industry said the move could slow exploration and production activity in the state. Environmental groups applauded the decision as an important step protecting threatened species.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said they rescinded the Endangered Species Act regulation issued in December by the Bush administration, which eliminated the long-standing "Section 7 consultation" requirement for special scrutiny of any proposed activities that might harm a listed species.
"By rolling back this 11th hour regulation, we are ensuring that threatened and endangered species continue to receive the full protection of the law," Salazar said.
"Because science must serve as the foundation for decisions we make, federal agencies proposing to take actions that might affect threatened and endangered species will once again have to consult with biologists at the two departments," he said.
For polar bears, the reversal means any oil and gas development in their habitat must be cleared through consultation with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Polar bears, highly dependent on Arctic sea ice, were listed last year as threatened after federal biologists determined they were especially vulnerable to the rapidly warming climate in the far north.
A decision on a separate special Bush administration rule limiting federal polar bear protections is due by May 10, according to Bruce Woods, spokesman for the Fish and Wildlife Service in Alaska.
Tuesday's reversal of the consultation exemption also affects energy development elsewhere in the United States, where permitting agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management and Minerals Management Service had been allowed to rely on their own internal reviews about potential impacts to endangered or threatened species.
Environmental groups applauded the move.
"Restoring these core protections of the Endangered Species Act signals a renewal of America's conservation ethic," John Kostyack, the National Wildlife Federation's executive director of wildlife conservation and global warming, said in a statement. "Permanently reinstating independent scientific review puts the teeth back into the law that saved the bald eagle and Yellowstone grizzly bear."
But a representative of Alaska's oil industry said withdrawal of the Bush administration regulation could eventually slow permits for development because the Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service -- the agencies with authority over all Endangered Species Act listed populations -- are overburdened.
"Adding this additional huge layer of evaluation on them when they're already stretched thin is troubling and certainly will not do anything to speed up the necessary development of the nation's resources," said Marilyn Crockett, executive director of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association.
(Editing by Richard Valdmanis and David Gregorio)
Andrew Mitchell, BBC Green Room 28 Apr 09;
The world's tropical forests face the double challenge of climate change and deforestation, says Andrew Mitchell. In this week's Green Room, he explains why he is not giving up on the "impossible dream" of convincing governments that these trees are worth more alive than dead.
Rumour has it that Brad Pitt is going into the Amazon.
He will play out the story of an enigmatic explorer in search of his personal El Dorado.
The explorer in question was Colonel Percy Fawcett, a highly resilient English surveyor who set off almost 85 years ago on his final expedition into the Amazon.
Fawcett, a celebrated veteran of many journeys into the unknown, secretly believed he had discovered scientific evidence of a lost civilisation within the vastness of what today is known as the Xingu, in north-eastern Brazil.
Despite mounting evidence to the contrary, he remained resolute and journeyed repeatedly into the forest, determined to find it.
Newspapers published despatches detailing his quest for many months, but then all news ceased.
Like Livingstone 50 years before him, Fawcett had vanished into a dark continent; only this time, no-one ever found him.
'Impossible dream'
After three decades at the conservation frontline, much of it now encased in concrete jungles searching for a seemingly impossible solution to inexorable rainforest destruction, I am beginning to feel a little bit like Percy Fawcett.
Perhaps I am on the trail of an impossible dream.
Fawcett gave his elusive goal the cryptic name of "Z".
The same could equally apply to the El Dorado that I and many others have been searching for: an economic argument to convince governments that the standing rainforest could be worth more alive than dead.
The fact that tropical forests continue to go up in flames, contributing seven billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually (more than all the world's cars, ships and planes), suggests that my Amazonian "Z" may not exist.
Unless, that is, a completely new way to discover it exists.
A clutch of events last week offer several apparently contradictory clues as to how my El Dorado might be found.
At the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF), currently in session in New York, the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO) released a report on Adaptation of Forests and People to Climate Change.
