Oil spill at Changi East: What impact of dispersants?
from wild shores of singapore
Tanah Merah CleanUp - 05June2010
with update of shore on the day after from sgbeachbum
Lyssa zampa, the tropical swallowtail moth, returns
from Habitatnews and otterman speaks
Snakes, seascapes, and the value of nature
from BBC NEWS blog by Richard Black
A Message From Sylvia Earle on World Oceans Day
from MarineBio Blog
Janice Tai Straits Times 10 Jun 10;
MORE than 30 tonnes of dispersant were used to break up oil into globules in the recent oil spill off the Changi coast.
In the Gulf of Mexico, experts have deployed about five million litres of the substance on a massive slick that has been gushing out of a ruptured undersea well for the past two months.
But some experts are beginning to press for more efficient methods to deal with oil spills. They argue that the dispersion method, which has been in use for decades, drives some of the oil undersea and threatens marine life.
'Chemical dispersants merely visually 'remove' oil from the water because we cannot see the smaller oil particles. The oil still remains in the water column or on the seabed,' Associate Professor Tan Soon Keat of the Division of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) told The Straits Times.
Dispersants are chemicals with an active ingredient called surfactants.
Surfactants bind well with either water or oil, reducing the tension between them and breaking up oil into droplets.
The application of dispersants is one of the four main ways used to clean up oil spills, the others being soaking up, scraping off and burning.
Dispersion is the only method that uses chemicals, and the substances may be toxic to marine life like mussels, clams, crabs, eels and shrimp.
Furthermore, dispersants do not get rid of all the oil.
Some of it will remain in the water. Plumes can also form undersea, depleting the water's oxygen content - which some scientists say is what is happening in the tainted waters in the Gulf of Mexico.
'I'm afraid that a lot of damage is being done below the surface where the majority of oil is,' said Assistant Professor Prosanta Chakrabarty of Louisiana State University, an expert on fish and marine life.
While the dispersion method is far from ideal, there are few alternatives.
'The strategy to combat oil spills has remained largely unchanged over the last 30 to 40 years. The oil is either dispersed, collected or burned,' said Mr Ho Yew Weng, operations manager of Oil Spill Response.
The Singapore-based company has been involved in the clean-up of the spills in both Changi and the Gulf of Mexico.
Still, the experts note that more efficient and environment-friendly types of dispersants have emerged over the years.
Prof Tan cites the use of gases like ozone instead of the usual chemical dispersants.
'The oil is removed in an environmentally friendly manner as the ozone converts the oil into carbon dioxide and water,' he said.
The ozone gas is saturated in water and it is sprayed on oil slicks or bubbled through seawater filled with oil globules.
Less toxic dispersants have also been developed.
'Dispersants now are much less toxic and are quite similar to dishwashing liquids,' said Mr Ho.
Five people have each been caught four times and served three CWOs
Amresh Gunasingham Straits Times 10 Jun 10;
FOUR male smokers in their 20s and a woman in her 50s - who thrice threw urine out of her window - are Singapore's worst litterbugs, according to National Environment Agency (NEA) statistics provided to The Straits Times.
Each was caught on four separate occasions and did the most corrective work orders (CWOs) for littering, based on data collated over the past four years.
All five - including the urine thrower, whose offence is an anomaly, says NEA - served three CWO sentences each. This means each of them served between eight and 17 hours in total for their offences.
In addition to cleaning up public spaces, the five were slapped with fines totalling $4,000.
Under the law, for minor littering, first-time offences are punishable with a $300 fine, while repeat offenders will be served with CWOs and can be fined up to $5,000.
But rather than the norm, re-offenders like the five are an exception. Only about 5 per cent, or 1,954, of the 41,392 offenders caught last year were repeat offenders. In 2008, 3 per cent of the 33,164 caught were recalcitrants. Most of the re-offenders were young male smokers.
Along with the increase in the number of litterbugs caught, NEA figures also showed a surge in the number of CWOs served - from 1,163 in 2008 to 2,537 last year.
NEA said the increase in numbers is partly due to more enforcement officers prowling the streets.
Foreign residents, bringing with them different social norms, also contributed to the high numbers - about a third of those caught were foreigners.
The perennial littering issue is back in focus this week following the first tweak made to the CWO system since it was first initiated in 1992, to make enforcement more effective.
A government-commissioned survey of 4,500 people found that the shame of having to pick up trash - under the public eye while wearing a bright orange vest - was a strong deterrent.
Therefore, CWOs will now be carried out in shopping malls, Little India and the barbecue pits at East Coast Park, areas with a high density of human traffic and rubbish, to raise the embarrassment factor.
Previously, many CWOs, which are done for a maximum of three hours in a day, were in quieter housing estates or parks.
Sociologist Paulin Straughan, who led the year-long study that surveyed families, secondary school students and other young people, feels that punitive measures such as fines and CWOs have been effective as a short-term measure.
But the problem continues to arise because of the limited reach of enforcement officers at any one time.
So the NEA has contracted out the work to some 100 uniformed officers to complement its team of around 420 environmental health officers who work the streets.
Often, they are dressed in plain clothes to add an element of surprise to their operations.
From this week, these uniformed officers will also make the rounds twice weekly, not just once.
Some $9 million is spent each year on such manpower costs and Associate Professor Straughan suggested that changes in attitude are the only realistic way to bring about a long-term change - apart from spending even more money on stepping up enforcement.
She said: 'In the long run, our society needs to attain a higher level of maturity that looks beyond the gains to one's self and embraces more intrinsic values such as pride in a country and the importance of the aesthetics of the environment.'
Teaching not to litter (again)
Straits Times Editorial 10 Jun 10;
CORRECTING a bad habit is harder than learning not to pick it up in the first place. On this understanding, the renewed anti-littering drive started this week will have a better chance of success if the young are taught the correct habits early, besides reforming the ways of offending adults. Much of the new emphasis is based on the findings of a year-long behavioural study for which the National Environment Agency (NEA) interviewed 4,500 people. Despite 50 years of state-sponsored campaigns and public education, the lesson has essentially not been taught well where it matters most - within the family. Two generations of people have grown up being taught in school not to litter, but they have been spotty about passing on the right values to their offspring.
So, of the three groups of people the NEA is targeting, parents - especially mothers - are the most important. The survey found a person was 2.4 times more likely to follow the bad example of family members. While most mothers recognise their responsibility, the campaign has far to go. At foodcourts, parents are known to stop their children from clearing up after a meal or picking up tissue paper and scraps blown off the table. They tell the young it is the cleaner's job. This is a disgrace, a social disease. Lessons conceivably would be learnt the hard way by these youngsters in adulthood, through fines and community work orders (CWOs).
Even in trying to get the message through to young people, another of its target groups, the NEA may find the task daunting. More than two-thirds of 1,500 students surveyed said they littered. Nearly a quarter of these said nothing would stop them from doing so. It is the same with smokers: Nine out of 10 litterbugs apprehended in the past five years were caught throwing cigarette butts on the ground. More than a third of smokers admitted they littered. Smokers seem past the stage where preventive education could do some good. Enforcement and punitive measures are the only option.
Yet, the value of shaming - especially through CWOs which will be made more onerous and visible - is questionable. Instead of changing behaviour, being shamed publicly can build resentment in some adults and harden bad attitudes. The NEA is right to step up enforcement and align penalties with other environment-related agencies, but it should realise the limitations. As a practical step, more bins in busy public spaces will certainly reinforce the message. Usually, these are too few and too hard to find. When the contents spill over, overflowing bins are not emptied promptly. NEA, take note.
Start them young on no-littering habit
Straits Times 10 Jun 10;
I REFER to Monday's report, 'Tougher now for litterbugs to escape'. While I agree stiffer penalties and stepped-up enforcement action will help curb the mess caused by litterbugs in the short term, it will not eliminate the problem.
As enforcement officers cannot be everywhere all the time, Singapore can be clean and litter-free only if the people are educated to be responsible owners and users of common space. If they do not treat public places as such, no amount of enforcement and penalties can bring about the desired results.
In Japan, I noticed teenagers did not throw litter into drains or onto flower beds. They kept their litter in their pockets or bags. They would then empty them into litter bins they chanced upon as they moved on with their activities. It was only then that I realised having a litter bin at every corner in Singapore was a luxury. Yet, we often hear and read about the dearth of litter bins.
Since the authorities are going to spend millions in the coming years to solve the litter problem, it is not too late to send some of our teachers to Japan to learn how their education system imparts the value of caring for public places to their students.
Good habits have to start from young.
Soh Ah Yuen
Straits Times 10 Jun 10;
TWO Malaysians have been caught and jailed for a month each for trying to smuggle in more than 1,000 birds by hiding them among boxes of grasshoppers and crickets being brought in legally.
The chirps of the birds gave the game away. Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers were checking the consignment of 5,000 grasshoppers and 5,000 crickets at Woodlands Checkpoint on Tuesday morning when they found six crates of live birds hidden below the crickets.
