Job vacancy at the Raffles Museum: Education and PR Officer
on ecotax at Yahoo! Groups
Green Gotchas
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Batty vertebrates
on the Psychedelic Nature blog
Pasir Ris after the rain
on the wonderful creation blog and running with the wind blog and wild shores of singapore blog
Zitting Cisticola catches a spider/grasshopper
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog
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Construction firms largely unaffected, but some suppliers are hit
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 15 May 09;
CAMBODIA'S abrupt ban on sand exports is hitting some local building material suppliers hard, but construction companies are expected to emerge relatively unscathed from the sudden embargo.
A barge from Cambodia, carrying sand, arriving at the Tuas Aggregate Terminal. Since the 2007 'sand crisis' with Indonesia, the building industry here has diversified its sand supply lines, drawing from various countries and making use of quarry dust as an alternative material. -- ST FILE PHOTO
The country's Prime Minister Hun Sen announced a total ban on the export of sand last Friday, citing the detrimental effect of sand dredging on the kingdom's rivers and marine areas.
The move mirrors Indonesia's 2007 overnight ban on sand exports, which caused a 'sand crisis' in Singapore given its heavy reliance on sand for construction and land reclamation.
The ban saw raw material costs rocket on the back of a booming property market, pushing up concrete prices from $70 to $200 per cubic metre in the months after the ban. Sand is used along with granite to make concrete, which is used extensively in local construction.
At the time of the Indonesian ban, contractors faced huge losses, with fixed contracts forcing them to absorb the price increases. However, since the 2007 crisis, the building industry has diversified its sand supply lines, making the latest ban less likely to hit Singapore, say experts.
Dr Sujit Ghosh, president of the Ready Mixed Concrete Association, estimates that less than 20 per cent of Singapore's current supply comes from Cambodia.
'We've not seen a big impact as our sources now are quite diversified,' said Dr Ghosh, who is also chief executive of cement firm Holcim Singapore.
In the aftermath of the Indonesian crisis, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) relaxed rules to allow quarry dust to be used as a sand substitute. Quarry dust, imported from Malaysia and Indonesia, is a by-product of the production of concrete aggregates and created during the crushing of rocks, he added.
Such moves mean that building contractors here are likely to lose little sleep over Cambodia's ban. When contacted, the BCA told The Straits Times that the construction industry no longer imported 'concreting sand' from Cambodia.
'As for reclamation sand, we import it through private contractors who source from various countries, not just Cambodia. Hence, we do not expect this sand ban to have a major impact on our existing projects,' added the BCA.
But sand suppliers are feeling the brunt of the ban.
Local sand supplier Anthony Seet, who declined to disclose the name of his company, told The Straits Times that the firm's operations had to shut down overnight because most of its supplies were Cambodian.
Mr Seet, who entered the sand supply business following the 2007 Indonesian ban, when demand for the raw material was booming, added: 'We won't do anything illegal, so we've stopped our business. We'll start looking for other sources soon.'
Ms Linda Teo, who works for another supplier, said it was business as usual given that her employer relied on various sources, including those based in Myanmar.
Recent reports in Cambodia's Phnom Penh Post - which cite Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore as major destinations for Cambodia's sand barges - claim that sand dredging frequently causes riverbanks and houses to collapse along the Mekong River and Tonle Bassac River.
Despite the ban, an official based in the south-western province of Koh Kong said companies were still dredging sand, but had postponed exports.
They were said to be waiting for government experts to assess the dredging sites for environmental damage.
However, local boatmen said ships were transporting sand for onward export regardless.
A spokesman from the Singapore Contractors Association told The Straits Times that contractors were still being offered supplies of sand from Cambodia.
The association does not expect an 'immediate increase in prices as we are getting supply from various nearby countries', it said.
Meanwhile, Indonesia's Trade Ministry is reportedly re-thinking its continuing 2007 ban on the export of sand to Singapore.
Additional reporting by Sim Chi Yin
Sand export ban will not adversely affect Singapore
Today Online 15 May 09;
SINGAPORE does not expect Cambodia’s fresh ban on the export of sand to have a major impact on existing projects in the Republic.
The Ministry of National Development said: “Singapore imports both concreting sand for construction and sand for reclamation purposes. Our construction industry does not import concreting sand from Cambodia. As for reclamation sand, we import it through private contractors, who source for supplies from various countries, not just Cambodia.”
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen had announced a total ban on sand exports on May 8, over concerns about the environmental impact on the coastline and fish populations.
According to a Xinhua report, Cambodia used to export 40,000 to 50,000 tonnes of sand per month from its coastal province of Koh Kong, and the annual value of this business stood at US$35 million ($51 million); Vietnam and Singapore were the major destination countries.
Indonesia was Singapore’s main supplier of sand until January 2007, when the Jakarta government banned exports. It significantly impacted projects here and led the Republic to diversify its sources of sand.
More links
Nurfadhilla Kamarul, Channel NewsAsia 14 May 09;
SINGAPORE : Singapore's first eco-friendly mosque is set to open its doors to the public on Friday.
The Al-Mawaddah Mosque in Sengkang has environmentally-friendly features such as energy-saving solar tubes and a garden rooftop.
The solar tubes form skylights - allowing natural light into the building and cutting down on the need for electric lamps.
Other features include motion sensor lights and taps fitted with water-flow-regulating devices.
It also has a 'greenwall' - injecting a sense of serenity and calm into the prayer halls.
For these efforts, the mosque received the Green Mark certification from Singapore's Building and Construction Authority.
The mosque also features family-oriented spaces - including child-friendly toilets, a reading and play area as well as a function hall.
Built at a cost of S$10.5 million, Al-Mawaddah is the 69th mosque to be built in Singapore. - CNA/ms
Straits Times Forum 15 May 09;
I REFER to yesterday's Forum Online letter by Mr M.S. Suresh, 'Will electric cars increase rather than lessen carbon footprint?'. I would say the answer is 'no'.
The conversion chain of oil or gas into electricity in four processes as described is no doubt correct to some extent, but the direct burning of gas or petrol in vehicles is not fewer than four stages. In fact, the electric conversion chain lessens the carbon footprint.
Broadly speaking, from crude oil to electric car involves four processes - diesel, steam, electric and AC/DC. It is the same for the petrol car, except petrol from crude reaches the pump via a different route - petrol, bulk storage, retail petrol and combustion in car. Four processes are also required for liquefied natural gas (LNG) - gas field to LNG, bulk storage of LNG in producing country, LNG terminal storage and retail LNG to cars.
Theoretically, burning oil or gas creates the same carbon footprint in the atmosphere. However, electricity generated by power stations consumes oil and gas in bulk with economies of scale and reduces secondary processes and transport, which exacerbate carbon footprint production.
Relentless efforts to find alternative energy are necessary to improve air quality. Electric cars are the answer to a cleaner environment.
Scientists are looking into future electric cars with a super-efficient electricity storage system to blend into the era when nuclear power stations are common. We should think far ahead and not be bogged down by environmentalists and carbon-footprint concepts.
Paul Chan
30-per-cent spike in reports about abuse: SPCA
Leong Wee Keat, Today Online 15 May 09;
TYING a dog on a short leash for long hours, confining rabbits inappropriately outdoors or even cramming five large terrapins in a small container.
While not as blatant as, say, hitting or killing an animal, these scenarios are nonetheless registering more on the public’s radar as animal abuse. And this has led to a surge in reports received by animal welfare groups.
In March, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) saw a record number of allegations about animal abuse, with some 95 reports received. This represents “a startling increase” of 30 per cent from the average of 60 to 80 reports each month, said the society, with most of the reports about pets kept in poor conditions.
SPCA executive officer Deirdre Moss attributed the spike to two reasons: A growing number of owners who are ignorant about the proper care of pets, and the public being more aware about what constitutes animal welfare.
“A dog may be in good physical condition but if it is tied up all day, the conditions will affect its mental well-being,” said Ms Moss.
Over at Action for Singapore Dogs (ASD), president Ricky Yeo said the group has seen an increase in the number of pedigree dogs being abandoned on State land and at cemeteries. “Neglect and abandonment also constitute as animal abuse,” he said, and pointed to the recession as one possible catalyst.
Prior to last October, the group typically got two to three reports of abandoned dogs each month; the number has since climbed to “four, five and even six” a month. “Many who want to give up their dogs cite financial woes as their main reasons.”
Man tried for over-feeding dog ...
Under the Animals and Birds Act, a person found guilty of animal abuse or abandonment could be fined up to $10,000 or jailed a year, or both. While the law has been invoked for more serious cases of animal abuse such as outright torture, should it be applied to lesser offences?
