Best of our wild blogs: 9 Aug 09

Sustainable Cities 2009
from Green Business Times

Fri 18 Sep 2009: 7.00pm - Reuben Clements on "Trio under threat: Is there hope for Rhinos, Elephants and Tigers in Malaysia?" from ecotax at Yahoo! Groups

19 Sep (Sat): Screening of "Remember Chek Jawa"
from wild shores of singapore

2 Oct (Fri) The Naked Truth & Other Sluggish Affairs
from The Leafmonkey Workshop

A New Location To Explore
from Life's Indulgences

Baya Weavers do build odd-shaped nests
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Discovering nature's wonder in order to save it, an interview with Jaboury Ghazoul from Mongabay.com

Acer on Cedar
from lekowala!

Now online! Marcus Chua's paper on the Greater Mousedeer on Pulau Ubin
from wild shores of singapore

Another peek at Marina at Keppel Bay
from wild shores of singapore

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Where there's smoke, there's concessions

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 9 Sep 09;

Most land and forest fires recorded between July and August were in concessions belonging to plantation firms, but government has failed to take harsh action against them, a recent report says.

The Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) on Tuesday said that between July and August land and forest fires were found in areas owned by 44 plantation companies in West Kalimantan, 15 companies in Riau and 15 firms in Central Kalimantan.

"Less than 20 percent of the burned land belongs to local people, the group most often blamed by the government for the fires," Walhi executive director Berry Burqon told reporters.

"The problem is those plantation firms always say they did not start the fires."

Walhi detected 24,176 hot spots in Indonesia in the first eight months of this year, of around 7,370 were in West Kalimantan and 6,720 were in Riau.

In August alone land and forest fires reportedly affected more than 1,480 hectares of land, up from only 999 hectares in July.

"We estimate that 3,626 hectares of land and forests have been burned since January, with estimated economic losses of up to Rp 23 billion *US$2.3 million*," Berry said.

The land and forest fires have led to repeated closures of airports and schools.

Walhi said the smoke had also caused around 1 million people to suffer respiratory problems, particularly among young children or the elderly.

In an investigation in Riau, Walhi said it had found a company hiring local people to start fires to clear their land.

"We found an operational manager of a plantation company employing village heads to clear the land. The village heads offered money to local people who then burned the land to get money," he said.

"With such practices, the government would never catch officials from companies red-handed."

A team from the office of the State Minister for the Environment earlier found hot spots spreading in concessions belonging to 77 companies in Riau in the first seven months of this year.

But until now no company has been found guilty.

The Forestry Ministry also claimed that only six of 573 hectares of burned land in West Kalimantan in the first three days of September were located in forests.

It said that 447 hectares of the burned land belonged to the local community with another 120 hectares being plantation areas.

Forest fires are an annual occurrence during the dry season. In 2006, 145,000 hot spots were detected across Indonesia, making it the second-worst fire season since 1997.

The El Ni*o weather phenomenon is expected to exacerbate the fire problems this year.

Meanwhile, Bambang Hero Saharjo from forest fire laboratory at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture said poor law enforcement remained the main cause of repeated land and forest fires in Indonesia.

"It seems the government would move to tackle the land and forest fires under international pressure. The political will of the government to end the forest fires is still questionable," Bambang said.

Officials were often reluctant to take action if blazes were found on concessions belonging to big companies, Bambang said.

"But if fires are on local people's land officials are very courageous about interrogating them," he said.

Responding to complaints from neighboring countries, the government has warned them to resolve the issue of haze through regional negotiation rather than by raising it at international fora.

In 2006, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was forced to sign a regional apology after neighboring countries protested internationally about the export of Indonesian haze.

On Tuesday, thick haze disrupted forced a temporary closure of Supadio Airport in Pontianak, West Kalimantan.

"Visibility dropped to less than 800 meters. It lasted for half an hour before it got better and we were able to continue operations," airport service chief Syarif Ismulyani Alqadrie said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Haze has been covering areas in Kubu Raya, Pontianak, North Kayong and Ketapang since the beginning of the dry season in July. The airport has often been closed from haze since that time.

The local weather agency said that Tuesday's haze came from 20 hot spots in the province, 10 of which were in Ketapang regency.

Greenpeace renewed its calls for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to prioritize forest protection, to save the forests and help alleviate global warming.

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PetroChina could be supplying coal to Tuas Power's US$2b cogen plant here

China oil and energy giants plan Singapore tie-ups
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 9 Sep 09;

(SINGAPORE) One has bought over Singapore Petroleum Company and the other, Tuas Power. China's biggest oil and power generation companies, PetroChina and China Huaneng, now plan to work together to boost their operations, including those in Singapore.

'Huaneng has asked Tuas Power to start some discussions with PetroChina Singapore on possible areas of collaboration,' confirmed a source yesterday.

It could for instance, potentially lead to PetroChina supplying coal for Tuas Power's planned US$2 billion clean coal/biomass steam cogeneration plant here.

This follows the signing of a strategic cooperation framework agreement last week by the two Chinese conglomerates to jointly develop areas including natural gas-based power generation back home as well as abroad.

The two 'will join hands in gas generation projects, long-term client development, natural gas peak shaving and growth of clean energy generating capacity', PetroChina's parent, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said on its website.

'PetroChina and Huaneng Power International will also proactively work together overseas, including in Singapore,' CNPC said, adding that the two will 'negotiate and coordinate on a regular basis'.

PetroChina is China's biggest listed oil firm, while Huaneng Power is the country's biggest listed power producer.

In Singapore, PetroChina - which started with an oil trading presence here - made its first big investment here in 2006 when it bought a 35 per cent stake in the 2.28 million cubic metre Universal Terminal on Jurong Island for US$160 million.

Following that, there was talk that the Chinese oil giant was keen on a Singapore refining presence and would even build its own refinery here - something which has now materialised in its latest $3.2 billion buy-over of SPC, which was completed just last Friday.

This gives PetroChina a half stake in the 295,000 barrels per day Singapore Refining Company - a joint venture with Chevron - as well as SPC's producing oil/gas fields in China and Indonesia, and a retail/marketing network including 38 petrol stations here.

Sources said that one possible area of cooperation here by the two Chinese giants could be in fuel supplies for the Singapore genco.

The 2,670 megawatts Tuas Power - Singapore's third largest generating company - currently uses piped Indonesian natural gas from both Sumatra and Natunas, and also plans to build a $2 billion clean coal/biomass plant on Jurong Island.

PetroChina could potentially supply the coal for the clean coal project, and in future, also provide liquefied natural gas to the Singapore genco, once Singapore's LNG contract with the sole appointed buyer BG Group expires.

Another possibility is for Tuas Power - which China Huaneng bought from Temasek Holdings for $4.2 billion in March last year - to supply utilities such as steam and electricity to SPC's refinery.

Read more!

Special chicken: Fed pricey herb, to strains of Mozart

Chickens reared this way cost thrice as much but are proving a hit
Jessica Lim, Straits Times 9 Sep 09;

AIR-CONDITIONING, check. Mood lighting, check. Soft strains of Mozart playing through the day, check.

The setting for a seduction?

No, this place in central Johor, hemmed in by zinc walls, is a farm and home to 200,000 chickens - at least until they land on a dinner plate in Singapore a month later.

These birds are fed either a powdered corn-soya bean mix laced with Cordyceps sinesis, an expensive Chinese herb believed to increase immunity, or one mixed with cultured Lactobacillus, the 'good' bacteria which aids digestion and is found in drinks like Yakult and Vitagen.

When the birds arrive slaughtered and packaged in wet markets and supermarkets, they are labelled as Cordyceps chickens and Sakura chickens respectively.

They have quite a following. Introduced just a month ago, Cordyceps chickens are selling at the rate of about 1,000 a day. Sales of Sakura chickens have grown from 1,000 a day when they were first sold two years ago to about 3,000 a day now, said Mr Kwek Theng Swee, the 63-year-old chief executive of chicken farming and processing company Kee Song Brothers Poultry Industry.

'The music calms the birds down. They are not stressed, so the meat is more tender and sweeter,' he said.

They are also a lot more expensive.

A Cordyceps chicken, with a packet of herbs thrown in, costs $16.80, and a Sakura chicken, $8.60. Regular chickens that led less fancy lives cost about $5 each.

Another company, Chew's Agriculture, specialises in Cordyceps eggs laid by Cordyceps-fed chickens. The farm in Lim Chu Kang now sells 5,000 eggs a week, twice what it sold two years ago.

Its managing director Chew Eng Hoe, 44, claims the eggs contain 30 per cent less cholesterol than ordinary eggs and have better texture and 'bouncier' whites.

Consumers pay a premium for these qualities - $3.65 for a pack of six from supermarkets, or about twice the cost of 10 regular eggs.

So how did such chickens and eggs come about and are they worth the price?

Cordyceps eggs came before Cordyceps chickens: Homegrown biotech firm and Cordyceps supplier A P Nutripharm came up with a powder to mix into chicken feed as a substitute for the antibiotics fed to the birds to fight off infections.

A P first approached Chew's Agriculture to produce Cordyceps eggs. When the eggs sold well in 2007, A P went into partnership with Kee Song to produce Cordyceps chickens as well.

