Small is Beautiful for Tourism Compass 2020
from AsiaIsGreen
Massive reclamation near Labrador continues until Apr 2010
from wild shores of singapore
Foraging behaviour of the Little Egret
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Rufous Babbler sighted at Yelagiri Hills, Tamil Nadu, India from Bird Ecology Study Group
Michigan State University ornithologist confirms species
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Known to science only by two specimens described in 1900, a critically endangered crow has re-emerged on a remote, mountainous Indonesian island thanks in part to a Michigan State University scientist.
Photo by Philippe VerbelenKerry Sieh predicts an 8.8 quake that could affect a million people; he hopes govts will heed the work of geologists
Chang Ai-Lien, Straits Times 14 Oct 09;
AS PROPHETS of doom go, geologist Kerry Sieh is a fairly mild mannered version but he more than compensates by having a pretty terrifying tale to tell.
It centres on Padang and the tectonic time bomb it is sitting on.
The five major quakes that have struck the Sumatran city this decade are forming a kind of seismic countdown to the king hit Professor Sieh fears is approaching.
'There are many, many dangerous tectonic animals across the globe, and who knows which is going to strike next. But there's a tiger in Padang and it's going to bite in the next few decades,' he warns.
The 7.6-magnitude quake that hit two weeks ago left parts of the city flattened and thousands dead and injured but that was just a prelude to the main event, he says.
'There's no place on earth that has released so much seismic activity in the past decade as western Sumatra,' adds Prof Sieh, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). 'The failure sequence started in 2000.'
Sliding left hand over right, Prof Sieh, 59, illustrates how some of these were caused by the relentless grinding of massive chunks of the earth's crust along the Sunda megathrust, a 2,000km fault line running parallel to Sumatra.
He and his Indonesian colleagues are now eyeing a 400km section beneath the Mentawai Islands west of Sumatra. Although it has remained intact for hundreds of years, it is under tremendous and increasing stress.
When - not if - it reaches its breaking point, it will trigger an earthquake similar to the one that caused the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.
The prediction: an 8.8-magnitude quake within a few decades.
Seismic data shows that last month's quake was not caused by a rupture of the Sunda megathrust, but about 20km beneath it.
Prof Sieh is as certain of this prediction as scientists get.
He has narrowed the timeframe to mere decades - a small window in a field where scientists more commonly study patterns in land and rock formations spanning hundreds or thousands of years.
The evidence comes from measurements made with the global positioning system (GPS) which tracks horizontal and vertical land movement, and recovering prehistoric data from coral, which record sea-level changes in their growth patterns over the centuries.
His team found that Sumatra has been hit by a sequence of large earthquakes caused by ruptures along the Sunda megathrust about every 200 years: in the 1300s, 1600s and 1800s.
So the next one is coming, he says, and Sumatra's central western coast will be ground zero.
Picking up an age-worn globe, he points to the exact spot where the quake will hit and its likely trail of destruction.
Because it will be further south than the 2004 quake, any tsunami would be most serious along the central western coast of Sumatra, and in the opposite direction, south-west heading to Mauritius and South Africa, where the waves would arrive many hours later and have time to dissipate.
But the giant waves could affect more than a million people along the Sumatra coastline, particularly in the densely populated city of Padang.
It is a terrifying force of nature that cannot be stopped of course, but Prof Sieh hopes his early warnings will give residents and policymakers time to act.
'We cannot solve their problems,' says the Iowa-born academic, who came from the California Institute of Technology to head the Earth Observatory last year.
'Our role is to provide the science that helps people make the right decisions, whether it's the parent sending his kid to school or the President of Indonesia distributing relief funds.'
The facility on the NTU campus, which is funded to the tune of $287 million over 10 years, has an international team of 40 scientists and staff studying nature's triple threat of earthquakes, volcanoes and climate change.
Singapore is the perfect, stable spot from which to study volatile earthquake activity nearby.
It is at least 400km from the nearest fault in Sumatra and while tremors are felt here, widespread damage is unlikely.
Researchers are working on using technology to get information quickly from over 30 GPS stations around Sumatra.
'Right now, we have to download the information from most of the stations by hand but we are testing the technologies that will allow us to do so remotely,' says Prof Sieh.
'What I hope to do eventually is to walk into my office in Singapore and be able to look at GPS vectors of earth movements from the previous week on the plasma screens, which will automatically signal anything unusual.'
That is the science, but there is plenty of emotion as well for Prof Sieh, who has been chasing quakes for the last 30 years.
On Sept 30, he had just landed in Singapore from a holiday in Thailand and was in a taxi on the way home when the quake hit Padang.
Two days later, he and his colleagues were taking the latest GPS measurements in western Sumatra.
At one point, he found himself standing in a crowd beside a collapsed school building, watching an excavator attempting to uncover the bodies of children who had not been able to escape.
While some progress has been made by the Indonesian authorities and other groups since 2004 to improve infrastructure, more could be done to make buildings stronger, he said.
'Fewer than 5 per cent of buildings collapsed.
'But that is small consolation to the 70 kids who died in the school, or their friends and families.'
His prediction of the next big quake, however, could make a very big difference by spurring politicians and others into action. Charitable groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have already started.
Some are working in Indonesia to make buildings quake-proof, while others are helping to educate locals. For instance, posters and brochures are being put up in Padang to explain the basics of earthquakes and where to go for help and information.
Residents are taught that if they feel the earth shake for at least 45 seconds, they should flee from the beach in case of a tsunami. They are also told of evacuation routes and not to use cars because of the risk of traffic jams.
And a project undertaken by NTU's Lien Institute For the Environment (Life) is using new, inexpensive ways to retrofit homes in western Sumatra.
Prof Sieh and his team are also producing a document that they hope to give to policymakers and interested parties, so they are clear about the science behind the forecast.
'I don't want it to be a surprise when the next tsunami comes,' he says.
'We are doing all we can to get the word out so that more can be done to save lives.
'When the earthquake happens, although we will have made a contribution to saving lives, there still will be victims. I imagine the moment will be bittersweet.'
He looks into the past to tell future
Straits Times 14 Oct 09;
HE PEERS thousands of years into the past, studying faults and landforms to predict future quakes.
Professor Kerry Sieh was born in Iowa in 1950 to a draftsman father and homemaker mother.
Even as a child, he enjoyed exploring nature and spending time on his grandparents' farm during the summer. He majored in geology at the University of California, Riverside, and later obtained a PhD in geology from Stanford University.
Prof Sieh initiated the field of paleoseismology 30 years ago with his discovery of how often California's San Andreas fault has generated great earthquakes.
The field involves using geological layers and landforms to understand the geometries of active faults, the earthquakes they generate and the crustal structure their movements produce.
Before becoming director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore last year, Prof Sieh was a chaired professor in Caltech's Tectonics Observatory, a US$30 million (S$42 million) privately funded scientific effort, which he and others at Caltech created.
In Asia, his work along the great undersea fault line, the Sunda megathrust, has revealed patterns of ancient rupture and current straining that led to forecasts of recent and impending large Sumatran earthquakes and tsunamis.
He has spent the past six years studying Indonesian earthquakes, and successfully predicted Sumatra's 2005 8.7-magnitude earthquake off Nias. This was likely an aftershock of the Boxing Day earthquake three months earlier.
Based on GPS data and research on coral growth patterns, Prof Sieh believes that a magnitude 8.8 quake will hit Sumatra within 30 years.
He and his students recently completed a six-year study of the active faults of Taiwan, and have begun a comprehensive study of earthquake geology in Myanmar.
Colossal quake may hit Sumatra within 30 years: geologist
Yahoo News 15 Oct 09;
SINGAPORE (AFP) – A colossal earthquake may hit Indonesia's Sumatra island within 30 years, triggering a tsunami and making last month's deadly temblor look tiny by comparison, a geologist has warned.
