Mergers, Partnerships & Betrayals
from Butterflies of Singapore
Rare strangling fig hanging on
from Flying Fish Friends
Monkeying around at Sungei Cina
from wild shores of singapore
正在交配的非洲蜗牛（Achatina fulica）Africa land snails are mating
from PurpleMangrove
Rufous Piculet drumming
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Ruby-cheeked Sunbird foraging
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Monday Morgue: 22nd March 2010
from The Lazy Lizard's Tales
Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid Channel NewsAsia 22 Mar 10;
SINGAPORE: Over 1,500 people were at the Marina Barrage to celebrate World Water Day.
The theme for this year is "Clean Water for a Healthy World".
Apart from raising awareness about keeping Singapore's waters clean, there is also a drive to get more to use water wisely.
The aim is to reduce water consumption of some 3,000 households by five per cent over the next three months.
Clean up sessions, along with investment in water infrastructure and technology over the years, have ensured Singapore's waterways remain clean.
Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said Singapore may have come a long way from the days of pollution and water shortages.
However, it is important not to take the availability of clean water for granted.
"Singaporeans' response to the dry spell last month was to use even more water," Mr Yaacob said. "This is certainly not desirable should Singapore experience a prolonged dry spell. It is therefore timely to remind ourselves of the need to use water wisely."
Singaporeans are being encouraged to save about 10 litres a day - enough water to fill more than 6,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools in a year.
To spread the message even further to the public this year, some 3,000 scouts from primary schools islandwide will be taking on the role as water conservationists.
Over the coming months, they will be armed with a handbook, complete with water saving tips, to guide them.
Tan Cheng Kiong, Chief Commissioner of the Singapore Scout Association, said: "Having learnt to save water themselves, they will next learn how to pass this message down to their immediate families, their neighbours and their friends, and their classmates, so that they can encourage more people to work together to save water for our country, for our people for this planet."
Those who manage to see a five per cent reduction in their household water usage will be awarded with a new "live positively water badge".
The new badge scheme is an initiative by Coca-Cola Singapore and Singapore Scout Association, with support from PUB. There are also plans to roll out the initiative to scouts from the older age groups.
Singaporeans have been generally supportive of the water conservation effort. Domestic water consumption per person has dropped from 165 litres per day in 2003 to 155 litres last year. The eventual target is to have each person use just about 140 litres per day by 2030.
World Water Day also marks the opening of nominations for PUB's annual Watermark Award.
Into its fourth year, the Watermark Award is given to organisations and individuals for their outstanding contributions to protect and raise awareness of Singapore's precious water resources.
- CNA/yb
Keeping the water message afloat
Straits Times 22 Mar 10;
WATER Wally, the mascot of national water agency PUB, smiled down on World Water Day celebrations at Marina Barrage yesterday .
The United Nations designated March 22 as World Water Day in 1993 to focus on issues such as water quality and access to it.
By UN estimates, about one billion people worldwide still rely on unsafe sources of drinking water, and about 80 per cent of all used water in developing countries is discharged untreated.
In his speech at the World Water Day celebrations at Marina Barrage yesterday morning, guest of honour Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim reminded people of the need to use water wisely.
'Singaporeans' response to the dry spell last month was to use even more water,' he said. That would be bad news in the event of an even longer dry spell, he added.
Other World Water Day events held yesterday included an all-day carnival at Marina Barrage, which was attended by about 1,500 people from Central Singapore Community Development Council, schools and other organisations.
A water-conservation badge for primary school Cub Scouts was also launched jointly by the Singapore Scout Association, Coca-Cola Singapore and PUB.
About half of Singapore's 6,000 Cub Scouts are expected to try for the optional badge, which requires them to monitor their family's water use and cut it by 5 per cent over three months.
Use less, not more
Hetty Musfirah Today Online 22 Mar 10;
SINGAPORE - Singapore faced a dry spell last month, but instead of conserving water, Singaporeans used even more water.
The irony was not lost on Minister for Environment and Water Resources Dr Yaacob Ibrahim when he spoke at the World Water Day celebrations at the Marina Barrage yesterday.
The average daily potable water consumption in February was the equivalent of 586 Olympic-size swimming pools - an increase of 6.6 per cent over last year's daily average consumption for the same period.
"This is certainly not desirable should Singapore experience a prolonged dry spell," said Dr Yaacob, who added that the ready availability of clean water is something that Singaporeans cannot take for granted.
So while the theme for World Water Day was "Clean Water for a Healthy World", the PUB, along with two other organisations, Coca-Cola Singapore and the Singapore Scouts Association, are on a drive to get more to use water wisely.
Through the "Global Scout Movement", a new "Live Positively Water Badge" will be awarded to Cub Scouts who managed to see a 5 per cent reduction in their household's water usage over the next three months.
A total of 3,000 cub scouts from primary schools island-wide will participate in the initiative.
On the whole, Singaporeans have been generally supportive of the water conservation effort.
Dr Yaacob said since PUB launched the 10-Litre Challenge in 2006 to get Singaporeans to reduce their daily water usage by 10 litres a day, domestic water consumption per person has dropped from 165 litres per day in 2003 to 155 litres last year.
The eventual target is to get each person to use just about 140 litres per day by 2030.
Residents reminisce as travelling exhibition details HDB's history
Grace Chua, Straits Times 22 Mar 10;
WHEN Bedok resident Betty Wong, 59, moved into the housing estate some 30 years ago, she was wowed by the project's orderliness and convenience.
'At that time we were very poor, so we were very excited to move into government flats,' Madam Wong said, describing how her family had to draw water from a well, burn firewood, and even go through other people's used charcoal for usable lumps.
'It was so clean - not like the kampung we used to live in, which was dirty and always had a lot of mosquitoes,' Madam Wong, an office tea lady, marvelled.
Previously, she and her nine siblings lived in a Changi kampung, then moved to a village in Bedok Road near the present-day Bedok Food Centre.
Their father was a cook for British colonial residents, while their mother did laundry and ironing.
Built in 1971, the Bedok housing estate gets its name from the bedoh, the slit-drum used to call Muslims to mosques for prayers.
The fishing village that was once there, as well as a coconut plantation at Siglap, were cleared in 1965 to make way for the government housing project.
Today, Bedok is one of Singapore's largest housing estates, covering more than 2,000ha.
Its 59,000 flats are home to some 200,000 residents, many of whom were at a Housing Board exhibition next to Eunos MRT station yesterday to mark the housing agency's 50th anniversary.
Madam Wong, her sister Wong Cheng Hee, 71, and her brother-in-law Yeo Sim Poh, 76, were among them.
They listened as the guest of honour, Senior Minister S. Jayakumar (East Coast GRC), spoke of the history of Eunos, Bedok and Marine Parade.
And they took a quiz on the history of the East Coast area, with questions like 'Which is the first housing estate to be built on reclaimed land?' (The answer: Marine Parade).
Today, most of the Wong sisters' family members still live in the Bedok area.
'When we moved in, my mother lived on the 14th floor, my brother was on the 17th floor, and my sister was on the 12th floor - the whole family was living under one roof,' the older Madam Wong, a housewife, said.
She and her husband have lived in the same 10th-floor, three-room flat in Bedok North for three decades, while her married daughter lives near Tanah Merah.
Both the Wong sisters said they worried about the rising cost of housing affecting their children's ability to buy flats.
But they like the facilities and amenities for the housing estate's elderly population, such as wheelchair ramps at kerbs.
The HDB's travelling exhibition to mark its 50th anniversary will be on display opposite Bishan MRT station from April 16-18, Choa Chu Kang MRT station from May 21-23, Woodlands MRT station from June 18-20, and opposite Tampines MRT station from July 23-25.
Installing such works will not only beautify public parks but they can also be educational
Linus Lin, Straits Times 22 Mar 10;
WHAT do Chopin and the Berlin Wall have in common?
They are both found in Singapore parks - the musical composer as a bronze monument in the Singapore Botanic Gardens, and the wall as four pieces of graffiti art in Bedok Reservoir Park.
The HortPark in south-west Singapore, with a $13 million price tag and 20 themed gardens, took the idea of art in nature a step further and became an outdoor gallery.
Last week, it played host to an art exhibition by the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Nafa), which showcases the work of two students and a lecturer depicting the HortPark and its surrounding ridges in several interpretations including Gothic forms. The exhibition, which began on March 13 and will run until Sunday, has the works displayed on panels located in the park's indoor foyer.
