Dairy farm road
from Singapore Nature
Oriental Magpie Robin’s failed nesting
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Sharing about Nature Blogging
from wild shores of singapore
Green Buddy Award 2009
from Water Quality in Singapore
Biodiversity and REDD at Copenhagen (Current Biology)
from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS
We want to live in a place not a plan
from Reclaim Land
Grey-headed Canary Flycatchers in a bird wave
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Robert Skidelsky, Straits Times 26 Nov 09;
THE economic downturn has produced an explosion of popular anger against bankers' 'greed'. This has accompanied a wider critique of 'growthmanship' - the pursuit of economic growth at all costs, regardless of the damage it may do to the earth's environment or to shared values.
John Maynard Keynes addressed this issue in 1930, in his little essay Economic Possibilities For Our Grandchildren.
Keynes predicted that in 100 years - that is, by 2030 - growth in the developed world would, in effect, have stopped because people would 'have enough' to lead the 'good life'. Hours of paid work would fall to three a day - a 15-hour week. Human beings would be more like the 'lilies of the field, who toil not, neither do they spin'.
Keynes' prediction rested on the assumption that, with a 2 per cent annual increase in capital, a 1 per cent increase in productivity, and a stable population, average standards of living would rise eight times on average. This enables us to work out how much Keynes thought was 'enough'.
Gross domestic product (GDP) per head in Britain in the late 1920s was roughly £5,200 (S$12,000) in today's value. Accordingly, he estimated that a GDP per capita of roughly £40,000 - or US$66,000 ($91,600) - would be 'enough' for humans to turn their attention to more agreeable things.
It is not clear why Keynes thought eight times the average British national income per head in the 1920s would be 'enough'. Most likely he took as his standard of sufficiency the bourgeois rentier income of his day, which was about 10 times that of the average worker.
Eighty years on, the developed world has approached Keynes' goal. In 2007, the International Monetary Fund reported that average GDP per head in the United States stood at US$47,000, and at US$46,000 in Britain. In other words, Britain has had a five-fold increase in living standards since 1930 - despite the falsification of two of Keynes' assumptions: 'no major wars' and 'no population growth' (Britain's population is now 33 per cent higher than it was in 1930).
The reason we have done so well is that annual productivity growth has been higher than Keynes projected: about 1.6 per cent in Britain, and a bit higher for the US. Countries like Germany and Japan have done even better, despite the hugely disruptive effects of war. It is likely that Keynes' 'target' of US$66,000 will be achieved for most Western countries by 2030.
But it is equally unlikely that this achievement will end the insatiable hunt for more money. Let's assume that we are two-thirds of the way towards Keynes' target. We might therefore have expected hours of work to have fallen by about two-thirds. In fact, they have fallen by only one-third - and have stopped falling since the 1980s.
This makes it highly improbable that we will reach the three-hour working day by 2030. It is also unlikely that growth will stop - unless nature itself calls a halt. People will continue to trade leisure for higher incomes.
Keynes minimised the obstacles to his goal. He recognised that there are two kinds of needs, absolute and relative, and that the latter may be insatiable. But he underestimated the weight of relative needs and, of course, the power of advertising to create new wants. As long as consumption is conspicuous and competitive, there will continue to be fresh reasons to work.
Keynes did not entirely ignore the social character of work. The wealthy had a duty to help the poor. The goal of global poverty reduction has imposed a burden of extra work on people in rich countries, both through foreign aid and, more importantly, through globalisation, which increases job insecurity and holds down wages of the less skilled in the developed world.
Moreover, Keynes did not really confront the problem of what most people would do when they no longer needed to work. He writes: 'It is a fearful problem for the ordinary person, with no special talents, to occupy himself, especially if he no longer has roots in the soil or in custom or in the beloved conventions of a traditional economy.' But since most of the rich have 'failed disastrously' to live the 'good life', why should those who are currently poor do any better?
Here I think Keynes comes closest to answering the question of why his 'enough' will not, in fact, be enough. The accumulation of wealth, which should be a means to the 'good life', becomes an end in itself because it destroys many of the things that make life worth living. Beyond a certain point - which most of the world is still far from having reached - the accumulation of wealth offers only substitute pleasures for the real losses to human relations that it exacts.
Finding the means to nourish the fading 'associations or duties or ties' that are so essential for individuals to flourish is the unsolved problem of the developed world, and it is looming for the billions who have just stepped onto the growth ladder.
George Orwell put it well: 'All progress is seen to be a frantic struggle towards an objective which you hope and pray will never be reached.'
The writer, a member of Britain's House of Lords, is Professor Emeritus of Political Economy at Warwick University.
PROJECT SYNDICATE
Letter from Chin Kee Thou, Today Online 23 Nov 09;
IN THE past, monkeys have been seen in Toa Payoh Rise near the Singapore School of the Visually Handicapped, some distance away from the MacRitchie Reservoir catchment area.
On Saturday at 7am, a monkey was seen in Toa Payoh on the railing of the pedestrian overhead bridge leading from Block 236 - across Lorong 6 - to Block 211.
Could regular park maintenance work of pruning and cutting down of trees, as well as the second phase makeover project at the MacRitchie Reservoir Park, be the reasons why these primates are being forced to seek refuge away from their natural habitat?
Monkey smell, monkey come
Letter from Sharon Chan Asst Director (Central Nature Reserve), National Parks Board
Today Online 26 Nov 09;
WE REFER to the letter, "Monkeys outside reservoir area" (Nov 23).
Mr Chin Kee Thou suggests that tree pruning and construction work at MacRitchie have driven monkeys into housing estates. From our observations, the availability of food sources is the main culprit.
Feeding monkeys alters their natural behaviour, and makes them too familiar with humans. Hence, we have strict regulations prohibiting monkey-feeding in our parks and nature reserves. Feeding makes the monkeys a nuisance, even to visitors who do not give them food.
Should residents spot any monkeys in their estate, please do not encourage this behaviour by feeding them. Left-over food should also be kept in covered dustbins so it is not accessible to monkeys. Let them return to their natural habitat to forage.
