Make Singapore an endearing home? How about we "cherish and safeguard our built and natural heritage" from Habitatnews
BiodiverCity 'Voters' Choice' competition
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!
Cuttlefish Day @ Pulau Hantu
from colourful clouds
Day of Crab Spiders
from Macro Photography in Singapore
Venus Drive - Bird Dung... or not?
from Macro Photography in Singapore
Chinese Pond Heron in a feather-raising posture
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Sunday at Operation No Release
from wild shores of singapore
Upper Seletar Reservoir
from Singapore Nature
Raffles Museum Treasures: Giant forest scorpion
from Lazy Lizard's Tales
Scaly-breasted Munia nesting
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Tales of Two Tigers and Two Different Fates
from Natura Gig
Best of our wild blogs: 24 May 10
Face up to the green fact
Straits Times Forum 24 May 10;
IN A recent response by government officials to the study that ranks countries for their environmental impact ("Green study disregards Singapore's circumstances"; last Wednesday), the defence given for our environmental record was the increase in green cover and our high diversity of flora and fauna.
However, almost half of this green cover (56 per cent of Singapore's total land area) consists of golf courses, lawns, landscaped parks and streetscapes (27.5 per cent of the land area). Ecologically, these are a far cry from forest cover, exhibiting impoverished biodiversity.
The rest of the green cover is under old-growth forest, which houses most of our native biodiversity, and this makes up only 3 per cent of the land area.
It is also important to note that of the "more than 2,000 native plant species" mentioned by the letter, more than 600 are already extinct in Singapore. Of the remaining native species, close to 1,200 are endangered and restricted to the fragments of old-growth forests remaining in the nature reserves, and are highly vulnerable to unpredictable effects such as climate change.
As for the bird species, about half of the 350 are non-residents, while of the resident species about 20 per cent is conservatively estimated to be extinct. Taken in context, the occasional rediscoveries of supposedly extinct species have a negligible significance, and only highlights our incomplete knowledge.
Therefore, we should face up to the fact that our rapid economic development has come at an environmental price. Only then can we become wiser and pursue economic growth sustainably, and if possible, undo past damage.
We share the hope of the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources and Ministry of National Development that the City Biodiversity Index will be a fairer measure to gauge urban sustainable development. If so, this will be more fruitful than dwelling on the current state of affairs.
Chong Kwek Yan
Related links
IN A recent response by government officials to the study that ranks countries for their environmental impact ("Green study disregards Singapore's circumstances"; last Wednesday), the defence given for our environmental record was the increase in green cover and our high diversity of flora and fauna.
However, almost half of this green cover (56 per cent of Singapore's total land area) consists of golf courses, lawns, landscaped parks and streetscapes (27.5 per cent of the land area). Ecologically, these are a far cry from forest cover, exhibiting impoverished biodiversity.
The rest of the green cover is under old-growth forest, which houses most of our native biodiversity, and this makes up only 3 per cent of the land area.
It is also important to note that of the "more than 2,000 native plant species" mentioned by the letter, more than 600 are already extinct in Singapore. Of the remaining native species, close to 1,200 are endangered and restricted to the fragments of old-growth forests remaining in the nature reserves, and are highly vulnerable to unpredictable effects such as climate change.
As for the bird species, about half of the 350 are non-residents, while of the resident species about 20 per cent is conservatively estimated to be extinct. Taken in context, the occasional rediscoveries of supposedly extinct species have a negligible significance, and only highlights our incomplete knowledge.
Therefore, we should face up to the fact that our rapid economic development has come at an environmental price. Only then can we become wiser and pursue economic growth sustainably, and if possible, undo past damage.
We share the hope of the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources and Ministry of National Development that the City Biodiversity Index will be a fairer measure to gauge urban sustainable development. If so, this will be more fruitful than dwelling on the current state of affairs.
Chong Kwek Yan
Related links
- Why researchers included Singapore in green study Straits Times Forum 21 May 10;
- Green study disregards Singapore's circumstances Straits Times Forum 19 May 10;
- Is Singapore the worst environmental offender? Victoria Vaughan Straits Times 14 May 10;
- Singapore No. 1 in global ranking of environmental degradation New study ranks countries on environment impact University of Adelaide, EurekAlert 4 May 10;Singapore No. 1 global eco-destroyer? on wild shores of singapore.
Second link among studies to improve Jurong Island
Environment, water, energy, logistics and feedstock options are areas looked at
Ronnie Lim, Straits Times 24 May 10;
(SINGAPORE) Many new projects - ranging from a second road link with the mainland to facilitate the daily commute of its fast-growing workforce, to an LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) terminal to bring in alternative feedstocks - are being studied under the just-announced 'Jurong Island version 2.0' initiative to further boost the Singapore petrochemical industry's competitiveness in the coming 10 years.
Under the move 'to improve energy efficiency and overcome resource limitations' on the petrochemicals island, the JTC Corporation/Economic Development Board-led initiative will look at five main areas of energy, logistics and transportation, feedstock options, environment and water, BT has learnt.
'There will be a lot of work ahead . . . consultancy studies will be called to give their recommendations on the various focus areas,' a JTC spokeswoman told BT, adding that more details of the plan will emerge thereafter.
The latest initiative to further gear up Jurong Island's competitiveness - currently home to 95 global petrochemical companies with over $31 billion of investments - was first announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the opening of Shell's US$3 billion petrochemical complex earlier this month.
Elaborating on the move, the JTC spokeswoman said that the multi-agency '2.0 initiative' will involve agencies including the Energy Market Authority, Land Transport Authority, Maritime Port Authority, Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, and the Public Utilities Board, as well as the Jurong Island companies themselves.
JTC director Heah Soon Poh last week told BT that the agencies will discuss with industry players regarding both their needs as well as their participation in the initiative to upgrade the island. 'The whole idea is to strengthen Jurong Island's two pillars of its sustainability and its competitiveness,' he said.
Some 38,000 workers (8,000 full-time) currently enter Jurong Island daily, and with their numbers expected to swell in the coming years as more petrochemical investors set up there, new enhanced public transport systems, like a second road link, are being planned to facilitate their commute to, and also within, the island, JTC said.
'We are also building a barging terminal to provide a more efficient and safer means of transporting hazardous products in and out of the island,' the JTC spokeswoman added.
On energy, PM Lee earlier indicated that the Jurong Island '2.0 initiative' will include schemes to use waste heat to power production processes and to convert waste carbon dioxide into useful products, thus creating more value and reducing the carbon footprint.
Mr Heah added that the '2.0 initiative' will similarly also look at how to tap or harness unused 'cold' energy from the liquefied natural gas terminal currently being built on the island.
It will also consider new water technologies, for example, using sea water desalination and recycling of waste water to ensure ample water supplies, the spokeswoman said.
The initiative will also explore alternative feedstocks and resources for petrochemical investors including LPG, she added. BT earlier reported that Shell and the EDB are looking at the possibility of building a terminal here to import LPG from Qatar to supplement the naphtha currently used by the petrochemical crackers.
Ronnie Lim, Straits Times 24 May 10;
(SINGAPORE) Many new projects - ranging from a second road link with the mainland to facilitate the daily commute of its fast-growing workforce, to an LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) terminal to bring in alternative feedstocks - are being studied under the just-announced 'Jurong Island version 2.0' initiative to further boost the Singapore petrochemical industry's competitiveness in the coming 10 years.
Under the move 'to improve energy efficiency and overcome resource limitations' on the petrochemicals island, the JTC Corporation/Economic Development Board-led initiative will look at five main areas of energy, logistics and transportation, feedstock options, environment and water, BT has learnt.
'There will be a lot of work ahead . . . consultancy studies will be called to give their recommendations on the various focus areas,' a JTC spokeswoman told BT, adding that more details of the plan will emerge thereafter.
The latest initiative to further gear up Jurong Island's competitiveness - currently home to 95 global petrochemical companies with over $31 billion of investments - was first announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the opening of Shell's US$3 billion petrochemical complex earlier this month.
Elaborating on the move, the JTC spokeswoman said that the multi-agency '2.0 initiative' will involve agencies including the Energy Market Authority, Land Transport Authority, Maritime Port Authority, Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, and the Public Utilities Board, as well as the Jurong Island companies themselves.
JTC director Heah Soon Poh last week told BT that the agencies will discuss with industry players regarding both their needs as well as their participation in the initiative to upgrade the island. 'The whole idea is to strengthen Jurong Island's two pillars of its sustainability and its competitiveness,' he said.