It contained the projection that rising global temperatures may condemn forests over the next century to become fire-strewn savannahs, whatever efforts governments may take to conserve them.
This resonates with the finding, recently published in the journal Science, that the Amazon's trees capture a whopping two billion tonnes of CO2 annually; but that during the devastating Amazon drought of 2005, they released five billion tonnes back out again.
Some journalists have asked in response: "What's the point in saving the Amazon, if it's doomed anyway?"
Our common reaction in the face of these uncertainties is to believe that the risks of doing nothing are less than any remedial action we could take.
In this case, the reverse is almost certainly true.
Take cover
Oliver Phillips - the lead author of the Science paper - Yadvinder Malhi of Oxford University, I and others have indicated that halting deforestation may increase the forest's resilience to climate change.
So, my view is that far from reducing efforts to halt deforestation, we should redouble them.
Let me put it another way: if a person has malaria and you want to save their life by keeping their temperature down, surely the worst way to do it is to keep kicking them in the stomach or even amputating their legs.
At the Summit of the Americas last week in Trinidad, a Blueprint for a Sustainable Energy Partnership for the Americas was presented to the many heads of state who attended the summit.
One of its three components was a new "vision for the Amazon". But what has the Amazon got to do with energy?
Brazil is a leader in green power, with 40% of its cars being run on bioethanol from sugarcane and 70% of its electricity sourced from hydropower.
Even in the Sao Paulo hotel where I am writing this, lights in the corridor only come on when I walk through.
The connection between energy and the Amazon is water.
The evapotranspiration of the Amazon's trees, which generates billions of tonnes of water each day, may significantly underpin food and energy security in the region.
Dr Jose Marengo, a scientist at Brazil's space research agency (INPE), has postulated that a proportion of this moisture is carried south on a low-level atmospheric jet stream across southern Brazil and down to the La Plata Basin.
If so, this vast volume of water helps sustain a trillion dollar agricultural industry, feeds hydropower, and could prove to be essential to Brazil's booming biofuel industry.
It seems to me that a new way of looking at the Amazon is to consider it as a locally owned "eco-utility", which is providing ecosystem services across regional and global distances that currently no-one pays for.
It is likely that these services are potentially worth a great deal to those who deliver them and to businesses whose prosperity depends on them.
A 10% fall in rainfall over time - less than some conservative predictions - could deliver a 40% drop in river flow, for example.
Perversely, beneficiaries such as Brazilian beef and soy farmers are at the same time potentially undermining their future success. through their expansion into the forest.
An international bank investing in agriculture and hydropower in the region might legitimately ask if the former investment is, in fact, weakening the latter.
Could the beneficiaries therefore be persuaded to pay a tax to maintain the services?
Doing so might make the Amazon worth more standing up than cut down. This would help sustain global food and energy security, worth billions to national economies.
Hidden value
The question that businesses and policymakers will want answered is whether continued deforestation could make the giant soy fields of Mato Grosso dry up or the lights go out in Buenos Aires.
At INPE last week, I was privileged to join some of the region's leading scientists, economists and community development specialists to brainstorm the idea of valuing the Amazon as an "eco-utility".
The meeting was funded under an innovative new UK government programme called Ecosystem Services and Poverty Alleviation (ESPA).
We concluded that we can't really be sure where the rain goes, and argued over its possible reduction, ranging from a lot to a little.
Yet we were convinced that a new positive incentive system was needed, and that a year of effort lay ahead to figure out how it might work.
Our scientific caution is understandable; but for a policymaker, is it really the point?
If you were in charge of a departing flight in which the captain announced the destination was uncertain but the engineer said there was a 10% chance of the aircraft crashing, would you recommend that everyone happily remain in their seats whilst an argument ensued over probabilities?
I believe the credit crunch, climate change, and consumer appetites are creating a crucial tipping point in this historical debate, which will determine how the world's political process deals with the erosion one of the greatest natural capital assets on Earth.
If I can echo Einstein: it is unlikely that Amazonian nations will be able to solve this problem with the same thinking that caused it.
