The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement No. 22 (30 December 2009) check out this awesome issue packed with tons of interesting papers! from Raffles Museum News
Singapore Green Landscape 2010
from Green Business Times
Why are there so many dead fish on Pasir Ris?
from wild shores of singapore with a closer look at the dead fishes, also on wonderful creations and singapore nature.
Vocal communication in White-crested Laughingthrush
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Help... there's a snake in my room
Teh Joo Lin, Straits Times 31 Dec 09;
SNAKES are making themselves at home - in people's homes.
So Canadian housewife Ali Marino, 40, found out one Saturday morning when she saw the family's pet golden retriever nosing around some cushions on the second floor of her Changi home.
What was worrying the dog? A 3m-long python.
Ms Marino, who was at home with her six-year-old daughter, called the police. They told her to call a pest controller. The python was removed at a cost of more than $500.
'I was in shock with the snake, and then I was in shock with the bill,' she said.
An encounter with a snake in urbanised Singapore is becoming commonplace. The police, pest control companies and members of the public handed almost 300 snakes to the Singapore Zoo and the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) last year.
So far this year, more than 250 snakes have been caught. That figure does not include those which might have been killed on sight or released to the wild.
In July, service engineer Dennis Fabila spotted a snake crawling on the street in Eunos Avenue 1, before it was caught by police officers. The 31-year-old Filipino found the wildlife sighting in a concrete jungle so incongruous, he shot a video and posted it on the Internet.
'I was wondering where the snake came from because around here, there's no jungle,' he said.
Ironically, that may be the reason.
Snakes slip into the urban environment to find food and shelter when their habitats are cleared for development, said Mr Biswajit Guha, the zoo's assistant director of zoology.
Most snakes found here are reticulated pythons, which are non-poisonous, muscular reptiles that can grow up to 10m. They kill their prey - usually rodents - by constricting them in their coils. They are seldom as dangerous as they look, though they can be vicious biters if provoked.
Zoo curator Francis Lim has never come across a case of a python killing a human being in his 35 years of handling snakes. They have attacked dogs and cats but, even then, 'very rarely'.
But with 53 recorded snake species here, including eight which are venomous, Mr Lim does not advise people to take matters into their own hands. 'They'll not know whether the snake is venomous or not. If they are catching them on their own, they might risk getting bitten.'
For example, the equatorial spitting cobra can accurately spit venom into the eye and cause temporary blindness. Its bite can cause death.
Mr Lim said that if a snake strays into places where it can easily return to the bushes, 'I'd say leave it. You can just shoo it off. Let it go back'.
But the sight of snakes still sends people scrambling to call the police. Like Ms Marino, not all succeed in getting an officer to turn up at their doorsteps.
Police spokesman Tham Yee Lin said the police get fewer than 10 calls of wildlife sightings a month. They will respond to cases of wild animals found in public areas if there is imminent danger to the public. But if the snake appears in a private compound, the police will respond only when there is an 'immediate danger to life'. Otherwise, home owners are advised to call pest control companies.
Pest control companies contacted said their staff are trained to respond round- the-clock to any snake situation.
They treat snake calls as emergencies. Staff visit the scene with special snake-catching devices - long rods with clamps to grip the reptile from a distance.
Prices vary, but charges of $300 to $600 are common. Rates differ depending on the situation, said PestBusters chief executive Thomas Fernandez. He cited factors such as the size, species and aggression of the snake, and the amount of manpower and effort needed to catch it.
He said: 'I had one snake that was behind a kitchen cabinet. There was only a small gap, so we had to wait until a carpenter came. We had to spend four to five hours there.'
The customer paid $800.
Before customers baulk at the prices for catching snakes, they should understand that pest controllers put themselves in harm's way to remove the danger, said Mr G. Surajan, managing director of Major's Pest Management.
Snake catchers are getting better at the job, as zoo staff can attest.
Mr Lim, who started work at the zoo in 1975, said: 'In the beginning, the police were not trained, so they used whatever equipment they had in hand...and even shot them, which is not advisable. Now, they are in a better position. The welfare of the snake is a concern.'
Police officers now use gunny sacks to transport snakes so that they have enough oxygen.
In the past, police officers have run over snakes several times with their patrol cars to kill them.
Mr Guha said: 'Some snakes arrived in extremely poor condition due to inappropriate handling and restraint.'
Some suffocated and suffered brain damage because they were tied up in air- tight bags. Others had fractures and organ damage after being trampled on by frightened people. The zoo also received snakes that were starved and badly dehydrated.
Such cases are rare now.
When The Straits Times visited the zoo recently, its Wildlife Healthcare and Research Centre had just received a fresh batch of pythons, each coiled up inside a gunny sack. They were sedated, measured, weighed, inspected and treated for injuries and health problems.
