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7 Days 18 Mar 10;
The whale shark being held captive at the Atlantis hotel on Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah has finally been released.
After being confined to the tank in the hotel’s aquarium for almost 17 months a statement released by the Atlantis today said the female whale shark has been returned to the Arabian Gulf.
The five-star hotel has faced a wave of criticism since it plucked the creature from the sea on August 28, 2008, with thousands joining facebook groups to free it and numerous environmental groups also lobbying for its freedom along with actress Pamela Anderson.
Since its capture the hotel had refused to comment on when the whale shark would be released. In today’s statement it said the creature would be monitored with a tracking device.
“We will continue to track her progress through a tagging program co-developed with The Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida (the world’s largest scientific research organization dedicated to the study of sharks and their relatives)”, commented Steve Kaiser, Vice President, Marine and Science Engineering. “This will give us the opportunity to continue to learn from her and share that research within the whale shark community.”
Dubai hotel releases whale shark back into wild
Associated Press 18 Mar 10;
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A resort hotel on Dubai's main palm-shaped island says it has released back into the wild a whale shark whose captivity had been criticized by environmentalists.
The Atlantis hotel on the city-state's manmade Palm Jumeirah island said Thursday it released the 13-foot-long female shark back into the Persian Gulf. It says the shark has been tagged so it can be tracked for research purposes.
The hotel did not say when the shark was released. A spokeswoman could not be reached for comment.
Environmentalists and a local newspaper began calling for the shark's release shortly after the hotel announced it had rescued it from the shallow waters off Dubai's coast in 2008.
Whale sharks are considered a threatened species.
Sammy the whale shark freed in Dubai
An animal of this size cannot be kept in captivity for such a long time, said president and founder of the Emirates Marine Environment Group
Emmanuelle Landais, Gulf News 18 Mar 10;
Dubai: Sammy, the whale shark that had been held in captivity in the Atlantis, Palm Jumeirah aquarium for the past eighteen months, is freed.
The release comes almost a year after a popular Gulf News led campaign had thousands of Dubai residents calling for the hotel to release Sammy. The campaign involved badges, bumper stickers, jingles and a Facebook group that attracted several thousand members.
Atlantis issued a press release stating that the mammal had already been released.
"After several months of planning, Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai has returned a female whale shark to the waters of the Arabian Gulf from where she was rescued. The Atlantis Fish Husbandry Team utilised their experience and skill to save the animal in compliance with all CITIES regulations."
Whale sharks are listed in appendix 2 of the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES), which stipulates that they can only be held for scientific purposes provided that it does not harm the survival of the species.
A UAE delegation is attending the CITES conference currently taking place in Doha.
Ali Bin Saqr Al Suwaidi, president and founder of the Emirates Marine Environment Group [EMEG], confirmed that the whale shark was set to be released.
“An animal of this size cannot be kept in captivity for such a long time,” he said.
The animal was being transported in a boat carrying a sufficient amount of water to allow Sammy to swim.
According to Atlantis, the hotel had been “preparing the animal for return to the ocean” during the time that it was being held. “The seasonal elements affecting water temperature, salinity and migratory patterns were perfect for enhancing her survival in the open ocean,” said the hotel.
Environmentalists had been appalled when Sammy was first captured because it is a female and a juvenile.
Whale sharks are categorized as “vulnerable” under the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list of threatened species.
Al Suwaidi said that EMEG had increasingly been campaigning for Sammy’s release during the past few months.
"We will continue to track her progress through a tagging programme co-developed with The Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida (the world’s largest scientific research organization dedicated to the study of sharks and their relatives)," said Steve Kaiser, Vice President, Marine and Science Engineering. “This will give us the opportunity to continue to learn from her and share that research within the whale shark community.”
Acres Press Release 19 Mar 10;
SINGAPORE, 19 March 2010 – A 3-month undercover investigation by ACRES (Animal Concerns Research and Education Society) has revealed that 59 out of 134 jewellery and antique shops visited in Singapore offered alleged tiger parts for sale. Evidence of the 59 shops selling alleged tiger parts was recorded on video.
Approximately 159 alleged tiger claws, 303 alleged tiger teeth and 38 pieces of alleged tiger skin were found on sale during the investigation, which was conducted from December 2009 until February 2010. Tiger parts are used for various purposes such as traditional medicine, jewellery, lucky charms and novelties.
Singapore has previously been recognised as playing a role in the trade of tiger products from neighbouring countries such as Indonesia, for both domestic trade and international re-exports.1
Although all commercial tiger trade has been banned since 1987 by CITES (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), which Singapore is a party to, there has been an approximate 50% decrease in wild tiger populations since the ban.
Less than a century ago, more than 100,000 tigers roamed the world’s jungles and forests. Today, less than 3,200 remain in the wild. Three subspecies of tiger have become extinct within the last 50 years and, despite the inclusion of Asian big cat species in Appendix I of CITES, the illegal trade in specimens of nearly all these species has escalated and further threatens their long-term survival in the wild.
Singapore joined CITES in 1986 and ratified the Convention in 1987. The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority is the CITES authority in Singapore. AVA administers the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act (ESA), which lists all CITES species in its Schedules. Under the ESA, it is an offence to import, export and re-export any CITES species without a permit from AVA. The possession, sale, offering or exposing or advertising for sale or displaying to the public of any illegally imported CITES specimen is also an offence. The penalties, on conviction, are a fine of $50,000 (per species), not exceeding an aggregate of $500,000 and/or 2 years imprisonment.
Under the Endangered Species (Import and Export) (Prohibition of Sale) Notification, the domestic sale of tiger specimens is prohibited. Any person who sells, offers or exposes for sale or displays to the public any tiger parts and products, commits an offence. The offender shall be liable to a fine not exceeding $10,000 for each species (but not to exceed in the aggregate $100,000) or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 1 year or to both.
“It is important to note that anyone who advertises for sale any tiger parts contravenes the above Act, even if the products turn out to be not authentic. By making a claim that the product is from tigers, the dealer is potentially driving up the demand for tiger parts, which directly contravenes the spirit of CITES and the local legislation meant to enforce CITES” said Ms. Anbarasi Boopal, Director of ACRES Wildlife Crime Unit.
Key findings of the investigation include:
“The investigation findings showed the presence of an illegal trade in alleged tiger parts in Singapore and that there is an immediate need for continued serious efforts to curb this illegal trade. The investigation findings and footage have been submitted to the AVA and we look forward to working closely with the AVA” said Mr. Louis Ng, Executive Director of ACRES.
“As long as there is demand, there will be supply. Legislation alone is insufficient to bring a complete halt to the illegal trading of endangered species and their parts. We must do more public education and awareness so demands for them can be curbed and supply will then terminate” said Dr. Lim Wee Kiak, Member of Parliament for Sembawang GRC.
Contact:
Louis Ng (ACRES Executive Director)
Email: louis@acres.org.sg Hp: +65 9796 8592
- ends -
Notes to editors
1. Chris R. Shepherd and Nolan Magnus, 2004. Nowhere to hide: The trade in Sumatran tiger. A TRAFFIC South-east Asia report.
Year of the Tiger fuels demand for tiger parts
Sia Ling Xin, My Paper AsiaOne 19 Mar 10;
THE Year of the Tiger seems to have driven up demand for tiger parts - even though trading in them is illegal here.
People think that they make an apt gift this year, and the dwindling tiger population has led to a rise in their value, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) shops said.
The parts most in demand: the penis, believed to be an aphrodisiac; and the bones, believed to cure rheumatism.
Posing as a potential buyer, my paper spoke to eight TCM shops in Chinatown, five of which had received more enquiries for tiger parts this year. The rest did not get any queries.
Of the five, two shops said that they usually get an enquiry every two or three months, but, since January, they have received two queries each month.
The other three reported a doubling in the number of enquiries, from a couple each month to four or five.
The enquiries are made by both Singaporean and foreign men and women, who are usually middle-aged.
Only one shop admitted to dabbling in tiger parts. The rest denied doing so.
That store's shopkeeper said that although he gets a few enquiries every month, only two or three deals a year are closed because he does not keep any stock.
He susses the market out when customers request certain parts, he said. year, so he advises those who want to get their hands on the parts urgently to look elsewhere first, he said.
The client has to pay a deposit.
The shop will give an estimated price, but the client may have to pay more, depending on the season and middlemen, he said.
A tiger's penis is priced at about $25 per liang, a traditional unit of measurement equivalent to 37.5g. Typically, the organ costs about $450, he said.
The shop also gets requests for eyeballs, believed to cure convulsions; and paws and pelts for decorative purposes, he said.
Paws are rare, as they are usually damaged by poachers' snares, so a perfect pair can cost "more than a thousand", he said.