We thank Mr Chin for his feedback. For further clarification, he is welcome to contact us at our 24-hour helpline at 1800 471 7300.
Related links
More about the impact of feeding monkeys on the wildsingapore website.
Neem tree planted this month by PM Lee among latest in a tradition started by MM Lee in 1963
Shuli Sudderuddin, Straits Times 25 Nov 09;
THERE are trees, and there are 'VIP trees'.
A neem tree, planted earlier this month by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, is among the latest, joining a tradition here that is over 40 years old.
PM Lee was at his Constituency Tree Planting Day held at Lorong Tanggam Park, off Jalan Kayu.
The first tree planting campaign was launched in 1963 by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, now the Minister Mentor.
MM Lee has planted a tree here every year since. This year, he planted a tree sapling at Henderson Heights for Tanjong Pagar GRC's Tree Planting Day.
The evergreen neem tree planted by PM Lee is among the more than 350 trees that will be planted this year in conjunction with the Clean and Green Singapore campaign.
Said a National Parks Board spokesman: 'The symbolism of planting a tree can take on several diverse meanings. When tree planting is done by our leaders, it shows their commitment to the Government's Garden City vision.'
Each town council also holds tree planting day activities with its own MPs.
A spokesman for Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council said its tree planting day was held earlier this month, when five trees were planted by its five MPs.
Some VIP trees are protected, even when everything around them changes.
The 50-storey Pinnacle@Duxton is being built on the same site as an earlier generation of 12-storey public housing flats. Two trees on the site were planted many years ago by MM Lee.
A Housing Board spokesman said that the trees were transplanted from the construction site into a nursery for temporary care.
They will be replanted at the sitewhen Pinnacle@Duxton is completed at the end of this year.
There are also areas where foreign VIPs get to plant trees.
Two parks in Jurong, both owned by JTC Corporation, have gardens of fame boasting about 50 trees planted by foreign VIPs over the years as part of visits to the JTC's amenities and facilities.
The first, Jurong Hilltop Park, built in 1974, has tembusu and pong pong trees planted by VIPs such as Sir William McMahon, Australia's prime minister in 1971.
The second, at Jurong Town Hall, built in 1979, has trees like the tembusu planted by VIPs like Mr Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, president of the Maldives until last year.
Tree planting for foreign VIPs has since been replaced by visits to sites like the Fusionopolis and One North.
Said a JTC spokesman: 'The existing trees in the gardens of fame are maintained each month by us. It includes weeding, fertilising and pruning if necessary.'
Trees planted by local VIPs get the same care as other trees, town councils said.
A spokesman for Jurong Town Council said: 'The trees are taken care of by our horticulture department. In general, saplings need additional care as they are more vulnerable during the beginning of their lifespans.'
Two parks in Jurong have gardens of fame boasting about 50 trees planted by foreign VIPs over the years. Above, the VIP trees in Jurong Hilltop Park. MM Lee has planted a tree in Singapore every year since the first tree planting campaign was launched in 1963.
Fund will help raise output, ensure there is no shortage that may send prices soaring
Victoria Vaughan, Straits Times 26 Nov 09;
A FUND to support research into rice - a food staple for half the world - has been launched in Singapore.
The money will go towards continuing research into securing the supply of rice, rice genetics and climate change.
The ultimate aim is to ensure that rice output does not plateau and to forestall shortages that will send rice prices rocketing again like they did last year.
The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) headquartered in the Philippines is behind this fund-raising effort, the first major one for rice.
It aims to raise US$300 million (S$416.5 million) by 2012 from individuals, organisations and companies, and hopes to appeal to young wealthy Asians interested in philanthropy, said IRRI's director-general Robert Zeigler.
The fund has so far secured US$59 million, including $50 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; a further $20 million to $25 million from other donors is in the pipeline.
Dr Zeigler said the not-for-profit IRRI has, in the last 50 years, been working quietly behind the scenes to raise rice output.
Its research areas include developing rice varieties that can resist flooded conditions, droughts, pests and disease.
Half the world's rice is dependent on rainfall, and the other half, on irrigation. When rice stands in water, the greenhouse gas methane is produced. IRRI has been trying since the early 1990s to come up with a way to reduce the amount of methane produced.
A research collaboration between IRRI and the National University of Singapore (NUS) is being planned; funds will have to be secured for this early next year.
The researchers, also to be drawn from the Temasek Life-Sciences Laboratory, will study drought- and flood-resistant rice varieties and look into raising the yield as well as the plant's resistance to fungal disease.
Professor Prakash Kumar of NUS' department of biological sciences, the liaison person for the collaboration, said: 'This fund is timely as investment in rice research has been dwindling in the last decade. Governments have all realised that in the next 20 to 30 years, we must increase food production by 50 per cent, which will be impossible without investment.
'Scientists think that with funding, we can get that increase and the IRRI can see that through.'
President S R Nathan and Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan attended the launch.
The minister pointed out that because Singapore was not a rice-producing nation, it should not take its supply lightly.
'Rice plays a fundamental role in Singapore - economically, culturally and socially. Between 2005 and 2008, our rice consumption rose by about 40 per cent, from 197,000 tonnes to 275,000 tonnes,' he noted.
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 25 Nov 09;
If Indonesia can reduce forest fires in peat lands by 75 percent, it would cut nine percent of its emissions.
The government remains unclear on how to meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s October declaration to voluntarily cut Indonesia’s carbon emissions by 26 percent by 2020 using the state budget.
The Forestry Ministry admitted it had not yet issued any data on emissions cuts targets from the forestry sector, believed to be the Indonesia’s largest emissions contributor.
“We are still discussing it,” Nur Masripatin, a senior ministry official dealing with negotiations on forestry emissions cuts, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
State Minister for the Environment Gusti Muhammad Hatta announced Monday the forestry sector’s emissions cuts were expected to contribute about 14 percent of the 26 percent target, while energy and waste management sectors could cut emissions by 6 percent each.
