Is acidity a problem in streams of Bukit Timah Nature Reserve (BTNR)? from Water Quality in Singapore
Hooked on Hymenopterans! (Part 1)
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity! and What are Hymenopterans? The world of bees and wasps.
Mad lesson on Monkeys
from Cicada Tree Eco-Place and Critters in their Cribs
White-rumped Shama taking a bath
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Distorted view through the climate gates
from BBC blog by Richard Black
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 3 Feb 10;
CHINA Huaneng, China's largest coal-fuelled power producer, and now Tuas Power's owner, will embark on construction proper of Singapore's first coal-fired station soon.
But for the other big gencos such as PowerSeraya and Senoko Power, which currently utilise piped gas from neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia, upcoming LNG supplies expected in 2013 remain their first new fuel option at this time. However, coal - which introduces carbon emission issues - may also offer them a longer-term alternative.
As far as Tuas Power's $2 billion coal cogeneration plant is concerned, Lim Kong Puay, Tuas Power's president and CEO told BT: 'We are in the process of finalising the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) terms with the selected contractor.'
This suggests that construction of the project - which had its groundbreaking last November - will start shortly.
The multi-utilities plant (using 80 per cent clean coal and 20 per cent biomass as fuel) will produce about 1,000 tonnes of steam per hour and 160 megawatts of electricity. It will also provide chilled water and treat industrial waste for petrochemical investors on Jurong Island.
Mr Lim was giving an update of its coal-station project following Monday's Economic Strategies Committee report, which suggested that in the short to medium term, Singapore should explore generating energy from coal as well as electricity imports, and also nuclear energy in the long term.
John Ng, CEO of YTL-owned PowerSeraya - which is currently commissioning the genco's $800 million investments in new gas-fired cogeneration plants - said that 'right now, PowerSeraya is looking at just LNG use, although we will evaluate coal-firing as a longer term option'.
Mr Ng agreed that it will be good for the economy to have fuel-diversification in the longer term, although with Singapore just about to embark on building its $1-1.5 billion liquefied natural gas terminal, 'there needs to be sizeable enough LNG demand volumes in the meantime'.
Alternative fuels could be considered once the LNG terminal's requirements are fulfilled, he said, further cautioning that 'coal also brings in a second issue of carbon emissions, even as Singapore is moving to a low-carbon regime'.
Singapore LNG Corporation is understood be in the final stages of picking its EPC contractor for the LNG terminal - a project which will see Singapore diversify its natural gas supplies beyond just piped gas from Indonesia and Malaysia.
And gencos including PowerSeraya and Senoko Power are understood to be in discussions with the LNG aggregator or buyer, BG Group, regarding their LNG needs and purchases, with the gas sales agreements expected to be finalised ahead of the scheduled construction start of the LNG terminal this quarter.
PowerSeraya has just completed a new 800MW cogen plant, plus conversion of two 750MW combined cycle gas turbines into cogen units - giving it a total 1,550 MW of new cogen capacity to supply utilities such as steam and cooling water, apart from electricity.
The flight marks CAAS' entry to the Aspire programme
Nisha Ramchandani, Business Times 3 Feb 10;
THE Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Singapore Airlines (SIA) have successfully pulled off the world's first multi-sector demonstration green flight, which resulted in fuel savings of about 6 per cent and reduced carbon emissions of over 33 tonnes.
The Boeing 747-400, which departed Los Angeles on Jan 31, arrived in Singapore via Tokyo half an hour earlier than expected early yesterday morning.
The flight marked CAAS' entry to the Asia and Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions (Aspire) programme on Monday, a partnership of air navigation service providers (ANSP) which aims to promote best practices to reduce aviation emissions globally.
'The route an aircraft takes, the altitude at which it flies and the weather it encounters all affect the amount of fuel it burns and the carbon dioxide emitted,' said SIA's senior vice- president of flight operations, Gerard Yeap.
On top of its usual engine and airframe maintenance programmes, SIA put the aircraft through a special engine wash programme to optimise fuel efficiency and polished the airframe to reduce drag.
At the same time, ground electrical supply was used to power the aircraft when it was on the ground as opposed to the plane's auxiliary power unit.
However, what ultimately contributed to the greatest fuel savings was using a user preferred route through a flight planning system during the flight, whereby the pilot could alter the flight path based on wind patterns to reduce flight time.
ANSP partners in the US and Japan also worked together with CAAS to ensure that the aircraft could operate in ideal air traffic conditions, from departure to cruising to arrival.
This included priority clearance for departure as well as allowing the aircraft an uninterrupted descent - versus the conventional step-descent method - which results in less fuel burn.
'Green' SQ flight saves 5% fuel
Straits Times 3 Feb 10;
BETTER air traffic management and in-flight procedures helped Singapore Airlines save 10 tonnes of fuel, or about 5 per cent of its total fuel usage, on a flight from Los Angeles on Sunday.
The Boeing 747-400 which flew from Los Angeles to Singapore, with a stopover in Narita, also reduced its carbon emissions by more than 30 tonnes and shaved 30 minutes off the travel time.
This environmentally friendly flight was part of the Asia and Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions (Aspire) of which the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) is the newest member.
Members of the partnership pledge to adopt and promote best practices in air travel that have proven to be successful in reducing greenhouse gases. Other member partners have already carried out 'green' flights around the world to test different practices.
Sunday's flight operated by SIA and CAAS was the fifth 'green' flight of the Aspire series.
Best in-flight practices used this time to reduce fuel usage included a special engine wash for the aircraft's four engines, using recycled water to remove dirt that adds weight to the aircraft, and polishing the airframe to minimise drag.
But the bulk of its fuel savings came from taking the User Preferred Route generated by a modern flight planning system developed by Lufthansa Systems, said SIA. The aircraft followed a more dynamic route based on weather conditions, aircraft make and performance, instead of an existing pre-determined route.
CAAS also arranged for the aircraft to get priority clearance from air traffic control for taxiing and departure. It was also assigned the nearest bay to the runway.
Asked if such allowances were feasible for all flights, SIA's senior vice- president of flight operations, Captain Gerard Yeap, said: 'Look at the flight as an aspiration of what we all would like to achieve. The takeaway for all of us is: What aspects today can you put into use? It's a long road and we are getting there.'
The director of CAAS' air traffic services, Mr Ng Tee Chiou, said: 'As Iata (International Air Transport Association) has said before, the aim is to save one minute on each flight.
'If you all do that, just aim for that humble one minute; cumulatively, it means big bucks for the airlines.'
MARIA ALMENOAR
A blueprint for fundamental change?
Choy Keen Meng, Today Online 3 Feb 10;
THE Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) Report released this week is the latest instalment in a long series of economic restructuring plans issued by official committees that were typically convened in the wake of crises. None were radical departures from the tried and tested formulae for economic success, and at first glance, the current report seems not to be an exception to the rule.
On closer examination, however, there is reason to hope this document heralds a qualitative break from previous growth paradigms. Or at least, it promises to achieve such a shift if the reform agenda outlined is brought to its logical conclusion.
What is different and refreshing this time is in the big picture: The acknowledgment that, despite being fortuitously situated in a continent towards which the economic centre of the world is gravitating, Singapore cannot grow at the breakneck pace of the last three decades because its population and space constraints have caught up with its economic progress.
Hence, the targeting of a more sustainable medium-term GDP growth rate of 3 to 5 per cent - to be driven, significantly, by productivity increases rather than additions to manpower, especially foreign manpower.
Indeed, the report recognises that a renewed emphasis on the quality of economic growth is desirable at the current stage of Singapore's development.
This involves paying greater attention to the efficient use of land and energy resources as well as the objective of inclusive growth - meaning that the elderly and less educated will not be left behind even as Singapore continues to advance.
To their credit, the ESC members realised these groups in our society will find it hardest to move up the skills ladder, and have therefore recommended an enhancement of the currently modest Workfare Income Supplement scheme. Ideally, this should take the form of an increase in both the frequency and quantum of cash payouts.
TARGETS FEASIBLE?
Frankly, achieving labour productivity growth of 2 to 3 per cent over the next decade will require a Herculean effort from firms and workers. One factor will work to Singapore's advantage, though: Because productivity levels here are so low compared to some of the OECD countries, there is plenty of scope for improvement.
