'S' luck on the shores
from wild shores of singapore
Green Volunteers - July Update
from The Green Volunteers
七月十一日双溪布洛折纸活动——虾
Origami session on 11th Jul. @ SBWR
from PurpleMangrove
Asian Koel in courtship mode?
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Ephraim Seow Channel NewsAsia 6 Jul 10;
SINGAPORE: Golden Agri-Resources and its subsidiary, PT SMART, have refuted the latest allegations by Greenpeace that they are engaging in unsustainable deforestation practices.
In a filing to the Singapore Exchange, PT SMART said contrary to Greenpeace's statements, SMART is against burning and had established a zero burning policy in 1997, ahead of the Indonesian government.
It has also engaged two leading certification bodies, Control Union Certification and BSI Group, to verify earlier claims made by Greenpeace.
In April, Greenpeace had accused Golden Agri-Resources of lying to shareholders about its environmental standards.
PT SMART added that it is a responsible company that is committed to producing sustainable palm oil.
It also said as a business, it complies with national laws and regulations as well as the principles and criteria of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil or RSPO.
It notes that Golden Agri-Resources aims to obtain RSPO certification for all of its existing palm oil operating units by 2015. -CNA/vm
Greenpeace urges firms to boycott Sinar Mas
Victoria Vaughan Straits Times 7 Jul 10;
GREENPEACE wants companies to drop Singapore-listed palm oil firm Golden Agri Resources and Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) as suppliers in retaliation for what it calls their environmental damage.
A new report from the green group has accused them of destroying rainforest, peatland and tiger habitats on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
The firms come under the brand name Sinar Mas.
The Greenpeace report, How Sinar Mas Is Pulping The Planet, says Golden Agri supplies palm oil to the Campbell Soup Company, Burger King, Pizza Hut and Dunkin Donuts.
APP supplies pulp and paper products to supermarket giants Carrefour, Walmart, Tesco, fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken, while the magazines National Geographic, CNN Traveller, Cosmo Girl, Elle, Esquire and Marie Claire use its paper, according to Greenpeace.
Golden Agri faced similar criticisms from Greenpeace at a press conference in Singapore held just before the company's annual general meeting in April.
Although the impact of the latest report remains to be seen, Unilever, Nestle and Kraft suspended multi-million dollar palm oil contracts with Golden Agri last year following accusations by Greenpeace.
Golden Agri also suspended two plantation managers and is carrying out an external audit to be published later this month.
Mr Martin Baker, the communications director for Greenpeace South-east Asia, said those companies supplied by Golden Agri and APP are at varying stages of working towards committing to a sustainable supply chain. He added that Sinar Mas was targeted as it is the largest company responsible for deforestation in Indonesia.
Mr Daud Dharsono, the president director of Smart, the firm that runs the oil palm plantations for Golden Agri, said it was committed to sourcing oil sustainably and that it supports the two-year moratorium on deforestation announced by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in May.
'This initiative will enhance Smart's own efforts in preserving primary forests, peat land and protecting biodiversity in Indonesia,' said Mr Dharsono.
'The two-year moratorium is an opportunity to review and strengthen Indonesia's policies such as land reconciliation and greenhouse gas emission measurements,' he said.
Greenpeace slams Sinar Mas over deforestation
Business Times 7 Jul 10;
(JAKARTA) Greenpeace yesterday levelled new accusations of rainforest destruction against Indonesian agribusiness giant Sinar Mas and urged retailers Carrefour and Walmart to stop buying their products.
Several top palm oil buyers, including Unilever and Nestle, have said they will stop buying from Sinar Mas after earlier Greenpeace accusations stated that Sinar Mas units such as pulp and paper firm APP and palm oil producer PT Smart Tbk cleared virgin rainforests and peatlands.
Preservations of rainforests and peatlands, which trap huge amounts of greenhouse gases, is seen as key to preventing dangerous climate change.
Another major Sinar Mas customer, Cargill Inc has also said it will stop buying from the Indonesian firm if allegations of rainforest logging are proven.
In a report titled 'How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet', released yesterday, Greenpeace said it had confidential APP documents suggesting that the firm did not intend to fulfil a promise to source its wood from plantations alone after 2009.
'Pulping the Planet reveals from analysis of Indonesian government and confidential Sinar Mas maps and data, as well as on-the-ground investigations, that APP continues to acquire and destroy rainforest and peatland to feed its two pulp mills in Sumatra,' the environmental group said in the report, referring to once forest-clad western Indonesian island.
'While the overall capacity of its two pulp mills in Sumatra was 2.6 million tonnes per year in 2006, the Sinar Mas document indicates that APP was proposing to raise that to 17.5 million tonnes per year, a sevenfold increase in APP's pulp capacity in Indonesia.'
APP's sustainability spokeswoman, Aida Greenbury, told Reuters she was not aware of any plans to increase production to that level.
'To raise it to 17 million tonnes would require roughly eight million hectares of area and that's ridiculous,' she said by telephone. 'I would like to see this confidential document and make sure it is not a fabrication.'
Greenpeace said Sinar Mas, which also owns Singapore's Golden Agri-Resources, was aiming to expand into forests that shelter endangered Sumatran tigers, as well as into deep, carbon-rich peatlands.
