Best of our wild blogs: 26 Feb 10

Can eat or not? The Singapore Seafood Guide to sustainable seafood choices from wild shores of singapore

Water quality monitoring projects on the rise?
from Water Quality in Singapore

The Sun will be shining and my Children will burn: The Urban Heat Island. (I) from You run, we GEOG.

Ninja crab in the coral
from wonderful creation

Blue-tailed Bee-eaters sunning or enjoying the drizzle?
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Why do birds stand on one leg?
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Unknown Frogs and Tadpoles Identified
from Creatures in the Wild

Check out the blue water in this canal!
from The Lazy Lizard's Tales

Little Pied Flycatcher’s call
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Knock, Knock, your Green Postman is here!
from EcoWalkthetalk

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Turn off the lights on March 27

Neo Chai Chin, Today Online 26 Feb 10;

It partnered furniture retailer Ikea to launch the "No to free plastic bags" campaign in 2007, and last year, its Earth Hour campaign led to a 42-megawatt drop in electricity consumption here, with an estimated 40 per cent of Singapore's population taking part.

WWF Singapore is now inviting the public to switch off their lights on March 27 from 8.30pm to 9.30pm for this year's Earth Hour.

The first international non-governmental organisation to set up office here in 2006, it started with "virtually nothing" and now boasts a team of seven, including staff from France and Britain, said managing director Amy Ho, 39, who joined in 2008.

From corporate engagement in its early days, efforts have now expanded to educate the masses on climate change, and marine and forest conservation.

The group would consider publishing more consumer guides if its Singapore Seafood guide is well received, said Ms Ho.

More details on the WWF-Singapore website and on wildsingapore happenings.

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Driest February ever recorded to date in Singapore

Joanne Chan, Channel NewsAsia 25 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE : This month could turn out to be the driest February ever recorded in Singapore - if current conditions continue.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said that only 5.3mm of rainfall has been recorded so far, compared to 18.7mm in the same period last year.

NEA said February is traditionally one of the driest month in the year. And this year, the El Nino effect is making it worst.

National water agency PUB said the dry spell is also causing record water consumption. Some 590 Olympic-sized pools of water are being consumed daily on average, about 7 per cent more than last February.

PUB is advising households to practise good water-saving habits, such as taking shorter showers.

The dry spell has also seen an increase in the outbreak of grass, lallang and vegetation fires.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force said it has responded to 92 cases so far this month alone. It is appealing to the public to help minimise such fire occurrences. - CNA/ms

Water use in Singapore goes up due to hot weather
Sweltering heat drives up average daily use
Grace Chua, Straits Times 26 Feb 10;

PEOPLE are guzzling more water and taking more showers because of this month's sweltering heat.

As a result, water use from Feb 1 to 13 hit a high of 322.5 million gallons a day, which is equivalent to 586 Olympic-sized swimming pools, said national water agency PUB yesterday.

That was 6.6 per cent more than last year's daily average of 302.5 million gallons.

Combining the figures for the first half of February with those up until Wednesday makes the daily average for the month drop a little, but it is still higher than the figure for last year.

Though the PUB says that Singapore has enough water resources to see it through the dry spell, it is urging residents to conserve the valuable resource.

Mr Chong Hou Chun, PUB's water supply network director, said in a statement that agency officers have been visiting businesses and households to encourage them to use water-saving devices and methods.

At home, that means taking shorter showers, washing clothes only when there is enough to make up a full load, washing dishes in a filled sink instead of under a running tap, and repairing leaks promptly.

If every person used 10 litres less water a day, enough would be saved to fill 6,000 Olympic-sized pools a year, said Mr Chong.

For example, washing dishes in a filled sink rather than under a running tap saves a hefty 14 litres.

With Singapore's weather being so hot and muggy, it is not surprising that showers make up 29 per cent of domestic water use.

Cleaning dishes in the kitchen sink and washing clothes are the next most common uses, at 22 per cent and 19 per cent respectively.

Domestic consumption makes up about 60 per cent of Singapore's potable-water use, while industrial consumption takes up the remainder.

Water-guzzling industries such as refineries, the semiconductor industry and wafer fabrication use Newater in addition to regular potable water for their operations.

Reclaimed Newater is one of Singapore's four sources of water, which include water from local catchments, imported water and desalinated water.

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20,000 'green collar' jobs

Jessica Cheam Straits Times 25 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE'S burgeoning clean technology industry is to boast a cutting-edge green business park that will help create 20,000 'green collar' jobs by 2030.

Plans for the 50 ha park in Nanyang Avenue, to be built in three phases for $52 million, were unveiled by industrial landlord JTC Corp and the Economic Development Board (EDB) on Thursday.

The park will feature green technologies such as stormwater recycling, solar power generation and buildings with the highest standards of environmental performance set in a lush green landscape.

The park will also serve as Singapore's first large-scale integrated development allowing firms to test-bed cleantech products and solutions - especially those catering to the tropics - before they are commercialised for the market.

JTC chief executive Manohar Khiatani said that infrastructure works on the park's first phase, spanning 17 ha, will begin in July. Due for completion by 2018, it will offer 425,000 sq m of built-up space.

The park is located next to the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), which will be the park's first tenant. When completed, the park will house some 20,000 workers on a site set to offer one million sq m of business space.

Infrastructure cost of CleanTech Park amounts to S$52m
May Wong, Channel NewsAsia 25 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE : The first eco-business park in Singapore and the region will start construction in July 2010, and the infrastructure will cost some S$52 million.

These details were announced on Thursday at the unveiling of the masterplan for the CleanTech Park.

Developing clean technologies and conducting research in the sector will be some of the key activities at the new CleanTech Park.

Located just across from the Nanyang Technological University, the new business park will occupy an area equivalent to the size of 50 football fields.

CleanTech Park will be developed in three phases over 20 years, housing 20,000 people when ready by 2030.

Manohar Khiatani, CEO, JTC Corporation, said: "Singapore has identified the clean technology industry as a new growth area. Globally it is a growth area and particularly it is a growth area in Asia. So we think Singapore is well placed to host some of the activities of the clean technology industry.

"The kind of cleantech development activities that Singapore is more suited for are those related to the tropical climate, because we see a lot of innovations in clean technology today are happening in temperate climates.

"So Singapore has that unique ability at the unique location in the tropics. And a lot of urban solutions are actually related to clean technologies.

"So we think that the CleanTech Park can serve as a unique living laboratory to develop solutions for the tropics in an urban environment."

The first phase of development for the CleanTech Park in Singapore will start in July this year and be completed by 2018.

For a start, the park will generate up to 5,000 jobs. One unique feature of this park is that trees along the entire area will be conserved and that eco-buildings will be constructed all around it.

