wildsingapore news: Jan 30, 2010

Best of our wild blogs: 30 Jan 10

Singapore BioDiverCity - a photo competition
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!

The Hantu Blog’s most viewed videos
from Pulau Hantu

Singapore Bug List
water critters from Water Quality in Singapore

Coral galore at Semakau-Sakeng seawall
from wonderful creation and Singapore Nature and wild shores of singapore

Tigers from the Past
from Urban Forest

Tanimbar Corella eating sea almond and leucaena
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Spider talk
Fri 05 Feb 2010: 4pm @ NUS LT20 - Tso on “Factors shaping the color-associated foraging traits of Araneae sit-and-wait predators” from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS

It's about choice, not money
"you have to be a cocaine dealer to be able to afford to eat ethically" from The Straits Times Blogs

Haiti’s tragedy belongs to the environment
from the Reuters Environment blog

Challenges in protecting biodiversity in Singapore

New finds still being made, even as balance is sought between conservation and development
Grace Chua, Straits Times 30 Jan 10;

FOR three weeks in 2006, scientists from Singapore and abroad raced against time to study and document Singapore's marine flora and fauna.

Then, they thought development and reclamation had left them with nothing else to study at the 14th International Marine Biology Workshop here.

Instead, they found dozens of marine species that had not been recorded here before - from corals to anemones.

The findings, published in a Raffles Bulletin of Zoology supplement last month, reveal that there is much left to be studied and discovered about local biodiversity.

'It's a myth that we know a lot about our biodiversity. We know a lot about the big things, but we know very little about the small ones,' said crustacean expert and National University of Singapore biology professor Peter Ng.

The publication is especially salient this year, which the United Nations has declared the International Year of Biodiversity.

In 2002, the international body adopted the target of conserving the world's biodiversity by this year, and the target is being incorporated into its Millennium Development Goals.

Biodiversity refers to not just plants and animals, but also the ecosystems and habitats they live in.

Singapore's approach to biodiversity has come a long way in the last decade or so, biologists say.

For instance, there is greater public awareness and interest here, said Prof Ng.

And biologists have had the chance to study habitats slated for development, and to protect and relocate rare species where necessary.

When the Pulau Semakau landfill was developed in early 2000, the coral reefs along its western edge were protected.

And a paper by then-National University of Singapore student Huang Danwei and others, published last month along with the workshop proceedings, suggested that vulnerable sites like Pulau Hantu near the mainland were nearly as rich in coral biodiversity as sites farther away.

But challenges remain, such as balancing conservation and development.

For example, there is no specific legal protection for endangered species here. Under the Wild Animals and Birds Act, the fine for killing or keeping a wild animal or bird is up to $1,000, whether the species is endangered or not.

In the Parks and Trees Act, the same act in a national park is subject to a maximum fine of $50,000 or a six-month jail term.

Among Singapore's biodiversity goals for the year: coming up with an urban biodiversity index, which lets cities benchmark their flora, fauna and conservation programmes against others. The Singapore Index of Cities' Biodiversity, developed by the National Parks Board (NParks), will be presented at a United Nations meeting in October.

And Prof Ng hopes that the country can embark on a nationwide biodiversity survey, as Taiwan and China have done.

The Raffles Bulletin marine biology supplement is a start, wrote some of its authors, including Prof Ng and NParks National Biodiversity Centre deputy director Lena Chan, in a report on the workshop.

'It is hoped that this collection of articles will provide a necessary baseline for more studies... so that a better balance can be achieved between development, conservation and rehabilitation of the marine environment in Singapore and the region,' they said.

More about the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology findings on the Celebrating Singapore's Biodiversity blog and wild shores of singapore blog.

A year of going green in Singapore

Straits Times 30 Jan 10;

# Read all about it: The Celebrating Singapore's Biodiversity blog at http://iyb2010singapore.blogspot.com is run by popular nature site wildsingapore.com

# Feb 19: This is the closing date of the Community in Bloom art competition for schools, in which students can create a painting, sculpture or animation on the theme of Singapore's biodiversity.

# Feb 21: Want to give your feedback on the Urban Redevelopment Authority's Concept Plan 2011? The survey closes on this date. Living environment quality and sustainable growth are two areas where feedback is sought in the public consultation exercise, which also covers identity and meeting the needs of the aged. Go to spring.ura.gov.sg/conceptplan2011

# March 14: Capture Singapore's flora and fauna - on camera. Mark this date on your calendar as it is the closing date of the BioDiverCity photo competition by the National Parks Board (NParks) and the Photographic Society of Singapore.

# May 22: Schools here will each plant a tree at 10am on this day, as part of the international Green Wave tree-planting movement.

# All year round: Volunteer with NParks on activities ranging from reforestation and field research to design and visitor services. Go to http://tinyurl.com/m7e76a for details.

# All year round: Go on a guided walk at NParks reserves and parks, such as the Central Nature Reserve, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Details at http://tinyurl.com/ykj3yag

Links to more

More wild happenings in singapore on the wildsingapore happenings blog.
More details about the URA Concept Plan survey on the wild shores of singapore blog

Rare bird spotted in Singapore

Today Online 30 Jan 10;

It may have been a bit early in welcoming the Year of the Tiger, but the Malayan Night Heron - also known as the Tiger Bittern (Gorsachius melanolophus) - was a welcome sight when spotted in Singapore earlier this month.

The rare migratory bird was seen at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve for the first time, and also at the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The Tiger Bittern is believed to be from the northern part of South-east Asia and Southwest China. NParks say some 60 different species of birds can be spotted in a single day during the annual migratory season between September and March.

More about the Malayan Night Heron on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog.

Chinese New Year dish: 'Stop ordering shark's fin, and stop eating it'

Straits Times Forum 30 Jan 10;

MS LEE SHYH YAO: 'During Chinese New Year, Chinese restaurants will promote shark's fin, which distresses those concerned with marine conservation.

Asian fleets go out to sea and remove the fins from live sharks, throwing them back into the ocean to die slowly and agonisingly. Long-lining, a fishing method often employed to capture sharks, uses hundreds of thousands of baited hooks attached to each fishing line going as far as 80km out to sea. This results in unwanted 'by-catches', often entangling and killing other marine creatures such as dolphins, seals, whales and turtles. For every 10kg of fish killed, about 100kg of marine life is thrown away. Reports by the United States Food and Drug Administration show that mercury levels in sharks are among the highest among marine fish. Pregnant women and young children are strongly advised against consumption. While many Singaporeans will lament that eating shark's fin is a tradition that is hard to change, it is time to start weighing the pros and cons. Shark's fin should be banned. Stop ordering shark's fin, and stop eating it.'