Sinar Mas' palm oil unit, Pt Smart Tbk, issued a statement saying it was 'committed not to plant oil palm trees on peatland, primary forests nor convert land with high conservation value'. Smart's president director, Daud Dharsono, urged its customers to await the results of an investigation into earlier Greenpeace accusations, by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) - an industry body of planters, consumers and green groups - which are expected in July.
'We have been in touch with all our customers on our sustainability practices and request that they continue to seek clarity directly with us should they have any concerns,' he said.
Greenpeace called on supermarket chains Tesco, Walmart and Carrefour to stop buying APP paper products and urged food firms Campbell Soup Company, Dunkin' Donuts and Pizza Hut, as well as cosmetics firm Shiseido, to stop buying Sinar Mas palm oil. -- Reuters
Greenpeace Names and Shames Companies over Indonesia Paper
Jakarta Globe 7 Jul 10;
Major foreign firms like Walmart and KFC are contributing to forest destruction and the loss of species like Sumatran tigers by buying from Indonesian paper giant Sinar Mas, Greenpeace said Tuesday.
It said Sinar Mas subsidiary Asia Pulp and Paper was “relentlessly trashing rainforests” and driving species to extinction in the Southeast Asian archipelago.
“Sinar Mas’s sustainability commitments’ are not worth the paper they are written on and some of the world’s best known brands are literally pulping the planet by buying from them,” Greenpeace Southeast Asia forest campaigner Bustar Maitar said in a statement.
A Greenpeace report called “How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet” accuses major international companies of being complicit in the rampant destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands by buying from APP.
It accused Sinar Mas of illegal logging in sensitive areas on Sumatra island, where lowland forests have been decimated by years of deforestation.
One of the areas, the Bukit Tigapuluh Forest Landscape, is home to endangered Sumatran tigers and orangutans.
The other area, Kerumutan, is covered in peatlands which are a “key defence against climate change” because they lock in carbon that is released into the atmosphere when the forest cover is removed by logging, Greenpeace said.
“Some of the forest’s peat is deeper than three metres and thus illegal to clear under Indonesian law,” Greenpeace said.
“Sinar Mas’s paper arm APP uses the logs from these rainforest areas to feed its Sumatran based pulp mills, which export pulp and paper products worldwide.”
The destruction of rainforests and peatlands is the main reason Indonesia is considered the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
Agence France-Presse
Greenpeace names, shames companies over Indonesia paper
Stephen Coates Yahoo News 6 Jul 10;
JAKARTA (AFP) – Greenpeace on Tuesday accused foreign firms like Walmart, Carrefour and Tesco of contributing to forest destruction and species loss in Indonesia by buying from paper and palm oil giant Sinar Mas.
The environmental group said Sinar Mas subsidiary Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) was "relentlessly trashing rainforests", spewing carbon into the atmosphere and driving species to extinction in the Southeast Asian archipelago.
"Sinar Mas's 'sustainability commitments' are not worth the paper they are written on and some of the world's best known brands are literally pulping the planet by buying from them," Greenpeace Southeast Asia forest campaigner Bustar Maitar said in a statement.
A Greenpeace report titled "How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet" accuses major international companies of being complicit in the rampant destruction of Indonesia's rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands by buying from APP.
Companies listed as Sinar Mas customers include French supermarket chains Carrefour and Auchan, US retail giant Walmart, British supermarket Tesco, British retail group WH Smith, US electronics giant Hewlett Packard, US fast-food chain KFC, Dutch Office supplies company Corporate Express and Australian global paper supplier PaperlinX.
National Geographic was named as among the magazine publishers that used Sinar Mas paper, along with CNN Traveller, Cosmo Girl, ELLE, Esquire and Marie Claire.
In addition to timber and paper products, Sinar Mas also allegedly uses unsustainable logging practices to make way for palm oil plantations that are seen as a major threat to Indonesian biodiversity.
Greenpeace said buyers of Sinar Mas palm oil included commodity traders Cargill of the United States and Wilmar of Singapore, as well as Japanese cosmetics producer Shiseido and US firms Campbell Soup Company, Burger King, Dunkin' Donuts and Pizza Hut.
"Greenpeace urges all companies still doing business with APP to stop their business with them. By not doing business with APP, those companies help in stopping destruction of forests and peatlands in Indonesia," Maitar said.
He praised Unilever, Kraft and Nestle for dropping palm oil supplies from Sinar Mas affiliates, but said Carrefour still sold Sinar Mas palm oil products in its Indonesia stores.
Carrefour, Staples, Office Depot and Woolworths (Australia) had stopped buying or selling paper products connected to APP, while companies including Kimberly Clark, Kraft, Nestle and Unilever were reviewing contracts with APP.
APP sustainability director Aida Greenbury rejected the report, saying: "If they have the evidence then show it to the public".
"It hasn't been investigated properly. It's biased because it hasn't listened to all parties," she told AFP.
Sinar Mas and APP insist they are committed to sustainability but Greenpeace accuses them of breaking promises to source all pulpwood from timber plantations after 2009.
One of the APP logging areas studied in the Greenpeace report was the Bukit Tigapuluh Forest Landscape, home to endangered Sumatran tigers and orangutans.
Another area, Kerumutan, was covered in peatlands that lock in carbon that causes global warming when it enters the atmosphere as a result of logging and clearing.