The haul of 140 mata puteh and 1,000 munia constituted the largest haul of birds at the checkpoints since 2006, said the ICA and the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority yesterday.
ICA officers arrested Lee Sung, 44, whose cargo clearance permit covered only the import of the insects. His motorcycle, on which the crates were loaded, was seized.
When his accomplice Ho Kwee Ping, 56, showed up a while later on his motorcycle, he too was arrested. His link to Lee was suspected when documentation for a previous consignment of grasshoppers and crickets named the same importer and exporter as the one on Lee's import papers. Another document to bring in six more such consignments by Northern Aquarium was found with Ho.
Investigations showed that Lee and Ho were to be paid $250 and $150 respectively by a Malaysian called Ah Meng for delivering the birds to someone in Ang Mo Kio that morning.
The pair pleaded guilty to importing the birds without a licence. They could have been fined up to $10,000 and/or jailed for up to 12 months under the Animals and Birds Act.
Chirps that saved their day
Today Online 10 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE - It was an unexpected burst of song from a stack of crates on a motorcycle which gave the game away - and led to the biggest seizure of smuggled birds at the checkpoints since 2006.
In a joint statement, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said that a motorcyclist had pulled up at the Woodlands Checkpoint in the early hours of Tuesday and produced an AVA permit to import some 10,000 insects: 5,000 grasshoppers and 5,000 crickets.
While inspecting the crates on the rear of the motorcycle, the ICA officers thought they heard chirps which did not sound like crickets.
They then uncovered six crates of live birds concealed below the consignment of crickets.
Altogether, 1,000 Munias and 140 Mata Putehs (Oriental White Eyes) were seized. Five minutes later, another motorcycle pulled into the checkpoint - the rider had an AVA permit to import grasshoppers and crickets - but he did not have any consignment with him.
On being questioned, the first motorcyclist, a 45-year-old Malaysian, admitted he was offered $250 to smuggle the birds into Singapore.
The second rider, a 56-year old man, was to oversee the bootlegging attempt.
The two were convicted yesterday and jailed for a month each for violating the Animals and Birds Act.
ICA foils attempt to smuggle over 1,000 birds into Singapore
Mustafa Shafawi Channel NewsAsia 9 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE : An attempt to smuggle more than 1,000 birds into Singapore was foiled at the Woodlands Checkpoint on Tuesday.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said it was the largest seizure of birds at the checkpoint since 2006.
A motorcyclist had pulled up at the border crossing in the early hours of Tuesday and produced an AVA permit, authorising the importation of 10,000 insects - 5,000 grasshoppers and 5,000 crickets.
While inspecting the crates stacked on the rear rack of the motorcycle, the ICA officers heard chirping sounds which aroused their suspicion.
They uncovered six crates of live birds concealed below the consignment of crickets. Altogether 1,000 Munias and 140 Mata Putehs were seized from the crates.
Barely five minutes later, another Malaysia-registered motorbike which had just pulled into the checkpoint was subjected to a check.
Officers found an AVA permit authorising the importation of grasshoppers and crickets in his possession even when he was not conveying any consignment.
This aroused the officers' suspicion. They decided to interview the second Malaysian Chinese rider. He too was involved in the attempt to smuggle the birds into Singapore.
The 45-year-old Malaysian Chinese who had attempted to bring in the birds illegally admitted to the smuggling activity.
He claimed that a Malaysian man by the name of Ah Meng had offered him S$250 for the delivery and instructed him to meet up with the second rider at a carpark near the checkpoint after the immigration and customs clearance.
The second rider, a 56-year-old man, corroborated the account of the first rider and added that his role was to oversee the bootlegging attempt.
The two were convicted in court on Wednesday afternoon and sentenced to one month's jail.
The importation of live birds without an AVA permit is a violation of the Animals and Birds Act. It carries a maximum penalty of S$10,000 and one year imprisonment.
- CNA/al
Straits Times 10 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE imports as much as 80 per cent of its rice from Thailand, but importers here are not worried about supply shortages - just yet.
The Singapore General Rice Importers Association says there would be minimal impact on suppliers and consumers here if there is a reduction in Thai rice exports.
Mr Andrew Tan, who is the association’s chairman, says there are enough safeguards in place here to ensure sufficient supply of rice.
'The government has a policy of stockpiling supplies which would assure consumers of sufficient rice in the market,' he said.
In the unlikely event that stocks from Thailand run dry, existing supplies would last four to five months.
Singapore also has other suppliers.
Aside from Thailand, the rest of the rice in Singapore is imported from countries such as Vietnam, Myanmar and China.
Last year, trade promotion body IE Singapore announced that it would enhance its rice supply monitoring system to counter the possibility of a price increase caused by shortfalls in imports from Thailand.
KEVIN TAN
Thai drought may hit price of rice
Output could drop to less than half of earlier forecast
Straits Times 10 Jun 10;
BANGKOK: The world's largest rice exporter, Thailand, is facing major losses to its next crop of rice and a water crisis because of the worst drought in nearly two decades.
Mr Chanchai Rakthananon, president of the Thai Rice Mills Association, said rice output for the next crop cycle which ends in August could fall to as little as two million tonnes from a previously forecast five million tonnes.
'It didn't rain when it needed to rain,' said Mr Angsumal Sunalai, director-general of the Thai Meteorological Department.
Mr Chalit Damroengsak, director-general of the Royal Irrigation Department, said there would normally be three to four monsoon storms a year during the annual rainy season, 'but farmers will be lucky if there is one this year'.
Thailand produces about 20 million tonnes of rice annually in two to four crop cycles, exporting about nine million tonnes and consuming the same amount.
The government keeps a rice reserve of about 10 per cent of output, mostly as a way of stabilising prices, so the drought will not cause food shortages.
But Thailand will face a water crisis if reserves are not refilled and demand for water continues to soar, said Mr Chalit.
The agricultural sector consumes 70 per cent of the nation's water supply, he said, while human consumption accounts for only 4 per cent.
Water levels in medium- to large-sized reservoirs nationwide are at 15 per cent of total capacity. In some regions, local officials have asked farmers to postpone rice planting by one month for fear of depleting the reserves.
The Meteorological Department predicts heavy rain for the next three months, but that poses more of a problem than a solution for rice farmers, because flash floods can wipe out planted seedlings.
Farmers, like Ms Jundang Rintorn, 46, in the north-eastern province of Si Sa Ket, feel squeezed.
'Too much rain would mean losing money. We have to learn to adapt to this new pattern,' she said, speaking of the irregular weather.
Although the government implemented a price guarantee scheme last month to insure farmers against prices falling below a minimum, profit margins are shrinking because of higher production costs.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva asked the Agriculture Ministry to find ways to avoid the drought-induced problems next year.
Lower Thai rice production could have an impact on the world price of the staple, said Mr Rex Estoperes, a spokesman for the National Food Authority of the Philippines, which is the world's biggest rice importer.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Channel NewsAsia 9 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE : Singaporeans see adoption as serving a useful function in society, according to a nationwide study conducted by the Department of Social Work at the National University of Singapore.
The benchmark study aimed to understand the attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and opinions towards adoption held by Singaporeans.
What the researchers found was that an overwhelming number of Singaporeans consider adoption as an alternative way to create a family.
Adopting a child is viewed the same as having one's own child.
But when it comes to attitudes towards adoption, the perception is mixed.
While they approve adoption and consider it to serve as an alternate form of family formation, they consider adoption to be the second best solution.
They also hold negative attitudes towards the biological parents who place their children for adoption.
The researchers were surprised to find that only 69 per cent of the respondents believed that adopted children should be told that they are adopted.
They should be told this at the age of 16.
This is inconsistent with advice by adoption workers for adoptive parents to tell the child at an early age of around 3 to 4 years old as it relates to the healthy development and psychological well-being of the child.
72 per cent of respondents also thought that adoptive parents should not tell their friends, neighbours or community about their child's adoption status.
The researchers said these findings highlight the need to raise awareness among the public about the importance of child adoption and provision of support.
The researchers believe that the findings of this study can help the relevant agencies implement appropriate policies, services, intervention programmes and awareness campaigns.
They also suggest that given the mixed findings, voluntary welfare organisations and governmental organisations should sensitise the public on child adoption.
The study was conducted among 1,200 Singapore citizens and permanent residents within the age group of 18-60 years.
Face-to-face interviews of study respondents were conducted between March and April. - CNA /ls
Adopt a kid? Why not, say Singaporeans
Study shows eight in 10 approve of adoption but many frown on those giving up their children
Ang Yiying Straits Times 10 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE citizens and permanent residents are open to adoption as a way of setting up a family, but are also likely to be disdainful of those who give up their children to be raised by others.
A study which polled 1,200 people here aged 18 to 60, mostly not adoptive parents, found eight in 10 saying they approved of adoption.