This will be Singapore's greenest and most sustainable business park.

The CleanTech Park has other unique green features like the sky trellis constructed between buildings to provide shade, and water from the park can be reused for irrigation or toilet flushing.

According to the park's developers, there has been keen interest from companies.

Tan Choon Shian, deputy managing director, Singapore Economic Development Board, said: "We expect a wide range of companies...some from cleantech sector, cleantech would be energy...environment...water, could be waste management.

"But beyond the cleantech sector, we believe the rest of the economy, they will be interested to participate in the green business or position themselves as green business in terms of corporate social responsibility. We are quite confident that this park will find its tenants."

The cleantech industry is expected to contribute S$3.4 billion to Singapore's GDP, employing 18,000 people by 2015. - CNA/ms

Eco-Business Park to house a working population of 20,000 by 2030
- JTC and EDB unveil masterplan for CleanTech Park
JTC Press Release 25 Feb 10;

Singapore, 25 February 2010 JTC Corporation (JTC) and the Economic Development Board (EDB) jointly unveiled the master plan for the 50 hectare CleanTech Park at Nanyang Avenue. As Singapore’s first eco-business park, CleanTech Park will be the choice location for forward-looking corporations that have embraced environmental sustainability as a means to differentiate their business and also as part of their corporate social responsibility. This development will push the boundaries of green sustainability, serving as a large-scale integrated “living laboratory” for testbedding and demonstration of system-level clean technology solutions.

2. CleanTech Park will house a core nucleus of cleantech activities to serve as an epi-centre for research, innovation and commercialization in clean technology. Building on the synergies of being located next to Nanyang Technological University (NTU), CleanTech Park will also house R&D activities from the university. This will foster a conducive environment which promotes collaborations between industry and academia, and unleashes the economic potential created from these collaborations.

3. The development of CleanTech Park will be carried out in 3 phases over 20 years. Phase 1 will commence in July 2010, starting with the development of the infrastructure within CleanTech Park. When completed, Phase 1 will provide approximately 17 ha of business park land. CleanTech Park will house a working population of 20,000 when it is fully built by 2030.

4. Speaking at the unveiling of the master plan for CleanTech Park, CEO of JTC Corporation (JTC), Mr Manohar Khiatani said, “As an infrastructural solutions provider, JTC has always placed priority on developing innovative and sustainable real estate solutions to meet the needs of our customers operating in resource-challenged Singapore. CleanTech Park will serve as an icon for the development and application of clean technologies and we shall strive to push the envelope but in a practical and cost effective way. Environmental sustainability will be the natural direction that businesses must take moving forward. CleanTech Park will be emblematic of how businesses can achieve both economic vibrancy and environmental sustainability; functioning in harmony with nature.”

5. Dr Beh Swan Gin, Managing Director, Singapore Economic Development Board, said, “Companies are increasingly interested in commercial and research space that is eco-friendly. CleanTech Park will provide such progressive investors with an attractive option and also foster the clustering of like-minded companies in one location. CleanTech Park’s tenants will also benefit from the close proximity to NTU, thereby promoting the cross-fertilisation of knowledge and ideas to facilitate the development and demonstration of systems-level CleanTech solutions.”

6. NTU will be the first anchor tenant of CleanTech Park. It will help seed R&D activities at the CleanTech Park. Prof Subodh Mhaisalkar, Co-Director for ERI@N (Energy Research Institute at Nanyang Technological University) said, “Having CleanTech Park next to NTU is significant. It will help us work seamlessly with key industry partners in CleanTech Park and allow our students to gain invaluable opportunities for attachment and hands-on experience in state-of-the-art green technologies.”

7. In line with our overall national effort towards sustainable growth, CleanTech Park is a key initiative outlined in the S$1 billion Singapore Sustainable Blueprint for building a greener, more energy efficient and sustainable Singapore. The development also contributes to Singapore’s goal to be a “living lab” where companies can use Singapore effectively to develop, test-bed and commercialise green and urban solutions before scaling up for the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

8. CleanTech Park will be located on a large contiguous greenfield site. It has a natural undulating terrain and matured lush greenery with natural streams running through it. In drawing up the masterplan, a strong emphasis has been placed on finding a long term sustainable balance between the development’s commercial needs and the site’s natural biodiversity. For example, in keeping with the trees and landscape conservation, a minimal land-cut principle is adopted for infrastructure planning and at the individual land parcel and building platform level. One of the innovative ideas which will be testbedded within CleanTech Park is the Sky Trellis concept which is created by JTC. Trellises will be constructed between adjacent buildings and covered with plants to provide shade and enhance ‘walkability’ within open spaces in the area. More information on other green features in CleanTech Park is found in the attached factsheet.

9. The Singapore government is committed to growing the cleantech industry as a key cluster which is expected to contribute some S$3.4 billion to Singapore’s GDP and employ 18,000 people by 2015. CleanTech Park is poised to boost Singapore’s leadership position as an innovative CleanTech hub for global markets.

$52m cleantech park coming up near Tuas
When ready, it will have one million sq m of business space
Jessica Cheam Straits Times 26 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE'S burgeoning clean technology industry is to boast a cutting- edge green business park that will help create 20,000 'green-collar' jobs by 2030.

Plans for the 50ha park, to be built in three phases at a cost of $52 million, were unveiled yesterday.

The park in Nanyang Avenue, near Tuas, will feature green technologies such as stormwater recycling, solar power generation and buildings with the highest standards of environmental performance set in a lush green landscape.

The park will also serve as Singapore's first large-scale integrated development, allowing firms to test-bed cleantech products and solutions - especially those catering to the tropics - before they are commercialised for the market.

Industrial landlord JTC Corp and the Economic Development Board (EDB) revealed the masterplan for this CleanTech Park yesterday at the JTC Summit.

It marks the first step towards the fruition of an idea first mooted in 2008 by a high-powered panel of clean energy experts appointed by the EDB.

The panel had recommended that Singapore should cement its position as a global clean energy hub by setting up just such a cleantech park.

JTC said that infrastructure works on the park's first phase, spanning 17ha, will begin in July. Due for completion by 2018, it will offer 425,000 sq m of built-up space.

The park is located next to the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), which will be the park's first tenant.

EDB deputy managing director Tan Choon Shian said NTU will be locating some research activities in the park, and that EDB is also in talks with local and international firms to set up there.

JTC chief executive Manohar Khiatani added: 'We're confident at the level of interest we've received, so we felt that we should start this rolling.'

The global cleantech industry is reported to be worth more than US$700 billion (S$987 billion) and Singapore has identified this as a key pillar of its economy.

EDB expects the sector to contribute $3.4 billion to Singapore's economic output and employ 18,000 people by 2015.