The destruction of rainforests and peatlands is the main reason Indonesia is considered the world's third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently announced a two-year moratorium on new forest concessions in exchange for one billion dollars in aid from Norway, conditional on verifiable cuts to greenhouse emissions.
But Greenpeace has joined other concerned groups in questioning the value of such commitments from a country that freely acknowledges massive corruption across its forestry sector leading to rampant illegal logging.
"Millions of hectares (acres) of forests including hundreds of thousands of hectares under Sinar Mas control are not part of the deal with Norway. This loophole will undermine all attempts to reduce Indonesia's emissions," Maitar said.
Indonesia's Sinar Mas "Clearing Rainforest": Group
Sunanda Creagh Reuters 7 Jul 10;
Greenpeace leveled on Tuesday new accusations of rainforest destruction against Indonesian agribusiness giant Sinar Mas and urged retailers Carrefour and Walmart to stop buying their products.
Several top palm oil buyers, including Unilever and Nestle, have said they will stop buying from Sinar Mas after earlier Greenpeace accusations that Sinar Mas units such as pulp and paper firm APP and palm oil producer PT Smart Tbk cleared virgin rainforests and peatlands.
Preservations of rainforests and peatlands, which trap huge amounts of greenhouse gases, is seen as key to preventing dangerous climate change.
Another major Sinar Mas customer, Cargill Inc has also said it will stop buying from the Indonesian firm if allegations of rainforest logging are proven.
In a report titled 'How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet', released on Tuesday, Greenpeace said it had confidential APP documents suggesting that the firm did not intend to fulfill a promise to source its wood from plantations alone after 2009.
"Pulping the Planet reveals from analysis of Indonesian government and confidential Sinar Mas maps and data, as well as on-the-ground investigations, that APP continues to acquire and destroy rainforest and peatland to feed its two pulp mills in Sumatra," the environmental group said in the report, referring to once forest-clad western Indonesian island.
"While the overall capacity of its two pulp mills in Sumatra was 2.6 million (metric) tons per year in 2006, the Sinar Mas document indicates that APP was proposing to raise that to 17.5 million (metric) tons per year, a sevenfold increase in APP's pulp capacity in Indonesia."
"RIDICULOUS"
APP's sustainability spokeswoman, Aida Greenbury, told Reuters she was not aware of any plans to increase production to that level.
"To raise it to 17 million (metric) tons would require roughly 8 million hectares of area and that's ridiculous," she said by telephone. "I would like to see this confidential document and make sure it is not a fabrication."
Greenpeace said Sinar Mas, which also owns Singapore's Golden Agri-Resources, was aiming to expand into forests that shelter endangered Sumatran tigers, as well as into deep, carbon-rich peatlands.
Sinar Mas' palm oil unit, Pt Smart Tbk, issued a statement saying it was "committed not to plant oil palm trees on peatland, primary forests nor convert land with high conservation value."
Smart's president director, Daud Dharsono, urged its customers to await the results of an investigation into earlier Greenpeace accusations, by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) -- an industry body of planters, consumers and green groups -- which are expected in July.
"We have been in touch with all our customers on our sustainability practices and request that they continue to seek clarity directly with us should they have any concerns," he said.
Greenpeace called on supermarket chains Tesco, Walmart and Carrefour to stop buying APP paper products and urged food firms Campbell Soup Company, Dunkin' Donuts and Pizza Hut, as well as cosmetics firm Shiseido, to stop buying Sinar Mas palm oil.
(Editing by Robert Birsel)
Scientists say human activity could spell end for a quarter of all flowering plants, with huge impact on food chain
Juliette Jowit The Guardian 7 Jul 10;
More than one-in-four of all flowering plants are under threat of extinction according to the latest report to confirm the ongoing destruction of much of the natural world by human activity.
As a result, many of nature's most colourful specimens could be lost to the world before scientists even discover them, claims the research, published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The results reflect similar global studies of other species groups by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which estimates that one-in-five of all mammals, nearly one-in-three amphibians and one-in-eight birds are vulnerable to being wiped out completely. Later this year the results of a huge global analysis of all the world's estimated up to 400,000 plants by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is due to be published by the IUCN as part of its ongoing mission to assess the state of all life on Earth.
"[This year] marks the International Year of Biodiversity," said Stuart Pimm of Duke University in North Carolina, USA, one of the authors of the report. "The focus of this celebration has often been on the species we know of, along with discussions on the unprecedented challenge of conserving this biodiversity in the face of threats such as habitat loss. However, by asking just how many species we will lose before they are even discovered, our study has revealed a figure that is truly alarming."
The researchers started by carrying out an independent review of how many flowering plants – which make up most of the plant kingdom – exist. By considering the rate at which new specimens are being described to science, adjusted to reflect the growing number of scientists over the years, and interviewing experts who focus on different groups such as orchids, irises or grasses, the team calculated that on top of the existing "best estimate" of 352,282 flowering plants there are another 10-20%, or 35,000-70,000, which have still to be officially discovered.
The second stage was to assess the level of threats from habitat loss due to clearing land for planting crops or trees, development, or indirect causes such as falling groundwater levels and pollution.
They started with a study published in the journal Endangered Species Research in 2008, which estimated that one-in-five known species were vulnerable to extinction.
However based on the fact that new species – like recent discoveries – are likely to be found in "biodiversity hotspots", where there are huge numbers of endemic species which are not widely distributed around the world, and a high level of habitat loss, they estimated that all so-far-undiscovered flowering plants were also at risk.
