Best of our wild blogs: 10 Jul 09

A Grand Species @ Central Catchment Area
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature

Changi beach - Endless sea of pens and pencils
from Singapore Nature and
from wild shores of singapore

Blue-throated Bee-eater: 3. Feeding the chicks
from Bird Ecology Study Group

*Slurp* That duck looks delicious
from The annotated budak

Buried Beneath the Greenery – Singapore Street Directory #1
from My Itchy Fingers

How to Green the Clothes Hanger with bloomerHang
from AsiaIsGreen

PURE - Lifestyle Magazine by PUB
from AsiaIsGreen

"The Anthropocene"
Are We Living in a New Geological Era? Experts Say "Yes" from The Daily Galaxy: News from Planet Earth & Beyond

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New conservation fund to protect Singapore's endangered species

938 LIVE | Channel NewsAsia 10 Jul 09;

SINGAPORE: Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) has set aside S$1 million to protect and save Singapore's native endangered species.

The newly-launched conservation fund will concentrate on native animal conservation efforts and the issue of climate change.

Group CEO of WRS, Fanny Lai, said: "We hope to encourage light-minded individuals and organisations that share the same cause to come forward to apply for this fund and be involved in discovering, learning, and protecting our biodiversity.

"And the other way that we can achieve this together is through our field conservation work, education and public awareness programme, human animal work conflict of resolution, capacity building in both Singapore and in the region, and through sharing of best practices."

The first recipient is the National University of Singapore's (NUS') Ah Meng Memorial Conservation Fund, which will receive S$500,000 over five years.

This will support the academic research and study of endangered native wildlife undertaken by students and faculty members of NUS.

NUS' director of special projects, Leo Tan, said: "The first project that we'll be working on is a detailed study of the ecology of banded monkey or the banded leaf monkey. They call it the banded langur. And this is a very small population in Singapore, there are maybe less than 30 of them. They are very endangered species. In fact, they are one of the only four primate species in Singapore.

"This study will help us to determine their feeding habits, how far they range to search for food, and also what kind of food they eat, to have a better understanding of whether we can help to preserve this population."

The WRS Conservation Fund was launched at the Singapore Zoo on Friday with President SR Nathan as the guest-of-honour.

Individuals and organisations will soon be able to submit project proposals to the WRS Conservation Fund.

Funding support will be subject to approval by an independent Specialist Panel. More information can be found at www.wrscf.org.sg.

- 938LIVE/yt

New fund to protect endangered species here
First such public fund in Singapore will support local conservation efforts
Straits Times 11 Jul 09;

WHEN you next visit the Jurong BirdPark, the Singapore Zoo or the Night Safari, you could be helping to rescue Singapore's endangered animals.

Since April, 20 cents from each entry ticket to the three parks have been donated to a new conservation fund.

The Wildlife Reserves Singapore Conservation Fund was officially launched yesterday by Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS), the parent company of the three parks. The fund is the first public one here aimed specifically at protecting the island's endangered species.

It will fund local conservation efforts, and it also aims to raise awareness about the effect of climate change on the range of plant and animal life, as well as snuff out illegal wildlife trade.

WRS has put $1 million in seed money into the fund. Another $100,000 has been pledged by corporate and private donors. It further aims to raise $1 million every year from ticket sales. An annual charity bazaar on World Animal Day is planned and donation boxes will be placed in the three parks.

This marks a big step forward in financial support for conservation, considering that WRS spent $500,000 on conservation in its own parks over the last 22 years.

The new fund has committed $500,000 over five years to the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Ah Meng Conservation Fund, which will study the banded langur monkey as its first project. Fewer than 30 such monkeys are estimated to be left here.

Another project it will support is a monthly wild bird survey to catalogue Singapore's endangered birds and to identify those that can be protected. A separate survey on flying squirrels and giant squirrels has been lined up.

Before grants are awarded, proposed projects are assessed by a panel of eight experts from agencies including the National Parks Board, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority and the zoo. The panel will make its recommendations to a five-member board of trustees, which will set the level of funding for approved projects.

WRS will not apply for grants for its own conservation projects, as it will continue to use funds from its own operating budget for those, said Ms Fanny Lai, group chief executive of WRS.

Trustee Leo Tan, director of special projects at NUS' Faculty of Science, said the fund was a boon to those who want to work on protecting wildlife.

'There are many things we don't understand yet. This is why research is critical. The fund will identify those species we should be looking at,' he said.

Those working to administer the fund, such as honorary managing director Daisy Ling, are all WRS employees doing this on a voluntary basis. Ms Claire Chiang, who chairs both WRS and the fund, said that when the fund is more established, it will hire its own administrative staff.

The charity has Institution of a Public Character status, meaning it is allowed to collect tax-deductible donations.

President S R Nathan, who was at the launch of the fund, sealed a time capsule containing wishes for Singapore's wildlife made by the public. It will be opened in 2023, when the zoo marks its 50th anniversary.

Visit the zoo and help save wildlife
Straits Times 11 Jul 09;

ZOO visitors taking pictures of the pangolin, an endangered species which is native to Singapore. To save it and Singapore's other endangered animals, Wildlife Reserves Singapore, the parent company of the Singapore Zoo, Night Safari and Jurong Bird Park, launched the Wildlife Reserves Singapore Conservation Fund yesterday. The company donates 20 cents from each entry ticket to the charity.

$1 million to save the monkeys
Today Online 11 Jul 09;

EFFORTS to protect and save the banded leaf monkey and other endangered species native to Singapore have just been given a $1-million boost.

That is the amount that the Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) has set aside for a fund that will focus on native animal conservation efforts and the issue of climate change.

Ms Fanny Lai, WRS' Group CEO, said: "We hope to encourage like-minded individuals and organisations that share the same cause to come forward to apply for this fund and be involved in discovering, learning, and protecting our biodiversity.

"And the other way that we can achieve this together is through our field conservation work, education and public awareness programme, human animal work conflict of resolution, capacity building in both Singapore and in the region, and through sharing of best practices."

The first recipient is the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Ah Meng Memorial Conservation Fund, which will receive $500,000 over five years. The money will support the academic research and study of endangered native wildlife undertaken by NUS students and faculty members.

NUS' director of special projects, Mr Leo Tan, said: "The first project that we'll be working on is a detailed study of the ecology of banded monkey or the banded leaf monkey. They call it the banded langur.

"And this is a very small population in Singapore - there are maybe fewer than 30 of them. They are very endangered species. In fact, they are one of the only four primate species in Singapore."

He added: "This study will help us to determine their feeding habits ... and also what kind of food they eat, to have a better understanding of whether we can help to preserve this population."

The WRS Conservation Fund was launched at the Singapore Zoo on Friday, with President S R Nathan as the guest-of-honour. Individuals and organisations will soon be able to submit project proposals to the WRS Conservation Fund. Funding support will be subject to approval by an independent specialist panel. 938LIVE

For more information, visit www.wrscf.org.sg

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SkatePark among new facilities at East Coast Park after makeover

New haunt for extreme sports lovers
Tessa Wong, Straits Times 10 Jul 09;

EAST Coast Park is giving lovers of extreme sports a good reason to be there.

Its $7.6 million Xtreme SkatePark for skateboarders, inline skaters and BMX bikers is now open. It occupies a space the size of 21/2 football fields.
The makeover of what is perhaps Singapore's most famous stretch of beach is almost complete with this development.

The park, sited near Carpark F1 between the food village and the Bedok Jetty, has three international standard courses designed by Australians:

# A street course with street obstacles such as stairs, handrails and ledges;

# A combo bowl with varying depths; and

# A 3.6m-deep vertical bowl for advanced-level skaters and bikers to show off their tricks.

The park will host its first extreme sports competition on Aug 29 and 30 - the Singapore Xtreme Championship.

The major sprucing up of the 35-year-old East Coast Park began in 2005. The National Parks Board (NParks), with a $160 million budget, divided its 185ha into several zones for various groups of users of the park, such as families, diners and sports enthusiasts.

In the vicinity of the SkatePark, NParks has created a cable-ski facility and a beach club that offers diving courses and weekend sailing classes. A beach volleyball facility is also a possibility.

Elsewhere in East Coast Park, NParks has created a bougainvillea garden, a seafood centre and a playing field.

These are on top of infrastructural improvements such as converting bare spots on the coastline into sandy beach, the upgrading of Bedok Jetty and park amenities, and the relocating of boat storage areas.

Some ideas mooted in 2005 were nixed after the public was consulted.

One of these was a tram system, which got the thumbs-down from park-goers, especially joggers, who felt it would get in their way.

Multi-storey carparks were also rejected. Park-goers said they would mar the park's low-rise ambience.

What's next in the upgrading programme: The conversion of a former golf driving range into an open field, expected to be completed by the end of the year.

NParks' director of parks Kong Yit San said the next round of improvement works is slated for 2015.

