Electric ray at Changi!
from wonderful creation blog and wild shores of singapore blog with special fishes and singapore nature blog
Muddy on Hantu
from The annotated budak
Pied Fantail nesting
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Fledging Lineated Barbet fallen from nest
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Stargazing on Ubin
from The Green Guy
Monday Morgue: 22nd June 2009
from The Lazy Lizard's Tales
Leong Wee Keat Today Online 23 Jun 09;
SURE, it gets this little red dot more visibility. But why should the ordinary Singaporean care that there are now two Lee Kuan Yew global prizes, or about the ongoing Singapore International Water Week?
There is more than one way to answer this. The first is in dollar-and-cent terms.
With the population of cities worldwide expected to swell by some 2 billion in the next 25 years, the possibilities for any party that can offer urban planning ideas are enormous, said Spanish urban planner Alfonso Vegara.
"The challenge is equivalent to building 400 other Singapores over the next 25 years. It is a huge responsibility. It is also a huge opportunity for cities with eco-solutions," he said.
This leads to another point: Making the Republic not just relevant, but important to the world.
There has been clear effort in recent years to brand Singapore as an international "thought leader" in the sustainable development field, by encouraging innovation and the development of solutions to critical issues facing the world of the future.
This is another way of saying that while we may be an island of 4.8 million, the trick is to ensure that our worth to the planet is far out of proportion to size or resources.
Of course, Singapore has a vested interest in staying ahead of the curve on issues like urban planning, battling climate change and managing scarce resources like power and water: The matter of pure physical survival.
There is another driving reason for associating the Singapore brand-name with environmental excellence and urban liveability.
That is the global battle for a vital resource: Talent. Not just the scientists and researchers who would want to relocate here for their work, but also the ordinary mobile global citizen who would want a city with good air, uncongested roads, well-planned public transport, differentiated housing and green landscape to make their base.
There is just one kink in this vision: The Singapore public.
Matters at the community level have yet to catch up to the image being projected to the world at a Government level.
Messages to do with recycling, saving energy and just generally being more eco-conscious, do not seem to have gotten through to the larger community, feels political analyst Eugene Tan.
"I don't think we are anywhere close to the Swiss, in terms of our relationship with the environment. We still don't see it as a symbiotic relationship but more as a transaction," said the law professor from the Singapore Management University.
Straits Times Forum 23 Jun 09;
I REFER to The Straits Times online article, "Spore's population is 4.84m", on Wednesday.
Judging from the statistics, citizens and permanent residents (PRs) account for 75.3 per cent of the population while citizens account for 65.4 per cent of the population. In other words, for every three residents, there is one foreigner, and for every two citizens, there is one PR/foreigner.
The influx of foreigners has increased significantly since 2005, while the citizen to population ratio has steadily declined. These trends are alarming to me, but first, I would like to say that this letter is not about foreigner bashing.
It is about pursuing sane, sound policies so our society will not become fragile in the face of crisis, and it raises the question: How many foreigners is too much?
I suspect that at the rate we are courting foreigners, our citizens to total population ratio will reach 50:50 very soon, and I am of the view that the current trend must be stopped. There must be a minimum level of citizens to the total population. The question is: How small is too small?
Our strategic vulnerabilities have been well touted. Even in current relative stability, if there is a determined influential force in the region, the situation can turn drastic within six months to a year. In such a situation, we can expect that the PRs and foreigners would return to their home countries, and only the citizens would stay.
If one-third of the population leaves in times of crisis, the remaining two-thirds have to shoulder the burden.
In times of war, if you do not count the national servicemen and those in the civil defence or police force, in essence, we will be left with very little of the population to keep the essential services going.
If the population decreases further, say by 50 per cent, perhaps due to starvation, lack of medical services, a pandemic or poor sanitation, we become very vulnerable. A serious study to determine how many foreigners is too much is in order.
I agree with the reasons to welcome foreigners, but we must do this while maintaining a minimum citizen to population ratio. If, in order to maintain such a ratio, we must compromise economic growth, so be it. It would be better to have a robust infrastructure, than one that cannot be rebuilt - or would take decades to rebuild - after a crisis.
Teo Chun Sang
Straits Times Forum 23 Jun 09;
FOR the past few months, dead fish have been seen floating at the shoreline of Marina Reservoir, near Kallang Basin.
Many dragonboat rowers who use the reservoir have also been suffering skin infections. Even with small cuts and abrasions, recovery is complicated, often developing into badly infected wounds that, in some cases, even required surgery.
Previously, dragonboat trainees hardly suffered from such conditions. Is the construction of the Marina Barrage the reason for the contamination of the water?
Could it be because the Barrage blocks the flow of the water from the area to the open sea? Is the problem exacerbated by the decomposing marine life dotting the shoreline?
Can the relevant authorities advise on the current water conditions as well as the measures in place to ensure that the water remains safe and fit for rowers?
Goh Shi Hai
Cheryl Lim, Channel NewsAsia 22 Jun 09;
SINGAPORE: Cities worldwide will soon have an opportunity to exchange urban city solutions with one another. That is what organisers of the newly-established Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize hope the award will achieve.
The international award will be given out once every two years.
By 2030, more than half of the world's population will be living in cities. But rapid urbanisation brings with it many challenges - such as ensuring infrastructure keeps up with population growth, sustaining economic growth without damaging the environment, and keeping development socially inclusive.
S Dhanabalan, Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize Council chairperson, said: "Land use, buildings, transportation, yes, these are very important, but how do they impact the people? How do they build a community? These are very key elements to making a liveable, vibrant city."
Singapore has had experience in dealing with these problems, coming up with several successful urban management programmes and policies like public housing and electronic road pricing.
And it hopes to share its expertise and tap into the experiences of other countries to build sustainable cities.
Minister for National Development, Mah Bow Tan, said: "If we succeed, cities can be vibrant, economic engines that improve the well-being of their people and in an environment that is resource efficient and is sensitive to the environment."
The Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize hopes to encourage that by recognising individuals and organisations that display foresight, good governance or innovation in tackling the many urban challenges faced by cities.
It will focus on ideas that can produce social, economic and environmental benefits. On top of that, these solutions will need to be practical and cost-effective and easily replicated in other cities.
The prize will be awarded during the World Cities Summit that will be held in Singapore next year.
Nomination forms and full details of the prize can be found at www.leekuanyewworldcityprize.com.sg.
- CNA/ir
The sustainability challenge
Singapore launches new prize to recognise efforts that reflect foresight and innovation
Leong Wee Keat Today Online 23 Jun 09;
IT'S the great challenge for today's growing cities: How to avoid becoming mere polluted urban sprawls, and be vibrant, liveable and sustainable hubs that offer citizens a high quality of life.
Now a new global prize - emerging from the city-state of Singapore - will accord recognition to the individuals or organisations whose policies and projects epitomise foresight, good governance and innovation in overcoming such urban challenges.
The inaugural Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize was launched yesterday, even as the second recipient of the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize, Professor Gatze Lettinga, was honoured at the opening of the Singapore International Water Week.
The World City Prize is co-organised by Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Centre of Liveable Cities, and comes with a $300,000 cash prize sponsored by Keppel Corporation.
The winner will be honoured in June next year along with the next Water Prize recipient, at the Lee Kuan Yew Awards Ceremony and Banquet to be held during the World Cities Summit 2010 in Singapore.
The new award would enable the Republic - with its 50 years of experience in sustainable development, and successes in public housing and electronic road pricing, for instance - to "join hands with a network of cities to build the sustainable cities of tomorrow", said Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan.
The emphasis, he added, would be on "practical and cost effective solutions" that can generate social, economic and environmental benefits, and as far as possible, be possible to replicate across cities around the world.
And innovative urban solutions are urgently needed: Some 3.2 billion people worldwide now live in cities, a number that will rise to 5 billion by 2030, said Professor Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
A committee will review all nominations and recommend potential Laureates to the Prize Council, which will then pick the winner.
The nominating council includes distinguished names like Professor Mahbubani, Sir Peter Hall of the Barlett School of Architecture and Planning at University College London and Dr Alfonso Vegara, president of Spain's Fundacion Metropoli.
The prize council includes Temasek Holdings chairman S Dhanabalan; Dr Pierre Laconte, president of the International Society of City and Regional Planners and Mr Achim Steiner executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme.
Nominations for the inaugural award close on Nov 30.
$300k LKY prize for urban solutions
Jayakumar launches Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize at world water meet
Amresh Gunasingham, Straits Times 23 Jun 09;
BY 2050, 70 per cent of the world's population - 6.4 billion people - will live in cities.
Planning, designing and building liveable cities for them is one of the greatest challenges today, said experts at the second Singapore International Water Week conference yesterday.
To encourage more work on projects for sustainable urban living, a $300,000 award - the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize - was launched yesterday by Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security S. Jayakumar.
