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Mustafa Shafawi Channel NewsAsia 13 Jul 10;
SINGAPORE: The HDB Build-to-Order (BTO) project in Punggol, Waterway Terraces, is proving a big draw for home buyers.
With hours to go before applications close, 5,465 home buyers have indicated their interest to own one of the five-room units available.
That's close to 18 times the number of such units on offer.
Demand was also high for the four-room units.
6,947 applications have been received so far, some 12 times the 588 units available.
Three-room flats were also popular with home buyers. 983 applications were received for the 178 units offered.
The project is Singapore's first public waterfront housing, consisting of 1,072 premium flats with eco-friendly designs and features such as rain gardens and solar power.
The development will be ready in the first quarter of 2015.
Two other BTO projects were launched in Sengkang - Rivervale Arc and Fernvale Foliage - at the same time.
These, however, were less well-received.
3,149 applications were received for the 1,624 two-, three-, four- and five-room flats available.
- CNA/ir
18 buyers vie for each 5-room flat at waterfront project
Joyce Teo Straits Times 14 Jul 10;
PREMIUM flats at the Housing Board's (HDB) upcoming Punggol waterfront estate has drawn strong interest, with as many as 18 buyers chasing each flat.
Applications for Waterway Terraces, which features premium flats, closed yesterday with a thumping 13,688 applications for just 1,072 homes.
Property experts said the project's waterfront location is the biggest draw.
The five-roomers were hugely popular, attracting 5,594 applicants for the 306 flats available, which makes them 18 times oversubscribed.
The 588 four-room flats in the build-to-order (BTO) project were hot as well with 7,084 applications lodged or 12 times oversubscribed.
Almost 50 per cent of the applicants have not applied for any BTO flats in the past 12 months, said HDB.
Indicative prices range from $374,000 to $458,000 for the five-room flats, $300,000 to $376,000 for four-roomers and $186,000 to $237,000 for three-room flats.
Waterway Terraces will be premium flats, which means they come with fittings such as timber strip flooring in the bedrooms.
The project also has roof gardens, a relatively rare feature in HDB projects, and direct lift access from all blocks to the basement carpark.
The HDB expected Waterway Terraces to be well received but the big turnout of buyers could not trump the HDB record holder, Telok Blangah Towers. Launched in October 2007, this drew 7,970 applications for 400 BTO flats - or nearly 20 times oversubscribed.
Buyers flocked to the Punggol flats as they are the first along the Punggol Waterway to be released.
They are also within walking distance of the Punggol MRT station and other amenities and boast an award-winning design with various premium and eco-features, the HDB said.
Waterway Terraces is being offered under HDB's latest and largest build-to-order flat exercise, which includes two standard BTO projects in Sengkang.
Under the BTO scheme, flats are built only when a certain level of demand for the project is met.
The Sengkang flats were mostly just two to three times oversubscribed but the two-roomers attracted only 200 applications for the 238 units.
The HDB said in a statement yesterday that the absolute number of applicants for the Sengkang projects is comparable with previous BTO launches in the area.
In all, the 2,696 flats in Punggol and Sengkang drew 16,944 applications as of 5pm yesterday. HDB will provide a final update at 2pm today.
'Waterway Terraces' main attraction is its waterfront location and its reasonable pricing,' said real estate firm ERA Asia-Pacific's associate director Eugene Lim.
Ngee Ann Polytechnic real estate lecturer Nicholas Mak said a key draw is the project's proximity to the MRT station and the future mall there as not all units will have a waterfront view.
'People are still expecting HDB prices to rise. They are thinking if I don't get it now, the future Punggol projects could be priced even higher,' added Mr Mak.
Indeed, Mr Lim said applicants have a first-mover advantage. 'It's the first waterfront project there. Future ones may be priced higher.
'Some people are thinking that they can resell after eight years for a big profit. It's also a lifestyle that you cannot find in any other HDB project.'
PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail said the response shows that 'a lot of people now value lifestyle more than just a basic roof over their heads'.
He said buyers are 'willing to pay a premium for (lifestyle) as they also realise that these projects with special features can appreciate in value far more than other standard HDB projects because of limited supply'.
Buyers can look forward to 7,200 more BTO flats this year, the HDB said.
Waterfront living a hit with buyers
S Mustafa Today Online 14 Jul 10;
SINGAPORE - The latest HDB Build-to-Order (BTO) project in Punggol, the Waterway Terraces, is proving to be a big draw for home buyers.
With hours to go before applications closed at midnight yesterday, about 5,600 home buyers had indicated their interest to own one of the five-room units available - more than 18 times the number of such units on offer. Demand was also high for the four-room units. More than 7,000 applications were received - about 12 times the 588 available units.
Three-room flats were also popular with buyers. About 1,000 applications were received for the 178 available units. In total, the application rate of 12.4 times for the project is the highest for a BTO in two years.
The project is Singapore's first public waterfront housing, consisting of 1,072 premium flats. It is located within walking distance of Punggol MRT station and boasts an eco-friendly award-winning design.
Mr Nicholas Mak, a real estate lecturer at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, said the strong demand for the project was not surprising.
"Residents recognise that future HDB BTO projects may not be located that near to the waterway or that near to the Punggol town centre. So, if they were to buy now, even at the current price, the present price may still be lower than future BTO projects," Mr Mak said. The development will be ready in the first quarter of 2015.
Two other BTO projects were launched in Sengkang - Rivervale Arc and Fernvale Foilage - at the same time. These, however, were less well-received. About 3,260 applications were received for the 1,624 flats available.
The HDB said that it "had expected strong interest for the Waterway Terraces flats". As for the two BTO projects in Sengkang, the HDB added: "The absolute number of applicants for Fernvale Foliage and Rivervale Arc in Sengkang are comparable with previous BTO launches in Sengkang. Flat buyers who are in an urgent need of a flat and have applied for the flats in Sengkang would have a higher chance of securing a flat given the lower application rate."
Netizens, incensed by clip of woman beating a dog, alert SPCA, which refers matter to AVA
Jalelah Abu Baker Straits Times 14 Jul 10;
THE Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) is investigating an alleged case of pet abuse that was uploaded onto video sharing site YouTube.
Netizens who had seen the video of an anonymous woman beating a dog reported it to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) on Sunday.
Yesterday, following the online uproar and an appeal for information by the SPCA, a man claiming to be the dog's owner contacted the society.
Ms Deirdre Moss, the SPCA's executive officer, said the information has been referred to AVA.