Still, the Government can do its part by doling out financial aid and incentives. Companies facing higher wage costs with the impending increases in foreign worker levies will welcome state subsidies to automate, mechanise and innovate, as well as to re-tool their employees for the workplace of the future.
Insofar as the micro prescriptions of the report are concerned, there are no real surprises to be found in 'more of the same' strategies of attracting large (and now small) MNCs, nurturing foreign talent, encouraging commercialisation of R&D, and so on.
Nonetheless, there are a couple of good ideas amongst the proliferation of proposals. One concerns the multi-pronged plans to help local SMEs grow and compete internationally.
The recommendations to provide seed capital and cross-border financing are novel and promise to be more successful than previous measures. Given their predominance in the economy and in previous regionalisation drives, however, the GLCs have - strangely enough - not been roped in to spearhead overseas expansion, or even to act as catalysts to private sector firms venturing abroad.
Closer to home, the emphasis on exploiting and further developing Singapore's vantage point as a service platform for Asian markets, companies and consumers is not misplaced.
The report correctly identifies the financial services, wealth management and healthcare industries as being well-placed to serve the region's burgeoning urban class. It remains to be seen what carrots will be offered to firms in these sectors when the Budget is announced later this month.
AN UNFINISHED AGENDA
Another interesting twist in the business hub strategy is the symbiosis between targeting high value-added manufacturing and the demand for sophisticated services it generates, for example in headquarter-related activities and product life-cycle management.
Even so, the stated aim of keeping the manufacturing share at a quarter of GDP seems a tad too ambitious in the light of the changed post-crisis landscape and the potential rise of protectionism in the West.
The ESC could have gone further to suggest that the void be filled by promoting services and home-grown businesses catering to domestic demand.
Sadly, too, the Report remains silent on measures to mitigate economic volatility - and apparently does not concur that Singapore's private consumption has to be boosted to serve as an automatic stabiliser in times of recession, despite the protestations of local economists and notwithstanding the laudable efforts of the country's Asian neighbours to move towards this goal.
All in all, the ESC Report represents an unfinished agenda for fundamental change, although it does supply a coherent vision for sustaining economic vibrancy.
Dr Choy is Assistant Professor of Economics at the Nanyang Technological University.
Businesses get on the ESC train
But some questions raised about foreign worker levies and approaches to raising productivity
Chuang Peck Ming, Business Times 3 Feb 10;
(SINGAPORE) Business organisations not only welcome the recommendations of the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC), but are ready to work with the government to boost productivity and make the big shift to quality-driven economic growth in the next 10 years.
Still, some harbour short-term concerns, especially the prospect of higher foreign-worker levies - an ESC recommendation to better manage the dependence on guest workers and push companies to invest in productivity boosters.
At the same time, while noting that there is no choice, but to grow productivity, economists and other industry players warned yesterday that it will be an uphill task.
'It's not easy, or other developed economies will be achieving 5 per cent growth (instead of around 2 per cent yearly),' said Robert Prior-Wandesforde, senior Asian economist at HSBC Bank.
He doubts that Singapore can hit the top end of the ESC's 3-5 per cent economic growth target for the next 10 years.
Yet, Mr Prior-Wandesforde does not think that Singapore's growth - 5 per cent average in the past decade - will slip to the level of Western developed economies.
Unlike these economies, which are saddled with huge debts and deficits that will take years to clear, business-friendly Singapore is in a stronger fiscal position, he pointed out. More importantly, it is closely tied to high-growth Asia.
The ESC concedes that ramping up productivity growth from the dismal one per cent posted in the past decade to 2-3 per cent - needed to sustain a 'good' 3-5 per cent economic growth - is tough, but doable.
Because Singapore's productivity performance lags that of many developed economies', the ESC says that there is plenty of room for improvement.
Some are not fully convinced.
While describing the ESC recommendations as 'very pivotal' for the next phase of Singapore's economic growth, Ho Geok Choo, chief executive of Human Capital Singapore, also said: 'The recommendations include many schemes to drive productivity growth, but the big question is how and who will be able to implement these schemes for Singaporeans.'
Ms Ho, who is also a Member of Parliament, added: 'We must not be misled into looking for key performance indicators as indicators of success for these schemes. Rather, we should focus on the process and the journey to reach these indicators.'
David Ang, executive director of the Singapore Human Resources Institute, said that productivity is already a complex subject at company level - and becomes even more complex at national level.
He also fears that the high-level national council, recommended to be set up to spearhead productivity growth, may become prescriptive and stifle innovation if it were to start issuing guidelines to companies.
Should that happen, instead of helping to raise productivity, the council may turn out to be counter-productive.
But Heng Chee How, deputy secretary-generation of the Trades Union Congress, sees things differently.
The setting up of a high-level national council will signal that the government has come to acknowledge Singapore's poor showing on the productivity front - and is now giving top priority to improve it, he said.
Mr Heng, who is also an MP, has been urging the government to tackle Singapore's low productivity. He is now happy that the ESC has made it a key thrust of its recommendations.
The Singapore Business Federation, which boasts 15,000 member companies, has pledged to work with government agencies 'to champion' productivity and capability development programmes.
The Singapore Manufacturers' Federation (SMa), which also indicated that it is ready to play its part, said: 'Productivity is everybody's business - from government, CEOs and management to workers.'
But together with the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry (SCCCI), the SMa worries about the increase in foreign-worker levies.
'Any further increases in the foreign worker levy will add to our high business costs and curtail the labour supply that is critical to securing and meeting overseas orders to sustain economic recovery at this point of time,' SCCCI said yesterday.
And now, to turn vision into reality
Business Times 3 Feb 10;
THE recommendations of the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) unveiled on Monday reflect an imaginative vision for the Singapore economy in the post-financial crisis world. It is panoramic in scope, does not offer quick fixes and is bold without being unrealistic. But making it happen will need the cooperation, and a willingness to change, on the part of companies and workers as well as government agencies.
The ESC's recommendations have been made against the backdrop of a medium-term economic growth projection of 3-5 per cent a year - modest by Singapore standards, but decent by OECD benchmarks. Given that growth in the US, Europe and Japan is set to remain low for the foreseeable future, the projection seems, for now, prudent. But this does not mean Singapore should resign itself to modest growth; the economy has surprised on the upside before, and could do so again.
However, the ESC has rightly focused not on growth per se, but its quality. Here, productivity-driven rather than input-driven growth is the key. Singapore's abysmal productivity growth - just one per cent per year over the last decade - is a glaring fact. The performance of some sectors - construction, for example - has been particularly weak, but there is scope for improvements economy-wide. It is thus appropriate that the ESC has made productivity growth the centrepiece of its proposed strategy. However, the initiative would still have to come from companies themselves. A change of mindset will be needed such that companies view training and skills upgrading more seriously, as investments in the future of their employees, and thereby, of themselves.
Another productivity-related issue relates to foreign workers. The ESC proposes reducing the reliance on such workers over time. The argument is that companies should not have the easy option of using cheap labour, which prevents them from upgrading. However, skills take time to build, companies need time to adjust and there are occupations for which there are few job takers in the local workforce, which too needs time to change. The reliance on foreign workers can thus only be reduced gradually, but companies will need to gear up to cope with progressively high foreign worker levies.
A better trained workforce also ties in with another part of the ESC's blueprint: to attract a diversity of companies to Singapore, including not only MNCs, but global mid-sized companies as well as Asian companies, which are growing and internationalising rapidly. Local companies will have to brace for not only more potential synergies, but also more competition.
Promoting Singapore as a cultural capital - a key part of the ESC's 'global city' vision - will also need a determined effort and a greater willingness to accommodate creative industries, which have a dynamism and ecosystem of their own.
In sum, the ESC has laid out a bold blueprint. But turning that into reality will take a painstaking, but also exciting, national effort.
Challenges to accompany new growth strategy of raising productivity
Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia 2 Feb 10;
SINGAPORE: Shifting gears to a new growth strategy of increasing productivity will come with its own set of challenges.
The Economic Strategies Committee (ESC), which released its report on Monday, has indicated that growth over the next decade will be slower - averaging at 3 to 5 per cent per year. Another potential fallout will be job losses, which is an inevitable part of restructuring.
The message is clear: change the way you work or Singapore risks losing out in the long run. Raising productivity, said the high-level committee, is the only way to ensure real wages go up in line with inflation.
