Best of our wild blogs: 22 Jun 10

Job opportunities Conservation International, ETH Zurich and IUCN
from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS

Speared through jaw, dead 'dolphin' washed up at East Coast
from wild shores of singapore

Chek Jawa Northern Sandbar Check Out
from Colourful Clouds

Slugs of Pulau Tekukor
from Nature's Wonders and Pulau Sekudu

Pin-striped Tit-babbler feeding Drongo Cuckoo fledgling
from Bird Ecology Study Group

*SCAPE’s response to balloon release
from Dee Kay Dot As Gee

Go Green with Singapore Mass Rapid Transport (SMRT)
from EcoWalkthetalk

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Butterfly Trail at Orchard project takes off

Straits Times 22 Jun 10;

BEFORE butterflies can move into Orchard Road and transform it into an urban butterfly trail, their homes will have to be built - or rather planted.

The first phase of the Butterfly Trail at Orchard project yesterday had Professor Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at-Large with the Foreign Affairs Ministry and patron of the Nature Society of Singapore (NSS), and other guests sowing the seeds of host and nectar plants at a site along Nassim Road. The plants will provide food and shelter to caterpillars and butterflies.

More than 900 shrubs and trees will be planted on the 170 sq m plot.

The project, spearheaded by NSS, will cover a 4km stretch of the shopping belt from the Botanic Gardens to Fort Canning. NSS experts hope to draw about 50 butterfly species to the area once the trail is completed by the end of next year. NSS estimates the project will cost $400,000.

The plants may also help in times of heavy rain, said former NSS president Geh Min. 'Trees and plants... slow down the rain and help the soil absorb it, so it is released more slowly and in lesser quantity to the drainage system,' she said.

Butterfly Trail at Orchard Rd to raise interest in nature
Sona Remesh Channel NewsAsia 21 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE : Nature may not be the first thing one associates with Singapore's prime shopping belt, but the Butterfly Trail at Orchard Road hopes to change this.

Ambassador-at-Large Professor Tommy Koh launched the first phase of the Butterfly Trail - a project to highlight Singapore's urban biodiversity.

For a start, 900 shrubs and 24 trees have been planted along Nassim Road, including the so-called "nectar plants", which will attract butterflies to the area.

Experts hope up to 50 species will find their way to the trail.

There is also the butterfly walk - a four-kilometre trail from the Botanic Gardens to Fort Canning Park that aims to increase interest in nature. - CNA /ls

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Litter-free ambassadors target hotspots in show of resolve against litterbugs

Jeremy Koh Channel NewsAsia 21 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE : The first batch of Litter-Free Ambassadors fanned out across one hotspot, in a show of resolve against litterbugs.

They are acting as the eyes and ears on 24 litter hotspots, such as Yishun Avenue 6 and Joo Chiat Road.

It didn't take long to see why the area outside the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS) is blacklisted. About 800 litterbugs have been caught in the Stirling Road area since 2007.

And the ambassadors wasted no time in spreading the word - that rubbish belongs to the bin.

Litter-Free Ambassadors will patrol litter hotspots at least once a month.

They have been trained on ways to approach litterbugs. So when they see someone littering, they will try to persuade the culprits to pick up the litter.

They will also look out for bins that cannot hold any more litter, and new litter hotposts - and send their input to the National Environment Agency (NEA).

Small acts like these will go a long way in fixing the problem.

Baey Yam Keng, MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC said: "When they throw a cigarette butt, (soft-drink) can, or wrapper, it may get out of sight, but it doesn't just vanish into thin air. It'll end up being swept away by a cleaning worker, or it'll just (end up) in a drain, canal or water passage.

"And what we saw last Wednesday (flood at Orchard Road) might happen again, or it might even be more serious. So I think we need to remind people of the implications of a simple act of convenience."

The NEA has recruited some 170 ambassadors.

Although they do not have the power to issue fines, it is hoped that their presence will help to promote responsible behaviour and encourage others to speak up when they spot a litterbug in the act.

The 24 hotspots include Stirling Road area near Punggol Community Indoor Sports Hall, Yishun Avenue 6, Joo Chiat Road, and the area near Choa Chu Kang MRT station/bus interchange. - CNA /ls

'Envoys' to help curb littering
Queenstown launches first community patrol group to get litterbugs to pick up trash and provide feedback to NEA
Hoe Pei Shan Straits Times 22 Jun 10;

WHERE enforcement and punishment do not work, a little persuasion may help - that is the thinking of Queenstown constituency as it launched Singapore's first community patrol group of Litter-Free Ambassadors (LFAs) yesterday.

The ambassadors, mostly recruited via the grassroots, will conduct patrols at least once a month at known hot spots for litter.

And while they cannot arrest or fine litterbugs, they will persuade the culprits to pick up their litter. The LFAs will also look out for overflowing bins and areas badly affected by litter.

They will record their observations for the National Environment Agency (NEA) and grassroots community groups to take appropriate measures to improve the areas' cleanliness.

In an effort to create a new anti-littering social norm, and as part of the NEA's latest campaign, Queenstown's community patrols will start by targeting a litter hot spot in Stirling Road, where 778 litterbugs have been caught since 2007.

Ambassadors like retiree Alice Lee, 62, will patrol the neighbourhood and convince litterbugs to change their habits.

She said: 'It is actually a fun way to get involved and to educate our fellow residents, especially the youth in this area, on working together to keep the place clean.'

Also sporting the ambassador T-shirt yesterday was Tanjong Pagar GRC MP Baey Yam Keng, who believes this new approach to curb littering is 'more sustainable than enforcement'.

His goal is to have all those who frequent the neighbourhood 'treat the community grounds as their own home'.

Although he recognises this will not be achieved overnight, he is optimistic that increased community bonding will aid the anti-littering cause.