In the United Kingdom on Wednesday, a dog-owner was found guilty in court of failing to ensure the welfare of his border collie, which was found to be twice its ideal weight. Despite repeat visits by animal welfare officers, he had failed to take his dog to the vet, stop over-feeding it and clean up his flat which was strewn with dog faeces.
Mr Yeo felt that enforcement poses a challenge. “You need to provide evidence and witnesses must be willing to come forward. These could be quite difficult.”
While the SPCA will press on with public education efforts, Ms Moss thinks “the authorities’ effective intervention” also has a role to play in preventing animal cruelty. “The two (public education and effective intervention) must go hand in hand.”
Her word of caution for anyone thinking of getting a pet: They need time and commitment. “If you are out of your apartment most of the time, it would not be advisable to buy a puppy which requires attention and training.”
As some rare wildlife species approach extinction, conservation groups are working to change China's appetite for exotic animals
Jonathan Watts, guardian.co.uk 14 May 09;
Stewed turtle cures cancer, crocodile meat relieves asthma, pangolin scales regulate menstruation and scorpion venom helps stroke victims.
Such is the traditional wisdom in Guangdong province, where animal markets teem with snakes, scorpions, salamander and dozens of different species of birds and turtles, some of which are endangered and all of which are fated to end their lives in restaurants, pharmacies or pet cages.
Eating rare wildlife is normal in southern China, but a growing group of student activists is trying to do something considered far stranger: they are trying to save them.
The nascent NGO conservation movement is stepping in where the authorities have had limited success by monitoring markets and restaurants, reporting sales of endangered species and trying to change the consumer culture. Among the youngest of several small groups is the Asian Turtle Rehabilitation Project, established earlier this year to save the reptiles from the soup pot.
The founding members say they are trying to cross the divide between the culture in which they were raised and the global conservation concerns they have been exposed to via the internet and schooling.
They are surrounded by people who think it's a wasted effort. "They disapprove of this activity. They think turtles are small animals only good for eating, so why bother saving them," says Luo Xinmei, a local student. "Almost no one in Guangzhou realises this is a centre of the illegal wildlife trade."
They are up against tradition and economic growth. Guangdong is the richest and most powerful province in southern China, where the appetite for exotic animals and plants is seen as extreme even in most other regions of China.
The main reason is Chinese traditional medicine, which lists curative qualities in many exotic animals. It is believed that the wilder the animal or plant, the better the effects. A popular saying has it that people here will eat anything with four legs except a chair, anything that flies except a plane and anything in the water except a boat.
Demand dropped briefly after 2003, when the Sars crisis was blamed on pathogens spread by civet cats and other wild animals. But it has surged back since as rising incomes allow more consumers to indulge in foods that were once considered delicacies for the very rich. A survey by the conservation group Traffic last year found that almost half of city dwellers had eaten wild animals in the previous 12 months.
The impact has been devastating. While international attention tends to focus on big mammals such as the Sumatran tiger and the giant panda, many reptiles have quietly been pushed to the brink of extinction, including the three-stripe box turtle, the Rogi Island snake-neck turtle and the Malaysian giant turtle. Turtles are among the most threatened because they breed slowly and their meat is considered good for longevity.
Raising awareness takes a number of forms. The group has secretly taken images of a turtle being butchered and posted them online. But its main job is monitoring. On a recent visit to the city's Qingping and Huadiwan markets, Wen Zhenyu identified big headed turtles, pig-nosed turtles, Chinese three-striped box turtle and elongated tortoises among the many species that are meant to be protected by international treaty.
While China is not the only culprit in the consumption of wild animals, it is the biggest. And its impact is being felt across the region. In February, Vietnamese authorities seized a record haul of illegally harvested wildlife products, including two tons of tiger bones, bear paws and gall bladders. Reports the same month from Laos revealed the ongoing poaching of tiger. The biggest market for these products is China, where a tiger's bones and penis can fetch $70,000.
The authorities launch occasional raids on restaurants and dealers. Last month, Guangzhou wildlife protection officials intercepted a cargo of smuggled golden pheasant, sand badger, leopard cat and other animals.
The Guardian found two food outlets in the Honghua hot spring resort outside Guangzhou openly breaking the law by serving pangolin and other protected animals. The Huasheng restaurant charges 1,000 yuan (about $150) per kilogram of pangolin meat. "You need to pay in advance and then we will find one for you," said an employee. "We can cook it in a hotpot or braise it in soy sauce." Nearby, the Liyuan Meiwei restaurant illegally offers cobra. "It is 100 yuan per half-kilo," said a waiter. "We get it from the wild."
Conservationists believe police alone cannot solve the problem. "We need to build consumer awareness so people move away from unsustainable consumption towards a feeling of stewardship," said James Compton, the Asia Pacific co-ordinator of Traffic.
Late last month, activists from another group, Green Eye, scored a major victory by protesting outside a Guangzhou restaurant in which a nurse shark was held in a tiny tank in which it could barely move. With banners reading "No consuming, no killing" in English and Chinese, the campaigners received widespread coverage from local news channels. They eventually secured the release of the shark into the local marine park.
Zheng Yuanying, of Green Eye, said the focus was not on the stall owners but on the consumers. "We avoid conflict. We just try to make suggestions. But some people think we care about animals too much."
For many species, it may be too late. The Wildlife Conservation Society reports a sharp decline in the diversity of freshwater turtles, snakes and frogs in the wild, though many species, including crocodiles, are being bred successfully in captivity.
At Qingping market, a veteran snake seller says the market sells fewer species than before because many animals are extinct and the authorities are conducting stricter checks. But he admits to selling some protected species under the table. "Even if people know an animal is endangered, they will eat it if they have a disease that cannot be cured with other types of medicine."
One notorious market in Nansha has been closed, but conservationists fear the wild animal business is simply being pushed underground.
At 4am in a dark suburb of Taiping, about an hour's drive from downtown Guangzhou, the Guardian found exotic animals traders covertly plying their wares out of sight of the authorities and conservationists. The three long rows of sheds resembled a cramped and dirty zoo filled with wire cages: long and tall for the herons, flat and low for the civet cats. Ostriches have room to move their necks, but not their bodies. There are similar markets throughout southern China.
The activists say the key is changing attitudes. "We try to educate people that turtles are not only pets and not only food; they are also a friend of humans," Wen Zhenyu says.
Desmond Davidson, New Straits Times 14 May 09;
KUCHING, Thurs:
PENDING assemblyman Violet Wong questioned the "eerie silence" on the investigation into claims that senior police officers feasted on turtle eggs at a function earlier this year.
"I want answers, not only for myself but for the people who feel the authorities are playing favourites," she said when debating the motion of thanks for the head of state’s address.
Turtles and their eggs are totally protected in Sarawak. And in February local newspapers splashed pictures of turtle eggs being served at a dinner at the General Operations Force (GOF) camp in Batu Kawa.
Among those present were the director of Internal Security and Public Order, the Sarawak Commissioner of Police and Sarawak GOF commander.
Yong lodged a report on March 14, and she claims "nothing is being done about it".
Yong said the people involved must be brought to court to face charges as such an "irresponsible act must be condemned and stopped".
"This is an international issue as Malaysia is a signatory to the MOU on Asean sea turtle conservation and protection. A lot of environmentalists in other countries are following the situation. If no action is taken, the outside world is going to think the worst of us."
She also took a swipe at the controller of the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) for his failure to act, saying Datuk Len Talif Salleh should "resign in shame".
Yahoo News 14 May 09;
KAMPALA (AFP) – A rare crane species never before seen in Uganda has been spotted in the eastern part of the country, the executive director of Nature Uganda told AFP on Thursday.
The wattled crane -- the largest in the crane family and internationally recognised as threatened with an estimated 8,000 remaining worldwide -- has historically only been found in southern Africa with an isolated population in the highlands of Ethiopia.
But earlier this month, bird watchers in Bugiri district spotted the rare bird, Achilles Byaruhanga said.
"It is very surprising that a big bird like that would suddenly arrive here, particularly because we have no information that this species engages in migration," he explained.
The conservationist said climate change could be a factor.
"We have seen it with other species that are starting to show up in places where they have never been seen before," he said.
Pointing to Uganda's changing rainfall patterns, he said it was possible the bird now finds Uganda's climate "more hospitable".
Uganda used to enjoy two clearly defined heavy rain seasons a year until recently.
"The more variable and in some cases milder rainy seasons of recent years may have created conditions where the bird could move further north.
"Climate change it is a big thing, but it starts with little things like this," Byaruhanga added.
While there is a huge demand for wattled cranes, Byaruhanga said there were signs of stress or fatigue to suggest the bird could have escaped from captivity.
The white and gray birds stand on average six feet (172 cm) tall and weigh 14 pounds (7.8 kg), according to the International Crane Foundation.
More than half of the world's wattled cranes are found in Zambia, but the single largest concentration occurs in the Okavango Delta of Botswana.
