Best of our wild blogs: 12 Dec 09

Brown Hawk Owl finds a home
from Bird Ecology Study Group

12-13 Dec (Sat-Sun): Geminids meteor shower gazing at Changi Beach Park from wild shores of singapore

Tall tentacle tales and superb snail stories
from wild shores of singapore

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Ships' sticky situation dissolved

Victoria Vaughan, Straits Times 12 Dec 09;

THEY may each only be a few centimetres in size, but barnacles cost the shipping industry billions of dollars in cleaning and can increase fuel consumption by up to 25 per cent.

However, science may have brought a solution to this sticky situation a step closer. Building on previous studies, Dr Gary Dickinson, now based at the Tropical Marine Science Institute (TMSI) at the National University of Singapore, has uncovered the secrets of barnacle glue.

Although the basic properties of the glue were understood, the way it became sticky had remained a mystery until now. In the past, when scientists tried to analyse the glue, they would dissolve it in chemicals, but there would always be some solid element left over, making it hard to get the full picture.

'We tried to obtain the glue before it became sticky to find out how it works. After reading up about the anatomy of a barnacle and finding where the glue would come from naturally, we discovered if we put pressure on the barnacle in the right way we could collect the liquid glue,' said Dr Dickinson, who was aided by his PhD adviser, Professor Dan Rittschoff, when he carried out the work at Duke University in the United States.

As the enzymes, which speed up the mechanism of the liquid glue hardening, work best at body temperature, the glue collection was done in a cold room of between 0 deg C and 4 deg C. Even then, the glue, clear or pinkish orange in colour, can harden in five to 10 minutes.

To understand how barnacle glue sticks and hardens, Dr Dickinson compared the process to blood clotting.

'In evolution, important mechanisms are conserved. So we looked at mechanisms in animals that are important to survival, and clotting so they don't bleed to death is one such mechanism,' he said. 'We thought it would be a similar process to the barnacle, which needs to stick to things in order to survive and feed on plankton.'

He studied the components of the glue under an atomic force microscope and found it had a fibrous quality similar to that of a blood clot or scab - proving his original theory. This, along with the results from a variety of other analysis techniques, confirmed the ideas of Dr Dickinson and his colleagues.

Based on this discovery, he then tried using a common chemical to see if the glue could be prevented from hardening, and discovered the glue did not set.

This is bad news for the barnacle but could be good news for the shipping industry if this discovery could be translated into a paint for the bottom of ships. But Dr Dickinson said such a paint was still a few years away.

Ships travel faster and consume less fuel when their hulls are smooth and free from fouling caused by barnacles, algae or molluscs.

Lime arsenic and mercury were used in the early days of sailing ships. In the 1960s, anti-fouling paints using metallic compounds, in particular the organotin compound tributyltin (TBT), were developed and by the 1970s, most seagoing vessels had TBT painted on their hulls.

However, environmental studies found TBT to be harmful to surrounding marine life. Use of TBT was banned last year by the International Maritime Organisation, the United Nations agency concerned with the safety of shipping and the prevention of marine pollution.

At the moment, most ships use copper-based paints to repel or kill barnacles, or more expensive silicone paints which barnacles cannot attach to. Dr Dickinson's discovery could lead to another option for ship owners.

His research was funded by the United States Office of Naval Research. He is continuing his work at TMSI, looking at the initiation phase of glue hardening and also comparing the different species of barnacles.

Different species of barnacles can grow to different sizes, ranging from 1cm in diameter to between 10 and 13cm for the megabalanus, which is found here in Singapore and other tropical and semi-tropical regions, such as off the coast of Chile.

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Natural way to get rid of mozzies

Zoo's project uses bednets and insect-eating creatures to reduce mosquito population
Leow Si Wan, Straits Times 12 Dec 09;

Kevin Lee (left) and Troy Tan were among four Hwa Chong Institution students roped in by pest-control company Origin Exterminators to help in the zoo project. They sometimes offered themselves as human bait to lure and kill mosquitoes to count how many there were. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO

THE Singapore Zoo has enlisted some environmentally friendly allies in its battle to reduce the number of mosquitoes on site.

Instead of traditional pest-control methods such as fogging and misting, the new troops are insectivores - such as frogs, spiders and fish - which eat the larvae and adult mosquitoes.

This, said assistant director of zoology Biswajit Guha, allows the zoo to manage the mosquito population while maintaining an ecological balance.

Starting in March and working with pest-control company Origin Exterminators - which was one of the sponsors - and four Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) students, the zoo began a pilot project using a combination of insectivores and bednets to reduce its mozzie count.

Bednets are sewn from pieces of mosquito net embedded with a non-soluble and non-volatile insecticide.

The results: An average 60 per cent drop in the number of mosquitoes across the five test sites from the time the insectivores and bednets were first used to last month, when the project wrapped up.

Said Mr Carl Baptista, head of research and development at Origin: 'When the zoo first approached me with the idea of using its natural environment to deal with mosquitoes, I was very sceptical about the effectiveness of insectivores.

'I roped in the Hwa Chong students to help execute the project and we couldn't even find research papers on this subject.'

The zoo, he added, switched to Bti misting - a way of killing mosquitoes using bacteria, which does not affect the environment - from fogging about eight years ago as conventional insecticides are harmful to flora and fauna.

The National Environment Agency also does not encourage the use of fogging as a primary means of controlling the mosquito population.

For the project, the native insectivores, which also included dragonfly nymphs, were released at sites within the zoo and the Night Safari. Ponds were also constructed so these insectivores could be sustained in a suitable habitat that is also favourable to mosquitoes.

These bug-loving creatures are 'a natural control agent for mosquito populations', said Mr Guha.

To monitor the number of mosquitoes on a weekly basis, the HCI students used ovitraps - contraptions that trap mosquito larvae - and 'human baiting'.

Said 16-year-old HCI student Troy Tan: 'We stood there and let the mosquitoes land on us before smacking them with our hands so that we could count the number.

'The highest record was about 40 mosquitoes in half an hour.'

Their itch-inducing sacrifice and weekly visits to the zoo were not without reward: The team of Secondary 4 students - Troy, Kevin Lee, Darren Choo and Tan Wei Xiang - will represent Singapore in a community problem-solving competition to be held in the United States next June.

Meanwhile, the zoo will look into enhancing the aquatic ecosystem of existing ponds and moats, and creating new ones to encourage more native insectivores to come on board.

Said Mr Guha: 'While it must be complemented with environmentally sustainable conventional mosquito management techniques, it should improve what we have been doing, and in a way which encourages biodiversity.'

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Melting danger: rising seas

Straits Times 12 Dec 09;

Land and sea ice makes up almost 15 per cent of Earth's surface, and scientists predict that up to a quarter of it could melt by 2050 if global warming is not reduced. The result? Rising sea levels and worldwide flooding.

TAY CHERN HUI looks at the evidence.

Click on image for larger view.

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The Secret Sentosa

Venessa Lee, Today Online 12 Dec 09;

It was an image straight out of Angkor Wat. The roots of the tree had sprawled over the building, threatening to swallow it whole. I'd seen pictures of those ancient temples, dwarfed by scary vegetation. But I wasn't in Cambodia, I was, incongruously, at Sentosa.

The structure I was looking at, with its wraparound tree roots, was a battery command post at Fort Serapong. Historians have always known about this fortification, which was built in the 1880s, along with the other colonial British defences on Sentosa: Fort Siloso, Fort Connaught and Mount Imbiah Battery. However, it was only a few years ago that Fort Serapong was excavated.

This, then, was the secret Sentosa, or at least a side of the resort island that is largely unknown to the public. With new attractions spouting up hither and thither, Sentosa had seemed to me to be in a permanent, somewhat obsessive state of renewal.

But history is deep in the bones of the island originally called Pulau Blakang Mati - enigmatically, "the island behind death" in Malay. The name "Sentosa" means "isle of tranquility".

"You're talking basically of military history until 1972," when Sentosa started to be developed for recreational use, said Mr Kwa Chong Guan, Adjunct Associate Professor at the Department of History, National University of Singapore (NUS).

Archaeologist Lim Chen Sian, who led the archaeological survey and excavation at Fort Serapong in April 2006, told of how his team had found "moveable artefacts" - all since removed - including "lots of ammunition, such as six-inch shells that weigh 60kg".

A sense could be gleaned of the lifestyle of British soldiers at the Fort Serapong complex, according to Mr Lim, 34. Milk and sardines had been part of their diet, he said. "We got a lot of sardine cans, lots of milk. They drank a lot of dairy products, more than beer, surprisingly."

With beer cans and bottles scarcer on the ground than milk bottles, apparent evidence of wholesome living also surfaced in the form of "bits from a Monopoly set you can date back to 1939, 1940", he said. His team had found pieces for the board game - the purse and the rocking horse - which had been replaced by the thimble and wheelbarrow by 1940.

Ms Wee Sheau Theng, 31, said she'd been asked to "sew pouches for the machetes (used) to clear the vegetation" in June 2006. What she hadn't reckoned on was meeting her future husband at the archaeological dig. The freelance teacher and researcher married Mr Yeo Kang Shua in May last year. The couple took their wedding photos at Fort Serapong and Mr Lim was their best man.

Due to ongoing archaeological and conservation work, Fort Serapong, in the eastern part of the resort island, is currently closed to the public. People have strayed into the fort before, perhaps oblivious of its value as being a part of Singapore history.

When Weekend Today visited, there was graffiti ("2001" and "Steven" were part of the scrawl) inside the casemates of the fort, which are storage and office facilities sometimes used to house guns. Beside some of the ruins, I even saw a skip with building materials dumped inside.

According to Associate Professor Brian Farrell, a military historian who specialises in the British empire and who is familiar with the project, Fort Serapong is not "unique" as "there were lots of coastal defence positions in and around this area".

Remnants of an eight-inch gun emplacement - a niche where weapons were positioned - can be found at Fort Serapong, Singapore's only such example, but such emplacements can be found "in different parts of the empire: Canada, the Caribbean and Australia", said Dr Farrell, from NUS' Department of History.