One of the factors that prompted this new approach was an NEA sociological study, conducted in the first quarter of this year, which revealed that 80 per cent of the 4,500 people interviewed were uncomfortable with reminding others not to litter.

In a bid to build a culture of active citizenship, led by the LFAs who would speak up when they see people littering, the NEA hopes to use peer influence to curb the anti-social habit.

LFA Doris Koh was once embarrassed about advising litterbugs to place their trash in bins. Now, she says she is no longer afraid of appearing like a busybody, after attending an NEA workshop that trained the ambassadors to deal with possible difficult offenders.

Said the 59-year-old: 'We were taught how to use proper body language and ways to be approachable - smiling and polite gestures are important when trying to convey messages to others.'

So far, 172 LFAs have been recruited by the NEA to cover 24 hot spots, said an agency spokesman.

The NEA hopes that all constituencies will eventually come on board the LFA programme, but it seems the idea of a community anti-littering patrol has yet to catch on in other neighbourhoods.

When asked how keen they would be to take up similar patrols, some, like North East District Mayor Teo Ser Luck, noted that while 'it is not a bad idea to have the community help itself', community patrolling needs to be integrated with other methods, such as education to raise awareness of the social harm that littering causes.

Then, there are those like Marine Parade GRC MP Lim Biow Chuan, who does not think residents 'are ready for community patrolling, which seems too confrontational'.

What all the MPs stressed, however, was the importance of residents' initiatives in combating littering.

As Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP Michael Palmer observed: 'I hope that people would, of their own accord, remind one another not to litter, without being assigned - that everyone would be a litter-free 'ambassador' in that sense.'

Litter-free ambassadors hit the hotspots
Jeremy Koh Today Online 22 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE - The first batch of Litter-Free Ambassadors have started fanning out across Singapore to wage war against litter louts.

Though they do not have the authority to issue fines, the National Environment Agency (NEA) hopes their presence will encourage a new social norm - one where people will speak up when they see others littering.

Dressed in white polo-tees with green trim, six new Litter-Free Ambassadors zoomed in on one of Queenstown's littering hotspots - the area in front of the Management Development Institute of Singapore.

And it did not take them long to spot litter. Cigarette butts and plastic cups were strewn around an area where several students were loitering.

It is not clear if the litter was thrown by these students, but the ambassadors did not waste anytime in spreading the anti-littering message: Bin all rubbish properly.

Volunteers will also look out for overflowing bins and badly-littered areas. These observations will then be reported to NEA.

To date, NEA has recruited 172 Litter Free Ambassadors. Its hoping to get more to sign up. JEREMY KOH

Number in central district summoned for littering since 2007

Queenstown (including Stirling Road) 943
River Valley Road Food Establishments 164
Kim Seng Promenade (including Great World City) 77
Tiong Bahru 52
Selegie Road 26

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Singapore refineries face new India, China competition

Asian powerhouses, Thailand, Indonesia expand capacity despite downturn
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 22 Jun 10;

CHINA and India added significant oil refining capacity last year, as did Thailand, which poses new competition to Singapore's oil refineries.

The latest BP 2010 Statistical Review of World Energy said that the refining capacity increases of 820,000 barrels per day (or 10.5 per cent) in China and 580,000 bpd (19.5 per cent) in India followed increased energy demand in the two Asian powerhouses last year despite the global recession.

The economic downturn hit mainly the OECD, where energy consumption fell faster than GDP, it added.

BP said that the capacity additions in China and India, the latter arising from Reliance Industries' new Jamnagar expansion, resulted in the Asia-Pacific accounting for over 80 per cent of global refining growth in 2009. Reliance's 1.2 billion bpd Jamnagar complex is now the world's biggest.

Thailand also added 5.5 per cent capacity last year, taking its total refining capacity to 1.24 million bpd, or close to that of the combined total of the Singapore refineries of ExxonMobil, Shell and Singapore Refining Company which stayed at 1.385 million bpd. Neighbouring Indonesia also upped its capacity by 3.6 per cent to 1.1 million bpd.

Regionwide, the Middle East and Africa each added about 3 per cent of refining capacity, while capacity in the West - such as in the UK which shed 6.3 per cent - fell last year.

On inter-area oil movements, the BP report showed that Singapore's oil hub, comprising refineries and oil traders here, saw the biggest trade (ex-Singapore) with Australasia (227,000 bpd), China (138,000 bpd), India (52,000 bpd) and Africa (51,000 bpd), with Europe (39,000 bpd) a distant fifth.

In total, Singapore imported 930,000 bpd of crude and 1.67 million bpd of oil products last year, and exported 47,000 bpd of crude and 1.5 million bpd of products.

The BP report showed that in line with strong Asian demand last year - which saw oil consumption grow by 6.7 per cent in China and by 3.7 per cent in India - Singapore's oil consumption (including for aviation, marine bunkers and refineries) grew by 3.5 per cent in 2009 to just over one million bpd.

The strong oil demand in Asia, as well as in the Middle East last year, contrasted with that in Europe (which fell 4.2 per cent) and the US (down 4.7 per cent).

As for natural gas, the BP report showed that the Republic's consumption of piped gas from Indonesia and Malaysia grew 5.6 per cent last year to 9.7 billion cubic metres. Natural gas, which accounts for over 80 per cent of the Singapore power companies' total feedstock, is their main fuel of choice.

Indonesian natural gas consumption also grew by 10.3 per cent to 36.6 billion cu m in 2009, outstripping the growth rate of 3.5 per cent in its gas production to 71.9 billion cu m last year.

Growing domestic gas demand, plus supply shortages, recently prompted calls by Indonesian officials for the country to renegotiate a reduction in the volume of contracted gas exports to Singapore.

