Best of our wild blogs: 24 Feb 10

Butt Watcher's Workshop - A New Perspective
from The Leafmonkey Workshop

白鹭的家Night Home of Egrets
from PurpleMangrove

Tiger Tiger
from Cicada Tree Eco-Place

Observations on the Streaked Wren Babbler
from Bird Ecology Study Group

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WWF-Media Corp exchange on "8 Day"s feature of tiger skin on its cover

The “Chinese New Year” issue (No. 1008/9 Feb 11, 2010) of 8 Days featured artiste Ms Wong Li Lin draped with what appears to be a real tiger skin. Contained in the same issue spread over 8 pages, are photographs of Ms Wong in various poses in the tiger skin.

On the 12th of February WWF has written an email to 8 Days with the following text:

"We refer to the latest issue (No. 1008/9 Feb 11, 2010) of 8 Days where the cover features artiste Ms Wong Li Lin draped with what appears to be a real tiger skin. Contained in the same issue spread over 8 pages, are photographs of Ms Wong in various poses in the tiger skin.

Whether the tiger skin used is real or not, the photographs demonstrate a lack of sensitivity to the plight of dwindling tiger populations in the wild. From an estimated 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century, there are now as few as 3,200 tigers left occupying only seven percent of their historic habitat ranges. Today, tigers in the wild are poisoned, shot, trapped, and snared to meet the demands of a continuing illegal trade in tiger parts, including its skin. Tiger parts are used as status symbols, decorative items and Asian medicine.

Tiger conservation is an important issue, with WWF and other partner NGOs stepping up on our awareness work on their growing threats. In tandem with WWF's field conservation projects on tiger protection.

These photographs of Ms Wong in tiger skin could convey to the readers of 8 Days - mostly young people - that tiger skin as a fashion item is acceptable. It is not.

As a responsible corporate citizen, Mediacorp / 8 Days can choose to help spread the tiger conservation message to their readers and avoid images that may trivialize illegal wildlife parts. As an admired artiste, Ms Wong can also choose to support the nature cause by advocating its protection, not destruction.

We sincerely hope that Mediacorp will clarify publicly the misrepresentations that these images and feature story on Ms Wong, could give rise to - specifically on the use of tiger skin. We would also appreciate if you could pass this message onwards to Ms Wong.

WWF Singapore will be publishing this letter on our website (www.wwf.sg) on 19 February 2010, and look forward to receiving your reply before then."

The following reply from Mediacorp was received on the 12th of February:

"Thank you for your mail.

The tiger pelt was loaned to 8 DAYS specifically for the shoot.
We do not condone the harming of animals, and the realistic appearance of the tiger skin in the photos should in no way be construed as such.

We have received a few letters expressing concerns over the lack of political correctness. Please be assured that we do not take this feedback lightly, and regret any unintended offence caused."

Related link
Singapore animal groups growl over 8 Days' 'tiger skin' shots Victoria Vaughan, Straits Times 13 Feb 10;

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Sentosa Underwater World revamped

Straits Times 23 Feb 10;

THE Underwater World Singapore has undergone a revamp, and marine life enthusiasts and visitors alike will be pleased to note that there are new additions to this attraction.

A shark nursery housing 5 species of baby sharks that were successfully born in the Underwater World is now open in a low pool where visitors can feed them at designated feeding time slots.

The existing Dolphin Lagoon, once situated across the road, has now been incorporated into the Underwater World Singapore's premises, making it a lot more convenient than before.

To be officially launched sometime later this quarter, the area even boasts a Dolphin Suite, where you can watch the performances in air-conditioned comfort.

RazorTV gives a sneak peek of the latest improvements and a preview of the new pink dolphin show at the Dolphin Lagoon.



Related link
Underwaterworld Sentosa 'improves' dolphin show on the wild shores of singapore blog.

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Dolphin therapy is booming despite concerns about efficacy and animal cruelty

Katherine Ellison, The Washington Post 23 Feb 10;

Do you or does your child suffer from cerebral palsy? Down syndrome? Autism? A knee injury? General ennui?

If you do -- and you have a week or two and a few thousand dollars to spare -- a growing and controversial group of global entrepreneurs claims it can help you feel better by putting you in close contact with dolphins.

The strategy is known as dolphin-assisted therapy, and the basic idea is that even brief exposure to these charismatic creatures -- swimming around with them, petting and kissing them, watching them do tricks and hearing their clicking calls in tanks, lagoons or the open ocean -- is so uniquely rewarding that it produces benefits all by itself and/or jump-starts a patient's receptiveness to more-conventional therapy.

Emory University neuroscientist Lori Marino, who has spent more than a decade tracking the trend, estimates there are now more than 100 organizations offering therapy with dolphins. They're found in such widely scattered places as Florida, Hawaii, Mexico, Israel, Australia and Ukraine, and a study cited in 2007 by the international Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society said a typical charge was $2,600 for five 40-minute sessions.

Their approaches vary widely: At one end are relatively conservative nonprofits such as Island Dolphin Care, which operates programs for "special needs" children out of a $2 million facility in the Florida Keys; its Web site acknowledges that "there is no scientific proof that [dolphins] heal nor is there proof that they do not heal" and attributes most children's progress to being in "an environment that is highly motivating."

At the other end are more imaginative operations, such as the Dolphin Connection, based in the small Hawaiian town of Kealakekua, where Joan Ocean, described on her Web site as a "psychologist, shaman, and authority on the subject of Dolphin Tel-Empathic Communication," charges $1,995 for week-long swim-with-dolphin programs offering "cellular communication and healing" and "intergalactic journeying."

The dolphin-therapy business has been booming, fueled in part by the rapid growth in diagnoses of childhood mental disorders such as autism. Desperate parents in search of cures have flown to the facilities, as if to a seaside Lourdes, when all else has failed.

The practice, however, is fiercely criticized by researchers and marine mammal conservationists, including the educational anthropologist widely credited with having invented it, retired Florida International University researcher Betsy Smith. These critics charge that it is no more effective and considerably more expensive than skillful conventional treatment, while potentially harmful to the humans and the animals.

Smith, who was originally inspired by watching a dolphin interact with her mentally disabled brother in the 1970s, offered the therapy free of charge for more than a decade, before abandoning the work out of ethical concerns in the 1990s. She now maintains that dolphin therapy boils down to "the exploitation of vulnerable people and vulnerable dolphins."

"When I started this whole thing, I had no idea what we were unleashing," she said in a telephone interview.

Even Ric O'Barry, who won fame in the 1960s as the trainer of TV's Flipper, has since become what he describes as a "dolphin abolitionist," opposed to all forms of dolphin captivity and domination, and leading efforts to end dolphin hunting and return captive specimens to the wild.

"It's a fascinating paradox," said Marino, who along with two colleagues described concerns about dolphins in a presentation they made in San Diego Sunday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science convention. "People are wacky about dolphins, and yet they're becoming the most abused of animals."