Snakes in good health have microchips inserted before they are released into the wild with the help of the National Parks Board (NParks). It is against the law for people to release animals into the parks and nature reserves on their own.
An NParks spokesman said it releases healthy native species of snakes, such as the python and the bronzeback snake, back into the nature reserves. The trouble is, 7 per cent of them usually end up back in the zoo, having strayed into urban areas via the drain network.
Experts preach tolerance, especially if people encounter snakes in nature and in semi-wild areas. Mr Guha said: 'They do not pose a threat to humans and will usually avoid any unnecessary contact with people.'
Moreover, they play a useful part in nature by controlling the rodent population.
He said: 'They're also part of our natural heritage and as much as people are afraid of encountering them, snakes and other reptiles are integral animals of our rainforests.'
Ms Marino was told by the pest control company that the python was capable of harming her daughter, two dogs and two cats. She has since taken some precautions. 'We assume the snake entered the second level of our home by means of a tree branch and we have since trimmed back the branches.'
Group: ROS threat mars country’s image
The Star 31 Dec 09;
MIRI: It is very foolish of the Registrar of Societies (ROS) to threaten to deregister Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) as the move has attracted the media spotlight.
The Sarawak Conservation Alliance Network for the Environment (Scane) said making threats against NGOs which were merely trying to highlight and protect the interests of the people had put Malaysia in a bad light.
Its director Raymond Abin said threatening environmental watchdog groups and community rights organisations was not going to bring any benefit to anyone.
“How can SAM be considered a threat to national security or national interests simply because it highlights the problems faced by natives in the logging concession zones and plantations in the interior of Sarawak?” he asked yesterday.
Scane is a coalition of community rights groups, environmental bodies, native customary land rights activists and lawyer associations.
It was earlier reported that ROS director Datuk Mohd Alias Kalil had said SAM could face deregistration if its activities were found to be against the interests of the country.
He, however, said there had not been any formal complaints against the organisation.
Abin said SAM and other NGOs were concerned about the rights of the people and the environment and were not instigating people against the Government.
Citing the anti-logging blockades and protests against timber operators by natives such as the Penans as an example, Abin said NGOs were concerned about the welfare of these indigenous people who were losing their land, livelihood and homes.
Former Baram MP Harrison Ngau said Mohd Alias’s threat sounded very political in nature.
“He has no business trying to talk like a politician.
“Why is he targeting SAM when it has done no wrong?
“That threatening statement has made the country look bad in the eyes of the international community,” he said.
Sulok Tawie, New Straits Times 30 Dec 09;
MIRI: Enforcement officers from the Sarawak Forestry Corporation have detained four men for alleged poaching and hunting at Lambir Hills National Park near here yesterday.
The suspects, three Malaysians and an Indonesian, were handed to the police for further investigations.
SFC chief executive officer Datuk Len Talif Salleh said the officers also seized a homemade shotgun and three parang from the suspects.
None of the men had a licence to own the shotgun.
Len said no carcasses of animals were found in their possession.
He said hunting in the national park was prohibited as it was a totally protected area.
"It is a complex and diverse forest eco-system, with an area of 6,952ha, and experts believe there is a high level of plant bio-diversity.
"There are 237 different species of birds, the flying squirrels, wild pigs, gibbons, many types of monkeys, various species of deer, and untold insects and other invertebrates at the park."
He said the arrest of the four men came about following a public tip-off.
Journal Watch Online 30 Dec 09;
Tropical fish are a common sight in home aquariums. But owners are increasingly interested in furnishing their tanks with small reef ecosystems as well, including invertebrates that perform services such as grazing and pest control. That trend could be leading a Florida fishery toward collapse, scientists warn in PLoS ONE.
The team studied records from the Florida Marine Life Fishery, a primary supplier for aquariums. Since 1994, the number of specimens collected annually has risen by about 13 percent per year, reaching 9 million specimens in 2007. Species that provide ecosystem services, such as grazers, showed the biggest increases in landings, the team found.
The collection of these invertebrates could pose a threat to natural reefs, the authors say. A reef without enough grazers, which keep algae levels down, might be less resilient. But the economic downturn could check the demand for expensive aquariums, the team notes, giving managers time to institute new regulations. – Roberta Kwok
Source: Rhyne, A., Rotjan, R., Bruckner, A., & Tlusty, M. (2009). Crawling to Collapse: Ecologically Unsound Ornamental Invertebrate Fisheries PLoS ONE, 4 (12) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008413
Reuters 30 Dec 09;
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia will allow some infrastructure projects deemed in the public interest such as toll roads and geothermal energy plants to operate in protected forests, the chief economics minister said on Wednesday.
Under Indonesian law it is currently forbidden to undertake any kind of activity that could impact on a forest conservation area.
But chief economics minister Hatta Rajasa told reporters that the government would issue a new rule to allow some development in forests after discussions between relevant ministers.