Kerry Sieh, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, said the next big quake would last more than six times as long as the 7.6 magnitude quake which struck western Sumatra on September 30, leveling the city of Padang. "We expect it will be about a magnitude 8.8, plus or minus say 0.1," Sieh, an American professor, said at a presentation late Wednesday at the Nanyang Technological University, where the observatory is located.
He said last month's Sumatra quake lasted about 45 seconds.
"This one'll last about five minutes," Sieh said."This 7.6 is very, very small, minuscule compared to the great earthquakes."
The official death toll reached 1,115 on Wednesday but many more are feared dead after villages were turned into mass graves. Around 100,000 houses are estimated to have been destroyed, leaving about half a million people homeless.
Based on historical earthquake trends from geological analysis of coral specimens from the region, last month's quake was just a precursor, Sieh said.
Likening the pressures under the affected fault to a coiled spring, Sieh said the recent quake "had really very little effect in terms of relieving the spring" which will unleash pent-up energy possibly within the next 30 years.
"If you're a parent who has a child, you have to expect that child's going to experience that earthquake and the tsunami," he added.
A massive tsunami hit Indonesia and other countries in the Indian Ocean rim in 2004, killing about 220,000 people, most of them in Aceh province in northern Sumatra.
Yahoo News 13 Oct 09;
SYDNEY (AFP) – A second attempt to plug a massive oil spill leaking from a rig off Australia's northwest failed Tuesday, but the operator said it hoped to try again within days.
Up to 400 barrels of oil have been pumped into the Timor Sea each day since the West Atlas drilling rig began leaking on August 21, forcing the evacuation of 69 workers, according to Bangkok-headed PTTEP Australasia.
The company failed in its first attempt last week to fix the leak at the Montara well-head platform, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) off the Australian coast.
PTTEP Australasia director Jose Martins said the second failure was disappointing but that each attempt improved the chances of success.
"Our drilling experts are hopeful that we will not need such a long side track to hit it on the next pass," Martins said.
He said the company was hoping to make its next attempt to plug the leak this weekend.
PTTEP is drilling a relief well some 2.6 kilometres (1.6 miles) under the seabed to divert the leaking oil and gas. Heavy mud will be used to plug the leaking bore.
The spill is reportedly Australia's worst since offshore drilling began more than 40 years ago, and ecologists fear the toxic cocktail of oil and dispersant chemicals could threaten marine and coastal species.
Fifty-five days and counting: oil still spewing from rig
Marian Wilkinson, Sydney Morning Herald 15 Oct 09;
ONE of the worst oil spills in Australia's history has entered its 55th day after a second attempt to stem a leaking well in the Timor Sea failed, deepening concerns among environmental scientists that the impact on marine life will be felt for decades.
''Each day the leaks continue it's adding to the risk and threat this toxic spill poses to precious marine life in this area,'' said the WWF wildlife group oceans campaigner, Dr Gilly Llewellyn.
''Oil can be a slow and silent killer,'' she said. ''It can take a long time to manifest itself on marine populations''.
The spill, which is now about 160 kilometres off the north-west coast of Australia, began on August 21 when the Montara offshore drilling rig owned by the Thai oil company PTTEP suffered a well head accident. Oil began pouring into the Timor Sea at an estimated 300 to 400 barrels a day and 69 people were evacuated from the platform.
At its peak, satellite images showed the spill had spread over 7000 square nautical miles, crossed into Indonesian waters and come close to the marine reserves of Ashmore and Cartier reefs.
The federal Energy Minister, Martin Ferguson, whose department is responsible for offshore drilling safety, has promised a commission of inquiry after the well has been plugged.
A spokesman for Mr Ferguson yesterday described the failure to stop the leak as ''disappointing'' but said it was ''important that the company remains focused on proceeding safely with the third attempt. This is a very difficult technical operation and it will take time to do the job safely and effectively.''
The WWF says that up to 15 species of whale and dolphin, more than 30 species of seabird and five species of turtle are the potential victims of the Montara spill. It also estimates that up to 30,000 sea snakes and 16,000 turtles may have already been affected by the slick.
The Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, told the Herald the spill was ''a critical issue of concern'' and he expected to receive a report next week from a team of biologists sent to monitor the impact on marine life. A wildlife response team has also been stationed in Broome while four vessels from the Australian Maritime Safety Agency are still working to contain the spill.
Mr Garrett also expressed concern at the continuing leak.
''While I acknowledge the complexity of the task, I am concerned that these first two attempts at interception failed and certainly hope the next succeeds,'' he said.
Mr Garrett's department is working with the company on a plan to monitor the long-term impact of the spill on marine life which is expected to be finalised soon.
The Australasian director of PTTEP, Jose Martins, said yesterday that the company would make a third attempt to stop the leak on Saturday.
NSW Department of Primary Industries
Science Alert 14 Oct 09;
First we were measuring our ecological footprint - the area of land and resources it takes to support our lifestyles.
More recently we heard about our carbon footprint - the amount of carbon we emit in our activities.
Now, welcome to our water footprint, the total amount of fresh water used to produce the goods and services we consume.
The Netherlands-based Water Footprint Network has calculated that it takes 75 litres of water to produce one glass of beer, with most of the water used in producing the barley for the beer.
To produce one A4-sheet of wood origin paper uses 10 litres of water in growing the tree and making the paper.
Water footprinting has huge implications for agriculture because around 70 per cent of fresh water is used to produce our food.
According to the Water Footprint Network it takes 3400 litres to produce one kilogram of rice, 1800 litres for one kilogram of soybeans, 1300 litres for one kilogram of wheat, 1000 litres for one litre of milk, 5000 litres for one kilogram of cheese, 70 litres for one apple and 50 litres for one orange.
Calculating a water footprint is very complex, and the Water Footprint Network is developing standards for water footprint accounting, impact assessment and offsets.
CSIRO is participating in this process, developing a methodology that takes into account whether water is provided by irrigation or natural rainfall, as the latter has a much lower footprint than irrigation.
This methodology will reduce the water footprint of grass-fed beef.
Currently the Water Footprint Network estimates it takes 15,500 litres of water to produce one kilogram of feedlot beef, the amount used in growing the food consumed by the animal over three years, together with its drinking water.
The Network is also looking at national water footprints.
Its current statistics show that Australian consumption accounts for 1393 cubic metres of water per person each year, 52pc of which is consumed in domestic agricultural produce.
The US population consumes almost twice as much water, 2483 cubic metres per head, 48pc of which is consumed in domestic agricultural produce.
Indonesia by contrast has an individual footprint of 1317 cubic metres, of which 87pc is consumed in domestic agricultural produce.
Chinas footprint is even smaller, 702 cubic metres, 80pc of which is consumed in its own produce.
Many countries depend on imported food, which means they are consuming other countries water.
For instance, imported food accounts for 47pc of the UKs water consumption and 53pc of Japans water consumption.
If you'd like to know more about water footprinting, visit the website of the Water Footprint Network, at www.waterfootprint.org.
Frank Pope, Times Online 14 Oct 09;
Life in the ocean has the potential to help to prevent global warming, according to a report published today.
Marine plant life sucks 2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year, but most of the plankton responsible never reaches the seabed to become a permanent carbon store.
Mangrove forests, salt marshes and seagrass beds are a different matter. Although together they cover less than 1 per cent of the world’s seabed, they lock away well over half of all carbon to be buried in the ocean floor. They are estimated to store 1,650 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year — nearly half of global transport emissions — making them one of the most intense carbon sinks on Earth.
Their capacity to absorb the emissions is under threat, however: the habitats are being lost at a rate of up to 7 per cent a year, up to 15 times faster than the tropical rainforests. A third have already been lost.
Halting their destruction could be one of the easiest ways of reducing future emissions, says report, Blue Carbon, a UN collaboration.
With 50 per cent of the world’s population living within 65 miles of the sea, human pressures on nearshore waters are powerful. Since the 1940s, parts of Asia have lost up to 90 per cent of their mangrove forests, robbing both spawning fish and local people of sanctuary from storms.