When asked what they thought of people on the 'supply side' of the adoption equation, nearly half - 45 per cent - said those who gave up their children were selfish, irresponsible or careless.
In the study done in March and April, the first on attitudes towards adoption here, respondents had to indicate their level of agreement with 128 statements or how they would respond to a given scenario from a range of possible answers.
It was conducted by Dr Jayashree Mohanty from the National University of Singapore's social work department and Dr Srinivasan Chokkanathan, who teaches gerontological management at Temasek Polytechnic and has experience with studies on the family and tracking attitudes.
They are due to present their findings at a conference in Hong Kong which starts today.
Figures from the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) indicate the annual number of adoptions in the last three years has been quite stable at around 400. MCYS did not reveal the number of adoption applications it received for those years, but said there has been no noticeable increase.
But adoption services report a rising awareness and interest in adoption.
For instance, Mr Low Soo Meng who runs Greenhouse Adoption Services said he used to get about 10 queries a month five years ago; now he gets twice that.
The study comes at a time when the Government is putting in place procreation measures out of concern over the falling number of births - the total fertility rate is at an all-time low of 1.23.
Dr Mohanty said the study, which will produce baseline numbers, can be replicated down the road so the nation's views towards adoption can be charted.
The researchers wanted to get started on the work, she said, in view of adoption being an alternative family arrangement that can be explored because of the low fertility rate.
Dr Mohanty predicts that adoption will gain pace here, like in the United States and Canada, given that people here are getting married later and finding it more difficult to conceive.
The researchers, concerned that almost half the respondents were judgmental of those who give up their children for adoption, reckon from this that most of them feel it is the parents' responsibility to bring up their child.
This came through in their responses when they were asked how they would advise an unmarried pregnant friend: Almost six in 10 said they would counsel her to keep the child.
One surprising result: Only seven in 10 believe adopted children should be told about their parentage, with 16 being the average age they believed the child should be told. The researchers and those in the adoption sector disagree. They think children should be told - and told early - instead of being shocked later.
Senior manager Teo Seok Bee of Touch Adoption Services, which counsels openness, said: 'A child can sense something is not right when parents lie or hide. Parents may end up telling more lies if they do not (tell the child)... and may live in constant fear of the child finding out.'
An MCYS spokesman said the ministry requires adoptive parents to attend 'disclosure workshops', but leaves the decision to them on whether or when to tell the child.
Freelance counsellor Chang Chee Siah, 40, told her adopted Indonesia-born daughter, now seven, before the girl was two. The child was then told about her two mothers - her 'Indonesian mummy' and her 'forever mummy'.
Ms Chang and her husband, who had tried unsuccessfully for a child until the adoption, have since had two children of their own, now aged six and nine months.
New Zealander Monique Ciochetto, 47, who runs a part-time service providing information to those interested in adoption - and is herself an adoptive parent - can vouch for the positive light in which people view her adopted Malaysia-born girls, aged three and two.
She said people say the girls are lucky to have found a home with her and her husband: 'They are very positive about it. Our daughters are Indian, I'm Caucasian. I've never had negative comments.'
Mr Eugene Lo, 40, an executive in a non-profit organisation, and his wife are parents of triplets aged three after in-vitro fertilisation, and they know what it is like to want children badly. Like the majority of respondents, they do not see why anyone would give up a child.
He said: 'If you talk about the old days when people were having 10 or 11 kids, it may be understandable. But nowadays, people may be too materialistic or selfish.'
Most Singaporeans support adoption to start a family
Business Times 10 Jun 10;
Some say it may encourage having out-of-wedlock kids
AN overwhelming 91.2 per cent of people in Singapore view adopting a child as a perfectly viable way of starting a family, according to a survey funded by the National University of Singapore.
However, on the other hand, the nationwide survey of 1,200 Singapore citizens and permanent residents also found that 45 per cent view adoption as a 'second best solution' and that adoptive parents are not 'real parents', while 41.3 per cent also said that the prevalence of adoption may encourage the idea of having out-of-wedlock children.
The survey was conducted by Jayashree Mohanty from the National University of Singapore Department of Social Work and Srinivasan Chokkanathan from Temasek Polytechnic's Gerontological Management Studies Department.
The researchers said the findings would help policymakers and social workers learn about public attitudes towards adoption so that they could implement appropriate policies, services, intervention programmes and awareness campaigns.
These findings have led to suggestions that Voluntary Welfare Organisations and governmental organisations should sensitise the public on child adoption.
The study also found that 69 per cent believed that adopted children should be told about their status and the average accepted age of those to be told so would be 16 years.
This is inconsistent with social workers' advice to tell children at ages three or four in order to optimise their psychological well-being.
Dr Mohanty and Dr Chokkanathan said that given the decrease in the rates of marriage and low fertility rate, adoption may play a crucial role in family formation in Singapore.
They added that there is a need to raise awareness among the public about the importance of child adoption.
Scientists present the first ever Atlas of Biodiversity Risk
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, EurekAlert 9 Jun 10;
Brussels/ Halle/Saale: Political decisions are among the main driving forces that influence the survival of biodiversity. They have a direct impact on decisions in key areas of man's interaction with nature and the countryside, e.g. through agriculture, traffic or infrastructure policies. These decisions also influence many relevant socio-economic processes underlying human activities, writes an international team of scientists in the "Atlas of Biodiversity Risk", the first of its kind to be published.
The political framework and policy arrangements should focus increasingly on reducing the pressure on biodiversity while integrating recommendations made by scientists and academics. These recommendations should also help politicians to become more aware of the role of policy as a factor in biodiversity loss. To achieve this, more emphasis needs to be placed on the economic, cultural and intangible resources provided by biodiversity.
The Atlas combines the key results of the major European research project ALARM (68 partner organisations in 35 countries in Europe and other continents) with some core outputs of numerous other research networks. In total, 366 authors from more than 180 institutions in 43 countries contributed to the 280-page Atlas. The publication was presented on Thursday at the Green Week conference 2010 in Brussels, to which the European Commission invited around 4,000 participants.
The new "Atlas of Biodiversity Risk" is the first of its kind to summarise the major factors leading to the loss of biodiversity on a European and global level. The main risks are caused by global climate and land use change and environmental pollution. The loss of pollinators and the impact of biological invasions are particularly relevant factors which are given special attention. The impact and consequences of biodiversity loss are described with a strong focus on socio-economic factors and their effects on society. "In all these efforts, it must remain clear that no single policy measure will rescue biodiversity - there is no silver bullet. Instead, a systematic review of all policy fields is necessary to incorporate biodiversity," says Dr. Josef Settele of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), who heads the atlas publication team. "Research results should therefore be used to continuously update programs and develop policies for the long term."
The "Atlas of Biodiversity Risk" makes use of three different scenarios for the forecast of effects and the elaboration of potential mitigation options: a) the growth applied strategy (GRAS), b) a Business-As-Might-Be-Usual scenario (BAMBU) and c) a Sustainable European Development Goal (SEDG). "It is important to understand that scenarios are not predictions," says Dr. Joachim H. Spangenberg of SERI (Sustainable Europe Research Institute) Germany, who headed the socio-economic part of the ALARM project. "Scenarios provide a set of reasonable assumptions to help one's thinking about possible futures and the impact of current decisions on future development. They illustrate what could be the consequences of human decisions." The principles underlying these scenarios are explained and the effects have been modelled and are illustrated and tested in a series of consistent narratives. The Atlas is divided into eleven chapters which deal with the pressures on biodiversity, backed up by more than 100 case studies.
The Atlas is written for a wide range of readers. Academics will find summaries of methods, approaches and case studies. Conservationists and policy-makers will use the easy-to-understand recommendations based on academic findings. Lecturers and teachers will find examples to illustrate the major challenges in our century of global environmental changes. "Ultimately everyone concerned about the environment will find the Atlas a strong weapon in their struggle to save biodiversity on our planet," says Lyubomir Penev, one of the co- editors. "We very much hope that the present Atlas will find its way into many organisations, into the public at large, and into decision making processes of the policy sphere," adds Josef Settele, who, together with his eight co-editors from Germany, Slovenia and Bulgaria, firmly believes that biodiversity conservation will not be achieved in an unsustainable society, just as sustainability in society cannot be achieved without safeguarding biodiversity for future generations.
The Star 10 Jun 10;
KUALA TERENGGANU: The Fisheries Department will ask the Terengganu Government to gazette Pantai Geliga in Kemaman as a turtle sanctuary.
Its director Zakaria Ismail said this was important as Pantai Geliga had the highest number of turtle landings in Terengganu.
“Gazetting it as a sanctuary will protect the turtle nests and eggs.
“The two existing turtle sanctuaries are at Ma’daerah in Kemaman and Rantau Abang in Dungun,” he told Bernama here on Monday.
Zakaria said 21,480 turtle eggs were collected up to last month, of which 3,028 were hatched and the hatchlings returned to the sea.