A P's chief executive Mark Xu said the herb dosages were adjusted, and the chickens and eggs tested for levels of Cordycepin, the compound in Cordyceps.

It is possible Cordycepin is retained in the meat, but nutritionists like Ho Yi Fei of DaySpring Corporate Wellness say the amount retained is another thing.

Dr Frederic Chua, a veterinarian, has the same doubt. He said the food consumed by the animal has to be broken down, absorbed and metabolised by the liver for it to be assimilated into its meat, after which the meat has to withstand the rigours of slaughter and cooking.

'I would be sceptical about the level of active ingredients in the end products,' he said, and suggested that consumers search for published data or ask the company to verify its claim.

But Madam Chin Lai Yin, 58, is already sold. She serves her family Cordyceps chicken at least four times a week and thinks the extra cost worth it.

The mother of three said: 'My children like it. It is the only way I can get them to eat Chinese herbs.'

She is also mindful of her own health: 'For my age, I think I also need to eat more things like this to keep healthy.'

Fish farm owners are also cottoning on to adding 'oomph' into their stocks this way.

One, Mr Malcolm Ong of Metropolitan Fishery Group, is in talks with A P Nutripharm. If things pan out, some fish on his four farms in Lim Chu Kang will be fed a diet that is a far cry from the 'trash feed' they now get - discarded kacang putih and stale bread.

The 46-year-old said: 'We hope to mix fish feed with Cordyceps too. The fish will be healthier to eat and we can get a better price per fish. Why not?'

Why Cordyceps and cultured Lactobacillus?
Straits Times 9 Sep 09;

THE Chinese discovered the health benefits of Cordyceps centuries ago, when they noticed that sheep which grazed on this fungus were stronger and healthier.

How the fungus comes about is somewhat bizarre: The parasitic fungus Cordyceps sinensis starts by attacking a particular caterpillar species in winter.

While the caterpillar hibernates, the fungus eats away at it. By winter's end, the caterpillar host's tissue is completely replaced, by which time it looks more like a plant.

Traditional herbalists now use the fungus to cure diseases. Cordyceps is also believed to provide anti-ageing and immunity boosts.

Cultured Lactobacillus is a dairy product produced by bacterial fermentation of milk and is nutritionally rich in protein and calcium.

When consumed, it improves overall health, particularly of the digestive system.

Read more!

Who should switch to off-peak cars?

One enhancement to the scheme to consider is the scrap rebate
Christopher Tan, Straits Times 9 Sep 09;

CHANGES to make the off-peak car (OPC) scheme more attractive for motorists to switch to a red plate have been widely reported, but one aspect of the scheme has escaped attention thus far.

The focus has been on the cash rebates, more unrestricted usage and new e-licences. What many have missed is this: an owner who converts his normal-use car to an OPC will continue to enjoy the full scrap rebate when he eventually scraps the vehicle.

This will not be the case for someone who goes for a red plate from day one. The scrap rebate in this instance would often be smaller.

This clause is a strong incentive for motorists who do not need to drive all day to consider switching to a red plate.

For their sacrifice, most will be paid $1,100 every six months, and will be granted a road tax discount of $500 a year.

That works out to be around $225 for each month they keep their cars off the road during peak hours. Or about $10.50 a day, excluding the unrestricted usage on weekends, public holidays as well as on the eve of five major public holidays.

If merely 10 per cent of car owners convert, the annual payout will amount to $1.1 billion - not a meagre sum.

The question that arises here is why the individual compensation ($10.50 a day) is not commensurate with the $20-a-day permit OPC owners need to buy if they want to drive outside the restricted hours.

The scheme cannot be so generous that OPC drivers find it worth their while to buy a $20 permit every weekday. If that were the case, there would be no difference between an OPC and a normal use car. And road congestion would not improve one bit.

From another angle, the reworked OPC incentive works like reverse road pricing. Just as motorists who take up road space during peak hours pay ERP charges to do so, those who confine their driving to between 7pm and 7am during weekdays are duly compensated.

The adequacy of the compensation depends on how much someone has spent on a car. Obviously, the pricier the ride, the less attractive the scheme.

Those who bought cars during the COE doldrums six to nine months ago would not get to enjoy the full compensation if they convert, either.

This is because the six-monthly compensation that someone who converts gets is tied to the tax break which OPC buyers get on their cars' COE and registration fee.

The tax break is capped at $17,000. If a car's COE is very low, say $2,000, and the car is a budget car from China, the registration fee and COE amount may not come up to $17,000.

On the other hand, if COE premiums climb back up to $30,000 or $40,000, the OPC monetary incentive also becomes pale in comparison.

A noteworthy point here is that someone who converts his normal-use car to a red plate gets $2,200 in cash a year. But the tax break accorded to someone who buys an OPC from the showroom works out to be $1,700 a year (if the vehicle is kept for 10 years).

The revised scheme will nevertheless be a boon to a cohort of car owners who bought their cars in the last three to four years. Many of them would have taken out huge loans to buy their car.

This is because car prices have been sliding in recent years. So many of those who bought new cars would not have got enough on their trade-ins to redeem their previous car loans.

Hence the proliferation of cashback schemes that financial institutions dangled. They are meant to help such consumers pay up their previous loan before starting on a fresh one for the next car.

Obviously, such car owners are now geared to the hilt. Even though used-car prices have begun to recover in line with rising COE prices, many will continue to be saddled with hefty monthly instalments.

Faced with thinner or no bonuses, pay cuts and the prospect of redundancy, these monthly instalments are daunting, especially in the face of other financial commitments.

These people cannot sell their cars. If they do, they risk being sizeably out of pocket.

Late last year, some finance houses had to put off repossessing cars of customers who had technically defaulted on their loans. The repo yards were filled to the brim.

So instead of repossessing a car from someone who missed instalment payments for three months, the lender says: 'It's okay, just pay us one month.'

The new OPC scheme will also be beneficial to car owners who need to leave the country for an extended period - say an overseas assignment of between six and 18 months. Converting to a red plate would save such a car owner plenty.

When they return, they can switch back to a normal plate. Of course there will be a $100 'administration fee', as well as another $100 or so for the red number plates.

With the announced enhancements, interest in OPCs has heightened. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) says it has been receiving inquiries from the public. Since the news broke on Aug 29, daily inquiries have numbered around 190 - more than six times the 30 a day before the announcement was made.

Motor traders say they have also been getting more inquiries, but actual bookings have not grown.

This is probably because the main benefits of the revision kick in only next January, four months away.

Read more!

Building a more liveable Singapore

Claire Huang, 938LIVE Channel NewsAsia 8 Sep 09;

SINGAPORE: For the first time, four government agencies are working together with the National University of Singapore (NUS) to build a greener and more liveable Singapore.

Seven million dollars will be used to fund seven research projects such as designing buildings and common areas to maximise space usage.

New landscapes such as the Marina Bay and the Jurong Lake district, as well as both mature and new housing estates like Punggol, will be examined in detail.

Six of the projects will be carried out concurrently over three years.

One of the agencies involved is the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

Its CEO, Mrs Cheong Koon Hean, said: "These projects will be very interesting because we're really exploring more into how to make Singapore an even more liveable city, particularly one that's in the tropics and one that's high density.

"So, for example, if we study more into urban greenery, we can understand how greenery can help to cool the city, where it's located - whether it's in the ground or the sky or where we can have sky-rise greenery."

Mrs Cheong cited another example. "When we look at climatic studies, we're actually trying to understand how the wind blows in the city, and I think by locating the buildings in the right position, or by having open spaces, we hope to be able to channel some of these breezes throughout the city and again, it can help to cool the city.

"If we can understand more about some of these issues and incorporate them into city planning, we will get to enjoy the benefits."

The research, however, is not without its challenges. Dr Malone Lee, director of the Centre for Sustainable Asian Cities at NUS, explained: "I think we're looking at a built-up environment and with a built-up environment where you've existing population and economic activities, it's not always easy to introduce new and innovative solutions with regards to environment sustainability.

"So the real challenge is in these environments where it's more of a retrofitting existing built-up situation - with housing, with employment, with industries - and the way spaces are really configured."

The other agencies involved are the Housing and Development Board (HDB), Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the National Parks Board (NParks).

The research studies will pave the way for sustainable development in other cities with similar living conditions.

The studies are part of Singapore's Blueprint for Sustainability and is funded by the Ministry of National Development Research Fund. The fund was established in January 2007 to raise the quality of physical and living environment in Singapore.

- 938LIVE/ir

NUS in joint study of sustainable development
Joyce Hooi, Business Times 9 Sep 09;

IN a bid to tame the concrete jungle, a collaborative study amongst four government bodies with the National University of Singapore (NUS) officially got underway yesterday.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), Housing Development Board (HDB), Land Transport Authority (LTA), and National Parks Board (NParks) signed agreements with NUS, kick-starting a series of seven research projects on sustainable urban development.

Alongside the contributions of expertise and resources of each agency involved, the Ministry of National Development will contribute $7 million in grants to the three-year study.

'The challenge ahead of us now is how we can continue to ensure that future development balances economic growth with environmental stewardship and social progress,' said Cheong Koon Hean, the chief executive officer of URA at the signing ceremony yesterday.