To date, the industry has created about 9,000 jobs, said EDB's Mr Tan.

Mr Khiatani said that he hopes the park will attract not just cleantech companies, but also those with strong green practices which want to align themselves with the park's sustainability theme.

'More companies are looking for eco-friendly environments, so we decided to launch this new park. It will have ecological features that are also economical, and its proximity to NTU will also give it an advantage,' he said.

JTC said the space at the park will be priced competitively to attract tenants.

When completed, it will house 20,000 workers on a site set to offer one million sq m of business space.

JTC will be preserving the site's current biodiversity and natural undulating terrain.

One of the innovative ideas it will test-bed is called Sky Trellis, where trellises are built between the tops of buildings and covered with plants to lower temperatures, provide shade and encourage walking.

The agency will soon launch the park's first building, although details are not available yet.

The next two phases are scheduled to start in 2019 and 2026 respectively although this can be accelerated if needed, JTC added.

EDB managing director Beh Swan Gin said that the park will 'foster the clustering of like-minded companies in one location...thereby promoting the cross-fertilisation of knowledge and ideas' to develop cleantech solutions.

Read more!

Singapore developers 'limited by land bank'

They say it is holding them back from launching projects to ride buoyant market
Joyce Teo Straits Times 26 Feb 10;

PROPERTY developers say they are eager to bring forward project launches to ride the buoyant market but are being held back by their limited land bank.

They were caught by surprise at the rapid market recovery, they say.

'Many of us are now caught with a depleting land bank,' the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore (Redas) president Simon Cheong said.

'We believe the long-term solution to a sustainable and stable market is still adequate supply,' he added.

Credo Real Estate's deputy managing director Tan Hong Boon summed up the mood: 'You never know what will happen. While the going is still good, developers will want to launch quickly. This is particularly so for mass market projects.

The Government recently stepped up the supply of development sites after a lull, and believes supply is adequate.

Yesterday, a 3.02ha site at Hougang Avenue 2 was offered to developers. If interest is adequate, a tender will proceed.

Another reserve list site will be offered by May, on top of confirmed list sites, which are tendered without precondition.

The comments by Mr Cheong and Mr Tan at the Redas Chinese New Year lunch at Capella Singapore yesterday came a week after market cooling measures.

The Government imposed a duty sellers must pay if they sell within a year of purchase. It also capped bank loans at 80 per cent of a sale price, from 90 per cent.

Mr Cheong said developers want land supply fast-tracked to satisfy buyer demand to minimise speculation to ease the pressure for more anti-speculative steps.

'Given the unexpected return of an active property market, developers over the next few months would also be actively bidding for more land,' he said.

Redas members look forward to more confirmed list sites to replenish land banks, he said. They are looking to Government land, given limited sources of private land. A developer who declined to be named said private land owners were asking for the sky 'so we can't buy'.

Mr Cheong said developers would rather have this problem than the bleak effects of last year's meltdown in the banking system. 'Managing upside is always easier than managing downside.'

The anti-speculative steps were a timely reminder, said Frasers Centrepoint chief executive Lim Ee Seng at the lunch. 'Exceptional jumps in prices are not good for us.' Still, he said: 'No matter how high it gets, it will still obey the law of gravity.'

An anonymous developer said the measures had hurt sentiment a little. 'If there are 100 buyers, maybe 10 will change their minds. I expect volume to moderate a bit.'

Still, so far the measures appear to have had little or no impact on recent sales. 'The market is still hot,' said an industry observer. The 608-unit The Estuary in Yishun, whose preview opened on Wednesday, has sold over 200 units.

The average price for the 99-year leasehold condo is $750 per sq ft, with units facing the Lower Seletar reservoir costing around $800 psf on average.

Separately, City Developments boss Kwek Leng Beng said at a results briefing for CDL yesterday that sentiment would remain strong among genuine buyers, despite the government measures.

Mr Cheong addressed guest of honour Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, saying developers were disappointed at being left out of the Budget.

But they were happy at the productivity push given the long-term gains. Redas called this 'a deferred payment hongbao'.

Looming launches include the 151-unit Seascape in Sentosa Cove and Cheung Kong Holdings' 295-unit The Vision. Far East Organization and Frasers Centrepoint plan to release Waterfront Gold in Bedok Reservoir soon. Allgreen may launch RV Residences in River Valley and unsold units at Cascadia in Bukit Timah.

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Singapore to host bigger gathering of delegates at World Cities Summit

Wang Eng Eng, Channel NewsAsia 25 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE: Singapore will play host to a bigger gathering of over 1,000 delegates and speakers at the World Cities Summit in the middle of the year. They include ministers, governors, mayors, experts and business leaders.

From the urban metropolis like Tokyo to a city-state like Singapore, half of the world's population call them home. This population is expected to increase and add to the challenges of securing food, water and energy.

Against this backdrop, the delegates will come together at Suntec City's convention centre to discuss "Liveable and Sustainable Cities for the Future".

Andrew Tan, director, Centre for Liveable Cities, said: "Cities come here and learn from one another. There is no single city that can provide all single solutions, but each city, by featuring or showcasing those aspects they have successfully implemented, whether it's cities like Freiburg in terms of solar energy or Tokyo for greening the spaces."

The summit, from June 28 to July 1, will also serve as the stage for the inaugural Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize. Close to 80 nominations from 32 countries have been received.

It recognises individuals or groups which have implemented innovative initiatives to tackle challenges faced by urban cities.

Cheong Koon Hean, CEO, Urban Redevelopment Authority, said: "For us, we are looking at the type of urban solutions that will try to make cities more liveable and sustainable. More importantly, it's to find the best practices which can be replicable to many cities."

The summit, which is held once every two years, is jointly organised by the Centre for Liveable Cities and Singapore's Civil Service College. - CNA/vm

Large turnout expected at World Cities Summit 2010
Mustafa Shafawi, Channel NewsAsia 25 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE: A large turnout is expected at the second edition of World Cities Summit (WCS), taking place here in late June.

Over 1,000 delegates - comprising ministers, mayors and business leaders - are expected to attend. Asian Development Bank president Haruhiko Kuroda and UN-Habitat executive director Anna Tibaijuka are among the delegates.

The delegates will address issues on the practical aspects of city governance and integrated approaches to urban development, under the summit's theme of "Liveable and Sustainable Cities for the Future".

This year's summit will also serve as the stage for the inaugural Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize, for which close to 80 nominations from 32 countries were received.

Cheong Koon Hean, chief executive officer of URA and a member of the prize nominating committee, said many of the submissions are of a high calibre.

The submissions offer innovative solutions and best practices that other cities can learn from in order to create vibrant and liveable cities.

The summit is jointly organised by the Centre for Liveable Cities and Singapore's Civil Service College.