Some 38,000 workers (8,000 full-time) currently enter Jurong Island daily, and with their numbers expected to swell in the coming years as more petrochemical investors set up there, new enhanced public transport systems, like a second road link, are being planned to facilitate their commute to, and also within, the island, JTC said.
'We are also building a barging terminal to provide a more efficient and safer means of transporting hazardous products in and out of the island,' the JTC spokeswoman added.
On energy, PM Lee earlier indicated that the Jurong Island '2.0 initiative' will include schemes to use waste heat to power production processes and to convert waste carbon dioxide into useful products, thus creating more value and reducing the carbon footprint.
Mr Heah added that the '2.0 initiative' will similarly also look at how to tap or harness unused 'cold' energy from the liquefied natural gas terminal currently being built on the island.
It will also consider new water technologies, for example, using sea water desalination and recycling of waste water to ensure ample water supplies, the spokeswoman said.
The initiative will also explore alternative feedstocks and resources for petrochemical investors including LPG, she added. BT earlier reported that Shell and the EDB are looking at the possibility of building a terminal here to import LPG from Qatar to supplement the naphtha currently used by the petrochemical crackers.
Carbon labelling for Singapore products
Labels show carbon footprint of product or service; no set target for firms expected to adopt plan
Grace Chua Straits Times 24 May 10;
IN A year or two, consumers may be able to look at products on supermarket shelves and tell just how much carbon dioxide went into their making.
The Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and Agency for Science, Technology and Research institute SIMTech last week inked a deal to develop Singapore's first carbon labelling scheme.
The labels, to be formally launched at the end of this year, will inform consumers how much carbon dioxide is emitted over the lifetime of a product or service - from everyday operations such as manufacturing, transporting and even disposal.
There is no set target for the number of companies expected to come on board, but the Singapore Carbon Label will initially focus on the food manufacturing sector and recycled products like plastics.
SEC executive director Howard Shaw said the carbon labelling scheme aims to have locally made products meet international requirements, to make them more globally competitive.
For example, British and American supermarket giants Tesco and Wal-Mart already require suppliers to declare or label how much carbon went into their goods, while Japan began carbon labelling food and drink products in April last year.
Britain introduced its PAS 2050 standard for carbon labelling in 2008.
But Mr Shaw said other countries' calculations may have to be adapted for Singapore - hence the need for the Republic's own scheme.
For instance, manufacturing in Singapore is largely powered by electricity from natural gas, whereas production in Britain may be powered by coal.
Ultimately, the Singapore Carbon Label will be extended to other countries in the region, as there is no carbon labelling scheme for South-east Asia yet.
One local company trying to bring itself up to scratch is biodegradable-plastics company Winrigo.
Mr Teri Teo, its operations director, said his firm began working with SIMTech in 2008 on assessing the carbon in its products.
It sought out the research institute after finding no carbon labelling scheme for local products, said Mr Teo, who believes such labelling could become an industry requirement in the future.
Winrigo's carbon assessments were developed with a Spring Singapore technology development grant. The company spent about $20,000 to $30,000 coming up with the methodology and software to calculate emissions.
But not all companies will be willing to disclose their entire manufacturing process in order to properly calculate emissions, Mr Teo said.
To date, SIMTech has worked with five companies, such as food manufacturer Prima Group, on such assessments.
Knowing how much emissions their processes produce can help companies cut their carbon footprint.
For instance, Prima is revising its purchasing decisions to consider suppliers closer to its flour mills, and cutting energy use and reducing waste at its mills.
Mr Shaw said the carbon label was not expected to increase business costs greatly as the framework and methodology, once developed, can be applied elsewhere.
The actual cost of carbon assessments will vary based on industry and product.
Like the existing Singapore Green Label, which marks products that are energy-efficient, use recycled materials and adhere to other green criteria, the Singapore Carbon Label will give consumers more product choices.
But will they bite?
Well, if the Green Label is anything to go by, Mr Shaw is optimistic.
Although he admitted that the consumer take-up of the Green Label is perhaps a little slower than the commercial take-up, he pointed out that the number of products with the Green Label has been growing by 30 per cent a year for the last three years.
Currently, more than 250 products and companies bear the label.
Grace Chua Straits Times 24 May 10;
IN A year or two, consumers may be able to look at products on supermarket shelves and tell just how much carbon dioxide went into their making.
The Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and Agency for Science, Technology and Research institute SIMTech last week inked a deal to develop Singapore's first carbon labelling scheme.
The labels, to be formally launched at the end of this year, will inform consumers how much carbon dioxide is emitted over the lifetime of a product or service - from everyday operations such as manufacturing, transporting and even disposal.
There is no set target for the number of companies expected to come on board, but the Singapore Carbon Label will initially focus on the food manufacturing sector and recycled products like plastics.
SEC executive director Howard Shaw said the carbon labelling scheme aims to have locally made products meet international requirements, to make them more globally competitive.
For example, British and American supermarket giants Tesco and Wal-Mart already require suppliers to declare or label how much carbon went into their goods, while Japan began carbon labelling food and drink products in April last year.
Britain introduced its PAS 2050 standard for carbon labelling in 2008.
But Mr Shaw said other countries' calculations may have to be adapted for Singapore - hence the need for the Republic's own scheme.
For instance, manufacturing in Singapore is largely powered by electricity from natural gas, whereas production in Britain may be powered by coal.
Ultimately, the Singapore Carbon Label will be extended to other countries in the region, as there is no carbon labelling scheme for South-east Asia yet.
One local company trying to bring itself up to scratch is biodegradable-plastics company Winrigo.
Mr Teri Teo, its operations director, said his firm began working with SIMTech in 2008 on assessing the carbon in its products.
It sought out the research institute after finding no carbon labelling scheme for local products, said Mr Teo, who believes such labelling could become an industry requirement in the future.
Winrigo's carbon assessments were developed with a Spring Singapore technology development grant. The company spent about $20,000 to $30,000 coming up with the methodology and software to calculate emissions.
But not all companies will be willing to disclose their entire manufacturing process in order to properly calculate emissions, Mr Teo said.
To date, SIMTech has worked with five companies, such as food manufacturer Prima Group, on such assessments.
Knowing how much emissions their processes produce can help companies cut their carbon footprint.
For instance, Prima is revising its purchasing decisions to consider suppliers closer to its flour mills, and cutting energy use and reducing waste at its mills.
Mr Shaw said the carbon label was not expected to increase business costs greatly as the framework and methodology, once developed, can be applied elsewhere.
The actual cost of carbon assessments will vary based on industry and product.
Like the existing Singapore Green Label, which marks products that are energy-efficient, use recycled materials and adhere to other green criteria, the Singapore Carbon Label will give consumers more product choices.
But will they bite?
Well, if the Green Label is anything to go by, Mr Shaw is optimistic.
Although he admitted that the consumer take-up of the Green Label is perhaps a little slower than the commercial take-up, he pointed out that the number of products with the Green Label has been growing by 30 per cent a year for the last three years.
Currently, more than 250 products and companies bear the label.
Malaysia wildlife park under fire over Tiger video
Yahoo News 28 May 10;
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – A Malaysian wildlife park came under fire Sunday from wildlife activists over a video posted on YouTube showing an apparently drugged tiger being prodded and poked for the amusement of visitors.
The two-minute clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5ACVn73YL0) shows the tiger lying on a slab at a wildlife park in the Afamosa resort while a handler invites visitors walking around it to take pictures with the animal.
The handler then prods and pokes the big cat to force it to pose and even uses his knee to jab its head into an upright pose for a photograph.
"This is horrible and a disgrace that an animal is treated in this fashion. We must stop such abuse and the perpetrators must be punished," Friends of the Earth Malaysia president S.M. Idris told AFP.
Wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC criticised the park's use of captive tigers for entertainment.
"If they acquire tigers for this use, it gives Malaysia a very bad reputation as it shows the park is using the tigers for entertainment instead of educational purposes," senior officer Kanitha Krishnasamy told AFP.
Afamosa resort general manager Allan Chee denied the tiger was abused at the park, which has more than 20 tigers and numerous other species.
"There was no abuse to the tiger, the tiger was just drowsy and lazy after being fed and so was being prodded by the handler to get into position," he told AFP.
He said the park in southern Malacca state prided itself on its animal performances, with elephants playing football and others allowed to roam freely.
However, state wildlife and national parks head Abdul Rahim Othman told AFP the park had been warned over having such photo sessions with animals which can be viewed as abuse.
"We have warned them and will carry out further investigations and if they continue to violate our warnings, we can take action against them including pulling their licences," he said.