TCM physician Kwek Mei Lin, who has never used tiger parts in her treatments, said that while it is believed that tiger parts can cure ailments, many herbs are much better alternatives, as they are effective, easily available and cheaper.
Singapore jewellers selling tiger parts - report
Reuters Alertnet 19 Mar 10;
SINGAPORE, March 19 (Reuters) - Some jewellery shops in Singapore are illegally selling tiger parts, helping fuel the disappearance of the big cat from Asia, a local animal protection group said on Friday. A three-month investigation by Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) found that 59 out of 134 jewellery and antique shops it visited in the Southeast Asian city-state were allegedly selling tiger parts, including claws, teeth and pieces of skin.
All commercial tiger trade has been banned by the international CITES convention that Singapore has signed, and under domestic law the sale of tiger specimens is prohibited, even if the products turn out not to be real, ACRES said. Shopkeepers told ACRES that demand had been higher over Lunar New Year -- the start of the Year of the Tiger -- and more orders could be placed for parts that could take from a week to three months to be delivered.
The parts came from Southeast Asia, China and South Asia, they said.
Tiger parts are used to make jewellery and Chinese medicine.
Tigers in the Greater Mekong region face extinction, conservationists say. Global tiger populations are at an all-time low of 3,200, down from about 100,000 a century ago, as forest habitats disappear and the animals are killed for their body parts, used in traditional Chinese medicine. [ID:nSGE60P06P]
Asian countries are a hotspot for the illegal wildlife trade, which the international police organisation Interpol estimates may be worth more than $20 billion a year.
"As long as there is demand, there will be supply," said Singapore member of parliament Lim Wee Kiak. "Legislation alone is insufficient to bring a complete halt to the illegal trading." (Reporting by Neil Chatterjee; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
Tiger parts sold openly as jewellery
Some unaware of ban and penalties; AVA seizes 320 items from 30 shops
Grace Chua, Straits Times 20 Mar 10;
JEWELLERS and antique dealers here are openly selling jewellery and amulets made from tiger claws, skin and teeth, an animal welfare group said yesterday.
The Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres), which investigated 134 jewellery or antique shops between December and last month, found 59 selling body parts of the highly endangered big cat.
And of the 59, only seven knew of the ban on trade in tiger ornaments; they produced the objects from under the counter, or from a safe, in front of undercover Acres investigators.
One shopkeeper advised: 'When you take it out of Singapore, just say it is a talisman. Don't say it is a tiger part.'
Another admitted to having 'just stocked up' for the Chinese New Year because of hotter demand for the items this Tiger year.
These retailers either do not know or are ignoring the heavy penalties that come with selling, advertising or buying the parts of such an endangered animal.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) subsequently checked 161 retail outlets, including Acres' 134, and seized 320 items from 30 shops.
It was the biggest seizure of alleged tiger parts here to date, in terms of quantity netted.
The AVA is now examining the items for authenticity.
Selling tiger parts is banned. All six tiger species are protected under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites).
Singapore ratified the Cites convention in 1987.
Under the Endangered Species (Import & Export) Act, importing, exporting, re-exporting or possessing any Cites species without a permit can land one a fine of up to $50,000 per species, with a cap of $500,000, and/or two years in jail.
And here is the rub: Even if the parts are fakes, the same penalties apply.
This is because trading even in fakes drives up the demand for tiger parts, said Acres executive director Louis Ng.
In Asia and some parts of the world, amulets or ornaments made of tiger claws, teeth and skin are carried or worn for protection. Tiger skin, for instance, may be inscribed with prayers and rolled up in glass capsules. Some people believe that wearing such 'lucky charms' gives them power and authority.
The demand for tiger parts for ornaments and traditional medicine, coupled with tigers' loss of habitat, have caused wild tiger populations to plummet worldwide.
By some estimates, only 3,400 to 5,140 tigers were left in the wild in 2008, down from 5,000 to 7,000 in 1999.
Animal conservationists deem this critical, and yet, the continuing demand for tiger parts is fuelling its supply.
Shopkeepers told Acres that they sourced the tiger parts mainly from Thailand, India and China.
The prices for these charms ranged from $3 for a tiger tooth, to $350 for a piece of skin, to $4,800 for a tiger claw set in gold.
Given the rising demand and shrinking supply, these prices can only go up.
Acres' investigation targeted clusters of jewellery shops and antique dealers in Little India, Chinatown, Geylang and Bugis.
The actual size of the market for tiger parts is unknown, since their sale is not limited to jewellery and antique shops, said Mr Ng.
AVA spokesman Goh Shih Yong said the agency has an ongoing programme to check shops for the sale of illegal Cites species and to educate traders and members of the public.
He said: 'We must acknowledge Acres for being our eyes and ears on the ground.'
The number of people nabbed for selling alleged tiger parts has been on the rise. There was one case in 2007 and another in 2008, but four last year.
All turned out to be fakes made of materials like horns or hooves and the sellers were fined between $100 and $500.
Those with information about shops selling tiger parts and other endangered species may call the AVA hotline on 6227-0670 or Acres' hotline, 9783-7782.
Smuggled tiger parts sold as jewellery in Singapore
Wang Eng Eng Channel NewsAsia 19 Mar 10;
SINGAPORE - Tiger parts that have been smuggled into Singapore are being openly sold as jewellery and amulets in the retail capital of Southeast Asia, an animal welfare group said Friday.
The Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) said it conducted an investigation of more than 130 jewellery and antique shops and found just under half offered products made from tiger parts like claws, teeth and fur.
Of the 59 shops selling such items, 52 were openly displaying the items for sale, the group said at a news conference.
The shops investigated were located in various places, such as Chinatown, Little India and Bugis.
Shopkeepers offered ACRES activists posing as buyers hundreds of items purportedly from tigers but the group said it could not verify whether all of them were authentic.
"Whether it's real or it's fake, it's actually driving up the demand for tiger parts in this region," said Louis Ng, the executive director of ACRES.
The products included claws set in gold or silver and worn as jewellery, amulets made of teeth with a piece of prayer paper rolled into them, and cuts of skin said to have been blessed for protection or strength.
A claw set in gold costs between S$20 and S$5,000.
The sale of tiger parts is illegal under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), of which Singapore is a signatory.
Fewer than 3,200 tigers remain in the wild, down from an estimated 100,000 a century ago, and that number is still declining, ACRES said in a statement.
Butchered for traditional medicine, deprived of their habitat and killed for encroaching on villages, the onslaught has already seen three sub-species wiped out and the South China tiger has not been sighted for decades.
Video evidence from the investigation, which was conducted from December 2009 to February, showed one shopkeeper offering a piece of "blessed" tiger skin that he said came from Songkhla in Thailand.
Another shopkeeper was caught on camera offering a necklace made from a tooth that he said came from Thailand, while a third said he had to stock up on tiger parts due to the pick-up in demand during the Lunar New Year.
Shopkeepers named Thailand, China and India as their main sources.
Mr Ng said Singapore played a key role in the illegal trade. "It's critical especially for Singapore because all our neighbouring countries have tiger populations. We don't want to be driving up the demand for these products at this time when they are so critically endangered," he added.
Singapore is the shopping capital of Southeast Asia and welcomed 9.7 million tourists in 2009.
Asked for its comments, Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) said it carried out its own checks on 161 shops this year, including the 134 ACRES visited. Its investigations found some of the tiger parts to be fake.
However, 26 shops did violate the Endangered Species Act and were fined between S$500 and S$3,000. Under the Act, those caught selling tiger parts can be fined up to S$10,000 and/or jailed for up to one year, even if the parts are fake.
ACRES is calling for stiffer sentences. Mr Ng said: "It's time we hand out deterrent sentences, whether the product is real or fake. Under our law, it's illegal to advertise for the product. Even if it's fake, they are driving up the demand for these products."
ACRES had earlier uncovered the use of illegal tiger parts in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).
- AFP/CNA/ir
Are tiger parts being sold openly here?
AVA acts on animal protection group's findings
Neo Chai Chin, Today Online 20 Mar 10;
SINGAPORE - Want to buy a pendant with a tiger's claw?
Apparently, it is not that difficult to get your hands on one here - either real or fake - despite a commercial trade ban since 1987.
The illegal sale of alleged tiger parts like claws, teeth and skin for aesthetic purposes appears fairly widespread here, probes by a wildlife protection group have revealed.
Of the 134 jewellery and antique shops surveyed by the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) between December last year and February this year, 59 offered alleged tiger parts for sale.
Of these, 52 openly displayed the tiger parts, and 49 claimed their goods were the real thing. Shopkeepers claimed the goods originated from places like Thailand, Sri Lanka, China and Myanmar.