Second-year student Gerson Gilrandy Tirasbudi, 18, who contributed five watercolours, said: 'Many park-goers in Singapore visit parks to have fun, and don't appreciate the natural beauty of their surroundings. I think installing art in parks can change this and help them better reflect on nature's beauty.'
The HortPark is among a growing number of public parks that serve to present both natural and artistic beauty.
President of the Singapore Art Society Khor Ean Ghee said they make excellent natural galleries, being wide open spaces that already draw many visitors.
'Art in parks will be able to reach out to many and raise our standard of artistic appreciation,' he said.
The National Parks Board (NParks), which manages 50 parks islandwide, welcomes the installation of personally owned works of art in its parks in Singapore, but permission must be sought, it said.
'Where appropriate, we do accept donations of art pieces which complement the landscape and help to enhance the ambience of green spaces,' said Mr Kong Yit San, director of the parks division.
The Botanic Gardens, the NParks' crown jewel, is home to some 22 different sculptures.
The latest, a hand-crafted bronze monument in the likeness of composer-pianist Chopin, arrived in 2008 as a gift from the Polish Embassy in Singapore.
In the Bedok park, the four panels from the Berlin Wall were unveiled in January at a ceremony attended by Foreign Minister George Yeo.
The panels, each bearing graffiti art by German artist Dennis Kaun, are on loan from an American oil industry veteran and his Singapore-born wife.
Not only do works of art beautify a park, but they can also be educational.
A pair of red and yellow statues, situated at the edge of Katong Park, has drawn curious stares from passers-by.
The pair, depicting a British and Sikh guard whose cylindrical bodies were made to resemble cannons, were donated by a local businessman, Mr Jack Sim, 53.
They serve to commemorate the rich heritage of the former Tanjong Katong Fort on the grounds of the park today, paying tribute to the multi-ethnic civil defence force of the garrison in the late 1800s, said Mr Sim.
They may pique the interest of Singaporeans in the 'very rich history of this country', which he says many are not interested in exploring today.
'I don't want the young of today to grow up without childhood memories of Singapore. It makes me happy seeing joggers pause to smile at the statues and trying to discover their significance to the area.'
At Bedok Reservoir Park, 10 visitors interviewed told The Straits Times that the Berlin Wall panels added much more to the park with their artistic and historical value.
The statues at Katong Park did the same for retired lawyer Reginald Lim, 66, a regular visitor.
'I've been living in this area since 1946, but the statues will have educational value for especially the young, since they tell the story of this area's history, which they may not be familiar with.'
Joyce Hooi, Business Times 22 Mar 10;
SINGAPORE may be lagging its European counterparts in terms of local demand for sustainable products and services, but all of that may soon change, says Mark Wade, chairman of consultancy Future Considerations.
'In Europe, the cost of organic and sustainable food has dropped to the point that it costs the same as normal food,' according to Mr Wade.
'I would expect that with global procurement, the same thing will happen in Singapore. As global chains begin to set up shop in Asia, they will bring their standards with them and influence local demand.'
Mr Wade was the keynote speaker yesterday at the Corporate Social Responsibility Seminar organised by the Delegation of the European Union to Singapore and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies at Orchard Hotel.
While he acknowledged the misgivings of local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) about their ability to join the sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement, he also remained resolutely optimistic.
'Many SMEs in Asia are family-owned and being able to talk about CSR within the family means that conversations can be had more easily in order to change the way they operate,' he said.
In Europe, where the CSR movement has gotten well underway, the link between it and the bottom line is much clearer, and its implications will stretch beyond the continent.
'Many European companies investing and trading outside the EU have begun to understand . . . that integrity, mutual accountability and inter-dependence are crucial to their success,' said Holger Standertskjöld, ambassador and head of the EU Delegation to Singapore, at the seminar.
The sustainability report, one of the features of the CSR movement, has gained momentum in Singapore, with big names like Keppel Land and PowerSeraya Ltd recently gaining accolades for their sustainability reporting.
These reports can cut both ways, Mr Wade warned. 'A good sustainability report will have key performance indicator targets that the firm can use to look at year-by-year performance and improve,' he said.
'If the report is just a cynical PR exercise, it's not worth the paper it's printed on.'
New Straits Times 21 Mar 10;
KUCHING: Mystery surrounds a proposed new orang utan sanctuary in Kuala Lumpur, which nobody seems to want.
Sarawak and Sabah are not willing to relocate their orang utan to the sanctuary, said Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit.
He said both states wanted their orang utan to stay where they were and therefore, the government now had to look for orang utans from a small island in Perak.
He said the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) had allocated about 200 acres in Kepong to set up the new eco-tourism attraction which was similar to the Semenggoh Wildlife Centre here and the Sepilok orangutan sanctuary in Sandakan.
“We are going to transfer some of the orang utan from the island in Perak since the population there has increased and exceeded the island’s caring capacity which makes it difficult for the primates to get enough food,” he said after opening SK Siburan Baru Parent-Teacher Association’s annual general meeting here yesterday.
Dawos, who is a FRIM board member, said the species in Perak, the Borneon orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), was similar to that in Sarawak and Sabah. He was not certain when the project would start.
However, he said the government would not go back on its plan because an orang utan sanctuary in Kuala Lumpur would be a big success and it would leave a lasting impression on visitors in line with the government’s intention to make eco-tourism a more prominent sector.
“I cannot ascertain when we can make it a reality. But we must do it,” he said.
FRIM director-genereal Datuk Dr Abd Latif Mohmod, however. said the institute had never requested for the setting up of an orang utan sanctuary.
“Orang utan conservation comes under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and Perhilitan. We are a forest research centre focusing on flora,” he said.
New Straits Times 21 Mar 10;
BACHOK: The fishing crew involved in towing the 10m long whale shark to shore risk facing a fine of up to RM20,000 or two years' imprisonment for catching a protected species, even if it was already dead.
Fisheries director-general Datuk Junaidi Ayub said the case would be investigated under the Fisheries Act 1985 and Fisheries Regulations (Control of Endangered Fish Species) 1999 (Amendment) 2008.
He said the skipper should have contacted the department or other relevant authorities when they spotted the whale shark, known by its scientific name Rhincodon typus.
It is reported to have a lifespan of 70 years and exists in the South China Sea and the species is on the brink of extinction.
It was reported yesterday that the whale shark was found floating on the water's surface by a fishing crew about 6am before they towed the whale shark over 38.9km to a fish landing jetty in Tok Bali.
The shark was reported dead after it arrived at the jetty four hours later.
The department will conduct a study on the shark based on the various organs taken from its carcass.
"The organs will be sent for further analysis which will provide us with information on the cause of death, its age and how it had entered into our waters," said Junaidi.
The whale shark that weighs more than two tonnes was buried yesterday in Pasir Puteh, Kelantan. — Picture by Ramli Hussin
V. Shuman, New Straits Times 21 Mar 10;
KUALA LUMPUR: The Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) rescued several protected animals and seized carcasses of wild animals in two separate operations in Johor Baru recently.
The department's law enforcement director, Saharudin Anan, said a species of the eagle and an ape -- high on the protected list -- were among the animals rescued.
The first operation was conducted at 5pm on Thursday at a wildlife trader's shop after a tip-off.
The officers detained a man in his 40s, who later led the raiding party to his house, where he also kept some of the protected animals.
"We found two monkeys -- a white-handed gibbon and a pig-tailed macaque, a rose-ringed parakeet, three hill mynas and eight parrots from three different species kept in cages.
"We also found animal parts such as a pair of horns from a serow (a type of goat), the skull of a sambar deer and the skin of a barking deer -- both of which the trader had hung on his wall as trophies," said Saharudin at the department's headquarters in Cheras here yesterday.
The trader is being investigated for 10 offences under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act and can be fined up to RM37,000 and jailed for up to 30 years, or both, if convicted.
Saharudin said it was the common practice among licensed hunters to display animal parts as trophies, as proof of their hunting skills.
"But the trader failed to show us any documentation of being a licensed hunter."
In the second raid at a car wash outlet on Friday, the team rescued a protected white-bellied sea eagle, which was confined to a cage.
Investigations showed the female owner of the car wash, in her 40s, had had the bird for more than a year.
She can be fined up to RM3,000 and jailed up to two years, or both, upon conviction.
Yahoo News 21 Mar 10;
HANOI (AFP) – Vietnamese police have seized about 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of ivory near the border with China, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
Traffic police made the discovery after stopping a car early Friday morning, said Tuoi Tre newspaper, which did not say if any arrests were made.
The police declined to comment when contacted by AFP.
State-linked media reported last year that Vietnamese police had seized hundreds of kilograms of ivory. Much of it was tusks illegally imported from Kenya.