- CNA/sc

Read more!

Fewer than half the volunteers registered have participated

Good intentions ... but few act on them
Hetty Musfirah Today Online 26 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE - At first glance, it appears to be a good start for the online portal tailored to encourage voluntarism among time-pressed Singaporeans.

About 3,400 individuals have signed up to become volunteers with Singapore Cares (SG Cares) since it was launched six months ago, half the number the portal had targeted to reach in its first year.

But more than half of those registered have yet to attend a single volunteering activity since September.

SG Cares helps link non-profit organisations with helping hands by providing updates on the flexible volunteering opportunities out there, and helping busy individuals find areas where they can help out based on interest, skill set and availability.

Those who register must undergo an orientation programme before they can sign up for a volunteering activity.

But only about 1,450 people - 43 per cent of the sign-ups - are active and have participated in the close to 200 projects carried out so far.

So, SG Cares plans to conduct a survey to find out the gaps that may have to be addressed. It will also bump up the types of activities available to make the initiative more appealing.

Said SG Cares director David Fong: "We will be going all-out to do different things - whether it is organising mass skills volunteer events or to get volunteers to come in, and working closely with companies to do more corporate responsibility volunteering. We will also get more partners to create all these opportunities where volunteers can come in to help.

"These are all the things that we will be doing to create more buzz and make it fun, exciting and meaningful for people to do some good in the community."

Still, SG Cares activities so far have drawn in some individuals who remain committed despite their busy schedules.

Close to 80 per cent of their active volunteers are aged 25 to 44. Student Evonne Tay, for instance, has already volunteered "more than 10 times" with SG Cares.

Foreigners make up about 10 per cent of SG Cares' active volunteer pool. Briton Simon Betts, for instance, told MediaCorp: "I am working shifts, my days off change all the time. So I can log on to the portal, look at what is available and then I can do as little or as much as I can." Chinese national Jerry Hu said such volunteering work helps him "integrate in Singapore".

And the non-profit groups appreciate such helping hands. Institute of Mental Health assistant director Catherine Chua said: "Volunteers play a very great role in my hospital here. They are ambassadors for us to destigmatise mental illness."

Read more!

Asia swelters in El Nino heatwave

Hot and dry conditions likely to last till June; farmers badly affected
Grace Chua & Alastair McIndoe in Manila, Straits Times 26 Feb 10;

FEBRUARY is on track to become Singapore's driest month, as well as one of the hottest on record.

Peninsular Malaysia is experiencing water shortages, from the Kedah rice fields in the north to parts of Johor in the south, where taps ran dry over the Chinese New Year.

China is reporting severe drought and a shortage of drinking water, affecting millions in the south-western part of the country.

And in the Philippines, the largest corn-producing region is withering under a blazing sun.

Weather experts say the region is once again grappling with the severe effects of the El Nino phenomenon, which sparked forest fires and the haze more than 10 years ago.

This time, the parched conditions are causing grief to farmers and raising concerns about water shortages.

The National Environment Agency's Meteorological Services Division said Singapore received 5.3mm of rainfall from Feb1 to 23. The lowest rainfall for any month was 8.4mm, recorded in February 1968 and February 2005.

The highest maximum temperature this month - 35 deg C - equalled last year's record high for the same month.

The hottest day in Singapore was on March26, 1998, when the mercury hit 36 deg C.

Dr Matthias Roth, a climate researcher at the National University of Singapore, noted that temperatures in Singapore have been rising since the 1960s because of global warming and increasing urbanisation, as buildings tend to trap heat.

In south-western China, more than seven million people lack adequate drinking water and millions of hectares of crops have been affected.

Yunnan province, a top producer of sugar cane and rubber, is experiencing its worst drought in six decades.

On Sunday, angry and desperate corn farmers in the Philippines' Isabela province, which has not had rain in three months, threw ruined crops at the provincial government headquarters in Iligan City.

They have yet to recover from the enormous losses they suffered because of the typhoons late last year, according to congressman Rafael Mariano.

Pagasa, the national weather bureau, expects El Nino to last until June, with temperatures set to hit 40 deg C soon in some parts of the country.

But its impact on the farm economy and dam levels will probably be felt well beyond mid-year, said Pagasa climatologist Edna Juanillo.

The agriculture department estimates that the damage to crops from El Nino could total 10 billion pesos (S$305 million).

In Manila, the authorities are already urging the city's 12 million residents to conserve water, as water companies scramble to repair leaking pipes.

'It may well come to rationing because people don't recognise the need to conserve until it is too late,' said Ms Juanillo.

The El Nino phenomenon, which occurs every two to seven years, is caused by the abnormal warming of the sea surface in the Pacific Ocean.

In South-east Asia, the weather becomes hotter and drier than usual. Bush and forest fires are common.

What's El Nino?

THE El Nino weather phenomenon occurs every two to seven years and is caused by the abnormal warming of the sea surface in the Pacific Ocean.

A strong El Nino is associated with drought and floods in different parts of the world. In South-east Asia, it brings hotter weather than usual during the dry season.

The last major El Nino took place in 1998, causing forest fires in Indonesia and Malaysia, blanketing the region in haze.

Drought in China; millions at risk
Crops hit and it may have to turn to imports
Straits Times 26 Feb 10;

BEIJING: A severe drought in south-western China has left more than seven million people without adequate drinking water and hit hectares of crops there.

It is the worst dry spell in 60 years for Yunnan province, the country's second-largest producer of sugar cane and rubber.

The local agricultural bureau said that the drought, which began late last year, has affected a total of 2.55 million ha of crops, including wheat and vegetables, accounting for 85 per cent of the province's total growing area.

Farmers have almost completed harvesting sugar cane and will start tapping rubber trees in April.

Lower Chinese output could force China, a major rubber consumer, to import more.

Also badly hit is the neighbouring province of Guizhou, whose reservoirs and hydro-power generated electricity supplies are at risk.

The drought has also affected the top sugar producing region of Guangxi.

That could cut China's production to only 11 million tonnes in the 12 months to September, 12 per cent lower than the previous year, and not enough to meet the country's demand, according to the China Sugar Association.

Nearly six million people and 3.6 million head of livestock are facing drinking water shortages in Yunnan.

If the drought continues, the number of people without sufficient drinking water will rise to 7.92 million next month, Xinhua news agency cited Yunnan Governor Qin Guangrong as saying.

In addition, more crop land will be affected and grain production will be greatly reduced.

On Tuesday, Mr Qin said the risk of forest fires would increase as the drought persisted.

Local fire control officials say that at least 84 forest fires have been reported in the province since November, up 611 per cent from the same period the previous year.