Tiger claws and teeth are set in gold pendants, and pieces of skin are used as amulets in the belief that they could ward off evil.
Releasing these findings on Friday, Acres' wildlife crime unit director Anbarasi Boopal said: "It was shocking for us to see so many of these products on sale."
The Singapore Jewellers Association lists over 300 members and there are hundreds of antique shops in Singapore.
The shops Acres surveyed are clustered in Ang Mo Kio, Bugis, Chinatown, Geylang, Lavender and Little India.
The group had to trawl the shops opportunistically - checking out all antique or jewellery outlets along Serangoon Road, for instance - as there was no way of determining how many shops sold tiger parts, said Acres executive director Louis Ng.
The Agri-food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) has since acted on Acres' findings and confiscated some goods from the shops. It has also done checks on 27 other shops not covered by Acres.
A total of 320 pieces of alleged tiger parts from 30 shops have been seized, said AVA spokesman Goh Shih Yong.
While it is now determining if the parts are authentic, some appear to be carved from horns or hoofs of domestic animals like cattle and goats, Mr Goh said. Meanwhile, it has fined 26 of the shops sums of between $500 to $3,000.
Since 1987, Singapore has been a party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), which aims to protect endangered wildlife species.
The commercial trade of all six tiger species is banned.
Anyone who sells or displays to the public alleged tiger parts and products can, for each species, be fined up to $10,000, jailed up to a year, or both.
"Whether real or fake, it's driving up demand for tiger parts," said Mr Ng.
Fewer than 3,200 tigers remain in the wild, down from an estimated 100,000 a century ago, and that number is still declining.
To increase chances of nabbing those who bring tiger parts into Singapore, Mr Ng suggested having wildlife detector dogs at checkpoints.
Those with information on illegal wildlife trade may call AVA on 6227-0670, or Acres on 9783-7782. Neo Chai Chin
Smuggled tiger parts sold as jewellery in Singapore
Idayu Suparto Yahoo News 19 Mar 10;
SINGAPORE (AFP) – Tiger parts that have been smuggled into Singapore are being openly sold as jewellery and amulets in the retail capital of Southeast Asia, an animal welfare group said Friday.
The Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) said it conducted an investigation of more than 130 jewellery and antique shops and found just under half offered products made from tiger parts like claws, teeth and fur.
Of the 59 shops selling such items, 52 were openly displaying the items for sale, the group said at a news conference.
Shopkeepers offered ACRES activists posing as buyers hundreds of items purportedly from tigers but the group said it could not verify whether all of them were authentic.
"Whether it's real or it's fake, it's actually driving up the demand for tiger parts in this region," said Louis Ng, the executive director of ACRES.
The products included claws set in gold or silver and worn as jewellery, amulets made of teeth with a piece of prayer paper rolled into them, and cuts of skin said to have been blessed for protection or strength.
Fewer than 3,200 tigers remain in the wild, down from an estimated 100,000 a century ago, and that number is still declining, ACRES said in a statement.
Butchered for traditional medicine, deprived of their habitat and killed for encroaching on villages, the onslaught has already seen three sub-species wiped out and the South China tiger has not been sighted for decades.
Video evidence from the investigation, which was conducted from December 2009 to February, showed one shopkeeper offering a piece of "blessed" tiger skin that he said came from Songkhla in Thailand.
Another shopkeeper was caught on camera offering a necklace made from a tooth that he said came from Thailand, while a third said he had to stock up on tiger parts due to the pick-up in demand during the lunar new year.
Shopkeepers named Thailand, China and India as their main sources.
Ng said Singapore played a key role in the illegal trade.
"It's critical especially for Singapore because all our neighbouring countries have tiger populations. We don't want to be driving up the demand for these products at this time when they are so critically endangered," he added.
Singapore is the shopping capital of Southeast Asia and welcomed 9.7 million tourists in 2009.
Straits Times Forum 19 Mar 10;
THE recent drowning of a trainer at SeaWorld, Orlando, Florida was indeed a tragedy, with many horrified people witnessing the violent act by Tilikum, a killer whale and long-term resident of the amusement park.
The animal had just finished performing at a noon-time show. It was reported that this was not the first time the same killer whale had been implicated in a death.
If one watches documentaries on these creatures (also known as orcas), they are naturally violent and aggressive towards their prey. They are also highly intelligent. Years of abuse in the captivity process - from capture and training to compulsory performance - no doubt provide the right climate for lashing out against the humans involved in the cruelty.
What goes on behind the scenes in the training process, one can only imagine - withholding or rewarding with food must surely be one way that the animals are bribed and forced into submission.
One can only hope, on hearing of this latest incident, that a universal review would be carried out to stamp out the insidious cruelty of capturing or breeding wild animals for human entertainment and amusement, for which ultimately some humans will pay the price, as in this case.
Closer to home, there have been incidents where wild animals used in performances have let loose their frustrations. As long as these creatures are placed near unsuspecting and excited audiences, there will always be a risk they will attack because they are inherently wild and unpredictable.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) supports the call by animal rights group Acres ('Wild animals are dangerous', Forum Online, March 5) for captive establishments here to be the leaders and refrain from using wild animals (including whales, dolphins, elephants and snakes) to perform or be handled by members of the public, in the interest of the latter's safety, and to protect the animals from unnecessary stress.
We also hope the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority will review SPCA's request in 2002 to extend the ban on the use of wild animals in travelling circuses (on public safety and animal welfare grounds) to captive facilities or other entertainment mediums in Singapore.
Deirdre Moss (Ms)
Executive Officer
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Straits Times 19 Mar 10;
IT IS white asparagus season in Europe and North America now, but Singaporeans are getting about 1,200 tonnes of the pale stalks, never mind that the weather here is far from wintry.
Achachas from Bolivia, acai berries from the Amazon, Italian blood oranges, Korean Shingo pears and ice salad from France are just some of the exotic items foodies here are heading to grocers for, as they buy into the worldwide craze for fresh seasonal produce.
Demand is so high that FairPrice, for one, is importing 20 per cent more fresh seasonal foods than two years ago - with a 60 per cent jump over the past decade.
Cold Storage and Jasons Market Place count ice salad, a wild plant found mostly on the French coast, among the new items they introduced recently, including doughnut peaches, broccolini and fresh figs. The variety of produce they offer has increased by 15 per cent in the last two years.
It is the same for major fruit importing company Ban Choon Marketing, which brought in only 15 varieties of seasonal fruit a decade ago. It now imports 50 new types of seasonal fruit, including Japanese kumquats, apriums and kiwi berries.
Last year, small-time food importer Garnet and Peridot became one of the first importers of acai berry products - made from the pulp of the purple fruit - which have risen in popularity globally because of their antioxidant properties.
According to figures from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, acai imports have increased from 280kg in 2008 to 711kg now.
The trend, say industry players, is facilitated by free trade agreements signed in recent years, commercial farming of exotic foods, and lower transport costs.
More than 10 free trade agreements - legally binding contracts between countries that eliminate trade barriers such as tariffs - have been signed between Singapore and countries such as Japan and New Zealand in the past decade.
'It is also cheaper to import fruits and vegetables now because there are so many airlines flying in and competition has brought costs down,' said Ban Choon Marketing owner Tan Chin Hian, who reckons the cost of importing a tonne of fruit into Singapore has dropped by more than 30 per cent in the past decade.
A spokesman for the Dairy Farm group, which owns the Cold Storage and Jasons Market Place chains, attributes the growing demand to an increased supply.
Achacha, an exotic fruit that has its roots in Bolivia where it was farmed in relatively small quantities, for instance, is now commercially grown in Australia.
The reason for Singaporeans' increased demand for the exotic: They are now more well-travelled and open to acquiring new tastes. The prominence of cooking shows by celebrity chefs has also drummed up demand - which continues to be high despite higher prices.
For example, purple cauliflower from the United States costs about $10 per kg, treble that of the regular crop from China. White asparagus from North America costs $29 per kg, $15 more than regular green asparagus, while Korean strawberries cost about $2 per 100g, 70 cents more than the normal ones from the US.
Profit margins for exotic fruits are higher, with grocers reporting a 15 per cent profit, up from the 10 per cent for regular produce. But Mr Tan warned that the big margins could change once more importers get in on the act.
Most meat and fish importers, however, are missing out on the seasonal fad. Apart from specialised produce like grass-fed spring lamb, seasons are rare in the meat market due to improvements in animal husbandry, which mean these animals can be farmed all year round, they say.
But consumers here seem happy enough as it is.
