Job advertisement: Project Officer
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Sad Sights At Pulau Satumu
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ICCS Otters blog!
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Battling “A Carnage of Plastic” with motivated Independents @ Pasir Ris 6 from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore
A Toddycats Tree @ Clementi Woods on 10.10.10
from Toddycats!
A Creepy Crawly Day at SBWR
from Crystal and Bryan in Singapore
The Strangling Plant
from Garden Voices
Rebutal by Lim Yuin Chien Foreign Policy 28 Sep 10;
The allegations that Singapore's land reclamation was carried out using sand smuggled from its neighbouring countries ("The Sand Smugglers" Aug. 4, 2010) and that the government condones this illegal sand trade are baseless. Singapore is a small island. To support our economic development, we import sand to reclaim land within our terroritorial waters. This means sand is extracted from elsewhere and brought to Singapore. Since Malaysia and Indonesia banned sea sand exports, we have sourced for reclamation sand from other sources.
The Singapore government does not condone illegal smuggling of sand. We have put in specific and stringent procedures to ensure that sand is extracted legally and in compliance with the environmental laws and regulation of the source countries.
The JTC Corporation imports sand for Singapore's land reclamation projects. JTC requires sand suppliers to show documentary proof that the sand will come from an approved sand concession holder, and requires each sand load to have valid documentation on the date and source location. To date, all sand vendors have provided valid clearance documentation from the source countries.
Singapore expects sand suppliers to respect the laws and regulations of their source countries. We cannot police or enforce laws and regulations which are the sovereign responsibility of the source countries, but we will certainly cooperate with any investigations to the best of our ability within our laws, just as the Singapore authorities routinely cooperate with Malaysian and Indonesian enforcement agencies on a range of issues.
ACRES press release 30 Sep 10;
SINGAPORE, 30 September 2010 – Three sting operations by ACRES within about a week resulted in the seizure of a complete alleged tiger skin, three pieces of alleged tiger skin and one hedgehog. All products were being advertised for sale online by three different sellers.
Posing as buyers, ACRES undercover officers conducted the sting operations in Hougang for the sale of a hedgehog (15 September), in Choa Chu Kang for the sale of a whole alleged tiger skin complete with the head and claimed to be from Sri Lanka (21 September) and in Serangoon for the sale of pieces of alleged tiger skins claimed to be from Thailand (22 September).
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) responded immediately and seized the items. AVA is currently investigating the cases.
The hedgehog was offered for sale by a Chinese man for $150, the whole alleged tiger skin by an Indian man for $400 and the pieces of alleged tiger skins by a Chinese woman for $128 each.
“These seizures together with the major seizures of alleged tiger parts in Singapore in March this year have put a huge dent in the illegal wildlife trade. There is an urgent need to curb the illegal wildlife trade. Less than a century ago, more than 100,000 tigers roamed the world’s jungles and forests. Today, less than 3,200 remain in the wild” said Ms. Anbarasi Boopal, Director of ACRES Wildlife Crime Unit.
All commercial tiger trade has been banned since 1987 by CITES (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), which Singapore is a party to. AVA is the CITES authority in Singapore and administers the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act (ESA), which lists all CITES species in its Schedules. Under the ESA, it is an offence to import, export and re-export any CITES species without a permit from AVA. The possession, sale, offering or exposing or advertising for sale or displaying to the public of any illegally imported CITES specimen is also an offence. The penalties, on conviction, are a fine of $50,000 (per species), not exceeding an aggregate of $500,000 and/or 2 years imprisonment.
Under the Endangered Species (Import and Export) (Prohibition of Sale) Notification, the domestic sale of tiger specimens is prohibited. Any person who sells, offers or exposes for sale or displays to the public any tiger parts and products, commits an offence. The offender shall be liable to a fine not exceeding $10,000 for each species (but not to exceed in the aggregate $100,000) or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 1 year or to both.
Anyone who advertises for sale any tiger products contravenes the above Act, even if the products turn out to be not authentic. By making a claim that the product is from tigers, the seller is potentially driving up the demand for tiger products, which directly contravenes the spirit of CITES and the local legislation meant to enforce CITES.
Under the Wild Animals and Birds Act, hedgehogs are one of the several exotic animals who are prohibited by the AVA to be kept or sold as pets in Singapore. Penalties on conviction are a fine of $1,000 per animal.
“The illegal wildlife trade appears to be going online and ACRES will continue to monitor and take action to wipe out this trade. The public plays a crucial role and we urge them to keep a look out for the sale of endangered species and call us on our 24-hour Wildlife Crime Hotline (9783 7782). ACRES is confident that with the community playing an active role, we can wipe out this illicit trade before it wipes out our wildlife” said Mr. Louis Ng, Executive Director of ACRES.
'Tiger pelt' and hedgehog for (illegal) sale
Sting operations catch 3 individuals hawking such wares online
Grace Chua Straits Times 30 Sep 10;
STING operations by wildlife activists here have caught three individuals trying separately to sell pieces of tiger skin, a whole tiger pelt, and a hedgehog.
It is not known yet whether the skins found by undercover officers of the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) are real, but the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) has seized the items and launched investigations.
No one has been arrested yet.
The haul was the result of Acres' first operation to nab people who advertise such illegal wares online. They follow an exercise completed early this year, which homed in on people selling tiger parts in shops. The authorities then clamped down on jewellery shops selling ornaments allegedly made of tiger parts.
The sale of tiger parts is banned worldwide. All six tiger species are highly endangered; by some statistics, just 3,200 are left in the wild.
They are protected under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), which 175 countries have ratified, including Singapore.
Singapore law provides another layer of protection in the form of the Endangered Species (Import & Export) Act, which states that importing, exporting, re-exporting or possessing any Cites species without a permit can land one a fine of up to $50,000 per species, with a cap of $500,000, and/or two years in jail.
Traders may not know that the penalties apply even if the parts are fake.
Acres investigators, posing as buyers, met individuals whom they had contacted via e-mail or phone after seeing online ads selling 'tiger skin'.
One investigator inquiring about the whole pelt met his contact in a Choa Chu Kang void deck; the one seeking to buy pieces of skin went to a Serangoon flat.
The pelt was going for $400, and the pieces at $128 each.
Acres' shaky, hidden-camera video footage showed both sellers were aware they were breaking the law.
One, remarking that his trade was 'quite sensitive', avoided putting the skin out in the open, and led the investigator up a flight of stairs to view it.
'One buyer in Geylang asked me to bring it down, but I didn't want to take risks,' the seller said.
The other seller said she smuggles tiger-skin amulets from Thailand through customs and immigration by wearing them like they are her own.
'Most of the time, I make it through,' she said in a matter-of-fact tone.
During Acres' operations, its investigators give the signal for AVA officers to swoop the moment the items are presented and their asking prices are declared.
AVA wildlife regulatory head Lye Fong Keng said the whole 'tiger skin' has been sent to the lab, but appeared to be domestic-animal hide with stripes painted on it.
The hedgehog was seized in Acres' operation in Hougang on Sept 15. A man was trying to sell it for $150. The AVA also seized from him two Indian star tortoises, an alligator snapping turtle, and an elongated tortoise - all Cites-listed species.
Acres head Louis Ng, noting that technology has given a fillip to the trade, said: 'We've been doing undercover ops on traditional Chinese medicine shops, but technology has caught up with us. It's alarming how easy it is to buy these protected species online.'
He urged members of the public to report such postings to Acres.
Guidelines for online classified listings such as singapore.locanto.sg and sg.88db.com state that posts promoting illegal products may be removed.
A search of such online listings turned up the tiger-pelt post, along with advertisements for exotic pets such as capuchin monkeys and sugar gliders. Some date back to 2007.
Under the Wild Animals and Birds Act, these creatures cannot be sold or kept as pets without a licence, for fear they may spread exotic diseases or that these alien species might escape or be released into the wild, upsetting the local ecology.
Those convicted of keeping such animals may be fined up to $1,000 per animal, and the creatures seized.
Tiger skins and hedgehog seized in ACRES sting operation
Channel NewsAsia 30 Sep 10;
SINGAPORE: Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) undercover officers seized tigers skins and one hedgehog in three sting operations.
The products were being advertised for sale online by three different sellers.
Posing as buyers, ACRES' officers conducted the sting operations in Hougang, Choa Chu Kang and Serangoon respectively.
A Chinese man offered to sell the hedgehog, which cannot be kept or sold as pets in Singapore, for $150.
An Indian man offered to sell a whole tiger skin for $400 while a Chinese woman tried to sell pieces of alleged tigers skins for $128 each.
The items were seized by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority.
Director of ACRES Wildlife Crime Unit, Anbarasi Boopal, said these seizures together with the major seizures of alleged tiger parts in Singapore in March this year have put a huge dent in the illegal wildlife trade.
All commercial tiger trade has been banned since 1987 by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Singapore is a party to the convention.
Anyone who advertises any tiger parts for sale contravenes Singapore's Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act (ESA), even if the products turn out to be unauthentic.