With 1,000 species, Uganda holds one of the world's most diversified bird populations.
John Christoffersen, Associated Press Yahoo News 14 May 09;
Russ Cochran fondly recalls the fun he had with his chimpanzee when the animal was younger, taking him for rides in the car and to his cabin on the river. Boaters would stop to see Sammy, who would jump in canoes and help himself to food and drinks from the cooler.
"That would be the price of admission for him," Cochran says. "He would drink beer if you let him. He liked beer."
Now Sammy is a powerful 19-year-old with strength many times that of a human. He recently got into a vicious fight with Cochran's younger chimp, Buckwheat. That fight and news accounts of a savage chimpanzee attack in Connecticut that nearly killed a woman this year convinced Cochran that he didn't want to have two male chimps — the new pet, Buckwheat, had to go.
But finding a new home for Buckwheat and other unwanted chimps isn't easy. Animal experts say dozens of chimp owners in the U.S. are actively trying to find new homes for their chimps, who are more dangerous than adorable when they reach maturity.
The nation's sanctuaries are full with more than 600 chimpanzees, according to April Truitt, who runs the Primate Rescue Center in Kentucky.
"There needs to be a place for these animals," said Cochran, who lives in West Plains, Mo. "I don't think people should have chimps as pets. I say that having had three of them."
Some sanctuaries say they have received more calls since a 14-year-old chimp named Travis suddenly attacked Stamford, Conn., resident Charla Nash. She lost her eyesight, hands, nose, lips and eyelids in the attack and is now at Ohio's Cleveland Clinic in critical but stable condition.
Travis, who starred in commercials when he was young, was kept as a pet and weighed 200 pounds when he attacked Nash on Feb. 16. He was shot and killed by police.
There are about 235 known, privately owned chimps in the United States, according to Truitt, who did a census in 2003 and has continued to closely monitor the number. Owners of about 70 chimps would give them up if they could find a good home for them, Truitt said. She says she has gotten more calls from owners looking to give up their chimps since the Connecticut attack.
Seven sanctuaries issued a statement last month saying they need more funding so they can offer a safe place to private owners who want to give up their chimps. They also called for states to ban the private ownership of chimpanzees and for the entertainment industry to stop portraying them as "cute hairy little people."
"We cannot take in these individuals without a significant contribution to their lifetime care, so tragedies like the one in Connecticut will likely keep happening," the sanctuaries said. "In substandard facilities, they pose a significant public safety danger."
One owner who spoke on condition of anonymity because she feared her neighbors' reactions said she has been trying for years to find a facility for her two chimps.
"Travis was chimp 9/11," she said. "We have no life. We basically take care of them 24/7."
The Connecticut attack was the latest in a series of incidents in recent years involving chimps escaping and biting people. In 2005, two chimps in California nearly killed a man, chewing off his nose, testicles and foot and biting off chunks of his buttocks and legs before they were shot to death.
This spring in Missouri, authorities responded to a call to help capture an angry chimp running loose on a state highway. When officers arrived, the chimp opened the patrol car door and grabbed the leg of a deputy, who fatally shot it, police said.
Chimps can live 60 years and cost about $15,000 per year to care for, according to sanctuaries. Zoos are normally not able to accept hand-reared chimps because of difficulty integrating them.
Experts blame a handful of breeders and the entertainment industry for contributing to the problem.
Travis starred in TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-Cola when he was younger. At his Connecticut home, he watched television, ate at the table, drank wine from a stemmed glass, brushed his teeth and was toilet trained, according to a police report filed when he escaped in 2003.
Legislation has been proposed in Congress to ban the transport of monkeys and apes across state lines for the purpose of selling them as pets. The importation of primates for the pet trade has been outlawed since 1975, but bill sponsor Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., has said 30 states allow the keeping of the animals as pets and it is easy to purchase a primate from exotic animal dealers or over the Internet.
"When you're holding a 2-month-old baby chimp in your arms and feeding him out of a bottle, it's a very special thing," Cochran says. "You think at the time it will be all worth it."
Cochran, who spent about $25,000 for cages in his home, said one facility in Florida wanted $200,000 to care for his chimp. Cochran wound up finding a place in Texas that took Buckwheat for $10,000.
The first six or seven years were wonderful, Cochran says.
"Then puberty starts," he says. "When the hormones start to fly, it makes them unpredictable."
Sammy bit off the tip of Cochran's little finger when the animal was 9, Cochran said.
Cochran says he no longer thinks it was worth it to own the chimps.
"On a retirement income, it's an expensive hobby," he says.
Jamie Stewart Construction Week Online 15 May 09;
The Gulf has been littered by more than 200,000 tonnes of waste as a result of coastal property development in Dubai, the president of Emirates Marine Environmental Group (Emeg) has said.
The group has been working closely with Nakheel in the Waterfront and Palm Jebel Ali areas to assist with monitoring the effects of the developer’s coastal projects on the Gulf.
Nakheel is funding the work. “In Waterfront and Jebel Ali we have pulled more than 200,000 tonnes of waste from the water, most of which we recycle,” Emeg president Ali Saqar Al Suweidin told Construction Week. “We have help from Nakheel which educates its sub-developers,” he added.
A Nakheel spokesperson said, “Controlling waste is the responsibility of every person across all phases of our projects.
“Our construction contractors are totally committed to minimising and sorting their waste, as well as re-using or
recycling materials wherever and whenever possible.”
Al Suweidi also said that dredging work had covered large sections of seagrass on the ocean bed, a favoured food of the green turtle, an endangered species.
Emeg has been called in to deal with around 50 cases of green turtles being washed ashore along the coast of Dubai through fatigue.
The group’s marine programme director Rima Jabado agreed that the loss of seagrass due to sedimentation was a threat to the health of the green turtle population.
“It’s affecting them in terms of feeding,” she said. “It’s reducing the amount that they have to feed on.”
The turtle’s nesting beaches, which are located along an area of natural coastline near Nakheel’s Waterfront development, are also under threat.
“We just have to hope that they can find somewhere else to go,” Jabado said.
Christine Dell'Amore, National Geographic News 14 May 09;
As leads for new drugs on land dry up, medicine hunters are plunging into the ocean in search of the next blockbuster pharmaceutical.
Harvesting ocean organisms for medicinal purposes—called marine bioprospecting—has accelerated in recent years as scientists seek new antibiotics and cancer treatments.
"Bottom line, the marine microbial environment is very rich, because it's never been exploited before," said Kobi Sethna, president of the small biotech company Nereus Pharmaceuticals, which specializes in marine microbes.
Though the blue part of the planet was largely ignored during the drug rush of the past half century, it's a natural place to look, experts say.
Of the 36 known phyla—a taxonomic rank below kingdom—17 occur on land and 34 live in the ocean, making the seas "by far the highest biodiversity environment on the planet," said William Fenical, distinguished professor of oceanography and pharmaceutical science at University of California, San Diego.
"It would be difficult to overlook such a massive resource for chemical diversity and drug discovery," Fenical said.
Close to 25 drugs derived from marine life—such as bacteria, sponges, and tunicates—are currently in clinical trials.
Special Properties
In 1928, British bacteriologist Sir Andrew Fleming realized that a rare spore of fungus—Pencillium notatum—had floated from another lab through the air and landed in his culture plate of bacteria, killing some of it.
That early discovery of what would become the widespread antibiotic penicillin spurred an intensified effort to explore Earth's forests and wild places, which have proven to be repositories for some of today's major drug advances.
Fifty percent of drugs made for humans are derived in some way from nature, Fenical said.
But by the 1970s, scientists had realized that terrestrial microorganisms had been thoroughly explored, prompting a few early "pioneers" to turn their gaze seaward, Fenical said.
These pioneers were attracted by unique ocean organisms with special chemical properties not seen on land.
For instance, the severe ocean environments of little to no light and extremely cold temperatures have given rise to unusual—and mostly unstudied—survival strategies in ocean creatures, scientists say.
Such survival strategies coincidentally fight diseases in people as well.
For instance, some marine organisms produce population-control compounds that, when given to a person, work in a similar way: Instead of reducing the number of offspring, the compounds inhibit the growth of malignant tumors.
So "rather than inventing the wheel," people can benefit from millions of years of evolution, Nereus's Sethna said.
(Related: "Oil Platforms, Deep Seas Mined for New Drugs.")
Though opposition from conservationists has often dogged companies that scour rain forests for the next miracle drug, marine bioprospecting shouldn't impact the ocean environment, experts say.
Many of the drugs are easily synthesized into molecules in the lab, so that just a small amount of an organism, such as half a sponge, is all that needs to be collected.
In the Works
Though the first push into ocean medicine centered on antibiotics and cancer-cell killers, the field has grown more sophisticated, said Raymond Andersen, a chemistry professor at University of British Columbia. Andersen studies metabolites, or the byproducts of chemical processes produced by marine organisms.
