wildsingapore news: Feb 6, 2010

Best of our wild blogs: 6 Feb 10

The Jane Goodall Institute (Singapore) (JGIS) 2010 Primate Research and Conservation grant award from Raffles Museum News

Long 'physical barrier' to be built near Lim Chu Kang mangroves
from wild shores of singapore

One-eyed Oriental Honey-buzzard
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Grass houses
from The annotated budak

Life between the tides
another great Leafmonkey Workshop! from wild shores of singapore

Biodiversity in our Garden City (The Straits Times, 30 January 2010) from Raffles Museum News

Rising scepticism - a chill wind?
from BBC NEWS by Richard Black

18 dolphins from Solomon Islands destined for Singapore are stranded in Subic

Tonette Orejas, Philippine Daily Inquirer 5 Feb 10;

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Eighteen bottlenose dolphins imported from the Solomon Islands are stranded at the Ocean Adventure Park in Subic Bay Freeport, where they are being trained for a resort in Singapore for more than a year now.

Supposed to be exported by the end of 2009, the dolphins continued to be in the care of the Subic Bay Marine Exploratorium (SBME), which was contracted for the training program.

It may take long before the marine mammals are sent to Singapore because the facilities there are unfinished, according to a source familiar with the case but who was not authorized to discuss it.

Trixie Concepcion, Philippine representative of the Earth Island Institute (EII), said reports reaching the group indicate that the animals will be “moved soon” via Malaysia by the owner, which she identified as the Resorts World of Singapore.

The EII, she said, has been contesting the importation of dolphins for violating the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES).

SBME president John Corcoran declined questions on the issue, saying “current contracts are on a nondisclosure basis.”

“All of the animals in our care are well,” he said when asked about the condition of the 18 dolphins.

The SBME, he added, “continues to be recognized as an international expert in the field of marine mammal care, training, education, conservation, study, rescue and rehabilitation.”

Concepcion said seven of the dolphins arrived on Dec. 8, 2008, on a chartered plane from Solomon Islands.

The importation of the 18 dolphins was covered by international and local permits, said Edwyn Alesna, chief of the fisheries quarantine and wildlife regulatory section of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

“Those were legally imported,” Alesna said in a previous interview.

Alesna had said Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap signed the local permits. All 18 dolphins are “not for the [Ocean Adventure],” he said.

Christmas Island crabs make waves

Singapore scientists discover new species in trip to 'crab capital'
Victoria Vaughan, Straits Times 6 Feb 10;

CHRISTMAS has come early for a group of Singapore scientists who have discovered new crustaceans during an expedition to the 'crab capital of the world'.

Three new species have been discovered at Christmas Island in the last two weeks during a research trip planned by the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research of the National University of Singapore, with eight researchers from Singapore, Japan and Australia.

Christmas Island, which lies in the Indian Ocean, south of Sumatra, was chosen because of its long history with Singapore, said the scientists.

It used to be owned by Singapore but was sold to the Australian government in the late 1950s, and staff of Singapore's original Raffles Museum did the first comprehensive study of the island's fauna in the 1940s.

The leader of the two-week expedition, crab expert Peter Ng, said that the group had made several important discoveries, including two new species of cave crabs - which are brown and measure about 1.5cm - the first such crabs to be found on Christmas Island, Australia and the Indian Ocean.

Professor Ng, who heads the Raffles Museum and is from the NUS Department of Biological Sciences, first discovered cave crabs about 20 years ago. Since then, eight species have been found.

'I was instantly able to recognise them at Christmas Island because I know the eight species so well and I had not seen these two before.'

The third discovery in the limestone caves of the island was a half-blind shrimp which, at 8 to 10cm, challenges the view that only small creatures dwell there.

For Prof Ng, the island is a treasure trove as it is swarming with crabs.

Even cars must make way for the giant robber crabs - which grow up to 50cm across - when they traverse the road.

'There really is no place like it in the world - crabs dominate the landscape as there is no natural predator.

'When the red crabs swarm to the sea to breed, they turn the cliff red,' he said.

The team laid traps in the water, which were baited with cat food or fish flakes, in their efforts to net new species.

Their findings were then photographed and some are kept for further study.

The information will help the local staff better manage the island's crab population.

'If they know that those caves have so many new species, they have to mitigate how people use them.

'For example, we can't have people washing their hair or putting detergent in the water,' explained Prof Ng, who hopes the research will enable Australia to get the island designated as a Unesco World Heritage site.

This will help in enforcing stricter import controls to try and avoid the introduction of alien species that would threaten the crabs.

This happened 10 years ago when yellow ants - thought to have been brought in by cargo ships, wiped out the crabs in certain areas.

The island's national parks team stepped up to help guide the researchers.

Said chief ranger Max Orchard, 58: 'We knew we had a natural wealth of ecology. It was just a matter of getting the experts here to unearth it.

'Their work will certainly influence our management, and having new species discovered reinforces the need to place Christmas Island on the World Heritage list.'

Pointing out that the island was better known for mining and boat people, he added:

'It's a bit of a shame... we feel the future of the island lies in its unique biodiversity.'

Abalone prices expected to decline by up to 20%

Maggie Cheong/Lynda Hong, Channel NewsAsia 5 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE : Prices of abalone are expected to come down by as much as 20 per cent during this Lunar New Year due to oversupply.

This is the result of unsold abalone from last year as well as the entry of more brands into the market.

There are now over 20 brands of canned abalone, compared to just three in previous years.

Some distributors have also introduced fresh abalone, which they said can be fried, steamed or even eaten raw. - CNA/ms

Fuelling Youth Games with used cooking oil

Ngee Ann Polytechnic students' project aims to promote use of biodiesel
Eunice Ng, Straits Times 6 Feb 10;

Ngee Ann Poly students (from left) Keith Hong Kang Jie, Phoon Phui Shan, Lim Kok Seng and their peers are collecting used cooking oil to be converted into biodiesel to power vehicles at the YOG. -- ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

ONE day you could be filling up your vehicle's fuel tank with diesel converted from oil that was used to fry curry puffs.

A group of nine business studies students from Ngee Ann Polytechnic are working towards this target.

As part of their final-year project, the students have collaborated with local biodiesel company Alpha Biofuels to collect 48,000 litres of used cooking oil that can power vehicles, generators and other diesel equipment for the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in August.

The oil collected is being sent to Alpha Biofuels' manufacturing plant, where it will be converted into biodiesel. Vehicles such as the buses ferrying athletes from the Youth Olympic Village will be encouraged to use this biodiesel.

'We found this cause meaningful - youths doing their part to build a greener environment for a youth-oriented event,' said team leader Lim Kok Seng.

The 20-year-olds took 3-1/2 months to prepare and implement the project, after learning about Alpha Biofuels from their lecturer, Mr Leow Teck Sim.

Two used-oil collection drives were held at the polytechnic on Nov 30 and on Monday, where about 140 students donated used household cooking oil to the initiative.

The team also asked vendors in four canteens at the school to dispose of their used oil in oil drums so that they could be collected. About 1,200 to 1,500 litres of oil have been collected so far.

The students do not see this as a short-term project, but intend to pass it on to their juniors in their second year, who will then hand down the knowledge to primary and secondary school students. 'We want to reach out on a more personal level to get youths to go green, in a way that's understandable and achievable,' said Mr Lim.

Said Mr Leow, 37, who is course manager of the diploma in international business programme: 'Since most families cook anyway, it's a little effort on everyone's part to leave the used oil aside, but this builds up awareness and a little can eventually become a substantial amount.'

Alpha Biofuels provided them with the containers for oil collection, and lessons on environmental issues and the advantages of biodiesel. 'The students are very enthusiastic, and I think the best part is that they now know more about what climate change is about,' said the company's chief executive officer Allan Lim, 37.

The cooking oil goes through a chemical process called transesterification, where about 80 per cent to 90 per cent of it is converted into biodiesel.

It can be used in all diesel engines, and retails for a lower price than petroleum-based diesel. Alpha Biofuels, whose customers include Smart cabs, currently sells its biodiesel at $1 per litre at pumps in seven locations, such as at Bedok Transport in Defu Lane.

Biodiesel produced from used cooking oil emits about 62 per cent less greenhouse gases compared with conventional diesel.

But it is not quite enough to get taxi driver Jack Cai, 52, pumped up. 'Besides the cost, which will be my first consideration, it also depends on how convenient it is. If I have to make an empty trip just to get to the biodiesel retailers, then that defeats the purpose,' he said.

The students are planning a public education drive at Northpoint Shopping Centre in Yishun, with a workshop together with Alpha Biofuels on how to make soap from recycled cooking oil.

Donations of used cooking oil will also be collected at the drive, which will be held in the second week of next month.

Saving the world - one lunchbox at a time

Malini Nathan, Straits Times 6 Feb 10;

THAT'S what 240 Primary 1 pupils from Tampines North Primary School are attempting.

As part of this year's Total Defence Day theme 'I Will', the pupils each received a lunchbox from Swedish furniture store Ikea last week, to kick-start their efforts to go green. The pupils pledged to help save the environment by using their lunchboxes.

Ms Jocelyn Teo, assistant manager of sustainability at Ikea Singapore, said: 'We wanted to encourage sustainable life in schools and saw this as a great opportunity to teach kids about minimising waste.'