The authority said it is following up on the case and will carry out further investigations with the parties involved. A spokesman added that it will not hesitate in taking action against the owner or owners if there is sufficient evidence of cruelty.
The 51-second clip in question is shot inside a home similar to that of an HDB flat. A woman is seen punishing 'Butters', the small brown dog, for chewing a cushion.
Ms Moss said the dog is probably a poodle-terrier.
In the clip, the woman repeatedly hits the dog on the face with what looks like a broom and claims that the beating is not painful. The video also suggests that she has three dogs in total and that there is another dog she beats as well.
Since Sunday, outraged Netizens on the STOMP website, Facebook, online forums and YouTube have expressed disbelief and described the woman as a 'beast'.
One posting, under the name of 'minq', said: 'Deeply angered and sickened by this video.' And others like 'doglover' and 'koecarol' questioned the decision of the videographer to take the clip and then have the audacity to post it online.
The original video had been removed by Monday afternoon by the uploader. But SPCA staff managed to make a copy of it.
'We are very grateful to the public for their concern. The number of people who have spoken up against animal abuse is very encouraging,' said Ms Moss.
If convicted of animal cruelty, an offender can be fined up to $10,000 and/or be imprisoned for up to 12 months.
Animal lovers cry foul over beating
Owner contacts SPCA; AVA launches investigation
Esther Ng Today Online 14 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE - A video of a woman beating her dog with a bunch of sticks has made animal-lovers in Singapore see red and many have rallied on forums, YouTube and Facebook, calling for the dog to be rescued and its owner punished.
Yesterday, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals told MediaCorp that its male owner had contacted the animal welfare group.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) also said it will launch an investigation and will not hesitate to take action against the owners if there is sufficient evidence of cruelty. If convicted of animal cruelty, the offender can be fined $10,000 and/or imprisoned for 12 months.
In an apparent attempt to discipline the beige-coloured canine for biting cushions, the woman in the video rains sharp blows to the head of the dog, which yelps and cowers in a corner.
A man is heard telling her to stop but she continues for another 11 seconds.
But some animal lovers told MediaCorp that the cruelty pales in comparison with the abuse inflicted at puppy mills and that the woman in the video was ignorant.
"Rather than vilify her, we should reach out and let her and the dog attend obedience-training sessions," said Mr Daryl Ng, an accountant.
Dog trainer and president of welfare group Action for Singapore Dogs, Mr Ricky Yeo, told MediaCorp that dogs develop certain habits from their formative years.
"Puppies chew because their gums are painful and itchy when teething. If they are not taught what not to chew, then they carry it into adulthood," said Mr Yeo. The solution is to catch the dog in the act and startle it with a stern "no", or isolate the dog in a darkened room until it calms down.
The next step is to focus the dog's chewing tendencies on "allowable objects" like chew toys, Mr Yeo added.
Dog trainer Harry Quek said changing its diet would help as a dog chews or bites out of boredom or nutritional deficiency.
Both AVA and SPCA said reports of animal abuse are on the rise due to greater public awareness. SPCA received 864 reports last year, a 13-per-cent increase compared to 2008, while AVA received 383 reports last year - six more than in 2008.
Last year, the AVA took action on four cases of animal cruelty and four more this year. Just last month, the AVA fined a rabbit owner $150 for keeping it "poorly".
In March, AVA's deputy director of risk communication Wong Hon Mun told MediaCorp it was difficult to prosecute animal abusers as those who report the cases do not provide enough evidence.
Ryan Huang Channel NewsAsia 13 Jul 10;
SINGAPORE: Mainboard-listed ST Engineering is considering the possibility of expanding its environmental engineering business as a key pillar of its growth strategy.
It's also looking to make further inroads into the US defence market.
ST Engineering recently applied for one of its American units to be certified to handle military projects which are classified top secret.
ST Engineering's CEO Tan Pheng Hock was speaking at the Asia Leadership Dialogues 2010 in Singapore.
Building waste management facilities is part of the work in environmental engineering, where ST Engineering has been seeing more business.
Just last month, it was part of a consortium that won a S$66.5 million deal to build a waste management plant in Brunei.
This is one of the larger contracts that has been won by its environmental arm, which is currently parked as a smaller unit under its marine division.
The company believes the environmental engineering segment has potential for huge growth.
So it's considering putting more resources to make it a standalone business arm under the group.
Tan Pheng Hock, president & CEO, ST Engineering, said: “If things were to grow, we may then put in more resources to grow that as a fifth arm, a possibility for a fifth arm. Like for example, recently the company announced a Brunei project that we secured. We also are doing some projects in China and in Qatar as well. So we're seeing fruits of success coming through, and I think we're hopeful there may well be an important element for us to grow.
“So if that's the case, then you're going to see us with more resources financially and people as well to grow as a possible fifth arm. But like we always do, we don't want to put the cart before the horse. Let's see first see how it develops.”
ST Engineering is also exploring new markets to grow its various business units which include aerospace, electronics, marine and land systems.
It is eyeing the Middle East, India, Africa, and Brazil.
It is also bullish about further developing current markets like China, Kazahkstan and Mexico.
Mr Tan said: "Our thinking has always been that we're prepared to invest in an office for two, three years to understand the market and to sense how business is done in the market.
“At the start, we may not get much business over two years. Better be prepared and understand what we are going in for. Then when the time comes, you are at least ready - you know what the surprise could be because every market has its own challenges such as cultural issues, business perspectives.”
ST Engineering said adapting to local markets is essential to success overseas.
For example, it said the appointment of a former US general as the chairman of its American unit has helped open doors.
ST Engineering is hoping to make further inroads into the US defence market by handling more sensitive military projects up to 'top secret' level.
Four of its other US subsidiaries currently only have certification to handle projects classified up to 'secret' level.
Mr Tan added: “We've already put in an application. So subject to the systems clearing and approving it, we think it will go through.
“By being able to do top secret means you are able to access a lot of projects for example through waiver of tender, non-competition, because not many companies do sell 'top secret' in certain areas."
ST Engineering said its involvement in the US defence market rules out doing any business with the Chinese military.
However, it will continue to focus on China's commercial urban development sector. - CNA/vm
Patwant Singh Channel NewsAsia 13 Jul 10;
SINGAPORE: Construction will start in August for the Changi Motorsports Hub, and is on track to be completed by end 2011 says the company behind Singapore's first permanent motor racing track, SG Changi.