Louis Ng, ACRES Executive Director, said the illegal wildlife trade appears to be going online and the organisation will continue to monitor and take action to wipe out this trade.
If convicted, they can be fined up to $10,000 per species and jailed for up to a year.
Penalties on conviction are a fine of $1,000 per animal. - CNA/fa
Sting Operations Result In Seizure Of Tiger Skins, Hedgehog In Singapore
Bernama 30 Sep 10;
SINGAPORE, Sept 30 (Bernama) -- The Singapore authority seized several animal skins believed to be tiger skins and one live hedgehog following sting operations by a local animal protection society around the island this month.
Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) said Thursday that posing as buyers, its undercover officers found a hedgehog on sale in Hougang, a whole tiger skin complete with the head, claimed to be from Sri Lanka in Choa Chu Kang, and three tiger skins claimed to be from Thailand in Serangoon.
ACRES tipped the city-state's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) which responded immediately and seized the items.
In a statement, ACRES said all the tiger skins and the hedgehog were being advertised for sale online by three different sellers, including a woman.
The hedgehog was offered for sale at $150, the whole tiger skin at $400 and the other three pieces of tiger skins at $128 each.
ACRES Wildlife Crime Unit director Anbarasi Boopal said these seizures together with earlier major seizures of alleged tiger parts in Singapore in March this year had put a huge dent on the illegal wildlife trade.
Under the Wild Animals and Birds Act, hedgehogs are one of several exotic animals which are prohibited by AVA to be kept or sold as pets in Singapore.
ACRES executive director Louis Ng said the illegal wildlife trade appeared to be going online and the society would continue to monitor and take action to wipe out the illicit trade.
He said ACRES was confident that with the community playing an active role, they could wipe out the illicit trade before it wiped out wildlife.
-- BERNAMA
Some 4,500 customers to get energy meters that monitor usage in real time
Today Online 30 Sep 10
SINGAPORE - The Next Generation National Broadband Network (NGNBN) looks set to deliver not only a faster and cheaper digital highway for consumers, but, soon, also an opportunity to reduce home energy usage.
Yesterday, as it was announced that Accenture would design and implement the pilot project for a more energy-efficient power grid, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) revealed that the smart meters to be used in the system will leverage on the NGNBN and other communication platforms.
The meters will provide consumers information on how much electricity is being used.
Advanced metering infrastructure and the communication system will be key as the hardware for the IES pilot is set up between now and 2012.
The EMA shared these details and announced the budget for the project - $30 million, funded by the Government and Singapore Power - in a news release. It also gave a clearer timeline for the implementation of the pilot.
After the infrastructure phase is completed, the second phase, from 2012 to 2013, will focus on smart grid applications.
Around 4,500 customers in residential, commercial and industrial locations - chiefly the Nanyang Technological University campus, the CleanTech Park in Jalan Bahar and the Punggol Eco-Precinct - can then not only monitor their energy consumption "live" but also choose a range of pricing plans.
For residential consumers, they can shift usage from peak to off-peak periods when electricity prices are lowest. For industrial and commercial customers, they can install automation systems that include special programmable thermostats and other devices to monitor and control a buidling's air-conditioning and lighting, for instance.
The project is an "important step" to a smarter national power grid, said EMA.
When the network is up, operator SP PowerGrid will be able to detect "almost instantly" the location and extent of any localised power outage and respond promptly to restore supply.
In the future, alternative energy sources, such as solar panels and co-generation plants, will be able to feed into the grid. The benefits will extend to electric vehicles then.
Energy Market Authority to get S$30m to build Intelligent Energy System
Sharon See Channel NewsAsia 29 Sep 10;
SINGAPORE: The Energy Market Authority (EMA) is getting a S$30 million budget to build an Intelligent Energy System pilot project.
The funds will be provided by the government and Singapore Power.
The pilot project will involve around 4,500 customers in various residential, commercial and industrial locations, including the Nanyang Technological University campus, the CleanTech Park at Jalan Bahar and the Punggol Eco-Precinct.
EMA said this was an important step towards a smarter power grid, which would provide consumers with more information, choice and control over their electricity usage.
EMA said the IES project would be conducted in two phases.
Phase 1, which will be conducted from 2010 to 2012, will focus on the implementation of the enabling infrastructure for the IES like establishing the smart metering communication protocols and standards.
This will be done by leveraging on the Next Generation National Broadband Network and other communication platforms.
EMA added that Phase 2, which will be conducted from 2012 to 2013, will focus on the smart grid applications.
Customers with the smart metres installed in their premises will be able to experience the benefits of the IES through various services offered by the electricity retailers.
Residential customers will be able to monitor their energy consumption on a real-time basis with convenient in-home display devices.
They can also choose from a range of electricity pricing plans, thus allowing them to better manage their consumption and budgets, for example, by shifting their usage from peak to off-peak periods when electricity prices are lowest.
As grid owner, Singapore Power can use the system to better enhance delivery of electricity.
The system also enhances its ability to detect and respond promptly to localised power outages.
It will also allow Singapore Power to integrate new energy sources, like solar energy, into the grid.
This system also caters to the possibility of electric vehicles connecting to the grid, both to draw electricity from the grid and also to supply electricity to the grid.
EMA said the pilot project would allow it to test out promising smart grid applications in selected areas before rolling them out on a wider scale.
Gene sleuths uncover the secrets of the civet
Yahoo News 29 Sep 10;
PARIS (AFP) – The Asian palm civet, a small nocturnal carnivore famous for excreting coffee beans prized by gourmets, in fact comprises three species, French scientists said on Wednesday.
Instead of one species, until now known as Paradoxurus hermaphroditus, there should be three, according to molecular biologists at the Museum of National History in Paris.
The species have developed separately in different habitats -- northeastern India; Southeast Asia, including Indonesia; and parts of Borneo and the Philippines.
Tree-loving and fruit-eating, palm civets are arguably best known for a smooth-tasting Indonesian coffee known as Kopi Luwak.
Its beans come from the ripest fruits eaten by the civet, which are claimed to pass through its digestive tract unscathed, enhanced by enzymes.
Retrieved from the faeces, the beans are roasted before being sold for up to 500 dollars per kilogramme (227 dollars per pound). Only 200 kilos (440 pounds) of the coffee are produced each year.
Audrey Mcavoy, Associated Press Yahoo News 30 Sep 10;
HONOLULU – Corals at remote atolls northwest of the main Hawaiian islands suffered some bleaching this summer as ocean temperatures rose to higher-than-normal levels for a couple of weeks, but they were spared the large-scale mass bleaching observed this year in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia, scientists said Wednesday.
Corals appear white or "bleached" when the ocean becomes too hot and they expel the algae they rely on to survive. Corals may recover if the algae returns, but they're still significantly weaker and more vulnerable to disease.
Thirty percent of the Kure atoll reef and one-fifth of the Pearl and Hermes atoll reef bleached, according to scientists who spent the past month on a research cruise in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. Corals at other atolls inside the monument were unaffected.
"There were certain areas where the bleaching was kind of severe, where it was just a white carpet essentially," said Peter Vroom, chief scientist of the cruise, which returned to Oahu on Wednesday.
"Other areas you would see a coral head that's had a lot of color, but maybe a quarter of it would be white," Vroom said.
Scientists say it's unclear what the long-term effect of this summer's bleaching will be. Corals in the monument — which account for 69 percent of all coral under U.S. jurisdiction — were exposed to only two weeks of slightly above normal temperatures.
Rusty Brainard, chief of the NOAA Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center's coral reef ecosystem division, said coral starts dying after about two months of being exposed to higher-than-normal temperatures.
In May, marine biologists working for the Wildlife Conservation Society observed coral bleaching off Indonesia's Aceh province when surface waters there peaked at 93 degrees — 7 degrees higher than long-term averages. Subsequent surveys found 80 percent of the bleached corals had died. Warmer temperatures this year also affected reefs in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.
In the Caribbean, scientists said this week that corals are being exposed to water temperatures higher than those reported during a record bleaching period five years ago. They warned corals there could start dying in coming weeks.
Brainard said the Hawaii and Southeast Asia bleaching events are related in that they both occurred as global temperatures hit records from January through September.
"The common denominator is more on a planetary scale," Brainard said. "There's more heat on the planet this year in the first nine months than any other year."
He said bleaching hadn't even been observed in corals until 20 years ago.
"Then with these El Nino events we started seeing more bleaching. And now these are occurring — this is one of the symptoms of global warming," he said. "Even these small events, I think what they indicate is the whole scale is shifting."
What the Hawaii corals experienced was significantly more mild than Southeast Asia. But being bleached could hurt the corals over time.
Heidi Schuttenberg, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's research coordinator for the monument, predicted the bleached corals would be sick by the time scientists return for another research trip next year.
"When corals are bleaching, they're essentially starving," Schuttenberg said. "They're very weak so even if they survive their event, they're much more vulnerable to disease, and they have much lower reproductive capacity."
