Academic Positions in Environmental Biology
from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS
Escape from stonefish at Tanah Merah
from wonderful creation with more animals and wild shores of singapore with yet more marine life.
Elysia ornata Leaf Slugs@Tanah Merah
from sgbeachbum
Letter from Ginny Leow-Guerville
Today Online 8 Dec 09;
I have learnt that the trees along the canal on Bukit Timah Road, which I was fighting to protect, will be cut down to make way for a new MRT line.
I find that a top-down approach to conservation is lacking in many organisations and they do not see a desire for conservation as an important quality in their staff.
I have yet to hear NParks practice cabling, guying or bracing trees which are common tree conservation methods practised in developed countries. Perhaps the Albizia trees, being relatively fast growing, are not worth the money and effort to conserve, but how can we accurately quantify the cost to the environment?
I hope HR managers realise that they can directly make an impact on our environment by choosing individuals who understand and put conservation as a priority in their respective jobs. That way there will be a meeting of the minds and we will achieve mutual respect when decisions concerning our natural landscape are made.
They're greener than you think
Neo Chai Chin, Today Online 8 Dec 09;
SINGAPORE - If the findings of the latest survey by a teenage-centric company are an indication, young Singaporeans are keeping abreast of developments at the ongoing Copenhagen climate change conference via the media.
Nine out of 10 teens surveyed by makers of the virtual reality world Habbo claim to be concerned about protecting the environment, and 96 per cent agree it is their responsibility to take care of Mother Earth.
In seeking future employment, they consider helping the environment and the community "vital" attributes that companies should possess.
The survey on teens' environmental habits was one of eight done by Habbo in July and August, and an average of 1,100 Singapore youth aged 12 to 18 - sometimes dubbed Generation Z - were polled in each survey.
The results show that teens here want to take action to save the Earth, said Mr Ken Lim, country manager of habbo.com.sg and Sulake, Habbo's creator.
For instance, four out of 10 respondents said they had donated to carbon offset programmes, and use reusable grocery bags when shopping with their parents.
Seven out of 10 said that they recycle "all the time".
While sceptical about some of the numbers, executive director of the Singapore Environment Council Howard Shaw said the teens' attitudes were encouraging.
"I don't think there is a sufficient market for carbon instruments and carbon offset platforms to warrant that sort of volume (found in the survey)," said Mr Shaw.
"Logically they should know how much carbon they're producing in the first place, in order to then go and make a pledge to offset. And I think it's very early days to offset at this level."
But carbon offsets could have been interpreted as simply "planting a tree sometime during their academic career".
The proportion of consumers who use eco-friendly grocery bags was also higher than the average of 10 per cent that the SEC has observed.
What the survey has captured, however, is youthful enthusiasm for the green cause - this can be attributed to education efforts by the Government and eco groups from a young age, Mr Shaw said.
From fewer than 20 green clubs in schools in 1996, there are "a few hundred" today.
Mason Inman, New Scientist 7 Dec 09;
"In an environment like Singapore, it's pretty clear that these systems would pay for themselves in energy savings"
WE'RE used to taking command of our personal climate in planes and cars by using simple controls. Why not in buildings too?
A study of the effect of installing individual air-conditioning vents at office desks, and putting controls at each worker's fingertips, suggests it can cut a building's energy use in half.
The approach costs more to install than a conventional system, and has never taken off commercially. But engineer Stefano Schiavon at the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues say their research shows the idea is worth revisiting, as companies and countries seek to cut emissions.
They simulated an office building in a hot, humid climate like that of Singapore, where air conditioning is relied on throughout the year. Results showed the building's energy use was cut by 50 per cent.
Personalised ventilation means less air needs to be cooled and pumped through a building because air needs only to be blown at desks, and not throughout entire rooms. Individual vents can also switch off automatically when a desk is vacant.
The result is that a room's temperature can increase while keeping people comfortable at work.
Raising a building's temperature even a little can save large amounts of energy. The Japanese government is campaigning to convince offices to discourage suits and ties, to allow office thermostats to be turned up slightly and save power.
"In an environment like Singapore, it's pretty clear that these systems would pay for themselves in energy savings," Schiavon says.
Air conditioning is a major driver of south-east Asia's electricity use, and accounts for the bulk of electricity used by buildings in Singapore.
Past research has shown personal ventilation can also make people more comfortable, and hinted it can limit the spread of airborne diseases.
The personalised approach isn't always suitable, though. Only workplaces where people tend to stay in one place would benefit, points out environmental engineer Peter Nielsen of Aalborg University in Denmark. Savings are also smaller in cooler climates, where on cold days the number of people directing warm air onto themselves causes the room to overheat.
Richard Sargent (AFP) Google News 7 Dec 09;
KHUN SAMUTCHINE, Thailand — Surrounded by water, a Buddhist temple is one of the last remnants of a Thai village that has vanished beneath the sea -- a scene being repeated across Asia and the world.
Around 60 families have already been forced away from the once idyllic fishing community of Khun Samutchine, as the sea that local people rely on for their livelihood advances inland by more than 20 metres (yards) a year.