The salt marshes near estuaries and deltas have suffered a similar fate as they are drained to make room for development. Rich in animal life, they harbour a huge biomass of carbon-fixing vegetation. Seagrass beds often raise the level of the seabed by up to three metres as they bury mats of dead grass but turbid water is threatening their access to sunlight.
“We already know that marine ecosystems are multi-trillion-dollar assets linked to sectors such as tourism, coastal defence, fisheries and water purification services. Now it is emerging that they are natural allies against climate change,” said Achin Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General.
The potential contribution of blue carbon sinks has been ignored up to now, says the report, which was a collaboration between the United Nations Environment Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organisation and Unesco. Accurate figures for the extent of these habitats are hard to obtain, and may be more than twice the lower estimates used in the report.
“The carbon burial capacity of marine vegetated habitats is phenomenal, 180 times greater than the average burial rate in the open ocean,” say the authors. As a result they lock away between 50 and 70 per cent of the organic carbon in the ocean.
To protect them the authors suggest that a Blue Carbon Fund be launched to help developing nations to protect the habitats. Oceanic carbon sinks should also be traded in the same fashion as terrestrial forests, they say. Together with the UN’s scheme to reduce deforestation, they could deliver up to 25 per cent of emission reductions needed to keep global warming below 2C (36F).
Christian Nellemann, the editor of the report said:“On current trends they [ecosystems] may be all largely lost within a couple of decades.”
Healthy Oceans New Key to Combating Climate Change
UNEP 14 Oct 09;
Seagrasses to Salt Marshes Among the Most Cost Effective Carbon Capture and Storage Systems on the Planet
But Urgent Action Needed to Maintain and Restore 'Blue Carbon' Sinks Warns Three UN Agencies
Cape Town, Nairobi, Rome, Paris, 14 October 2009 - A 'Blue Carbon' fund able to invest in the maintenance and rehabilitation of key marine ecosystems should be considered by governments keen to combat climate change.
A new Rapid Response Report released today estimates that carbon emissions-equal to half the annual emissions of the global transport sector-are being captured and stored by marine ecosystems such as mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses.
A combination of reducing deforestation on land, allied to restoring the coverage and health of these marine ecosystems could deliver up to 25% of the emissions reductions needed to avoid 'dangerous' climate change.
But the report, produced by three United Nations agencies and leading scientists and launched during National Marine Month in South Africa, warns that far from maintaining and enhancing these natural carbon sinks humanity is damaging and degrading them at an accelerating rate.
It estimates that up to seven percent of these 'blue carbon sinks' are being lost annually, or seven times the rate of loss of 50 years ago.
"If more action is not taken to sustain these vital ecosystems, most may be lost within two decades," says the report Blue Carbon: the Role of Healthy Oceans in Binding Carbon launched by the United Nations Environment Programe (UNEP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said: "We already know that marine ecosystems are multi-trillion dollar assets linked to sectors such as tourism, coastal defense, fisheries and water purification services-now it is emerging that they are natural allies against climate change."
"Indeed this report estimates that halting losses and catalyzing the recovery of marine ecosystems might contribute to offsetting up to seven percent of current fossil fuel emissions and at a fraction of the costs of technologies to capture and store carbon at power stations," he added.
The new report comes less than 60 days before the crucial UN climate change convention meeting in Copenhagen where governments need to Seal the Deal on a comprehensive new agreement.
It is likely that nations will agree to pay developing economies to maintain the 'green carbon' in forests under a partnership-Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD).
Mr Steiner added: "The links between deforestation and climate change are firmly on the political radar and there is optimism that REDD will form part of a new global climate partnership, but the role and the opportunity presented by other ecosystems are still overlooked."
"If the world is to decisively deal with climate change, every source of emissions and every option for reducing these should be scientifically evaluated and brought to the international community's attention-that should include all the colours of carbon including now blue carbon linked with the seas and oceans."
Dr. Carlos Duarte, one of the chief scientists of the report based at the Mediterranean Institute of Advanced Studies in Spain, said: "We know that land use change is part of the climate change challenge. Perhaps less well known is that the global loss of what we could call our "blue carbon sinks', such as mangroves and seagrasses, are actually among the key components of the increase in greenhouse concentrations from all land use changes."
Christian Nellemann, Editor of the Rapid Response report, said: "There is an urgency to act now to maintain and enhance these carbon sinks - since the 1940s, over 30% of mangroves; close to 25% of salt marshes and over 30% of seagrass meadows have been lost. We are losing these crucial ecosystems much faster than rainforests and at the very time we need them - on current trends they may be all largely lost within a couple of decades."
"Fishing and aquaculture communities will be heavily impacted by climate change and have a key role to play in maintaining healthy ocean ecosystems in the face of change," said Ichiro Nomura, Assistant Director-General for Fisheries and Aquaculture at FAO.
"An ecosystem approach to the management of ocean and coastal areas cannot only enhance their natural carbon sink capacity, but also offers a way to safeguard and strengthen food and livelihood security for fisheries-dependent communities," he added.
Officials with UNESCO also underlined the important role the oceans are already playing in offsetting climate change and its impacts on humanity, but warn that this is having consequences too.
"Because the ocean has already absorbed 82% of the total additional energy accumulated in the planet due to global warming, it is fair to say that the ocean has already spared us from dangerous climate change," says Patricio Bernal, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO, IOC Executive Secretary. "But each day we are essentially dumping 25 million tons of carbon into the ocean. As a consequence, the ocean is turning more acidic, posing a huge threat to organisms with calcareous structures."
Luciano Fonseca of UNESCO-IOC explains that the ocean's absorption of the planet's excess heat "is like a glass of whisky with ice. As long as the ice is there the whisky stays cool. The energy that is going into the glass, from your hand and room temperature, is working to convert the ice to liquid. As soon as the ice melts the whisky turns warm."
Key Findings from the Rapid Assessment Report
* Of all the biological carbon, or green carbon captured in the world, over half (55%) is captured by marine-living organisms - not on land - hence the new term blue carbon.
* Marine-living organisms range from plankton and bacteria to seagrasses, saltmarsh plants and mangrove forests.
* The ocean's vegetative habitats, in particular, mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses, cover less than 1% of the seabed.
* These form the planet's blue carbon sinks and account for over half of all carbon storage in ocean sediment and perhaps as much as over 70%.
* They comprise only 0.05% of the plant biomass on land, but store a comparable amount of carbon per year, and thus rank among the most intense carbon sinks on the planet.
* Blue carbon sinks and estuaries capture and store between 235-450 Teragrams (Tg C) or 870 to 1,650 million tons of CO2 every year - or the equivalent of up to near half of the emissions from the entire global transport sector which is estimated annually at around 1,000 Tg C, or around 3,700 million tons of CO2, and rising.
* Preventing the further loss and degradation of these ecosystems and catalyzing their recovery can contribute to offsetting 3-7% of current fossil fuel emissions (totaling 7,200 Tg C a year or around 27,000 million tons) of CO2 in two decades - over half of that projected for reducing rainforest deforestation.
* The effect would be equivalent to at least 10% of the reductions needed to keep concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere below 450 ppm needed to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius.
* Combined with action under REDD, halting the degradation and restoring lost marine ecosystems might deliver up to 25% of emission reductions needed to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius.
* Unlike carbon capture and storage on land, where the carbon may be locked away for decades or centuries, that stored in the oceans remains for millennia.
Currently, on average, between 2-7% of our blue carbon sinks are lost annually, a seven-fold increase compared to only half a century ago.
* In parts of southeast Asia losses of mangroves since the 1940s are as high as 90%.
* Large-scale restoration of mangroves has been successfully achieved in Vietnam's Mekong Delta and salt-marsh restoration in Europe and the United States.
Countries with extensive, shallow coastal areas that could consider enhancing marine carbon sinks include India; many countries in southeast Asia; those on the Black Sea; in West Africa, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, eastern United States and Russia.
Maintaining and Recovering Marine Ecosystems-the Wider Benefits
Coastal waters account for just seven percent of the total area of the ocean. However, the productivity of ecosystems such as coral reefs, and these blue carbon sinks mean that this small area forms the basis of the world's primary fishing grounds, supplying an estimated 50% of the world's fisheries.