ECOS Magazine: Towards a Sustainable Future
Wendy Pyper Science Alert 30 Sep 10;
Living whales can provide as much, if not more, valuable scientific information to aid their conservation than dead ones. This was the message behind a report released by the Australian and New Zealand governments at the 62nd International Whaling Commission meeting in Agadir, Morocco, last June.
The report documents preliminary results from a six-week joint Australian–New Zealand Antarctic whale expedition to the Southern Ocean between February and March this year.
Seventeen researchers from Australia, New Zealand and France gathered new information about whales using non-lethal techniques – including skin biopsy, photography, satellite tagging, and acoustics – to study the population structure, distribution, movement, feeding and ecological role of Southern Ocean whales.
The expedition was the first project conducted under the banner of the Southern Ocean Research Partnership (SORP), which formed in March 2009 and involves 12 countries.
Working from two small boats supported by New Zealand’s research vessel, Tangaroa, the research team – led by Dr Nick Gales of the Australian Antarctic Division – collected 64 skin biopsy samples and 61 individual tail fluke photographs from humpback whales. The team also satellite-tagged 30 humpback whales in their Southern Ocean feeding grounds. By deploying 110 sonobuoys (passive ‘listening’ devices), the team recorded sounds from blue, humpback, minke, fin and sperm whales, and an unidentified beaked whale. They also tracked the movements of blue whales for 36 hours.
Humpback whales were the most commonly sighted species, particularly around the Balleny Islands. Dr Gales says the sightings data will contribute to a major SORP project investigating Southern Hemisphere humpback whale populations around Antarctica. The satellite tagging results will provide information on the medium-scale movement of humpbacks in their Antarctic feeding grounds, and links between their Antarctic feeding grounds and their tropical breeding grounds.
Photo identification will also help build a picture of humpback population distribution.
‘Matching tail fluke photos taken in the feeding grounds on this expedition with those taken on breeding grounds by others will contribute to our understanding of the mixing between breeding populations on common feeding grounds in Antarctica,’ says Dr Gales.
To complete the picture, genetic analysis of the skin biopsy samples from 64 humpback whales will give scientists an insight into the population structure in Antarctic waters and the sex composition of whales in Antarctica for comparison with whales migrating along the east Australian coast.
The team will also use genetic techniques to study age-related gene expression, which could lead to a simple, non-lethal ageing method for baleen whales.
Passive acoustic sonobuoys were deployed to identify the sounds produced by whales in the study region and compare them with sounds recorded in other regions of the Southern Ocean. Blue whales were the most commonly recorded species, and their sounds were similar to those recorded from blue whales at other Antarctic sites. In contrast, humpback whales were rarely recorded, but their limited recordings were intriguing.
‘We did record a humpback whale song with the repetition of distinct stereotypic phrases,’ Dr Gales says. ‘As far as we know, this is the first instance where structured song-like sounds have been recorded from humpback whales on their Southern Ocean feeding grounds. Previously, it was thought that humpback whales only sang during their migration to and from, and while on, their breeding grounds.’
To learn more about the diet of whales, active acoustic instruments – ship-based ‘echosounders’ that emit ‘pinging’ sounds into the water – were used to detect aggregations of krill and small fish in humpback feeding areas. Dense schools of krill, the largest of which was about one kilometre across, were usually found around whale aggregations.
Schools of what are thought to be Antarctic silverfish (Pleurogramma antarctica) were also detected around the Balleny Islands. Samples of krill, phytoplankton and small invertebrates such as salps, amphipods and squid larvae were collected. Their carbon and nitrogen signatures will be compared with those found in the whales’ skin biopsy samples to identify the whales’ prey and feeding locations.
Dr Gales says the team will complete their analysis of expedition data before presenting the International Whaling Commission with a full report next year.
Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 29 Sep 10;
Jakarta. The government lacks the political will to protect two tree families highlighted earlier this week by scientists for their vulnerability to exploitation, experts said on Tuesday.
On Monday, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said the conservation of the Dipterocarpaceae and Thymelaeaceae families of trees needed to be made a priority.
The Dipterocarpaceae family of large trees found in Kalimantan includes highly valuable species such as the meranti, kruing and kapur. The Thymelaeaceae family includes species such as aloe and agar, which are prized for their distinctive scent.
Of the 42 Dipterocarpaceae species, Dipterocarpaceae litoralis is considered the most at risk of extinction because it is found only in Nusa Kembangan, Central Java.
“I went to Nusa Kembangan in 2006 and found almost no Dipterocarpaceae litoralis trees there,” said Tukirin Partomihardjo, a LIPI researcher.
“In 2000, I managed to find six big trees spread out over a 20-hectare area.”
He said LIPI would submit its recommendation for the priority conservation to forestry officials for follow-up efforts.
“With sufficient research, we hope to be able to find ways to multiply the species and protect them,” Tukirin said.
“We hope that with sufficient legal protection, we can get a logging moratorium for Dipterocarpaceae litoralis in Nusa Kembangan, which could eventually lead to the protection of other species.
However, the LIPI researcher said that he was not hopeful, noting that scientific recommendations usually lost out to political interests.
Inclusion of the Dipterocarpaceae and Tyhmelaeaceae families of trees into the government list of protected species depends on approval from the House of Representatives.
Harry Santosa, the director of conservation and biodiversity at the Ministry of Forestry, said that his office was considering all recommendations for conservation from the scientific establishment.
“We already have a list of plant and animal species protected under a 1999 government regulation, which is currently being reviewed, so we welcome any suggestions,” Harry said.
Last year, LIPI recommended that 100 species from four plant families be included in the list of protected species.
However, that recommendation has still not been approved by the government.
Indonesia ranks fourth, alongside Brazil, for the highest number of endangered plants with 386 species from 44 families.
The biggest family facing extinction is the Dipterocarpaceae family, which accounts for 37 percent of the 386 affected species.
Ismira Lutfia Jakarta Globe 29 Sep 10;
Jakarta. Environmental activists have called on the government to abandon its business-as-usual approach to granting forestry concessions and suggested an action plan to implement a moratorium on new concessions.
Under an agreement signed by Indonesia and Norway in Oslo in May, Indonesia pledged to stop issuing new logging permits for peatland and primary natural forests between 2011 and 2013.
The agreement will see Norway provide a $1 billion fund for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) schemes in Indonesian forests.
On Tuesday, Giorgio Budi Indarto, coordinator of the Civil Society Forum for Climate Justice, said the government should use the implementation of the moratorium as an opportunity to re-evaluate its “inconsistent policies” between forest conservation and exploitation.
“The government can begin by freezing the issuance of new logging and mining concessions, and appointing independent bodies to review previous concessions,” he said.
To ensure the moratorium can be put into effect, Giorgio said, the government must issue a presidential decree to serve as a legal reference for a logging ban.
However, he warned that the decree should not be treated as a “final target but as part of a process that we have to go through to achieve zero deforestation.”
The next step, he said, would be for the government to compile a list of forest areas assessed by their ecological value, and to reclassify forest allocation.
Last, the government must resolve social problems stemming from deforestation that affect local communities, Giorgio said.
“The locals have to be taken into account, including their indigenous right to benefit from the forests,” he said.
But Yuyun Indradi, a political campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said that he was pessimistic that Indonesia would be able to achieve its commitment to reduce emissions by as much as 41 percent, a pledge made by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last year.
“The implementation of the moratorium in the field so far hasn’t provided any guarantees that there will be any reduction in emissions,” he said.
“It looks like the government really lacks the intention to slow the pace of deforestation and reduce emissions.”
Governments have to stop thinking about biodiversity protection as loss but as an investment to ensure long-term stability
Robert Bloomfield guardian.co.uk 29 Sep 10;
In some extraordinary scenes at the UN general assembly last week, where a special session began with the stark message that addressing biodiversity loss was not a luxury but a duty, secretary general Ban Ki-moon rang the alarm bells saying that the situation was an emergency, one requiring an internationally agreed rescue package akin to the global bank crisis. Governments had to stop thinking about environmental (biodiversity) protection as a loss, he said, but as an investment alongside the other measures needed to ensure long-term stability.
At the same time last week, the actor Ed Norton, the UN's goodwill ambassador for biodiversity, urged people to use their purchasing power to influence opinion, saying that it could have a bigger impact on industry – a primary driver of biodiversity impacts – than government policy. Norton's event ended with the ringing of a memorial bell, which was joined by bell-ringing around the world – including at Peterborough Cathedral, which tolled its bell 492 times for each species known to have become extinct in England in recent history.
Despite the star power, behind the scenes in the UN the international negotiators were not pulling in harmony. There is concern that next month's crucial meeting in Nagoya, Japan, could end up in a cacophony as efforts to reach agreement about biodiversity for the next decade falter.
There are two primary causes for this concern. The first is that one country in particular won't fully cooperate. The CBD (Convention on Biological Diversity) has almost universal support, now with 193 countries having full status. However, as Norton highlights, the US only has observer status at the CBD. This is not only hugely politically embarrassing, it has a major impact on key decisions which need to be made in Japan.