The 3.7 kilometre-long FIA Grade 2 Track will not be able to host F1 races, but other events that are being planned.
SG Changi says it is in talks with prospective race promoters and should have more details by June next year.
A racing academy will also be part of the project.
Up to 15 drivers will be recruited together with an equal number of engineers, to run the academy.
Fuminori Murahashi, executive chairman, SG Changi, says: "At this moment, we don't have any definite number of students we are going to take. This school will be a kind of open school where racing academies from Japan, Korea and China will come here and operate their classes."
Racing will not be the only activity as the Hub wants to be seen as a 24/7 lifestyle destination.
Among the attractions, F&B outlets and a museum.
Other highlights include a warehouse for 750 cars and even a hotel.
Fuminori Murahashi says: "We see (the hotel) as a phase two, it will not be together with this 2012, it will perhaps be another six months down the road."
"The development of the Changi Motorsports Hub will also present opportunities for the exchange of cultural elements between Singapore and Japan.
The organisers are considering introducing traditional sumo wrestling and Japan's Spring Festival for the enjoyment of Singaporeans and all visitors. - CNA/jm
Changi Motorsports Hub ready by 2012
It will host both local and international racing events
Nisha Ramchandani Business Times 14 Jul 10;
(SINGAPORE) The $330 million Changi Motorsports Hub (CMH) will be up and running by March 2012, in time for the year's racing season, said developer SG Changi at the ground-breaking ceremony yesterday.
The consortium, which pipped both Singapore Agro Agriculture and the Haw Par Corporation-backed Sports Services to operate the CMH for a 30-year period, consists of former Japan GT driver Genji Hashimoto, former Jurong Kart World owner Thia Yoke Kian, Singaporean lawyer Eddie Koh and Fuminori Murahashi, who has experience with events such as Formula Nippon and Super GT.
Located along Aviation Park Road, the 41 hectare sea-facing site will include a Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Grade-2 certified four kilometre (km) racetrack, a 1.2 km karting track, a drift track, a bonded warehouse and seating capacity for some 20,000 spectators plus a 10,000-seat temporary grandstand.
With the aim of promoting motorsports in the region, SG Changi is also setting up a racing academy at CMH to groom talent.
'I hope to see more Singaporean youth get involved in motorsports, undergoing proper coaching and training at high-level facilities. It would be an amazing achievement to see a home-grown Singaporean GT driver one day,' said SG Changi's executive chairman Mr Murahashi, speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony yesterday.
The racing academy - which will include programmes from junior kart racing to technical training - is to kick off April 2012, taking in students from countries and regions such as Europe, Korea, China and Japan, in addition to Singapore.
The first intake is likely to be in the region of 50-60 students.
And while SG Changi will only reveal its line-up of racing events in June next year, CMH will host both local and international racing events.
'We are still in the process of discussions,' said Mr Murahashi, though he added that the group will initiate talks to bring in MotoGP, the F1 of motorcycling. The proposed calendar of events includes the Super GT Series, Formula Nippon and the Japanese Formula 3 Series, as well as the Singapore National Championship and the Karting Championship.
At the same time, the consortium is also keen to cater to a wider audience beyond just race fans.
'The product offering has to be consumer-centric, it has to bring fun, excitement and lifestyle elements,' said Singapore Sports Council (SSC) chief executive officer Oon Jin Teik.
The round-the-clock facility will also feature a motor-themed entertainment complex, a motorsports museum, food & beverage and retail outlets as well as a hotel.
It is also likely to be the only 24/7 motorsports facility in the world, Mr Murahashi reckons.
Krystyna Swiderska BBC Green Room 13 Jul 10;
Current efforts to protect the world's biodiversity run the risk of doing more harm than good, warns Krystyna Swiderska. In this week's Green Room, she says the role of indigenous and local communities in protecting the planet's genetic resources are being overlooked or even ignored.
In October, representatives from 193 governments will meet in Nagoya, Japan, to hopefully adopt a historic new international law that aims to ensure the world's biological resources are used in a fair and sustainable way.
It's about time.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that a third of all genetic resources for food and agriculture have already been lost in the last 100 years.
This year — the UN's International Year of Biodiversity — we will also get official confirmation that an intergovernmental target to reduce the loss of biodiversity has been badly missed.
The deal struck in Nagoya could help to reverse that trend, but unless governments make some major progress at their final negotiating session next week, the agreement will be more likely to harm biodiversity and impoverish the people who depend on it most.
The new law is important for a number of reasons.
For millennia, communities around the world have nurtured the variety of life, including thousands of crops and medicinal plants that are vital for our agriculture, food security, health and nutrition.
These resources take on new importance today because they provide options that will enable people to adapt to climate change by switching to flood- or drought-resistant crop varieties, for instance.
The private sector and consumers worldwide have benefited greatly from these riches.
'Biopiracy'
Corporations increasingly seek out biological resources and associated local knowledge, and use them to develop, patent and sell new medicines, seeds, foodstuffs and industrial products.
But there is no system in place to ensure that the benefits from such products are shared fairly with the countries and communities from which they originated.
This had led to accusations of "biopiracy" and has removed incentives for poor developing nations and local communities to conserve their biological riches.
This is not new. Back in 1992, governments adopted the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which required access to genetic resources to be accompanied by equitable benefit-sharing. Industrialised countries agreed to share the benefits from genetic resource use with poor developing countries.
This North/South deal lies at the heart of the CBD, but has yet to materialise.
Efforts to date have focused largely of conserving wildlife, as opposed to genetic resources which provide the basis for food and agriculture.
Since the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, governments have been trying to negotiate an international, legally binding protocol under the CBD to ensure these challenges are addressed in practice. Their deadline is October 2010.
The protocol is also meant to promote equitable benefit-sharing from the use of the traditional knowledge of indigenous and local communities, and the development of community-led rules for accessing local biological resources.
Sharing the spoils
This week, governments are meeting in Montreal for the final negotiating session before October's meeting in Japan, where the deal is meant to be sealed.
But the way things look now, the negotiators will fail to ensure a positive outcome unless they can resolve a number of critical issues.
While the protocol will emphasise the sovereign rights of states over genetic resources, a number of countries do not want it to recognise the rights of indigenous and local communities over biological resources under customary use.
Nor do they want to recognise the rights of such communities to participate in decisions regarding access to these resources.
This would undermine the ability of communities to use biological resources according to their own customs, which have an important role in conservation and are vital for subsistence of millions of poor indigenous people.