The series will involve six research projects - climatic mapping, urban greenery, urban space, urban transport modelling, sustainable housing typologies and urban metabolism.

The seventh project, which is focused on benchmarks and best practices, will analyse international best practices and develop benchmarks for Singapore. Cities like Chicago and Portland will be studied for their progress in green and sustainable urban development.

The projects will deal with a range of issues that commonly plague urban areas, like the management of waste, efficient use of scarce resources and the sustainability of transportation.

While the study lasts three years, application of the findings will take place before the timeframe is up.

'There will be interim results that will come out at various stages, which will be used for urban planning as the study progresses,' said Malone-Lee Lai Choo, director of the Centre for Sustainable Asian Cities (CSAC) at NUS' school of design and environment, who will be in charge of coordinating the research projects at NUS.

The climatic mapping study for example, will include a detailed study of Marina Bay. 'The Marina Bay area is one that is actively planning for development and the study can influence its urban design and buildings,' said Richard Hoo, the group director of strategic planning at URA.

Other areas that will be looked at intensively and be moulded by ongoing research are the Jurong Lake District and Queenstown.

'The challenge is also how to handle the mature and existing built-up areas and determining what kind of interventions can be introduced,' said Dr Malone- Lee.

City planners get NUS on board green drive
Straits Times 9 Sep 09;

IMAGINE walking into a concrete jungle that harnesses breezes, for instance, to create a cooler park-like environment.

Or living in an HDB project offering a heightened quality of life, perhaps featuring European-style courtyards as part of a sustainable development drive.

Such innovations may become reality once research collaboration between government agencies and the National University of Singapore (NUS) bears fruit.

Yesterday, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) - in collaboration with the HDB, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the National Parks Board - inked agreements with NUS for seven research projects to study sustainable urban development.

The collaboration, which started yesterday with the help of a $7 million grant from the National Development Ministry Research Fund, is one proposal in Singapore's $1 billion sustainability blueprint.

The research will last three years, but with 'interim results' to emerge at various stages, to be applied immediately in development projects or planning processes and policies, said Dr Malone-Lee Lai Choo, director of the Centre for Sustainable Asian Cities at NUS' School of Design and Environment.

One aim is to make Singapore more conducive to living and working. The main test areas are the new growth areas of Marina Bay and Jurong Lake District and the mature estate of Queenstown, said URA's group director (strategic planning) Richard Hoo.

URA will do a detailed study at Marina Bay on the built environment and how its elements affect micro-climatic conditions such as air flow. A micro-climatic map can point out the hot and cool spots in the area to allow for the planning of more greenery in 'hot spots' or where to best site public spaces, for instance.

These, said URA, will provide useful inputs when planners draw up urban design guidelines, configure land parcels as well as review land use plans.

Urban transport modelling will look at the connectivity between buildings and transport nodes, in order to create a pedestrian- friendly city that encourages greater use of public transport.

The researchers will consider factors such as how far people are willing to walk, what would get them to walk more and so on.

LTA, one of the lead organisations on this project, said it will include a real-life scale study based on Jurong Lake District.

The study on sustainable housing may offer urban forms that are new to the public housing scene. For instance, it will consider projects that look into European-style courtyards, to see if that approach works here, said Mr Hoo.

Apart from physical aspects such as shading and wind movements, the researchers will also consider the sociological issues like privacy, said Dr Malone-Lee.

There will also be a $2 million umbrella study that will provide the benchmarks, best practices and frameworks for sustainable urban development.

At a signing ceremony for the research studies yesterday, URA's chief executive, Mrs Cheong Koon Hean, said the challenge is 'how we can raise the quality of our physical and living environment to make Singapore not just a distinctive global city but an endearing home as well'.

JOYCE TEO

It's time for a cooler Singapore
Three-year, $7-million search for a greener and more liveable environment
Ong Dai Lin, Today Online 9 Sep 09;

WELL-VENTILATED homes without the need for air conditioning. City living amid lush and sky-rise greenery. And public spaces with cafes and more facilities.

This could be the future of Singapore as the Government embarks on research studies into sustainable development with the National University of Singapore (NUS).

The three-year, $7-million study aims to develop solutions to build a sustainable living environment in Singapore and will fund seven research projects, which include the study of urban greenery, public spaces and different housing types to maximise land use.

And with this being the first time public agencies are teaming up with academic researchers in the Republic's urban planning programme, the hope is the projects will break new ground.

One project, for example, will look at climatic studies to cool down the city by changing the design of the city landscape. By identifying the hot spots and cooler areas, urban planners can better plan for greenery and improved ventilation.

Mrs Cheong Koon Hean, chief executive officer of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, said: "When we look at climatic studies, we're actually trying to understand how the wind blows in the city.

"And I think by locating the buildings in the right position, or by having open spaces, we hope to be able to channel some of these breezes throughout the city ... It can help to cool the city."

The findings will also be used to plan the upcoming projects in Marina Bay.

With URA as the lead government agency, the other organisations involved are the Housing and Development Board, Land Transport Authority and National Parks Board. And the research studies will be coordinated by the Centre for Sustainable Asian Cities (CSAC) at the NUS School of Design and Environment.

By tapping on academia, there should be a more in-depth look at the urban planning topics. CSAC director Dr Malone-Lee Lai Choo said: "We're able to use research methodologies like satellite mapping, computer simulation and collecting data on people's perception of the environment ... we can also draw on our knowledge of research work done in other countries."

Overseas academics, including from Yale University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, are also collaborating on the studies.

A Step In The Right Direction

The research initiative, which comes under the Singapore Blueprint for Sustainable Development launched in April, is a step in the right direction, said some architects. But they also told Today there are more areas that could do with more innovative thinking - including the private sector.

Mr Randy Chan from Zarch Collaborates suggested that when looking at urban planning, the Government should look at the practice of property developers who construct showrooms to sell properties.

These can cost up to $1 million, he said. "The showrooms are so wasteful and when the property is sold, they are torn down ... Maybe they can build up the second or third storey and use that as a showroom."

He believes as well that a key incentive for property developers to build green features is missing: Homebuyers are not willing to pay more for these.

Said Mr Chan: "We need to address if the drive to build green housing should be led by the Government, or by the private sector. So far, the private sector has been slow in this (regard)."

Another architect, Mr Dean Chew, suggested urban farming be incorporated in land usage. "We can start small, like maybe planting on a plot of land that is 2m by 2m. The main thing is to get people thinking about all the issues of sustainability."

The research studies are funded by the Ministry of National Development (MND) Research Fund for the Built Environment.

The $50-million fund - of which some $39 million is now allocated - was given to MND in 2007 to be used over five years to support research that can help to improve the quality of life in Singapore. Some projects so far include a zero-energy building.
URL http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC090909-0000099/Its-time-for-a-cooler-Singapore

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Green design is more than just gadgets

Few people know true meaning of eco-friendly building, says architect
Tan Hui Yee, Straits Times 9 Sep 09;

A BRITISH politician once remarked that a wind turbine should be put on top of an airport building not because it could produce much power, but because it would make the building look 'green'.

The incident, says the Malaysian ecologist and architect Ken Yeang, is typical of 'greenwashing', where eco-friendly gadgets are there for the cachet they bring rather than the environmental good they do.

Dr Yeang, 61, who has spent most of his 35-year career pinning down what exactly it takes to create ecologically sensitive buildings, reckons he knows only a couple of dozen designers worldwide who are clued-up on the subject.

A general lack of understanding means he comes across misconceptions 'all the time'.

Dr Yeang, who will be in Singapore later this month for a sustainability conference organised by lifestyle company The Annix Group, thinks building owners and architects like to flash figures on energy consumption and recycling rates to prove that their buildings are environmentally friendly.

'The belief is that if you stuff a building with enough eco-technology, gadgets and low-energy or zero-energy systems, you have a green building,' he says.

'The second misperception is that if your building is rated or accredited with a high score, for example Singapore's Green Mark Platinum rating, it is automatically a green building.'

The real thing is something far broader, and takes in much more than a building's energy-saving credentials.

'Green design is trying to integrate everything that we make and do as human beings with the natural environment in a seamless and benign way.'

A truly green skyscraper, for example, needs to be located near a transportation hub. If the hundreds of people using the building travel there in cars, the energy consumed would negate the energy saved by the building's green features.

'Skyscrapers are high-energy buildings,' he says. 'Their existence is only justified if the intensification of land use is carried out in relation to transportation systems.'

A green building should also have linked - not isolated - patches of vegetation allowing wildlife to interact and migrate and enhance biodiversity. Vegetation should be protected from winds that can buffet a tall building at speeds of up to 30 to 40 metres per second.

Additionally, green design requires proper water management, which goes beyond harvesting and recycling water.

'Most buildings have drains, so that water that falls on land goes on the pavement, into the drains, the rivers, the sea and then it's gone.

'But, before we put the buildings there, the water that fell went back into the land. You need to let the water recharge the aquifers.'

This can be done with so-called bioswales - or vegetated channels that retard the flow of run-off - as well as retention basins or artificial lakes.

Ideally, the buildings should be assembled in a way that allows their components to be disassembled easily so that they can be re-used. Walls, for example, could be clipped and bolted rather than topped off with plaster.