'There is much more variety at supermarkets now, and at more affordable prices,' said Mr Thomas Chiam, 40, who has bought seasonal items like black truffles, white asparagus and Japanese oranges. 'When I go grocery shopping, I try to pick seasonal foods. Why not? My meals will be more unique.'
However, housewife Jenny Lin, 34, thinks more can be done.
'Yes, there is more variety now, but I want to see more supermarkets and even wet markets selling these things,' said the mother of one, who cooks at least one meal a day. 'If I want something really special, like yellow dragon fruit, I still don't know where to start looking for it.'
Despite its flaws, coal is still the cheapest, most widespread fossil fuel
Grace Chua, Straits Times 19 Mar 10;
IS BURNING coal for energy a step backwards from going green?
Non-Constituency MP Sylvia Lim raised that concern in Parliament recently, noting that other countries were moving away from coal because of its environmental impact.
Coal is often thought of as a dirty fuel, releasing excessive amounts of carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and other pollutants when burnt. Yet Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry S. Iswaran, responding to Ms Lim's question, emphasised that technologies for burning coal were becoming cleaner.
'Precisely because the technology is evolving, I don't think it is necessarily a step back to consider this as a possible option for ourselves,' he said.
In January, the Economic Strategies Committee had recommended importing coal as an energy source to boost Singapore's energy security.
The recommendation seemed to clash with the country's target of trimming its carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 by 16 per cent below the level it would have been if no steps had been taken to cut CO2.
As it is, coal is responsible for a significant share of man-made carbon dioxide emissions around the world. International Atomic Energy Agency figures show that burning coal emits nearly twice as much carbon dioxide as burning natural gas, which Singapore currently relies on for most of its power. (Only about 20 per cent of Singapore's electricity comes from fuel oil.)
Burning coal for energy produces between 790g and 1,017g of carbon dioxide and equivalents per kilowatt hour (kwh), compared to 362g to 575g per kwh for gas. These figures do not include emissions from transporting the fuels.
But in terms of energy security, however, importing coal for electricity makes sense. It is the cheapest and most widespread fossil fuel, with nearby sources in Indonesia, Australia and China.
And as the Economic Strategies Committee report put it, 'advances in combustion technologies are reducing the environmental impact' of coal.
The report did not elaborate on the technologies, but generator technology that converts water to steam under high pressure - supercritical steam generation - is more efficient than ordinary power generation and saves on fuel use, whether it be gas or coal.
In addition, Tuas Power's upcoming coal and biomass-fired power plant on Jurong Island will use technology that burns low-ash, low-sulphur coal at lower temperatures than normal, which will reduce the amount of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emitted.
However, even such technology is still not able to reduce the total amount of carbon dioxide released. For this reason, 'carbon capture storage technology is still being developed and we may explore the viability of its application in the future', said a Tuas Power spokesman.
But scholars say carbon capture is an expensive, energy-intensive process, and there is no proven way to store carbon dioxide with no leakage or ill effects.
'Carbon capture and storage, the way it is promoted now, is mainly a myth,' said Energy Studies Institute researcher Hooman Peimani.
He explained that waste carbon dioxide injected into the ground or water will eventually leak back into the atmosphere.
Other ideas on the table include using carbon dioxide to grow algae that can then be turned into biofuel, putting carbon dioxide into cement for building, and using enzymes to turn carbon dioxide into bicarbonate. But all these ideas are still in the realm of speculation.
Others, like Energy Studies Institute scholar Michael Quah, believe coal should not be ignored just because carbon capture and storage has not been proven to work. On the contrary, Dr Quah said, that provides more incentive for Singapore to do research into better technology.
'I believe this is one area where we could truly take the lead,' he said.
Instead of capturing all carbon dioxide emissions from coal, Dr Quah argued, Singapore should work on reducing coal emissions so that they are on a par with those from natural gas - the so-called natural-gas parity.
The cost of doing this would be far less than full-blown carbon capture and sequestration, and would not use technologies still being evaluated, he explained. That would in turn buy Singapore some time to increase energy efficiency and eventually transition to renewable energy over the long run, impelled by the price of carbon.
The energy landscape must be viewed as a whole, Dr Quah urged, rather than piecemeal, fuel by fuel.
But in all the discussion of clean coal technology, one thing has perhaps been overlooked: the very process of extracting coal and other fossil fuels is polluting. Their polluting impact does not derive solely from the carbon dioxide released when they are burnt for use.
Coal mining, for example, itself releases the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane, and can contaminate water sources with acid runoff and heavy metals. In Indonesia's coal-rich South Kalimantan, for instance, strip mining causes erosion and land degradation.
So to truly assess fuel sources as a whole, one must look at their impact throughout their life cycle, from extraction or production to burning.
By that consideration, natural gas can be as destructive as coal. It is extracted from natural gas fields, or as a by-product from oil fields or coal beds.
In the United States, oil and gas companies using the deep-drilling technique to extract gas, called hydraulic fracturing or fracking, have come under government scrutiny for the toxic chemicals used: They can pollute groundwater.
As Dr Peimani put it: 'The effort should be made globally to decrease, and eventually phase out fossil energy as the main source of energy, not to switch to more pollutive types of fossil energy.'
Maintenance of gasfields results in supply shortfall here
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 19 Mar 10;
(SINGAPORE) Singapore's latest Indonesian gas glitch - involving a shortfall in supplies from West Natuna since last month - is expected to be resolved around May, BT understands from sources. It is due to maintenance of the gasfields there by the operator.
It follows close on the heels of last year's problems of 'buckling' or warping along certain points of a 23-km stretch of the gas pipeline transporting Sumatran gas imported by Gas Supply Pte Ltd into Singapore.
This also saw 'some reduction, although no stoppage' of gas supplies during the six to eight months of repairs until Q3 2009, the sources add.
The two pipelines together bring in a contracted 690 million standard cubic feet of gas daily (mscfd) from Indonesia, or about 72 per cent of Singapore's total piped gas imports of 955 mscfd, with the remainder coming from Malaysia.
The latest Indonesian gas supply hiccup involves importer Sembcorp Gas which had contracted to bring in 325-340 mscfd from the West Natuna field.
The field operator, understood to be ConocoPhillips, is currently carrying out routine maintenance work at the field, and there has consequently been some supply shortfall to Singapore - said to be 'small' by sources - as a result of switching wells.
'The operator is understood to be deploying another production platform to address the issue, with the work expected to be completed by May,' one source said.
The latest gas issue first surfaced when BT reported earlier this month that the generating companies here - which usually run as much as 80 per cent natural gas to power their more-efficient gas turbines - had recently resorted to using more fuel oil instead to run steam turbines.
This saw their fuel oil usage rising to 27-30 per cent of their total fuel mix, compared to just about 20 per cent previously.
SembGas on its website said that it supplies its Natuna gas not only to gencos like PowerSeraya and Tuas Power but also petrochemical customers including ExxonMobil and Ellba Eastern. Some of the petrochemical plants also run their own in-house gas-fired cogeneration plants to supply not just power, but also other utilities like steam and cooling water.
Separately, there was an isolated incident of traces of mercury, a toxic metal, found in Natuna gas last June. While the low mercury levels detected posed no real danger to public health, the regulator Energy Market Authority is getting a consultant to look at identifying measures to mitigate this.
Mercury, which is found organically-bound in natural gas from the gasfield, can potentially damage plant and equipment, or affect workers exposed to it during maintenance operations.
Jeanna Bryner, livescience.com 18 Mar 10;
A tiny flat-headed cat with webbed feet has lost much of its historical rain-forest habitat in South-East Asia, a new study finds.
Called Prionailurus planiceps, the flat-headed cat weighs as little as 3.5 pounds (1.59 kg) and has webbed feet thought to be a unique adaptation allowing the animal to hunt fish and crabs along lowland river banks and flooded peat forests. 
The wild cat is one of the world's least known feline species, found only in tropical rain forests in southern Thailand, Peninsular Malaysia, parts of Indonesia including Sumatra and Borneo. In 2008 the animal was listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Until now, there have been no studies of the cats in the wild, so little is known about its historical and current range, what makes a suitable home for the animal, and what can be done to ensure its survival.In fact, nobody even knows how many of the cats remain in the wild.
"At the current stage, we cannot even do any guesstimates, because we have no idea in which densities the species occurs," said study researcher Andreas Wilting of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany. "I hope that with further field research in ten years we might be able to provide the first estimations."
To make some headway, an international team of scientists collected historical and recent records along with other scattered information on the cat, finding the animal spends its time mainly in lowland or coastal swampy forests close to freshwater sources.
"With this information we developed a computer model to predict its historical and current distribution," Wilting said.