"I live on somebody else's land, I can't escape the village because I'm too poor," says Noo Wisuksin, 71, as she points to the spot in the water where her home used to be decades ago.
She is one of 25 million people under threat in Thailand's vast Chao Phraya river delta, which is sinking because of river damming and the clearing of mangrove forests, as climate change pushes up sea levels.
In the past 30 years the sea in Khun Samutchine has swallowed more than one kilometre (half a mile) of land and Noo has moved her house back eight times since to escape the rising tides.
Nearby sits the almost-deserted Khun Samut temple, marooned at sea and accessible only by a concrete walkway. A line of electricity pylons pokes out of the water, stretching out to nowhere.
Upstream damming along the river basins that feed the Gulf of Thailand have prevented sediment from building up, upsetting the balance with the erosive force of the sea.
The clearing of slow-growing mangrove forests to set up shrimp and salt farms has hastened the destruction.
Further up the coast, the village of Kok Karm is managing to turn the tide, for now, using cheap traditional materials.
Resident Vorapol Dounglomchan came up with a scheme using bamboo poles to create barriers that trap sediment from the seawater and stop silt being washed away.
"The benefit of the bamboo is that we're putting a natural material into nature," said Narin Boonruam, secretary of the provincial fishermen's association.
But the bamboo will be of little use if sea levels rise much further. One recent study published in the scientific journal Nature put the delta in the highest category of risk.
"If we don't put in any protection against coastal erosion, more than half of Bangkok province will disappear," said Panadda Tedsiri, organiser of the Thai Community Foundation, a non-governmental organsiation.
As world leaders prepare for a crucial climate change meeting, campaigners said politicians needed to address ways of countering erosion too as it affects communities around the world.
"It's a creeping disaster. Every day it has an unseen impact on many people," Tara Buakamsri, campaign manager for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, told AFP.
"It is double, not only erosion but also related climate change."
In Malaysia, officials say nearly 30 percent of the coastline is suffering erosion through population growth, urbanisation, oil and gas production, and tourism development.
In India, about 1,500 kilometres or 26 percent of the mainland coastline faces "serious erosion" and is "actively retreating", according to the Asian Development Bank.
The resort state of Goa has erected flexible barriers along two major stretches of its sandy white beaches, but the local assembly heard earlier this year that more than 10 percent of the coastline was falling into the sea.
Low-lying Bangladesh would be one of the countries worst hit by climate change. The UN Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says rising sea levels will devour 17 percent of Bangladesh's total land mass by 2050, leaving at least 20 million of its 144 million population homeless.
In Vietnam, a one-metre rise in sea levels by 2100 would affect over 10 percent of the population, more than nine million people, and almost 38 percent of land in the rice-growing Mekong River Delta, according to figures in a UN discussion paper released last week.
Australia's government warned in November that rising sea levels could inundate 250,000 homes by 2100, with airports, hospitals and power stations also at risk.
Greenpeace's Tara said working with communities to find local action plans -- like the bamboo canes in Thailand -- was important to counter erosion, but added that the Copenhagen summit should also consider the issue.
"The Copenhagen summit has to come up with a very strong and fair deal with this problem and include things like erosion in the deal," Tara said.
Antara 8 Dec 09;
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Jakarta plans to build a seawall to overcome increasing sea levels, Governor Fauzi Bowo said at a meeting with newsmen at Hotel Golden Boutique on Monday.
"The seawall is badly needed especially because 40 percent of the Jakarta area is currently under the sea level," he said.
The seawall is not like the current embankment for blocking tidal waves but it will be like a huge wall stretching along the Jakarta coast.
He likened the wall to the one being prepared stretching from St Petersburg in Rusia and New Orleans in the US which had a topography like that of Jakarta.
"The two cities are also port cities like Jakarta so that the wall may not disturb ships coming in and out the cities," he said.
Regarding the urgency of the development of the wall the governor said that it was because globally the sea level was increasing 0.8 centimeters a year while the construction would take years.
"This is not only a multi-year project but perhaps even a decades-long project," he said.
The people living in North Jakarta right now have not yet fully been freed from the impact of tidal waves because the damaged parts of the embankment had not been fully repaired.
The head of the city`s public works service, Budi Widiantoro, admitted it saying it was because the construction of the Pelindo embankment had not yet finished.
"It is still leaking. Attempts have been made to stop using river stones but it could not as yet overcome the problem," he said.(*)
Jakarta Plans to Construct Sea Wall Along North Coast
Ulma Haryanto, Jakarta Globe 8 Dec 09;
Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo has announced that he would construct huge sea walls to protect the North Jakarta coastline from the possible consequences of global warming and other causes of tidal flooding.
“Flooding is not caused by trapped rainwater alone. It can also come from the sea, such as the tidal flooding in Muara Baru,” Fauzi said on Monday.
“Areas such as Muara Baru are the worst affected,” he added. “The sea wall will protect the lowlands of North Jakarta from the threats posed by tidal flooding.”
Fauzi also mentioned the possibility of using reverse osmosis to turn seawater into clean, drinkable water.