The prize stresses solutions that are practical, cost-effective and easy to replicate, Professor Jayakumar said at the opening of the five-day conference in Suntec Singapore.
'In doing so, we in Singapore hope to facilitate the sharing of best practices in urban solutions among cities and spur innovation in sustainable urban development,' he added.
More than half of the 6.8 billion people around the world currently live in cities rather than rural areas - a threshold crossed for the first time last year.
National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said that key considerations of city planning included low crime, affordable and high-quality housing, efficient transportation networks, and a sense of culture and community.
'If we succeed, cities can be vibrant, economic engines that improve the well-being of their people.'
Singapore could also act as a living laboratory for cities of the future, added prize nomination committee member, Dr Alfonso Vegara.
'With over two billion people moving into cities over the next 25 years, the challenge of building cities to cater to the explosion will be equivalent to building 400 'Singapores',' said Dr Vegara, who is president of Fundacion Metropoli, a Spanish foundation dedicated to developing innovative urban solutions.
Mr Mah, pointing to the Republic's affordable public housing system and the Electronic Road Pricing here used to keep traffic congestion down, added: 'We are able to showcase solutions that have worked in a highly urbanised environment, some of which can be replicated in many other cities, particularly in Asia.'
The key to Singapore being a liveable and vibrant city was also its ability to build successful communities, said Mr S. Dhanabalan, who chairs the council that will select the prize winner.
'A community is made up of people of different social, economic and educational backgrounds living together, integrated, sharing a common destiny - these can be built into the way a city is planned and built,' said the Mr Dhanabalan, chairman of Temasek Holdings.
The prize, to be given out once every two years, will be awarded for the first time at the World Cities Summit next year. Keppel Corporation has come up with $1.5 million to sponsor the first five awards.
Speaking to The Straits Times on the sidelines of the event, Mr Mah said that for Singapore, its future challenges were to better utilise its limited supply of land, energy and water supplies.
'The next emphasis will be on energy efficiency because it is one of the major constraints for us going forward, not just in terms of price but also in its availability and impact on the environment.'
Clear vision, long term perspective crucial to realising investments: Jaya
Teh Shi Ning Business Times 23 Jun 09;
GIVEN urbanisation's challenges, infrastructure and technology will be 'essential long term investments for a sustainable water future, even in uncertain economic times', Senior Minister Prof S Jayakumar said at the opening ceremony of the Singapore International Water Week (SIWW) yesterday evening.
Speaking to the 1,800 international delegates, trade visitors and guests present, Prof Jayakumar, who is also the coordinating minister for national security, highlighted key sustainable development challenges faced by cities worldwide.
'Cities enjoy economies of scale and potential for creativity arising from concentrated human activity. At the same time, they face many issues such as housing needs, public health, congestion, access to clean water and sanitation,' he said.
These challenges are accentuated by the fact that they have to be faced with finite financial and natural resources, and the uncertainty introduced by climate change's impact on the world's distribution of fresh potable water and food supplies, he added.
With the unprecedented rate of urbanisation, Prof Jayakumar said that there will be a 'critical need for more innovative and sustainable water solutions'.
This year's SIWW thus focuses specifically on infrastructure and technology's importance to sustainable urban water management.
Clear vision and a long term perspective are crucial in implementing technology and building infrastructure, Prof Jayakumar said.
'Preserving water resources and protecting the environment are both long term investments entailing huge costs in the short term but yielding benefits that come about only after some time,' he said, raising the examples of NEWater and Marina Barrage here.
Water management infrastructure should also be integrated into overall urban planning for optimal results, as in the conceptualisation of Singapore's Deep Tunnel Sewerage System, he said.
But, Prof Jayakumar added, each city will need to adapt technology to its own unique context. 'I believe a conference like this helps to promote the sharing of innovative ideas and emerging technologies, with a strong focus on practical and replicable solutions.'
Organisers of this year's SIWW expect to match or exceed the $370 million worth in deals signed at last year's event.
The Water Expo alone has seen the number of participating companies grow from 389 last year to over 400 this year.
Some 10,000 visitors are expected at SIWW 2009's various events, which will last till Thursday.
A well of opportunity in the water sector
Stakeholders in the value chain need to join hands to effectively meet the sector targets
Sharad Somani, Business Times 23 Jun 09;
WHAT are the key challenges for the water sector and options for countries to effectively develop water sector infrastructure? The solution may lie in effective partnerships between the various stakeholders as well as innovative ways to financing these projects.
The Asia-Pacific is home to 60 per cent of the world's population, but 17 per cent of its population today is still not served by proper supplies of water or sanitation facilities.
According to the Asia Water Watch 2015 report, the 'Target 10' of the Millennium Development Goals is to halve the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2015.
Overcoming the challenges facing the water sector will not be an easy task.
The immediate needs of the sector are two-fold. The first is to increase the coverage of the water distribution network, and the second is to improve current operational efficiencies.
These needs can be met by mobilising large investments as well as infusing the latest technology and leading management practices in the sector.
Various stakeholders across the sector value chain need to come together to effectively meet these sector targets. These include government and public agencies, the private sector and multilateral and development funding agencies such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
In the recent past, reasonable level of private sector activity has been observed in Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia, among others, in the water sector for the region.
The experience has been mixed, with a few successes interspersed with failures. This is primarily due to the high costs of water supply and an over-commitment based on inaccurate demand estimates.
It should, however, be noted that in cities where water services have been privatised, Jakarta and Manila among others in Asia, the performance has been far better than the average for the 18 key cities in the region as a whole.
The greatest successes saw the private sector playing a useful role in the water sector, with success measured in terms of revenue collection efficiency, minimising the number of staff per 1,000 connections, connections metered and capital expenditure per connection.
In the Singapore experience, three water projects have been successfully developed. The involvement of the private sector in upstream water sector projects such as the desalination and NEWater production projects are examples of this success.
Some reasons for this include Singapore's robust regulatory and legislative framework, transparent selection process, well-defined concession or off-take contracts, and the security of payments as these are made by a credit-worthy government.
The Singapore experience has set a precedent for successful private sector involvement in the region. This experience, when complemented by the presence of other strong regional and international water companies, provides an impetus for the growth of the water infrastructure using public private partnerships in the Asia-Pacific.
A recent KPMG survey report, titled Bridging the Global Infrastructure Gap, highlights the critical role which infrastructure investments can play in the economic and business growth of a country.
However, executives in every region surveyed expressed concern that infrastructure investment would not be adequate.
Business leaders in the Asia-Pacific were most concerned about this issue. About 80 per cent of the respondents believe that the government should partner the private sector for major infrastructure projects.
This issue highlights the need to tap into all sources of financing for projects, notwithstanding the dearth of private and bank financing in the current economic slowdown.
Financing and project structures
A need therefore exists for innovative financing structures. These should involve financial institutions and investors with a longer-term view.
Examples include pension funds and multilateral agencies given their appetite for infrastructure asset class and development objectives.
Pension funds can help bridge the current absence of long-term bank financing. Structures such as forward-financing, take-out financing and loan guarantees can be explored to meet the constraints faced by banks in the current climate.
On their part, multilateral funding agencies such as the ADB and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation also play a role in encouraging forward-looking policies and sustainable partnerships and help the water sector meet its targets.
Financing aside, it is important to learn from past experiences in the design of project structures.
These should capitalise on the expertise existing within the private sector, while avoiding the problems associated with projects which have failed under a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) agreement or concession.
For example, getting the private sector involved in BOT contracts involving upstream projects (excluding building of water reservoirs or treatment plants) and linking the payments to previously agreed performance benchmarks may be one way of building a sustainable partnership between the public and private sector.
In the short to medium term, there will be more partnership opportunities in the water and wastewater sectors of in the Asia-Pacific region.
With the expected interest by international and homegrown Asian companies in these opportunities, the key to successful partnerships is to have innovative project structures that address the concerns of the stakeholders while achieving overall sector targets.
Governments, the private sector and international funding agencies all have to come together in creating these win-win partnerships.
Sharad Somani is executive director of the KPMG Global Infrastructure and Projects Group who also leads the regional Utilities & Infrastructure Advisory team. His views do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of KPMG in Singapore
Water Week draws 10,000 delegates to Singapore
Liaw Wy-Cin, Straits Times 23 Jun 09;
SINGAPORE'S signature water event has drawn even more delegates this year than last year, despite the global downturn and the H1N1 bug spreading.
Some 10,000 policymakers, academics, scientists, engineers and representatives of water-technology firms from at least 80 countries are here for the Singapore International Water Week, up from the 8,500 who were at the inaugural conference last year.
Senior Minister S. Jayakumar, speaking at the opening, said that infrastructure and technology were key to developing innovative, sustainable water solutions.