But the road ahead will not be easy. It will take time and money, something which Far East Flora understands.
The family-owned company has spent the past one-and-a-half years re-looking its business and HR practices. It knows that to survive, it needs to restructure.
Peter Cheok, sales & marketing director, Far East Flora, said: "If we are not able to attract and retain good staff, we will not be able to improve ourselves. Eventually our competitors will become better than us. We will have less market share, our business will suffer."
To attract and retain good staff, Far East Flora has introduced a scholarship scheme for older workers.
In partnership with the Workforce Development Agency, the company forks out about S$12,000 per worker in training and course fees. So far, about 50 workers have taken up the scheme over the past three years. One beneficiary is 47-year-old Sekna Sani, who is undergoing training as a florist.
The company hopes that such incentives will go some way in helping it address the perennial problem of a high turnover.
Mr Cheok said: "Previously when we hire a staff, there was no proper orientation, there was no proper explanation of the benefits of working in Far East Flora.
"So we had cases where the staff come in in the morning and by lunch time they will call it quits and say that they are not suitable for the environment or various other reasons. The quickest I've ever seen someone leave is within half a day."
But enhancing productivity is a long-term investment. Fast East Flora said it will see results only in about three to five years.
For companies that cannot afford the time and money, it may mean potentially having to fold or ship out of Singapore. Still, the ESC feels that now is the time to swallow the bitter pill.
Josephine Teo, co-chair of the ESC Sub-Committee on Fostering Inclusive Growth, said: "To enable ourselves to get onto this path of restructuring when the going is good is probably the best thing we can do for ourselves. Rather than to wait for a situation, for a day that we have lost our competitiveness and to find we are forced to restructure."
She went on to say: "There will be a certain amount of restructuring pains. The question is: if we don't restructure now, will the pain be even bigger further down the road?"
Ms Teo added that not all companies within what could be a sunset industry will face the same fate. "If you take a sector like garment manufacturing, for example, you see that many of the companies find that they are unable to operate competitively out of Singapore.
"However, it doesn't mean that all companies in this sector are doomed to have to move out. In fact, we will still be able to find companies being able to change the scope of their activities, move to more higher value-added type of activities that continue to be attractively located in Singapore."
The key is for companies to tap the support the government will provide to ease the impact on restructuring. Among the proposals thrown up is facilitating upgrading at every level and in any job.
The committee has recommended a multiple skills pathway to complement academic learning in schools.
It has also proposed setting up a centre that will conduct research on productivity and innovation which companies can tap on.
- CNA/ir
Emilyn Yap, Business Times 3 Feb 10;
TECHNICAL complications on creating underground space aside, how would the government value subterranean land?
The Economic Strategies Committee had an eye on this issue when it proposed that the government draw up a subterranean land rights and valuation framework. Some industry watchers believe that underground space can be valued based on its income potential, but overcoming high building costs and reaping sufficient yield would pose challenges.
According to the National University of Singapore's School of Design and Environment Associate Professor Willie Tan, the valuation of underground space would be the same as that for other properties.
For instance, the value could be based on the space's income potential less cost. 'If this cannot be covered, then (the space) does not get built,' he said. 'If one looks at an underground shop, key features such as location, access, size, design, safety and quality still hold.'
Cushman & Wakefield Singapore managing director Donald Han said that underground space can be valued based on the rents it can fetch. Rents at some retail outlets underground can be some 15-20 per cent lower than those above ground, he added. Market observers raised high construction costs as a key concern. Mr Han reckons that the move to venture underground could take time because of this, unless technological advancements reduce costs in the future.
Dr Tan pointed out that because of the high costs, underground space 'requires high-yielding land uses to pay their way'. Alternatively, the space should support high density movement of people or goods. As a result, it might be more suitable for commercial rather than residential uses. Underground space can be used mainly for storage facilities, malls, hotels, subway stations, car parks and infrastructure. It would not be suitable for industries which generate a lot of noise, he said.
Jones Lang LaSalle South-east Asia research head Chua Yang Liang believes that initial ventures are likely to be state-driven because of the high costs. The government could perhaps subsidise part of the land price to encourage private sector involvement later, he said.
Alister Doyle, Reuters 3 Feb 10;
PLAYA GRANDE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - On a Pacific beach in Costa Rica, a researcher whispers the number after counting the slimy, round white eggs just laid by a rare leatherback turtle in a hole dug in the sand under bright moonlight.
Turtles like this 1.5 meter (5 ft) female have probably been struggling out of the surf at night since before the dinosaurs disappeared 65 million years ago. The region is the main nesting site in the east Pacific for the critically endangered species.
Numbers of leatherbacks emerging onto this Costa Rican beach fell to 32 in the 2008-09 season from 1,500 two decades ago -- due to factors such as nearby hotels, poaching of eggs, accidental snaring in fishermen's nets and global warming. Arrivals so far this season are slightly up.
Far from the beach, other experts may give a new argument for conserving the turtles by studying whether their fast-clotting blood can give clues to aiding humans, or if the way they regulate buoyancy can inform submarine design.
In 2010 -- the International Year of Biodiversity -- the United Nations wants efforts to slow the accelerating pace of extinctions to reach beyond nature lovers, to companies and economists.
Shifting emphasis from emotional images of polar bears, pandas or leatherbacks that stress the fragility and beauty of nature, the focus is on a harder-headed assessment of how the natural world is a key to economic growth and new products.
"Boosting biodiversity can boost the global economy," the U.N. Environment Programme said in a headline over a statement launching the theme. Natural services by coral reefs, forests or wetlands are too often undervalued, it said.
But profits from imitating nature have often been elusive. By some U.N. estimates, three species an hour are going extinct, most of them before they have even been identified.
"It's like we have a house full of wedding presents," said James Spotila, a professor of environmental science at Drexel University in Philadelphia. "And we're throwing them out of the window before we even open them."
EXTINCTION CRISIS
U.N. reports say the world is facing the worst spate of extinctions since the dinosaurs vanished, due to factors such as expanding cities, forest clearance, overfishing, climate change and species disrupting new habitats.
Yet a hectare of intact coral reef, for instance, can be worth up to $1 million a year for tourism, up to $189,000 for protecting coasts from storms, up to $57,000 as a source of genetic materials and up to $3,818 for fisheries, according to a preliminary U.N.-backed study in late 2009.
The problem is translating such estimates into cash.
"I always ask: 'where's the business proposal?'," said Gunter Pauli, head of Zero Emissions Research and Initiatives which looks for opportunities in nature.
Many pharmaceutical firms rely on nature. Among recent examples, scientists developed the malaria drug artemisinin from sweet wormwood, while the Madagascan periwinkle and Pacific yew tree have both yielded treatments for cancer.
Beyond medicines, firms are looking to "biomimicry," tricks evolved by nature such as adhesives inspired by the feet of gecko lizards that can walk on ceilings, or cellphone screens imitating iridescent butterfly wings to generate colors.
Companies including Royal Dutch Shell, Dupont and Nike work with the Montana-based Biomimicry Guild, which seeks to identify new ideas.
"It's so fun to see the light go on in their eyes. They can see 'we can make money and do the right thing'," said Sherry Ritter of the Guild.
Still, Pauli said only three biomimicry products had secured annual turnover over 100 million euros ($144.3 million).
These are Velcro -- Swiss inventor George de Mestral was inspired in the 1940s by plant burrs trapped on his dog's fur -- hypodermic needles which Terumo Corp modeled on the jab of a mosquito, and paints derived from a self-cleaning trick by the lotus plant, sold by U.S. Sto Corp. and other groups.
ABALONE KEVLAR?
"A lot are nice, romantic ideas," Pauli said. "The abalone (shellfish) produces materials stronger than Kevlar: correct. Commercial viability: zero. It's too complicated."
Among new business ideas, he said coffee farms in Colombia had created 10,000 jobs by using coffee waste as fertilizer to grow edible tropical mushrooms. In turn, the remaining waste can be sold as animal feed.
"If you say: 'can we talk about triple cash flows?' then the entrepreneur gets interested," he said, referring to the three income sources in such a project.
Studies showing the utilitarian value of nature are an extra reason for conservation, said Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
It is only natural that these approaches, and the new data they generate, are receiving more attention since their estimates are suddenly becoming more robust, he said.