Just 3,200 tigers are believed to remain in the wild, down from an estimated 100,000 a century ago.
Uproar over abused tiger claim
The Star/Asia News Network Asia One 22 May 10;
MALACCA - A 500ha resort in Alor Gajah, with its own safari, has attracted the attention of animal lovers and authorities here over a video clip on the Internet allegedly showing the abuse of a drugged tiger during a photography session.
The two-minute clip first appeared on YouTube in February with the title "Tiger Being Abused For Money."
It shows what seems to be a heavily sedated tiger on a raised platform and occasionally being propped up by its handler.
Click here to find out more!
The recording also includes an audio recording of an unknown person questioning, in Cantonese, the alleged mistreatment of the tiger.
The person also mentions that she was told that patrons had to fork out RM15 to pose for photographs with the tiger.
When contacted, Malacca Society Against the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) president Vincent Low said he was not shocked by such allegations as they had received complaints about the resort previously.
"It is a wild animal and should not be subjected to such treatment. Not only is it inhumane to treat the tiger in such a manner, it is also dangerous for patrons," he said.
A Famosa Resort general manager Allan Chee denied the abuse allegation.
"There is no evidence that the tiger was drugged or abused by its handler," he said, adding that he was aware of the video clip and had received numerous inquiries from the public.
Chee said the animal was a captive-bred tiger and was considered very tame and comfortable around humans.
"Tigers are nocturnal and those here are very well fed and become very lazy and lethargic during the mid-morning. So, it is natural that the handlers had to use extra coaxing to move the heavy tiger into position," he said.
He also denied the resort charged RM15 for patrons to take photographs with the tiger.
"We only charge patrons if they ask us to photograph them with our instant camera," he said.
A check revealed the resort had removed all negative comments from its Facebook fan page.
It is learnt that WWF Malaysia had also received numerous complaints over the video and had advised those concerned to take it up with the Wildlife and National Parks Department.
It is learnt that SPCA had submitted its recommendation to the department to ensure that animals at the resort were not abused.
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – A Malaysian wildlife park came under fire Sunday from wildlife activists over a video posted on YouTube showing an apparently drugged tiger being prodded and poked for the amusement of visitors.
The two-minute clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5ACVn73YL0) shows the tiger lying on a slab at a wildlife park in the Afamosa resort while a handler invites visitors walking around it to take pictures with the animal.
The handler then prods and pokes the big cat to force it to pose and even uses his knee to jab its head into an upright pose for a photograph.
"This is horrible and a disgrace that an animal is treated in this fashion. We must stop such abuse and the perpetrators must be punished," Friends of the Earth Malaysia president S.M. Idris told AFP.
Wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC criticised the park's use of captive tigers for entertainment.
"If they acquire tigers for this use, it gives Malaysia a very bad reputation as it shows the park is using the tigers for entertainment instead of educational purposes," senior officer Kanitha Krishnasamy told AFP.
Afamosa resort general manager Allan Chee denied the tiger was abused at the park, which has more than 20 tigers and numerous other species.
"There was no abuse to the tiger, the tiger was just drowsy and lazy after being fed and so was being prodded by the handler to get into position," he told AFP.
He said the park in southern Malacca state prided itself on its animal performances, with elephants playing football and others allowed to roam freely.
However, state wildlife and national parks head Abdul Rahim Othman told AFP the park had been warned over having such photo sessions with animals which can be viewed as abuse.
"We have warned them and will carry out further investigations and if they continue to violate our warnings, we can take action against them including pulling their licences," he said.
Just 3,200 tigers are believed to remain in the wild, down from an estimated 100,000 a century ago.
Uproar over abused tiger claim
The Star/Asia News Network Asia One 22 May 10;
MALACCA - A 500ha resort in Alor Gajah, with its own safari, has attracted the attention of animal lovers and authorities here over a video clip on the Internet allegedly showing the abuse of a drugged tiger during a photography session.
The two-minute clip first appeared on YouTube in February with the title "Tiger Being Abused For Money."
It shows what seems to be a heavily sedated tiger on a raised platform and occasionally being propped up by its handler.
Click here to find out more!
The recording also includes an audio recording of an unknown person questioning, in Cantonese, the alleged mistreatment of the tiger.
The person also mentions that she was told that patrons had to fork out RM15 to pose for photographs with the tiger.
When contacted, Malacca Society Against the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) president Vincent Low said he was not shocked by such allegations as they had received complaints about the resort previously.
"It is a wild animal and should not be subjected to such treatment. Not only is it inhumane to treat the tiger in such a manner, it is also dangerous for patrons," he said.
A Famosa Resort general manager Allan Chee denied the abuse allegation.
"There is no evidence that the tiger was drugged or abused by its handler," he said, adding that he was aware of the video clip and had received numerous inquiries from the public.
Chee said the animal was a captive-bred tiger and was considered very tame and comfortable around humans.
"Tigers are nocturnal and those here are very well fed and become very lazy and lethargic during the mid-morning. So, it is natural that the handlers had to use extra coaxing to move the heavy tiger into position," he said.
He also denied the resort charged RM15 for patrons to take photographs with the tiger.
"We only charge patrons if they ask us to photograph them with our instant camera," he said.
A check revealed the resort had removed all negative comments from its Facebook fan page.
It is learnt that WWF Malaysia had also received numerous complaints over the video and had advised those concerned to take it up with the Wildlife and National Parks Department.
It is learnt that SPCA had submitted its recommendation to the department to ensure that animals at the resort were not abused.
Baby elephant on brink of death saved in Sabah
Roy Goh, New Straits Times 24 May 10;
KOTA KINABALU: A baby elephant on the brink of death was rescued in the east coast district of Lahad Datu.
Weak and dehydrated, the female calf appeared to have been abandoned when found by the wildlife rescue unit of the Sabah Wildlife Department last week.
Now recuperating at the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary in Sandakan, the department is keeping its fingers crossed that the calf responds well to treatment and its new surroundings.
Dr Sen Nathan of the rescue unit said had there been a delay of even a couple of hours, the calf could have died at the plantation near the Ulu Segama Forest Reserve last Tuesday.
"How it got separated from its mother is anyone's guess. Our rangers patrolled the area near the Ladang Felcra/ KTS for several days but they could not find any elephants."
He said the rescue team was initially worried because during the first 24-hours, the baby elephant did not accept milk from a bottle when fed at the sanctuary.
"It responded well to our treatment though and eventually by the third day the calf started feeding," Dr Sen said, adding the calf was about six months old.
Sabah Wildlife director Laurentius Ambu said the rescue team was sent after the department received information from a plantation worker at Ladang Felcra/ KTS.
"This unit was formed to respond to such situations," he said of the smart partnership between the department, Malaysian Palm Oil Council and a well known resort in Sabah.
"Apart from undertaking wildlife rescue, the unit is also responsible for translocation operations across the state as well as enforcement and monitoring.
"The unit would also act as liaison with stakeholders such as non-governmental organisations, plantations and communities on wildlife conservation activities," he added.
Dying Borneo Pygmy elephant calf rescued in Malaysia
Yahoo News 24 May 10;
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – Malaysian wildlife authorities said Monday they had rescued an endangered Borneo Pygmy elephant calf that had been separated from its mother and found dying in a plantation.
The six-month-old elephant was weak and dehydrated when found last week after plantation workers alerted the wildlife department in eastern Sabah state, on Borneo island, its chief veterinarian Sen Nathan said.
He said the calf was lost in the plantation for at least three days before it was rescued.
"A calf relies entirely on the mother and if it is not fed for that long, this would have normally killed the elephant," he told AFP
"Its condition was bad, and it could have died from dehydration," Nathan said, adding an elephant was only capable of looking after itself after it turned three.
"It refused to drink the formula milk we fed during the first 24 hours, but now it has gotten used to it and is drinking from the bottle. Its condition has stabilised and it is recovering," he added.
Pygmy elephants are unique to Borneo and form a sub-species of the Asian elephant. It has a rounded appearance and males stand only about 2.5 metres (8.2 feet) tall, compared to about 3.0 metres for mainland Asian elephants.
Authorities say the elephant species is considered endangered, with around 1,500-2,000 left on Borneo island.
Wildlife activists have warned that Borneo Pygmy elephants are fast losing their natural habitat to deforestation and human encroachment following a two-year satellite tracking study in 2007.
Baby elephant recovering
New Straits Times 2 Jun 10;
KOTA KINABALU: The baby elephant, found on the brink of death two weeks ago, looks set to be the Wildlife and National Parks Department's latest attraction.