But these were both difficult to muster and required considerable investment, so ultimately, 'each city needs to adapt technological advances to its unique context', he said to the 1,500 guests at the opening at Suntec Singapore.
A conference like the Water Week will promote the sharing of innovative ideas and technologies, he added.
On the sidelines yesterday, ministers from 11 economies discussed the development of infrastructure development in the Asia Pacific, and came up with a declaration that they would work together to find sustainable solutions for water supply.
Over the coming week, high-level discussions will be held among the conference participants, and water-technology companies, both local and foreign, will showcase their latest innovations.
Singapore's largest water-reclamation plant at Changi will be declared open today as part of the week's programme.
And the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize will be handed out tomorrow to a Dutch scientist for pioneering the technology to purify used water in the absence of oxygen.
Yesterday, Professor Jayakumar launched a new Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize, to be awarded next year to individuals or organisations that have made outstanding contributions to creating vibrant, liveable and sustainable cities.
On the business front, the deals made at this year's event are expected to outstrip last year's $370 million.
The number of companies showcasing their wares this year is 420, up from last year's 389.
Water technology centre opens at NUS
Liaw Wy-Cin, Straits Times 23 Jun 09;
SINGAPORE, which 40 years ago had to ration its scarce water resources, has now developed the latest technologies to collect and purify water.
Many breakthroughs in treating water were the results of partnerships between the industry and universities, said National Research Foundation (NRF) chairman Dr Tony Tan yesterday.
He was the guest of honour at the opening of the latest such tie-up - a water technology centre set up by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and General Electric (GE) Water and Process Technologies.
The $150 million NUS-GE Singapore Water Technology Centre will focus on providing clean water to fast-developing areas such as China, India and the Middle East. It will look at how to reduce the cost of desalinating seawater, treating used water for re-use and producing
ultra-pure water for the semiconductor industry. It will also analyse chemicals in water and wastewater.
Water was one of the major research priorities identified by the foundation when it was set up three years ago.
Speaking to about 80 executives from the NRF, GE, Singapore's national water agency PUB and the Economic Development Board, Dr Tan said: 'The universities' researchers see across multiple sectors and can bring together existing technologies in unexplored combinations.
'On the other hand, the industrial partners know the customers, large and small.
'They understand the need to be cost- effective, innovative, reliable and entrepreneurial when delivering products and services to the marketplace.'
The centre is in a new 11-storey research building at the NUS Kent Ridge campus called the T-Lab building, which will be opened next year.
The building is a joint project between the NUS and the Defence Science and Technology Agency. One wing houses Temasek Laboratories, which carries out defence research, while the second wing is for other research programmes.
Victoria Vaughan, Straits Times 23 Jun 09;
MINISTERS and senior officials from around the world yesterday underscored their commitment to managing water resources sustainably, in tandem with well- planned urban development.
Representatives from 10 countries and two regions, ranging from Colombia to China, made a formal declaration to promote integrated water resource development at the 7th Ministers' Forum on Infrastructure Development in the Asia-Pacific Region.
About 60 officials attended the closed-door event, held alongside Singapore International Water Week.
They agreed to work together to do research and share expertise, and to use technology such as water recycling to cut dependency on primary water sources such as rivers.
Despite the current economic climate, their governments would lead the charge in funding
and supporting infrastructure projects, they said in the declaration.
Representatives from Singapore, Brunei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Vietnam and Western Australia also joined in the declaration.
Hong Kong's secretary for development, Mrs Carrie Lam, said the declaration was in line with Hong Kong's total water strategy.
Despite the economic downturn, the responsibility to invest in water infrastructure should be supported by governments, she stressed.
'Hong Kong is currently engaged in upgrading its water treatment plants and replacing its ageing water pipes,' she said.
Singapore's Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said that some countries had shown interest in the country's ability to recycle water and its integrated management of water resources.
The Republic is a small city-state, however, so scale would be taken into consideration when looking at any proposed projects, he noted.
'I told some of the ministers we are more than happy to share our experiences,' he said.
Ministers to work on water infrastructure
Asia-Pac leaders recognise need for integrated resource management
Nisha Ramchandani, Business Times 23 Jun 09;
(SINGAPORE) About 60 water infrastructure and environment ministers and senior officials from 11 Asia-Pacific economies met yesterday for the Seventh Ministers' Forum on Infrastructure Development in the Asia-Pacific Region, pledging to work together to surmount the challenges facing water infrastructure planning and urban development.
The theme for this year's forum - which was chaired by Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim - was 'Integrating Water Infrastructure Planning with Sustainable Urban Development'. It was held as a co-located event of the Singapore International Water Week (SIWW).
'In spite of the current economic crisis and the ongoing global changes in the financial landscape, the member states are committed to work together to overcome the challenges and issues of water infrastructure planning and urban development,' the ministers wrote in a declaration.
Recognising the need to promote integrated water resource management for sustainable urban development, the ministers highlighted the adoption of strategic and long-term approaches to water infrastructure planning as well as leveraging on technologies for water recycling and other solutions to cut down dependency on primary water sources.
At the same time, the member states hope to foster partnerships between the governments, research institutions as well as other public and private parties to facilitate water infrastructure projects.
It is also important for member states to provide the governmental lead in supporting and funding water infrastructure projects in light of the current economic situation, said the declaration.
Other issues that were raised during the forum include sharing knowledge among member states and using capacity building and research and development (R&D) funds within individual member states to strengthen R&D capabilities in water infrastructure technologies.
The ministers are also committed to participating in international water forums and related activities in the Asia-Pacific region, such as SIWW and the IWA-ASPIRE Convention and Exhibition.
Tan Cheng Li, The Star 23 Jun 09;
The oddly coiled shell of a tiny snail has left scientists puzzled.
IT measured no bigger than a pinhead, yet when a scientific description of the microsnail Opisthostoma vermiculum was published in the scientific journal Biology Letters in January last year, it created a stir in the scientific world. Various websites discussed the find, and it even got its discoverer Reuben Clements into the New York Times and the scientific journal Nature.
Last month, O. vermiculum was in the news again: it was voted into the list of top 10 species discovered last year, alongside Sabah’s Phobaeticus chani, the longest stick insect ever found.
Ironically, on either occasion, O. vermiculum did not make it into local newspapers despite it being new to science and found only on one limestone karst in the Kinta valley of Perak.
But that’s hardly surprising seeing that snails, and one that measures a mere 1mm at that, are unlikely to match the appeal quotient of mega-fauna such as the orang utan, tiger or elephant.
But within the field of malacology (the study of molluscs), O. vermiculum has created quite a buzz – and all because its shell coils on four axes, a first in the world of snails. Most of us would be familiar with shells that coil tightly around a single axis, making for a simple spiral. But some shells have two axes, starting out coiling one way during the early stages of growth, and then curving by 90° or 180°.
Many species of Opisthostoma snails have three axes of coiling, with a final twist at the end of their growth. The O. vermiculum, however, has defied the established rules of shell growth and form by creating a home that twists in four independent directions. That is one more than any other known snail.
One look at the oddly twisted tube of O. vermiculum and what comes to mind is a deformed shell whose growth has gone awry. That, too, was Clements’ initial reaction: “I thought it was a mutant as the way it coiled was unusual. It was only after I found many similar specimens that I thought it could be a new species.”
Snail hunt
Clements had unearthed the new microsnail (snails smaller than 5mm) while pursuing his Master’s degree on the conservation of limestone hills and microsnails.
In 2005 and 2006, he surveyed 16 karsts in Peninsular Malaysia, scooping up bags of earth from each hill. It was in the dirt dug from Gunung Rapat in Ipoh, that O. vermiculum sprung up.
“When I showed it to a Dutch specialist, he was astonished. All the 38 specimens collected had a uniform pattern and followed a consistent coiling strategy. The whorls thrice detached and twice reattached to preceding whorls in a fairly consistent manner, which suggests that the coiling strategy is under some form of strict developmental gene control,” says the Singaporean biologist who is species conservation manager with WWF-Malaysia.
The unusual curling pattern of O. vermiculum (which means “worm-like”) has baffled scientists. “It is strange indeed. We know of something like 100,000 coiled molluscs, and this is the only one I know with four axes,” Bernard Tursch, a biologist at the Free University of Brussels in Belgium, who specialises in marine shells, told Nature.
Without a live specimen, it is unclear why O. vermiculum twists in such a bizarre way and how this benefits the snail. Because of the collection technique – the earth was mixed with water, then filtered to extract the shells, which were then dried – none of the snails survived. Clements did not find a live snail when he returned to the site but he is not giving up yet as questions persist.
“We don’t know what the snail looks like or how it moves, let alone anything about its biology and ecology. It’s a very clumsy-looking snail and with such a shell, it ought to be difficult to move. Won’t soil particles get stuck in between the whorls and restrict its movement? Won’t the snail find it difficult to ascend rocks with all that increased torque? The next step would be to find live individuals for further studies,” says Clements, 30.