"Biodiversity decline is predominantly caused by economic activities in the broadest sense, and the policy debate all too often tends to pit 'economic' interests against 'environmental' interests. The recent work shows that this juxtaposition is fundamentally flawed," he said.
The "Copenhagen Accord," agreed by some nations at U.N. climate talks in 2009, will also seek to promote the use of tropical forests to soak up greenhouse gases, a new source of income for poor nations.
Spotila, a leatherback turtle expert, said turtle blood is quick to clot to avoid giving sharks a scent that can bring an attack. Scientists are studying turtle blood for possible clues to stem bleeding in humans, for instance after surgery.
And the leatherbacks, the biggest species of turtle, can dive deeper than other turtles, leading experts to wonder how they regulate buoyancy. That and the shape of their shells could give clues to submarine or ship design.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature is seeking corporate sponsors to slow losses of species after the world failed to reach a U.N. goal, set in 2002, of slowing the rate of extinctions of animals and plants by 2010.
"We failed miserably," said Jean-Christophe Vie, deputy head of IUCN's species program. He said using economics to make the argument for protecting nature is often only stating the obvious.
"We need an economic argument, but I find it very sad," he said. "Things like fisheries, timber, pollination, clean water. Can you imagine the size of the economy or company needed to (protect) that?"
On Playa Grande, researchers such as Tera Dornfeld mark the site of the eggs after the female turtle has filled in the hole with her giant rear flippers and returned to the ocean. Later, the eggs will be dug up and transferred to a hatchery.
In a local economic battle, park managers fear developers may win permission from politicians to develop hotels, roads and villas closer to the remote beach.
"I fear that more development here would be the final nail in the coffin for the turtles," said Frank Paladino, professor of biology at Indiana Purdue University and director of research in the Las Baulas park that covers the beach.
In one sign of hope, an aging poster on the wall of the research center says the turtles could all be gone by 2010. A turtle and her 49 eggs have proven that wrong.
(Additional reporting by Ben Hirschler in London; editing by Paul Casciato and Sara Ledwith)
Stephen Leahy, IPS 2 Feb 10;
PARIS, Feb 2, 2010 (Tierramérica) - The Amazon jungle "is very close to a tipping point," and if destruction continues, it could shrink to one third of its original size in just 65 years, warns Thomas Lovejoy, world-renowned tropical biologist.
Climate change, deforestation and fire are the drivers of this potential Amazonian apocalypse, according to Lovejoy, biodiversity chair at the Washington DC-based Heinz Centre for Science, Economics and the Environment, and chief biodiversity adviser to the president of the World Bank.
Lovejoy laid out the scenario for participants at the Biodiversity Science Policy Conference in Paris last week, sponsored by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation), and marking the beginning of the U.N.'s International Year of Biodiversity.
"The World Bank released a study that finally put the impacts of climate change, deforestation and fires together. The tipping point for the Amazon is 20 percent deforestation," and that is "a scary result," Lovejoy told Tierramérica in an interview.
The study, "Assessment of the Risk of Amazon Dieback," released Jan. 22, drew on the expertise of several international research institutions, including Japan's Meteorological Research Institute, Britain's Exeter University, Brazil's Centre for Weather Forecasting and Climate Change (CPET/INPE), Germany's Potsdam Institute and Earth3000.
The results and analysis were reviewed by an international blue-ribbon panel of scientists.
Lovejoy, head of the committee responsible for this major scientific investigation, said the Amazon has already lost 17 to 18 percent of its forests. Furthermore, "it has a remarkable hydrogeological system where the forest generates at least half of its own rainfall."
This literally means the rainforest makes its own rain, but it also brings rainfall to many areas outside of the Amazon, including the central-western Brazilian state of Mato Grosso and northern Argentina, he said.
What the study shows for the first time is the combination of global warming on a path to reach two degrees Celsius, deforestation of roughly 20 percent of the original forest, and forest fires that undermine the Amazon's unique hydrogeological system.
The Amazonian south and southeast will receive much less rainfall. Less moisture means those areas will be more prone to fires, which not only destroy the forest but also further dry out the surrounding forest - all of which reduces the Amazon's ability to produce rain. The process becomes a self-reinforcing feedback loop.
"The forest eventually converts to cerrado (the Brazilian savanna) after a lot of fire, human misery, loss of biodiversity and emission of carbon into the atmosphere," said Lovejoy.
The Earth's average temperature has already warmed 0.8 degrees Celsius since the pre-industrial era. At the 15th Conference of Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Copenhagen in December, virtually all countries agreed that the warming must not surpass two degrees.
The report's conclusion: "For the Amazon as a whole, the remaining tropical forest will shrink to about three-quarters of its original area by 2025 and further to about only one-third of its original extension by 2075 as a result of these combined impacts of climate change, deforestation, and fire."
"The good news is that deforested areas can be reforested and provide a safety margin," said Lovejoy, maintaining some optimism.
It is estimated that a single hectare of Amazon rainforest contains about 900 tonnes of living plants, including more than 750 types of trees and 1,500 other plants, the report notes.
A single pond in Brazil can sustain a greater variety of fish than is found in all of Europe's rivers, and more than 2,000 species of fish have been identified in the Amazon Basin - more species than in the entire Atlantic Ocean.
The Andes mountain range and the Amazon jungle are home to more than half of the world's species of flora and fauna. For example, one in five of all birds in the world can be found there.
Sadly, before the end of this century many, and perhaps most, of those species will become extinct. After millions of years of existence many plants, insects, birds, animals will never be seen again on the Earth. Habitat loss and climate change will be the biggest reasons for their extinction.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change conservatively estimates that 30 percent of all species will be extinct by the end of this century, if global warming is not kept below two degrees.
Other experts, such as eminent Harvard entomologist E.O. Wilson, told participants at the UNESCO conference that extinctions could go as high as 50 percent.
"Our purpose this year is to focus the world's attention on the need to stop the destruction of biodiversity, the destruction of nature," Ahmed Djoghlaf, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said in the opening address of the conference in Paris.
The countries party to the Convention agreed in 1990 to slow the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. "We will not meet that goal," Djoghlaf told Tierramérica.
However, with the launch of the International Year of Biodiversity, and the many events, celebrations and conferences to be held around the world, Djoghlaf hopes biodiversity, which is another term for nature, will garner interest and support from the public and policy makers.
With the theme "Biodiversity is life. Biodiversity is our life," organisers are launching a largely educational effort to explain that plants, animals, insects, birds, and bacteria make up the world's ecosystems, which provide humanity with food, fibre and clean water and air.
According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, "60 percent of the world's ecosystems are degraded and failing. We have an obligation to change our ways. This is not a luxury," Djoghlaf said.
In October, the 193 countries that have signed the Convention will set new biodiversity reduction targets at a conference in Nagoya, Japan.
The failure to achieve the 2010 targets for protecting biodiversity resulted from countries' inability to define how they would reach them, Djoghlaf said.
He is confident that, having learned from these mistakes, countries will set specific national goals to curb species loss, with comprehensive plans on how to achieve them. That will then feed into a global target for 2020.
"We will have studies, reports and scientific indicators to guide us, but in the end it is up to policy makers to set targets and policies that will make it happen," said the biodiversity chief.
(*This story was originally published by Latin American newspapers that are part of the Tierramérica network. Tierramérica is a specialised news service produced by IPS with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme and the World Bank.) (END)
Environment News Service 2 Feb 10;
GLAND, Switzerland, February 2, 2010 (ENS) - Today, World Wetlands Day is being celebrated with the full recognition of Africa's Lake Chad as a wetland of international importance, fulfilling a commitment made 10 years ago by the four nations that share the continent's fourth largest lake.
The declaration today by the Cameroon Republic that its portion of Africa's fourth largest lake is a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands follows similar declarations by Niger and Chad in 2001 and Nigeria in 2008.
"Lake Chad's inscription as only the 13th trans-boundary formally recognized wetland is highly significant as 11 of the areas so far declared are in Europe," said Denis Landenbergue, WWF International's wetlands conservation manager.
WWF, which partnered with the Lake Chad Basin Commission, the Ramsar Convention and the Global Environment Facility on projects in Lake Chad and with the governments on achieving the declaration, said the challenge now is to "turn the promise of protection for Lake Chad into a reality for the millions that depend on it."