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Coral bleaching report for the Great Barrier Reef: problems next year

Daniel Bateman The Cairns Post 22 Jun 10;

THE Great Barrier Reef has emerged from the wet season relatively bleach-free but experts warn coral bleaching could be a problem next year.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has released its final coral bleaching report for 2009-2010 summer season, showing there were low levels of coral bleaching across the entire marine park from November through to May.

Out of 483 reef reports, only 17 per cent showed minor seasonal bleaching and three showed moderate bleaching.

One such incident, reported between Horn and Thursday islands, was the worst case of coral bleaching Torres Strait islanders had seen in about 40 years.

These bleaching events were believed to be because of long periods of high sea surface temperatures related to El Nino condition.

A coral expert at the University of Queensland, Prof Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, said it was still too early to tell what the outlook for coral bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef would be for the coming summer.

Sea surface temperature forecasts from the weather bureau indicate relatively warm ocean temperatures until November.

"I think they’re less accurate the more you go out in time," Dr Hoegh-Guldberg said.

"I think six months to 12 months out, that’s where their accuracy falls down."

He said, however, the long-term forecasts were becoming increasingly accurate.

"In recent years we’ve had warm water coming into summer, but then we’ve had some wind and cyclonic activity which has ended up cooling the water column," Dr Hoegh-Guldberg said.

"So we go from having quite a bit of coral bleaching occurring to having a good wind system coming through and then it’s cool."

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Small Creatures Will Be Oil Spill's Biggest Victims

Stuart Fox livescience.com 21 Jun 10;

Over the last two months, the BP oil leak has unleashed all manner of havoc on the ecosystem in the Gulf of Mexico. But while sad pictures of large-eyed, oil coated birds make these animals the most visible victims of the oil leak, smaller ocean creatures will bear the brunt of the damage, scientists say.

"The greatest threat is to the whole food chain, and the base of the food chain, said John Caruso, an ecology and evolutionary biology professor at Tulane University. "People see the big impressive animals like pelicans and the other sea birds. It's a devastating sight, it tears you up when you see those poor birds covered in oil, but the real damage to our coastal ecosystem here will come from destruction of the cord grasses."

In particular, the cord and Spartina grasses that grow on the coast of Louisiana are crucial to the ecosystem and especially sensitive to the oil leak, Caruso said. These grasses form the foundation of the local food chain, and their root systems lessen the erosion of the small islands that protect inland Louisiana from hurricanes, Caruso said.

The oil kills the grass both with its poisonous chemicals and by simply coating the plants, which suffocates them, Caruso said. And the death of that grass has profound consequences for the rest of the wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico, Caruso said.

Similarly, the massive die-off of the tiny plants and animals called plankton will also profoundly weaken the local ecosystem.

"If you affect those communities in any way, you affect the entire food chain. If the phytoplankton and zooplankton are killed, it's curtains," Caruso told LiveScience.

The timing of the leak has increased the magnitude of the spill's effects on plankton, Caruso said. During the spring and early summer, plankton and other organisms at the base of the food chain reproduce in the shallow water on the Gulf of Mexico. The newborn critters that result are particularly vulnerable to the oil, Caruso said.

As for vertebrates like birds and sharks, the major consequences of the oil leak will occur later, said Caruso. Even though birds coated in oil will die, or face difficulty after cleaning, the degradation of the food chain will cause larger problems for these animals over a longer span of time, Caruso said.

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Indonesian officials scramble to save endangered Javan rhinos

Ali Kotarumalos, Associated Press Yahoo News 21 Jun 10;

JAKARTA, Indonesia — The discovery of three dead Javan rhinos has intensified efforts to save one of the world's most endangered mammals from extinction, with an electric fence being built Monday around a new sanctuary and breeding ground.

With only about 50 of the species left in the wild — all but a handful living in one national park in western Indonesia — conservationists are even talking about taking the rare step of relocating some of the 5-ton animals to spread out the population and give the Javan rhino a better chance to survive.

Drought and proximity to an active volcano in the densely forested Ujung Kulon park have raised fears that a natural disaster could destroy almost the entire population at once. In Vietnam, the only other place the rhinos can be found, there are just four.

"Without drastic action, some rhinos could be extinct in the wild within the next 10 to 20 years," the International Rhino Foundation said.

The Javan rhino, once the most widespread of Asian rhinoceroses, is today the most threatened of five species.

The species was nearly wiped out in 1883 when the Krakatau volcano erupted, spawning a 120-foot (40-meter) tsunami that killed 37,000 people when it inundated more than a hundred villages — and Ujung Kulon.

The greatest threat they face today is from poachers, habitat destruction and competition for food with other species, according to conservationists.

Rhino horns have long been a popular ingredient in traditional Chinese medicines, fetching tens of thousands of dollars each.

A prolonged dry season in western Indonesia has drained some water sources for the rhinos, and there is also a shortage of grass and other staple foods.

Conservationists have been alarmed at losing three Javan rhinos recently.

"When you are talking about populations as small as this, even one death is significant," said Adhi Rachmat Haryadi, a WWF-Indonesia official at the Ujung Kulon park.

Two skeletons have been found in recent weeks in the Indonesian park, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) southwest of the capital, Jakarta. Though an investigation is ongoing, those animals appear to have died of natural causes within the last three months, Haryadi said.

The third was the suspected victim of poachers. It was found in Vietnam in April and had been shot with its horn chopped off.

On Monday, Indonesian officials were stepping up efforts to save the few animals that remain.

They started installing a 7-mile- (12-kilometer-) long electric fence around a new 10,000-acre (4,000-hectare) sanctuary and breeding ground located alongside Ujung Kulon.

Park chief Agus Priambudi said some of the rhinos will be herded into the area after it is completed later this year.

In addition, he said conservation groups are working closely with the Indonesian government to try to find suitable areas for relocation — either on Java or neighboring Sumatra island — to help spread the species more widely.