For Dr Farrell, the well-appointed and restored Fort Siloso is "one of the best military history sites that Singapore has to offer. It's the crown jewel in the Sentosa crown".

Today at Fort Siloso, another layer of history hovers, invisibly, at an unlikely building, the recreated Guardroom - a replica of an 1885 structure which visitors to the fort would have encountered. Representatives of Sentosa Leisure Group, which manages the resort island, identified the Guardroom, which has a battered-looking Union Jack hanging on a flagpole outside it, as being the residence of Singapore's longest-serving political detainee, Mr Chia Thye Poh, for three years.

Mr Chia was arrested under the Internal Security Act in 1966 for alleged involvement with the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM). He was moved to Sentosa under a restriction order in May 1989, and after his conditional release, denied that he was ever involved with the CPM. Mr Chia was unconditionally released in 1992.

Visitors to Sentosa occasionally asked where Mr Chia had lived while he was at the island according to representatives of Sentosa Leisure Group. "He did translation work for us," said Mr Alvin Chia of Sentosa Leisure Group.

The deputy director (attractions development) also mentioned other, secret parts of Sentosa. In the western region of the island, for instance, there are birds' nests "made by edible-nest swiftlets and black-nest swiftlets", he said, which were poached until the authorities barred access to the area via locked gates.

The historical aspects of Sentosa - as a prolific pirates' lair, for instance - point to the violence that once lurked at the island's now-sanitised beaches. Take its enigmatic old name, Blakang Mati, which has been variously theorised as having been given because of regular and fatal malaria outbreaks, or because of the murder of a local Malay.

"One suggestion," according to NUS' Mr Kwa, who specialises in Singapore history, "was that this was the old execution grounds for the Orang Laut, the sea nomads who were the warriors of the old sultans".

Shock and horror visited Sentosa in 1983, when seven people died as cable cars plunged into the sea in an accident well remembered by Singaporeans.

Earlier, in 1974, 14 human skeletons were discovered on Sentosa's beach. Police believed that Singapore-based trafficking syndicates had brought the illegal immigrants from nearby islands, collected their "fares" and murdered them.

Today, the historical aspects of Sentosa can be seen even beneath the glossy patinas of new hotels and restaurants.

Capella Singapore was once a British Officers' Mess and Amara Sanctuary Resort Sentosa once the Sergeant Quarters, for example. The serene lines of those colonial buildings are the framework for these hotels, and other buildings like them.

Secretive Sentosa is there to be found - you just have to know where to look.

The people in their neighbourhood
Venessa Lee, Today Online 12 Dec 09;

Mr Masturi Lehwan, 55, grew up in the kampung that was once located at the site of Sentosa's integrated resort, Resorts World. Now a golf course supervisor, he met his wife, Ms Asmah Aziz, while working on the island. The couple have been working at Sentosa for more than 30 years.

Mr Masturi, like others in the kampung, was made to move out in the early 1970s. His parents and their eight children moved to a three-room flat in Telok Blangah but he returned to work on the island in 1972. He said the golf course, where he has spent a large part of his working life, is his favourite part of Sentosa.

Ms Asmah, 51, started as a bus guide on Sentosa, and is now a receptionist there. Ms Asmah's favourite part of Sentosa is an area at Tanjong Beach where she used to go fishing with her father.

Ms Chua Bee Tin, 48, used to be "kampung mates" with Mr Masturi. She started working at Sentosa in 1978. She has worked mostly as a monorail operator in Sentosa but, since the monorail system closed, she now drives the Sentosa Express, the train that ferries visitors from the island to the VivoCity shopping mall and back. Ms Chua's favourite place in Sentosa relates to her youth: "I like Fort Siloso most, my childhood playground. We played in the tunnel there."

Asked about the fast pace of changes that have taken place at Sentosa since the 1970s, all three expressed pride and hopes that visitor numbers would rise.

Ms Asmah said: "I saw the changes from this island from nothing to something." Mr Masturi said: "In the name of progress, I think we lose out something like quietness." Venessa Lee

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Going green is crucial and not something hip

Straits Times Forum 12 Dec 09;

I REFER to Miss Lau Ying Shan's letter on Thursday, 'Are we doing enough?' I could not agree more with her points.

Unfortunately, an almost perfect environment like Singapore does not give residents an idea of the climate change problems that will hit the world in years to come.

We do not face water shortage, but have infinite drinkable water from the tap. We do not have power failures. We have a lot of parks and trees, and fresh air.

How can we make the selfish me-generation understand that going green is essential and not something hip that is done once in a while?

We will see the effects of climate change down the road in a few years. If not us, the next generation will.

I hardly see anyone in my neighbourhood sorting rubbish (plastic, paper, glass, metal) - everything goes down the chute.

Many motorists start their car 10 minutes before their passengers come down, to cool it sufficiently. Most drivers behave as if they are in a Formula One race, and their vehicles guzzle fuel.

While some companies are taking real measures to go green, others just do it as a marketing ploy. Painting the wall green is not enough.

Sven Hafner

Kick habits of waste
Straits Times Forum 12 Dec 09;

THE Government has made a strong commitment towards sustainable development and has initiated projects like Newater to recycle waste water and plans to build the world's largest solar energy plant in Tuas by next year.

These are all large-scale and ambitious plans that show the Government is serious about a sustainable future where generations to come will not have to suffer the consequences of our insatiable demand for growth at all cost. But are we, the people, doing enough?

The Government's action alone is not enough to ensure a sustainable future if we just sit back and do nothing. Reading the newspaper each morning about the latest development at the Copenhagen climate summit while sipping coffee from a disposable cup and dumping both the newspaper and coffee cup in the trash before proceeding with the daily routine will not help solve the problem of climate change but rather, make it worse.

Unlike most political issues which we just sit back and watch unfold, climate change involves each and every one of us as it is caused by the summation of everyone's action in the first place.

How many times did you choose to take your car instead of public transport just to save a few minutes' travelling time?

How many times did you go grocery shopping without a shopping bag and return with plastic bags you throw away?

These are the little things we overlook for the sake of convenience, but it is these little things that add up to a huge amount of waste each year.

We need to kick our old habits of excessive consumption and waste, not out of fear of a hefty fine but because we know it is harmful to the environment and ultimately to us in the future. It only takes a little change to make a difference.

Decline the plastic bag when you know you can do without it; don't take it just because it's free. Make a little effort to remember to take your grocery bag each time you go shopping. Make an effort to sort recyclables from your trash.

All these efforts are not insignificant if they become the habit of society.

Nicklaus Tse

For our children
Straits Times Forum 12 Dec 09;

'Technological advances and prowess should come with the social responsibility to preserve and protect the planet.'

MR ETHAN LEE: 'There is a Native American proverb, 'We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children'. The course of human history is a mere dot compared to the history of the planet. Yet we have managed to bring Planet Earth near destruction. Technological advances and prowess should come with the social responsibility to preserve and protect the planet, so we can pass on to our children and their children a planet that is liveable and sustainable for generations to come. I sincerely hope something tangible can be achieved at Copenhagen beyond the talk.'

Climate Change: Are we doing enough?
Straits Times Forum 10 Dec 09;

THE world is still hopeful that the Copenhagen summit will arrive at concrete measures to address climate change, even though expectations of a silver bullet have fizzled out somewhat. It is perhaps timely for Singapore - and Singaporeans - to reflect on this crucial issue.

Although the nation's emission figures are not significant due to our relatively small population size, our per capita greenhouse gas emissions are comparable to those of most industrialised countries.

Instead of recognising this fact, we continually justify ourselves by pointing to another measure - carbon intensity, which is greenhouse gas emissions per dollar GDP - which shows that Singapore's impact is decreasing. Yet carbon intensity remains a different measure from carbon emissions per capita: the latter values the environmental impact of a single individual, while the former values the economy in relation to the environment.

As a Singaporean, I am not sure if I can continue to hold my head high when I know my individual carbon footprint is mistakenly condoned by the international community just because my country says its national contribution to climate change is insignificant.

Moreover, is Singapore not an influential political actor, or is it simply not trying hard enough? In November 2007, during the third East Asia Summit, members of Asean, Japan, Australia, South Korea, India, China and New Zealand signed a Singapore Declaration on Climate Change, Energy and the Environment. Yet, this declaration, though well-intended, remains toothless.

At best, it serves as a reminder to individual countries to do their part to mitigate climate change; at worst, it is another document waved around as a prop to show something is being done, when in fact nothing substantial is being done on the ground. How Singapore follows up with the declaration is really up to its own discretion, but it is undeniable that it is a leader and role model on the Asean front.

While Singapore's economy is important - and I am a beneficiary of that - the economy is not all that matters. In terms of long-term sustainability, it is apt to remind ourselves that we are an island state, surrounded by seas whose levels are predicted to rise with increasing global temperatures.

In addition, we have the Marina Barrage, a massive infrastructural investment crucial to our water sustainability yet vulnerable to rising sea levels and stronger storm surges.

Lau Ying Shan (Miss)

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Integrated resorts set up green initiatives

Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia 11 Dec 09;

SINGAPORE : The two upcoming integrated resorts in Singapore, which open in the first quarter of next year, are not planning to gamble with the environment.

In fact, they have spent millions of dollars on green technologies and sustainable building concepts to conserve resources.

It has been a roller coaster ride for the environment, and climate change is a real threat. So companies, like Singapore's two integrated resorts, are striving for greener practices.

Resorts World Sentosa, for instance, transplanted 900 trees affected by construction work. It is now replanting them - along the streets of Hollywood and New York - within its Universal Studios theme park.

The resort also has Singapore's largest solar installation, that can generate over 500,000 kilowatts per hour of energy a year.

Noel Hawkes, vice president, Resort Operations, Resorts World Sentosa, said: "(With regards to) the solar power, we reckon we can save half a million Singapore dollars easily on electricity bills.

"We also have a very interesting ETFE roofing system over many of the al fresco dining areas of the resort, as well as in the Universal Studios where people are queuing, and this reduces the amount of sunlight by almost half.

"And we couple that with an eco-cooling system, which we have developed; it is not air conditioning, but it is cooling and it costs one-third of the cost of air conditioning."