Climate change, the demand for irrigation water upstream, and poor management decisions have reduced the size of Lake Chad by 90 percent over the past 40 years, according to the Ramsar Secretariat.
Lake Chad is the remnant of a vast lake known as Mega-Chad which 22,000 years ago drained a greener Sahara. Now the focal point of life in arid Sahelian Africa, the new internationally protected wetland is vital to endangered otters, gazelles and elephants as well as hippopotamuses, Nile crocodiles and many bird species.
Home to over 20 million people who depend on the lake for their fishing, hunting, farming and grazing, the entire Lake Chad basin is threatened by climate change, desertification and unsustainable management of water resources and fisheries, illustrating the theme of World Wetlands Day 2010 - Wetlands, Biodiversity and Climate Change.
Across the Sahara Desert, in another World Wetlands Day highlight, Algeria designated five new Wetlands of International Importance vital to the migrating birds on the northern side of the desert that stop at Lake Chad on the southern side.
The theme links to the UN designation of 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity and to the increasingly important issue of water scarcity on a warming planet.
Anada Tiega, secretary general of the Ramsar Secretariat said today, "This year's theme, Wetlands, Biodiversity and Climate Change, with the slogan "Caring for wetlands: an answer to climate change," captures the sense of urgency we all feel about the need to address the potentially disastrous consequences of global climate change as quickly as possible, particularly in the wake of the Copenhagen meeting of the UNFCCC back in December."
"We are trying to emphasize, not only that wetlands must be a key part of any progress in global climate change issues, but also that the problems of climate change must be a addressed in a holistic, multi-sectoral, ecosystem-based manner," said Tiega. "Piecemeal solutions to individual problems may have the unforeseen consquences of impacting negatively upon other sectors and worsening our overall problems still further."
In South Africa, government officials launched the International Year of Biodiversity Monday and today in Tshwane, Gauteng designated the country's 20th Wetland of International Importance.
Ntsikeni Nature Reserve, a 9,200 hectare site is one of the largest high altitude wetlands in South Africa and has undergone the least ecological change due to its status as a nature reserve. It is one of the most important habitats in Africa for the wattled crane, Bugeranus carunculatus.
Deputy Minister of Water and Envirnmental Affairs Rejoice Mabudafhasi said, "It is estimated that up to 60 percent of the wetlands in South Africa have been damaged or destroyed due to human impact. The continued loss of wetlands due to urban development is also of grave concern to our country. Development is taking place without sustainable urban planning for flood attenutation and storm water management.
Mabudafhasi said activities in South African wetlands are taking place without water-use licenses and environmental authorization. "Our department is concerned with the many coal mining appliciations in areas with unique wetlands," she said.
In Canada, more than 24 United Nations water experts opened a three-day meeting today in Hamilton, Ontario to plan fresh strategy for a coordinated approach to the global water crisis that they warn increasingly threatens both human health and international security.
Known as UN-Water, the group will formalize international ceremonies to mark World Water Day 2010, which falls on March 22, and help set direction and UN agency contributions for the next triennial World Water Development Report in 2012.
Chaired by newly elected Chairman Zafar Adeel, director of the UN University's Hamilton-based Institute for Water, Environment & Health, UN-Water was created to coordinate the work of 26 UN water-related agencies, and to interact with 17 partner groups such as WWF and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
"The global importance of water issues cannot be overstated. Virtually all climate change impacts are expressed through water in one form or another, including more severe storms and extreme floods, and rapidly disappearing glaciers, often called Earth's water towers," says Dr. Adeel, adding that the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts worsening impacts in immediate decades to come.
"My goal as the UN-Water Chair is to demonstrate the significance of water issues in global policy debates, including the ongoing financial crisis as well as food security, climate change, international peace and stability," he said. "Water is central to each of those debates but typically isn't seen as such."
In January, the government of the United States listed its 26th Wetland of International Importance, the 22,357 hectare Upper Mississippi River Floodplain Wetlands. The natural floodplain backwaters of the Upper Mississippi River were enlarged and enhanced by construction of locks and dams in the 1930s to improve commercial and recreational navigation.
Today the site, which threads through four northern Midwestern states - Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois - is the most important corridor of fish and wildlife habitat remaining in the central United States. It supports over 100 native fish species and the nationally endangered Higgins' Eye Pearly Mussel. The site is at the core of the Mississippi Flyway, through which 40 percent of North America's waterfowl migrate, and includes the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge and the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge.
In Washington, DC, the National Peace Corps Association is commemorating World Wetlands Day by hosting an online discussion and seeking innovative ideas on the role Africa's wetlands play in sustainable development and agriculture on the continent.
The discussion is being held on the Africa Rural Connect website, NPCA's online initiative which encourages the remixing of ideas to spur collaboration and develop ways to help solve rural Africa's greatest challenges. Click here to participate in the World Wetlands Day online discussion for Africa.
"People's stereotype of Africa is that it's a dry and dusty continent," said Molly Mattessich, who served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mali. She is now general manager of online initiatives for the National Peace Corps Association and heads the Africa Rural Connect initiative. "Actually there are many countries that are green and lush and this type of terrain plays a major role in supporting entire ecosystems which include agriculture and critical food sources for rural populations."
In Europe, the European Space Agency's GlobWetland II project, launched last month, will contribute to the setting up of a Global Wetlands Observing System (G-WOS) in accordance with Ramsar's 2009-2015 strategic plan.
GlobWetland II was based on the findings and achievements of its precursor GlobWetland I, which ran from 2003 to 2008 also in collaboration with the Ramsar Convention.
"Earth observation is playing an increasingly important role in the inventory, assessment, monitoring and management of wetlands," said Nick Davidson, deputy secretary general of the Ramsar Convention.
GlobWetland II aims to develop a G-WOS pilot information system to produce a number of wetland-related geo-information maps and indicators over 200 wetland sites and surrounding areas for different points in time. The geographical regions covered will be the coastal catchment areas of the southern and eastern part of the Mediterranean basin, extending from Morocco to Turkey.
The coastal catchment basins of these countries are of particular interest for biodiversity because several endemic species are listed as critically endangered or extirpated, where a species no longer exists in a certain area, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
At the end of the two-year development period, the GlobWetland II information system will be installed at a number of partner organizations and supporting agencies to help them fulfil their reporting obligation to Ramsar and to manage better their wetlands.
In South America, the government of Brazil has designated Rio Doce State Park (Parque Estadual do Rio Doce) as its 10th Wetland of International Importance. Located in the southeastern region of Brazil, the rainforest lake system is the largest fragment of the endangered Atlantic Rainforest in Minas Gerais state. In addition to permanent and seasonal rivers, there are 42 natural lakes that represent six percent of the park surface.
The site hosts 10 different vegetation communities, 325 species of birds, and at least 77 mammals. The endemic and threatened Brazilian rosewood, Dalbergia nigra, can be found here, as well as other threatened species, such as jaguar, Panthera onca, Harpy eagle, Harpia harpyja, and North Muriqui, Brachyteles hypoxanthus, the largest primate of South America.
One of the main threats is the introduction of exotic, invasive fish species that have led to changes in the fish community. Nevertheless, the site has a management plan that is being implemented. The site is a fully protected area and is one of the core areas of the UNESCO Atlantic Forest Biosphere Reserve.
In Argentina, Grace de Haro from the Asociacion Arbol de Pie in the city of San Carlos de Bariloche, Rio Negro province says an effort is underway to protect "los mallines," the wetlands of western Patagonia.
The mallines are typical Patagonian environments, highly productive grazing lands for cattle and sheep and, therefore, of great economic interest in the region. They are located along the entire west-east environmental gradient of the Andean cordillera from rainforests to arid steppes and semi-arid environments, including the Bariloche area in the foothills of the Andes, surrounded by lakes and mountains.
Municipal legislation passed in 2006 is aimed at protecting some of these wetland sites under the Ramsar Convention. De Haro quotes the legislation, "The Municipality protects and regulates the rational use of wetlands (mallines the local name) within the city, favoring their maintenance and natural state."
Argentina has 19 Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance, the latest designated in 2009. De Haro says as the population begins to realize how important wetlands are for life, this number could easily double in the near future.
"Decisions are not easy especially when there are linked to financial interests," de Haro says. "This is why when the importance of valuable and fragile sites like wetlands and native forests is known and appreciated because they improve our quality of life then we have enough information that will helps us tip the scale in favor of their protection."