Although the Amazon belongs to no-one else but these nations and their people, how it fares affects us all, and so is a scientific, political and economic intelligence test for everyone.
Fawcett's ecological ignorance hid the Amazon's true value, which was all around him.
His El Dorado exists today as the vast Xingu Reserve, a land of forests quietly maintaining our resilience because the indigenous communities have maintained theirs.
But will the forests Fawcett once journeyed through disappear?
Will my "Z" in the Amazon become a romantic metaphor for an ineffective environmental Zeitgeist?
I do not know; but expecting science to offer a certainty that it can never deliver excuses inaction and stokes risk.
Who among us has refused to buy insurance because we cannot know accurately when our house will burn down or exactly when our car will be stolen?
Paying a premium to prevent the loss of the Amazon could be one of the best insurance policies planet Earth has on offer.
Andrew Mitchell is founder and director of the Global Canopy Programme
The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website.
Pallab Ghosht, BBC News 27 Apr 09;
Warnings are being sounded about the way government is preparing for the cost of climate change.
The government's former chief scientific advisor, Professor Sir David King has told BBC News that he believes that the government is being misled by economic assessments of the impact of climate change such as those drawn up by Lord Stern in his review for the Treasury published in 2006.
Prof King believes that such models are underestimating the true cost of tackling the problem and leading to poor investments by businesses and governments.
Many governments including the UK now include an environmental cost benefit in policy making. That cost benefit uses estimates made by economic models, such as those developed by Lord Stern and his team for the Treasury.
Professor King, who is now director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford and an advisor to UBS has said that he "questions the value of these simple models" saying that they are "misleading".
"Economic models such as those produced by Nick Stern are often based on steady growth," he said.
"But they are not very good at predicting the impact of catastrophic events," he added. "It's likely that because of Sea level rise and changes in rainfall patterns people will have to migrate. "That has the potential for massive conflict and massive geopolitical destabilisation and that can lead to a sudden downturn in the global economy".
Cost questions
Professor King argues that economic models are not fully able to account for such upheaval. This raises questions about how economists can put an accurate price on producing a tonne of carbon dioxide.
He also said that these models do not properly cost the environmental impact of large infrastructure projects. The decision to give the go-ahead to build four new coal-fired power stations with experimental carbon capture technology and a third runway for Heathrow airport in London are examples of projects that could not have been properly assessed by economic modelling, he said.
Dr Simon Dietz, deputy director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and a member of the former Stern Review team, said: "Economic models of the impact of climate change, like scientific models of climate change, have both strengths and limitations.
"Modelling was used very carefully in the Stern Review and the uncertainties and limitations of the results were fully explained in the report," he said. "The models used in the Review had advantages over other economic models which tend to underestimate the potentially severe impacts of climate change.
"It is now two and a half years since the Stern Review was published, and further evidence on climate change has become available," he added. "As Nicholas Stern has highlighted, it has become apparent that the risks and potential costs of the impacts of climate change are even greater than we originally recognised," he said. "Future modelling will take that into account.
"We know that the Government is continuing to use modelling to help formulate its policies on climate change. When the models are used correctly, with good data, they can produce information to make better-informed decisions, but they are not the only sources of information that are taken into account."
Jonathan Lynn, PlanetArk 29 Apr 09;
GENEVA - Fresh efforts and funding to tackle malaria in recent years have brought the goal of eradicating the deadly disease within sight, health experts said on Friday.
Wiping out malaria worldwide could take decades but many countries where it is endemic are on the brink of eliminating the disease, which infects up to 500 million people a year and kills nearly one million worldwide, they said.
"The vision of achieving elimination in a number of countries is certainly in sight," said Rifat Atun, strategy director at the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an international financing institution.
Most malaria victims are children under the age of five and pregnant women. Roughly 90 percent of fatalities are in Africa, where malaria accounts for one in five childhood deaths.