These upgrading efforts will ensure that the park keeps its position as a top lifestyle destination for Singaporeans and tourists alike.

Mr Kong said: 'The vision for East Coast Park is that at the end of the day, when people think of recreation...outdoor active sports or wellness, they will think of East Coast Park.

'And when they come here, they will have a nice space to really pursue their sporting lifestyle.'

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Captured python released in forest

Tampines family declines AVA offer to take snake to zoo
The New Paper 10 Jul 09;

THE 3m-long python which terrified a family in their Tampines flat is now back in the wild where it belongs.

After being caught on Monday, the reptile spent the night in an enclosed empty fish tank in the corridor outside the flat.

Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) officers yesterday offered to take the snake to the zoo.

But Miss Charmaine Tan, 24, a part-time sales assistant, and her brother chose to release it into the wild instead.

At about 3pm, her boyfriend dropped by to pick up the tank and drove to a forested area in Mandai to release the snake.

Said Miss Tan: 'My brother and I feel responsible for the python, and since it's a wild animal, we thought that it shouldn't be held captive.'

The New Paper reported yesterday that the python had made its way into the Tans' 12th-floor flat in Tampines.

The family called a pest control company, but they ended up catching the python themselves after they couldn't agree on a price.

Miss Tan and her father, Christopher, 52, a housing agent, then put it into a pillowcase and secured it by tying a knot.

They placed the pillowcase into a 50cm-long fish tank that Miss Tan's boyfriend had brought.

Very strong

The family placed a metal sheet on top of the tank and weighed it down with bricks so the snake, which Mr Tan described as strong, could not escape.

Mr Tan covered the glass portion of the tank so that their neighbours would not be alarmed.

'We knew that the snake couldn't escape since it was tied up inside the pillow case and was in the glass tank,' said Miss Tan.

When her brother, full-time national serviceman Mark Tan, 20, returned home at about 7pm on Monday night, he called the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) to pick up the snake.

But he was told that Acres could not keep the snake.

'Instead, they told us to release it into a heavily forested area,' said Miss Tan.

She said that she knew of only two forests - in Mandai and MacRitchie. Since the Mandai forest is more isolated, Miss Tan and her brother decided to release the snake there.

An AVA spokesman said that it was not illegal to release the snake into the jungle.

Audrey Tan Ruiping, newsroom intern

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Bigger 'save energy' drive goes to Singapore heartland

Roadshows, exhibitions to engage residents and show ways to save costs
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 10 Jul 09;

EFFORTS to reduce Singapore's dependence on energy generated by fossil fuels have been ramped up and aimed at the heartland.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan launched a bigger, better version of the Energy Save Programme yesterday.

The scheme, initially launched in December, involves roadshows and exhibitions to engage residents and raise awareness of energy issues within HDB estates.

'Being more efficient with energy keeps Singapore competitive and less dependent on the import of fuel for power generation,' said Mr Mah at the launch of the first roadshow in Tampines. 'At a personal level, residents can reduce their energy bills and save money.'

The programme, a joint effort between the HDB, the National Environment Agency and the Energy Market Authority, aims to reduce energy consumption by 30 per cent or more in common areas in HDB estates within five years.

It also hopes to help households reduce their energy usage by 10 per cent.

There is huge potential for reducing energy consumption in the heartland, given that more than 80 per cent of Singaporeans live in HDB estates, racking up an annual power bill of about $1.2 billion.

The scaled-up programme will feature six roadshows and 25 outreach exhibitions a year over the next five years.

Residents can view a mock-up flat at the roadshow called My Energy Save Home, which will feature exhibits to educate residents on reducing energy usage. For example, changing from a one-tick rated refrigerator to a four-tick rated model can deliver annual savings of up to $110.

The tick ratings indicate energy efficiency. Four ticks means an appliance is more energy efficient than one with three ticks.

The programme could reap an estimated annual cost savings amount of $30 million for town councils and $90 million for HDB households islandwide, said Mr Mah.

Pilot tests at HDB estates such as Serangoon North and Wellington Circle last year showed that energy savings of 30 per cent in common areas can be made by using solar panels and energy-efficient light bulbs.

As part of the programme, home owners can exchange conventional light bulbs, even used ones, for new energy-saving light bulbs at the roadshow.

Retailers will also offer energy-efficient appliances at special discounts.

Mr Mah said: 'We are talking about many significant savings using today's technology, using what is already available at the market, using solutions that have already been proven.

'These are the so-called low-hanging fruits of our energy saving effort.'

Additional reporting by Kate Lim

New roadshow launched to teach residents to be more energy efficient
Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia 10 Jul 09;

SINGAPORE: A new roadshow was launched on Thursday to encourage public housing residents to be more energy efficient.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan was guest of honour at the event in his Tampines constituency.

The programme is in support of the National Environment Agency's 10% Energy Challenge campaign which aims to reduce energy consumption in housing estates by at least 10 per cent and common areas by 30 per cent.

A new guide book to educate residents on energy saving tips was also launched. - CNA/de

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Busting 6 myths about water governance

Seetharam Kallidaikurichi & Eduardo Araral, Straits Times 10 Jul 09;

A RECENT conference held at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy mulled over how the performance of the water sector might be boosted.

On the theme that water governance matters, six myths were delved into and lessons learnt.

First, water governance is not about forming another consumer association or enacting one more law. Instead, it is all about leadership that can bring change in the behaviour of people responsible for managing and operating water resources.

Second, private sector involvement is not a panacea for urban water problems. One must adopt 'best sourcing' principles and be able to manage the critical components of one's water infrastructure. Singapore's Public Utilities Board has done this remarkably well.

Third, waste water reclamation is not an option only for a few water-stressed cities in the Middle East or Singapore. It has to become an integral part of a comprehensive sanitation and river management programme to improve the overall efficiency of water use.

Fourth, in regard to drinking water, the issue is not about the price of bottled water. People will dig deep into their pockets to pay the high prices that bottlers charge for the first few litres of water needed to stay healthy.

Many woes are in fact deeply rooted in the inefficient water management practices in the irrigation sector, which consumes over 80per cent of water resources in countries like China and India.

In the management of river basins, a new model is evolving with management functions dependent on the capacity of river basin organisations. The old model had a single centre of governance.

By contrast, the new model has multiple and overlapping centres and layers of independent authority. Good examples can be found in the Yellow River and Songhua River basins in China, Brantas River basin in Indonesia, and the Murray Darling basin in Australia.

Fifth, there is a fundamental difference between the governance of delivering water as a service and managing water as a resource.

For water services, the need is to develop a sound provider-user-regulator model in contrast to the old thinking of water service as either public or private.

Experience shows that public water utilities can deliver superior performance as shown by the examples of Singapore, Phnom Penh, Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Finally, climate change adaptation for water governance is not about putting more dollars into building bigger bunds or dams to protect citizens from water-related disasters.

Instead, it is about living with water by adopting smarter, long-term land use plans that allow people to relocate to less hazardous areas within and across national borders.

The writers are on the faculty at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

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Australian town bans bottled water sales

Kristen Gelineau, Associated Press 10 Jul 09;

SYDNEY (AP) — Residents of a rural Australian town hoping to protect the earth and their wallets have voted to ban the sale of bottled water, the first community in the country — and possibly the world — to take such a drastic step in the growing backlash against the industry.

Residents of Bundanoon cheered after their near-unanimous approval of the measure at a town meeting Wednesday. It was the second blow to Australia's beverage industry in one day: Hours earlier, the New South Wales state premier banned all state departments and agencies from buying bottled water, calling it a waste of money and natural resources.

"I have never seen 350 Australians in the same room all agreeing to something," said Jon Dee, who helped spearhead the "Bundy on Tap" campaign in Bundanoon, a town of 2,500 about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Sydney. "It's time for people to realize they're being conned by the bottled water industry."

First popularized in the 1980s as a convenient, healthy alternative to sugary drinks, bottled water today is often criticized as an environmental menace, with bottles cluttering landfills and requiring large amounts of energy to produce and transport.

Over the past few years, at least 60 cities in the United States and a handful of others in Canada and the United Kingdom have agreed to stop spending taxpayer dollars on bottled water, which is often consumed during city meetings, said Deborah Lapidus, organizer of Corporate Accountability International's "Think Outside the Bottle" campaign in the U.S.

But the Boston-based nonprofit corporate watchdog has never heard of a community banning the sale of bottled water, she said.

"I think what this town is doing is taking it one step further and recognizing that there's safe drinking water coming out of our taps," she said.

Bundanoon's battle against the bottle has been brewing for years, ever since a Sydney-based beverage company announced plans to build a water extraction plant in the town. Residents were furious over the prospect of an outsider taking their water, trucking it up to Sydney for processing and then selling it back to them. The town is still fighting the company's proposal in court.