Furthermore, the industrialised countries do not want the protocol to cover traditional knowledge that is already in the public domain.
This would enable companies to freely access this knowledge without the need for consent or sharing of benefits that arise from its use.
Although much traditional knowledge has already been documented and is publicly available, in most cases communities have not given their consent for it to be used commercially.
If the new protocol excludes publicly available traditional knowledge it will greatly limit the scope for benefit-sharing with indigenous and local communities. This would make it harder to generate incentives that encourage local people who live off biodiversity to conserve it.
Industrialised countries want the protocol to cover only genetic resources, while developing nations feel that it should also cover derivatives, meaning that the benefits from any products that are based on genetic resources should also be shared.
The protocol is potentially very important as, for the first time, it will legally bind industrialised countries where genetic resources are used, which are beyond the jurisdiction of national laws of provider countries.
But as it stands, it is likely to make little progress in preventing biopiracy or protecting biodiversity.
Industrialised countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan and the European Union are clearly putting the interest of private companies ahead of the interests of the global public good that is biodiversity.
What's more, a number of countries, including Canada, India and Indonesia, do not want to recognise the customary use rights of indigenous and local communities, despite their recognition in the CBD and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
My own research with such communities in India, China, Peru, Panama and Kenya shows the critical role that traditional farmers and healers play in sustaining and enhancing genetic diversity.
There is an urgent need to protect this collective bio-cultural heritage in order to protect global food security and to enable people to adapt to climate change.
Krystyna Swiderska is a senior researcher in the Natural Resources Group at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), a UK-based think tank
The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website
Nearly eight tonnes of endangered anteaters found on ship were destined for the dinner table, authorities say
Jonathan Watts guardian.co.uk 13 Jul 10;
Chinese authorities have intercepted one of the biggest ever hauls of illegally smuggled pangolins, which were almost certainly destined for the dinner table.
Customs officials in Guangdong boarded a suspect fishing vessel and seized 2,090 frozen pangolin and 92 cases of the endangered anteater's scales on 5 June, according to the conservation group Traffic, who have commended authorities for their work.
Police have arrested the six crew members, including five Chinese nationals who reportedly said they were hired to collect the contraband from south-east Asia and ship it to Xiangzhou port in Guangdong.
The other Malaysian crew member was said to have received instructions by satellite phone on where to rendezvous at sea to pick up the cargo. The smugglers were intercepted as they prepared to offload the nearly eight tonnes of pangolin to another vessel off Gaolan island.
According to wildlife groups, China is the main market for illegally traded exotic species, which are eaten or used in traditional medicine.
Pangolin meat is considered a delicacy and their scales are thought locally to be beneficial to breast-feeding mothers.
As a result of demand, the pangolin populations of China, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have been virtually wiped out. With traders moving further and further south, the animal is declining even in its last habitats in Java, Sumatra and the Malaysian peninsula. It is a similar story for many species of turtle, tortoise, frog and snake.
China's customs officials have often been criticised for turning a blind eye to this trade, which supplies the demand for exotic food and traditional medicine, particularly in Guangdong.
The Guardian has twice exposed restaurants that illegally sell pangolin.
In recent years, however, there has emerged a small but growing conservation movement in the province.
In the latest case, the authorities have also won praise for a decisive intervention and for sharing intelligence with overseas enforcement agencies, including Interpol, the Asean Wildlife Enforcement Network and Cites officials.
"Guangdong customs are to be congratulated on this important action against wildlife smugglers operating between south-east Asia and China," said Professor Xu Hongfa, director of Traffic's China programme.
To encourage tighter enforcement, conservation groups say it is not enough to merely criticise lax regulation. The Wildlife Conservation Society held an awards ceremony earlier this year for Chinese officials who helped to expose the illegal wildlife trade.
In the far western region of Xinjiang, customs officers confiscated almost 8,000 horns of the Saiga antelope, an animal that is thought to have declined in the wild by more than 75% in the past 10 years. In the far northern Dalai Lake nature reserve, police were rewarded for confiscating 8,000 tonnes of aquatic products and 20 tonnes of medicinal herbs over the past nine years. In the southern, enormously biodiverse region of Yunnan, a forest police officer won an award for catching 7,110 criminals and rescuing five Asian elephants, 182 pangolins, 10 black bears and two pythons over six years.
But these reported successes are likely to be only a fraction of the illegal wildlife products that are killed and smuggled without detection across borders and inside China.
Huge pangolin seizure in China
TRAFFIC 13 Jul 10;
Beijing, China, 13 July 2010—Customs officers in Guangdong, China, have seized more than 7.8 tonnes of frozen pangolins and 1,800 kg of pangolin scales from a fishing vessel after it was stopped for inspection at Zhuhai's Gaolan Island.
International trade in Asian pangolin species is banned under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). Two of the four species are classified as Endangered by IUCN.
The suspect fishing vessel was sighted by a Guangdong Jiangmen Customs patrol boat in the Chuandao sea area late in the evening of 5th June and boarded in the early hours of the following morning when 2090 frozen pangolins each weighing between 1–10 kg and 92 cases of pangolin scales were found.
The crew were arrested and included 5 Chinese and a Malaysian national, who claimed they had been hired to sail the vessel from Xiangzhou Port, Zhuhai, to South-East Asia to pick up the illicit cargo.
The Malaysian crew member was said to have received instructions by satellite phone on where to rendezvous at sea to pick up the contraband. The smugglers were intercepted before they could transfer the cargo to another vessel off Gaolan Island.
“The use of satellite phones and trans-shipment of cargo at sea are indicative of the increasingly sophisticated methods being used by the organized criminal gangs involved in wildlife crime,” said James Compton, TRAFFIC’s Asia Pacific co-ordinator.
The Chinese authorities have shared intelligence on the seizures with enforcement agencies operating in the region, including INTERPOL, World Customs Organization (WCO) and ASEAN-Wildlife Enforcement Network, plus CITES officials and are seeking co-operation with Malaysia’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on a joint investigation.
“Guangdong Customs are to be congratulated on this important action against wildlife smugglers operating between South-East Asia and China,” said Professor Xu Hongfa, Director of TRAFFIC’s China Programme.
“TRAFFIC stands ready to support international co-operation between enforcement agencies that will ensure those who organize and mastermind such wildlife crimes, as well as those who carry them out, are made to face the consequences of their actions,” added Compton.
