Best of our wild blogs: 4 Jun 09

Searching for secret shores at East Coast
on the wonderful creation blog

Chek Jawa II: Spicy Red Ants, Chocolate Truffle Rocks and Spiders of the Same Age on the You run, we GEOG blog and Pulau Ubin Chek Jawa: an introduction

Toffee/Walnut
on talfryn.net

Riding the Green Wave 2009
on the Garden Voices blog

HortPark Turns One!
on the Garden Voices blog

Collared Kingfisher mating
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Response of nesting prinia to pre-recorded song
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Enchanting Endau Rompin
on the Butterflies of Singapore blog

Hatchling
on the annotated budak blog and weaver of mystery

Energy Saving Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs for Sale!
on the Low Carbon Singapore blog

Nanotechnology for Next Generation Solar Energy
a seminar at ISEAS on the Low Carbon Singapore blog

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Natural history needs more room in Singapore

Prized exhibits are now tucked away at NUS, and space is also running out
Victoria Vaughan, Straits Times 4 Jun 09;

AMERICA'S Museum of Natural History has been seen by countless people thanks to two Hollywood hits, but the same cannot be said of Singapore's own prized collection hidden away at the National University of Singapore.

The Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (RMBR) has the second oldest natural history collection in South-east Asia after Indonesia's Bogor Museum. It has one of the largest collections of South-east Asian flora and fauna but many of its specimens remain out of sight due to lack of space.

With about 500,000 specimens of mammal, marine, insect, reptile and plant life, the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research has one of the largest collections of South-east Asian flora and fauna. -- ST PHOTO: JOYCE FANG

Because of this, its director, Professor Peter Ng, is calling for a proper space to showcase the 500,000-strong collection of mammal, marine, insect, reptile and plant life.

Public demand for Asian natural history is high, demonstrated by 'an overwhelming turnout' at the museum's open day on May 24, according to its education and public relations officer Tan Sijie. 'There were about 2,000 people or more, which is possibly more than our usual walk-ins and school group tours for a year.'

One visitor, Mr Jaya Kumar Narayanan, highlighted the lack of space and the non-prominent location in a letter to The Straits Times' Forum page.

Singapore's founder, Sir Stamford Raffles, contributed to the collection, amassed over the last 150 years. Its oldest specimen is a Brown Flycatcher bird collected by British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, the co-founder of the theory of evolution.

However, the museum's cramped premises do not allow it to realise its full potential in education and research, says Prof Ng. At the rate specimens are coming into the centre, it will be full in five years, meaning some parts of the collection will be given away and gallery space may be further reduced, he explained.

Prof Ng is calling for the museum to have a permanent home like its former National Museum premises, where many more specimens could be put on display for visitors. 'We have an art museum, a civilisations museum, a heritage museum, but natural history is lodged in a corner of the university where no one can find it.'

The National Heritage Board (NHB) says, however, that there are no plans to move the exhibits to the National Museum. 'Apart from being a museum, RMBR also carries out academic research and conservation efforts on plants and animals both locally and in the region. This was one of the reasons why the museum was sited within the grounds of NUS,' said an NHB spokesman.

In the last four years, Prof Ng has had informal talks with the Singapore Zoo, Singapore Science Centre and National Parks Board about the possibility of setting up a National History Museum. However, he explains, the zoo's commercial interest and the centre's education focus was thought to be in conflict with RMBR's research agenda, and NParks already has its work cut out looking after plant specimens.

But there may be hope. NUS Science Faculty dean, Professor Andrew Wee, said there could be plans for a new building to house the museum at the university, together with other labs.

More links

• About the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research Public Gallery
• Toddycats! volunteers at the RMBR
• Latest news from RMBR on the RMBR news blog

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Pulau Semakau: It’s a landfill – and an ecopark

Singapore’s only landfill is more like a recreation area than a dumping ground.
Vijaysree Venkatraman, The Christian Science Monitor 3 Jun 09;

A typical landfill isn’t the sort of place where residents have peaceful picnics and take nature walks or go to stargaze. But Singapore’s Semakau landfill is far from ordinary.

Pulau Semakau – where Singapore’s only landfill is located – is a 20-minute ferry ride from the mainland. Its appearance can come as a surprise: turquoise waters, flowering shrubs, a carpet of grass, and nature-enhancing landscaping. Egrets skim the waters of artificial lagoons that are actually dormant refuse cells. Anglers also use them for sport fishing. It seems more like a recreation area than a dumping ground.

Actually, it’s both.

Singapore, located at the tip of the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia, has become increasingly prosperous since it became an independent republic in 1965. As a result, its trash has doubled every decade until currently – the volume is close to 8,000 tons a day, even after stringent recycling.

Unlike larger countries, this densely populated island – smaller than the US state of Rhode Island – cannot banish refuse to the hinterlands. And using precious space as a dumping ground to be greened later is an unaffordable luxury.

When Singapore’s previous landfill was filled up in 1999, the tiny nation had to find a new way to dispose of its refuse.

“Scarcity of land means that an offshore landfill is our only viable option for solid-waste disposal,” says Ong Chong Peng, general manager of the Semakau landfill.

Space, not environmental benefit, was the driving force behind the landfill, but careful planning created vibrant ecosystems as part of it.

The 865-acre space was divided into cells for dumping refuse that has first been incinerated on the mainland. Dormant cells contain water and are used as lagoons until they’re needed to hold trash.

Then, “once a cell becomes full, it is covered with soil and planted with grass,” says Loo Eng Por, manager of the landfill. Some trees, “planted” by birds, also thrive in the reclaimed land.

Every night, incinerated trash is brought to Semakau in closed barges drawn by tugboats. “Burning brings down the volume of solid waste by 90 percent,” explains Mr. Loo.

Initially, carbon emissions went up when refuse was burned, but now emissions are sucked back into the combustion chambers at the incinerators. Bulky trash that can’t be recycled or burned – such as demolition debris – is buried.

Because the refuse disposed of at the landfill is inert and inorganic, there is nothing for flies to feast on, Loo points out. That rules out foul smells as well.

As landfill material, incinerator ash tends to be relatively innocuous, says Peter Shanahan, senior lecturer in the department of civil and environmental engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. Because organics have been burned away, there is no buildup of gases, such as methane, which is associated with decomposition. Still, it’s important that the surrounding waters be vigilantly monitored for contaminants, he says.

Semakau’s sea wall is lined with an impermeable membrane as well as marine clay to prevent any seepage of waste into the ocean. Every month, though, water around the active cells is tested for heavy metals and other pollutants. Mangrove trees growing at the sea’s edge also serve as a biological indicator of water quality.

Many trees were cut down to make room for the landfill. “Some 400,000 saplings were hand-planted later,” says Mr. Ong, but no one was sure if they would take root. Now they’re almost indistinguishable from the original trees. Semakau is home to many species of birds, including the great-billed heron.

Since 2005, visitors on guided walks have been able to explore the mangroves and coral reefs that ring the island. “Pulau Semakau harbors some rare plants – such as the seashore bat lily or the pink-eyed pong pong tree – that were lost on mainland Singapore,” says Ria Tan, who created and maintains the Wild Singapore website for nature enthusiasts.

The National Environment Agency even organizes field trips to the landfill for schoolchildren to learn how to minimize waste.

When the last of the landfill’s cells becomes full, refuse will be piled into hillocks up to a certain height, says Loo. Semakau, it is estimated, can take care of Singapore’s landfill needs until at least 2045.

Meanwhile, Singapore constantly seeks out innovative technologies to reduce the amount of material that’s added to the landfill. About 3 percent of the island’s electricity comes from the incineration process. The ash is used as construction material. A new plant composts food waste, converting it to biogas, which is burned as fuel.

Singapore’s experience could serve as an example to many densely populated areas around the world that are facing solid-waste disposal issues.

“Singapore has faced resource constraints on land and water long before any other country,” says Ms. Tan. “We have been forced to address this sustainability issue long before it became fashionable.”

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NTUC FairPrice gives out $350,000 in rebates to customers with own bags

Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia 3 Jun 09;

SINGAPORE : Singapore's largest supermarket chain, NTUC Fairprice, has given out more than S$350,000 in rebates to shoppers who brought their own bags to pack their purchases.

The FairPrice Green Rewards Scheme, started in 2007, and rewards shoppers with a 10-cent rebate for every S$10 spent.

The scheme is part of the nation-wide "Bring Your Own Bag" campaign.

The supermarket said it has saved more than 40 million plastic bags in the past two years.

The social enterprise has also collected and given out 1.6 million used textbooks to needy students since 1983.

It is now moving to set up its very first eco-friendly FairPrice outlet at City Square Mall, with features like energy-efficient lighting in chillers and freezers. - CNA /ls

Green light for the environment
Esther Ng, Today Online 4 Jun 09;

IN A bid to get Singaporeans to go beyond recycling and reducing the use of plastic bags, NTUC FairPrice wants consumers to think, choose and shop green.

For a start, customers can look forward to its Choose Green Roadshows which will offer eco-friendly products at reduced prices at selected stores throughout the year. FairPrice launched its first weeklong roadshow at Ang Mo Kio Hub on Monday.

Customers who bring in their old light bulbs can exchange them for a Philips energy saving one at a discount.

FairPrice is also partnering the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and North-West CDC on a youth project called Green Singapore (GS) 2050.

“We hope to find out what young people ... think about Singapore’s environment and what they want it to be in 2050,” said SEC’s executive director Howard Shaw.