'What happens to the building at the end of its useful life? The building should not become waste. Waste is a human invention. In nature the waste of one organism becomes food for another - everything is recycled.'

Given such high standards, Dr Yeang is curiously forgiving of existing green rating systems that fall some way short of his ideals.

The Building and Construction Authority's Green Mark scheme, for instance, grades new non-residential buildings and awards 99 out of a possible 160 points to energy usage, with a further 32 points allocated for measures such as sustainable construction, greenery and access to public transport. The rest of the points are allocated for items such as water efficiency and indoor air quality.

A total score of 90 and above is enough to qualify for the highest platinum rating, which allows a developer to construct more saleable space.

Within Singapore, only 31 out of 307 rated buildings have achieved a platinum score and these include Citigroup's global operations and technology hub in Changi Business Park and the upcoming 272-unit condominium Sophia Residences.

Although Dr Yeang thinks the Green Mark system is one of the better rating systems in the region, he notes that its top mark is easy to obtain.

He believes the true value of accreditation systems 'is in proselytising the idea of a green building to a larger community'. When enough people are converted, the question about where next to go naturally arises.

In the United States, which uses a rating system called the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), architects have started talking about designing buildings that go beyond the requirements of LEED and 'give back' to nature, as well as inspire users.

'That is like a series of progressions. The first step is to have a certification system, and then there should be systems that go beyond Green Mark,' Dr Yeang adds.

'In an ideal world, all buildings should be modelled on the dynamics of nature - to generate energy from the sun and wind, to be increasingly efficient with their use of energy, and support an increasingly diverse ecological system.'

But even the best of green design can be undermined by poor quality construction - especially in developing countries where the demand for faster and cheaper construction is constant.

In affluent Singapore, money may not be as big an issue but it can still dominate.

Developers and building owners, for example, still cite high costs as a reason for constructing less environmentally benign buildings. This was an issue that the Government tried to tackle earlier this year by giving incentives to developers whose buildings achieve the highest Green Mark rating, and also offering to co-fund the retrofitting of existing buildings.

Dr Yeang thinks the issue of cost really boils down to priorities.

He points an accusing finger at this reporter's chair: a sleek black Italian number in the conference room of the Singapore Institute of Architects' office.

'How much do you think that chair cost? At least $1,000 to $2,000. Why do you need to sit in a $2,000 chair... sit on a cheaper chair and spend the money on (green) technology.'

Similarly, the granite flooring in a fancy hotel can cost millions. He questions why money is spent on granite, when cheaper tiles could be used and the money saved used to make the building more sustainable.

Green buildings, he stresses, need not be that expensive.

'It has to do with value engineering - where you put your money.'

A pioneer in eco-friendly design
Straits Times 9 Sep 09;

PENANG-BORN Ken Yeang, 61, is regarded as one of the foremost authorities on ecologically responsive architecture and planning.

He pioneered passive low-energy design in tall buildings, which means using details like natural lighting and ventilation to reduce the overall energy consumption of the skyscraper.

Among his designs are Menara Mesiniaga, an office tower in Subang Jaya near Kuala Lumpur, the National Library in Singapore, and the Great Ormond Street Hospital extension in London. Dr Yeang also designed the upcoming Solaris research and development facility in Buona Vista, which features a garden that spirals its way from the ground floor to rooftop.

He has written several books, including Ecodesign: Manual For Ecological Design, published last year, and The Green Skyscraper: The Basis For Designing Sustainable Intensive Buildings, which was published in 2000.

The award-winning architect graduated from the Architectural Association School in London and earned his doctorate from Cambridge University in the 1970s. He divides his time between Britain - where he is principal of design firm Llewelyn Davies Yeang - and Malaysia - where its sister firm T.R. Hamzah & Yeang is located.

He was also the Distinguished Plym Professor at the University of Illinois and adjunct professor at the University of Hawaii and University of Malaya. He is married to Priscilla, 47, and they have four children aged 15 to 20.

Fengshui, green design and lifestyle changes
Straits Times 9 Sep 09;

Q Some buildings these days are designed according to fengshui principles. Do you think fengshui and green design go together?

To an extent. Fengshui is traditional Chinese geomancy and might be regarded as a form of ecological planning and design.

Fengshui strictly speaking is a pseudo-science, (not used here as a derogatory term) but what this means is that it developed through intuition and trial and error. It is not based on the Western 'scientific method' for discovery and knowledge acquisition.

There are essentially two schools of fengshui - the morphological school that is based on landforms and the astrological school. The morphological school has many principles that can be explained using modern ecological and physical planning principles, for example having building entrances face the south, with mountains to the north of the building.

Given that a lot of northern China is about 50 to 60 degrees in latitude above the equator, this is ideal as the mountains protect the building from the north wind and the sun comes from the south.

So there is a danger when you take these principles adapted for north China for use in south China, or elsewhere. There has to be a certain amount of translation of fengshui principles for different locations.

Q Lately there has been a lot of publicity on eco-cities. What is your view of them?

An eco-city needs to have four basic types of eco-infrastructure - I call them the grey, blue, red and green.

The grey refers to the engineering eco- technology systems. It has to do with engineering systems that are carbon-free or neutral, the use of renewable sources, waste recycling, energy-saving systems such as CHP (combined heating and power) low-energy transportation systems - in effect, all the eco-engineering systems that contribute to making the city green and sustainable.

Blue infrastructure is water management. We should close the loop by harvesting rainwater, reuse and recycle, have sustainable drainage, so that the water goes back into the ground through bioswales, filtration strips and retention ponds.

Red infrastructure has to do with people. That means our lifestyles have to change, along with our spaces, regulatory systems and legislation.

Green infrastructure refers to 'nature's utilities' - the eco corridors, the nexus of landscape and continuity of planting that would allow for species to interact, migrate and enhance biodiversity. We should not fragment this because once it is fragmented, the interactions of species are disrupted. If any of these are missing, then the design of the eco-city is a little bit suspect.

Q What are the lifestyle changes that people have to make to make green design work?

A sustainable future should start with ourselves. One example is comfort conditions. The air-conditioner (in this interview room) is set at 23 deg C. If you accept (an ambient temperature) of 30 deg C, then the energy savings are significant.

Can you then envisage the energy impact if people used ceiling fans instead? Having a ceiling fan means you use maybe 10 per cent or less of the energy used in air-conditioning.

In the area of transportation, if you are prepared to live near transportation hubs and use public transport rather than private transport, we can further reduce the consumption of energy.

Q In tropical countries, is the technology for the design of skyscrapers adequate?

All technology is available anyway, it depends on how much you want to pay for it, that's all. I think you are talking about developing countries rather than tropical countries. For developing countries, it's not just about the skilled workers. The industry support is not there...Even though people have the intellectual capability and talent to (do a green design), if the support from the industry is not there, then whatever they propose would be expensive to install.

The supply has to be supported by the factories that make components. The factories have to be supported by the engineering capabilities to make the components. The engineering has to be supported by the research from the universities and research institutes. It is the whole value chain from research down to construction - it has to be very refined and developed.

Read more!

GDP alone not an adequate measure of well-being

Joseph E. Stiglitz, Straits Times 9 Sep 09;

Striving to revive the world economy while simultaneously responding to the global climate crisis has raised a knotty question: Are statistics giving us the right 'signals' about what to do? In our performance-oriented world, measurement issues have taken on increased importance: what we measure affects what we do.

If we have poor measures, what we strive to do - say, increase gross domestic product (GDP) - may actually contribute to a worsening of living standards. We may also be confronted with false choices, seeing trade-offs between output and environmental protection that don't exist. By contrast, a better measure of economic performance might show that steps taken to improve the environment are good for the economy.

Eighteen months ago, French President Nicolas Sarkozy established an international Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, owing to his dissatisfaction with the current state of statistical information. On Sept 14, the commission will issue its long-awaited report.

The big question concerns whether GDP provides a good measure of living standards. In many cases, GDP statistics seem to suggest that the economy is doing far better than most citizens' own perceptions. Moreover, the focus on GDP creates conflicts: political leaders are told to maximise it, but citizens also demand that attention be paid to enhancing security, reducing air, water and noise pollution, and so forth - all of which might lower GDP growth.

The fact that GDP may be a poor measure of well-being has, of course, long been recognised. But changes in society and the economy may have heightened the problems, at the same time that advances in economics and statistical techniques may have provided opportunities to improve our metrics.

For example, while GDP is supposed to measure the value of output of goods and services, in one key sector - government - we typically have no way of doing it, so we often measure the output simply by the inputs. If government spends more - even if inefficiently - output goes up.

Likewise, quality improvements - say, better cars rather than just more cars - account for much of the increase in GDP nowadays. But assessing quality improvements is difficult. Health care exemplifies this problem: much of medicine is publicly provided, and much of the advances are in quality.

Another marked change in most societies is an increase in inequality. This means that there is increasing disparity between average (mean) income and the median income (that of the 'typical' person, whose income lies in the middle of the distribution of all incomes). If a few bankers get much richer, average income can go up, even as most individuals' incomes are declining. So GDP per capita statistics may not reflect what is happening to most citizens.