“I don’t know how such [large] emissions cuts by the forestry sector will be made,” Nur said.
Earlier, Hatta was confident Yu-dhoyono’s pledge of 26 percent emissions cuts could be met with cuts by only the forestry and energy sectors.
Hatta’s office then revised the plan by incorporating a slash in emissions from waste management.
Nur warned that calculating emissions cuts should be discussed carefully because they would require a huge budget to resolve the main drivers of deforestation: rampant illegal logging and forest fires.
“If there are no significant changes in budget allocation, we will not be able to cut forestry emissions.
We cannot seek foreign aid to fund emission cuts in this sector,” she said.
A document made available to the Post showed that by planting 33.2 million hectares of trees and undertaking REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation) programs, Indonesia could slash about 15 percent of its emissions.
The document says that if Indonesia can reduce forest fires in peat lands by 75 percent, it would cut nine percent of its emissions.
Yudhoyono made his pledge at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in October. He further committed to slash emissions by 41 percent if developed nations provided financial aid.
With the announcement, Indonesia — one of the countries most vulnerable to the impact of climate change — became the first developing nation to declare an emissions cuts target.
Negotiators from all over the world will gather in Copenhagen in December to discuss emissions cuts targets to mitigate the impacts of global warming.
The existing climate treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, binds only developed nations to cut emissions by 5 percent by 2012 from 1990 levels. The treaty expires in 2012.
The Environment Ministry released its emissions report Monday, which showed the country’s emissions stood at about 1.4 million tons in 2000, the forestry sector alone contributed up to one million tons of emissions.
Energy and waste management each contributed about 333.540 tons and 151.578 tons.
If Indonesia can reduce forest fires in peat lands by 75 percent, it would cut nine percent of its emissions.
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 25 Nov 09;
The government has revealed plans to amend the law on natural resource conservation, which could pave the way for mining companies to exploit the country’s rich mineral resources in protected forests.
Director general for forest protection and natural conservation at the Forestry Ministry, Daruri, said that many mineral resources, including coal or geothermal sources were located in conservation forests.
“We are now reviewing articles prohibiting mining activities in conservation forests,” Daruri told a workshop Wednesday.
The 1990 Natural Resources Conservation Law prohibits the mining sector from exploiting mineral resources in conservation areas.
Meanwhile, the 1999 Forest Law stipulates that non-forest activities can only be conducted in both protected and production forests.
Daruri, however, immediately warned environmental activists not to politicize the plans.
“We will only change the law if there is guarantee that mining activities will not damage conservation forests,” he said.
“But we need a law as an umbrella for conserving the forest.”
He said that about 70 percent of geothermal sources were located below conservation forests.
John Platt, Scientific American 25 Nov 09;
I usually write about species that we're about to see for the last time, but the past few weeks have brought news of literally hundreds of newly discovered species. Some of these may not be around for long, though, so here are some introductions while they can still be made:
• The ongoing Census of Marine Life has uncovered thousands of new species existing so far beneath the surface of the sea that they have never seen the light of day. Included on the list so far are 40 new species of coral, a large squid, and a family of "yeti crabs". Scientific American has a slide show of some of these critters here.
• A chameleon dubbed Kinyongia magomberae has been discovered in the forests of Tanzania. Discovered by Andrew Marshall of the University of York in England, he was lucky to find it: A snake was in the process of eating the novel creature but dropped it after being startled by Marshall's presence. Since the discovery, only three more specimens have been found.
• A spiny eel called Mastacembelus reygeli has been found in Lake Tanganyika in Africa. The new species had previously been confused with another eel with a similar morphology.
• A tiny new fish has been discovered in the drainage areas of the Brahmaputra River in India. Transparent and just 16 millimeters (0.63 inch) long, Danionella priapus was only determined to be a new species by close examination of its genitalia.
• Six new sea slug species have been discovered, five in Spain and one in Cuba, part of an ongoing inventory of sea slugs that has so far uncovered 54 new species.
• Two new catfish have recently been discovered: a bagrid catfish (Tachysurus spilotus) located in Vietnam, and a whale catfish (Cetopsidium soniae) found off the Takutu River in southwestern Guyana.
• Also in Guyana, a lungless, legless, wormlike amphibian has been discovered and named Caecilita iwokramae.
• "The Crocodile Hunter," Steve Irwin, lives on in the names of species named after him and his mannerisms. The latest, Crikey steveirwini, is a rare tree snail discovered in Queensland, Australia, where it has so far only been found in three locations.
• Eight new species of Hyposmocoma moths have been discovered on three remote Hawaiian islands.
• Finally, two new species of custard apple (Miliusa wayanadica and M. gokhalae) and a new orchid (Oberonia swaminathanii) were recently discovered in Puthurvayal, India, along with two other plant species (Eugenia argentea and Hedyotis wyanadensis) that have not been seen in 130 years and had long been considered "possibly extinct".
Yahoo News 25 Nov 09;
TOKYO (AFP) – Australia's venomous redback spiders are on the march in Japan, where they are believed to have arrived years ago as stowaways on cargo ships, a wildlife expert warned Wednesday.
The creepy-crawlies, named after their fiery markings, have infested the Osaka region and are drawing closer to the capital Tokyo, said Japan Wildlife Research Centre official Toshio Kishimoto.
A dozen people have reportedly been bitten in Osaka prefecture alone, media reports say, including a six-year-old boy who was treated with antivenom in June, the first time the medication had been used in the country.
"Their poison is strong and they are particularly dangerous to people in weak physical condition, like children and the elderly," Kishimoto told AFP.
"Redbacks are becoming a common species in Japan. They are very numerous, especially in the western region, and are now often sighted in residential areas.... Once the spiders spread, it's hard to eliminate them."
Redback bites, which inject a potent neurotoxin, have caused numerous deaths in Australia, although an antivenom stocked in hospitals has prevented fatalities more recently.
Redbacks were first spotted in Japan in 1995, around Osaka, a major port where, experts believe, they may have arrived in a container of Australian woodchips used to make paper in Japan.