For instance, some marine organisms, such as sponges and fungi, contain compounds that can inhibit an enzyme in the body secreted by a type of tumor called indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase. The enzyme tricks the body into not attacking the tumor, Andersen said.
Another marine compound acts as a "corrector" for people who have cystic fibrosis, the most common genetic disease among Caucasians. The molecules grease the path for proteins in the body to reach the cell membrane, where the proteins restore mucus production required to prevent infections of the airway.
Andersen's lab has had two compounds enter phase-II clinical trials for treating soft-tumor cancers and asthma, respectively.
Clinical trials have three phases. During phase-II trials, an experimental study drug or treatment is administered to a group of about 100 to 300 people to see if it is effective and to further evaluate its safety.
Nereus's Sethna also has two drugs in the works.
One, currently in phase-II trials, was derived from a fungus that grows on sea grass in the Bahamas. The medicine destroys the established vascular system of a tumor—in combination with chemotherapy—for people with non-small-cell lung cancer, which has an average survival rate of seven months.
The second drug, taken from bacteria in ocean sediment, stops proteasomes—strong enzymes that break down proteins—from destroying proteins that would otherwise protect against cancer.
The drug—which is geared toward people with multiple myeloma, melanoma, and lung and pancreatic cancers—is finishing up phase-I trials, Sethna said.
During phase-I trials, researchers test an experimental drug or treatment in a small group of about 20 to 80 people for the first time to evaluate its safety, determine a safe dosage range, and identify side effects.
No Laughing Matter
But marine bioprospecting still hasn't made the splash its backers were hoping for.
For one thing, Big Pharma hasn't gotten totally on board. If companies funded drug discoveries from marine microbes at anywhere near a third or half of the money spent on other drugs, there would be three times as many marine drugs already available, Fenical pointed out.
"It's discouraging that industry has taken such a standoff approach," he said.
Indeed, before Big Pharma shied away from the land, "people at board meetings would laugh when someone brought up the ocean," Sethna said.
But he said it's only a matter of time before marine drugs take off.
"If we succeed in two or three years and these products are purchased by pharma, the question is going to be asked, Where did you get them, and can [they] be duplicated?"
Melinda Chickering, Associated Press 14 May 09;
MANADO, Indonesia (AP) — Rising sea levels, warming waters and spiraling acidity caused by global warming are threatening the world's oceans and the communities they support, governments warned Thursday, as they sought to include protection for the seas in a new U.N. climate treaty.
Not only marine ecosystems, but the lives of tens of millions of people could be affected as they are forced to leave inundated coastal communities and find new jobs, they said.
"We must come to the rescue of the oceans," Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the opening of high-level government talks at the World Ocean's Conference in the northern city of Manado.
"We must preserve them as our legacy for our future generations so that they may live free from the shackles of poverty," he said.
Scientists have long warned that higher temperatures will melt polar ice and cause sea levels to rise, wiping out island communities and destroying coastal ecosystems. Rising emissions of carbon dioxide are also making oceans increasingly acidic, eroding sea shells, bleaching coral and killing other marine life.
But many questions remain about oceans — which can also play an important part in absorbing carbon — partly because the technology to study them is relatively new.
Participants at Thursday's meeting want negotiators at U.N. climate change talks, scheduled to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, this December, to discuss the world's waters including concerns about the affect of greenhouse gas emissions on oceans when replacing the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in recorded remarks Thursday that the world must "do more to protect our oceans and preserve the long-term health of our planet and its people," noting that the two are closely linked.
The effects of climate change, she said, "can be seen not only in melting glaciers and dying coral reefs, but also in damaged homes, falling wages, rising poverty, diminished opportunities."
The two-day meeting in Manado, which brings together ministers and high-level officials from more than 80 countries, was preceded by a series of symposiums on science, technology and policy makers. It wraps up Friday.
A similar gathering will be held next week in Washington, D.C., with the focus on the need for improved marine conservation.
"The fact that less than 1 percent of the world's oceans are covered by marine protected areas is a catastrophe waiting to happen," Dan Laffoley of the International Union for Conservation of Nature said in a statement.
"Just because these places are under water and not highly visible does not mean they should be ignored," he said. "It's time to expand marine protected areas and save our oceans from threats like overfishing and climate change."
Nations demand oceans be included in climate talks
Aubrey Belford Yahoo News 14 May 09;
MANADO, Indonesia (AFP) – Ministers and officials from more than 70 nations called Thursday for oceans to be included on the agenda of global climate change talks aimed at finding a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
Delegates at the World Ocean Conference in Indonesia urged joint action to reverse the impact of climate change on the oceans and for the issue to be included in crucial climate talks in Copenhagen in December.
The Manado Ocean Declaration calls for cuts to ocean pollution, funding for sustainable development in poor countries, greater research into how climate change affects the ocean and the role oceans play in fighting climate change.
"The declaration represents a political commitment by participating governments to address the common questions of sea level rises, ocean acidification, changing weather patterns and other climate-related phenomena," US delegation head Mary Glackin said.
The non-binding declaration contained no specific commitments for funding or emissions targets and was criticised by some scientists as too weak to combat likely devastating sea rises and the destruction of key species.
Delegates also said pressure from developing countries including the United States, Canada and Australia saw the watering down of key declaration clauses that would have made stronger calls for the inclusion of oceans in a post-Kyoto framework and the provision of funding for poor countries.
The outcome of the talks was "disappointingly weak given the severity of the problem," Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a scientist at Australia's University of Queensland, told AFP.
"If their commitment is weakening then this is all going to unravel," he said.
Hoegh-Goldberg was the lead author of a report commissioned by environment group WWF this week that said reefs in Southeast Asia's Coral Triangle could disappear by the end of the century if greenhouse gas emissions are not drastically cut.
The collapse of the region, said to be the ocean's richest ecosystem and home to half the world's coral, would destroy food and livelihoods for over 100 million people and trigger mass migration to cities and neighbouring countries.
The report is one of a number of gloomy scenarios floated at the five-day conference, billed as the first time nations have gathered to discuss the link between oceans and climate.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told delegates in a recorded statement that nations needed to work harder to conserve oceans and fight climate change.
"Changes to our oceans threaten their ability to provide for their families and make a better life for their children," she said.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned the future of the oceans was a "life and death issue" for humanity.
"Today it is time for the world to hear yet another important message: that we can only survive the 21st century if we are united in caring for and preserving our oceans," Yudhoyono said.
Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett said the declaration was significant.
"You can't underestimate how important it is to have such a significant number of countries sign on," he said.
"This is an important declaration and it will enable strong and positive and constructive actions to be taken."
But the head of a bloc representing small island nations likely to be the hardest hit by rising sea levels said the agreement was only a small step in long negotiations to replace Kyoto when it expires in 2012.
"I don't think it's adequate... but I think the pieces of the solution are being laid and that is important at this juncture," Grenada's ambassador to the UN and Alliance of Small Island States chairwoman Dessima Williams said.
Fidelis E. Satriastanti, Jakarta Globe 15 May 09;
Manado. Wrapping up an arduous two-year negotiation process, 76 countries on Thursday signed a pact to protect oceans and coastal areas from the impact of climate change.
Representatives from the 76 countries officially adopted the Manado Ocean Declaration after four days of meetings at the World Ocean Conference in the North Sulawesi capital.
“All participants have unanimously agreed on the points that have been delivered and the next step will be to bring this [declaration] to Copenhagen,” said Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi, referring to the UN climate change summit in December in Denmark.
He said during a press conference that the declaration reflected participants’ political will “that oceans and coastal area issues will be included in future climate change negotiations.”
The declaration contained 35 paragraphs and highlighted the need for financial resources and incentives to help developing countries protect oceans and seas, for renewable ocean technologies, and for funding for more research into the impact of climate change on oceans and the role of large bodies of water in fighting the harmful affects of climate change.
Arief Havaz Oegroseno, head of Indonesian delegation, said the declaration also invited parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to submit adaptation project proposals for coastal and ocean management to the Adaptation Fund Board.
“The board is not yet officially functional, so it would be a great opportunity for countries to seek funding, particularly for coastal communities which are vulnerable to climate change,” Arief said .
“Initially, we wanted the declaration to bring these issues to the UNFCCC. However, we have agreed to bring this to the UN system, which means that they must be included in the agenda of all UN organizations,” he said. “So, this exceeds our goals.”
Freddy denied accusations by nongovernmental organizations that the declaration did not adequately protect the fisheries sector, saying the statement included all actions necessary to secure the livelihoods of coastal communities in Indonesia or elsewhere.
Eddy Pratomo, the chairman of the conference’s Senior Officials Meeting, said earlier that a special paragraph covering illegal fishing and sustainable fisheries was included in the draft document.