The school wanted the children to learn that they too can do their part to save the environment, despite their tender age.

Mrs Yeo Dai Yun, head of department for physical education, aesthetics and co-curricular activities, added: 'The lunchboxes teach them to cut down on waste, and we wanted to start with the new pupils.'

Some pupils, like Simran Kaur, seven, caught on quickly: 'I love my new lunchbox. It helps me keep Singapore clean because I can use it again and again.'

In keeping with the school's aim of developing environmental awareness, even the teachers use lunchboxes, instead of disposable plates and polystyrene cartons. The school has banned them, and no bottled drinks are sold either.

Singaporean's 'sticky' way to treat damaged arteries

Grace Chua, Straits Times 6 Feb 10;

FIRST, bioengineer Robert Langer's laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed a gecko-inspired bandage, with super-sticky ridges modelled after a lizard's feet.

Now, a Singaporean PhD student there has come up with another potential winner inspired by nature. She has developed tiny particles that can cling to damaged artery walls the way lovegrass burrs stick to clothing.

These 'nanoburrs', which find their way to damaged blood vessels and slowly release drugs there, can reach parts of the artery that other treatments, such as stents, are unable to.

'We designed tiny particles that carry drugs precisely to the area of disease,' said 26-year-old MIT doctoral student Juliana Chan.

This avoids side effects that can occur when drugs are delivered to the whole body, she added.

Miss Chan, an Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) scholarship holder, was lead author on the research paper, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last month.

She is among a growing number of A*Star scholarship holders - from the programme that began in 2000 - named as first authors in respected scientific journals such as Nature and Cell.

Currently, the treatment for clogged or damaged arteries involves a vascular stent, which props open the artery and releases a drug - paclitaxel, for example - to prevent scarring and stop the artery from closing again.

The nanoburrs are covered with tiny molecules that seek out the basement membrane of a blood vessel and bind to it. The basement membrane is a layer that lines blood vessel walls, but is exposed only when those walls are damaged.

At the target site, the nanoburrs can release drugs over a period of 12 days.

The nanoparticles will either be used in tandem with stents, or in areas not well suited to stents, such as forks in an artery, the researchers hope.

The team is testing the nanoburrs in rats and aims to move on to tests on rabbits or pigs, to find out what doses are most effective.

The nanoparticles could be altered to zero in on tumours and deliver paclitaxel there as well, as it is also a cancer drug.

Cardiologist Chester Drum of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who was not directly involved in the work, said current therapies that accompany stent placement are limited to preventing clots, and the nanoparticles could deliver medicine to more areas of damaged tissue at a time to repair them.

'This type of systemically delivered nanoparticle technology opens up future possibilities of addressing the underlying disease more directly,' Dr Drum said.

'The significance of the result lies more in the delivery method than the drug delivered,' he added. 'In principle, a multitude of drugs could be delivered.'

Biodiversity loss matters, and communication is crucial

David Dickson, SciDev.net 5 Feb 10;

Communicating why biodiversity loss matters for people is essential for reversing it.

The failed UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December could hardly have been a less promising prelude to the International Year of Biodiversity, which opened last month (January).

As with climate change, the threat of large-scale biodiversity loss — and the need for global political action to stop it — is growing every day.

At a meeting about biodiversity organised by the British government in London in January, Robert Watson, former head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), warned that damage to the natural environment was approaching "a point of no return", a familiar phrase in the climate change debate.

Both issues face formidable challenges in persuading political leaders and the public of the urgent need to take action. The reasons are complex. But at root is the conflict between the need to radically change our use of natural resources and the desire to maintain current forms of economic growth in both developed and developing countries.

The solutions are equally complicated. Part of the answer, in each case, lies in enhancing the media's ability to communicate messages emerging from the underlying science, so that these accurately reflect both the urgency of the situation, and how ordinary people's lives may be affected.

Re-setting targets

Getting these messages across is no easy task. And so far, in the case of biodiversity, efforts have largely failed.

It is already clear that governments signed up to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have missed their 2010 target, set in 2002, of achieving "a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss".

As delegates to the London conference and other meetings held to launch the Year of Biodiversity have freely admitted, this failure to act partly results from shortcomings in communication. The scientific community has not been able to effectively communicate its concerns to decision-makers — at least not in a way that sufficiently prioritises biodiversity conservation within a political agenda predominantly concerned with employment and economic growth.

Discussions on a new set of targets for protecting biodiversity over the next decade are already well under way, and are due to be agreed in October at the next CBD review conference, to be held in Nagoya, Japan.

The new targets must not only be more realistic and concrete, but must also be accompanied by a more sophisticated communications strategy.

Missed connections

This strategy must address the weaknesses found in current approaches. For example, the issues scientists think most important often seem abstract and far removed from the day-to-day concerns of ordinary people. The rate at which the world is losing species is a typical example.

Even the term 'biodiversity' suffers from this weakness, lacking the concreteness of concepts such as sea level rise. Some media advisers even suggest avoiding the term wherever possible for that very reason — not very promising to those trying to create a global campaign around the same word.

Too much media coverage of biodiversity fails to connect with the issues directly affecting people's lives. Even concepts such as 'the web of life', used to emphasise the interrelatedness of living systems, does not immediately explain why we should be worried about the declining number of insects or plants in distant locations.

Finally the apocalyptic tone sometimes used in attempts to drive a message home can further hinder the case for constructive action. Too often, it promotes either cynicism or apathy among those who cannot relate these disaster scenarios to their own personal experience.

Climate change campaigners have experienced this in recent months, when trying to make the case for preventing global warming during the coldest winter that the northern hemisphere has experienced for several decades.

Hard science, compelling reasons

Forging an effective communications strategy that avoids these pitfalls is clearly one of the biggest challenges facing the biodiversity community as it plans for the next decade.

And if researchers are to rise to the challenge, they must first firm-up the scientific case for action. The damage that recently-aired scientific flaws are causing climate change campaigns is a reminder that, with the stakes as high as they are, sloppy scientific reasoning can have a broad and lasting impact.

Equally important is the need to embed this scientific evidence into viable but sustainable economic growth and development strategies. And that means generating a public discourse that directly relates the needs of the environment to social priorities such as jobs, food and health.

The components for such a dialogue — such as how natural products are potential sources of new medicines — already exist. But much more needs to be done to forge these into a viable and effective political strategy to reverse current trends.

If the failure in Copenhagen can act as a wake-up call to the biodiversity community, that itself will have been a positive achievement.

David Dickson
Director, SciDev.Net

Science info must go further

Science Alert 6 Feb 10;

Science and human knowledge need urgently to be opened up to the global public if we are to head off the six major crises that overshadow the human destiny in the coming 40 years.

That’s the message of a new book “Open Science: Sharing Knowledge in the Global Century”, released today by CSIRO Publishing.

Open Science is about how we address the profound challenges which now confront humanity – resource scarcity, the food crisis, climate change, pollution, pandemic disease and poverty – through science communication. It calls for the sharing of scientific knowledge among billions of humans on a scale never before attempted.

Written by science communicators Julian Cribb (Australia) and Tjempaka Sari (Indonesia) the book explores the reasons we need to unlock human knowledge more urgently than ever before – and practical ways that researchers, scientific organisations, governments and innovators can do this.

The book argues that the knowledge to solve many of the challenges confronting humanity already exists or is being developed – but it is poorly disseminated, leaving large parts of humanity without the knowhow or technology to tackle problems such as water scarcity, energy shortages, hunger, pollution, disease and environmental degradation.

Production of human knowledge now doubles every five years – yet much is kept secret, withheld as intellectual property or is simply never communicated outside of science.

“A vast gap has opened between the creation and the sharing of knowledge. Because of this, a significant part of the world scientific effort is effectively stillborn, or fails to achieve its potential. The intellectual effort, time, money and human genius that is invested in research is lost because of a failure to effectively transmit the fruits of science to the people and places where it is most needed,” the book argues.

Open Science goes on to offer practical ways to communicate science in a highly networked world where billions of people still have little or no access to advanced knowledge or technologies. The authors describe low-cost, effective means to transfer knowledge to target audiences in industry, government, the community and to the public at large.

The book features sections on good science writing, practical advice on how to develop communication and media plans, ways to measure communication performance, how to manage institutional ‘crises’, how to deal with politicians, the media and public on complex issues and much more.

It outlines a new technique for assessing the likely public reaction to major new technologies with the power to affect millions of lives, to avoid the growing phenomenon of “technology rejection”.

The issues raised in Open Science were explored in an ABC Radio National FutureTense program on February 4, 2010, and will also be discussed in a major panel session on open science at the Australian Science Communicators National Conference at the Australian National University on Tuesday, February 9, at 4.15pm at the RSC Lecture Theatre, Building 36.

Open Science is available from CSIRO Publishing for $39.95.

Editor's Note: The book listing can be found here. A sample of the book is available here.

Loss of species hits economy; new U.N. goals needed

Alister Doyle, Reuters 5 Feb 10;

OSLO (Reuters) - Losses of animal and plant species are an increasing economic threat and the world needs new goals for protecting nature after failing to achieve a 2010 U.N. target of slowing extinctions, experts said Friday.