“B y using reverse osmosis, as already practiced by countries in the Middle East, seawater can be turned into drinking water. This is going to be a decades-long, not just a multi-year, project,” he said.
As previously reported by the Jakarta Globe, Armi Susandi, a climatologist from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), has predicted that Jakarta would sink at an average rate of 1.37 centimeters a year in the coming years.
Armi agreed that a sea wall should be built along the coastline of North Jakarta by 2015 to protect it from the rising waters.
“These walls should be at least 2 to 3 meters above sea level and 6 meters thick,” he said.
Rudi P Tambunan, head of urban development studies at the University of Indonesia, applauded Fauzi’s initiative. He said that last month he was invited to a meeting of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) to discuss the prospect of protecting the coastline of North Jakarta from flooding.
“Considering the depth of the sea, those walls should be at places where the depth is 8 to 20 meters,” he said.
Rudi said the project was being explored in tandem with Fauzi’s initiative to reclaim certain areas of the coastline to create small islands and to revitalize existing beaches. He added that the city administration’s plan was to construct several two-square-kilometer islands 200 meters to 250 meters off the coastline.
Tarjuki, head of the water resources division at the Public Works Agency, confirmed to the Jakarta Globe that the sea wall had been included in the Jakarta Spatial Plan for 2010-2030.
However, he said, the project would not start immediately as the city administration would need to assess the details, which would take at least two years.
“The dikes currently built along the coast are temporary, and not for the long term,” he explained.
To mitigate flooding and offer residents protection from tidal surges, the Jakarta city administration has built dikes in some areas of North Jakarta, including Kali Baru, Pluit and Muara Baru. However, some sections of these dikes have reportedly already collapsed, with the worst failures in the Muara Baru area.
Bad apes to be neutered
The Star 8 Dec 09;
NUSAJAYA: Johor plans to neuter macaques “terrorising” four villages in Pontian in an effort to curb their population.
State International Trade and Industry, Energy, Water, Communications and Environment Committee chairman Tan Kok Hong said the operation would be carried out jointly with the Johor Wildlife Department.
He said some eighty wild maca-ques — or macaca fascicularis — had been terrorising villagers at Kg Bukit Panjang, Pengkalan Raja, Kg Melayu Pontian Besar and Jalan Ibrahim.
“We are taking the matter seriously as the macaques have been destroying crops and bothering the residents.
“We are going to neuter the males in an effort to curb their breeding,” he told the state assembly in his winding up speech here yesterday.
Tan said the Wildlife Department had set up various traps in the villages in order to snare the animals.
“So far, 38 macaques have been caught by the department. This is considered a short-term effort and we feel that the neutering project will solve the problem in the long term,” he said, adding that the department had also shot four wild boars terrorising the Pekan Nenas area.
“So far, the situation has been resolved. The state government is also encouraging people to hunt wild boars by allowing them to apply for hunting licences,” he said.
He also announced that RM30mil had been allocated to solve water woes in Sedenak by, among others, installing pipes from main tanks in the area to channel water to several housing estates.
“We want to ensure that water demands by the people there are met. We expect the piping work to start this month,” he said.
TRAFFIC 7 Dec 09;
The majority of gibbons in rescue centres and zoos in Indonesia are animals confiscated by the auhorities or abandoned pets Click photo to enlarge © TRAFFIC Southeast Asia Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 7 December—A study focussing on the trade in gibbons, recently published in the journal Endangered Species Research, highlights the ongoing illegal trade in these threatened species in western Indonesia.
The research, conducted by investigators based in England and Malaysia, collected data from 22 zoos and nine wildlife rescue centres and found some 600 gibbons present in these facilities. The most common species kept as pets was the Siamang, from the Indonesian island of Sumatra, with close to 200 individuals observed. Only six Kloss’ Gibbons from the Mentawai Islands were observed.
Almost two-third of the gibbons in these rescue centres and zoos arrived there as the result of confiscations by the Indonesian authorities, the study found. Others were once-loved pets who ended up in the rescue and rehabilitation centres when abandoned by private owners who grew weary of them.
While keeping primates in many parts of the world seems to be a thing of the past it is still common to see them kept as pets in Indonesia. They are traded daily in Indonesia’s many animal markets which are found in most large towns. A significant part of this trade comprises legally protected species including some of the most endangered primates in the world.
However, few people appeared to be have been prosecuted for keeping gibbons as pets or for trading them, the study said.
Gibbons, along with chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans, are humans’ closest relatives. Some thirteen species occur in the forests of South-East Asia and most are threatened with extinction largely as a result of habitat loss and hunting. Indonesia is home to seven species of gibbon, three of which are found nowhere else in the world.
All Indonesian species of gibbon face a high risk of extinction in the wild and are considered Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Gibbons have been legally protected in Indonesia since 1925 and fines and subsequent imprisonment can be imposed on law breakers. Furthermore, all gibbons are included in Appendix I of the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), prohibiting all international commercial trade in the species.
When gibbons are confiscated by the Indonesian authorities or when private owners no longer are willing to take care of them they often end up in wildlife rescue centres. Abandoned pets also often end up in local zoos.