Form and function
Why shells coil the way they do and what purpose these serve remain an enigma for scientists.
“Some hypothesise that it is an adaptative strategy, while others say that it helps with flotation to increase the snail’s survival chances in wet conditions. And yet others say it could be due to a stressful event or to cope with predation. But these are all wild conjectures. There is still a lack of understanding of the relationship between the form and function of shells,” says Clements.
His interest in shells stemmed from childhood trips to Sentosa island in Singapore. “The wide variety of shells fascinated me and I started collecting and buying seashells. But then, I realised that I cannot collect all the shells of the world, and it was bad for nature, so I stopped.”
In 2001, the National University of Singapore undergraduate, then 21 years old, rented a car and headed for Kelantan. Near Gua Musang, he found himself in an amazing terrain: “Flanking the road were all these impressive towering karsts. I was awed and decided that one day, I will come back and study them.”
And he did. His surveys of 16 limestone outcrops uncovered 198 morphospecies (species identified from morphology or physical features alone, and not from anatomy or DNA) of microsnails.
Of these, 20 are believed to be new to science but Clements has only described two from the lot – O. vermiculum and O. gittenbergeri which curls on three axes and is found only on Gunung Datuk, Perak.
A third discovery is the Oophana tiomanensis (described in 2006), a carnivorous snail which preys on its own kind and lives only on Gunung Kajang in Tioman island.
Endangered karsts
Their puny size has left terrestrial microsnails much ignored – which means that there should be new species awaiting discovery. “With over 500 limestone outcrops in Peninsular Malaysia, imagine what else we can find,” quips Clements.
Snails are generally neglected in the bigger scheme of things when, in fact, they play important ecological roles.
“They are primarily decomposers, and so aid in nutrient recycling. They decompose detritus such as leaves, otherwise the whole forest will pile up with dead leaves. They are also food for birds and reptiles,” says Clements.
Their low abundance, high endemicity and threatened habitats have pushed many Malaysian microsnails onto the endangered list of the IUCN Red List. Limestone karsts, with their calcium-rich soils, support large colonies of snails. Even Batu Caves are known to harbour some endemic snails.
“Generally, 20% of the snails found on a limestone hill are site-endemic. But the escalating rates of limestone quarrying are likely to cause the extinction of many new species before they are even discovered,” laments Clements.
Aside from being groundwater catchments, limestone karsts are refuge for countless flora and fauna, including bats, an important pollinator, without which trees such as the durian will not fruit.
Based on the factors of irreplaceability and vulnerability, Clement has picked out these outcrops as those in need of protection: Gunung Jaya and Panjang in Kelantan; Serdam and Gelangi in Pahang; Datuk, Rapat, Lanno, Pondok and Kantan in Perak; and Batu Caves in Selangor.
“We should protect the larger hills as they will have more species diversity and endemic species because of the larger habitat,” he says.
Reuben Clements had described Opisthostoma vermiculum together with Thor-Seng Liew, Dr Jaap Jan Vermeulen and Dr Menno Schilthuizen.
Bernama 22 Jun 09;
JAKARTA, June 22 (Bernama) -- A thick smoke resulted from forest fire and land clearing has hampered flight in Riau province of Sumatra island, due to low visibility, China's Xinhua news agency reported Monday.
A plane operated by Pelita Air Service failed to land on an airport in Dumai of the province Monday morning and was forced to go to another airport, an official of the airport in charge of weather surveillance Tarman Sembiring said.
"Pelita Air Service plane could not land on airport in Dumai because of the smoke this morning. It went to Sutan Syarif Kasim airport,"he told Xinhua from the province by phone.
Visibility at Dumai decreased to over 500 meters in the morning, weather observation official of the provincial meteorology agency Sanya Gautama said.
The figure was far below the lowest limit for flight which was 1,000 meters, said Sembiring.
The airport in Dumai was closed to all flights up to 11:45 Jakarta time (0445 GMT), he said, adding that it opened again when the visibility increased up to more than 1,000 meters.
"The number of hot spots reached 90 in the province and its surrounding areas Monday, lower than 193 Sunday," Gautama told Xinhua by phone from the province.
Forest fire resulted from land clearing exercise regularly occurred in Sumatra and Borneo islands, resulting in smoke spreading up to neighbouring countries.
The smoke has often caused economic disruption by disturbing tourism and transport.
In 1997/8, the smoke has led to billions of U.S. dollars in losses, which then triggered the signing of the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution in 2002, but Indonesia has yet to ratify the agreement.
-- BERNAMA
Pekanbaru Airport closed due to haze
Antara 22 Jun 09;
Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - Sultan Syarif Kasim (SSK) II Airport in Pekanbaru was closed for 90 minutes because of haze coming from plantation and forest fires on Monday.
"We have to close the airport for 90 minutes because the visibility has dropped to only 500 meters," Taslim, traffic supervisor of the Pekanbaru SSK II airport, told ANTARA here on Monday.
The minimum visibility required for the flight safety is 1,000 meters, and if the visibility is below the figure, the airport has to be closed, according to Taslim.
The Pekanbaru SSK II airport was closed from 6 am to 7.30 am local time.
At around noon, the visibility at the airport continued to increase up to 4,000 meters and the flight traffic returned to normal, he said.
Due to the airport`s closure, three flights from three different airways companies, had to be delayed from their earlier schedules, he said.
Departures of Pekanbaru-Jakarta flight by a Lion Air plane was postponed from 7 am local time to 7.40 am, as well as Pekanbaru-Jakarta flight by Mandala Air plane was delayed from 7 am to 7.45 am.
An Air Asia plane serving Pekanbaru-Jakarta route was expected to delay its landing at 10 am local time, from 8 am as earlier scheduled.
Meanwhile, haze also affected flight activities at Pinang Kampai airport in Dumai, Riau Province, on Monday.
Head of Pinang Kampai airport, Dumai City Edy S told ANTARA on the phone, Monday that the visibility was only 1,000 meters up to 11 am local time.
The Pinang Kampai airport had been closed due to the poor visibility since Monday morning, for safety reason, he said.
"The airport will be reopened when the visibility reaches 2,000 meters or above," he said.
Due to the airport`s closure, two flights by Pelita Air planes respectively chartered by PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia and PT Pertamina, had to be shifted to Sultan Syarif Kasim II airport in Pekanbaru, the capital city of Riau Province.
Haze continues blanketing Pekanbaru
The Jakarta Post 23 Jun 09;
Haze triggered by forest and plantation fires has continued to blanket Pekanbaru, Riau Province's capital, over the past month. Visibility in the city has dropped and a number of Pekanbaru residents complain that the haze is affecting their health.
MQ Rudi, a local resident, said he had started to suffer from throat irritation and respiratory problems.
"The haze lingers every day, and it gets worse in the evenings and mornings, when it gives off a strong smell," he told Antara state news agency.
The local weather agency said that 45 hotspots, which are an indication of forest or plantation fires, were detected in several districts in Riau.
Last week, Riau had to temporarily close its airport due to low visibility. (dre)
M. Ajisatria Suleiman, Jakarta Globe 22 Jun 09;
The management of natural resources has always been a hot issue for debate and will feature prominently in the upcoming presidential election. The debate over a neo-liberal economy versus a people-oriented economy has successfully spiced up the politicking. Among the hot buttons of debate is the management of oil and gas, which have always been at the center of political attention, attracting state institutions and politicians to involve themselves in the process, the most important aspect of which is the renegotiation of oil and gas contracts.
It is unfortunate that society does not award the management of other major natural resources, namely coal mining and palm plantations, the same attention so that the public might share its opinion on what should be done. Generalizing the issues will only create a piecemeal approach to natural resources reform as each sector has its own obstacles and opportunities.
It is strongly advised that the issue of palm plantations be addressed during the debates ahead of the presidential election. As the world’s largest producer of crude palm oil, and considering the global demand for the commodity, Indonesia is in a position to capitalize on both the global and domestic markets in order to reach the maximum — yet sustainable — gain from the palm oil industry for the welfare of its people. Palm plantation development also covers various aspects of legal, political, social, economic, human rights and environmental issues, so any novel ideas proposed by any candidates would display a comprehensive understanding of Indonesia’s development.
Furthermore, one may agree that the boldest issue of this presidential election is the contest between the so-called neo-liberalist economy and the people-oriented economy. Based on the 1945 Constitution, one of the important features of a people-oriented economy is that the economy is organized as a common endeavor based upon the principles of the community. This idea is generally delivered as a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled cooperative system. However, to date, the cooperative system in Indonesia remains underdeveloped and only contributes a very small part to the country’s economic development.
In this regard, the debate on the palm plantation industry will include the empowerment and partnership of palm companies, small palm estate-holders, palm workers and, most important, cooperatives.