The team also used the model to determine factors needed to make an area a sufficient home for the cat. With that information, they identified 19 key spots throughout the cat's distribution range that were considered suitable habitat and important for the long-term survival of the rare species. These localities included: Toh Daeng Peat Swamp in Thailand, the Way Kambas National Park and the Hutan Lunang Nature Reserve in Sumatra, and Borneo's Maludam National Park and the Samusam Wildlife Sanctuary.
They found a link between freshwater sources and the occurrence of flat-headed cats, with more than 70 percent of the records (sightings and photographs) occurring less than 1.9 miles (3 kilometers) away from a major river or lake. Precipitation during the driest month and altitude were also important habitat factors.
Nearly 70 percent of the area which historically provided good habitats for the flat-headed cat has been converted into plantations, creating a landscape in which the cats are unable to live, the models showed. The remaining cat-friendly land is highly fragmented and 16 percent is fully protected according to the criteria of the IUCN.
Most large national parks in South-East Asia are located at higher elevations, where the flat-headed cat, with its restriction to lowland and coastal swampy forests, rarely occurs.
"For me the most important message of our paper is not that we predicted the extent of habitat loss, much more important is that we predicted localities where we most likely still find stable populations of this threatened species," Wilting told LiveScience. "Only with this information we can do the next step and work on the protection of these areas."
Wilting and colleagues detail their findings in a recent issue of the journal PLoS ONE.
Flat-headed cat is now endangered
Matt Walker, BBC News 19 Mar 10;
One of the smallest and most enigmatic species of cat is now threatened with extinction.
According to a new study, habitat loss and deforestation are endangering the survival of Asia's flat-headed cat, a diminutive and little studied species.
Over 70% of the cat's habitat has been converted to plantations, and just 16% of its range is now protected.
The cat, which has webbed feet to help hunt crabs and fish, lives among wetland habitats in southeast Asia.
Details on the decline of the cat's range are published in the journal PLoS ONE.
The flat-headed cat is among the least known of all wild cat species, having never been intensively studied in its natural habitat.
Weighing just 1.5 to 2kg, the cat is thought to be nocturnal, adapted to hunting small prey in shallow water and along muddy shores.
Now restricted to a handful of tropical rainforests within Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, nothing is known about the size of each cat's home range or the density of the remaining population.
So in an attempt to estimate how the species is faring, a team of scientists gathered together all known information about where the cat is thought to live, including sightings, pictures taken by camera traps and dead specimens.
The team, led by Mr Andreas Wilting of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin, Germany gathered 107 records overall, which they then used to create a computer model that predicts the cat's historical and current distribution.
That confirmed that flat-headed cats like to live near large bodies of water such as rivers and lakes.
They also prefer coastal and lowland areas.
Crucially for the species's survival though, the researchers found that just 16% of its historical range is fully protected according to criteria laid down by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Other areas are also protected, but these are large national parks, which in southeast Asia tend to be located at higher elevations where the flat-headed cat is not thought to roam.
Around 70% of its former range may already have been converted to plantations to grow crops such as palm oil.
Also, two-thirds of all the locations the cat has been recorded in are now surrounded by areas in which high densities of people live.
The cat's scarcity is underlined by the fact that it has been photographed just 17 times by camera traps.
In comparison, other felids in the region, such as tigers, leopard cats, marbled cats and Asian golden cats are regularly photographed this way.
Antara 19 Mar 10;
Bengkalis (ANTARA News) - A herd of hungry wild elephants have been occupying two residential areas of Petani village, Bengkalis, Riau, over the past two weeks forcing tens of families to flee their homes.
Petani village residents said the elephants were still in their part of the village on Thursday but their number had dropped from initially 45 to a few.
"For the past two weeks we have been staying in the homes of people in another part of our village located far from where the elephants are," one of the displaced inhabitants of Petani village , Raya (45), said.
He said he and his fellow villagers had made no effort to drive the animals away because they were afraid it would make the giant mammals only more aggressive and attack them.
Petani village head Riantono admitted he could not do much for his people but had appealed to them to be alert to the danger the wild beasts posed, especially at night.
He said he had also asked his people to watch out in the afternoon because the animals could come at any time and tear apart their houses to find food.
"As village head I do not know what I have to do. I can only make appeals. We cannot kill them because, if we do, we will get into trouble with the law," he said.
Local environment activists meanwhile said no concrete actions had been taken so far by the authorities to prevent conflicts between humans and elephants in Bengkalis.
"The problem has so far been only talked about while no concrete actions have been taken by the government or agencies concerned," Simamora, the chief of the Care for Nature and Environment Community Movement, said.
He said, if the problem remained unsolved, it was not impossible the local people would fight the elephants in their own way , and then fatalities could happen on either side.Many people had already been killed in clashes with the animals.(*)
Riau Villagers’ Hands Tied as Herd Of Elephants Refuses to Leave
Budi Otmansyah Jakarta Globe 19 Mar 10;
Pekanbaru. For the past two weeks, residents of Petani village in Bengkalis district have been woken up in the early hours of the morning to the sounds of an elephant herd invasion.
Riantomo, the head of the village, said residents had been forced to evacuate out of fear, moving into the homes of their relatives.
“We don’t know what we have to do. We are prohibited from disturbing elephants because they are protected. But in the meantime we are always disturbed,” Riantomo said.
He said the daily invasion usually occurred at about 2 a.m., with elephants roaming around the homes. Some of the residents have tried shooing them away using torches and wood, but the herd of elephants seems reluctant to leave.
“We have shooed the elephants away repeatedly, but they still come back here. As the village head I do not know what I have to do. I can only make appeals. We cannot kill them because, if we do, we will get into trouble with the law,” he said.
The head of Riau’s Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BBKSDA), Trisnu Danisworo, said that as a temporary solution a team had been assigned to the village to keep elephants away from homes and plantations and to prevent conflicts between elephants and humans.
“The elephant conflict in Petani village is an old problem. It is because that area is a track for elephants. For now, we can just shoo them out of residential areas,” he said.
A longer-term solution for Petani village’s dilemma, he said, was to ensure that residential and plantation developments in the future do not encroach on the elephants’ habitat.
“The conversion of land into plantations in that area must be stopped,” he said.
The forests on Riau are disappearing, and this has seen the province’s elephant population plunge from more than 1,500 in the 1980s to 350 today.
Darori, the Ministry of Forestry’s director general of forest protection and nature conservation, said the elephant attacks occurred because more and more people were cutting down trees.
“The movements of the elephants are actually very ordered. They will always walk along the same paths and eat at the same places over and over again. They will even litter at the same spots,” Darori said, adding that the local administration had failed to discipline companies or officials who cut down trees on land that is known to be vital for the elephants’ survival.
Local environment activists said no concrete actions had been taken so far to prevent conflicts between humans and elephants in Bengkalis.
“The problem has so far been only talked about while no concrete actions have been taken by the government or agencies concerned,” said Simamora, chief of the Care for Nature and Environment Community Movement.
He said that with no solutions it was likely the locals would fight the elephants in their own way, and then fatalities could happen on either side. Many people have already been killed in clashes with the animals.
Additional reporting from Antara
Petani village residents threaten to kill invading elephants
Antara 20 Mar 10;
Bengkalis (ANTARA News) - Petani village residents in Mandau subdistrict, Bengaklis district, Riau province, are threatening to kill the wild elephants that have been disturbing their lives for weeks if the authorities fail to take action.
"We are now at the end of our patience with these animals. They have damaged our homes and often threaten our safety. So, if the government does not provide a way out soon, we will drive them away or catch them ourselves and kill them. if necessary," Fahri (46), Petani village resident said Saturday.
A similar statement was made by another Petani resident, Karman (60), who said he saw his house being destroyed by wild elephants while he could do nothing to stop it.
"There must be a choice : elephants or humans. If the animals are really protected by the state, then the state must also guarantee the safety of the people who live near their habitat. The government should not wait until there are casualties," Karman said.
In response to the villagers` sentiments, the chairman of the Benkalis branch of the Nature and Environment Community Care Movement (Gempal), H. Simamora,
admitted the authorities had not been handling the recurring problem of wild elephant incursions into human settlements seriourly.
The problem was often discussed in meetings and touched on in familiarization efforts but no concrete followup action was ever taken in the field.
In the recurring conflicts between wild elephants and humans many animals and humans had already been harmed or killed and it was time for the authorities to take real action, if the protected animal was to be saved from extinction.
One of the ways the authorities should pursue, he said, was to set up more elephant training centers in the wild or expand existing ones. To accomplish this, regional authorities should not wait until they receive the needed funds from the central government but use their own financial resources.
"If they wait for financial aid from the central government, it will never happen," he said.