The second, and bigger threat, is disagreement over the creation of a biodiversity equivalent to climate science's IPCC. While Brazil, Germany and the EU all heralded the establishment of IPBES (Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) as a major breakthrough, a threat has emerged over its full implementation. This panel is seen as essential in getting better-informed responses and action at global and national levels.
But there are three components of a deal in Nagoya that could cause some countries to not support IPBES's implementation if financial arrangements cannot be agreed for them. Brazil's environment minister Izabella Teixeira laid them out last week:
A comprehensive Strategic Plan with new country targets to implement measures to protect biodiversity and ecosystems
An agreement on how countries with important genetic resources in their biodiversity, particular developing countries, will benefit from any commercial development of these assets
The creation of a new strategy and financial plan that can mobilise the resources to make a difference
While these issues are surmountable, what the CBD and the UN are saying is that global society has to change, change fast and change dramatically if the consequences of biodiversity loss are to be avoided – including major setbacks to addressing climate change and global poverty alleviation.
The message was clear: that the rate of damage caused by man in recent years, and in the next few decades, will have a monumental impact for thousands of years. And the call is for an unprecedented programme of global ecosystem restoration which has to be supported in all areas of governance – from heads of state, through all government departments.
The value of ecosystems' natural assets has to be in our economic accounting – and this is in the red. The movement towards a green economy places biodiversity centre stage and it is the greatest challenge of the decade ahead. The representative for Japan recognised this, calling on the UN to accept a resolution that 2011 to 2020 be called the International Decade of Biodiversity.
What is dispiriting is the lack of widespread media interest to these events. The Guardian's own reporting and initiatives Biodiversity100 and Piece by Piece are much welcome exceptions. The media could be doing so much more to engage the public and we need millions of people to understand, to ring bells, glockenspiels, mobile ring tones, maracas, bang tins and empty plastic bottles and demand that governments take heed.
I hope that Nagoya will be cause for celebration and not the knell for biodiversity actions because of short-sighted and narrow political positioning. To coin a phase, For whom the Bell Tolls, The Bell Tolls for You, and Me, and You and You and You…
•Dr Robert Bloomfield is the co-ordinator of International Year of Biodiversity in the UK. IYB-UK and the Natural History Museum are running The Big Nature Debate
* Global crisis hits human water security, nature
* U.S., Europe mask crisis with trillion-dollar spending
* New approach urged to protect freshwater flows
Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent Reuters AlertNet 29 Sep 10;
OSLO, Sept 29 (Reuters) - The world's rivers are in crisis including in North America and Europe where governments have invested trillions of dollars to clean up freshwater supplies, a study showed on Wednesday.
"Threats to human water security and biological diversity are pandemic," Charles Vorosmarty of the City University of New York, co-lead author of the report in the journal Nature, told Reuters.
The international team of scientists estimated that almost 80 percent of the world's population -- or about 5 billion people -- lived in areas with high levels of threat to water security, caused mainly by river mismanagement and pollution.
"Rivers in Crisis," Nature said on its front cover.
A map showed high levels of threat, in red, for much of the United States including the Mississippi basin, along with almost all of Europe. India, including the Ganges basin, and eastern China with the Yangtze River were also shown in red.
Rising wealth often meant worsening threats, for instance from badly sited dams or rising pollution from fertilisers, pesticides and other chemicals. Rich nations then covered up mismanagement by installing costly treatment plants.
The authors urged a re-think to safeguard rivers, especially those now less affected in developing nations. The world population is on track to reach 9 billion by 2050 from 6.8 billion now.
The study said it was first to examine in detail a twin set of threats -- to clean water supplies for people and to the biological diversity of life in rivers, from fish to crocodiles.
THREATS TO LAST
"Given escalating trends in species extinction, human population, climate change, water use and development pressures, freshwater systems will remain under threat well into the future," they wrote.
Least affected rivers were in parts of Siberia, Canada, Alaska, the Amazon basin or northern Australia, they said. Parts of the Amazon, the Congo and the Nile had low threats.
In rich nations, people often failed to grasp the underlying problems with water supplies because tap water was cleaned.
"In the industrialised world, the water management strategy is to patch up the problems at the end of the pipeline rather than the underlying causes," Peter McIntyre, co-lead author at the University of Michigan, told Reuters.
The study urged other nations not to follow the rich which had invested trillions of dollars in managing rivers, ranging from dams for hydro-electric plants to building artificial barriers to allow cropland on flood plains.
"If your concern is flooding you might wish to preserve flood plains and wetlands in low-lying areas as they absorb the shock of floods," Vorosmarty said.
"That would obviate the need to build a flood containment system costing millions of dollars," he said.
In one positive example, New York City bought an area of the Catskills Mountains to help provide naturally filtered water, reckoning it cheaper than a water treatment plant.
The authors said that it might take decades to get politicians sufficiently engaged to fix the problems. "In the meantime, a substantial fraction of the world's population and countless freshwater species remain imperilled," they wrote.
(Editing by Peter Graff)
* Rise of developing economies calls for new approach
* Research should be more relevant
Lesley Wroughton Reuters AlertNet 29 Sep 10;
WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) - World Bank President Robert Zoellick on Wednesday called on economists to rethink the way they look at issues affecting developing nations and said he was overhauling the way his institution approached research.
Zoellick said development economics was often too narrowly focused and not transparent to those affected by policies that emerged from the analysis.
He said the global financial crisis and the rise of developing countries had forced a rebalancing of the world economy and raised questions about policy approaches.
"Even before the crisis there was a questioning of prevailing paradigms and a sense that development economics needed rethinking," he said in a speech at Georgetown University. "The crisis has only made that more compelling."
Zoellick, who is is not an economist, said as a policymaker he looked to development economics even more for answers. He said success in tackling global poverty was uneven and countries were frustrated with the lack of progress.
He said the World Bank would apply its economic know-how to studying issues from food security to what drives growth to be more relevant to the developing countries it assists.
The Bank would make its research available online free of charge so that it can be accessed not only by other economists but also by "a health care worker or parent in a village".
"We need to democratize and demystify development economics, recognizing that we do not have a monopoly on the answers," he said. "We need to throw open the doors, recognizing that others can find and create their own solutions."
The World Bank chief said there were lessons from the experience of emerging economics like China, where rapid economic growth has reduced poverty and created new markets.
His speech followed a week after world leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama called for a new approach to development to meet goals agreed by the United Nations in 2000 to tackle global poverty, disease and hunger.
Obama said the United States would focus its development assistance more toward helping countries develop their economies. He called for results-based development -- applying strategies that in practice benefit the poor.
FILLING IN THE GAPS
Zoellick said experience had shown that what may work for one country does not necessarily work for others. He said development knowledge should become "multi-polar" and recognize developing countries are new poles of growth.
"I believe we need a more practical approach -- one that is firmly grounded in the key knowledge gaps for development policy," he said. "One that is geared to the needs of policymakers and practitioners -- as a primary focus, not as an academic afterthought. One that throws open the doors to all those with hands-on experience."
He identified four areas that needed more research. These included a better understanding of how economic transformations occur and why some countries are able to grow and others remain trapped in dire poverty.
Research should also help countries understand how access to economic opportunities can be broadened, including by connecting education to jobs and giving the poor access to markets and finance.
Zoellick said research should look closer at risk to do with natural disasters to health pandemics, and climate changes that are affecting food production. Lastly, more study was needed to gather evidence and data to evaluate and assess the effectiveness of development efforts, including aid, he added.
Feeding behavior of milky stork 乳白鹳觅食
from PurpleMangrove
Collared Kingfisher catches a froglet
from Bird Ecology Study Group
1,263 styrofoam pieces, 610 cigarette butts and 0 sunburns – Northland Primary @ Changi Beach 1 from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore
Massive reclamation near Labrador continues until Mar 2011
from wild shores of singapore
15 Oct is Blog Action Day - "Water" is the theme for 2010
from wild shores of singapore
Atrium@Orchard Fri 1st – Sun 3rd Oct 2010: “Shop Wise, Save Lives”- cruelty-free shopping on World Animal Day from Otterman speaks
Syinconnect 2010: a social innovation conference
from Green Drinks Singapore
Network of charging stations may be ready by end of this year
Christopher Tan, Straits Times 29 Sep 10;
AFTER a slow start, the Government-funded plan to put a test fleet of electric cars on the road could finally be plugged in and ready to roll.
The first cars are unlikely to arrive this year as anticipated, but work to build a network of charging stations will start soon.
The Energy Market Authority (EMA) told The Straits Times it will announce by next week the company that clinched the bid to build the infrastructure.
It had received bids ranging from $988,600 to $11.07 million from 11 companies, including Hitachi Asia, Robert Bosch (South-east Asia) and Wearnes Automotive & Equipment.
Work to build the network of up to 63 charging stations is expected to be completed by year end or early next year.
The setting up of this infrastructure is the first concrete step in a multimillion-dollar project to test the robustness and efficiency of electric vehicles here. Little data has been gathered so far on how these cars perform in hot and humid places.