Losses of biodiversity "have increasingly dangerous consequences for human well-being, even survival for some societies," according to a summary of a 90-nation U.N. backed conference in Norway from February 1-5.

The United Nations says that the world is facing the worst extinction crisis since the dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago, driven by a rising human population and spinoffs such as pollution, expanding cities and global warming.

Damage to coral reefs in the tropics, creeping desertification in Africa or felling of the Amazon rainforest were among threats to wildlife and so to human livelihoods.

"Many more economic sectors than we realize depend on biodiversity," the co-chairs of the conference said in their summary.

Apart from food production, less obvious sectors such as tourism, medicines or energy production with biofuels all depended upon nature and diversity of species.

"There is an economic opportunity here," said Finn Kateraas, a co-chair who works at the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management, told Reuters. Protecting species can help safeguard long-term economic growth.

The results of the experts conference will help work this year on setting new goals at a U.N. conference on biodiversity in Japan in October.

"SIGNIFICANT REDUCTION"

A U.N. summit in 2002 set a goal of a "significant reduction in the current rate of loss of biological diversity" by 2010. The United Nations says the world has failed.

"Urgent action is needed to address the loss of biodiversity, especially to avoid tipping points," the co-chairs said. Tipping points are thresholds after which damage may be irreversible.

Some coral reefs were on the verge of collapse -- due to factors such as rising sea temperatures, over-fishing or a gradual acidification of the oceans linked to climate change, experts told the conference.

Johan Rockstrom, director of the Stockholm Resilience Center, said human activities had raised the pace of extinctions to 100-1,000 times the background rate over the Earth's history.

Among worrying signs, he said that the Southern Ocean and the Arctic Ocean were projected to become corrosive to aragonite -- the building blocks of coral reefs -- by 2030-60.

Reefcam captures deep-sea drama as shark stalks sea snake

Peter Michael, The Courier-Mail 6 Feb 10;

SCIENTISTS have captured amazing underwater shots - including a tiger shark stalking a sea snake - in a multimillion-dollar push to monitor the Great Barrier Reef in real time.

Hammerhead sharks, shark rays, shovelnose rays, and schools of coral trout and red emperor have been captured by the latest in electronic gadgets.

Researchers deployed underwater video cameras, acoustic radio tags, satellite tracking and smart sensors across the reef as part of a 10-year project.

Australian Institute of Marine Science fish biologist Mike Cappo dropped 16 baited cameras to depths of up to 50m to capture images of a female tiger shark stalking a sea snake. The 3m shark ate a bait can, then bit the camera, as the lucky snake slipped out of its jaws.

That image became a global phenomenon, with tens of thousands of hits on the net when it was first released.

New footage – obtained exclusively by The Courier-Mail – comes as scientists work to bring real-time video streaming of life on the Great Barrier Reef into people's homes.

It might one day be possible to link a home computer to a camera on a particular reef and see the marine world just like a scuba diver would.

Another researcher – Scott Bainbridge from the Great Barrier Reef Ocean Observing System – headed up a $16 million project to put a digital "skin" over the reef.

He has "wired" four sites so far: Heron Island, One Tree Island, Orpheus Island and Davies Reef.

About 160 smart sensors – developed originally for use in nuclear power stations and tsunami warning systems – have been placed on the reef as part of the project.

"We've got underwater cameras with lights looking at irukandji and box jellyfish," Dr Bainbridge said. "We can see it in real time, send alerts and start to forecast where jellyfish are and reduce likely stings.

"(And) it allows us to monitor . . . particular conditions that cause coral bleaching."

International protection needed for coral used in jewelry – WWF, SeaWeb

WWF 5 Feb 10;

Geneva, Switzerland - Countries participating in a major endangered species trade conference in March must back better protections for red and pink coral, which are disappearing because of overfishing to make jewelry.

Red and pink coral (also known as Corallium) are a type of deep-sea precious coral found in the Mediterranean and Pacific. Between 30 and 50 metric tonnes of these corals are fished annually to meet consumer demand for jewelry and decorative items. The United States alone imported 28 million pieces of red and pink coral between 2001 and 2008.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Secretariat today recommended that countries support increased trade protection for red and pink corals, based on the available population data for these species. Science has shown that trade is having an adverse impact on red and pink corals’ ability to maintain healthy populations and to reproduce.

Meanwhile, the United States and the European Union are co-sponsoring a proposal to list red and pink coral under Appendix II of the Convention at the 15th Conference of Parties (CoP 15) in Doha, Qatar in March. Such a move would still allow trade, but only in legally and sustainably harvested coral and coral products.

SeaWeb and WWF support the Secretariat’s recommendations and are urging CITES member countries to support the EU and US’s proposal.

Kristian Teleki, SeaWeb’s vice president for science initiatives said, “Red and pink coral are among the world’s most valuable wildlife commodities. They are long-living, slow-growing species and have been intensively fished for centuries to meet demand in the jewelry and curio trade. A CITES Appendix II listing is needed to ensure these species aren’t fished to extinction.”

“A CITES Appendix II listing would be in line with protection for other coral species,” said Colman O’Criodain, Wildlife Trade Analyst for the WWF Species Programme. “An Appendix II listing for red and pink coral would support local management measures and also help combat poaching, which regularly occurs in the Mediterranean.”

Red and pink coral were proposed for protection at the last Conference of Parties in 2007. The parties initially voted in favor of the proposal, but the vote was overturned in a secret ballot on the final day of the conference, after intensive lobbying from industry interests. Parties will once again take to the floor during CoP 15, March 13 to 25, to consider the proposal. Alongside red and pink coral, several species of sharks, and Atlantic bluefin tuna will also be considered for trade protection.

UN wildlife trade agency backs ban on bluefin tuna

Peter Capella Yahoo News 5 Feb 10;

GENEVA (AFP) – The UN-backed wildlife trade agency said Friday it supported a proposed ban on the international trade in bluefin tuna, a delicacy in Asia, which is due to be examined by 175 countries next month.

"We are recommending that the parties approve the proposals made by Monaco," said David Morgan, head of the scientific support unit at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Japan has opposed the ban proposed by Monaco, which would classify the fish as a species threatened with extinction, CITES officials said.

France this week lent its support to the proposals under certain conditions despite strong opposition among its Mediterranean fishing fleets, paving the way for European Union backing, officials said.

EU, US and Palau proposals to limit international trade in some types of sharks are also due to be examined when CITES holds its three-yearly meeting in Qatar on March 13 to 25.

Tanzania and Zambia are meanwhile asking for a trade embargo on ivory to be eased, allowing them to sell controlled quantities of elephants' tusks, the agency said in a statement.

However, Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Rwanda and Sierra Leone want to take the opposite step, to reinforce a ban by imposing a 20-year moratorium on any proposals to relax trade in African elephants.

European Union states are seeking restrictions on the trade in red or pink corals, among some 40 proposals on the conservation of animal, reptiles, insects or plants that are due to be decided on by CITES member states in Qatar.

"The marine theme of this year's CITES conference is particularly striking," said the agency's Secretary General Willem Wijnstekers.

Morgan told journalists that bluefin tuna met the criteria for inclusion in the top grade appendix one -- which bans cross border trade of a species outright and classifies it as endangered -- notably because of a general 80 percent decline in its stocks.

Currently bluefin tuna, found in parts of the Atlantic and Mediterranean, is subject to fishing quotas of about 20,000 tonnes a year, but its stocks are highly prized.

A single fish, weighing about 650 kilogrammes, can currently fetch up to 120,000 dollars, according to CITES.

Morgan said CITES secretariat had carefully weighed up scientific evidence in making its recommendation on bluefin.

"Our opinion is that the criteria for including these species in appendix one are met and international trade should be prohibited," he explained.

Unusually, Monaco's proposals would also set up a special CITES committee that could recommend a quick change if stocks recover.

But Morgan said there had been little sign of a "rebound" in the species in West Atlantic, despite a broad halt to fishing there from the mid 1980s.

"It's not going to be instantaneous, the decline has occurred for the past 40 years or so," he added.

Species including vicuna, a type of lama prized for its furs, and some crocodiles, have been downgraded in recent years due to the success of conservation measures helped by trade restrictions, said CITES official Juan Carlos Vasquez.

Countries in the convention have to approve any changes in the listings of protected wildlife.

CITES currently regulates trade in some 34,000 species as well as ingredients or objects derived from them, including ivory carvings, substances added to lipsticks, hairs used in brushes.

Morgan said CITES secretariat had decided not to back a US proposal to ban any international trade in polar bears because scientific criteria had not been met. Washington argues that polar bears are threatened by climate change.

U.N. agency backs bluefin tuna ban, vote due in March
Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters 5 Feb 10;

GENEVA (Reuters) - A United Nations scientific agency backed on Friday a proposal to ban international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna, saying the species prized by sushi lovers needed to recover from commercial overfishing.

Monaco had proposed protecting bluefin tuna, which can fetch up to $100,000 in Japan, by listing it under appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

"In our opinion, the criteria for including the species in appendix 1 are met and international commercial trade in bluefin tuna should be prohibited," David Morgan, head of CITES scientific unit, told a news briefing.

Some 175 countries are due to vote on 40 proposals during the CITES triennial meeting in Doha, Qatar, from March 13-25.