“Strong prosecutions are essential to deter this illegal trade” said Chris R Shepherd, Acting Regional Director of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia and an author of the report.
“The message needs to be clear – illegal trade in gibbons, and other protected wildlife – will not be tolerated by the Indonesian authorities”.
“The paper is part of a larger monitoring project,” as author Vincent Nijman, explains: “Wildlife trade, be it domestic or international, may pose a significant threat to the conservation of many species.
“It is important to ensure trade is carried out in a legal and sustainable manner and only through monitoring of the trade can we alert the relevant regulatory bodies if it exceeds agreed levels or if the trade is being carried out illegally.”
The authors conclude that trade in gibbons in Indonesia is significant, affecting their status, and that this is partially due to lax interpretation and enforcement of wildlife protection laws. They go on to state that the law-enforcement hierarchy needs to be targeted to persuade officials to convict traders, owners and others involved in the illegal trade, and attention needs to be given to providing incentives for law enforcers to carry out their duties with greater efficiency.
Illegal wildlife trade must be considered a high priority if the current levels of illegal trade and resulting negative impact on the conservation of Indonesia’s wildlife is to be addressed.
The paper by Vincent Nijman, Cho-fui Yang Martinez and Chris R. Shepherd “Saved from trade: Donated and confiscated gibbons in zoos and rescue centres in Indonesia” is published in a Special Theme Issue "Primate Conservation: Measuring and Mitigating Trade in Primates" of the journal Endangered Species Research. It is freely available online at
http://www.int-res.com/articles/esr2009/theme/primate/pricpp4.pdf (PDF, 120 KB).
Anna Salleh ABC News 8 Dec 09;
A combination of overfishing and climate change are triggering catastrophic overgrazing of reefs by sea urchins in eastern Tasmania, say researchers. Professor Craig Johnson of the University of Tasmania and colleagues report their findings today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"When you get the two things happening together, it enables the urchin populations to build up to the point where they destructively graze," says Johnson.
Scientists believe climate change is causing stronger winds in the Southern Ocean, which speeds up the rotation of the ocean system that drives the East Australian Current.
The faster current has caused warmer water to spread further south, to the waters off eastern Tasmania, says Johnson.
He says this is causing the water in the area to warm nearly four times faster than the global average.
Northern invaders
The current is also carrying with it invaders from the north - the long-spined sea urchin (Centrostephanus rodgersii) from New South Wales waters.
"It is a really aggressive grazing species and it can just completely chew out the seaweeds and many of the other associated animals growing on the seafloor," says Johnson.
He says this can create a habitat called a "sea urchin barren".
"The analogy is like taking a bulldozer to a rainforest - you clear it back to bare earth," says Johnson.
"About 50% of the New South Wales coast looks like that right now."
Johnson says he and colleagues have previously found that the sea urchins are starting to form barrens in Tasmania and the race is on to stop these from spreading.
Research team member Dr Scott Ling also previously discovered that a key predator of the sea urchins is the spiny lobster (Jasus edwardsii), which is worth $50 million to the fishing industry.
The team's latest research looks at the impact on reefs of the interaction between climate change and the decline in the number of lobster predators due to overfishing.
Reef collapse
Johnson and colleagues carried out experiments inside and outside protected marine areas to show that fishing has made reefs more vulnerable to the climate-driven threat of the sea urchin.
"If we just had the climate change without the overfishing of the lobsters then the urchin would be here but probably just as a background species ... It wouldn't cause barrens," he says.
The urchins only become a problem when its key predator is overfished, says Johnson.
He says a major problem is sea urchins can keep reefs denuded indefinitely, using microscopic algae to help them survive.
"Unlike other herbivores they don't just die out," he says.
And he says while a lot of urchins are required to cause the barrens in the first place, reversing the process requires getting rid of nearly all.
Solutions
Johnson says only lobsters of a certain size can eat sea urchins: They must be big enough to get their front pair of walking legs around a sea urchin.
"The problem is these big guys are being fished out. There's basically none left," he says.
"Fishing pressure in some way, shape or form, needs to be reduced."
Johnson says it is not enough just to set limits on the size of lobsters that can be caught because there needs to be enough new animals to replenish the big ones when they die.
He says the $50 million Tasmanian lobster industry is worried about sea urchins and the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation is helping to fund research into how to control the sea urchins.
"We're trying to determine the best way of increasing the numbers of these large lobsters that has the minimum pain to the industry," says Johnson.
EurekAlert 7 Dec 09;
NEW YORK (December 7, 2009)—The Wildlife Conservation Society today released a list of animals facing new impacts by climate change, some in strange and unexpected ways.
In a new report titled "Species Feeling the Heat: Connecting Deforestation and Climate Change," the Wildlife Conservation Society profiles more than a dozen animal species and groups that are facing threats due to climate change impacts including: changing land and sea temperatures; shifting rain patterns; exposure to new pathogens and disease; and increased threats of predation.
The Wildlife Conservation Society is issuing this report as the world gathers in Copenhagen to address climate change issues and as the United Nations launches in 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity, a UN-led effort to raise awareness to reduce the constant loss of biological diversity worldwide. The Convention on Biodiversity, which emerged from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, recently admitted that none of its 2010 biodiversity targets have been met, underscoring the dire situation wildlife around the world face from burgeoning threats such as climate change.