On Thursday, however, he said the paragraph was no longer in the declaration.
“It is not mentioned literally in the declaration but it was combined in other points,” he said.
US delegation head Mary Glackin was quoted by Agence France-Presse as saying that the nonbinding declaration contained no specific commitments for funding or emissions targets.
Eddy said that the declaration was not a scientific document but a political one. “This is a political matter, so this has been affecting the debate throughout the meeting,” he said.
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a scientist from Australia’s University of Queensland, told AFP he thought the outcome of the talks was “disappointingly weak given the severity of the problem.”
But Desima Williams, permanent representative of Grenada to the UN and chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, said the conference had escalated “the connection, attention, potentials and values of oceans as important into negotiations.”
Some of the key points in the Manado Ocean Declaration:
• Participants strive to achieve long-term conservation, management and sustainable use of marine living resources and coastal habitats through the appropriate application of precautionary and ecosystem approaches, and to implement long-term strategies in meeting the internationally-agreed sustainable development goals.
• Participants stress the need for national strategies
for sustainable management of coastal and marine ecosystems, in particular mangrove, wetland, sea-grass, estuary and coral reef, as protective and productive buffer zones that deliver valuable ecosystem goods and services that have significant potential for addressing the adverse effects of climate change.
• Participants cooperate in furthering marine scientific research and sustained integrated ocean observation systems, promote education and public awareness, work together for the improved understanding on the role of oceans on climate change and vice-versa, and continue developing reliable scientific information on the roles of coastal and marine ecosystems in reducing the effects of climate change.
• Participants will take adequate measures to reduce sources of marine pollution, assure integrated management and rehabilitate coastal ecosystems.
• Participants invite parties to the UNFCCC to consider developing and submitting climate change adaptation project proposals for coastal and ocean management to the Adaptation Fund Board for consideration.
• Participants stress the need to promote affordable, environmentally sound and renewable ocean technologies, and know-how, particularly in developing countries.
Mohd Nasir Yusoff, Bernama 15 May 09;
MANADO (Indonesia), May 15 (Bernama) -- A 52-day integrated scientific sailing expedition beginning next month will be Malaysia's concrete contribution to the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) to maintain the health and productivity of the coral triangle which covers Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands.
Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced here Friday that the Prime Scientific Sailing Expedition (PSSE) 2009 would be launched on June 15, and would involve the KD Perantau vessel.
The expedition would incorporate various oceanographic studies, including mapping of the marine flora and fauna such as coral reefs, marine mammals, fish and invertebrates that inhabit the Malaysian territory of the South China Sea and the Sulu-Sulawesi Sea, he said.
"The expedition is also to explore and discover, through the collection of intensified data by application of state-of-the art technologies in the field of physical, geological, chemical and biological oceanography," he said in his speech at the CTI Summit, here.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had earlier opened the first-ever CTI Summit, attended by all the six heads of government of the CTI member countries and scores of marine experts, scientists and marine conservation activists, at the Grand Kawanua International Convention Hall.
Najib said the PSSE was just one of the many ongoing CTI-related efforts being undertaken by Malaysia in managing its own maritime biodiversity, including areas in Malaysia covered under the CTI and expected to have significant positive impact on the Coral Triangle Area.
He said the PSSE was initiated by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation in collaboration with the Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) through the National Hydrography Centre, the Centre of Excellence in Oceanography and the Marine Science Centre.
He said that due to the complexities and the rich and unique biodiversity in the Sulu-Sulawesi Sea, it had been made a priority in the research planning and implementation of the Ninth Malaysia Plan to conduct such an integrated expedition to ensure that a wealth set of marine databases and potential new discoveries could be established.
Najib said that coincidentally the Sulu-Sulawesi Sea was part of the designated areas in the Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape Programme which was a melting pot, and pointed out that conscientious efforts to innovate and regulate activities to minimise conflicts and disasters and stimulate economic activities as well as facilitate marine life conservation were of prime importance.
Towards that end, he said, smart partnerships and strategic alliances and cooperation between coastal communities, government agencies, non-governmental organisations and other related stakeholders at the national and regional level were of the highest priority.
While thanking Susilo and Indonesia for hosting the important and timely summit in the cooperative management of the triangle's rich marine biodiversity in this region, he said Malaysia being a biodiversity rich nation had always taken various measures to conserve and sustainably utilise its rich biological resources.
"The National Policy on Biological Diversity launched in 1998 gives clear direction for the management of biodiversity in the country. Malaysia, as an active member of the Convention on Biological Diversity, has also played an important and leadership role in promoting and implementing the objective of the convention domestically, regionally as well at the international level," he said.
He drew the attention of the participants to the fact that the Earth's future lies in the ocean and recognised that strong evidence has been compiled to emphasise the need for urgent action to protect biodiversity in selected seabed habitats and marine areas in need of protection.
"Hence, this Coral Triangle Initiative is important to complement and enrich national and regional efforts in managing the world's richest marine biodiversity area though it covers approximately only two per cent of the world's oceans.
"It is unfortunate that knowledge about the oceans is still very limited and the development of maritime countries often depends on the potential to exploit sustainably the marine resources," he said, adding that Malaysia would make a contribution of US$1 million (RM3.54 million) to the CTI Projects.
Najib stressed that enhancing the knowledge and understanding of the connectivity of large marine ecosystems, ocean dynamics, air-sea interaction, seabed changes and coastal processes were prerequisites for managing the marine environment and ecosystems in a more precautionary way towards supporting sustainable economic opportunities from ocean resources.
Results from marine scientific research provided input for policy makers in pursuing developmental options and also benefited society, for example, in terms of ocean data management, measuring and monitoring the status of health of coral reefs and their resilience, bio-resources and food security as well as weather forecasting, he said.
This would help nation states to adapt mitigative measures towards the prevention of natural disasters, thus withstanding stressors and threats to climate change in this changing marine environment, he added.
Najib said the coral triangle area, which housed nearly 75 per cent of all the coral reef species and 40 per cent of coral fish species known to mankind, had also an important socio-economic dimension which had to be sustained for the well-being of countries in this region.
"Due to the high species of diversity and the discovery of many more new species, this area of ours provides enormous commercial potential for its traditional use as well as the application of new technologies such as biotechnology for wealth creation of the nations in this region," he said.
In that context, he said he believed that the CTI Projects must be implemented based on national priorities and in line with national policies to ensure that countries participating in the projects could contribute and benefit meaningfully from the initiative.
Najib said the projects should be built upon existing initiatives and projects in this area to avoid the duplication and wastage of resources and added that there must be tangible outputs which were implementable and could be sustained beyond the duration of the projects.
"We, too, must recognise the role of local and indigenous communities in this area and integrate their traditional, scientific, technical and technological knowledge in the projects," he said, adding that this was to ensure the relevancy of the projects on the ground and that their recommendations and outputs were implementable at the grassroots level for meaningful outcomes.
-- BERNAMA
Fidelis E. Satriastanti & Arti Ekawati, Jakarta Globe 14 May 09;
Six member countries of the Coral Triangle Initiative of South Pacific nations on Thursday agreed to push ahead to create a secretariat and work out funding later in a bid to protect the region’s fast-diminishing coral reefs, said Freddy Numberi, Indonesia’s minister of maritime affairs and fisheries.
Officials of the six nations — Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and the Solomon Islands — were expected to sign what was termed a CTI Leader’s Declaration on May 15.
The secretariat is in the very early stages. Only the United States has confirmed funding, allocating $40 million over five years. The body is seeking $70 million from the Global Environmental Fund, which addresses the funding of global environmental issues, particularly climate change adaptation and mitigation.
An estimated $300 million is believed to be available from various sources for the preservation of the six countries’ coral reefs.
Although no decision has been made on the location of the secretariat, Papua New Guinea has agreed that Indonesia would be a likely location although the Philippines is reportedly also vying for the site, which can be expected to generate one of the world’s top marine research centers.
“We’ve agreed to just use the word secretariat and not permanent secretariat,” said Freddy, who acted as chairman for the preparation meeting Thursday. “It will be discussed at the next meeting in June. But we’re not going to decide whether it’s a mobile or permanent secretariat.”
Financial mechanisms, he said, had not been discussed and would be taken up in June. “However, we’ve agreed that the mechanics will be adjusted according to each country’s action plan.”
Eko Rudianto, the director of ocean landscape at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, said determining a permanent location for the organization would be complicated and involved more than site availability and government willingness.
“Many things should be considered, since it’s related to multilateral cooperation,” Eko said in an interview in Manado in North Sulawesi where the World Ocean Conference was held. “It won’t be as easy as building a branch office.”