They provide vital nutrition for close to three billion people, as well as 50% of animal protein and minerals to 400 million people of the least developed countries in the world.
The coastal zones, of which these blue carbon sinks are central for productivity, deliver a wide range of benefits to human society. These include filtering water, reducing effects of coastal pollution, nutrient loading, sedimentation, protecting the coast from erosion and buffering the effects of extreme weather events.
* Coastal ecosystem services have been estimated to be worth over US$25,000 billion annually, ranking among the most economically valuable of all ecosystems.
* Much of the degradation of these ecosystems not only comes from unsustainable natural resource use practices, but also from poor watershed management, poor coastal development practices and poor waste management.
* The protection and restoration of coastal zones, through coordinated integrated management would also have significant and multiple benefits for health, labour productivity and food security of communities in these areas.
Notes to Editors:
The report "Blue Carbon - The Role of Healthy Oceans in Binding Carbon" can be accessed at www.unep.org or at www.grida.no, including high and low resolution graphics for free use in publications.
The Blue Carbon report compliments a report launched by UNEP on the occasion of World Environment Day 2009 called The Natural Fix?-The Role of Ecosystems in Climate Mitigation http://www.unep.org/pdf/BioseqRRA_scr.pdf
Oceans seen as new front to fight climate change
Wendell Roelf, Reuters 14 Oct 09;
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Preventing the destruction of marine life, from plankton to seagrasses and mangrove forests, could help offset between 3 to 7 percent of current fossil fuel emissions, a U.N. environment report said on Wednesday.
The "Blue Carbon" report found that of all the biological carbon captured in the world, slightly more than half is captured by marine-living organisms.
"Healthy oceans (are a) new key to combating climate change," said the report, which highlighted how marine organisms such as seagrasses naturally absorb greenhouse gases.
Life in seas and estuaries captured and stored up to 1,650 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, the equivalent of almost half of the emissions from the entire global transport system, it said.
"We already know that marine ecosystems are multi-trillion dollar assets linked to sectors such as tourism, coastal defense, fisheries and water purification services," said Achim Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Programme.
"Now it is emerging that they are natural allies against climate change," he said, launching the report in Cape Town.
The report proposed that governments consider a "blue carbon" fund to help protect marine life.
It estimated that between 2 and 7 percent of the "blue carbon" stores were being lost every year due to factors such as pollution and clearance of mangroves for coastal development.
The proposed fund, which would be used to protect and manage coastal and marine ecosystems, could eventually allow the future use of carbon credits similar to that proposed for tropical forests in U.N. climate negotiations.
Steiner did not provide a target figure for the fund, which he said was unlikely to be adopted at a December 7-18 U.N. meeting in Copenhagen to agree a pact to fight global warming.
(Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Seagrass Recovery Joins the United Nations in Calling Attention to the Need to Restore Critical Seagrass Habitats in the Coastal Zone of the World's Oceans
Reuters 15 Oct 09;
While Creating Jobs, Reversing the Decline of the Fisheries and Combating
Climate Change
TAMPA, Fla.--(Business Wire)--
A report released October 14, 2009 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) stresses the importance of urgent action to maintain and restore marine ecosystems such as seagrass, mangroves and salt marshes (blue carbon sinks) as the key to combating climate change. With the announcement, a call to action is being made for the restoration of the world's blue forests and blue carbon sinks to combat climate change and sea level rise. Florida based Seagrass Recovery has been successfully restoring seagrass meadows since 1996 and stands ready to meet this expected increase in the need for restoration of this important resource.
The report, "Blue Carbon: The Role of Healthy Oceans in Binding Carbon" was produced by three United Nations agencies and leading scientists. It found the ocean`s vegetative habitats (seagrass, mangroves and salt marshes) cover less than 1% of the seabed and equal less than .05% of the biomass on land but store a comparable amount of carbon per year, ranking them among the most efficient carbon sinks on the planet, and unlike carbon that may be locked away for decades or centuries on land, blue carbon stored in the oceans remain for millennia.
Unfortunately, over 30% of seagrass meadows have been lost since the 1940s and the rate is accelerating according to the report, sponsored by UNEP, the Food and Agricultural Organization and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO. Seven percent of these "blue carbon sinks" are being lost annually - seven times the rate of loss of 50 years ago.
According to the report, "If more action is not taken to sustain these vital ecosystems, most may be lost within two decades," thus the loss of all of the benefits these habitats provide, not just in battling climate change.
The report`s findings detail that the key element to combating climate change is the restoration of degraded seagrass meadows. Seagrass Recovery has spent the last 14 years developing innovative techniques and patented technologies to replant and restore damaged seagrass areas. The success of these methods have been scientifically evaluated and documented by National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Jeff Beggins, President and CEO of Seagrass Recovery stated that, "We applaud this exciting realization that restoration projects focused on Seagrass habitats in our coastal zone no longer should happen, but must happen. Seagrass Recovery recognizes that through creating jobs in our coastal communities and restoring these valuable blue carbon sinks, we look forward to playing a significant role in the reversal of the issues facing our planet as we combat climate change and sea level rise while making our coastline more resilient."
It is understood that Seagrasses provide countless benefits to our planet such as being the nursery of the ocean, providing habitat and sustenance for 70% of marine life, its direct correlation to water quality and providing protection for inshore coral reef ecosystems as well as the protection of our coastlines from coastal erosion. With the additional value add of these ecosystems being presented by this research in the fight against climate change and sea level rise, Seagrass and other coastal habitats will certainly benefit from the increased attention and awareness of the newly published finding with regards to the ocean's role in permanently sequestering carbon. This opportunity may create the ability to fund large scale restoration projects in the coastal zone focused on seagrasses, salt marshes and mangroves for the value these ecosystems present in worldwide carbon trading markets.
In Florida alone, according to information published by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) in 1995, over 175,000 acres of prop scarring exist in the seagrass meadows found in the coastal waters of Florida. Information such as this provides a real world example of the degradation mentioned by the UN and the opportunities it presents to the Global economy. For example, a simple restoration of 100 acres will put over 1,000 coastal residents to work. Through the implementation of successful restoration techniques, such as Seagrass Recovery`s sediment tubes, to restore seagrass injuries sites, we can respond to this call to immediate action presented by this UN report to focus restoration opportunities on reversing the losses of these critical habitats through the restoration of the degraded habitats as well as the creation of new ecosystems.
"In these challenging economic times, we have the ability to place literally thousands of job seekers to work in long term sustainable careers while ensuring the future health of coastal habitats for a multitude of reasons, this report is very exciting," says Beggins.
The full report, "Blue Carbon: the Role of Healthy Oceans in Binding Carbon" can be accessed at www.grida.no/publications/rr/blue-carbon/
About Seagrass Recovery
Since 1996, Seagrass Recovery has successfully transplanted, repaired and grown several species of seagrass. The company, located in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, has completed more than 150 restoration projects around the world, many in Florida. Once Seagrass Recovery becomes involved in a project, measurable results are typically achieved within 12-18 months. This success represents a paradigm shift in how seagrass restoration is applied and achieved.
Seagrass Recovery`s innovative methods and technologies - the company holds seven industry-specific patents - are unique in the industry. These include techniques that have been scientifically peer-reviewed and approved by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association as well as by the Florida Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Seagrass Recovery is actively teaming with concerned citizens, organizations, educational institutions, and corporations across Florida and the nation to protect, restore and expand seagrass habitat. The company`s mission is to save oceans, estuaries and shorelines for generations to come. To learn more about Seagrass Recovery and its solutions, please visit www.seagrassrecovery.com.
Seagrass Recovery, Tampa
Kenny Wright, Executive Vice President, 727-596-8020
• Ian Redmond's argument could lead to new protections
• Cites animals' role in propagating plants on jungle floor
Suzanne Goldenberg, guardian.co.uk 13 Oct 09;
Gorilla dung could conceivably be the salvation of the planet.