Petani villagers had been terrorized by wild elephant herds repeatedly since early March 2010. A number of houses in the village were ruined by the huge beasts that were apparently looking for food. (*)
Behind the scenes with the Natural History Museum's unsung heroes, who collect and classify new species of animals and insects
Patrick Barkham, The Guardian 18 Mar 10;
Like most young men, Henry Walter Bates sought adventure. Unlike most, he was also obsessed with beetles. So in 1848, aged 23, he set sail from Liverpool on the trading ship Mischief, bound for Brazil. During 11 years in "savage solitudes", the naturalist fell ill with malaria, yellow fever and dysentery; he was horribly lonely but, despite physical pain and mental anguish, he kept on collecting rainforest species never before seen by European eyes. When he left South America, never to return, he shipped to the Natural History Museum more than 8,000 different species – mostly insects – that were previously unknown to science.
The Victorians' wonder at the miracles of nature, and their hunger to conquer foreign lands, has long made species hunting seem an anachronistic endeavour. Theirs was an age of never-to-be-repeated mapping of the world's plants and animals, a time of The Origin of Species and the feting of explorer-scientists such as Bates, Alfred Russel Wallace and Darwin. The discovery and naming of things has never quite captured the public imagination in the same way since.
Yet now, barely a week passes without the breathless announcement of a dramatic new find, from the Sundaland clouded leopard (a species of big cat filmed for the first time in Borneo) to a flesh-eating pitcher plant so large it can devour rats, which was found by a young British species hunter during an expedition to the Philippines.
Suddenly, species hunters and taxonomists can hardly go to work without being followed by a camera crew. Following on from the success of last year's Lost Land of the Volcano, about species hunters in Papua New Guinea, comes a new BBC series, Museum of Life. Filmed over 18 months, Jimmy Doherty (of Jimmy's Farm fame) examines the pioneering work of some of the 300 scientists tending to, and augmenting, the the Natural History Museum's collection of 70 million animals, plants, fossils and minerals.
We are, it seems, experiencing "a second wave of exploration that almost matches the Victorians", says George McGavin, an academic who headed up the Lost Land of the Volcano expedition. So what is driving this? Even now, the vast majority of life on earth remains undocumented by science. Scientists estimate there are between eight and 10 million species but, from bacteria to blue whales, we have so far only "described" – ie classified – 1.5m of them. At best, we have named one in six of every type of living thing. Last summer, a mysterious new insect was even found in the Natural History Museum gardens in London. Species hunting scientists are desperate to document the diversity of the world before we destroy it.
Going behind the scenes at the Natural History Museum is a rare treat; this is a working museum as magical as anything in fiction. Dust motes sail across crepuscular alcoves, where curators hunch over miniscule specimens on a gloomy mezzanine floor that looks unchanged from Bates's day. The smell of naphthalene – mothballs – is overpowering. Maxwell Barclay, head curator of coleoptera and hemiptera (beetles, to non-scientists) has travelled to Bolivia, Thailand, Taiwan and Peru. Unlike Bates, he collects intensively for just three weeks. Transporting finds is not a problem: thousands of beetles will pack into a small suitcase.
Barclay picks up a test tube, swimming with a sinister tangle of dead beetles. "That's what we call insect stew," he says. Specimens are brought to the museum like this, pickled in alcohol, dried, labelled, pinned inside old mahogany drawers and, finally, identified – possibly adding to the 400,000 beetles already described. Barclay grabs a tray of dung beetles collected from Kruger national park in South Africa. They have shiny shells of iridescent green and dark maroon, and are still being sorted into species and groups. He points to another, different insect, a reddish brown blob that could perch on the head of a drawing pin. He knows it is a type of leafhopper "that just happened to fly into one of the dung beetle traps", but suspects it "is unknown to science".
The world of the species hunter is endearingly low-tech. In 1848, Bates slung a shotgun over one shoulder and bags for the birds he was collecting over the other. Today's species hunters don't carry guns, but Alex Monro, a botanist at the museum, still wraps his specimens in bundles of newspaper and soaks them in alcohol, before putting them in plastic bags. "It's very retro. We regularly use mules to transport them," says Monro, who has been species hunting in La Amistad – a steep, inaccessible world-heritage site spanning Costa Rica and Panama. In Bolivia, Barclay caught beetles by hanging a sheet behind a UV lamp, laying another on the ground, and sitting through the night, picking fallen bugs from the sheet one by one. In this way, 25,000 specimens were collected in three-and-a-half weeks – from which, so far, they have found 25 new species.
"The work is physically quite hard, the conditions are uncomfortable and the walking is a real killer, so you have to be motivated – but I'm not an obsessive," says Monro, an expert in the nettle family of flowering plants. "The buzz that I'm addicted to is being somewhere where you see and collect things for the first time ever – that's a tremendous sense of discovery."
But aren't species hunters also motivated by the desire to be the first to give new species a scientific name? Doesn't rivalry drive them on? "For some people, yes," Barclay admits. "There are rogue taxonomists, just like there are rogues in every field. But most seriously believe we have a duty to understand the diversity of the planet."
Another species hunter reveals he was dismayed to receive a paper to peer-review that described a species he had also found, but had not yet got round to describing – the equivalent of a journalist being scooped on a story. "The fastest is the best – it's like Darwin, the strongest will survive," says the museum's butterfly curator, Blanca Huertas, of the rush to get species described. This can take a long time: collectors need to gather more than one specimen to properly describe a species because individuals may simply be freak mutations, and there is always the risk of describing an already recognised species.
Why does it matter whether we know about an obscure beetle living in Papua New Guinea? In part, it's because we need fungi and bacteria for all our antibiotics, while thousands more useful chemicals and remedies lie undiscovered in nature – although species hunters at the Natural History Museum do not get involved in this "bio-prospecting", according to Monro. The scientists find, classify and describe; it is up to governments what use their discoveries are put to.
But the authorities are often suspicious, says Barclay, and do not always understand that scientists are not seeking to get rich by finding magic cures, but simply documenting biodiversity, the most valuable thing of all. Beetles are often crucial cogs in ecosystems, while even butterflies have a function. "Butterflies are biological indicators," says Huertas. "They are great indicators of the quality of the environment. In the UK, butterflies are one of the best-studied groups, and so can help us understand why the climate is changing because the populations are moving and changing."
"To me," says Barclay, "just knowing there are thousands of organisms being destroyed and not attempting to document them is ridiculous. Understanding what makes the universe tick is part of our stewardship of the planet." Discoveries beget discoveries: "Charles Darwin was interested in collecting beetles because he thought beetles were pretty. Being wealthy, he funds a trip to collect a bunch of stuff, goes home, thinks about it, and comes up with a theory that changes human existence. Just because he likes beetles. If you choose to live in complete ignorance of the world around us, we're not going to make these discoveries."
McGavin, though, fears the current fascination with finding new species masks the damage we are doing to the planet's biodiversity. "Although it's a second wave of exploration that almost matches the Victorians, this could well be a short-lived renaissance. The bad side to this [species hunting] is that it gives the impression that everything is fine. The real story is habitat loss. In 50 years' time, this [species exploration] won't happen any more."
Controversially, McGavin argues it is not necessary to identify all the species of the world. "We probably don't need to describe everything, and the chances of us doing that are virtually nil because stuff is being lost at such an alarming rate." He says that to save the biodiversity of the planet, we must protect hotspots such as the rainforests in the Papua New Guinea and the Amazon, where most species reside.
"The priority, the absolute imperative, is to preserve habitat – particularly tropical rainforests – because that, apart from the oceans, is where we know most species live," McGavin says. "If we don't, by 2050 and perhaps even earlier, we're going to lose at least half the species on earth – an extinction event which is almost unbelievably fast, dwarfs anything that happened in the past, and is entirely due to us."
Environment News Service 18 Mar 10;
NEW YORK, New York, March 18, 2010 (ENS) - The Cambodian government has decided to protect six of the largest remaining stretches of lowland grasslands in Southeast Asia. The six sites, one in Siem Reap province and five in Kampong Thom province, encompass about 77,000 acres (31,160 hectares).
The sites are located in and around Cambodia's Tonle Sap, Southeast Asia's largest freshwater lake. They contain unique seasonally flooded grasslands that form a refuge for many globally threatened birds.
The grasslands are a fishing, grazing, and deep water rice farming resource for local communities. While most of the sites have been partially protected by a provincial conservation order, they remained vulnerable to land-clearing and dam-building activities associated with large-scale commercial rice production.
The new designations empower staff from Cambodia's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to prevent these activities.
The designation of the protected areas is the result of work done over the past four years by the Wildlife Conservation Society, based at New York's Bronx Zoo, in collaboration with Cambodia's Forestry and Fisheries Administration, local governments and community stakeholders.