Making Sentosa just a stroll away

It will take you just 15 minutes to walk to the southern isle from VivoCity when a new boardwalk is completed
tay suan chiang, Straits Times Life 30 Jan 10;

In the works: The local projects the international architectural practice Aedas is currently involved in include the Integrated Civic, Cultural, Retail and Entertainment Hub at one-north and the 620m-long Sentosa boardwalk, which will feature retail outlets, shelters and greenery on its 16,400 sq m space. -- PHOTO: AEDAS

Come January next year, Resorts World Sentosa will just be a stroll away from VivoCity.

A $70-million, 620m-long boardwalk is now under construction.

When it is completed, visitors can walk to Sentosa again, after an old bridge from VivoCity to the island was closed in 2007 to build the new one.

The 16,400 sq m Sentosa boardwalk is designed by Aedas, a prominent global architectural practice in Singapore.

It will have travellators, shelters and greenery for natural shade. There will also be retail outlets on the 25m- to 40m-wide bridge.

Walking the full length of it will take about 15 minutes.

Mr Tony Ang, 56, managing director of Aedas' Singapore office, says it will be a 'people-mover' as it will encourage people to walk, rather than drive, to Sentosa.

It is designed to take 8,000 guests an hour in each direction.

The boardwalk is part of Sentosa's $300-million plan to overhaul transport links on the island.

The Hong Kong-based Aedas set up the Singapore office in 1995.

Last November, together with international architectural firm Group8asia, it won a design competition to build Singapore's first waterfront public housing project in Punggol, which will offer 1,200 flats featuring sky terraces, roof gardens and panoramic views of the Punggol Waterway.

This is Aedas' first public housing project. Its other local projects include the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort, 313@Somerset shopping mall and the upcoming Integrated Civic, Cultural, Retail and Entertainment Hub at Vista Xchange, one-north, which opens in 2012.

The 25-year-old firm now has 42 offices in Asia, Middle East, Europe and the Americas.

With the newest branch opening in Turin, Italy, three months ago, the firm inked a collaboration with Italian design firm Pininfarina Extra - part of the Pininfarina company known for designing luxury cars for brands such as Ferrari and Maserati.

The partnership will work on projects worldwide.

According to Mr Ang, Aedas will provide the architecture and interior design of a project, while Pininfarina will put the finishing touches on interiors and furnishings - or, as Mr Matteo De Lise, 34, sales and marketing director at Pininfarina Extra puts it, 'the small details'.

Although no projects have been confirmed for the new collaboration for now, Mr Ang says: 'Our alliance means that we can brand our projects with the Pininfarina mark.'

Record number of entries for Singapore competition on environmental sustainability

Dylan Loh, Channel NewsAsia 29 Jan 10;

SINGAPORE: A competition on environmental sustainability saw a record number of entries from local schools.

The Green Wave Environmental Care Project received a total of 292 submissions.

Entries include beauty products made from waste materials by Hwa Chong Institution, which won the top prize among secondary schools.

Organised by Sembawang Shipyard since 2003, the contest aims to encourage youths to devise ideas for environmental preservation.

Over 1,000 students from primary to tertiary levels took part this year.

- CNA/yb

Singapore Zoo signs global biodiversity conservation agreement

Promoting conservation in Singapore
Today Online 30 Jan 10;

Biodiversity conservation got a boost in Singapore yesterday, with an agreement signed between Wildlife Reserves Singapore, its Conservation Fund and two other organisations, the Wildlife Conservation Society and its Singapore branch. Projects in the pipeline include a joint turtle initiative to conserve the endangered Giant River Terrapins in Singapore - and their wild cousins in Cambodia.

The agreement will also allow for the testing of new ideas and projects. In welcoming the collaboration, Ms Claire Chiang, who chairs the Wildlife Reserves Singapore and Wildlife Reserves Singapore Conservation Fund, said: "We can then nurture our own crop of expertise to manage our own parks, at an even higher quality level." President S R Nathan witnessed the signing of the agreement. Ernest Chua

Pact to step up diversity
Jessica Lim, Straits Times 29 Jan 10;

SINGAPOREANS can look forward to more diversity at zoos and parks here.

Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) - the parent company of Jurong Bird Park, Night Safari and Singapore Zoo - on Friday signed an agreement to collaborate with the New York's Wildlife Conservation Society.

The pact will see both parties cooperating in field conservation projects and sharing best practices and technical expertise.

'I think there will be a multiple effect of conserved animals here, as a result of the collaboration,' said WRS chairman Claire Chiang, who added that WRS was involved in six conservation projects last year.

She added that the agreement 'represents another important step forward in out ongoing commitment to preserve our ecosystems and precious wildlife species.'

President SR Nathan witnessed the signing at the Singapore Zoo on Friday.

Wildlife Reserves and partners sign MOU to promote conservation message
Cheryl Lim, Channel NewsAsia 29 Jan 10;

SINGAPORE: Biodiversity conservation looks set to get a boost with an agreement signed on Friday by Wildlife Reserves Singapore and three partners – its Conservation Fund, the Wildlife Conservation Society and its Singapore branch.

Wildlife Reserves Singapore manages the Singapore Zoo, Jurong Bird Park and the Night Safari.

Among many projects under the partnership, endangered Giant River Terrapins – which are only a few months old – from the Singapore Zoo, along with their wild cousins in Cambodia, will be part of a Joint Turtle Initiative in Asia.

The Wildlife Conservation Society currently manages 500 conservation projects in more than 60 countries. It also manages five parks in New York City - the Bronx Zoo, New York Aquarium, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo and Queens Zoo.

One other project the partnership will undertake is a turtle workshop for specialists in Asia, which will give them the opportunity to take stock of the current situation of endangered turtles in the region, as well as share their conservation strategies.

2010 has been designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Biodiversity, and in the spirit of that, all four organisations said they hope the collaboration will tap into the knowledge from all four sides, and will help enhance global conservation efforts.

The parties also committed to exchanging best practices and technical expertise, along with promoting public awareness about the importance of preserving global biodiversity.

Ward Wood, chairman of the Wildlife Conservation Society, said: "Not only is every culture imbued with nature, but from a very pragmatic point of view, we need nature in order to continue to survive."

Claire Chiang, chairperson of the Wildlife Reserves Singapore and Wildlife Reserves Singapore Conservation Fund, said: "It will only do good to the way we manage our zoos better, we will discover the rainforest biodiversity. We can then nurture our own crop of expertise to manage our own parks, at an even higher quality level."

The partners said the agreement will also allow for the testing of new ideas and projects.

- CNA/yb

Endangered animals get new lease of life in Singapore
Philip Lim AFP Google News 29 Jan 10;

SINGAPORE — Sporting spiked hair and silver earrings, Samuel Tay hardly looks like a typical midwife.

The 25-year-old zookeeper beams with quiet pride as he watches over his "babies" -- row upon row of snakes bred for Singapore's popular zoo.

"These are my kids. Why do I need kids when I have so many already?" he told AFP, gesturing to tanks where newborn reptiles, including some from highly endangered species, receive tender loving care.