Dolphin therapy is not regulated by any U.S. government authority overseeing health and safety standards for either humans or dolphins.

The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society has urged that the therapy be abandoned, citing reports of serious injuries to people who swim with dolphins, including bites and broken ribs, and the potential for disease transmission and stress for captive dolphins that are obliged to interact with a continuous stream of strangers and may be scratched by fingernails and jewelry.

Dueling researchers

Marino has published reviews of the scientific literature that rigorously dispute claims of any unique therapeutic benefit from contact with dolphins. Even so, the Autism Society, the nation's leading grass-roots advocacy group for the illness, describes dolphin therapy on its Web site, without caveats, as one of several treatment approaches that "can help by increasing communication skills, developing social interaction, and providing a sense of accomplishment."

The Autism Society's Web site notes the research of retired Florida International University psychologist David Nathanson, who, it says, "in a number of studies . . . found that children with disabilities learned faster and retained information longer when they were with dolphins, compared to children who learned in a classroom setting."

Nathanson, an ebullient entrepreneur, has been selling dolphin-assisted therapy for more than 20 years. His Web site describes him as head of Dolphin Human Therapy, "an international consulting company . . . dedicated to helping you establish, on site at your facility, the highest quality professional rehabilitation program for children (and some adults) with disabilities, depression or other special needs." He promises prospective clients that DHT can help them "significantly increase revenue" and "receive positive, international media attention" while helping children and families. In an interview and subsequent e-mails, Nathanson said he is planning to open a major new dolphin therapy center in the Cayman Islands this summer.

In 1997, Nathanson published research in the journal Anthrozoos, based on his findings from working with children with disabilities including Down syndrome, autism and brain damage. He concluded that two weeks of "dolphin human therapy" could achieve "significantly greater improvement and more cost effective treatment results" than six months of conventional physical or speech therapy.

Marino, however, has singled out Nathanson's research as "thoroughly unconvincing" and methodologically flawed, lacking adequate control groups and suffering from researcher bias. She and other researchers question whether any benefits noted are directly attributable to the dolphins, apart from the stimulation that a disabled child might experience from being brought to an exciting new place with his parents, showered with attention and taken swimming.

"He uses the dolphins like M&Ms," says Smith. "These are vulnerable, vulnerable families. They take the child to see the dolphins, and it's one of the few times the family is together, and the child is getting all this attention, and it becomes wonderful to them, while someone is ka'chinging a cash register in the background."

In an interview, Nathanson defended his studies and his business enterprise, adding, "Anyone can be a big shot, and sit back and talk. It's another thing to hold a child in your arms." His critics, including Marino, he charged, are motivated mainly by their opposition to keeping dolphins captive, which he branded "a philosophical argument."

"Who says being in the wild is a bed of roses?" Nathanson demanded. "What about oil spills? I live in something called the real world, capisce?"

'This is the only place'

Dolphins have fascinated humans since ancient times with their extraordinary grace and intelligence, and those seemingly frozen smiles. Some dolphin-therapy advocates attribute special powers to their sonar, which they use to scan the water around them. (Nathanson, who acknowledged there was "no hard evidence" of therapeutic benefits from sonar, said he was nonetheless "perfectly willing to be open to possibilities that use of sonar has effects on well-being and even breaking down tumors.")

On Hawaii's Big Island, Star (formerly Paradise) Newland says swimming with a dolphin healed her chronic knee pain. She has since co-founded the Sirius Institute, which promotes the "dolphinization of the planet" and has plans for a program whereby women can give birth in the ocean, surrounded by the charismatic creatures. "The idea is to have a group of dolphins and humans born together and living together for a period of time," says Newland's collaborator, Michael Hyson.

More-conventional testimonials abound from parents who say contact with dolphins helped their children when other treatments failed.

Sharon Cox, a retired pharmacist from Oklahoma, says her daughter Jacklyn, who had a diagnosis of autism and pervasive developmental delay, had yet to say a word at age 6, when she first brought her to Island Dolphin Care in Key Largo.

"I'd been told by doctors and educators that she was pretty much a lost cause," Cox said. Yet after just three days with the dolphins, combined with what she described as extraordinarily skillful attention from the center's therapists, Cox said, her daughter said her first word. She has since returned with Jacklyn every year for the past 12 years and recently moved to Florida to be closer to the dolphins. At 18, Jacklyn still has only a limited vocabulary, Cox said. "Each time we came, she'd gain six to 12 months' worth of development in two weeks, but then she'd come home and there'd be no follow-up," she said. "This is the only place where she gets what she needs."

Cox disagreed with conservationists who charge that dolphins are being mistreated. "Hundreds and hundreds of people come through here just to swim and interact with them one-on-one, and they love the interaction," she said. "They're like a dog. They're very social. They love greeting people."

Granted, humans generally treat dolphins much better than animals such as cattle. A major difference, say dolphin advocates, is our determined belief that dolphins enjoy interacting with people. As Flipper's old trainer, O'Barry, has pointed out, captive dolphins perform their antics (including therapy) in return for fish -- i.e., to survive. He calls the dolphin's smile "nature's greatest deception."

Jayne LeFors, a resource management specialist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Hawaii, agreed that people commonly misinterpret dolphins' behavior to the dolphins' detriment.

For instance, the dolphins that frequent Kealakekua Bay, where Joan Ocean runs her business, use the shallow waters, where predators are easy to spot, to sleep and nurse their young. Approaching them there is like entering their bedroom, she said, and when they leap in the air while being pursued by swimmers or kayakers, they may be expressing annoyance rather than playfulness. Or they may be genuinely playful and curious to their own detriment, like children staying up to watch videos after bedtime. "They don't necessarily know what's good for them," said LeFors.

As concern has grown about mistreatment of dolphins captured for therapy, some people have been seeking substitutes.

A Southern California outfit called Virtual Dolphin Therapy offers clients the experience of lying on water-filled mattresses and watching images of swimming dolphins on an overhead screen. Nathanson, in Florida, has been experimenting with a dolphinlike robot. In research published in 2007, he concluded that interaction with the robot "provided the same or more therapeutic benefits as interaction with dolphins, without the environmental, administrative/legal and practical limitations, including high cost associated with dolphins."

Even so, Nathanson said, his new facility in the Cayman Islands will be using live dolphins.

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Out of sight, species quickly become out of mind

Samuel Turvey, BBC Green Room 23 Feb 10;

Once species disappear from the face of the Earth, they are quickly forgotten, says Samuel Turvey. In this week's Green Room, he warns that extinctions must be treated as a warning that human activities, such as overhunting and agriculture, are making the planet a poorer place to live.

It has been widely reported that the Earth's species are facing a sixth mass extinction and that human activity is to blame.

What is less well known is that humans have also been responsible for causing species extinctions throughout history and recent pre-history.

In the British Isles, we have lost most of our native large animals as a direct result of overhunting and the way humans changed habitats.

How many people living in the UK would consider lynx, wolves, or pelicans to be part of their native fauna, though? We have no direct cultural memory of any of these species ever being part of the British environment.

