Best of our wild blogs: 16 Jul 10

First trip to Terumbu Pempang Tengah
from wild shores of singapore

Twig insect
from The annotated budak

Blue-throated Bee-eater sunning
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Raffles Museum Treasures: Malayan colugo
from Lazy Lizard's Tales

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Cambodia: Sand dredging prompts fishermen’s protests

IRIN 15 Jul 10;

KOH KONG, 15 July 2010 (IRIN) - Fish are the primary source of income for residents of this sleepy, rustic border town in southwestern Cambodia, but when the area’s sand dredging vessels prowl the waters to plough up the riverbed, the fish all but disappear.

“When they were dredging a lot, we stopped bothering to even go out since it was not possible to catch anything,” Dol Sareem, a 60-year-old fisherman, told IRIN. “In those months, we caught half as much fish.”

Prime Minister Hun Sen banned sand exports in May 2009, yet sand mining continues in Koh Kong Province - the epicentre of the country’s corrupt dredging industry - enriching local elites and leaving fishermen to suffer, said international watchdog Global Witness.

There has been a lull in the sand operations since April, but local fishermen including Dol Sareem, who lives in Koh Kong’s main fishing community of dilapidated wooden homes with corrugated tin roofs, became so distressed by the impact of sand dredging that they joined several hundred people to protest in front of the provincial government office last December.

“It has improved since they have not been dredging these last few months but it’s still not like before,” he said.

Fishermen operating along the nearby River Kampot were less restrained in expressing their frustration. In February, they destroyed dredging equipment which they believed was responsible for the collapse of a riverbank.

Law not enforced

Dredging extracts sand below the sea floor, disturbing marine life and, more significantly, the spawning grounds that replenish it.

Dredgers remove 25,000 tons of sand each day from the Cambodian seas to export primarily to Singapore, where it is used for land reclamation, according to a Global Witness report in May.

The group valued a year’s worth of Cambodian sand at US$250 million on the Singapore market.

The report, entitled Shifting Sands, said the industry lacks transparency and government regulation, and could severely damage marine ecosytems essential to the livelihoods of many fishing communities.

“Companies operating in the sand sector as well as Cambodia’s regulatory agencies are ignoring environmental and social safeguards, and international industry best practices,” the report said.

The Cambodian government rejects the report’s findings. Cambodia’s embassy in London released a statement calling Global Witness an “international troublemaker” and describing its report as “malicious and misleading”.

The response by government officials closer to the ground, however, has been contradictory.

Pech Siyon, Koh Kong’s director of the Department of Industry, Energy and Mines, told local media he expected the main dredging company, LYP - named after Ly Yong Phat, the senator with the ruling party who is identified by Global Witness as the leading figure in the industry - would resume export operations in the near future.

Cambodia targeted

Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam have placed restrictions on sand exports because of the environmental destruction it causes.

As a result, Global Witness says, Singapore has turned to Cambodia, where laws are lax.

According to Chourn Bunnara, who is based on the Cambodian coast with the NGO Fisheries Action Coalition Team, fishing communities have been largely powerless to raise concerns with the government about dredging vessels violating the ban.

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Changi-Simei and Bedok join ranks of cycling towns

Bike paths will connect to amenities like MRT stations and schools
Maria Almenoar Straits Times 16 Jul 10;

TWO new towns have been earmarked to get cycling paths, bicycle racks and parking spaces in a national drive to promote cycling as a cheaper, healthier and greener form of transport.

Residents of Changi-Simei and Bedok will have 2m-wide paths connecting them to amenities such as MRT stations, schools, markets and the existing Park Connector Network linking the parks across the island.

The paths will be complemented by bike racks and spaces at bus and MRT stations, thus encouraging the use of public transport.

The two towns join five others - Yishun, Tampines, Pasir Ris, Sembawang and Taman Jurong - in a project that will draw on a $43 million fund set up to build infrastructure in designated cycling towns.

Construction, already begun on 30.4km of paths in these five towns, will be completed by the second half of 2012.

The new downtown of Marina Bay, still a work-in-progress, will also have a network of cycling paths by 2014; $26 million has been set aside for this.

These moves, announced yesterday, come as cycling enjoys a surge in popularity, both as a form of commuting and a way of getting exercise.

But fans of self-powered two-wheelers who have taken to the roads have rubbed some motorists the wrong way: In the debate in this newspaper and elsewhere, motorists question whether cyclists have equal rights on the roads, especially since they pay neither road-pricing charges nor road tax, hog lanes and disregard traffic rules.

Cyclists, firing back, have accused motorists of dangerous, discourteous driving. Some said they have been bullied into riding on pavements, a move which has put them on a collision course with pedestrians, who feel they should be king there.

Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Transport Teo Ser Luck, announcing the initiatives yesterday, said the focus now is on 'intra-town' cycling, although it would be a cyclist's dream to have the entire island connected by cycling paths.

That would will be looked into, he said, but will not be a reality any time soon.

In any case, grassroots leaders and residents have noted that cyclists in the heartlands seldom ride more than 5km from their homes.

Cycling paths will help keep down the number of accidents involving cyclists on roads. Last year, 17 cyclists and pillion riders died on the road. The year before, 22 did.

These paths will also separate cyclists from pedestrians and thus keep both groups safe as they take in a spot of exercise or make their way to the supermarket, the MRT station or to school.

Pedestrians and cyclists also occupy separate paths in cities such as Copenhagen in Denmark and Nagoya in Japan.

Mr Teo, an avid cyclist himself, said: 'Cycling is a more environmentally friendly, cost-effective and healthier mode of transport. It's a mode that we would like to promote.'

More towns will be identified as cycling towns under the National Cycling Plan, provided they are compact and have enough cyclists, he said.

Housewife Shirley Teo, 56, who lives in Simei, said she will use her son's bicycle once the paths in her town are ready.

She said: 'Cycling on the road is scary. It'll be more convenient when I go to Eastpoint to buy groceries. I won't need to carry the bags from the bus stop to my home. I can ride all the way to my block.'

Tampines, the first town to have paths shared by cyclists and pedestrians, had a bumpy start to the initiative, with pedestrians complaining that cyclists were reckless, dangerous and did not give way.

Mr Teo said the number of complaints have since tailed off, with cycling wardens and auxiliary police on duty and talks being held to teach cyclists proper etiquette, such as giving way to pedestrians and using proper hand signals.

Mr Steven Yeo, who heads Tampines GRC's community safety and security programmes, said: 'We won over the hearts of the pedestrians and taught cyclists what to do. We proved that cycling in the neighbourhoods is something workable.'

Marina Bay to be showcase cycling town
Straits Times 16 Jul 10;

MARINA Bay will be criss-crossed by a 16km network of cycling paths by 2014, becoming the first area in the city with such a facility.

When completed, residents and office workers in the area will be able to cycle on bike-dedicated stretches linking the Marina Bay Financial District, Marina Bay Sands integrated resort, Marina Barrage and the future Gardens by the Bay.

A $26 million fund has been set aside for the construction works, which will begin this year.

Marina Bay will also be a showcase of how cycling paths can be developed along with a neighbourhood.

The Transport Ministry said the area was chosen because it is not yet fully built-up, making it easier to install infrastructure and plan the pathways.

On the other hand, areas like Shenton Way and Orchard Road, already built up, are more difficult to retrofit with cycling paths.

Mr Dennis Chong, a sales executive at The Bike Boutique, believes the paths will be popular with expatriates and the young locals who make up the bulk of the shop's customers.

The Bike Boutique offers cyclists who work in the Central Business District a place to shower and to store their bicycles during the work day.

'Having rules on the paths so there's a level of etiquette between cyclists will be important,' he said, adding that the cycling paths were a way to encourage more people to cycle.

Avid cyclist Tay Choon Wei disagrees.

The paths will go some way to promote cycling, said the 32-year-old, but pointed out that the benefits were limited because it would be impossible to connect the whole island with cycling paths.

Ultimately, people need to find a way to get to a cycling path and the only way to it will be by a road, he said.

'Cycling paths further segregate cyclists from the rest of the vehicles on the road and will reinforce motorists' mindset that we don't belong on the roads,' said the cyclist who bikes from his home in Thomson Road to Shenton Way.

'Cycling paths are a bonus, but if motorists just treat us better, we wouldn't even need paths to begin with,' he said.

MARIA ALMENOAR

The two-wheeler push
New cycling towns, paths to come; safety issues to be tackled
Leong Wee Keat Today Online 16 Jul 10;

SINGAPORE - By the end of next year, cyclists could ride around the Marina Bay area, say, from One Raffles Quay, along Marina Bay Sands, to Marina Centre.

This route is part of an extensive network of cycling paths the Land Transport Authority (LTA) will roll out in the area, which will see 16 kilometres of dedicated tracks by 2014.

Then, the towns of Changi-Simei and Bedok will join five others - Yishun, Tampines, Taman Jurong, Pasir Ris and Sembawang - with dedicated cycling paths linking transport nodes and key local amenities. Works in these five cycling towns are expected to be completed by 2012, and the first 1.2km stretch in Tampines will open on Sunday.