From jaguars and chimpanzees to Komodo dragons and manatees, heavily urbanised Singapore is gaining a reputation as a successful nursery for some of the world's rarest animals.

With a breeding programme for 315 species, around one in six of which are threatened, the Singapore Zoo is seeing a steady stream of locally born additions to its collection, currently numbering more than 2,500 animals.

Tay, a zoologist by training, is one of Singapore's frontline warriors in the battle against animal extinction, and visitors from around the world help fund the campaign.

The Singapore Zoo and its attached Night Safari, dedicated to nocturnal animals, each welcomes more than a million visitors a year.

Last year, 142 animals were born in the zoo, 32 of which were threatened species, officials said.

Experts from Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS), the operator of the city-state's zoo, night safari and bird park, do not rely on Mother Nature for results.

"We are very pragmatic, in the sense that if we need to make things happen, we will go all out to make things happen," said the group's assistant director of zoology Biswajit Guha.

The latest star of the programme is a baby Komodo dragon hatched in December -- the first born in an Asian zoo outside the giant lizard's native Indonesia.

The hatchling was the culmination of three years of effort by zookeepers watching over every step of its parents' courtship and mating to make sure everything went as planned, said Tay.

"It's always supervised contact, we never leave them alone together," he said.

This interventionist approach is extended to other creatures at Singapore's wildlife attractions, including the Jurong Bird Park, another major tourist draw.

"We don't take a wait-and-see approach. We will give it a certain amount of time for the animals to decide for themselves if they do want to mate, but if things don't go right, then we usually come in," Guha said.

Aside from making enclosures look and feel like native habitats, cutting-edge technology and scientific methods are deployed to make sure animals mate with the best possible partners at the most opportune time.

They include matching viable females with genetically superior males using semen analysis and monitoring the females' fertility cycles through regular ultrasound tests -- something that not all zoos can afford to do.

"Diagnostic facilities are not cheap," noted senior veterinarian Abraham Mathew. "You need the manpower and you need the expertise to do this. All zoos actually want to do this type of work, but whether they can do it or not would depend on their management," he said.

A mobile ultrasound machine used by the zoo costs around 20,000 Singapore dollars (14,200 US) and includes an expensive probe that allows veterinarians to accurately check female animals' fertility out in the field.

Such resources have helped make the city state a breeding hub for threatened animals, said Guha.

Zoo staff hope a pair of pandas to be loaned by China will produce offspring in the coming years.

"For us, captive populations form an insurance population, so it is our objective to make sure that there are sustainable numbers in captivity," Guha said.

Tiger Range Countries and partners make new conservation commitments in Thailand

WWF 29 Jan 10;

Hua Hin, Thailand – Governments from across Asia’s tiger range countries (TRCs) sent a powerful message that new efforts to save wild tigers from extinction would begin immediately and called for total protection of critical tiger habitats as the 1st Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation concluded today at the resort of Hua Hin, Thailand.

The Royal Government of Thailand hosted the meeting. Thailand’s Minister of Environment and Natural Resources Suwit Khunkitti pointed to commitments in the Hua Hin Declaration, and urged other TRCs to follow through with consolidated technical recommendations that resulted from an earlier meeting in Kathmandu on tiger conservation: “We shall reach up to the highest levels of our governments for support at the Year of the Tiger Heads of State Summit in Russia. Let us join together boldly to save the wild tiger.”

Thailand made a number of new commitments at the conference:

• Expansion of its SMART wildlife area patrolling program in its Western Forest Complex (WEFCOM) at Huai Kha Khaeng-Thung Yai
• Assistance to its neighbor countries to repatriate tigers when the population of tigers in WEFCOM and Kaeng Krachan/Kuiburi becomes large enough to act as a donor source
• Announcement that it would make funding for the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network a permanent item in its budget

Seven ministers, along with senior delegations from 13 tiger range countries, gathered with top wildlife conservation experts and representatives from international organizations and donor institutions such as the World Bank, Global Tiger Initiative, WWF, Save the Tiger Fund, Wildlife Conservation Society, USAID, FREELAND, and TRAFFIC, to energize the wildlife conservation agenda, update national action plans, and announce specific proposals to reverse the continuing decline of tiger populations.

President of the World Bank Group Robert B. Zoellick, who launched the Global Tiger Initiative (GTI) in June 2008 together with the Smithsonian Institution, Global Environment Facility, and other partners, delivered a video message to the ministers and delegations, promising support for the range countries’ efforts and to spearhead sustainable development in Asia: “The World Bank stands ready to support regional projects in the tiger range countries and to mobilize the donor community and develop innovative financial instruments to support tiger conservation funds.”

Populations of wild tigers have declined to only 3,200 worldwide, according to latest estimates, from 100,000 a century ago. The GTI is one of the drivers of the World Bank’s commitment to new strategies that balance economic development with nature conservation, biodiversity and environmental protection.

Another significant development in Thailand came from Prime Minister Vladmir Putin and the Government of the Russian Federation, who officially announced plans to host the Heads of State Summit in September.

The Hua Hin Declaration reflected agreement among the TRCs to redouble efforts on the ground to halt the decline of tigers and assist in recovery of habitats. An international donor conference is also planned later this year to support the countries to bring increased resources for integrated game-changing policy to save the species from extinction.

Michael Baltzer, Leader of WWF’s Tiger Initiative, said: “We are delighted to see a ray of hope for the tiger as represented by the tiger range countries’ commitment to work together to double wild tiger numbers by 2022. We look forward to seeing their pledges turn into firm actions in Vladivostok.”

All 13 tiger range countries were represented in Hua Hin. They include Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Asian countries pledge to double Tiger numbers by 2022
TRAFFIC 29 Jan 10;

Hua Hin, Thailand, 29 January 2009—Governments from across Asia sent a powerful message that renewed efforts to save wild Tigers from extinction would begin immediately and called for total protection of critical Tiger habitats as the 1st Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation concluded today at the resort of Hua Hin, Thailand.

Ministers and senior delegations from 13 Tiger range States—Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand, and Viet Nam—committed to implementing measures to double the number of wild Tigers by 2022.

The post-conference declaration includes pledges to protect wild Tigers and their prey from poaching through regular patrolling of Tiger habitats and elimination of national and cross-border trade in Tiger and Tiger parts as well as a commitment to support communities living in and around Tiger landscapes and minimize human-Tiger conflicts.

The countries also appealed for the commitment of international institutions to help finance and support the new conservation efforts.

“The World Bank stands ready to support regional projects in the tiger range countries and to mobilize the donor community and develop innovative financial instruments to support tiger conservation funds,” said World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick, in a video message to the conference.

The Royal Government of Thailand, who hosted the meeting, announced plans for increased patrolling of Tiger habitats in Thailand, assistance for restoration of Tigers populations in neighbouring countries and more secure funding for the ASEAN-Wildlife Enforcement Network.