"For the public interest such infrastructure projects and geothermal projects can use protected forests," Rajasa said.
The users of protected forests would have to compensate by setting aside twice as much land within another part of the province for use as forested land, he added.
The minister said the regulation would give investors certainty and denied it would disturb forest conservation.
"We know that there are many geothermal projects located in protected areas. That's why this regulation is part of the government's 100-day programme," he said.
The administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who started a second term in October, has set 100-day programmes focused on removing bottlenecks that have stalled investment and infrastructure development in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.
Overlapping regulations on the environment and resource development frequently complicate plans to develop projects in Indonesia, although green groups also complain that firms are sometimes wrongly given permission to exploit forests.
Indonesia also currently has one of the fastest rates of deforestation in the world that threatens to swiftly erode its dwindling untouched tracts of tropical forests.
At the same time, the developing nation desperately wants to speed up spending on airports, roads, ports and other infrastructure to help reduce inefficiencies and speed up economic growth in order to reduce poverty and unemployment.
On energy, Indonesia has established two crash programmes to increase power generation by 10,000 megawatts (MW) in a bid to resolve chronic power shortages in the country.
The first programme, which is due to be 40 percent complete by the middle of next year, relies on coal-fired power stations, while a second programme, due to start next year, has nearly half, or 4,733 MW, of power slated to come from geothermal sources.
Abadi Poernomo, president director of Pertamina Geothermal Energy (PHE), said previously the company planned to increase its geothermal capacity but had been blocked by the conservation law.
PHE, which is a unit of the country's state oil and gas firm Pertamina, planned to increase its geothermal capacity to 1,342 MW in 2014 from 272 MW currently. Pertamina already operates geothermal projects in West Java and North Sulawesi.
Indonesia is hoping to tap alternative sources of energy to meet rising power demand and cut consumption of expensive crude oil as its own reserves dwindle.
The vast archipelago, with hundreds of active and extinct volcanoes, has the potential to produce an estimated 27,000 MW of electricity from geothermal sources.
However, most of the potential remains largely untapped because the high cost of geothermal energy makes the price of electricity generated this way expensive.
(Reporting by Muklis Ali; Editing by Ed Davies)
Rizal Harahap and Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post 30 Dec 09;
Executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment’s (Walhi) Riau branch, Hariansyah Usman said the floods were caused by forest damage in the region.
Heavy downpour for the last week in Riau has inundated the province’s three main rivers, Kampar, Rokan and Indragiri, flooding at least five regencies in the region.
Kampar River, which flooded the region on Tuesday morning, has isolated 18 subdistricts in Kampar regency, five of which are in the Kampar Kiri district, while the remaining 13 are in the Kampar Kiri Hulu district.
Riau Deputy Governor Mambang Mit said the overflowing river and strong stream had cut off the only access road.
“The water level reportedly started increasing and inundating people’s houses last night. We are now documenting the number of survivors,” he said in Pekanbaru on Tuesday.
The overflowing Kampar River reportedly isolated over 370 families in Ukui and Langgam districts, Pelalawan regency, forcing them to use rafts to go out.
Similarly, in Indragiri Hulu regency, the overflowing Indragiri River inundated six districts and damaged hundreds of hectares of agricultural field.
“So far no residents are reported to have taken refuge as their houses are built on stilts. What we are more concerned about is the possibility the flood will cause harvest failures for farmers,” Mambang said.
He added that floods had also hit Rokan Hulu and Rokan Hilir regencies due to the overflowing Rokan River. In Pujud district, Rokan Hilir, the floods inundated 500 houses some 60 centimeters deep, while 400 other houses experienced similar woes in Rambah district, Rokan Hulu.
“The houses are mostly located on lower ground so water just flows into those regions,” said Mambang.
He also said the floods in Riau were mainly due to the high intensity of rain in the upper stream regions, while the regions below were unable to accommodate the water debit due to the continued heavy downpour.
A different opinion was expressed by the executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment’s (Walhi) Riau branch, Hariansyah Usman, who said the floods were caused by forest damage in the region.
He said industrial exploitation had reduced the forest by 200,000 hectares annually.
“The government has to stop blaming nature as the floods are due to uncontrolled forest damage,” Hariansyah told The Jakarta Post.
He added the only solution to deal with the annual floods was to stop issuing new concession licenses, while evaluating existing palm plantations and other industrial forests in the upper stream regions.
Separately in Yogyakarta, researcher Muh Aris Marfai from Gadjah Mada University’s Center for Natural Disaster Studies (PSBA) said that Indonesia was the third-worst hit country by floods after China and India.
Speaking at a seminar on disaster risk reduction in Jakarta, Aris said the problems related to floods in Indonesia would become more complicated in the future as they would no longer be mostly caused by overflowing rivers, but also by an increase in sea levels, such as recent floods in Semarang and Jakarta as a result of climate change.