A China Customs official quoted by the State news agency, Xinhua, noted that between 2007 and the end of June 2010 a total of 292 cases involving the smuggling of endangered species had been investigated in China. In total, 38,599 animal parts had been seized, weighing a total of 26.63 tonnes plus more than 55 tonnes of 2,753 rare plant varieties.
Rashitha A. Hamid The Star 14 Jul 10;
KUALA LUMPUR: It was a case of killing two birds with one stone when a police raid on a warehouse to seize stolen cars also netted a huge array of endangered wild animals.
Maybe, “two birds” is an understatement. The raiding party claimed to have seized “thousands” of birds, along with various species of protected wildlife.
The prized seizure at the warehouse in Taman Wahyu was a pair of the rare Bird of Paradise, also known as Cenderawasih in Malay, which supposedly has the power to bring good fortune to its owner. The pair is said to be worth RM1mil on the wildlife black market.
Other rare birds seized in the 3am raid yesterday were the blue-crowned Hanging Parrot, the black-coloured Palm Cockatoo and the white rump Shama.
Among the caged animals found at the warehouse were leopard cats, albino pygmy monkeys and numerous domestic cats, believed to be kept by their captors to cross-breed with wild cats to produce exotic offspring.
The police also recovered 42 stolen vehicles, valued at more than RM1mil, at the warehouse. Two men, aged 40 and 23, were arrested.
Kuala Lumpur Wildlife Department deputy director Celescoriano Razond said over 20 species of the animals and birds found at the warehouse were listed as protected wildlife.
“We thank the police for rescuing the animals and will work closely with them to bring the criminals to justice,” he said.
City CID chief Senior Asst Comm II Datuk Ku Chin Wah said the police team went to the warehouse following a tip-off on the stolen cars.
“We arrested two men but believe they are only workers there,” he said.
SAC Ku said police believed a syndicate was behind the thefts, adding that they were looking for two men – Terry Tong, 49, and Kelvin Lim, 50 – to help in the investigations.
“The syndicate, under the guise of insurance agents, specialises in stealing cars from impounds.
“They claim they are helping their customers to recover the vehicles.
Most of the time, the owners or real insurance agents would have no knowledge of this, SAC Ku said, adding that as many as 20 cars found at the warehouse were reported stolen from various impound lots in the Klang Valley.
SAC Ku said some of the cars’ parts were cannibalised while others were sold after being fitted with false registrations.
“We are not ruling out more arrests,” he added.
SAC Ku said the raiding party was surprised to find a “mini zoo” at the warehouse apart from the stolen cars and spare parts.
We must reap the benefits of palm oil, but manage the environmental costs
From the margarine we eat to the wheels on our cars to the shampoo in our showers, palm oil is everywhere. That's why we must strive to make it sustainable, says Caroline Spelman, secretary of state for the environment
Caroline Spelman guardian.co.uk 13 Jul 10;
We all like to think we have the power to make our own ethical choices when we shop; that our personal decision to buy Fairtrade or free-range will make a difference. But what if we don't have that choice? What if, regardless of our best intentions, we are not given the option to choose sustainably?
Enter palm oil. It's ubiquitous. It's in the margarine we spread on our toast, the shampoo we washed our hair with and in the tyres of the transport that brought us to work.
Palm oil is perhaps the ultimate miracle product. It's high-yielding, versatile, good for our health and cholesterol-free. It is also powering many of the emerging economies of south-east Asia – in Indonesia alone it employs 2 million people.
But if it's a miracle, it's one with devastating side effects. Palm oil plantations are destroying forests and peat lands and playing havoc with ecosystems and biodiversity. Deforestation costs anything between $2-5tn dollars a year and causes 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
So while palm oil feeds economies, it's also irrevocably damaging them. As demand for it grows, in Europe and in the burgeoning economies of India, China and the rest of the world, we will all start paying the unaffordable environmental costs.
We need to find a way to reap the benefits of palm oil while managing the costs.
Environmental and development charities have been arguing the case for sustainable palm oil for years. Many businesses now have targets for when all of the palm oil they use will be sustainable – many, but by no means all. In this, the first ever International Year of Biodiversity, it's time to do something about it.
So today, in front of an international business audience, I'm announcing that, starting next month, we will begin the process of mapping the palm oil supply chain to the UK. Working with businesses and the public sector we aim to find out what we're using palm oil for, where we are getting it from and if it's sustainable.
What we find will help us work with industry and NGOs alike to produce a plan to help shift Britain's sourcing of palm oil to a sustainable footing. This is a milestone step in the right direction but commitments from other major international markets are still lacking – less than 4% of the global supply of palm oil is certified from sustainable sources.
Rather than frowning at emerging economies, we should offer them a helping hand. So this month we're also jointly funding a project with the Chinese Chamber of Commerce to create the business rationale for sustainable palm oil in China and suggestions for how to encourage that switch. It could prove to be a great model for other growing economies.
The prime minister has said he wants this to be the greenest government ever. The need to halt our planet's environmental destruction is becoming clearer every day. We have a responsibility to ourselves and future generations to take firm steps to turn the tide. Palm oil may be a miracle product but it is also nature's gift to us. It is time to respect the giver, as well as the gift.
• Caroline Spelman is secretary of the state for the environment
PlanetArk 14 Jul 10;
A worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling remains in place after talks to replace it with a controlled cull of some species collapsed at the IWC's annual meeting in the Moroccan port city of Agadir.
The moratorium has been in place for 24 years but Japan, Norway and Iceland have kept up whaling and some indigenous communities can also hunt for small numbers of whales.
Here are some facts about whales and whaling:
* THE BAN
-- Commercial whaling was prohibited under a 1986 moratorium but Japan culls whales for what it says is scientific research, while Norway and Iceland carry out full commercial whaling. Much of the whale meat ends up in restaurants and on dinner tables.
-- The three nations have been pushing for a formal end to the moratorium, saying stocks of some species have recovered. Their catches have strained diplomatic ties with many of their usual allies. Countries including the United States, members of the European Union, Australia and New Zealand oppose the hunts. -- Australia filed a complaint against Japan at the world court in The Hague in May to stop Southern Ocean scientific whaling. In the filing, Australia said Japan was violating the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling by killing whales for research purposes.
* OVERALL PICTURE -- Blue whales of the Antarctic, the biggest creature ever to live on Earth, are at less than 1 percent of their original abundance despite 40 years of complete protection. Some populations of whales are recovering but some are not.