The report also highlights the huge role of deforestation in climate change. Nearly 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are the result of deforestation, more than the output of all the world's trucks, trains, cars, planes, and ships combined, so protecting the remaining swaths of the world's forests can help put the breaks on climate change.
"The image of a forlorn looking polar bear on a tiny ice floe has become the public's image of climate change in nature, but the impact reaches species in nearly every habitat in the world's wild places," said Dr. Steven E. Sanderson, President and CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society. "In fact, our own researchers are observing direct impacts on a wide range of species across the world."
The report contains a cross-section of animal species around the globe, including:
* Bicknell's thrush, a bird species that breeds and nests in the higher elevations on mountains in northeastern North America. Slight increases in temperature threaten this bird's breeding habitat.
* Flamingos, a group including several species that are threatened by climate change impacts that affect the availability and quality of wetland habitat in the Caribbean, South America, Asia, and Africa.
* Irrawaddy dolphin, a coastal species that relies on the flow of fresh water from estuaries in Bangladesh and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Changes in freshwater flow and salinity may have an impact on the species long-term survival.
* Musk ox, a species that exists in the harsh environment of the Arctic Tundra. This Pleistocene faces a higher predation risk by grizzly bears, as more bears may move northward into the musk oxen's tundra home.
* Hawksbill turtle, an ocean-going reptile with temperature dependent biology. Specifically, higher temperatures result in more female hatchlings, a factor that could impact the species' long-term survival by skewing sex ratios.
"Aside from all of the current political disagreements on meteorological data, we can say with certainty that climate change is threatening our planet with significant losses to wildlife and wild places," added Sanderson.
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The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. We do so through science, global conservation, education and the management of the world's largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo. Together these activities change attitudes towards nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in harmony. WCS is committed to this mission because it is essential to the integrity of life on Earth. Visit www.wcs.org.
Special Note to the Media: If you would like to guide your readers or viewers to a web link where they can make donations in support of helping save wildlife and wild places, please direct them to: www.wcs.org/donation
Wildlife has flourished in the no-man's land that divides the country – but reconciliation could end all that
Sven Gunnar Simonsen, The Independent 8 Dec 09;
It's called the Green Line, but despite the name, it is a completely accidental wildlife sanctuary. The narrow strip of land that zigzags across the island of Cyprus was imposed in 1974 to separate the parties to armed conflict. As humans moved out, abandoning farms and villages, nature moved in. Thirty five years on, this no man's land has become a safe haven for some of the rarest endemic plants and animals in Europe and a place of special scientific importance. Now however there's a threat hanging over the unique eco-system, not from war, but from peace.
At its narrowest, the Green Line measures only 3.5 metres, and 7.5 km at the widest. But since Cyprus was divided in 1974, the area has seen minimal human activity, barring the occasional patrol by UN peacekeepers. The resulting surge in wildlife became evident early on, but its full scale has become apparent only since Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot scientists began working together to compile the first comprehensive inventories of plant and animal life. An absence of building development has allowed wildlife to flourish. "It means healthy populations of various species have survived without having their habitats fragmented, degraded or destroyed," explains Dr. Iris Charalambidou, a leader of the joint-North South scientific team which has been studying the area.
One of the most exciting finds are populations of two indigenous plants, the Cyprus Tulip (Tulipa cypria) and the Cyprus Bee Orchid (Ophrys kotschyi), both extremely rare. Likewise, a few decades ago, there were only a few hundred Cyprus mouflon, an endangered wild sheep found only on the island. But the Green Line has helped the sub-species to thrive to the point where Cyprus now has a healthy 3,000-strong herd.
In Variseia, one of the crumbling abandoned villages inside the Green Line 200 mouflon have settled happily. Ms Charalambidou, a birdlife specialist, has also found a number of interesting species and a large number of migratory birds arrive every season. For while closed to humans, animals move in and out, and seeds fly freely. "The buffer zone may look wild, but one can still see traces of agriculture, and there are still no deep forests," says Dr Nicolas Jarraud, environmental officer with the UN Development Programme. "Besides, there are species here now that are not endemic to Cyprus – rats and eucalyptus certainly aren't", he added. Packs of wild dogs now also roam the buffer zone. "Cyprus has never had a predator this size, so this creates a whole new dynamic," Dr Jarraud says.
The other new dynamic is political. Since September 2008, the leaders of the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities have been negotiating a reunification deal. A rare alignment of good will between the two groups and a conducive international climate (the EU and Nato are pushing for a settlement) have created the best opportunity in years for a breakthrough. Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General last Friday reported "solid" progress. "I am cautiously optimistic that a solution can be achieved," he said. The parties are hoping for a Spring accord.
But the political progress is bad news for the plants and animals. Any permanent settlement will inevitably have to resolve the matter of property rights within the Green Line- most of the abandoned land once belonged to private individuals whose descendants will certainly want to reclaim their rights.