Several years ago a major redback infestation was found in the street drainage system of the city, and the arachnids have now spread to prefectures covering roughly a third of the country.
In one case, a man moving from Osaka north to the Tokyo region by car unknowingly took a redback spider with him after the animal had latched onto the vehicle, the wildlife researcher said.
He said Japanese people must become more aware of the dangers of redbacks, a species long feared in Australia, where the creatures are known to lurk in garden sheds, in shoes left outdoors, and under toilet seats.
"People need to be warned on how to treat them, and to be careful when they're out cleaning ditches, and to wear thick cotton gloves for example," said Kishimoto.
WWF 25 Nov 09;
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Global sustainability standards governing Asian catfish farming – also known as pangasius, tra or basa farming -- are in the final stage of development, and will assure that this fast growing industry addresses environmental and social impacts such as water pollution, and poor fish health management, and feeding practices.
This month, the public comment period began for the Pangasius Aquaculture Dialogue (PAD) draft standards, marking the final step before the standards are finalized.
They will address the key environmental and social impacts associated with pangasius farming, an industry whose production has doubled to 1.1 million tons in a few years.
Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production system in the world. The industry has grown at a steady 8-10 percent during the past 30 years, and this is expected to continue. When finalized, the standards will be given to a new organization, to be co-founded by WWF, that will be responsible for working with independent, third party entities to certify farms that are in compliance with the standards.
Feedback received during the 60-day public comment period will be used by the
PAD’s participants to finalize the standards in the first quarter of 2010. The process began in 2007 and includes more than 400 producers, conservationists, government officials, academics and others interested in pangasius farming.
“We welcome feedback because we know that tapping into the experiences and expertise of a broad and diverse group of people will make the standards more robust,” said Dr. Flavio Corsin of WWF, who coordinates the PAD. “I am confident that, because of the open and transparent process we use, the final standards will help transform the pangasius farming industry.”
Significant changes have been made to the PAD standards as a result of the input received from 140 people during the first public comment period, discussions at the PAD meeting held in Vietnam in August, and meetings with small-scale pangasius farmers in Vietnam and Bangladesh.
The process used by the PAD and the seven other Aquaculture Dialogues is the only one for aquaculture standard-setting that is in compliance with the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labeling Alliance’s guidelines for creating environmental and social standards.
Other changes made to the pangasius standards based on input received include prohibiting the conversion of natural resources for pangasius farming, banning all antibiotics listed by the World Health Organization as critical antibiotics for human health, and assessing the quality of receiving waters (not just what water comes into and goes out of the farm).
Most of the standards will be metrics-based, which is the only way to effectively know whether the industry’s impact on the environment is reduced. The standards also will be performance-based, thereby encouraging innovation at the farm level.
The PAD standards will be given to the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) to manage when that entity is in operation. WWF announced in January that it is going to help create the ASC, which will be responsible for working with independent, third party entities to certify farms that are in compliance with the standards being created by participants of the Aquaculture Dialogues.
Yahoo News 25 Nov 09;
ROME (AFP) – A landmark treaty aimed at denying port access to foreign boats engaged in illegal fishing has been signed by the United States and a host of other nations, as well as the EU, the UN said Wednesday.
Ichiro Nomura, assistant director-general of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation's Fisheries Department, called it the most significant international fishing treaty since 1995.
It marks the first time countries will be called upon to deny foreign fishing boats access to their ports if they are found to have engaged in illegal fishing.
Responsibility for the boats has primarily been with the countries granting them permission to fly their flags.
"It's a milestone achievement," Nomura said. "No longer will we solely rely on the ability of fishing nations to monitor behaviour by vessels flying their flags on the open waters of the oceans.
"Now countries are committing to taking steps to identify, report and deny entry to offenders at ports where fishing fleets are received. That's a key back-door that will be slammed shut with the new international treaty."
The FAO's governing body has approved the treaty and 11 members have signed it, the organisation said.
They are: Angola, Brazil, Chile, the European Commission, Indonesia, Iceland, Norway, Samoa, Sierra Leone, the United States and Uruguay.
It will take effect once 25 countries have ratified it.
The FAO said foreign fishing vessels wishing to dock will be required to request permission from ports ahead of time, transmitting information on their activities and the fish they have on board.
That provides authorities an opportunity to spot any red flags in advance, it said. Port states will also conduct regular inspections of ships according to a common set of standards.
When a vessel is denied access, port states must communicate that information publicly and national authorities of the country whose flag the vessel is flying must take follow-up action, the FAO said.
Illegal fishing agreement to push pirates out of ports
WWF 27 Nov 09;
Rome, Italy – A new international agreement to better control vessels in the world’s ports will cut off access to global markets for pirate fishers, responsible for fueling overfishing and the illegal seafood trade.
This week, states participating in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) adopted an agreement on port control of vessels engaged in fishing and fish trade, which will greatly reduce illegal fishing.
The new Binding International Agreement on Port State Control Measures to Combat, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing (Port State Agreement) sets minimum standards for what every port state must do to prevent illegally caught fish from being offloaded and reaching global markets.
WWF applauds the FAO for ensuring that the Port State Agreement was successfully developed and adopted, and commends progressive member states such as Norway for encouraging the negotiation process for the past two years.
“The oceans are not a ‘free-for-all.’ This landmark agreement makes clear the responsibility of states to keep illegal fish from entering their ports;” said Miguel A. Jorge Director Marine Program at WWF International. “States serious about stamping out pirate fishing and preventing illegally caught seafood from reaching our dinner plates will sign on to this agreement quickly.”
The Port State Agreement was opened for signature on Nov. 23 during the FAO Annual Conference in Rome. Currently, 11 states including the European Union, Chile, Indonesia, Norway and the United States have signed the new treaty, an important first step to become a party to the agreement. In order to enter into force, 25 states need to become parties to the Port State Agreement.
Illegal fishing is one of the largest causes of overfishing and threatens the livelihoods of legitimate fishers and coastal communities. Current estimated value of financial losses because of illegal fishing worldwide is estimated at USD 10 billion to USD 23 billion annually.