"We need someplace that has pools and wallows," said Darori, a senior official at the Forestry Ministry, who wants the rhinos to maintain a steady growth rate of 3 percent.

It is rare to capture a glimpse of the rhino in the wild, but officials hope 58 camera traps set up in the park just over a month ago will provide some valuable information about their numbers and habits. Workers retrieved the cameras last week and planned to start reviewing the footage Monday.

Encouragingly, efforts to save the Javan rhino have met with some success in the past.

There were just about 20 left in Ujung Kulon area before the 1960s, but the World Wildlife Fund's efforts helped increase the number to 50 in the 1990s. Since then, figures have mostly remained steady.

The WWF says competition for food and space is also a problem for the rhinos, who share the (297,881-acre (120,551-hectare) Indonesian park with leopards, silvery gibbons, crab-eating macaques, mouse-deer and hundreds of bird and snake species.

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Bakun Dam: Flora, fauna to have new sanctuary

New Straits Times 22 Jun 10;

KUCHING: Wildlife in the Bakun Dam catchment areas will be relocated to 18 islands within the main dam once the dam is flooded.

"We have identified 18 islands of between 50 and 150 hectares each in the Bakun Dam area itself to be used as wildlife sanctuaries for wildlife as well as the endemic plants," the state Controller of Wildlife Datuk Len Talif Salleh said.

Yesterday, he commended the public for their increasing awareness of the importance of protecting the wildlife.

He cited the example of a businessman, Thomas Ting from Bintulu who saved eight totally endangered species from one of the longhouses in the division.

The animals that were saved included the Borneon gibbon, slow loris, bearcat and primates.

Speaking at a press conference after launching the Sarawak forestry apprentice programme held at the Sarawak Forestry Corporation headquarters here, he said the state needed more enforcement officers, especially for looking after its wildlife and logging activities.


Earlier in his speech, he advised the 30 apprentices to study hard as they had been selected from 500 applicants.

The apprentices will undergo courses such as the Sarawak log grading rules, wood anatomy and identification, furniture design and furniture making.

Read more: Flora, fauna to have new sanctuary http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/22bakun/Article#ixzz0rXJyb7rz

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Camp to Protect Riau Peatlands Reopened

Fidelis E Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 21 Jun 10;

Teluk Meranti, Riau. A camp that was established to protect Kampar peninsula against deforestation but was burned down in April was reopened by villagers here on Monday.

“[The] camp is our hope to save our forests,” said Desmidarti, 47, one of the residents. “If outsiders or foreigners see that the camp is still standing, they know that we’re still fighting for our Kampar’s cause. We need a lot of support.”

The Climate Defenders Camp was set up by Greenpeace in October in an area that environmental groups said was threatened by massive exploitation of peat bogs. In November, Greenpeace handed over management of the camp to the villagers.

But in April, a fire razed the 20-by-50-meter camp. Until now, Pelalawan Police have yet to name any suspects.

Desmadarti said that if the camp was burned down again, residents would build a new facility. The village boasts 27,000 hectares of peatland and relies heavily on the forests to support the people’s livelihoods.

Susanto Kurniawan, of Forest Network Rescue Riau, said the camp was meant to symbolize the local people’s struggle against deforestation.

“We are here only to motivate, but it is the people who will lead the fight,” Susanto said.

Zulfahmi, a Greenpeace representative, said the camp was intended as a research center for peatland restoration.

“Peatlands are damaged after they dry up, and one of the ways to restore them is to make sure those areas are watered again,” Zulfahmi said. “It’s not going to be easy though. It will take time.”

Kampar has drawn the public’s attention after residents accused pulp and paper company PT RAPP of destroying forests in the peninsula.

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Indonesian man arrested for killing tiger in zoo

Yahoo News 21 Jun 10;

JAKARTA (AFP) – Indonesian police have arrested a man who allegedly poisoned and skinned a critically endangered Sumatran tiger in a state-owned zoo, an official said Monday.

Akmamul Mukminin, 24, was detained last week and could face up to five years in jail and a fine of 100 million rupiah (11,000 dollars) for killing a protected animal, conservation official Didi Wuryanto said.

The suspect allegedly killed the tiger, named Shella, in August in Taman Rimbo zoo, Jambi province, by placing poisoned bait in its enclosure after closing hours.

He then allegedly skinned it on the zoo grounds, aided by two accomplices.

Wuryanto said the arrest sent a message to poachers that Indonesia was serious about protecting its tiger population.

Conservationists estimate there are fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild, due to habitat loss and poaching.

"Legal action like this is very important to give a deterrent to the criminals. They must know that we're serious about enforcing the law," he said.

One of the accomplices has been sentenced to three years and ten months in jail for the crime.

Wuryanto said police were still hunting a third suspect.

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Draft whaling deal under fire from scientists, greens

Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 21 Jun 10;

AGADIR, Morocco (AFP) – The International Whaling Commission withdrew Monday behind closed doors within minutes of kicking off a tense meeting that could end a global ban on commercial whaling.

Accredited green groups were fuming at what they called the unprecedented lockdown.

"The decision to exclude the civil society and media is a scandal," said Wendy Elliott of WWF International.

The 88-nation body is debating a proposal, put forward by the IWC's chairmen, that seeks to break a 24-year deadlock and reduce the number of animals killed.

Japan, Norway and Iceland have flouted the 1986 moratorium, harvesting more than 1,500 of the marine mammals in the 2008-2009 season alone.

Tokyo has said it is keen to find a middle ground, but drew a line.

"In these negotiations, it is impossible for Japan to accept zero catches as the final outcome," Japan's deputy agriculture minister Yasue Funayama told journalists here.

The draft deal tables reduced annual catch numbers through 2020 for four species of whales as a baseline for negotiations, in the hope of coaxing the renegades back into the IWC fold.

Under the scheme, total allowable kills in each of the first five years would be just over 90 percent of the 2008-2009 figure, dropping further from 2015 to 2020.