The Swiss-based treaty body, which regulates international trade in wildlife, seeks consensus on its regulations to conserve and manage sustainably 34,000 animal and plant species.

Some 530 animals species -- including all the great apes, cheetahs, the snow leopard, the tiger, and all sea turtles -- as well as 300 plants are on its appendix I banning international commercial trade in species deemed under threat of extinction.

But Japan strongly opposes the bluefin ban and in order for it to be adopted, a two-thirds majority is required.

Atlantic or northern bluefin tuna is found throughout the North Atlantic and its adjacent seas, particularly the Mediterranean, but also in the Gulf of Mexico and Straits of Florida. It can reach a weight of more than 650 kilos.

France, Italy and Spain account for half of the world's total allowable catch of bluefin tuna. Japan imports some 80 percent of the total catch.

LUXURY TUNA

The tuna currently fetch $200-$300 per kilo, according to a CITES document prepared for the Doha meeting.

"It is a very small part of the overall market of overall trade in tuna. It is the top end of the market, the luxury tuna," Morgan said.

"A great majority goes to Japan because prices are higher there. The Japanese are by far the biggest consumers, they have a key role in trade in these species."

Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks have declined by more than 80 percent since 1970, according to CITES, which estimates current stocks at 3.17 million.

The official quota for 2009 was 19,950 tonnes, set by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, but the true annual catch is estimated at around 50,000 tonnes.

France said on Wednesday it would support a ban on global trade in bluefin tuna, but only after an 18-month delay.

CITES rejected a separate proposal from the United States to impose a ban on international trade in polar bears and their skins due to their shrinking numbers and the threat posed by climate change to their ice platforms in many regions of the Arctic.

"There will be quite a controversy, this is an iconic species and there are lots of pressures from both sides. This has livelihood implications for indigenous people in Canada," said CITES spokesman Juan Carlos Vasquez.

(Editing by Jonathan Lynn and Noah Barkin)

Bluefin tuna main course of CITES world conference
UNEP 5 Feb 10;

175 Governments will also discuss urgent measures to tackle illegal wildlife trade and protect the livelihoods of the rural poor

Geneva, 5 February 2010 – New measures to conserve and manage sustainably the bluefin tuna, elephant populations and a wide range of sharks, corals, reptiles, insects and plants are being proposed by governments attending the next triennial world conference of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Over 40 proposals will be decided on in Doha, Qatar, from 13 to 25 March. Importantly, some governments propose to lift CITES regulations on some species, underlining the success of CITES in key areas 35 years after its entry into force.

Many of these proposals reflect growing international concern about the accelerating destruction of the world's marine and forest ecosystems through overfishing and excessive logging, and the potential impacts of climate change on the biological resources of the planet. The UN General Assembly has declared 2010 the international year of biodiversity and the CITES Conference will be one of the key occasions governments will have this year to take action to protect biodiversity.

Other issues on the agenda include the adoption of urgent measures to: tackle illegal trade in the tiger, rhinos and other species that are on the brink of extinction; address the potential impacts of CITES measures on the livelihoods of the rural poor, who are often on the frontlines of using and managing wildlife; and allocate sufficient financial resources to ensure that CITES goals are fully achieved. A substantial budget increase will be necessary to ensure proper implementation of the measures proposed for adoption in Doha. The current annual budget of the CITES Secretariat is about USD 5 million.

"2010 is a key year for biological diversity. It is the year when the world was supposed to have reversed the rate of loss of our biodiversity—this has not happened. The international community must re-engage and renew its efforts to meet this goal. CITES is an important part of this response. By ensuring that the international trade in wildlife is properly regulated, CITES can assist in conserving the planet's wild fauna and flora from overexploitation and thus contribute to the improved, sustainable management of these key natural assets", said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, which administers the CITES Secretariat.

"The marine theme of this year's CITES conference is particularly striking", said CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers. "It confirms a trend that began in 2002. CITES is increasingly seen as a valuable tool to achieve the target of restoring depleted fish stocks by 2015 to levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield, as agreed at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development".

Bluefin tuna and sharks

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the world's capture (non-aquaculture) fisheries produced 92 million tonnes of fish in 2006, of which 81.9 million came from the sea. The value of the total marine and freshwater catch at the first point of sale was around USD 91.2 billion. As a result, it is estimated that some 52 % of marine fish stocks or species groups are fully exploited, 19 % overexploited and 9 % depleted or recovering from depletion. The maximum wild capture fishing potential from the world's oceans has probably been reached, and a more closely controlled approach to fisheries is required (See ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0250e/i0250e.pdf)

A growing number of commercially exploited fish have come under CITES controls in recent years, for example: the basking and whale sharks were included in Appendix II in 2002, the great white shark and the humphead wrasse in 2004, and the European eel and sawfishes in 2007.

At the forthcoming conference, proposals will be made to bring eight commercially fished species under the purview of CITES.

Monaco is proposing a complete ban on international commercial trade in the bluefin tuna. (proposal 19). This iconic species can reach 3 metres in length and over 650 kg in weight. It can swim at nearly 40 km per hour and dive to 1,000 metres deep. It is highly sought after as a delicacy: in January 2010, a single fish was reportedly sold for over USD 120,000. Although it has been fished for many centuries, its populations in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea have undergone very substantial declines in the last 40 years. Repeated efforts have been made to ensure more sustainable fishing, but now Monaco claims that it is time to bring the international trade to a halt to allow time for the species to recover.

The scalloped hammerhead shark (proposal 15) occurs widely in coastal warm temperate and tropical seas and is exploited extensively for its fins. Significant declines in the population of the species have been reported in many areas where it is caught. Two other species of hammerhead shark (great hammerhead and smooth hammerhead) and two further sharks (sandbar shark and dusky shark) have similar shaped fins, and the proponents, Palau and the United States of America, recommend that all these species be subject to CITES trade controls.

The same two countries are also proposing that trade CITES controls be applied to another shark, the oceanic whitetip (proposal 16), which, in spite of its wide range in tropical and subtropical waters, has declined in numbers wherever it has been harvested for its fins.

In total, several million sharks of these two species are estimated to be fished annually to supply the demand for fins.

The porbeagle shark (proposal 17) has equally experienced population declines, notably in the northern Atlantic and the Mediterranean, owing to unsustainable fishing for its high-value meat and fins. Palau and Sweden, on behalf of the European Community Member States, note the lack of consistent data on the global catch of this species. They argues that requiring CITES export permits will ensure that international markets are supplied by fish from sustainably managed fisheries that keep accurate records.

The spiny dogfish (proposal 18) is a small shark that was once abundant in temperate waters. It is now overexploited for its meat, which is highly valued in Europe (often sold in 'fish and chips' shops in the British Isles) and elsewhere. As many other sharks, it is particularly vulnerable to excessive fishing because of its slow reproductive rate. It also tends to travel in large schools of hundreds or thousands, which are easier for fishing boats to harvest them in large quantities. Palau and Sweden, on behalf of the European Community Member States , propose listing the spiny dogfish in Appendix II (which manages trade through a permit system) and establishing a sustainable fishery management programme for the species.

Corals

The most valuable of all the precious corals, red or pink corals (proposal 21) have been harvested for over 5,000 years and used for jewellery and other decorative items. These tiny marine animals (known as polyps) build vast colonies in the tropical, subtropical and temperate oceans. The resulting reefs and colonies create extremely valuable habitat for innumerable other species. But overharvesting and the destruction of entire colonies by bottom trawls and dredges have led to major population declines. The United States and Sweden, on behalf of the European Community Member States, propose adding the red or pink corals to Appendix II to control the trade therein.

The long-running debate on elephants and ivory

The long-running global debate over the African elephant has focused on the benefits that income from ivory sales may bring to conservation and to local communities living side by side with these large and potentially dangerous animals versus concerns that such sales may encourage poaching. This year's proposals (proposal 4, proposal 5 and proposal 6) again reflect opposing views on how best to improve the conservation and sustainable use of the world's largest land animal.

CITES banned the international commercial ivory trade in 1989. In 1997 and 2002, recognizing that some southern African elephant populations were healthy and well managed, it permitted Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe to sell some stocks of ivory to Japan totalling over 150 tons. The sales took place in 1999 and 2008 and earned some USD 20 million for elephant conservation and community development programmes within or adjacent to the elephant range.

At this year's conference, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia are seeking similar approval to sell government-owned stocks that have accumulated over the years. The United Republic of Tanzania has nearly 90 tons of such stock, and Zambia just over 21 tons.

Taking the opposite view, the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Rwanda and Sierra Leone are proposing a halt to the limited international trade in African elephant ivory currently permitted and a 20-year moratorium on any proposals to relax international trade controls on African elephants.

Polar bear and other proposals

The potential threat to the polar bear from climate change has been much discussed recently, and the United States is seeking to increase its protection in CITES by completely prohibiting international commercial trade in the species (proposal 3). Mexico and Egypt are seeking to reduce CITES controls on the Morelet's crocodile and the Nile crocodile, respectively, as they believe that the status of these species in the wild has improved (proposal 8 and proposal 9). In contrast, Honduras and Guatemala are seeking to apply CITES controls to four species of spiny-tailed iguanas that are increasingly sought by hobbyists in other countries. (proposal 11 and proposal 12). The Plurinational State of Bolivia proposes that similar measures be adopted for the spectacular Satanas beetle (proposal 20), which is also sought by collectors.