The department hoped to hatch 300,000 eggs and expected 10,000 visitors to the Turtle Information Centre at Rantau Abang this year. — Bernama
Corals fishers caught out
James Cook University, Science Alert 10 Jun 10;
A new study focusing on a group of islands in the Philippines by Dr Michael Fabinyi of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University has highlighted the pressures being experienced by tens of millions of subsistence fishers in the region bounded by Australia, the Pacific and Southeast Asia.
“The Calamianes islands in the Philippines are fairly typical of what is happening throughout the region,” Dr Fabinyi said.
“Until recently they had relatively pristine coral reefs and healthy levels of fish stocks – but the impact of overfishing, including dynamite fishing and cyanide fishing, to feed the hungry markets of China and Asia have caused extensive degradation to the reefs and declines in the fish that depend on them.
“In Southeast Asia it is commonly assumed that tourism development will provide some of the answers by employing people who can no longer fish for a living – but in my study I did not find that,” he said.
“Instead it became clear that what was spoken of as eco-tourism was, in reality, often coastal resort development – and it was pushing many coastal families off their land as well as squeezing them out of their fishing areas.
“It has certainly created jobs for some former fishers – but by no means for all, and this wider social impact needs to be taken into account when thinking about the future livelihoods of the tens of millions who have, until now, drawn their living from the sea.”
Dr Fabinyi said that the creation of Marine Protected Areas in some parts of the Philippines and Coral Triangle had proved beneficial both for fishers and genuine ecotourism, although it has also restricted the area that fishers rely on for their livelihood.
“In the Calamianes, for example, I found that most fishers were working longer hours, over greater distances, for fewer fish caught – which is a clear sign that the fishery is continuing to decline. At the same time resort developers were pressuring them to give up their land on the coast, without creating sufficient livelihoods to compensate for the loss on land and at sea.”
Tourism development is often seen as a ‘silver bullet’ solution to poverty in underdeveloped regions, he says, but studies on the ground indicate the picture is more mixed – while some livelihoods are created, others are being destroyed. Also tourism is less reliable than fishing, being subject to booms and busts and the cost of world air travel.
“The people who are affected by these forces of environmental degradation, fish stock decline and coastal development are so numerous throughout the region that this is emerging as a very serious social issue for all the countries in the Coral Triangle as well as those which border it – like Australia,” Dr Fabinyi says.
New Straits Times 10 Jun 10;
KOTA KINABALU: A potential female partner for Malaysia's only male Sumatran rhino in captivity has been detected in the jungles of Sabah.
Images of a female rhino caught by a remote sensing camera have given fresh hopes to the authorities, who are looking to pair it up with Kertam or Tam, the male rhino at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve.
It was the second series of images released by the Sabah Wildlife Department and Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia. The first set of images released on April 21 were of a pregnant female rhino.
Sabah Wildlife Department director Laurentius Ambu said yesterday the images showed that although the species was on the verge of extinction, it was not too late to save it.
"It is a different rhino from the one whose photo we captured a few weeks ago in another area. This particular female rhino will be caught as a mate for Tam."
The Sabah Wildlife Department is taking the lead with support from Borneo Rhino Alliance, WWF-Malaysia and Sime Darby Foundation, among others.
"WWF-Malaysia loaned the camera that captured these new images," said Raymond Alfred, head of WWF-Malaysia Borneo species programme.
Bernama 10 Jun 10;
KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's environmental agenda under the Tenth Malaysia Plan (10MP) will be protecting the environment while harnessing economic value from the process.
To reach the goal, the government is placing focus on operationalising the National Policy on the Environment (2002), the National Green Technology Policy (2009) and the National Climate Change Policy (2009).
According to the 10MP tabled in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday, the key to sustainability is a proper valuation of our environmental resources.
It states that the biggest risk to sustainability arises from the underpricing of resources, particularly oil and gas as well as water.
Thus, during the 10MP period, the energy policy will move towards market pricing of gas by 2015 while the water tariff will be restructured towards full cost recovery.
Similarly, there are significant opportunities in monetising or creating value from environmental endowments.
The report states that initiatives to finance and promote sustainability measures include introducing Feed-in Tariff (FiT) to help finance renewable energy investments, promoting projects eligible for carbon credits and promoting funding for green technology investments.
As a first step in creating a comprehensive ecosystem for environmental sustainability, the government has introduced the Affirm framework.
Affirm, which is the acronym for awareness, faculty, finance, infrastructure, research and marketing, is an outline of the government's approach toward the effort.
The two main areas of environmental focus under the 10MP is developing a road map for climate-resilient growth and enhancing conservation of the nation's ecological assets.
The report says that to brace the impact of climate change, Malaysia will adapt strategies to protect economic growth and development factors, as well as mitigate strategies to reduce emission of greenhouse gases.
Meanwhile, to reduce greenhouse gas emission, the government has embarked on several programmes which focus on five areas:
* creating stronger incentives for investments in renewable energy, which includes the introduction of a one per cent FiT
* promoting energy efficiency to encourage productive use of energy
* improving solid waste management
* conserving forests
* reducing emissions to improve air quality. This includes emissions from motor vehicles, industries as well as preventing haze pollution from land and forest fires.
In the bid to protect biodiversity and habitats, the Central Forest Spine of 4.32 million hectares across Malaysia will be implemented under the 10MP.
-- BERNAMA
Caps on investment in healthcare, transport to go up
Business Times 10 Jun 10;
(JAKARTA) Indonesia will open up its agricultural sector to foreigners and raise the level of foreign investment allowed in sectors including healthcare and transport, according to a presidential decree seen by Reuters on Monday.
Indonesia needs billions of dollars in investment to support its target of 7 per cent economic growth by 2014 and has struggled to attract foreign direct investment in recent years in the face of competition from regional rivals including Vietnam and China.
Foreigners will be allowed to have a maximum ownership of 49 per cent in plantations for staples such as rice, a move which could potentially encourage foreigners to invest in one of the government's priority projects, the vast Merauke food estate in remote Papua, in easternmost Indonesia.
However, the decree shows that Indonesia will keep a ban on investment in telecommunication towers despite pressure from foreign investors to open up that sector.
State-controlled Telekomunikasi Indonesia is in talks with Singapore Telecommunications to buy out SingTel's part-ownership in about 9,000 telecom towers because of the rules, in a deal that could be worth US$1.2 billion.
There has been fierce resistance from local vested interests to proposals to open up strategic sectors, and the presidential decree - which serves as law - likely reflects a compromise between these interests and reformers within the government.
In transportation, the government has overwritten previous conflicting legislation and will allow foreign ownership of up to 49 per cent in land, sea and air transport.
In healthcare, foreign investors will now be allowed to hold up to 67 per cent in hospitals across Indonesia.
Previously, foreign ownership was 65 per cent and restricted to a few provincial cities such as Surabaya in east Java, and Medan in north Sumatra.
The level of foreign ownership in education will remain unchanged at 49 per cent, after proposals to raise it to 51 per cent ownership.
Firms such as Singapore's Raffles Education and private healthcare provider Parkway Holdings are looking to expand regionally, while private equity firms are eyeing sectors from food to transport to tap consumer demand.
Investors have poured money into Indonesia's bonds, rupiah currency and stock market in the past year, encouraged by the strong economic growth and increased political stability.
But investors in fixed assets often complain about obstacles such as red tape, widespread corruption and a shaky legal system. -- Reuters
Related links
Antara 9 Jun 10;
Jambi (ANTARA News) - Ten Sumatran orangutans (Pongo Abelii) will be released into their natural habitat in Bukit Tigapuluh forest, Jambi Province, an environmentalist said.
The reintroduction of the primates to the wild was expected to increase the population of Sumatran orangutans in Jambi, Julius Paolo Siregar said here Tuesday.
The manager of Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS)`s Sumatran Orangutan Reintroduction Station said the population of these great apes in Jambi tended to decrease as a result of deforestation.
The natural habitat of these primates was threatened by the opening of plantations in the province, he said.
Siregar said there were only 6,000 orangutans currently living in the wild. Therefore the reintroduction program was so important to increase the orangutan population in Jambi.
The seizure of orangutans from the hands of people was also necessary, he said.
About the presence of 10 orangutans, they had been transported by a truck from the Batu Mbelin quarantine station, Sibolangit, North Sumatra Province, on Monday afternoon.
They were expected to have arrived in Jambi on Wednesday morning. "The orangutans have been transported by a truck, accompanied by a number of veterinarians and rangers," he said.
Shortly after arriving in Tebo district, Jambi Province, the orangutans would be loaded to two off-road vehicles to be driven to the Orangutan Reintroduction Station.
To reach the station, the drivers need six to eight hours, Siregar said. Meanwhile, Yenny Saraswati, a veterinarian, said the average ages of the orangutans being sent to Jambi was six years old. "There is only one whose age is over ten years old," she said.
They consisted of six females and four males. Most of them were seized from Aceh region.