GS 2050 has set up a web portal, www.youthhabitat.sg, for youth to network and build capacity.

Also in the pipeline is a joint bulb-replacing project for needy homes by FairPrice and Philips Electronics Singapore, where all existing light bulbs will be changed to energy-saving ones.

These initiatives are part of FairPrice’s year-long Green Lifestyle Campaign, which was launched yesterday.

“While we continue to focus our efforts in helping our customers and the community ride through difficult times, we believe it is also important to push on with our initiatvies to preserve the environment in the long run,” said FairPrice’s managing director Seah Kian Peng.

Since it launched its Bring Your Own Bag Day in 2007, FairPrice has saved more than 40 million plastic bags and given out in excess of $350,000 in rebates to shoppers who spend a minimum of $10 and use their own bags to pack their purchases.

Being eco-friendly: Supermarts can do more
Letter from Merrin McLennan, Today Online 5 Jun 09;

In "Green light for the environment" (June 4), it is suggested that NTUC Fairprice is going beyond recycling and reducing of plastic bags by offering more eco friendly products. But Fairprice, along with many supermarkets in Singapore, can go a lot further.

Take a look around the produce section - many items are wrapped in plastic, put on trays, or in 'clamshell' containers. Such packaging makes sense for some items such as strawberries which are packed at source into clamshells, but there are many others which do not warrant the amount of packing they are sold with.

Why can't bakery products be packaged in paper bags and not clamshells? Some stores in the United States offer items such as spices, cereals, grains etc in large dispenser units - you then select the amount you want to take home and put into your own containers. This practice cuts down hugely on the amount of waste packaging.

Come on Singapore supermarkets, raise the bar, and cut down on unneccessary packaging.

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New Research on Malaysia’s Odd, Elusive Tapir

Anthony King, The New York Times 1 Jun 09;

TAMAN NEGARA NATIONAL PARK, Malaysia — In the Malaysian and Sumatran rain forests, tapirs are rarely glimpsed.

Ponderous, powerful herbivores, weighing about 650 pounds, tapirs have faces like anteaters, with a incessantly sniffing mobile snout. In dim rain forests, smell and hearing are the important senses. The animals have black and white shape-disrupting camouflage and make a whistling noise, sounding almost more bird than mammal. The Malay tapir, the largest of the world’s four tapir species, remained largely invisible to science until recently. The other three species of these odd, endearing animals all live in South America.

There was just one scientific study from the 1970s on the Malay tapir. Then, in 2002, the Malay Tapir Conservation Project was created, supported largely by the Copenhagen Zoo, and field biologists began filling in another blank page in zoology.

Great swaths of the rain forest in Malaysia and Sumatra had been destroyed for palm oil plantations and through illegal logging, and scientists had begun to worry that the tapir could slip silently toward extinction. A conservation center was set up within the Sungai Dusun Wildlife Reserve, an hour’s drive from Kuala Lumpur, and researchers like Carl Traeholt, a Danish-Malaysian biologist, began to gather data on tapir numbers and on the animals themselves.

Dr. Traeholt is the Malayan tapir coordinator for the international Tapir Specialist Group, which is concerned with all four tapir species. For the past five years, he has used cameras with motion sensors to photograph tapirs as they move through the forest at night to feed on fruits, leaves and soft twigs. An important early breakthrough was the realization that the patterns of wrinkles on tapirs’ necks can identify individuals.

The photographs showed that tapirs normally have a small home range, but will travel up to three miles a night to reach salty mineral deposits, presumably to consume minerals like calcium or iron. One of the sites studied was the Krau Wildlife Reserve north of Kuala Lumpur. “At some of these salt licks in Krau, tapirs are the most common animal on cameras, but it’s all the same individuals coming back,” Dr. Traeholt said.

The results showed that claims for a population of 800 to 1,000 individuals for an area the size of Krau, and 15,000 to 20,000 in Malaysia, were outlandishly optimistic. “This was way off reality. Otherwise we would have a traffic jam of tapirs in Krau,” Dr. Traeholt said.

There were actually just 40 or so individuals in Krau, which would mean about 1,500 to 2,000 in Malaysia, he said. There are perhaps 300 in Thailand; an unknown, unstudied population in Myanmar; and an unknown but decreasing number on Sumatra. A best guess, he said, is 4,000 individuals in Southeast Asia, a figure similar to the number of wild tigers.

The Malaysian research team last year attached a new kind of radio collar to a tapir in Krau. Half the reserve has coverage from a local telephone tower, and once within its range the new collar can transmit its data via phone signal to the tapir team’s computer. Tapirs are patchily distributed in what seems like homogenous forest. And the scientists want to know why. The collection of data from the collar, which occurs every five minutes, should help answer their questions.

Dr. Traeholt was recently joined by Boyd Simpson, a behavioral ecologist with experience in conservation projects in Australia and Asia, who is doing research on the Malay tapir for his doctorate. The two biologists met while working in Cambodia. Mr. Simpson is to take charge of a new phase of the tapir research in Taman Negara, the largest national park in Malaysia. This is an extension of the Krau research, and a comparison of findings between the two sites should prove fruitful. “If sightings are the same in the two areas we can extrapolate over the whole country,” Dr. Traeholt said. “But if they are different, we will have to go from area to area to find the density of the population.”

Mr. Simpson said that the big difference in the park research “is we’re planning to reintroduce captive animals from Sungai Dusun.” Before any reintroductions, the team will check whether there is an established animal that may “boot the newcomer out,” he said.

Though not aggressive, tapirs will defend their own patches, and they have large canine teeth, an oddity for plant eaters. That they use them is clear from the nicks and scars on their ears. They are thought to be more combative during the mating season, probably in April and May, Dr. Traeholt said, because there are more photos of two adult tapirs together during those months.

Mr. Simpson looks forward to seeing what makes tapirs tick. “They are funny-looking creatures, really intriguing,” he said.

The physiological need for minerals is especially interesting. He plans to look at the chemical composition of salt licks and try to work out why certain licks are preferred. It may be that tapirs consume lots of plant toxins and therefore need to ingest kaolin-type clays to absorb the toxins. Whether they drink water, lick rocks or eat mud around the licks is unknown, but infrared cameras are to be set up at licks to record their behavior.

Mr. Simpson had just begun working in Taman Negara when the team traveled to Keniam, a field station 90 minutes upstream via motorized canoe from the park headquarters. The station is run in association with the University of Technology, Malaysia and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks. Taman Negara contains some of the oldest rain forest in the world and sprawls over 1,676 square miles; it is part of a larger forest complex and has almost all of Asia’s large mammals, including sun bears, gaur, tigers, elephants and tapirs.

With its local field officer, Mohamed Sanusi bin Mohamed, the research group hiked through the forest to check camera traps and to place new ones along tapir trails. Dr. Traeholt, adept at locating tapir prints in the jungle, explained that trails and tracks were important signs, but tapir dung was almost never found. They defecate in water, possibly to avoid leaving a calling card for predators, will often stay close to water and can swim.

Though Malay tapirs are listed as endangered, Dr. Traeholt is confident their habitat in Malaysia and Thailand is now stable. He acknowledged that low numbers in some locations leave them vulnerable. Even in Krau, poaching could wipe out the viability of the entire population by removing just 20 to 25 animals.

The animal’s salt lick habit could be an Achilles’ heel: it makes them predictable and vulnerable to poaching. Just a single calf — cute, with white stripes — is born after 13 months’ gestation, so flattened tapir populations would rebound slowly.

Whether there is just one Malay tapir species or different subspecies, as is the case for tigers, is not known. Genetic analysis using tissue samples from Thailand, Malaysia and Sumatra has just begun. Dr. Traeholt said he thought small fragmented populations in parts of Thailand could be managed and invigorated by introducing animals, but it would be important to recognize genetic variations and identify any subspecies before mixing animals from different areas.

Dr. Bengt Holst, scientific director of the Copenhagen Zoo, which has a history of collaboration with the Malaysian wildlife authorities, said researchers planned to develop conservation priorities for the Malay tapir by discovering its habitat needs, social structures and behavior. By transforming it into a high-profile research species, he hopes researchers will be attracted to Malaysia and the species described from all angles — physiology, behavior, genetics and ecology. Tapir conservation would also put many other lower-profile species under its umbrella of protection.

For now, Dr. Traeholt hopes to create a conservation plan backed by ecology. And so this unique animal will avoid becoming either forgotten or extinct.

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Cetacean hotspots in the Philippines identified

Jo. Florendo B. Lontoc, Manila Bulletin 3 Jun 09;

Prof. Lemnuel V. Aragones of the UP Diliman Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology, an expert on marine mammals, recently revealed that there are a host of potential cetacean eco-tourism “hotspots” in the country.

However, he also warned about the many dangers that these marine mammals could face as a result of tourism activities.

His findings, the result of more than 10 years of studying Philippine waters, clearly demonstrate how Philippine waters are richer in dolphins and whales than anybody assumes.

The cetaceans together with the dugongs, a marine herbivore, are the marine mammals found in the Philippines.

Aragones said the term “cetacean hotspots” also underscores the fact that they are areas of concern.

“These are places where you have a great diversity and abundance of marine mammals and presence of apparent conflicts [related to human activities such as fishing] which could have deleterious effects on these animals.”

Among these dangers are the proliferation of trash, abandoned fishing nets, and the increasing number of active fishing gear such as nets and permanent fish corrals and cages. Cetaceans mistake trash for food and get entangled or trapped in the nets.