But as soon as the borders are removed, the habitats will feel the sudden impact of bulldozers and human encroachment. "Many of the species won't find a corridor to escape to safety", says Dr Salih Gücel. The idea of the area being turned into a national park has been mooted but it's unlikely the entire area would be covered even if some was.
Most of the scientific mapping of the Green Line was completed last year, and the team's final report is expected soon. "We're hoping that the decision-makers will pick it up and use it as one of their inputs," Dr Jarraud says.
Scientists hope at least to set up micro-reserves making the locals custodians of the natural heritage. And while the politicians struggle to find common ground, the scientists have found their collaboration to have fostered a new climate of trust across the ethnic divide. "Our aim was the same, and therefore we managed to build trust," said Salih Gücel, a Turkish Cypriot.
The Daily Telegraph 8 Dec 09;
HERE, four Australian scientists give their opinions on coastline erosion, melting ice, carbon emissions and the fate of the Great Barrier Reef. Do you agree with their findings?
Bottom line: The Reef will slowly die
By Ove Hoegh-Guldbe
THE Great Barrier Reef is one of the most spectacular places on Earth. Stretching over 2000km along the northeast coast of Australia, it is the largest continuous coral reef ecosystem in the world. From orbiting spacecraft, it is one of the few signs of life on our planet.
Home to thousands of unique species, the Reef is important to the Australian economy, bringing in over $6.5 billion each year in tourist and fishing income. It is valuable and robust and has been a persistent feature of Australia for thousands of years.
So, why are the majority of coral reef scientists telling us that its days are numbered?
Coral reefs all over the world have faced challenges from human activities such as poor farming practice along adjacent coastlines, pollution and overfishing. This has led to the large-scale loss of reef-building corals, which lie at the heart of these complex and important ecosystems. In Australia, this has led to an increased attention to solving these problems from governments. Beginning in the early 1980s, however, mass coral bleaching began to occur on the Great Barrier Reef. Coral bleaching occurs when the relationship between corals and tiny plant-like organisms falls apart across thousands of square kilometres of coral reef. Corals then tend to get diseased and die.
The increase in the death rate of corals can be enormous. In 1998, for example, 16 per cent of the world's reef-building corals died in a single year.
These massive events coincided with small increases (1-2C) in sea temperature above the long-term maximums. In 1998 and 2002, our Reef experienced the worst episodes of coral bleaching, with over 60 per cent affected.
Scientific investigations indicate that coral reefs are extremely sensitive to small increases in sea temperature. Sea temperatures on the Reef are slowly increasing, and projections of ocean temperatures from 2030 onwards indicate they will be too warm for reef-building corals.
Without corals, the habitat for unique species will cease to exist.
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg is Professor of Marine Studies and Director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland
Immediate action pivotal on emissions
By Dr Michael Raupach
CARBON dioxide (CO2) is the most important greenhouse gas directly influenced by human activities. Its concentration has increased from about 280 parts per million (ppm) at the start of the industrial revolution to 386ppm today, and is now rising at nearly 2ppm per year. This is happening because global CO2 emissions, mostly from fossil fuel combustion, are climbing rapidly. Emissions increased by over 3 per cent per year since 2000. Most of the recent and future growth in CO2 emissions is occurring in developing countries, which now account for 55 per cent of the fossil fuel emissions. However, emissions per person from the developing world are still only about a quarter of those from developed (OECD) nations.
Where does all this CO2 eventually end up? At present, worldwide emissions from fossil fuel burning add 4ppm worth of CO2 to the atmosphere each year, with a further 0.6 ppm from deforestation. That adds up to nearly 5ppm entering the atmosphere each year - but only 2ppm stays there. The rest is removed from the atmosphere by land and ocean "CO2 sinks", through net uptake into growing vegetation and into the surface layers of the ocean. These sinks are great planetary stabilisers, discounting the greenhouse impact of CO2 emissions by about 55 per cent. If emissions continue to rise rapidly, the sinks will not be able to keep up and will not continue to offset emissions.
If we are to avoid dangerous climate change (a temperature increase of over 2C above preindustrial temperatures), then the total amount of CO2 that can be emitted by the human race is limited. On our present course, without rapid reductions in emissions, this limit will be reached in under 35 years. We must decarbonise our energy systems in a shorter time than this.
Michael Raupach is a research scientist in CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering
Melting ice is pushing up sea levels
By Dr Ian Allison
POLAR regions will continue to heat up more over the coming century than the rest of the earth.
Already major changes are occurring to ice and snow in both Antarctica and the Arctic.
These changes affect the rest of our planet in several ways. When the reflecting and insulating cover of seasonal sea ice decreases, the ocean absorbs more heat and warming increases and when ice is lost from the ice sheets, global sea level rises. A decrease in the summer minimum Arctic sea ice extent has occurred since accurate records began. The last three years were the lowest on record, with an average of 2 million sq km less ice than the 1979-1999 average. The average winter thickness of Arctic sea ice has decreased by 1.75m (48 per cent) since 1980.
In Antarctica there has been a small increase in winter sea-ice extent due to changes in Southern Ocean winds. There is considerable regional variability, with some regions showing significant decrease in winter ice and in the length of the ice season.