Kate Kelland, PlanetArk 26 Nov 09;
LONDON - Cutting meat production and consumption by 30 percent would help to reduce carbon emissions and improve health in the most meat-loving nations, scientists said on Wednesday.
Using prediction models, British and Australian researchers found that improving efficiency, increasing carbon capture and reducing fossil fuel dependence in farming would not be enough to meet emissions targets.
But combining these steps with a 30 percent reduction in livestock production in major meat-producing nations and a similar cut in meat-eating, would lead to "substantial population health benefits" and cut emissions, they said.
The study found that in Britain, a 30 percent lower intake of animal-source saturated fat by adults would reduce the number of premature deaths from heart disease by some 17 percent -- equivalent to 18,000 premature deaths averted in one year.
In Sao Paulo, Brazil, it could mean as many as 1,000 premature deaths averted in a year, they said.
According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, 18 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions are from meat production and experts say rising demand for meat, particularly in countries with growing economies, could drive livestock production up by 85 percent from 2000 levels by 2030.
The scientists said global action was needed to maximize the benefits of cutting meat production and consumption, and that the environmental advantages "may apply only in those countries that currently have high production levels."
The study was published in The Lancet medical journal as part of a series in climate change and health ahead of the Copenhagen global climate summit scheduled next month.
In a second study, British scientists found that increased walking and cycling, and fewer cars, would have a much greater impact on health than low-emission vehicles in rich and middle-income countries.
Andrew Haines, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and head of the research series, said delegates at Copenhagen needed "to understand the potential health impacts of their plans."
(Editing by Dominic Evans)
Eating less meat helps the planet – and your heart
Andy Coghlan, New Scientist 25 Nov 09;
Skip that third helping of roast beef, save the planet and do your heart a favour at the same time.
That's the advice of Alan Dangour of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and colleagues who explored the livestock industry's potential to help the UK halve its carbon emissions by 2030, relative to 1990 levels, and the knock-on effect on the nation's health.
They found that the industry could slash its emissions, but only if the livestock the UK produces, and the meat the nation consumes, drops by 30 per cent. Farms must also optimise their energy efficiency by, for example, capturing carbon in manure.
The health pay-off would be considerable: 18,000 fewer people would die prematurely in the UK each year from heart attacks – a reduction of 17 per cent – as they would eat less of the saturated fats found in meat.
The effect would not be limited to rich nations. The team found that Brazil could achieve the same health benefits. "We're not saying go vegetarian, we're saying reduce how much livestock produce you consume," says Dangour. The savings could be even higher if reduced death rates from colorectal cancer and obesity had been included, he adds.
Agronomist Kenneth Cassman of the University of Nebraska warns that cutting production in one region can boost it elsewhere, causing a rise in global emissions. "Reducing production of livestock products in a developed country like the UK does little to influence global trends in production and consumption where most of the increase in demand between now and 2050 will come from developing countries," he says.
Journal reference: The Lancet, DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(09)61753-0
Seth Borenstein, Associated Press 25 Nov 09;
WASHINGTON – Cutting global warming pollution would not only make the planet healthier, it would make people healthier too, new research suggests.
Slashing carbon dioxide emissions could save millions of lives, mostly by reducing preventable deaths from heart and lung diseases, according to studies released Wednesday and published in a special issue of The Lancet British medical journal.
Global and U.S. health officials unveiled the results as they pushed for health issues to take a more prominent role at upcoming climate change negotiations in Copenhagen. Also on Wednesday, President Barack Obama announced that he would go to Copenhagen at the start of international climate talks. U.S. health officials said the timing was not planned.
"Relying on fossil fuels leads to unhealthy lifestyles, increasing our chances for getting sick and in some cases takes years from our lives," U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a telecast briefing from her home state of Kansas. "As greenhouse gas emissions go down, so do deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. This is not a small effect."
Sebelius, British health officials, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the head of the World Health Organization all took part in briefings based in Washington and London.
The journal Lancet took an advocacy role in commissioning the studies and timing their release before the Copenhagen summit, but the science was not affected by the intent, said journal editor Dr. Richard Horton.
Instead of looking at the health ills caused by future global warming, as past studies have done, this research looks at the immediate benefits of doing something about the problem, said Linda Birnbaum, director of the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. That agency helped fund the studies along with the Wellcome Trust and several other international public health groups.
The calculations of lives saved were based on computer models that looked at pollution-caused illnesses in certain cities. The figures are also based on the world making dramatic changes in daily life that may at first seem too hard and costly to do, researchers conceded.
Some possible benefits seemed highly speculative, the researchers conceded, based on people driving less and walking and cycling more. Other proposals studied were more concrete and achievable, such as eliminating cook stoves that burn dung, charcoal and other polluting fuels in the developing world.
And cutting carbon dioxide emissions also makes the air cleaner, reducing lung damage for millions of people, doctors said.
"Here are ways you can attack major health problems at the same time as dealing with climate change," said lead author Dr. Paul Wilkinson, an environmental epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The calculations are based on proposals that would cut global greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2050. To accomplish that, industrialized countries have to cut emissions by 83 percent. Obama's proposal, also unveiled Wednesday with his Copenhagen announcement, is in sync with that.
Wilkinson said the individual studies came up with numbers of premature deaths prevented or extra years of life added for certain locales.
For example, switching to low-polluting cars in London and Delhi, India, would save 160 lost years of life in London and nearly 1,700 in Delhi for every million residents, one study found. But if people also drove less and walked or biked more, those extra saved years would soar to more than 7,300 years in London and 12,500 years in Delhi because of less heart disease.
Outside scientists praised the studies and said the research was sound.
"The science is really excellent; the modeling is quite good," said Dr. Paul Epstein of the Harvard School of Medicine's Center for Health and the Global Environment. "It really takes the whole field a step farther."