Then in March, Huw Kingston, who owns the town's combination cafe and bike shop, had a thought: If the town was so against hosting a water bottling company, why not ban the end product?

To prevent lost profit in the 10-or-so town businesses that sell bottled water, Kingston suggested they instead sell reusable bottles for about the same price. Residents will be able to fill the bottles for free at public water fountains, or pay a small fee to fill them with filtered water kept in the stores.

The measure will not impose penalties on those who don't comply when it goes into effect in September. Still, all the business owners voluntarily agreed to follow it, recognizing the financial and environmental drawbacks of bottled water, Kingston said.

On Wednesday, 356 people turned up for a vote — the biggest turnout ever at a town meeting.

Only two people voted no. One said he was worried banning bottled water would encourage people to drink sugary drinks. The other was Geoff Parker, director of the Australasian Bottled Water Institute — which represents the bottled water industry.

Australians spent 500 million Australian dollars ($390 million) on bottled water in 2008 — a hefty sum for a country of just under 22 million people.

On Thursday, Parker blasted the ban as unfair, misguided and ineffective.

He said the bottled water industry is a leader in researching ways to minimize bottled beverage impact on the environment. Plus, he said, the ban removes consumer choice.

"To take away someone's right to choose possibly the healthiest option in a shop fridge or a vending machine we think doesn't embrace common sense," he said.

But tap water is just as good as the stuff you find encased in plastic, said campaign organizer Dee, who also serves as director of the Australian environment group Do Something!

"We're hoping it will act as a catalyst to people's memories to remember the days when we did not have bottled water," he said. "What is 'Evian' spelled backwards? 'Naive.'"

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Poll blinds Indonesian government to haze problem in Sumatra

Fardah, Antara 10 Jul 09;

Jakarta, (ANTARA News) - The ongoing presidential election process, from campaigning to ballot counting, has made Indonesian officials too busy to notice the current haze problem caused by forest and plantation fires in Sumatra.

Haze has forced the closure of airports in Pekanbaru and Dumai, Riau Province, several times over the past two months. But it seems the haze problem remains unnoticed particularly by central government officials who hardly make any comment on it.

Indonesia held its second direct presidential election on July 8, 2009. On the voting day, haze covered Pekanbaru, but it did not prevent local inhabitants for going to polling stations to cast their votes.

The latest airport closure occurred on Thursday (July 9, 2009) at Pinang Kampi airport in Dumai City as haze reduced visibility to less than 300 meters.

"This morning, a Pelita Air plane was supposed to land at 7.30 Western Indonesian Standard Time (WIB) but the plane could not land because of haze," Edi Kusniadi, head of Pinang Kampai airport said in Dumai on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the condition of Dumai City facing the Malacca Strait`s international marine traffic, was fully covered by haze reducing visibility to less than 50 meters.

"We can`t see vehicles coming from the other direction, we even can`t see the oil pipes located on the roadside," Kusnadi, a local resident, said.

On May 19, 2009, Dumai`s aiport was also closed due to haze. A Pelita Air plane failed to land and a plane chartered by PT Chevron on the Jakarta-Pekanbaru-Dumai route had postponed its departure as visibility at the airport was only 100 meters at the time.

On June 22, Sultan Syarif Kasim (SSK) II Airport in Pekanbaru was closed for 90 minutes because of haze coming from plantation and forest fires.

"We have to close the airport for 90 minutes because visibility has dropped to only 500 meters," Taslim, traffic supervisor at the Pekanbaru SSK II airport, said at the time.
The minimum visibility required for flight safety is 1,000 meters, and if is below the figure, the airport has to be closed, according to Taslim.

The closure of Pekanbaru`s SSK II airport forced the delay of three flights of three different airline companies - Lion Air, Air Asia and Mandala Air.

On May 26, 2009, a number of elementary schools were closed due to haze covering Rokan Hilir, Riau Province.

The haze induced by forest and plantation fires, could affect the health of school children, therefore the Rokan Hilir education office decided to temporary stop school activities, Suma Al Falah, head of the Rokan Hilir Environmental Affairs office, said.

The local environmental affairs office mobilized a number of its personnel to extinguish the forest and plantation fires, despite the geographical difficulties, he said.

Some 159 hot spots of forest and plantation fires were detected in Riau Province at the time. Based on the latest monitoring by NOAA 18 Satellite, the hot spots were detected in 11 of the proovince`s 12 districts.

Most forest fires causing haze were actually triggered by plantation companies, applying the cheapest method to open new plantation areas, particularly for oilpalm.

On July 4, according to data obtained through NOAA 18 satellite monitoring, there were 80 hotspots indicating forest and plantation fires in 10 regions in Riau.

The hot spots spread in Rokan Hilir district (55 hot spots), Pelelawan district (24), Rokan Hulu (17), Kuantan Singingi and Indragiri Hulu districts (respectively 13), Bengkalis district (11), Kampar (10), Siak (seven), Indragiri Hilir district (six), Pekanbaru (one), and Dumai City (two).

On July 5, the NOAA 18 satellite detected 161 hot spots in Riau, making the province the largest contributor of forest and plantation fires on Sumatra Island which had a total of 277 hot spots.

Meanwhile, the Tabing Padang meteorological, climatology, and geophysics office (BMKG) recorded a total of 70 hot spots in West Sumatra. In the province, the hot spots were detected in Dharmasraya District, South Solok District, Pasaman District, South Pesisir District, Agam District and Limapuluh Kota District, he said.

"The monitoring of BMKG indicates that there was an increase in the number of hot spots in West Sumatra due to the dry air," Amarizal, head of the Tebing Padang BMKG`s observation and information section, said recently.

He explained the hot spots were triggered by dry air which prevailed over the past two weeks. At least 350 hot spots were detected on Sumatra Island, including in West Sumatra, he said.

Impact on health

Aprt from the economic impact through the closures of local airports, the haze has also affected the health of local people. Haze that continues to cover the city of Pekanbaru, capital of Riau province, over the past one month has caused the quality of the air in the region to deteriorate, an official said.

"Starting from July 5 at about 03.00 pm western Indonesia standard time (WIB) till Monday (July 6), the city`s air pollutant standard index (ISPU) showed 126 PM (particular matter), meaning the air is not good for people`s health," Syahrial, head of the Regional Environmental Impact Control Agency`s Laboratory said recently.

Syahrial said, the ISPU showed the figure 59 on July 4, its range rose to 70, while on July 5 and 6, the grade rose to 126.

The ISPU for a healthy condition was 1-50 with the IPSU display turning green.
MQ Rudi, a local resident, said he started to suffer from throat irritation and a respiratory problem. "Haze lingers on every day, and it gets worse in the evening and morning, when the haze produces a strong smell" he said.

"It smells like smoke and causes eye irritation," Yuki (30), a another local , said.

The number of respiratory infection (ISPA) patients increased in Pekanbaru in May-June 2009 due to haze from forest and plantation fires.

The Jalam Delima community health center (Puskesmas) at Panam, Tampan sub district, for instance, received a total of 300 respiratory infection patients in May, and the number increased to about 500 in June.

Rini Hermiati, head of the Pekanbaru health service, said the number of ISPA patients also surged by 25 percent in July compared to the previous month.

The number of children suffering form cough and mild flu also increased in Pekanbaru, she said. She urged parents to prevent their children from playing outdoor while haze was covering the city.

"Besides, we also call on Pekanbaru`s inhabitants to wear face masks if they go out," she said.

Up to now, there is no concrete action by the Riau provincial and district administrations to address the haze problem.

Mayor of Pekanbaru Herman Abdullah recently urged the neighboring districts to extinguish the fires which have exported haze to Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau Province.

"There is no hotspot in Pekanbaru, yet this city is covered by haze," he complained, adding that forest and plantation fires must be stopped.

Perhaps, if the haze were exported further away, namely to neighboring countries, it would have received different attention, like what happened in 2006, when haze from Sumatra`s and Kalimantan`s bush fires, covered Malaysia, Singapore and partly Thailand.

The haze problem prompted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to apologize to the governments and peoples of the neighboring countries which had been affected by the haze.

"It is appropriate for me to apologize for the problem although the brushfires are obviously not the result of deliberate action by Indonesia," the President said at a press conference in October 2006.

Over two years ago, Malaysia and Singapore had expressed disappointment over the impact of haze that came from brushfires in Indonesia that had affected not only public health but also the economic sector in that country.

However, the people of Riau now have to endure the haze by themselves, as the country`s high-ranking officials are too busy with electoral ballot counting, and the wind is too lazy to blow the haze to neighboring countries. Surprisingly, some environmentalists seem to be silent too.

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Devastation of mangrove swamps in Selangor, Malaysia

Geetha Krishnan, The Star 9 Jul 09;

ADVOCATING one thing and doing another best describes the situation in Sungai Sepang Kecil where mangrove trees lining the river have been sacrificed by a certain authority for a river-deepening and widening project.