One of the orangutans was named "Virina" by a farmer in Kutacane village who found him inside a wild boar trap, she said.
The reintroduction of Sumatran orangutans to their natural habitat was part of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program, co-organized by three NGOs.
The NGOs were Pan Eco, Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari (YEL Foundation), and FZS. They closely cooperated with the Indonesian Forestry`s Directorate General of Forest Protection and Natural Conservation.
According to Siregar, since 2002, FZS had received 139 orangutans. As of March 2010, the FZS had released 116 orangutans to their natural habitat. (*)
Benget Besalicto Tnb. Jakarta Post 8 Jun 10;
All environmental NGOs in Borneo have long been concerned about deforestation shrinking the orangutan population of the island, the only family of great apes in Asia.
They have attributed the deforestation to a number of factors, which include forest fires, non-sustainable logging, mining activities, the spreading of palm oil plantations, and other timber estates. But some consistently pinpoint the expansion of palm oil plantations as the main cause of deforestation.
“It’s clear they [palm oil firms] are to blame the most when it comes to deforestation. By doing so, they have also endangered orangutans, which rely on natural forests to survive,” said Togu Manurung, the chairman of Borneo Orangutan Survival (BOS), a foreign NGO that runs the world’s largest orangutan rehabilitation center in Nyaru Menteng, about 30 kilometers south of Palangkaraya, the capital city of Central Kalimantan.
Addressing a seminar on palm oil and orangutans, organized by BOS, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Orangutan Foundation International (OFI), Orangutan Conservation Services Program (OCOP), the Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA), and the palm oil firm Agro Group, recently in Palangkaraya, he said palm oil firms had expanded their plantations into natural forests, threatening the very existence of orangutans.
He claimed that many of the firms had killed orangutans when opening up natural forests. “But let me make it clear. If you’re found killing orangutans, we’ll make sure the punishment is advertised on a global scale, so the international community will know it. Then that will be the end of your business as your consumers will no longer buy your products,” he warned palm oil firms.
But Sehat Jaya, an orangutan observer and lecturer in forestry at the University of Palangkaraya, said it was unfair to keep inferring that all palm oil companies were to blame for deforestation and the endangering of orangutans.
“It’s not fair to put all the blame on them. Not all of them have recklessly expanded their plantations by converting natural forests. You have to look at the evidence on a case by case basis, as some or even now many, perhaps, have complied with the principle of sustainability,” he said.
He added that many people had based their conclusions on deforestation and orangutans on incomplete data. “I think we also lack data on this. The situation has changed but perhaps many people still rely on old information. That’s why they reached an incorrect conclusion. I think we should have valid and complete data to come to a conclusion. Otherwise, we’ll end up misleading the general public and slandering firms,” he said.
According to him, the problem of endangered orangutan should not solely be attributed to bad practices carried out by palm oil plantations. “Instead of just blaming them, we should promote the adoption of principles of sustainability and educate the general public on their very importance. Just blaming the culprits won’t solve any problems,” he said.
Birute Mary Galdikas, the chairwoman of OFI concurred with Sehat, saying all stakeholders needed to consolidate their information on forests and orangutans.
“Yes, you’re right that stakeholders define the forests’ conditions differently. Some of them may say certain forests are natural forests or degraded forests, while others don’t,” he told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the seminar.
Birute, a Canadian who has been working for more than 40 years with OFI, a foreign NGO that manages the Tanjung Puting protected forests for orangutans in Tanjung Puting, Central Kalimantan, acknowledged that differences in how forests were defined might have led to wrong actions when dealing with deforestation and orangutan issues.
“But generally, thanks to NGOs, more and more people are applying sustainability principles to their everyday life. It’s a slow process but it’s heading in the right direction,” she noted.
One of the positive signs, she added, was some of the palm oil companies had joined the Roundtable on Sustainability of Palm Oil (RSPO) association. The RSPO, designed by palm oil-related industries and a number of international NGOs, defines sustainable palm oil production as an integration of legal compliance, economic viability, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsible management and operations.
“Some of them have realized they have to be responsible and finance conservation efforts as part of their commitment to implement the principle of sustainability. That’s why I think companies like yours are involved in financing seminars and workshops on orangutans,” she told Yogi Wicaksono, assistant
manager on the environment with palm oil firm Agro Group, who joined the conversation with a number of participants on the sidelines of the seminar.
Yogi remarked his company Agro Group had always planted palm oil on degraded lands, which were neglected after being exploited under forestry concessions.
“We’ve never expanded into natural forests. We’ve only ever set up our plantations on degraded lands,” he said, adding that in the near future, his company was planning to adopt a number of orangutans, a step none of the palm oil firms have taken so far.
Considering the latest development, Mega Hariyanto, the chairman of Central Kalimantan’s BKSDA, said the situation had improved. ”Orangutans might be still experiencing a bleak situation, but their future is looking more positive,” he said.
He claimed that as more and more companies adopted the principle of sustainability, deforestation had slowed down. However no data was available to quantify his claim.
“I have noticed companies are increasingly aware of the need to incorporate principles of sustainability in their business model. I can see it as I’ve been here long enough. They might have acted wrongly in the past, but there is no denying their business practices are getting better. I’m sure of that,” concluded Mega, who had been working with Central Kalimantan BKSDA for more than five years.
Brett Israel, livescience.com 9 Jun 10;
One of the world's most well-preserved coral reefs lies near the island nation of Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean, a new study reveals.
The Millennium Atoll is a remote coral atoll - an island consisting of a circular coral reef surrounding a lagoon - that is home to one of the world's few relatively pristine coral reef ecosystems. The atoll belongs to the Republic of Kiribati, a tiny island only a few miles long and 0.3 miles (0.5 kilometers) wide.
Blacktip reef shark swimming in the Millennium Atoll. Credit: Katie Barott
"It's one of the most spectacular places I've ever been to," said biology graduate student Katie Barott of San Diego State University, who was part of the team that studied the atoll.
Barott and her colleagues made a week-long scuba diving and snorkeling excursion near the unspoiled coral reefs, plunging more than 82 feet (25 meters) deep, to measure the coral cover - the number of living coral in a given area of the ocean floor - which was "phenomenally high," at nearly 100 percent, Barott said.
The research team also surveyed the fish species around Millennium and found spectacular examples of sharks, wrasse, and brilliant blue and green giant clams - though the smaller version that are only 6 inches (15 centimeters) to 1.5 feet (0.5 m) long.
While reefs cover less than 1 percent of the ocean globally, they are an integral part of coastal communities because of their high biodiversity and the economic benefits they provide in tourism and protection of coastal land from storms.
The remote nature of Millennium has allowed it to remain one of the few nearly pristine coral reef ecosystems in the world, but it is imperative that this ecosystem receives protection from human activities so that it may survive for future generations, Barott said.
Remoteness is a double-edged sword, however. While Millennium's coral reefs are pristine, the entire ecosystem is under threat from overfishing of its top predators, such as sharks, which could upset the balance of the ecosystem's food web. The island is so remote that any fishing regulations are difficult to monitor and enforce.
As with most coral reefs around the world, the lagoon communities of Millennium may be threatened by climate change and associated warming. If current greenhouse gas emission trends continue, 98 percent of present-day reef habitats will be too acidic by mid-century for reef growth, a 2007 study suggested. Also, climate change-related sea level rise and disease-spread could devastate corals.
"I'm hoping that by showing people how special this place is - by doing scientific surveys on the sea life around the lagoon - that they will realize their beauty and protect them," Barott said.
The study is detailed in the June 3 edition of the online, open-access journal PLoS One.
ABC Net 10 Jun 10;
Authorities say they have stepped up patrols on illegal dugong hunting in far north Queensland.
Five dugongs have been found dead in nets off far north Queensland over the past three months including two dugongs off the coast of Yarrabah last week.
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority chairman, Russell Reichelt, says he is concerned dugongs are being hunted for a black market meat trade.
He says the authority is investigating the recent dugong deaths.
"We've essentially stepped up patrols and they're more targeted now, we're receiving information all the time in relation to this issue and we will hope to soon be able to identify who's responsible and pursue them through legal avenues," he said.
Despair at Far Northern dugong hunts
Daniel Bateman The Cairns Post 11 Jun 10;
AUSTRALIA'S Japan Society has expressed its disappointment at Far North Queenslanders being allowed to hunt dugongs.
The society's Far North Queensland representative, Sam Sakamoto, said Japanese people were respectful of native cultures, but many would be shocked to find endangered dugongs were still being hunted in Australia, using both legal and illegal methods.
"It is a shock," Mr Sakamoto said. "It doesn't matter which nation is hunting those animals, but I feel very sorry for them, even kangaroos.
"Every time I see a dead body of a kangaroo on the highway, I feel very sorry for them because we are using their habitat."
It comes as the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority steps up its patrols of illegal dugong poaching in the region after the deaths of five dugongs in Cairns waters in the past three months, including two dugongs caught in a net off the coast of Yarrabah last week.