Led by Germany and Britain, European countries have welcomed Japan's apparent willingness to trim its kill quotas, but said that is not enough.

"Japan has signalled that they are ready to reduce their catch by about 50 percent over 10 years," said Gert Lindermanm, leader of the German delegation.

"But the numbers should lay out the path so that step by step commercial whaling should be finished."

The proposed deal would require the gradual reduction of kill quotas over a 10-year period, but says nothing about what happens after that.

It also would allow hunting in the Southern Ocean whale sanctuary, which many EU states, along with Australia, have suggested is a deal breaker.

"The IWC proposal would not curb international trade in whale products, stop hunting in sanctuaries, or eliminate scientific hunting," said Jean-Louis Borloo, France's super-minister for sustainable development, taking aim squarely at Japan.

A group of US senators urged President Barack Obama to battle any efforts to end a ban.

"The moratorium has saved tens of thousands of whales from exploitation, and we urge you to oppose any agreement that would undermine its effectiveness," 17 lawmakers wrote in a letter to Obama.

The IWC's own scientific committee, meanwhile, said in a report issued Monday that most of the catch quotas in the proposal are not sustainable.

Using a formula based on estimates of population levels, scientists calculated that the proposed catches were far too high for the North Pacific Bryde's whales, and double tolerable limits for North Atlantic fin whales and eastern North Atlantic minke whales.

Only for the central North Atlantic minke whales were the tabled suggestions well under conservation-safe limits, they found.

"Science has been sidelined during the negotiations," said Scott Baker, a marine biologist at Oregon State University and a committee member since 1994.

Like Japan's self-imposed quotas for so-called "scientific research", the new figures "don't correspond to a scientific reality," said Jean Benoit Charrassin, a researcher at France's Museum of Natural History and a long-standing IWC scientist.

The proposal pays lip service to advice from the Scientific Committee, but the IWC has yet to adopt methods its experts laid out in 1994 -- in a so-called Revised Management Procedure, or RMP -- on how to calculate safe limits and verify they are respected, he said.

Justin Cooke, a committee member from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), described the plan as a "sham."

"It gives the impression that catch limits would be based on the RMP, but in fact they are arbitrary results of negotiation."

The scientific report also underscores the problem of so-called "by-catch", the ostensibly accidental killing of whales in fishing nets.

From 1994 to 2006, Japan and South Korea each caught more than 1,000 minke whales in their coastal waters this way, according to government statistics.

DNA analysis suggests that the real number of whales killed in the same waters by by-catch is likely twice as high.

Secrecy of talks on whaling compromise condemned
Richard Black BBC News 21 Jun 10;

The annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) has opened with attention focussing on a deal that could regulate whaling for 10 years.

The opening session was swiftly adjourned so that delegates could begin a day and a half of private talks.

Some observers condemned the secrecy, one commenting that recent UN talks on North Korea's nuclear programme were held in public - so why not on whaling?

Conservation groups are split on the merits of pursuing a deal.

Some argue for maintaining a hard line against all whaling, while others believe agreement could improve the current picture, where Iceland, Japan and Norway set their own quotas and run their hunts without international oversight.

Anthony Liverpool, the IWC commissioner for Antigua and Barbuda, chaired the brief opening session, and warned of hard work ahead.

"Since [the 2008 meeting in] Anchorage, we've held around 10 intersessional meetings... this illustrates how serious we are at finding a solution to the problems we face in order that the IWC can become as relevant as possible," he said.

"I do not know if we shall succeed - but I have hope."

Japan's IWC commissioner Akira Nakamae said his country would "like to respect this great effort for the future of the IWC".
Progress hopes

Japan was one of a core group of six nations that has worked intensively on the "peace proposal" since the Anchorage meeting.

Two months ago, the IWC chairman - Chilean diplomat Cristian Maquieira, who is not here, officially because of health reasons - released a draft proposal that was based on discussions held over the two years.

Under the proposal, annual quotas for Japan's Antarctic hunt would diminish from 935 minke whales now, initially to 400 and then to 200 in 2015.

Japan says these numbers are too low - but conservation groups and anti-whaling countries want to bring them down further.

They are also demanding that whalemeat must be restricted to domestic use only, with no international trade permitted.

"We really hope that the commissioners of the IWC make the progress they really need to on the deal," said Sarah Duthie, head of the oceans campaign with Greenpeace International.

"The proposal as it stands is simply not acceptable, and we need them to work hard over the coming days to to make sure that they turn it into a deal that works for whales rather than whalers," she told BBC News.

However, other environment groups are taking a less nuanced position, arguing that the 1986 global moratorium on commercial whaling must be upheld, and that conservation groups should simply be fighting to end whaling by Iceland, Japan and Norway rather than talking about any deal.

"It would legitimise commercial whaling, and it would legitimise it for 10 years, rewarding bad behaviour by countries that did not abide by the moratorium," said Andy Ottaway, director of the UK-based group Campaign Whale.

"This deal wouldn't just open the door to commercial whaling, it would kick it wide open, because South Korea has said it wants a slice of the action, and there are whaling sleeping giants out there waiting to re-start."

South Korea - whose fishing boats routinely snare small whales and where whalemeat is available in restaurants - wants the compromise document to include a measure that would grant quotas to countries where "substantial indirect catches have been identified and used as traditional food for cultural and indigenous needs".

The secret talks that threaten two decades of whale conservation
Michael McCarthy, The Independent 22 Jun 10;

The future of the international whaling moratorium, one of the world's great conservation achievements, is being decided behind closed doors today and tomorrow, after whaling's governing body went into a secret session to discuss proposals that would end it.