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On the Net:
The Lancet: http://www.lancet.com/
Clean Energy, Better Homes Cut Pollution, Save Lives
Tan Ee Lyn, PlanetArk 26 Nov 09;
HONG KONG - Better home insulation and ventilation and using electricity instead of fossil fuels could reduce indoor pollution and save thousands of lives, especially in low-income countries like India, a study has found.
Using mathematical modeling and case studies, researchers said such strategies could avert 5,500 premature deaths and reduce carbon dioxide emission by up to 41 megatonnes, or 41 million tonnes, per year in a country like Britain.
"Indoor household fuel pollutants would be removed by switching all household fossil fuels to electricity, and energy could be saved by reducing thermostat temperatures," the researchers said in a paper published in The Lancet Series on Health and Climate Change
Led by Paul Wilkinson at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the researchers said the costs of such energy-efficient improvements would be substantial but would be offset by significant savings on fuel.
The researchers examined the benefits of introducing cleaner cooking stoves in a low-income country like India, where burning of biomass results in lung and heart disease.
Assuming that 150 million efficient low-emission household cooking stoves were installed, the authors said: "By 2020, 87 percent of Indian households would have very much cleaner combustion and air."
"The total number of averted premature deaths from acute lower respiratory infections will have reached about 240,000 children aged younger than 5 years, and more than 18 million premature adult deaths from ischemic heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease will have been averted."
In another paper in the same series, researchers said reducing carbon-based electricity generation would lead to significant health benefits worldwide, particularly in countries like India and China.
Led by Anil Markandya at the BC3 Basque Center for Climate Change in Spain, the researchers calculated the benefits of reducing total carbon dioxide emissions by 50 percent in 2030.
"The best-case scenario would, in India, avert 93,000 premature deaths in 2030 compared with business as usual," the researchers wrote.
"In the EU, 5,000 deaths would be averted and in China the number would be 57,000."
(Editing by Paul Tait)
Climate policies 'improve health'
BBC News 25 Nov 09;
Cutting emissions to mitigate climate change will also make people healthier, according to research.
A special series of articles, published in medical journal, the Lancet, outlines how such policies could have a direct impact on global health.
The series has been released ahead of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen.
World Health Organization (WHO) director, Margaret Chan, said health protection should be a criterion by which mitigation measures were judged.
Dr Chan was just one of the key figures in global health research who wrote a comment article that was published alongside the Lancet reports.
Another was Professor Sir Andrew Haines, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who is chair of the international task force of scientists that wrote the series.
He said that the public health benefits of mitigation policies had not had "sufficient prominence" in international negotiations.
Dr Chan commented: "As this series shows, cutting greenhouse gas emissions can represent a mutually reinforcing opportunity to reduce climate change and improve public health."
Some of the key findings presented in the reports included evidence that moving towards low carbon transport systems could reduce the health impacts of urban air pollution and physical inactivity.
Researchers also found that changes in farming practice to reduce livestock and meat consumption could improve health by lowering the intake of saturated fat.
And in poor countries, reducing the need to burn solid fuel indoors could have a significant impact on child and maternal health by cutting indoor air pollution.
Dr Chan pointed out that the poorest countries were the most vulnerable to the health impacts of climate change.
Cleaner energy
In one of the articles, scientists from the Basque Centre for Climate Change in Bilbao, Spain, showed how decreasing fossil-fuel-dependent electricity generation could have significant health benefits worldwide.
The researchers said that the middle-income countries such as India and China would benefit most. A reduction in pollution there could prevent many of the premature deaths that are associated with heart and lung damage caused by inhaling the polluting particles.
But the researchers also examined the health impacts in wealthier countries.
One group of researchers described the results of an 18-year study of the long-term health effects of pollution in the US.
The team, led by Professor Kirk Smith from the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, US, pointed out that "short-lived" greenhouse pollutants, such as particles of black carbon and ozone, can directly damage the heart and lungs.
They said that "separate climate change agreements" might be needed for these pollutants.
In another paper, scientists quantified changes that were needed in the agricultural sector, which contributes 10-12% of total greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
They wrote that "high-producing countries" should reduce livestock production by 30% to slow climate change. Should this translate into a reduction in the consumption of meat, the scientists say that it could also reduce heart disease.
Researchers called for health and climate change scientists to work together and for more funding for such interdisciplinary projects.
Copenhagen hope
The editor of the Lancet, Dr Richard Horton cautioned against putting too much pressure on the Copenhagen meeting.
He said: "By suggesting that Copenhagen is the 'last chance' for a binding international climate change agreement, anything less will seem a failure.
"Copenhagen is a beginning, not the end."
Professor Haines said: "The Copenhagen conference presents an important opportunity to choose those policies that can not only achieve needed reductions in greenhouse gases, but also move toward development and health goals."
KEY FINDINGS
# Food: High-producing countries should reduce livestock production by 30%. If this translated into reduced meat consumption, the amount of saturated fat consumed would drop sharply, which could reduce heart disease
# Transport: Cutting emissions through walking and cycling and reducing use of motor vehicles would bring health benefits including reduced cardiovascular disease, depression and dementia
# Household: In low-income countries, solid fuel stoves create indoor air pollution. National programmes to introduce low-emission stoves could avert millions of premature deaths and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
# Pollution: Short-lived pollutants including ozone and black carbon contribute to climate change and damage health. Reducing emissions of these would offer immediate benefits
# Energy: Decreasing the proportion of carbon-based electricity generation would give health benefits worldwide, particularly in middle-income countries such as India and China
Benjamin Yeh Yahoo News 25 Nov 09;
TAIPEI (AFP) – The death and destruction wreaked on Taiwan by Typhoon Morakot was a disaster waiting to happen, aggravated by decades of unrestrained environmental abuse, critics say.
Sixty years of intense use of the small island's natural resources left it increasingly fragile and vulnerable to a major blow such as that dealt by Morakot, which left more than 700 people dead or missing in August.
Mountainsides collapsed because the deep-rooted trees that should have held them together had been chopped down, while a water-diversion tunnel was blamed for a landslide that buried hundreds of people in one village.
"After years of depletion of the land, nature is striking back," said Tsao Chi-hung, magistrate of south Taiwan's Pingtung county, one of the worst affected areas.