-- Whaling nations say that stocks of the small minke whale, the main species caught, are big enough to withstand their hunts.
-- The West Pacific grey whale population is the most endangered in the world. It hovers on the edge of extinction with just over 100 remaining.
-- According to the WWF, 31,984 whales have been killed by whaling between 1986 and 2008.
* SOME WHALE NUMBERS
-- Humpback whales currently number around 20,000.
-- Blue whales number up to 12,000. Before the era of industrial whaling, it was 200,000-300,000.
-- Fin whales are the second largest animal in the world after the blue whale, the fastest swimming of all the large whales. Their numbers are 85,000; pre-whaling -- 400,000.
-- Minke whales - There is no estimate of total global population size, but estimates from parts of the range in the Northern Hemisphere (totaling in excess of 100,000) show that it is well above the thresholds for a threatened category.
-- While declines have been detected or inferred in some areas, there is no indication that the global population has dwindled to an extent that would qualify for a threatened category.
* SOME IWC QUOTAS
-- Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort Seas stock of bowhead whales (taken by native people of Alaska and Chukotka) - a total of up to 280 bowhead whales can be landed in the period 2008-2012, with no more than 67 whales struck in any year.
-- Eastern North Pacific gray whales (taken by native people of Chukotka and Washington State ) - total catch of 620 whales is allowed for the years 2008-2012.
-- West Greenland fin whales (taken by Greenlanders) - total catch of 19 whales is allowed for 2008-2012.
-- West Greenland common minke whales - taken by Greenlanders. Total limit of 200 whales is allowed for the years 2008-2012 with an annual review by the Scientific Committee.
-- West Greenland bowhead whales - taken by Greenlanders. An annual strike limit of 2 whales is allowed for the years 2008-2012 with an annual review by the Scientific Committee.
-- East Greenland common minke whales (taken by Greenlanders) - total catch limit of 12 whales is allowed for the years 2008-2012.
-- Humpback whales taken by St Vincent and The Grenadines - For the seasons 2008-2012 the number of humpback whales to be taken shall not exceed 20.
NATIONAL QUOTAS
-- JAPANESE whalers caught about 500 whales in the Antarctic this season, little more than half the target of 900 after clashes with environmentalists. It says this is part of research which is needed to understand the life cycles of whales.
-- NORWAY - It has set a quota of 1,286 minke whales for the current summer season, the highest since Oslo resumed commercial hunts in 1993. But whalers only caught 484 whales in 2009, well below a quota of 885. Environmentalists say that demand has shrivelled.
-- ICELAND - Resumed commercial hunts in 2006 after a 20-year break. It set a quota of 100 minke whales and 150 fin whales for 2009.
Sources: Reuters/www.greenpeace.com/www.coolantarctica.com/iwc/ www.iucnredlist.org
(Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Mira Oberman Yahoo News 13 Jul 10;
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (AFP) – BP may be on the verge of capping the well which has been gushing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, but the cleanup is far from over and the damage to the region's environment and economy could last decades.
An estimated two to four million barrels of oil have poured into the sea since the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon drilling rig sank spectacularly on April 22, and if the higher end of that range is correct it is the largest accidental discharge in history.
Some has been skimmed or burned off the surface. About 40 percent of the oil has likely evaporated and naturally occurring microbes will help to eventually break down a large chunk of the rest.
But there is still a vast amount of oil floating at all levels of the water column and spreading out for hundreds of miles in thousands of surface slicks which have sullied hundreds of miles of shoreline from Texas to Florida.
"Eventually a lot of that oil will settle to the bottom and in storms it'll just keep washing up on beaches," Paul Montagna, an ecologist with the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico studies, said in a telephone interview.
"That's going to go on for 10 years, maybe 20. That was our experience with the Ixtoc spill off Mexico in 1979."
And nobody knows what kind of an impact such huge volumes of oil will have on an ecosystem already stressed by a vast 'dead zone' of oxygen-depleted waters caused by agricultural runoff.
Another impact may come from the massive quantities of chemical dispersants used to help keep the oil away from fragile coastal wetlands.
"We are extremely concerned about the impact of this oil spill on the Gulf fisheries and fishing families," said Charlie Henry, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's on-scene scientific support coordinator.
"It's difficult to provide what the true impacts might be," Henry told a presidential commission probing the spill.
Alaska's herring fishery still hasn't recovered from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, and this spill struck at the worst possible time for the Gulf fisheries: spawning season.
Young marine life is particularly vulnerable and there are concerns that the fish which do survive will have lower reproductive levels, said Chris D'Elia, dean of Louisiana State University's School of Coast & Environment.
Another big fear is that the toxicity levels in the Gulf may finally reach a tipping point where "we go from a productive food chain that involves what we like to eat to a state that involves a bacterial soup," D'Elia told AFP.
Recreational and commercial fishing are multibillion dollar industries which support hundreds of thousands of jobs across the Gulf coast.
There's no telling how long it will be before the waters are reopened, or when people will feel comfortable eating fish caught in the Gulf.
The region's tourism industry has also taken a massive hit, even though the impact on beaches has so far been relatively light.
"What's most concerning to all of us and me particularly is losses have occurred in our area without a single drop of oil reaching our beach," said Keith Overton, chairman of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association.
Meanwhile, the oil industry and local officials have warned that the suspension of offshore drilling while new safety regulations are drafted could cost the region tens of thousands more jobs.
After several failed attempts with other devices, BP on Tuesday was praying that its latest device -- a 75-tonne cap dubbed the "Top Hat 10" -- could safely seal the ruptured well nearly a mile below the surface.
Many expressed fears that once the oil stops flowing, attention will quickly shift away from the disaster zone and the opportunity for systemic reform will be lost.
"We hope BP has finally been able to cap this well, but it won't make the problem go away. The damage to the Gulf will last for years," said Greenpeace energy campaigner Gary Cook.
"The only path for the Gulf to recover is to ban deepwater drilling, speed up the end of the oil age and invest in a clean energy future."
Alister Doyle PlanetArk 14 Jul 10;
Some marine life thrives on oil bubbling up naturally from the seabed even though it cannot cope with giant single leaks like from BP's ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico, experts say.
Natural seeps from thousands of spots from the Pacific Ocean to the North Sea account for about 45 percent of all oil entering the oceans in a typical year, according to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. The rest is from leaks caused by people.