Overfishing, meanwhile, could deprive dolphins and whales of their food. Dugongs are especially vulnerable to human activity because they survive only along coasts where seagrass, their staple, can be found and where human activities are also greatly felt.

All cetaceans in the Philippines are in danger of being hunted. Some are run over by boats. Underwater noise from dynamite blasts and seismic surveys can damage their hearing and impair their ability to navigate.

“Being watched by tourists should not add stress to their existence,” Aragones said. “Dolphin-watching and other such economic activity should be conducted with high standards of professionalism or else it won’t be sustainable.”

Aragones and his co-researchers have documented 28 cetacean species in Philippine waters, or more than a third of all cetacean species in the world.

Hotspots for dolphin and whale watchers include the areas off the Batanes and Babuyan groups of islands, Cagayan, Isabela, Aurora, Bataan, and Zambales in Luzon.

Other hotspots include the Sulu Sea off southern Negros and the Zamboanga peninsula; Tañon Strait between Negros and Cebu islands; the sea between Bohol and Misamis Occidental, Lanao del Norte, and Misamis Oriental; or the waters off the Bohol Triangle consisting of the islands of Bohol, Siquijor, and Camiguin.

The dugongs, now classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Redlist as vulnerable to extinction, are distributed along the northeast and the entire eastern coast of Luzon; all coasts of Palawan; the coasts of Guimaras, southeastern Panay, and northern Negros; the entire southern coasts of Mindanao island; the coast of Agusan del Norte; and the coasts of the Basilan, Sulu, and the Tawi-tawi group of islands.

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Whale sharks in the Philippines a "major hit among foreign tourists"

Naitas cites Donsol whale sharks as ‘hit’ for tourism
Danny O. Calleja, Business Mirror 3 Jun 09;

SORSOGON CITY—The 1,200-strong National Association of Independent Travel Agencies (Naitas) has acknowledged Sorsogon as a “major hit among foreign tourists” because of Donsol town’s whale sharks and other eco-tourism destinations in the province.

A Naitas statement on Wednesday said, “Sorsogon is host to one of the highest concentration of whale sharks in the world. These creatures have been frequenting the waters off Donsol, Sorsogon, for generations and in 1998, the Philippine Department of Tourism declared this area an official sanctuary for the whale shark, thus protecting this fascinating species.”

Although butanding—how Bicolanos call the whale shark—is enormous in size and power, reaching more than 15 meters in length, it is remarkably gentle and docile and generally safe to swim with, the statement said.

According to Sorsogon provincial board member Butch Ravanilla, the Naitas statement was issued at a meeting in Cebu City where the group mapped out plans for the tourism industry amid the current economic crunch.

Ravanilla, who chairs the committee on tourism of the provincial legislative board, said Naitas has identified Sorsogon as among the areas that could attract tourists. The group is optimistic the global financial crisis could be considered as a challenge toward creative ways of marketing in tourism.

With more than 1,200 members around the country, Naitas is the largest group of travel agencies working together to come up with attractive packages. Despite the economic slowdown, Ravanilla said, “We are impressed that Sorsogon has been included in its tourism road map.”

The Donsol whale sharks have consistently attracted local and foreign tourist since the municipality was officially declared the Whale Shark Capital of the World in 1998.

Apart from Donsol, Ravanilla said that other eco-tourism destinations in the province cited by Naitas were the mangrove forest in Prieto Diaz town, Lake Bulusan at the foot of Bulusan Volcano, natural hot springs in Irosin, and the beaches of Gubat and Bacon.

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Lawsuits over wolf hunting filed in Mont., Wyo.

Matthew Brown And Ben Neary, Associated Press Yahoo News 2 Jun 09;

BILLINGS, Mont. – A pair of federal judges will decide which states in the Northern Rockies have enough gray wolves to allow public hunting, as the bitter debate over the region's wolves heads to courts in Wyoming and Montana.

Environmentalists filed a lawsuit in Missoula on Tuesday seeking to restore protections for more than 1,300 wolves in Montana and Idaho. The Obama administration in April upheld a Bush-era decision to take wolves off the endangered species list in those two states.

The lawsuit could block regulated wolf hunts slated to begin this fall and scuttle a plan to remove all the predators from part of north central Idaho.

Gray wolves remain on the endangered species list in Wyoming, but in another lawsuit, Wyoming attorney General Bruce Salzburg on Tuesday asked a federal judge in Cheyenne to clear the way for hunts in his state. Salzburg rejected claims by federal officials that local laws were too weak to protect Wyoming's 300 wolves.

Gray wolves were listed as endangered in 1974, after they had been wiped out across the lower 48 states in the early 20th century by hunting and government-sponsored poisoning. Following an intensive reintroduction program, there are now an estimated 1,645 wolves in the Northern Rockies, not including this year's pups.

"There's absolutely no question this population is fully recovered. There's wolves moving all over the place," said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Wolves were returned to Wyoming, Idaho and parts of Montana in the mid-1990s over strong objections from ranchers and many politicians. The effort has cost the government $30 million to date.

In Wyoming, the complaints have grown as wolves take a bloody toll on livestock and big game herds. Ranchers say the number of wolves shot by federal wildlife agents — 264 last year alone — has not been enough to curb livestock killings that hit a record high in 2008.

Wyoming law declares almost 90 percent of the state a "predator zone" where wolves can be shot on sight. For now, however, that law is superseded by federal protections.

"We have to attempt to protect our wildlife and our livestock in the face of really no help from the federal government," said Wyoming House Speaker Colin Simpson. "If the only way to do that is through litigation, then that's how we'll have to proceed."

Bangs said the agency had no choice but to reject Wyoming's wolf management plan. Last summer, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula pointed to the state's predator zone as a prime reason for throwing out an earlier federal proposal to take wolves off the endangered list.

"The Wyoming plan folded like a house of cards the first time anybody took a hard look at it," Bangs said.

For Montana and Idaho, federal officials say the threat of extinction has passed and the population is large enough to survive on its own. But the environmental groups and the Humane Society of the United States argue that the wolves' biological success could quickly be reversed absent federal oversight.

"Idaho in particular has shown an eagerness to aggressively reduce its wolf population," said Jenny Harbine, an attorney with Earthjustice who helped write the environmentalists' lawsuit. "Until states commit to managing their wolf populations in a responsible and sustainable manner, federal protections remain crucial."

___

Ben Neary reported from Cheyenne, Wyo.

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Kenya suffers wave of elephant killings

Reuters 3 Jun 09;

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Poachers seeking valuable ivory have killed up to 20 elephants across north Kenya in the last two weeks, locals said on Wednesday.

Residents said the elephants were shot and stripped of their tusks in remote areas of Samburu, Laikibia and Marsabit districts, where wildlife is a major tourist draw.

Local Kenya wildlife official Robert Njue said authorities had confirmed five killings of elephants in a wave of poaching apparently driven by demand in Asia and South Africa.

"The presence of a well-organized gang of poachers on a business mission has been reported to us," he told reporters, adding that security personnel were tracking them.

The poachers have also been killing gazelles and impalas for food in a region suffering drought and shortages, he said.

(Reporting by Noor Ali; Editing by Matthew Jones)

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Mexico plants trees, loses forests: Greenpeace

Yahoo News 4 Jun 09;

MEXICO CITY (AFP) – Mexico is failing to stop deforestation, despite planting millions of trees, Greenpeace said here Wednesday, two days before the country hosts the UN World Environment Day.

Mexico is fifth in the world for species diversity, but also fifth in the world for deforestation, the lobby group said.

"We call on the government of (President) Felipe Calderon to be coherent. It's not possible to extol Mexico as an example in defending the environment ... whilst systematically destroying ecosystems with environment policies which do not stop deforestation," a statement said.

Mexico loses around 600,000 hectares (almost 1.5 million acres) of trees and jungle each year, which is equivalent to four times the size of the country's sprawling capital of some 20 million people, the group said.

Environmental policy under Calderon -- who will host World Environment Day on Mexico's Caribbean coast -- has not changed, Greenpeace said.

"Mexico even has one of the highest rates of environmental degradation in the world," it added.

Greenpeace said that bad practice in tourism -- one of Mexico's main sources of foreign income -- had accelerated the destruction of the environment.

Mexico has so far planted 537 million trees and is a "leading partner" in a plan to plant seven billion trees worldwide by the end of 2009, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

The UN-sponsored World Environment Day began 37 years ago and takes place annually on June 5.

This year's event will focus on combating climate change, one of the top priorities of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

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Indonesia offers Pacific climate refugees island rental

Radio Australia 3 Jun 09;

Indonesia's Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry is considering renting some of its islands to climate change refugees. The Indonesian Maritime Minister's proposal comes as a recently released report reinforces the need to accommodate the expected increase of people displaced by climate change.

Many from Pacific Island nations, among the hardest hit by rising sea-levels, are already fleeing. And Pacific Islanders relocating to Indonesia could become a reality, however impractical the idea seems.

Presenter: Steve Holland
Speaker: Dr Syamsul Maarif, Secretary General of Indonesia's Maritime Affairs Ministry; Damien Lawson, National Climate Justice Co-ordinator for Friends of the Earth Australia; Fred Fakari, Solomon Islands Permanent Secretary of Home Affairs; Dr John Church, CSIRO - Australia's premier scientific research organisation

HOLLAND: Climate change is blamed for the deaths 300,000 people each year, 300 million people have been seriously effected by it and, economically, it costs the world $US125 billion per year -- that's according to a report released this week by the Global Humanitarian Forum. The organisation, set up by former UN secretary General Kofi Anan, claims it's the first ever report exclusively focused on the global human impact of climate change. For small island nations, like those in the Pacific, it adds to a barrage of dire climate warnings. Dr John Church, from Australia's premier scientific research organisation, the CSIRO, is regarded as one of the world-leaders in studying the effects of global warming on the oceans.