We use market prices to value goods and services. But now, even those with the most faith in markets question reliance on market prices, as they argue against mark-to-market valuations. The pre-crisis profits of banks - one-third of all corporate profits - appear to have been a mirage.

This realisation casts a new light not only on our measures of performance, but also on the inferences we make. Before the crisis, when US growth (using standard GDP measures) seemed so much stronger than that of Europe, many Europeans argued that Europe should adopt US-style capitalism. Of course, anyone who wanted to could have seen American households' growing indebtedness, which would have gone a long way toward correcting the false impression of success given by the GDP statistic.

Recent methodological advances have enabled us to assess better what contributes to citizens' sense of well-being, and to gather the data needed to make such assessments on a regular basis. These studies, for instance, verify and quantify what should be obvious: the loss of a job has a greater impact than can be accounted for just by the loss of income. They also demonstrate the importance of social connectedness.

Any good measure of how well we are doing must also take account of sustainability. Just as a firm needs to measure the depreciation of its capital, so, too, national accounts need to reflect the depletion of natural resources and the degradation of the environment.

Statistical frameworks are intended to summarise what is going on in our complex society in a few easily interpretable numbers. It should have been obvious that one couldn't reduce everything to a single number - GDP. The report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress will, one hopes, lead to a better understanding of the uses, and abuses, of that statistic.

The report should also provide guidance for creating a broader set of indicators that more accurately capture both well-being and sustainability; and it should provide impetus for improving the ability of GDP and related statistics to assess the performance of the economy and society. Such reforms will help us direct our efforts - and resources - in better ways.

The writer, a Nobel laureate in economics, is a professor at Columbia University.

PROJECT SYNDICATE

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SAFE way to protect forests in Sabah

Ruben Sario, The Star 9 Sep 09;

KOTA KINABALU: One of the biggest tropical forest research projects in the world is set to take off in Sabah next year.

The project, Stability of Altered Forest Ecosystems (SAFE), would be jointly carried out with Britain’s Royal Society and the state Forestry Department.

It would, among others, look at the ecological stability of fragmented forests of different sizes and their suitability to support various types of wildlife.

“This is among the elements of professionalism being introduced in the management of forests, including those under Yayasan Sabah,” department director Datuk Sam Mannan said yesterday.

He added that other efforts included imposing reduced impact logging (RIL) for all timber harvesting in natural forest management areas beginning next year.

Mannan said the department was also introducing a high-tech approach in keeping track of log movements from the jungle to the processing mills by using the radio frequency identification system.

Under the present state government, more Yayasan Sabah concession areas had been set aside for conservation efforts including 241,000ha, about 10 times the size of Penang island, he said.

Mannan said the state government was progressively increasing its totally protected forests beginning with the Danum Valley covering an area of nearly 44,000ha in 1995 to the Maliau Basin, in- volving an area of nearly 59,000ha in 1997.

Other Yayasan Sabah areas that are protected from this year are Nurod Urod in Kalabakan totalling 1,705ha and Imbak Canyon covering an area of some 16,750ha.

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Indonesia approves tougher law against polluters

Sunanda Creagh, Reuters 8 Sep 09;

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's parliament passed a new environment bill on Tuesday giving the Environment Ministry the power to revoke polluters' business licenses, which environmentalists said could lead to more effective enforcement.

Indonesia's rapid economic growth has been accompanied by widespread pollution of its waterways, soil and air, as well as the destruction of its forests and wildlife, prompting criticism from green groups and the World Bank.

The new law, a draft of which was seen by Reuters, will require companies whose operations impact the environment to obtain an environmental license and undergo an environmental assessment process before starting operations.

If the terms of the environmental assessment process are breached, the Environment Ministry can revoke their permit to operate and issue fines.

Anyone who deliberately pollutes the environment could face up to 10 years in jail and a fine of up to 10 billion rupiah ($1 million).

"This will affect basically all industries or companies whose activities create an impact on the environment, including manufacturing, construction, mining, pulp factories and others," said Nur Hidayati, Greenpeace's country representative for Indonesia.

"Before, for example, if a company pollutes, the Environment Ministry could only give a recommendation and there was no enforcement in terms of the minister stopping the operation because their operation license was held by another department," she said.

"Now it's integrated, so if a company violates the environment, then their operation can be stopped."

The new law also stipulates sanctions for local and central government officials who issue permits without following the proper procedures.

($1 = 9,995 rupiah)

(Editing by Sara Webb and Sugita Katyal)

House endorses environment bill
The Jakarta Post 8 Sep 09;

Polluters and corporations known for business practices unfriendly to the environment will have to pay extra caution as the House of Representatives passed, Tuesday, a stringent environmental bill into law.

One of the articles of the newly passed law provides civil investigators the authority to arrest those accused of endangering the environment.

"We have discussed the article with the police. So, there is no need to worry about possible misunderstandings in the field between the police and environmental civil investigators," State Minister for the Environment, Rachmat Witoelar said after the House’s plenary session.

He said that the bill was triggered by the fact that around 40 percent of the country's forests have been severely damaged.

The bill also stipulates that companies are obliged to pay environment tax.

Reports had been rife that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party faction objected to the tax, saying that corporate responsibility for environmental protection was voluntary not obligatory.

However, Democratic Party faction chairman Syarief Hassan dismissed the reports.

"This bill was sponsored by the government. As a party that supports the government, we throw our weight behind the government’s policy," he said. (hdt)

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40% of Indonesian forests damaged on deforestation: minister

www.chinaview.cn 8 Sep 09;

JAKARTA, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- As many as 40 percent of Indonesia's forests are ruined due to deforestation, triggering threat to environment preservation, a minister told the press here on Tuesday.

"The enactment of the bill for protection and environmental management today is very important to prevent forest resource businessmen and local people from damaging forests," said Minister for Environment Rachmat Witoelar in the parliamentary building.

According to Rachmat, the damage not only occurs at forests, but also at rivers, lands, et cetera.

"That's why we need a law that supports sustainable development in natural resource preservation," said Rachmat.

Actually, Rachmat said, without the law, all forest resource businessmen should realize the importance of maintaining forest preservation and conduct their business responsibly.

He also said that his office has coordinated with police to take action on the law violators.

Previously, Forestry Minister MS Kaban said that at least 1.08 million hectares of Indonesian forests are damaged a year. However, the number was a significant decrease compared to 2.8 million hectares four years ago.

Kaban believed that the number could decrease further to one million a year if hotspots in forests and illegal logging could be reduced.

The ministry's data showed that with firm law enforcement, the number of illegal logging case could be reduced to 200 cases a year from 9,600 cases annually four years ago.

Currently, Indonesia has 120.35 million hectares of forest and out of the total, 59.6 million hectares are damaged.

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Indonesia needs to refine forest-CO2 rules: lawyers

Sunanda Creagh, Reuters 7 Sep 09;

JAKARTA, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Confusing and conflicting regulations are scaring away investors from Indonesia's fledgling forest carbon credit scheme aimed at curbing deforestation, lawyers said on Monday.

A U.N.-backed scheme called reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) could potentially unlock billions of dollars in annual carbon credit sales for developing nations that protect their forests from illegal logging and other threats.

Indonesia in May became the first country to issue a legal framework for REDD, anticipating the scheme's inclusion in a broader U.N. climate pact during a major gathering in Copenhagen this year.

However, project developers will struggle for up to five years to attract necessary volumes of private investment to sustain REDD projects without public funding, said Martijn Wilder, a partner at Baker & McKenzie.

"We are probably three, four or five years away in terms of having a really significant liquid private sector market so the issue is how do we fund it at the moment," he told a forum of REDD project developers and policy-makers in Jakarta on Monday.

"There is direct funding from governments such as Norway or through the World Bank, but the key issue is how much do we rely on public sector financing or on private sector financing," said Wilder, head of Baker & McKenzie's global climate change and emissions trading practice.

Deforestation is responsible for nearly 20 percent of mankind's greenhouse gas emissions.

The United Nations, World Bank and numerous governments back REDD projects in developing nations that halt forest loss and pay local communities compensation as well as help them develop alternative livelihoods.

In return, rich nations and companies can buy REDD carbon offsets to meet their emissions obligations at home. A U.N.-backed market, though, will only come into force from 2013 if there's a global climate pact and the infant sector is presently supported by the voluntary carbon offset market and donor funding.

OVERLAP

Luke Devine, a foreign consultant from Hadiputranto, Hadinoto and Partners and a specialist on Indonesia's REDD regulations said the Ministry of Forestry had issued two sets of conflicting regulations that nevertheless have some areas of overlap, creating uncertainty for project developers.

"Until there's certainty about these issues -- of land tenure, what concession do I have, who is supposed to issue the concession, how long can it be issued for, what's the revenue sharing arrangement -- until these issues are finally determined it is going to be very, very difficult to get access to that private sector financing because it will be a very high-risk investment for investors," he said.

Forestry Minister H.M.S. Kaban told Monday's forum that the government was finalising a national strategy on REDD for 2012 and called for patience from project developers.

Doddy S. Sukadri, an official from the National Council for Climate Change, asked investors to remember that the legal framework is a work in progress.

"If someone said that some of the decrees are not matching, I think that's normal. All this will be revisited but at least this is a reflection from the Ministry of Forestry that they are doing something and no other country is doing something," he said. (Editing by David Fogarty)

Read more!