The culprit in question is the Sepang Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID).

The extent of devastation witnessed has raised eyebrows as to why the work was carried out without weighing the consequences.

According to experts, the damage done is irreversible. They are lamenting the fact that the DID proceeded with the project without an impact study, crucial research and consulting the experts.

Riverine mangroves are a much-touted asset for Sepang but what is now seen at the river joining the Bagan Lalang coast could negate the Selangor government’s efforts to boost the eco-tourism potential here.

Four years ago, the Bagan Lalang-Tanjung Sepat coastline was identified as an environmentally-sensitive area.

Could the Sepang DID have gravely erred in its decision to deepen and widen the river to prevent floods? Because, residents say such incidents still occur.

Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) environmental education department head I.S.Shanmugaraj told the StarMetro the project was carried out last year without taking into account the serious repercussions.

Mangroves are formed by plants and trees that grow in salty or saline water in an inter-tidal or coastal zone.

They offer breeding grounds for seafood, control floods, protect against erosion and supply forest products like charcoal and construction material.

“When the mangrove was cleared, a thriving habitat for a small colony of fireflies was destroyed. Roosting and breeding places for migratory birds were disturbed,” said Shanmugaraj.

“But it doesn’t end there. The bunds prevent tidal waves from bringing in much needed seawater for nourishing the remaining mangrove trees and eventually the area is transformed into a wasteland.

“Meanwhile, peat soil from the mangrove is washed to the beach along with debris comprising decaying plants and trees, causing the water to turn murky. We have taken some aerial shots and the water which used to be brown is now black,” he added.

The domino effect extends to the small permanent forest reserve nearby, formerly lush with mangrove species like “bakau minyak”, “berembang”, “api api” and “nipah”.

“A deeper river allows water to flow faster, transporting debris and sand downstream and gradually narrowing the river mouth. The river becomes shallow for big fishing boats and fishermen have highlighted the situation to us,” said Shanmugaraj.

Sungai Sepang Besar, located near another forest reserve, has its own problems.

Through its own investigations, the MNS has discovered that the sandbank built near the Jimah coal power plant in Negri Sembilan is slowly encroaching into Selangor.

“Due to this, mangrove trees as old as 30 to 40 years have been uprooted. The Jimah jetty extending to the sea has created a bay so waves thrash against the trees with greater force,” said Shanmugaraj.

Warmer waters resulting from plant operations are already upsetting the eco-system, promoting algae growth and diminishing the fish and other seafood population. Water quality has been affected as well. Another point made by Shanmugaraj was that mangrove trees absorb metals and with a coal plant nearby, the trees played a crucial role. Alas now, the metals will be absorbed by seafood like cockles and eventually, consumed by the public.

He urged the state government to get Jimah operators to produce an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) report on the impact of the power plant in Selangor. Only the EIA for Negri Sembilan was done. Selangor deputy environment chairman Edward Lee said the mangrove swamps in the area had to be protected.

“I will bring up the matter to state tourism, consumer affairs and environment chairman Elizabeth Wong. We will initiate discussions with MNS and the Sepang DID to tackle this problem,” he said at a recent press conference in Sepang.

“We have taken steps to protect the fragile eco-system here and it is costly. If the efforts are not working, the state wants to know why,” he added.

However, Lee declined to comment on whether action will be taken on the DID.

Read more!

Experts suggest tiger breeding to quash poaching

Hui Min Neo Yahoo News 10 Jul 09;

GENEVA (AFP) – Dismayed by dwindling numbers, some experts say tiger farming can stem the burgeoning illegal trade in the endangered cat's pelts, bones and body parts but others argue that this will only fuel demand.

"Domestic trade in tiger parts and derivatives has been banned across the world since the late 1990s," said Juan Vasquez, a spokesman for CITES or the UN body that regulates trade in endangered species, adding that illicit trade was still flourishing.

"Since tigers can be bred very easily in captivity, the argument is made that they should be 'farmed' to supply a relatively inelastic demand," he added on the sidelines of a CITES meeting.

There were once over 100,000 tigers throughout Asia, but only 400 are thought to be left, according to CITES.

Not only are tigers threatened by the loss of natural habitat amid rapid urbanisation in Asia, they are also hunted for fur and body parts used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Hank Jenkins, a former chair of a CITES committee, told AFP: "You can't address demand by prohibition," stressing that the breeding of crocodiles, once highly endangered, had set a valuable precedent.

"Since then the situation has reversed. There are now more crocodile species on Appendix II than Appendix I," said Jenkins, referring to the categories in the UN Convention on Endangered Species.

CITES Appendix I lists the most endangered species and prohibits their international trade.

Appendix II lists threatened species but allows for limited and licenced global trading.

Jenkins said the legal farming of tigers could also benefit people living alongside the big cats in countries such as Indonesia or India.

"For some people who live in these parts of the world, poachers act like pest control. Any conservation strategy would have to address habitat, prey, human-tiger conflict and demand," he said.

He acknowledged however there was strong opposition to tiger farming.

Major conservation groups such as the WWF are among the opponents who argue this would fuel demand and poaching.

"If you breed tigers, you will stimulate the market," said Susan Liebermann, director of the WWF's species programme.

For those who use tiger parts in traditional medicines, wild tigers are viewed as more potent than those bred in captivity and therefore this would not make a significant dent in poaching, she said.

"It's very expensive to breed tigers in captivity, it's easier to shoot one in the wild," said Liebermann.

The World Bank too urged caution.

"We cannot know for sure if tiger farming will work. And if it does not work the downside risks are just too high -- irreversible harm," said Keshav Varma, who heads the World Bank's Global Tiger Initiative.

"Having carefully weighed the economic arguments we urge the CITES community to uphold the ban on wild tiger products and for all countries to continue to ban the domestic trade of wild tigers," he said.

World Bank debunks tiger farming benefits
WWF 9 Jul 09;

Geneva, Switzerland – Experimenting with tiger farming is too risky and could drive wild tigers further toward extinction, the World Bank told a key international wildlife trade meeting today.

WWF endorsed the World Bank’s call for countries to ban tiger farming because of the uncertainty that it will have for the long-term conservation of wild tigers.

“Extinction is irreversible, so prudence and precaution suggest that the risks of legalized farming are too great a gamble for the world to take,” World Bank Director Keshav Varma told the member countries of the 58th meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Standing Committee. “We cannot know for sure if tiger farming will work.”

Need to stop all trade in tiger parts now

“Stopping all trade in tiger parts, and phasing out these tiger farms, is of the utmost urgency if the tiger is to survive in the wild”, said Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of the Species Programme of WWF International, “It is time for the world community to join together, with tiger range state governments, to stop all poaching of tigers for illegal trade, and WWF welcomes the engagement of the World Bank in these efforts”.

Because of the unpredictability of the market environment and the small number of remaining tigers in the wild, there is “no room for experimentation,” Varma, who leads the World Bank’s Global Tiger Initiative, said after the meeting.

“Commercial trading in tiger parts and its derivatives is not in the interest of wild tiger conservation.”

Tiger trade is prohibited internationally and banned domestically in all of its range countries, including China - historically the largest market for tiger products.

However, owners of privately run tiger farms and a contingent of wealthy business men across China have been pressuring the Chinese government to allow legal trade in tiger parts within China and lift its domestic tiger trade ban, implemented in 1993.

“Having carefully weighed the economic arguments we urge the CITES community to uphold the ban on wild tiger products and for all countries to continue to ban the domestic trade of wild tigers,” the World Bank statement said.

“We also call upon the international community at large to join efforts in providing the necessary technical and other support to the respective countries in phasing out tiger farming. This is the only safe way to ensure that wild tigers may have a future tomorrow."

Read more!

Montana and Idaho plan open-season public wolf hunt

Rocky Mountain states' plans for an open-season wolf hunt in September criticised by environmentalists
Suzanne Goldenberg, guardian.co.uk 9 Jul 09;

It is a clash of civilisations as old as the colonisation of the American west – wolves v humans – and it has entered into a new and more violent phase as two Rocky Mountain states moved to allow the first open hunt in years of an animal that was once driven to extinction.

The states of Montana and Idaho are going ahead with plans for an open-season hunt against wolves in September, in which licensed members of the public can take part.

The decisions follow a ruling earlier this year by the Obama administration, widely criticised by environmentalists, to remove wolves from the list of endangered species in the Rocky Mountain states. The interior secretary, Ken Salazar, was endorsing a decision by the Bush adminstration.

Montana wildlife commissioners voted yesterday to allow hunters to kill about 75 wolves, which is about 15% of the state's population. Officials in Idaho will meet later this month to decide on their quota. But earlier plans called for hunting of up to 250 wolves.

Federal and state government biologists claim the wolf population in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho has grown so rapidly since the species was re-introduced to the region in the mid-1990s that it has become a choice between ranchers' family pets and livestock, and wolves.