“So far, heavy downpours and saturated soil that can no longer absorb the rainwater have accounted for floods in the country,” he said.
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 30 Dec 09;
Indonesia should move faster to resolve contentious issues related to forestry, environmentalists say.
The comment comes after the Copenhagen accord recognized the importance of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) to cap climate emissions.
Among the long-standing issues are forest governance, land ownership, inventory emission data, forest fires and illegal logging.
“The government should not hesitate to take strict action on contentious issues if Indonesia wants to implement the REDD,” former environment minister Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said Tuesday.
The Copenhagen accord recognized the crucial role of the forest in emission reduction through the REDD plus scheme. Developed nations agreed to mobilize financial resources to support the forest countries.
The accord stipulates developed countries will provide US$30 billion for the period between 2010 and 2012, including for forestry.
The idea behind the REDD plus is to award governments, companies and forest owners for maintaining forests.
However, the Copenhagen accord failed to set legally binding targets on emission reduction for developed nations, which many said could make the REDD scheme become ineffective.
Local activists have blasted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his entourage for failing to do much during the conference despite having high hopes.
A legally binding treaty on emission cuts, however, was expected to be agreed in Mexico City next year.
Indonesia, the world’s third largest forestry country, with 120 million hectares, has put high hopes on the REDD to reap more money from climate funding.
Sarwono said that the government needed to focus on improving forest governance once the REDD was implemented in the country.
He said that the government should also convert forest plots with idle permits into conservation areas.
“But, the government must ensure the public that conservation is not anti-economy. Otherwise there will be strong opposition,” he said.
Director of energy and climate change at the WWF Indonesia Fitrian Ardiansyah said that the Forestry Ministry should calculate emissions in forests for a baseline if the country wanted to cut emissions in them.
“We need to know the amount of forest emissions if business is to run as usual,” he said.
Another contentious issue was sharing the financial benefits between the government, local administration and people, and project hosts.
The government earlier warned local authorities to carefully review all carbon brokerage firms offering incentives, such as huge financial benefits from the forestry sector for engaging in carbon trading.
Forestry Ministry official Wandojo Siswanto said many carbon brokers were directly approaching regents and mayors, asking them to sign memorandums of understanding to develop projects under the REDD.
Indonesia was the first country to issue a regulation on the REDD, allowing indigenous people, local authorities, private organizations and businesspeople — both local and foreign — to run REDD projects.
Under the regulation, the REDD project permits will only be granted to those who are certified to control forests.
Fidelis E Satriastanti, Jakarta Globe 31 Dec 09;
While the recent Copenhagen climate talks have been criticized for failing to produce a concrete agreement on emissions cuts, local activists are now turning their attention to the government for its failure to protect the environment.
Berry Nahdian Furqon, executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said the State Ministry for the Environment had failed to make significant progress this year, particularly in engaging the private sector and industries.
“They have a lot on their agenda, such as the Proper [Corporate Environmental Performance Ratings] list, among other things,” he said. “However, these have never been integrated into other sectors in order to cover the problems caused by development.
“The state ministry is too detached from other sectors. We can see it clearly from the condition of our forests, coastal areas, air and water, and the condition of our water catchment areas.”
Berry said the Proper list, which catalogs the country’s worst polluters and most environmentally conscious companies, has never been able to cover the bigger corporations and often passed many polluters as environmentally compliant.
This year’s annual list covered 627 companies. Fifty-six companies were put on the “black list” of worst offenders, including 10 state-owned enterprises and 12 foreign companies.
The companies on the black list operate across a range of industries, including oil and gas, coal mining, pulp and paper, textiles, fish processing, plywood and palm oil, and include an oil and gas joint venture involving PT Pertamina in South Sumatra, six state-owned plantations, nine plywood companies, 10 palm oil concerns and a leading milk producer.
Mas Achmad Santosa, an environmental law expert, said the ministry’s poor performance was illustrated by the low number of environmentally compliant companies on the list.
“We can actually see how [the ministry] did this year through the Proper list, and also from the SLHI [Indonesian State of the Environment Report], which still shows no improvement for the environment,” he said.
The 2007 SLHI said the country’s waterways had been adversely altered by human activity and spatial changes, resulting in flooding and droughts.
The latest available data from the report showed that between 2000 and 2005, 1.09 million hectares of forest were lost each year — down from 2.83 million hectares over the preceding five-year period.
The government was accused of failing to promote the national agenda to protect the country’s forests at the UN climate change talks in Copenhagen earlier this month, and criticized for accepting the resulting agreement that was neither binding nor adopted by all parties.
“There were never any concrete steps on how to deal with the impact of climate change,” Mas Achmad said. “We’ve been aggressively announcing that Indonesia is going to lead in this campaign, but look at the facts: We still can’t even manage to protect our own forests from illegal logging or forest fires.”