Michael Baltzer, Leader of WWF’s Tiger Initiative, commented: “We are delighted to see a ray of hope for the Tiger as represented by the tiger range countries’ commitment to work together to double wild tiger numbers by 2022.”

Currently there are around 3,200 Tigers left in the wild. A Century ago the figure was 100,000.

Asian countries pledge to double tiger population
Yahoo News 29 Jan 10;

BANGKOK (AFP) – Representatives from 13 Asian countries on Friday pledged to double the number of wild tigers by the year 2022 and called for protection of habitats to save the animals from extinction.

The declaration, announced in a press statement by officials at the first Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation, in Thai coastal resort of Hua Hin, was hailed by conservation groups at the meeting.

"Let us join together boldly to save the wild tiger," Suwit Khunkitti, Thailand's minister of environment and natural resources, said in the statement.

The global wild tiger population is estimated to be at an all-time low of 3,200, down from an estimated 20,000 in the 1980s and 100,000 a century ago.

The declaration to preserve the animals will be considered for approval by heads of the 13 states when they meet in a Tiger Summit in September in Vladivostok, Russia, hosted by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

"We look forward to seeing their pledges turn into firm actions in Vladivostok," said Michael Baltzer, from the conservation agency WWF, adding he was "delighted to see a ray of hope for the tiger".

The 13 countries who attended the Hua Hin conference were Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The meeting, which began Wednesday, was organised by Thailand and the Global Tiger Initiative, a coalition formed in 2008 by the World Bank, US-based the Smithsonian Institute and dozens of conservation groups.

A recent WWF report blamed infrastructure developments, such as forests being cut up by roads and converted into commercial crop plantations, for destroying tigers' habitats.

The report also cited growing demand for tiger body parts used in traditional Chinese medicine as a major factor endangering wild tiger populations.

13 countries agree plan to save wild tigers
Michael Casey, Associated Press Yahoo News 29 Jan 10;

HUA HIN, Thailand – A dozen Asian nations and Russia vowed Friday to double the number of wild tigers by 2022, crack down on poaching that has devastated the big cats and prohibit the building of roads and bridges that could harm their habitats.

However, the historic declaration adopted by the 13 countries that have wild tigers includes no new money to finance the conservation efforts. The agreement only includes plans to approach international institutions like the World Bank for money and to develop schemes to tap money from ecotourism, carbon financing and infrastructure projects to pay for tiger programs.

"This is a historic meeting. Before this, not many people paid attention to tigers," Thailand's Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Suwit Khunkitti said after the three-day meeting in Hua Hin. "Stopping the depletion of tigers is a very important issue for all of us."

The declaration will now be considered for approval by heads of state of the 13 countries in September at a meeting in Vladivostok, Russia.

Tiger numbers in recent decades have plummeted because of human encroachment — with the loss of more than nine-tenths of their habitat — and poaching to supply a vibrant trade in tiger parts. From an estimated 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century, the number of tigers today is less than 3,500.

Along with a target for doubling tiger populations, countries agreed to protect core tiger habitats as well as buffer zones and corridors that connect key sanctuaries and national parks. Governments also committed to reduce poaching through beefed-up law enforcement and to minimize human-tiger conflicts through job creation programs and other efforts.

The only setback, delegates said, was a successful effort by China to take out language in the draft declaration that called for maintaining a permanent ban on the tiger trade. China's concern is the impact the language would have on its domestic tiger trade, which has been banned since 1993 but which they have lobbied to reopen at some point.

Conservationists said the declaration included all the components for ensuring the tigers' steady recovery, though they warned much work had to be done to ensure all the promises were implemented.

"This is excellent news for tiger conservation," said Michael Baltzer, who heads the WWF Tiger Initiative and attended the meeting.

"Simply, there never has been a high-level government commitment to take forward tiger conservation," Baltzer said. "The fact the governments committed to doubling the numbers of tigers shows they have high ambition. They are setting the bar at a high level."

The World Bank's Keshav Varma, program director for the Global Tiger Initiative, said the declaration represents a new way of thinking among governments and donors.

"There is a new trend in society to save biodiversity, to be more conscious of climate change, to look at sustainability, to look at green development," Varma said. "It is a huge change and this is a manifestation of this change."

Varma and Baltzer downplayed the absence of financial commitments in the document, saying they expected pledges to be forthcoming in Russia as donors get a clearer idea of conservation plans that come out of this declaration and the cost of implementing them.

"Now that we have commitment from governments, the next step is bringing donor partners on board," Baltzer said. "Even here the donors came together and started talking about how they could be partners in this whole process."

The meeting was organized by Thailand and the Global Tiger Initiative, a coalition formed in 2008 by the World Bank, the Smithsonian Institute and nearly 40 conservation groups.

The 13 countries attending the meeting were Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.

Indigenous people get ‘20%’ REDD money

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 29 Jan 10;

At least 20 percent of revenue from the forest carbon scheme should be transferred to indigenous people who play crucial roles in protecting the forest to avoid emission leakages, a minister said.

State Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta said that much revenue from the carbon trade was needed to ensure the sustainability of emission reduction in tackling climate change.

“Giving indigenous people a fair share also acknowledges their rights,” Gusti said.

He said the government could not leave the indigenous people behind in projects relating to the forest as they were at the forefront of environmental preservation.

Gusti said that indigenous people had great knowledge about how to protect the forest.

“The traditional people have long been conscious of the environment. It is important to include them in reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation [REDD] projects,” he added.

REDD was expected to be an alternative to emission cuts from forests, which contributed about 20 percent to global emissions.

Under the scheme, countries that protect their forests can receive financial incentives through the carbon trade from rich nations.

However, debates on land and forest rights have been a hot topic at both national and international levels, mainly concerning efforts to mitigate global warming.

Activists said the unclear status of indigenous people and tribal communities managing forests would hamper the implementation of REDD programs.

The State Ministry for the Environment signed a memorandum of understanding with the Alliance of Archipelagic Indigenous People (AMAN) on environmental protection on Wednesday.

Gusti also inaugurated 35 indigenous people, also AMAN members, as the country’s ambassadors in protecting the environment.

AMAN secretary-general Abdon Nababan welcomed Gusti’s statement. “But our main concern is not on the percentage of revenue. We want the government to acknowledge the rights of indigenous people,” Abdon told The Jakarta Post.

There are currently 1,163 tribal communities in AMAN.

AMAN claimed that of Indonesia’s 210 million population, between 50 million and 70 million were part of customary communities earning their livelihood from forests.

Abdon said that the government continued to ignore communal rights by allowing natural resources of customary land and forests to be exploited.

Gusti said that about 20 percent of money from REDD projects should also be allocated to local administrations that controlled the forests.

“The remaining expected revenue from forest carbon trade will be for investors.

“Ten percent will go to the central government,” he said. The REDD scheme was expected to take effect in 2013.