GBRMPA chairman Dr Russell Reichelt said compliance patrols would be sent to areas where the practice had been reported.
"Traditional owners value their right to hunt culturally significant animals in their sea country and respect the importance of doing this in a sustainable way," Dr Reichelt said.
"Regrettably, the practice by some people of illegally using nets for the purpose of targeting dugong is now impacting on those traditional owners."
Traditional owners met in Cairns yesterday for a symposium on the hunting of dugong and turtles, hosted by Leichhardt Family First candidate Yodie Batzke.
She called for a 12-month trial moratorium on hunting turtle and dugong.
"A moratorium is common sense, it's logic - we need to get some sound management practices right across the board," she said.
Danny O'Shane, from the North Queensland Land Council, who attended the symposium, did not support a moratorium on dugong hunting saying it would affect those indigenous communities who depend on it for fresh meat.
"I don't support the idea of blatant misuse of the resource," Mr O'Shane said.
"I know that happens and it has to stop. But the way to control that is through the agreement with all the traditional owner groups."
GBRMPA indigenous reef advisory committee chairwoman Melissa George said a holistic approach to dugong management was needed.
Stanford researchers study the impact of fishing on remote coral reefs
Stanford University, EurekAlert 9 Jun 10;
Coral reefs – kaleidoscopes of pink anemones and silver sharks – are the planet's most colorful ecosystems and among its most endangered, say marine scientists.
As global warming raises ocean temperatures, many corals blanch and die, a phenomenon called "coral bleaching." And pumping large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere could make the ocean more acidic, further decimating corals and the fish that depend on them for food and shelter.
Millions of people inhabit coral reefs around the world, putting additional pressure on reef menageries. Establishing sustainable fisheries, even at remote islands and atolls, could significantly slow the decline of many reefs, say marine ecologists.
"We know that fishing can dramatically change the composition of a reef ecosystem," said Fiorenza Micheli, a professor of biology at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station. "By confronting overfishing immediately, we may increase the resilience of coral reefs to global warming and other threats."
To gain new insights on the ecology of reef fishing, Micheli and a team of Stanford researchers are taking advantage of an ongoing "natural experiment" at two isolated Pacific atolls – Palmyra and Tabuaeran (or Fanning Island) – located about 1,000 miles south of Hawaii. The project is funded by Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment.
Separated by just 250 miles of ocean, the two atolls are worlds apart in terms of fishing pressure. Palmyra, a protected U.S. wildlife refuge, is virtually uninhabited and bars fishing along its shores. But Tabuaeran, part of the island nation of Kiribati (pron. "kee-ree-bahs"), is home to about 2,500 people who depend on the reef for food and income.
With support from a Woods Institute Environmental Venture Projects grant, a team of marine ecologists, oceanographers and anthropologists has been working alongside residents of Tabuaeran to better understand their fishing techniques and priorities. At the same time, the researchers are conducting underwater surveys to assess the populations and diversity of marine life at both atolls.
"By contrasting near-pristine Palmyra with inhabited and fished Tabuaeran, we are in a unique position to gather data that will ultimately help reef managers protect these vibrant and vulnerable habitats," Micheli said.
A tale of two atolls
Fieldwork at Palmyra and Tabuaeran began in 2007. On one trip, researchers –including several Stanford undergraduates – donned snorkeling gear and counted the number and variety of fish species along sample areas at various reefs. Preliminary results from the underwater census suggest that the two atolls host very different communities of animals, in part because of the impact of fishing.
"Palmyra has some of the highest densities of sharks and other large fish of any coral reef in the world," said Douglas McCauley, a graduate student working with Micheli. "That's clear within seconds of jumping in the water there."
But at Tabuaeran, where fishing is a way of life, sharks and other large species are in short supply, McCauley said. "That was surprising, because Tabuaeran is a somewhat lightly populated island," he explained. "Most people arrived only a few decades ago, and fishing there is still very artisanal in nature."
Big fish grow and reproduce slowly, so their populations take longer to recover, he added. "It appears that it takes very little harvesting to reduce populations of these sensitive, large reef fish," McCauley said.
Trophy catches like sharks and the 100-pound bumphead parrotfish were the first to decline, he said. Highly prized by Tabuaerans, parrotfish have bottomless appetites that can alter the architecture of their coral homes. "The parrotfish's large size allows it to break off and crunch up whole branches of coral," McCauley said. "It plays a unique and important role in reef ecology that's simply not achieved by other fish species."
By spending hours in the water making detailed observations of bumphead parrotfish eating habits, the team is trying to piece together what a reef without these heavy eaters would look like.
Shark ecology
Sharks are also important for healthy coral reef ecosystems. For decades, conservationists have tried to protect reef sharks by setting aside reserves like Palmyra that provide a safe space to grow and reproduce. But sharks tagged at Palmyra have been caught by fishermen at reefs hundreds of miles away, McCauley said.
Shark tissue also contains unique ratios of carbon and nitrogen isotopes that identify its reef of origin. By sampling shark tissue, Stanford marine scientist Rob Dunbar confirmed that these top predators have been straying far from their home reefs.
"At Palmyra, we're finding that some sharks don't stay at home like we thought, so managers can't protect them outside the sanctuary borders," McCauley said. "It seems that effective management strategies for gray reef sharks and other similarly wide-ranging species will need to be thought out at much larger scales."
Shark meat is an important part of local diets, and shark fins garner large sums of money from traders who re-sell them to soup manufacturers. In 2009, Stanford anthropologists Bill Durham and Doug Bird, along with graduate student Eleanor Power, monitored the activities of Tabuaeran fishermen on daily forays for reef animals and conducted interviews with atoll elders on the history of local fishing. The results of these surveys will be used to assess fishing patterns and provide information to Tabuaeran leaders looking to achieve sustainable harvests.
Sustainable future
Because the livelihoods of so many Tabuaerans depend on healthy fisheries, locals are eager to preserve fish numbers, McCauley said. "Those who depend most on the environment can and should be its best stewards," he added.
To engage the next generation of Tabuaerans, researchers taught science classes at local schools three times a week on topics such as reef ecology and genetics. The Stanford team also conducted town hall meetings at every village on the atoll.
To broaden the scope of the project, team members have shared their results with Kiribati government officials, who face the twin challenges of geography and poverty. With a population of about 100,000, the Republic of Kiribati is one of the least developed countries on Earth, consisting of more than 30 atolls spread across about 1.3 million square miles of open ocean. In 2006, the government established one of the world's largest and most isolated marine reserves – the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, a chain of virtually untouched atolls west of Tabuaeran.
"The government has been an ally in our work," Micheli said. "We hope our efforts will assist them in ensuring the long-term sustainability of their reef fisheries and will be a source of information and inspiration for other tropical Pacific communities as well."
Dmitry Solovyov, PlanetArk 10 Jun 10;
As glum Russian fishermen haul in their net, just two small sturgeon are splashing about among the daily catch.
The scene on the Volga River has become commonplace in modern Russia, where caviar poaching has decimated the species considered a national pride.
"In the old days, we would catch sturgeon each weighing 40 to 50 kg, or 60 kg (132 lb)," sighed Pavel Syzranov, the head of the once thriving Lenin fishery in southern Russia.
"Now there are no sturgeon left of that size," he said after the two immature fish, known as sterlets, were released back into the Volga.
The relentless hunt for the so-called "Czar fish" and its precious eggs has acquired such huge proportions in post-Soviet Russia that the prehistoric creature, which outlived the dinosaurs, has itself now been pushed to the edge of extinction.
Russia's wild capitalism and murky reforms of the 1990s dealt a severe blow to fisheries like the one in Zelenga, a tiny, once-flourishing town in the Volga Delta, where sturgeon come to spawn after maturing in the Caspian Sea.
Two hours by boat from the regional capital Astrakhan, dust swirls in the hot wind, and streets dotted mainly with decrepit wood huts look almost deserted. A drunken man sleeps right by the side of a potholed road.
Poverty and rampant unemployment push many people to try their luck at poaching. Some of their fellow-villagers still cannot believe it has taken the sturgeon so little time to disappear.
"This place was once teeming with fish. There were fisheries there and up there, and there -- virtually everywhere," said Alexander Kuznetsov, 76, pointing to the river.
"You wouldn't be able to walk (in the water) -- the fish would knock you down ... Where has it all gone now? I don't know."
LOST BATTLE?
In a bid to stem poaching, Russia banned black caviar exports in 2002, when it declared the situation critical, and allows just nine tonnes of the delicacy to be sold on the home market each year.
But a vast decline in sturgeon stocks has already hit the Caspian Sea, the world's largest inland body of water and the source of four-fifths of the world's black caviar.
During the Soviet era, experts estimated the annual sturgeon catch at 20,000 metric tonnes and caviar output at 2,000 tonnes.