Mischievous and hyperactive, the female calf has been named "Humi", in short for "huminodun", the legendary princess sacrificed for the sake of mankind in the Kadazandusun folklore.
The department's latest heath report on Humi, now at the Sepilok Orang Utan sanctuary in Sandakan, stated that she was healthy, compared with the time she was found dying in Lahad Datu on May 18.
Department officers had then found Humi abandoned near the Ulu Segama forest reserve.
KOTA KINABALU: A baby elephant on the brink of death was rescued in the east coast district of Lahad Datu.
Weak and dehydrated, the female calf appeared to have been abandoned when found by the wildlife rescue unit of the Sabah Wildlife Department last week.
Now recuperating at the Sepilok Orang Utan Sanctuary in Sandakan, the department is keeping its fingers crossed that the calf responds well to treatment and its new surroundings.
Dr Sen Nathan of the rescue unit said had there been a delay of even a couple of hours, the calf could have died at the plantation near the Ulu Segama Forest Reserve last Tuesday.
"How it got separated from its mother is anyone's guess. Our rangers patrolled the area near the Ladang Felcra/ KTS for several days but they could not find any elephants."
He said the rescue team was initially worried because during the first 24-hours, the baby elephant did not accept milk from a bottle when fed at the sanctuary.
"It responded well to our treatment though and eventually by the third day the calf started feeding," Dr Sen said, adding the calf was about six months old.
Sabah Wildlife director Laurentius Ambu said the rescue team was sent after the department received information from a plantation worker at Ladang Felcra/ KTS.
"This unit was formed to respond to such situations," he said of the smart partnership between the department, Malaysian Palm Oil Council and a well known resort in Sabah.
"Apart from undertaking wildlife rescue, the unit is also responsible for translocation operations across the state as well as enforcement and monitoring.
"The unit would also act as liaison with stakeholders such as non-governmental organisations, plantations and communities on wildlife conservation activities," he added.
Dying Borneo Pygmy elephant calf rescued in Malaysia
Yahoo News 24 May 10;
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – Malaysian wildlife authorities said Monday they had rescued an endangered Borneo Pygmy elephant calf that had been separated from its mother and found dying in a plantation.
The six-month-old elephant was weak and dehydrated when found last week after plantation workers alerted the wildlife department in eastern Sabah state, on Borneo island, its chief veterinarian Sen Nathan said.
He said the calf was lost in the plantation for at least three days before it was rescued.
"A calf relies entirely on the mother and if it is not fed for that long, this would have normally killed the elephant," he told AFP
"Its condition was bad, and it could have died from dehydration," Nathan said, adding an elephant was only capable of looking after itself after it turned three.
"It refused to drink the formula milk we fed during the first 24 hours, but now it has gotten used to it and is drinking from the bottle. Its condition has stabilised and it is recovering," he added.
Pygmy elephants are unique to Borneo and form a sub-species of the Asian elephant. It has a rounded appearance and males stand only about 2.5 metres (8.2 feet) tall, compared to about 3.0 metres for mainland Asian elephants.
Authorities say the elephant species is considered endangered, with around 1,500-2,000 left on Borneo island.
Wildlife activists have warned that Borneo Pygmy elephants are fast losing their natural habitat to deforestation and human encroachment following a two-year satellite tracking study in 2007.
Baby elephant recovering
New Straits Times 2 Jun 10;
KOTA KINABALU: The baby elephant, found on the brink of death two weeks ago, looks set to be the Wildlife and National Parks Department's latest attraction.
Mischievous and hyperactive, the female calf has been named "Humi", in short for "huminodun", the legendary princess sacrificed for the sake of mankind in the Kadazandusun folklore.
The department's latest heath report on Humi, now at the Sepilok Orang Utan sanctuary in Sandakan, stated that she was healthy, compared with the time she was found dying in Lahad Datu on May 18.
Department officers had then found Humi abandoned near the Ulu Segama forest reserve.
Malaysia's Palm Oil Exports Not Affected By New EU Renewable Energy Directive
Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah, Bernama 23 May 10;
KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 (Bernama) -- The sustainability criteria in the European Union (EU) Renewable Energy Directive (RED), due to come into force on Dec 5, 2010, will not affect Malaysia's palm oil exports to the region.
EU ambassador and head of delegation to Malaysia, Vincent Piket, said there would be no change for crude palm oil imports.
"The EU will not block any Malaysian crude palm oil exports. Malaysian crude palm oil exports into the EU can continue just as they are today, with no new tariffs, quotas, restrictions or conditions," he told Bernama here.
"The EU RED and its sustainability criteria do not concern Malaysia's crude palm oil exports to the EU market for consumer products, like food, cosmetics, detergents and so forth. In other words, 90 per cent of Malaysia's palm oil exports to the EU are in no way affected by the new EU rules," he said.
Certain quarters have voiced their concern about the EU new directive and its effect on palm oil exporting countries like Malaysia and Indonesia.
To clear the air, Piket said the EU RED is an essential element of the climate and energy package to meet the group's climate change and energy policy objectives.
He said the directive contained a 10 per cent binding target for renewable energy in transport, including biofuels, by 2020.
This will provide an opportunity, also for developing countries, to supply biofuels to the EU market, according to Piket.
"With this directive, the EU is creating a new market and we want to make sure that we do it right. It is crucial that the measures to fight climate change and to implement the renewable energy policy, including biofuels, do not have negative side-effects on the environment," he said.
Piket said it was for this reason that the directive contained sustainability criteria for biofuels.
The sustainability criteria are related to two issues -- the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of biofuels and the land used to produce the biofuels.
"They aimed to achieve significant greenhouse gas savings, as compared to fossil fuels, and to prevent negative side effects on biodiversity," he said.
Piket said the sustainability criteria used by the EU RED were science-based, verifiable and in accordance with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) principles.
"The criteria will be the same across the EU. They will apply to both EU production and imported biofuels," he said.
The EU RED foresees incentives for sustainably produced biofuels, though biofuels which do not meet the criteria can still be imported and marketed in the EU, Piket said.
"They will not, however, receive tax exemptions, subsidies or other incentives from EU member states, nor will they count towards the objective of 10 per cent of renewable energy in transport," he said.
According to Piket, it is important for Malaysia to note that the are incentives for sustainably produced biofuels.
The EU RED, he said, is exclusively about trade in biofuels.
"For biofuels, the EU countries will be offering incentives to promote the use of sustainably produced fuels, including biodiesel. This will increase opportunities for third countries like Malaysia to export into the EU, by tapping the potential of a new market," the envoy said.
"Other biofuels can still be imported. In order to benefit from the incentives, biofuels have to meet the criteria defined in the EU RED. Biofuels which do not comply with these criteria, can however still be imported," he said.
Palm biodiesel can be eligible for incentives, Piket said, adding that the general default value for palm oil defined in the directive is 19 per cent (savings of green-house gas emissions as compared to fossil fuels).
"This is below the 35 per cent threshold for eligibility set in the EU RED. However, this does not mean that biodiesel from palm oil cannot fulfil the criteria," he said.
"Those suppliers who can show scientific data that their biofuels have a higher greenhouse gas saving than the threshold value will be eligible."
Piket said that science showed that palm oil biodiesel could deliver significant greenhouse gas emissions savings, if the right conditions were met.
He said that eligibility for the EU RED thus depended more on the production process than on the crop itself.
"We are creating a new market, and we intend to do it while taking into account relevant environmental concerns. The industry will need to adapt accordingly," Piket said.
"The EU recognises that the Malaysian palm oil industry has understood the need for sustainability efforts and is taking steps to ensure it. We appreciate the work carried out to date on sustainability certification of palm oil in the framework of the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)," he said.
"We believe that such certification schemes developed by the industry will play an important role. The directive provides for the possibility that such certification schemes can be used to prove compliance with the criteria, if the environmental issues at stake are properly addressed."
Hence, for Malaysia, the consequences of the EU RED boiled down to two aspects, Piket said.
On one hand, it means increased potential to export palm oil or biodiesel to the EU but it also means that the sustainability criteria have to be met, he said.
The added requirement might call for additional efforts from the industry in order to preserve the environment, the envoy said but he assured that the benefits are there, should Malaysia and its palm oil industry explore further the opportunity offered by the EU RED.
The ambassador, now into his two-year term here, said the EU market for biofuels was changing fast.
"This is partly a government-driven process in line with the EU's top priority to fight climate change. But it is also a process driven by the civil society and consumers, who are more and more environmentally conscious in their consumer choices," he said.