Sooner or later, communities will inevitably forget about the former existence of species that used to occur in their environment.

Local perceptions of past ecological conditions are expected to change over time, as older community members die and younger members become adults, because accurate information is unlikely to be passed down from generation to generation.

Over time, more and more degraded environmental conditions may therefore be seen as "normal". This social phenomenon is called "shifting baseline syndrome".

The existence of shifting baseline syndrome has been widely discussed and debated. However, few studies have investigated the rate at which communities can forget about environmental changes in the recent past.

Missed opportunities

This is particularly important for conservation because often environmental knowledge from local communities is the only information available to assess the status of rare species, or to reconstruct recent extinctions and environmental change.

For example, interviews with Aboriginal people in the central deserts of Australia have revealed that native mammals such as the pig-footed bandicoot, previously thought to have died out in the early part of the 20th Century, actually survived until at least the 1950s.

But just as human-caused species extinctions continue to occur, the true level of our impact on the environment also continues to be forgotten.

The most significant recent extinction was the disappearance of the Yangtze River dolphin, or baiji; the first large mammal to be wiped out in more than 50 years.

Once revered as a reincarnated princess, this species experienced a severe population decline throughout the late 20th Century, mainly as a result of unsustainable levels of accidental dolphin deaths in fishing gear.

Despite repeated pleas for international conservation intervention, by the late 1990s only about 13 animals were thought to survive.

I participated in the range-wide baiji survey in 2006 that failed to find any evidence of surviving dolphins in the Yangtze. In 2007, we declared the species to be probably extinct.

The loss of the baiji is only part of the massive-scale environmental degradation of the Yangtze.

Until recently, the river was also home to the Yangtze paddlefish, the largest freshwater fish in the world - mature adults could reach lengths of seven metres.

The paddlefish used to be caught commercially in the Yangtze, but overfishing and dam construction caused the population to collapse, and only three individuals have been caught in the past decade. The species may now already be extinct.

These factors also led to the disappearance of Reeves' shad, the basis of another Chinese commercial fishery until the 1980s.

In 2008, I returned to the Yangtze region as part of a wide-range interview survey of fishing communities.

We were interested in trying to find out if local fishermen, who spend much of their time on the river, might know of the existence of any surviving baiji. Sadly, we found little evidence to suggest that there were any baiji left in the river.

As we conducted our interviews though we did make a surprising discovery.

Older people told us all about the historical declines of baiji, paddlefish and shad, how often these species were seen and caught in the past, and even what they tasted like.

However, younger fishermen from the same communities had not only never seen baiji or paddlefish, but had never even heard of them.

These distinctive species - a dolphin and a giant fish - had only died out a few years earlier, and had been culturally and commercially important in the recent past, but already local knowledge about them was disappearing very rapidly.

We estimated that more than 70% of fishermen below the age of 40, or who first started fishing after 1995, were completely unaware of what a paddlefish was.

Our findings suggest that as soon as even "megafaunal" species stop being encountered on a fairly regular basis, they immediately start to become forgotten. They are truly "out of sight, out of mind".

It is the final insult for the baiji - not only was the species allowed to die out, forgotten by the conservation community until it was too late, but it is now being forgotten, even in China.

Conservation in the Yangtze remains an urgent priority. Although the baiji, shad and paddlefish are now all probably gone, other species such as the Yangtze finless porpoise are also in imminent danger of extinction.

But will we manage to act in time to save the porpoise? Or will this species, and many others, also become completely forgotten?

Dr Samuel Turvey is a research fellow for the Zoological Society of London (ZSL)

The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website

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Scientists discover new species of stingray at Ningaloo Marine Park

PerthNow 24 Feb 10;

The 30cm creature is part of the maskray family. It is much smaller than most of the other 118 ray species at Ningaloo.

The discovery was made by CSIRO scientists during a series of dive surveys which documented 47 species of sharks and rays.

Environment Minister Donna Faragher said the new find highlights the importance of the Ningaloo Marine Park, which was recently nominated for World Hertiage listing.

“It is an area of outstanding beauty, biological richness and international geological significance and we need to ensure it is protected and conserved,” Ms Faragher said.

CSIRO scientist Will White said since finding the rays at Ningaloo they have also been sighted at Shark Bay.

“The very specific habitat occupied by this ray means that careful monitoring and management is required. They also live close to the shore, so people may encounter the creature close-up,” Mr White said.

DEC marine scientist Kelly Waples said initial results from these surveys indicate that the marine park’s shark and ray populations are healthy and benefiting from zoning designed to protect representative populations.

“Satellite tags have also been used to track large predatory tiger and hammerhead sharks to find out whether they are residents or visitors to the marine park,” she said.

New ray shines on WA reef
Samuel Cardwell AAP Sydney Morning Herald 24 Feb 10;

Australian scientists have discovered a new species of stingray in the shallow waters off Western Australia.

The ray, whose scientific name is yet to be released, is commonly named the Ningaloo Mask Ray after the marine park in which it was discovered and is a new species in the genus Neotrygon.

Growing to a maximum of 30 centimetres width, the ray is spotted and orangy red in colour, helping it blend in with the dirty sand at the shallow depths where it lives.

CSIRO scientist Dr William White, a member of the team that discovered the new ray, says its adaption to the shallows may be why it has eluded sightings until now.

"One of the interesting things about this species is we have only seen it down to about three meters in depth," he said.

"Other rays that live deeper tend to be caught in trawling nets but because this one occurs only in the shallows it has escaped the fisherman and we haven't seen it before."

Science Minister Kim Carr praised the work of the team who discovered the new ray.

"I would like to congratulate all the scientists and researchers involved in the discovery of the new stingray species," Senator Carr said in a statement.

"Identifying and monitoring the variety of marine animals which inhabit our waters is the first step in ensuring that these creatures continue to flourish in Australia's delicate ocean ecosystems."

The CSIRO's work in discovering the ray was conducted as part of the Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI), a collaboration between federal, state, industry and academic institutions to probe the secrets of WA's large coastline.

The rays' home, The Ningaloo Marine Park, is located approximately 1200km north of Perth and occupies an area of 243,600 hectares.

The park is home to Ningaloo Reef which at over 250km long is the longest fringing reef in Australia.

Over the past few years over fifty new species have been discovered there as part of WAMSI's Ningaloo deeper water biodiversity project.

New stingray found at Ningaloo
Sydney Morning Herald 24 Feb 10;

A new species of stingray has been found at Ningaloo Marine Park.

WA environment minister Donna Faragher said the ray was part of the maskray family, with a maximum wingspan of 30cm - much smaller than most rays found at Ningaloo.

CSIRO scientist Will White said the discovery of the ray (Neotrygon sp.) highlighted there was still much to learn about the sharks and rays that inhabit the World Heritage-nominated area along the Ningaloo coast.

"Since the find at Ningaloo, we have been able to establish that this species also exists 400km further south in Shark Bay," Dr White said.