The goal of eradicating malaria, caused by a parasite transmitted in mosquito bites, could take until 2050 or 2060, said Richard Feachem, chairman of the Malaria Elimination Group.
But it is now endemic in only about half the world's countries after being eliminated from others such as Canada and Finland since 1945, he told a news conference, launching two reports by the group for policymakers and health specialists.
SQUEEZING MALARIA
One report focuses on destroying malaria in countries such as Mexico, South Africa and China on the margins of the tropical areas where it is endemic.
Feachem said the strategy was aggressive control in the heartland to reduce infection and death, elimination country by country from the margins, and research into drugs, vaccines and insecticides.
He said countries could learn from tough rules imposed in Singapore. The tropical city state makes it illegal for construction companies to allow malaria-bearing mosquitoes to breed on building sites and makes individuals responsible for preventing stagnant water gathering in their homes.
"In a country where the legislative and political environment permits it ... legislation can play an important role, requiring householders to do certain things," he said.
The fight against malaria takes several forms -- spraying bednets and homes to deter mosquitoes, using drugs to treat infected people and finding a vaccine to prevent infection.
Such treatments are brought to people in the world's poorest countries by international organizations and private groups such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, buying drugs from pharmaceutical companies at preferential prices.
Some of these methods are controversial. The pesticide DDT has saved millions of lives from malaria, but concerns that its intensive use in agriculture could spread cancer led to its being banned in many countries for farming.
New medical treatments such as a drug developed by Swiss pharmaceuticals company Novartis using artemisinin, a compound derived from a herb used in Chinese traditional medicine, are driving down deaths and infections, said Chris Hentschel of the Medicines for Malaria Venture.
The treatment, administered to 57 million people last year, saved half a million lives last year. About 50 new drug projects are in the pipeline, Hentschel said.
GlaxoSmithKline is about to start clinical trials of a vaccine in a test involving 16,000 children in seven African countries, which could reach the market within three years, the world's second-largest drugmaker said.
(Editing by Stephanie Nebehay)
Pierre-henry Deshayes Yahoo News 28 Apr 09;
TROMSOE, Norway (AFP) – Nobel prize-winning climate champion and former US vice president Al Gore called Tuesday for rapid action to prevent the potentially irreversible melting of the planet's ice.
Gore told the first conference devoted to melting ice, held in the Norwegian town of Tromsoe ahead of the UN meeting in Copenhagen in December, that melting was worse than the worst-case scenarios presented by experts a few years ago.
"This conference is a global wake-up call," Gore said. "The scientific evidence for action in Copenhagen in December is continuing to build up week by week."
He explained why the melting ice posed such a threat to the planet.
"Ice is important through the ecological system of the Earth for many reasons, but one of them has to do with its reflexivity," he said.
Ice reflects 90 percent of the sun's radiation back into the atmosphere. If the ice were to melt, the dark water would not reflect the heat but instead absorb it, thereby accentuating the effect of global warming.
"As it disappears we have to keep in mind that it can come back only if we act fairly quickly," said Gore, who shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
He explained that "if we keep turning the temperature of the Earth up, then the heat will go to lower depths of the Arctic Ocean and it will be impossible for the ice to come back."
The Arctic ice cap measured 4.13 million square kilometres (1.59 million square miles) in September 2007, its smallest size ever. It is also thinner than ever, making it more susceptible to rapid melting.
Ice melting in the Antarctic and Greenland as well as on the world's glaciers will also have dramatic consequences, Gore said, warning that each one-meter (3.3-foot) rise of water levels will cause 100 million people to become climate refugees.
Melting snow in the Himalayan mountain range, dubbed "the third pole," will meanwhile lead to flooding, then droughts, for 40 percent of the planet's population which depends on that water for survival.
Scientists attending the Tromsoe conference said the future was ominous, with the scope and rapidity of global warming exceeding the UN climate panel's worst scenarios.
"We are in trouble," said Robert Correll, a US scientist and chair of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment, a report published in 2004 which shed light on the effects of climate change on the region.