According to the prevailing law on plantations, a company is required to establish a cooperation with land owners who are willing to cultivate their land. They will receive training, a supply of seeds and loan support from the company; in exchange, they will have to sell their product back to the company. If managed properly, the company will save extra money as it is not required to pay palm workers or to acquire the land.
It will be interesting to observe the view of the presidential candidates on how to empower and expand this partnership scheme to improve the living conditions of the people working and living on the plantations.
However, one must not close their eyes to the negative impact resulting from palm plantations. Land conversion of primary forests, rice fields and peatland into plantations is regarded as contrary to the efforts of the fight against climate change, as forests and peatland are two of the world’s top weapons in fighting global warming.
If the above issues were to be publicly debated and discussed, they would trigger national discourse on many issues, such as the long-awaited agrarian reform program, climate change mitigation strategies and environmental protection, food security, agriculture subsidies, sustainable forest management, cultural preservation and human-rights based development.
With regard to the issues of climate change and human rights, the Indonesian palm oil industry has suffered from international attacks due to allegations of environmental degradation and abuses of the rights of local communities as well as the palm workers. This has led the European Union to impose restrictions on CPO imported from Indonesia and Malaysia.
However, the increasing global awareness of CPO issues indicates that Indonesia can have a significant role and strong position in international and regional forums such as the WTO, UNFCCC and Asean, as well as in bilateral treaty negotiations. Again, a visionary leader should have an international strategy to be employed for the country’s best interests.
The rapid and massive development of palm plantations has significantly changed not only Indonesia but also the world. Placing the palm oil debate at the center of the presidential election will raise many interesting issues. Most important, given their complexities, the presidential candidates will be expected to seek the most commercially strategic, environmentally friendly and human rights friendly solutions, and only those genuinely committed to a people-oriented economy will find the solutions.
M. Ajisatria Suleiman is a legal consultant at a law firm specializing in agribusiness investment. He can be reached at aji.suleiman@gmail.com .
The Star 23 Jun 09;
KUALA LUMPUR: An efficient research and development (R&D) operation is crucial for palm oil to maintain and extend its global presence as the industry moves into increasingly uncertain environment wth economic dislocation and climatic changes.
Professor Denis J. Murphy from the University of Glamorgan said there were several major unresolved issues related to the biological aspects of oil palm R&D.
These include the environment context of oil palm cultivation, which encompasses numerous complex areas of science and policy making.
“One example is encouraging plantation biodiversity that is consistent with maintaining a sustainable level of production,” Murphy said at the 6th International Planters Conference organised by The Incorporated Society of Planters (ISP) yesterday.
He said the oil palm cropping system had unique advantage over annual oilseed crops such as soybean, rapeseed or sunflower, thanks to its year-round harvesting and multi-decade productive lifetime.
In addition, the oil palm has only just begun to benefit from modern high-tech breeding and selection techniques.
Earlier, Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok said the current low crude palm oil (CPO) price of RM2,350 per tonne was a reflection of potentially higher production months ahead.
Even the Malaysian Palm Oil Board recently has revised downward its annual CPO production this year to 17.5 million tonnes from its earlier estimate of 17.7 million tonnes.
Dompok was speaking to reporters after officiating at the conference and witnessing the signing of two MoUs between ISP and Malaysian Palm Oil Council, and ISP with Felda Plantations Sdn Bhd yesterday.
CPO production growth in Malaysia was expected to stay weak for the next two years due to an aggressive replanting scheme and hot weather, which would aggravate yield stress in oil palm trees, industry observers said.
Meanwhile, ISP chief executive officer Azizan Abdullah said the international conference managed to attract close to 800 participants from Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Netherlands.
More pertinent issues linked to sustainability and environment would be discussed today by key speakers from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, Sime Darby Bhd, Indonesian Palm Oil Board and the Malaysian Palm Oil Council. — By Hanim Adnan
The Independent 22 Jun 09;
A famous British company, Jardines, is profiting as the lowland forest – which shelters the few remaining orang-utans – is razed to make way for massive palm oil plantations, reports Kathy Marks in Tripa, Indonesia
Perched halfway up a tree near a bend in the Seumayan River, a young orang-utan lounges on a branch, eating fruit. In the distance, smoke rises from an illegal fire, one of dozens lit to wipe out the virgin rainforest and replace it with oil palm plantations.
It's burning season on Indonesia's Sumatra island, where vast tracts of vegetation are being torched and clear-felled to meet the soaring global demand for palm oil. The pace is especially frenzied in the peat swamp forests of the Tripa region, one of the final refuges of the critically endangered orang-utan – and a company owned by one of Britain's most venerable trading groups is among those leading the destructive charge.
Prized for its productiveness and versatility, palm oil is used in everything from lipstick and detergent to chocolate, crisps and biofuels. Indonesia and Malaysia are the world's biggest palm oil producers – but they also shelter the last remaining orang-utans, found only on Sumatra and Borneo islands in the same lowland forests that are being razed to make way for massive plantations.
In Indonesia, one of the largest palm oil companies is Astra Agro Lestari, a subsidiary of Astra International, a Jakarta-based conglomerate which is itself part of Jardine Matheson, a 177-year-old group that made a fortune from the Chinese opium trade and is still controlled by a Scottish family, the Keswicks, descendants of the original founders.
Conservation groups are targeting supermarkets in Britain to alert consumers to the effects of the palm oil explosion. But The Independent can reveal that Jardines, registered in Bermuda and listed on the London Stock Exchange, is implicated through Astra Agro in ripping out the final vestiges of orang-utan habitat.
Environmentalists are dismayed by the activities of Astra Agro, one of the main companies operating in Tripa under permits that were awarded during the 1990s by the notoriously corrupt Suharto government. They point out that Tripa belongs to the nominally protected Leuser Eco-System, renowned for its exceptional biodiversity, and claim that the plantation businesses are contravening a logging moratorium as well as engaging in illegal practices including burning land.
Greenpeace UK says: "It's scandalous that a British company is bankrolling the destruction of Indonesia's rainforests and peatlands. We need to see big firms like Jardines withdrawing investment from companies involved in rainforest clearance."
Orang-utans are vanishing at an alarming rate in Borneo but in Sumatra their situation is even more precarious. The Sumatran orang-utan – more intelligent and sociable than its Borneo cousin and with a unique culture of tool use – is likely to be the first great ape species to go extinct.
There are believed to be just 6,600 individuals left, mostly living in unprotected areas of Aceh province. Their lowland forests remained relatively undisturbed during the long-running separatist war in Aceh, but since a peace agreement was signed in 2005, it has been open season.
The primates are now splintered across 11 pockets of jungle, with only three populations considered viable. Another three, including Tripa, are borderline viable. Elsewhere, the orang-utans – which use sticks to extract insects from trees and seeds from fruit – are effectively extinct. As their territory shrinks, along with their food supplies, the apes are increasingly coming into conflict with humans. Farmers shoot those caught raiding crops; babies are captured and sold as pets. Adults discovered in oil palm plantations may be hacked to death with machetes.
In Tripa, more than half of the 62,000 hectares of ancient forest has gone. As well as being home to endangered species including the sun bear and clouded leopard, the peat swamps acted as a protective buffer during the 2004 tsunami. They also hold gigantic carbon stocks which are now being released, exacerbating climate change. "If you can't save Tripa, what can you save?" asks Denis Ruysschaert, forest co-ordinator for PanEco, a Swiss environmental organisation.
Sumatra is a beautiful island, with jungle-clad mountains and picturesque villages where long-horned water buffalo wander. But it is difficult not to be shocked by the colonisation of the landscape by one short, stumpy tree: oil palm. The monoculture is a desolate sight, stretching for miles, relieved only by charred hillsides dotted with tree stumps – cleared land awaiting yet more oil palms. Trucks rattle past, laden with the prickly red fruit from which oil is extracted. In Aceh, they call it the "golden plant" – the cash crop that is lifting the province out of poverty and helping it rebuild after the tsunami. "Recently there's a frenzy to plant oil palm," says Fransisca Ariantiningsih, who works for Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari (Yel), an Indonesian conservation group.
On Sumatra's west coast, a small-time farmer, Raluwan, is nursing his seedlings. Ten families, he explains, have logged and burnt 100 hectares of land. Each hectare will yield four tonnes of fruit, fetching 800 Rupiah (47 pence) a kilo."I used to grow chilli, but palm oil is a very economical crop," he declares. "You don't need much pesticide or fertiliser." Raluwan knows orang-utans live in the nearby forests. "I don't care," he says. "I've got to feed my family."
However, many are missing out as the industry grows to meet demand from Europe, the US, China and India. Most plantation workers are migrants from Java and in Tripa, communities that depend on the swamps for water, fish and medicinal plants are suffering.