"The very specific habitat occupied by this ray means that careful monitoring and management is required.

"They also live close to the shore, so people may encounter the creature close-up."

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Indonesia mulls new capital as Jakarta sinks

Glenda Kwek (AFP) Yahoo News 23 Feb 10;

JAKARTA — It has been the economic heartbeat of the world's fourth most populous country for almost 500 years, but Jakarta's days as Indonesia's capital could be numbered.

Choked with traffic and garbage, the city on the northwest Java coast has been pushed to breaking point as its population surges above 12 million and its foundations sink under the weight of rampant development.

Floods displace thousands of people and cause millions of dollars of damage every year, and are predicted to get worse with rising sea levels, unchecked logging in catchment areas and the blocking of canals with rubbish.

A World Bank study has found that by 2025 the sea could be lapping at the gates of the presidential palace in the centre of the the former spice capital, known until 1942 as Batavia.

This could explain why President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently revived a radical plan to shift the capital to a new location.

"Going forward, the idea of moving the centre of the administration must again be considered and developed, considering Jakarta has become exceedingly crowded," Yudhoyono told reporters in December.

Similar proposals go back to previous presidents Sukarno and Suharto, who decades ago foresaw the eventual breakdown of Jakarta.

"It can be done -- what you need is strong political commitment. Malaysia moved to Putrajaya because of the strength of Mahathir Mohamad," urban studies expert Deden Rukmana said, referring to Malaysia's ex-prime minister.

"If we have a good plan ... we can build a city from scratch, like Brasilia in Brazil."

Malaysia in 1999 began gradually shifting its administrative bodies to Putrajaya, 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of Kuala Lumpur, to reduce congestion and overcrowding in the capital.

No one knows exactly how much the move cost in total, but more than 5.8 billion dollars was reportedly funded by taxpayers.

Urban planners said the price tag on a new capital would be huge for Indonesia, but the cost of doing nothing would be higher.

"Jakarta's problems can't be solved without expensive solutions," Rukmana said.

"When the 2007 floods hit, you could see how much of an impact the city had on Indonesia. For days, Jakarta was dead and Indonesia's economy was crippled," Rukmana said.

But where would Indonesia build its new capital?

Jakarta is on Java, the most populous of Indonesia's 17,000 islands and home to its largest ethnic group, the Javanese, who are unlikely to relinquish their grip on the centre of national power.

Military strongman Suharto favoured Jonggol, 50 kilometres east of Jakarta, but the idea was scrapped when he resigned in 1998.

Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, proposed Palangkaraya, central Kalimantan, in what would have been a bold shift away from the Javanese powerbase.

"It's a good suggestion... If we just moved to Jonggol we'd still be in metro Jakarta and the current problems would continue," Rukmana said.

Despite the president's fears for the viability of Jakarta, the city's much-maligned administration is pressing ahead with a 20-year development plan.

It sees a future where the population is limited to 10 million, green spaces blossom and carbon emissions are slashed by 30 percent.

But given the city's history of corruption and mismanagement, few planning experts are holding their breath in anticipation of Governor Fauzi Bowo's vision becoming a reality any time soon.

The launch of the 2030 plan hardly filled anyone with confidence -- the designs for the revamped city omitted a long-discussed urban railway, which had to be hastily added in after the error was pointed out.

"The first draft didn't even include the new train system everyone knows is being planned," architect Macro Kusumawijaya said.

"It's always a utopian dream to start a new city. But if they can't get Jakarta to work now, I'm doubtful they can make a new city work."

Another plan to set aside 13 percent of the city's land for sorely needed parks has also come to nothing. Environmentalists estimate green spaces account for only seven percent of the city, two percent of which are cemeteries.

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35 pangolins rescued by police in Malacca, Malaysia

The Star 20 Feb 10;

MALACCA: A week-long surveillance by authorities off the coastal waters of Ujong Pasir for possible illegal wildlife trade paid off when marine police rescued 35 pangolins destined for cooking pots.

The live anteaters, estimated to be worth about RM30,000, were believed to have been caught by poachers in Sumatra and were about to be smuggled into the country for sale to restaurants in Malacca and the Klang Valley.

State Marine Police commanding officer ASP Rizal Ramli said they received a tip-off last week of possible smuggling activities being conducted at the Parit Cina jetty in Ujong Pasir.

“We spotted a blue sampan with two men making their way up Parit Cina at about noon on Friday,” he told reporters when met at the Marine Police jetty in Banda Hilir yesterday.

“However both of them jumped off the boat and swam to shore before escaping on foot into a housing area nearby.”

He said the men are believed to be locals as their boat bore the registration number of boats belonging to fishermen from Malacca.

He added that those behind the illegal trade had tried to dupe authorities by carrying out their activities during Friday prayers to avoid detection.

He said that a kilo of pangolin meat could fetch up to RM250 on the black market.

He said the pangolins would be handed over to wildlife authorities here and the marine police are assisting in investigations.

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Endangered Rhinos to Get New Home in Ujung Kulon

Jakarta Globe 23 Feb 10;

Ujung Kulon National Park is planning to develop a 3000 hectare conservation area for the endangered Javan rhino next year in an effort to boost the population of the endangered species by 2015.

“The conservation area is also expected to become a world-class wildlife park that could also help to boost the number of domestic and foreign tourists,” said Enjat Sudrajat, a spokesman for the national park, on Tuesday.

The plan was first made public in June when wildlife authorities announced they would divide the lone herd of Javan rhinos into two populations.

The new herd would be relocated only as far as the Gunung Honje area, which borders the current population’s habitat in the Semenanjung Ujung Kulon area.

By starting a new herd, authorities believe the animals will be encouraged to breed faster.

Enjat said the conservation area will be developed in cooperation with the Indonesian Rhino Foundation (YABI) and a number of international non-governmental organizations such as the International Rhino Foundation.

YABI’s secretary Agus Darmawan expressed his optimism that the effort would be successful since the project would involve scientists and conservationists who are very familiar with the species.

Indonesia is home to two out of the five rhino species in the world — the Sumatran rhino and the Javan rhino.

Enjat said they will assist in the effort to increase the single-horned rhino’s population in the park, where an estimated 60 Javan rhinos still remain.

He said the Javan rhino population has been largely concentrated in the 38,000 hectare Gunung Honje area within the national park.

“I think Gunung Honje’s location will be suitable since it has enough pasture areas and it’s not too far [from the original habitat],” he said.

He said that he expects that the Banten provincial administration and Pandeglang district administration will support the cause since it could contribute to stimulating the local economy and creating new job opportunities, especially since the Javan rhino has been adopted as Pandeglang district’s mascot.

The development of the breeding ground for the endangered species would involve foreign researchers, he added.

Financial supporters from the United States have also pledged their commitment to donate.

The money, Enjat said, will be used to finance the conservation area’s operational costs, including for the protection and monitoring of the rhinos.