"The population has been growing 22% a year. We have more wolves in more places than we ever hoped for," said Ed Bangs, the wolf recovery co-ordinator for the US Fish and Wildlife Service. "The issue is what is the best way to manage wolves into the future now that the population is fully recovered."

He said there are about 1,650 wolves in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, and their existing habitat cannot sustain a much larger population without bringing the animals further into conflict with ranching operations.

"If you live in an urban area where your only exposure to wolves is watching them on TV and seeing them running in a national park, it is very easy to be supportive of wolves," he said. "The debate right now isn't about the biology. People think it is morally wrong to kill wolves because it reminds them of pet dogs or people because wolves live in packs like families."

But critics say the administration based its decision on science that is decades out of date, and does not take into account a growing body of evidence for the importance of protecting genetic diversity. If the wolf population dwindles too much – or if wolves survive only in isolated pockets – inbreeding would endanger their future.

"The recovery plan for wolves in the Rocky Mountains dates from the 1980s and has no reference to modern genetics," said Michael Robinson, a conservationist for the Center for Biological Diversity.

The government recovery plan for wolves in the three Rocky Mountain states envisaged a much smaller population than the current population – perhaps 300 wolves overall, Robinson said. That translates into perhaps 10 breeding pairs in each state, he said. "That is completely inadequate to avoid inbreeding and fatal genetic defects."

He argued that the government already had in place measures to protect humans from expanding wolf populations.

The administration already allows selective hunting of wolves – but only if ranchers claim their flocks are at risk. Government wildlife officials killed 265 wolves in the Rockies last year, including 21 entire wolf packs, Bangs said. In the midwest, where there are about 4,000 wolves spread across Minnesota and other states, government biologists conduct aerial culls of wolves.

Read more!

Scientists hope tiny insect can help save soybeans

Wayne Ortman, Associated Press Yahoo Hews 9 Jul 09;

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – An insect no bigger than a comma is being studied as a natural predator that farmers could use instead of chemicals to protect the nation's soybean crop from aphids.

The question for university researchers across the Midwest is whether the tiny Asian insect can survive harsh winters here.

Researchers are exploring a number of ways to combat aphids without costly spraying. The insects can destroy up to 40 percent of a farmer's crop, threatening a soybean industry worth $27.3 billion last year.

Such destruction could have big consequences for consumers. Soybean oil is used for cooking and as diesel fuel. The cooking oil is found in margarine and a vast number of other foods. High-protein soybean meal is fed to chickens, hogs and cattle that end up in the supermarket.

Aphids, also from Asia, suck the nutrients from soybean plants and emit a sticky residue called honeydew that can produce leaf mold.

Under ideal conditions, aphids produce eight to 12 young per day. In four days, those young also are reproducing, said David Ragsdale, professor of entomology at the University of Minnesota and manager of the project.

"It's an arms race, and the best way to get a hold on this is to make sure there are enough natural enemies out there to slow this reproduction," Ragsdale said.

The Iowa-based North Central Soybean Research Program has committed about $3 million since 2001 to aphid research, including the development of a soybean plant naturally resistant to the insects, said David Wright, the group's director of research.

Another possibility researchers are looking at is Binodoxys communis, a tiny, parasitic insect that inserts an egg into the aphid. The egg hatches into a larva that kills the aphid, feeds on it and emerges as an adult from what becomes a mummified aphid shell.

Nets are set over soybean plants in dozens of test fields in the Dakotas, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, so aphid populations can build. Researchers then introduce the parasites, which reproduce in several generations to increase their numbers before the netting is removed.

This summer, fields with test sites in 2008 will be checked for new mummies to see if the parasites survived the winter to attack aphids again.

So far, the results haven't been encouraging, Ragsdale said.

"It may not be the right species," he said. "There are 11 to 15 other species that are in various stages of being evaluated in quarantine labs here and with the USDA in Newark, Delaware."

Kelley Tilmon, a researcher and Extension entomologist at South Dakota State University, said it's not realistic to expect natural predators to wipe out aphids. But if they can be used instead of one insecticide treatment on 5 percent of the state's soybean acreage, it would save producers about $2.3 million a year, Tilmon said.

The research is funded in part by farmers like David Iverson, who contributes 50 cents for every $100 in soybean sales to a federally authorized program for soybean promotion and research.

"The last six years, I've had to spray for aphids and it (infestation) definitely reached economic thresholds," said Iverson, who grows about 800 acres of soybeans near Astoria in east central South Dakota.

With insecticide costing $10 to $15 per acre, it can add $8,000 or more to his costs. But the difference between spraying and not spraying can be 10 bushels or more per acre at harvest, said Iverson, president of the South Dakota Soybean Research and Promotion Council.

To get U.S. Department of Agriculture approval to release the parasite for aphid control, researchers will have to prove it will feed on aphids and not cause other environmental problems. But none of that matters if the parasite can't make it through the winter.

"Then, obviously we're going to have to go to Plan B, and Plan B is looking at a couple other parasitoid wasps for possible release," Wright said.

Read more!

Project to 'grow carbon sinks' in Ghana

David Shukman, BBC News 9 Jul 09;

Ambitious plans to grow 24 million trees to soak up carbon dioxide and restore the rainforest have got underway in Ghana.

The first million seedlings are being planted in a pilot scheme in an area that has been heavily logged in recent years.

The trees are all tropical hardwoods, mostly indigenous, and it is believed this project could eventually become the largest of its kind.

It comes amid mounting concern about the impact of deforestation on climate change - a major theme at this December's UN conference in Copenhagen.

Ghana has lost an estimated four-fifths of its rainforest in the past 50 years and tropical deforestation globally is estimated to contribute nearly one-fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions.

Carbon credits

ArborCarb, a British firm, is behind the reforestation project. It hopes that by growing the trees, and locking up the carbon inside them, it will be able to sell carbon credits.

Director Mike Packer is optimistic that the scheme is being launched at the right time and could, over its lifetime, soak up more than nine million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

He told the BBC: "There is a huge market of individuals and companies who will pay for this project to be implemented by buying the carbon credits.

"They need those carbon credits to offset their carbon emissions."

Forestry offset schemes have attracted criticism because the precise amount of carbon absorption is difficult to verify.

But Mr Packer said the plantations would be independently audited every year and that the plan would take account of the carbon cost of the plantation work and of trees dying naturally.

Critics have also warned that forestry schemes can exclude local people or even deny them the chance to grow food.

Mr Packer said that ArborCarb would not seek to own any land but would work with local landowners and farmers and offer them a share of the carbon credits.

However in the run-up to the Copenhagen conference, environmental groups are raising objections to the developed world using forestry to reduce emissions.

ForestWatch Ghana, a coalition of more than 30 non-governmental organisations, criticises the basic principle of carbon offsetting.

According to the coalition's co-ordinator, Kingsley Bekoe Ansah, "it feels fundamentally wrong.

"The developed world has had the benefits of industrialisation and now wants to shift the burden of responsibility onto the poor communities," he said.

Changing attitudes

Mr Ansah also said that involving the markets in carbon-reduction projects could "lead to massive land grabs and further entrench poverty".

"Since the markets are volatile and unstable, the prices of carbon would be affected by events in the larger business world and this is not good for developing countries and their rural communities," he added.

The ArborCarb plans involve plantations in several different areas of Ghana.

The pilot scheme, near the border with Ivory Coast, was set up with one of the country's largest timber companies, John Bitar.

The company's owner, Ghassan Bitar, said attitudes to forests - and their sustainability - were shifting.

"During the days of my father they were not aware - there were lots of forests around.

"Now that the population is encroaching and there is deforestation because of various reasons - agriculture, lumbering and whatever - people are aware and want to change."

Suddenly the fate of some of the remotest forests is moving up the international agenda.

Read more!

Fog Catchers Bring Water to Parched Villages

Helen Fields, National Geographic magazine 9 Jul 09;

When people from rural Peru move to Lima, the capital, they're looking for a better life. But things can be tough.

It's hard to find a job in the city. The jobs they can get—bus driver, street vendor, construction worker—don't pay well.

And the cheapest area to live is high on steep hills on the edge of the city, where landslides are common and water is scarce.

German conservationists and biologists Kai Tiedemann and Anne Lummerich, who run Alimón, a small nonprofit that supports Latin American development, are trying to help with the last of those problems. Since 2006 they've been working with new settlements on the outskirts of Lima to set up special nets that scoop water directly from the air.

Rain rarely falls on these dry hills. The annual precipitation in Lima is about half an inch (1.5 centimeters), and the city gets its water from far-off Andean lakes.

But every winter, from June to November, dense fog sweeps in from the Pacific Ocean.

With a few thousand dollars and some volunteer labor, a village can set up fog-collecting nets that gather hundreds of gallons of water a day—without a single drop of rain falling.