CHURCH: And the most recent records from satellite altimeters more than twice sea levels are going to continue to rise and also from increasing the mass of ocean from glaciers.

HOLLAND: The impact of rising sea levels is already well known to many Pacific Islanders. The Global Humanitarian Forum's report says more than half the region's population lives within 1.5 kilometres of the shore and people are already leaving Tuvalu for Zealand.

Damien Lawson, National Climate Justice Co-ordinator for Friends of the Earth Australia, says the human cost will rise with the seas.

LAWSON: And that's why people like this in the Caterarts are leaving and that's only the beginning of climate change this century.

HOLLAND: The Solomon Islands has felt the devastation of rising sea levels and storm surges. The tsunami that struck the region in 2007 has left a lasting reminder. And Solomon Islands Permanent Secretary of Home Affairs, Mr Fred Fakari, says his country's government is keenly aware of the issue.

FAKARI: The problem also effects those living on the main islands but to get new land to accommodate these people, the government has to acquire new land.

HOLLAND: And Indonesia may have the solution. The country's Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry has suggested renting some of its uninhabited islands to those whose islands are being inundated by the ocean.

But Fred Fakari says the Solomon Islands is looking to tackle the problem internally.

FAKARI: Maybe other place like Nauru, the Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu may consider, but for the Solomon Islands it's an issue that we would like to accommodate within the country.

Damien Lawson, from Friends of the Earth, says Indonesia's idea is worth considering.

LAWSON: People in the Maldives don't want to leave their countries, so it may seem, but it's a reflection of how serious is that these country's are now looking at taking these steps.

HOLLAND: The Secratary General of Indonesia's Maritime Affairs Ministry, Dr Syamsul Maarif, says the idea must first pass through his country's government.

MAARIF: And we have to discuss with also other ministry, because we have also ministry of foreign affairs, something like that, ministry of defence, to discuss about that. This is the idea of our minister.

HOLLAND: Director-General, how close is this idea to becoming a reality?

MAARIF: Yeah, I think our minister will discuss with our president, then I think if sea level rise happen, then there is some small country island disappear then I think we have the responsibility to them.

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A poor refuge for climate change victims

Maruf Mallick, bdnews24.com 4 Jun 09;

Dhaka, June 03 (bdnews24.com) – Septuagenarian Nurussafa had eight acres of land at Khudiartek on Kutubdia island, as security in his old age.

He used to raise animals and cultivate salt, until the sea claimed his property. All his precious land now lies under the choppy waters plied by fishing trawlers and ships.

Nurussafa has taken shelter in the sprawling shanty town named 'Kutubdia para' in Cox's Bazar, where around 30,000 people, mostly from the island, have landed in the past two decades after losing homes and land through coastal erosion or the devastating cyclone of 1991.

Kutubdia island, with a population of 100,000, is sinking due to rising sea levels and unabated erosion that has caused half the island to drop into the sea in a matter of decades.

The once 60 sq km island has been reduced to a mere 25 sq km since the 1960s, according to Coast Trust.

The islanders are fast losing their centuries old homesteads, while rising population density—as they are forced to occupy less and less land—gives rise to social and economic unrest.

Low-lying Bangladesh's vulnerability to global climate change and rising sea levels is the main reason for the sad state of Kutubdia island and its climate change victims, experts say.

"I can hardly afford to eat twice a day," said Nurussafa sitting at a tea stall of the densely populated 'para'.

"There was a time when I used to provide work for many people. My boats used to take fishermen out to sea. Now my sons have to run after others' boats," he said.

The old man is unable to work as he once could, but his sons' incomes do not amount to much. Often they remain without work.

Abu Taher Bhandari had land and fields for salt cultivation but now he is a day labourer and sells fish.

His family had everything. They have nothing now. "We had to start from zero again and struggle with poverty," said Bhandari.

Around twenty years ago people like Nurussafa and Bhandari moved to Cox's Bazar with the verbal consent of the deputy commissioner and established Kutubdia para.

The town's College Gate and Peshkar para are also inhabited by victims of erosion, said Imam Hossain, an NGO worker.

They are also taking refuge in Dula Hazra, Khutakhali, Malamghat, Khurukul, Harbhang of the district and Neela Unchi Prang of Teknaf, said Hossain.

But Kutubdia para's 30,000 vulnerable residents have no proper roads, schools or even cyclone shelters while the area if often flooded with tidewater..

"We have nothing, and we have to run for shelter in town when sirens warn us of a cyclone," said a resident of the shanty town.

SAARC Meteorological Research Centre (SMRC) records the sea levels rising along the coast of Bangladesh.

An SMRC study pointed out that the sea level at Hiron Point in the Sundarbans, at the island of Char Chhenga and at Cox's Bazaar are registering significantly increased tidal highs.

SMRC's senior research officer Mizanur Rahman told bdnews24.com that with higher seas, coastal erosion was also increasing.

Dr Md Jafar, of Chittagong University's marine science institute, told bdnews24.com, "Tides highs are rising and the erosion is exacerbated with the advent of monsoon."

"It's not only Kutubdia, but Hatia, Bhola and St Martin's island are also threatened by erosion, with the south-eastern coast experiencing the worst effects," he said.

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Small islands win UN vote on climate change security

Claudia Parsons, Reuters 3 Jun 09;

UNITED NATIONS, June 3 (Reuters) - Small Pacific islands vulnerable to rising sea levels won a symbolic victory at the United Nations on Wednesday with the passage of a resolution recognizing climate change as a possible threat to security.

The non-binding resolution, passed by consensus by the General Assembly, may help put climate change on the agenda of the more powerful U.N. Security Council, which deals with threats to international peace and security.

General Assembly resolutions are largely symbolic but can carry moral weight. Several representatives said this one was important as the first to explicitly link climate change to security -- a principle previously resisted by powerful Security Council members including Russia and China, who questioned whether the issue belonged in the Security Council.

"We are of the firm view that the adverse impacts of climate change have very real implications for international peace and security," Nauru Ambassador Marlene Moses told the General Assembly, speaking on behalf of the Pacific Small Island Developing States which introduced the resolution.

Moses said small islands were already experiencing the "dire and immediate impacts" of climate change, including the inundation of coastal areas, the submergence of islands, loss of freshwater supplies, flooding, drought, damaged crops and increased disease.

The resolution said the 192-member General Assembly was "deeply concerned that the adverse impacts of climate change, including sea-level rise, could have security implications."

It invited all relevant U.N. bodies to intensify efforts to address climate change and asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to submit a report on possible security implications.

Agreed after months of bargaining, the resolution was passed as climate change negotiators from 181 governments meet in Bonn, Germany for talks on a new U.N. climate treaty due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December.

Governments face six months of tough negotiations on a draft text they have accepted as a starting point for talks on a treaty to curb the use of fossil fuels and widen the fight against climate change beyond the existing Kyoto Protocol. (Edited by Alan Elsner)

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Clash of cultures: The conflict between conservation and indigenous people in wild landscapes

Conservationists have often seen native people as a problem to be solved by eviction. Now both sides are learning mutual respect

Mark Dowie, The Guardian 3 Jun 09;

In most human conflicts, there are good guys and bad guys. This is not so in the history of global conservation, which is at least partly a story of good guy versus good guy. The major contestants in the struggle to protect nature and preserve biological diversity may seem to be transnational conservation organisations on one side and rapacious extractive industries on the other. But there is a larger, more lamentable conflict: the one between transnational conservation and the worldwide movement of indigenous peoples - good guys both.

These two forces share a goal that is vital to life on earth - a healthy and diverse biosphere. Both are communities of integrity led by some of the most admirable, dedicated people alive. Both care deeply for the planet and together are capable of preserving more biodiversity than any other two groups on it. Yet they have been terribly at odds with one another over the past century or more, violently so at times, mostly because of conflicting views of nature, radically different definitions of "wilderness" and profound misunderstandings of one another's science and culture.

The perceived arrogance of "big conservation" is a confounding factor; so too is the understandable tendency of some indigenous people to conflate conservation with imperialism. The results of this century-old conflict are thousands of protected areas that cannot be managed and an intractable debate over who holds the key to successful conservation in the most biologically rich areas of the world.

Violent effort

The conflict began in the bucolic stillness of Yosemite valley in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. From the middle of the 19th century until 1914, when Yosemite became a national park, a concerted and at times violent effort was made to rid Yosemite of its natives, a small band of Miwok Native Americans who had settled in the valley about 4,000 years ago.

During the same period, most of the major parks created in America - notably Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Mount Rainier, Zion, Glacier, Everglades and Olympic - repeated the Yosemite example by expelling thousands of tribal people from their homes and hunting grounds so that the new parks could remain in a "state of nature". This practice of conservation was exported worldwide, becoming known as "the Yosemite model". Refugees from conservation areas have never been counted; they are not even officially recognised as refugees. But the number of people displaced from traditional homelands worldwide over the past century in the interest of conservation is estimated to be close to 20 million, 14 million of them in Africa alone.