"If we take the number of species that are currently known to be threatened, and add to that those that are yet to be discovered, we can estimate that between 27% and 33% of all flowering plants will be threatened with extinction," said David Roberts, one of the co-authors, of the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology at the University of Kent.
The paper adds: "These estimates are based on immediate threat, and do not consider further development of destructive factors - including climate disruption." The paper's third, lead, author was Lucas Joppa of Microsoft Research in Cambridge.
The warning comes as there is growing international recognition of the value of the natural world to humans in providing ecosystem services, from flood protection and medicines to spiritual spaces and enjoyment.
"Plants are the basis for much of life on earth with virtually all other species depending on them; if you get rid of those you get rid of a lot of the things above them," added Roberts.
Cindy Lai The Star 7 Jul 10;
THE Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) celebrated 70 years of involvement in nature and biodiversity conservation in Miri recently with the theme Conserving Nature, Celebrating Life 1940-2010.
Its president Tan Sri Dr Salleh Mohd Nor, who opened a talk held as part of the celebration, said: “The power to preserve nature lies in our hands, the people who live on this planet. With our little effort, we gained the strength to protect our beloved mother nature.”
After the talk, an informative presentation entitled Coral Reef Project was given by Kumareson Paranthaman, the leader of MNS Miri’s reef check project.
Attendees, especially the children, were fascinated by colourful videos on well-kept secrets of corals in Miri complete with majestic views of marine treasures.
The event was completed with the announcement of the top three winners of a drawing contest held with the theme Our Marine and Coastal Treasures.
Edric Liew Wei Sheng, Amy Liew Xiu Jie and Siti Khadijah won the first, second and third prizes respectively. They were all 10 years old.
The next day, MNS made a trip to Tusan Cliffs.
These sandstone cliffs, seastacks, old fossils and the amazingly-beautiful Tusan beach left the participants in awe.
The events were organised by MNS Miri.
Yahoo News 6 Jul 10;
JAKARTA (AFP) – Representatives from 13 "tiger-range countries" will draft a global recovery plan at a meeting in Indonesia next week in a bid to rescue the big cats from extinction, officials said on Tuesday.
The plan to be drafted on the Indonesian resort island of Bali will be used as the basis for discussion at a "tiger summit" scheduled to be held in St. Petersburg, Russia, from September 15 to 18.
"We hope the Bali meeting will generate a strong draft Global Tiger Recovery Programme," Indonesian Forestry Ministry conservation director Darori said in a statement released by environmental group WWF.
"This will demonstrate our desire and resolve to come up with solutions to address the threats faced by the world?s remaining wild tiger population -- including those faced by Indonesia?s Sumatran tiger -- as well as double their population by 2022."
Two of Indonesia's three tiger species are already extinct -- the Javan and Balinese -- with only around 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild.
Several are killed every year by poachers and villagers who compete with them for dwindling forest resources.
WWF says the global, wild population of tigers of all species has fallen from about 100,000 to an estimated 3,200 over the past century.
Countries invited to attend the St. Petersburg summit are Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
The pre-summit talks in Bali from Monday to Wednesday next week will hear details of each country's tiger protection plans and funding proposals, officials said.
Indonesian conservation official Harry Santoso said Jakarta would ask for more than 175 million dollars in foreign aid to implement its plan to double the Sumatran tiger population to 800 by 2022.
"If we do nothing, tigers around the world, including Indonesia, will be extinct by 2035," he said.
"Our programme will focus on mitigation of human-animal conflict and law enforcement to stop tiger poaching. We will impose stricter punishments for criminals," he said, adding that habitats would also be protected.
Human-animal conflicts are a rising problem in the massive archipelago as forests are destroyed for timber or to make way for palm oil, forcing animals such as elephants and tigers into closer contact with people.
Santoso said funds were expected to come from donors including the United States, Australia, Germany, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
Indonesia needs other countries to save its tigers
Antara 7 Jul 10;
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia should increase its tiger population through cooperation with neighboring countries which have been used to smuggle the endangered species, a chief conservationist said.
Cooperation with neighboring countries is one effort to increase the tiger population and to prevent the smuggling of the endangered species, Director of Fauna and Flora International Indonesia Programme, Darmawan Liswanto, said here on Tuesday.
He said that cooperation with other countries could be agreed at a high level forum on the World Tiger Rescue Meeting in Bali on July 12 to 14, 2010.
At the forum titled "Pre Tiger Summit Partners Dialogue Meeting" 13 countries with a tiger population are expected to draw a world tiger population recovery plan.
However, according to Director of WCS-Indonesia, Noviar Andayani, safeguarding tigers cannot rely merely on 13 countries. "Countries that have tiger population cannot do tiger salvaging without the support of other countries. The meeting in Bali is important to serve as a place to discuss ways how to overcome the decline in tiger population," said Noviar.
Meanwhile, Darori, director general of forest protection and nature conservation (PHKA)of the Ministry of Forestry, said that damaged forests contributed to the decline of the tiger population.
Darori said that the Ministry of Forestry was doing its best to double the number of the population of wild tigers whose number now was only 400 heads.
Executive Director of WWF Indonesia Efransjah said the Ministry of Forestry had been making tiger conservation efforts such as restoring the critical areas of Sumatran tiger`s habitat.