Kuala Seumayan is hemmed in by plantations. Villagers say they no longer have space even to bury their dead. "Since the forest has been chopped down, it's difficult to get food," says one elder, Darmizi. In the Seumayan River, youngsters dive for freshwater clams while children squeal and splash in the placid brown waters. It's an idyllic scene, but something is missing: the sights and sounds of the forest. The only wildlife consists of a hornbill and two long-tailed macaques. Indrianto, a forestry manager, says: "This used to be all peat swamp, with many trees and animals. Now it's all oil palm. Before, I heard animal calls. Now I hear only chainsaws."
By chance, we spot an orang-utan in a solitary tree. Tripa has just 280 apes left. The young male, its fur glowing in the afternoon sun, curls one arm lazily over an upper branch.
A black slick floats on the water: sludge from one of many canals dug to drain the swamps. The arduous procedure is considered preferable to planting on fallow land, which would require negotiations with landowners. This way, the companies also get to sell the timber. As you fly over Tripa, the scale of destruction becomes clear. The green tangle of the forest, in all its riotous variety, abruptly gives way to giant rectangles, laid out with geometrical precision and studded with thousands of palms.
Riswan Zen, a spatial analyst for Yel, last flew over in 2007. "So much forest gone, and all in two years, my God," he says, gesticulating at a satellite imaging map. "If nothing is done, there'll be no forest left in one to two years."
Tripa, designated a priority conservation site by the UN, could hold 1,500 orang-utans if the forest was allowed to regenerate. Prospects seem slim, although Indonesia – one of the world's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, thanks to deforestation – claims to be committed both to saving the orang-utan and combating climate change.
Fewer than a quarter of Indonesian producers have joined the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, a global organisation promoting sustainable practices. (Astra Agro is not among them.) Even in Aceh, where Governor Irwandi Yusuf, a former rebel leader, has proclaimed a "Green Vision", authorities seem unwilling to crack down on the powerful oil palm companies.
So far, Jardines, whose colourful history inspired a series of novels by James Clavell, has resisted pressure to rein in its Indonesian subsidiary. In a statement to The Independent, Jardines – whose interests include the Mandarin Oriental hotels and Asian branches of Starbucks and IKEA – said Astra Agro's plantations "function in full compliance with ... environmental impact studies".
Astra Agro says it plans to develop only half of its 13,000 hectares in Tripa because of conservation concerns, and it denies any illegal activity.
Ian Singleton, a Briton who heads PanEco's Sumatran Orang-utan Conservation Programme, has no doubt that oil palm is the biggest threat to the orang-utan: "I see the orang-utan as a test case. Are we serious about trying to conserve the planet's eco-systems? If we are, let's prove it by saving a species like the orang-utan. We know where the orang-utans are; all we have to do is protect the forests. If we're serious about conservation, this is where we start."
At a glance: Jardine Matheson
*Founded by two Scottish traders in Canton, China in 1832, it was the first British trading company to smash the East India Company's Asian monopoly.
*Founder William Jardine was known as "the iron-headed old rat" for his toughness and asperity.
*The company's fortunes were founded on smuggling huge quantities of opium into China, creating millions of addicts.
*When the Chinese fought back, Jardine persuaded the British government to launch the First Opium War against China.
*Astra Agro, a subsidiary of the company, claims that "concern for the environment" is "an integral part of all the company's activities".
Papitchaya Boonngok, Reuters 22 Jun 09;
KHRAM ISLAND, Thailand (Reuters Life!) - Sea turtles have to battle humans hungry for their meat or eggs and fungal infections to survive, but in Thailand, the endangered species have the navy on their side.
Every year, dozens of mature sea turtles come ashore on Khram Island, an isolated island known as the biggest nesting site of sea turtles in the Gulf of Thailand, to lay their eggs.
The turtles born out of these eggs will also eventually return to the same island, some 30 km (19 miles) from the tourist beach town of Pattaya, when it is their time to lay eggs.
But the survival of these eggs, and the hatchlings, is under constant threat, which is why the navy has been protecting them for almost 20 years.
"Sea turtles in Thailand have not reached a critical endangered level," said Captain Aran Jiemyuu, Deputy Director of the Thai Navy's Sea Turtle Conservation Center which was set up in 1992.
"But that's because of our efforts. At Khram Island, we found green turtles, from 15 to 17-years-old laying eggs. It shows that the turtles laying eggs here may be turtles we nurtured and released to the sea or natural-born turtles on the island."
Sea turtles are recognised as an endangered species by International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
But Aran said the number of sea turtles in Thailand has increased since the project was set up.
Five species of the sea turtles have been found along the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman sea coast, including olive ridley turtle, green turtle, hawksbill turtle, loggerhead turtle and leatherback turtle.
On the island, navy conservationists use a sharp metal stick to find nests. These are then encircled by protective pens.
The conservationists also put tags on each pen to identify the number of eggs, the date of nesting and the expected birth date. It takes between 45 and 60 days for eggs to hatch.
"We observe the sand. If the sand is softer, we will dig it. If we find turtle eggs, we will move all the eggs to the front beach for further nurturing," said Commander Tosporn Osathanond, chief of staff the conservation center.
Once born, the new baby turtles are collected and moved to tanks where they are fed minced fish and scrubbed to prevent fungal infections.
Some 15,000 green and hawksbill baby turtles are housed at the navy's conservation center each year. The newborns are kept in tanks and once they are strong enough, after about six months, they are released into the sea.
Sea turtles in Thailand are often killed for their meat or eggs, which are regarded as a delicacy. Many sea turtles also die when they are caught in fishing nets.
Killing the creatures and collecting their eggs is prohibited by law and violators risk a fine of up to $1,160 and jail.
Some environmentalists have praised the navy's efforts, saying its only right for the turtles to get human protection since the threats they face are largely man-made.
"Because humans destroy nature, natural conservation practices should begin with humans," said Captain Winai Klom-in, sea turtle specialist.
(Editing by Miral Fahmy)
Niniek Karmini, Associated Press Yahoo News 22 Jun 09;
BANDUNG, Indonesia – Indonesian scientists are reconstructing the largest, most complete skeleton of a prehistoric giant elephant ever found in the tropics, a finding that may offer new clues into the largely mysterious origins of its modern Asian cousin.
The prehistoric elephant is believed to have been submerged in quicksand shortly after dying on a riverbed in Java around 200,000 years ago. Its bones — almost perfectly preserved — were discovered by chance in March when an old sand quarry collapsed during monsoon rains.
The animal stood four meters (13-feet) tall, five meters (16-feet) long and weighed more than 10 tons — closer in size to the woolly mammoth of the same period than to the great Asian mammals now on Earth.
Animal fossils are rare in the humid, hot climate of the equator because decomposition occurs extremely quickly.
Following a monthlong excavation, a team of seven paleontologists from the Geology Museum in Bandung, West Java, set the bones in plaster for the trip back to their office where they will be laboriously pieced back together.
"We believe from the shape of its teeth that it was a very primitive elephant," but little else has been verified, said paleontologist Fachroel Aziz, who is heading a 12-strong skeletal reconstruction team.
Scientists agree it is the first time an entire prehistoric elephant skeleton has been unearthed since vertebrate fossil findings began to be recorded in Indonesia in 1863.
"It is very uncommon to discover a fossil like this in a tropical region like Indonesia," said Edi Sunardi, an independent expert at Indonesia's Pajajaran University in Bandung, West Java. "It apparently was covered by volcanic sediment that protected it from high temperatures, erosion and decay."
The next challenge will be removing the delicate bones from their molds and joining them into a stable, upright structure, a process that experts said is already being hampered by a lack of funding, inadequate tools and poor expertise.
Indonesia, an emerging and impoverished democracy of 235 million people, cannot afford to allocate more than a token sum to its aging museums, even for projects that have the potential to advance knowledge about the origin of key native species.
Gert van den Berg, a researcher at Australia's Wollongong University who helped dig up the skeleton, said tests are under way to determine its precise age and species, and that they will help provide details "about when the modern elephants evolved into what they are now."
About 2,000 old elephant remains have been found across the island nation over the past 150 years, but never in such good condition, Aziz said.
"We want to exhibit it publicly because this is a spectacular discovery," he said.
Linda Geddes, New Scientist 22 Jun 09;
Great white sharks have more in common with serial killers than just their fearsome reputation. It turns out that their hunting strategies are far from random. When deciding where to launch their attacks, they balance prey availability with factors such as finding a good hiding place – just serial killers do.
Little was know about great whites' hunting strategies, except that they are more successful at hunting in low light conditions, and that large sharks tend to be better a catching prey than smaller younger sharks. So Neil Hammerschlag of the University of Miami, Florida, and his colleagues used geographical profiling, a tool more commonly used by police tracking down serial killers.