Mas Achmad also said there was no consistency between what the Environment Ministry had said it wanted to achieve and what was actually being implemented across the country.
“Yes, they are very eager to stop illegal logging in the country, however, they can’t do anything when big illegal logging cases are dropped,” he said, citing 13 cases of alleged illegal logging by major companies in Riau that came to nothing.
The new environment minister, Gusti Muhammad Hatta, also came under fire from Mas Achmad for having approved the operations of a gold mining company, Meares Soputan Mining, in South Sulawesi despite it having been rejected by the regional government and the previous environment minister.
However, both Berry and Mas Achmad agreed that there was still hope for progress after the 2009 Law on Environmental Protection and Management was passed in September by the House of Representatives.
“There is plenty of hope for the new law because its content is excellent, with the state ministry being given new powers and public involvement also being promoted,” Mas Achmad said. “But then again, it is still just policy on paper.”
Berry said the ministry would have no excuses for failing to advance its agenda in 2010. “There should be new breakthroughs because this new law is allowing that to happen,” he said. “There should be changes.”
Jakarta Globe 31 Dec 09;
The government says that it will seek compensation from Australia for environmental damage in the Timor Sea caused by a leak at the Montara well.
“We have finished calculating our material loss due to the Timor Sea’s contamination and will ask the Australian government for compensation soon,” Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta said on Wednesday.
The well is said to have spewed at least 500 million liters of oil into the sea over a 10-week period before it was successfully plugged last month.
Hatta said he recently informed his Australian counterpart that Indonesia was calculating its material losses as a result of the pollution. Hatta added that he expected the Australian government to be serious about resolving the matter to prevent further damage in the affected area.
The minister credited Canberra with taking steps to try and resolve the issue, but said Indonesia needed to take firm action by seeking compensation based on international law.
It is claimed that the leak, which first began on Aug. 20, has contaminated thousands of square kilometers of ocean and killed vast amounts of wildlife.
World Wildlife Fund Australia warned that the spill — the worst in Australia for 40 years — and chemicals used to disperse it, could affect fish stocks and other marine life for generations. The group has described the disaster as an overwhelming environmental tragedy.
Antara
Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post 31 Dec 09;
More than 30 students from the SDN 1 Bedono state elementary school in Demak, Central Java, 15 students from the SMK Demak fishery school and 15 university students have planted 5,000 mangroves in a former shrimp farm in Bedono village, Sayung district in Demak, Central Java.
They expect the flourishing mangrove trees will prevent coastal erosion, which has continuously eroded the coastline and damaged residents’ homes.
“The mangrove planting drive is a routine program carried out annually. We have been doing it for the past five years and have grown mangrove trees in a 260-hectare plot of land along the Demak coast.
However, around 20 hectares of the young trees have been swept away by the waves.
“Now, in the second year of the 5-year program we will grow mangroves in a 50 hectare area,” Karis, a member of the Demak Bahari Mangrove Group, told The Jakarta Post.
The elementary school and Japanese students from the Organization for Industry, Spiritual and Cultural Advancement (OISCA) in Japan, immediately jumped into the pond that was filled with waist-high mud, while a number of the Demak students crawled adeptly from one point to another while planting the mangrove seedlings.
Many of the mangrove forests along the north coast of Demak have been damaged due to huge waves and people felling the trees to make space for shrimp farms.
“There are many land certificates here, but the plots of land are no longer visible because they have been submerged by the sea. In 1990, I owned a 4-hectare shrimp farm, but now it has vanished. I had to move from Senik hamlet to Tambaksari Baru, because it was swallowed by the sea,” said Nurohman, 40.
Nurohman is also aware of rising sea levels due to the impact of global warming from his environmentalist friends.
“The reclamation project in the Tanjung Emas Port area in Semarang has exacerbated the condition.
Its impacts have immediately affected our area because the sea water has engulfed and will eventually submerge our village,” he said.
Nurohman, who was born and raised in Bedono village, is clearly aware of coastal erosion in his area.
Now, the entire village floods during major high tides.
“But where would we move to? I’m old and don’t have money to buy land and build a house. This is the only house that I can live in with my two children. When high tide comes, we are forced to get wet.
So we are used to this condition,” said Abdul Muin, 62.
Bedono village chief Mualipin said that most of the 1,250 families, or 4,500 residents, were familiar with the high tides.
“Only a few of the houses are not affected by the high tides because they are built up high. A number of residents of hamlets located along the coast had to move to new areas because their villages have been swamped,” he said.
Cong Thanh, Vietnam News 30 Dec 09;
Taking flight: Birds in Xuan Thuy National Wetlands Park in Nam Dinh Province are at risk due to climate change. — VNA/VNS Photo Truong Vi
Xuan Thuy National Park has been struggling with rising sea levels, which have been attributed to climate change.
Last year, 8ha of casuarina forest was flooded by sea water, which caused losses estimated at over VND400 million (US$21,000).