The ETFE plastic roofing will shelter about 70 per cent of the pedestrian walkways at the resort.

Another cost saving of over S$160,000 a year will come from a lagoon, which will harvest rainwater to be used for irrigation.

Meanwhile, Marina Bay Sands resort is also doing its part - by recycling paint from previous projects, as well as recycling construction waste. When completed, guests staying in the 2,500 luxury rooms at the three hotel towers can also play a role.

Thomas Arasi, CEO, Marina Bay Sands, said: "We have spent S$25 million on an intelligent building management system, and what that would do is that it would automatically record the customer's needs and energy saving patterns.

"On the remote control in our guest room, there will be an eco button that you can hit and it will just take things up a notch and hopefully you will not feel it."

Marina Bay Sands said it has also invested a substantial amount of money on the construction and operation of a massive chilled water plant to be located just off its third hotel tower. This will be done on a cost sharing basis between the resort and public entities.

The plant is expected to be ready in late 2010. Marina Bay Sands said it will provide chilled water to cool the resort as well as new buildings in the surrounding districts.

Observers said the use of chilled water could help lower air conditioning costs by up to 20 per cent. - CNA/ms

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Gifts a big waste

Stop buying Christmas presents for people you do not really know well, says an economist
Straits Times 12 Dec 09;

London - Ever had a present from an over-enthusiastic colleague or a far-flung aunt or someone you really did not like but were socially obliged to pretend otherwise?

One economist is on a mission to stop this wasteful category of Christmas giving.

How often have we given them? Many times, no doubt. And yet, how often have we ever really wanted to receive them ourselves? Whose every waking moment is filled by a craving for a pair of half-sized martini glasses, holding unpleasantly perfumed gel candles?

Economist Joel Waldfogel takes this feeling of dissatisfaction further. He studied the giving of gifts for 15 years. The results do not make for happy reading.

'Other people do a poor job choosing for us, compared to when we choose for ourselves,' he says.

He has just released his book, Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents For The Holidays.

Christmas gifts are a big waste, he says. Over the years, his surveys asked people how much they would have paid for gifts had they not received them. The average the recipient would have paid is nearly 20 per cent less than what was actually paid.

This is the kind of thing that economists do not like. The ideal in economics is that surplus value is created. 'The seller gets a price that exceeds his costs and the buyer gets an item he values above the price,' he explains.

In the Christmas present market, the second part of the equation often fails. And with people spending US$145 billion (S$201 billion) a year worldwide on festive items, that could be more than US$25 billion of waste, he says.

He emphasises that he is not advocating the end of Christmas presents as a concept. 'We do pretty well in buying things for people we know well. And children would be devastated if they didn't get presents.' But when it comes to buying for people who live far away or who we do not know well, he thinks we might give gift vouchers a try instead.

Of course, this does throw up a problem or two.

Anyone who has seen the episode of Seinfeld where Jerry commits a major faux pas, by giving Elaine cash for her birthday, would be wary about doing the same. And gift vouchers seem close to that.

Mr Waldfogel disagrees. 'Gift vouchers are unlike cash in that they avoid the awkwardness.'

But gift vouchers also often lie dormant in dark recesses of the recipient's cupboards, never to emerge. He wants retailers to accept a measure that allows vouchers to expire and trigger a donation of the value to charity. And, he suggests, a present of a donation to charity, should be acceptable.

Professor Gary Davies of Manchester Business School is not a fan of abandoning gifts for people we do not know that well. 'It isn't the economics that is driving the issue. It's the social side, the symbolism of the gift.'

And the kind of gift scenario where the protagonists do not know each other well can be a social minefield, with the giving of cash or vouchers being seen as plain odd.

'It would be seen as a bribe,' says Mr Davies. 'There are lots of business gifts. I will give my secretary a bottle of champagne. Am I supposed to give her money? I think she might be taken aback. It would be seen as inappropriate.'

And of course, that is at the root of gift giving - it is a social transaction, not an exchange of useful items.

'What we like is the fact that our nearest and dearest have thought about it,' he says. 'One of the main social aspects of gifting is building a relationship.'

And there would also be economic consequences if people suddenly stopped buying presents. Typically half of retailers' profits come from the fourth quarter, he adds.

But in opposition to the economic benefit, there is also the sheer waste of unwanted presents. 'One can imagine a market for green gifts, buying people experiences that don't involve tangible products,' he says.

BBC News

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Johor Ramsar sites need urgent attention and improvement

Nelson Benjamin, The Star 12 Dec 09;

JOHOR BARU: The state government needs to urgently improve the management and condition of its Ramsar sites.

The biggest of the sites spans 7,636ha in Sungai Pulai Johor, while the other two are in Pulau Kukup measuring 647ha and Tanjung Piai (526ha). Ramsar sites are wetlands of international importance designated under the Ramsar Convention.

A visit to Tanjung Piai found rubbish littering the mangrove swamp and trapped among the trees. Besides discarded planks and plastic bags, there was even an old tyre seen here.

The 2008 Auditor-General’s Report had highlighted the unsatisfactory management of the three sites under Johor National Park Corporation (PTNJ) as it did not have proper objectives or scope to carry out activities every year.

The corporation has been tasked with rehabilitating and protecting the Ramsar sites in Johor. The A-G Report found that PTNJ did not have the financial capability to develop and maintain the sites.

The organisation depended primarily on the state government for allocations as its requests to other agencies such as Tourism Ministry and Natural Resources and Environment Ministry for additional funds were rejected.

According to the A-G Report, PTNJ had a deficit balance since 2004, which ballooned to RM3.3mil in 2007.

The Johor state executive council (Exco) had directed PTNJ to use a RM500,000 allocation to hire a foreign consultant to draw up a comprehensive plan for the management of Ramsar sites from 2006 to 2016.

However, the corporation only used RM13,447 of the money from Natural Resources and Environment Ministry to come up with its own development plan in collaboration with a local university and the remaining sum was channelled to other purposes, the report detailed.

It added that PTNJ also did not have an enforcement unit to tackle intrusions and encroachments into the Ramsar sites.

The report noted that cleanliness at the wetlands was poor, stressing that the lack of awareness among tourists, local fishermen and PTNJ workers about environment conservation could lead to pollution and jeopardise the ecosystem.

On a positive note, the Auditor-General found the research activities at the Ramsar sites satisfactory, as 30 projects had been carried out here between 2006 and 2008 which discovered new flora and fauna.

The report recommended seven steps to be taken to improve the situation. They involve outlining clear objectives for conservation, education and research, maintaining cleanliness, issuing compounds to those who encroach into the wetlands and creating sources of income.

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Bali's Mangroves are Best in Asia: Official

The Jakarta Globe 11 Dec 09;

Denpasar. The island of Bali is not only Indonesia’s best international tourism destination but is also home to Asia’s best mangrove forests, a local forestry official said on Friday.

“As the best in Asia, the lush mangrove forests have become the destination for comparative studies by experts from various countries,” said Anak Agung Ngurah Buana, who heads the Bali Forestry Office.

He said Bali was home to 1,346 hectares of mangrove forest, all managed under the Ngurah Rai Forest Park, and that visiting experts had come from countries such as Japan, Germany, the Philippines, Italy and the United States to study the forest as a model for similar developments.

Buana said that the Suwung mangrove forest in South Bali had been a model in mangrove management as a result of an agreement between the Ministry of Forestry and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

He said the project, which started in 1993, was considered to have been fairly successful in cultivating and preserving a number of mangrove variants, some producing substances that may be developed into medicines.

Footpaths connect one part of the forest to another, making it a favorite tourist destination for local and international visitors.

Local communities often fish for recreation in the forest, which stretches along the coast from Benoa Harbor to the Ngurah Rai International Airport in Tuban.

The forest is managed by 42 workers, half of them technical staff from the Mangrove Management Agency and two experts from Japan.

Buana said that the forest saw a continuous planting of new seedlings and a constant maintenance program in the hope that it would act as “lungs” for the city of Denpasar.



Antara

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Unilever Boycotts Sinar Mas Palm Oil on Deforestation Report

Fidelis E Satriastanti & Bloomberg, Jakarta Globe 11 Dec 09;

Unilever, the world’s biggest user of palm oil, on Friday announced it was suspending purchases from Sinar Mas Group until the company proved its plantations weren’t contributing to deforestation in Asia.

The development came on the same day the Forestry Ministry dismissed evidence released by Greenpeace on Thursday that Sinar Mas was illegally clearing woodlands in West Kalimantan.

Unilever’s boycott will apply until Indonesia’s biggest oil palm grower “can provide verifiable proof that none of their plantations are contributing to the destruction of high conservation value forests and expanding onto peat lands,” the London-based company said on Friday.

PT Smart, a unit of Jakarta-based Sinar Mas, provides about 5 percent of all the palm oil that the Anglo-Dutch company uses in its sauces, detergents and ice creams, Unilever spokesman Flip Dotsch said.

Unilever will buy palm oil from other Indonesian companies, he said, without giving names.

Earlier on Friday, the Ministry of Forestry said Sinar Mas had violated no laws in regard to its activities in West Kalimantan.

Awriya Ibrahim, director of forest protection at the ministry, said allegations that three Sinar Mas companies did not have the proper permits to clear land in West Kalimantan’s Kapuas Hulu district were unfounded.

“Sinar Mas companies have not made any violations, especially not in regard to land-clearing activities,” he said. “They do possess the necessary documentation needed to clear land.”

Awriya said that clarification was needed in regard to a continuing misperception concerning existing regulations governing timber plantations.

He said companies were well aware that all of the country’s forested areas were state-owned, and that any conversion or land clearing activities carried out in those areas needed to be approved by the government.

“Sinar Mas companies did not require the [timber harvesting permit] because within their RKT [annual work plan] they were scheduled to pay the state for cutting forested areas. It is the same thing,” Awriya said.

On Thursday, a Greenpeace report said Sinar Mas companies were not obtaining permits for clearing forested areas.

The 1999 Forestry Law prohibits companies from cutting down trees without a permit.