Javan rhinos are known as timid animals and are very hard to find even in their habitat.

The 120,551-hectare Ujung Kulon National Park in Banten was established in 1992 by the Ministry of Forestry.

The park is home to the Javan rhinoceroses and other threatened species such as leopards, silvery gibbons and bantengs, a kind of buffalo.

The national park is divided into three major parts, including the Gunung Honje area, the Semenanjung Ujung Kulon area and the Panaitan area.

The Forestry Ministry says it is also home to 34 other mammals, five primates, 59 reptiles, 22 amphibians, 240 bird species, 72 insect species, 142 fish species and 33 coral reefs.

Antara, JG

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Take No Pride in Palm Oil Output, Green Group Says

Arti Ekawati & Fidelis E Satriastanti, Jakarta Globe 23 Feb 10;

A leading non-governmental organization has urged Indonesia not to take pride in being the world’s biggest producer of crude palm oil because the production process has yet to meet standards for environmental sustainability.

“There are many palm oil plantations ignoring sustainable principles, [and are] planting in forest areas, including production forests and protected and conservation forests,” Elfian Effendi, executive director of Greenomics Indonesia, said on Tuesday.

“We should not be proud of being the biggest producer, when in fact we’re only damaging our forests.”

Elfian cited a 2008 report issued by the Ministry of Forestry that revealed that there are 3.5 million hectares of palm oil plantations located in forest areas that lack the necessary license.

He pointed to palm oil plantations located in production and protected forest areas in Kapuas Hulu, Ketapang and Sanggau districts in West Kalimantan.

There are palm oil plantations in conservation forests in Riau, he added.

Elfian did not mention the name of the plantation companies involved.

Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said the cases were related to “uncontrollable” moves by regional governments to issue local licenses to palm oil companies.

However, he said the plantation companies operating in forest areas without the appropriate license from the ministry would have their land seized by the state.

“If it is proven that the companies are breaking the regulations by planting palm oil in forest areas, they must be evicted from these areas,” Zulkifli said before attending the international Forest Eleven meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali.

Given that many palm oil companies operate in forest areas, Elfian said the government should evaluate its policy of giving licenses to new palm oil plantations.

Because demand for crude palm oil is expected to continue rising, he said he is concerned that more forests will be opened up for palm oil production in the future.

Minister of Agriculture Suswono said in a press release at the International Conference on Oil Palm and Environment that by 2020 global consumption of edible oils would be 232.4 million tons, an increase of about 16 percent from 2006.

“Of the edible oil consumed, palm oil is expected to account for 27 percent,” Suswono said.

In addition to food, palm oil is used in the production of oleochemicals and biodiesel.

Suswono acknowledged the many downsides to the growing numbers of palm oil plantations, including deforestation and the destruction of the natural habitat of endangered species such as orangutans and tigers.

Therefore, he urged palm oil producers to follow sustainable principles to avoid harming the environment.

Indonesia is the world’s biggest producer of crude palm oil. The country was expected to produce 23.2 million tons in 2010, an increase of 10.7 percent from last year. Most of it is exported to China, India and the European Union.

Malaysia is expected to produce 18.2 million tons of crude palm oil this year, an increase of 3.5 percent over last year.

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Oil palm plantation not in forest sector: Indonesian Government

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 23 Feb 10;

Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said he had no plan to draft a decree aimed at including oil palm plantations in the forestry sector.

“I don’t know about it. There won’t be any forest conversion into oil palm plantations,” he said Monday on the side of a hearing with the House of Representatives’ Commission IV on forestry and agriculture.

Zulkifli said the expansion of oil palm plantations would only be allowed on idle lands.

“If you ask me about forest conversion into oil palm estates, it is not now. We are still focusing to [examine land] on reaching self-sufficiency on sugar cane,” he said.

A source at the ministry said the draft of the decree on the palm oil issue had been finished and was likely to be discussed this month before being approved by the minister.

The ministry’s head of research and development Tachrir Fathoni had said the draft would include oil palm plantations into forest, which had been applied by a number of countries including Malaysia.

He dismissed fears that the draft would lead to forest conversions.

Malaysia, the second largest producers of palm oil after Indonesia, uses the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) standard to identify the forest — which is land with tree crown cover of more than 10 percent and an area of more than 0.5 hectares with trees reaching a minimum height of five meters.

The 1999 law on forest defines the forests as an integrated ecosystem in the form of land comprising biological resources, dominated by trees in natural forms and the surrounding environment, and which cannot be separated from each other.

Executive director of Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) Berry Furgon warned that the government should follow the definition of forest as stated in the law.

“The draft shows the government has no will to protect the forest. They must amend the 1999 law on forestry if the government wants to apply standards from the FAO.”

He said the draft would only legalize deforestation in the country.

Indonesia has 137 million hectares of forest but the deforestation rate has reached over one million hectares per year due to illegal logging and forest conversion including for oil palm plantations.

The Agriculture Ministry said last week it planned to use 1.8 million hectares of land designated as industrial forests (HTI) for oil palm plantations.

Agriculture Minister Suswono said that of 9.7 million hectares of land available for oil palm plantations, 7.9 million hectares was already developed, leaving the 1.8 million hectares designated as HTI.

Executive director of the Greenomics Indonesia, Elfian Effendi said Indonesia has no reason to be proud as the world’s largest producer of palm oil since hundreds of oil palm plantations operating in forest zones were illegal.

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Health of rivers in the spotlight

This year's Water Week will look not just at technologies, but also at ecological aspects
Straits Times 24 Feb 10;

THE health of the world's rivers and their surrounding landscape is increasingly being looked at by experts, in an effort to conserve water resources.

Policymakers are realising the importance of managing river basins like South-east Asia's Mekong Delta, to help the region develop industry and agriculture while maintaining a clean water supply.

And this year's Singapore International Water Week at the Suntec convention centre is following suit.

A workshop on managing the health of river basins will be held for the first time at the annual event, to take place in June.

Previously, the annual Water Week, launched in 2008, focused on showcasing advanced water technologies that could be applied in cities. But this year, the event's organisers are looking at water management from a broader ecological perspective.

According to the World Bank, integrated river basin management means considering the conflicting uses of water for agriculture, hydropower and other needs, taking into account the financial and environmental costs of water use, and even looking at the way land use or deforestation might affect water supply.

In a 2006 report, the World Bank said: 'Increased stresses on a basin's natural resource base caused by development pressures are leading to degradation that is felt well beyond the immediate area of a particular project.'

For Singapore International Water Week, national water agency PUB said it was working with the Singapore-Delft Water Alliance to plan and conduct the inaugural water management workshop.

Also held for the first time will be an Asia-Pacific water ministers' forum, where ministers discuss water issues.

This is in addition to the Water Leaders Summit for government officials, experts and industry leaders.

Water Week 2010, with the theme Sustainable Cities - Clean and Affordable Water, will occupy more exhibition space and see deals inked that are on a par with the previous year's $2.2 billion.