The 7,100ha forested wetlands in Nam Dinh Province, about 150km south of Ha Noi, are home to a wide range of migratory waterfowl and other species. It is as a Ramsar Convention site – a wetland area recognised internationally for its ecological importance. The only such site in Southeast Asia.
"We are aware of the problem that has been getting worse over the last two years. Last year we were forced to replant 6ha of casuarina trees," said Nguyen Viet Cach, the park director.
"However, we are seeking bigger and higher plants from the south to replace current mangrove forest, which will be devastated in one or two years," Cach said.
Mangrove trees are abundant on the 7,100ha wetland park, which affords it some protection against storms and floods – but there numbers are also decreasing.
Hundreds of shrimp and oyster farmers in the park face losing their incomes.
Annually, income from the park generates a revenue of VND30 billion to VND40 billion ($1,500-$2,000).
As a result of rising sea levels, dams need to be built and roads raised by between 15cm and 20cm park officials said.
"Roads in the park, which cost about VND3 billion ($158,000) last year, have to raise at an additional cost of VND6 billion ($316,000)," Cach said.
Doan Van Trieu, who farms a 16ha part of the farm, said he had seen his income dwindle over the last few years.
"I earned VND100 million ($5,200) this year from my farm, just half what it used to generate in previous years. Aquaculture is very vulnerable to rising sea levels," Trieu said.
He added that he farmed just one tonne of prawns this year – the worst for five years.
"Shrimp breeding, which is easily affected by polluted water, has been badly impacted by sewage from villages around the park. Chemicals have grown increasingly popular over the last two decades," the 44-year-old farmer said.
Trieu, who is from Giao An Village, said he had to fork out VND20 million ($1,000) a year on building embankments against rising water levels.
Managers of the park, which is recognised by UNESCO as a Red River Biosphere Reserve, plan to plant new trees such as avicenniaceae and cypress on an 80ha area at a cost of around VND128 billion ($6.7 million) over a three- to five-year period.
The park’s wildlife, which include as estimated 215 bird species – such as black-faced spoonbills, western white pelicans, black-headed gulls and redheaded egrets – are listed as endangered.
However, the number of bird species has declined over recent years, a fact attributed to global warming.
Park staff Vu Xuan Anh said there were still about 50 black-faced spoonbills visiting the park in winter but that many other species were dwindling in number. — VNS
Kitiphong Thaichareon, Reuters 29 Dec 09;
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand on Tuesday approved regulations on health and environment assessments for industrial projects, a step toward allowing suspended operations to go ahead at the world's eighth-biggest petrochemical hub.
A court has suspended 65 new plants at Map Ta Phut, Thailand's biggest industrial estate, for their owners' failure to carry out health impact assessments (HIA). The government was blamed because it had not set up a body to oversee the HIAs.
The ruling stoked concern about legal uncertainty and government competence in a country once seen as a safe haven for investment but now mired in five years of political strife.
"The cabinet has approved the draft regulations ... about guidelines to comply with environment and health impact assessments," a deputy government spokesman told reporters.
The government's move at least clarifies what companies need to do to get health impact clearance, but an independent commission to carry out the assessments has still not been set up and some companies fear this could be the main sticking point.
A panel chaired by former premier Anand Panyarachun has agreed to form that body but there are concerns about delays if parties in the dispute challenge who sits on the commission.
Analysts say the credibility of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's embattled pro-business government and its economic revival efforts could be hurt if it fails to resolve the dispute quickly.
DELAYS COSTLY
The central bank says the suspensions could cut GDP growth by up to 0.5 percentage point next year, while an industry ministry estimate last week said a protracted legal standoff could cost as much as $18 billion.
According to the new regulations, companies building plants are now required to hold public hearings into the environmental and health impact. Local people were not previously consulted.
The court injunction followed complaints from local people and environmentalists that state agencies and ministers had failed to issue proper operating licenses at the 6.5 sq km (4,086 acre) estate in eastern Thailand. A local lobby group says some 2,000 cancer deaths were caused by pollution from the estate.
On December 2, a court allowed 11 of 76 suspended projects at Map Ta Phut to proceed, but the other 65 projects worth an estimated $8 billion remained frozen.
Last week the court allowed a venture partly owned by Siam Cement, Thailand's top industrial conglomerate, to resume operations because its license had been granted prior to the promulgation of the 2007 constitution.
Companies at the estate include top energy firm PTT, PTT Chemical and utility Glow Energy. Among the foreign companies are a Thai unit of Germany's Bayer and Australia's BlueScope Steel Ltd.
The government agreed last week to back court appeals on 19 projects it deems safe enough to resume operations, while state-controlled PTT will seek the go-ahead for its nine suspended projects, given that they, too, received operating licenses before the 2007 constitution.