“RKT only elaborates on the companies’ plans to convert forested regions, including details on how many hectares are earmarked for conversion. The companies still need to obtain a permit,” Joko Arif of Greenpeace Southeast Asia said.

The Greenpeace report accused Sinar Mas units PT Kartika Prima Cipta, PT Paramitha Internusa Pratama and PT Persada Graha Mandiri of illegally clearing land in West Kalimantan from 2006 to 2008.

‘Unacceptable practices’ see Unilever end Sinar Mas deal
The Jakarta Post 11 Dec 09;

Anglo-Dutch company Unilever has suspended all future purchases of palm oil from Indonesia’s PT SMART, a subsidiary of the Sinar Mas Group, citing the supplier’s failure to meet the “highest possible” sustainability standards.

The company said in a statement issued Friday that the suspension would remain in place until SMART could provide verifiable proof that none of its plantations contributed to the destruction of high conservation value forests or expanded into peatlands.

Unilever said that over the past 18 months, it had been scrutinizing the activities of its suppliers to verify their compliance with standards set by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).

The RSPO, which also includes Sinar Mas, is a self-regulating body aimed at preventing illegal forest clearance. Environmental groups have criticized it as toothless and an obstacle to independent scrutiny.

The Times reported Friday that Unilever decided to suspend the annual contract worth £20 million (US$32.5 million) after it had obtained photographic evidence of Sinar Mas clearing protected rainforests, including reserves for Indonesia’s endangered orangutan population.

The environmental NGO Greenpeace published this week a report detailing serious allegations against Sinar Mas’ environmental practices. Following up on the report, Unilever decided to take immediate action.

Sinar Mas managing director Gandhi Sulistyanto condemned Greenpeace for its actions, saying the group was being steered by other stakeholders with vested interests in undermining the company.

Illegal palm oil from forests taints Unilever household brands
Ben Webster, Times Online 11 Dec 09;

A company that produces many of Britain’s best-known household brands has been exposed as contributing to the destruction of rainforests by buying thousands of tonnes of illegal palm oil.

Unilever, which uses palm oil in its Flora and Stork margarines, Dove toiletries and Persil washing powder among many other products, will today announce that it is cutting links with Sinar Mas, Indonesia’s largest palm oil company.

Unilever is acting after being shown photographic evidence of Sinar Mas clearing rainforest in protected areas, including reserves for the country’s endangered orang-utan population.

The Anglo-Dutch company, which claims to be a leader in protecting rainforests and chairs the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), was informed almost two years ago about Sinar Mas’s illegal activities.

It cancelled the £20 million annual contract in the past few days after learning that Greenpeace was about to publish a dossier of evidence.

The RSPO, which also includes Sinar Mas, is a self-regulation body that aims to prevent illegal forest clearance. Environmental groups have criticised it as toothless and an obstacle to independent scrutiny.

The growth of the palm oil industry in Indonesia has turned the country into the third-largest emitter of CO2, after China and the US. Indonesia has the fastest rate of deforestation, losing an area the size of Wales every year.

Deforestation contributes 15-20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and is one of the key issues being debated at the Copenhagen climate change summit.

Sinar Mas is one of dozens of palm oil companies likely to exploit loopholes in proposed new UN rules on protecting forests. Under the draft text of the rules, known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (Redd), palm oil plantations created by clearing rainforests would qualify for payments from a new fund under which rich countries would pay developing countries for storing carbon in trees.

Gavin Neath, Unilever’s vice-president for communications, said: “We have received very serious allegations against Sinar Mas and we had no choice but to suspend future purchases from them.” He said that the company had not acted before because it thought it better to work with Sinar Mas to improve its practices. He admitted that this approach had failed.

Unilever is the world’s biggest consumer of palm oil and has pledged to buy only from certified sustainable plantations from 2015. This year, 85 per cent of its palm oil was uncertified.

Waitrose said this month that all the palm oil in its own-brand products would be from sustainable sources by 2012.

The growth of certified palm oil has been held back by a dispute between producers and buyers over the price for the sustainable product.

Producers had been asking for an additional 10 per cent to cover the cost of certification. Mr Neath said that Unilever had been unwilling to pay this because it believed that consumers had little understanding of the issues about palm oil and would not accept the extra cost. Unilever negotiated a smaller premium on 180,000 tonnes of sustainable palm oil this year out of its consumption of 1.3 million tonnes.

Simon Lewis, research fellow on tropical forests at Leeds University, said: “We shouldn’t have the companies buying the palm oil being the policemen. We need a strong Redd agreement with independent monitoring and no loopholes for new plantations.”

RPT-Unilever cuts palm oil supplier ties after report
Reuters 11 Dec 09;

LONDON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - Consumer goods company Unilever (ULVR.L) (UNc.AS), the world's largest user of palm oil, has suspended purchases of edible oil from Indonesian group Sinar Mas on concerns over rain forest destruction.

Unilever, which uses palm oil in such products as Dove soap, Ben & Jerry ice cream, and margarines like Stork, cancelled its annual 20 million pound ($32.6 million) contract with Sinar Mas after a critical report by environmental group Greenpeace.

Anglo-Dutch Unilever said on Friday it was suspending purchases from PT SMART (SMAR.JK), which is part of Sinar Mas, until the Indonesian group could give proof that none of its plantations was contributing to the destruction of rain forests.

Greenpeace alleges that Sinar Mas, Indonesia's biggest palm oil producer and the second biggest in the world, has been responsible for widespread deforestation and peatland clearance, practices which release vast amounts of carbon dioxide.

Sinar Mas was not immediately available for comment. In the past, it has denied accusations its activities were damaging the environment.

"The Greenpeace claims are of a nature that we can't ignore. Unilever is committed to sustainable sourcing. Therefore, we have notified PT SMART that we have no choice but to suspend our future purchasing of palm oil," said Unilever's Chief Procurement Officer Marc Engel said in a statement.

Unilever said an independent audit of palm oil suppliers in early 2009 had highlighted areas of concern which were being addressed on an individual basis, but the Greenpeace report had prompted the group into immediate action.

"Unilever's decision could represent a defining moment for the palm oil industry. What we're seeing here is the world's larger buyer of palm oil using its financial muscle to sanction suppliers who are destroying rain forests and clearing peatlands, said Greenpeace director John Sauven in a statement.

Unilever consumes around 1.3 million tonnes of palm oil each year and has pledged to buy only from certified sustainable plantations from 2015, while around 90 percent of worldwide supply comes from Indonesia and neighbouring Malaysia. ($1=.6138 Pound) (Reporting by David Jones; editing by Karen Foster)

Unilever cuts palm oil ties over environment fears
Jenny Wiggins, Financial Times 11 Dec 09;

Unilever, one of the world’s largest single purchasers of palm oil, has stopped buying oil from Indonesian company PT Smart amid Greenpeace allegations that its plantations destroy forests.

It is the first time that Unilever, which uses palm oil in its margarines, soups and shampoos, has stopped buying oil from one of its suppliers for environmental reasons.

The multinational consumer goods company buys about 3-4 per cent of global production of palm oil, or about 1m tonnes annually. It uses six suppliers in Indonesia and Malaysia, including PT Smart.

Unilever decided to stop buying palm oil from PT Smart after it was shown a Greenpeace report making allegations against the company’s environmental practices. “They showed us evidence we can’t ignore,” said the company.

Unilever declined to specify how much money it spends annually on purchases from PT Smart. It said it had “ongoing relationship” with the Indonesian company rather than an annual contract and would switch purchases from PT Smart to its existing suppliers.

PT Smart is part of the privately-held Sinar Mas group, Indonesia’s biggest palm oil producer, and has a 130,000 hectare palm plantation.

The Sinar Mas group is controlled by Indonesia’s Widjaja family. In 2001, the family’s Asia Pulp & Paper company defaulted on $14bn in debt in the biggest corporate default in emerging markets history.

Unilever has pledged to make all its European palm oil purchases sustainable by 2012 and all its global purchases sustainable by 2015.

It buys GreenPalm certificates for about 15 per cent of its total purchases. The certificates are awarded to palm oil producers for every tonne of oil that is sustainably produced. Producers can then sell the certificates on a web-based trading platform to manufacturers.

Indonesia, which is the world’s largest palm oil producer and emitter of greenhouse gases through deforestation, aims to grow 8.1m hectares of palm oil by 2010, which would generate 23.2m tonnes of oil.

Sinar Mas executives have regularly denied any wrongdoing. Gandi Sulistiyanto, a company managing director, told Reuters earlier this year the company only opened up new plantations in degraded land that had been farmed on or previously logged and not rainforest.

”We should have been arrested if we had ever been involved in deforestation,” he said. ”We are still a growing company. We (Indonesia) are still competing with Malaysia to become the world’s top producer of palm oil. So we must keep planting.”

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Jakarta's city forests

City to build City Forest in Pondoklabu
beritajakarta.com 11 Dec 09;

Due to realize the target of green space by 30 percent, the Jakarta City Administration has lot of program to be run. One of them is buying land about 2.02 ha on Jl Pinang II, Pondok Labu, Cilandak, South Jakarta by allocating Rp 26.556 billion. The land will be changed into Pondok Labu City Forest and sport center for local people.

Jakarta Dept. of Maritime and Agriculture will buy the land based on land owner agreement especially for the price by Rp 1.3 million per meter square. The value is lower than local value tax of property (NJOP) by Rp 1.416 million per meter square. The land is consisting of 13 lots and owned by four people.

Those land owners are Novian Prasetya who has one lot by 1,229 meter square and he gets compensation Rp 1.597 billion. Next is Sulistyo Rahardjo by two lots about 1,080 meter square and 3,600 meter square and he gets compensation Rp 6.084 billion, Nevita Maysarah by five lots; 1,040 meter square, 403 meter square, 2,100 meter square, 367 meter square, and 1.500 meter square. She gets compensation Rp 7.330 billion. Last is Sutarminah by five lots; 2,750 meter square, 100 meter square, 1,781 meter square, 2,000 meter square and 2,250 meter square. She gets compensation Rp 11.545 billion.