Temperatures in the Arctic are climbing twice as fast as in the rest of the world.
Action envisaged around the world to counter global warming will only reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by a third of what is necessary, Correll said.
And if no other action is taken, the planet's temperature will rise by 4.5 degrees by the end of the century, he said. Experts have warned that a 2.0 percent increase is the most the planet can tolerate.
If his forecast were to come true, sea levels would rise by one metre (yard), he said.
Following the conference, a working group will write a report to raise awareness among decision-makers about the issue of melting ice ahead of the Copenhagen summit.
Meanwhile, the top US climate negotiator said Tuesday he was more optimistic about reaching a new global warming treaty this year after two days of talks in Washington among 18 major economies.
Climate envoy Todd Stern told reporters that the talks were not a "head-butting exercise."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday told delegates from major European countries, China, India, Indonesia and other powers that President Barack Obama "and his entire administration are committed to addressing this issue and we will act."
Al Gore calls on world to burn less wood and fuel to curb 'black carbon'
Soot from engines, forest fires and partly burned fuel is collecting in Arctic and causing north pole to warm at alarming rate
John Vidal, guardian.co.uk 28 Apr 09;
The world must burn less diesel and wood, Nobel peace prize-winner Al Gore said yesterday, as the soot produced is accelerating the melting of ice in polar and mountainous regions.
Gore, backed by government ministers and scientists, said that the soot, also known as "black carbon", from engines, forest fires and partially burned fuel was collecting in the Arctic where it was creating a haze of pollution that absorbs sunlight and warms the air. It was also being deposited on snow, darkening its surface and reducing the snow's ability to reflect sunlight back into space.
"The principle [climate change] problem is carbon dioxide, but a new understanding is emerging of soot," said Gore. "Black carbon is settling in the Himalayas. The air pollution levels in the upper Himalayas are now similar to those in Los Angeles."
The impact of the soot is as significant as it is surprising — it was not mentioned as a warming factor in the UN's major 2007 report on climate change. A study this month indicated that soot from industry, cars, farming and wood fuel burning has been responsible for half the total temperature increases in the Arctic between 1890 to 2007. Temperatures there are rising twice as fast as anywhere else on the planet, making it the region worst affected by climate change.
Gore warned that all the world's icy regions were experiencing rapid and dangerous global warming. "The cryosphere – the frozen water part of the Earth – is disappearing. Global warming is causing the permafrost to thaw. It contains more carbon than anywhere else and the risk is that it releases methane. That has the potential to double the global warming potential in the atmosphere," he said.
Norwegian foreign minister Jonas Store said action on black carbon was even more urgent than that on CO2: "Even if we turn the rising curve of greenhouse gas emissions in the coming years, the reduction will not occur quickly enough to preserve the polar and alpine environments. We must address short lived climate pollutants such as black carbon."
Glaciologists working in Latin America, Nepal, China and Greenland all reported at the meeting in Tromso that glaciers were losing ice more rapidly and becoming less thick as a result of global warming.
Dorthe Jensen, from the Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark, said: "In the last five years we have seen many ice streams double in speed. Their floating snouts have moved back 30km. We never imagined the ice discharge would change so much."
Glaciers in the Himalayas and on the Tibetan plateau, from which 40% of the world derives its fresh water, are retreating fast, said Yao Tandong, a researcher with the Chinese academy of sciences. "This is causing severe social problems as lakes get bigger and people are forced to move. Himalayan glaciers are mostly retreating at an accelerating rate."
The meeting also heard, in a new report from the international Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (Amap), that climate change was now affecting every aspect of life in the Arctic. Norwegian, Canadian, Russian, US and other polar scientists reported that, in the last four years, air temperatures have increased, sea ice has declined sharply, surface waters in the Arctic ocean have warmed and permafrost is in some areas rapidly thawing, releasing methane.