"This process applies to producers in the EU market as well as for importers. They will all need to adapt. Those who do so fast will reap the earliest benefits," he added.
-- BERNAMA
KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 (Bernama) -- The sustainability criteria in the European Union (EU) Renewable Energy Directive (RED), due to come into force on Dec 5, 2010, will not affect Malaysia's palm oil exports to the region.
EU ambassador and head of delegation to Malaysia, Vincent Piket, said there would be no change for crude palm oil imports.
"The EU will not block any Malaysian crude palm oil exports. Malaysian crude palm oil exports into the EU can continue just as they are today, with no new tariffs, quotas, restrictions or conditions," he told Bernama here.
"The EU RED and its sustainability criteria do not concern Malaysia's crude palm oil exports to the EU market for consumer products, like food, cosmetics, detergents and so forth. In other words, 90 per cent of Malaysia's palm oil exports to the EU are in no way affected by the new EU rules," he said.
Certain quarters have voiced their concern about the EU new directive and its effect on palm oil exporting countries like Malaysia and Indonesia.
To clear the air, Piket said the EU RED is an essential element of the climate and energy package to meet the group's climate change and energy policy objectives.
He said the directive contained a 10 per cent binding target for renewable energy in transport, including biofuels, by 2020.
This will provide an opportunity, also for developing countries, to supply biofuels to the EU market, according to Piket.
"With this directive, the EU is creating a new market and we want to make sure that we do it right. It is crucial that the measures to fight climate change and to implement the renewable energy policy, including biofuels, do not have negative side-effects on the environment," he said.
Piket said it was for this reason that the directive contained sustainability criteria for biofuels.
The sustainability criteria are related to two issues -- the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of biofuels and the land used to produce the biofuels.
"They aimed to achieve significant greenhouse gas savings, as compared to fossil fuels, and to prevent negative side effects on biodiversity," he said.
Piket said the sustainability criteria used by the EU RED were science-based, verifiable and in accordance with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) principles.
"The criteria will be the same across the EU. They will apply to both EU production and imported biofuels," he said.
The EU RED foresees incentives for sustainably produced biofuels, though biofuels which do not meet the criteria can still be imported and marketed in the EU, Piket said.
"They will not, however, receive tax exemptions, subsidies or other incentives from EU member states, nor will they count towards the objective of 10 per cent of renewable energy in transport," he said.
According to Piket, it is important for Malaysia to note that the are incentives for sustainably produced biofuels.
The EU RED, he said, is exclusively about trade in biofuels.
"For biofuels, the EU countries will be offering incentives to promote the use of sustainably produced fuels, including biodiesel. This will increase opportunities for third countries like Malaysia to export into the EU, by tapping the potential of a new market," the envoy said.
"Other biofuels can still be imported. In order to benefit from the incentives, biofuels have to meet the criteria defined in the EU RED. Biofuels which do not comply with these criteria, can however still be imported," he said.
Palm biodiesel can be eligible for incentives, Piket said, adding that the general default value for palm oil defined in the directive is 19 per cent (savings of green-house gas emissions as compared to fossil fuels).
"This is below the 35 per cent threshold for eligibility set in the EU RED. However, this does not mean that biodiesel from palm oil cannot fulfil the criteria," he said.
"Those suppliers who can show scientific data that their biofuels have a higher greenhouse gas saving than the threshold value will be eligible."
Piket said that science showed that palm oil biodiesel could deliver significant greenhouse gas emissions savings, if the right conditions were met.
He said that eligibility for the EU RED thus depended more on the production process than on the crop itself.
"We are creating a new market, and we intend to do it while taking into account relevant environmental concerns. The industry will need to adapt accordingly," Piket said.
"The EU recognises that the Malaysian palm oil industry has understood the need for sustainability efforts and is taking steps to ensure it. We appreciate the work carried out to date on sustainability certification of palm oil in the framework of the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)," he said.
"We believe that such certification schemes developed by the industry will play an important role. The directive provides for the possibility that such certification schemes can be used to prove compliance with the criteria, if the environmental issues at stake are properly addressed."
Hence, for Malaysia, the consequences of the EU RED boiled down to two aspects, Piket said.
On one hand, it means increased potential to export palm oil or biodiesel to the EU but it also means that the sustainability criteria have to be met, he said.
The added requirement might call for additional efforts from the industry in order to preserve the environment, the envoy said but he assured that the benefits are there, should Malaysia and its palm oil industry explore further the opportunity offered by the EU RED.
The ambassador, now into his two-year term here, said the EU market for biofuels was changing fast.
"This is partly a government-driven process in line with the EU's top priority to fight climate change. But it is also a process driven by the civil society and consumers, who are more and more environmentally conscious in their consumer choices," he said.
"This process applies to producers in the EU market as well as for importers. They will all need to adapt. Those who do so fast will reap the earliest benefits," he added.
-- BERNAMA
Stormy weather expected due to warming seas: Indonesina meteorology agency
Stormy skies ahead this week: BMKG
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 24 May 10;
Heavy rain and thunder is likely to hit the country this week due to rising sea temperatures caused by global warming, say climate experts.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said the recent heavy downpours in some provinces, including Jakarta, were unusual just before the transition to dry season.
Head of the BMKG's climate center Edvin Aldrian, said the BMKG also recorded heavy downpours late at night in several areas.
"It is very unusual to have heavy downpours late at night during the transition or dry period. Such heavy rain usually only occurs in rainy season," he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
Edvin said the unusual downpours would likely hit Java, the northern part of Sumatra and the eastern part of Kalimantan this week.
The BMKG warned that heavy rains with strong winds and thunder would hit Bogor and Tangerang on Monday.
The coming of heavy downpours confirms that global warming has affected Indonesia and could lead to more extreme changes in weather, said Edvin.
Climate scientists said that global warming had triggered several anomalies including rising sea levels and increased sea surface temperatures.
The rise in sea temperatures is conducive to more cloud.
The BMKG predicted earlier that 19 percent of the country would likely face an early dry season in late March or May with most areas likely to have a normal dry season in June.
In normal dry season, said Edvin, rains generally ceased at 7 p.m. at the latest.
Climate expert from Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) Sobri Effendi, said the unpredictable rainfall was due to global warming.
"The current heavy downpours are no longer normal. This is proof of global warming," he told the Post.
"In Indonesia, the impact of global warming may come in the form of unusual heavy rains. In other countries it could be the coming of snow," he said.
He said the BMKG needed to improve its weather predictions to help people adapt to extreme changes in weather.
The government has said that Indonesia with its huge island is prone to the effects of global warming.
Climate change could cause extreme changes in weather conditions, which could impact the lives of millions of people in agriculture and fishery sectors, said the BMKG.
The government has promised to mitigate climate change, pledging to cut emission by 26 percent by 2020.
Scientists from the BMKG and the US plan to investigate climate changes by analyzing ice cores from glaciers on Mount Jayawijaya, near Puncak Jaya, Papua.
Puncak Jaya is home to the only glaciers remaining in the equatorial Pacific Ocean region.
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 24 May 10;
Heavy rain and thunder is likely to hit the country this week due to rising sea temperatures caused by global warming, say climate experts.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said the recent heavy downpours in some provinces, including Jakarta, were unusual just before the transition to dry season.
Head of the BMKG's climate center Edvin Aldrian, said the BMKG also recorded heavy downpours late at night in several areas.
"It is very unusual to have heavy downpours late at night during the transition or dry period. Such heavy rain usually only occurs in rainy season," he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
Edvin said the unusual downpours would likely hit Java, the northern part of Sumatra and the eastern part of Kalimantan this week.
The BMKG warned that heavy rains with strong winds and thunder would hit Bogor and Tangerang on Monday.
The coming of heavy downpours confirms that global warming has affected Indonesia and could lead to more extreme changes in weather, said Edvin.
Climate scientists said that global warming had triggered several anomalies including rising sea levels and increased sea surface temperatures.
The rise in sea temperatures is conducive to more cloud.
The BMKG predicted earlier that 19 percent of the country would likely face an early dry season in late March or May with most areas likely to have a normal dry season in June.
In normal dry season, said Edvin, rains generally ceased at 7 p.m. at the latest.
Climate expert from Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) Sobri Effendi, said the unpredictable rainfall was due to global warming.
"The current heavy downpours are no longer normal. This is proof of global warming," he told the Post.
"In Indonesia, the impact of global warming may come in the form of unusual heavy rains. In other countries it could be the coming of snow," he said.