Dead dolphins, turtles found on Queensland beaches

AAP, www.news.com.au 8 Sep 09;

ENVIRONMENTALISTS are questioning the health of Queensland's Moreton Bay after five dolphins, two dugongs and dozens of turtles have been found dead in the past three weeks.

This week an adult female dugong washed up on Amity Point on Stradbroke Island, a day after a guest at Tangalooma Island Resort in Moreton Bay spotted a dead dolphin in the middle of the bay.

Several days earlier, a dead adult female dugong was found off North Stradbroke Island and a dolphin was found dead in the Port of Brisbane area.

In late August three dead dolphins and turtles were found in the bay in a period of three days.

The causes of the deaths are unknown, and the carcasses had no obvious injuries.

Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland president Simon Baltais said he has also received reports of 10 dead turtles in the past two weeks.

"We are seeing a significant number of dead marine animals. Something is astray," Mr Baltais said.

"The response from state government has been 'there's nothing to worry about', but how many more do we have to lose before the government looks into what's going on?"

Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort director Trevor Hassard agreed something was wrong.

"When dolphins die they normally sink to the bottom," Mr Hassard said.

"Why are these amount of dolphins washing up with no marks on them or indications of cause of death. This has to be investigated."

Mr Baltais said it was worrying to hear of creeks that flow into Moreton Bay being contaminated with high levels of heavy metals.

A recent survey found high concentrations of chromium, cadmium, mercury and nickel in Warrill Creek near the RAAF Amberley base, west of Brisbane.

Mr Baltais said the government needed to invest in reducing stormwater runoff into the bay, which was worsening as the southeast population grew.

Temperature drop linked to dolphin deaths
Tony Moore, Brisbane Times 9 Sep 09;

A major drop in sea temperatures from Lady Elliot Island near Gladstone to the New South Wales border may be linked to the deaths of 10 turtles and five dolphins in Moreton Bay in the past three weeks.

University of Queensland researcher Dr Kathy Townsend, based on Stradbroke Island, said oceanographers had been charting the change in sea water temperatures since July.

"It is a big, big anomaly where the water is much, much cooler - like two or three degrees cooler - than it normally is at this time of the year," Dr Townsend said.

"At the same time in the northern Great Barrier Reef they actually have water temperatures one to two degrees higher than they normally expect at this time of the year.

"Oceanographically, on a large scale, there is strange things going on - and that potentially could be linked to an El Nino year."

She said her oceanographic colleagues described the change as the "strangest year as far as ocean currents go that she has ever seen."

"So potentially the deaths have more to do with that, than anything else," said Dr Townsend.

She said the dolphins' deaths were very unusual, while the deaths of the turtles could also be linked to slow growth of their food during the winter.

Wildlife groups want an urgent State Government inquiry after the 10 loggerhead and green turtles washed up dead on Moreton Island last week.

This follows confirmed reports that five dolphins and three dugongs have also been found dead in Moreton Bay in the space of three weeks.

Both Queensland's Wildlife Preservation Society and Tangalooma's Wild Dolphin Resort say the Environment Protection Agency now had to investigate the recent deaths.

Wildlife Preservation Society president Simon Baltais said his information came from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), which he checks with his local contacts.

"We have had five dolphins, three dugongs and quite a large number of turtles since the 23rd of August," Mr Baltais said.

Turtles in Moreton Bay include the endangered green turtles and loggerhead turtles.

Mr Baltais confirmed 10 loggerhead turtles were washed up on Moreton Island.

"In that late period of August we started to get reports in back from fisherman and boaties on Moreton Bay," Mr Baltais said.

"In one instance a fellow reported that his son, who lives on Moreton Island, reported that 10 turtles had been washed up on the beaches of Moreton Island.

"This is the point that we are trying to make. Throw all the statistics you like at us, but in a very, very short space of time this represents quite a large number of marine animals.

"So get up and find out what is going on."

Mr Baltais said he did not think the deaths were linked to possible leaking of ammonium nitrate contained in 31 containers which were washed into Moreton Bay from the Pacific Adventurer in March.

"We can't say `yes' or `no' but we don't believe so," he said.

He said the issue was a wider symptom of the impact of population growth on the health of Moreton Bay.

He listed cutbacks of 15 per cent of mangroves, more frequent algal blooms and the concern at heavy metal contamination in creeks near Ipswich.

Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort director Trevor Hassard, who first reported the recent dolphin deaths to the EPA, said an investigation was definitely needed.

"Absolutely. It could be something that has been happening for ages and ages, or it could be an artificial spike (in deaths)," he said.

"But something is definitely wrong."
The EPA said they would release a statement this afternoon.

Nothing unusual about dolphin deaths: government
Tony Moore, Brisbane Times 9 Sep 09;

The number of dolphin, dugong and turtle deaths in Moreton Bay in July and August were not "unusually high ", the Department of Environment's chief scientist said this afternoon.

Wildlife Preservation Society president Simon Balthais and Tangalooma Wild Dolphin Resort director Trevor Hassard this morning called on the State Government to investigate a spate of recent deaths.

They said five dolphins, three dugongs and 10 green and loggerhead turtles had been found dead in Moreton Bay in the past three weeks.

Their concerns were also backed by prominent University of Queensland oceanographer Scarla Weeks who said an investigation was necessary.

Ms Weeks said her latest research showed sea temperatures had cooled markedly in May to July, on the ocean-side of both Stradbroke and Moreton Islands.

"The sea temperature in June 2009 is far cooler than June 2008, to June 2007 and the rest back as far as June 2000," Ms Weeks said.

"Compared to the past nine years, yes. It is around two degrees."

She said this could be a factor in the recent spike in marine deaths.

However the Department of Environment and Resource Management's chief scientist Col Limpus said the number of deaths were not unusually high.

"While a number of deaths have been reported in a small time frame, historically there is a peak in strandings from August to October," Dr Limpus said.

"This is believed to be related to animals in poor condition not surviving the winter.

"In Moreton Bay, there have been seven dugong strandings and 16 dolphin strandings reported to DERM so far in 2009.

"This compares to a total 13 dugong strandings last year, and 13 in 2007 and a total nine dolphin strandings last year and 19 in 2007.

"Moreton Bay supports a large population of dolphins, and any such population will have occasional deaths from natural causes such as old age, congenital problems or predation, and human-related factors such as entanglement in nets or boat strike."

Tangalooma Wild Dolphin resort director Trevor Hassard this morning estimated the population of bottlenose dolphins in Moreton Bay was between 400 and 600.

He said it was unusual to find five dolphins floating because their carcasses were usually eaten by sharks.

Mr Limpus said three recent necropsies on dugongs showed all died from protracted disease which had run over many months.

"The Department of Environment and Resource Management records all reported strandings and, where possible, arranges for necropsies on suitable condition carcasses.

"But it's not always possible to determine the cause of death especially if the carcass is badly decomposed, as was the case with three of the dolphins found late last month.

"We're working closely with the University of Queensland School of Veterinary Science which is undertaking studies of the health of turtles and dugong in Moreton Bay."

Stranded marine wildlife can be reported to the Department of Environment and Resource Management hotline: 1300 130 372.

Earlier University of Queensland researcher Dr Kathy Townsend said it was unlikely ammonium nitrate from shipping containers which slipped into Moreton Bay from the Pacific Adventurer in March 2009 could be responsible.

Dr Townsend said the material was water soluble and would have travelled south with the ocean currents.

"So it is unlikely to be involved in any local event like this."

Spate of dolphin, dugong deaths 'normal'
Perth Now 9 Sep 09;

ENVIRONMENTAL authorities say a recent spate of marine animal deaths in Moreton Bay is not unusual.

Five dolphins, two dugongs and dozens of turtles have been found dead in the past three weeks, prompting environment groups to call for an investigation into the bay's health.

Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland president Simon Baltais said this was a significant number of deaths in a short time and he believed something was awry.

But the Department of Environment and Resource Management's chief scientist Col Limpus says the number of dolphin, dugong and turtle deaths in Moreton Bay is not unusually high.

"While a number of deaths have been reported in a small time-frame, historically there is a peak in strandings from August to October," Dr Limpus said.

"This is believed to be related to animals in poor condition not surviving the winter."

He said seven dugong strandings and 16 dolphin strandings had been reported so far in 2009.

"This compares to a total 13 dugong strandings last year and 13 in 2007 and a total nine dolphin strandings last year and 19 in 2007," Dr Limpus said.

He said three necropsies performed on dugongs recently found they had died from a protracted disease.

Read more!

Endangering Species: Listing Can Make Animals Valuable Black Market Commodities

By certifying species as endangered, government programs can backfire
Wendy Lyons Sunshine, Scientific American 8 Sep 09;

Through most of the last century, Javan hawk eagles (Spizaetus bartelsi) flew unnoticed through the dwindling forests of Indonesia's principal island of Java. Their prominent head crest and multi-toned plumage didn't attract attention, bird markets didn't sell them, nor did zoos have them on display. Then in 1993 the Indonesian government awarded Javan hawk eagles special protected status. That's when the bird's fortune turned—for the worse.