Desman Sitorus for Forestry Division said total of compensation for 2.02 ha of land is Rp 26.556 billion and will be paid via DKI Bank. “They have agreed to receive the payment in DKI Bank. It is faster and safer than paying in cash,” Sitorus said, Friday (12/11).

The land buying process for Pondok Labu City Forest is one of dedicated programs from Jakarta DKP instructed by Jakarta Governor Fauzi bowo. The program is aimed to improve the environmental conditions of Jakarta globally, and also realizing the Act No 26/2007 about Spatial Planning which expressed that local government must prepare 30 percent for green space.

“We will build city forest there. At this time, the agency only has 14 city forests in five Jakarta administration areas,” he added.

In 2010, the land will be fenced with iron fence and planted around 5 thousand trees. Plant species will be planted are mahogany, Trembesi, buni and some rare trees that have grown old. Jogging track will be also built there. According to him, the agency has allocated Rp 3 billion as the project development in 2010 city budget.

Meanwhile, Aswin Saragih for South Jakarta Sub-Dept. of Forestry explained the land buying process in Pondok Labu is based on Determination Principle Approval Letter Location of Jakarta Governor No.1728/-1.795.222 on September 9, 2009.

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East Nusa Tenggara faces manganese mining time bomb

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post 11 Dec 09;

Manganese mining in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), carried out by 232 companies and thousands of independent miners, has reportedly damaged thousands of hectares of forests, plantations and farmland, a forum has heard.

The damage could have a detrimental impact on people's livelihoods, since most of the miners failed to carry out reclamation, Reverend Sri Ledoh, the service coordinator of the West Fatuleu parish of the Gereja Masehi Injili church in Timor, said at a forum titled "Mining Problematics" held in Kupang recently.

According to Ledoh, many residents in Fatuleu district, , who were previously farmers farms and raised livestock, had now taken to mining for manganese.

"They probably earn more from manganese, so they move away from farming. I'm afraid of what will happen should productive *farmland* be exploited *for mining*. These new miners are also unaware of safety considerations when mining," Ledoh said.

Ledoh said a food crisis may be imminent, citing the residents' preference to mining for manganese that they could sell for Rp 1,000 (about 10 US cents) per kilogram rather than preparing their farms and rice fields for the next planting season.

"Four residents of Fatuleu district were buried alive in a tunnel while mining for manganese a few weeks ago. If mining is not curbed during the rainy season, many more residents could become victims," he added.

Forum participant Noverius H. Nggili said based on a survey and studies conducted at a number of mining sites, independent miners were vulnerable to pneumoconiosis, or miner's asthma and other respiratory diseases through inhaling manganese dust for extended periods. This can lead to impotence.

"Miner's asthma is very dangerous because it is incurable. A sufferer could die in a short time. The surroundings will also be damaged because most of the miners fail to reclaim the site after exploiting it," Noverius warned.

The head of the NTT energy and mining resources office, Bria Yohanes, said his office was faced an uphill struggle in curbing mining activities because the government was still in the middle of amending two mining laws covering mining regulation, and specifically, mining of coal and minerals.

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TRAFFIC helps board up major wildlife market at Chatuchak

TRAFFIC 11 Dec 09;

Bangkok, Thailand, 11 December 2009—a large billboard strategically placed along a main thoroughfare at Bangkok’s Chatuchak market is warning buyers not to buy illegal wildlife.

TRAFFIC, WWF and key partners in the region helped design the billboard which is on prominent display at one of Southeast Asia’s largest and best known wildlife markets.

But with a wide variety of native and exotic plants and animals on offer, uninformed consumers often buy species that have been illegally taken from the wild.

“We hope that consumers will stop, take note, and think twice about purchasing illegal wildlife,” said Chris Shepherd, TRAFFIC’s Acting Regional Director for Southeast Asia.

“At the very least, consumers should be contacting the Wildlife Hotline if they are in doubt.”

Some retailers have openly acknowledged to TRAFFIC staff that many of the species they sell have been illegally obtained and even offer advice on how to smuggle them out of the country, in contravention of national laws and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

The TRAFFIC and WWF initiative is the first of a range of activities that will target consumers at Chatuchak, aiming to end the illegal trade in wildlife in the market.

“The aim is to keep protected and endangered wildlife in the wild, and to avoid the empty forest syndrome which is becoming more and more prevalent in Southeast Asia,” said Dr William Schaedla, Thailand Country Director of WWF.

The space for the billboard was made available by the Youth Leadership Development Foundation (YLDF) of Thailand for a 6 month period.

The YLDF recently partnered with TRAFFIC and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to educate young leaders of tomorrow about key environmental issues facing the world today.

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Australia 'seriously' considering whaling challenge

Rob Taylor, Reuters 10 Dec 09;

CANBERRA (Reuters) - An international legal challenge to Japan's yearly whale hunt near Antarctica is being seriously considered by Australia, with the controversial cull set to begin in weeks, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Friday.

Japan's new center-left government has promised to continue its annual scientific research whaling program and said on Friday there was no intention to review the policy, which has attracted widespread diplomatic and environmental condemnation.

"We don't accept Japan's premise of so-called scientific whaling," Rudd told local radio in Melbourne.

"We, if we cannot resolve this matter diplomatically, will take international legal action. I'm serious about it, I would prefer to deal with it diplomatically, but if we cannot get there, that's the alternative course of action," Rudd said.

Rudd's center-left government has been accused of backpedaling on previous threats of an International Court of Justice challenge to avoid damaging Australia's Japan trade relationship and glacial negotiations on a free trade pact.

A court challenge would lead to so-called provisional orders for Japan to immediately halt whaling ahead of a full hearing.

"A country like Japan is quite law-abiding. I doubt very much whether a country like Japan would risk ignoring a binding ruling by a leading international court," Australian international law expert Don Rothwell told Reuters.

Some legal experts believe the Japanese cull is in breach of several international laws and treaties, including the Antarctic Treaty System and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Japan's whaling fleet has left harbor and is en route to the Southern Ocean to harpoon up to 935 minke whales and 50 fin whales, classified as endangered.

Anti-whaling activists have promised to disrupt the hunt. The hardline Sea Shepherd group was to leave an Australian port on Friday, joined by a New Zealand world record-holding powerboat, adding more speed to disruption efforts.

"We do not condone, indeed we condemn, dangerous or violent activities, by any of the parties involved, be it demonstrators or whalers," New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully and his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith said in a statement.

Commercial whaling was banned under a 1986 treaty. But the Japanese have continued to cull whales for research and to monitor their impact on fish stocks, deflecting criticism from anti-whaling nations like Australia, Britain and New Zealand.

Japan was Australia's top export destination in 2008, with two-way trade worth $58 billion. Canberra also maintained a $25 billion trade surplus on the back of coal and iron ore exports.

Australia and Japan also signed in 2007 a security pact strengthening military co-operation, striking Japan's first defense agreement with a country other than the United States.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama came to power in August promising a shift in Japan's domestic and international policies, but Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said that did not include the annual whale cull.

"We have a tradition here in Japan of eating whale meat," Okada told Australian radio. "We do not think there is a need for a policy review at this point in time. I think we should try to discuss it without emotion and in a very calm way."

Australia has previously sent a customs ship to Antarctica to gather evidence for an international court challenge.

"We've tried to work our way through this diplomatically with the Japanese government. That's run into some obvious obstacles," Rudd said.

Japan maintains whaling is a cultural tradition and while most Japanese do not eat whale meat on a regular basis, many are indifferent to accusations that hunting the creatures is cruel.

(Editing by David Fox)

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Endangered rhinos return to wild in Kenya

Yahoo News 11 Dec 09;

PRAGUE (AFP) – A Czech zoo is to transfer four endangered Northern White rhinos to a Kenyan reserve in a last-ditch attempt to ensure the survival of the species.

"We must offer them this last chance, in their natural environment in Africa," said director Dana Holeckova of the Dvur-Kralove zoo in central Czech Republic.

According to experts there are only eight remaining Northern White rhinos, a sub-species of the White Rhino -- worldwide. All live in captivity -- six at Dvur-Kralove and two more at San Diego Zoo in the United States.

The last birth was at Dvur-Kralove in 2000.

It is hoped that returning the animals to the wild will affect the hormonal levels of the female rhinos allowing them to breed, said Holeckova.

The four rhinos -- two males and two females -- would be transferred by air to Kenya's Ol Pejeta reserve on December 19.

The Northern White rhino once ranged across central and eastern but was wiped out in the wild by poaching for their horns, which are much prized for use in Asian medicines.

Rare Czech-bred rhinos heading to Kenya 'on mission'
Jan Marchal Yahoo News 17 Dec 09;

DVUR KRALOVE, Czech Republic (AFP) – A Czech zoo will fly four of its rare Northern White rhinos -- of only eight left worldwide -- to Kenya this weekend in what is billed as a last-ditch attempt to ensure survival of this majestic beast that once roamed the African savannah.

The plan, designed to enhance breeding chances, has sparked outrage among some experts who feel the transfer is too risky given the different temperatures in central Europe and Kenya.

But Dana Holeckova, director of the Dvur-Kralove zoo in central Czech Republic, is adamant. "We must offer them this last chance, in their natural environment in Africa," he said.

The huge herbivores, native to central and eastern Africa, have been decimated by poachers who want their horns, highly prized in Asia for medicinal use. Most probably, the animals have been wiped out in the wild.

Only eight Northern White rhinos -- whose Latin name is Ceratotherium simum cottoni, a sub-species of the White Rhino -- are known to survive worldwide, all in captivity. Six are at Dvur Kralove, a vast facility specialized in African fauna, and two live at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego, California.

The Czech rhinos, however, are the only ones who have managed to reproduce, with the last birth in 2000, a female named Fatu whom the zoo dubbed its "millennium child".

The zoo, which calls the project "The Last Chance to Survive", is hoping that hormone levels of the female rhinos will get back to normal in Africa, thus improving chances for breeding.

"The task of a modern zoo is to help nature in case it needs help," said Holeckova.

Since Fatu's birth nine years ago, all attempts at assisted reproduction have failed.