I have travelled across all five inhabited continents researching this subject, visiting hundreds of indigenous communities, some in conflict with western-style conservation, others in harmony with it. Although tension persists, along with arrogance, ignorance and the conflicts they breed, I found an encouraging dialogue growing between formally educated wildlife biologists, who once saw humanity as inimical to nature, and ancient aboriginal societies that have passed their remarkable ecological knowledge from generation to generation without a page of text. I found, mostly in the field, a new generation of conservationists who realise that the very landscapes they seek to protect owe their high biodiversity to the practices of the people who have lived there, in some cases for thousands of years.

Wildland conservation has a recorded history and a literary tradition. Aborigines evicted from their homelands in the interest of conservation have only memory and the bitter oral narrative I heard again and again while visiting their makeshift villages and refugee camps; their pre-eviction experience is rarely recorded outside the literature of anthropology. So the concept of "fortress conservation" and the preference for "virgin" wilderness has lingered in a movement that has tended to value all nature but human nature, and refused to recognise the positive wildness in human beings.

Thus the beautifully written and widely read essays and memoirs of early American eco-heroes such as John Muir, Lafayette Bunnell, Samuel Bowles, George Perkins Marsh and Aldo Leopold inform a conservation mythology that until quite recently separated nature from culture and portrayed both natives and early settlers of frontier areas as reckless abusers of nature, with no sense or tradition of stewardship, no understanding of wildlife biology and no appreciation of biodiversity.

It was the "manifest destiny" of conservation leaders, then, to tame what the 17th-century Massachusetts Puritan poet and minister Michael Wigglesworth described as

A waste and howling wilderness / Where none inhabited / But hellish fiends, and brutish men / That devils worshipped

It has taken transnational conservation a century to see the folly of some of its heroes, such as Richard Leakey, who recently denied the existence of indigenous peoples in his home country, Kenya, and called for the removal of all "settlers" from game reserves and other protected areas.

Today, all but the most stubborn enclose-and-exclude conservationists are willing to admit that it is specious to conflate nature with wilderness and occupants with "first visitors". They have recognised that indigenous people manage immense areas of biologically rich land, even if they don't own it. And most, although not all, are managing it well.

Hostile evictees

Some conservationists argue that a policy of tolerating the impoverishment of indigenous people has wrecked the lives of 20 million poor, powerless but eco-wise people, and has been an enormous mistake - not only a moral, social, philosophical and economic mistake, but an ecological one as well. For it is far better to have good stewards living on land than to have that same land cleared of residents and surrounded by hostile evictees. Enlightened conservationists are beginning to accept the axiom that only by preserving cultural diversity can biological diversity be protected, and vice versa.

As conservationists and native people make their uneasy convergence, I hope they will come to agree that they both own the interdependent causes of biodiversity conservation and cultural survival, that they need each other, and that together they can create a new conservation paradigm that honours and respects the ways of life of people who have been living sustainably for generations on what can only be fairly regarded as their native land.

And I hope that native people will blend their traditional knowledge systems with the newer sciences of ecology and conservation biology in search of better ways to preserve the diversity of species , which is not only vital to their own security but to all life on earth. At this point, as the entire planet seems poised to tip into ecological chaos, with almost 40,000 plant and animal species facing extinction and 60% of the ecosystem services that support life failing, there may be no other way.

• Mark Dowie's latest book is Conservation Refugees: The Hundred-Year Conflict Between Global Conservation and Native Peoples, published by MIT Press, priced £18.99. To order a copy for £17.99 plus p&p, call 0330 333 6846 or go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop

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Competitors Behind Palm Oil Slurs: Industry Boss

Sunanda Creagh, PlanetArk 4 Jun 09;

JAKARTA - Western countries are using climate change as an excuse to constrain palm oil production in Asia because it competes with Western business interests, Indonesia's palm oil industry chief said on Wednesday.

Indonesia and Malaysia produce most of the world's palm oil -- a product used in cooking, chocolate, cosmetics and as a biofuel -- but vast areas of forest have been cleared in both countries since the 1980s to fuel a boom in palm oil production.

Environmental groups including WWF and Greenpeace have called on Indonesia to curb deforestation and palm oil expansion.

However, Joefly J. Bahroeny, head of the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers' Association, said that NGOs could be part of a campaign driven by Western business interests in competing commodities such as rapeseed, soybeans and fossil fuels.

"It's all about business," he told a forum of palm oil producers.

"Palm oil has become a competitor as biofuel not only with rapeseed products but also a real competitor to fossil fuels controlled by Western interests. Do these other people truly care about global warming? Or do they also want to get rich with the excuse of climate change?"

Bahroeny said his industry had been accused of killing orangutans, burning forests and selling a product high in cholesterol.

"Now it's climate change. We don't know their real reason but we are suspicious. What next?" he said.

Most of Indonesia's palm oil plantations are in Sumatra and Kalimantan, areas that have large areas of forest and carbon-rich peat lands.

I Nyoman Suryadiputra, a scientist from Wetlands International, said clearing and draining the peatlands to plant palm oil causes the soil to release huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the air, which worsens climate change.

Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas and is released from burning fossil fuels as well as deforestation. Large amounts of CO2 are released annually during the dry season in Indonesia through slash-and-burn agriculture and burning of forests.

The Indonesian government earlier this year lifted a moratorium on palm oil expansion into peatlands and the industry may now develop peat bogs less than three meters deep.

Bahroeny said he expected big palm oil expansion by members of the association in East Kalimantan in the near future and that his industry helped to alleviate poverty in rural areas.

He also said he was suspicious of a U.N.-backed scheme called reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), which allows developing countries to raise potentially billions of dollars in carbon credits in exchange for conserving forests and peatlands.

Environmentalists dispute the palm oil industry's views.

"The people that will be worst affected by climate change are not the people in the Northern economies but people like us in developing countries," said Fitrian Ardiansyah, climate and energy campaigner with WWF Indonesia.

(Editing by Sara Webb)

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Dams leave some African farmers high and dry

Jim Giles, New Scientist 3 Jun 09;

Dams are supposed to help farmers manage water supply and boost crop yields, but in Africa they may actually have cut agricultural production, researchers warn.

Africa has over 1000 large dams, the majority of which are used for irrigation, say Eric Strobl of the École Polytechnique in Paris and his brother, Robert Strobl of the European Commission in Brussels.

The pair used satellite images to compare crops around the dams with those in nearby areas. Between 1981 and 2000, the dams caused an average 1 per cent drop in annual yields, conclude the Strobls.

Downstream from dams, farmers can benefit from a steady year-round water flow. But those around the dam itself are often not so lucky. In dry years, the reservoir behind a dam can only be maintained if local farmers are prevented from extracting too much water from the rivers that flow into it. That leads to less irrigation and lower yields around the dams, which more than cancels out the downstream benefits.
'No gains'

A 1 per cent drop in not necessarily a disaster, says Eric Strobl. "But if a country is already in poverty it could mean a lot."

Rohini Pande of Harvard University produced similar results when she examined dams in India. "The main way to look at this is that there is no [agricultural] gain from dams," she says. "And building them costs a lot of money."

Despite his findings, Strobl says that large dams can have a positive impact if they are more effectively located. He looked at the effect of building dams on around 1400 sites in Africa where as many farmers as possible benefit from the downstream irrigation. His preliminary calculations suggest that these dams could boost yields by almost 20 per cent even in dry years.
Rich before poor

But big dams often attract opposition from advocacy groups, and Strobl's optimistic predictions will not change that. Terri Hathaway, a Cameroon-based campaigner with International Rivers, says that major dam projects often benefit large farmers and industry at the expense of local people.

The 7-kilometre long Merowe Dam in Sudan, which began producing electricity earlier this year, is one example. The dam will ultimately pump out 1250 megawatts, more than doubling the country's electricity capacity.

The reservoir behind the dam contains 10 million cubic metres of water, but tens of thousands of people were displaced when it was created. Some were moved to distant desert areas and have since protested about water shortages.

The researchers' work can be viewed here (pdf format)

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Farm aid could cut climate change, poverty: FAO

Yahoo News 3 Jun 09;

ROME (AFP) – Aid to farmers in poor countries could help curb greenhouse gas emissions affecting climate change and reduce poverty and hunger for some billion people worldwide, the UN food agency said Wednesday.

"If agriculture in developing countries becomes more sustainable... and becomes more resilient against the impact of climate change, this should help to reduce the number of currently around one billion hungry people and offer better income and job opportunities," said Food and Agricultural Organisation Assistant Director-General Alexander Mueller.

The impact of farming on climate change is clear as agriculture accounts for about 14 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and land use changes such as deforestation another 17 percent, the FAO said.

Between 1990 and 2005, emissions by agriculture in developing countries increased by around 30 percent and are expected to rise further, it said.

"Millions of poor farmers around the globe could help in reducing greenhouse gas emissions," said Peter Holmgren, FAO co-ordinator for UN climate change negotiations.

He said massive funding is needed to change unsustainable farming methods and train farmers in new practices in the developing world.

"Sustainable farming practices offer important options to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and, at the same time, to increase agricultural productivity," the agency said.

Holmgren stressed that a new global climate agreement should include agriculture and fund measures to mitigate the impact of farming such as reduced tillage, improved grassland management and restoration of degraded lands.

The United Nations will host a conference in Copenhagen in December tasked with agreeing on a new climate change pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012. The new pact should spell out curbs on greenhouse-gas emissions by 2020 that will be deepened by 2050.