Study says Indonesian military complicit in illegal logging

The Jakarta Post 29 Jan 10;

A research conducted by the University of Indonesia revealed that military personnel were involved in illegal logging practice in border areas.

A team from the Center for East Asia Cooperation Studies (CEACoS) at the University of Indonesia, uncovered the military’s many roles in the illicit business from coordinating to monitoring and investing.

The research covers the period between 1999 and 2006 in East Kalimantan, where illegal logging practices have been reportedly rampant.

“[The military’s involvement in this practice] was structural; low-ranked soldiers to territorial commanders received a share,” CEACoS executive director Tirta N. Mursitama, head researcher, told the The Jakarta Post.

The research found three types of higher-ranked personnel contributing to the illegal logging business.

“There were those who only received shares from their subordinates.

“Other high-ranked personnel kept close relations with the cukong [tycoons], the godfathers in this business,” he said.

The third type includes those who invested directly in the business.

Rear Admiral T.H. Soesetyo, defense director from the Directorate General of Defense Strategy at the Defense Ministry, acknowledged there were certain personnel who were involved in illegal logging practice.

He, however, refused to name the practice as military business.

“Life at the border areas can be difficult for soldiers,” he said.

“Their salaries are not enough to live in such areas, especially as daily goods are expensive.”

Tirta said his team found that the military operated using two modi operandi.

The first method was bribery. The military received tributes for its role in getting forestry agencies to issue permits, allowing illegal logging.

These tributes take the form of stakes in certain companies.

The other method was the misuse of wood utilization permits (IPK), which are issued by the Forestry Ministry or local forestry agencies.

Military cooperatives that owned IPKs usually hire local people to cut trees and sell the logs to private companies, Tirta said.

But in some cases, tree cutting did not stop within the area covered in the permits.

Koesnadi Wirasapoetra from research center Borneo Institute has spent more than 10 years observing Kalimantan and its rampant illegal logging business.

He said military cooperatives or private companies with the IPKs would cut trees that grew along river banks.

The companies would then export the logs to Malaysia.

Exporting logs is illegal in Indonesia.

“Both methods recognize the role of a cukong who funds the whole system, enabling it to function,” Tirta said.

“The cukong distributes money to private companies or military cooperatives.

“The latter two then distribute the money to people in several institutions including the military, the governor [regional government] and the Forestry Ministry through the forestry agencies,” he added.
Soesetyo said he welcomed CEACoS’ research.

He added, however, that “We cannot simply believe it.”

He also said that the military had fined some of its personnel who were involved in illegal logging practices.(adh)

"More than a tonne of live rock coral" from Indonesia smuggled into the UK

Smuggled coral saved at aquarium
BBC News 26 Jan 10;

Officials at Manchester Airport faced a "race against time" to save more than a tonne of live rock coral brought in illegally from Indonesia.

UK Border Agency officers made the discovery in a freight consignment after realising the coral had been wrongly described on the documentation.

The coral was transported to the Blue Planet Aquarium at Ellesmere Port to keep it alive.

The importation is under investigation, the UK Border Agency said.

Rock coral are protected under the Convention on International Trade In Endangered Species (CITES).

On display

A Border Agency spokeswoman said: "Following the discovery, UK Border Agency officers seized the coral and began a race against time to transport the coral to a specialist aquarium, the Blue Planet Aquarium at Cheshire Oaks.

"Thanks to the fast action of the officers, the corals have survived and will be on display to visitors at the aquarium shortly."

The UK Border Agency is now making further inquiries with the Indonesian authorities.

Colin Brown, the agency's assistant director of border force at Manchester Airport, said: "The illicit trade in endangered animals is a serious contributory factor to the threat of extinction faced by many endangered species.

"Anyone tempted to trade in protected creatures and plants should think again, and companies need to make sure they have the right paperwork before they import exotic animals into the UK."

Russian police raid outspoken environmental group

Alexander Osipovich Yahoo News 29 Jan 10;

MOSCOW (AFP) – Police raided a Russian environmental group that had challenged Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's decision to reopen a paper mill on Siberia's pristine Lake Baikal, officials and activists said on Friday.

Police in the Siberian city of Irkutsk said they had searched the offices of Baikal Environmental Wave on Thursday and confiscated computers to check for pirated software.

But the group linked the raid to its criticism of the government's decision to allow the reopening of the Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill, which is owned by tycoon Oleg Deripaska and has been closed since 2008.

Environmentalists fear the Soviet-built paper mill will pollute Lake Baikal, a huge crescent-shaped body of water famed for its unique flora and fauna. It is the world's deepest freshwater lake.

"We are certain this was connected to our work on the pulp and paper mill," Igor Ogorodnikov, an activist with Baikal Environmental Wave, told AFP.

Four officers, including two from the anti-extremism branch of the Irkutsk police, came to the group's offices saying they had received a complaint about unlicensed software on its computers, Ogorodnikov said.

They seized all 12 of the group's computers and its web server, which has "paralyzed" its work, he said. Police told the group they would keep the computers for a month to check if the software was licensed.

They also threatened to prosecute the group for interfering with the search, during which the officers from the anti-extremism branch demanded information about the group's politics, Ogorodnikov said.

"They kept asking questions like, 'Are you against the government?' We think they were trying to provoke us," he said.

Irkutsk police confirmed in a statement on Friday that the raid had taken place but denied it was politically motivated.

The police force "rejects reports that the inspection was linked to Baikal Environment Wave's activities, stressing that officers were dispatched only in reaction to possible violations of intellectual property rights," it said.

The use of pirated software is widespread in Russia and there have been allegations in the past that police use charges of using unlicensed software to hinder the work of Kremlin critics.

Pirated movies, CDs and computer programmes are sold openly in many cities and the Business Software Alliance, an international industry group, estimated last year that 68 percent of software on Russia's computers was unlicensed.

The Russian branches of WWF and Greenpeace said in a joint statement that they considered Thursday's raid "an attempt to pressure" Baikal Environmental Wave.

The raid on the group came as the Russian government faced fierce criticism for a decree, signed by Putin and published last week, allowing the reopening of the Baikalsk paper mill.

The decree came after a surprise stunt last summer where Putin descended to the bottom of Lake Baikal in a mini-submarine and emerged to declare it "ecologically clean."

Environmentalists have long fought for the paper mill, which dates back to the 1960s, to be shut down.

In recent years the government required the mill to install a closed-water system to mitigate waste leakage into the lake, but the new requirements made the enterprise unprofitable, and it closed in October 2008.

The government has defended Putin's decision, arguing that the mill is a crucial employer in Baikalsk, a town of 17,000.

Russia has struggled to prevent job losses amid the global economic crisis, especially in industrial towns dominated by inefficient Soviet-built factories.

Deripaska, a metals tycoon who was Russia's richest man before losing much of his wealth to the economic crisis, owns 51 percent of the paper mill through his Basic Element holding company. The state owns the other 49 percent.