There is a booming black market in African ivory linked to Asian crime syndicates, experts and delegates said last week at a meeting in Doha of the UN-backed Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Communist Vietnam banned the ivory trade in 1992 but shops can still sell stocks dating from before the ban. This allows some to restock illegally with recently-produced items, wildlife activists have said.
Separately, security staff at southern Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat airport on Saturday confiscated 33 live pangolins, Tuoi Tre reported.
The pangolins, also known as scaly anteaters, had been sold to customers in the country's north at a price of one million dong (53 dollars) per kilogram, Tuoi Tre reported.
Demand for pangolin meat, with its supposedly medicinal and aphrodisiac qualities, is widespread in China and Vietnam.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list pangolins as endangered.
Ivory seizure highlights ongoing illicit trade in Viet Nam
TRAFFIC 23 Mar 10;
Decorative ivory items illegally on sale in Viet Nam Click photo to enlarge © TRAFFIC Quang Ninh, 23 March 2010 - Vietnamese authorities have confiscated nearly 150 kg of elephant ivory in the Vietnamese province of Quang Ninh on the border with China.
Authorities made the seizure, which included 30 elephant tusks and 15 worked ivory pieces, from a car en route to the Vietnamese border town of Mong Cai on 19 March. The five passengers told police the goods were intended for sale in China.
No arrests have yet been made and the investigation is ongoing.
This seizure highlights the ongoing illicit ivory trade that afflicts Viet Nam and the Southeast Asia region at large. Increasingly, wildlife traffickers affiliated with criminal syndicates appear to be smuggling elephant ivory from Africa into Southeast Asia for domestic consumption or for re-export to countries elsewhere in the region.
According to the latest Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) report, the world’s largest database on ivory seizures, demand in China is a significant driver of the ivory trade, with Thailand and Viet Nam highlighted as countries of concern in the region.
In Viet Nam, elephant populations have declined to historically low numbers, with an estimated fewer than 150 individuals remaining in the wild, despite a 1992 ban on ivory trade.
This seizure took place at a time when more than 130 countries are meeting in Qatar for a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) conference.
Yesterday, governments at CITES did not give approval for two countries – Zambia and Tanzania – to sell their ivory legally through CITES, nor to downlist their elephant populations within the Convention, a necessary precursor for any sale to happen. A Kenyan proposal to prevent any legal ivory sales for 20 years was withdrawn.
“The decision not to allow further ivory sales at this stage is a prudent one, given the current high levels of poaching. However, the issue of whether sales should be allowed or not detracts from the real issue that appears to be driving the poaching of elephants, namely the continued existence of illegal, unregulated domestic ivory markets in parts of Africa and Asia,” said Richard Thomas, Communications Co-ordinator for TRAFFIC, the international wildlife trade monitoring network.
Last week at the CITES conference, Vietnamese officials were recognized for their efforts to combat wildlife trafficking with the Secretary-General’s Certificate of Commendation, awarded to Customs Officials working in the port of Hai Phong. Hai Phong is a popular transit point in the regional wildlife trade and has been the site of a number of high-profile seizures over the past year.
The ETIS analysis can be downloaded at: http://www.cites.org/common/cop/15/inf/E15i-53.pdf
WWF 21 Mar 10;
Doha, Qatar: WWF welcomed improvements over trade in tigers and other Asian big cat species at a United Nations meeting on wildlife trade.
An amended CITES resolution on Asian big cats calls for increased regional cooperation among tiger range states, improved reporting, establishment of a tiger trade database and improved law enforcement. Representatives from the more than 100 governments attending the meeting, including the majority of the tiger range countries, agreed unanimously to a European Union proposal at Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
“This proposal was a test for the effectiveness of CITES as an international conservation agreement and despite the compromise, progress was made,” said Carlos Drews, Director, Species Programme, WWF International. “But words alone will not save wild tigers as a global poaching epidemic empties Asia’s forests and CITES governments will need to live up to the commitments made today.”
Unfortunately, no improvements were agreed to strengthen the control of domestic trade in tiger parts and products from tiger farms. Tiger range countries led by China claimed that CITES oversight would infringe on the sovereignty of countries and was beyond the mandate of CITES as an international treaty, even though similar measures have already been taken by CITES for Tibetan antelope, elephants, rhinos and sturgeon. However, the decision relating to tiger farming agreed at the last meeting of the CITES Conference of the Parties in 2007 was retained, so the control measures have not weakened.
“We are pleased that no ground was lost and that China joined the consensus,” added Drews. “It is now up to the tiger range countries to work with the wider international community to crack down on illegal poaching and trade, and further reduce demand for tiger products.”
Investigations have found products like tiger bone wine are still openly available in Asian markets and online. Sustained efforts through demand reduction campaigns are desperately needed or the gains made since China’s 1993 domestic tiger trade ban will be severely compromised.
With tiger numbers still decreasing and an estimated 3,200 wild tigers remaining, poaching and illegal tiger trade as the most urgent threat to their survival must be addressed aggressively.
Regan Doherty, Reuters 21 Mar 10;
DUBAI (Reuters) - A U.N. conference rejected on Sunday trade restrictions on red and pink corals used in jewelry in what environmentalists called a new setback for endangered marine species.
Delegates at the 175-nation meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Doha failed to back a U.S. and European Union proposal to limit trade in 31 species of corals, found from the Pacific to the Mediterranean.
"Vanity has once again trumped conservation," said David Allison of Oceana, which calls itself the world's largest international ocean conservation group, of the decision that would have affected trade worth tens of millions of dollars.
"Today is yet another example of CITES failing to protect endangered marine species," he said. On Friday, the March 13-25 conference also rejected a proposal to ban trade in bluefin tuna, prized as sushi in Japan.
Sunday's coral proposal fell short of the needed two-thirds majority by mustering 64 votes in favor with 59 against and 10 abstentions, delegates said.
The proposed restrictions would have stopped short of a trade ban but required countries to ensure better regulations and to ensure that stocks of the slow-growing corals, in the family coralliidae, were sustainably harvested.
CATCHES DROP
Catches have dropped to about 50 metric tones a year in the main coral grounds in the Pacific and the Mediterranean from about 450 metric tones in the mid-1980s, the U.S. and EU proposal said.
In Italy, top quality beads fetch up to $50 per grime and necklaces sell for up to $25,000, it said. Main harvesting and processing centres include Italy, Japan and Taiwan. The United States is the largest market for red and pink corals.
Some nations objected it was complex to identify the red and pink corals at customs posts. But some rare corals, including black corals, are already protected by CITES.
The wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC and conservation group WWF said they were "deeply disappointed" by Sunday's vote. Measures to protect red and pink corals were also rejected the last time CITES met, in 2007.
"Without the trade control measures this would have introduced, the current overharvesting of these precious corals will continue unabated," said Ernie Cooper of TRAFFIC Canada.
Separately, CITES unanimously approved a proposal by Iran to ban all trade in Kaiser's spotted newt, a type of salamander from Iran, delegates said. The newt is under threat from trade agreed over the Internet by collectors.
(Writing by Alister Doyle in Oslo)
Wildlife trade body leaves rare corals unprotected
Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 21 Mar 10;
DOHA (AFP) – A UN body on Sunday rejected the monitoring of trade in dwindling stocks of precious corals days after nixing a ban on bluefin tuna, raising doubts about its capacity to oversee high-value species.
The Conference on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meeting in Doha until Thursday, shot down the proposal despite an 85 percent drop since 1980 in global harvests of red and pink coral, among the most valuable of wildlife commodities.
A single necklace can sell for 25,000 dollars (18,000 euros), with a kilo of polished coral costing up to twice that.
Environmental groups slammed the decision, warning that the consequences could be severe, perhaps irreversible.
As with Atlantic bluefin, Japan led opposition to the measure, which targeted seven species of the deep-water, reef-building organism, one in the Mediterranean and six in waters off Japan and Taiwan.
Another 24 "lookalike" species, also in the Coralliidae family, would have been covered to prevent accidental harvesting.
"Management is already under strict control," a Japanese delegate said during plenary debate.
North African countries with coral cottage industries joined in the "no" vote, arguing that a CITES Appendix II listing -- which mandates export and scientific monitoring -- would damage livelihoods.
"It will have serious negative repercussions. Coral generates 5,000 jobs in our country, and 1.4 million dinar (one million dollars, 740,000 euros) every year," said a delegate from Tunisia, calling for a secret vote.
The 133 countries that cast ballots were almost evenly split, but the proposal would have needed a two-thirds majority to pass.