Madagascar is seeking to include 12 endemic plants in Appendix II (proposals 22-24, 26, 27, 30, 32-36 and 39-41), while Brazil and Argentina propose the the same listing for the Brazilian rosewood (proposal 29) and the Palo Santo (proposal 42), respectively, two tree species that produce essential oils extensively used in perfumery and cosmetics.

Other proposals call for lifting all trade restrictions on certain species on the grounds that they no longer require such protection. These include the Marsh rose (proposal 37) and the Swartland sugarbush (proposal 38) from South Africa, and the North American bobcat or lynx (proposal 2).

Backgrounder: understanding CITES

Thousands of species of wild fauna and flora are used by people in their daily lives for food, housing, health care, cosmetics or fashion. CITES recognizes that commercial trade in these plants and animals may be beneficial both to conservation and to the livelihoods of local people.

However, unregulated wildlife trade can seriously affect species populations, especially those that are already vulnerable as a result of other factors, such as habitat loss. Governments responded to this concern by adopting CITES in 1973 to regulate international wildlife trade and ensure that it remains at a sustainable level. With 175 Parties, CITES remains one of the world's most powerful tools for biodiversity conservation through the regulation of trade in wild fauna and flora.

Even setting aside commercial fishing and the timber industry, international trade in wildlife remains a very lucrative business, estimated to be worth billions of dollars annually and to involve more than 350 million plant and animal specimens every year. Unregulated international trade can push threatened and endangered species over the brink, especially when combined with habitat loss and other pressures.

CITES provides three regulatory options in the form of Appendices. Animals and plants listed in Appendix I are prohibited from international commercial trade except in very special circumstances. Appendix I contains about 530 animal species and a little more than 300 plant species, including all the great apes, various big cats such as cheetahs, the snow leopard and the tiger, numerous birds of prey, cranes and pheasants, all sea turtles, many species of crocodiles, tortoises and snakes, and some cacti and orchids.

Commercial international trade is permitted for species listed in Appendix II, but it is strictly controlled on the basis of CITES permits. This Appendix II covers over 4,460 animal species and 28,000 plant species, including all those primates, cats, cetaceans, parrots, crocodiles and orchids not listed in Appendix I.

Finally, Appendix III includes species that are protected within the borders of a member country. By including a species in Appendix III, a country calls on others to help it regulate trade in the said species by making the issuance of a certificate of origin necessary to enter into trade. This Appendix lists over 290 species.

CITES, then, does much more than regulating trade in large charismatic mammals. It sets up a green certification system for non-detrimental wildlife trade (based on CITES permits and certificates), combats illegal trade and related wildlife offences, promotes international cooperation, and helps establish management plans so that range States can monitor and manage sustainably CITES-listed species.

CITES requires each member State to adopt the necessary national legislation and to designate a Management Authority that issues permits to trade. Governments must also designate a Scientific Authority to provide scientific advice on imports and exports. These national authorities are responsible for implementing CITES in close cooperation with Customs, wildlife enforcement, police or similar agencies.

As the impact of trade on a population or a species increases or decreases, the species can be added to the CITES Appendices, transferred from one Appendix to another, or removed from them.

These decisions are taken at the triennial CITES conferences and must be based on the best biological information available and on an analysis of how different types of protection can affect specific populations.

It is worth noting that when a species is transferred from Appendix I to Appendix II, its protection has not necessarily been 'downgraded'. Rather, it can be a sign of success that a species population has grown to the point where trade may be possible with strict oversight. In addition, by allowing a species to be commercially traded at sustainable levels, an Appendix-II listing can actually improve protection by giving local people a greater incentive to ensure the species' survival.

The CITES Secretariat produces recommendations on the proposals described above after analysing them against the various listing criteria. These criteria relate to: trade (is the species being actively traded? Is trade really the problem rather than, say, habitat destruction?); biology (what is the scientific evidence that populations are declining or increasing?); and other technical matters (e.g. has the proponent consulted thoroughly other range States?). <

UN Agency Backs Bluefin Tuna Ban, Vote Due In March
Stephanie Nebehay, PlanetArk 10 Feb 10;

GENEVA - A United Nations scientific agency backed on Friday a proposal to ban international trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna, saying the species prized by sushi lovers needed to recover from commercial overfishing.

Monaco had proposed protecting bluefin tuna, which can fetch up to $100,000 in Japan, by listing it under appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

"In our opinion, the criteria for including the species in appendix 1 are met and international commercial trade in bluefin tuna should be prohibited," David Morgan, head of CITES scientific unit, told a news briefing.

Some 175 countries are due to vote on 40 proposals during the CITES triennial meeting in Doha, Qatar, from March 13-25.

The Swiss-based treaty body, which regulates international trade in wildlife, seeks consensus on its regulations to conserve and manage sustainably 34,000 animal and plant species.

Some 530 animals species -- including all the great apes, cheetahs, the snow leopard, the tiger, and all sea turtles -- as well as 300 plants are on its appendix I banning international commercial trade in species deemed under threat of extinction.

But Japan strongly opposes the bluefin ban and in order for it to be adopted, a two-thirds majority is required.

Atlantic or northern bluefin tuna is found throughout the North Atlantic and its adjacent seas, particularly the Mediterranean, but also in the Gulf of Mexico and Straits of Florida. It can reach a weight of more than 650 kilos.

France, Italy and Spain account for half of the world's total allowable catch of bluefin tuna. Japan imports some 80 percent of the total catch.

LUXURY TUNA

The tuna currently fetch $200-$300 per kilo, according to a CITES document prepared for the Doha meeting.

"It is a very small part of the overall market of overall trade in tuna. It is the top end of the market, the luxury tuna," Morgan said.

"A great majority goes to Japan because prices are higher there. The Japanese are by far the biggest consumers, they have a key role in trade in these species."

Atlantic bluefin tuna stocks have declined by more than 80 percent since 1970, according to CITES, which estimates current stocks at 3.17 million.

The official quota for 2009 was 19,950 tonnes, set by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, but the true annual catch is estimated at around 50,000 tonnes.

France said on Wednesday it would support a ban on global trade in bluefin tuna, but only after an 18-month delay. [ID:nLDE61217F]

CITES rejected a separate proposal from the United States to impose a ban on international trade in polar bears and their skins due to their shrinking numbers and the threat posed by climate change to their ice platforms in many regions of the Arctic.

"There will be quite a controversy, this is an iconic species and there are lots of pressures from both sides. This has livelihood implications for indigenous people in Canada," said CITES spokesman Juan Carlos Vasquez.

(Editing by Jonathan Lynn and Noah Barkin)

Keeping Wetlands from Becoming Wastelands

Stephen Leahy, IPS 6 Feb 10;

VICTORIA, Seychelles, Feb 5 (IPS) - Swamps, marshes and other wetlands are beginning to be recognised as a country's 'green jewels', even in a tropical paradise like Mahé Island here in the Seychelles, with its stunning beaches and dramatic granite outcrops.

"Wetlands are one of the world's richest ecosystems on the planet," said Joel Morgan, minister for environment, natural resources and transport, Republic of Seychelles.

"We islanders live closer to nature than many others and we have long understood the importance of wetlands and environmental services and resources they provide us with," Morgan said at the first-ever World Wetlands Week.

Normally, World Wetlands Day is Feb. 2, but this year the Ramsar Convention, an intergovernmental treaty on conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources, is celebrating wetlands around the world throughout the entire week.

The Seychelles were chosen for the global launch of World Wetlands Week because they exemplified the Ramsar principle of wise use successfully balancing tourism, development, food security and biodiversity, said Anada Tiega, secretary general of the Ramsar Convention.

"The Seychelles has done a good job implementing the Ramsar Convention," Tiega said in the opening ceremony.

The Seychelles Islands are a tropical archipelago 1,800 kilometres off the east coast of Africa with a population of just 85,000 people. They comprise 115 islands - the Inner Islands are tall and granitic and the outer low-lying comprise coralline cays, atolls and reef islands. Although generally small in size, wetlands of various kinds can be found on most islands.

Still, there are wetlands here that scientists have determined of are international significance. Praslin Island's Vallée de Mai, once believed to be the original site of the Garden of Eden, is both a Ramsar wetland site of international importance and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

At a signing ceremony this week, two other sites were officially designated as a Ramsar wetlands - the Aldabra atoll, the world's largest raised coral atoll, and the Mare Aux Cochons high-altitude wetlands.

"We need to have a network of sites like this (Mare Aux Cochons) to support the unique life in the small islands of the Indian Ocean," Tiega said.

Wetlands include riparian areas, mangroves, mudflats, marshes and seagrass beds. In the Seychelles, they provide economic and conservation benefits through fisheries production, flood control, shoreline stabilisation, maintenance of coastal water quality for fisheries and coral reefs.

Wetlands also house extensive biodiversity, ranging from algae and lichens to plants, insects, amphibians, crustaceans, birds and fish.

Wetlands have often been treated as wastelands and drained for agriculture, or filled in to create building space. In the Seychelles, like many tropical areas, most of the mangroves have been destroyed - cut for wood, for coastal development or simply removed because they were once thought to harbour diseases.