Both the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are now losing ice and contributing to sea level rise. Evidence of this comes from three different satellite-based technologies. Measurements show the ice sheet surface is thinning. The net loss from Antarctica and Greenland is about the same and this contributes about 12cm per century to sea level rise. But the rate of loss has increased from near zero in the mid 1990s, and is accelerating.
Much of the loss is occurring because the flow of large glaciers has increased. This is probably a result of reduced "buttressing" of the flow from floating ice shelves around the coast, which have thinned and in some cases collapsed completely. If the rate of discharge continues to increase, the ice sheet contribution to sea level rise by the end of the century will be considerably more than 12cm.
Dr Ian Allison is a glaciologist at the Australian Antarctic Division and the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC
Erosion of coastline is inevitable
By Dr John Church
GLOBALLY, the sea level has risen by about 20cm since 1870 and is continuing to rise.
Its rate of rise has accelerated and, since the early 1990s, is almost double the average rate for the 20th century.
The evidence is clear and comes from coastal sea level observations around the world.
There are two main reasons for recent sea-level rise. Firstly, observations show the oceans have absorbed vast amounts of heat. As the oceans warm, they expand and sea level rises. Secondly, as a result of warmer temperatures, many mountain glaciers in Alaska and elsewhere are melting and contributing to rising sea level.
The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have the greatest potential to contribute to sea-level rise. Recent satellite observations of the height of these ice sheets, the speed at which ice is flowing into oceans, and their mass, all indicate an accelerating contribution to sea-level rise.
Current models project a sea-level rise of about 20 to 80cm above 1990 levels by 2100, including an allowance for the poorly understood ice sheet contributions. Sea level is currently tracking near the upper limit of these projections and some studies have suggested a rise of well over a metre is possible.
Because of the long time scales of ocean and ice sheet processes, sea level will continue to rise for centuries after greenhouse gas concentrations are stabilised. Substantial reductions of global greenhouse gas emissions now will result in a lower future rise.
Rising sea levels will increase the frequency and severity of coastal inundation and erosion.
Without significant reduction of emissions, temperatures could pass a threshold during the 21st century that is likely to result in an ongoing decay of the Greenland ice sheet and a sea-level rise of metres.
Dr John Church is from the CSIRO's Marine and Atmospheric Research unit
Yahoo News 8 Dec 09;
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Americans who think global warming is caused by human activity, including vehicle and industrial emissions, are now a minority for the first time in nearly two years, a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll said Monday.
Only 45 percent of the 1,041 adults surveyed on December 2-3 believed global warming is a proven fact and mostly caused by human activity, down from 56 percent in October 2007, the survey found.
By comparison, Americans who believe global warming is caused by natural changes unrelated to man have increased to 22 percent from 20 percent two years ago, and those who believe global warming is a yet unproven theory grew to 31 percent from 23 percent.
Regarding how the United States should tackle global warming, 58 percent of those surveyed said it should cut carbon dioxide emissions unilaterally, down from 66 percent in October 2007.
Those who thought the United States should cut CO2 emissions only if other countries do so as well remained basically unchanged at 17 percent, from 16 percent two years ago.
But those who said carbon emissions should not be cut regardless of what the rest of the world does jumped to 24 percent, from 15 percent two years ago.
With a three percent margin of error, the poll coincided with the start Monday of a landmark, 12-day conference on tackling climate change opened in Copenhagen attended by more than 110 heads of state or government.
The White House on Monday dismissed as "silly" the notion that global warming science had been compromised by emails exposing a row between top climate scientists.
The emails have been pounced on by climate skeptics, particularly in the United States to suggest the scientific community is hyping the threat from carbon dioxide emissions ahead of the Copenhagen climate conference.
Yahoo News 7 Dec 09;
COPENHAGEN (AFP) – Ten million people around the world have signed an online petition demanding that leaders conclude a "fair, ambitious and binding" climate treaty, organisers of the initiative said on Monday.
The petition, staged by TckTckTck, an umbrella organisation of 226 green groups, was handed to UN climate chief Yvo de Boer, Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen and conference chairwoman Connie Hedegaard.
Over the next 12 days, members of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will negotiate over reducing carbon emissions that trap the sun's heat, inflicting potentially catastrophic climate damage.
They will also wrestle with building a mechanism to channel hundreds of billions of dollars in aid to poor countries, helping them reduce their greenhouse-gas pollution and shore up defences against drought, flood, storm and rising seas.
The meeting will climax on December 18 with more than 100 heads of state or government in attendance.
They include US President Barack Obama, Premier Wen Jiabao of China, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and the heads of the European Union (EU).
livescience.com Yahoo News 7 Dec 09;
Wasteful energy policies, overuse of resources, water supply shortages, global climate change, and deforestation are just some of the issues experts say need to be addressed at the U.N. Climate Change summit in Copenhagen beginning this week. Here are 10 technologies - some old, some new, some a bit offbeat - that might help.