The infrastructure has to be up before the electric cars arrive - something the EMA had expected would happen by the middle of this year when it announced the project in May last year.
Asked how long setting up the charging network would take, a Bosch spokesman said it was difficult to say. 'A lot depends on the number of charging stations and where they are located,' he said.
Explaining the delay, an EMA spokesman said: 'The electric vehicle test-bed is a complex undertaking that brings together multiple interdependent activities. Getting each part right is critical to the overall success of the project.'
She said the appointment of a charging infrastructure provider 'is only part of the bigger picture'; it has to be done in conjunction with, for example, getting potential users on board and ensuring compliance with international standards, 'which are still evolving'.
The Straits Times understands Mitsubishi Motors has received confirmed orders for 25 i-MiEV electric cars, down from 50 initially. They are expected to arrive between February and March.
Other manufacturers are keen to be in on the project, but have not received firm orders.
Mr Andre Roy, group managing director of Wearnes' automotive division, which represents the Renault brand among others, said the company is still working on plans to bring in the electric Renault Fluence ZE.
'We've been in intense discussions with EMA in the past two weeks about terms and conditions,' he said.
The Government is waiving taxes on electric cars under the Transport Technology Innovation and Development Scheme (Tides). A Mitsubishi i-MiEV, which costs close to $200,000, will be around $90,000 after a tax break under this scheme.
Running it will cost the Government $75 million in tax revenue over six years.
Another $20 million has been set aside for test-bedding the project, which may explain why the EMA is not rushing into it.
'We are committed to making the test-bed a fruitful exercise,' its spokesman said.
Electric car advocates applaud Singapore's move to get these vehicles on the road, but feel more can be done.
Mr Michael Magura, managing director of new-tech consultancy Clean Tech Agency, said: 'I see an aggressive push for electric vehicles around the world, and I think Singapore needs to be a little more aggressive in moving this forward for consumers.'
He suggested that Tides, now open only to government agencies and corporations, be tweaked to entice 'early and eager adopters' of electric cars.
Marine biologist is studying predator's state in Arabian Gulf
Emmanuelle Landais, Gulf News 28 Sep 10;
Dubai: The sight of hundreds of bloodied dead sharks, waiting to be sold at fish markets across the UAE does not bode well for the ocean's super-predator.
Sharks play an important role in the ocean's food chain and their decline is already being felt in commercial fisheries worldwide.
While fisheries statistics around the world indicate that 80 per cent of the existing global shark reserves have already been fished out, no research has been carried out on the Arabian Gulf's shark population.
However a new study on sharks in the Gulf has just been launched in collaboration with fishermen and the UAE University in Al Ain.
Ecosystem collapse
"The state of sharks in the Arabian Gulf is a blank," said Rima Jabado, marine biologist and a doctoral degree candidate at UAE University. "Attention should be given to sharks — they're the apex predator and their demise could lead to the collapse of the marine ecosystem."
In Australia, it's been reported that low numbers of sharks have led to an increase in the number of octopuses, who without the predators to keep them at bay, devour the entire lobster population.
And with fewer sharks along the US Atlantic Coast, cownose rays have increased so much that they've wiped out bay scallops by feeding on them.
This summer, Spain's Ministry of the Environment said the decline of natural marine predators was likely the cause of jellyfish blooms that led to the closure of several beaches along the Costa Blanca.
Rima's research will monitor the shark population in the UAE to find out which species are here and exactly where they've come from. The project is part of her doctoral study on shark fishing in the UAE which focuses on species diversity, distribution and abundance, as well as feeding ecology and the fin trade.
Her three-year research has already begun. She has so far interviewed 126 fishermen from landing sites all over the UAE.
"The majority of the fishermen would want to protect sharks and believe in the protection of fish for a sustainable fishery," said Rima. "But if sharks are caught in a fisherman's net, should they be thrown back? Perhaps they should be brought in? [This subject] causes them to debate. Some complain that sharks just make holes in their nets."
Data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation showed that between 1985 and 2000, shark landings in the UAE were relatively stable with between 1,300 and 1,950 tonnes per year.
A decade ago, the UAE was already considered one of the main exporters of shark fins to Hong Kong with 400 to 500 tonnes per year being sent to East Asia to meet demand for shark fin soup, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Diana Rose The Star 29 Sep 10;
DIVING operators in Miri are not amused over a statement that “human factors” have contributed to coral-bleaching near Miri and Similajau.
“What human factors are they talking about?” asked James Wan, owner of Planet Borneo, a popular travel agent in Miri, which organises diving activities.
James was reacting to a report by a group of eco-minded divers who reported their findings to the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) after monitoring the area voluntarily for the last two years.
According to the group, coral reefs near Miri and Similajau are suffering significant coral-bleaching due to environmental and human factors.
James told StarMetro that diving was a niche market product and that divers were required to have a permit before they could pursue this underwater hobby.
“At its peak we have about 300 divers coming to Miri in a year. Otherwise, on average we have only 200 divers a year.
“If it’s true that Miri is a popular mass diving sites I will be laughing all the way to the bank by now,” he said.
Brushing aside fears that the coral-bleaching problem would affect the city as a popular dive site, James said: “We are still bringing guests to dive at various sites off the coast of Miri. Coral-bleaching happens when the water reaches 31*C but once the temperature goes down, the corals are back to normal. Marine life and the coral reefs here are still in beautiful condition.”
James said that on average a diver would spend about RM350 for a day, diving in Miri.
The Star also reported recently that SFC protected areas and bio-diversity conservation general manager Wilfred Landong as saying that various measures were being recommended to tackle the bleaching problem but they could not be achieved overnight.
He believed that public awareness was crucial in any conservation effort along with enforcement and rehabilitation.
“Other than global warming, many factors contribute to coral-bleaching. It could be caused by destruction of habitats and pollution, which needs along-term strategy to minimise the impact. Our conservation strategy is to get the public to assist us, thereby creating more awareness,” he said.
He said that several national parks in Sarawak, namely Tanjung Datu, Talang-Satang, Similajau and Miri-Sibuti were gazetted for the purpose of marine conservation.
S. Ista Kyra New Straits Times 28 Sep 10;
BUKIT MERAH: In an effort to help orang utans to roam freely in the forests of Peninsular Malaysia, steps are being taken by the Bukit Merah Orang Utan Island Foundation (BMOUIF) to open its second island sanctuary for the primates.
The endangered species, which once roamed freely throughout Southeast Asia, are now only found out of captivity on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra and their numbers are dwindling as their natural habitats encounter extensive destruction.
The foundation's board of trustees chairman, Tan Sri Mustapha Kamal Abu Bakar, said a proposal was under way to study the feasibility of the primates' survival in the wild.
He noted that under the proposal, two primates from the first sanctuary, would be transferred to a nearby 5.6ha island, known as B.J. Island where they were expected to procreate under minimal human contact and assistance.
"If the offspring of the pair manage to survive and fend for themselves without human intervention, then the idea of them being released to our jungles would become a possibility," he said at a discussion seminar between BMOUIF and a panel of advisers at Bukit Merah Laketown Resort, here, yesterday.
"After 10 years of establishing the first sanctuary, we have found that orang utans can indeed survive in the the jungles of peninsula.
"The fact that the island now has 26 primates, compared with only three when we first started is proof that they can breed in peninsula forests. That is why our next step is to learn if these animals can be left to live naturally in the wild," he added.
A pair of dominant male and female orang utans would be introduced to B.J. Island in five months time and a study would be conducted by a team led by Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University's Assistant Professor Dr Misato Hayashi.
"Tourists will not be allowed to approach the primates on the new island, and except for the scientists and researchers, who need to collect data and observe their behaviour, they will be left pretty much alone."
However, he said, the first island sanctuary, at the resort which is the only one of its kind in the world, would continue to serve as a tourist attraction and led by BMOUIF's veterinary service senior manager, Dr D. Sabapathy.
Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk James Dawos Mamit, who also attended the discussion seminar and toured the island, said the new island would be a suitable transit place for the orang utans to get used to living independently. He also pointed out that more conservation efforts should be introduced to ensure the survival of orang utans.
James said he was looking for ways to introduce orang utans in locations near Kuala Lumpur to serve as a tourist attraction.
Daily Express 28 Sep 10;
Kota Kinabalu: Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun wants Sabah Parks to look into the carrying capacity of all islands under their care following with the increase in human traffic.
"There are crowds ... the question is can the island or for example Mammon Island sustain human traffic which is rising in number.
"I've asked Sabah Parks to look into this matter. Plus there may come a time, just like in Sipadan ... and I said there may come a time where we have to restrict the number of visitors per day."
He told reporter at the launching of Project Aware at Mamutik Island off here, Saturday. Masidi added that the Mamutik island has an area of 30 acres.
"We are not going to make a decision in a hurry but rather ask Sabah Parks to study the matter whether it is necessary for us to keep or restrict the number of visitors per week," Masidi said.
He said that the move has been implemented on Redang Island in Terengganu following coral bleaching, adding that it is a good wake up call for Sabah.