Losing mangroves and wetlands means losing the valuable services they provide. Tourism, food security and coastal protection are often the most obvious losers when wetlands die. In small islands, the poorest people often live very near to and depend directly on wetland ecosystems for their livelihood.

The main challenge in small countries like the Seychelles, where tourism is the country's biggest source of income, is to balance development and conservation.

"For any nation, development is a must... On small islands, lack of land means some development will take place in environmentally sensitive areas," said Morgan.

Stringent development guidelines and planning are required to sustainably use and maintain wetlands for the benefit of humans and nature, as set out under the Ramsar principles. In resort developments in the past decade, wetlands have been integrated into building plans and become a real tourist asset to the economy with proper management and conservation plans, he said.

Climate change is the other major threat to wetlands, by decreasing precipitation in many places and increasing evaporation rates due to warming temperatures. The Amazon can't be preserved and store all the carbon in the forest without the 1,000-plus network of rivers and wetlands in the region that support the forest, said Tiega.

"Good management of wetlands can help mitigate climate change (by sequestering carbon)," he said.

And good management also means protecting peatlands from being turned into oil palm plantations because they store thousands of years of accumulated carbon. In fact, they contain more than twice the amount of carbon that can be found in existing forests today, he said.

"Climate change is threatening our very existence in the Seychelles. Tourism, fisheries, agriculture are already feeling the impact," said Morgan.

Wetlands play a very important part in the natural process of mitigation, he said. "We need to continue to value wetlands preserve them."

Indonesia demands compensation over Australian oil leak

Lilian Budianto, The Jakarta Post 5 Feb 10;

Indonesia will file a demand to Australia asking for compensation after the latter’s oil rig leaked in Indonesian territory in Timor Sea, says the Indonesian Ambassador to Australia, Primo Alui Joelianto.

Primo said the demand would be submitted Feb. 22 when a team led by the Foreign Ministry visited Canberra.

“We are still finalizing details to ensure the amount accurately compensates for the destruction we have encountered,” Primo told The Jakarta Post at the sidelines of an ambassadors’ on meeting in Jakarta on Thursday.

The crude oil spill in the Timor Sea occurred August last year when an oil platform in the Australian Montara oil field exploded, spilling around 500,000 liters, or about 1,200 barrels of crude oil each day.

The accident has impacted on the environment and the income and health of fishermen in East Nusa Tenggara province.

“We have a strong legal standing given the extent of damage it has caused, and may continue to cause, to our country,” Primo said. “The compensation demand has a basis in international law and it will not affect our relations with Australia.”

The Australian government said last year it would respond to the incident according to international law, including launching an inquiry into the accident. The inquiry will conclude its report in April.

“To ensure that environmental impacts from the oil spill are understood and appropriately addressed in the long-term, a robust, scientific monitoring plan has been agreed between the Australian government and the company responsible for the wellhead platform,” it said.

Indonesian eco-resorts go for wildlife wow factor

Angus Thompson, Reuters 5 Feb 10;

JAKARTA (Reuters Life!) - While on honeymoon in Indonesia, Australian newlyweds Richard and Clair Webb decided to go somewhere truly exotic: not a luxury resort on an idyllic beach, but an eco-friendly lodge surrounded by wild orangutans.

The couple found the remote Rimba Orangutan Eco Lodge, bordering Tanjung Puting National Park in south Kalimantan and a refuge of the endangered orangutan, one of four such places in Indonesia that try to educate guests about the environment and wildlife conservation.

"Watching these animals that are so rare, it was a really beautiful experience. It was the highlight of our honeymoon," Clair Webb told Reuters by telephone from her home in Canberra.

"I'm a bit conscious of my environmental impact. It was good to be able to stay at a place that was eco and animal friendly."

Using rainwater and compost systems, the small hotel sponsors conservation projects and enlists local guides to take visitors for encounters with orangutans in the wild.

Alan Wilson, co-owner of the lodge, said the wow factor of seeing wildlife is the drawcard for guests at her establishment and three others in Bali, Komodo National Park and Sumatra also run by Eco Lodges Indonesia, a small company with local as well as international shareholders including environmentalists.

"I think the word "eco" is used far too flippantly," said Wilson, a former veterinarian.

Profits of the four establishments are used to protect the parks they border, and fend off illegal logging, poaching or harmful agricultural practices.

Indonesia has been criticized for rampant deforestation for palm oil, timber and other development, leading to rising greenhouse gas emissions and loss of habitat for wildlife.

But eco-tourism is becoming a buzzword in Indonesia, with many hotels and tour operators touting their sustainable bent in a bid to attract a share of a growing global market.

The government is trying to boost tourism, and just extended the length of tourist visas to allow two-month stays. It hopes for seven million tourists this year, still well below the level seen by nearby Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

Raka Dalem of Udayana University, Bali, said the number of hotels and tourism operators in Indonesia obtaining eco-certification is still negligible, with multinational hotel chains making up the majority of members.

But with so many resorts globally now claiming to be eco-friendly, consumers and travel agents are putting the pressure on tour operators to prove their green credentials.

Travel websites such as U.S.-based Expedia.com now list operators' level of eco-certification to give consumers more confidence in the sustainable practices they employ and to avoid "green wash."

A coalition of international organizations, many U.N.-backed, will merge this year to create the Tourism Sustainability Council, a project to promote a universal minimum standard of sustainable tourism criteria.

(Editing by Neil Chatterjee and Miral Fahmy)

Indonesian anti-corruption commission urged to eradicate forestry mafia, corruption cases

Antara 5 Feb 10;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - A coalition consisting of well known NGOs in Indonesia has urged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to investigate forestry mafia and corruption cases in the sector, a source said.

The coalition includes the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi), Working Network of Riau Forest Rescuers (JIKALAHARI), Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), Save Our Borneo (SOB), Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI), Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), Sawit Watch, Kontak Rakyat Borneo and SILVAGAMA.

"KPK must make corruption cases in the forestry sector one of its priorities to investigate and solve," M Teguh Surya from the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi)said here on Friday.

He said there were nine big cases in the sector which had caused the country a total loss of Rp 6.66 trillion.

The coalition, he added, also wants the KPK to form a special task force to investigate forest destruction cases in Indonesia.

"Illegal logging activities are controlled by top mafia and transnational crime syndicates . The worst damage to forests is done by illegal conversion of forest land and behind this activity are bad investors and top officials," Teguh said adding that illegal forest conversion was done by transforming forests into plantation and mining areas.

Under Central Kalimantan province`s revised Spatial Layout Plan (RTRWP) for 2009, 7.8 million hectares of forests have been turned into palm oil plantations and mining areas.

According to the forestry ministry`s Forestry Consolidation Bureau, 5.8 million hectares of forest in Papua have been damaged over the past six years. In fact, it was estimated that Papua would lose its entire forest area by 2020. (*)

Indonesia considers coal export slowdown

UPI 4 Feb 10;

JAKARTA, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Indonesia, the world's third-largest coal exporter, plans to gradually cease its coal exports to save for its future needs, says a government official.

The National Energy Board, or DEN, is now putting together such a recommendation to be submitted to the government this month, state-owned news agency ANTARA reports.

"Up till now, DEN members are still discussing a strategy to keep coal to ourselves and the benefits to be derived by such a policy," said Rinaldi Dalimi, a member of the Energy Board.

Rinaldi said the current coal production of 250 million tons per year would reach its break-even point in the next 20 to 30 years.

The Association of Indonesian Coal Mining Companies said Wednesday it forecasts 2010 coal production to reach 275 million to 280 million metric tons.

Last year's coal production was 254 million metric tons, 20 percent less than in 2008.

The association attributes the decline in production to lengthy licensing procedures, particularly for mining in forested areas, that can take between six and 12 months to complete. It also blamed lack of coordination between the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and regional, provincial and district administrations.

According to a 2008 statistical energy survey, Indonesia had coal reserves of 4.3 billion tons.

State-owned PT Tambang Bukit Asam, one of the five largest coal producers in Indonesia, forecasts this year's coal production at 14 million tons. PTBA has mineable reserves of approximately 7.3 billion tons or 17 percent of the total coal reserves in Indonesia.

The company is exploring the possibility of acquiring coal mining companies in Kalimantan while developing its existing operations. PTBA President Director Ir Sukrisno said the company is also interested in overseas acquisitions, particularly mining ventures in Australia and Africa.

Around 65 percent of Indonesia's population has access to electricity. But in rural areas, 74 million people are not connected to the network.

Recent power shortages have forced state electricity company PLN to impose rotating blackouts in Indonesia's major cities.

As for Indonesia's green energy, Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry statistics show that renewable energy currently accounts for only 3.4 percent of total potential reserves.

"This is perhaps because there are no clear policies, incentives or pricing plans to encourage investment in renewable energy, or promotion of schemes to develop renewable energy concurrently to displace high-carbon coal with low-carbon gas as a 'bridging fuel,'" Fitrian Ardiansyah, program director of climate and energy at WWF-Indonesia, wrote in a recent editorial in the Jakarta Post.

Indonesia May Limit Gas Exports to Meet Local Needs

Jakarta Globe 5 Feb 10;

Bent on securing adequate gas supplies for domestic industrial needs, the government is planning to limit exports of liquefied natural gas if necessary.