As part of that effort, WCS has sourced funds and provided technical advice and management support.
Other partners include the Centre d'Etude et de Developpement Agricole Cambodgien, the Sam Veasna Center, BirdLife International in Indochina, the Angkor Center for Conservation of Biodiversity, and the University of East Anglia.
"Recognizing the importance of these sites as part of Cambodia's unique natural heritage shows the national government's great commitment to the conservation of some of the country's valued landscapes," said WCS President and CEO Dr. Steven Sanderson.
Among the species that will benefit from the designation is the Critically Endangered Bengal florican, Eupodotis bengalensis, the world's largest and rarest bustard. The global population of this ground-nesting bird, distinguished by dramatic high jump displays during mating, is estimated at less than 1,300. More than half the world's Bengal floricans live in Cambodia.
"Traditionally the grasslands around the Great Lake have been communally owned, and a unique agricultural ecology has evolved over the centuries that has provided a niche for the Bengal florican," said Jonathan Eames, program manager with BirdLife in Indochina.
The Tonle Sap grasslands, so important for breeding Bengal floricans, have declined by 60 percent since the late 1990s, with the intensification of rice cultivation playing a major role in this loss.
While florican habitat benefits from the traditional low-intensity agricultural practices such as seasonal burning, plowing, planting, and harvesting, illegal commercial rice farming destroys its habitat, forcing floricans into ever-shrinking areas.
The loss of grassland habitat in the Tonle Sap floodplain led to the 2006 designation of 310 square kilometers of land as Integrated Farming and Biodiversity Areas, where large scale habitat conversion is forbidden but extensive traditional use is encouraged.
The conservation groups praised the Cambodian government for the new declaration, which is the strongest step Cambodia has taken to date to protect the habitat of floricans and other bird species living in the protected areas, including Sarus cranes, storks, ibises and rare eagles.
In 2006, the first comprehensive survey for Bengal florican and other grassland bird species was jointly conducted by BirdLife and the Wildlife Conservation Society in the provinces surrounding the Tonle Sap lake. Information gained during the survey was used as a foundation for defining areas to be conserved.
A crude estimate, to be refined, put the Cambodian Bengal Florican population at between 700 and 900 individuals.
Researchers found that the disappearance of grassland habitat in Kampong Thom and Siem Reap provinces was a key reason behind the decline in Bengal floricans. They said the floricans have been disappearing because of large-scale changes in agricultural techniques that have occurred throughout Southeast Asia.
The collaborative project to protect the grasslands of Tonle Sap has been supported by grants from: Fondation Ensemble; the IUCN Netherlands Ecosystem Grants Program; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Wildlife Without Borders � Critically Endangered Animal Conservation Fund; the UNDP/GEF-funded Tonle Sap Conservation Project; and WCS Trustee Eleanor Briggs.
Funding was also provided by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, administered through BirdLife International in Indochina. This Fund is a joint initiative of l'Agence Fran�aise de Developpement, Conservation International, the Global Environment Facility, the government of Japan, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the World Bank.
Richard Salter, international team leader for the Tonle Sap Conservation Project, has pointed out that establishing a set of common rules and an effective monitoring system for the sanctuary is a work in progress. He believes that problems of hunting and poaching are declining as local residents see the natural and economic value of preserving the area both as a biosphere and as a tourist destination.
South Korea Green Growth To Hurt Environment: Report
Jon Herskovitz, PlanetArk 19 Mar 10;
A massive river restoration project at the center of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's green growth strategy will harm globally threatened bird species and destroy critical habitat, a conservation group's report said.
Lee's government intends to spend 22.2 trillion won ($19.68 billion) to dredge, dam and beautify four major rivers with golf courses and bike trails in a plan that is supposed to increase the supply and quality of fresh water and prevent flooding.
"(It) will impact 50 bird species negatively, causing further declines in several sensitive waterbird species that are ecologically dependent on shallow rivers, flood-plain wetlands and estuaries," the conservation group Birds Korea said in a report released on Thursday.
The group, which has conducted some of the most extensive studies of waterfowl in the country, said the further damming and deepening of rivers through dredging will lead to the decline of feeding grounds and biodiversity.
"We have lost almost all of the natural stretches. This project is going to kill off what little remains," Nial Moores, director of Birds Korea, told Reuters.
Among the species threatened with habitat loss and population declines are several listed globally as critically endangered -- including the spoon-billed sandpiper -- and others South Korea lists as "national natural monuments."
The group called on the government to halt the project and conduct an extensive environmental impact study. Construction started last November.
A South Korean environment ministry official said the government is doing all it can to prevent and minimize any harm the project could cause to wildlife.
"There are some regions where construction is inevitable, and for these places, we are building new alternative habitats and environments for wildlife," said Yeo Soo-ho.
Critics said the project is more about local politics, aimed at creating jobs in rural areas that will provide crucial votes for Lee's conservative camp in South's Korea's next presidential election in 2012, when construction is due to end.
Lee, a former CEO of Hyundai construction, has been campaigning globally to show his country as an environmental industry leader. He has touted the four rivers project, saying it will reshape Asia's fourth-largest economy.
South Korea has few supplies of fresh water and two of its major rivers flow from rival North Korea, which has built dams along the waterways that can severely alter water flow.
(Editing by Jerry Norton)
Massive South Korea river project faces mounting criticism
Yahoo News 23 Mar 10;
SEOUL (AFP) – South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak called Tuesday for a campaign to promote his multi-billion dollar river development project, to counter criticism it could spark severe environmental damage.
The massive Four Rivers Project is aimed at "resuscitating lives, restoring dying ecosystems and securing clean water", Lee was quoted as telling his cabinet.
"When an election season comes, there may occur politically-motivated attacks against government's key policies," he said. "Each ministry must actively respond."
Local elections will be held on June 2.
Under the 19-billion-dollar project, launched last November, the Han, Nakdong, Geum and Yeongsan rivers will be dredged, given new banks and equipped with dams along a total length of some 3,200 kilometres (2,000 miles).
The government says less water will be wasted, floods and droughts will be controlled and water quality improved, while the economy of local provinces will be helped and tens of thousands of jobs will be created.
But critics say that apart from environmental damage the project, due to completed in 2012, will gobble up funds for welfare, education and provincial development.
Patrick Rucker, PlanetArk 19 Mar 10;
Dense clouds of migrating monarch butterflies used to snap branches and cast shadows across the forests of central Mexico, but severe weather is posing a new threat to the annual phenomenon.
The yearly 2,000-mile journey, which takes four generations of butterflies to complete, starts in Canada and ends in the Mexican state of Michoacan, which normally enjoys mild weather from November to March.
Millions of the insects swarm to these arid hills each year, their orange-and-black wings creating a flickering fog of color that mesmerizes locals and tourists.
"When I first saw the monarchs in their sanctuary, I thought it was more of a plague than something beautiful," said David Bernal, a guide at the Piedra Herrada resting place two hours drive west of the capital, of a childhood visit.
"I was afraid. There were so many, they clouded our path."
A loss of forests and food sources has for years thinned the number of monarchs coming to Mexico. But scientists fear that a new pattern of punishing winter storms may mark the start of an irreversible decline of the transcontinental migration.
In early February, normally one of Mexico's driest months, 15 inches of precipitation fell on hilly central regions, battering monarch reserves with snow, sleet and freezing rain.
Fewer butterflies arrived this year than ever before, and as many as half of them are thought to have perished in February. The snowstorms that recently buried U.S. cities like Philadelphia and Washington began as unseasonable Mexican rains when warm winter air became loaded with ocean moisture.
'VANISHINGLY SMALL'
"Populations are only so resilient," said Chip Taylor, a University of Kansas entomologist who has studied the migrations for two decades.
"Will butterflies come back? Yes, but the numbers will be so vanishingly small that it may mean the end of this spectacular phenomenon," Taylor added.
The monarchs' transcontinental to and fro is woven through local myth since past generations saw the butterflies as returning ancestral souls. Today, the monarch is a proud local emblem that inspires taxi companies and soccer teams.
In three of the past 10 winters, at least half the monarch butterflies arriving in Mexico died due to the topsy turvy weather that many scientists link to climate change. Mexico will host a global climate change summit in November that aims to set binding international goals for reducing carbon pollution.
Even before strange weather became commonplace, the monarch was imperiled due to a loss of food and habitat.
As they sail across the Great Plains, monarchs survive on milkweed that is being crowded out by large-scale farming.
Meanwhile, illegal loggers clear protected land of oyamel fir trees whose slender needles are a favorite roosting place.
President Felipe Calderon, a Michoacan native, once vowed to use the army to halt logging, but Mexican forest set aside for monarchs is still being picked apart by "tree theft and mafia-style logging," said U.S. researcher Lincoln Brower of Sweet Briar College in Virginia.