Its managing director Michael Toh said the event is expected to draw 12,000 visitors, up from last year's 10,000, and 450 participating companies, an increase of 10 per cent from the number in last year's event. To date, he added, more than 80 per cent of the 18,000 sq m of exhibition space has been sold.

Water Week will be held in conjunction with the biennial World Cities Summit, to be held here from June 28 to July 1, which puts forth solutions for urban sustainability.

The Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize and the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize will also be awarded then. The former recognises outstanding solutions for global water problems, while the latter, given out for the first time, recognises contributions towards vibrant, liveable and sustainable urban communities.

Among this year's water industry highlights, Mr Toh added, is the completion of the Sembcorp Changi Newater plant, set for the middle of this year. When complete, it will be Singapore's largest Newater plant, capable of producing 228,000 cubic m a day.

GRACE CHUA

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Changing lives through sustainability

UNEP 23 Feb 10;

2009-10 Sasakawa Prize winners bring light and heat to communities in Latin America, Africa and India

Bali (Indonesia), 23 February 2010 - Two projects bringing green stoves and clean lighting to remote communities in Latin America, East Africa and India are the laureates of the 2009-10 UNEP Sasakawa Prize, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) announced today.

This year's winners are Nuru Design, a company bringing rechargeable lights to villages in Rwanda, Kenya and India; and Trees, Water and People (TWP), an organization that collaborates with local NGOs to distribute fuel-efficient cook stoves to communities in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Haiti.

The UNEP Sasakawa Prize, worth $200,000, is given out each year to sustainable and replicable grassroots projects around the planet. The winners will receive their prestigious Prize at an Award Ceremony in Bali attended by dozens of Environment Ministers during the 11th Special Session of the UNEP Governing Council.

In a year that saw global leaders meet in Copenhagen for the crucial climate conference, the 2009 theme for the Prize is 'Green Solutions to Combat Climate Change'. The winners, who were selected by a panel of four people including Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and UN Messenger of Peace Wangari Maathai, will receive $100,000 each in order to expand and develop their grassroots projects.

Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director and UN Under-Secretary-General who chaired the Jury Panel, said: "Combating climate change is not just up to governments: it starts at the grassroots level, as communities tap into the power of renewables and sustainable technologies. Through pioneering green ovens and sustainable lighting, Nuru Design and Trees, Water and People are changing the lives of thousands of schoolchildren, housewives and villagers across Latin America, Africa and India. This is the Green Economy of tomorrow, in action today."

The two projects are both helping to improve daily lives in far-flung, non-electrified villages while helping to fight climate change.

Nuru Design has already converted thousands of households to rechargeable lights, and aims to prevent the emission of around 40,000 tonnes of CO2 from kerosene lighting in 2010.

And through fuel-efficient cooking stoves that burn 50 to 70 per cent less wood, TWP is helping households save money and preventing nearly 250,000 tonnes of hazardous emissions.

The winners

Nuru Design

Lack of reliable energy and lighting affects over two billion people in the developing world and remains a primary obstacle to improving health, increasing literacy and education, and, ultimately, reducing poverty and hunger. Meanwhile, the equivalent of 260 million tonnes of CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere yearly from burning kerosene and firewood, which millions of people around the world rely on for lighting.

With seed-funding from the World Bank Lighting Africa initiative, Nuru Design UK co-developed and field-tested the Nuru lighting system with villagers and local partners in Rwanda - UNDP Rwanda and Millennium Villages. Nuru means "light" in Swahili, and the system consists of portable, inexpensive rechargeable LED lights that sell for $5.

Nuru lights can be recharged by solar panel or AC charger, but the primary recharging source is human power using the world's first commercially available, locally-assembled, pedal generator: the Nuru POWERCycle. Gentle pedalling for 20 minutes using feet or hands, bicycle-style, can fully recharge up to five Nuru lights - each one lasting up to 37 hours. The lights give up to two weeks of bright light on a full recharge, allowing children to study, home-based businesses to operate, and households to function after dark.

The project has been a runaway success, making a significant, immediate and long-lasting environmental impact. In Rwanda alone, Nuru is adding 40 entrepreneurs every quarter, meaning 10,000 households every quarter will switch from kerosene to Nuru light.

Nuru Design plans to use the Sasakawa funding to scale up in Rwanda and to replicate their work in Burundi, Kenya, Uganda and India - expanding to 800 entrepreneurs who will deliver lighting to about 200,000 households.

Trees, Water and People

Nearly half the world's 6.8 billion people rely on smoky open fires to cook their daily meals. This traditional practice causes deadly indoor air pollution which kills 1.6 million women and children annually.

Trees, Water & People (TWP) , a non-profit organization, collaborates with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Haiti to distribute fuel-efficient cook stoves that burn 50 to 70 per cent less wood and remove toxic smoke from homes. Other projects include community tree nurseries, reforestation, protecting watersheds and the promotion of renewable energy.

To date, TWP has coordinated the building of 35,000 stoves throughout Central America and Haiti, benefitting more than 175,000 people. The ecostoves burn 70 per cent less wood than traditional ovens, saving families $1 to $5 per day.

They also decrease harmful carbon emissions by 1 tonne of CO2 equivalent per year per stove for domestic users and 3.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year for commercial users, like tortilla makers.

To supplement the fuel-efficient stoves project, TWP has helped villages create 16 community-run tree nurseries that sequester carbon and counter the effects of deforestation. To date, three million trees have been planted throughout Latin America.

TWP will use the Prize money to support and expand the fuel-efficient stove projects and community tree nurseries throughout Central America and the Caribbean, purchasing equipment and materials necessary for increased stove production, as well as vehicles for transportation and delivery.

Notes to Editors:

About the UNEP Sasakawa Prize

The UNEP Sasakawa Prize is sponsored by the Japan-based Nippon Foundation, an independent, non-profit grant-making organization that supports both Japanese and international philantropic projects. The UNEP Sasakawa Prize was originally created in 1982 by the late Ryoichi Sasakawa. The Prize was re-launched in its current format in 2005, and is currently chaired by Mr. Sasakawa's son, Yohei Sasakawa.

The four members of the 2009-10 UNEP Sasakawa Prize jury are Jury Chairman and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and UN Messenger of Peace Pr. Wangari Maathai, Nobel chemistry Laureate and 1999 Sasakawa Winner Pr. Mario Molina, and Ms Wakako Hironaka, Member of Japan's House of Councillors.

At the UNEP Sasakawa Award Ceremony on 23 February, last year's Sasakawa Winners - Sunlabob Rural Energy and Practical Action - will deliver a report on their progress since they were awarded the Prize.

Winners' Biographies:

Nuru Design - Sameer Hajee

Prior to Nuru Design, Sameer Hajee was the Global Business Development manager at Freeplay Energy plc, the developers of the world's first hand-crank radio and flashlight. At Freeplay, Sameer created the international aid and development sales team which in 2006 and 2007 generated $6 million in revenue. He also co-created and co-managed a Development Marketplace project that saw the creation of 50 rural energy enterprises in Rwanda.