With regard to the funds to conserve tigers the government has calculated the needed one at US$170 million, he said.
In the meantime, the funds available at the PHKA only amounted to Rp15 billion for the overall conservation effort, which included safeguarding tigers.
Jess McNally Wired Science 6 Jul 10;
Ten new possible species could change everything about the way we think about deep-sea life in the Atlantic Ocean.
Most of the creatures are so strange, it is hard to know which direction they swim or where their mouths are.
The images were captured by researchers from the University of Aberdeen during more than 300 hours of diving with a remotely operated vehicle between 2,300 feet and 12,000 feet deep along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the largest mountain range on Earth, which runs down the center of the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and Africa on the east and the Americas on the west.
Three of the species, which look like colorful wavy worms, belong to a group of creatures called Enteropneust, which is believed to be the evolutionary link between backbone and invertebrate animals. Previously only a few specimens of the group, from the Pacific Ocean, were known to science.
“They have no eyes, no obvious sense organs or brain but there is a head end, tail end and the primitive body plan of backboned animals is established,” said Monty Priede, one of the lead researchers on the project, part of the Census of Marine Life.
One of the most surprising observations by the researchers was how different the species are on either side of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, just tens of miles apart. “[The two sides of the ridge are] mirror images of each other,” Priede said. “but that is where the similarity ended.”
“It seemed like we were in a scene from Alice Through the Looking Glass,” Pried said. “This expedition has revolutionized our thinking about deep-sea life in the Atlantic Ocean. It shows that we cannot just study what lives around the edges of the ocean and ignore the vast array of animals living on the slopes and valleys in the middle of the ocean.”
Marine scientists return with rare creatures from the deep
Findings may revolutionize thinking about deep-sea life in the Atlantic Ocean
Jennifer Phillips Census of Marine Life EurekAlert 6 Jul 10;
Scientists have just returned from a voyage with samples of rare animals and more than 10 possible new species in a trip which they say has revolutionised their thinking about deep-sea life in the Atlantic Ocean.
One group of creatures they observed - and captured - during their six weeks in the Atlantic aboard the RRS James Cook is believed to be close to the missing evolutionary link between backboned and invertebrate animals.
Using the latest technology they also saw species in abundance that until now had been considered rare.
Researchers were also surprised to discover such diversity in habitat and marine life in locations just a few miles apart.
Scientists were completing the last leg of MAR-ECO - an international research programme, part of the Census of Marine Life, which is enhancing our understanding of the occurrence, distribution and ecology of animals along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Iceland and the Azores.
The University of Aberdeen is leading the UK contribution to the project which involves scientists from 16 nations. Key collaborators in the UK include Newcastle University and the National Oceanography Centre.
During more than 300 hours of diving - using Isis the UK's deepest diving remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to depths of between 700m right down to 3,600m - researchers surveyed flat plains, cliff faces and slopes of the giant mountain range that divides the Atlantic Ocean into two halves, east and west.
The research was focused in two areas - beneath the cold waters north of the Gulf Stream and the warmer waters to the south.
Professor Monty Priede, Director of the University of Aberdeen's Oceanlab, said: "We were surprised at how different the animals were on either side of the ridge which is just tens of miles apart.
"In the west the cliffs faced east and in the east the cliffs faced west. The terrain looked the same, mirror images of each other, but that is where the similarity ended. It seemed like we were in a scene from Alice Through the Looking Glass.
"In the north-east, sea urchins were dominant on the flat plains and the cliffs were colourful and rich with sponges, corals and other life.
"In the north-west, the cliffs were dull grey bare rock with much less life. The north-west plains were the home of deep-sea enteropneust acorn worms. Only a few specimens, from the Pacific Ocean, were previously known to science.
"These worms are members of a little-known group of animals close to the missing link in evolution between backboned and invertebrate animals.
"The creatures were observed feeding and leaving characteristic spiral traces on the sea floor.
"They have no eyes, no obvious sense organs or brain but there is a head end, tail end and the primitive body plan of back-boned animals is established. One was observed showing rudimentary swimming behaviour.
"By the end of the expedition three different species were discovered each with a different colour, pink, purple and white with distinctly different shapes."
Using the remotely operated vehicle, high quality complete specimens of all three different-coloured species were captured and will be sent to specialists for further investigations.
Sea cucumbers, or holothurians, normally seen crawling incredibly slowly over the flat abyssal plains of the ocean floor, were found on steep slopes, small ledges and rock faces of the underwater mountain range.
Researchers were also surprised to see that they were very able and fast moving swimmers and unique video sequences were recorded of swimming holothurians.
Professor Priede said: "This expedition has revolutionised our thinking about deep-sea life in the Atlantic Ocean. It shows that we cannot just study what lives around the edges of the ocean and ignore the vast array of animals living on the slopes and valleys in the middle of the Ocean.
"Using new technology and precise navigation we can access these regions and discover things we never suspected existed."
Dr Andrey Gebruk, Shirshov Institute, Moscow, said: "We were surprised how species, elsewhere considered rare, were found in abundance on the Mid Atlantic Ridge and we were finding new species up to the last minute of the last dive in the voyage."
Dr Dan Jones, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, surveyed over 50,000 square metres of sea floor in high definition detail and said: "We successfully completed one of the most detailed video surveys of the deep sea ever attempted. The Isis ROV with its cutting-edge technology gives us the potential to understand more and more of the mysterious deep sea environment."