Brower, 78, has studied monarch butterflies since the 1950s. He was one of the first people to see the Mexican overwinter sites after they were identified by scientists in 1975, a sight he said caused him to "practically fall on the ground."
"Now I may outlive the monarchs," he said.
(Editing by Catherine Bremer and Will Dunham)
Biodiversity knows no 'national boundaries' and nations must protect species from rising consumption, dams and industry
Jonathan Watts, guardian.co.uk 18 Mar 10;
China and India could together decide the future of the global environment, a team of senior scientists warn today in a call for closer collaboration on conservation by the world's two most populous nations.
Writing in the journal Science, the eight coauthors — including zoologists from both nations — warn of the security and biodiversity threat posed by rising consumption, dam construction and industrial emissions.
The ecological footprint of the two fast-emerging Asian economies has already spread beyond their borders and with future economic growth rates likely to continue at 8% for several years, the experts say the pressure on borders, resources and biodiversity could reach dangerous levels.
"The degree to which China and India consume natural resources within their boundaries and beyond will largely determine future environmental, social and economic outcomes," say the co-authors headed by Peter Raven, director of the Missouri Botanical Garden.
The report notes that the two countries import 9m of crude oil a year and 64% of all the roundwood pine produced in Asia, adding to the problems of global deforestation and warming.
The impacts are becoming more obvious in the strategically sensitive Himalayan border area, where the authors say large numbers of troops are damaging the environment. Resources in the mountain region are so scarce, they note, that soldiers sometimes eat rare plants.
Melting glaciers that supply meltwater for half the world's population and the constriction of rivers by hundreds of dams are also major problems, they say.
With the demand for energy in both nations growing, they predict a further rise in construction of hydroelectric plants and exploitation of other Himalayan resources, with alarming implications for regional security.
"The synergistic effects of decreasing water resources, loss of biodiversity, increased pollution and climate change may have negative social and economic consequences and, even worse, escalate conflicts within and between the two countries," they warn.
Despite their growing global importance, China and India have conducted little joint research and engaged in only modest collaboration to mitigate the impact of their rapid development. There have been small signs of progress in recent years, including agreements to jointly monitor glaciers and study the interaction between the atmosphere and the ocean. But the authors say much more collaboration is necessary.
"More earnest cooperation between the world's two most populous countries will be vital for mitigating biodiversity loss, global warming and deforestation," the authors say.
They suggest turning disputed territory into trans-boundary protected areas, fostering scientific collaboration, working with the United Nations to manage natural resources and encouraging regional forums, such as Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), to focus more on the environment.
One of the authors — Zhang Yaping, the president of the Kunming Institute of Zoology — said it was rare for biodversity protection to span the two nations.
"We should certainly strengthen cooperation in this field," he said. "China and India have done a lot of conservation work inside their own nations. What we need now is a joint effort. There should be no national boundaries in biodiversity protection."
Anne Chaon Yahoo News 18 Mar 10;
DOHA (AFP) – Polar bears, the global mascot in the fight against climate change, were denied a reprieve Thursday when a UN body shot down a US proposal to ban cross-border trade in the animals or their parts.
In a vote at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meeting in Doha through March 25, the measure fell far short of the required two-thirds majority.
The United States had called for a "precautionary approach," noting the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies the animal as "vulnerable," with their numbers down by 30 percent in the past 45 years.
"The current level of trade has a detrimental impact ... and may further stimulate the international market in countries that allow it, such as Russia," said Jane Lyder, head of the US delegation at the Doha talks.
Recent data showed that as many as 700 of the bears may be killed illegally each year, especially in Russia, she told journalists.
But opponents of the ban argued that the main threat facing the snow-white carnivore, the largest of the bear family, is climate change, not poaching or over-exploitation.
There are currently 20,000 to 25,000 in the wild across Canada, Greenland, Russia, Alaska and Norway, and about 600 are legally harvested each year by indigenous peoples, especially the Inuit.
Only Canada -- home to 65 percent of the global population -- allows exports, which are limited to about 300 specimens a year.
They are killed mainly for their fur, teeth and bones, or sought as hunting trophies.
Several states invoked the rights of aboriginal peoples for whom hunting the bears is a way of life and an economic lifeline.
"Polar bears are a valuable source of food, and an important contribution to our livelihood," said an Inuit member of the Canadian delegation.
"We have a lot to lose if polar bear trade doesn't exist any more," he told journalists.
The polar bear has been registered since 1975 in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which allows controlled trade.
Inclusion in Appendix I, as requested by the United States, would have totally banned exports.
In 2008, Washington listed polar bears under the Endangered Species Act, ending importation to the US of trophies killed by sports hunters. Greenland imposed a total ban on exports the same year.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) decried the outcome in Doha as a "death knell" for the bears.
"This is a missed opportunity, a final chance to respond to threats" facing the bear, said Jeff Flocken, director of conservation group the Global Fund for Animal Welfare.
Other environmental groups, however, said hunting for export is limited and well-managed, and that the ban would not boost the animal's chances for survival.
"The polar bear does not meet any of the biological criteria for inclusion in Appendix I. Trade is not a significant threat to the species," said TRAFFIC, an NGO that monitors wildlife trade.
Several NGOs said the drive to uplist the animal was largely "emotional."
The final tally was 48 votes in favour of the Appendix I listing, 62 against and 11 abstentions, according to IFAW.
The 175-nation CITES will vote on dozens of measures affecting trade in tuna, ivory, sharks and coral, among other plants and animals.
Polar Bear, Bluefin Tuna Trade Bans Rejected
Deborah Zabarenko, PlanetArk 19 Mar 10;
Polar Bear, Bluefin Tuna Trade Bans Rejected Photo: Issei Kato
One-year-old polar bear Ikor plays at Sapporo Maruyama Zoo in Sapporo, northern Japan, January 18, 2010. The male cubs were born on December 9, 2008.
Photo: Issei Kato
Proposed international trade bans on polar bears and Atlantic bluefin tuna failed to pass on Thursday at a 175-nation meeting aimed at protecting endangered species.
The United States favored both bans and was disappointed in the vote, but held out hope for passage of a resolution that would make climate change a factor in future decisions by the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, known as CITES.
The meeting of CITES in Doha, Qatar, will consider the climate change resolution along with trade protection for about 40 species -- including sharks, coral and elephants -- during its two-week conference ending on March 25.
Polar bears are under pressure from the melting of their icy Arctic habitat, and are listed by the United States as a threatened species for that reason. The primary exporter of polar bears is Canada, which has recently scaled back the number of hunting permits for the bear.
While CITES uses trade restrictions to protect species at risk, Tom Strickland, assistant U.S. Interior secretary, said that climate change will have to be taken into account and that polar bears are the first species to need this consideration.
"The polar bear was the first canary in the coal mine," Strickland said of the climate change impact on the animal.
"I think we're going to find at every CITES meeting from here on out that we'll be looking at species and their vulnerability in terms of the effect that climate change has had on them, whether it's drought or rising sea levels" or other ecosystem changes, he said.
"CATASTROPHIC DECLINE"
Andrew Wetzler of the Natural Resources Defense Council said the CITES vote is not the end of the story for the bear.
"The ironic thing is that all the countries of the conference acknowledge that global warming is posing a huge challenge for this species," Wetzler said. "When you have a species threatened by global warming, it only makes sense to reduce all the other stresses, including hunting."
Strickland blamed the failure to pass a trade ban on Atlantic bluefin tuna on pressure from commercial interests in Japan and inaction by other regulatory bodies, notably the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
"The science is compelling, the statistics are dramatic, that this species is in a catastrophic decline," Strickland said at a telephone news briefing from Washington.
Stocks of Atlantic bluefin tuna, prized as a delicacy in Japan, have plunged more than 80 percent since 1970, according to CITES. Japan imports about 80 percent of the catch.
A single fish can weigh up to 1,430 pounds (650 kg) and fetch more than $100,000. The fish is found in the north Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Mexico.
"The abject failure of governments here at CITES to protect Atlantic bluefin tuna spells disaster for its future and sets the species on a pathway to extinction," said Greenpeace International Oceans Campaigner Oliver Knowles.
France, Italy and Spain catch most of the tuna consumed by the global market.
In 2009, a quota of 19,950 tons of tuna was set by ICCAT, but many fish are caught live in nets, transferred to farms and fattened before slaughter.
"The market for this fish is just too lucrative and the pressure from fishing interests too great, for enough governments to support a truly sustainable future for the fish," said Susan Lieberman, director of international policy for the Pew Environment Group.
(Editing by Xavier Briand)
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