Agriculture is essential for facing climate change
FAO 3 Jun 09;

Climate change mitigation from agriculture could also benefit hunger and poverty reduction

3 June 2009, Rome - Agricultural mitigation in developing countries can make farming more resilient to the vagaries of climate change and can also reduce hunger and poverty, FAO said in a policy brief for climate change negotiators currently meeting in Bonn/Germany.

"If agriculture in developing countries becomes more sustainable, if it increases its productivity and becomes more resilient against the impact of climate change, this should help to reduce the number of currently around one billion hungry people and offer better income and job opportunities," said Alexander Mueller, FAO Assistant Director-General.


"Millions of poor farmers around the globe could help in reducing greenhouse gas emissions," said Peter Holmgren, FAO focal point for the UN climate change negotiations.

"But this requires massive investments and information — to change unsustainable farming methods and to train farmers in mitigation practices. A new global climate agreement, to be adopted in Copenhagen in December, therefore needs to include agriculture," Holmgren added.

Current global funding arrangements such as the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism are not reaching farmers in poor countries, Holmgren said.

New and more flexible financing mechanisms are needed that offer incentives to farmers, including smallholders, so that they may participate in greenhouse gas emission reductions and removals.

The scope of the Clean Development Mechanism, for example, could be expanded in order to include reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, wetlands, croplands and grasslands, in order to realize the high potential for sequestering carbon in soils and above ground biomass.

Funding for climate change activities in agriculture in developing countries should be new and additional and should be clearly separate from official development aid, while opportunities to use funding from different sources in mutually reinforcing ways should be fully exploited.


Agriculture — a source and a sink


Agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gasses accounting for 14 percent of global emissions. Land use changes such as deforestation account for an additional 17 percent.


Between 1990 and 2005, emissions by agriculture in developing countries increased by around 30 percent and are expected to rise further.

But sustainable farming practices offer important options to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and, at the sme time, to increase agricultural productivity.

Soil carbon sequestration through reduced tillage, improved grassland management and restoration of degraded lands, forms the major part of mitigation potential from agriculture.

Other mitigation options include more efficient use of fertilizer, improving water and rice management planting trees, altering forage and sustainable use of animal genetic diversity.

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Farmers Poised to Offset One-Quarter of Global Fossil Fuel Emissions Annually

World Watch Institute 2 Jun 09;

Washington, D.C.-Innovations in food production and land use that are ready to be scaled-up today could reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to roughly 25 percent of global fossil fuel emissions and present the best opportunity to remove greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere, according to a new report by the Worldwatch Institute and Ecoagriculture Partners.

As the price of carbon rises with new caps on emissions and expanding markets for carbon offsets, the contribution of land-based, or "terrestrial," carbon to climate change mitigation efforts could increase even further.

Carbon capture and sequestration technologies, which remain unproven and will not be ready for implementation for a decade at best, promise only to sequester greenhouse gases that have yet to be released into the atmosphere. Agricultural and other land use management practices, in contrast, are the only innovations available today to sequester greenhouse gases that are already in the atmosphere-pulling in carbon dioxide through photosynthesis to grow and sustain more plants.

Mobilizing agricultural carbon sequestration is therefore an essential tool in the effort to reduce the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases to the 350 parts-per-million level that many scientists argue we must achieve to avoid catastrophic climate change. A recent assessment published by Worldwatch in State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World found that emissions of carbon dioxide will have to "go negative"-with more being absorbed than emitted-by 2050 to achieve this goal.

"The science and policy communities in Europe and beyond have focused most of their attention to date on improving energy efficiency and scaling up renewables," said Ecoagriculture Partners' Sara Scherr, co-author of Mitigating Climate Change Through Food and Land Use with Sajal Sthapit. "While these initiatives are integral in the transition to a low-carbon economy, any strategy that seeks to mitigate global climate change without reducing emissions from agriculture, forestry, and other land uses is doomed to fail."

More than 30 percent of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are linked to agriculture and land use, rivaling the combined emissions of the transportation and industry sectors. The report outlines five major strategies for reducing and sequestering greenhouse gas emissions through farming and land use:

* Enriching soil carbon. Soil, the third largest carbon pool on Earth's surface, can be managed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by minimizing tillage, cutting use of nitrogen fertilizers, and preventing erosion. Soils can store a vast amount of additional carbon by building up organic matter and by burying carbon in the form of biochar (biomass burned in a low-oxygen environment).
* Farming with perennials. Two-thirds of all arable land is used to grow annual grains, but there is large potential to substitute these with perennial trees, shrubs, palms, and grasses that produce food, livestock feed, and fuel. These perennials maintain and develop their roots and branches over many years, storing carbon in the vegetation and soil.
* Climate-friendly livestock production. Livestock accounts for nearly half of all greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and land use. Innovations such as rotational grazing, manure management, methane capture for biogas production, and improved feeds and feed additives can reduce livestock-related emissions.
* Protecting natural habitat. Deforestation, land clearing, and forest and grassland fires are major sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Incentives are needed to encourage farmers, ranchers, and foresters to maintain natural forest and grassland habitats through product certification, payments for climate services, securing tenure rights, and community fire control.
* Restoring degraded watersheds and rangelands. Restoring vegetation on vast areas of degraded land can reduce greenhouse gas emissions while making land productive again, protecting critical watersheds, and alleviating rural poverty.

The report also responds to several key issues that have constrained the use of terrestrial carbon solutions and highlights six principles for tapping the full potential of land use mitigation. These include: incorporating the full range of terrestrial emission options, including cap-and-trade systems, in climate investment and policy; promoting voluntary markets for greenhouse gas emission offsets from agriculture and land use while working out rules for regulated markets; and linking terrestrial climate mitigation with climate adaptation, rural development, and conservation strategies to generate widespread benefits beyond climate-helping to mobilize a worldwide-networked movement for climate-friendly food, forest, and other land-based production.

Although the climate conversation has long focused on developing enduring solutions in the energy sector, Worldwatch President Christopher Flavin says that land use is equally important. "The bottom line is that innovations in agriculture provide the best opportunity to remove carbon from the atmosphere. We cannot reach 350 ppm without changing the way we grow our food and use our land."

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Technology Seen Key To Oil Sands: Chu

Ayesha Rascoe, PlanetArk 3 Jun 09;

WASHINGTON - U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Monday he believes technology can solve environmental problems associated with Canada's oil sands and that the huge nearby resource contributes to U.S. energy security.

Chu told the Reuters Global Energy Summit that the balance between the environmental impact from the huge energy resource in northern Alberta and its importance to U.S. energy supply is a complicated one that will require solutions from the industry.

Environmental groups have mounted major campaigns to get the message out to Americans that the expansion of Canada's oil sands industry threatens to intensify global warming, deforestation and damage to water resources.

"It's a complicated issue, because certainly Canada is a close and trusted neighbor and the oil from Canada has all sorts of good things. But there is this environmental concern, so I think we're going to have to work our way through that," he said. "But I'm a big believer in technology."

Canada is the largest foreign supplier of oil to the United States and its oil sands represent the biggest deposits of crude outside the Middle East.

The Canadian and Alberta governments as well as the oil industry are going to great lengths to ensure that U.S. energy and environmental policies do not put oil sands-derived crude at a disadvantage in its most important market.

The resource is mined in open pits as well as produced in wells with the aide of steam pumped into the ground. Then it must be processed by upgrading plants into light oil that can be fed into refineries.

There is concern about the large amount of energy required to produce oil sands, Chu said. He said Canadian producers point out they are making strides in extracting the crude "more cleanly."

Cutting the energy used to extract a barrel of oil sands crude would be "economically good and it will be environmentally much better," he said.

(Editing by Phil Berlowitz

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Green energy overtakes fossil fuel investment, says UN

Clean technologies attract $140bn compared with $110bn for gas, coal and electrical power
Terry Macalister, guardian.co.uk 3 Jun 09;

Green energy overtook fossil fuels in attracting investment for power generation for the first time last year, according to figures released today by the United Nations.

Wind, solar and other clean technologies attracted $140bn (£85bn) compared with $110bn for gas and coal for electrical power generation, with more than a third of the green cash destined for Britain and the rest of Europe.

The biggest growth for renewable investment came from China, India and other developing countries, which are fast catching up on the West in switching out of fossil fuels to improve energy security and tackle climate change.

"There have been many milestones reached in recent years, but this report suggests renewable energy has now reached a tipping point where it is as important – if not more important – in the global energy mix than fossil fuels," said Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN's Environment Programme.

It was very encouraging that a variety of new renewable sectors were attracting capital, while different geographical areas such as Kenya and Angola were entering the field, he added.

The UN still believes $750bn needs to be spent worldwide between 2009 and 2011 and the current year has started ominously with a 53% slump in first quarter renewables investment to $13.3bn.

Counting energy efficiency and other measures, more than $155bn of new money was invested in clean energy companies and projects, even though capital raised on public stock markets fell 51% to $11.4bn and green firms saw share prices slump more than 60% over 2008, according to the report, Global Trends in Sustainable Energy, drawn up for the UN by the New Energy Finance (NEF) consultancy in London.

Wind, where the US is now global leader, attracted the highest new worldwide investment, $51.8bn, followed by solar at $33.5bn. The former represented annual growth of only 1%, while the latter was up by nearly 50% year-on-year.

Biofuels were the next most popular investment, winning $16.9bn, but down 9% on 2007, as the sector was hit by overcapacity issues in the US and political opposition, with ethanol being blamed for rising food prices.

Europe is still the main centre for investment in green power with $50bn being pumped into projects across the continent, an increase of 2% on last year, while the figure for America was $30bn, down 8%.