According to the Federal Fishery Agency (Rosrybolovstvo), poaching has reduced the sturgeon population by 90 percent since 1970. Stocks are down about 40 percent since the start of the millennium.
The Russian tsars created a monopoly for the sale of caviar, and ordinary people paid no less homage to the noble fish.
Before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, churches and monasteries on the Volga were not allowed to ring their bells when giant sturgeon came upriver from the Caspian, for fear of disturbing their spawning.
In Soviet times, the authorities kept tight controls over the business. But as a rule, a Soviet worker kept a tin of the cherished roe in a fridge for the New Year holiday or the May celebration of World War Two Victory Day. Though affordable, the delicacy was often in short supply.
Today, criminals bring black caviar to wealthy capitals around the world. In Moscow, prices for beluga -- considered to be the finest caviar -- reach $2,000 or more per kilogram.
Andrei Vodopyanov, head of the Astrakhan regional fishing control authority, is charged with fighting the grassroots of the illegal business -- local poachers. But he also understands what pushes many to break the law.
"Bad ecology and dwindling (fishing) quotas mean that people just ditch their jobs, being unable to earn a living by legal means. To feed their families, they are often forced to take to poaching instead," he said.
His team of "river police" faces an uphill task, often setting free suspected poachers who throw into the water their fishing nets and catch, usually the only available evidence.
"I know the law, I know court cases," one such suspect said defiantly, having only been fined for lacking a proper license for his motorboat. "But what would they bring me to court for?
"For going to the river to find food for my child? Should I go to prison for that? Give me a job. The whole village is without work. There is no single enterprise working."
Meanwhile, Vodopyanov's men dragged out a rope with dangling razor-sharp hooks placed across one of the channels where the sturgeon come for spawning. Even a minor scratch means imminent death for a sturgeon after its exhausting migration.
PRIDE OF MUSEUM EXHIBIT?
In 2000 Russia banned commercial catching of beluga, a predator known for its longevity and size: the largest of the sturgeon, it reaches more than 5 meters (16 ft) long and weighs up to a tonne (2,200 lb).
In 2005 Moscow slapped a ban on commercial catching of the Russian sturgeon -- the most populous variety in the Caspian basin -- and stellate sturgeon.
But scientists say this is not enough and call for joint action by all five Caspian states, which also include Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran.
Raisa Khodorevskaya, a leading specialist in sturgeon and a department chief at the Caspian Fisheries Research Institute, said it didn't make sense for Russia to abstain from commercial fishing while some other littoral states continued catching.
Catching at sea must be banned, she argued, because in this case fishermen and poachers alike catch sturgeon that often do not reach maturity for spawning. Depending on the variety and gender of sturgeon, it may take them up to 18 years to mature.
A few decades ago, shops in Volga cities were packed with tins of affordable black caviar and giant chunks of sturgeon.
By bitter irony, today's Astrakhan hosts a unique sturgeon museum -- a grim hint that it may become a mere exhibit one day.
Khodorevskaya, whose institute releases millions of young sturgeons into the wild each year, said Russia was probably 10 years late to start fighting for the noble fish.
"The sturgeon is Russia's national pride," she said. We are a bit late ... (but) I believe you can preserve this fish -- if you have proper controls, protection and reproduction.
"Russians say: 'The worth of a thing is best known by the want of it.' We should have treasured what we possessed once."
(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Pete Harrison, PlanetArk 10 Jun 10;
Palm oil grown on recently deforested land is unlikely to be acceptable for use in European biodiesel, a draft report from the European Commission shows.
The decision aims to curb any environmental damage from biofuels and could limit future export markets for Asian producers such as Indonesia's PT SMART, Singapore's Wilmar and Malaysia's Sime and IOI Corp.
The European Union aims to get 10 percent of its road fuels from renewable sources by 2020, and 7 percentage points are expected to come from land-using crops such as grains, palms or sugar cane.
But critics charge that the multi-billion-dollar market will compete with food crops, forcing up grain prices and encouraging farmers to expand their land by hacking into tropical forests.
The EU's executive arm has responded with a set of environmental standards, which will be announced by Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger Thursday.
The development of the rules has been closely watched by biofuels exporters such as Malaysia and Indonesia, especially as early drafts appeared to remove all barriers to palm plantation expansion by defining the plantations as another type of forest.
But a more recent draft seen by Reuters Wednesday ruled that out.
"Any change in land use, including for example a change from forest to palm plantation, must be taken into account in the calculation of the greenhouse gas impact," it says.
An EU source said the draft was not the final version to be launched by Oettinger Thursday, but its meaning was the same.
"You cannot chop down forests and convert them to palm plantations and use those fuels to meet the EU's biofuel targets," the official said on condition of anonymity.
"Oettinger is trying to make certain that the EU biofuels strategy is credible."
(Editing by Dale Hudson)
EU sets tight biofuel standards
Robert Wielaard, Associated Press Yahoo News 10 Jun 10;
BRUSSELS – The European Union's top energy official set out tough standards for producing biofuels sold in the EU, demanding producers meet strict environmental criteria.
EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger put forward the world's "most stringent" certification regime to make "sure our biofuels meet the highest environmental standards." Biofuel makers must prove they do not create greenhouse gas emissions or destroy forests or wetlands.
The rules take effect immediately.
They foresee a regime of certificates to guarantee that all biofuels — whether grown in the 27-nation European Union or imported — are sustainably produced on land already used for farming in early 2008.
Production must be independently monitored to see how much fertilizer is used to grow the crop, how much to process it into fuel and how much to transport it to the market.
Only biofuels that represent at least a 35 percent saving in greenhouse gas use compared to oil or diesel would be allowed and would get financial help from governments, such as low taxes or direct payments to suppliers.
The European Commission says it could revoke the certificates at any time biofuel suppliers are not providing truthful information.
About 26 percent of biodiesel and 31 percent of bioethanol used in the EU in 2007 was imported — mostly from Brazil and the United States.
Environmental groups took a dim view of the plan.
They said it will not tackle the most acute problem: that the move toward more biomass production drives deforestation, damages the environment, creates greenhouse gas emissions and encourages land-grabbing in Asia and South America.
The EU has set a target that by 2020 at least 10 percent of transport fuel comes from biofuels — up from 3.4 percent in 2008 and 0.5 percent in 2003.
Biofuels are mostly bioethanol made from sugar and cereals and biodiesel from vegetable oils.
"Europe's policy on biofuels is inherently unsustainable," said Adrian Bebb, food and agriculture campaign coordinator for Friends of the Earth Europe.
"The EU should abandon this folly and invest in genuine energy reductions in the transport sector."
The environmental group Greenpeace said the certification scheme does nothing about the displacement of agriculture that happens when farmers move crops or cattle ranching elsewhere to make room for biofuels for EU clients.
To make sure most of its biofuel reduces real greenhouse gas emissions, the European Commission will create a system to calculate how much greenhouse gas is used to produce and transport the fuel until it arrives at the gas pump.
Business Times 10 Jun 10;
(SINGAPORE) Despite safety fears, South-east Asia's energy-hungry economies are exploring the nuclear option to keep up with escalating power demand in a region of more than half a billion people.
Vietnam plans to make its first nuclear plant operational in 10 years, while Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand are all exploring the feasibility of tapping atomic energy.
'Everybody wants aircon, everybody wants the latest appliances, so all these translate into demand for electricity,' says Anthony Jude, director for the energy and water division with the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Detractors point to South-east Asia's lack of experience in nuclear power and express doubts about the safety culture in a region prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
The Philippines built a nuclear plant in the 1970s but it was never operated commercially because of safety concerns and alleged corruption in the contract process.
But the concerns are surmountable, analysts said.
'You cannot say nuclear power plants in South-east Asia will necessarily be more dangerous than anywhere else,' said Martine Letts, deputy director with the Sydney-based Lowy Institute for International Policy.
She pointed to international institutions such as the World Association of Nuclear Operators to get South-east Asia up to speed in nuclear power safety.
Environmental group Greenpeace believes the region would be better off tapping renewable sources such as geothermal and solar power due to its vulnerability to natural disasters.
'What's the reason to have nuclear power plants if we have so much renewable energy potential in this region?' Arif Fiyanto, Greenpeace's Jakarta-based regional climate and energy campaigner, told AFP.
The appetite for power is certainly there, according to Jude, who told a recent seminar in Singapore that energy demand within the broader Asia-Pacific region was projected to grow an annual 2.4 per cent until 2030.
That is faster than the 1.1 per cent annual growth in demand for the rest of the world. 'How are we going to meet it?' the ADB official said.
Mr Jude said any country looking at nuclear power will have to prepare itself for the long haul.
'Basically you have to look at planning, policies, regulations . . . you have to train a cadet of engineers in nuclear technology, nuclear safety, nuclear policy,' he told AFP.
'You got to have a cream of people in that field.' Mr Jude cited Vietnam as an exemplary case - authorities began the groundwork for nuclear power plants more than a decade ago.