World Wetlands Day celebrates the adoption of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands on February 2, 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar to provide the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands.
Today, the convention's 159 member governments are obliged to report on the state of the wetlands for which they are responsible. There are 1,886 wetlands designated as Wetlands of International Importance, a total area of 185,156,612 hectares (714 893 square miles).
Hilary Chiew, The Star 3 Feb 10;
THERE could be more minor earthquakes like the one in Batu Niah on Monday with the construction of more dams in the Rejang river basin.
Mild tremors were felt in Batu Niah and Suai following a moderate earthquake in Batu Niah.
The Meteorological Services Department said the quake in the morning measured 3.2 on the Richter Scale.
University Malaysia Sabah Natural Disaster Research Unit head Dr Felix Tongkul said that dam development had long been associated with disturbances to the geological structure beyond the dam sites.
“The proposed construction of more dams in the Bintulu interior is of concern. We suspect the Batu Niah tremor could be linked to the Bakun dam where several fault lines pass.
“The pending impoundment of the dam will create an unnatural load in the area and further destabilise the weak zones,” he said.
Tongkul said that more seismic activities could be expected and the situation would be closely monitored.
Geological studies had been carried out prior to the construction of the 2,400MW hydro-electric dam, he added.
Leading seismologist Harsh K. Gupta, in a 2002 article on Reservoir-Induced Seismicity (RIS) published in Earth-Science Review noted that there are over 90 identified sites of earthquakes triggered by impoundment of reservoirs globally.
Following the tragic Sichuan quake in May 2008, scientists in China and the United States linked the incident to the weight of the Zipingpu dam on which impoundment began in 2004.
The International Commission on Large Dams recommends that RIS should be considered for reservoirs deeper than 100m. Bakun’s reservoir is 194m deep.
Gupta concluded that the depth and volume of a reservoir played a significant role in triggering earthquakes and that seismic activities could happen immediately after the filling of water begins or after a time lag.
The controversial RM7bil dam which displaced 15,000 indigenous people was scheduled for impoundment last November but this was deferred pending approval from authorities.
The Sarawak government has announced the construction of another 12 dams in the state and half of them will be located in the Rejang basin.
Work on the 900MW Murum dam on one of the Rejang’s tributaries began in 2008.
The other five are Belaga (260MW), Lanau (290MW), Baleh (1,400MW), Belepeh (110MW) and Mentjawa (300MW).
The RM3bil Murum dam located 470km inland from Miri will flood about 30,000ha of the Murum Valley and displace 2,800 inhabitants from eight settlements.
Some villagers are resisting relocation as they fear the same fate as those resettled in Sungai Asap as a result of the Bakun dam.
Demarkot forest reserve pays off
Ruben Sario, The Star 3 Feb 10;
KOTA KINABALU: The Dermakot commercial forest reserve which subscribes to sustainable management practices has paid off the investments made by the Sabah Government in over 20 years.
The state government had invested some RM90.82mil in the intensely logged Dermakot forest reserve as of last Dec 31 and had earned RM91.37mil in revenue.
As on Jan 29, it earned another US$1.424mil (RM4.874mil) from the auction of 805 logs harvested from the 55,000ha Dermakot.
Sabah Forestry Department director Datuk Sam Mannan said that this marked a historic day for Dermakot’s management.
“Proceeds of the auction represent the full payment of the capital invested by the Sabah Government over the past 20 years,” he added.
Mannan said from this year onwards, proceeds of log and other forest harvests from Dermakot were expected to contribute as much as RM4mil to the state coffers annually against management costs of about RM5mil.
“This translates to a rate of returns that ranges between 50% and 70%. It is competitive enough against the other alternative investments,” he added.
He said Dermakot had served as lesson for the state.
“Had it been properly managed from the time logging there allowed in 1950s, the Sabah Government would have been earning profits from day one.
“Unfortunately it has taken 20 years to recover from poor management practices. It is therefore imperative to get things right for the first time,” Mannan added.
Mannan said sustainable forest management practices developed at Dermakot were now being expanded to other Sabah forest reserves including the 240,000ha Ulu Segama-Malua area.
He also thanked Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman for his key interest in ensuring the success of the Dermakot sustainable forest management programme.
Arti Ekawati, Jakarta Globe 2 Feb 10;
The palm oil industry, which is regularly accused of being a major contributor to climate change, wants to develop a universally accepted measurement of the environmental impact of palm oil production.
Witjaksono Darmosarkoro, director of the state-run Indonesian Oil Palm Research Center (PPKS), said it was inevitable that agricultural activities would create carbon emissions, which contribute to global warming.
However, the sector was also responsible for removing some carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by planting new trees and there was a need for a clear measurement on the net effects of the industry in terms of carbon emissions, he said.
“Activities in the palm oil sector must be measurable, reportable and verifiable,” Witjaksono said on Monday, ahead of the International Conference on Oil Palm and the Environment in Bali from Feb. 23 to Feb. 25.
Palm oil stake holders would begin discussing the issue at the conference, which will be attended by government officials, palm oil producers and scientists, Witjaksono said.
Jean-Guy Bertault, regional director for Southeast Asian island nations at Cirad, a French agricultural research center, said there were many assumptions about carbon emissions from the palm oil industry.
Each country, palm oil producer and non-government organization has their own methodology to calculate the ecological, social and economic impacts of palm oil production, Bertault explained.
“How to protect biodiversity as well as how to use it economically? No one could answer that question, since everyone is using various methodologies,” Bertault said.
Environmental campaign groups such as Greenpeace blame the palm oil industry for driving deforestation, contributing to global climate change and endangering rare species such as orangutans.
Indonesia is the world’s biggest producer of palm oil, which is used to make everything from soap to cooking oil.
Yahoo News 2 Feb 10;
MANILA (AFP) – A possible drought caused by the El Nino weather system could slash Philippines rice yields this year, the government warned Tuesday, as Manila prepared to deal with any possible crisis.
Government models project 2010 rice harvests would be trimmed by up to 816,312 tonnes if a severe drought strikes, Agriculture Undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla said. The fall would be equivalent to five percent of last year's entire yield.
This would be on top of 449,429 tonnes reduction in corn, 42,362 tonnes of fish and other marine catch, and 3.08 million tonnes of other crops, he said in a statement.
El Nino is an occasional seasonal warming of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean that upsets normal weather patterns from the western seaboard of Latin America to east Africa, and potentially has a global impact on climate.
In the case of a mild El Nino, the Agriculture department estimates losses of about 265,000 tonnes of unmilled rice, about 174,000 tonnes of corn, 21,000 tonnes of fish and other catch, and 3.17 million tonnes of other crops.
The government's weather service says the dry spell is likely to extend to the middle of the year but be moderate, he added.
The Philippines, the world's biggest importer of rice, started to ramp up imports of the grain with a series of large tenders in the last two months of 2009.
And Fondevilla said the government would also invest 1.7 billion pesos (36.56 million dollars) to help farmers.
These funds would include spraying clouds with chemicals to induce rain as well as provide extra irrigation facilities.
Jamie Walker, The Australian 3 Feb 10;
KEVIN Rudd's insistence that the Great Barrier Reef could be "destroyed beyond recognition" by global warming grates with new science suggesting it will again escape temperature-related coral bleaching.
The Prime Minister yesterday put the reef at the centre of political combat over climate policy, telling parliament it would be obliterated in the worst-case scenario that "temperatures went through the roof".
But for the second year running, the reef has defied predictions of its imminent demise, with researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science reporting that mass coral bleaching was unlikely this summer.
While the finding was welcomed by the research community and those on the Queensland coast whose livelihood depends on the reef, it will entrench scepticism about gloomy forecasts for climate change.
Going head-to-head with Tony Abbott for the first time since he became Opposition Leader, Mr Rudd said the reef would be destroyed if global temperatures increased by 4C.
"I noticed the other day, by the way, that the Leader of the Opposition said that, if the worst-case scenario put out by scientists on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were to come to pass and we were to see global temperature increases of the order of 4 degrees centigrade, it did not represent any big moral challenge for the future," Mr Rudd said. "Can I say that, if we saw temperature increases like that, as far as the Barrier Reef is concerned, frankly, it would be destroyed beyond recognition."