With 23 million people and the 15th highest population density in the world, Taiwan was bound to encounter problems even with the gentlest of policies.
But critics say the typhoon laid bare the consequences of ruthless exploitation of the island, ignored by a government and a people pursuing fast economic development at any cost.
"Land development has been excessive," said Liu Yin-yuh, a geography professor at National Taiwan University.
The Morakot disaster may be changing the thinking even at the highest levels. President Ma Ying-jeou termed the typhoon, which touched off some of the worst flooding in Taiwan's history, a "painful lesson".
The island's government is now introducing a tough new planning law, pending parliament's approval.
It is a beginning, critics say, but point out that the law will have to handle the accumulated legacy of practices dating back at least half a century.
It began when China's Nationalist government fled to the island at the end of a civil war won by the Communists.
The Nationalists brought hundreds of thousands of troops and encouraged many of them to make a living after retirement growing fruit and vegetables in the mountainous areas.
The policy was generally seen as a success as it created numerous jobs for idle veterans.
But the money they made attracted local farmers to join their ranks, cutting down indigenous trees on the mountains to grow crops such as apples, tea and betel nuts.
The cultivated plants have sustained a number of farmers and their dependents for decades, but, it now emerges, at a steep cost to the environment.
"The roots of those plants are shallow and unable to protect the soil from the erosion caused by downpours," said Liu of National Taiwan University.
The situation grew worse over the past 10 years as hot spring resorts and hotels expanded into the mountains, many built in prohibited areas, despite public criticism.
"In some cases, businesspeople have colluded with corrupt government officials," environmental activist Ho Tsung-hsun said.
The improper use of land has also hit alarming rates in some coastal areas where fishermen have pumped up underground water to breed fish for export and for local consumers.
Pingtung county is one such area, with land sinking by several metres in some cases, explaining why several coastal townships were so hard hit in the flooding triggered by Typhoon Morakot.
Fishermen in Pingtung, however, argue that it is hard to find alternative ways of making a living.
The same pressure to make ends meet no matter the cost to the environment is faced by betel nut farmers.
In Nanhsing, a village in central Taiwan, farmers chopped down a majority of betel nut trees and planted 390,000 deep-rooted trees after a powerful earthquake exposed the dangers posed by an eroding landscape.
But in the intervening years some farmers have quietly planted betel nut trees again, said Liu Wei-shih, a local official.
"It underscores the problems we face when we encourage the plantation of trees. Farmers can hardly survive by the meagre subsidies they get," he said.
Yahoo News 25 Nov 09;
NEW DELHI (AFP) – Nearly a quarter of India's land mass is desert or is turning into desert, according to a study published Wednesday, with deforestation and overgrazing among the main factors spurring the process.
Northern and western India are the worst parts of India affected by the phenomenon, according to the study, which used satellite mapping and was the first national-level government-commissioned research published on the issue.
"There has been a long-pending need for desertification/land degradation status mapping of the entire country based on scientific methods," said the study by the Space Applications Centre and the Current Science journal.
It said the total area under desertification -- areas already considered desert and those under threat -- was over 80 million hectares (200 million acres) or almost a quarter of India's 328-million hectare land area.
The study noted that India accounted for 2.4 percent of the global land mass, but supported about 16.7 percent of the world's population and 18 percent of its cattle.
"There is tremendous pressure on our land-based natural resources," it said.
Changes in the frequency and amount of rainfall, water and wind erosion, as well as harmful agricultural practices, were other causes for desertification cited in the research.
In total, just over 32 percent of the country was described as undergoing "land degradation," with the process most pronounced in the states of Rajasthan, Kashmir, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
The Space Applications Centre study comes after research led by consulting firm McKinsey and Co. revealed this week that India's water needs were set to double by 2030, which could dry up its river basins.
Demand for rice, wheat and sugar will push India's huge agricultural sector to consume 1.5 trillion cubic metres (53 trillion cubic feet) of water by 2030, almost double that of China, the McKinsey study warned.
Dina Zayed, Reuters 25 Nov 09;
CAIRO (Reuters) - Climate change is likely to hit the water-starved Arab world harder than many other parts of the globe and threatens to slash agricultural output in the area, U.N. and Arab League officials said.
Arab governments have shown more awareness of the issue but need to cooperate further to improve research and policies to protect vulnerable groups, including women who could bear the burden of adapting to increased water scarcity, they said.
"Climate change will be critical for the Arab world because this region in particular already suffers from poverty, widespread aridity, water scarcity and social marginalization," said Sima Bahous, Deputy Secretary General for Social Development in the Arab League.
Fifteen percent of people in the Arab world already have limited or no access to potable water, the officials said, speaking on Tuesday at the launch in Cairo of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) report on climate change.
The report was released worldwide on November 18, ahead of U.N. climate change talks in Copenhagen in December.
UNFPA Regional Director for Arab States Hafedh Chekir said that, while 80 percent of Arab world water consumption was for agriculture, climate change induced scarcity was expected to cut food production by half in the region.
Henrietta Aswad, regional communication adviser for UNFPA, said more cooperation between the Arab League, UNFPA, and Arab non-governmental entities was needed to help governments draw up appropriate policies.
"Awareness in the Arab region is getting better at this point and governments are aware of the impact of climate change," she said.
"Yet more studies and data need to be conducted to basically have a better assessment of the real impact especially on vulnerable groups in the region," she added.
The UNFPA report did not outline specific policies for the region but said policies should focus on women, children and the elderly because these groups were likely to carry a bigger burden of adapting to water scarcity and climate change.
It said the disproportionate burden on women can create "a cycle of deprivation, poverty and inequality."
Chekir said Egypt, where most of the 77 million population are crammed into Nile Valley and low lying Delta, could be one of the world's countries worst effected by climate change.
A previous U.N. study said 8 million people could be displaced by a one meter rise in sea levels flooding the Delta, a major agricultural production area. Egypt is already the world's biggest wheat importer.
"We want to integrate the human element into environmental policy making," Chekir said.