The little-understood seeps show that the oceans can absorb what is normally viewed as harmful pollution -- a host of microbes can eat oil and gas, especially light compounds such as gasoline, while finding thicker tars indigestible.
"You can sometimes see oil from seeps as slicks on the surface," said Arne Jernelov of the Institute for Futures Studies in Stockholm, who led a U.N. environmental study of a huge blowout on the Mexican Ixtoc 1 rig in 1979.
"But a large concentrated spill is a totally different thing...Nature cannot adapt," he said of BP's 85-day spill. Apart from being eaten by bacteria, oil can evaporate and is broken down by sunlight.
Environmentalists say that the existence of seeps should not be a backdoor justification for dumping oil in the seas that can kill creatures from turtles to pelicans.
"While these seeps can release large amounts of oil, the rate is usually very slow, which allows the surrounding ecosystems to adapt," environmental group Oceana said in a report. Other species are unable to adapt and die.
TRINIDAD
Jernelov estimates BP's leak, the worst in U.S. history, at 250,000 to 400,000 tonnes by early this month, compared with 140,000 tonnes leaking naturally every year from seeps in the seabed in the Gulf of Mexico alone.
On land, one of the biggest natural oil ponds is Trinidad's Pitch Lake -- English mariner Walter Raleigh used its pitch to caulk his ship in 1595.
On the seabed, seeps are often hard to locate, are intermittent and seem to seal themselves. Some oil companies use the presence of seeps as a guide to exploration. Oil from each deposit has a distinct chemical makeup.
"We've seen about 1 percent of the sea floor. When you start finding oil floating around you think it's from a tanker. But a significant amount comes from below," said Martin Hovland, an expert on seeps at the University of Bergen in Norway.
He said late Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl was probably wrong to blame human pollution for oil spotted in mid-Atlantic from his Ra raft in 1969 and 1970. The oil, some encrusted with barnacles and algae, may well have been from a natural seep.
And Hovland said seeps might be far more important in the food chain than believed, perhaps drawing humpback whales to the Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California where thick mats of bacteria and other organisms carpet the seabed near seeps.
Seeps might also explain why the North Sea, rich in oil and gas, has more fish than the nearby Irish Sea, he said.
The latest U.S. National Academy of Sciences estimates, in a 2003 study, say seeps account for 600,000 tonnes of oil out of a total 1.3 million tonnes entering the oceans yearly. Leaks from human production, transport and consumption account for about 700,000 tonnes a year.
(Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
Aude Genet (AFP) Google News 14 Jul 10;
QUE DIEN, Vietnam — The rivers that should nourish his thirsty rice paddies are too salty, and the rains are late this year. Dang Roi does not know if he will be able to salvage anything from this spring's crop.
Vietnam is the world's second-biggest rice exporter and the Mekong Delta, where Roi farms, accounts for more than half of its production.
But Roi's paddy fields in Ben Tre province are burning up during a drought which meteorologists say is the worst in decades.
The dry season should have ended already, but in the yard of Roi's house in Que Dien commune, barrels that collect rainwater for his family's cooking and washing show the desperate situation. They are half-full, or empty.
Experts say Vietnam is one of the countries most threatened by climate change, whose effects are seen in worsening drought, floods, typhoons, exaggerated tides, and rising sea levels.
The country is planning for a one-metre (three feet) rise in sea levels by 2100, which would flood about 31,000 square kilometres (12,400 square miles) of land -- an area about the size of Belgium -- unless systems such as dykes are strengthened, said a UN discussion paper released last year.
It said the threat of floods is greatest in the Mekong Delta, where 17 million people live.
If that land becomes unusable there are "serious implications" for the region, Helen Clark, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), told AFP last month.
She said Vietnam faces a "huge challenge" from climate change.
Over the past 50 years the sea level has already risen by 20 centimetres (eight inches) along Vietnam's coast, according to the increasingly worried communist government.
While delta farmers cope with drought, they are also challenged by sea water intrusion, which experts also link to climate change.
There is little water in the rivers near Roi's fields "and it's salty so we can't pump it" for irrigation, he says.
Recalling easier times on his 1.2 hectares (three acres), Roi says, "The rice fields weren't dying like this."
The Vietnamese government emphasises the role of climate change in disrupting its agricultural environment, but experts do not rule out an effect from dams upstream in China. That impact could be worsened by the opening of more dams further south in Laos and Cambodia, they say.
"The Chinese dams have made the system fragile, but the impact of the downstream dams will be cumulative," said Marc Goichot, of the WWF.
Goichot said a delta is influenced by three forces which affect one another: subsidence, which causes the delta's bed to fall; coastal currents; and sediment brought down by rivers.
Dams retain sediment, reducing the amount that collects where the coastal current and waves are strongest downstream, meaning the salty water can more easily penetrate, he said.
The impact of sediment needs to be better understood, Goichot added, calling for a suspension of dam projects pending further research.
China has eight planned or existing dams on the Mekong River, but rejects activists' criticism that the hydropower dams contribute to low water levels downstream.
There are proposals for another twelve dams in the lower Mekong countries.
Vo Tong Xuan, a leading Vietnamese rice expert, said the flow of the Mekong River -- whose long journey ends at the delta -- is "extremely reduced" this year.
He is concerned about the impact of Chinese dams, but also blames Vietnam's increasingly intensive methods of rice growing.
As the delta's population has expanded, farmers have gone from planting one to two and sometimes three rice crops each year.
Xuan says that too many farmers plant three crops, draining crucial water from provinces such as Ben Tre during the dry season.
Ultimately, he says, the Delta may need new varieties of rice more adapted to a dry and salty environment.
Roi, 64, grows rice only twice a year and is not waiting for new strains.
Squatting beside his sorry-looking paddies, he points out about 30 baby palm trees he has planted along the edge of the rice field. They are better adapted to the delta's harsh environment.
"If one day we can't grow rice any more, we'll grow coconut palms," he says.
Shiv Sahay Singh Express India 14 Jul 10;
Kolkata With rising sea level, about 15 per cent of the Sunderbans islands is likely to be submerged by 2020, thereby leaving 70,000 islanders stranded as environmental refugees, says a state human development report on South 24 Parganas district.
Prepared by the Development and Planning department with technical support of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the report warns that neglecting the Sunderbans Delta can have significant implications on global climate.
Referring to the research of the School of Ocenographic Studies of Jadavpur University, the report states that along the eastern coast of India, sea level is rising at a rate of 3.14 mm per year and this poses a threat to the Sunderban Delta.