She and another female, Najin, 21, and two males, Sudan, 37 and Suni, 30, are scheduled to leave Saturday on the long flight to Kenya's Ol Pejeta reserve.

Holeckova said the project, worth an estimated 300,000 dollars (206,000 euros), is financed mainly by the not-for-profit conservation organisations Fauna and Flora International (FFI) and Back To Africa.

Opponents, like zoologist Kristina Tomasova, a former European coordinator for White Rhino breeding who used to work at Dvur Kralove, say the change from winter frost to sweltering Africa is too risky.

"Three of the four rhinos were born here, and they are used to regularly changing cold and warm periods. At present, they are programmed for a cold season," she said, with the Czech Republic now gripped by severe frost.

"Even if the animals survive the journey, they will be immediately exposed to temperatures around 40 degrees C (104 degrees F). They will find it difficult to cope," Tomasova added.

The debate has drawn notice at home and abroad, with numerous Czech and foreign media teams descending upon the zoo in recent weeks. On Wednesday, some 30 people staged a protest against moving the rhinos in Hradec Kralove, a city about 20 kilometres (12.5 miles) from Dvur Kralove.

"Everyone is entitled to an opinion, of course. But we are responsible for the animals, and we want the best for them," said Pavel Moucha, chief zoologist at Dvur Kralove.

"We are well aware of the risks involved, and we are ready to do everything to minimise them," he said, saying the trucks taking the rhinos to Prague's airport would be equipped with a heating system.

"The estimated time needed for the journey to the wildlife reserve in Kenya is 24-26 hours," said Moucha, who will accompany the rhinos along with their breeder Jan Zdarek.

"I want the rhinos to be fine. Fatu is nine years old now, and it's time for her to have a baby," said Zdarek who assisted at Fatu's birth.

"As far as the conditions down there in Kenya are concerned, they are good, the climate is more favourable and the enclosures are larger, although we can see the risks related to the transport," he said.

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Fisheries and aquaculture: multiple risks from climate change

FAO 11 Dec 09;

FAO report predicts "an ocean of change" for fishers and fish farmers

11 December 2009, Rome - Marine capture fisheries already facing multiple challenges due to overfishing, habitat loss and weak management are poorly positioned to cope with new problems stemming from climate change, a new FAO study suggests.

Small island developing states—which depend on fisheries and aquaculture for at least 50 percent of their animal protein intake—are in a particularly vulnerable position.

Inland fisheries—90 percent of which are found in Africa and Asia—are also at risk, FAO's study found, threatening the food supply and livelihoods of some of the world's poorest populations. Warming in Africa and central Asia is expected to be above the global mean, and predictions suggest that by 2100 significant negative impacts will be felt across 25 percent of Africa's inland aquatic ecosystems.

And fish farming stands to be affected as well. Nearly 65 percent of aquaculture is inland and concentrated mostly in the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, often in the delta areas of major rivers at the mid- to upper levels of tidal ranges. Sea level rise over the next decades will increase upstream salinity, affecting fish farms.

The study, "Climate change implications for fisheries and aquaculture," which includes contributions from experts from around the world, including from the Worldfish Centre, Globec, NACA, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the University of East Anglia, is one of the most comprehensive surveys to date of existing scientific knowledge on the impacts of climate change on fisheries and aquaculture.

Covering some 500 scientific papers, the picture FAO's review paints is one of an already-vulnerable sector facing widespread and often profound changes.

"High confidence" scenarios

According to the FAO study, certain general impacts on marine and aquatic systems as a result of large-scale changes related to temperature, winds and acidification can be predicted "with a high degree of confidence."

At "rapid time scales" of a few years increasing temperatures will have impacts on the physiology of fish due to limited oxygen transport to tissues at higher temperatures. This will result in changes in distributions of both freshwater and marine species, with most marine species ranges being driven toward the poles, expanding the range of warmer-water species and contracting that of colder-water species.

At the mercy of temperature

Since most aquatic animals are cold-blooded, their metabolic rates are strongly affected by environmental conditions, especially temperature. Changes in temperature can have significant influences on the reproductive cycles of fish, including the speed at which they reach sexual maturity, the timing of spawning and the size of the eggs they lay.

So in addition to changing where fish are found, there is "high confidence" that climate change will cause changes in abundance as well as in "recruitment," the life cycle processes through which young fish enter the fertile and exploitable adult population as they reach maturity.

Populations at the poleward extents of their ranges will likely increase in abundance with warmer temperatures, whereas populations in more equatorial parts of their range will decline.

For fish farming, temperature increases in temperate zones could exceed the optimal range for many of the organisms that are being cultured today.

Trouble spots

Cod in the North Atlantic, for decades a troubled fishery, will likely be hard hit. Temperature-related fluctuations in plankton populations there are already impacting the survival rates of young cod. Cod stocks in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank are at the species' southern-most limit and are particularly vulnerable. Models project that cod survival in the Gulf of Maine will decline. Similarly, simulations suggest that in the Northeast Atlantic increasing temperatures will lead to declines in North Sea cod populations.

Species adapted to cool and narrow temperature conditions, such as Atlantic salmon, "may be extirpated from their present habitats because of the combined impacts of warming, changing habitats, introduced competitors and predators and increased parasitism," the report found.

Antarctic krill have already declined between 38-75 percent per decade since 1976 probably as a result of the reduction in winter sea ice around the western Antarctic Peninsula. This has significant implications for the Southern Ocean food web, where krill are the primary food for penguins, seals, and whales.

Coral reefs have long been identified as being at particular risk from climate change impacts related to increasing temperatures, acidity, storm intensity and sea levels. They provide habitat for one-quarter of all marine species and are important sources of protein and income for many developing countries.

Sector crucial for millions of the world's poorest people

Some 520 million depend on fisheries and aquaculture as a source of protein and income. For 400 million of the poorest of these, fish provides half or more of their animal protein and dietary minerals.

Many fishing and coastal communities already subsist in precarious and vulnerable conditions because of poverty and rural underdevelopment, with their wellbeing often undermined by overexploitation of fishery resources and degraded ecosystems.

One crucial issue, the report notes, relates to how well such communities will be able to adapt to change. For example, while many African coastal fisheries are not likely to face huge impacts, the region's "adaptive capacity" to respond to climate change is low, rendering communities there highly vulnerable even to minor changes in climate and temperature.

"Urgent adaptation measures are required in response to opportunities and threats to food and livelihood provision due to climatic variations," FAO's report concluded.

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Plastic bags recycled into nanotubes

Colin Barras, New Scientist 11 Dec 09;

Waste plastic from "throwaway" carrier bags can be readily converted into carbon nanotubes. The chemist who developed the technique has even used the nanotubes to make lithium-ion batteries.

This is called "upcycling" – converting a waste product into something more valuable. Finding ways to upcycle waste could encourage more recycling: for instance, bacteria can convert plastic drinks bottles into a more expensive plastic.

The carrier-bag-to-nanotube technique was developed by Vilas Ganpat Pol at the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois and converts high or low-density polyethylene (HDPE and LDPE) into valuable multiwalled carbon nanotubes.
Bag baker

Pol made the nanotubes by cooking 1-gram pieces of HDPE or LDPE at 700 °C for 2 hours in the presence of a cobalt acetate catalyst and then letting the mixture cool gradually. Above 600 °C the chemical bonds within the plastic completely break down and multiwalled carbon nanotubes grow on the surface of the catalytic particles.

A lot of catalyst is needed to get good results – about a fifth of the weight of the plastic being converted – and it cannot easily be recovered afterwards. But Pol says this is still one of the cheapest and environmentally friendly ways yet found to grow nanotubes.

"Other methods generally require a vacuum to avoid oxygen interaction with the catalyst as well as with the system," he says. "In my new reaction there is no vacuum – the formation of oxide is inhibited due to the presence of a continuous reducing hydrocarbon atmosphere at 700 °C."
Nanotube nuggets

Individual pieces of the catalyst become trapped inside forests of newly grown nanotubes. But Pol has shown the nanotubes can be used as is without further processing to cut them free.

"I have used the as-prepared cobalt-encapsulated nanotubes as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries and they work fantastically," he says. "The specific capacity of my carbon nanotubes is higher than commercial nanotubes." He thinks that might be down to slight imperfections in the usually-regular structure of the nanotubes, created by the reducing atmosphere during fabrication.

The cobalt impurities also make the nanotubes suitable for use in lithium-air batteries, because the cobalt is converted to cobalt oxides that perform as catalysts to help the reactions of ions in the battery that let current flow, says Pol. He has patented the use of the cobalt-containing nanotubes in both lithium-ion and lithium-air batteries: "The cobalt is not an impurity, it is an asset," he says.
Recycling jigsaw

Geoffrey Mitchell at the University of Reading in the UK is an expert in recycling plastic. He thinks the new technique is an "interesting part of the jigsaw" of recycling plastic waste to make high-value electronic materials.

But he thinks the use of relatively expensive cobalt as a non-recoverable catalyst might be problematic if the system is ever to be scaled up. Pol agrees, but adds that the type of batteries he proposes using the nanotubes for are already recycled for their cobalt, so the metal would ultimately be recovered.

Leaving the catalyst out of the process altogether yields another carbon product of potential value, though: carbon spheres between 2 and 10 micrometres across that can be used in printer ink, says Pol.

Journal reference: Journal of Environmental Monitoring, DOI: 10.1039/b914648b

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China says population controls help fight climate change

Reuters 11 Dec 09;

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's efforts at population control have helped mitigate the human impact on climate, a family planning official said, underlining Beijing's sense its achievements are being overlooked at the Copenhagen summit.

China's "one-child" policy has created heart-ache for millions of Chinese couples but has also allowed the country to grow economically without having to deal with the exploding population numbers faced by many developing countries.

According to Chinese calculations, the one-child policy has resulted in 400 million fewer people than would otherwise have been born.

"Such a decline in population growth leads to a reduction of 1.83 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions in China per annum at present," the Xinhua news agency quoted Zhao Baige, vice minister of China's National Population and Family Planning Commission, as saying on Friday.

China has limited the number of children in each family for nearly three decades, with current regulations allowing one child for urban couples, and a second child for rural dwellers whose first child is a girl. Ethnic minorities may have more children.