Ancient Technique, Modern Salvation?

As far back as 2,000 years ago, desert villages and other rain-starved communities around the world may have started harvesting fog that collected as water and dripped from trees, said Robert Schemenauer, executive director of FogQuest, a Canadian nonprofit organization that helps communities set up simple collection devices.

Serious work on collecting fog started about a hundred years ago. Since then, fog catchers have been used successfully—though on a small scale—all over the world.

Fog collection will never be practical on a large scale. "You aren't going to put up thousands of fog collectors and try to provide water to Los Angeles," Schemenauer said.

But in small communities that can't get water from wells, rain, or a river, the technique can be a lifesaver, freeing poor people from exorbitant water prices.

That's exactly what's starting to happen in Peru.

Lummerich and Tiedemann, the German conservationists, based their fog collectors on a design Schemenauer developed with Chilean researchers for villages in Chile in the 1980s.

Peru's capital was a natural place to try the technique: "Every summer the [Peruvian] newspapers are full of warnings that Lima will be without water someday," explained Lummerich.

Glaciers are shrinking in the Andes, Lima's source for water, and climate models predict that the trend will continue. An engineer with the Lima water company told Lummerich and Tiedemann he thinks the city could start experiencing serious water shortages within a decade.

In the meantime, Lummerich said, "we just can't waste this water [from fog]. It's a huge waste."

Harvesting Fog in Bellavista

Lummerich and Tiedemann searched for the right place to carry out their project, which received support from the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration and the Bayer AG company. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)

The researchers found that place on the steep slopes around Lima.

The newcomers who settle there build plywood shacks on unclaimed land. If the residents stay long enough, they can obtain the title to the land from the government.

One of the requirements for getting the title is to plant trees upslope. Earthquakes are common around Lima, and trees help stabilize the land and guard against landslides.

But trees have needs. "It's not really a problem for them to plant a tree," Tiedemann said. "The problem is the irrigation." And that's what he and Lummerich aimed to help with.

The village of Bellavista (population about 200), was founded seven years ago in the hills 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of downtown Lima. Tiedemann and Lummerich were won over by the community leader, Noe Neira Tocto, who made it clear that his village was motivated to do the hard work needed to make the project a success.

Since its founding, Bellavista has attracted people from all over the country.

Most come from farms, so they have the skills to grow their own food, but the fertile soil in Bellavista has gone to waste, since there's not enough water for irrigation.

Villagers have to buy water for everything—cooking, cleaning, drinking—from trucks that drive up the steep hill every week. The residents pay ten times as much as people farther downhill, who are connected to the municipal supply. For a family of four, water can come to the equivalent of U.S. $7 to $10 a week—a huge sum in a village where family income might average about $40 a week.

When the Bellavista fog-catching project began in 2006, people from the village did all the heavy lifting and digging. They had to lug 94-pound (43-kilogram) bags of sand about 800 feet (250 meters) up the steep hill—about 15 minutes a trip—to stabilize the nets and build pools to gather water collected by the fog catchers.

Even as they worked, though, the villagers thought the fog-catching idea sounded a little crazy. "They listened to us politely, but they didn't really believe that it worked," Lummerich said.

When water started appearing, it seemed too good to be true. "At the beginning," Lummerich said, "the people from the village thought Kai carried the water uphill during the night to fill the tanks, because they couldn't believe there was so much water."

"Like Opening a Tap"

Fog collection works not by condensation, which is what happens when water vapor hits a cold surface and transforms into a liquid. In fact, the water in fog is already in liquid form—it's just in very, very small drops.

The collectors Lummerich and Tiedemann started with look like giant volleyball nets, 13 feet (4 meters) tall and 26 feet (8 meters) wide. The nets, perpendicular to the prevailing wind, stretch between pairs of wooden poles. The top of each net is 18 feet (5.5 meters) above the ground.

As wind blows the heavy fog through, tiny droplets stick to the coarse woven mesh, made of a kind of plastic netting that is designed to shade young fruit trees. The netting is easy to find—any hardware store in Peru carries it—and relatively inexpensive.

As more and more tiny droplets stick to the net, they clump together and form drops, and eventually gravity pulls the drops down into a gutter. From there, the water flows through tubes into two brick tanks and a pool—all built by villagers—which together hold more than 25,000 gallons (94,635 liters) of water.

On a good day, a single net in Bellavista can collect an impressive amount of water—more than 150 gallons (568 liters).

"It's amazing when you're up there and it's foggy and the wind comes in. Then you hear all the water start running into the reservoir," Lummerich said. "It's like opening a tap."

She and Tiedemann also designed another fog collector, with multiple layers of netting to better catch a shifting wind, which they erected in 2007. The new design has collected more than 600 gallons (2,271 liters) in a day without taking up any more space than the original nets.

Bringing the Natural Water Cycle Back

Two other villages near Bellavista now have the fog collectors as well, and Lummerich and Tiedemann hope to bring more someday to other dry communities in Peru.

In the meantime, the people of Bellavista are using water from their seven fog catchers to plant trees higher up on the hill, in hopes of eventually getting the title to the land they live on.

They are growing tara trees, which bear a valuable fruit whose tannins are used for treating furniture leather. The money they'll earn from selling the fruit will help pay for maintaining the fog-catching installations.

Eventually the trees should be able to collect their own water, as the leaves act like fog collectors themselves, accumulating the water, which should drip down and replenish groundwater.

Even after the trees are taken care of, there's enough excess water now to feed gardens below the fog collectors.

Tiedemann's dream is to bring the natural water cycle back to the hills around Lima.

Some of the city's oldest residents remember when the hills were covered in trees. Those trees would have taken their moisture from the air, too, and the excess would have added to groundwater.

Tiedemann thinks it could happen again. For him and Bellavista's villagers, the 700 young tara trees now growing on the hillside mark the start of a dream coming true.

Read more!

Global warming shrinks glacier at alarming rate

Slim Allagui Yahoo Newsh 9 Jul 09;

ILULISSAT, Greenland (AFP) – One of the world's largest glaciers, on the west coast of Greenland, is shrinking at an alarming rate as a result of global warming - with potentially dire consequences.

Ilulissat, a UNESCO-listed glacier, is shedding ice into the sea faster than ever before, according to one of Denmark's top experts on glaciology.

Andreas Peter Ahlstroem, a researcher with the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland institute, said the glacier has receded by more than 10 miles (15 km) since 2001.

"Its calving rate (breaking off of ice) has never been so rapid," he said.

The Ilulissat glacier and icefjord have been on UNESCO's world heritage list since 2004 and it is the most visited site in Greenland. Its ice and pools of emerald-blue water are admired by tourists and studied by scientists and politicians around the world.

The Danish government chose Ilulissat as the venue for recent talks with some 30 countries to discuss ways to slow global warming - a place that Shfaqat Abbas Khan, a glacier expert from the Danish Space Centre, describes as the "most visible and striking example of climate change."

The glacier is the most active in the northern hemisphere, producing 85 million tonnes of icebergs per day, according to Mr Khan.

He has been studying Ilulissat using satellites, GPS or through his own visits to the area and says December's UN climate change conference in the Danish capital of Copenhagen may come too late to save the glacier.

"A lot of glaciers in Greenland are melting at more or less the same pace and even with an ambitious agreement at the summit ... it will be impossible to stop this," Mr Khan said.

The melting ice is both a consequence and a cause of global warming: ice reflects heat, as opposed to water which absorbs it and warms up the climate, thus causing more glaciers and snow to melt.

Khan explained that Ilulissat is losing more than 30 cubic kms (seven cubic miles) of ice a year, compared to 10 cubic kilometres in 2000 and just five in 1992.

"We should aim to at least reduce CO2 emissions and limit the damage done," he said.

A panel of UN scientists estimates that if the polar ice caps continue to melt at their current rate, sea levels could rise by between seven and 24 ins (18 and 59cms) by 2100,

But Khan says these calculations do not take into account the melting of Greenland's glaciers.

"In fact, if this thawing that we see ... was to spread across the whole island, the sea level would rise between one metre and 1.5 metres by the end of the century," he said.

Greenland's glacial ice cap, which spans 1.7 million square kilometres, is not as stable as the panel suggests, he said.

"It sheds much more ice in summer than it gets from the winter snow," Khan said.

His fellow glacier expert, Ahlstroem from the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, warned that the Ilulissat glacier could recede even further and faster.

"The question is: what would happen if the warmer waters of the fjord were to filter through the glacier and further speed up the thawing process?" he asked.

Read more!

El Nino conditions return to affect weather

Randolph E. Schmid, Associate Press Yahoo News 9 Jul 09;

WASHINGTON – El Nino is back.

Government scientists said Thursday that the periodic warming of water in the tropical Pacific Ocean, which can affect weather around the world, has returned.