"Here, a professor of Universiti Malaysia Sabah has questioned that there seems to be a conclusive evidence that there is a form of coral bleaching but he attributed it to the weather and the rising in water temperature.
"Still, I don't think we should take chances. What happened in Redang is a good wake up call for us.
"For that reason alone, Sabah Parks must make a thorough study on the possibility for us to keep the numbers of visitors in any particular day."
The Age 28 Sep 10;
INSECTS may be small but something microscopic — the DNA of the insect — is set to play a big role in helping scientists isolate the impact of pollution on urban streams.
Bio21 Institute research fellow Melissa Carew is part of a Melbourne research team developing cutting-edge molecular tools to more easily identify aquatic insect species.
In turn, she says, the "molecular biosignatures" of aquatic macroinvertebrates will help Melbourne Water and the Environment Protection Authority — partners in the research — apply better remedies to pollution, faster. And it will mean less taxing work for taxonomists.
How are aquatic ecosystems under increasing threat by human activities?
In Melbourne, thanks to urban sprawl, there's a major problem within catchments because the modified environment has a large effect on our streams. Habitat is being destroyed around streams and there are increased loads of pollutants going into them from industrial and residential estates: nitrogen from fertilisers used in gardens, zinc from zinc-aluminium roofs on large sheds and chemical run-off from roads.
And the threat is exacerbated by climate change?
With drought we have reduced water flows, so our streams become more stagnant and more sediments and toxicants build up. There are predictions that there will be much less rainfall in south-eastern Australia — and that will reduce flows further.
How do you measure aquatic pollution?
The condition of aquatic macroinvertebrates — all the insects, crustaceans, molluscs and worms that live in the streams — plays a major part in the monitoring that's done around Australia. But currently, because insects are so difficult to identify, we tend to use them at the family level. If we can identify them at a lower taxonomic level — such as species — we can get a lot more information.
What approach are you working on?
We're using DNA techniques to create a "DNA barcode" for each species. So rather than have a person look down a microscope and look for the number of hairs on the back of an animal, or little structures that are very similar in species, you can reduce it down to a DNA sequence, which would then be specific to a group of species. It means we can avoid having to spend months sitting at microscopes with experts in these insect groups — simply by taking a sample of these animals from the environment and then isolating their DNA and, potentially, going through and pulling out the DNA barcodes.
What happens once you know which species are present at a site?
We link that back to the ecological and pollution-sensitivity information we have about those species, and make an assessment of that environment.
So you combine the DNA approach with a field-based microcosm method?
Yes. That's what we're using to try to develop a lot of the "biosignatures". We're exposing animals — using these microcosms — to different kinds of pollutants, to build up a profile of those animals, and what categories of pollution they're tolerant or sensitive to.
So it's all about identifying insect indicator species?
That's correct. In aquatic environments, we could literally have thousands upon thousands of different species, but only some of those animals will be really good as indicators.
Industry must be keen on this work.
Well, rather than just being able to say something's good or bad, we can actually say what the problem is — so if it is a pollution problem, then management agencies can target their response. For instance, Melbourne Water could put in wetlands to help remove a nitrogen problem. If it's a heavy metal problem, it may put in a treatment plant on the stormwater drain to remove all the metals before they're deposited in the creek.
DEB ANDERSON
• More than third of missing animals are rediscovered
• Bahian tree rat found 180 years after last sighting
Ian Sample, The Guardian 28 Sep 10;
The Guadalupe fur seal was feared extinct, gone the way of the dodo after being slaughtered by Russian and American hunters for their skins. None could be found at breeding grounds and as sightings elsewhere tailed off the species was consigned to history.
So why are there thousands of Guadalupe fur seals swimming off the coast of Mexico now? As naturalists gladly admit, reports of the species' demise at the end of the 19th century were premature. Small numbers of the animals clung on in island caves and were rediscovered only decades later. The population is now thriving, with the latest estimate putting their number at 15,000 or more.
But the case of the Guadalupe fur seal is far from unique – and more animals feared extinct could be waiting to be rediscovered. A survey of the world's mammals published today reveals that more than a third of species once feared extinct have since been spotted in the wild, in one case 180 years after the last confirmed sighting. Rare mammals that were considered dead but later rediscovered were typically missing for 52 years.
The Guadalupe seal was hunted to apparent extinction in 1892, but a tiny colony was spotted on the island by two fishermen in 1926. After a failed attempt to sell two of the animals to San Diego zoo, one of the fishermen went back to slaughter the colony out of spite. He later turned up in Panama to sell the skins, but was killed in a bar brawl. The seals were only rediscovered and protected when a zoologist tracked down the second fisherman, who revealed their location on his deathbed in 1950.
One rodent, the Bahian tree rat, which lives in forests on the Brazilian coast, went missing in 1824. Despite efforts by conservationists, the animal was not rediscovered until 2004. The bridled nailtail wallaby was once common in eastern Australia but seemed to die out in the 1930s. It was spotted in 1973 by a contractor who was preparing to clear an area of land. After he raised the alarm, the habitat was bought by the local parks service to save the animal. Another creature, a small marsupial called Gilbert's potoroo, was missing for 115 years before it was rediscovered in the south of Western Australia in 1994.
Diana Fisher, who led the survey at the University of Queensland, said the number of mammals going extinct was still accelerating despite large numbers of lost animals being found.
Conservation experts have already warned that the world is in the grip of the "sixth great extinction", as imported species and diseases, hunting and the destruction of natural habitats deal a fatal blow to plants and animals.
Writing in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Fisher lists 180 mammals reported as extinct, feared extinct, or missing since the year 1500. Of these, 67 were later found to be alive and well. Animals that were picked off by new predators were rarely rediscovered, while those threatened by a loss of habitat or hunting by humans were more likely to be holding on in small colonies, she found.
The survey highlights the uncertainties in lists of extinct species, but Fisher said it should help conservationists target their searches for missing species by focusing on those most likely to be alive.
More than 25 large-scale searches have failed to find thylacines, the carnivorous, dog-like marsupials that have not been seen in Australia for nearly 80 years.
Fisher said her analysis puts the chance of the species surviving at "virtually zero". Mammals that were hunted to extinction before the 20th century, such as Steller's sea cow, the Falkland Islands wolf, sea mink and the large Palau flying fox are also unlikely to be found now, Fisher said.
"Conservation resources are wasted searching for species that have no chance of rediscovery, while most missing species receive no attention," Fisher told the Guardian. "Rather than searching ever more for charismatic missing species, such as thylacines in Australia, it would be a better use of resources to look for species that are most likely to be alive, find out where they are, and protect their habitats," she added.
According to Fisher's survey, the most likely missing mammals to be found alive are the Montane monkey-faced bat in the Solomon Islands, Alcorn's pocket gopher, which was last seen in the high forests of Mexico, and the lesser stick-nest rat, a large, soft-furred desert animal from Australia.
Four other 'extinct' species
Bahian tree rat
A small rodent that lives in the coastal forests of Brazil. Was missing and presumed extinct for 180 years from 1824. A year-long search of the area in 2004 found only one of the animals living in the region. The species is critically endangered and is considered at threat from ongoing deforestation.
Bridled nailtail wallabyOnce common in eastern Australia, this nocturnal species, below left, was thought to have died out in 1930. The animal was rediscovered in Queensland after a contractor recognised it from a picture of extinct creatures published in a women's magazine. It gets its name from the horny, pointed tip on its tail. It was hunted for its fur, but more recent threats include foxes and habitat loss. It remains endangered.
Gilbert's potoroo
A small, silky-coated marsupial that was missing in Australia from 1879 to 1994, when conservationists found a tiny population of the animals in the Two People's Bay park area in the west of the country. The animal is likely to have survived because the reserve was already protected to save the habitat of a rare bird. The potoroo suffered from predation by cats and foxes that were introduced to the area. Those that remain are genetically very similar, leaving them vulnerable to diseases. It is one of Australia's rarest animals.
Leadbeater's possumA grey marsupial with black markings. Leadbeater's possum, below right, was known from only four specimens collected around 1900. It was considered extinct in 1920 when its habitat was destroyed, but was rediscovered in 1961 during a survey of a mountain forest in Victoria. The population stands at around 2,000 adults, a number that is expected to fall by 90% in 30 years as den trees and nesting habitat are lost.
A Third of ‘Extinct’ Mammals May Still Be Alive
Brian Switek Wired Science 29 Sep 10
There may be many more “extinct” mammals waiting to be rediscovered than conservation biologists previously thought.
Categorizing a mammal species as extinct has rested upon two criteria: It has not been seen for more than 50 years, or an exhaustive search has come up empty. But “extinct” species occasionally turn up again, and some species have disappeared more than once. Australia’s desert rat kangaroo, for example, was rediscovered in 1931 after having gone missing for almost a century, only to disappear again in 1935 when invasive red foxes moved into the area of the remaining survivors.
In order to determine how often extinct species had been rediscovered, University of Queensland scientists Diana Fisher and Simon Blomberg created a dataset of 187 mammal species that have been reported extinct, extinct in the wild, or probably extinct since 1500, as well as those which have been rediscovered. They also looked at historical data on the threats that caused species to become extinct — or brought them close to it — including habitat loss, introduced species and overkill by humans.