The report's main findings are:
Land
Permafrost is warming fast and at its margins thawing. Plants are growing more vigorously and densely. In northern Alaska, temperatures have been rising since the 1970s. In Russia, the tree line has advanced up hills and mountains at 10 metres a year. Nearly all glaciers are decreasing in mass, resulting in rising sea levels as the water drains to the ocean.
Summer sea ice
The most striking change in the Arctic in recent years has been the reduction in summer sea ice in 2007. This was 23% less than the previous record low of 5.6m sq kilometres in 2005, and 39% below the 1979-2000 average. New satellite data suggests the ice is much thinner than it used to be. For the first time in existing records, both the north-west and north-east passages were ice-free in summer 2008. However, the 2008 winter ice extent was near the year long-term average.
Greenland
The Greenland ice sheet has continued to melt in the past four years with summer temperatures consistently above the long-term average since the mid 1990s. In 2007, the area experiencing melt was 60% greater than in 1998. Melting lasted 20 days longer than usual at sea level and 53 days longer at 2-3,000m heights.
Warmer waters
In 2007, some ice-free areas were as much as 5C warmer than the long-term average. Arctic waters appear to have warmed as a result of the influx of warmer waters from the Pacific and Atlantic. The loss of reflective, white sea ice also means that more solar radiation is absorbed by the dark water, heating surface layers further.
Alister Doyle, PlanetArk 29 Apr 09;
TROMSOE - A fast melt of ice from the Andes to the Arctic should be a wake-up call for governments to work out a strong new United Nations treaty this year to fight climate change, Norway said on Tuesday.
Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, starting two-day talks of the eight Arctic nations and scientists in the northern city of Tromsoe, said ice was vanishing from land around the planet as temperatures increase, raising sea levels.
"It is a global phenomenon reflecting global warming," he told a news conference, referring to a thaw in places such as "the Himalayas, the Alps, the Andes, Kilimanjaro, Greenland, the South Pole or the North Pole."
Stoere said he and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, also attending the Tromsoe talks, planned to set up a task force of experts to study the melt and report to a U.N. conference in Copenhagen in December that is due to agree a new climate pact.
Latest evidence of the melt would be a "clarion call, a real wake-up message to Copenhagen," he said.
Many glaciers are retreating but until now, he said the links between a thaw on mountains in the tropics and the Arctic have not been highlighted enough, he said.
Vanishing ice "is not in the grey zone of probabilities, it is about to happen. It is serious, we have to deal with it," he said.
The U.N. Climate Panel projected in 2007 world sea levels would rise by between 18 and 59 cms (7-23 inches) this century. Some scientists have said the rate is likely to be closer to a metre.
IRRIGATION
And that can impact irrigation. A melt of the Himalayas could disrupt farming for hundreds of millions of people in Asia.
The U.N. has projected up to a quarter of global food production could be lost by 2050 due to a combination of climate change, water scarcity, degradation and species infestation, as the world's population is forecast to top 9 billion.
"The Arctic continues to warm," according to a report by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, grouping scientists in the region.
It said several indicators since a major 2005 report "show further and extensive climate change at rates faster than previously anticipated."
Sea ice in summer shrank to a record low in 2007.
Stoere will hold talks about melting ice on Tuesday before a formal meeting of Arctic Council foreign ministers or deputies on Wednesday in the Arctic city of Tromsoe, ringed by snow-capped mountains.
The Council groups the United States, Russia, Canada, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.
He said there were chances for cooperation in the Arctic, saying he hoped it would be "high north, low tension".
Countries could act regionally to reduce pollution that accelerates the melt, he added. Soot from industrial pollution or from forest fires, for instance, can blacken snow and make it melt faster.
Yahoo News 28 Apr 09;
PARIS (AFP) – A huge iceshelf that has wrenched away from the Antarctic peninsula has started to fracture into icebergs, the European Space Agency (ESA) here said on Tuesday.
"Satellite images show that icebergs have begun to calve (break away) from the northern front of the Wilkins Ice Shelf -- indicating that the huge shelf has become unstable," it said in a statement.
The first icebergs started to detach last Friday, in a process that is likely to continue for weeks, ESA said.