Co-sponsors the United States and the European Union argued that over-exploitation was responsible for crashed populations, and that only global oversight could prevent the species from slipping past the threshold of viability.
Some 30-50 metric tons of pink and red coral are harvested annually from the Mediterranean and Pacific, much of it transformed into jewellery in Italy.
"We need to think in terms of the cautionary principle," said Kristian Teleki, a marine biologist at conservation group Sea Web.
"The harvesting is happening at such a rate, it is simply not sustainable when you look at the ecology of these organisms."
Current practices in the industry could more accurately be described as "coral mining" than fishing, he added.
The organisms take 100 years to reach maturity, but newly discovered beds are often exploited beyond the capacity to reproduce within a couple of years.
Unable to source enough coral from the Mediterranean, Italian artisans -- centred in Torre del Greco -- today get 70 to 80 percent of their raw material from Taiwan, Japan and other sources in the Pacific, according to a 2004 study.
Marine conservation groups reacted strongly to the proposal's rejection.
"To say that it is highly disappointing would be an understatement," said Ernie Cooper, a coral expert with the wildlife group TRAFFIC.
"The message of this meeting is that it is going to be very difficult to achieve conservation for high-value marine species given the concerted effort to block any attempt to list them on CITES."
Last week, CITES rejected a total ban on fishing of Atlantic bluefin tuna from the Mediterranean and the eastern Atlantic.
Historically, the UN trade body has dealt more with charismatic fauna such as great apes, big cats and elephants, rather than commercially harvested species worth billions.
"The unregulated and virtually unmanaged collection and trade of these 31 species is driving them to extinction. Today's decision sets a terrible precedent," said David Allison of Washington-based Oceana.
Three years ago, a nearly identical proposal came before CITES at its last meeting.
At that time, the Appendix II listing was initially approved, only to be overturned during the final minutes of the 12-day meeting in a secret ballot.
CITES rejects trade controls for overharvested corals
WWF 21 Mar 10;
Doha, Qatar – Governments participating in the United Nations’ species trade convention voted today against implementing better protections for red and pink coral, which are being overharvested to supply the international jewelry trade.
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) governments voted against a joint United States and European Union proposal to list all species in the family Corallidae in Appendix II of the Convention.
An Appendix II listing would have required countries to introduce measures to ensure international trade in these corals is sustainable and regulated.
“TRAFFIC and WWF are deeply disappointed with the decision not to list red and pink corals,” said Ernie Cooper of TRAFFIC Canada.
“Without the trade control measures this would have introduced, the current overharvesting of these precious corals will continue unabated.”
There are more than 30 species of Corallidae found worldwide, which are harvested in the Mediterranean and the Western Pacific, primarily for the manufacture of jewelry and other objets d’art.
Major harvesting and processing territories include Italy, Japan and Taiwan. The USA is the largest market for red and pink corals.
Many species are known to be threatened through overharvesting. According to TRAFFIC and WWF there is a clear case that regulation of trade in Corallidae under CITES would provide important safeguards in support of better management of these valuable coral species.
“This is a shame for CITES governments because it was an opportunity to show that the Convention has not entirely lost the capacity to face down vested interests that oppose CITES protection for marine species,” said Dr Colman O’Criodain, Wildlife Trade Policy Analyst at WWF International.
China has already listed four of the threatened coral species found in its waters in Appendix III of the Convention. Such a listing requires that trade must be conducted only with the appropriate paperwork, allows countries to track and assess levels of international trade.
However, several countries considered the identification of corals a serious stumbling block for implementing trade regulations.
“Bringing up coral identification was just a smokescreen to confuse the issue,” said Cooper, who is soon to complete a guide to allow identification of corals, and has recently published a method for using DNA to identify manufactured coral products.
“Today’s decision was a question of expediency rather than a full examination of the facts. Commercial lobbying won through,” said Cooper, adding: “The conservation of corals is all at sea.”
Between 30 and 50 metric tonnes of red and pink corals are harvested annually to meet consumer demand for jewelry and decorative items. The United States alone imported 28 million pieces of red and pink coral between 2001 and 2008.
Corallium populations off parts of the Italian, French and Spanish coasts are no longer commercially viable, while in the Western Pacific they have been depleted within five years of their discovery and harvest is shifting to newly discovered populations.
Corallium populations have diminished dramatically in size; in the Mediterranean, colonies of Corallium rubrum of up to 50cm in height were once common and now more than 90 percent of colonies in fished areas are only 3 to 5cm tall, and less than half are sexually mature.
More terrestrial fauna placed under CITES
Proposal to regulate trade in red and pink corals widely used in jewellery defeated again
UNEP 21 Mar 10;
Doha, 21 March 2010 - A two-week meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) decided by consensus today to include several reptiles and amphibians from Central America and the Islamic Republic of Iran in its lists.
Governments did not have any objection to regulating trade in a Guatemalan Spiny-tailed iguana (Ctenosaura palearis) and other three species of iguanas native to central and south-eastern Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula and Central America. These iguanas are mainly vegetarian, but occasionally feed on insects (ants, wasps and beetles), and are known to be in demand for the international exotic pet trade, mainly in Europe and the United States.
The CITES summit also adopted measures to protect a whole genus of tree frogs from Central and South America that is under pressure owing to habitat degradation and loss, and to the fungal disease (chytridiomycosis). Some of these frogs are subject to international trade.
Continuing in the same trend for terrestrial species, a salamander endemic to the Islamic Republic of Iran was also listed by consensus in Appendix I, which means that international commercial trade is prohibited. The Kaiser's newt (Neurergus kaiseri) is protected in its range State and the main concern is the demand for this species on the international market. Individuals caught in the wild are being illegally exported and find their way into the pet trade for use in aquaria.
Towards the end of the afternoon, the agenda turned again to marine species to consider a proposal submitted by the United States to control trade in 31 species of red and pink precious corals (Appendix II). Three years after a similar proposal was rejected at the Hague meeting, delegates have defeated for the second time (with 64 votes in favour, 59 against and 10 abstentions) the attempt to list some additional precious corals in CITES (black corals are already protected by CITES).
The family Coralliidae includes over 30 pink and red coral species, the most commercially valuable precious corals. These species have been fished for millennia, and millions of items are traded internationally each year. According to the proposal of the United States, the greatest risk to populations of Coralliidae is fishing to supply international trade, with landings that have declining by 60-80 % since the 1980s, and reductions in the size structure of populations in fished areas equivalent to a loss of 80-90 % of the reproductive modules (polyps). International demand has contributed to serial depletions of most known populations of pink and red corals, and newly-discovered stocks have been rapidly exhausted.
In early December 2009, an FAO Expert Panel concluded that the available evidence did not support the proposal to include all species in the family Coralliidae (Corallium spp. andParacorallium spp.) in CITES Appendix II.
The Panel considered that populations representing a large proportion of the abundance of the seven species [Coralliumrubrum, C. japonicum, C. secondum, C. elatius, C. konojoi, Coralliumsp. nov., C. lauuense (C. regale)] (globally did not meet the biological criteria for listing in Appendix II.
Lack of sufficient scientific evidence and the impact on the livelihoods of costal local populations depending on corals were the main arguments advanced by the opponents to this proposal. Coming tomorrow, elephant conservation and ivory sales.
Michael Casey, Associated Press Yahoo News 21 Mar 10;
DOHA, Qatar – The Internet has emerged as one of the greatest threats to rare species, fueling the illegal wildlife trade and making it easier to buy everything from live baby lions to wine made from tiger bones, conservationists and law enforcement officers said Sunday.
The Web's impact was made clear at the meeting of the 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES. Delegates voted overwhelmingly Sunday to ban the trade of the Kaiser's spotted newt, which the World Wildlife Fund says has been devastated by the Internet trade.
A proposal from the United States and Sweden to regulate the trade in red and pink coral — which is crafted into expensive jewelry and sold extensively on the Web — was defeated. Delegates voted the idea down mostly over concerns the increased regulations might impact poor fishing communities.
Trade on the Web poses "one of the biggest challenges facing CITES," said Paul Todd, a campaign manager for the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
"The Internet is becoming the dominant factor overall in the global trade in protected species," he said. "There will come a time when country to country trade of large shipments between big buyers and big sellers in different countries is a thing of the past."
The IFAW has done several surveys of illegal trade on the Web and a three-month survey in 2008 found more than 7,000 species worth $3.8 million sold on auction sites, classified ads and chat rooms, mostly in the United States but also Europe, China, Russia and Australia. Most of what is traded is illegal African ivory but the group has also found exotic birds along with rare products such as tiger-bone wine and pelts from protected species like polar bears and leopards.