In practice, China's policies have softened in recent years. Many wealthier people have paid fines to have a second child, and penalties in the countryside are no longer as punitive.

But women still complain of forced abortions, sterilizations, and invasive bureaucratic oversight.

"A solution to climate change is closely related to population management. China's experiences show that long-term, balanced development can only be achieved through population management and other effective measures," Zhao said.

A draft text released at the United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen said the world should at least halve world greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with rich nations taking the lead.

China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases from human activity, argues that developed nations should bear the burden of cutting emissions because they are responsible for historical emissions while they were industrializing.

It says they should pay for developing nations to acquire the technology and equipment to fight global warming.

(Reporting by Lucy Hornby; Editing by Paul Tait)

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Rising seas threaten 20 million in Bangladesh

Reuters 11 Dec 09;

DHAKA (Reuters) - Rising sea levels, triggered by global warming, will displace about 20 million people in low-lying Bangladesh, a study by a state-run think-tank said on Friday.

"The sea level will rise at least by three meters (yards) submerging some 18 percent of the country by 2050," the Dhaka-based Institute of Water Modeling (IWM) said.

IWM was set up in 1996 for planning and management of Bangladesh's water resources and to monitor rise in sea level and its probable adverse effects.

Bangladesh would need $4.16 billion for building embankments and forestation to secure inhabitants from rising seas, the think- tank said.

"Only embankments with deep forestation along the coast and coastal rivers can protect millions of people," it said.

The existing embankments should be raised up to six meters to protect the coastal villages from being devoured by sea, the study said.

Bangladesh has said it would need $10 billion from big polluting nations to help it adapt to powerful storms, floods and rising seas.

($1 = 69.17 taka)

(Reporting by Nizam Ahmed; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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UNEP Launches Peoples' Climate Pledge Tracker

UNEP 11 Dec 09;

Copenhagen, 11 December 2009 People across the globe can track the proposals and plans of countries to combat climate change via an online 'climate pledge tracker', launched today by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

The 'tracker', which is being updated as new proposals are made during the UN climate convention meeting in Copenhagen, compares and consolidates all the national pledges made so far with the scientific goal of getting the world at or under a 2 degree Celsius rise compared to pre-industrial levels.

Experts estimate that what is needed is to bring emissions of greenhouse gases down to 44 billion tonnes (44Gt) of CO2 equivalent by 2020 in order to give the world a 50 percent chance of meeting that temperature target.

After 2020, emissions need to be cut to 16 billion tonnes (16 Gt) of CO2 equivalent in 2050. Meeting a 1.5 degree Celsius goal, which some countries are calling for, will require even more ambitious emissions reductions over the next 40 years.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said: "The eyes of the world are on the UN climate convention conference in Copenhagen. With this tracker, everyone within the conference and beyond can from their office or living room monitor the ambition of governments to Seal a convincing Deal by 18 December."

The tracker currently has pledges and proposals from 25 countries plus the European Union's 27 member states. Eleven of the 25 countries are from developing economies ranging from China and India to Costa Rica and the Maldives. It includes recent proposals from countries such as South Africa, India and Kazakhstan.

The tracker currently estimates that if the most ambitious existing pledges were fully implemented, including with financial support for developing economies, the world might achieve emissions reductions of 47.5 billion tonnes by 2020.

This indicates a gap of around 3.5 billion tonnes which needs to be bridged by the 18 December when the climate convention conference is scheduled to end.

The figure, which has a margin of error of plus or minus two billion tonnes, is within the range of a study, released by Lord Stern and UNEP on 6 December, indicating that the gap is between 1 billion tonnes and five billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

It also supports a statement released today by the European Climate Foundation/ Climate Works/Project Catalyst and others including UNEP; the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and Ecofys, saying that the analysis by leading independent institutions point in the same direction an agreement that puts the world on track to limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius or lower is possible in Copenhagen.

The tracker, which will continue after Copenhagen, also looks at the emissions reduction pledges up to 2050 where scientists estimate that global greenhouse gas emissions need to be down to 16 billion tonnes (16 Gt) of C02 equivalent.

View the tracker http://www.unep.org/climatepledges/

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Climate talks: First blows are struck over proposed deal

Marlowe Hood And Richard Ingham Yahoo News 11 Dec 09;

COPENHAGEN (AFP) – Major players fired the first shots in a three-way battle on climate change on Friday, wrangling over a seven-page document proposed as the blueprint of a historic UN pact.

The world's No. 1 and 2 polluters, China and the United States, laid down markers in what promises to be a fiery week-long haggle while developing countries likened European leaders -- who had pledged more than 10 billion dollars in aid just hours before -- to "climate skeptics."

The text, seen by AFP, sees targets of limiting global warming to 1.5 or 2.0 degrees Celsius (2.7 or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit).

It also foresees a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol boycotted by the United States.

But it is vague on climate funding, does not spell out a deadline for concluding a legally-binding treaty, and does not include a year by which emissions must peak -- all key negotiation issues.

The document will be debated by environment ministers from around the world, with the goal of sealing an endorsement at a summit on December 18 to be attended by more than 110 leaders.

"The text provides a basis to make the right political decisions," said Kim Carstensen of WWF.

"It contains many gaps, exposes rifts, but also clearly shows that an agreement is possible."

A political deal in Copenhagen would be followed by meetings in 2010 under the 194-nation UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to flesh out key details.

The global pact would take effect from 2013, after current pledges expire under the UNFCCC's Kyoto Protocol.

On the question of a target for warming, the draft reads:

"Parties shall cooperate to avoid dangerous climate change, in keeping with the ultimate objective of the Convention, recognizing [the broad scientific view] that the increase in global average temperature above pre-industrial levels ought not to exceed [2 C] [1.5 C]."

The lower temperature is embraced by small island states and many African nations badly threatened by climate change, while the higher target has been supported by rich nations and emerging giants such as China, India and Brazil.

The draft leaves open three possible targets for the overall reduction of global carbon emissions by 2020, compared with 1990 levels: by 50 percent, by 80 percent and by 95 percent.

Industrialised countries favour the 50-percent goal, while major emerging economies led by China have balked at any such target unless rich countries assume the near totality of the burden.

For rich countries, which acknowledge their historical responsibility for global warming, the bracketed options for CO2 cuts by 2050 range from 75-85 percent, "at least 80-95 percent", and "more than 95 percent", all measured against the same 1990 benchmark.

The text stands by a second, seven-year commitment period of the UNFCCC's Kyoto Protocol, the pact shunned by the United States, which runs out at the end of 2012.

US emissions targets -- and voluntary actions by developing countries -- would be included in an "appendix" under the UNFCCC.

A draft text in an parallel negotiation pool -- covering only parties to the Kyoto Protocol -- calls for rich-country commitments of greenhouse-gas cuts of 30 to 40 percent by 2020 compared to 1990.

On the key question of funds to help poorer countries adopt lower carbon energy and shore up their defences against climate change, the draft text is vague.

"Scaled-up, predictable, new and additional, and adequate funding shall be provided," it says, but does not give figures.

The document allows for "fast-start" financing for three years starting in 2010 to help poor nations cope with warming, but does not specify an amount.

Rich countries have proposed 10 billion dollars per year during this period.

In Brussels, European Union (EU) agreed to give 7.2 billion euros (10.8 billion dollars) towards the 2010-2012 fund.

But the G77 bloc of developing countries scoffed loudly, denouncing it as a short-term political fix.

"They (the pledged funds) are not only insignificant, they actually breed even more distrust on the intention of European leaders on climate change," said the group's spokesman, Lumumba Stanislaus Dia-Ping of Sudan.

"Our view is that European leaders are acting as if they were climate skeptics," he told a press conference.

China, which is also aligned to the G77 group, likewise demanded that rich nations spell out long-term commitments on funding, while the United States said the text on emissions curbs meant China and other emerging giants would not be required to pull their weight.

"The United States is not going to do a deal without major developing countries stepping up," said chief US negotiator Todd Stern.

Draft deal gives lift to flagging climate talks
David Fogarty and Sunanda Creagh, Reuters 11 Dec 09;

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - A draft climate pact unveiled on Friday revived hopes that U.N. talks might be able to pin down an international deal to fight global warming, but developing nations said they needed more cash from the rich.

With less than a week until more than 110 world leaders descend on the talks, the proposal that would at least halve global emissions by 2050 sought to bridge some of the long-standing rifts between rich and poor nations.

A European Union offer of 7.3 billion euros ($10.8 billion) of climate aid over the next three years was welcomed by the United Nations and the Danish hosts of the December 7-18 talks in Copenhagen.

"Things are progressing," said Connie Hedegaard, the Danish minister who presides at the negotiations.

The first four days of talks moved so slowly that European Commission delegate Karl Falkenberg joked on Friday that progress was only visible under a magnifying glass.

Yvo de Boer, head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat, said the draft text marked a "step change" in the negotiations. "It's time to focus on the bigger picture," he told reporters.

The documents propose a global emissions goal for 2050, a target developing countries have opposed in the past, and omits figures for how many billions of dollars rich nations should give poorer ones to help them tackle climate change.

The text is also vague on when greenhouse gas emissions should peak.

China, now the world's largest emitter, said rich nations needed to provide long-term cash if they wanted the developing world to agree long-term emissions goals.

"I doubt the sincerity of developed countries in their commitment. Why are they not talking about a commitment of providing funds through 2050? That will make them credible when they are asking for an emissions reduction by 2050," said Vice-Foreign Minister He Yafei.

African nations said they were still considering the draft, but were also unhappy about financing.

"What will it be used for? The developed countries found $1.4 trillion to combat the financial crisis. Now they're offering just $10 billion to fight climate change," said Kemal Djemouai, the Algerian chair of the African Group of nations.

Small islands that face being washed away by rising seas also put out a far more ambitious draft proposal they said was a minimum needed to ward off disastrous climate change.

They want a legally binding pact that Denmark says is now almost impossible to achieve, and one delegate from the tiny island state of Tuvalu warned that leaders of the most vulnerable states might prefer no deal to a toothless one.