Tourism industry should better cater for climate-sensitive holiday makers

IUCN 29 Jan 10;

A survey of tourists and tour operators in the Egyptian Red Sea region shows that the industry often misperceives its clients’ environmental sensitivity, putting its own business at risk. Climate change is a growing threat to the tourism industry by making destinations less attractive and jeopardizing major sources of income. The awareness of tourists towards climate change and other environmental issues is likely to be a major driver of their future holiday choices.

Some 540,000 people come annually to dive in the Red Sea to experience spectacular coral reefs, making up much of Egypt’s $7.8 billion tourism income last year.

“Whilst climate change may yet have to impact the Egyptian coral reef ecosystem, it is already having an impact on the perceptions and choices of dive tourists,” according to the survey carried out by Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association, analyzed by IUCN and funded by Kuoni.

The poll results suggest that while the majority of tourists are interested in operators that promote energy efficiency, environmental friendliness and climate awareness, the dive industry in the Red Sea region is largely unaware of this attitude and focuses its marketing more on the allegedly less environmentally-aware traditional dive tourist.

“Operators that do not adapt to this emerging ‘climate aware’ market risk losing market share to more responsive competitors” the study warns.

A total of 150 dive tourists from 19 nationalities and 35 tour operators were polled. Eighty percent of the tourists indicated they were concerned about climate change and its impact around the world, and 75 percent had heard about coral bleaching as one of these impacts. Climate change was listed as the third most important threat to the region by 25 percent of respondents.

Seventy-one percent of dive operators thought that some loss of coral in the region would not detract from a dive experience. Sixty-nine percent of dive operators felt that climate change issues were not important to their diving clients and 85 percent did not think that tourists select their holidays by considering how climate change is managed. Operators mostly (82 percent) thought that tourists were uninterested in their own climate footprint whilst on holiday. However, 86 percent agreed that coral reef condition would determine tourist numbers in the future and 93 percent were worried about the future of coral reefs in the region as a result of climate change.

“Climate affects a wide range of environmental resources that are essential attraction factors for tourism. The regional manifestations of climate change such as coral reef damage, extreme weather patterns or water shortages have potentially disastrous effects on many tourism destinations and tourism products,” says Matthias Lisinger, Head of Corporate Responsibility at Kuoni Travel Holding Ltd in a foreword to the study. “Raising awareness of this threat among local tour operators and resource managers is crucial to plan actions that can potentially mitigate future impacts to coral reefs and marine-based tourism”.

Using biofuel in cars 'may accelerate loss of rainforest'

Ben Webster, The Times 29 Jan 10;

Using biofuel in vehicles may be accelerating the destruction of rainforest and resulting in higher greenhouse gas emissions than burning pure petrol and diesel, a watchdog said yesterday.

The Renewable Fuels Agency also warned that pump prices could rise in April because of the Government’s policy of requiring fuel companies to add biofuel to petrol and diesel. More than 1.3 million hectares of land — twice the area of Devon — was used to grow the 2.7 per cent of Britain’s transport fuel that came from crops last year.

Under the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation, a growing proportion of biofuel must be added to diesel and petrol. This year fuel must be at least 3.25 per cent biofuel on average. By 2020 the proportion will be 13 per cent.

The agency’s first annual report revealed that fuel companies had exploited a loophole to avoid reporting the origin of almost half the biofuel they supplied to filling stations last year. The origin of fuel from land recently cleared can be described as “unknown”. Last year Esso reported the source of only 6 per cent of its biofuel and BP reported 27 per cent. Shell was the best-performing of the main oil companies but still failed to report the origin of a third of its biofuel.

The agency said: “The large proportion of unknown previous land use is of concern. If even a small proportion of this was carbon-rich grassland or forestland, it could have substantially reduced the carbon savings resulting from the renewable transport fuels obligation as a whole, or even resulted in a net release of carbon.”

Most companies met part of their biofuel obligation by buying palm oil, one of the cheapest fuels but potentially the most damaging to the environment because of the carbon released when forest is burnt down to create plantations.

Expansion of the industry has made Indonesia the third-largest CO2 emitter after China and the US. A litre of palm oil produced on land converted from Indonesian forest produces roughly three times as much CO2 as ordinary diesel.

The agency said oil companies had failed to invest in slightly more expensive certified sustainable palm oil. Only 0.5 per cent of the 127 million litres of palm oil added to petrol and diesel last year came from plantations certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, an international monitoring body.

Chevron, Murco, Topaz and Grangemouth refinery had “failed to demonstrate the sustainability of their biofuels”, the report said. ConocoPhillips was the only big oil company to meet the three voluntary targets the Government set the industry: for 30 per cent of the biofuel to meet a minimum environmental standard, for it to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 per cent compared with fossil fuel and for the source of at least half the biofuel to be reported.

The agency said the end of the 20p a litre fuel duty discount for biofuel from April could cause prices to rise, though probably only by less than 1p per litre.

From March 2011 companies will be required under a European directive to report the previous use of all the land from which they derive their biofuels. However, they will also gain an additional loophole because they will not have to admit using rainforest land if the trees were removed before 2008.

Germany aims to delay solar incentive cuts: sources

Markus Wacket, Reuters 29 Jan 10;

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen wants to delay some of the proposed cuts for solar power incentives, government sources told Reuters on Friday, a move that is unlikely to alter the gloomy outlook for the industry.

Roettgen's proposed 15-percent cuts in solar power incentives for roof-mounted systems is to be implemented from May 1 rather than April 1, the sources said.

Initial news about the cuts had sent global solar stocks tumbling, given that Germany accounts for about half the world's photovoltaic production.

Solar power companies, which have counted on generous German incentives to fuel their growth, have protested against Roettgen's proposed cuts.

SolarWorld, the country's biggest solar company by sales, and Q-Cells, one of the world's largest maker of solar cells, have said such cuts would be too steep, too fast and will kill jobs.

Roettgen has also faced criticism from within his own party, with regional leaders urging him to delay or water down his proposed 15-percent cut in the incentives that utilities are obligated by law to pay producers of solar power.

"This looks like a political compromise and is unlikely to take pressure off the domestic producers of modules and cells. Four weeks is nowhere near enough. It would have to be one quarter at least and even then it would only help project developers' wholesalers," said LBBW analyst Wolfgang Seeliger.

Roof installation of solar cells and modules are traditionally weak in the first quarter due to the cold weather and given the icy winter in Germany, this year is unlikely to be any different.

The government sources also told Reuters that further cuts after 2011 could be steeper than Roettgen is now planning.

If there are more than 3,500 megawatts of solar power capacity added within one year, the cuts would sink 3.5 percent in the following year instead of 2.5 percent now planned.

A spokeswoman for the Environment Ministry declined to comment on the Reuters report. She said members of parliament were now discussing Roettgen's proposal.