The Pacific had been in what is called a neutral state, but forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say the sea surface temperature climbed to 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit above normal along a narrow band in the eastern equatorial Pacific in June.

In addition, NOAA's Climate Prediction Center said temperatures in other tropical regions are also above normal, with warmer than usual readings as much as 975 feet below the ocean surface.

In general, El Nino conditions are associated with increased rainfall across the east-central and eastern Pacific and with drier than normal conditions over northern Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

A summer El Nino can lead to wetter than normal conditions in the intermountain regions of the United States and over central Chile. In an El Nino year there tend to be more Eastern Pacific hurricanes and fewer Atlantic hurricanes.

The forecasters said they expect this El Nino to continue strengthening over the next few months and to last through the winter of 2009-2010.

"Advanced climate science allows us to alert industries, governments and emergency managers about the weather conditions El Nino may bring so these can be factored into decision-making and ultimately protect life, property and the economy," NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco said in a statement.

NOAA officials noted that not all El Nino effects are negative. For example, it can suppress Atlantic hurricanes and bring needed moisture to the arid Southwest.

But it can also steer damaging winter storms to California and increase storminess across the southern United States.

The warming of the ocean can also lead to a reduction in the seafood catch off the West Coast, and fewer fish can also impact food sources for several types of birds and marine mammals.

A recent study by researchers at Georgia Tech suggests there may actually be two forms of El Nino, depending on whether the warming is stronger in the eastern or central pacific.

While the current warming seems to be strongest in the east, the more traditional form, government forecasters did not categorize it.

If the Georgia Tech study is correct, this would be the type of El Nino that reduces hurricanes in the Atlantic and Caribbean. The other form, centered farther west, reportedly seems to promote Atlantic storms.

'El Nino' arrives in Pacific for a months-long stay
Yahoo News 9 Jul 09;

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US scientists on Thursday said that the El Nino warming trend of the Pacific Ocean waters has returned, bringing with it almost certain changes in weather patterns around the world.

The El Nino climatological effect -- the periodic warming of central and eastern tropical Pacific waters -- occurs on average every two to five years and typically lasts about 12 months.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a statement that the current El Nino was likely to develop further during the next several months, with additional strengthening possible and is expected to last through early 2010.

In past years, El Nino has been known to suppress Atlantic hurricane activity and typically brings beneficial winter rain to the arid US southwest.

But the weather system also often brings damaging winter storms in California and turbulent weather across the southern United States.

El Nino also has been associated with severe flooding and mudslides in Central and South America, and drought in Indonesia.

Jane Lubchenco, US undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator, said the agency plans to provide frequent updates to "industries, governments and emergency managers about weather conditions El Nino may bring, so these can be factored into decision-making and ultimately protect life, property and the economy."

Read more!

Most Americans don't believe humans responsible for climate change, study finds

In contrast, scientists overwhelmingly believe global warming is caused by human activity
Suzanne Goldenberg, guardian.co.uk 9 Jul 09;

Barack Obama's sense of urgency in getting Congress and the international community to act on climate change does not appear to have rubbed off on the average American, a new study published today reveals.

Even as the president pressed the G8 and the world's major polluters to resist cynicism and the pressure of the economic recession to act against global warming, a majority of Americans remain unconvinced that humans are responsible for climate change, or that there is an urgent need to act.

About 49% of Americans believe the Earth is getting warmer because of the burning of fossil fuels and other human activity, the survey by the Pew Research Centre and the American Association for the Advancement of Science said. Some 36% attributed global warming to natural changes in the atmosphere and another 10% said there was no clear evidence that the earth was indeed undergoing climate change.

Scientists in contrast are overwhelmingly persuaded that global warming is caused by humans - some 84% blame human activity. A strong majority - some 70% - also believe it is a very serious problem. Despite that degree of consensus, some 35% of Americans continues to believe - wrongly it turns out - that climate change remains a matter of scientific controversy. Only about 47% of the public views climate change as a very serious problem, a finding that has remained stable over the years, the survey said. In other public opinion polls over the years, climate change has ranked near the bottom of the list of pressing problems.

The Pew poll, like others in the past, also found attitudes towards climate change breaking down according to political allegiance. Some 67% of Republicans either deny the existence of climate change or attribute the phenomenon to natural causes. In contrast, 64% of Democrats believe that the earth is getting warmer because of human activity.

Survey Shows Gap Between Scientists and the Public
Cornelia Dean, The New York Times 9 Jul 09;

When it comes to climate change, the teaching of evolution and the state of the nation’s research enterprise, there is a large gap between what scientists think and the views of ordinary Americans, a new survey has found.

On the whole, scientists believe American research leads the world. But only 17 percent of the public agrees, and the proportion who name scientific advances as among the United States’ most important achievements has fallen to 27 percent from nearly 50 percent in 1999, the survey found.

And while almost all of the scientists surveyed accept that human beings evolved by natural processes and that human activity, chiefly the burning of fossil fuels, is causing global warming, general public is far less sure.

Almost a third of ordinary Americans say human beings have existed in their current form since the beginning of time, a view held by only 2 percent of the scientists. Only about half of the public agrees that people are behind climate change, and 11 percent does not believe there is any warming at all.

According to the survey, about a third of Americans think there is lively scientific debate on both topics; in fact, there is no credible scientific challenge to the theory of evolution and there is little doubt that human activity is altering the chemistry of the atmosphere in ways that threaten global climate.

The survey, by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest scientific organization, involved about 2,000 members of the public and 2,500 scientists drawn from the rolls of the science advancement association, which includes teachers, administrators and others involved in science as well as researchers.

The survey, made public Thursday, is available at people-press.org.

It found that at least two-thirds of Americans hold scientists and engineers in high regard, but the feeling is hardly mutual.

The report said 85 percent of science association members surveyed said public ignorance of science was a major problem. And by large margins they deride as only “fair” or “poor” the coverage of science by newspapers and television.

Only 3 percent of the scientists said they “often” spoke to reporters.

In a telephone news conference announcing the survey, Alan I. Leshner, chief executive of the science association, said scientists must find new ways to engage with the public.

“One cannot just exhort ‘we all agree you should agree with us,’ ” Mr. Leshner said. “It’s a much more interactive process that’s involved. It’s time consuming and can be tedious. But it’s very important.”

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G8: World leaders fail to agree specific target for climate cuts in L'Aquila

Rich and developing countries agree only to 'substantially reduce' global emissions by 2050
Patrick Wintour and Larry Elliott, guardian.co.uk 9 Jul 09;

World leaders, including the developing nations, yesterday committed themselves only to "substantially reducing global emissions by 2050", but failed to agree a specific target, according to a draft of the communique due to be issued later today.

The draft states: "We recognise the scientific view that the increase in global average temperature above pre-industrial levels ought not to exceed two degrees centigrade."

The draft is due to be issued by the Major Economies Forum under the chairmanship of Barack Obama. The MEF contributes 80% of world emissions.

The lack of a substantive agreement, other than the desire to keep global temperatures down, leaves world leaders facing daunting negotiations to reach agreement at the Copenhagen conference in December, which is due to set the entire climate change framework covering the period from 2012 to 2050.

Developed nations, according to the draft, agree to work in the run-up to the UN Copenhagen conference in December "to identify a global goal for substantially reducing global emissions by 2050". In a weak reference to the need for interim targets for 2020 emission cuts, the draft simply states the global goal will be regularly reviewed.

The statement does not commit either developed or developing nations to the worldwide 50% cuts target by 2050 agreed by the G8 on Wednesday. The language agreed jointly on 2C in today's draft is exactly the same as that deployed by the G8 nations on Wednesday.

The draft statement also states that "the financial resources for mitigation and adaptation will need to be scaled up urgently and substantially and should involve mobilising resources to support developing countries".

But no figure is given for the scale of resources required in the communique. Green and aid groups suggest that as much as $150bn per year in additional funds will be required to help developing countries respond to the effect of climate change. A lot of this money would be privately funded green technology transferred to developing nations, or cash raised from the nascent carbon market.

They also derided today's draft statement, with Tearfund warning: "This rolling dialogue points to the opposite direction to urgency and must not continue. We now have to wait until the UN September meetings when the heads of state will gather once again."

The developing countries are refusing to commit themselves to specific target cuts at this stage partly because they do not know what proportion of the burden of cutting emissions will be taken in the interim.

Developing nations such as Mexico want the rich countries to commit themselves to 40% carbon cuts by 2020, against a baseline of 1990 levels, so that developing countries do not have to take responsibility for the industrialisation of the rich.

G8 makes scant progress to Copenhagen climate pact
Alister Doyle, Reuters 9 Jul 09;

L'AQUILA, Italy (Reuters) - A G8 summit made scant progress toward a new U.N. climate treaty due to be agreed in December with some nations back-pedalling on promises of new action even before the end of a meeting in Italy.