Newcastle University's Dr Ben Wigham has been working on the project for the past four years studying the biology of animals living on the ridge. "We are interested in how these animals are feeding in areas of the deep-sea where food is often scarce" he said. "The differences we see in the diversity of species and numbers of individuals may well be related to how they are able to process and share out a rather common but meagre food supply, we certainly see indications that there are differences between the north and south regions of the ridge."
###
* This voyage was part of the UK contribution to the Census of Marine Life (http://www.coml.org/) programme MARECO (http://www.mar-eco.no). This was the last in a series of four annual voyages undertaken since 2007 investigating all aspects of life over the Mid Atlantic Ridge.
* Isis can work at depths of 6000 metres – full ocean depth. The vehicle is maintained by the National Oceanography Centre on behalf of UK science and scientists.
WWF 6 Jul 10;
Polar bears, walruses, sea otters, and other endangered species are all set to benefit from a Russian decision to boost its national protected areas to nearly 3 percent of its territory by 2020, a move which helps the country to meet its international obligations to protect biodiversity.
The Russian government’s decision establishes 9 new nature reserves and 13 national parks covering a total area of over 3.8 million ha by 2020. Russia is also introducing marine buffer zones of over 1 million ha.
“For the first time, development of protected areas in Russia will be based on the analysis of all available data on biological diversity of Russia”, said Vladimir Krever, WWF-Russia biodiversity coordinator.
“The creation of protected areas is crucial to save Russia’s diverse and unique biodiversity,” he added.
An existing 9 reserves and 1 national park will see their areas increased by 500 thousand ha.
The decision was based on an analysis of WWF in cooperation with The Nature Coservancy and MAVA Foundation, carried out between 2006-2008, and is aimed at fulfilling Russia’s commitment under the Convention on Biodiversity to establish effective protected area systems that safeguard biodiversity.
The UN has declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity, culminating in October at the 10th Conference of the Parties in Nagoya. WWF is calling on governments in Nagoya to adopt a clear roadmap and allocate additional financing to halt biodiversity loss by 2020.
Stopping the loss of the planet’s biodiversity should be given the highest priority by governments because it is the foundation for human life providing food, medicine and clean water as well as reducing the impact of natural disasters and climate change. Natural habitats and species underpin the global economy and directly supports billions of people who dependent on forests, fisheries and wetlands for their livelihoods.
In 2002 governments pledged to reduce the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010 but despite individual conservation successes, such as in Russia, governments have not met their commitment and biodiversity continues to be lost at alarming rates, international studies show.
“We need to understand that protecting biodiversity means not only protecting nature but also our economy and wellbeing. “ By allowing biodiversity loss to continue we are undermining our future ,” said Rolf Hogan, Biodiversity Manager at WWF International .
Over 300 experts provided original data for the analysis and took part in the discussion. On the basis of this data WWF assessed representativeness of the existing system of federal protected areas and worked out a framework for its further development.
As a result, WWF recommended the creation of 70 extra nature reserves and 71 national parks in Russia. Experience has shown that creating more than 2 federal protected areas a year is difficult, so implementation of WWF recommendations will be extended over a few decades. WWF through its members and corporate partners will raise funds to help the Ministry implement the framework.
Jakarta Globe 7 Jul 10;
Indonesia is expected to implement a five-year moratorium on issuing permits for new logging concessions in peat forests, in effect overlapping with an existing policy, a draft of a presidential decree indicated on Tuesday.
The decree on “Moratorium Policy to Open Peatlands for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation” is part of the government’s ambitious bid to cut carbon emissions by 26 percent over the next five years, mostly from the forestry sector.
It mirrors a two-year moratorium on such permits that the government announced in June as part of an agreement with Norway to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
However, environmentalists say the move will not achieve much unless the government’s forestry management policies are overhauled.
“It doesn’t make a difference if the moratorium is for two years or five,” Greenpeace Indonesia lead forest campaigner Bustar Maitar said on Tuesday.
“If the government still can’t make its forestry policy clear, then there’s no use talking about a moratorium.”
Any effective policy would include a review of existing concessions, and not just a blanket ban on new ones, Bustar said.
“These existing permits need to be addressed in the presidential decree so that the government can really fix the forestry management and recalculate the potential of our forests,” he said, adding the decree would also need to be synchronized with spatial planning blueprints.
Greenomics Indonesia executive director Elfian Effendi criticized the draft decree for not addressing the critical role of local administrations.
“It doesn’t take into consideration regional autonomy or decentralization, which is important because local administrations are major stakeholders in the forestry sector,” he said.
The draft decree is based on the forestry, spatial planning and environmental protection and management laws, as well as a government zoning regulation.
Meanwhile, a senior government official, who asked not to be named, said the presidential decree was not drafted solely in response to the bilateral agreement with Norway, but said that agreement had acted as a catalyst for the decree.
“I don’t know whether the final version of the decree will stipulate two years or five for the moratorium, but there were discussions early on to go with five years because some people considered two years to be too short,” the official said.
Emil Salim, a member of the presidential advisory board who helped coordinate the drafting of the decree, said he was not aware of any development mentioning any time limit for the moratorium on new logging permits.
“I wasn’t involved in the discussion about whether the moratorium should be for two or five years,” he said.