To celebrate the raptor's official "National Rare/Precious Animal" designation, the Indonesian government printed the Javan hawk eagle's likeness on postage stamps and phone books. Soon zookeepers and illegal pet collectors were clamoring for one of their own, and the birds began popping up for sale in markets around Indonesia. In a study published earlier this year in Oryx, researchers from the University of Amsterdam's zoological museum concluded that ever since the Indonesian government officially labeled Javan hawk eagles as rare and precious, illegal poaching has removed the birds from the wild at an ever-escalating pace. Over the period from 1975 to 1991, just three were sighted for sale in Indonesian markets; in recent years 30 to 40 of the eagles have been spotted in markets annually.

The official listing of an animal as endangered can promote poaching, says Max Abensperg-Traun of the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Environment and Water Management, author of a study on this topic that was published in the May 2009 issue of Biological Conservation. It is a matter of psychology and economics. Perceived rareness makes animals more appealing to collectors and the increasingly limited supply pushes their price up on the black market, making illegal trapping and hunting more lucrative. Wildlife that once existed under the radar suffers from sudden visibility and faddish appeal. In an ironic coup de grâce, endangered species designation can sometimes escalate poaching to the point that it wipes out the species it was intended to protect.

The lure of rarity

Enthusiasts covet rare animals as exotic pets and hunting trophies as well as for insect or birds' egg collections. Through mathematical modeling, French conservation biologists showed in 2006 in PLoS Biology how people's relentless drive to collect rare animals can push species to extinction. In the early 1900s, for example, island development shrank the Indonesian forest habitat of Bali tigers (Panthera tigris ssp. Balica). Then European trophy hunters pursued the scarce remaining tigers, and by the 1940s had driven them to extinction. Even scientists fall prey to the compulsion. Ornithologists and museum administrators, for example, helped push the great auk (Pinguinus impennis) penguin out of existence in 1844 by fueling demand that pushed prices ever higher for its skin and eggs.

People are attracted by rare animals and will go to great lengths to see them, according to research by ecologists Elena Angulo and Franck Courchamp, published in April 2009 in PLoS ONE. In the study, when Web visitors were offered the opportunity to view photos of either endangered Nepalese gharials or common voles online, they chose rare species most often. Visitors went to more trouble to load the rare images and waited longer to see them online than did visitors who selected the common animals.

Consumers are hungry for rare animal delicacies, too. White abalone (Haliotis sorenseni), the first federally protected marine invertebrate, now teeters at just 1 percent of its former population because so many people find it tasty. In 2008 a federal recovery plan stated that the white abalone "was driven to such low levels during the height of the commercial fishery that adults do not occur in high enough densities to successfully reproduce, contributing to repeated recruitment failure and an effective population size near zero." Without urgent and drastic human intervention, "the approximately 1,600 remaining white abalone in the wild would disappear by 2010."

"Herp" crazed

Reptile and amphibian fanciers, nicknamed "herpers" after the academic field herpetology, are especially avid collectors of animals on the edge. A published report identifying the Roti Island snake-necked turtle (Chelodina mccordi) in remote Indonesian wetlands was enough to spur a flurry of illegal trade that drove the newly discovered reptile to the brink of extinction. Thought to already be extinct, the Philippine forest turtle (Siebenrockiella leytensis) was rediscovered alive in 2001 and immediately targeted by poachers and pet traders who sold them on the black market for as much as $2,500 apiece to buyers in the U.S., Japan and Europe.

At a weekend market in Bangkok, Thailand, undercover researchers from TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network, saw boxes and tanks containing scarce freshwater turtles such as the radiated tortoise (Astrochelys radiata), which appears on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Hoping to persuade potential customers, sellers volunteered information about the tortoises' "Red List" status and offered suggestions about how to smuggle the animals out of the country.

Researchers counted close to 39,000 turtles up for sale over a two-year period at China's largest pet bazaar, the Yuehe Pet Market in Guangzhou, according to a 2009 study published in Oryx. Nearly 20 percent of the world's turtle species were represented, including 30 species listed as endangered in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendices I or II. The study concluded that "the pet trade is a severe threat to turtle conservation and that law enforcement needs to increase."

View from undercover
The illegal pet trade is active in the U.S., as well. Earlier this year the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) completed "Operation Shellshock," a four-year covert operation targeting illegal herp trading. It culminated in 26 arrests, with more than 400 animals—including endangered turtles and venomous snakes—taken into custody as evidence.

DEC Lt. Richard Thomas, who went undercover with the state's Environmental Crimes Investigation team, says he was routinely offered native turtles for $150 to $2,000 apiece. He witnessed first-hand how endangered status serves as an illegal marketing tool. "Money is the driving force for most crimes, including crimes against wildlife," he says. "Animals listed as endangered at state and federal levels are highly sought after by markets inside and outside of the U.S. As a species's status changes under state or federal legislation, its price goes up, because private collectors want them more and more."

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World's smallest parrot filmed

Matt Walker, BBC News 8 Sep 09;

The world's smallest parrot has been filmed in the wild for the first time.

The tiny bird, which is not much bigger than an adult person's thumb, is smaller than some of the insects with which it shares the forest.

An expedition team filming in Papua New Guinea for the BBC programme Lost Land of the Volcano caught two of the buff-faced pygmy parrots on camera.

Another adult, which weighs less than half an ounce, was also trapped by the expedition team's bird expert.

On average, buff-faced pygmy parrots ( Micropsitta pusio ) stand less than 9cm tall and weigh 11.5g (0.41oz).

They are found across the northern lowlands of the island of New Guinea from the west to the southeastern tip, up to an altitude of around 800m.

Males and females look similar, but females have less prominent markings on the head.

The birds have green feathers with yellowish plumage on their underparts; while their cheeks, face, and crown are more buff-coloured, hence their name.

BBC wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan first discovered a tiny nest belonging to two parrots deep within pristine rainforest.

The birds nest in termite mounds, using their beaks and claws to dig their way in before laying eggs in the hole created.

Buchanan staked out the nest from within a camouflaged hide, and was rewarded after a long wait when two birds returned.

He filmed the pair at their nest entrance, as the male and female reinforced their bond by rubbing against one another.

Later, another parrot was trapped unharmed by Dr Jack Dumbacher, an ornithologist from the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, US, who had accompanied the BBC expedition team.

Buff-faced pygmy parrots do not eat fruit and nuts but lichen and fungi.

However, so little is still known about their dietary habits that it has proved difficult to rear the birds in captivity.

During the expedition, the team also managed to sight a rare Salvadore's duck ( Salvadorina waigiuensis ), a bird that is adapted to living in fast jungle streams.

The Salvadore's duck, or Salvadore's teal as it is also known, is the only duck species endemic to the island of New Guinea.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature lists the bird as Vulnerable, and its total population may be slowly declining.

Other birds sighted included fruit doves that were completely naive to people, suggesting they had never been hunted in the past, and a king bird of paradise, with its crimson feathers, violet-coloured feet and a pair of tail streamers each ending with an emerald disc.

Broadcast of The Lost Land of the Volcano series will begin on BBC One on Tuesday 8 September at 2100 BST.

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Indian villagers flee elephants

BBC News 8 Sep 09;

Hundreds of villagers have been forced to take shelter in camps in the Indian state of Orissa after repeated attacks by a herd of elephants.

Seven people have been killed and several others injured in attacks by a herd of 12-13 elephants over the past few weeks in Kandhamal district.

Over 2,500 people living in 45 villages have been affected by the attacks, district chief Krishen Kumar said.

Wild animals have often entered villages and killed people in India.

Conservationists say this is because the natural habitats of the elephants are shrinking. They blame this on human encroachment, which means animals have to travel further for food.

It is, however, unclear why this herd of elephants migrated from the Lakheri sanctuary in a neighbouring district.

Mr Kumar told the BBC that 500 homes in some seven villages had been completely destroyed in the attacks, and about 500 residents had taken shelter in two camps.

"People have lost their thatched homes. We will open more camps if the attacks continue," Mr Kumar said.

He said the herd had travelled some 300km into Kandhamal, and even entered a town in the district.

Wildlife officials were camping at the site of the attacks and trying to find out why the elephants had come out of their sanctuary.

Mr Kumar said the elephants had entered Kandhamal nearly a month ago.

But matters came to a head last week when three villagers were killed and more than 100 homes were destroyed in a single attack.

Last year, a rampaging elephant killed at least seven people and injured 24 others in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand.

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Last chance to change our behaviour

David Hillyard, BBC Green Room 8 Sep 09;

There is growing awareness of the damage we are doing to the planet and the natural resources on which we depend, says David Hillyard. Yet, he argues in this week's Green Room, we still carry on along the same track regardless, refusing to make much-needed changes to our behaviour.

More than half of the world's fisheries are fully exploited, putting 27 million jobs and $100bn of income at risk, UN data shows.

One sixth of the world's population relies on fish as their main or sole source of animal protein.

Yet despite considerable effort by many groups, unsustainable fishing continues apace on a global scale.

The Amazon rainforest pumps 20 billion tonnes of water into the atmosphere each day, which drives global weather patterns and rainfall essential for people's survival.

Yet we continue to lose tropical forest cover and with that the services it provides, not least in the mitigation of droughts around the world.