But while overall spending in the West dipped nearly 2%, there was a 27% rise to $36.6bn in developing countries led by China, which pumped in $15.6bn, mostly in wind and biomass plants.

China more than doubled its installed wind turbine capacity to 11GW of capacity, while Indian wind investment was up 17% to $2.6bn, as its overall clean tech spending rose to $4.1bn in 2008, 12% up on 2007 levels.

A number of Green New Deals – government reflationary packages designed to kickstart economies and boost action to counter climate change – have been laid out by ministers around the world.

The slump in global renewable ­investment during the first quarter of 2009 has alarmed the UN and New Energy ­Finance, the London-based consultancy that compiled the figures for the UN.

Michael Liebreich, chief executive of NEF, said the second quarter had revealed "green shoots" of recovery, which indicated this year could end up with investment at the upper end of a $95bn to $115bn range, but still a quarter down on 2008 at the least.

About $3bn of new money had been raised via initial public offerings or secondary issues on the stock markets in the second quarter, compared with none in the first three months of this year.

The New Energy Index of clean tech stocks, which had slumped from a 450 high to 134 by March, had since bounced back to 230, while more project financing had been raised in the last six weeks than in the 13 before that, he said.

But Steiner and Liebreich are still anxious that politicians do more to stimulate growth.

"There is a strong case for further measures, such as requiring state-supported banks to raise lending to the ­sector, providing capital gains tax exemptions on investments in clean technology, creating a framework for Green Bonds and so on, all targeted at getting investment flowing," said Liebreich.

It is important stimulus funds start flowing immediately, not in a year or so, he added: "Many of the policies to achieve growth over the medium-term are already in place, including feed-in tariff regimes, mandatory renewable energy targets and tax incentives. There is too much emphasis amongst some policy-makers on support mechanisms, and not enough on the urgent needs of investors right now."

Green energy investments top carbon fuels: UN
Yahoo News 3 Jun 09;

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Global investments in renewable energy overtook those in carbon-based fuels for the first time in 2008, attracting a record 155 billion dollars, a UN report said Wednesday.

Of that sum, 36 billion dollars was invested in producing clean energy in emerging economies such as China, a increase of 27 percent compared to 2007.

And 105 billion dollars was spent directly developing power generating capacity from wind, solar, small-hydro, biomass and geothermal sources.

The 2008 investment was more than four times higher than that in 2004 according to the report Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2009, prepared for the UN Environment Programme's (UNEP) Sustainable Energy Finance Initiative.

Wind power attracted the highest new investment with 51.8 billion dollars, although solar energy made the largest gains, 49 percent up to 33.5 billion dollars. Biofuels registered a nine percent fall to 16.9 billion dollars.

But amid the global recession, new investments in green energy in the first quarter of 2009 fell by 53 percent to 13.3 billion dollars compared to the same period in 2008.

"Without doubt the economic crisis has taken its toll on investments in clean energy when set against the record-breaking growth of recent years," said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General.

Some signs of an upswing in activity has been seen in 2009 but the sector could fall behind the levels seen in the previous two years, the authors warned.

Stimulus packages put together by governments to shore up their economies are helping to boost the sector with many of them pumping funds into green projects and research into renewable energy sources.

"However, the biggest renewables stimulus package of them all can come at the UN climate convention meeting in Copenhagen in just over 180 days time," said Steiner, referring to the UN-hosted climate change conference in December.

"This is where governments need to seal the deal on a new climate agreement -- one that can bring certainty to the carbon markets, one that can unleash transformative investments in lean and clean green tech," he added.

The United States and China have led the field putting up some 67 billion dollars each into sustainable energy. But more could be done, argued Michael Liebreich, chairman of New Energy Finance.

"There is a strong case for further measures, such as requiring state-supported banks to raise lending to the sector, providing capital gains tax exemptions on investments in clean technology, creating a framework for Green Bonds and so on, all targeted at getting investment flowing," he said.

"What's most important is that stimulus funds start flowing immediately, not in a year or so."

Economic Crisis Hits EU and US Clean Energy As Emerging Economy Investments Rise 27% to $36 billion

• However Renewables Draw More Investment than Fossil-Fueled Energy Technologies in '08
• Geothermal Sees Fastest Growth - Wind Power Tops Overall Investment, Solar Posts Largest Gains

UNEP 3 Jun 09;

New York/London/Nairobi, 3 June 2009 - $155 billion was invested in 2008 in clean energy companies and projects worldwide - not including large hydro, a new report launched today says.

Of this $13.5 billion of new private investment went into companies developing and scaling-up new technologies alongside $117 billion of investment in renewable energy projects from geothermal and wind to solar and biofuels.

Extremely difficult financial market conditions prevailed during 2008 as a result of the global economic crisis.

Nevertheless investment in clean energy topped 2007's record investments by 5% in large part as a result of China, Brazil and other emerging economies.

Of the $155 billion, $105 billion was spent directly developing 40 GW of power generating capacity from wind, solar, small-hydro, biomass and geothermal sources.

A further $35 billion was spent on developing 25 GW of large hydropower, according to the report.

This $140 billion investment in 65 GW of low carbon electricity generation compares with the estimated $250 billion spent globally in 2008 constructing 157GW of new power generating capacity from all sources.

It means that renewables currently account for the majority of investment and over 40% of actual power generation capacity additions last year.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said: "Without doubt the economic crisis has taken its toll on investments in clean energy when set against the record-breaking growth of recent years. Investment in the United States fell by two per cent and in Europe growth was very much muted. However, there were also some bright points in 2008 especially in developing economies—China became the world's second largest wind market in terms of new capacity and the world's biggest photovoltaic manufacturer and a rise in geothermal energy may be getting underway in countries from Australia to Japan and Kenya".

"Meanwhile other developing economies such as Brazil, Chile, Peru and the Philippines have brought in, or are poised to introduce policies and laws fostering clean energy as part of a Green Economy. Mexico for example, the Global host of World Environment Day on 5 June, is expected to double its target for energy from renewables to 16 per cent as part of a new national energy policy," he added.

Overall Highlights from the Report

Wind attracted the highest new investment ($51.8 billion, 1% growth on 2007), although solar made the largest gains ($33.5 billion, 49% growth) while biofuels dropped somewhat ($16.9 billion, 9% decrease).

Total transaction value in the sustainable energy sector during 2008 – including corporate acquisitions, asset re-financings and private equity buy-outs – was $223 billion, an increase of 7% over 2007. But capital raised via the public stock markets fell 51% to $11.4 billion as clean energy share prices lost 61% of their value during 2008.

Investment in the second half of 2008 was down 17% on the first half, and down 23% on the final six months of 2007, a trend that has continued into 2009.

One response to the global economic crisis has been announcements of stimulus packages with specific, multi-billion dollar provisions for energy efficiency up to boosts to renewable energies.

"These 'green new deals' lined up by some economies, including China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, European countries and the United States contain some serious clean energy provisions. These will help support the market," said Mr. Steiner.

"However, the biggest renewables stimulus package of them all can come at the UN climate convention meeting in Copenhagen in just over 180 days time. This is where governments need to Seal the Deal on a new climate agreement—one that can bring certainty to the carbon markets, one that can unleash transformative investments in lean and clean green tech," he added.

Green Energy Costs Coming Down - Solar Costs Set to Fall 43%

The investment surge of recent years and softened commodity markets have started to ease supply chain bottlenecks, especially in the wind and solar sectors, which will cause prices to fall towards marginal costs and several players to consolidate. The price of solar PV modules, for example, is predicted to fall by over 43% in 2009.

Carbon Markets Continue Upward

Despite the turmoil in the world's financial markets, transaction value in the global carbon market grew 87% during 2008, reaching a total of $120 billion. Following the lead of the EU and Kyoto compliance markets, several countries are now putting in place a system of interlinked carbon markets and working towards a global scheme under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Growth Shifts to the Developing World

On a regional basis, investment in Europe in 2008 was $49.7 billion, a rise of 2%, and in North America was $30.1 billion, a fall of 8%.

These regions experienced a slow-down in the financing of new renewable energy projects due to the lack of project finance and the fact that tax credit-driven markets are mostly ineffective in a downturn.

With developed country market growth stalled (down 1.7%), developing countries surged forward 27% over 2007 to $36.6 billion, accounting for nearly one third of global investments.

China led new investment in Asia, with an 18% increase over 2007 to $15.6 billion, mostly in new wind projects, and some biomass plants.

Investment in India grew 12% to $4.1 billion in 2008. Brazil accounted for almost all renewable energy investment in Latin America in 2008, with ethanol receiving $10.8 billion, up 76% from 2007. Africa achieved a modest increase by comparison, with investments up 10% to approximately $1.1 billion.

The Greening of Economic Stimulus Packages

Not surprisingly given market conditions, private sector investment was stalling in late 2008 but government investment looks ready to take up some of the slack in 2009.

Sustainable energy investments are a core part of key government fiscal stimulus packages announced in recent months, accounting for an estimated $183 billion of commitments to date.

Countries vary significantly in terms of investment and the clarity of their measures. The US and China remain the leaders, each devoting roughly $67 billion, but South Korea's package is the "greenest" with 20% devoted to clean energy. This green stimuli illustrates the political will of an increasing number of governments for securing future growth through greener economic development.

According to Michael Liebreich, Chairman & CEO of New Energy Finance, "There is a strong case for further measures, such as requiring state-supported banks to raise lending to the sector, providing capital gains tax exemptions on investments in clean technology, creating a framework for Green Bonds and so on, all targeted at getting investment flowing".