"This hasn't given me a huge rush of adrenalin," said Yvo de Boer, the U.N.'s top climate change official, of climate decisions by the G8 summit and a 17-member climate forum of major emitters including China and India.

"Generally this is careful but useful step forward toward Copenhagen...I'm still confident that the deal can be done," he said of the U.N. pact due to be agreed in mid-December.

Among disappointments, the G8 failed to persuade China and India and other developing nations to sign up for a goal of halving world emissions by 2050.

Among progress, rich and poor nations acknowledged that temperature rises should be limited to 2 Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) -- a goal that would force deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions if followed through. And G8 nations set a new goal of cutting their overall emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

"Enough was not achieved...but a new guidance post was inserted," said Jennifer Morgan of the London-based E3G think-tank, referring to the 2 Celsius target.

She said the 2 Celsius goal implied a need for a shift to "action rather than just dithering and avoiding decisions."

But the focus of talks on a new U.N. deal is on 2020 cuts in emissions by developed nations and ways to raise tens of billions of dollars in new funds to help poor nations combat droughts, floods, heatwaves and rising sea levels.

De Boer said he understood a refusal by developing nations to sign up for the G8 goal to halve world emissions by 2050.

Asking for action before the rich came up with funding plans and set goals for their own 2020 emissions cuts "was like jumping out of a plane and being assured that you are going to get a parachute on the way down," he said.

And cracks appeared even in the G8 deal to seek cuts of 80 percent by developed nations by 2050.

A Russian official said the 80 percent goal was unachievable for Russia. And Canada's Environment Minister Jim Prentice said the goal was aspirational and fit Canada's target of cutting emissions by 60 to 70 percent below 2006 levels by 2080.

GOOD START

The arrival of President Barack Obama at the White House, promising more action than President George W. Bush, has helped the atmosphere.

"We made a good start, but I am the first one to acknowledge that progress on this issue will not be easy," Obama said, adding that recession was a complicating factor.

"And I think that one of the things we're going to have to do is fight the temptation toward cynicism, to feel that the problem is so immense that somehow we cannot make significant strides," he said.

"This is an important step," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said of the 2 Celsius goal. She added: "We still have a lot to do."

In Washington, Obama's push for quick action by Congress on climate change legislation suffered a setback on Thursday when the U.S. Senate committee leading the drive delayed work on the bill until September.

Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer said, however, that the delay from a previous self-imposed deadline of early August for finishing writing a bill did not mean that legislation would not be possible in 2009.

Environmentalists expressed concern that time was running out for a Copenhagen deal.

"I'm worried that we have negotiations that are very complex -- it will be difficult to reach the final agreement before Copenhagen. But I think we do have time," said Kim Carstensen of WWF International.

The biggest events planned are two summits in September -- one at U.N. headquarters in New York and a G20 summit in Pittsburgh. Obama said that finance ministers would look into climate financing and report back to Pittsburgh.

"Obama's announcement (of a report by finance ministers)....is quite significant," said Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

And apart from summits, there are three rounds of U.N. negotiations among senior officials before Copenhagen -- in Bonn in August, Bangkok in late September and Barcelona in November.

(Editing by Janet McBride)

FACTBOX: G8 summit to set 2 Celsius global warming goal
Reuters 9 Jul 09;

(Reuters) - G8 leaders were due to agree a goal of limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels at a summit in Italy Wednesday.

Here are some facts about the target, previously adopted by European Union nations and due to be widened to the United States, Russia, Japan and Canada.

2 DEGREES DOESN'T SOUND MUCH?

The temperature difference between the last Ice Age and now is only about 5 Celsius. Average world temperatures rose by 0.7 Celsius in the 20th century, according to the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

It estimates that temperatures will rise further, by between 1.1 and 6.4 Celsius during the 21st century, depending on policies chosen by governments. It says it is at least 90 percent likely that greenhouse gases from human activities, led by burning of fossil fuels, are to blame for most of the recent warming.

WHAT HAPPENS IF TEMPERATURES RISE BY 2 CELSIUS?

Hundreds of millions of people would be exposed to increased stress on water supplies, according to the IPCC in its last major report in 2007, based on research by 2,500 experts. It says more people would suffer from malnutrition, some infectious diseases and there would be more deaths from heatwaves, floods and droughts. Up to 30 percent of species of animals and plants would be at increasing risk of extinction. Coral reefs would be damaged. Cereals production would decline in tropical areas but, in one benefit, would improve nearer the poles. Coasts would suffer increased damage from floods and storms.

WHY 2 CELSIUS?

The European Union settled upon 2 Celsius in 1996 as a yardstick for measuring success in fighting climate change. It says that anything more would be "dangerous" for life on the planet. Many environmental groups also have the same target. Small island states, which fear being wiped off the map by rising sea levels, say that dangerous impacts will start at a rise of only 1.5 Celsius.

WHAT WOULD IT COST TO LIMIT WARMING TO 2 CELSIUS?

The EU says that meeting the 2 Celsius target could be achieved with world gross domestic product (GDP) losses of at most 2.5 percent by 2050, reducing annual growth by at most 0.05 percent a year.

"When taking into account co-benefits in terms of air pollution reduction, net costs could be significantly lower. The costs of actions to mitigate climate change are small when compared to the relative costs of impacts due to inaction," according to an EU brochure about the goal.

WHAT GREENHOUSE GAS CUTS WOULD BE NEEDED?

"To avoid a warming in excess of 2 Celsius, global greenhouse gas emissions should peak by 2020 at the latest and then be more than halved by 2050 relative to 1990," the EU says, based on IPCC findings.

"In order to have a 50 percent chance of keeping the global mean temperature rise below 2 Celsius relative to pre-industrial levels, atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations must stabilize below the equivalent of 450 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere," it says.

"Stabilization below 400 ppm will increase the probability to roughly 66 percent to 90 percent," it says. Greenhouse gas concentrations are now around 380 ppm and rising.

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US hopes to lead climate debate

Pallab Ghosh, BBC News 9 Jul 09;

The US is moving toward leading the climate change debate, rather than lagging behind, according to President Obama's chief scientific advisor.

In his first international interview since taking the post, Dr John Holdren told the BBC that he wanted to take the politics out of scientific advice.

He also revealed that Nasa's plans to send an American back to the Moon by 2020 could be delayed.

It was important now, he said, to balance science spending priorities.

Dr Holdren's previous job was professor of environmental policy at Harvard University.

His appointment as President Obama's chief scientific advisor was a clear signal that, unlike his predecessor, the new President would embrace rather than dismiss the scientific evidence that the burning of fossil fuels was warming the planet and dangerously destabilising its climate.

Dr Holdren told BBC News that the new administration was making progress in persuading the American public and Congress that cutting carbon dioxide emissions was in the national interest.

He said he hoped to convince both the public and US policy-makers in time for the next round of negotiations for a new international carbon reduction treaty in Copenhagen in December.



"It would be advantageous for the United States to go to Copenhagen as a leader," he said.

"We should demonstrate that we are a country that has embraced a mandatory, economy-wide approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

"I think we are on our way to becoming leaders, and it's about time."

The United States House of Representatives recently passed the Waxey-Markey Bill, setting an emissions reduction target and introducing a cap and trade scheme.

Dr Holdren was confident that that a similar bill would be passed by the US Senate in time for the Copenhagen summit meeting.

But he said that the US would not be in a position to meet the European Union demands to set a carbon reduction target of between 25 and 40% by 2020.

"I don't think the European Union's preferred number is achievable for the United States at this point," he said.

"If we hadn't wasted the past eight years then we probably could have achieved that target. But we did waste the last eight years and, as a consequence, it doesn't make a bit of sense for us to embrace a target that is not realistically within our reach".

In his inauguration speech, President Obama pledged to ensure that facts and evidence were never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology, as some scientists have alleged occurred, during the Bush Administration, on environmental issues.

Next week Dr Holdren will set out new regulations that he says will prevent scientific advice from being influenced by politics.

"We are not going to have public relations minders changing the testimonies of federal agencies on a basis that is (not) scientific.

"Unfortunately, under the last administration that was not the case."

Dr Holdren also said that pressing demands on public finances had made it important to review Nasa's plans to send an American to the Moon by 2020.

"The previous administration articulated a grand vision to go to the Moon, Mars and beyond, but they never produced a budget for achieving that vision.

"We live in a resource constrained world and we have to understand what our options are now," he said.

The results of a White House review by former Lockheed Martin CEO Norm Augustine on the lunar exploration plans are due out by the end of August.

But Dr Holdren told BBC News that the review may well conclude that the proposed mission should be delayed, because it would mean that resources would have to be diverted away from essential environmental monitoring projects.

"To focus all our resources to get to the Moon in a particular year - or to get to Mars by a particular year - would impair our ability to understand what's happening on our planet," he said.

"(That) would be a mistake."

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