The sources also said the proposal to push back the 15-percent cut by one month had been agreed in consultation with leaders of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats and their Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union.

The government sources said Roettgen was still seeking backing from junior coalition partners the Free Democrats to cut the incentives, known as feed-in tariffs (FIT), that have helped make Germany a world leader in solar power.

The sources said the plans to reform the Renewable Energy Act (EEG) will be discussed in a cabinet meeting in two weeks.

(Additional reporting by Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt; writing by Erik Kirschbaum and Christoph Steitz; Editing by Rupert Winchester)

UK to contribute £50m to reforestation project in Indonesia

UK makes Indonesia climate pledge
BBC News 29 Jan 10;

The UK is to contribute £50m ($80m) to a project in Indonesia in the hope it will tackle climate change.

Large-scale deforestation makes the South East Asian country the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, after China and the US.

The money will be used to encourage palm oil manufacturers to grow new plantations on land already degraded instead of clearing new forest.

The Indonesian president has pledged to cut carbon emissions by 26% by 2020.

President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono has said Indonesia could cut emissions by up to 41% if the country was given international help.

The UK Department for International Development (DfID) said the funding was part of a £1.5bn ($2.4bn) commitment to a $10bn-a-year "fast start" global financial package to help developing countries address climate change and its impacts, which was agreed in Copenhagen last month.

The five-year partnership aims to educate the Indonesian public on how the forests in the country are used and to help them adapt to climate change.

It will also give palm oil companies money to help them offset extra costs from growing on less fertile, degraded land.

The equivalent of three football pitches of rainforest have been cut down every minute in Indonesia, which lost a third of its forest cover in the past 20 years, DfID said.

Protecting vital resources

Indonesia is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, with millions of people living in low-lying coastal areas and a high dependency on agriculture and natural resources.

It also has one-fifth of the world's coral reefs, which are threatened by rising sea temperatures and greater acidity caused by higher levels of carbon dioxide.

International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said: "The impacts of unchecked deforestation in Indonesia will be felt across the world for years to come.

"Through this partnership the UK will stand side by side with the Indonesians to help manage their forests, protecting this vital resource for future generations."

David Ritter, head of biodiversity at Greenpeace, said the UK contribution was a "significant sum" that must be spent in the right way.

"Rainforests provide us with huge benefits, like a stable climate and regular rainfall, so partnerships like this make sense for Britain as well as countries like Indonesia," he said.

"We now need assurances that this is new money, and that the partnership also means diplomatic pressure to make sure that the Indonesian government puts an immediate ban on logging in carbon-rich peatlands."

US government to cut greenhouse emissions by 28 percent

Yahoo News 29 Jan 10;

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The White House announced Friday that President Barack Obama would order the US federal government to reduce its greenhouse gas pollution by 28 percent by 2020.

"As the largest energy consumer in the United States, we have a responsibility to American citizens to reduce our energy use and become more efficient," Obama said in a statement.

"Our goal is to lower costs, reduce pollution and shift federal energy expenses away from oil and towards local, clean energy."

Government departments and agencies will achieve greenhouse gas pollution cuts by measuring current energy and fuel use, becoming more energy efficient and shifting to clean energy sources like solar, wind and geothermal.

The US government is the most energy thirsty component in the US economy and spent more than 24.5 billion dollars on electricity and fuel in 2008 alone, the White House said.

The new pollution targets will cut government energy use by the equivalent of 646 trillion BTUs, equal to 205 million barrels of oil or taking 17 million cars off the road for a year.

This is also equivalent to a cumulative total of 8 to 11 billion in avoided energy costs through 2020, according to the White House.

Obama issued an executive order in October requiring agencies to set 2020 targets and to increase energy efficiency, cut gasoline consumption by official vehicles and to save water and reduce waste, in moves which he said would save money and help cleanse the environment.

He has argued that cutting greenhouse gas emissions and framing a sustainable green economy is vital not just to protecting the planet, but also to future US economic prosperity.

Several pieces of legislation backed by his administration -- including the mammoth 787-billion-dollar economic stimulus package -- provide incentives for governments and private firms to build a green economy.

Climate: The long and winding road after Copenhagen

Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 29 Jan 10;

PARIS (AFP) – After the near-train wreck of last month's Copenhagen climate summit, what lies ahead for efforts to beat back global warming?

Next week may yield the first clues.

Countries are being asked to say by Sunday whether they will endorse an 11th-hour deal, the "Copenhagen Accord," which saved the marathon meeting from collapse but sparked accusations of failure and betrayal.

By week's end, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will have a picture of the response, its officials say.

What emerges will be a litmus test of the Accord's credibility and whether a comprehensive and binding climate pact can be reached by year's end.

And, from there, flow more complex questions. Can the United Nations be revived as the forum for a climate treaty? Or will it play second fiddle to a smaller group of nations led by major carbon polluters?

The Copenhagen Accord calls for limiting warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), the threshold set by many climate scientists.

The agreement also commits rich countries to paying out around 30 billion dollars in total over the next three years, and 100 billion dollars annually by 2020, to help poor nations fight climate change and cope with its consequences.

The 194 UNFCCC signatories have the option of specifying what actions -- voluntary or otherwise -- they envisage for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Most of the world's major polluters, part of a group of around two dozen nations that pushed through the accord, have already reaffirmed goals announced ahead of the Copenhagen talks.

The document will be scrutinised for any missing names, dilution of pledges or backtracking that will sap legitimacy.

The next step will be to put flesh on this skeletal agreement, negotiators agree.

"We have an accord that is lumbering down the runway, and we need it to gather enough speed to take off," chief US delegate Todd Stern told investors at the UN Foundation in New York this month.

An internal assessment by the European Commission makes the same point: "The European Union should play a pro-active role in strengthening and expanding support for the Accord ... 'to give it a life'," it said.

One big task in the coming months will be turn the accord's fuzzy provisions for a Green Climate Fund and a Technology Mechanism into genuine tools for helping poor countries.

Another is to spell out exactly how the emissions pledges of emerging giants, especially China, India and Brazil, should be verified.

Both are highly sensitive policy areas that have stymied the UNFCCC negotiations. A consensus requirement and the tendency to get bogged down in procedural and textual battles make it easy for a nation, or group of nations, to block approval.

Given such problems, movement is growing in favour of a vanguard of countries that would do the negotiation spadework.

Which countries would be in this core, who would organise the meetings, and how they would intersect with the UNFCCC remain unclear.

Suspicions among poor countries in Africa and Latin America of a hijacking of the UN process are what prevented the Accord from securing approval by all UNFCCC members in Copenhagen.

Proponents of a parallel forum are treading cautiously.

"The discussions for an overall legal treaty will also carry forward," Stern said. "We need to set up a smaller group of countries, as well as operating in the full multilateral arena."