A separate 2009 survey by the group Campaign Against the Cruelty to Animals targeted the Internet trade in Ecuador, finding offers to sell live capuchin monkeys, lion cubs and ocelots.
"As the Internet knows no borders, it causes several new problems regarding the enforcement of the protection of endangered species," the group said in its report.
John Sellar, CITES' chief law enforcement officer, argued the impact of the Web was overblown and that many species that appear illegal may in fact may be legal. He also said many big traders were reluctant to use the Internet, since payments can be traced and they can be ensnared in undercover operations.
"There seems to be little evidence that there are commercial operations using the Internet," Sellar said. "Although the risks may be small depending on which country you are living in, you can be identified when using the Internet. So there are clearly risks there."
Still, a CITES committee endorsed an e-commerce proposal Sunday that calls on governments to draft measures to address the Internet trade and law enforcement agencies to dedicate a unit to focus on it.
The private sector has also moved to limit the illegal trade.
EBay, which was singled out in the IFAW survey as being a main source of much of the ivory sales, said in a statement that it instituted a complete ban on the ivory trade in 2008, which activists said has helped slow the trade in tusks on the Web.
The newt is a textbook example of what can happen to one species through trade on the Web. According to a study by the WWF, the black and brown salamander with white spots is coveted in the pet trade. They number only around 1,000 and live in Iran's Zagros Mountains. About 200 have been traded annually over the years, mostly through a Web site operated out of Ukraine. Their population has fallen 80 percent.
"The Internet itself isn't the threat, but it's another way to market the product," said Ernie Cooper, who spearhead the investigation into the newt for TRAFFIC Canada. "Most people are not willing to pay $300 for a salamander. But through the power of the Internet, tapping into the global market, you can find buyers."
The red and pink coral, which consist of 32 species, are harvested in deep Mediterranean waters and turned into expensive jewelry either in Italy or cheaper place like Taiwan and China, according to the marine conservation group SeaWeb.
It is the most widely traded and valuable of all precious corals but has no international protection, resulting in a brisk international trade in the species, the group said.
Opposition to the coral proposal was led by Japan, which also successfully spearheaded efforts last week to defeat a proposed ban on the international export of Atlantic bluefin tuna, a key ingredient in sushi. They were joined by several coastal states including Indonesia, Malaysia and Iceland, all of whom argued the corals are crucial to the survival of local communities and are not overharvested.
Meanwhile, delegates approved a voluntary conservation plan for endangered tigers that calls for tougher legislation in countries home to the big cats to tackle widespread smuggling and boost money spent on law enforcement.
The British plan also calls for countries to better control tiger farms and to phase out traditional medicine markets which fuel demand for tiger parts. The proposal includes no funding for the 13 tiger range countries, only a request for donor assistance.
The Tiger population has plummeted because of human encroachment, the loss of nine-tenths of their habitat and poaching to supply the illegal trade. Their numbers have fallen from 100,000 at the beginning of the 20th century to around 3,600 today.
Internet 'threatens' rare species
BBC News 21 Mar 10;
The internet has emerged as one of the biggest threats to endangered species, according to conservationists who are meeting in Doha, Qatar.
Campaigners say it is easier than ever before to buy and sell anything from live baby lions to polar bear pelts on online auction sites and chatrooms.
The findings were presented at the 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).
Several proposals to give endangered species more protection were defeated.
Delegates will vote on changes to the trade in ivory later this week.
Web effect
"The internet is becoming the dominant factor overall in the global trade in protected species," Paul Todd of the International Fund for Animal Welfare was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
He said thousands of endangered species are regularly traded on the internet, as buyers and sellers take advantage of the anonymity - and vast global market - the world wide web can offer.
Those trying to police illegal sales say the size of problem is almost impossible to estimate. They say the US is the biggest market, but that Europe, China, Russia and Australia also play a large part.
On Sunday, delegates voted to ban all international trade in a rare type of Iranian salamander, the Kaiser's spotted newt, which the World Wildlife Fund says has been devastated by the internet trade.
But more high-profile attempts to ban trade in polar bears, bluefin tuna and rare corals have all failed, leaving environmental activists dismayed, the BBC's Stephanie Hancock reports from Doha.
A proposal from the US and Sweden to regulate the trade in red and pink coral - which is crafted into expensive jewellery and sold extensively on the web - was defeated.
Delegates voted the idea down mostly over concerns the increased regulations might impact poor fishing communities.
Gladstone Thurston, The Bahamas Weekly 21 Mar 10;
MARSH HARBOUR. Bahamas -- The explosion of lionfish population in Bahamian waters is “a plague of biblical proportions stalking the Bahamian economy,” the Reef Conservancy Society of Abaco is warning.
They are convinced that unless urgent action is taken it will wreck tourism, fishing and related industries.
It has now been confirmed that lionfish, known for their voracious appetite for Bahamian marine life, have been decimating fish that tend the coral reefs.
The loss of herbivorous fish sets the stage for seaweeds to potentially overwhelm coral reefs and disrupt the delicate ecological balance in which they exist, studies show.
Following on the heals of over fishing, sediment depositions, coral bleaching, and increasing ocean acidity, “this is of grave concern,” said renown zoologist/marine biologist, Dr Mark Hixon, a professor at Oregon State University.
Dr Hixon and his group work from the Perry Institute for Marine Science, Lee Stocking Island, Exuma. They have a three-year grant from the US National Science Foundation to study lionfish.
He warned that the rapid reproduction potential of lionfish must now be understood in context with their ability to seriously depopulate coral reef ecosystems of other fish.
It is well documented that over fishing parrotfishes and other herbivores contributes to the death of reef-building corals. Lionfish are “highly effective” at ‘over-fishing’, he warned.
The Conservancy said Bahamians ought to be alarmed as this strikes to the heart of tourism, fishing and related industries on which the economy of the country stands.
“Tourists come here to see the turquoise waters, they come to fish and dive and enjoy the beautiful reefs,” stated the Conservancy. “If theses things go, there will be no reason for tourists to come anymore. And tourism with its spin-off industries is the very foundation of our economy.
“When there are no fish out there to clean the reef, the reef dies and the water turns a dark green; dead rubble is covered by seaweeds.
“Tourists who come for the sun, sand and sea will stop coming. Divers are not going to spend all that money to come here to look at dead reefs. There will be no more bonefishing and fishing tournaments. Restaurants will have to close. People will be out of work. It will be chaotic.”
South Abaco Member of Parliament Edison M Key said he was “extremely concerned” since a substantial amount of the Abaco work force is engaged in tourism, commercial fishing and support industries.
The Conservancy’s warning was made all the more dire as lionfish have already started to invade nursery habitats in mangroves and creeks where marine life breed.
“We found that a single small lionfish can reduce the number of small fish on a small reef by about 80 per cent in just a few weeks,” said Dr Hixon.
His expertise is the ecology of coastal marine fishes in temperate and tropical regions. He has studied reef fish in The Bahamas for more than two decades. His research was interrupted in 2007 by the arrival of lionfish.
In an interview Saturday, Dr Hixon told of other significant findings.
“We are not finding many native species that seem willing to try to control lionfish naturally,” he said. “We have tried feeding lionfish to large groupers and sharks and they do no seem interested.
“Native predatory fish do not seem to recognize lionfish as even being fish because lionfish look so weird, and then when they do take a bite they get a mouthful of venomous spines, so that is a deterrent.
“Moreover, unlike native Bahamian fish, invasive lionfish have almost no parasites.”
Red lionfish ( Pterois volitans), native to the Pacific, were first sighted in The Bahamas in 2005.
Having never existed here before and not facing controls normally faced in their native Pacific region, they are reproducing on an unheard-of scale, said Dr Hixon.
Scientist, Dr Isabelle Cote, a professor at Simon Fraser University, reported finding nearly 400 per 2.5 acres (hectare) here.
With their reddish and whitish stripes, a row of spines down their backs, and fan-like fins, these beautiful creatures are easy to spot. Every spine of the lionfish is venomous. While no fatalities have been reported, their venom is extremely painful.
Lionfish tend to grow larger in The Bahamas, investigations show. Football-size specimens have been reported. Only one of the 15 or so species in the Pacific has been spotted here.
A “key question,” said Dr Hixon, is whether whatever keeps lionfish in check in the Pacific can be employed here using native Atlantic species.