“Funding is really about the … total area of marine conservation in one country, not the location of the secretariat,” Eko said. Nor, he said, would the secretariat’s location give the host country more clout as a decision-maker. “It’s only the place to manage the organization,” he said.
The Phillipines warns against political motives in selecting CTI office
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 15 May 09;
The Philippine delegation to the upcoming Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Summit has warned against political motives in choosing a country as the host for the permanent office of the Coral Triangle Secretariat.
Philippine Agriculture Minister Arthur C. Yap said the implementation of the much-lauded CTI program and its plan of action would depend mostly on the "quality" of the permanent secretariat.
"The choice of the CTI Secretariat has to be internationally and regionally agreed. We must remove any political debate in deciding the host of the permanent office," he said on the sidelines of the Global Ocean Policy Day on Wednesday.
"The *elected* country should be able to listen to opinions and voices from six member countries. No country can monopolize the agenda of the CTI."
Both the Philippines and Indonesia have submitted proposals to host the secretariat.
The final decision will be made at a summit Friday for leaders of the six coral triangle countries - Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Timor Leste and Indonesia.
"We've already offered to host a permanent office and we're very ready to support the CTI program," Yap said.
Senior officials from the six countries are debating crucial issues, including the location for the CTI Secretariat and financial matters, to be officially adopted by the summit.
The leaders will adopt a non-binding document of the CTI regional of plan of action as a guideline to conserve coastal and marine resources within the region. Indonesian Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi was upbeat that all points in the draft declaration, including that on the secretariat, would be agreed upon before the summit.
The CTI budget will come from the six member states and donor countries, including the US and Australia, and international agencies such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and USAID.
The CTI has already received pledges worth US$300 million, including $40 million from the US.
The ADB and GEF plan to raise a total of $25.5 million in funding for Southeast Asia and the Pacific to protect coral reefs, with Southeast Asia to receive $12.3 million.
The coral triangle is home to 76 percent of the world's coral species and 37 percent of its reef fish species, and straddles 75,000 square kilometer of the Indian and Pacific oceans.
Yap lauded the CTI for also discussing food security to eradicate poverty.
"The CTI is a very good step toward protecting marine biodiversity because coral reefs are the center of total marine biodiversity," he said.
"It emphasizes people, poverty eradication and also climate change."
He warned that lack of action to protect coral reefs would place the world and humanity in danger.
Nations launch plan to save 'Amazon of the seas'
Aubrey Belford Yahoo News 15 May 09;
MANADO, Indonesia (AFP) – Leaders from six nations have agreed to work jointly to save Southeast Asia's massive Coral Triangle, considered the world's richest underwater wilderness.
The leaders of East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands signed off on proposals to expand maritime sanctuaries and no-fishing zones during talks in Indonesia.
The Coral Triangle Initiative calls for stronger international cooperation to combat illegal fishing and environmental destruction in an area half the size of the United States and home to half the world's coral reefs.
"The Coral Triangle is a globally recognised treasure. It is unique, there is nothing like it on Earth," Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said of the region, which has been compared to the Amazon rainforest for its biodiversity.
Scientists say a combination of climate change, overfishing and pollution is destroying ecosystems in the Triangle, which is a vital source of food for millions of people and a nursery for maritime life from turtles to tuna.
Under the initiative, the littoral countries agreed to expand protected ocean reserves by millions of hectares (acres) and establish joint strategies for identifying key ecosystems and species for conservation.
The initiative calls for fishing to be banned from 20 percent of each major coastal habitat in the Triangle such as coral reefs, mangrove forests and seagrass areas, but set no specific time target.
It also sets targets ranging between 2012 and 2020 for the designation and establishment of "priority seascape" marine reserves and stronger legislation and planning to curb overfishing and protect threatened species.
The agreement also calls for the establishment within four years of a plan to help coastal and small island ecosystems adapt to consequences of climate change such as rising sea levels, warming waters and increases in acidity.
Indonesia -- a massive archipelago of 17,000 islands -- said it would set aside 20 million hectares (49.4 million acres) of maritime conservation parks by 2020, up from 13.4 million currently.
The overall plan however contained no solid combined target on the protected areas.
The agreement was praised by environmental groups as a rare example of high-level leaders backing an ambitious conservation plan.
Conservation International head Peter Seligmann said in a statement, "in 30 years of conservation work, I have never seen anything like this; six leaders signing a commitment to protect their marine resources for the wellbeing of their citizens and future generations."
A report by environmental group WWF this week said climate change could wipe out the Coral Triangle by century's end if nations do not commit to deep cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
The death of the reefs could leave more than 100 million people without livelihoods, triggering destabilising mass migrations to cities and neighbouring countries, it said.
A new round of international climate change talks to replace the Kyoto Protocol will take in the Danish capital Copenhagen in December.
Adam Gartrell, The Age 15 May 09;
Australia will help fund conservation programs in the Coral Triangle region amid warnings its critical marine ecosystems face catastrophe if climate change goes unchecked.
Environment Minister Peter Garrett has announced $2 million in funding for the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI), which aims to protect an area many scientists regard as the Amazon of the seas.
The Coral Triangle - taking in East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands - contains 30 per cent of the world's coral reefs and sustains the lives of more than 100 million people.
If its ecosystems are allowed to fail, food security for tens of millions of people will disappear.
Mr Garrett said the $2 million was the first phase of an ongoing plan to support the CTI, which is meeting on the sidelines of the World Ocean Conference in the Indonesian city of Manado.
"This investment will focus on areas where we can make the greatest contribution by sharing our knowledge and directly supporting capacity building in marine biodiversity conservation, sustainable fisheries, protecting vulnerable marine species and community empowerment," he said on Friday.
An Australian-led study, released this week, paints a nightmarish picture of the region's future if climate change goes unaddressed.
Unless the world achieves significant greenhouse gas reductions, the region's reefs will be destroyed, poverty will increase, food security will plummet and coastal people will be forced to migrate inland or to other countries.
Mr Garrett on Thursday joined leaders, ministers and officials from more than 70 countries to sign the Manado Oceans Declaration.
The pact is designed to protect oceans and coastal areas from the impact of climate change, and influence critical climate change talks in Copenhagen later this year.
It calls for cuts to ocean pollution, funding for sustainable development in poor countries, greater research into how climate change affects the ocean and the role oceans play in fighting climate change.
But the non-binding declaration contained no specific commitments for funding or emissions targets and was criticised by some scientists as too weak to combat likely devastating sea rises and the destruction of key species.
However, Mr Garrett called it a significant step forward.
"This declaration signifies a global consensus," he said.
"Ocean health is a priority and we have to take collective action and not ignore the effects of climate change on oceans and coasts."
Australia commits $2m to 'Amazon of the Seas'
ABC News 15 May 09;
Australia has promised $2 million in aid to a new regional partnership charged with protecting marine life in the waters of the coral triangle.
The coral triangle is an area of ocean to Australia's north that is regarded as one of the richest marine environments in the world.
Seven countries have signed an agreement to work together to protect the area from the effects of overfishing, pollution and climate change.
Environment Minister Peter Garrett says the Australian aid money will mainly support programs in coastal communities in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
"This region is the Amazon of the Seas and we recognise how important it is that concerted regional action is taken to secure the health of the ocean environments," he said.
"It's about food security. It's about the livelihood of hundreds of millions of people in this region. It's also about recognising how critical the health of the ocean environment is.
"We want to see some support go in the first instance to Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
"We want to provide the opportunity for additional information learnings, for communities that will be doing this work, and we want to see strategies in place which will really start to deliver the on-ground actions which are necessary to protect the coral triangle itself."
Conservationists have backed the plan, with WWF director general Jim Leape saying the regional agreement is a landmark event.
"What comes out of this commitment is a plan of action which allows, mandates, the ministers, ministries in each of these countries to work together to begin to conserve the tuna stocks that are so important here," he said.
"Also to begin to save the endangered sea turtles that live here, to begin to better manage the coastal ecosystems on which so many of their people depend."
Antara 15 May 09;
Manado (ANTARA News) -The developing countries are hit worst by the impact of climate change because they depended more on natural resources, according to Alfred Nakatsuma, director of the Environment office of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said here on Thursday.
While the developed countries depended more on industries and information services than on natural resources, he said when speaking to journalists participating in the OANA Workshop on "The Role of the Media in Preserving the Global Environment".
Nakatsuma pointed out at that Indonesia`s marine tourism revenue reached US$2 billion per year and the country earned around US$2.2 billion from fish exports in 2008.
About 120 million people depended on oceans and coastal areas in earning a living, he said.
However, the situation regarding oceans and coastal areas as well as marine biodiversity was worse than people thought, he said.
Oceans which were very important, were very distressed among other things because of overfishing, over exploitation, pollution, and global warming.
He emphasized the importance to improve fishing licensing, fishing practices, and reduce illegal fishing.