The plan to legalise once again the hunting of the great whales, which has been outlawed since 1986, is so contentious that the International Whaling Commission (IWC), at its meeting in Agadir, Morocco, suspended its normal open meeting yesterday, for the first time ever, to allow countries on both sides of the argument to discuss it in private. The controversial proposal would allow the three nations that continue to hunt whales in spite of the ban and in defiance of world opinion – Japan, Norway and Iceland – to do so under a new legalised regime, for 10 years, in return for cutting back on the catches they currently make each year.

Japan says it is carrying out "scientific whaling", a fiction believed by no-one; the other two countries are simply ignoring the moratorium. In recent years more than 1,000 whales have been killed annually, with more than 2,000 in the peak year of 2006.

Supporters of the plan, originally put forward by the United States as a way of securing the right to carry on whaling by its own Inuit peoples of Alaska, say it will substantially reduce the numbers of whales actually killed each year by the whaling nations. The new "quotas" of whales allowed to be killed would be a matter for negotiation within the IWC.

But opponents, which include Britain, fear that once the principle of abandoning the moratorium is conceded, it will be impossible to keep the renewed commercial hunting in check. They point out that even if the three whaling countries are still killing, the numbers of whales dying each year is but a tiny fraction of those killed annually before the ban on legal commercial whaling came in.

Yesterday Sir Paul McCartney led international calls to prevent the moratorium being scrapped, issuing a statement through the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) calling for an end to the killing of the marine mammals.

"It's time to end the cruel slaughter of whales and leave these magnificent creatures alone," the singer said. "In the 21st century how can we even contemplate killing whales – or any animal – in such barbaric ways? Governments should act on their responsibilities and protect these beautiful creatures."

The WSPA's marine mammal programme manager Joanna Toole said the latest plan could allow almost 13,000 whales to be killed over the next 10 years. "This misguided proposal would resuscitate the world's dying whaling industries and would be a huge step backwards for animal welfare and conservation globally," she said.

Robbie Marsland, UK director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw), said: "Ifaw opposes commercial whaling because it is cruel and unnecessary. We urge all IWC member countries to vote the right way – to preserve the whaling ban and protect whales."

However, environment groups are not united. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the Pew Environment Group and Greenpeace believe the IWC proposals could work if there were changes to ensure there was no whaling in the Southern Ocean, where Japan currently sends fleets into a whale sanctuary, and no threatened species or populations were hunted – although the three groups make it clear they still support the global moratorium on whaling.

Yesterday's meeting got off to a controversial start when, within minutes of opening the annual conference the commission's deputy chairman, Anthony Liverpool of Antigua, adjourned the open sessions for two days to give pro- and anti-whaling countries a chance to discuss whether a compromise was possible.

Calling it "fundamentally unacceptable," Wendy Elliott of WWF International said all the preparations for the meeting were held in secret, and "now is the moment to open up a transparent and honest discussion".

But in terms of what eventually happens, another issue is more important – and that is how the EU countries vote. Of the 27 member states of the European Union, 25 are also members of the IWC, and thus represent a formidable voting block which might well be able to ensure the defeat of the plan to scrap the moratorium. Discussions between EU member states were going on last night in Agadir.

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1,300 Km Of Malaysia's Coastal Areas Said To Be Facing Serious Erosion

Bernama 21 Jun 10;

KUALA LUMPUR, June 21 (Bernama) -- A total of 1,300 km or 29 per cent of the country's 4,800 km of coastal areas are already facing serious problems of erosion, Deputy Secretary General 1 of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Datuk Aziyah Mohamed, said Monday.

As such, Malaysia needed to know sea-level rise projections to enable it to plan coastal developments as well as adapt to climate change, she said.

Speaking at the opening of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) workshop here, she said the projections were needed urgently to enable the country to assess future impacts of sea-level rise on coastal areas as well as the sustainability of coastal settlements in the decades to come.

The IPCC had reported that there has been an increasing trend of significant wave heights for the South China Sea and eastern parts of the Andaman Sea in which Malaysian coasts have been directly impacted for the last 50 years.

The significant wave heights may be the result of increasing storm activities in this region.

Aziyah was representing Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas at the four-day workshop on sea-level rise and ice sheet instabilities at a hotel here.

Some 100 leading world experts on all issues related to sea-level rise, including the field of ice-sheet dynamics and ice-sheet instabilities are attending the workshop.

Aziyah said sea-level rise itself was a complex issue with several factors contributing to it, including the thermal expansion of oceans, the melting of ice glaciers, the melting of Greenland and Antarctica, changes of the ocean circulations and also changes in the water storage over land.

Malaysia is a maritime country with coastlines of up to 4,800 km long and, as such, will certainly face the effects of sea-level rise as shown by the study conducted by the Drainage and Irrigation Department.

In welcoming the delegates, who will deliberate on the latest findings to help understand the status of sea-level rise and ice-sheet instabilities, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) Vice Chancellor Prof Tan Sri Dr Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin said the findings and resolutions of the workshop were very important to the IPCC Fifth Assessments Report which was currently going on and was expected to be completed in 2013.

Studies on climate change, she said, were one of the eight priority research areas at UKM, and it was encouraging partnerships and collaboration with public and private institutions, both local and foreign.

"We believe that the scientific findings that we generate are not only important for Malaysia but also for the region, where knowledge gaps are still significantly large," she said.

-- BERNAMA

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India: Development projects increasing cyclone vulnerability, experts warn

Manipadma Jena Reuters AlertNet 21 Jun 10;

BHUBANESWAR, India (AlertNet) - India's mineral-rich Orissa State is fast becoming a hub for investment. But experts warn poorly-planned development projects are threatening its mangrove forests, which offer vital protection against the cyclones that regularly batter India's east coast.

"In the climate-constrained world of today, 'development' itself can turn into a threat to life, livelihood and the environment," said Biswajit Mohanty, Orissa's best-known environmentalist and secretary of the Wildlife Society of Orissa.