“ The final authority to determine the length of time rests with the forestry minister.”
Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan was unavailable for comment .
Sunanda Creagh and Yayat Supriatna PlanetArk 7 Jul 10;
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Indonesia has drafted rules for a two-year ban on permits for forest clearing, after signing a $1 billion climate aid deal with Norway aimed at avoiding greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation.
The plan has implications for resource firms looking to expand in the world's largest producer of thermal coal and palm oil, such as Wilmar, Indofood Agri Resources and Bumi Resources.
Here are some questions and answers on the draft rules:
HOW WILL THE MORATORIUM BE IMPLEMENTED?
The moratorium is expected to take effect in January. Several draft presidential decrees to implement the plan have been prepared. They will not need to be passed by Indonesia's parliament, home to vested interests.
Political risk analyst Kevin O'Rourke said the draft decree on peatlands said the moratorium could be applied for five years.
WHAT DO THE DRAFT REGULATIONS SAY?
One of the draft decrees states a two-year moratorium on new permits and permit extensions will apply to converting peatland, natural forest, conversion forest, protected forest, production forest, and production forest that is convertible and "outside (these) areas."
Existing permit holders for natural forests will be required to "apply environmentally friendly technical management practices."
The decree states that permits to convert peatland and natural forests that have already been issued will continue to be valid but another section says: "There will be an assessment of the economic impact and revocation of permission to convert peatland and cessation of issuing new permits."
"Permits that have already been issued in peatlands with big potential for greenhouse gas emissions will possibly be compensated in accordance with the land area size allocated," the decree states, leaving uncertainty for existing permit holders.
WHAT COMPENSATION COULD EXISTING PERMIT HOLDERS GET?
Former environment minister Emil Salim -- who helped write one of the draft decrees -- said the government would encourage holders of existing permits in primary forest areas or deep peatlands to swap to degraded land.
"We cannot force them to move," he told Reuters, but added that uncooperative firms could face a social backlash.
The decree also says there will be research on opportunities for revenue and trade in carbon credits from protecting peatlands. It is not clear who would get these revenues.
ARE THERE ANY EXEMPTIONS?
One of the draft presidential decrees says projects of national significance "such as geothermal, oil and natural gas" will be exempt from the moratorium. Salim said the exemption did not apply to mining.
(Editing by Neil Chatterjee)
Navin Singh Khadka BBC News 6 Jul 10;
A number of South Asian countries and China have made significant progress to improve the region's flood warning system, officials have said.
Countries plan to exchange rainfall and river flow data in order to provide advance warning of potential floods.
The idea is a decade old, but has not yet been implemented. Officials now say that a recent meeting in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, made headway as all participating countries were positive about sharing the information.
The gathering involved representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Nepal and Pakistan, while delegates from India attended the meeting as observers.
The region is home to some of the world's most flood-prone river basins, such as the Ganges, Bramhaputra, Meghna and Indus.
Monsoon floods in these rivers wreak havoc in most South Asian countries during this time of the year. Millions of people are affected, with heavy losses of lives and properties every year.
'Minimising losses'
Experts say that if countries located upstream of these vast river systems monitored rainfall and river levels and passed on the information to downstream countries, timely flood warnings could be issued to minimise such losses.
"We believe after this recent meeting, there will be proper co-operation in the region and we as the most flood-affected country will benefit," said Salim Bhuiyan from Bangladesh's Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre.
"If works happen as has been discussed, we will get information well in advance and that will give us adequate time to alert our people about possible floods," he said after the meeting.
Nearly 40 hydrological stations are being installed within the five participating countries, allowing them to share flood related information via a website.
Two of the stations will be in Chinese-controlled Tibet, to monitor the Yarlung Tsangpo that enters the Indian territory as the Bramhaputra, a major river that often floods north-east India and Bangladesh.
"The two stations will be in Nuxia and Nxughesea of China," explained Mandira Shrestha, a hydrologist with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), which has been co-ordinating the nations' regional flood forecasting.
"Their role will be crucial to collect information for possible flooding in the river that affects millions of people downstream every year," she added.
But officials from participating countries - particularly Bangladesh, which shares most of its rivers with upstream India - say India's role will be equally important for the regional flood forecasting initiative.
ICIMOD officials say they have been trying to get India fully on board but it has been an uphill task.
"We have approached the Central Water Commission of India (one of the most powerful bodies on water issues) but have not heard from them yet," said Ms Shrestha.
Building bridges
Indian officials say their national policy does not allow them to share their river discharge data in multilateral forums.
"As per the Government of India policy, river discharge data is restricted and we will not go in a common data pool," says N Y Apte, a scientist with the Indian Meteorological Department, who took part in the Kathmandu meeting as an observer representing his government.
"We are developing our own data observation system and we do not want any instrumentation from the ICIMOD or any other agency, we are procuring our own instruments as per our own requirements."
Mr Apte, however, added that river discharge data could only be exchanged with neighbouring countries on the basis of bilateral agreements.
"Based on such agreements we have been, for example, giving Bangladesh flood warnings."
But Bangladeshi officials say such bilateral agreements have not been of much help.
"Through our joint river commission (of India and Bangladesh), we have been receiving some flood related information from Indian authorities," says Mr Bhuiyan.
"But they are from only those places that are very near to our border areas."