A leading UK wildlife expert today said protecting the large primates he called the "gardeners of the forest" could provide the easy fix for global warming envisaged by international reforestation programmes.
America and other industrialised countries are looking to reforestation programmes in Africa, South-east Asia and South America to help contain the effects of climate change.
But Ian Redmond, the UN ambassador for the year of the gorilla, said the industrialised countries would be making a mistake if they did not commit specific funds to protecting the gorillas as part of the discussion on reforestation efforts at the climate change negotiations at Copenhagen next December.
"If we save the trees and not the animals then we will just see a slow death of the forests," Redmond said. "What I am urging the decisionmakers at Copenhagen to consider is that the gorillas are not a luxury item. If you want a longterm healthy forest you have to take action to protect them."
The gorillas - or "gardeners of the forest" as Redmond called them - were crucial to fighting climate change, he said. Gorillas, which are herbivores, feed on fruid and plants. The digested food, as it passes through their systems, helps seeds to germinate.
The full extent of the gorillas' role in propagation is unclear. But Redmond said a number of plant species could not flourish without them, or wild elephants, the other large mammal crucial in germination.
The gorillas - caught up in the region's civil wars, preyed on by poachers, and crowded out of their homes by mining and logging industries - are already endangered across Africa.
But Redmond's argument could help give the animals a new level of protection.
The world's forests act as a natural trap for carbon emissions, sucking up some 4.8bn tonnes of carbon a year.
Economists such as Lord Stern have said that spending some $15bn a year on reforestation programmes would be the cheapest way of cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
In the run-up to the meeting on climate change in December, there has been a growing focus on reforestation programmes in Africa, South-east Asia and South America.
However, there has been no direct recognition of the role played by large animals - such as gorillas - in propagating plants on the jungle floor.
Redmond said gorillas were crucial in maintaining the lifecycle of the rainforests in the Congo basin. The forests themselves suck up more than 1bn tonnes of carbon every year.
"This is what the species are for. They are not ornaments. They are not just interesting things to study. They are part of an ecosystem," he said.
All of the big apes are now considered endangered. Nearly 20 years of civil war in the Great Lakes region of Africa have seen an explosion in illegal mining and logging by militias seeking money for guns.
Two gorillas are killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo each week and their corpses sold as bush meat, an investigation by Endangered Species International found.
Many gorillas live outside the relatively small protected enclaves of national parks.
Those gorillas are losing their habitat because of rapid urbanisation. Villagers are venturing deeper into the forest to cut down trees for cooking charcoal.
Steve Hopper, BBC Green Room 13 Oct 09;
Conserving genetic diversity in botanic gardens and seed banks is a sensible and practical precaution for an uncertain future, says Steve Hopper. With species loss at an unnatural high and with climate change threatening many ecosystems, he argues that the need to invest in these facilities has never been greater.
Kew, like other botanic gardens around the world, provides inspiration, enjoyment, tranquillity and learning to millions of visitors of all ages and cultural backgrounds.
But in a time of ever-increasing environmental challenges, including massive loss of biodiversity and climate change, the role of botanic gardens is much wider.
Collectively, we have the knowledge and expertise to make a very real and positive difference to biodiversity conservation around the world.
In the lead-up to the United Nations' International Year of Biological Diversity in 2010, and as we approach the UN's critical climate conference in Copenhagen in just a few weeks, it is clear that the challenges we face and the potential of botanic gardens to help solve these challenges through science-based plant conservation have never been greater.
As the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew celebrates its 250th anniversary, we are assessing how best we can use our tremendous resources to address the critical environmental issues of our time for the sake of our own well-being and for future generations.
It is one of the world's greatest collections of information relating to wild plants (including living plants, preserved specimens, plant DNA, seeds, library, art, archives and economic botany) as well as the knowledge, expertise and partnerships developed over our 250-year history.
As the UN-backed study The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) begins to put a value on natural capital - the forests, deserts, oceans, rivers, animals and plants that we rely on in a million ways - it is critical that we halt the squandering of these precious resources.
Essential growth
Plants absorb carbon and provide oxygen, thereby providing air we can breathe and helping to regulate the climate.
They provide food, medicine, shelter, clean water and fertile soil.
Plant diversity is invaluable to humanity; it sustains us now, and in the future it will enable us to adapt, innovate and ultimately to survive.
Kew's response to the increasingly urgent need to address environmental challenges including climate change is outlined in the Breathing Planet programme.
With the ultimate objective of a world where plant diversity is conserved, restored and more sustainably used to improve the quality of human lives, the Breathing Planet programme will be achieved through seven strategies that:
• accelerate targeted scientific discovery of plant and fungal diversity and make information on plant diversity much more readily accessible
• help identify species and regions most at risk in terms of plant and fungal diversity loss
• contribute to conservation programmes on the ground
• secure 25% of the world's plants in seed banks by 2020, and enable the sustainable use of seeds for human benefit
• accelerate the science of restoration ecology and enhance global networks involved in repair of the Earth using plant diversity
• bring a new focus to the use of local plants for local people in agricultural and urban lands
• ensure that Kew uses its World Heritage collections and gardens to engage with visitors on site and online across the world in devising new ways of sustainable living through plant-based solutions, science, conservation and community involvement.
At the heart of this future vision is Kew's Millennium Seed Bank partnership.
Described by Sir David Attenborough as "perhaps the most ambitious conservation initiative ever", the partnership will announce on 15 October the banking and conservation of 10% of the world's plant species.
This enormous achievement has been accomplished with over 120 partners in 54 countries.
This truly global partnership has delivered ambitious conservation targets on time and under budget.
Key collection
Kew's Millennium Seed Bank is a unique, global asset. It is the largest facility of its kind in the world and contains the world's most diverse seed collections.
Over the past 10 years, more than 3.5 billion seeds from 25,000 species have been collected and stored in their country of origin and in Kew.
Species are chosen by country partners according to whether they are rare or endangered or of particular potential use - for example as medicine, food, animal fodder or shelter.
This collection addresses concerns about human adaptation to climate change highlighted in the Stern Review, and has the potential to make a major contribution to the delivery of the Millennium Development Goals.
Kew's Millennium Seed Bank partnership is a tangible first step in bringing the enormous wealth of expertise in the world's foremost plant science institutions to bear on the major environmental challenges of the 21st Century, including food security and sustainable energy as well as loss of biodiversity and climate change.
The significance and value of the partnership grows daily, and this remarkable collaboration provides a real message of hope and steadfast achievement in a world where doom and gloom about the environment is becoming common currency.
This milestone is an inspirational outcome, and all involved in this fine global achievement should be warmly congratulated.
However, there is much more to be done, and Kew's Millennium Seed Bank partnership will grow and develop with the aim of conserving and enabling use of 25% of plant species by 2020.
In addition, we aim to increase capacity on the ground and develop areas relatively new to science, such as restoration ecology to restore degraded habitats.
Despite its achievements, the project is unfunded from 2010 and to achieve its goals, Kew and its partners will need the support of governments, corporations and individuals.
When we lose a species, we have no idea what the scale of that loss truly is.
Every species we conserve has potential value, and there is no technological reason why any plant species should become extinct. It is simply a question of priorities.
Investing a small fraction of the world's financial resources in biodiversity conservation and science over the next few decades would reap irreplaceable long-term rewards.
Professor Stephen Hopper is director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website
Hope for frog conservation got bleaker with a recent study showing that fungus-associated extinction is reducing amphibian biodiversity in Central America
Carina Storrs, Scientific American 13 Oct 09;
Threats to wildlife survival, such as habitat loss and climate change, tend to strike some species harder than others, and the threat of chytrid, a deadly amphibian fungus, appears to be no different. A study published in this month's Ecology Letters finds that rarer species were more likely to disappear, leading to loss of frog biodiversity in Central America.
The study compares frog surveys taken at eight different sites in Costa Rica and Panama. Karen Lips, an associate professor of biology at the University of Maryland, College Park, along with Kevin Smith and Jonathan Chase at Washington University in St. Louis, found that the average number of frog species at the eight sites dropped from 45 to 23 after the appearance of the chytrid fungus. Rare species that were only present at one or a few of the sites were disproportionately wiped out, making up more than half of the species lost.