Orissa is one of the poorest states in India. Recent investment plans, such as a proposal by South Korea's Posco to build a $12 billion steel plant, and the construction of a new international port at Dhamara, have raised hopes of jobs and development for the 43 percent of the rural population who live in poverty.

"In a state where large numbers go to bed hungry and when poverty leads to Maoist rebel activities, development in agriculture and infrastructure is a priority," said Tarun Kanti Mishra, chief secretary of the Orissa state government.

But these development choices must be made carefully, warns the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction, as they profoundly influence the impact of disasters in countries facing natural hazards.

With climate change, extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common and this makes the need for climate-sensitive development all the more acute.

CLIMATE CHANGE THREATENS ADVANCES

"Climate change can undo decades of development and poverty-reduction effort, locking up substantial future development expenditure into disaster recovery instead," warned Ambika Nanda of the U.N. Development Programme.

In 1999, a powerful 'super cyclone' struck the coast of Orissa, killing 10,000 people and affecting 15 million others. The majority of deaths were caused by drowning, as tidal surges 7 metres high swept 15 kilometres inland.

The cyclone caused an estimated $861 million of damage and destroyed thousands of homes.

Mangrove forests are key to the protection of Orissa's 480-kilometre coastline, which is home to one-third of its 37 million people, scientists say.

The trees, which grow along the shoreline, act as a natural barrier against deadly tidal surges caused by cyclones. The forests also slow soil erosion and stabilise tidal banks against rising sea level, another climate change hazard.

When the 1999 cyclone struck, Orissa's Kendrapada District had a 1.2 kilometre-wide band of mangrove forest protecting it, which averted an estimated $14 million worth of damage, according to a joint study by India's Delhi University and Duke University in the United States.

However, there would have been no damage at all to homes if the 5 kilometre-wide strip of mangrove forest that existed in the 1950s had still been there in 1999, the experts said.

The mangrove forests of Kendrapada District, which is the most cyclone-prone area in the Indian peninsula, are under threat from several development and infrastructure projects.

IRRIGATION A THREAT TO MANGROVES

The Rengali multi-purpose irrigation project aims to reduce poverty by increasing the number of farmers able to water their fields. But it is also reducing the flow of water to the Bhitarkanika Conservation Area, a Kendrapada District preserve that is home to one of India's largest mangrove forests.

As part of the government project, a dam has been built across the Brahmani River, reducing the water flow at the delta head by 10 percent, according to a study by the Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology and Spatial Planning and Analysis Research Centre.

The river is a major feeder for the mangroves, providing essential freshwater which ensures the right level of salinity for the mangroves to grow, particularly during drought seasons.

The scientists estimate that water flow will fall by 25 percent, from 19,514 to 14,000 cubic metres, when full irrigation eventually commences.

In addition, the government recently approved the construction of four private thermal power plants alongside the irrigation project.

The power plants, which would draw some of their water from the irrigation scheme, would increase access to electricity, currently enjoyed by only 22 percent of rural households in the state.

A few kilometres from the mangroves of Bhitarkanika Conservation Area, Tata Steel and L&T are building a port at Dhamra to export millions of tons of iron ore from the nearby mineral belt. Several other port projects are under consideration, aimed at reducing pressure on Orissa's existing single large port at Paradip.

Environmentalists fear these projects will have a devastating impact on the mangroves.

"Neither our political planners nor Indian industry heads are thinking long-term. One needs to respect natural buffers such as mangroves; projects like Dhamra port have no place in a low-carbon sustainable future," said Ashish Fernandes of Greenpeace India.

For the government, reconciling the longer-term threats of climate change with people's immediate development needs is not so easy.

"I cannot be oblivious to the larger development agenda of the government," said Jairam Ramesh, federal Minister of State for Environment and Forests.

Last week, the World Bank approved a $222 million credit for India's Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project, which includes mangrove regeneration as an important component.

Manipadma Jena is a development journalist based in Bhubaneswar, India.

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As tiny UAE's water tab grows, resources run dry

Erika Solomon Reuters 21 Jun 10;

(Reuters) - Driving along brand new highways with medians of lush trees and manicured grass, one could easily forget the United Arab Emirates sits on a sweltering desert coast with rapidly diminishing freshwater resources.

The Gulf Arab nation's oil income has allowed it to subsidize extravagant water use for Emiratis, either those in gated communities sporting pristine pools and evergreen golf courses or for farmers clinging to ancient irrigation practices.

Environmentalists warn the country, already reliant on costly desalination plants powered by its lucrative fossil fuels, must cut consumption by its 8.2 million people or risk depleting groundwater resources in 50 years.

"We need to convince them that water here isn't a free resource. It's not even a natural resource, it's manmade. It is costly, and it has a big environmental impact," said Mohamed Daoud of the state-run Environment Agency in Abu Dhabi.

But that is not an easy task in a country where billboards encouraging conservation compete for space and attention with promotions for waterparks, an indoor ski slope and a famous dancing fountain.

Abu Dhabi, seat of the seven member UAE federation and the wealthiest of its emirates, consumes 550 liters of water per person per day, Daoud said -- two to three times the world average of 180-200 liters. Analysts say per capita water use in the UAE overall is roughly four times that of Europe.

To ease groundwater use, about 60 percent of consumption in the desert country, the UAE has invested heavily in desalination, producing nine million cubic meters of water daily at $18 million a day.

Desalination dependence is a luxury only oil-rich Gulf countries can afford: It requires huge amounts of fuel and sea water. Dubai is completely reliant, while Abu Dhabi's use more than tripled by 2007, the Emirates Wildlife Society said.

"The UAE was a net gas exporter before 2008, but now it has become a net gas importer," Ayesha Sabavala, of London's Economic Intelligence Unit said, citing increased desalination and electricity production as the main cause.