He said temperature rise induced more frequent El Nino (nature phenomenon which could cause droughts), coral bleaching, and sea level rise.
The OANA workshop is being organized here May 13-15, coinciding with the implementation of the World Ocean Conference (WOC) which is also being organized here, May 11-14.
The Workshop is organized by the OANA Secretariat at ANTARA News Agency, with the cooperation of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Indonesian Communications and Informatics Ministry.
In the last day of the workshop, journalists will join a field trip to the Bunaken marine park, around 10 km from Manado, to see the rich marine biodiversity of the protected marine park.
OANA (Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies), which was established in 1961 with the support of UNESCO, now has 40 member news agencies from 33 countries.
(*)
Fred Pearce, New Scientist 14 May 09;
The precariously moored West Antarctic ice sheet probably won't collapse into the ocean all in one go as the climate warms. But the bad news, says a researcher, is that the sections most likely to be released into the ocean would raise sea levels globally by 3.3 metres – and rather more on the shores of North America.
The West Antarctic ice sheet, the smaller of the icy continent's two giant slabs of ancient ice, is moored to an archipelago of islands, many of them below sea level. It is held in place by floating ice shelves. Glaciologists had feared that warm water could melt the shelves, releasing the entire sheet into the ocean, raising sea levels by up to 5 metres.
Concern has increased with recent failures of floating Antarctic ice, such as the Wilkins shelf. A recent study (pdf format) found that the West Antarctic ice sheet would likely collapse if sea temperatures rose by more than 5 °Celsius.
But now Jonathan Bamber at Bristol University, UK, has analysed which parts of the West Antarctic ice sheet are vulnerable. He concludes that a third might stay put, mostly because it is moored above sea level. "The area's potential contribution to sea level has been greatly overestimated," he says.
Gravitational shift
Unfortunately, however, the loss of Antarctic ice would shift the Earth's gravitational pull, causing water to pile up in the northern hemisphere. Around North America this could increase anticipated sea-level rise by about a quarter.
In March, Bamber argued that the other giant ice sheet vulnerable to global warming, the Greenland ice sheet, is also more resistant to temperature rise that experts had thought.
But not all glaciologists think it has significantly changed the planet's immediate prognosis.
"The crucial question is how much ice could be lost in the next 100 to 200 years, and Jonathan's work has not really changed that," says David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey. Most predictions, he says, put global sea-level rise in the coming century at around 1 metre – but more will follow.
Journal reference: Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.1169335)
West Antarctic ice threat revised; still dire
Alister Doyle, Reuters 14 May 09;
OSLO (Reuters) - A meltdown of West Antarctica's ice sheet would raise sea levels by half as much as previously expected, but the impact would still be catastrophic, especially for U.S. coastal cities, a study showed.
A collapse of the ice sheet, viewed by scientists as more vulnerable than Greenland or East Antarctica because of global warming, would push up world sea levels by 3.3 meters (11 ft) over hundreds of years rather than 5-6 as long estimated.
"The long-term impact of West Antarctica is not be as serious as previously believed," said Jonathan Bamber, a professor at Bristol University in England who led the study in Friday's edition in the journal Science.
"But 17 million people in Bangladesh alone would be displaced by a sea level rise of 1.5 meters," he told Reuters. "The consequences for the planet and stability of society as a whole for even a 1-2 meters rise is very, very serious."
Sea levels off North America would rise more than anywhere else under the new projections, by Bamber and experts at University of Durham in England and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
Antarctica's vast mass exerts a gravitational tug that raises water levels in the Southern Ocean. If that ice were to melt, computer models project that sea levels would rise fastest around North America, while falling in the Southern Ocean.
"Levels on the U.S. seaboards would rise 25 percent more than the global average and threaten cities like New York, Washington DC, and San Francisco," the University of Colorado at Boulder, where Bamber is now a visiting fellow, said in a statement.
ICEBERGS
West Antarctica is believed to be vulnerable because much of its ice rests on bedrock below sea level. Global warming, blamed by the U.N. Climate Panel on human use of fossil fuels, could let water seep in under the ice and make giant chunks buoyant.
Any such collapse would probably last hundreds years, leaving West Antarctica as a series of islands. Bamber said there is evidence that West Antarctica has collapsed in the past, perhaps as recently as 400,000 years ago.
The vast East Antarctic sheet, equivalent to about 50 meters of sea level rise, and Greenland, equivalent to 7 meters, rest on bedrock above sea level.
About 10 ice shelves further north on the Antarctic Peninsula have broken up in recent years, most recently part of the Wilkins Ice Shelf shattered into icebergs last month.
The U.N. Climate Panel projected in a 2007 report that world sea levels would rise by between 18 and 59 cm (7-24 inches) this century because of global warming -- excluding any accelerating thaw of Antarctica or Greenland.
Bamber's study, which updated data from a 1978 report that estimated a 5-6 meter rise, looked solely at the risks of collapse of West Antarctica. The pattern of sea level rise would be different -- especially in the Atlantic -- if Greenland shrank simultaneously.
(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Ice sheet melt threat reassessed
Mark Kinver, BBC News 14 May 09;
The collapse of a major polar ice sheet will not raise global sea levels as much as previous projections suggest, a team of scientists has calculated.
Writing in Science, the researchers said that the demise of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) would result in a sea level rise of 3.3m (10 ft).
Previous estimates had forecast a rise in the region of five to six metres.
However, they added, the rise would still pose a serious threat to major coastal cities, such as New York.
"Sea level rise is considered to be the one of the most serious consequence of climate change," lead author Jonathan Bamber told the Science podcast.
"A sea level rise of just 1.5m would displace 17 million people in Bangladesh alone," he added.
"So it is of the utmost importance to understand the potential threats to coastlines and people living in coastal areas."
Threat reassessed
Professor Bamber, from the University of Bristol's Glaciology Centre, said that the WAIS posed "potentially one of the most serious threats".
The world has three ice sheets, Greenland, East Antarctica and West Antarctica, but it is the latter that is considered most vulnerable to climatic shifts.
"It has been hypothesised for more than 30 years now that the WAIS is inherently unstable," he explained.
"This instability means that the ice sheet could potentially rapidly collapse or rapidly put a lot of ice into the oceans."
When the idea first emerged in the late 1970s, it was estimated that global sea level would rise by five metres if the WAIS collapsed.
Current projections suggest that a complete collapse of WAIS would result in an increase of up to six metres.
But Professor Bamber said that no-one had revisited the calculation, despite new data sets becoming available, and scientists developing a better understanding of the dynamics in the vast ice sheets.
The original estimates were based on "very basic ice thickness data", he explained.
"Ice thickness data gives you information about the depth of the bedrock underneath the ice sheet.
"Over the past 30 years, we have acquired much more ice thickness data over the whole of Antarctica, particularly over West Antarctica.
"We also have much better surface topography. Those two data sets are critical in determining two things."
The first was knowing the volume of ice that could contribute to sea level rise, and the second was a better understanding of the proportion of WAIS that was potentially susceptible to this instability.
Instead of assuming that the entire WAIS would collapse, causing sea level to rise by up to six metres, Professor Bamber and colleagues used models based on glaciological theory to simulate how the 2.2 million-cubic-km ice sheet would respond.
"Our reassessment of West Antarctica's contribution to sea level rise if the ice sheet was to collapse is about 3.3 metres," he said.
"That is about half of the value that has been quoted up until now."
The team's study also calculated what regions were likely to experience the biggest increases in sea level.
"Sea level rise is not uniform across the world's oceans, partly as a result of disruptions to the Earth's gravity field," explained Professor Bamber.
"It turns out that the maximum increase in sea level rise is centred at a latitude of about 40 degrees along the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards of North America."
This would include cities such as San Francisco and New York.
These areas could expect increases of one-and-a-quarter times the global average, the team estimated.
In other words, if the global average was one metre, then places like New York could expect to see a rise of 1.25m.
Responding to Professor Bamber's paper in Science, British Antarctic Survey science leader Dr David Vaughan described the findings as "quite sound".
"But for me, the most crucial question is not solely about the total amount of ice in West Antarctica, because that might take several centuries to be lost to the ocean," he told BBC News.
"The crucial question is how much ice could be lost in 100-200 years; that's the sea level rise we have to understand and plan for.
"Even with this new assessment the loss of a fraction of WAIS over those timescales would have serious consequences and costs that we've only really just begun to understand."
Study Halves Prediction of Rising Seas
Andrew C. Revkin, The New York Times 14 May 09
A new analysis halves longstanding projections of how much sea levels could rise if Antarctica’s massive western ice sheets fully disintegrated as a result of global warming.
The flow of ice into the sea would probably raise sea levels about 10 feet rather than 20 feet, according to the analysis, published in the May 15 issue of the journal Science.