"All species can get infected [but] the point is that not everything completely disappears," says Lips, who conducted the frog surveys that were used in the study.
Although abundant species enjoy safety in numbers, factors other than abundance could help protect certain frogs after the deadly skin fungus hits their homes. Terrestrial species fared better than frogs living in wet habitats, where the fungus thrives. In addition, certain genes or differences in skin chemistry may allow some species to be less susceptible to chytrid, Lips says. Even with these advantages, frogs still die from chytrid, just at slower rates. Once the fungus arrives at a site, it remains in the soil and never really goes away. "I think, in time, species will continue to go extinct," she says.
livescience.com Yahoo News 14 Oct 09;
In a new report, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessed the ecological risks that nine giant non-native snake species would bring if they were ever established in the United States. The result: Five of them pose a high risk and four pose a medium risk.
The nine species, including non-native boa, anaconda and python species, are invasive or potentially invasive in the United States. However, the authors write in their report that "at present, the only probable pathway by which these species would become established in the United States is the pet trade."
Among the high risk species are Burmese pythons, northern and southern African pythons, boa constrictors and yellow anacondas. These species put larger portions of the U.S. mainland at risk, constitute a greater ecological threat, or are more common in trade and commerce. Medium-risk species, including the reticulated python, Deschauensee's anaconda, green anaconda and Beni anaconda, constitute lesser threats in these areas, but still are potentially serious threats.
Both Burmese pythons and boa constrictors have been documented as reproducing in the wild in South Florida, with population estimates for Burmese pythons in the tens of thousands, although there has been some debate about whether or not the pythons will migrate out of this habitat.
The high risk snakes "mature early, produce large numbers of offspring, travel long distances, and have broad diets that allow them to eat most native birds and mammals," which increases their risk to ecosystems, the authors wrote.
In addition most of these snakes can inhabit a variety of habitats and are quite tolerant of urban or suburban areas, they said. Boa constrictors and northern African pythons, for example, already live wild in the Miami metropolitan area.
The authors also note that native U.S. birds, mammals, and reptiles in areas of potential invasion have never had to deal with huge predatory snakes before - individuals of the largest three species reach lengths of more than 20 feet and upwards of 200 pounds.
USGS researchers used available science data to forecast areas of the country most at risk of invasion by these giant snakes. Based on climate alone, many of the species would be limited to the warmest areas of the United States, including parts of Florida, extreme south Texas, Hawaii, and America's tropical islands, such as Puerto Rico, Guam, and other Pacific islands. For a few species, however, larger areas of the continental United States appear to exhibit suitable climatic conditions. For example, much of the southern U.S. climatic conditions are similar to those experienced by the Burmese python in its native range. However, many factors other than climate alone can influence whether a species can establish a population in a particular location, the report says.
Individuals of some species may also pose a small risk to people, although most snakes would not be large enough to consider a person as suitable prey. Mature individuals of the largest species - Burmese, reticulated, and northern and southern African pythons -have been documented as attacking and killing people in the wild in their native range, though such unprovoked attacks appear to be quite rare. The snake most associated with unprovoked human fatalities in the wild is the reticulated python. The situation with human risk is similar to that experienced with alligators: attacks in the wild are improbable but possible.
The report also notes that there are no control tools yet that seem adequate for eradicating an established population of giant snakes once they have spread over a large area. Making the task of eradication more difficult is that in the wild these snakes are extremely hard to find since their camouflaged coloration enables them to blend in well with their surroundings.
"This report clearly reveals that these giant snakes threaten to destabilize some of our most precious ecosystems and parks, primarily through predation on vulnerable native species," Dr. Robert Reed, a coauthor of the report and a USGS invasive species scientist, said in a statement.
The Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service will use the 300-page report to assist in further development of management actions concerning the snakes when and where these species appear in the wild. In addition, the risk assessment will provide current, science-based information for management authorities to evaluate prospective regulations that might prevent further colonization of the U.S. by these snakes.
Report: 5 foreign snake species threaten US
Tamara Lush, Associated Press Yahoo News 13 Oct 09;
MIAMI – Watch out, animals of South Florida: It's a wild world out there. There are five species of foreign snakes just waiting to eat you.
More troublingly, according to a U.S. Geological Survey report released Tuesday, nonnative snakes like the Burmese python could slither their way north from the warm, humid conditions of South Florida.
The big snakes threaten native species and ecosystems because they mature and reproduce quickly, travel long distances and can eat almost anything in fur, feathers or scales, experts say.
The 302-page report could be a step toward a ban on importing constrictor-like snakes into the U.S., said Ken Warren, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's South Florida office. The FWC will now evaluate the report and seek public comment before recommending such a ban.
"In many aspects, the report confirms what we already knew: that these snakes are a problem and that they do pose some risk," Warren said.
The report analyzed nine kinds of snakes. Five — Burmese pythons, northern and southern African pythons, boa constrictors and yellow anacondas — are of "high risk" to the ecosystems of the U.S., especially in Florida.
Four others — the reticulated python, Deschauensee's anaconda, green anaconda and Beni anaconda — are considered medium risk to ecosystems.
Scientists are already studying where Burmese pythons can survive in the U.S. Seven are being studied in a natural enclosure in South Carolina to see if the tropical natives can live through colder winters.
The number of invasive pythons in South Florida and throughout Everglades National Park has exploded in the past decade to potentially tens of thousands, though wildlife officials aren't sure exactly how many are out there.
Scientists believe pet owners have freed their snakes into the wild once they became too big to keep. They also think some Burmese pythons may have escaped in 1992 from pet shops battered by Hurricane Andrew and have been reproducing ever since.
Officials say the constrictors can produce up to 100 eggs at a time. Dr. Robert Reed, a research biologist with the U.S. geological survey, said everything from small wood storks, alligators and bobcats have been found in the stomachs of dead pythons.
Reed said the native animals of Florida aren't used to living near super-predatory snakes, and in time, entire wildlife populations could be wiped out.
"The fear is that something will happen akin to the situation with brown tree snakes on Guam," said Reed. "There, within 40 years of arrival, the snakes wiped out 10 of 12 bird species on island."
Reed was quick to point out that these free-range snakes pose a "minuscule" threat to people.
"All of the known fatalities involving giant snakes are from pet snakes, and usually to the owners," he said.
In July, an 8-foot pet python strangled a toddler in Central Florida.
Officials have tried to crack down on the invasive species; this summer, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced that the state would allow a few permitted snake experts to begin hunting, trapping and killing the nonnative pythons in an effort to eradicate them. Hunting the snakes is not allowed in Everglades National Park.
Between Jan. 1 and Oct. 5, some 270 Burmese pythons have been removed from the park.
"It's just very difficult to eradicate them," said Linda Friar, a park spokeswoman. "The snakes are very difficult to locate."
___
U.S. Geological Survey report: http://www.fort.usgs.gov/Products/Publications/pub(underscore)abstract.asp?PubID22691
Alien Giant Snakes Threaten to Invade Up to 1/3 of U.S.
Ker Than, National Geographic News 14 Oct 09;
Nine species of giant snakes—none of them native to North America and all popular pets among reptile lovers—could wreak havoc on U.S. ecosystems if the snakes become established in the wild, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
Two of the giant snakes are already at home in Florida. One of them, the Burmese python, has the potential to infiltrate the entire lower third of the U.S., the study says.
Mature individuals of the largest of the nine giant snake species—the Burmese, reticulated, and northern and southern African pythons—have been known to attack and kill people. But attacks on humans are rare, and scientists think the snakes pose minimal risks to humans.
Some of the snakes can grow longer than 20 feet (6 meters) and weigh more than 200 pounds (90 kilograms).
All nine giant snakes are considered invasive or potentially invasive, meaning they could live and reproduce in parts of the U.S. The snakes mature rapidly, produce large numbers of offspring, are not picky eaters, and can survive in a variety of environments.