Mr Rudd's warning reflects the findings of the 2007 report of the IPCC that is under intensifying fire for exaggerating the threat to Himalayan glaciers and the Amazon rainforest. The IPCC predicted the reef would be subject to annual bleaching by 2030 if climate change continued unchecked, destroying much of its coral cover.
But after scouring 14 sites at the vulnerable southern end of the GBR last month, the team from Townsville-based AIMS found only a only a handful of "slightly stressed reefs".
The onset of an El Nino episode in the Pacific -- conducive to hot and still conditions that heat waters on the reef shelf in late summer to the point where corals eject photosythesising algae, whiten and die -- had triggered alarm about the potential for mass bleaching.
Those fears have been now been substantially allayed, with the AIMS scientists, including Kerryn Johns, finding no sign of endemic bleaching on Swains reefs, east of Yeppoon in central Queensland, and only a few cases where corals appeared slightly stressed in the nearby Capricorn Bunker area.
The leader of AIMS's long-term reef monitoring program, Hugh Sweatman, said the reef was "not at a threshold" to bleach widely.
"We saw literally a handful of colonies that are looking pale, mainly in the Capricorn area," he told The Australian, outlining the survey team's preliminary findings. "But you get that every year. So there is no evidence of concerted bleaching across the reef whatsoever."
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, having last summer warned of a bleaching outbreak that did not eventuate, rates the risk of one this year as low.
Dr Sweatman said a deep monsoonal trough, reinforced by tropical cyclones Olga and Neville, had averted "doldrums" conditions associated with coral bleaching on the reef.
The team of six AIMS scientists surveyed an area about a fifth of the area of the GBR, Dr Sweatman said. He said widespread bleaching had been evident by this time of year in 2002 and also in 1998, when 42 per cent of the reef was hit. Bleaching generally happens when the temperature of the sea rises in late summer, stressing corals. Scientists fear that mass bleaching events will become more frequent due to global warming, leaving less time for the reef to recover between attacks.
Yahoo News 2 Feb 10;
MADRID (AFP) – An environmentally valuable expanse of Spanish wetlands that dried up through mismanagement of water resources and drought is once again awash with water due to heavy rainfall, an official said Tuesday.
Over 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of the wetlands of the Tablas de Daimiel National Park are flooded, the highest level since 1997, up from just 67 hectares on January 7, a park spokesman said.
The heavy rains also put out an underground peat fire which had raged at the wetlands, recognised by UNESCO as environmentally valuable because of their importance to both resident and migrating birds
The wetland, located some 185 kilometers (115 miles) south of Madrid, received the heaviest rains since records began in 1941.
"The park was dead, and all you could see were the bones of dead fish," daily newspaper El Pais quoted the last fisherman to make a living at the park, 81-year-old Julio Escuderos, as saying on Sunday.
At the start of the year the government began diverting water from the Tagus River some 150 kilometres away to the wetlands through an underground pipe but the heavy rains meant far less water needed to be tranfered than had been expected.
"The park has gone through a critical situation due to a five-year drought. Thanks to the rains and an emergency transfer of water, the park has come through," Spain's secretary of state for water, Josep Puxeu, said Friday.
The Tablas de Daimiel National Park began drying up in the 1960s when the water was first drained from the area so the land could be used for agriculture and to irrigate crops.
An exceptionally dry summer worsened the situation and caused the peat subsurface to catch fire as cracks in the dry earth allowed air to penetrate and oxidise the peat, making it combustible.
The Tablas de Daimiel National Park is the centrepiece of the 25,000-hectare Mancha Humeda wetlands zone of south-central Spain, home to diverse birdlife.
In 1980 UNESCO placed it on its list of Biosphere Reserves but last year it warned Spain that it had three years to restore the zone or it would be withdrawn from the list. The European Commission had also urged Madrid to act.
The organic food movement must shed its "elitist" image, according to the director of the Soil Association.
The Telegraph 2 Feb 10;
The perception that it is "a lifestyle choice for people who can afford it" must also be tackled, said Patrick Holden, as Britain's biggest organic farming body prepared for its annual conference.
Part of the problem was that the organic movement was spearheaded by the well-off, Mr Holden admitted in an interview with The Guardian.
He said: "The early adopters of any new approach tend to be people who are not only better educated but better off."
The Soil Association demonstrates that truth: it was co-founded by Lady Balfour, niece of Arthur Balfour, the early 20th century prime minister, and has the Prince of Wales as a patron.
Mr Holden continued: "The paradox is, there's this view that organic is elite, it's expensive, it's a lifestyle choice for people who can afford it."
But he argued: "As far as I'm concerned it's not elitist to believe that everyone should have the right to high-quality, nutritious food from sustainable farming systems."
On Wednesday the Soil Association's annual conference opens in Birmingham. One of the workshops at the two-day event is titled: "Organic elitism- is it for the chosen few?"
The programme asks: "Organic is now seen as expensive and elitist. Have we been complicit in this positioning and how it can be challenged?"
After years of rapid growth, sales of organic food dropped by 14 per cent last year as the recession forced households to tighten their belts.
Organic and 'farmers' market' type shops have also closed up and down the country, as shoppers have reverted to conventionally-grown produce.
But hopes grow that pledges sent in by end-Jan deadline will lead to Mexico deal
Business Times 3 Feb 10;
(UNITED NATIONS) Fifty- five nations have met a Jan 31 deadline to submit pledges to the United Nations for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.
While UN officials said goals announced by major industrialised nations are a step forward, they are not enough to forestall the disastrous effects of climate change by mid-century.
Janos Pasztor, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon's top climate adviser, said the goals - submitted to the UN as part of a voluntary plan to roll back emissions - make it highly unlikely the world can prevent temperatures from rising above the target set at the Copenhagen climate conference last December.
The 55 nations included China, the United States and the 27-member European Union, and together they produce 78 per cent of the world's greenhouse gases stemming from fossil fuel burning. Some other nations signed up were Australia, Indonesia, Canada, Japan and India, according to national governments and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is compiling the pledges.
The deadline had been set at the Copenhagen conference. More such commitment letters were expected to continue trickling in over the next several days.
'It is likely, according to a number of analysts, that if we add up all those figures that were being discussed around Copenhagen, if they're all implemented, it will still be quite difficult to reach the two degrees,' Mr Pasztor told AP.
The 'two degrees' refers to the Copenhagen target of keeping the Earth's average temperature from rising two degrees Celsius above the levels that existed before nations began industrialising in the late 18th century. It would be no more than 1.3 degrees C above today's average temperatures.
'That is the bottom line, but you can look at it negatively and positively,' Mr Pasztor said. 'The negative part is it's not good enough. The positive side is that, for the first time, we have a goal - a clear goal we're all working towards.'
The commitment letters, which largely reaffirm previous pledges, were intended to get an idea of how far the nations most responsible for global warming might be willing to go, towards a legally binding pact at the climate conference planned for Mexico City at the end of the year.
China has pledged to reduce its emissions growth - not make absolute cuts - by up to 45 per cent from 2005 levels by 2020. India also pledged to reduce emissions growth by up to 25 per cent from 2005 levels by 2020. The United States stuck to President Barack Obama's pledge to cut its absolute carbon emissions by about 17 per cent by 2020 below 2005 levels.
The EU has pledged to cut its carbon emissions 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, and to cut 30 per cent if other nations deepen their reductions.
The Copenhagen Accord, brokered by Mr Obama and more than two dozen other world leaders, fell far short of the legally binding treaty sought from the two-week conference.
The accord, however, included collective commitments by developed countries to provide billions of dollars to help poor countries adapt to climate change. Nations also were encouraged to formally 'associate' themselves with the accord after the conference, but no deadline for that action was set.
UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said the pledges sent in by Jan 31 should at least help to reinvigorate negotiations towards a stronger agreement on climate - a legally binding treaty. The hope is that such a treaty can be completed at the UN climate conference in Mexico City at the end of this year.
'The commitment to confront climate change at the highest level is beyond doubt,' Mr de Boer said. He said the pledges were 'clear signals of willingness to move negotiations towards a successful conclusion'.