"What's most important is that stimulus funds start flowing immediately, not in a year or so. Many of the policies to achieve growth over the medium term are already in place, including feed-in tariff regimes, mandatory renewable energy targets and tax incentives. There is too much emphasis amongst some policy-makers on support mechanisms, and not enough on the urgent needs of investors right now."

Between 2009 and 2011 UNEP estimates that a minimum of $750 billion – or 37% of current economic stimulus packages and 1% of global GDP – is needed to finance a sustainable economic recovery by investing in the greening of five key sectors of the global economy: buildings, energy, transport, agriculture and water.

2009 and beyond: Climate change, energy security and green jobs

New investments in the first quarter of 2009 fell by 53% to $13.3 billion compared to the same period in 2008, reflecting the depth of the global financial crisis, according to the report, which notes "'green-shoots' of recovery during the second quarter of 2009, but the sector has a long way to go this year to reach the investment levels of late 2007 and early 2008."

Climate change, economic recovery and energy security will spur far greater investments in coming years.

In particular, the growing understanding that global carbon emissions (CO2) must peak around 2015 to avoid dangerous climate change (based on the 4th assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change- UNEP/World Meteorological Organisation) will make clean energy investments national priorities.

Annual investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency and carbon capture and storage need to reach half a trillion dollars by 2020, representing an average investment of 0.44% of GDP.

These levels of investment are not impossible to achieve, especially in view of the recent four year growth from $35 billion to $155 billion. However, reaching them will require a further scale-up of societal commitments to a more sustainable, low-carbon energy paradigm.

With the current stimulus packages now in play and a hoped-for Copenhagen climate deal in December, the opportunity to meet this challenge is greater than ever, even seen from the depths of an economic downturn.

Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2009 - Sector Hi-lites

WIND

Wind attracted the highest new investment ($51.8 billion, 1% growth on 2007), confirming its status as the most mature and best-established sustainable generation technology. Wind's leading position continues to be driven by asset finance, as new generation capacity is added worldwide, particularly in China and the US.

SOLAR

Solar continues to be the fastest-growing sector for new investment ($33.5 billion, 49% growth on 2007), with compound annual growth of 70% between 2006 and 2008.

Solar's growth reflects the easing of the silicon bottleneck and falling costs, which are expected to decline 43% in 2009. Solar project financing underwent the most dramatic growth in 2008, rising 71% to $22.1 billion.

BIOFUELS

Investment in biofuels fell 9% in 2008 down to $16.9 billion. Although the technology is well established, particularly in Brazil, it has suffered for the past two years from over-investment in early 2007, followed by a fall from grace caused by a combination of high wheat prices, lower oil prices and an increasingly heated food-versus-fuel controversy.

Biofuels technology investment is now focused on finding second-generation / non-food biofuels (such as algae, crop technologies and jatropha): the second half of 2008 saw next-generation technology investment exceed first-generation for the first time.

GEOTHERMAL

Geothermal was the highest growth sector for investment in 2008, with investment up 149% and 1.3 GW of new capacity installed. The competitive cost of electricity from geothermal sources and long output lifetimes have made this an attractive investment despite the high initial capital cost.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

New private investment in energy efficiency was $1.8 billion – a fall of 33% on 2007 – although this figure doesn't capture the investments made by corporates, governments and public financing institutions.

The energy efficiency sector recorded the second highest levels of venture capital and private equity investment (after solar), which will help companies develop the next generation of sustainable energy technologies for areas such as the smart grid. Energy efficiency also attracted more than 33% of the estimated $180 billion in green stimulus measures.

Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2009 - Regional Hi-lites

EUROPE

Europe continues to dominate sustainable energy new investment with $49.7 billion in 2008, an increase of 2% on 2007 (37% CAGR from 2006-2008).This investment is underpinned by government policies supporting new sustainable energy projects, particularly in countries such as Spain, which saw $17.4 billion of asset finance investment in 2008.

NORTH AMERICA

New investment in sustainable energy in North America was $30.1 billion in 2008, a fall of 8% compared to 2007 (15% CAGR from 2006-2008). The US saw a slow-down in asset financing following the glut of investment in corn based ethanol in 2007. Also, the number of tax equity providers fell for wind and solar projects due to the financial crisis.

AFRICA

South Africa - Feed-in Tariffs Kick Start Green Investment

On 31 March 2009, South Africa announced 'feed-in' tariffs that guarantee a stable rate-of-return for renewable energy projects. South Africa is hoping to spur the sort of investment spurred in Germany and Denmark through feed-in tariff schemes.

Sub-Saharan Africa - Geothermal Kenya & Sweet Sorghum Ethanol

Elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa, lack of finance is the principal barrier to sustainable energy roll-out. However, some notable progress was made in 2008.

In Kenya, a number of investments are underway; including the continents first privately financed geothermal plant and a 300MW wind farm planned for construction near Lake Turkana.

In Ethiopia, French wind turbine manufacturer Vergnet signed a EUR 210 million supply contract in October 2008 with the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation for the supply and installation of 120 one MW turbines.

In Angola, Brazilian industrial conglomerate Odebrecht set up an Angolan sugar cane processing plant and plans to steer its production from ethanol to sugar when it comes online late next year. UK-based Cams Group announced plans for a 240 million liter per year sweet sorghum ethanol facility in Tanzania.

North Africa - Sun and Wind

Renewable energy in North Africa remains focused on Morroco, Tunisia and Egypt, particularly in solar and wind. Egypt recently announced its expectation that wind farms in the Saidi area will produce 20% of the country's energy needs by 2020. Morocco's government has also outlined plans to meet 10% of its power needs with renewable energy sources.

ASIA

China - Asia's Green Energy Giant

By 2008, China was the world's second largest wind market by newly installed capacity and the fourth largest by overall installed capacity. Between 5GW and 6.5GW of new capacity was installed and commissioned in 2008, bringing total capacity to 11GW to 12.5GW.

China became the world's largest PV manufacturer in 2008, with 95% of its production for the export market.

Some 800MW of biomass power was added in 2008, bringing the total installed capacity for agriculture waste-fired power plants up to 2.88GW. Development of biofuels has all but ground to a halt, mostly due to high feedstock costs.

India - Pressing Need for Grid Improvements and Clean Power Generation

In 2008 the largest portion of new investment in India went to the wind sector, growing 17% - from $2.2 billion to $2.6. Thanks to a supportive policy environment, solar investment grew from $18 million in 2007 to $347 million in 2008, most of which went to setting up module and cell manufacturing facilities.

Small hydro investment in India grew nearly fourfold to $543 million in 2008, while biofuels investment stalled and fell from $251 million in 2007 to only $49 million in 2008.

Japan – A New Push for Sustainable Energy

In December 2008, Japan unveiled a new $9 billion subsidy package for solar roofs, granting JPY 70,000 ($785)/kW for rooftop PV installation. For the first time in three years, domestic shipments of solar cells rose between April to September (up 6%), indicating a fundamental change in domestic solar demand.

Geothermal also seems to be reawakening in Japan, after a twenty-year lull. In January 2009, plans for a 60MW geothermal plant were announced.

Australia – Geothermal and Wind Gaining Support

The Australian government has set up a A$500m ($436 million) Renewable Energy Fund to accelerate the roll-out of sustainable energy in the country. A$50 million has already been committed to helping geothermal developers meet the high up-front costs of exploration and drilling.

Geothermal is expected to provide about 7% of the country's baseload power by 2030. Wind will also benefit from Australia's new push for sustainable energy, and is expected to provide most of the 20% renewable energy by 2020 target.

Other Asian Countries - Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia

In late 2008, the Philippine government signed a new Renewable Energy Law, offering specific incentives (mainly tax breaks) for renewable generation - a first for Southeast Asia and perhaps a model for other countries. Thailand and Malaysia have been talking about introducing renewable energy legislation for some time; and other countries are planning biofuel blending mandates, similar to those introduced by the Philippines in 2007 and subsequently by Thailand.

LATIN AMERICA

Brazil - World's Largest Renewable Energy Market

About 46% of Brazil's energy comes from renewable sources, and 85% of its power generation capacity thanks to its enormous hydropower resources and long-established bioethanol industry.

Some 90% of Brazil's new cars run on both ethanol and petrol (all of which is blended with around 25% ethanol). By the end of 2008, ethanol accounted for more than 52% of fuel consumption by light vehicles.

Brazil is now moving into wind. The government has announced a wind-specific auction to take place in mid-2009, for the sale of approximately 1GW of wind energy per year.

Brazil also has a global leader in renewable energy financing. In 2008 the Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) was the largest provider globally of project finance to renewable energy projects.

Chile, Peru, Mexico and the rest of Latin America

Brazil accounted for more than 90% of new investment in Latin American, but several other countries are looking to implement regulatory frameworks supportive of renewable energy.

Chile's recently approved Renewable Energy Legislation is responsible for regulating the country's renewable energy sector, where small hydro, wind and geothermal projects have become increasingly attractive for investors. It requires electricity generators of more than 200MW to source 10% of their energy mix from renewables.

In 2008 Peru introduced legislation that requires 5% of electricity produced in the country to be derived from renewable sources over the next five years, including financial incentives such as preferential feed-in-tariffs and 20-year PPAs for project developers.

Mexico has a non-mandatory target to source 8% of its energy consumption from renewable sources by 2012. However a new national energy plan expected at the end of June 2009 is expected to double that target.

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