To investigate how sharks hunt for Cape fur seals off Seal Island in South Africa, the team used the locations of 340 shark attacks to determine whether the sites of such attacks were random, and if not, the most likely "anchor point" from which attacks were being launched.
When the team fed their results into computer model, it suggested that great whites don't attack at random, but from well-defined anchor points or lairs.
"This wasn't where the seal concentration was greatest," says Hammerschlag. He suspects it was a balance between prey detection, competition with other sharks, and environmental conditions that let them launch a quick vertical attack where the water is clear enough to see the seals.
Larger, older sharks also seemed to have more defined anchor points than younger sharks. "This could mean two things. Sharks could refine their hunting with experience. It could be that as they get older, the sharks learn which are the best hunting spots," says Hammerschlag. Alternatively, the larger sharks could be deliberately excluding the smaller sharks from the best hunting spots, leaving them to take their chances elsewhere.
Journal reference: Journal of Zoology (DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2009.00586.x)
Hiroshi Hiyama Yahoo News 22 Jun 09;
TOKYO (AFP) – As the International Whaling Commission started its annual meeting in Portugal Monday, a group of bars and restaurants near Tokyo have sought to lure patrons with an exotic new spread of whale dishes.
On the menu, alongside local staples such as whale sashimi, were new creations including whale spring rolls, whale bacon and even an Italian cheese whale cutlet -- all served with a dollop of local whaling history.
"Whale meat is a very important part of Japanese tradition," said Masanobu Tai, the restaurateur leading the promotional drive in the Noge district of the port city of Yokohama, an area of narrow lanes filled with bars and eateries.
"If whaling is not done to excess, I think this is a great thing... Whale meat is delicious, high in protein, low in fat," he added as staff in his pork cutlet restaurant dished up a new treat, whale dumplings.
Anti-whaling nations led by Australia and New Zealand, as well as environmental groups, have attacked Japan for its annual whaling expeditions, including in Antarctic waters, criticising them as cruel and unnecessary.
Japan hunts whales by using a loophole in a 1986 IWC moratorium on commercial whaling that allows "lethal research," and Tokyo often accuses western critics of insensitivity toward its traditions.
Tai said he and others were trying to celebrate that tradition in Yokohama, which this year marks 150 years since it opened its doors to the world in an era when American traders and whalers led the push to enter Japanese ports.
"When we opened the history books of the city, we learned that whale was very much part of it," Tai said, adding that whale meat sold in the local black market in the lean post-World War II years was a precious source of protein.
"I think Japan should protect our culture within the framework of the IWC while seeking understanding in the international community," he said.
"Not many people eat whale any more," Tai conceded. "Some people come to our restaurants to remember the past. Some people bring their younger colleagues from work to taste whale," Tai said.
A 2008 survey by the Nikkei business newspaper found that only 12 percent of Japanese in their 20s eat whale meat.
The Worldwide Fund for Nature in a report last week charged that Japan, as well as Norway, has been wasting millions of dollars in taxpayer money to sustain whaling, which it said was likely a loss-making industry.
Hopes were muted for much progress on reaching compromise on whaling and conservation at the IWC meeting starting Monday on Portugal's Madeira island. The focus of talks is now whether to allow Tokyo to conduct commercial whaling near its coast if it scales down its Antarctic hunt.
Watching whalers and whales in Madeira
Remi Parmentier, BBC Green Room 22 Jun 09;
As a special working group of the International Whaling Commission meets this week, Pew Environment Group adviser Remi Parmentier says a thorny issue is Japan's position on whaling for scientific purposes. In this week's Green Room, he explains the merits of exploring a compromise that could potentially put the controversy to rest.
After a year of meetings and conversations, a special working group of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) charged with solving the Gordian knot of whale conservation will officially request another year of work.
This request will take place at the IWC annual meeting this week on the Portuguese island of Madeira.
The tangled knot twists around the status of the moratorium on commercial whaling, which is being circumvented by Japan, as well as Norway and Iceland.
Since the moratorium began in 1986, IWC records show that more than 30,000 whales have been killed by a few remaining whaling countries.
Among the species targeted are some that the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists as endangered, such as fin and sei whales, and vulnerable, such as sperm whales.
Under the international treaty of 1946 that governs the IWC, its member states do not need to ask IWC permission to allow the killing of whales if they claim that the purpose is scientific research.
In 1987, the Japanese government launched its first "scientific whaling" programme, targeting 300 minke whales in the Southern Ocean.
However, after the whales are sampled by Japanese scientists, the meat is sold like any other fisheries catch - or stored frozen when there is not enough demand.
Every year, Japan's "research" has expanded. Currently two programmes are conducted: in the North Pacific and the Southern Ocean, with a ceiling of roughly 1,400 whales of five different species.
'Win-win'
In Madeira, Japan will once again be urged to agree to abandon its scientific whaling. This is a key requirement for countries opposing whaling.
One hook for Japan could be that in exchange for dropping scientific whaling, the IWC could authorise some whaling by Japan's small coastal whalers around the Japanese coast, under IWC supervision and management.
Some think that this could be a win-win scenario.
Countries in the southern hemisphere that demand an end to whaling in the Southern Ocean, an area declared a sanctuary for whales by the IWC in 1994, could be satisfied that whales there would not be hunted, and that Japanese coastal whaling would come back under the control of the IWC.
At the same time, the Japanese delegation could return home, claiming that their advocacy on behalf of coastal whalers has been heard, that the underwriting of its costly whaling operations will stop, and that the decades-long international wrangling over its whaling in the high seas, which has been bad for Japan's reputation worldwide, will end.
The IWC could also move on to newer problems that face whales, such as toxic and noise pollution, climate change, collisions with ships and entrapment in fishing nets.
A former spokesperson for Japan's Foreign Affairs Ministry, Tomohiko Taniguchi, made an almost identical proposal in a landmark article published in a Japanese magazine earlier this year.
Mr Taniguchi has said publicly what many of his colleagues presumably think quietly, which is that Japan's national interest "is not served by losing friends needlessly as a result of stubbornly insisting on fighting an unwinnable war".
Employment opportunities
But a positive response from Japan in the negotiations has been elusive.
And whether everyone on all sides of the issue can live with such a compromise is unclear. There are concerns that this could open a Pandora's box with other countries that may also be keen to engage in coastal whaling.
South Korea, for example, has suggested for some time that if Japan is allowed to go whaling in the Sea of Japan, which the Koreans call the Sea of Korea, they would want to do so as well.
The Pew Environment Group would prefer that commercial whaling be brought to an end altogether.
ut we see merit in the proposal flagged by Mr Taniguchi and others, to offer an immediate way forward because maintaining the status quo is untenable.
Japanese scholars have also argued that in the longer term, once government subsidies for scientific whaling are gone, the reality of the market might well precipitate the end of whaling.
Whale watching and other non-lethal uses for tourist, educational and scientific purposes are far more profitable than whaling.
The people of the island of Madeira, where the IWC is meeting this year, pride themselves on having ended their traditional whaling in the mid-1980s.
Now, whale-watching contributes more to the local economy than whale hunting did, and this form of eco-tourism creates employment for former whale hunters and boatmen. The same could be true for Japan as well.
If the IWC decides this week to continue the dialogue on the future of whale conservation, this annual meeting in Madeira may exhaust its agenda fairly quickly, waiting for Japan to come back with some serious proposals.
If so, instead of going home early, it might be a good idea for delegates to pursue their conversations informally on board Madeira's whale watching boats, and see for themselves that there is no need to kill whales to make money.
Remi Parmentier is a senior policy adviser to the Pew Environment Group, which organised several symposia in the last two years to enhance dialogue within the IWC
The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website
Thomas Cabral Yahoo News 22 Jun 09;
FUNCHAL, Portugal (AFP) – The organisation that regulates world whaling opened a crucial conference with leaders seeking to avoid a disastrous split over hunting the marine mammals.
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) conference on the Portuguese island of Madeira faces demands to resume the hunting of whales, protected by a moratorium dating back to 1986 with some exceptions limited by quota.
But environmentalists want the IWC with 85 member states to fend off intense lobbying from states with commercial interests, amid a new attempt to find a compromise on the issue after years of deadlock.
Regardless of the moratorium, almost 40,000 whales have been killed worldwide since 1985 by countries which refuse to sign up to the IWC treaty, arguing they are conducting scientific or "lethal" research, or simply maintaining "aboriginal" (subsistence) fishing.
IWC head William Hogarth told journalists he hoped to see the conference agree to extend talks begun by a panel in 2008 for another year -- but they could not go on longer, he warned.
"I don't think that people are willing to wait more than one year," he said. "If we don't have answers by 2010, I think a lot of countries will be looking for another way to solve this."
The working party set up, at the last conference in Santiago, was charged with drawing up an interim deal on the most urgent disputes -- including the definition of "lethal research."