In 2005, Sameer launched and managed the Growing Sustainable Business (GSB) initiative at UNDP in Kenya, where he helped domestic and multinational companies, such as SC Johnson, Tetra Pak and Microsoft, to develop and implement pro-poor business models in Kenya.

Trees, Water and People - Stuart Conway

After graduating from Colorado State University with a Bachelor's degree in Forest Management, Stuart Conway served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala for three years, where he introduced reforestation, agroforestry, soil conservation, and stove building techniques into nearby villages. Upon returning to the States, Stuart received his Master's degree in International Development and Agroforestry from Cornell University. He then served as Director for the New Forests Project at the International Center in Washington D.C., where he guided the program to plant over 2 million trees annually, establish agroforestry training centers in Guatemala and El Salvador, and initiated community reforestation projects throughout Central America.

In 1998, Stuart co-founded Trees, Water & People (TWP), a Colorado-based nonprofit committed to improving people's lives by helping communities protect, conserve and manage the natural resources.

In 2005, Prince Charles presented Stuart with the prestigious Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy, for TWP's fuel-efficient stove project in Honduras. Stuart and TWP were awarded the 2008 US$1 million Rio Tinto Prize for Sustainability.

For more information, please visit the UNEP Sasakawa Prize website at: www.unep.org/sasakawa/ or e-mail: sasakawaprize@unep.org

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World's coral reefs could disintegrate by 2100

Researchers at Carnegie Institution say corals are being overwhelmed by rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
Ian Sample, guardian.co.uk 23 Feb 10;

The world's coral reefs will begin to disintegrate before the end of the century as rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere make the oceans more acidic, scientists warn.

The research points to a looming transition in the health of coral ecosystems during which the ability of reefs to grow is overwhelmed by the rate at which they are dissolving.

More than 9,000 coral reefs around the world are predicted to disintegrate when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reach 560 parts per million.

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today stands at around 388ppm, but is expected to reach 560ppm by the end of this century.

Coral reefs are at the heart of some of the most biodiverse marine ecosystems in the world. They are home to more than 4,000 species of fish and provide spawning, refuge and feeding areas for marine life such as crabs, starfish and sea turtles.

"These ecosystems which harbour the highest diversity of marine life in the oceans may be severely reduced within less than 100 years," said Dr Jacob Silverman of the Carnegie Institution in Stanford University, California.

Coral reefs grow their structural skeletons by depositing aragonite, a form of calcium carbonate, from calcium ions in sea water. As oceans absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide, they become so acidic the calcium carbonate dissolves.

Silverman's team studied a coral reef in the northern Red Sea and calculated its response to increasingly acidic waters. The research showed that the ability of the coral to build new structures depended strongly on water acidity and to a lesser extent temperature.

From these data the researchers created a global map of more than 9,000 coral reefs, which showed that all are threatened with disintegration when carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reach 560ppm. Silverman was speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in San Diego.

In a separate study, Simon Donner, an environmental scientist at the University of British Columbia in Canada, warned that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is already at a high enough level to cause devastating coral bleaching.

Corals have a symbiotic relationship with microscopic algae that live on them. The algae give coral reefs their vibrant colours, but are also an important food source for the habitat's marine life. When sea temperatures rise, the corals expel the algae and turn white. Once this happens the coral is deprived of energy and dies.

"Even if we froze emissions today, the planet still has some warming left in it. That's enough to make bleaching dangerously frequent in reefs worldwide," said Donner.

Bleaching had become increasingly widespread in recent years, Donner said. In 2006, severe bleaching struck the southern part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef system in the world. Last year scientists reported that a "lucky combination" of circumstances had allowed the coral to recover from the disaster.

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Rising carbon snuffs coral

ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Science Alert 24 Feb 10;

Rising carbon dioxide levels in the world’s oceans could deliver a disastrous blow to the ability of coral reefs to withstand climate change.

A major new investigation by Australian scientists has revealed that acidification of the oceans from human CO2 emissions has the potential to worsen the impact of the bleaching and death of reef-building organisms expected to occur under global warming.

The study, by a team led by Dr Ken Anthony of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and the University of Queensland, published in this week’s Proceedings of the (US) National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) concludes that earlier research may significantly understate the likely damage to the world’s reefs caused by man-made change to the Earth’s atmosphere.

In a large experiment on Australia’s Heron Island, the team simulated CO2 and temperature conditions predicted for the middle and end of this century, based on current forecasts of the world’s likely emission levels and warming by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The results of their analyses of the bleaching, growth and survival of a number of organisms including corals indicates that a number of very important reef builders may be completely lost in near future.

“We found that coralline algae, which glue the reef together and help coral larvae settle successfully, were highly sensitive to increased CO2. These may die on reefs such as those in the southern Great Barrier Reef (GBR) before year 2050,” says Dr Anthony.

“Every time you start your car or turn on the lights, half the CO2 you emit ends up in the oceans, turning them just a tiny bit more acidic, as well as causing the climate to warm. What is new is an understanding of how these two effects interact to affect the corals and reef building algae.”

The CoECRS team erected 30 large aquaria in the waters of Heron Island in the southern GBR and studied the combined effects of warming, high CO2 and sunlight on a large range of reef organisms for eight weeks.

“The results, frankly, are alarming,” says Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg. “They clearly suggest that previous predictions of coral bleaching have been far too conservative, because they didn’t factor in the effect of acidification on the bleaching process and how the two interact.”

The results of the team’s analyses of the bleaching, growth and survival of key coral reef species indicate that a number of very important reef builders may be completely lost in the near future – in particular the coralline algae that glue the reef together and help coral larvae settle successfully, says Dr Guillermo Diaz-Pulido.

On the positive side, some coral species seem able to cope with the levels of ocean acidification expected by the mid-century by enhancing their rates of photosynthesis, says team member Dr David Kline. “This is an important discovery that can buy the reef time while the nations of the world work together to stabilise CO2emissions,” he says.

“Although high CO2 causes corals to bleach and lose their symbiotic organisms, the surviving symbionts seem able to work harder. However, when CO2 levels in the water become too high, the symbiotic coral-algal system crashes and the corals die”, adds Dr Sophie Dove.

“The implications of this finding are massive as it means that our current bleaching models, which are based on temperature only, severely underestimate the amount of coral bleaching we will see in the future,” Dr Anthony says.

“These results highlight the urgency of reducing CO2 emissions globally. Without political will and commitment to abatement, entire reef systems such as the Great Barrier Reef will be severely threatened in coming decades,” the team warns.

The results of the research are being offered to reef managers to help them develop strategies to protect the reefs which are most at risk.

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U.N. Says Emissions Vows Not Enough To Avoid Rise Of 2 Degrees C

Sunanda Creagh, PlanetArk 24 Feb 10;

NUSA DUA, Indonesia - Emission cuts pledges made by 60 countries will not be enough to keep the average global temperature rise at 2 degrees Celsius or less, modeling released on Tuesday by the United Nations says.