Chief U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern said the draft was a "constructive text" but a deal still hung in the balance.

Australia also gave a cautious response. "We've got a lot of work to do," Climate Change Minister Penny Wong told reporters in Copenhagen.

"Primarily the problem is this is not a document capable of delivering the environmental outcome the world needs."

"VERY, VERY DIFFICULT"

The draft text covers both an extension of the existing U.N. Kyoto Protocol, whose first phase ends in 2012, and a parallel track of talks which draws in those outside Kyoto, including the United States.

The text offers a range for global cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, of at least 50 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels.

Developing nations led by China and India have in the past rejected signing up for a halving of world emissions by 2050 without more stringent short-term goals for developed nations.

For these emissions cuts the draft agreement proposes an average range laid out by a U.N. panel of climate scientists in 2007, of at least 25-40 percent, also from 1990 levels.

This might be acceptable to developing nations, though many have asked for more, but emissions cuts pledged so far from recession-hit developed nations total only about 14-18 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels.

"This is one of the main obstacles. We know that this is going to be very, very difficult," said Hedegaard, although she added that the goal was closer than ever before.

The text said developing nations, which say they need to emit more as they curb poverty, should either make a "substantial deviation" to slow the growth of their emissions by 2020 or slow growth 15-30 percent below projected levels.

This may create another obstacle by angering Japan, which on Friday threatened to drop a pledge to cut carbon emissions by 25 percent by 2020 if the Kyoto Protocol is extended without emissions goals for the United States and China.

Businesses' unwillingness to share ideas and the remoteness of their summit from the main climate talks threatened to prevent a common industry voice which could cut the cost of a low-carbon shift, senior executives said on Friday.

Senior executives met at a separate location several miles from the U.N. talks, and accepted that the business lobby was split on climate action which could disadvantage energy-intensive sectors including cement and power generation.

"It's difficult to imagine one voice," Duke Energy Chief Executive Jim Rogers told Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Gerard Wynn, Richard Cowan, Alister Doyle, and Chisa Fujioka in TOKYO, Writing by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Copenhagen publishes draft text
Richard Black, BBC News 11 Dec 09;

Rich countries are being asked to raise their pledges on tackling climate change under a draft text of a possible final deal at the Copenhagen summit.

Documents prepared by the summit's chairmen call on developed nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25-45% from 1990 levels by 2020.

Analyses suggest that current pledges add up to about 18%.

The document leaves open the exact target for limiting temperature rise, amid disputes between various blocs.

Small island states and poorer nations of Africa and Latin America have called for the document to endorse the target of keeping the temperature rise since pre-industrial times below 1.5C (2.7F).

This is below the figure of 2C (3.6F), which was endorsed by the G8 and major developing economies in July, and implies the need for drastic emission cuts.

An analysis by the UK Met Office, released at this meeting, showed that meeting 1.5C would be "almost impossible" to meet without implementing measures to take carbon dioxide out of the air.

The temperature figures are listed as alternatives in the draft documents.

Work in progress

The texts are a long way short of constituting a final outcome document, as they leave open some of the most difficult points of the negotiations so far, including the legal form of any new agreement.

However, in a major concession to developing countries, it spells out that pledges for further reductions for developed countries inside the Kyoto Protocol - all except the US - will be managed under the protocol.

Developed countries would prefer an entirely new agreement.

The draft also leaves open the scale of financing to assist developing countries to curb emissions growth and to protect themselves against climate impacts.

Developing countries are demanding far more than richer countries currently believe is necessary, and are likely to demand a lot more clarity on the issue.

Small island states are particularly concerned about the need for firm, predictable adaptation funding.

They also want any final agreement to set a target year for when global emissions should peak and begin to fall - a concept that is presently absent from the draft.

At a European Council meeting in Brussels, EU leaders have agreed to pay 7.2bn euros ($10.6bn; £6.5bn) over the next three years to help developing nations adapt to climate change - a figure described by delegates from small island states and the Least Developed Countries bloc (LDCs) as "inadequate".

The temperature target is the biggest unresolved item in the texts.

But controversy is also likely over proposals to allow money from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to be used for nuclear power.

CDM funds are raised through levies on carbon trading, and are designed to help lower emissions at the lowest possible cost while assisting economic development in poor countries.

Tough bargaining still ahead at UN climate talks
John Heilprin And Arthur Max, Associated Press Yahoo News 11 Dec 09;

COPENHAGEN – After a week of U.N. climate talks, some money is finally on the table and a draft agreement has been circulated. Now the really hard bargaining begins.

The draft proposal was sent around Friday to the 192-nation conference, although it set no firm figures on financing or cutting greenhouse gas emissions. And the negotiations on sharing the burden are likely to still go down to the wire and await the arrival of the world's leaders next week.

To top it off, the United States and China — the world's top two carbon polluters — even got into a battle of words.

"It's time to begin to focus on the big picture," said Yvo de Boer, the top U.N. climate official. "The serious discussion on finance and targets has begun."

A much-disputed 188-page text was whittled down to a mere seven pages of stark options on how much global warming is acceptable and how deeply nations must individually and collectively cut carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Options ranged from nearly eliminating global emissions to cutting them in half by 2050.

The document forced countries to abandon long-held posturing on secondary topics and focus on crunch issues. Starting Saturday, environment ministers will be able to go through the 46 points of text one by one, checking off some and leaving the toughest for the 110 heads of state and government arriving at the end of next week.

Many countries voiced reservations about the structure of the document or some of its clauses. "But that's all right. That's what negotiations are all about," de Boer said.

Todd Stern, the special U.S. climate envoy, called the text "constructive" but singled out the section on helping poor countries lower their growth of carbon emissions as "unbalanced." He said the requirements on industrial countries were tougher than on developing nations and the section was not "a basis for negotiation."

Environmental groups welcomed the text as a step forward, although they lamented the absence of what they considered essential elements.

"It's a good pointer to a number of issues to be dealt with at the ministerial and even the head-of-state level over the next week," said Kim Carstensen of the environmental group WWF. "We're disappointed it does not include any clarity on what the legal outcome will be."

It said all countries together should reduce emissions by a range of 50 percent to 95 percent by 2050, and rich countries should cut emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020, in both cases using 1990 as the baseline year.

So far, industrial nations' pledges to cut emissions have amounted to far less than the minimum.

After years of being bogged down in detail, the draft highlighted the broad goals the world must achieve to avoid irreversible change in climate that scientists say could bring many species to extinction and cause upheavals in many parts of the Earth.

The draft agreement, drawn up by Michael Zammit Cutajar of Malta, said global emissions of greenhouse gases should peak "as soon as possible," while avoiding a target year.

It called for new funding in the next three years by wealthy countries to help poor nations adapt to a changing climate, but mentioned no figures. And it made no specific proposals on long-term help for developing countries.

The funding is perhaps the hardest part.

As the draft was circulated, European Union leaders announced in Brussels after two days of tough talks that they would commit $3.6 billion (euro2.4 billion) a year until 2012 to a short-term fund for poor countries. Most of this money came from Britain, France and Germany. Many cash-strapped former East bloc countries balked at donating but eventually all gave at least a token amount to preserve the 27-nation bloc's unity.

Still unknown is how much the wealthier nations, such as the U.S. and Japan, will contribute.

Differences still remain between China and the United States.

Veteran China watchers said, however, that both countries were closer than they appeared. Some problems could be settled with some work on language, translation or simply being more specific about actions each country should take, said David Doniger of the Natural Resources Defense Council.

China's public stance remained unyielding, and Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei took Stern to task for remarks Wednesday that no U.S. climate money would go to Beijing. In unusually blunt language, He said Stern either "lacks common sense" or was "extremely irresponsible."

In China's view, the U.S. and other rich nations have a heavy historical responsibility to cut emissions, and any climate deal should take into account a country's development level.

China, the world's largest polluter, is grouped with the developing nations at the talks. But Stern said the U.S. doesn't consider China one of the neediest countries when it comes to giving those nations financial aid.

In downtown Copenhagen, police detained 75 people in the first street protests linked to the conference. About 200 people rallied in the area where corporate CEOs were meeting to discuss the role of business in global warming.

The protesters broke into small groups, banging drums and shouting, "Mind your business. This is our climate!" There were no reports of violence.

With an eye to the next phase of negotiations — talks among world leaders before the Dec. 18 conclusion of the conference — Greenpeace spokeswoman Tove Riding said she had a suggestion for any high-level official who might show up in Copenhagen thinking there's not enough time left to work out a deal.

"Cancel the speeches, cancel the fancy dinners, skip the photo opportunities and spend the time working," she said. Doing otherwise, she added, "would be like dining on the Titanic."

___

Associated Press writers Jan M. Olsen and Karl Ritter in Copenhagen and Aoife White in Brussels contributed to this report.

World should at least halve CO2 by 2050: draft text
Reuters 11 Dec 09;

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - The world should at least halve world greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 with rich nations taking the lead, according to a first draft text on Friday seeking to break deadlock on a new climate pact at U.N. talks.

"Parties shall cooperate to avoid dangerous climate change," according to the text, proposed by Michael Zammit Cutajar of Malta, who chairs talks on long-term action by all nations at the December 7-18 meeting on a new climate pact in Copenhagen.

The text offered a range for global cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, of either at least 50, 85 or 95 percent by 2050. More than 110 world leaders will attend a closing summit on December 18.

The numbers were bracketed, showing there is no agreement.

"Parties should collectively reduce global emissions by at least (50/85/95) percent from 1990 levels by 2050 and should ensure that global emissions continue to decline thereafter," according to the text.

It also offered options for rich nations' cuts in emissions starting at 75 percent and ranging up to more than 95 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

And it said developed nations should cut their emissions on average by at least 25-40 percent, ranging up to about 45 percent by 2020, also from 1990 levels.

Developing nations led by China and India have in the past rejected accepting a halving of world emissions by 2050 unless the rich take far tougher action to cut their emissions.

The text said developing nations should make a "substantial deviation" to slow the growth of their emissions by 2020, or slow the growth by 15-30 percent below projected levels by 2020.

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