Hogarth said the main stumbling block was his proposal to let Japan resume commercial whaling off its coast in exchange for a cut in its so-called scientific whaling in the Antarctic.
Australia and Japan, arch foes on whaling, have both publicly rejected the compromise.
A member of Japan's delegation spoke in favour of another year's extension to the negotiations.
"We hope that we will reach a consensus within the IWC to continue our efforts for one more year" to reach a deal "for the normalisation of the IWC," said Japanese lawmaker Yoshimasa Hayashi.
Japan, which says whaling is part of its culture, kills more than 1,000 whales a year through a loophole in the treaty that allows the ocean giants to be killed for research, although the meat still ends up on dinner tables.
Environmental groups seeking to end commercial and scientific research whaling also raised health concerns claiming whale meat is loaded with contaminants from PCBS to dioxin, according to a report by anti-whaling activists Blue Voice.
"Most dolphin, sperm whales and porpoises swimming in our oceans today are swimming toxic dumpsites, their meat and blubber so highly contaminated that it exceeds levels considered safe for human consumption," said biologist Roger Payne, founder of Ocean Alliance.
While Norway and Iceland defy the moratorium altogether, Japan's whaling is especially controversial as much of the hunt takes place in the Antarctic Ocean despite protests by Australia and New Zealand and harassment by eco-militants.
Hogarth, who is also the US delegate to the IWC, is heading his last IWC conference after a three-year term.
He has warned that global whale stocks are "in bad shape." But he says anti-whaling nations should set a more realistic goal of limiting rather than ending Japan's catch.
Greenpeace however charged that the IWC needed to transform itself from a body that "attempts to manage whales for the benefit of the whaling industry, to an organisation that seeks to conserve and protect cetaceans worldwide."
Iceland, looking to join the European Union, has significantly raised its self-imposed quotas for this year in a move condemned by countries including Britain, France, Germany and the United States.
Greenland also plans to increase its permitted quotas for humpback subsistence whaling, which has drawn protests from the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) seeking to protect the rare species.
BBC News 21 Jun 09;
A fossil study of the extinct giant kangaroo has added weight to the theory that humans were responsible for the demise of "megafauna" 46,000 years ago.
The decline of plants through widespread fire or changes toward an arid climate have also played into the debate about the animals' demise.
But an analysis of kangaroo fossils suggested they ate saltbush, which would have thrived in those conditions.
The research is in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
There has long been dissent in the palaeontology community about the cause for extinctions worldwide after the end of the last ice age.
Central to the debate has been the demise of the Australian megafauna, including animals such as marsupial lions, hippopotamus-sized wombats and the 2m-tall giant kangaroo Procoptodon goliah .
Last year, researchers dated fossils from Tasmania with the best precision yet, finding that many species survived more than 2,000 years after the arrival of humans.
The researchers concluded that the megafauna eventually met their end due to hunting.
Dental exam
Now, researchers from Australia and the US have combined radiocarbon dating with a so-called microwear analysis of the teeth of P. goliah to determine what it ate and drank.
Different sources of water and food leave trace amounts of particular types, or isotopes, of hydrogen and carbon atoms, which are deposited in the teeth like a recorded diet.
Additionally, tiny patterns of wear give clues about the type of food a given creature chewed.
The team concluded that the giant kangaroos fed mainly on saltbush shrubs.
Because fire does not propagate well among saltbush, and because it thrives in a dry, arid climate, the case supporting two of the three potential causes for extinction was weakened.
Evidence suggests therefore that the P. goliah was hunted to extinction.
However, it is just one of many species whose disappearance fuels the debate, and there is much more work to be done before it can be considered a definitive proof.
"I'm a little hesitant to make a big conclusion," said co-author of the study, Larisa DeSantis of the University of Florida.
"What's really exciting is that this is one of the first instances where we've been able to use both isotopes and the microwear method to identify this very unique diet," she told BBC News.
Dr DeSantis said that she was pursuing a similar analysis of other megafauna fossils in other regions of Australia.
"This study neatly ties up several loose threads in the long-running extinction debate," said Richard Roberts of the University of Wollongong in Australia.
"By independently reaching the same conclusion for two very different environments - the mountainous rainforests of Tasmania and the dry rangelands of inland Australia - the mystery is no longer whether humans were ultimately responsible for the disappearance of the giant marsupials, but how they did it."
Yahoo News 22 Jun 09;
DURBAN, South Africa (AFP) – Millions of sardines have begun their annual migration down South Africa's east coast, but fewer fish are making the journey due to rising ocean temperatures, a researcher said Monday.
Known as the Sardine Run, the spectacular marine migration with schools miles long attracts dolphins and birds, spawning a cottage industry for the tourists who flock to the Indian Ocean coast in KwaZulu-Natal province to witness the spectacle.
"Our best Sardine Runs happen when the water is cold. Water is still warm along the KwaZulu-Natal coast and at this stage, things are not looking good," said Sean O'Donoghue, a researcher at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
In winter, when the ocean's temperature dips below 20 degrees (68 Fahrenheit), millions of sardines travel 2,000 kilometres (1,250 miles) along the coast up as far as the port city of Durban.
"The temperature along the KwaZulu-Natal coast is rising just above what sardines can tolerate," O'Donoghue told AFP.
"We are really at the limit. If the temperature gets warmer with the global warming... sardines are unlikely to come as far up the coast," he said.
The Sardine Run plays a critical role in the region's marine ecosystem. Tens of thousands of dolphins, a thousand sharks and more than 100,000 sea birds feed off the sardines when they pass through the coast waters that offer little nutrition during the rest of the year.
Up to 10 million fish join the migration, which attracts about 100,000 visitors to the coast during June and July.
Pierre-henry Deshayes, Yahoo News 22 Jun 09;
OEYGARDEN, Norway (AFP) – Tucked away in the corner of an enchanting fjord, 600,000 baby trout frolick in underwater cages as they wait their turn to end up on dinner plates: fish farming is booming in Norway, under the watchful eye of environmentalists.
In Oeygarden near the western Norwegian town of Bergen, the Blom family's fish farm consists of a building constructed on the water and three submerged basins where the fish are raised.
It is just one of the 800 fish farms dotting the coastline in the Scandinavian country, where three times more salmon and trout are produced than meat.
But while fish farming helps ease the pressure that industrial fishing is putting on the planet's fish stocks, it is not without its own slew of problems.
Farmed fish that escape, rampant illnesses and a debate over feed have tarnished the reputation of a sector whose exports totalled 2.5 billion euros (3.5 billion dollars) in Norway last year.
"In some areas the problems are so big that we cannot certify that it is (environmentally) sustainable. We should chill down the growth and make sure that all the main problems are under control," says Geir Lasse Taranger, research program manager at Bergen's Institute of Marine Research.
Heavy concentrations of fish encourage the spread of diseases and parasites that can have a disastrous effect on stocks, such as Lepeophtheirus salmonis, a louse that attacks fishes' skin and mucous membranes.
In Chile, the second-biggest producer of farmed salmon after Norway, a virus that emerged earlier this year devastated stocks and halved production, putting 20,000 people out of work, according to the international environmental group Pure Salmon Campaign.
The problems are not limited to the fish farms. Many of the farmed fish escape from their cages and contaminate the wild salmon, thereby weakening the stocks' genetic makeup.
"The wild genotype will disappear if there are too many escapes," Taranger said.
Fish farms saw a peak of 920,000 salmon escapes in 2006, prompting the industry to roll up its sleeves and tackle the problem.
Divers who inspect the cages' nets as well as video cameras helped bring the number of escapes down to just 100,000 last year.
The industry's woes haven't ended with that, though. Fish farmers feeding practices have also landed them in the hot seat.
A recent Swedish documentary created a stir in Scandinavia when it accused Norwegian fish farms of emptying the oceans. In order to produce one kilogramme (2.2 pounds) of farmed fish, the equivalent of 2.5 kilogrammes of wild fish in meal and oil are needed.
Norway's farms, which produced just over 800,000 tonnes of fish last year, consumed 2.0 million tonnes of wild fish.
But professionals say their practices are among the best in the food industry.
"Salmon and trout are very efficient in the use of proteins, much more so than chicken, pork or beef" which require more feed per kilogramme produced, insists Oeyvind Blom, who runs the family farm in Oeygarden.
"So it's very sustainable and environmentally friendly in our view," he says.
But environmentalists, who are generally favourable to fish farming, still want to see an improvement.
"We're not concerned about the ratio between the quantity of feed and the final product. What worries us is what the feed is made of," says Nina Jensen, a marine biologist at World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Norway.
She says some of the fish meal and oil are derived from wild fish stocks that are vulnerable, such as sand eel, Icelandic mackerel and Norway pout.
The WWF has therefore called for the feed contents to be traceable so that producers know which fish were used in the process.
"We know it for any other farmed animal, so why not farmed fish," asks Jensen.
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