Energy Minister Darwin Saleh said on Thursday that a new presidential instruction was being drafted to regulate LNG exports.

“We are currently waiting for the presidential instruction,” he told reporters, adding that the decision on the regulation was a result of a closed two-day cabinet meeting that wound up on Wednesday. “We had a cross-sector discussion involving governors, ministers and state-owned enterprises on how to create energy security by opening new gas fields and gas reallocation.”

For years, local companies requiring gas as a raw material in their production process, such as ceramics makers, fertilizer firms and state power company PLN, have complained about the lack of a steady supply.

Evita Legowo, director general of oil and gas at the Energy Ministry, said one contract would be immediately affected if the policy became effective this year. A contract for the supply of gas to Japanese buyers from the Mahakam Block in East Kalimantan, which is operated by French oil and gas firm Total E&P Indonesie, expires in 2010.

The government had earlier approved in principle a contract extension to 2020, but as yet there has been no final decision.

Darwin said the government would also consider importing gas. “If the price is good, and we are short of supply, we could import, but this does not mean that we will rely on imports for gas,” he said.

Achmad Widjaya, chairman of the Indonesian Ceramics Association, however, said he doubted the government’s commitment to prioritize domestic gas demand.

“If the government said so, our first question is whether the statement is serious or not. The government’s energy policy has never really supported the real economy,” Achmad said. He added that reaching economic growth targets would be difficult if energy needs for productive sectors could not be secured.

Hari Karyuliarto, the head of the LNG business at state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina, said the company had to “follow the instructions of the government.” He said the plan would not pose any problems if the selling price at home met the commercial value.

Fauzi Ichsan, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank, said that since foreign buyers usually paid higher gas prices than domestic ones, the government would have to cover the difference.

Maman Budiman, a spokesman for US-based Exxon Mobil, pointed out that this year, Exxon has committed 55 million standard cubic feet of gas a day from its field in Arun, Aceh, to state-owned fertilizer company PT Pupuk Iskandar Muda.

“But if the government wants us to increase our allocation for the domestic market, we may not be able to fulfill it because we do not have additional gas reserves.”

Indonesia will not develop nuclear power anytime soon: Minister

Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post 5 Feb 10;

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Darwin Zahedy Saleh said the government had yet to consider developing nuclear energy for electricity generation.

"We will exploit other available energy sources first," Darwin told reporters Friday.

He added that the government would remain open to study the development of any alternative energy, including nuclear energy.

Currently, the biggest energy source for power plants operated by state utility firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PT PLN) is still coal, which is estimated to reach 44 percent of the company's total energy production this year.

PLN also generates power from oil-based fuels (19 percent), biofuel (1 percent), hydro (7 percent), gas (26 percent) and geothermal (2 percent).

New Breakthrough May Mean Cheaper, Greener Fertilizer for Indonesian Farmers

Jakarta Globe 5 Feb 10;
Farmers spreading fertilizer on a rice field in Kediri, East Java.

In a bid to help repair soil damaged by overuse of chemical fertilizers, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences has launched microbe-based ‘Beyonic’ technology to be used in the production of organic fertilizers.

Endang Sukara, deputy head of biological sciences at the institute, known as LIPI, said on Friday that technology had led to positive changes in the agricultural industry through the introduction of chemical fertilizers, but that same technology was also the primary cause of environmental damage.

“Magic seeds and magic chemicals introduced to our farmers as part of the green revolution did increase productivity, especially for rice. But this program, as a whole, has disrupted the agricultural system in the country,” Endang said.

“As a result of the green revolution our endemic seeds have gradually perished and our farmers’ local wisdom is no longer relevant. And worst of all, the quality of our land is deteriorating.”

Under the green revolution, which boomed in the 1960s, the country saw a significant increase in agricultural productivity resulting from the introduction of high-yield varieties of grains, the use of pesticides, and improved management techniques.

“Because of this movement our farmers, until now, have become so dependent on chemical fertilizers that they must allocate most of what they earn to buy the increasingly expensive fertilizers produced by big companies,” he said.

Thus, Endang said, the use of organic fertilizers would exponentially reduce the use of pesticides and herbicides among farmers. The other major benefits would be lower production costs and the reduced CO emissions of fertilizer manufacturers.

Beyonic itself stands for beyond bio-organic and uses microbes to repair damaged soil.

Researchers used endemic microbes cultured at the institute’s culture collection center, home to nearly 20,000 kinds of microbes.

“This Beyonic technology is pro-poor, pro-jobs and pro-green because we want to help farmers reduce their production costs. And at the same time they help us all to conserve the ecosystem and the environment,” Endang said.

“And we decided on microbes because this is a safe and a good alternative in making fertilizer and this technology can be adopted by small- to medium-sized farmers so that they can be self-dependent. They don’t have to depend on chemical fertilizers or organic ones produced by the big manufacturers,” he said.

For 2010, the government has allocated a subsidy of Rp 11.86 trillion ($1.26 billion) for the production of 11.76 million tons of organic fertilizer. But the subsidy has largely been enjoyed by the big producers with little benefit for the farmers.

Many organic fertilizers were produced domestically and readily available but Beyonic was superior, Endang said.

“Microbes work effectively to stabilize the acid balance, nitrogen supply, phosphates and minerals, and also dissolve pollutants in the damaged soil,” Endang said.

Meanwhile, State Minister of Research and Technology Suharna Surapranata said during the launch of Beyonic on Saturday that this innovation should be applied immediately by various technical departments so that Indonesia need no longer rely on foreign industries.

“If there were to be no synergy between such a beneficial technology and technical departments, it would be useless,” state news agency Antara quoted the minister as saying.

In a related development, Kompas reported that LIPI had received several requests from regional administrations hoping to adopt Beyonic technology to restore environmental damage caused by mining exploration.

Arctic climate changing faster than expected

Rod Nickel, Reuters 5 Feb 10;

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Climate change is transforming the Arctic environment faster than expected and accelerating the disappearance of sea ice, scientists said on Friday in giving their early findings from the biggest-ever study of Canada's changing north.

The research project involved more than 370 scientists from 27 countries who collectively spent 15 months, starting in June 2007, aboard a research vessel above the Arctic Circle. It marked the first time a ship has stayed mobile in Canada's high Arctic for an entire winter.

"(Climate change) is happening much faster than our most pessimistic models expected," said David Barber, a professor at the University of Manitoba and the study's lead investigator, at a news conference in Winnipeg.

Models predicted only a few years ago that the Arctic would be ice-free in summer by the year 2100, but the increasing pace of climate change now suggests it could happen between 2013 and 2030, Barber said.

Scientists link higher Arctic temperatures and melting sea ice to the greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming.

The Arctic is considered a type of early-warning system of climate change for the rest of the world.

"We know we're losing sea ice -- the world is all aware of that," Barber said. "What you're not aware of is that it has impacts on everything else that goes on in this system."

The loss of the sea ice is taking away areas for the region's mammals to reproduce, find food and elude predators, said Steve Ferguson, a scientist with the Canadian government who took part in the study.

Whale species previously not found in the Arctic are moving into the region because there is less sea ice to restrict their movements.

Climate change is also bringing more cyclones into the Arctic, dumping snow on the sea ice, which limits how thick it can get, and bringing winds that break up the ice, Barber said.

The study is part of the International Polar Year, a large scientific program focused on the Arctic and Antarctic. The scientists have not yet produced conclusions, but they expect to publish dozens of academic papers.

The cost of the Arctic's rapid melt will be $2.4 trillion by 2050 as the region loses its ability to cool the global climate, the U.S.-based Pew Environment Group said on Friday. The group released a report showing the Arctic is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the planet.

Both the Canadian government and the oil and gas industry are keenly interested in the possible environmental impact of development further north in the Arctic, said professor Louis Fortier of Laval University.

Currently, development is focused on mainland regions such as the massive gas fields in the Mackenzie River Delta on the Beaufort Sea. But receding ice levels may make the wider Arctic more accessible to ships and make drilling in more areas possible.

"Conclusions will come later, but ... up to now there's no indication that the impacts would be larger (further north) than elsewhere in the Arctic," Fortier said.

Arctic melt to cost up to $24 trillion by 2050: report

Reuters 5 Feb 10;

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Arctic ice melting could cost global agriculture, real estate and insurance anywhere from $2.4 trillion to $24 trillion by 2050 in damage from rising sea levels, floods and heat waves, according to a report released on Friday.

"Everybody around the world is going to bear these costs," said Eban Goodstein, a resource economist at Bard College in New York state who co-authored the report, called "Arctic Treasure, Global Assets Melting Away."

He said the report, reviewed by more than a dozen scientists and economists and funded by the Pew Environment Group, an arm of the Pew Charitable Trusts, provides a first attempt to monetize the cost of the loss of one of the world's great weather makers.

"The Arctic is the planet's air conditioner and it's starting to break down," he said.

The loss of Arctic Sea ice and snow cover is already costing the world about $61 billion to $371 billion annually from costs associated with heat waves, flooding and other factors, the report said.

The losses could grow as a warmer Arctic unlocks vast stores of methane in the permafrost. The gas has about 21 times the global warming impact of carbon dioxide.

Melting of Arctic sea ice is already triggering a feedback of more warming as dark water revealed by the receding ice absorbs more of the sun's energy, he said. That could lead to more melting of glaciers on land and raise global sea levels.