ENERGY DRAIN

Desalination is powered mostly by gas and, more rarely, oil -- resources that transformed the UAE from a small pearl diving and fishing center into a financial hub in half a century.

Alternatives like nuclear energy will take another 10 years at least, said Sabavala of the Economist Intelligence Unit. Without alternatives, she expected desalination would increase domestic demand for oil and gas, thereby decreasing exports.

Economist Eckert Woertz of the Gulf Research Center stressed the importance finding alternatives to future oil use quickly.

"That is such a high opportunity cost, because it (oil) is exported at 70 to 80 dollars a barrel. Why dump it into local plants for subsidized prices? That's crazy," he said.

More than six desalination projects are now being planned and are expected to add over 4 million cubic meters a day. Yet storage problems mean much desalinated water is never even used.

"Desalination plants continue producing the same amount per hour, 24 hours a day. So what do we do with the excess water right now? We dump it in the Gulf," Daoud said, adding that the state will develop a system to transport surplus to aquifers.

Beyond economic concerns, desalination dependence could also make the UAE more vulnerable in the event of regional strife, such as any U.S-Iranian military escalation or al Qaeda strike.

"A desalination plant is a large factory sitting on the coast, something that you could easily blow up with a bomb or a missile," Hady Amr of the Brookings Institute said. "You could bring the country to its knees."

COSTLY CUSTOMS

Glitzy skyscrapers and luxury villas are not the only culprits of water waste, which is also a problem in agricultural areas including those relying on traditional practices.

Hours from Dubai, the UAE's hot desert sands stretch into the lush Hili oasis, where Mohammed al-Thahri, 22, inspects canals that snake through his father' date palm field and watches workers in nearby fields open chutes to flood their orchards.

Like the 100 other date farmers in Hili, the Thahris' wells are drying up, forcing them to drill new wells to maintain a 1,000-year-old irrigation method of inundating fields by water canals. They do not export or sell their dates, as they consume all of the yield themselves.

"It wastes water," Thahri said, shrugging. "But these palms are from our ancestors, it's our heritage. If we stopped raising them, it would be like abandoning our own children."

Two-thirds of water consumption in the largest emirate of Abu Dhabi -- home to the al-Ain oases that include Hili -- comes from agriculture. Farmers whose wells run dry are given desalinated water at subsidized rates from the government.

These statistics rattle technocrats like Daoud, trying to decrease wasteful consumption among a citizenry accustomed to the government footing up to 60 percent of their utilities bill.

But reducing subsidies to spur individual conservation efforts is not an option for the UAE's ruling families.

"UAE nationals have always been used to having these subsidies," the Economic Intelligence Unit's Sabavala said. "Getting rid of them would be political suicide."

(Editing by Matthew Jones)

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UN Adaptation Fund gives green light to first four projects

Rina Saeed Khan Reuters AlertNet 17 Jun 10;

BONN (AlertNet) - Proposals to tackle rising seas in the Solomon islands and the threat of flooding from glacier lakes in Pakistan are among the first four projects to be given the go-ahead by a U.N. climate change adaptation fund.

Officials of the Adaptation Fund, set up by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) two years ago, met in Bonn this week to consider proposals for eight adaptation projects from developing countries, including Senegal, the Solomon Islands, Turkmenistan, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Egypt, Mauritania and Pakistan.

The meeting, which ended late Wednesday, finished on a celebratory note as the fund's board endorsed its first four projects for funding.

The Adaptation Fund is the only mechanism at present that allows the UNFCCC to give money directly to developing countries for addressing climate change issues.

"This is a moment of celebration; we have been working for a while now. We are confident that it is a model that is working," said Amjad Abdulla, the member of the board from the Maldives who is in charge of the Projects and Programme Review Committee. "We have now given the green light to four projects to go ahead."

There are 32 members of the board, with representatives from both developed and developing countries.

NICARAGUA, SENEGAL AMONG FIRST TO BENEFIT

The four projects that have been endorsed are: a proposal to tackle sea level rise in the Solomon Islands, an effort to adapt to climate change in the coastal areas of Senegal, a plan to improve watersheds to better deal with droughts and floods in Nicaragua, and a proposal to reduce risk and vulnerabilities from glacier lake outburst floods in the mountains of Pakistan.

In September, when the board meets again, the preliminary proposals will be re-submitted as full proposals and funding will become available. There is no cap on the funding as yet - it can be anywhere from $3.5 million to $10 million.

"It all depends on how you structure your proposal," explained Farrukh Iqbal Khan, lead negotiator for Pakistan at the U.N. climate change negotiations and current head of the Adaptation Fund. He is the third chair of the board and will serve from 2010-11.

Getting to this point, "took us two years to build everything from scratch," he said. Now "countries can access the fund's resources directly and without having to go through the multilateral agencies. This has never happened before and this is the innovative feature that this board has evolved."

There are two ways to receive funding and it is up to the countries to choose which they prefer. Either they can have their own "national implementing entities" accredited by the board (which Senegal has done successfully) or they can go through multilateral agencies like the U.N. Development Program, U.N. Environmental Program or World Bank.

The Adaptation Fund is still small but is growing. It has received 45 million euros from Spain, 10 million euros from Germany and on Wednesday, Sweden announced a 10 million euro donation. Other countries, including France, Finland, Japan, Norway and Switzerland, have also promised funding.

The Fund also has a projected 400 million euros of its own money from proceeds of the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism levy.

The fund's board hopes to receive more money as their work progresses. They have access to $145 million right now, which is sufficient to cover the newly approved projects.

"We will consider tapping private sources of funding in the future," Iqbal Khan announced as the board meeting wrapped up in Bonn. Any amount is welcome - a recent donation of 100 euros raised by a group of European schoolchildren was happily accepted by the board.

Rina Saeed Khan is a Lahore-based freelance journalist. This article was produced by Panos London

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