The report said slower population growth would help build social resilience to the impact of climate change and would help reduce green-house gas emissions in future.
(Editing by Edmund Blair)
Gyles Beckford and James Grubel, PlanetArk 26 Nov 09;
WELLINGTON/CANBERRA - New Zealand's revised emissions trading plan passed into law on Wednesday, while neighboring Australia moved a step closer to ending a deadlock stalling its carbon-trade legislation ahead of a vote this week.
Australia and New Zealand are not big greenhouse gas emitters in total, but passage of their carbon reduction schemes will give U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen in December a boost.
"It is a critical and important first step in our nation's effort to do our fair share in combating climate change," New Zealand Climate Change Minister Nick Smith told parliament after the carbon-trade scheme became law.
The scheme is only the second to pass into law after Europe's began in 2005. It will start in July 2010, but for a two-and-half-year period industry will only have to meet 50 percent of their targets with a slow phase-out of assistance after that.
In Australia, the Senate rejected a move to delay a vote on the government's carbon-trade scheme, suggesting the once defeated legislation should gain final approval this week.
The scheme is scheduled to start in July 2011, covering 1,000 of Australia's biggest polluters and become the world's most comprehensive outside of the European scheme. It aims to put a price on every tonne of carbon dioxide emissions, giving industry an incentive to become more efficient.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who will play a key negotiating role at Copenhagen, says passage of his carbon-trade laws will send a message to world leaders to curb greenhouse gases which are driving climate change.
"No country needs to send the message more than Australia," Treasurer Wayne Swan told parliament, echoing Rudd's stance. "We are one of the hottest and driest continents. We are hit hardest, and we are hit fastest by dangerous climate change."
The United States, the world's number two emitter of greenhouse gases after China, will be eyeing developments in both nations as its lawmakers make slow progress on a climate bill in the Senate.
NZ, AUSTRALIA COMPENSATE POLLUTERS
Australia's carbon-trade plan aims to cut emissions by at least 5 percent from 2000 levels by 2020, or up to 25 percent if nations agree on an ambitious climate pact during U.N. negotiations.
New Zealand has a reduction target of between 10 and 20 percent by 2020 on 1990 levels, depending on the outcome from Copenhagen.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that sets a 17 percent reduction target for emissions by 2020 from 2005 levels. A Senate version is shooting for a 20 percent cut.
Big emitters such as China are watching Washington for its position.
In a boost to the Copenhagen meeting, the United States said this week it will propose an emissions reduction target with an eye toward winning support from U.S. lawmakers who must agree to put it into law.
New Zealand and Australia have had to substantially increase compensation to big emitters, coal companies and electricity generators to gain backing for their schemes.
Australia will give its coal industry A$1.5 billion in compensation over five years, while its electricity sector will receive A$7.3 billion. The country is the world's biggest coal exporter and coal generates about 84 percent of its electricity.
New Zealand said it increased compensation to big emitters as it wanted its scheme to be closely aligned to Australia's.
Both nations are major agricultural exporters. Canberra has excluded the sector from its scheme, while Wellington has delayed the entry of agriculture, which accounts for about half of its emissions, until 2015.
Green groups and carbon market experts are critical of both schemes, saying they give too much compensation to big polluters and would do little to reduce emissions.
"It's a very poor mechanism to reduce emissions and ensuring a price on carbon. Why are we handing over billions of dollars to industry? It's just another form of subsidy," said Paul Winn, forest and climate campaigner for Greenpeace Australia, referring to the changes to the Australian scheme.
An independent adviser on environmental issues to the New Zealand parliament said the changes to that country's scheme gave too many free carbon permits and removed incentive to move to low-carbon technology.
"It's virtually certain our emissions will grow and the burden on the taxpayer will be uncurbed," Jan Wright told Radio NZ on Wednesday.
Wayne King of advisory firm Carbon Market Solutions agreed the amended NZ scheme would not do much to reduce emissions initially, but said it would give certainty to business.
He also expected it would take some time for a liquid carbon trading market to evolve in New Zealand given the large amount of free carbon pollution permits being given to industry.
In Australia, groups critical of the carbon-trade scheme urged for its passage into law, hoping that once in place the government might be persuaded to increase reduction targets.
"Now is the time to move on and ensure this legislation is a springboard for ambitious global action," said John Connor, CEO of independent think-tank The Climate Institute.
(Editing by David Fogarty)
New Zealand passes climate change emissions law
Yahoo News 25 Nov 09;
WELLINGTON (AFP) – New Zealand's parliament Wednesday approved a scheme aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions, but critics immediately said it did not go far enough in the fight against global warming.
The trading scheme, which allocates credits to polluters and allows them to be bought and sold, is a watered down version of one proposed by the previous government.
"It is an important first step for New Zealand in doing our fair share on climate change after 15 years of debate," Climate Change Issues Minister Nick Smith said.
Critics say the centre-right National Party-led government's reduction of the costs to businesses and the exclusion of agriculture from the scheme until 2015 means there will be little incentive for polluting industries to cut carbon dioxide and methane emissions.
"We have revised the scheme start up to take into account the recession as we do not wish to snuff out the fragile recovery," Smith said.
A transitional phase to 2013 will see the government subsidise polluters with credits to halve their costs under the scheme.
Prime Minister John Key's government has pledged New Zealand will cut its emissions by 10 percent if other developed nations sign a comprehensive treaty and by up to 20 percent depending on the form of the final treaty, which was set to be hammered out in Copenhagen next month.
However, there is widespread scepticism about the prospects for success at the United Nations climate change conference.
Key's government garnered the votes to pass the law Wednesday after gaining the support of the small indigenous Maori Party in parliament.
In return Key agreed to compensate some Maori tribes whose forestry businesses would have been hurt by the emissions scheme.
The Opposition Labour Party said the legislation was "environmentally counter-productive and fiscally unsustainable".
The emissions trading scheme fails to put a cap on greenhouse gas emissions and was too generous in allocating free carbon credits, a party spokesman said.
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