Xinhua said 21 Chinese boats had been grounded and crews rescued on the Lancang-Mekong River, which is at its lowest level in 50 years.

The local authorities have stopped issuing permits to vessels to cross the border because the river is flowing at only half the normal level.

XINHUA, REUTERS


No respite from hot spell in Malaysia
Straits Times 26 Feb 10;

KUALA LUMPUR: People from Kedah to Johor are sweltering under a weeks-long heatwave that is expected to continue for a while more.

Padi farmers in Kedah, especially those without their own source of water, have been affected as the dry spell has caused water levels to fall.

In some parts of Johor, taps ran dry over the Chinese New Year holiday because of a water rationing exercise that affected more than 20,000 residents, according to local media reports.

The hot spell has seen temperatures hovering well above 30 deg C, with Chuping in Perlis recording 36.7 deg C, reported the New Straits Times.

Dams across the country have also reported a drop in water levels and officials have urged residents to save water.

The director of the Water Resources Research Centre at the National Hydraulic Research Institute, Mr Ahmad Jamalluddin Shaban, advised home and building owners and hospitals to use rainwater to water their plants, wash cars and flush toilets.

'People should find alternatives so as not to waste water,' he said.

The Drainage and Irrigation Department said it was monitoring the water levels in rivers.

In Indonesia, a prolonged drought in East Nusa Tenggara province has forced some farmers there to stop planting rice crops due to diminished water supplies, the Jakarta Post reported yesterday.

Read more!

Record low Mekong River poses threat to millions

Ian Timberlake Yahoo News 25 Feb 10;

HANOI (AFP) – Water levels in the northern Mekong River are at record-low levels, posing a threat to water supply, navigation and irrigation along a stretch of water that is home to millions, a regional official said.

Northern Thailand, northern Laos and southern China have all been affected, Jeremy Bird, chief executive officer of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) secretariat, told AFP.

"The flows are much lower than we've got records on in the last 20 years," said Bird, whose inter-governmental body deals with all Mekong River-related activities including fisheries, agriculture and flood management.

"Now what we're seeing is these flows are reducing even more," Bird said from Laos on Thursday.

More than 60 million people in the lower Mekong basin depend on the river system for food, transport and economic activity, the MRC says, adding that it is home to the world's most valuable inland fishery.

Bird said 21 cargo boats have reportedly been stranded because of the shallow river water in southern China.

A regional drought has caused the water to drop, the MRC said.

"Severe drought will have an impact on agriculture, food security, access to clean water and river transport and will affect the economic development of people already facing serious poverty," it said in a statement.

"The northern provinces are amongst the poorest areas for both Lao PDR and Thailand."

River tour operators have stopped offering services on the river between the Laotian tourist centre of Luang Prabang and Huay Xai on the Thai border, the MRC said.

Officials in Laos have started advising people to reduce water consumption.

Bird said it is difficult to say whether global warming is responsible but the wet season in Vientiane last year was one of the worst on record, and was followed by much lower than average rain late in 2009 and early this year.

As a result, there has been very low water flow in the Mekong's tributaries.

"The rainfall in China is also extremely low," Bird said.

Thai non-governmental groups believe the unusually low levels are caused by Chinese dams, according to reports in the Bangkok Post.

There are eight existing or planned dams on the mainstream Mekong in China, the MRC has said.

"It's difficult for us to say categorically that there's no link" between the low water levels and those dams, Bird said.

But he added it would not be normal for dams to be filled during the dry season.

The Nation newspaper in Bangkok reported that Thailand would ask the MRC to negotiate with China for the release of more water from its Mekong dams to alleviate downstream drought.

Bird said the commission has not yet received any formal request from Thailand. If it does, the MRC would discuss with China the possibility of releasing water.

"This is one area where the dams upstream would actually be beneficial," he said, because once the hydropower projects are in service they should lead to 30-40 percent more dry-season water flow.

China and Myanmar are dialogue partners with the MRC which groups Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.

MRC data show that water levels on the Mekong in Cambodia are not as low as in the north, which Bird said is explained by factors such as different regional rainfall systems.

For the north, the problem is only set to get worse.

"The flows will probably continue to reduce for another month," Bird said.

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Killer Whales Don't Usually Kill People

Jeanna Bryner, livescience.com Yahoo News 24 Feb 10;

News of a trainer being killed by a killer whale at SeaWorld Orlando today doesn't change the fact that these giants, while deadly predators, do not kill humans at sea.

"They have never killed a human in the wild," said Nancy Black, a marine biologist with Monterey Bay Whale Watch. That's mostly because, unlike sharks, killer whales don't frequent near-shore areas where people swim. (Even shark attacks on humans are generally accidental, experts say, with sharks mistaking humans for seals or other typical food.)

Details of the event today were sketchy, and SeaWorld officials contacted by LiveScience said they could not comment on the incident yet. According to news reports, the orca drowned its female trainer as tourists watched in horror.

But this killer whale at SeaWorld probably didn't intentionally kill the trainer.

"I just think the killer whale may have wanted a social companion and just held her under too long," Black told LiveScience. "I would think the killer whale didn't do it intentionally but more as a play thing. They're so powerful." She added killer whales don't have to come up for air as often as a human might and could reasonably hold someone underwater for 15 to 20 minutes.

Possibly the killer whale just got bored, she said, since their lives in captivity are more confined than at sea where they spend time swimming hundreds of miles while hunting or playing.

"I've seen them toss seals 20 feet in the air with their flukes. They could mistake you for another mammal," Black said of the transients.

In general, killer whales, or Orcinus orca, are very intelligent and playful animals, amusing themselves anything from kelp to seals, Black said. But even though they are shown off at aquaria with fuzzy stuffed animals to boot, they are still wild animals.

And they are big, growing to 32 feet (nearly 10 meters) and weigh a whopping 18,000 pounds (8,164 kg), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). As apex predators, killer whales have few enemies, vulnerable only to large sharks.

Their fierce reputation comes from interactions with whales, not humans. In fact, sailors who witnessed killer whale attacks on larger cetaceans referred to the animals as "whale killers." That name changed to killer whales. The Spanish sometimes refer to the orca as Ballena asesina, meaning "assassin whale," according to the MarineBio Conservation Society.

Not all orcas dine on mammals. Those living in Norway prefer fish. But the so-called transients, which occur throughout the eastern North Pacific, eat other marine mammals, such as dolphins, sea lions and seals.

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Development threat to Hong Kong bird haven

John Saeki Yahoo News 25 Feb 10;

HONG KONG (AFP) – Tens of thousands of birds, including rare and endangered species, flock each year to an unlikely haven sandwiched between high-rise Hong Kong and Shenzhen, the towering frontier of mainland China.