He said the BMKG needed to improve its weather predictions to help people adapt to extreme changes in weather.
The government has said that Indonesia with its huge island is prone to the effects of global warming.
Climate change could cause extreme changes in weather conditions, which could impact the lives of millions of people in agriculture and fishery sectors, said the BMKG.
The government has promised to mitigate climate change, pledging to cut emission by 26 percent by 2020.
Scientists from the BMKG and the US plan to investigate climate changes by analyzing ice cores from glaciers on Mount Jayawijaya, near Puncak Jaya, Papua.
Puncak Jaya is home to the only glaciers remaining in the equatorial Pacific Ocean region.
Underwater lab the first to plot impact of climate change on reefs
Jo Chandler, The Age 24 May 10;
ON AN idyllic coral atoll just a two-hour boat ride from Queensland's Gladstone Harbour, out past the endless line of tankers queued to load coal for export, a half-dozen scientists work frantically against the tide.
Their objective? To explore the consequences of rising atmospheric carbon - which evidence overwhelmingly attributes to the burning of coal and other fossil fuels - on the delicate chemistry of the reef and the creatures living there.
The project team, led by David Kline, a young scientist from the University of Queensland's Global Change Institute, is completing tests on a new underwater laboratory that will expose living corals on the Great Barrier Reef to the more acidic conditions forecast for oceans by the end of the century.
The team has spent weeks working around the ebb and flow of tides, connecting four narrow, two-metre transparent chambers pegged over the reef shelf to the complex technology required to manage and monitor them. Small fish and currents move naturally through the porous structures, two of which will be constantly dosed with seawater flushed with carbon dioxide to lower the pH.
''This system here is the heart of the experiment,'' Dr Kline explains to a film crew from the BBC natural history unit as he stands in the shallows, patting his hand on a floating platform loaded with pumps, cables and 50 instruments, all in constant conversation with ''the brains'' - a computer program running in a laboratory a few metres away on shore.
International interest is high because this is the first in situ investigation of its type. Findings from the Free Ocean Carbon Enrichment (FOCE) project will be keenly studied by scientists around the world.
Fathoming the effects of ocean acidification - the ''other'' carbon problem, one that emerged in scientific literature only a decade ago - has become one of the most urgent issues on the science agenda. The potentially diabolical consequences were highlighted in major briefing papers presented last week by the United States National Research Council to the US Congress and by the European Science Foundation to national leaders. The papers appealed to governments to give the issue priority for investigation and action.
''The chemistry of the ocean is changing at an unprecedented rate and magnitude due to anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions,'' the NRC has said. ''The rate of change exceeds any known to have occurred for at least the past hundreds of thousands of years.''
Ocean acidification occurs when carbon dioxide (CO2) dissolves in naturally alkaline seawater, forming weak carbonic acid. Studies show the world's oceans have a huge appetite for carbon, and have insulated humanity from greenhouse warming by gulping in about one-third of the emissions pumped into the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution.
But the process lowers the overall pH of seawater - by about 30 per cent over the past 200 years. It also soaks up carbonate ions, which are crucial to marine organisms making their calcium carbonate shells and skeletons.
The Heron Island experiment assumes a future with seawater twice as acidic as today, a more conservative take than published business-as-usual scenarios, which put the increase at 150 per cent by 2100. The question scientists are racing to answer is what a more acidic environment will mean for the tiny shelled zooplankton on which the marine food chain depends, and for the skeletons corals build into reefs.
The fear, explains the director of the Global Change Institute and head of the Australian Research Council-funded research team, Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, is that the change hits these creatures on two fronts - creating a more corrosive environment, and depleting stocks of building materials. ''If these organisms can't compensate for that … reef growth will slow until the reef superstructure begins to crumble. If coral populations disappear you put at risk about a million or so species, and all of the beautiful benefits to humans such as fisheries, coastal protection, tourist industries and so on.''
Meanwhile, he says, reefs are struggling with the effects of rising temperatures, which can trigger bleaching - when the stressed coral hosts expel the microscopic algae on which they rely for survival. He likens simultaneous bleaching and acidification to ''having two rhinos run at you from different directions''. Maybe by some miracle you will escape, but the odds are not good.
''Ocean acidification is already occurring and will get worse,'' said Professor Jelle Bijma, lead author of the European Science Foundation document, when it was presented last week. Combined with warming, ''we are in double trouble. The combination of the two may be the most critical environmental and economic challenge of the century''.
Dr Kline says some of his corals will be airbrushed to mimic bleaching, to see how damaged structures respond to the more acid environment. This will provide clues on whether reef atolls will continue to provide a platform for new communities to grow - ''or is the balance going to shift … are these massive reef structures going to end up dissolving?''
To date, exploration of these questions has been limited to laboratory aquaria. ''But seeing how they behave in the natural world is vital to gaining a reliable sense of where the future lies,'' says Dr Kline. Ecosystems may turn out to be more resilient - or less - than the models show. ''Here in the world, the corals are surrounded by their natural community - you have natural water, natural light,'' he explains, making final adjustments to the chambers.
They rest on layers of sands that have their own complex chemistry of carbonates and biota, which may help corals cope with a more acidic future.
''I'm hoping that these environments have some ability to buffer the impact of ocean acidification, and thereby part of the biodiversity of islands and coral reefs would be preserved,'' says Dr Hoegh-Guldberg. ''But its 50:50. I actually think that what we are seeing in the laboratory is repeated in nature.''
The Queensland coalmines may be just over the horizon, but ''this is a big fat canary'', he says of the reef.
''Something as complex and broad a feature as coral reefs is now sickening and dying … This is really giving us a warning sign that maybe the whole basis of our dependence on this planet, the biological and ecological services, will change.''
ON AN idyllic coral atoll just a two-hour boat ride from Queensland's Gladstone Harbour, out past the endless line of tankers queued to load coal for export, a half-dozen scientists work frantically against the tide.
Their objective? To explore the consequences of rising atmospheric carbon - which evidence overwhelmingly attributes to the burning of coal and other fossil fuels - on the delicate chemistry of the reef and the creatures living there.
The project team, led by David Kline, a young scientist from the University of Queensland's Global Change Institute, is completing tests on a new underwater laboratory that will expose living corals on the Great Barrier Reef to the more acidic conditions forecast for oceans by the end of the century.
The team has spent weeks working around the ebb and flow of tides, connecting four narrow, two-metre transparent chambers pegged over the reef shelf to the complex technology required to manage and monitor them. Small fish and currents move naturally through the porous structures, two of which will be constantly dosed with seawater flushed with carbon dioxide to lower the pH.
''This system here is the heart of the experiment,'' Dr Kline explains to a film crew from the BBC natural history unit as he stands in the shallows, patting his hand on a floating platform loaded with pumps, cables and 50 instruments, all in constant conversation with ''the brains'' - a computer program running in a laboratory a few metres away on shore.
International interest is high because this is the first in situ investigation of its type. Findings from the Free Ocean Carbon Enrichment (FOCE) project will be keenly studied by scientists around the world.
Fathoming the effects of ocean acidification - the ''other'' carbon problem, one that emerged in scientific literature only a decade ago - has become one of the most urgent issues on the science agenda. The potentially diabolical consequences were highlighted in major briefing papers presented last week by the United States National Research Council to the US Congress and by the European Science Foundation to national leaders. The papers appealed to governments to give the issue priority for investigation and action.
''The chemistry of the ocean is changing at an unprecedented rate and magnitude due to anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions,'' the NRC has said. ''The rate of change exceeds any known to have occurred for at least the past hundreds of thousands of years.''
Ocean acidification occurs when carbon dioxide (CO2) dissolves in naturally alkaline seawater, forming weak carbonic acid. Studies show the world's oceans have a huge appetite for carbon, and have insulated humanity from greenhouse warming by gulping in about one-third of the emissions pumped into the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution.
But the process lowers the overall pH of seawater - by about 30 per cent over the past 200 years. It also soaks up carbonate ions, which are crucial to marine organisms making their calcium carbonate shells and skeletons.
The Heron Island experiment assumes a future with seawater twice as acidic as today, a more conservative take than published business-as-usual scenarios, which put the increase at 150 per cent by 2100. The question scientists are racing to answer is what a more acidic environment will mean for the tiny shelled zooplankton on which the marine food chain depends, and for the skeletons corals build into reefs.