Alden Meyer, policy director at the Union of Concerned Scientists, called the 'political commitment' a breakthrough of sorts. 'This is the first time countries are committed to this goal - that's the good news,' he said. 'The bad news, of course, is the pledges that have been put on the table to date don't put us on track to meet that goal.' - AP, Bloomberg
Poor Give Muted Backing To Copenhagen Climate Deal
Alister Doyle and Krittivas Mukherjee, PlanetArk 3 Feb 10;
Poor Give Muted Backing To Copenhagen Climate Deal Photo: Munish Sharma
An Indian Border Security Force soldier patrols amid heavy fog at the India-Pakistan joint check post at the Wagah border on the outskirts of the northern Indian city of Amritsar January 8, 2010.
Photo: Munish Sharma
OSLO/NEW DELHI - A "Copenhagen Accord" for fighting climate change has won only half-hearted support from major emerging nations led by China and India, leaving question marks over a pact they agreed with the United States.
Indian officials said the BASIC group -- China, India, South Africa and Brazil -- feared that ringing endorsement of the accord could detract from the 1992 U.N. Climate Convention, which says rich nations must lead action to slow global warming.
"There seems a deliberate ambiguity," a Danish official source said after China, India and some other emerging nations met a January 31 deadline set by December's low-key accord for outlining climate plans but did not say if they endorsed it.
The United Nations says that 55 countries, including all major emitters and accounting for almost 80 percent of world greenhouse gas emissions, submitted goals for curbing emissions by 2020 by the Sunday deadline in the accord.
But it has not yet published which countries want to be "associated" with the accord despite a request by the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat in a January 18 letter that also set a Sunday deadline for replies. The deadlines are flexible.
Many developing nations submitted 2020 targets but dodged the second question. Countries wanting to be "associated" will be more tightly involved since their names will be formally listed at the top of the three-page accord.
One Indian official said Beijing and Brasilia had suggested keeping a question mark hanging over their support, and thereby the accord's legitimacy, fearing that some developed nations would try to turn it into a full legal treaty.
South Africa said it was "associated" with the Copenhagen Accord as a tool to promote the existing twin-track U.N. talks.
DIRECTION
"The accord represents a political agreement which could give direction and impetus to the negotiations under the Convention and (Kyoto) Protocol," said Alf Wills, a deputy director general at the Department of Environmental Affairs.
The Copenhagen Accord sets a non-binding goal of limiting global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times and a goal of $100 billion in aid from 2020. It is vague about how to ensure the 2 C goal will be kept.
The accord was only "noted" by the 194-member U.N. talks after opposition from a handful of developing nations such as Venezuela, Sudan and Nicaragua. In a compromise, all nations were told to say if they wanted to be "associated."
Letters sent by China and India outlining their 2020 targets did not even mention the Copenhagen Accord, even though leaders of the BASIC group worked out the deal with U.S. President Barack Obama in a late-night meeting on December 18 in Copenhagen.
India and China have publicly said they "support" the deal. But Indian officials say there is a distinction between expressing support and explicitly becoming "associated."
By contrast, South Africa's Wills, who signed his country's letter, said that "as a participant in its development we are already associated with the accord."
"South Africa understands that the request for countries to associate with the accord is aimed primarily at those others that were not part of the small group of heads of state that developed it," he told Reuters.
"We do acknowledge that some others may have different interpretations, but that is not a concern of ours," he said.
The United States, by contrast, told the United Nations in a letter of "its desire to be associated with the Copenhagen Accord." And the 27-nation European Union, Japan, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway also all explicitly said they want to be "associated."
Malini Mehra, The Green Room 2 Feb 10;
The Copenhagen Climate Accord was a failure of historic proportions that is hardly worth the paper it is printed on, says Malini Mehra. In this week's Green Room, she says climate negotiations need to adopt a new approach that can overcome barriers like national self-interest.
Climate negotiations will never be the same after the Copenhagen climate summit, and the accord reached in the Danish capital may very well prove to be the Munich Agreement of modern times.
The document was an appeasement to major polluters that condemns the world to runaway climate change and declares war on our children.
The conference in December ended with an "accord", with no legal status and dubious value, as one of its key outcomes.
The political agreement was simply "noted" by governments, not adopted by them. Its very existence, however, could now undermine the architecture established by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to combat global climate change.
There is much that is wrong with the agreement.
It is not legally-binding, contains no mid-term or long-term targets for emissions reductions, and - critically - does not refer to a "peaking" year for global emissions in order to keep within the "safe" limit of 2C (3.6F) warming since pre-industrial times.
It has also failed to follow the guidance of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which indicates three benchmarks for avoiding dangerous climate change:
• Developed countries must reduce emissions by 25-40% by 2020 from 1990 levels
• Global emissions must peak and then begin to decline by 2020
• Global emissions must decline by 50% by 2050 from 1990 levels.
The Copenhagen Accord contains a reference to the 2C limit, but does not endorse it.
Given that there are no targets, no peaking years, no trajectories for emissions reductions, only vague rhetoric, this is effectively an agreement for business-as-usual.
The Potsdam Institute on Climate Research estimates that a business-as-usual accord will actually set the world on course for a 3-4C (5.4-7.2F) temperature rise.
As this is a global average, the actual warming in many parts of the world - especially in the higher latitudes - will be much larger.
Small island states have feared this for some time, hence their plea that warming must not exceed 1.5C in order to ensure "island survival".
An accord too far
The Copenhagen Accord is a cruel blow for millions around the world who had put their faith in their leaders to deliver on climate protection.
Never before had such a constellation of groups and institutions come together: civil society, faith groups, business and industry, the investment community, scientists, engineers and professional organisations.
Even the UN itself, which ran an unprecedented "seal the deal" campaign, called for urgent action.
Leaders responded to the call and came to Copenhagen, but they did not deliver.
This is a failure of historic proportions because an "encore" will be very difficult.
We now have the modern equivalent of the Munich Agreement.
In 1938, European powers sacrificed Czechoslovakia to Hitler's aggression, thinking this would appease his territorial hunger.
The consequences of this gigantic miscalculation became evident with the unfolding horrors of World War II.
Now we are making a huge miscalculation by allowing the major emitters knowingly to sacrifice the poor and vulnerable parts of the world in exchange for their "right to pollute".
They will put a positive spin on the document, saying it is just a first step; but the reality is that countries as disparate as the US, Canada, Saudi Arabia, China and India have no intention of committing to a legally-binding global climate regime, now or in the future.
Instead, we now have an anaemic "pledge and review" system, which provides little guarantee that emissions will decline as rapidly as they must.
New order
What Copenhagen made blindingly clear is that the world has changed.
We are in a new geopolitical era.
Gone are the days of outdated divisions of the world as "developed" and "developing".
Nations like China and India showed that they were the new power players and would act as nakedly in their self-interest as western powers.
It was their double act, with the US, that delivered this agreement - backed up by a pliant, if somewhat discomfited, Brazil and South Africa, and bounced it on to the rest of the world.
A key lesson from Copenhagen is that the new world order simply does fit comfortably with the archaic systems and processes of the United Nations.
The problem is not with the UN itself, but with its antiquated processes.
Bloc politics at the UN are now at least a decade out of date, and have not permitted the creative emergence of hybrid coalitions from North and South.
Copenhagen made depressingly clear that "political realism" has trumped "climate realism" and that the "G2" powers are incapable of providing global leadership.
We will have to look elsewhere for solutions.
The US and China, aided by others, have acted in their short-term political interest thinking they will be able to "manage" their way out of climate change.
But the climate system is oblivious to the vaunted ambitions of temporal nations, and a kicking is around the corner.
Those who have acted in their national short-term self-interest will find that their actions do not serve their long-term interests in a climate- and resource-constrained world.
The collateral damage of their decisions, however, will be tragic for those less able to cope.
The good news is that nothing is stopping the emergence of new players.
What we need is leadership.
Instead of dysfunctional and anachronistic groupings such as the G77/China, we need new groupings of nations that recognise the perils of climate change and increasingly see their interests as interdependent and intertwined.
Many of the nations that are putting their faith in strong de-carbonisation and green growth national plans - such as the Maldives, Costa Rica, Mexico, South Korea, Brazil, the EU and others - now need to make a common cause.
They need to cross failed "North/South" lines and devise a new politics of climate common security and collective economic prosperity.
With the next climate conference slated to take place in Mexico in November, there is everything to play for.
It may well be that Cancun can, what Copenhagen could not.
Malini Mehra is the founder and chief executive of the Centre for Social Markets, which specialises in corporate responsibility, sustainability and climate change
The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website
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