These initiatives, Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Transport) Teo Ser Luck said yesterday, mark a "milestone for cycling" here as it is accepted as a "more environmentally friendly, cost-effective and healthier" intra-town transport mode.

The seven cycling towns were chosen because they have strong support for cycling and have land available for such tracks.

For Marina Bay, Mr Teo said the area is in the "beginning stage of development", which makes it the "best time to start planning" for cycling tracks before other land use considerations kick into gear.

"If you look at Shenton Way or Orchard Road, you look at the space we have, it's not going to be easy (building cycling paths). Nevertheless, it may evolve. We have to look at it, and it takes a longer time to plan in these areas due to the land and space constraints," he added.

Work in Marina Bay will begin this year, and Mr Teo said "an integrated approach" is needed to make cycling a travel mode. Besides building the tracks, the authorities are looking at ensuring sufficient amenities for both the bicycle and the cyclist, such as parking facilities and shower rooms. A sum of $26 million has been set aside for the Marina Bay cycling initiative.

When asked about the cost-benefit analysis, the Ministry of Transport's Permanent Secretary Choi Shing Kwok said the initiative is "a long-term investment", similar to the ministry's approach toward building roads that last for "80, 100 years". He added: "On a long-term basis, it's not really that expensive. It's pretty comparable with sidewalks for pedestrians."

Mr Teo also said the cycling paths are not built "for just two, three years", and the authorities will monitor their use as the Marina Bay area develops.

While building the infrastructure is the "easier part", the authorities felt that getting mutual accommodation among stakeholders such as pedestrians and cyclists present a "more difficult job".

They have identified safety, indiscriminate parking and encroachment of pedestrian sidewalks as issues that need to be addressed in the push toward cycling.

In Tampines, for example, cycling clinics have been conducted to educate residents on safe practices, such as basic hand signals and how to check their bikes' tyre pressure. The Safe Cycling Task Force volunteer group has conducted talks at workplaces and dormitories to promote safe cycling among foreign workers.

As for bicycles being parked indiscriminately and obstructing pedestrians, LTA prefers the educational approach - compared to enforcement - and it leaves notices cautioning owners against parking at wrong locations.

While Mr Teo urged cyclists to be considerate and park their bikes at designated racks and areas, he also warned: "If you park your bikes anywhere, it may also be isolated somewhere and be subjected to theft."

The success of cycling as a travel mode will depend on all road users, Mr Teo said.

"In many ways, this National Cycling Plan is, and will always be, a work-in-progress, as we'll adjust and take feedback from the local communities and stakeholders to refine our plans," he added.

Seven towns to have dedicated cycling paths by 2014
Dylan Loh Channel NewsAsia 15 Jul 10;

SINGAPORE: The government pedals forward with plans to get more people on two wheels.

By 2014, Changi-Simei and Bedok will have dedicated cycling lanes.

This will bring to seven the number of estates where the government aims to promote intra-town biking to transport nodes like MRT stations.

The other towns, announced in February 2009, are Yishun, Tampines, Sembawang, Taman Jurong and Pasir Ris. The tracks in these towns will be completed by 2012.

In total, S$43 million will be spent for such dedicated cycling paths in the seven towns.

Besides the heartlands, the Marina Bay area will also see more biking action.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has been working closely with the Urban Redevelopment Authority and National Parks Board to implement a network of cycling paths in the area. S$26 million has been set aside for the project.

Work on these bicycle paths will begin this year and by 2014, cyclists can look forward to 16 kilometres of dedicated bicycle lanes in the Marina Bay area.

Meantime, construction of dedicated cycling paths in Tampines and Yishun has started. The first 1.2-kilometre stretch in Tampines will open for use this Sunday.

Dedicated bicycle lanes are hugely popular in European cities like Salzburg, Berlin and especially Amsterdam, where the bikes outnumber people by almost half. That's how much they love their two wheels.

So the big question is: Can a similar cycling culture catch on in Singapore?

"I suppose so, because like now, cars are giving off too much greenhouse gas emissions," said a member of the public.

"It's not just a form of transport but it also builds up your physical fitness. So I would go for cycling," said another.

"No, because people might get in the way when I cycle and it's quite troublesome," said a third.

Initiatives like safety talks and cycling clinics will be used to tell the public about responsible cycling.

Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Transport Teo Ser Luck said: "We want to make sure that they are educated in terms of some of the behaviours when they're cycling and making sure they recognise the different signs."

In addition, more resources will also be put into developing bicycle parking facilities at key transport hubs.