It turns out that rumors of the extinction of more than a third of these species have turned out to be premature, the scientists report in Proceedings of the Royal Society B Sept. 29. At least 67 species — a little more than a third of those presumed to be extinct — were later found again. And in most cases, these were animals that had been hardest hit by habitat loss.
Humans and invasive species have been significantly more efficient killers. It’s rare that a species reported extinct due to one of these causes has been seen again.
“If you think that a missing species is extinct and the main cause of decline was introduced predators such as feral foxes, cats or rats, then you are very likely to be right,” Fisher said. But, she added, “If the main cause of decline was habitat loss, you are quite likely to be wrong if you say that it’s extinct, unless it was restricted to a very small area.”
As an example, Fisher cites the Malabar civet, which was thought to be extinct due to habitat loss in 1929 but survived in marginal areas at least until 1987 when it was last seen on a cashew plantation. Unfortunately, that animal was killed by villagers, and no more have been seen since.
The team found species that were relatively sparsely distributed over a larger range were more likely to turn up again. But mammals of any particular evolutionary group or body size weren’t more likely to be rediscovered.
"I was a little bit surprised that body size was not important,” Fisher said. “I thought that small species might not be found so often, because they don’t attract much attention, but that wasn’t the case.”
With these findings in hand, conservation biologists may be better able to target species that are more likely to still be out there somewhere. While species hunted into extinction — such as the Stellar’s sea cow — are almost certainly gone forever, individuals of other species may still exist. Whether we find them again or not seems to be directly influenced by how hard we look.
According to Fisher and Blomberg, one or two searches for a missing species aren’t likely to succeed, but missing species that were the subject of three to six searches have often been rediscovered. Chances do not continue to get better past this point, though. Species that have been the subject of more than 11 searches, such as the Tasmanian tiger and the Yangtze dolphin, have not been found.
We may hope for the rediscovery of such charismatic species, but the chances of finding some of the lesser-known species that haven’t been looked for yet are significantly better. Among the good candidates for rediscovery Fisher lists are the Montane monkey-faced bat of the Solomon Islands, last seen on Guadalcanal in 1990, and Alcom’s pocket gopher, which was abundant in a high-elevation forest in Mexico in the late 1990’s but hasn’t been seen since.
“We should be trying to protect the habitat of recently extinct species,” Fisher said. “But this is not easy, because we don’t know where they might be rediscovered. It is not necessarily near where the species was last seen.”
Gilbert’s potoroo, for example, disappeared sometime around 1879 but was rediscovered in 1994 at Two People’s Bay in Australia in a reserve that had been set up to protect an endangered bird. Because many rediscovered species had populations that were spread over a wide area, ecologists have a lot of ground to cover in their search for “extinct” mammals.
Study Shows How Scientists Can Find Missing Species
David Fogarty PlaneArk 30 Sep 10;
More than a third of mammal species considered extinct or missing have been rediscovered, a study says, and a lot of effort is wasted in trying to find species that have no chance of being found again.
Species face an accelerated rate of extinction because of pollution, climate change, habitat loss and hunting and that this rate of loss is putting ecosystems and economies at ever greater risk, according to the United Nations.
Researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia said a greater understanding of patterns of extinction could channel more resources to finding and protecting species listed as missing before it's too late.
"In the past people have been very happy to see individual species found again but they haven't looked at the bigger picture and realized that it's not random," university research fellow Diana Fisher, lead author of the study, told Reuters.
Fisher and her colleague Simon Blomberg studied data on rediscovery rates of missing mammals to see if extinction from different causes is equally detectable. They also wanted to see which factors affected the probability of rediscovery.
They found that species affected by habitat loss were much more likely to be misclassified as extinct or to remain missing than those affected by introduced predators and diseases.
"It is most likely that the highest rates of rediscovery will come from searching for species that have gone missing during the twentieth century and have relatively large ranges threatened by habitat loss," they say in the report in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal.
The United Nations hosts a major meeting in Japan next month at which countries are expected to agree on a series of 2020 targets to combat the extinctions of plants and animals key to providing clean air and water, medicines and crops.
"Conservation resources are wasted searching for species that have no chance of rediscovery, while most missing species receive no attention," the authors say, pointing to efforts to try to find the Tasmanian tiger.
The last known living Tasmanian tiger, marsupial hunter the size of a dog, died in 1936 in a zoo.
Fisher told Reuters efforts to find missing species have led to success stories of animals and plants being rediscovered and the creation of protection programmes.
But the rediscoveries barely make a dent in the rate of species loss overall, Fisher said by telephone.
"The number of additions every year outweighs the number of that have been rediscovered. There's still an accelerating rate of extinctions every year of mammals.
ScienceDaily 27 Sep 10;
Scientists are reporting significant changes in the distribution of coastal fish species in south-east Australia which they say are partly due to climate change.
CSIRO's Climate Adaptation and Wealth from Oceans Flagships have identified 43 species, representing about 30 per cent of the inshore fish families occurring in the region, that exhibited shifts thought to be climate-related.
These include warm temperate surf-zone species such as Silver Drummer and Rock Blackfish that are breeding and have become more abundant, and range increases in Snapper and Rock Flathead. There is also a greater abundance of warm water tunas and billfishes and occasional visits from Queensland Groper and Tiger Sharks.
"Furthermore, up to 19 species, or 5 per cent, of Tasmanian coastal fish fauna have undergone serious declines or are possibly extinct locally," says the Curator of the Australian National Fish Collection, Dr Peter Last. "At the same time many warm temperate species have moved in and colonised the cool temperate Tasmanian region.
"Shifts in the distribution of marine animals in response to climate change can be detrimental to some species. The problem is that in southern Tasmania, shallow cold water species have nowhere to escape warmer conditions in the sea," Dr Last says.
Particularly at risk are species such as the Maugean Skate, which is now confined to Port Davey and Macquarie Harbour in Tasmania's southwest.
Dr Last and his colleagues from CSIRO and the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute outline the changes in a research paper published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.
Their data come from a range of sources -- published accounts, scientific surveys, spearfishing and angling competitions, commercial catches and underwater photographic records -- from the late 1800s to the present. The findings support information provided in Australia's first Marine Climate Change Impacts Report Card, released in 2009, which describes recorded and projected changes to marine species from shifts in climate.
Dr Last says south-eastern Australia is a climate change hotspot with well-documented changes already occurring over the past 70 years, including; southward penetration of the East Australian Current by about 350 kilometres and a temperature rise of almost 2ºC.
"Increased water temperatures in the Tasman Sea are likely to have a cascading effect through local marine ecosystems and, for example, the Bass Strait islands act as stepping stones or distributional pathways south. Already we are seeing biological responses to these changes in the increased presence of sea urchins and fishes from further north."
Co-authors of the paper were: CSIRO's Will White, Dan Gledhill and Alistair Hobday, and Rebecca Brown, Graham Edgar and Gretta Pecl from the Tasmanian Aquaculture and Fisheries Institute at the University of Tasmania.
Yahoo News 29 Sep 10;
LONDON (AFP) – More than a fifth of the world's plant species faces the threat of extinction, a trend with potentially catastrophic effects for life on Earth, according to research released on Wednesday.
But a separate study cautioned that extinction of mammals had been overestimated and suggested some mammal species thought to have been wiped out may yet be rediscovered.
Stephen Hopper, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, said the report on plant loss was the most accurate mapping yet of the threat to the planet's estimated 380,000 plant species.
"This study confirms what we already suspected, that plants are under threat and the main cause is human-induced habitat loss," Hopper said at the launch of the so-called Sampled Red List Index.
The study, carried out by Kew with the Natural History Museum in London and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), set a "major baseline" for future conservation efforts, he said.
"We cannot sit back and watch plant species disappear -- plants are the basis of all life on Earth, providing clean air, water, food and fuel. All animal and bird life depends on them, and so do we," Hopper added.
The study comes ahead of a meeting in Nagoya, Japan, from October 18 to 29, where members of the UN's Biodiversity Convention will set new targets to save endangered wildlife.
Craig Hilton-Taylor of the IUCN said he hoped the Nagoya meeting would set the goal of preventing the extinction of any known threatened species by 2020.
"We want to make sure that plants will not be forgotten," he said.
In their study, researchers assessed almost 4,000 species, of which 22 percent were classed as threatened, especially in tropical rain forest.
Plants were more threatened than birds, as threatened as mammals and less threatened than amphibians or corals, it said. Gymnosperms, the plant group including fir trees, were the most threatened.
The greatest peril came from man-induced habitat loss, mostly the conversion of natural habitats for crops or livestock. Human activity accounted for 81 percent of threats, said Kew researcher Neil Brummitt.
Meanwhile, a study by two Australian authors said Tuesday that fewer mammal species than believed may be extinct, especially those animals threatened by habitat loss.