Up to 100,000 birds fly in from as far as Arctic Siberia and Central Asia to winter in marshes squeezed between the two urban giants, or to rest and fatten-up on their annual migration as far south as Australia and New Zealand.

But conservationists say this haven on the "East Asian-Australasian flyway" -- one of the world's main migratory routes -- is in danger of breaking up, as government and construction companies eye valuable land for development.

The birds descend on a 3,000 hectare (7,400 acre) strip of inter-tidal mudflats, mangrove swamps and traditional shrimp and fish ponds that stretch along the Hong Kong side of the Shenzhen river.

About half of the total area falls within the Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay nature reserve that is protected under an international treaty called the Ramsar convention.

The other half lies outside the reserve boundary.

"The area forms a continuous habitat. If any of the parts are lost, the whole system will be fragmented and isolated," says Hong Kong university ecology professor Billy Hau.

At least 10 species of globally endangered birds use this wetland zone, according to conservation group Birdlife International.

They include the striking black-faced spoonbill, huge dalmatian pelicans and top predators such as imperial eagles that follow waterbirds for thousands of kilometres on their migration, preying on individuals along the way.

The unprotected section is in part of the Frontier Closed Area, established in the 1950s by the British former rulers of the territory, not for conservation purposes but as a buffer against mainland illegal immigrants.

The security measure kept the area isolated, effectively freezing development, and that was good for birds.

Now, more than a decade since Hong Kong's handover to China, while the border still remains the government is ready to open large swathes of the closed area as calls to develop the land get louder.

Among those hoping to profit are local landowners who have waited years to cash-in on their property, says Hau, as well as big construction firms poised to swoop on lucrative real-estate deals.

The government is conducting a joint study with global engineering giants ARUP with a view to creating a "combined conservation, eco-tourism and cross-boundary development zone" in the wetlands, according to Hong Kong's planning department.

"Low-density private residential or passive recreational development, in exchange for committed long-term conservation and management of the fish ponds or wetland may be permitted," Kenny Lau of the Planning Department told AFP.

This area "forms an integral part of the ecological system of Deep Bay and is worth preserving," he said.

The department says a balance will be achieved through a "public-private partnership," but conservationist Hau believes that the only way to protect the foraging grounds of endangered birds would be for the government to buy-out private landowners in the ecological corridor.

He isn't optimistic.

"Government will put NGOs and local landowners on a stage and allow them to fight it out so they can sit there and do nothing. They always do this," he told AFP.

In another part of the zone, separate from the Closed Area study, a 100-hectare wasteland called the Lok Ma Chau loop that almost bisects the marshes is slated for development.

Spoonbills, herons and raptors regularly fly across the patch, once a dumping ground for toxic mud dredged from the Shenzhen river, to reach fish ponds at the northern end of the wetlands.

Here the government, again with the help of ARUP, is studying plans to build a higher education and high-tech development zone, to be administered jointly with mainland authorities in a project hailed as a step towards Hong Kong's economic integration with mainland China.

"The loop is going to sever the north of the wetland from the south," Bena Smith, director of the WWF office that runs the Ramsar site told AFP.

Smith says the survival of all of Hong Kong's wetlands has become of international importance in the past decade because of rampant development elsewhere in Asia, including the destruction of thousands of hectares of bird habitats in mainland China, Taiwan and South Korea.

"Mai Po is one of the key spots on a regional network of wetlands that link to form the East Asian-Australasian flyway," he said.

ARUP declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

Access roads will cut the slim sliver of wetland that would remain on the southern edge of the loop, Mike Kilburn, vice-chairman of the Hong Kong bird watching society told AFP, adding that otters, leopard cats, civets, turtles and terrapins would also lose habitat.

Kilburn says that ecological realities are being lost in the hot air surrounding the development studies.

"A large bird, such a pelican, needs up to 500 metres to itself to feel secure," he told AFP.

"But you're just progressively shrinking the area and it's death by a thousand cuts. You do a cut here, a cut there, and suddenly you realise there's nothing left to protect."

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Australia calls for an end to scientific whaling

Amy Coopes Yahoo News 25 Feb 10;

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia called Thursday for an end to so-called "scientific whaling" and the phaseout over five years of harpooning in the Southern Ocean, in a move apparently aimed squarely at Japan.

The demands, which follow an Australian threat to take legal action against Japan over its whaling activities, were outlined in a proposal sent to the International Whaling Commission, Environment Minister Peter Garrett said.

Garrett said the proposed end within a "reasonable period" to scientific hunting of the giant mammals, and a five-year timeline for the cessation of Antarctic whaling reflected Australia's strong conservation agenda and aimed to break the gridlock that had "beset talks for decades", Garrett said.

"While the government acknowledges the efforts made by participants in these discussions, the approach now under discussion in the Commission falls well short of any outcome that Australia could accept," he said.

"That is why we have now brought forward this new proposal to advance true conservation objectives, and specifically to bring about an end to commercial and so-called scientific whaling right around the world."

Garrett said Australia would advance the proposal at a meeting in Florida next week of the IWC's small working group, a process he stressed it remained committed to.

"However, if Australia's principled conservation objectives cannot be secured in the negotiations, Australia will initiate legal action against Japan in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) before the next Southern Ocean whaling season," Garrett said.

Under the Australian proposal, no new whaling would be permitted on species or populations not currently hunted, hunting for vulnerable species would immediately end and no harpooning would be permitted in sanctuaries.

Tensions flared last week when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd bluntly warned Japan it had until November to reduce its whale catch to zero, or face action in the ICJ.

On a visit to Australia at the weekend, Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada described the ultimatum as "unfortunate", but said his country would meet any challenge head-on and seek to prove its activities were legal.

Australia, along with New Zealand, has consistently opposed Japan's killing of hundreds of whales each year, which it carries out via a loophole in an international moratorium that allows "lethal research".

The proposal document says Australia "needs to see an immediate end to unilateral so-called 'scientific' whaling," and it would continue to argue "vigorously that whaling should be phased down to zero".

There should be "total and permanent elimination of all whaling other than current aboriginal subsistence whaling within a reasonable timeframe," it added.

The bold proposal also called for reform to the governance of the IWC to "uphold the central role of science" and argued for an "agreed mechanism and a strategy to ensure a robust and properly funded monitoring, compliance and enforcement framework for whaling during the phase-out period."

Both Japan and Australia have expressed hope for a diplomatic solution to their impasse over whaling, but Canberra has stepped up its rhetoric in recent weeks in a seeming hardening of its stance.