He said that this provided too little time to act: "That means we can issue flood warnings only 24 hours in advance which is not sufficient to alert our people and help them evacuate."
Officials from the participating countries, however, welcomed India's willingness to share meteorological information through its website.
Secured funding is another reason that has made them hopeful, as the first phase of the regional project had suffered from budgetary constraints.
"Finland has agreed to provide the necessary funds for five years, which means we now can start procuring equipment - mainly for the hydrological stations," says Ms Shrestha.
Experts believe the importance of such stations will grow, as rainfall patterns in the region are becoming erratic. Some places get unusually heavy rains over a short space of time, while others reel under drought.
A number of international research studies have suggested that climate change may be making Monsoon increasingly unpredictable. However, some local studies have disputed these findings.
Business Times 7 Jul 10;
(NEW DELHI) India's annual monsoon rains, a key factor that drives its economy, have covered the vast country after a sluggish spell, a top weather official said yesterday, boosting the outlook for farm products and rural income.
'The monsoon has covered the entire country by about nine days ahead of schedule,' BP Yadav, director of the India Meteorological Department, told Reuters.
The rains had advanced into the key grain-producing states of Punjab and Haryana by Monday, continuing a rapid revival after falling 16 per cent below normal in June.
The June-September rains usually covers the entire country by the middle of July. The shortfall in monsoon rains since June 1 had narrowed to 13 per cent after five days of heavy rainfall, data from the weather office showed on Monday.
The recovery of monsoon, the main source of water for summer-sown crops, allayed fears of farm losses in one of the world's top producers and consumers of cotton, rice and sugar, and the biggest importer of vegetable oils. India, which gets 80 per cent of its annual rainfall from the monsoon, is one of the world's leading producers of rice, wheat and sugar.
Earlier, an uncertain start to the rainy season had fuelled worries about food inflation, which is already running at nearly 13 per cent and has a major impact on India's impoverished millions, the Congress-led government's core support.
The government needs a decent monsoon to help rein in the price rises that have triggered opposition-led demonstrations around the country. With only 40 per cent of arable land under irrigation, India's 235 million farmers rely on the capricious rains to soak the rock-hard earth and turn it into fertile soil. -- Reuters, AFP
Stephanie Nebehay PlanetArk 7 Jul 10;
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La Nina is likely to cool the tropical Pacific in coming months, a phenomenon which usually causes stronger monsoons across Asia and eastern Australia, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Tuesday.
The weather condition also promotes the development of storms including hurricanes in the tropical Atlantic, it said.
El Nino, the opposite phenomenon which warms the sea, rapidly dissipated in early May after prevailing since late 2009. This has led to the current situation, bordering on a weak La Nina event in the tropical Pacific, according to the United Nations agency.
"These borderline conditions are more likely than not to strengthen to become a basin-wide La Nina episode during the second half of 2010," WMO said in a statement.
"While it is likely that the La Nina conditions will further develop over the next several months, the timing and magnitude of such an event in 2010 are still uncertain," WMO expert Rupa Kumar Kolli told a news briefing in Geneva.
Current conditions are not adequate for the WMO to declare that a La Nina event is actually in place, he said.
Most forecasting models do not a indicate a particularly strong La Nina event in terms of sea-surface temperatures, he said.
Typical La Nina events are usually associated with stronger monsoons in most parts of Asia and also Australia. A La Nina event is also associated with an active hurricane season in the tropical Atlantic, Kolli said.
"So these are some of the risk factors that should be kept in mind," he said.
The U.S. government's top weather agency has already predicted that the Atlantic storm season which began on June 1 may be the most intense since 2005 when Hurricane Katrina killed over 1,000 people and disrupted oil production by crashing through Gulf of Mexico energy facilities.
Kolli, asked about the possible effects of La Nina on efforts to clean up BP's Gulf of Mexico oil slick, said: "La Nina by itself is unlikely to play a role in that region."
"But considering that there is a possibility of an active hurricane season, the hurricanes definitely have the potential to churn up the sea and also play a role in the spread of the oil spill in some ways. But this all depends upon the track of the hurricane and the strength of the hurricane and many other factors associated with individual hurricane events," he said.
If a La Nina event becomes well-established, it is also associated with a slight decrease in air temperature in many parts of the world, according to Kolli.
"That has implications for the global mean temperature," he told Reuters.
(Editing by Jonathan Lynn)
La Nina likely to develop in coming months: UN weather body
Yahoo News 6 Jul 10;
GENEVA (AFP) – The UN weather agency said Tuesday that El Nino, which wreaks havoc around the Pacific and east Africa, has dissipated, but La Nina -- another disruptive weather phenomenon, is likely to develop.
"Following the rapid dissipation of El Nino in early May 2010, cool-neutral to weak La Nina conditions have developed in the tropical Pacific," said the World Meteorological Organisation in a statement.
"These conditions are more likely than not to strengthen into a basin-wide La Nina over the coming months."
The WMO said however, that "the timing and magnitude of such an event in 2010 are as yet uncertain."
La Nina is the opposition condition of El Nino. It is characterised by unusually cool ocean temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific.
In late 2008, it was blamed for icy conditions that claimed dozens of lives across Europe.
The weather phenomenon can also bring about strong rainfall in Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia, as well as drought in South America.
El Nino, meanwhile, is characterised by unusually warm ocean temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific.
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