“We are working on that right now,” he said. “All we can say at this point is that whatever naturally controls lionfish and keeps them in check in their native Pacific is very effective, because they are rare there.
“They occur over a broad range of the tropical Pacific but they are minor players, which is vastly different from here in The Bahamas where they are everywhere.”
One of the best ways to control lionfish is to develop an industry for its edible meat, he said. As cooking de-natures the venom and the tissue is not toxic, it could be advertise as a conservation dish.
Already lionfish meat is a hit in high-class restaurants in Chicago and New York. It is said to taste similar to snapper.
“If we can encourage fisheries in The Bahamas and see that lionfish are well advertised in the United States where restaurants are already serving them, then I think we will have a good thing going,” said Dr Hixon. “It would benefit Bahamian fishermen and help save the reefs.”
It is uncertain whether lionfish will ever be eradicated from this region.
“The effort should focus more on control,” he explained. “There are so many lionfish, and they occur at so many depths and in so many habitats that complete eradication seems unlikely to me.
“However, if we are able to implement some strong controls on them and Mother Nature steps up – let us say a parasite or a disease does attack the lionfish – then perhaps they could be eradicated.”
A good thing about lionfish is that they are easy to locate and capture.
“In a localized area, like a popular fishing reef,” he said, “it is a simple matter of divers going down with hand nets and sweeping the area periodically.
“It is another reason for encouraging a fishery. It would be important because it would not just be people volunteering to save the reefs but people will be going down to catch lionfish to sell them.”
Abaco fishermen are alarmed that lionfish have found their way into the mangroves and creeks. A new paper has documented the same in San Salvador.
“That is really a serious problem - lionfish in the mangroves and creeks,” said Dr Hixon. “We have to figure out something to do about this invasion before it causes a major crisis.”
Joshua Howat Berger Yahoo News 21 Mar 10;
KRUGER NATIONAL PARK, South Africa (AFP) – The rhinoceros walking down the road at South Africa's largest game reserve had no horns, one of the few to survive a surge in poaching that has sent killings to a 15-year high.
A startled tourist alerted game rangers to the animal, the first time a poached rhino had been found still alive at Kruger National Park.
"That was really the first case that I know of where we found a rhino which the horn was removed and it was struggling on the road," said Kruger spokesman William Mabasa.
His theory is that poachers used a tranquiliser to let them remove the rhino's horns silently.
Although the animal survived the amputation, veterinarians were unable to save its life.
"They eventually had to destroy it because the wound was rather too big," Mabasa said.
Two rhinos at a nature reserve near Pretoria suffered a similar fate earlier this month after poachers overdosed them with tranquilisers.
Their fate is emblematic of an insidious turn in the poaching trade, a top agenda item at the general assembly of the 175-nation wildlife treaty CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) underway in Doha.
Black-market demand for rhino horn has soared in the past several years, largely due to the economic boom in east and southeast Asia, where the horn is used for medicinal purposes.
That surge in demand has combined with endemic poverty in many rhino habitats to push rhino poaching worldwide to the highest levels seen in 15 years, according to the wildlife monitoring group Traffic.
South Africa and neighbouring Zimbabwe are responsible for 95 percent of the poaching, Traffic said.
Now conservation experts and South African parks officials say international crime syndicates have entered the trade.
The syndicates sponsor organised hunts and, increasingly, use helicopters, military-grade guns and prescription tranquilisers to pursue their prey.
"Current rhino poaching trends indicate a high level of organisation and crime syndication at the local, national, regional and international levels," Reynold Thakhuli, spokesman for South Africa National Parks, told AFP.
"Rhino poaching activity has escalated dramatically throughout South Africa," he said.
South Africa's national parks say they lost 36 rhinos to poaching in 2008 and 50 in 2009.
The country has already lost 31 rhinos to poaching so far this year, according to the International Rhino Foundation.
Mabasa said the escalation has hit Kruger Park particularly hard.
"We'd never had an amount of poaching that I would refer to as a problem -- not until last year," he said.
"I think the highest we'd ever had before was seven in one year" in 2008, he said. "Then in 2009 we lost 41."
International police agency Interpol is moving to crack down on the trade.
In February the organisation carried out a month-long sting operation that led to the seizure of 10 million euros (13.6 million dollars) in illegal wildlife medicines and a series of arrests worldwide.
But more international efforts will be needed to reduce rhino poaching in southern Africa, said Oubaas Coetzer, an inspector with the South African Police Service at Kruger National Park.
Coetzer said local police have had success in making low-level arrests. Last year, they arrested 47 rhino poachers for 50 poaching incidents.
But poaching only increased.
"We cannot do anything about the black market price," Coetzer told AFP.
"So you catch somebody in the syndicate, he's now out of action. But there are still lots of others that can fill that space, because of the money. It's organised crime," he said.
"Arresting people and sending them to jail is not stopping (poaching). The only thing that can help is to reduce or completely stop the trade in rhino horn."
Niluksi Koswanage, Reuters 22 Mar 10;
KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 (Reuters) - Global consumer firms are gearing up to cut ties with palm oil suppliers who are resorting to widespread deforestation and peatland clearance in a bid to meet growing food and fuel demand.
In a space of three months, the world's top food firm Nestle (NESN.VX) and No. 1 palm oil buyer Unilever (UNc.AS) (ULVR.L) have stopped buying palm oil from Indonesia's Sinar Mas. [ID:nLDE62G2B3] [ID:nGEE5BA0Z3]
The cancellations come after environmentalist group Greenpeace highlighted how these firms' suppliers destroyed forest habitats of endangered orangutans.
Here are questions and answers on what could happen next:
WHICH BIG CONSUMER FIRM WILL BE THE NEXT TO SHUN SINAR MAS?
Greenpeace, in a series of reports on Sinar Mas, also identified Proctor & Gamble (PG.N) and Kraft Foods (KFT.N) as main customers. These firms will find it difficult not to follow in the footsteps of Unilever and Nestle.
J.P. Morgan said in a recent note there may be more supply cancellations if Sinar Mas, along with its Singapore-listed unit Golden Agri (GAGR.SI) and PT Smart (SMAR.JK), continues with its plantation practices.
The investment bank identified Cadbury (CBRY.D), Campbell Soup Co (CPB.N), McDonald's Corp (MCD.N), Shiseido (4911.T), Burger King Holdings Inc (BKC.N) and Henkel (HNKG_p.DE) as among the key global customers for Sinar Mas.
HOW WILL INDONESIAN PLANTERS REACT?
The Indonesian Palm Oil Association (GAPKI) wants to bring together all planters that supply palm oil to Unilever to discuss taking action against the consumer goods giant, with a focus on whether to stop supplying Unilever collectively. [ID:nJAK404594]
But it remains to be seen if planters will take that step as more customers are expected to cancel contracts on environmental concerns and Indonesia needs overseas demand to absorb 70 percent of its total palm oil production.
There could be other implications. Indonesia, and even rival producer Malaysia may make good on their threats to take EU to the World Trade Organisation courts if their palm oil-based biofuel exports are rejected for markets there.
WILL CUTTING OUT ERRANT PALM OIL FIRMS SAVE FORESTS?
Analysts and traders say if more consumer goods companies join the Unilever and Nestle bandwagon, some Indonesian and Malaysian planters may have to rethink their farming practices.
They may finally take seriously the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RPSO) -- an industry body of consumers and planters that has developed an ethical certification system that include pledges to preserve forests and wildlife.
Many Indonesian planters, including Sinar Mas, are members but only three have received certification for some of their estates and mills as the majority say that premiums for producing eco-friendly palm oil are not high enough for them to commit.
Critics say many planters are using the RSPO to show they are eco-friendly but are afraid to subject most of their plantations and mills to scrutiny as many of their farming practices are hardly eco-friendly.
For firms who certified some output, see [ID:nSGE62K024]
Indonesian and Malaysian planters have said they can always rely on demand from top buyers India and China where access to affordable consumer products are a bigger priority than saving forests. [ID:nSGE5BD0KN]
WHAT OTHER PALM OIL FIRMS ARE UNDER THE RADAR?
Friends of the Earth has recently accused Malaysia's second largest planter IOI Corp (IOIB.KL) of encroaching into peatland forests in Indonesian side of Borneo island as it expands -- a practice the firm strongly denies.
This is bad publicity for a planter who belongs to the RSPO, has obtained green palm oil certification for some of its mills and estates in Malaysia and has become a key supplier to Finnish refiner Neste Oil's (NES1V.HE) biofuel plants in Europe. [ID:nLDE62B05H] (Editing by Himani Sarkar)
The Jakarta Post 21 Mar 10;
Indonesia’s mangrove forest area has shrunk from 4.2 million hectares in 1982 to 2 million hectares, according to an NGO.