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UNEP and Government of Indonesia Emphasize Role of Blue Carbon in Combating Climate Change

UNEP 25 Feb 10;

Indonesia's Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner launch the concept of Blue Carbon at the 11th Special Session of UNEP Governing Council in Nusa Dua, Bali

Nusa Dua Bali, Indonesia, February 25, 2010 - In a joint statement issued today at the XIth Special Session of the UNEP Governing Council, Indonesia's Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Dr. Fadel Muhammad and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner have emphasized the important role of marine and coastal ecosystems in the fight against climate change.

The concept of Blue Carbon, which emphasizes the ability of marine and coastal ecosystems to sequester carbon, was introduced by UNEP in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Education and Science Organization (UNESCO).

Blue Carbon emphasizes the key role of marine and coastal ecosystems, which are dominated by marine vegetation such as mangrove forests, seagrass, brackish marshes and salt marshes. Coastal and marine ecosystems are believed to be able to complement the role of forests (Green Carbon) in taking up carbon emissions through sequestration.

Mr. Steiner said: "We already know that marine and coastal ecosystems are multi-trillion dollar assets linked to sectors such as tourism, shipping and fisheries - now it is emerging that they are natural allies against climate change."

Mr. Steiner and Dr. Fadel jointly emphasized that the basis of their joint statement is the mandate of the Manado Ocean Declaration (MOD) declared last year, as well as efforts to control the adverse effects of climate change.

"We appeal to all countries to preserve these abilities of coastal and marine ecosystems as important variables in global climate change dynamic", said Dr. Fadel and Mr. Steiner.

"This has opened the opportunity to conduct further research on the important role of the ocean as a controller of climate change. Indonesia has an extensive area of mangroves and sea grass that in turn, will significantly contribute to the process of carbon sequestration in the coastal area", according to Dr. Fadel. "We have to work on this because the future of the earth and mankind depends on how we manage ocean wisely and in a sustainable manner. Time goes fast and we are faced with choices that cannot be negotiable. Humans must maintain a balance that has been played by the sea in order to keep functioning and able to absorb carbon from the impact of our activities ", explained Dr. Fadel.

Mr. Steiner added: "If the world is to decisively deal with climate change, every source of emissions and every option for reducing these should be scientifically evaluated and brought to the international community's attention-that should include all the colours of carbon including now blue carbon linked with the marine and coastal ecosystems. Our new partnership aims to catalyze international attention upon this important issue."

The marine issue has been one of the important pillars in a special session of UNEP's meeting of the 11th SSGC UNEP/GMEF. On 24 February, UNEP awarded its first-ever Leadership award in ocean and coastal management to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Notes to Editors:

Blue Carbon Concept

Besides the benefit of healthy marine and coastal ecosystems in providing the resources and environment services to the livelihoods of coastal communities, they also play an important role in maintaining the balance of climate and carbon sequestration that is a contributor to climate change. The role of the sea and its ecosystems is maintaining the balance of carbon absorption. These balancing capabilities that are eventually absorbed by the ocean and its ecosystem become disrupted as more greenhouse gases are produced as a result of human activity. Without any reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, the next few decades could see coastal and marine ecosystems become significantly reduced. This will mean a further impact on coastal communities, marine biota and ecosystems and other coastal issues.

The Blue Carbon Report - The Role of Healthy Oceans in Binding Carbon compiled by UNEP, FAO, UNESCO-IOC and IUCN describes the flow of carbon emissions and estimation capabilities of coastal and marine ecosystems to absorb carbon and greenhouse gases. This report was launched on 14 October 2009 at the Conference on Diversity, Cape Town Conference Center, South Africa.

This report confirms the important role of marine and coastal ecosystems in maintaining the climate balance. This report calls decision makers to mainstream the 'ocean' dimension into global climate change initiatives. The reports can be downloaded at the link http://www.grida.no/publications/rr/blue-carbon/.

Poor nations could be paid to preserve marine CO2 - UN
* UN official sees poor countries paid to protect oceans
* Study on ocean carbon storage launched
* Carbon capture and storage a gamble, official says

Sunanda Creagh, Reuters Alert 25 Feb 10;

NUSA DUA, Indonesia, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Developing countries could in future earn money from reducing carbon emissions by protecting oceans and marine ecosystems, a top U.N. official said on Thursday.

Sea grasses, mangroves and salt marshes naturally store huge amounts of carbon but this is released as greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, when wetlands are drained or disturbed.

The head of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Achim Steiner, said a combination of public and private funds could be used to pay poor countries to repair and preserve carbon-rich marine environments.

"Do I believe that one day we might see a market for ocean-based carbon storage? I would say, at this point, why not?," Steiner told reporters at a UNEP conference in Nusa Dua, on the Indonesian island of Bali.

He said the scheme could be modelled on reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), a U.N.-backed scheme under which developing countries would be paid for protecting and enhancing their forests.

REDD has been a central part of U.N. climate negotiations over the past two years, becoming one of the few areas to make substantial progress as nations try to agree on the outlines of a broader climate pact that would include steps to save forests.

REDD has attracted a lot of support because it could potentially unlock billions of dollars in carbon offset sales for developing nations to save remaining areas of rainforest that soak up large amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide.

Forests, oceans and adjoining marine ecosystems are like the lungs of the atmosphere. But the more they are damaged or destroyed, the less they can brake the pace of global warming, scientists say. The trick is creating market mechanisms that put a price on the value of carbon to encourage their preservation.

RACE TO CAPTURE CARBON

"I assure you, the world will be increasingly searching for ways in which it can expand the planet's capacity to capture, sequester and store carbon," said Steiner.

"If we can create the parameters around which to measure the value of maintaining marine ecosystems and their net benefit to the international community,then the analogy that is applied with forest and land degradation would apply equally to marine conservation."

UNEP and the Indonesian government on Thursday jointly launched a global research project on marine carbon storage. Initial results are expected before major U.N. climate talks in Mexico at the end of the year, the follow-up to last December's Copenhagen summit.

Indonesia's fisheries minister, Fadel Muhammad, said that $1 million had been set aside for the study and more was expected from UNEP and other governments.

Steiner said carbon capture and storage (CCS) was an unnecessary gamble. Many big carbon emitting nations are looking at CCS as a way to capture the CO2 from coal-burning power stations and other big polluting operations and pump it underground.

While the technology is evolving and expensive, it remains uncertain if it will work when used widely around the globe.

"Nature, over millions of years, has perfected carbon capture and storage in our eco-systems," Steiner said.

"So as we spend billions of dollars right now looking for a technology to capture and store carbon back underground, we are neglecting the fact that nature's systems, in fact, turn what is a problem into an asset." (Editing by David Fogarty)

Don't Overlook Oceans in Climate Battle: UN
Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 25 Feb 10;

More attention must be paid to the role of oceans in preserving the earth's climate, UN Environment Programme head Achim Steiner said in Bali on Thursday.