10. Make Paper Obsolete
Imagine curling up on the couch with the morning paper and then using the same sheet of paper to read the latest novel by your favorite author. That's one possibility of electronic paper, a flexible display that looks very much like real paper but can be reused over and over. The display contains many tiny microcapsules filled with particles that carry electric charges bonded to a steel foil. Each microcapsule has white and black particles that are associated with either a positive or negative charge. Depending on which charge is applied, the black or white particles surface to display different patterns. In the United States alone, more than 55 million newspapers are sold each weekday.
9. Bury the Bad Stuff
Carbon dioxide is the most prominent greenhouse gas contributing to global warming. According to the Energy Information Administration, by the year 2030 we will be emitting close to 8,000 million metric tons of CO2. Some experts say it's impossible to curb the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere and that we just have to find ways to dispose of the gas. One suggested method is to inject the gas into the ground before it reaches the atmosphere. After the CO2 is separated from other emission gases, it can be buried in abandoned oil wells, saline reservoirs and rocks. While this may sound great, scientists are not sure whether the injected gas will stay underground and what the long-term effects are, and the costs of separation and burying are still far too high to consider this technology as a practical short-term solution.
8. Let Plants and Microbes Clean Up After Us
Bioremediation is a method of cleaning up contamination using microbes and plants. Examples include the cleanup of nitrates in contaminated water with the help of microbes, and using plants to take up arsenic from contaminated soil, in a process known as phytoremediation. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has used phytoremediation to clean up several sites. Often, native plant species can be used for site cleanup, which are helpful because in most cases they don't require pesticides or watering. In other cases, scientists are trying to genetically modify the plants to take up contaminants in their roots and transport them all the way to the leaves for easy harvesting.
7. Plant Your Roof
It's a wonder that this concept - attributed to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - didn't catch on sooner in the modern world. Legend has it that the roofs, balconies and terraces of the royal palace of Babylon were turned into gardens by the king's order to cheer up one of his wives. Roof gardens help absorb heat, reduce the carbon dioxide impact by taking up CO2 and giving off oxygen, absorb storm water, and reduce summer air conditioning usage. Ultimately, the technique could lessen the "heat island" effect that occurs in urban centers. Butterflies and songbirds could also start frequenting urban garden roofs to cheer up the inhabitants of the building, like the king's wife.
6. Harness Waves and Tides
The oceans cover more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface. Waves contain an abundance of energy that could be directed to turbines, which can then turn this mechanical power into electrical energy. The obstacle to using this energy source has been the difficulty in harnessing it. Sometimes the waves are too small to generate sufficient power. The trick is to store the energy when enough mechanical power is generated. New York City's East River is now in the process of becoming a test bed for tide-powered turbines.
5. Capture Ocean Heat Energy
Our oceans are the biggest solar energy collectors on Earth. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the seas absorb enough heat from the sun to equal the thermal energy contained in 250 billion barrels of oil each day. The United States consumes about 7.5 billion barrels a year. Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) technologies convert the thermal energy contained in the oceans into electricity by using the temperature difference between the water's surface, which is heated by the sun, and the cold ocean bottom. This difference in temperature can operate turbines that can drive generators. The major shortcoming of this technology is that it's still not efficient enough to be used as a major mechanism for generating power.
4. Turn Photons into Electricity
The sun's energy, which hits Earth in the form of photons, can be converted into electricity or heat. Solar collectors come in many different forms and are already used successfully by energy companies and individual homeowners. The two widely known types of solar collectors are solar cells and solar thermal collectors. But researchers are pushing the limits to convert this energy more efficiently by concentrating solar power using mirrors and parabolic dishes. Part of the challenge for employing solar power involves motivation and incentives from governments. A number of states have programs that provide incentives toward solar development. However, the cost of installation and the fear of unsightly panels discourage many homeowners from adopting the technology.
3. Get Power from Hydrogen
Hydrogen fuel cell usage has been touted as a pollution-free alternative to burning fossil fuels. Fuel cells make water by combining hydrogen and oxygen. In the process, they generate electricity. The problem with fuel cells is obtaining the hydrogen. Molecules such as water and alcohol have to be processed to extract hydrogen to feed into a fuel cell. Some of these processes require using other energy sources, which can defeat the advantages of this "clean" fuel. Recently, scientists have come up with ways to power laptops and small devices with fuel cells, and some car companies are promising that soon we'll be seeing cars that emit nothing but clean water. The promise of a "hydrogen economy," however, is not one that all experts agree will ever be realized.
2. Remove the Salt
According to the United Nations, water supply shortages will affect billions of people by the middle of this century. Desalination - basically removing the salt and minerals out of seawater - is one way to provide potable water in parts of the world where supplies are limited. The problem with this technology is that it is expensive and uses a lot of energy. Scientists are working toward better processes where inexpensive fuels can heat and evaporate the water before running it through membranes with microscopic pores to increase efficiency.
1. Make Oil from Just about Anything
Any carbon-based waste, from turkey guts to used tires, can, by adding sufficient heat and pressure, be turned into oil through a process called thermo-depolymerization. This is very similar to how nature produces oil, but with this technology the process is expedited by millions of years to achieve the same byproduct. Proponents of the technology claim that a ton of turkey waste could cough up about 600 pounds of petroleum.
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