The report names five giant snake species as high risk, saying they "put larger portions of the U.S. mainland at risk, constitute a greater ecological threat, or are more common in trade and commerce": the Burmese python, northern and southern African pythons, boa constrictor, and yellow anaconda.
The other four species—the reticulated python, Deschauensee's anaconda, the green anaconda, and the Beni anaconda—are considered medium risk.
Thousands of Giant Snakes Already in U.S.?
The giant snakes are native to a variety of countries in Africa, South America, and Asia.
For the study, USGS scientists examined the potential for each of the nine species to thrive in regions of the U.S. that match the reptiles' native habitats.
Two of the species—the Burmese python and the boa constrictor—have been confirmed to be breeding in parts of Florida. The other seven species are not as established but are considered potential threats.
While the possible ranges for some of the giant snakes are limited to parts of Florida and Texas, other species could spread more widely. The Burmese python, for example, could spread across the lower third of the country, the study concludes.
Scientists estimate that there could be tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of these giant snakes already living wild in the United States. However, due to the snakes' camouflage, humans rarely notice them.
"For every snake that you see," said study co-author and USGS biologist Bob Reed, "there could be a thousand snakes that you didn't see."
Giant Snakes Spell Death Sentence?
Most of the giant snakes found in the wild were once pets that either escaped or were released by humans after they had proved too difficult to care for, the report says.
While humans may think they are doing their pets a favor by releasing them, freedom for the snakes could be a death sentence for many North American ecosystems.
"If you want to be good to Mother Nature, do not under any circumstances let [your snake] go," said study co-author and USGS zoologist Gordon Rodda. "You'd be better off euthanizing it than releasing it."
And though some of the species occasionally attack humans, Rodda added, "the main damage that we see from these snakes is ecological."
For example, the post-World War II invasion of brown tree snakes on the U.S. territory of Guam has decimated the South Pacific island's native wildlife populations.
Many of the mammals, birds, and lizards that the tree snake—a native of Australia, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands—preys on pollinate the island's trees and flowers, so Guam's native plants are also on the decline.
A similar loss of species diversity is possible in parts of North America, where many small animals are unaccustomed to the hunting styles of huge predatory snakes, the scientists warn.
"Our native animals don't have an evolutionary history with giant sit-and-wait snakes," Reed said.
Freeing Giant Snakes: Antisocial Act
The authors of the new study "didn't leave anything unturned," said Ken Krysko, a senior herpetologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, who was not involved in the study.
"No one can dispute anything they wrote down in there."
The new study will be reviewed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and National Park Service. The findings will be taken into consideration when determining options for controlling the snakes' spread, said FWS spokesperson Ken Warren.
One possible action, Warren said, is to declare the snakes as injurious to humans and the environment. This would prohibit importing the snakes into the United States and transporting them across state lines.
However, such an action would not make it illegal to own or sell the snakes.
It will also be important to educate the public on the ecological dangers posed by freeing giant snakes, said USGS's Rodda.
"It has to be understood as an antisocial act," Rodda said. "Just as friends don't let their friends drive drunk, friends don't let their friends release giant snakes."
Yahoo News 13 Oct 09;
MADRID (AFP) – Underground fires have been raging for weeks in a wetlands area in southern Spain, sparked by the dry summer and the overuse of water for agriculture, an environmentalist said Tuesday.
The Tablas de Daimiel National Park, fed by the Guadiana river, has been drying up since the 1980s, and some lagoons have already disappeared.
In late August, hot dry weather caused the peat subsurface to catch fire, and plumes of smoke can be seen rising from the ground, said Jose Manuel Hernandez, head of the environmental organisation that looks after the park.
"This is a new phenomenon in the park" and "an extraordinary warning, a very clear signal of the degree of degradation of the park," he told AFP.
"The park is sinking so it is urgent" to flood it so the water table can be restored, he said.
The 2,000-hectare Tablas de Daimiel is the centrepiece of the Mancha Humeda wetlands zone, home to diverse birdlife, that UNESCO in 1980 placed on its list of Biosphere Reserves.
But UNESCO last year warned Spain it had three years to restore the zone or it would be withdrawn from the list.
Spain was hit by dozens of wildfires last summer as temperatures remained around 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in much of the country.
House flies at Everest basecamp are another sign of climate change that is melting glaciers with worrying speed
John Vidal, guardian.co.uk 12 Oct 09;
Earlier this year Dawa Steven Sherpa was resting at Everest base camp when he and his companions heard something buzzing. "What the heck is that?" asked the young Nepali climber. They searched and found a big black house fly, something unimaginable just a few years ago when no insect could have survived at 5,360 metres.
"It's happened twice this year - the Himalayas are warming up and changing fast," says Dawa, who only took up climbing seriously in 2006, but in a few years has climbed Everest twice as well as two 8,000m peaks in Tibet.
"What I do is climb. It's a family business. And what we see is the Himalayan glaciers melting. It's not a seasonal thing any more. It's rapid. It's so apparent.
"Look at the walls and slopes of the Khumbu glacier [which flows 1.5 miles down from an icefall on the southern flanks of Everest]. "You can see a clear line where the black rock becomes white. That's where it's been exposed to the sun. That means metres of thick ice have melted in just a few decades," he says.
Dawa was born in Khumjung, a village just 12 miles from Everest which lies at 3,500m above sea level. His father used to climb with British mountaineer Chris Bonnington, and his grandfather, a yak traderwho toured the world with Everest's first summiteer, Sir Edmund Hillary.
All three generations of Dawa's family testify to major climate change taking place today. "Grandfather used to take yaks to a place called Gokio which was on the other side of the Ngozumba glacier, Nepal's longest. He could walk them over the ice but now it's just not there – it's a stony wasteland. The whole thing has melted," he says.
He lists some of the physical changes he has seen and their effects on local communities. "The permanent ice above our village now melts at about 5,500m, but it used to be 3,750 metres. Our village is seeing prolonged droughts. They used to last a few months. Now we can go seven months without rain. We have less water now and erratic weather patterns.
"The young girls must now walk two hours to fetch water. Tourism, too, is being hit because villages like Khumjung, which used to have a lot of water for trekkers now don't have it. The villagers lose their business.
"All the Himalayan glaciers are melting, an average of 10-20m a year," he says.
One of the most obvious changes, he adds, is the growth of what are known as glacial lake outburst floods (glofs).
"A glof happens when a glacial lake is created by a melting glacier and it then bursts. Imja lake is the most dramatic example of a potential one. It is growing 74m a year. When it bursts its banks, we will have a mountain tsunami. Billions of gallons of water will be released and it could wipe out about 70% of the trekking trail to Everest base camp. Not only will that destroy our homes and potentially kill people, but it will wipe out the jewel in the crown of Nepal's tourism industry," he says.
Last year villagers got an early warning of what they might expect. A very small lake at the edge of the Khumbu glacier burst and it washed away four bridges on a track up to Everest base camp.
Dawa, now 25, has a Belgian mother, a degree in business management from Heriot-Watt university in Scotland and he speaks five languages. He is a WWF ambassador on climate change and runs major expeditions into the Himalayas, climbing with his friend Apa Sherpa, who has climbed Everest 19 times - the world record. .
Everest itself is changing, he says. "Apa says there was running water on the surface of the South col [a saddle at 7,920m between Everest and Lhotse mountain] this year," says Dawa. "Also the summit is getting smaller. You used to be able to get 50 people on the ridge to it. Now there's room for 18 people at most. The cornice is breaking off. A big crevasse is opening. It never used to exist. It seems nothing is safe anymore."
Nothing compares with the beauty of standing on the summit of Everest and seeing far over the mountains, he says. But finding a fly buzzing thousands of metres up is horrifying.
Robin Millard Yahoo News 13 Oct 09;
LONDON (AFP) – New technology to capture carbon emissions and store them safely must be part of climate change talks in December, ministers from a 23-country group said at a meeting here Tuesday.
The Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF), holding a four-day gathering in the British capital, agreed to ramp up the case for carbon capture and storage (CCS) to be included at climate talks in Copenhagen in December.
The December 7-18 United Nations climate summit in the Danish capital will see nations attempt to hammer out a new global climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.
CCS involves separating carbon dioxide from emissions -- for example from fossil fuel-burning power stations -- capturing it and storing it underground.
"It's important because it's only two months to Copenhagen. We agree there is no possible solution in Copenhagen without CCS as part of it," said Norwegian Energy Minister Terje Riis-Johansen, who co-hosted the forum with his British counterpart Ed Miliband.
"The world will use coal, oil and gas in the future," Riis-Johansen said. "We want to raise this debate and get more countries involved."
The CSLF comprises 23-member states, including the United States, China, Russia, Australia, South Africa, Japan and South Korea, plus the European Commission.
The ministers agreed that building more than 20 industrial-scale CCS demonstration projects, including in developing countries where carbon emissions are set to rise, was "vital".
They also agreed to support for developing countries to build power stations with CCS technology "once it's proven".
"Today some of the world's biggest coal-consuming nations have shown business as usual on coal won't do," said Miliband, who urged the international community to "step up the pace" on developing CCS technology.
"There's agreement that we need countries around the world to finance demonstrations, as we are doing in the UK; we need technology cooperation for know-how and capacity-building, and a financing agreement at Copenhagen which can drive CCS forward in developing countries."
The Global CCS Institute said there were 64 full-scale integrated CCS projects underway in the world, of which seven were operational.
US Energy Secretary Steven Chu said: "The reason we're saying it has to be part of the solution is that it's part of the lowest-cost solution.
"Energy efficiency is the lowest-cost solution, but CCS is not far behind."
He added: "If you want to deliver on climate change and cleaning up coal you need an outcome that incentivises this.
"Unless you can incentivise key technologies like CCS, then targets are all very well but you're not going to achieve the low carbon path that you need."
World Needs Big Drive For Carbon Capture: IEA
Daniel Fineren, PlanetArk 14 Oct 09;
LONDON - The world needs to build 100 major projects for capturing and burying greenhouse gases by 2020 and thousands more by 2050 to help combat climate change, International Energy Agency chief Nobuo Tanaka said Tuesday.
Energy ministers meeting in London said the world must start building by next year at least 20 commercial-scale pilot projects to test a technology which U.S. energy secretary Steven Chu said could solve "20 percent of the problem" to curb carbon.
The drive, mostly to capture emissions from coal-fired power stations, would cost $56 billion by 2020 alone, said Tanaka. Carbon capture funding could be a key part of a new U.N. climate treaty due to be agreed in Copenhagen in December.
"We will need 100 large scale projects by 2020, 850 by 2030 and 3,400 in 2050," Tanaka told the ministers at a carbon capture and storage (CCS) conference, adding that the rich world must take the lead but most projects must be in non-OECD countries by 2050.
A few industrial-scale projects are in operation, including in Norway, Canada and Algeria, but none tests all parts of the capture process. Heat-trapping carbon dioxide can be taken from the exhausts of a coal-fired power plant, for instance, then piped underground into porous rocks.
The IEA estimates that after the $56 billion investment in CCS globally from 2010-2020, a further $646 billion will be needed from 2021 to 2030, Tanaka told the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum.
U.N. studies have indicated that CCS could do more to limit greenhouse gas emissions this century than a shift to renewable energies such as wind or solar power. CCS has been limited by high costs.
COPENHAGEN SUCCESS
"We call upon the delegates to the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen to recognize the importance of CCS in mitigating climate change," said a closing statement of the 15 ministers, including those from the United States, Europe and China.
"The world's biggest coal-using nations recognize we cannot continue with business as usual on coal," British Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said. "We need a mechanism which will at least provide the opportunity for developing countries to get help with financing some of the incremental costs of their projects."
A promise of big aid via technologies such as CCS could encourage developing nations led by China and India to sign up in Copenhagen for more action to limit rising emissions.
Talks on the new U.N. climate deal made little progress at a two-week session that ended in Bangkok last week, partly because of disputes between rich and poor nations about sharing out the burden of curbs on greenhouse gas emissions.
It is unclear if the U.S. Senate will pass laws before Copenhagen to cut national emissions, and recession is dampening willingness to act.
In Australia, a survey Tuesday indicated that saving jobs was the top priority for voters. Fighting climate change fell to seventh, two years after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was swept to power on a promise to tackle global warming.
The government said it was committed to an emissions trading scheme which, if defeated in November, could bring a snap election. "Our policy is not determined by polls," Climate Minister Penny Wong said of the survey.
So far, few nations have agreed to invest heavily in carbon capture technologies -- nations including the United States, Australia, Britain and China have projects.
Still, in a national budget Tuesday, Norway said it would almost double funding of carbon capture research to $620 million next year. Norway has the oldest commercial carbon capture site, set up in 1996 at the Sleipner gas field in the North Sea.
-- Additional reporting by Gerard Wynn
(Editing by David Stamp)
Hum Wei Mei, Straits Times 14 Oct 09;
CLEAN technology is about more than just reducing greenhouse gases. It is also likely to catapult a class of commodities into prominence, with implications for resource politics and the economic strategies of nations.
There are three reasons for the sector's growing significance: its role in keeping down the cost of climate change measures by improving energy efficiency; its ability to reward enterprising countries with new avenues of growth; and its potential to increase a country's energy security and independence.
Countries that come out ahead in the clean technology sector are therefore likely to be more competitive and secure than others. As a result, clean technology features prominently in the grand strategies of nations in the 21st century.
While clean technology is still in a nascent stage, international competition to develop the sector has intensified considerably.
This has, in turn, added a new dimension to global resource politics. While there is no formal consensus on which commodities will be vital, the European Union, America, Japan, China and South Korea have all established commissions to identify the resources key to their interests.
The scarce materials used in the lucrative and strategically significant clean technology sector include metals such as rare earth elements (REEs), platinum group metals, indium and niobium, which are critical to clean technologies ranging from turbines to lithium-ion batteries.
There are supply problems with a number of these metals because of the difficulty of increasing their production quickly or because they may be subject to export restrictions. Add high demand to these factors, and the stage is set for intense international rivalry for access to these materials.
The fierce competition for lithium stems from its applications in the important field of energy storage. According to Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile SA, the world's largest supplier of lithium, global demand - already growing at 6.7 per cent annually - is expected to accelerate rapidly. This is because of the growing demand for lithium-ion batteries for use in electric vehicles, leading some to wonder if lithium is the new oil.
Meanwhile, global reserves of lithium are concentrated in a few countries. Just four Latin American countries - Chile, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil - account for more than 80 per cent of the world's reserves of lithium.
China too has an enviable share of the scarce materials needed to support the clean technology sector. In fact, China accounts for more than 95 per cent of the global production of REEs, which are needed to make the advanced permanent magnets used in hybrid and electric vehicles and wind turbines.
About 20kg of these elements are used in a hybrid car such as the Toyota Prius and almost 1,000kg is needed to make an efficient 1MW wind turbine.
Last month, it was reported that China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology was considering imposing further restrictions on the production and export of REEs and other industrial raw materials.
This sparked fears that the clean technology industry would be held hostage to limited supplies of vital raw materials.
China has not only encouraged the growth of clean technology industries within its borders, by reducing exports of crucial raw materials, it has also given foreign clean technology companies incentives to set up operations in the country so as to secure access to supplies.
In December, more than 170 countries will attempt to bring about a new global climate agreement. But even as countries negotiate measures to mitigate climate change, they are also seeking to position their economies to profit from a different energy landscape.
Countries like Singapore, which boast neither rich endowments of strategic raw materials nor cutting-edge clean technologies, need to assess how they can best adapt to the new global resource politics.
Economic and industrial strategies are being realigned in an emerging carbon constrained world underwritten by clean technology.
The writer is an adjunct fellow at the Energy Studies Institute, National University of Singapore.
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