"The icebergs are calving as a result of fracture zones that have formed over the last 15 years and which turned Wilkins into a fragile and vulnerable ice shelf," it added.
The Wilkins once covered around 16,000 square kilometres (6,000 square miles) before it began to retreat in the 1990s, and by last May a narrow ice bridge was all that connected it to Charcot and Latady islands.
That last link was smashed on April 5, making the Wilkins the biggest casualty in a two-decade-old series of Antarctic ice-shelf losses and retreats.
"There is little doubt that these changes are the result of atmospheric warming on the Antarctic Peninsula, which has been the most rapid in the Southern Hemisphere," explained David Vaughan from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).
Pictures have been captured by radar images from ESA's Envisat satellite and the German Aerospace Centre's TerraSAR-X satellite, providing the most detailed evidence yet of an ice shelf's demise.
A long tongue of land that points northwards towards South America, the Antarctic peninsula has been hit by greater warming than almost any other region on Earth.
In the past 50 years, temperatures have risen by 2.5 degrees Celsius (4.5 degrees Fahrenheit), around six times the global average.
Ice shelves are ledges that float on the sea and are formed when ice is exuded from the coast by glaciers.
The process of shelf loss is marked by shrinkage and the breakaway of increasingly bigger chunks before the remainder of the shelf snaps away from the coast. It then disintegrates into debris or into icebergs that eventually melt as they drift northwards into warmer water.
ESA has set up a "Webcam from space" with automatic updates from Envisat as it flies over the Wilkins (http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMWZS5DHNF_index_0.html).
New York City-Sized Ice Collapses Off Antarctica
Alister Doyle PlanetArk 29 Apr 09;
TROMSOE - An area of an Antarctic ice shelf almost the size of New York City has broken into icebergs this month after the collapse of an ice bridge widely blamed on global warming, a scientist said Tuesday.
"The northern ice front of the Wilkins Ice Shelf has become unstable and the first icebergs have been released," Angelika Humbert, glaciologist at the University of Muenster in Germany, said of European Space Agency satellite images of the shelf.
Humbert told Reuters about 700 sq km (270.3 sq mile) of ice -- bigger than Singapore or Bahrain and almost the size of New York City -- has broken off the Wilkins this month and shattered into a mass of icebergs.
She said 370 sq kms of ice had cracked up in recent days from the Shelf, the latest of about 10 shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula to retreat in a trend linked by the U.N. Climate Panel to global warming.
The new icebergs added to 330 sq kms of ice that broke up earlier this month with the shattering of an ice bridge apparently pinning the Wilkins in place between Charcot island and the Antarctic Peninsula.
Nine other shelves -- ice floating on the sea and linked to the coast -- 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.
The trend is widely blamed on climate change caused by heat-trapping gases from burning fossil fuels, according to David Vaughan, a British Antarctic Survey scientist who landed by plane on the Wilkins ice bridge with two Reuters reporters in January.
Humbert said by telephone her estimates were that the Wilkins could lose a total of 800 to 3,000 sq kms of area after the ice bridge shattered.
The Wilkins shelf has already shrunk by about a third from its original 16,000 sq kms when first spotted decades ago, its ice so thick would take at least hundreds of years to form.
Temperatures on the Antarctic Peninsula have warmed by up to 3 Celsius (5.4 Fahrenheit) this century, Vaughan said, a trend climate scientists blame on global warming from burning fossil fuels in cars, factories and power plants.
The loss of ice shelves does not raise sea levels significantly because the ice is floating and already mostly submerged by the ocean.
But the big worry is that their loss will allow ice sheets on land to move faster, adding extra water to the seas.
Wilkins has almost no pent-up glaciers behind it, but ice shelves further south hold back vast volumes of ice.
The Arctic Council, grouping nations with territory in the Arctic, is due to meet in Tromsoe, north Norway, Wednesday to debate the impact of melting ice in the north.
(Editing by Sophie Hares)
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