While much of Europe and the United States has suffered heavy snowstorms and unusually low temperatures this winter, evidence has built that the Arctic is at risk from warming.

Greenhouse gases generated by tailpipes and smokestacks have pushed Arctic temperatures in the last decade to the highest levels in at least 2,000 years, reversing a natural cooling trend, an international team of researchers reported in the journal Science in September.

Arctic emissions of methane have jumped 30 percent in recent years, scientists said last month.

Thin ice over the Arctic Sea this winter could mean a powerful ice-melt next summer, a top U.S. climate scientist said this week.

And early findings from a major research project in Canada involving more than 370 scientists from 27 countries showed on Friday that climate change is transforming the Arctic environment faster than expected and accelerating the disappearance of sea ice.

Goodstein's study did not look at worst-case scenarios Arctic melting could have, such as warmer temperatures that trigger massive releases of crystallized methane formations in Arctic soils and ocean beds known as methane hydrates. It also did not look at sea ice erosion troubling people in the Arctic.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Tibet temperatures hit record high in 2009

Reuters 4 Feb 10;

BEIJING (Reuters) - Temperatures in Tibet rose last year to the highest level since records began for the remote Himalayan region, which scientists say is particularly vulnerable to global warming, state media reported on Friday.

The average temperature in Tibet in 2009 was 5.9 degrees Celsius (42.6 degrees Fahrenheit), 1.5 degrees higher than "normal," the official China Daily newspaper reported, citing latest figures from the regional climate center. It did not detail how the "normal" level was set.

"Average temperatures recorded at 29 observatories reached record highs," Zhang Hezhen, a specialist at the regional weather bureau was quoted saying, adding temperature rises occurred in both summer and winter.

Temperature records for Tibet started in 1961, the paper said.

Tibet, with an average altitude of over 4,000 meters, is particularly vulnerable to the impact of climate change, scientists say. Warming is already melting glaciers that feed rivers providing hundreds of millions of people with water.

The area acts as a "magnifier" for global warming, Zheng Guoguang, head of China Meteorological Administration, said at a meeting in Lhasa last spring.

"The impact of global warming has accelerated glacial shrinkage and the melting glaciers have swollen Tibet's lakes... If the warming continues, millions of people in western China would face floods in the short term and drought in the long run."

There are also concerns climate change may melt the permafrost on which the regional railway, linking Tibet with neighboring Qinghai province, is built.

Some parts of Tibet were as much as 2.3 degrees Celsius warmer than normal last year, said weather specialist Zhang.

In Shigatse city, the maximum daytime temperature hit 32.5 degrees Celsius, 0.5 degrees above the previous record, while in Lhasa temperatures were also 0.5 degrees above a previous record set in 1971.

The warm weather also brought drought to parts of Tibet, with rainfall down at least 20 percent, Zhang said.

"Tibet received an average precipitation of 363 mm last year, a record low in 39 years," she said.

Nearly 30,000 hectares of cropland, one eighth of Tibet's total arable land, were affected by a sustained drought over the summer and autumn of 2009, state media said. Water shortages were so bad people in some areas had to buy bottled water to drink.

(Reporting by Huang Yan, editing by Emma Graham-Harrison and Sanjeev Miglani)

No Time to Put Climate Science on Ice: Achim Steiner

Achim Steiner, UNEP 5 Feb 10;

Nairobi, 5 February 2010 - The science of climate change has been on the defensive in recent weeks, owing to an error that dramatically overstated the rate at which the Himalayan glaciers could disappear.

Some in the media, and those who are skeptical about climate change, are currently having a field day, parsing every comma and cough in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) 2007 assessment.

Some strident voices are even dismissing climate change as a hoax on a par with the Y2K computer bug.

As a result, the public has become increasingly bewildered as the unremitting questioning of the IPCC and its chair assumes almost witch-hunting proportions in some quarters.

The time has really come for a reality check. It is quite right to pinpoint errors, make corrections, and check and re-check sources for accuracy and credibility. It is also right that the IPCC has acknowledged the need for ever more stringent and transparent quality-control procedures to minimize any such risks in future reports.

But let us also put aside the myth that the science of climate change is holed below the water line and is sinking fast on a sea of falsehoods.

Over the course of 22 years, the IPCC has drawn upon the expertise of thousands of the best scientific minds, nominated by their own governments, in order to make sense of the complexity of unfolding environmental events and their potential impacts on economies and societies.

The Panel has striven to deliver the "perfect" product in terms of its mandate, scientific rigor, peer review, and openness, and has brought forward the knowledge – but also the knowledge gaps – in terms of our understanding of global warming.

Its 2007 report represents the best possible risk assessment available, notwithstanding an error – or, more precisely, a typographical error – in its statement of Himalayan glacial melt rates.

One notion promulgated in recent weeks is that the IPCC is sensationalist: this is perhaps the most astonishing, if not risible claim of all.

Indeed, the Panel has more often been criticized for being far too conservative in its projections of, for example, the likely sea-level rise in the twenty-first century.

Indeed, caution rather than sensation has been the Panel's watchword throughout its existence.

In its first assessment, in 1990, the IPCC commented that observed temperature increases were "broadly consistent with predictions of climate models, but it is also of the same magnitude as natural climate variability."

The second assessment, in 1995, said: "Results indicate that the observed trend in global mean temperature over the past 100 years is unlikely to be entirely natural in origin."

In 2001, its third assessment reported: "There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities."

By 2007, the consensus had reached "very high confidence" – at least a 90% chance of being correct – in scientists' understanding of how human activities are causing the world to become warmer.

This does not sound like a partial or proselytizing body, but one that has striven to assemble, order, and make sense of a rapidly evolving scientific puzzle for which new pieces emerge almost daily while others remain to be found.

So perhaps the real issue that is being overlooked is this: confronted by the growing realization that humanity has become a significant driver of changes to our planet, the IPCC, since its inception, has been in a race against time.

The overwhelming evidence now indicates that greenhouse-gas emissions need to peak within the next decade if we are to have any reasonable chance of keeping the global rise in temperature down to manageable levels. Any delay may generate environmental and economic risks of a magnitude that proves impossible to handle.

The fact is that the world would have to make a transition to a low-carbon, resource-efficient future even if there were no climate change.

With the world's human population set to rise from six billion to nine billion people in the next half-century, we need to improve management of our atmosphere, air, lands, soils, and oceans anyway.

Rather than undermine the IPCC's work, we should renew and re-double our efforts to support its mammoth task in assembling the science and knowledge for its fifth assessment in 2014. What is needed is an urgent international response to the multiple challenges of energy security, air pollution, natural-resource management, and climate change.

The IPCC is as fallible as the human beings that comprise it. But it remains without doubt the best and most solid foundation we have for a community of more than 190 nations to make these most critical current and future global choices.

Achim Steiner is Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, which co-hosts the IPCC.

Project Syndicate, 2010. www.project-syndicate.org

Climate scepticism 'on the rise' in the UK

BBC News 5 Feb 10;

The number of British people who are sceptical about climate change is rising, a poll for BBC News (pdf) suggests.

The Populus poll of 1,001 adults found 25% did not think global warming was happening, a rise of 8% since a similar poll was conducted in November.

The percentage of respondents who said climate change was a reality had fallen from 83% in November to 75% this month.

And only 26% of those asked believed climate change was happening and "now established as largely man-made".

The findings are based on interviews carried out on 3-4 February.

In November 2009, a similar poll by Populus - commissioned by the Times newspaper - showed that 41% agreed that climate change was happening and it was largely the result of human activities.

"It is very unusual indeed to see such a dramatic shift in opinion in such a short period," Populus managing director Michael Simmonds told BBC News.

"The British public are sceptical about man's contribution to climate change - and becoming more so," he added.

"More people are now doubters than firm believers."

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' (Defra) chief scientific adviser, Professor Bob Watson, called the findings "very disappointing".

"The fact that there has been a very significant drop in the number of people that believe that we humans are changing the Earth's climate is serious," he told BBC News.

"Action is urgently needed," Professor Watson warned.

"We need the public to understand that climate change is serious so they will change their habits and help us move towards a low carbon economy."

'Exaggerated risks'

Of the 75% of respondents who agreed that climate change was happening, one-in-three people felt that the potential consequences of living in a warming world had been exaggerated, up from one-in-five people in November.

The number of people who felt the risks of climate change had been understated dropped from 38% in November to 25% in the latest poll.

During the intervening period between the two polls, there was a series of high profile climate-related stories, some of which made grim reading for climate scientists and policymakers.

In November, the contents of emails stolen from a leading climate science unit led to accusations that a number of researchers had manipulated data.

And in January, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) admitted that it had made a mistake in asserting that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035.

All of this happened against the backdrop of many parts of the northern hemisphere being gripped by a prolonged period of sub-zero temperatures.

However, 73% of the people who said that they were aware of the "science flaws" stories stated that the media coverage had not changed their views about the risks of climate change.

"People tend to make judgements over time based on a whole range of different sources," Mr Simmonds explained.

He added that it was very unusual for single events to have a dramatic impact on public opinion.

"Normally, people make their minds up over a longer period and are influenced by all the voices they hear, what they read and what people they know are talking about."

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