Scientists say temperatures should be limited to a rise of no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above pre-industrial times if devastating climate change is to be avoided.

Yearly greenhouse gas emissions should not be more than 40 and 48.3 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent in 2020 and should peak between 2015 and 2021, according to new modeling released on Tuesday by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Keeping within that range and cutting global emissions by between 48 percent and 72 percent between 2020 and 2050 will give the planet a "medium" or 50-50 chance of staying within the 2 degree limit, said the report, which was based on modeling by nine research centres.

However, the same study found that the world is likely to go over those targets. The pledges were made by nations that signed up to the Copenhagen Accord.

"The expected emissions for 2020 range between 48.8 to 51.2 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent, based on whether high or low pledges will be fulfilled," the report said.

In other words, even in a best-case scenario where all countries implement their promised cuts, the total amount of emissions produced would still be between 0.5 and 8.8 gigatonnes over what scientists see as tolerable.

Greenhouse gas levels are rising, particularly for carbon dioxide, because more is remaining in the atmosphere than natural processes can deal with.

Carbon dioxide is naturally taken up and released by plants and the oceans but mankind's burning of fossil fuels such as coal for power and destruction of forests means the planet's annual "carbon budget" is being exceeded.

OTHER OPTIONS

UNEP's executive director Achim Steiner said the bleak prediction should motivate countries to make more ambitious cuts.

"The message is not to sit back and resign and say we will never make it," he told reporters in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian island of Bali, which is hosting a major U.N. environment meeting.

"But it's not enough at the moment and there are other options that can be mobilised."

Steiner said one such option was more investment in a scheme called reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), in which poor countries are paid to preserve and enhance their forests.

A state of the environment assessment released by UNEP on Tuesday, the UNEP Year Book 2010, also advocated more investment in REDD.

"It has been estimated that putting $22 billion to $29 billion into REDD would cut global deforestation by 25 percent by 2015," the report said.

Forests soak up large amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide. Cutting them down and burning the remains releases vast amounts of the gas, exacerbating global warming, scientists say.

REDD is not yet part of a broader climate pact that the U.N. hopes to seal by the end of year at major climate talks in Mexico.

Steiner told reporters a day earlier he expected talks this year to be a tough slog. The Copenhagen climate summit last December ended with a political accord that was not formally adopted and no clarity on the shape of a new climate pact to succeed the current Kyoto Protocol.

"A deal has become more difficult than in Copenhagen. Let's be very frank. The world has moved away, rather than closer, to a deal," he told reporters. "The politics of international negotiation and the economics, the momentum that built up toward Copenhagen will not be there for Mexico.

(Editing by David Fogarty)

UN warns greenhouse gas cuts 'not enough' to curb warming
Yahoo News 24 Feb 10;

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AFP) – Countries will have to make far greater cuts in greenhouse gas emissions if the world is to limit the rise in global temperatures to two degrees Celsius or less, the UN has warned.

Commitments made since December's Copenhagen climate conference have been insufficient, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a report at its annual meeting on the Indonesian island of Bali.

"No one should assume that the pledges will be enough," UNEP director Adrian Steiner said.

"Countries will have to be far more ambitious in cutting greenhouse gas emissions if the world is to curb a rise in global temperature."

The Copenhagen summit struck a last-minute compromise that set a goal of limiting warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and pledged a total of nearly 30 billion dollars in aid to poor countries by 2012.

But it did not spell out the means for achieving the warming limits, and the emissions pledges were only voluntary.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned the ministers and officials gathered on Bali that the clock was ticking on efforts to forge a global treaty on climate change to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.

"We have to conclude the climate change negotiations in Mexico at the end of the year," Yudhoyono noted at the opening session on Wednesday. "I think it is not too late."

Other environment ministers and climate officials echoed his call although the United States, which is the world's second biggest polluter after China, did not send any ministers to Bali.

International climate negotiators are due to meet on April 9 in Bonn to draw up a programme for the rest of the year looking towards the ministerial-level meeting opening on November 29 in Cancun, Mexico.

Green groups and most scientists say the document adopted in Copenhagen, a limited pact made after China angrily ruled out binding commitments, falls far short of what is necessary to curtail global warming.

The European Union is pledging to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020, compared to 1990 levels, if other major powers do the same. But cuts outlined by the United States and China fall well short of that.

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Hard To Agree On U.N. Climate Treaty In 2010: De Boer

Robert Nowatzki, PlanetArk 24 Feb 10;

BONN, Germany - Agreeing on a U.N. climate treaty in 2010 will be "very difficult" despite a new push to spur negotiations after the Copenhagen summit, the head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat said on Tuesday.

Yvo de Boer, a Dutch citizen who announced plans last week to stand down in July after four years, also suggested to Reuters Television that his successor should be from a developing nation.

"I think that's going to be very difficult," he said of prospects for agreeing a new treaty at an annual ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico, from November 29-December 10. Rich and poor are divided over sharing out the burden of curbs on emissions.

A U.N. summit in Denmark in December disappointed many nations by failing to agree a new legally binding deal to succeed the existing Kyoto Protocol.

It ended with a non-binding Copenhagen Accord to limit warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above pre-industrial times.

De Boer said developing countries would want to know what a treaty would mean "in terms of obligations and what it's going to bring for them in terms of finance and technology, before they're willing to take that step and say: 'yes, we're willing to work toward a legally binding treaty'."

"So I think the first step will be to get the architecture right and I think that can be done in Mexico. The next step would be to decide on a treaty on it," he said.

On Monday, key nations agreed to add an extra negotiating session of senior officials from 194 nations in Bonn from April 9-11, on top of a meeting in Bonn from May 31-June 11. Delegates said it was a sign of willingness to work for a treaty.

MEXICO

De Boer also said he expected that Mexico would host talks among some key negotiators in March.

De Boer said the choice of his successor was up to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. But he said "I think it would be quite useful to...have somebody from a developing country."

So far, 100 nations have signed up for the Copenhagen Accord, which promises almost $10 billion a year in aid from 2010-12, rising to $100 billion a year from 2020, as well as setting the 2C temperature ceiling.

De Boer said that the climate debate was shifting into a period when it could carry out decisions already taken to slow droughts, floods, heatwaves, more powerful storms and rising ocean levels.

"We're now moving into a phase that is very much about implementation and about getting developing countries on board and acknowledging cooperation and adaptation," he said.

In Indonesia on Tuesday, a U.N. study said promised cuts in emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, so far by 60 countries under the Copenhagen Accord were insufficient to limit temperature rise to 2 degrees.

Achim Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Programme, urged countries to announce deeper cuts in emissions: "The message is not to sit back and resign and say we will never make it."

De Boer will be joining business consultancy KPMG.

"I've always said that I think the ultimate solution to climate change needs to come from the private sector, within boundaries designed by government, but from the private sector," he said.

(Editing by Jon Boyle)

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