Diana Fisher and Simon Blomberg of the University of Queensland said they had identified 187 mammals that have been "missing" since 1500, 67 species of which had subsequently been found again. Their paper was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, a journal of Britain's de-facto academy of science.
"Extinction is difficult to detect," the study said. "Species with long gaps in their sighting records, that might be considered possibly extinct, are often rediscovered."
Mammals hit by habitat loss were "much more likely to be misclassified as extinct" than those affected by introduced predators and diseases or by overhunting.... Hence impacts of habitat loss on extinction have likely been overestimated, especially relative to introduced species."
The authors said efforts to hunt extinct mammals should be diverted away from often fruitless attempts to rediscover "charismatic" species such as the thylacine, a stripy, carnivorous marsupial, the last known example of which died in 1936 in Tasmania.
Last week, conservationists announced that two species of African frog and a Mexican salamander feared to have become extinct last century had been found again after teams explored remote places, sometimes at great risk to themselves.
David Fogarty Reuters AlertNet 28 Sep 10;
SINGAPORE, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Tension between the European Union and poor countries could undermine U.N. talks on agreeing 2020 targets to preserve nature's riches that provide clean air, water and medicine, a top conservation official said.
The Oct. 18-29 talks in the Japanese city of Nagoya also aim to seal a treaty that outlines rules for access to genetic resources and discoveries, potentially a big source of cash for poor nations when dealing with drug and agricultural firms.
"This is going to go to the wall in terms of brinkmanship," said Jane Smart, director, biodiversity conservation group, of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Agreement on the genetic resources pact, called the access and benefit-sharing (ABS) protocol, was key, Smart told Reuters by telephone from Switzerland, because of the potential flow of money it could bring to corporations and poorer countries.
A draft strategic plan for 2020, set to be formally adopted at the Nagoya talks, calls for "effective and urgent action" either "to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2020" or "towards halting the loss of biodiversity" with no deadline.
It sets out 20 targets to help prevent a biological crisis that scientists say could imperil economies and mankind.
Studies show many of the world's ecosystems are facing increasing extinctions because of pollution, climate change, forest clearing and hunting.
The United Nations says its crucial to set new targets to curb the losses. Businesses and governments must also integrate the estimated multi-trillion dollar services provided by coral reefs that are key fishing grounds, forests that provide clean air and river water and mangroves that protect coastlines.
"What is contentious is that if no ABS protocol is agreed then countries might not adopt a strategic plan and that is a real and genuine worry," said Smart.
TENSION
"Some of the tension is between the developing countries and the EU," she said. "The EU has taken as their target to halt biodiversity loss by 2020," she added, a target many including the IUCN say is out of reach. The IUCN groups governments, scientists and environmentalists.
"Developing countries say that if you want to halt biodiversity loss, you will have to put a lot more cash in."
Current funding to safeguard biodiversity is about $3 billion a year but developing nations say this should be increased 100-fold.
"We need a new green-based economy. If governments all started using green procurement policies we could generate money to implement the strategic plan," Smart said. Redirecting more than $500 billion in fossil fuel subsidies was another source.
The United Nations says the world has failed to reach a goal, set in 2002, of a "significant reduction" in biodiversity losses by 2010 as agreed under the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The IUCN says species extinction rates are now up to 1,000 times greater than the average rates before mankind appeared and are increasing.
Smart said businesses and governments needed to integrate the value of the environment into decision-making.
"We've got to the point the (Convention on Biological Diversity) needs to go way beyond environment ministries. It needs to be looked at by finance and agriculture ministries, you name it. Everybody has got to be involved."
FACTBOX-The world's rising loss of species and its costs
Reuters AlertNet 28 Sep 10;
Sept 28 (Reuters) - The United Nations says the rate of animal and plant extinctions is up to 1,000 times higher than inferred in the fossil record, a biological crisis that is the worst since dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago.
U.N. talks in Japan next month aim to set 2020 targets to put the brakes on the loss of species. Scientists say the world needs to act to avoid disasters such as the drying out of the Amazon and ocean dead-zones caused by the build-up of fertilisers.
The United Nations says a growing human population, set to hit 9 billion by 2050, needs nature more than ever to ensure we can grow crops, breathe clean air, drink clean water and source new medicines from forests.
Following are some facts on species loss and costs.
-- Close to 30 countries have lost 90 per cent of their original forest cover. But the rate of deforestation is slowing. In the past decade, the annual loss of forests has averaged 13 million hectares (32 million acres), about the size of England, compared with 16 million hectares (39 million acres) a year during the 1990s.
-- Coral reefs in the Caribbean have declined by 80 per cent and globally 30 per cent of mangroves have been lost in the past two decades.
-- The IUCN's Red List of threatened species says 22 percent of the world's mammals are threatened and at risk of extinction.
Nearly a third of amphibians face the same threat, one in eight birds, 27 percent of reef-building corals, and 28 percent of conifers.
-- About a billion people rely on coral reefs and mangroves, vital fish nurseries that replenish fish stocks, a main source of protein. But rising ocean acidification linked to climate change and rising sea temperatures are damaging reefs. Over-fishing and clearing of mangroves is exacerbating the threat to livelihoods.
-- The United Nations Environment Programme says annual losses from deforestation and degradation are estimated at between $2 trillion and $4.5 trillion. Yet this could be tackled with annual investment of $45 billion.
-- A study by British-based consultancy TruCost this year said the world's top 3,000 listed companies are estimated to cause environmental damage of about $2.2 trillion a year.
-- A separate UNEP study says schemes that promote certification of biodiversity-friendly agricultural products could create a market worth $210 billion by 2020 up from $40 billion in 2008. (Writing by David Fogarty)
Urban horticulture supplies fresh food, creates jobs, recycles waste
FAO 28 Sep 10;
28 September 2010, Rome - By 2025, more than half the developing world's population - an estimated 3.5 billion people - will be urban. For policy makers and urban planners in poor countries, greener cities could be the key to ensuring safe, nutritious food, sustainable livelihoods and healthier communities.
The concept of "green cities" is usually associated with urban planning in the more developed world. But it has a special application, and significantly different social and economic dimensions, in low-income developing countries.
As cities grow, valuable agricultural land is lost to housing, industry and infrastructure, and production of fresh food is pushed further into rural areas. The cost of transport, packing and refrigeration, the poor state of rural roads, and heavy losses in transit add to the scarcity and cost of fruit and vegetables in urban markets.
New population bomb
"Historically, cities have been places of opportunity, employment and improved living standards," says Shivaji Pandey, Director of FAO's Plant Production and Protection Division. "But in many developing countries, rapid urban growth is being driven not by economic opportunity but by high birth rates and a mass influx of rural people seeking to escape hunger, poverty and insecurity."
By 2020, the proportion of the urban population living in poverty could reach 45 percent, or 1.4 billion people. By then, 85 percent of poor people in Latin America, and almost half of those in Africa and Asia, will be concentrated in towns and cities.
That prospect has been described as the new population bomb and a nightmare for governance: sprawling, degraded and impoverished cities with large, vulnerable populations that are socially excluded, young and unemployed.
Reinventing the village green
The challenge is to steer urbanization from its current, unsustainable path, towards greener cities that offer their inhabitants choice, opportunity and hope. One solution is urban and peri-urban horticulture, according to FAO.
Growing crops in and around cities and towns is nothing new. The Incas' citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru included a residential area and a zone of intensively farmed terraces.
FAO estimates that 130 million urban residents in Africa and 230 million in Latin America engage in agriculture, mainly horticulture, to provide food for their families or to earn income from sales.
"Urban horticulture offers a pathway out of poverty," says Dr. Pandey, citing its low start-up costs, short production cycles and high yields per unit of time, land and water.
Urban meals, often high in low-cost fats and sugars, are responsible for rising levels of obesity, overweight and diet-related chronic diseases, such as diabetes.
Growing fruit and vegetables, the richest natural sources of micronutrients, in and around cities increases the supply of fresh, nutritious produce and improves the urban poor's economic access to food.
Supporting city gardeners
Governments in 20 countries have sought FAO's assistance over the past decade in removing barriers and providing incentives, inputs and training to low-income "city gardeners". FAO has also provided tools, seeds and training to establish thousands of school gardens, a proven means of promoting child nutrition, in more than 30 countries.
From the burgeoning metropolises of West and Central Africa to the low-income barrios of Managua, Caracas and Bogotá, FAO has helped governments promote irrigated commercial market gardening on urban peripheries, simple hydroponic micro-gardens in slum areas, and green rooftops in densely populated city centres.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, FAO advised on measures that regularized titles to 1 600 ha of garden areas operated by some 20 000 full-time growers in five cities. The project introduced improved vegetable varieties and installed or upgraded 40 irrigation structures, which extended water availability throughout the year.
To ensure the quality and safety of produce, 450 growers' associations were trained in good agricultural practices, including the use of organic fertilizer and bio-pesticides. Market gardens in the capital, Kinshasa, now produce an estimated 75 000 to 85 000 tonnes of vegetables a year, or 65 percent of the city's supply.
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