People’s Coalition for Justice in Fisheries (Kiara) said Sunday the expansion of brackish fishponds was the main cause of the dwindling mangroves.
Kiara’s secretary general M. Riza Damanik said the deforestation had tipped the environmental balance in coastal areas, especially the declining fish production and rapid abrasions due to high waves.
“The government sees mangrove simply as a commodity that benefits a few people. The mangrove issue has demonstrated the government’s lack of environmental concern.”
The Royal Society, a science academy in Britain, recently released a report about the rapid loss of mangroves all over the world.
In Thailand, each hectare of brackish fishpond yields only US$9,600 for the owner. But the Thai government has to shoulder $1,000 in pollution cost, $12,400 in the loss of ecological functions, $8,400 in subsidies for local community and $9,300 to restore the mangrove forest.
Kiara notes the recent aggressive expansion of oil palm plantations had also worsened the situation because in some areas, the project affects coasts. — JP
WWF 21 Mar 10;
Gland, Switzerland – Environmental degradation is causing serious detrimental health impacts for humans, but protecting natural habitats can reverse this and supply positive health benefits, according to a new WWF report.
“Our research confirms what we know instinctively: Human health is inextricably linked to the health of the planet,” says Chris Elliot, WWF’s Executive Director of Conservation.
Vital Sites: The Contribution of Protected Areas to Human Health notes that the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates between 23 and 25 per cent of the global disease burden could be avoided by improved management of environmental conditions.
The report, released in advance of World Forestry Day on March 21, singles out deforestation for its key impacts on human health.
“Deforestation is a double blow to human health,” says Elliot. “It increases the spread of certain diseases while destroying plants and animals that may hold the key to treating illnesses that plague millions of people.”
Protecting natural landscapes can contribute positively to human health through protecting future medicinal resources, reducing the impacts of pollution, toxins and weather extremes and providing recreational places that support physical and mental well-being.
World Forestry Day takes on special significance this year, as 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity. “Vital Sites” makes a strong case for protecting biodiversity.
In the forests of Borneo alone in the past decade WWF reports discoveries of trees and shrubs that may be used to treat cancer, HIV and malaria. In all, 422 new plant species have been discovered in Borneo in the last 25 years, but deforestation puts them and others waiting to be discovered at risk.
“When WWF stresses the importance of biodiversity, it’s not just because we enjoy a variety of trees or frogs in a forest. It’s because the science tells us that those trees and frogs are vital to the forest’s health, and the forest’s health is vital to our health,” says Elliot.
The report stresses that while people are good at cultivating plants whose value is known, we have a poor track record at conserving those seen as having little use for humans. The problem is, habitat destruction is eliminating potentially valuable species before they can even be discovered, let alone tested.
This short-sighted use of forest resources has major economic implications as well; by the year 2000, plant-based pharmaceuticals were estimated to earn more than $30 billion per year.
“Vital Sites” should be a wake-up call, not just for people concerned with protecting natural resources and biodiversity, but for anyone interested in protecting and promoting human health.
“Most people think of protected areas like national parks and nature reserves as tools for wildlife conservation, but by protecting whole habitats and ecosystems the world’s protected areas offer us some very practical social benefits as well,” writes Dr. Kathy MacKinnon, lead biodiversity specialist for the World Bank, in the report’s foreword.
Irawaty Wardany, The Jakarta Post 21 Mar 10;
In recognition of World Water Day, which falls on March 22, groups of residents gathered Saturday in an effort to help clean the heavily polluted Ciliwung, one of the largest rivers in Jakarta.
Participants - stationed on its banks and in boats that traveled along the Ciliwung between Balekambang subdistrict in East Jakarta to Rawajati subdistrict in South Jakarta - collected piles of garbage, mostly plastic.
"How can we clean this river? It could take years," one participant said while looking desperately at the mess.
While traveling in the dinghies, participants noted the massive amount of plastic bags, diapers and assorted trash in the water, as if they were racing with the boats.
Another resident, Umar Fauzi, who took part in the cleanup said the program was a waste of money because hardly made a dent on garbage filling the heavily polluted river.
As part of the event, participants planted trees and released fish at several locations along the river.
In Rawajati a stage and several booths had been set up with an exhibition featuring recycled products and sponsor companies' displays.
The event was attended by Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto, Deputy Jakarta Governor for Industry, Trade and Transportation Sutanto Suhodo and representatives from the Environment Ministry.
"I hope this event teaches Jakartans not to pollute rivers," Jakarta Environmental Management Agency (BPLHD) chief Peni Susanti said.
If people in Jakarta cared about water and preserving their environment, water quality in Jakarta could be improved, she said.
However, when asked what programs her agency was running to keep the Ciliwung clean and to prevent residents from throwing garbage into the river, Peni could not provide clear details, saying only she expected residents to monitor and remind one another not to throw their garbage into the river.
"We only assist the community and teach them how to make things from garbage, and educate children, preparing them to become water ambassadors," she said.
All communities involved could continue to collect garbage from the river and preserve the trees they had planted, Peni said.
However, despite its aims, the event itself also added to garbage pollution around the Ciliwung with straws from soft drinks and meal containers provided spilling over from trash cans and nobody attempting to clean them up.
Anna Coren, CNN 21 Mar 10;
Bandung, Indonesia (CNN) -- The small village of Sukamaju on the outskirts of Bandung, West Java is nestled within mountains and rice plantations. To the naked eye, the scenery looks beautiful but on closer inspection, this ecosystem is supported by a water source that is sick and heavily polluted.
We've arrived to cover a story on the Citarum River, considered one of the most polluted rivers in Indonesia, if not the world. Around 30 million people rely on this water basin and it provides 80 percent of Jakarta's drinking water.
While this water is obviously treated for consumption in the larger town and big cities, in Sukamaju what's in the river is pumped directly to the community. The only filtration available is a towel or sock wrapped around a waterspout. The villagers use this water everyday to bathe, wash and cook.
But for drinking, they will boil it. Health experts tell us, this process will kill the bacteria but it certainly won't get rid of the heavy metals and toxic chemicals.
Near the village there are dozens of textile factories -- the main source of employment for many of the local people. They're also one of the biggest polluters of the Citarum River, spewing industrial waste directly into the waterways.
At one spot outside a plant, the water is black with pollution. Children play in it; crops are grown beside it.
A little further upstream, 10 meters before the water turns black, we meet a man who is washing plastic bags he will then sell. He says he does it here because of the strong chemicals in the water -- it helps him do his job more effectively.
We meet Nyai, a 60-year-old great grandmother who has a persistent skin infection. She has welts, lumps and dark markings all over her torso. Her daughter, grandchildren and great grandchildren all suffer the same condition, including 4-year-old Wildan.
I ask him to show me where it's itchy and he points to the spots covering his face and neck. Nyai says this skin condition only became a problem for her village after the textile factories set up in the 1980s.
Asked if she's angry about the water situation Nyai replies: "We have no choice, this is the only water we have. Everyone in this village only has this water source. If it's raining then our wells will get fresh water but if it's dry season, everyone must use this water."
But it's not just the factories, using the Citarum as a dumping ground; the community effectively use it as an open sewer. As we walk through the village, children squat over canals and defecate directly into the water. Any garbage is thrown in the waterway or dumped on the side of the riverbank.
Re-educating local communities on how to look after the Citarum is one of the main projects for the Asian Development Bank (ADB). It's investing $500 million dollars over the next 15 years to try and save the Citarum and the communities who rely on it.
The ADB will work closely with Indonesian government to rehabilitate the entire river basin, addressing the issues of pollution, sanitation, and environmental problems like deforestation, siltation and flooding. Tom Panella from the ADB is fully aware of the enormous task in front of him and his team, but he remains hopeful .
"The Citarum is very sick and needs everybody to help bring it back to a state of health so all communities reliant on it can have a good quality of life and sustainable livelihoods," he says. "It's not dead but it needs a tremendous amount of work from all of us."
Barnaby Phillips Al Jazeera 21 Mar 10;
Deep inside the waterways of the Nile Delta, it is hard to believe that this region is in an environmental crisis. It is an idyllic setting as the canoes of fishermen drift through the swamps; kingfishers and egrets fly overhead, and reeds glisten in the early morning sunshine.
But the fishermen are not happy. They say their catches are down, and that the water is more and more polluted from nearby factories.