The scientists also predicted that seas would rise unevenly, with an additional 1.5-foot increase in levels along the east and west coasts of North America. That is because the shift in a huge mass of ice away from the South Pole would subtly change the strength of gravity locally and the rotation of the Earth, the authors said.
Several Antarctic specialists familiar with the new study had mixed reactions to the projections.
But they and the study’s lead author, Jonathan L. Bamber of the Bristol Glaciology Center, in England agreed that the odds of a disruptive rise in seas over the next century or so from the buildup of greenhouse gases remained serious enough to warrant the world’s attention.
They also uniformly called for renewed investment in ice-probing satellites and field missions that could within a few years substantially clarify the risk.
There is strong consensus that warming waters around Antarctica, and Greenland in the Arctic, would result in centuries of rising seas. But glaciologists and oceanographers still say uncertainty prevails on the vital question of how fast coasts will retreat in a warming world in the next century or two.
The new study combined computer modeling with measurements of the ice and the underlying bedrock, both direct and by satellite.
It did not assess the pace or likelihood of a rise in seas. The goal was to examine as precisely as possible how much ice could flow into the sea if warming seawater penetrated between the West Antarctic ice sheet and the bedrock beneath.
For decades West Antarctic ice has been identified as particularly vulnerable to melting because, although piled more than one mile above sea level in many places, it also rests on bedrock a half mile to a mile beneath sea level in others. That topography means that warm water could progressively melt spots where ice is stuck to the rock, allowing it to flow more freely.
Erik I. Ivins, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, described the new paper as “good solid science,” but added that the sea-level estimates cannot be verified without renewed investment in satellite missions and other initiatives that are currently lagging.
A particularly valuable satellite program called Grace, which measures subtle variations in gravity related to the mass of ice and rock, “has perhaps a couple of years remaining before its orbit deteriorates,” Dr. Ivins said.
“The sad truth is that we in NASA are watching our earth-observing systems fall by the wayside as they age – without the sufficient resources to see them adequately replaced.”
Robert Bindschadler, a longtime specialist in polar ice at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said the study only provided a low estimate of Antarctica’s possible long-term contribution to rising seas because it did not deal with other mechanisms that could add water to the ocean.
The prime question, he said, remains what will happen in the next 100 years or so, and other recent work implies that a lot of ice can be shed within that time.
“Even in Bamber’s world,” he said, referring to the study’s lead author, “there is more than enough ice to cause serious harm to the world’s coastlines.”
Sea rise from Antarctic ice melt overestimated: study
Yahoo News 14 May 09;
CHICAGO (AFP) – While a collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet will have devastating impacts on global sea levels, a study published Thursday found the anticipated impact has been seriously overestimated.
Using new measures of the ice sheet's geometry, British and Dutch researchers predict its collapse would cause sea levels to rise by 3.2 meters (11 feet) rather than previous estimates of five to seven meters.
However, the study published in the journal Science found that even a one meter rise in sea levels would be significant enough to weaken the Earth's gravity field in the southern hemisphere and affect the Earth's rotation.
That rotational shift would cause water to pile up in the northern oceans and could result in dramatic regional differences in sea levels, with the largest rise on the east and west coast of the United States.
"The pattern of sea level rise is independent of how fast or how much of the (Western Antarctic Ice Sheet) WAIS collapses," said lead author Jonathan Bamber of the University of Bristol in England.
"Even if the WAIS contributed only a meter of sea level rise over many years, sea levels along North America's shorelines would still increase 25 percent more than the global average."
Antarctica holds about nine times the volume of ice as Greenland and is considered a sleeping giant when it comes to sea levels.
The western ice sheet is of particular concern because enormous sections sit in inland basins on bedrock that is entirely below sea level.
Vast floating ice shelves currently limit ice loss to the ocean but scientists fear the sheet could collapse if the floating ice shelves break free.
The study authors based their predictions on the assumption that only ice on the downward sloping and inland-facing side of the basins would be lost while ice grounded on bedrock that is above sea level or slopes upward would survive.
Researchers do not know how quickly the shelf would collapse. But if such a large amount of ice melted steadily over 500 years it would raise sea levels by about 6.5 millimeters per year.
That's about twice the current rate due to all sources.
"Though smaller than past predictions, the scale of the fully manifested instability is enormous," cautioned Erik Ivins of the California Institute of Technology in an accompanying article.
"The total mass gained by the oceans ... would be roughly equal to the mass showered to Earth by the impact of about 2000 Halley-sized comets."
Further complicating the situation is the fact that Greenland seems to be losing as much or more ice than Antarctica, even though it doesn't have the same unstable configuration.
"Greenland needs only half the mass loss rate of Antarctica to have an equivalent effect on polar motion due to its less polar position," he wrote.
Even "more ominous" are the current accelerations of ice flow into the Amundsen Sea Embayment in Antarctica, he wrote.
"Should the ice sheet grounding line migrate farther inland, ice resting on bedrock well below sea level could become unstable."
The Independent 14 May 09;
The Independent has long campaigned to reduce packaging around food. While the food and drink sector has made real strides, we accept there is a lot more to do.
With landfill sites rapidly running out and the urgent need to combat climate change, there can be no let-up in the campaign to reduce or recycle packaging.
But as the Indy has also recognised, it is not just packaging waste which gets buried. In fact, our industry and consumers together throw away more food than we do packaging. And this waste is more damaging, in many ways, to the environment than plastic or paper wrapping of which 60 per cent is now recycled.
The Government's own Waste and Resource Action Programme (WRAP) estimates that growing, producing, transporting and storing the 6.7 million tones of food we then throw away at home is equivalent to 2 per cent of the UK's CO2 emissions. Food waste in general produces three times as much carbon as packaging waste.
When dumped into landfill sites, still the final destination of the majority of food waste, it also rots and gives off methane. It's a gas which is 23 times as damaging in accelerating climate change as the equivalent amount of CO2. This all helps explain why WRAP say ending food waste would have the same impact on the UK's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as taking one in five cars off the road.
It is not just, of course, a cost to the environment. It's bad for our pockets as well as the planet. Throwing away food adds over £600 a year to the average family budget. It's also a largely avoidable cost. Most food is discarded without ever being used simply because it is stored incorrectly or for too long.
That's why the debate on packaging can't be isolated from our efforts to cut the mountains of food waste. Sensible packaging helps protect food from damage and last longer. It's no good cutting packaging if the result is more food thrown away.
This requires us to look at packaging on a product-by-product basis to see whether it is necessary or can be reduced or removed. This is what we are now doing at Morrisons through our Keep It Fresh test and packaging laboratory.
It is research which has already thrown up some fascinating insights. We have found, for example, that wrapping peppers in plastic has no impact on freshness or quality so we have stopped doing it. But wrapping cucumbers in recyclable plastic - a target for anti-packaging campaigners - means they last five times as long.
Selling cucumbers without plastic would lead to a slight reduction in packaging. It would, however, lead to a big increase in cucumbers thrown away both by stores and consumers.
We also know that keeping potatoes loose rather than bagged leads to a 3 per cent increase in waste as exposure to the light encourages green shoots and discolouring. Selling grapes in trays cuts in-store waste alone by as much as 20 per cent.
This doesn't mean we have to stop the drive to reduce packaging. It does mean we have to distinguish between the packaging which protects food and that which is unnecessary.
Reducing the size of waste food mountains, of course, requires the industry to continue to change the way we operate. But the responsibility of supermarkets like ours goes beyond what we do ourselves. We also have to help consumers understand better how to keep and store food so they can reduce waste and their household bills.
That's why we have launched a 'Great Taste Less Waste' campaign in our stores. It includes Best Kept stickers on fresh food which explains the latest advice.
We need to help the two-third of consumers who don't realise that apples stay fresh for up to 14 days longer if kept in a fridge. When WRAP estimate that 4.4 million apples are thrown away every day, getting this message across helps both consumers and the environment.
We can do more as well to help consumers plan their shopping wisely so they need to throw less food out and end confusion between 'best by' and 'use by' dates. Half of all consumers admit they throw food away when it reaches 'best by' date.
But that's unnecessary. Food past its 'use by' date shouldn't be eaten, but food which has reached its 'best by' date is safe to eat. It merely suggests a date when food might begin to lose its quality.
No matter how careful we all are, there is always going to be some waste. We have to ensure less of it is buried. In some of our European neighbours, over 20 per cent of energy comes from technology such as anaerobic digestion but just 2 per cent here in the UK. But to help consumers recycle food waste, we need a better national infrastructure for collection and ensure it is used productively.
None of this means we should let up on the drive to reduce unnecessary packaging. But we have to ensure that this worthy goal does not accidentally add to the mountains of food waste we still throw away.
* Marc Bolland is chief executive of Morrisons
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