The fear, explains the director of the Global Change Institute and head of the Australian Research Council-funded research team, Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, is that the change hits these creatures on two fronts - creating a more corrosive environment, and depleting stocks of building materials. ''If these organisms can't compensate for that … reef growth will slow until the reef superstructure begins to crumble. If coral populations disappear you put at risk about a million or so species, and all of the beautiful benefits to humans such as fisheries, coastal protection, tourist industries and so on.''
Meanwhile, he says, reefs are struggling with the effects of rising temperatures, which can trigger bleaching - when the stressed coral hosts expel the microscopic algae on which they rely for survival. He likens simultaneous bleaching and acidification to ''having two rhinos run at you from different directions''. Maybe by some miracle you will escape, but the odds are not good.
''Ocean acidification is already occurring and will get worse,'' said Professor Jelle Bijma, lead author of the European Science Foundation document, when it was presented last week. Combined with warming, ''we are in double trouble. The combination of the two may be the most critical environmental and economic challenge of the century''.
Dr Kline says some of his corals will be airbrushed to mimic bleaching, to see how damaged structures respond to the more acid environment. This will provide clues on whether reef atolls will continue to provide a platform for new communities to grow - ''or is the balance going to shift … are these massive reef structures going to end up dissolving?''
To date, exploration of these questions has been limited to laboratory aquaria. ''But seeing how they behave in the natural world is vital to gaining a reliable sense of where the future lies,'' says Dr Kline. Ecosystems may turn out to be more resilient - or less - than the models show. ''Here in the world, the corals are surrounded by their natural community - you have natural water, natural light,'' he explains, making final adjustments to the chambers.
They rest on layers of sands that have their own complex chemistry of carbonates and biota, which may help corals cope with a more acidic future.
''I'm hoping that these environments have some ability to buffer the impact of ocean acidification, and thereby part of the biodiversity of islands and coral reefs would be preserved,'' says Dr Hoegh-Guldberg. ''But its 50:50. I actually think that what we are seeing in the laboratory is repeated in nature.''
The Queensland coalmines may be just over the horizon, but ''this is a big fat canary'', he says of the reef.
''Something as complex and broad a feature as coral reefs is now sickening and dying … This is really giving us a warning sign that maybe the whole basis of our dependence on this planet, the biological and ecological services, will change.''
"Human Rights" Urged For Whales And Dolphins
Alister Doyle, PlanetArk 24 May 10;
Japan, Norway and Iceland, the main whaling nations, oppose such arguments that would outlaw hunting or even keeping the mammals in marine parks. They have long said there is no real evidence that they are smarter, for instance, than cows or pigs.
Participants at a University of Helsinki conference said ever more studies show the giant marine mammals have human-like self-awareness, an ability to communicate and organize complex societies, making them similar to some great apes.
"We affirm that all cetaceans as persons have the right to life, liberty and wellbeing," they said in a declaration after a two-day meeting led by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS).
Thomas White, director of the Center for Ethics and Business at Loyola Marymount University in California who was at the Helsinki talks, said dolphins can recognize themselves in a mirror, an ability rare in mammals that humans only acquire at about 18 months of age.
"Whaling is ethically unacceptable," he told Reuters. "They have a sense of self that we used to think that only human beings have."
Hal Whitehead, a biology professor at Dalhousie University in Canada and an expert on deep-water whales, said there was more evidence that whales have human-like culture.
SPERM WHALES
He said that sperm whales have sonars to find fish that are so powerful that they could permanently deafen others nearby if used at full blast. Yet the whales do not use sonars as weapons, showing what Whitehead called a human-like "sense of morality."
"It's like a group of human hunters armed with guns," he told Reuters. "There's a clear sense of how the sonar can be used."
Nations in the International Whaling Commission will debate a proposal to approve limited hunts for 10 years by the main whaling nations at a meeting next month, relaxing a 1986 moratorium imposed after many species came close to extinction.
"We want a shift to putting the individual at the center of conservation," said Nicholas Entrup, of the WDCS. That would mean giving minke whales, relatively plentiful and most often hunted, the same protection as endangered northern right whales.
But one expert biologist, who was not at the conference, said many researchers had wrongly concluded that whales and dolphins were smart because they have big brains.
"There's nothing to separate them from other mammals -- seals, lions or tigers," Paul Manger of Johannesburg's University of Witwatersrand, told Reuters. They had evolved big brains largely to keep warm in the chill waters.
Saying whales were not especially bright was not the same as advocating hunts, he said. "We protect fish stocks even though no one argues that they are intelligent," he said.
(Editing by Maria Golovnina)
Japan, Norway and Iceland, the main whaling nations, oppose such arguments that would outlaw hunting or even keeping the mammals in marine parks. They have long said there is no real evidence that they are smarter, for instance, than cows or pigs.
Participants at a University of Helsinki conference said ever more studies show the giant marine mammals have human-like self-awareness, an ability to communicate and organize complex societies, making them similar to some great apes.
"We affirm that all cetaceans as persons have the right to life, liberty and wellbeing," they said in a declaration after a two-day meeting led by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS).
Thomas White, director of the Center for Ethics and Business at Loyola Marymount University in California who was at the Helsinki talks, said dolphins can recognize themselves in a mirror, an ability rare in mammals that humans only acquire at about 18 months of age.
"Whaling is ethically unacceptable," he told Reuters. "They have a sense of self that we used to think that only human beings have."
Hal Whitehead, a biology professor at Dalhousie University in Canada and an expert on deep-water whales, said there was more evidence that whales have human-like culture.
SPERM WHALES
He said that sperm whales have sonars to find fish that are so powerful that they could permanently deafen others nearby if used at full blast. Yet the whales do not use sonars as weapons, showing what Whitehead called a human-like "sense of morality."
"It's like a group of human hunters armed with guns," he told Reuters. "There's a clear sense of how the sonar can be used."
Nations in the International Whaling Commission will debate a proposal to approve limited hunts for 10 years by the main whaling nations at a meeting next month, relaxing a 1986 moratorium imposed after many species came close to extinction.
"We want a shift to putting the individual at the center of conservation," said Nicholas Entrup, of the WDCS. That would mean giving minke whales, relatively plentiful and most often hunted, the same protection as endangered northern right whales.
But one expert biologist, who was not at the conference, said many researchers had wrongly concluded that whales and dolphins were smart because they have big brains.
"There's nothing to separate them from other mammals -- seals, lions or tigers," Paul Manger of Johannesburg's University of Witwatersrand, told Reuters. They had evolved big brains largely to keep warm in the chill waters.
Saying whales were not especially bright was not the same as advocating hunts, he said. "We protect fish stocks even though no one argues that they are intelligent," he said.
(Editing by Maria Golovnina)
Africa Revives Hardy, Local Rice versus Asian Cousin
Alister Doyle, PlanetArk 24 May 10;
Scientists are reviving long-ignored African rice to cut dependence on Asian varieties that may be less able to withstand the impact of climate change on the poorest continent, a report said on Friday.
Historically, scientists have focused on breeding useful traits such as disease resistance from African rice into Asian rice. Now the focus is on the reverse -- using African rice as the basic crop and improving it with Asian genes. "African rice was initially ignored by mainstream research," said Koichi Futakuchi, a scientist at Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) in a statement.
"Now for the first time, we're reversing the gene flow."
Asian and African rice are the only two cultivated species of the crop in the world but the usually higher-yielding Asian type, introduced to Africa by the Portuguese in the 16th century, has become the dominant type to meet surging demand.
Africa imports 40 percent of its rice with import bills estimated at $3.6 billion in 2008.
"With climate change a reality, the work of developing crop varieties adapted to the changing environment is going to keep plant breeders busy for decades," AfricaRice said in a study coinciding with U.N. International Biodiversity Day on May 22.
Better breeding will help to raise yields of the African species, formally known as Oryza glaberrima, which has pear-shaped grains and a nutty flavor and was domesticated about 3,500 years ago in West Africa.
It often grows better in harsh conditions than its Asian cousin, Oryza sativa, but yields less in good soils. "Overall it is grown only in scattered pockets, near the brink of extinction," the Benin-based AfricaRice said.
WEEDS, DISEASE
"African rice species are known for their hardiness -- their strong ability to compete with weeds, pests and diseases, volatile weather, infertile soils (including toxic levels of iron), and even human neglect," it said.
Scientists say they are overcoming problems with African rice -- the plants often fall over near maturity or scatter their seeds before harvest -- and foresee yields of 5-6 metric tones per hectare (2.471 acres) in favorable, rainfed soils.
"Farmers will only change to new varieties if they are at least as good as what they already have," AfricaRice's Semon Mande, a rice breeder, told Reuters.