There is certainly enormous pressure on the Delta's resources; most of Egypt's 80 million people are crammed into this fertile, green landscape, where the Nile ends its epic journey half the length of Africa, and fans out into a series of tributaries and lakes, before flowing into the Mediterranean.
I ask the fishermen if they know about global warming, and the threat to the Delta posed by the possibility of sea-levels rising. They say they have heard about it, but have seen no evidence yet.
We leave the fishermen, and drive north, closer to the Mediterranean coastline. Our engaging guide is Mamdouh Hamza, a prominent Egyptian engineer and head of a company that specialises in underwater construction.
Hamza stops his car, and leads us out into some sandy wastes by the side of the road. We can see abandoned crops, and dying palm trees. He says the land has been destroyed by salinity, or salt.
Rising salinity levels
As the sea on Egypt's coastline rises, (Hamza says by 20cm during the last century, a statistic that leading Egyptian government scientists concur with) salt-water infiltrates the Delta's soil from below, and destroys the farming land.
The consequences of this are very serious for Egypt, which relies on the Delta for food production.
Today, as Egypt's population continues to grow, and as it spends more and more money on food imports, the country cannot afford to lose any more productive land. Gesturing to the salty wastes around me, Hamza says: "It is a human disaster, an economic disaster, an agricultural disaster, and it will lead not only to poverty but also to hunger".
Of course, predictions of future changes in sea levels, mainly resulting from melting of the polar ice-caps, are very imprecise.
Last year, Egypt's environment minister, George Maged, told a parliamentary committee that "many of the towns…in the north of the Delta will suffer from the rise in the level of the Mediterranean with effect from 2020, and about 15 per cent of Delta land is currently under threat from the rising sea level and the seepage of salt water into ground water".
Alexandria threatened?
Many experts believe that a one-metre rise in sea-level on Egypt's coastline by the end of this century is a reasonable prediction, which, if true, would threaten the great city of Alexandria, and the millions of people who live in it.
Hamza has submitted an ambitious proposal to build a waterproof wall that he argues would effectively separate the sea from the land, prevent salt water seepage, whilst at the same time raising the shore by 2 metres, but, so far, the government has not taken him up on it.
One government scientist I met with, Professor Ibrahim El Shinnawy, is not convinced that such dramatic steps need to be taken yet.
He says, "we are recommending more investigations, but we think we can adapt ourselves to this problem, as the rate of change is very slow". In other words, there is still time " to put the best mitigation measures" in place.
In truth, there are any number of factors now damaging the ecology of the Delta. Ever since the completion of the Aswan High Dam, 40 years ago, soil fertility levels in the Delta have been falling, as large quantities of sediment are no longer washed downstream.
Hamza and I walk across from the abandoned land, to a plot that is still being farmed. We meet the owner, Abdel Fattah Ghoneim, 40, who tells us about the growing difficulties of making a living here in the northern Delta. He has to pump in fresh water, he says, whereas in the old days "there was enough rain, you didn't need to do anything more".
And, because the ground "is so salty" he has to buy hundreds of bags of sand, to lay on top of the ground and protect his crops from salinity. "Twenty or 30 years ago, we could just plant our seeds and not worry about anything else," Ghoneim says.
"But now, those days are over."
Richard Ingham Yahoo News 21 Mar 10;
PARIS (AFP) – Scientists said on Sunday they had made a nanotech device to strip salt from seawater, paving the way to small-scale or even battery-powered desalination for drought-hit regions and disaster zones.
The tiny prototype is reported on the eve of the UN's World Water Day, which aims to highlight the worsening problems of access to clean water.
Conventional desalination works by forcing water through a membrane to remove molecules of salt.
But this process is an energy-gobbler and the membrane is prone to clogging, which means that de-sal plants are inevitably big, expensive, fixed pieces of kit.
The new gadget has been given a proof-of-principle test by Jongyoon Han and colleagues of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
It works through so-called ion concentration polarisation, which occurs when a current of charged ions is passed through an ion-selective membrane.
The idea is to create a force that moves charged ions and particles in the water away from the membrane.
When the water passes through the system, salt ions -- as well as cells, viruses and micro-organisms -- get pushed to the side. This saltier water is then drawn off, leaving only de-salted water to pass through the main microchannel.
The tiny device had a recovery rate of 50 percent, meaning that half of the water used at the start was desalinated. Ninety-nine percent of the salt in this water was removed.
Energy efficiency was similar to or better than state-of-the-art large-scale desalination plants.
"Rather than competing with larger desalination plants, the methods could be used to make small- or medium-scale systems, with the possibility of battery-powered operation," their paper, published by the journal Nature Nanotechnology, suggests.
In an email to AFP, Han said the experiment entailed a tiny microfluidic chip, just a few millimetres (fraction of an inch) square, that desalted just 10 microlitres per minute.
"The idea toward the real-world application is that we would make many of these devices, thousands or tens of thousands of them, on a plate, and operate them in parallel, in the same way semiconductor manufacturers are building many small electronic chips on a single large wafer," explained Han.
"That would bring the flow rate up to around 100 millilitres (three fluid ounces) per minute level, which is comparable to typical household water purifiers and therefore useful in many applications."
A patent has been filed for the device. However, it may be a matter of years before the invention reaches a commercial scale.
At such early days, the costs of the future system are unknown.
But, said Han, overheads may be significantly reduced because gravity can be used to put the water through the device, as opposed to forced it through by pumps, and there is less of a problem of membrane fouling.
The theme of Monday's World Water Day is "Clean Water for a Healthy World," touching on the growing problem of water contamination in countries grappling with water stress and fast-rising populations.
Arizona State University, EurekAlert 22 Mar 10;
Crude recycling methods used in developing countries contaminate air, water and soil
This release is available in Chinese.
TEMPE, Ariz. – A proposal under debate in the U.S. Congress to ban the export of electronics waste would likely make a growing global environmental problem even worse, say authors of an article from the journal Environmental Science and Technology appearing online today.
The authors call into question conventional thinking that trade bans can prevent "backyard recycling" of electronics waste – primarily old and obsolete computers – in developing countries.
Primitive recycling processes used in these countries are dispersing materials and pollutants that are contaminating air, water and soil.
"Trade bans will become increasingly irrelevant in solving the problem,'' says Eric Williams, one of the authors of the article, which offers alternative ways to address the problem.
Williams is an assistant professor at Arizona State University with a joint appointment in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, a part of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and the School of Sustainability.
Electronics waste – or e-waste – is often exported from the United States and other developed nations to regions in China, India, Thailand and less developed countries where recycling is done in a crude fashion.
To recover copper from e-waste, for instance, wires are pulled out, piled up and burned to remove insulation covering the copper. This emits dioxins and other pollutants.
Toxic cyanide and acids used to remove gold from circuit boards of junked computers also are released into the environment.
With the number of junked computers expected to triple in the next 15 years, the authors say, the problem will grow much worse if an effective remedy is not put in place in the near future.
The main approach to solving the backyard recycling problem has been to ban trade in e-waste. Some countries have officially banned e-waste imports, but in some cases, as in China, such legislation has pushed the trade to the black market.
Congress is debating House Resolution 2595, which would ban the export of e-waste from the United States.
"The underlying assumption of this bill and other trade bans is that most e-waste comes from outside developing nations, and that stopping trade with developed countries would cut off the supply of e-waste and stop backyard recycling," Williams says.
But authors of the Environmental Science and Technology article forecast that the developing world will generate more waste computers than the developed countries as soon as 2017, and that by 2025 the developing world will generate twice the amount of waste computers as what will come from developed nations.
"Rapid economic and population growth in developing countries is driving an increase in computer use in these parts of the world that is outpacing the implementation of modern and environment-friendly recycling systems," Williams says. " So without action, backyard recycling is certain to increase."
But he and his co-authors say even a complete global ban on trade in e-waste cannot solve the problem because it covers only a diminishing percentage of the overall supply of e-waste. They argue for direct action to reduce the harmful environmental impacts of backyard recycling.
One proposal is to pay backyard recyclers not to recycle.
"The idea is to let people first repair and reuse equipment, and only intervene to remove materials and components that would be environmentally hazardous when e-waste would be recycled using crude methods," Williams says. "Such a system looks to be an inexpensive way to maintain jobs in recycling operations and maintain access to used computers while protecting the environment."
###
Williams' co-authors are:
Jinglei Yu, yujingleink@gmail.com and Meiting Ju, jumeit@nankai.edu.cn, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin, China,
Yan Yang, School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz. Yan.Yang.1@asu.edu
The article can be found online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es903350q
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