(For a Q+A on the Map Ta Phut dispute:)
(Writing by Khettiya Jittapong; Editing by Martin Petty)
Reuters 29 Dec 09;
BEIJING (Reuters) - China will use stimulus spending to speed up shifting 330,000 people slated to be displaced for a vast water transfer project, accelerating work on the troubled scheme, an official newspaper said on Tuesday.
The displaced residents, mostly poor farmers in central China's Henan and Hubei provinces, are being moved for the South-North Water Transfer Project, which will draw water from southern rivers for the country's dry north.
The construction of two long canals in central and eastern China has been troubled by chronic pollution, troubles relocating displaced residents and engineering hitches.
But now Zhang Jiyao, the official in charge of the project, has "urged local authorities to complete all migrant displacement by the end of 2011," the China Daily reported, citing an official meeting on Monday. The earlier deadline was 2014.
Half the residents will be relocated by the end of 2010, when 48 billion yuan ($7.03 billion) will be spent on the project, boosted by funding from China's blitz of stimulus spending to counter the financial crisis, said Zhang.
Big dams and hydro projects have been a lightning rod for discontent in China. Around the Three Gorges Dam, the nation's other mighty hydro project, clashes dogged the move of 1.4 million residents.
The South-North Project is the latest of these ambitious efforts, and the push to speed up resettlement could stir more complaints from farmers, especially near the Danjiangkou Dam that will feed the main central route.
Most of the people displaced by its rising waters will be sent to less fertile farmland. Resettlement there began earlier this year.
"Nobody really wants to move," said Ma Feng, a villager from Machuan Village near the dam, who was moved earlier this year to a new home hundreds of kilometers away.
"We were forced to accept it in the end, because the officials and police made us," she told Reuters by telephone. "But if they move all the dam residents, that will be much more difficult."
The central route will wind along 1,421 km (883 miles) of canals and tunnels from Danjiangkou to Beijing, as well as the nearby port city of Tianjin and surrounding areas. The separate eastern route cuts through coastal provinces up to Tianjin.
The planned completion for the first stage of the central route was pushed back to 2014 after it became clear that earlier deadlines of 2010 and 2008 could not be met.
A proposed western route, which would tap rivers on the Tibetan highlands to feed northwest areas, is still being examined by experts.
($1=6.829 Yuan)
(Editing by Dean Yates)
Evelyn Nieves, Associated Press Yahoo News 30 Dec 09;
SAN FRANCISCO – Two mysteries surround a huge herd of sea lions that were hanging out on a pier in San Francisco Bay: Why did so many show up, and why did so many leave at once?
Just last month, Pier 39, famous in San Francisco for its sea lions and the throngs of tourists they attract, was groaning under the weight of more than 1,500 of the animals. The record number delighted tourists and baffled experts.
Marine experts suspect the sea lions came and stayed for the food, then left largely for the same reason.
"Most likely, they left chasing a food source," said Jeff Boehm, executive director of the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, which runs an information center and gift shop at Pier 39. "It's probably what kept them here in the first place."
The animals began leaving in droves the day after Thanksgiving, almost as if someone had issued an order. But Boehm said the fact that so many sea lions stayed for so long is even stranger than their disappearance.
"They do move off," Boehm said, adding that in the fall, older sea lions head to breeding colonies in the Channel Islands, off the coast of Southern California along the Santa Barbara Channel. Younger sea lions, he said, "don't mind those rules and tend to travel far and wide."
On Tuesday, 10 sea lions lounged and swam and dove from the docks, spreading themselves out where the animals were stacked three and four deep just a month ago. The bulk of the herd probably followed their favorite foods, sardines and anchovies, Boehm said.
The younger ones still sticking around Pier 39 were enough to satisfy hordes of visitors huddled against the wind to watch them. The sea lions huddled together, dove off the docks, and honked and barked.
"We're happy with what we see," said Carmen Fernandez of Miami Beach, Fla., who was watching the sea lions with her husband Carlos.
Despite the sea lions' abrupt disappearance, Boehm said the Marine Mammal Center is not concerned that they have departed for good. While more than the usual number have left — usually about 40 remain — it is very unlikely, Boehm said, that they won't come back. By spring, the herd will probably be back, as usual, he said.
Reuters 30 Dec 09;
SYDNEY (Reuters) - A major bushfire in the west Australian outback has destroyed almost 40 homes, officials said on Wednesday, as firefighters end a third month of fighting bushfires across the country.
Fire officials say the Australian summer could be one of the worst bushfire seasons, with a series of catastrophic warnings already issued for big fires in at least three states.
Australia's most deadly bushfires occurred last February, when the "Black Saturday" infernos killed 173 people and destroyed thousands of homes in the southern Victoria state.
As a result of the "Black Saturday" fires, officials adopted a "catastrophic" warning which advises residents to evacuate homes in the face of major bushfires.
Until the west Australian fire this week, property losses had been few. No one has died in the fires this summer.