“The problem in Sunderbans is that livelihood options are very limited. Irrigation cannot be developed here because of non-availability of sweet water. On the other hand, the effective population density is very high (only 54 of the 102 islands are inhabited and most of the people are settlers) and there is acute pressure on resources,” said Professor Sukanta Bhattacharya , professor of economics in University of Calcutta, who was one of the key persons involved in the compilation of the report.
The report refers to Ghoramara Island as a case of ‘sinking islands’. “Nearly 20 years ago, the island had a population of about 20,000. According to the 2001 Census, it now holds only 5,236 people. Experts say that Ghoramara was reduced to 59 per cent of its 1969 size and it (the island) will be submerged in another 14 years,” the report points out.
Environmentalists, meanwhile, suggest that the Sunderbans need to be handled with caution. “Extra care has to be given to the area. Agriculture and animal husbandry have to be improved to create more livelihood options to save the deltas and stop the exodus of people,” says Tushar Kanjilal, environmentalist and social worker studying the Sunderbans for over 40 years.
Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 13 Jul 10;
PARIS (AFP) – Two millennia of foreign invasions and internal wars in China were driven more by cooling climate than by feudalism, class struggle or bad government, a bold study released Wednesday argued.
Food shortages severe enough to spark civil turmoil or force hordes of starving nomads to swoop down from the Mongolian steppes were consistently linked to long periods of colder weather, the study found.
In contrast, the Central Kingdom's periods of stability and prosperity occurred during sustained warm spells, the researchers said.
Theories that weather-related calamities such as drought, floods and locust plagues steered the unravelling or creation of Chinese dynasties are not new.
But until now, no one had systematically scanned the long sweep of China's tumultuous history to see exactly how climate and Chinese society might be intertwined.
Chinese and European scientists led by Zhibin Zhang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing decided to compare two sets of data over 1,900 years.
Digging into historical archives, they looked at the frequency of war, price hikes of rice, locust plagues, droughts and floods. For conflict, they distinguished between internal strife and external wars.
At the same time, they reconstructed climate patterns over the period under review.
"The collapses of the agricultural dynasties of the Han (25-220), Tang (618-907), Northern Song (960-1125), Southern Song (1127-1279) and Ming (1368-1644) are closely associated with low temperature or the rapid decline in temperature," they conclude.
A shortage of food would have weakened these dynasties, and pushed nomads in the north -- even more vulnerable to dips in temperature -- to invade their southern, Chinese-speaking neighbours, the authors argued.
A drop of 2.0 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in average annual air temperature can shorten the growing season for steppe grasses, which are critical for livestock, by up to 40 days.
"When the climate worsens beyond what the available technology and economic system can compensate for, people are forced to move or starve," they said.
The study found more droughts and floods during cold periods, but the factors that contributed most directly to wars and dynastic breakup were soaring rice prices and locust infestations.
The Roman and Mayan empires, they noted, also fell during cold periods.
Zhang and colleagues speculated that periodic temperature shifts roughly every 160 or 320 years were related to natural climate changes, namely fluctuations in solar activity and in Earth's orbit and axial spin.
The team said the findings demonstrate that climate change can lead to unrest and warfare.
"Historians commonly attribute dynastic transitions or cycles to the quality of government and class struggles," according to the paper, published in the British journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
"However, climatic fluctuation may be a significant factor interacting with social structures in affecting the rise and fall of cultures and dynasties."
But the historical evidence they found points to global cooling, not to global warming, as the culprit.
The scientists were cautious about making projections for the future. In 2007, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said that man-made warming this century will lead to worse droughts, floods, harsh storms and sea level rise, with the potential to inflict hunger and misery on millions.
Diana Delgado PlanetArk 14 Jul 10;
Colombia's gold bonanza has a dark side, U.N. experts said on Tuesday: mercury poisoning spreading from miners to the population of a northwest state where they use mercury to extract the precious metal, U.N. experts said on Tuesday.
Colombia is one of the world's top mercury polluters, as 50 to 100 metric tons of mercury are lost annually in the process of capturing gold while soaring prices push miners and artisans to extract ever more of the yellow metal, analysts say.
"As prices of gold have been increasing, more artisanal miners are mining and processing gold using mercury which is accessible, easier and cheaper to use," said Marcello Veiga, an adviser to the U.N. industrial development arm.
The Andean nation is the world's No. 1 mercury polluter per capita from artisanal (small-scale) mining, Veiga said. "The number of artisanal miners in Colombia is also increasing."
Miners have used mercury to separate gold for decades, but part of it is lost in the process, contaminating rivers and soils. The environment ministry currently allows mercury but may soon forbid it, with a few exceptions.
In northwest Antioquia state, they use the most damaging process, adding around 120 grams (4.2 ounces) of mercury to 60 kilograms (132 pounds) of ore, without condensing or capturing the mercury, Veiga said.
As a result, mercury levels in some urban areas of Remedios, Segovia and Zaragosa can be 1,000 times higher than the levels accepted by the World Health Organization, he said.
"Around 15 kidney transplants are carried out in Remedios every year ... because mercury vapor stays in the kidneys, damaging them," Veiga said, citing data from the Remedios department of health.
50 TONNES OF MERCURY
Antioquia -- the country's largest gold producer, according to the energy ministry -- has about 15,000 to 30,000 artisanal miners producing between 10 and 20 metric tons of gold per year.
But the miners are releasing 50 metric tons of mercury annually in the municipalities of Remedios, Segovia, Zaragosa, El Bagre and Nice, where 90 percent of the population depends on gold mining or jewelry for their livelihood, Veiga said.
Colombia is experiencing a gold boom with more than 40 companies exploring for the metal and production likely to grow over the next two years to around 3 million troy ounces (93.3 kilograms) of gold, the mining regulator says.
The United Nations calls for a gradual elimination of mercury in mining as miners switch over to use of centrifuges, which allow for greater gold extraction than mercury.
"With the centrifuge, small miners can produce twice as much gold than using mercury without affecting their health or the environment," said Monica Roeser, who leads the Global Mercury Project in Colombia for the United Nations.
Studies of children have detected attention deficit disorders, memory and language problems in Segovia and Remedios, the project has reported.
Among miners, mercury exposure can be linked to memory loss, language issues and chronic headaches, researchers say.
"We don't know how many people may have died from mercury pollution because neither doctors nor nurses have instruments to analyze whether mercury is in the urine," Veiga said.
(Editing by Todd Eastham)
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