Hanoi's communist lawmakers approved last November the construction of the country's first nuclear power stations with a total capacity of 4,000 megawatts.
Estimated by analysts to cost US$11-18 billion, the initial plans call for four reactors to be built with at least one expected to be operational from 2020.
Malaysia laid out plans in May to build its first nuclear power plant by 2021 while in Singapore, the government has just started a feasibility study.
Indonesia and Thailand have also considered nuclear power stations but face strong local opposition to the siting of reactors.
A region that is overly reliant on fossil fuels needs to examine every alternative, according to Michael Quah, chief scientist with the Singapore-based Energy Studies Institute.
'My belief is that most of us should develop a more balanced view,' he said.
'Just as if you would invest in stocks, you keep a portfolio mix. Similarly in energy, you have to keep a portfolio mix that is appropriate to the resources available in your region.' - AFP
Yahoo News 9 Jun 10;
PARIS (AFP) – Phasing out fossil fuel subsidies should cut greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent from levels they would otherwise reach in 2050, the OECD said Wednesday.
"Many governments are giving subsidies to fossil fuel production and consumption that encourage greenhouse gas emissions at the same time as they are spending on projects that promote clean energy," Angel Gurria, head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, said in a statement.
"This is a wasteful use of scarce budget resources."
The OECD-affiliated International Energy Agency, which seeks to coordinate energy policy among industrialised nations, estimates that subsidies to support fossil fuel consumption in emerging and development countries came to 557 billion dollars (461 billion euros at current rates) in 2008.
According to some estimates, other subsidies to subsidise production could amount to as much as 100 billion dollars a year.
The OECD in its analysis found that fossil fuel consumption subsidies usually benefit richer rather than poorer households, since the latter often cannot afford cars.
The study found that in Poland, France and Britain governments have successfully reformed subsidies for coal production.
Indonesia is reducing subsidies for fossil fuel consumption, it added.
Fitrian Ardiansyah, Jakarta Post 8 Jun 10;
An agreement signed by the Norwegian and Indonesian governments in Oslo in late May presents the country with big opportunities — as well as challenges — to implement the UN’s Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation Plus (REDD Plus) program.
Norway’s grant of US$1 billion to Indonesia under the partnership is a huge step towards saving the country’s peatlands and natural forests.
It is perhaps the biggest single pledge that any country has made to Indonesia for environmental management and climate change issues.
However, for REDD Plus initiatives to succeed, other countries must fully fund tropical forest protection schemes.
In Indonesia, the billion-dollar grant is a significant first step to help the country progress from preparation and readiness activities to launching pilot programs and, eventually, to full implementation of REDD Plus.
It is essential that the government use the funds wisely to support new policies and technical projects, to create a sustainable financial mechanism for forest protection and to prepare REDD Plus pilot programs.
To strengthen the partnership, President Susilo Bambang Yudho-yono announced in Oslo that Indonesia would halt granting new concessions for peatland and natural forest conversions for two years starting January 2011.
The announcement of a moratorium is timely, since previous development plans in the forestry, agriculture, infrastructure and mining sectors involved massive conversions of forests and peatlands.
Many stakeholders welcome and are ready to support Indonesia’s commitment.
However, the moratorium will only delay new concessions; previously-authorized land-use development will continue.
This may be a good thing, if the government encourages actors in key sectors to embrace sustainable development, such as redirecting investment to non-forested and non-peatland areas.
However, the moratorium may have a perverse effect and increase the number forest and peatland conversion concession requests before January 2011.
The Indonesian government must meet several requirements to achieve the objectives of the moratorium and use the billion-dollar grant to implement REDD Plus properly.
First, it is necessary to ensure good governance and establish credible systems to oversee REDD Plus development and implementation.
This can be achieved only if the system involves the businesses, actors and layers of government that are influential in the land-use and spatial-planning sectors.
The key players are those who are instrumental in the developing and changing land-use in forestry (e.g., logging concessions, industrial timber plantations), agriculture (e.g., oil palm plantations), mining, infrastructure and in other sectors.
It will be difficult to achieve the objectives of the moratorium without full support from those sectors.
Involvement and coordination of these sectors are essential for creating a REDD Plus management system.
A shift of power to the local level due to decentralization and growing aspirations from indigenous and
local communities must also be considered.
The central government should consider the roles and needs of local governments and stakeholders in developing REDD Plus systems and later, when developing a financial distribution mechanism.
The government should involve civil society and local and indigenous communities to avoid accusations of insensitivity that will hinder REDD Plus implementation.
Second, the agreement specifies that performance standards should be developed to demonstrate that REDD Plus is workable and achievable. Accordingly, the methodology, monitoring, accounting, reporting and verification of REDD Plus must be scientifically developed.
It will be difficult to assess REDD Plus success in contributing to emission reductions without credible standards. REDD Plus must be formalized and integrated into the country’s development agenda. If not, REDD Plus will be seen as an environmental and climate agenda and not a development agenda.
It is crucial that funds are disbursed through a fair and just benefit distribution mechanism that will ensure money reaches the right actors and that transaction costs are minimal.
Many question if the fund will reach those who have been protecting and managing forests on the ground, such as local and indigenous communities, or be diverted to others. This is a real challenge. REDD Plus incentives compete against big investments, which could change land use patterns.
These are all important aspects for Indonesia and Norway to consider when developing and implementing REDD Plus under the agreement.
Failure to address these concerns may hinder the development and implementation of REDD Plus and make the two countries lose one of the biggest opportunities to, once and for all, reduce and perhaps stop deforestation and peatland degradation.
The writer is a doctoral candidate at the Australian National University, a recipient of the Australian Leadership and Allison Sudradjat awards and the former program director of climate and energy at WWF Indonesia. He can be reached at fitrianardiansyah@yahoo.com.au.
Analysis seen at Bonn climate talks shows rich nations could use carbon accountancy tricks to increase their emissions by up to 8%
John Vidal, guardian.co.uk 9 Jun 10;
Developing countries were today shocked by new UN data showing that rich nations will be able to increase their carbon emissions by up to 8% if they take advantage of a series of major loopholes in their pledges.
Instead of reducing emissions by a minimum of 30-40% by 2020 and holding temperatures to a rise of 2C – as many campaigners hoped the Copenhagen climate summit in December would achieve – many rich countries would not need to make any domestic cuts to stay within the legal limits of a new global climate deal being negotiated at resumed UN talks in Bonn this week.
The figures, which are far higher than expected, could be achieved by a series of carbon accountancy tricks and devices including:
• Selling "hot air" or surplus carbon allowances that were created when Soviet economies collapsed in the late 1980s;
• Using carbon markets to "offset" as much as 30% of rich countries' emission cuts;
• Setting new rules to calculate emission gains and losses from logging and planting trees.
The new analysis, prepared by Bolivia and released by the UN today, converts developed countries' existing pledges into reduction targets as used in the Kyoto protocol. When combined with calculations of loopholes and carbon market mechanisms, it shows a massive gap between the 30-40% cut that scientists have said is needed to stem catastrophic climate change and the cuts which have been pledged by rich countries so far.
The calculations show that if they do not use the loopholes, developed countries would reduce emissions by 10-14% below 1990 levels by 2017. But if the Bonn proposals are adopted, they could increase emissions by between 4% and 8% above 1990 levels.
The wide gap between the pledges of rich countries and what is needed was recognised today by both the new UN climate chief, Christiana Figueres, and the outgoing executive secretary, Yvo de Boer, who will leave the UN next month.
"The pledges that we have on the table are not sufficient to meet the 2C pledge made in Copenhagen, and certainly not enough to guarantee the survival of the most vulnerable and poorest. The pledges are insufficient," said Figueres.
In his final speech, de Boer said: "As things stand now we will not be able to halt the increase of global greenhouse gas emissions in the next 10 years. The 2C world is in danger."
Countries like Russia and Ukraine have accumulated millions of tonnes of emission credits because of the collapse of the Soviet economy in the late 1980s. They and other eastern European countries want to be allowed to bank their credits to sell on to other rich countries in the coming years.
Irina Stavchuk, from the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine, said: "If these credits are sold to developed countries, that will mean they will not really cut emissions at all. The global levels of emissions will not go down and it will be very hard to keep warming to safe levels".
"The new data shows a frightening chasm between what the science says, what the people have asked for and Earth needs, and what rich countries are saying they are willing to do," said Bolivian ambassador, Pablo Solon.
"Rich countries are undermining the entire climate regime, particularly the binding targets of the Kyoto protocol. If this happens we'll have a world without a legal system to make binding emission cuts, that's a world of 4C temperature rise and climate catastrophe," said Lim Li Lin, an analyst from the Malaysia-based Third World Network.
"The proposals on the table are riddled with loopholes so its not surprising that current targets will do nothing to protect the world from climate disaster," said Asad Rehman, Friends of the Earth's international climate change campaigner.
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