Steiner joined to Indonesian maritime minister Fadel Muhammad to launch a report on the role of oceans in carbon absorption at the ongoing UNEP conference in Nusa Dua. Scientists believe carbon emitted by human activities is altering the world's climate, melting glaciers and causing a dangerous rise in seal levels.

The report, titled "Blue Carbon," calls ocean plants such as mangroves, seagrass and marsh grasses "among the most intense" absorbers of carbon on the planet. But it finds these seaside habitats are disappearing at a rapid pace of two to seven percent per year.

But the interaction of oceans and climate must be further studied, Steiner said.

"If the world is to decisively deal with climate change, every source of emissions and every option for reducing these should be scientifically evaluated and brought to the international community's attention," he said.

Minister Fadel said the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Research Agency or BRKP had begun to look into the question.

"We don't have sufficient research to be sure that our oceans are actually absorb carbon instead of releasing it. That is why we have been conducting pilot projects in Indonesia's ocean areas," said Fadel, adding that the research was in its early stages.

"The president is also very interested but he has asked me to make sure that we explain very clearly to the public about the importance of oceans and seas," he said.

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New "Low Carbon World website" to Accelerate Transition to Green Economy

UNEP 25 Feb 10;

Bali, 25 February 2010 - The internet is successfully facilitating a transition from traditional so called "brown" business models to new green growth strategies. The "Low Carbon World" website, a web-based communications platform - www.LowCarbonEconomy.com - was officially launched today (Thursday) in Bali, Indonesia at the United Nations Environment Programme's annual Governing Council.

The new website, a joint project between Low Carbon Economy.com and the United Nation's Climate Neutral Network (CN NET) http://www.unep.org/climateneutral/ aims to facilitate the move to global low carbon economies, a necessary imperative if we are to combat dangerous and escalating climate change.

The new website will assist knowledge transfer and simplify access to information and tools that can be difficult to trace. www.LowCarbonEconomy.com will list every country's carbon policies, commitments, historical performance, future projections and opportunities, as well as country-specific marketplaces, networks, associations and standards which are relevant to government departments and investment agencies.

"Everyone agrees that the transition to a low carbon economy is an environmental and economic imperative, and will require increased collaboration globally - particularly between public and private sectors. Until now, access to the necessary low carbon information has been extremely restricted and very time consuming. With this project we have changed that and we look forward to continuing to work with UNEP and other major partners over the coming months and years,"said Toddington Harper, TLCE's Managing Director.

Annual global greenhouse gas emissions should not exceed 40 to 48.3 Gigatonnes (Gt) of equivalent C02 in 2020, if a rise in global temperatures is to be curbed at 2 degrees C or less, whilst between 2020 and 2050, global emissions ideally need to fall by between 48 per cent and 72 per cent.

"The solutions for the transition to a low carbon economy already exist, and it is a question of removing barriers for rapid and mass uptake. These barriers include technical, financial and informational aspects. I look forward to seeing this project develop further",said Achim Steiner UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UNEP.

The Climate Neutral Network (CN Net) celebrated its second anniversary at UNEP's 11th Special Session of the Governing Council in Bali, Indonesia by hosting a side event titled "High hopes, low carbon - making it work!" The side event showcased work and success stories undertaken between CN Net and The Low Carbon Economy Ltd (TLCE) over the past 12-months.

The home page for the 'Low Carbon World' initiative is available on http://www.lowcarboneconomy.com/Low_Carbon_World/Data/Home and will soon also be available on UNEP's Climate Neutral website www.unep.org/climateneutral . New information is being uploaded daily.

The Low Carbon Economy Ltd is a company headquartered in the UK established to help accelerate the transition to a resource efficient low carbon economy. They have developed and run www.LowCarbonEconomy.com, the worlds largest and most sophisticated website for the low carbon economy that removes the obstacles related to knowledge sharing by empowering people and organisations in both the private and public sectors to connect with, and share information about all relevant low carbon information, solutions jobs and opportunities. Platinum Partners include: Mitsubishi, Siemens, The Carbon Trust, Shell and Verisae.

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World warming unhindered by cold spells: scientists

David Fogarty, Reuters 25 Feb 10;

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The pace of global warming continues unabated, scientists said on Thursday, despite images of Europe crippled by a deep freeze and parts of the United States blasted by blizzards.

The bitter cold, with more intense winter weather forecast for March in parts of the United States, have led some to question if global warming has stalled.

Understanding the overall trend is crucial for estimating consumption of energy supplies, such as demand for winter heating oil in the U.S. northeast, and impacts on agricultural production.

"It's not warming the same everywhere but it is really quite challenging to find places that haven't warmed in the past 50 years," veteran Australian climate scientist Neville Nicholls told an online climate science media briefing.

"January, according to satellite (data), was the hottest January we've ever seen," said Nicholls of Monash University's School of Geography and Environmental Science in Melbourne.

"Last November was the hottest November we've ever seen, November-January as a whole is the hottest November-January the world has seen," he said of the satellite data record since 1979.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in December that 2000-2009 was the hottest decade since records began in 1850, and that 2009 would likely be the fifth warmest year on record. WMO data show that eight out of the 10 hottest years on record have all been since 2000.

Britain's official forecaster, the UK Met Office, said severe winter freezes like the one this year, one of the coldest winters in the country for nearly 30 years, could become increasingly rare because of the overall warming trend.

MORE EXTREMES

Scientists say global warming is not uniform in all areas and that climate models predict there will likely be greater extremes of cold and heat, floods and droughts.

"Global warming is a trend superimposed upon natural variability, variability that still exists despite global warming," said Kevin Walsh, associate professor of meteorology at the University of Melbourne.

"It would be much more surprising if the global average temperature just kept on going up, year after year, without some years of slightly cooler temperatures," he said in a written reply to questions for the briefing.

The scientists also defended the U.N. climate panel after it came under attack for including an error about the estimated thaw of Himalayan glaciers in a major 2007 report.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) produces reports based on the work of thousands of scientists that are the main guides for policymakers on tackling global warming. The discovery of the error has been seized upon by climate skeptics.

The 2007 report wrongly said Himalayan glaciers could all melt by 2035, an apparent typographical error that stemmed from using "grey literature" outside peer-reviewed scientific journals.

Nicholls said grey literature could play a key role in the climate debate and that not all valuable data or reports were published formally in journals. Such examples included reports on extreme weather events by government meteorological agencies.

"The IPCC does not exclude the use of that sort of grey literature because it would be stupid to talk about extremes, for instance, and not include that sort of grey literature," he said.

The scientists said more stringent checks were needed for the next IPCC reports but that the inclusion of one or two wrong predictions didn't undermine the whole peer-reviewed IPCC process because scientific study was always evolving.

(Editing by Paul Tait)

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