He also left open the possibility that the United States would continue the Major Economies Forum, a grouping of the world's top carbon polluters first brought together by George Bush and continued by Barack Obama.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for monthly meetings of the so-called "group of 28", a reference to the ministers and heads of state that hammered out a draft of the Copenhagen Accord during the desperate final day of the summit.

Environment ministers from the quartet of China, India, Brazil and South Africa, meanwhile, have already met and vowed to "deepen" the cooperation among them that so clearly emerged in Denmark.

Few people involved in climate diplomacy are optimistic that a binding treaty -- supposed to have been reached in Copenhagen -- can be reached in Mexico by year's end, and the mood has been further dampened by Obama's domestic political problems.

"Generally people want to reach a conclusion on the negotiating texts in Mexico, and then they will be in a position to decide how they want to package that outcome legally," UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer said last week.

Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN climate science panel whose report underpins the negotiations, was gloomy.

"At this point in time, things don't look very good at all. They look very bleak -- I'm being very completely candid," Pachauri told AFP, referring to the climate talks.

World may not do climate deal this year
Gerard Wynn Reuters 29 Jan 10;

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Global climate talks may have to continue into 2011 after failing last month to agree on a Kyoto successor, the U.N.'s climate chief and Denmark's new climate minister told Reuters on Friday.

Green Business | COP15 | Davos

The world failed to commit in Copenhagen last month to succeed or extend the existing Kyoto Protocol from 2013. The U.N.'s top climate official, Yvo de Boer, could not guarantee a deal in Mexico, the next scheduled ministerial meeting.

A lack of trust and the economic crisis complicated prospects for a deal in Mexico in December, added President Felipe Calderon, the prospective host of those talks.

"Whether we can achieve that in Mexico or need a bit more time remains to be seen and will become clearer in the course of the year," de Boer said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where executives said they would invest in low-carbon technologies regardless of a global climate deal.

"It's very difficult to pin down. One of the lessons from Copenhagen was don't rush it, take the time you need to get full engagement of all countries and make sure people are confident about what is being agreed."

India's top climate envoy Shyam Saran said on Thursday that that the world would "probably not" agree an ambitious deal this year unless the global economy improved.

Deadlock last month centered on how far big emerging economies should follow the industrialized world and enforce binding actions to fight climate change.

Denmark holds the presidency of the U.N. process until the Cancun meeting. Its new climate minister, Lykke Friis, agreed it was too soon to be sure of success in Mexico.

"The ultimate goal is to reach a legally binding deal but it's too early to say if it will be done in Mexico. No-one has the complete game plan to get to Cancun, that's what we're trying to find out now."

Denmark still did not know how much each industrialized country would contribute of about $30 billion to help developing nations fight climate change from 2010-2012, as agreed in the final "Copenhagen Accord," she added.

Mexico would do their best, said Calderon.

"My perception is that the lack of consensus is related to the economic problems in each nation, because there are economic costs associated with the task to tackle climate change.

"We want in Cancun a robust, comprehensive and substantial agreement," by all 193 signatories of the U.N.'s climate convention, he said.

"We need to try to learn from our mistakes ... we need to return trust and confidence between the parties."

The U.N.'s de Boer said countries must arrange additional meetings this year, in addition to the two already timetabled in Bonn in June, and then in Mexico if they wanted agreement.

De Boer said he was "very happy" to receive confirmation yesterday from the United States that it had beaten a January 31 deadline to submit formally its planned carbon cuts, to be written into the non-binding Copenhagen Accord.

For a factbox of all pledges submitted so far to the United Nations, double-click here -- [ID:nLDE60S0UY]

(Reporting by Gerard Wynn, Editing by Mike Peacock)

Is Water Vapor in the Stratosphere Slowing Global Warming?

A mysterious drop in water vapor in the lower stratosphere might be slowing climate change

David Biello Scientific American 29 Jan 10;

Earth's stratosphere is a cold, dry place, above the troposphere—the bottom layer of the atmosphere we breathe on a daily basis. Ruled by winds and hosting everything from bacteria to long-distance jet travel, about the only way that water gets into this high-altitude layer 10 kilometers above the Earth's surface is when it billows up from the humid tropics, rising from the troposphere via the atmospheric interface known as the tropopause.

But since 2001 there has been less water vapor in a narrow, lower band of the stratosphere thanks to cooler temperatures in the tropopause, and that may just be holding back global warming at ground level, according to new research published online in Science on January 28.

"We found that there was a surface temperature impact due to changes in water vapor in a fairly narrow region of the stratosphere," explains research meteorologist Karen Rosenlof of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Aeronomy Laboratory, one of the authors of the study. "The reason for the water vapor change is the temperature drop at the interface between the troposphere and the stratosphere over the tropics. What we don't know is why the temperature dropped."

That temperature does seem to correlate, however, to sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific that, of course, follow El Niño–La Niña cycles, along with other trends. A new El Niño cycle—warmer surface waters—began last summer, which may mean that stratospheric water levels could change again. So this effect could either be the result of natural variability in Earth's climate, or yet another effect of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases like water vapor trapping more heat and thus warming sea-surface temperatures.

All told, stratospheric water vapor declined by 10 percent since 2000, based on satellite and balloon measurements, yet that was enough to appreciably affect temperatures at ground level according to climate models. "Reduce the water vapor and you have less long-wave radiation coming back down to warm the troposphere," Rosenlof says. Conversely, an apparent increase in water vapor in this region in the 1980s and 1990s exacerbated global warming.

Of course, the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere is also affected by another potent greenhouse gas—methane—which has unexpectedly failed to increase in recent years. "The other influence is methane, which breaks down into two water molecules and CO2 in the stratosphere," explains climate scientist Drew Shindell of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS). "Methane's growth rate has dropped, so it'll have become a weaker source of stratospheric water, but we don't fully understand why its concentrations have not increased as rapidly in recent years as they did for the previous several decades."

In fact, the more than 100 percent increase in overall methane since the 18th century has made the stratosphere a wetter place, notes GISS climate modeler Gavin Schmidt. "What might have caused this effect? I can think of two factors: The 1997–98 El Niño might have moistened the lower stratosphere more than usual, and thus there has been a trend toward drying since then," he says. "A second idea might be related to changes in aerosol emissions from Asia, which have affected temperature profiles in the tropics and the properties of clouds."

And there remains little doubt that average temperatures are getting warmer at ground level; data from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center reveals that the last decade was the warmest since record-keeping began. More monitoring of the entire atmosphere as well as the whole panoply of greenhouse gases over the long term will be required to determine what's behind the lower stratospheric dry out—a set of observations imperiled by the current dearth of Earth observation satellites operated by the U.S. space program.

But one thing remains clear: More greenhouse gases in the atmosphere equals more warming. "It doesn't say that CO2 warming isn't going on," Rosenlof adds. A drier lower stratosphere may simply have slowed the warming caused by the thickening greenhouse gas blanket.

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