The panel of U.N. climate scientists has projected that between 75 and 250 million people in Africa may face extra stress on water supplies by 2020 with everything from desertification to floods. And crop yields may fall sharply.
Countries including Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia have already used African rice varieties developed since the 1990s. In Uganda, farmers grew 35,000 hectares (86,490 acres) of African rice in 2007 and halved rice imports from 2002-07.
(Editing by Louise Ireland)
Scientists are reviving long-ignored African rice to cut dependence on Asian varieties that may be less able to withstand the impact of climate change on the poorest continent, a report said on Friday.
Historically, scientists have focused on breeding useful traits such as disease resistance from African rice into Asian rice. Now the focus is on the reverse -- using African rice as the basic crop and improving it with Asian genes. "African rice was initially ignored by mainstream research," said Koichi Futakuchi, a scientist at Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice) in a statement.
"Now for the first time, we're reversing the gene flow."
Asian and African rice are the only two cultivated species of the crop in the world but the usually higher-yielding Asian type, introduced to Africa by the Portuguese in the 16th century, has become the dominant type to meet surging demand.
Africa imports 40 percent of its rice with import bills estimated at $3.6 billion in 2008.
"With climate change a reality, the work of developing crop varieties adapted to the changing environment is going to keep plant breeders busy for decades," AfricaRice said in a study coinciding with U.N. International Biodiversity Day on May 22.
Better breeding will help to raise yields of the African species, formally known as Oryza glaberrima, which has pear-shaped grains and a nutty flavor and was domesticated about 3,500 years ago in West Africa.
It often grows better in harsh conditions than its Asian cousin, Oryza sativa, but yields less in good soils. "Overall it is grown only in scattered pockets, near the brink of extinction," the Benin-based AfricaRice said.
WEEDS, DISEASE
"African rice species are known for their hardiness -- their strong ability to compete with weeds, pests and diseases, volatile weather, infertile soils (including toxic levels of iron), and even human neglect," it said.
Scientists say they are overcoming problems with African rice -- the plants often fall over near maturity or scatter their seeds before harvest -- and foresee yields of 5-6 metric tones per hectare (2.471 acres) in favorable, rainfed soils.
"Farmers will only change to new varieties if they are at least as good as what they already have," AfricaRice's Semon Mande, a rice breeder, told Reuters.
The panel of U.N. climate scientists has projected that between 75 and 250 million people in Africa may face extra stress on water supplies by 2020 with everything from desertification to floods. And crop yields may fall sharply.
Countries including Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia have already used African rice varieties developed since the 1990s. In Uganda, farmers grew 35,000 hectares (86,490 acres) of African rice in 2007 and halved rice imports from 2002-07.
(Editing by Louise Ireland)
EU Struggles To Find Voice On Environment Issues
Pete Harrison, PlanetArk 24 May 10;
The European Union is bogged down in a power struggle over who speaks for the bloc at international meetings, threatening action on environmental issues from mercury pollution to whaling, EU officials say.
The discord has emerged since the 27-country bloc adopted its new Lisbon Treaty late last year, which sowed confusion by empowering a new European Council president and foreign policy chief.
"We're in a bit of a mess," one senior EU official said on Friday. "We're still feeling our way forward."
The first sign of the EU's new impotence emerged at the last meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in March, when EU countries struggled to find a common voice on protecting the Atlantic bluefin tuna.
Bluefin populations have been cut by 80 percent in 40 years, largely to satisfy sushi lovers in Japan, and EU governments agreed in March to support a trade ban to protect the fish.
But while Japan lobbied hard and early against a ban, Europe was so embroiled in internal wrangling and so inflexible in its approach that it failed to make an impact.
"There are lessons to be learned from CITES," said European Commission environment spokesman Joe Hennon. "The EU needs to be in a position to engage with international partners and to do so early enough to make a difference."
WHALING COMEBACK
The EU was left feeling as powerless at CITES as it did when it came away empty-handed from climate talks in Copenhagen last December, a meeting at which it had hoped to lead the world to a strong global deal on cutting climate-warming emissions.
Opponents of whaling now fear the same confusion could help those who want to legitimize the hunt.
Whale hunting was banned in 1986, but Norway, Japan and Iceland have used loopholes to kill thousands of whales since then. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) will discuss a proposal in June that would reduce the catch but at the same time legitimize it.
At a March meeting of the IWC, EU countries were confused about how to vote on the hunting of humpback whales off Greenland, because Denmark supported the hunt and there was little chance of finding a united EU stance.
"This absurd position... effectively means that one member state can block the conservation efforts of all other EU member states in international for a like the IWC, CITES and other environmental treaty meetings," said Chris Butler Stroud, of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS).
"This is a backdoor hijacking of democracy and the rights of governments to represent the European people's strong anti-whaling stance," he added.
Lawyers have advised the WDCS, however, that despite the advice member states are receiving, the new EU treaty has not robbed them of the right to vote.
BATTLE OVER MERCURY
Meanwhile, the political battle over who speaks for the EU continues in its Brussels headquarters.
The EU's executive, the European Commission, last week rejected a proposal that it share responsibilities with EU member states at United Nations talks on mercury pollution in Stockholm in June.
Member states are worried it would set a precedent for other negotiations.
The row escalated this week when the Commission withdrew its own proposal, leaving the EU without a common stance to take to Stockholm.
"The Commission is looking for a mandate on mercury," said environment spokesman Hennon. "We regret how things have gone."
Greenpeace urged the EU to resolve the issue and lead global environment talks from the front.
"It's the Commission's job to sort this out or it risks undermining the whole purpose of the EU," said Greenpeace spokesman Mark Breddy.
(Editing by Michael Taylor)
The European Union is bogged down in a power struggle over who speaks for the bloc at international meetings, threatening action on environmental issues from mercury pollution to whaling, EU officials say.
The discord has emerged since the 27-country bloc adopted its new Lisbon Treaty late last year, which sowed confusion by empowering a new European Council president and foreign policy chief.
"We're in a bit of a mess," one senior EU official said on Friday. "We're still feeling our way forward."
The first sign of the EU's new impotence emerged at the last meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in March, when EU countries struggled to find a common voice on protecting the Atlantic bluefin tuna.
Bluefin populations have been cut by 80 percent in 40 years, largely to satisfy sushi lovers in Japan, and EU governments agreed in March to support a trade ban to protect the fish.
But while Japan lobbied hard and early against a ban, Europe was so embroiled in internal wrangling and so inflexible in its approach that it failed to make an impact.
"There are lessons to be learned from CITES," said European Commission environment spokesman Joe Hennon. "The EU needs to be in a position to engage with international partners and to do so early enough to make a difference."
WHALING COMEBACK
The EU was left feeling as powerless at CITES as it did when it came away empty-handed from climate talks in Copenhagen last December, a meeting at which it had hoped to lead the world to a strong global deal on cutting climate-warming emissions.
Opponents of whaling now fear the same confusion could help those who want to legitimize the hunt.
Whale hunting was banned in 1986, but Norway, Japan and Iceland have used loopholes to kill thousands of whales since then. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) will discuss a proposal in June that would reduce the catch but at the same time legitimize it.
At a March meeting of the IWC, EU countries were confused about how to vote on the hunting of humpback whales off Greenland, because Denmark supported the hunt and there was little chance of finding a united EU stance.
"This absurd position... effectively means that one member state can block the conservation efforts of all other EU member states in international for a like the IWC, CITES and other environmental treaty meetings," said Chris Butler Stroud, of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS).
"This is a backdoor hijacking of democracy and the rights of governments to represent the European people's strong anti-whaling stance," he added.
Lawyers have advised the WDCS, however, that despite the advice member states are receiving, the new EU treaty has not robbed them of the right to vote.
BATTLE OVER MERCURY
Meanwhile, the political battle over who speaks for the EU continues in its Brussels headquarters.
The EU's executive, the European Commission, last week rejected a proposal that it share responsibilities with EU member states at United Nations talks on mercury pollution in Stockholm in June.
Member states are worried it would set a precedent for other negotiations.
The row escalated this week when the Commission withdrew its own proposal, leaving the EU without a common stance to take to Stockholm.
"The Commission is looking for a mandate on mercury," said environment spokesman Hennon. "We regret how things have gone."
Greenpeace urged the EU to resolve the issue and lead global environment talks from the front.
"It's the Commission's job to sort this out or it risks undermining the whole purpose of the EU," said Greenpeace spokesman Mark Breddy.
(Editing by Michael Taylor)