However far removed from nature the human race may seem, we are inextricably linked to it.

The Earth's natural systems provide many essential goods and services that ensure our survival and enhance our lifestyles and well-being - such as food, medicines, building materials, climate regulation, flood defence and leisure opportunities.

The ecosystems that provide these services are rapidly decaying to the point of collapse. Human-induced climate change, infrastructure development, the loss of forests and agricultural production are primary drivers of these losses.

The prevailing economic model that exacerbates these problems, rather than counteracts them, is fundamentally flawed.

"GDP is unfit to reflect many of today's challenges, such as climate change, public health, education and the environment," was the conclusion of Beyond GDP, an international conference on gross domestic product held in Brussels in November 2007.

Despite this recognition, governments have spent trillions of dollars around the world in the past year to get out of "recession" and get back to GDP growth at any cost, it seems.

Why? It seems as if the main goal is simply to maintain the current ailing market system and stimulate continued unsustainable consumption.

Slim pickings

The world's governments are meeting in Copenhagen in December to try and agree a global deal to combat climate change.

The chances of a sufficiently binding agreement that will meet the challenge of stabilising greenhouse gas emissions in a short enough timeframe to avoid "dangerous climate change" are slim.

But are we seeing the whole picture?

Climate change has helped put the global environmental crisis on the map; but it is time to stop considering it as a single issue.

Whilst we argue over the extent to which climate change is going to impact the planet, and while governments quibble over emissions targets, we are losing sight of the fact that ecosystem services provide the mechanisms needed to tackle climate change - such as capturing carbon, driving rainfall patterns and maintaining soil quality.

Maintaining the integrity and functionality of ecosystems is a real and present challenge for business, society and governments.

Without them, we have no hope of sustainably tackling climate change and we risk losing forever the natural environments that enable us to survive and sustain lives worth living.

Bridging the gap

Governments tend to be driven by nationalistic, short-term agendas - increasingly so, as natural resources become ever scarcer and they rush to "capture" as much "natural capital" as they can.

The need for systemic change and global solutions that transcend national boundaries has never been greater.

At the same time, changing patterns of behaviour and consumption need to happen at an individual, local level.

So, what role does business have to play in tackling arguably the greatest challenge that our generation faces?

Business communities in both developing and developed economies are in a strong position to reach the individual at a local level and influence consumption patterns.

They can interact with and influence government at a national level, and can drive the international political agenda through bodies such as the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

Coalitions between business, informed experts, NGOs and governments are powerful platforms from which to explore and develop alternative business models.

These alliances could drive behavioural change both within companies and among consumers, encourage sustainable use of natural resources, allow communities to thrive and still allow the companies involved to satisfy shareholders' desire to generate profit.

The HSBC Climate Partnership - a collaboration between HSBC, Earthwatch, WWF, the Climate Group and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute - is one example of how such collaborative programmes can support measures to protect biodiversity and enhance livelihoods whilst also changing the way that business operates.

Whilst there are certainly some forward thinking local and international enterprises out there, the international business community needs to continue working closely with international bodies, NGOs and governments to identify a collective vision and action plan of what a "post-GDP" world would look like; where value is not determined by levels of consumption or sales.

This would be a vision where quality is defined by a new set of rules which restores ecosystems rather than destroying them.

Governments may then be brave enough to set policy agendas accordingly and incentivise and regulate to support a new approach.

We have already embarked on a global climate change experiment that has unknown results.

We must reduce greenhouse gas emissions drastically. We may invent new technologies at sufficient scale to capture and store carbon dioxide and control our carbon emissions, but are we missing the wider point?

We need more focus on maintaining functioning ecosystems and biodiversity that will regulate our climate and provide the other essential conditions we need to maintain human life on Earth.

In a world driven by a market economy, business has vital role to play in moving to this new future and can step up and play a leadership role in creating a sustainable future.

David Hillyard is the international director of partnerships for Earthwatch Institute, an environmental charity

The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website

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Europe unites in attempt to protect bluefin tuna

Compromise deal with opponents of fishing ban welcomed
Martin Hickman, The Independent 9 Sep 09;

Europe is to throw its weight behind a campaign to save the bluefin tuna from decades of over-fishing after a breakthrough in talks in Brussels.

The European Commission announced a compromise deal backing an attempt to list the Mediterranean fish as an endangered species while waiting for further scientific evidence on the latest population numbers after the EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg backed down.

Europe is now expected to vote as a bloc of 27 nations in favour of a proposal to protect bluefin tuna under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) which – if approved by a majority of 175 nations around the world – would ban all international trade in the fish.

Environmentalists expressed their delight at the issue, saying it represented the best chance of allowing the tuna to recover from intense demand in Japan, which imports 90 per cent of Europe's bluefin for sushi.

At the last count the population of the Northern Atlantic Bluefin in the Mediterranean had sunk to 18 per cent of its 1970 level, although the small size of specimens on the Tokyo fish markets suggests its collapse is more serious.

Europe has been divided on what action to take. Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria favoured a complete trade ban but the move had been resisted by the capital of the bluefin industry Malta and, it is thought, by Spain and Italy, which also have a big commercial interest in bluefin.

The Environment Commissioner, Stavros Dimas, who backed the Cites proposal, was at loggerheads with his fisheries counterpart, Mr Borg.

Mr Borg, from Malta, had been insisting that time be allowed for a bluefin recovery plan which was agreed by the International Convention on the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (Iccat), whose poor record on conserving the fish has led to it being dubbed the International Conspiracy to Catch All Tuna.

The impasse meant support for a ban was in danger of collapsing, raising the prospect of a compromise of limited trade being allowed instead, which environmentalists said would provide cover for widespread illegal fishing.

However a compromise was reached after Mr Borg backed down, and the Commission provisionally agreed to back a proposal for a ban at Cites in March, subject to the latest assessment of stocks from Iccat in November.

In a statement yesterday, the EC said: "Given that the European Commission services share many of the concerns expressed by Monaco about the state of the stocks of Atlantic bluefin tuna, they consider that the Community could provisionally co-sponsor the proposal by Monaco requesting the listing of BFT in Cites Appendix I."

In a sign that the EC might drop its support if Icatt announces a recovery in bluefin numbers, the EC cautioned: "Whereas it appears for the time being that the criteria for such a listing may be met, the Commission services note that the assessment on which the Monaco proposal is based draws from scientific advice issued in October 2008."

The EC proposal will be put to a meeting of President Barroso's Cabinet tomorrow.

The Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said: "It is great news that the commission is showing its support for the proposal to give bluefin tuna the highest form of protection, which the UK is backing strongly." He said the UK would seek support for the proposal from other EU states.

Tony Long, director of WWF in Brussels, said: "Commissioners Dimas and Borg have made the right choice, leading the EU to heed urgent scientific advice that Atlantic bluefin tuna is dangerously close to collapse and needs a break." Willie Mackenzie of Greenpeace, said: "Today's move doesn't mean that this fish is saved yet. Member states still need to agree to support this ban, and follow the lead of countries like the UK."

Opposition to over-fishing has been growing since the release of the film The End of the Line, which pictures what may have been the last big summer hunt for bluefin in the Mediterranean. Charles Clover, the author of the book on which the film was based, also called The End of the Line, said: "It may have been collapsing while we were filming." Celebrities signed a letter by the actress Greta Scacchi to President Barroso urging him to avoid bluefin tuna going extinct "on his watch."

EC backs bluefin tuna trade ban – WWF urges EU to follow
WWF 8 Sep 09;

Brussels, Belgium / Rome, Italy - The European Commission today gave its backing for a suspension of international trade in endangered Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna – expressing grave concern regarding the status of the species, which is under threat of collapse from commercial overexploitation. WWF welcomes the decision and now urges European Union national governments to follow this lead.

The European Commission – led by Commissioners for the Environment (Stavros Dimas) and for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs (Joe Borg) – agreed today on a proposal to European Union Member States to co-sponsor with the Principality of Monaco a listing on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This would temporarily ban all international trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna, and give the endangered species a chance of recovery.

“Commissioners Dimas and Borg have made the right choice leading the EU to heed urgent scientific advice that Atlantic bluefin tuna is dangerously close to collapse and needs a break,” said Tony Long, Director of WWF’s European Policy Office in Brussels. “Some EU Member States have already joined the call to temporarily ban international trade in Atlantic bluefin – and WWF now urges other countries to follow the European Commission’s lead and back the trade suspension.”

EU countries will decide whether to accept or reject today’s proposal by the European Commission at a meeting on 21 September of the CITES Management Committee. The EU votes en bloc at CITES, whose next Conference of the Parties is in Doha, Qatar in March 2010.

The European Commission’s Directorate General for the Environment had recommended in August, in a draft report, that “from a scientific and technical point of view, the criteria for the listing of Atlantic bluefin tuna appear to be met. (...) There is no doubt about the link between international trade and overexploitation of the species.”

Atlantic bluefin tuna has been subject to decades of massive overfishing and overexploitation, plagued by illegal takes and blatant disregard for scientific advice. Suspending trade through a CITES Appendix I listing will give the fish a chance to recover. WWF hopes to see a sustainably managed, thriving fishery around the Mediterranean again in the years to come.

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