Three firefighters and a woman from the wheat-belt town of Toodyay, in Western Australian state, suffered minor injuries in the latest bushfire, which burned 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres).
"It's a devastating fire with great destruction," Western Australian state Premier Colin Barnett told reporters.
Bushfires are a natural phenomenon in Australia, due to its hot, dry environment. Lightning strikes over dry land are the most common cause, followed by human intervention such as fires that get out of control.
Australia's bushfire danger period is from October to March, covering the end of spring, all of summer and the start of autumn, when temperatures are highest and humidity lowest.
A decade-long drought and hot, dry interior outback winds have left much of Australia a tinderbox.
(Reporting by Michael Perry; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
Cho Mee-Young, PlanetArk 31 Dec 09;
SEOUL - South Korea will launch a pilot carbon emissions trading scheme from January after the environment ministry received applications from 641 public and private organizations, the ministry said on Wednesday.
A ministry official said trading mainly among local municipalities will be done online next year, and from 2011 at Korea Exchange, the country's bourse.
The ministry has not yet decided its price for emissions per ton, she said.
A statement released from the ministry on Tuesday said the scheme will provide a base for the country's voluntary 2020 emissions reduction target. South Korea has pledged to cut emissions by 30 percent from its forecast under a "business as usual" scenario.
"The scheme is designed to meet the country's mid-term emission reduction target and connect with international carbon markets," the statement said.
South Korea, one of the world's fastest growing polluters, said in August it hopes to become Asia's trading hub for carbon emission certificates and related products under its plan for a new carbon exchange from 2011.
(Editing by Bill Tarrant)
Reuters 28 Dec 09;
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil will make its ambitious 2020 greenhouse gas emissions targets legally binding even though global climate talks failed this month, the country's environment minister said on Monday.
"We will fully comply with the targets. It doesn't matter that Copenhagen didn't go as well as we had hoped," Environment Minister Carlos Minc told reporters after meeting with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Lula will veto three items from a climate bill approved by Congress last month but would maintain the emissions targets, Minc said.
"The targets were maintained, which is the most important. Brazil will have a strong climate change policy," he said.
Brazil aims to reduce its projected 2020 greenhouse gas emissions by as much 39 percent. That amounts roughly to a 20 percent reduction from 2005 levels.
According to the bill Lula is expected to sign into law later on Monday, those targets will be quantifiable and verifiable.
Latin America's largest country had tried to prod other developing and industrialized countries into adopting bold targets at the U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen earlier this month. But the meeting failed to produce a new framework agreement on climate to follow the Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.
Brazil is one of the largest carbon emitters, largely due to the destruction of the Amazon rain forest. Deforestation, which has fallen sharply in recent years, releases carbon as trees burn or decompose.
Among the items Lula will veto were proposals to limit the construction of small hydroelectric plants and reduce the use of fossil fuels.
(Reporting by Fernando Exman; Writing by Raymond Colitt; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Brazil's Lula signs law cutting CO2 emissions
Yahoo News 29 Dec 09;
BRASILIA (AFP) – President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva Tuesday signed a law requiring that Brazil cut greenhouse gas emissions by 39 percent by 2020, meeting a commitment made at the Copenhagen climate change summit.
Brazil announced at the summit a "voluntary commitment" to reduce CO2 emissions by between 36.1 and 38.9 percent in the next ten years.
The new law, however, is subject to several decrees setting out responsibilities and regulations for the farming, industrial, energy and environmental sectors.
Lula is expected to sign the decrees in January after consulting scientists and other experts, officials said.
Despite its ambitious targets, Greenpeace's top representative in Brazil, Sergio Leitao, called it merely a list of good intentions and accused Lula of using double standards in environmental issues.
"Brazil usually makes good speeches on the international stage, as in Copenhagen, but in practice it doesn't keep its word," he told reporters.
Before signing the new law, in fact, Lula vetoed three of its provisions, including a reference to "promoting the development of clean energy sources and the gradual phasing out of energy from fossil fuels."
Environment Minister Carlos Minc said he was was pleased with the new law because it showed Brazil's determination to respect the pledges it made in Copenhagen.
"It doesn't matter if the Copenhagen summit didn't get the results we wanted. We will still meet our goals," he told reporters.
The climate change conference held in the Danish capital ended last week with a non-binding agreement that exposed the stark divide between rich and developing nations.
A total of 30 billion dollars was pledged from 2010-2012 to help poor countries in the firing line of climate change, and rich nations set a goal of providing 100 billion dollars annually in aid by 2020.
It established a goal of limiting warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), but did not impose binding targets to reduce the emissions of gases that scientists say are heating up the world's atmosphere to dangerous levels.
The Copenhagen agreement was put together by leaders of the United States, China, India, Brazil, South Africa and major European nations, after it became clear the 194-nation summit was in danger of failure.
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