- CNA/al/ir

Safe cycling clinic for foreign workers in Singapore
Mustafa Shafawi Channel NewsAsia 16 Jul 10;

SINGAPORE: Over 20 foreign workers have been issued warnings for breaking the cycling by-laws of the Tampines estate where pedestrians and cyclists share pathways, since they were implemented in March this year, according to North East CDC.

The number represents about 20 per cent of the 105 people who were issued warnings in the estate.

Last year, foreign workers made up one third of cyclist fatalities in Singapore.

To help educate them cycle safely, a safe cycling clinic will be conducted at a foreign worker dormitory in Tampines Friday.

The North East CDC is working with the dormitory manager, Averic Capital Management on the initiative, which will involve some 500 foreign workers.

Two bicycle shops have also been roped in for the scheme.

They'll provide discounts vouchers to foreign workers who have participated in the clinic to purchase safe cycling gear.

- CNA/jm

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Nuclear plants: Interesting power option for Singapore

Carlo Vitanza, Julian Kelly & Seeram Ramakrishna, For The Straits Times 16 Jul 10;

LAND-SCARCE and deprived of energy resources, Singapore is constantly on the lookout for the best options to ensure its long-term energy security.

Devoid of energy resources such as coal, oil, gas, hydro, wind, tidal, geothermal and biomass power, Singapore finds its options narrowed down to: enhancing energy efficiency across the spectrum of users, electrification of the transport sector as well as adopting climate-neutral energy sources.

Opting for a mix of energy sources as opposed to relying on a single source makes for a smart energy security strategy. Hence, it is logical for Singapore to consider an energy mix of natural gas, waste-derived energy, solar energy and nuclear energy.

Singapore generates nearly 80 per cent of its electricity from natural gas and a small amount from converting waste.

Singapore has recently focused on solar energy. Within a short span of three years, the country has nurtured solar energy research, as well as nursed a flourishing solar industry, remarkably well. Given its often cloudy conditions and limited space for deploying solar panels, and considering best-performing solar panel technology, Singapore can tap solar energy anywhere in the range of 10 to 20 per cent of its total electricity demand.

Singapore can supplement the above options with nuclear power. Given its situation, nuclear energy poses an interesting option.

Nuclear power plants are known for their ability to supply large amounts of base-load electricity. Japan, South Korea, China and India are pursing nuclear energy successfully.

The key concerns of policymakers and the public are cost competitiveness of nuclear energy, safety and security of a nuclear power plant, and the national approach towards handling long-term hazardous waste in the form of radioactive, spent nuclear fuel.

The economics of nuclear energy is very much dependent on where the power plants are sited and who builds them. Safety and security aspects of a nuclear power plant are extra-sensitive in the case of Singapore as it is a densely populated, geographically small city- state in close proximity to neighbouring countries.

Given Singapore's physical limits, siting small nuclear power units on offshore barges, or even futuristically, inside rock caverns under the seabed, are interesting options.

There are many examples of nuclear power plants using seawater for secondary cooling purposes. We wish to point out that the 20-megawatt OECD Halden nuclear reactor is sited inside a mountain in Norway. The Halden reactor has been operating successfully for five decades - since 1959 - and supplies steam to a paper mill next door. One of the authors of this article has his house on top of this mountain.

The Halden reactor project also provides avenues for fuel and material testing, and lends itself to studies on how the interaction between people, technology and organisation influences safety operations. The OECD Halden reactor's capacity is small by commercial standards: the energy output of a commercial nuclear power plant ranges from 10 to 80 times the capacity of the Halden reactor.

Concerns over the safe disposal of spent nuclear fuel are real, but technology in this area is fast advancing.

Nuclear power plants use uranium, or a combination of uranium and plutonium, as fuel elements to produce energy for electricity generation. The spent fuel discharged from a nuclear power plant contains fission products as well as minor actinides, both of which are radiotoxic, with half-lives extending to many thousands of years, and obviously a source of public concern.

Nuclear power plants may, however, use a combination of thorium and plutonium as nuclear fuel. These generate lower amounts of the longer-lived minor actinides, and make for better waste management. Efforts are also under way to burn minor actinides using accelerator-driven systems and fast reactors.

The continued, safe operation of the Halden nuclear plant, sited near residential areas and an industrial paper mill, suggests that nuclear reactors can be creatively and safely located in a densely populated country. Hence, we are optimistic that there is scope for Singapore to tap nuclear energy to ensure its long-term energy security and provide a sustainable living environment.

Dr Carlo Vitanza is head of marketing and development, OECD Halden Reactor Project, Norway. Dr Julian Kelly is chief technology officer, THOR Energy, Norway. Professor Seeram Ramakrishna is vice-president (research strategy), National University of Singapore.

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The Singapore Garden Festival: Nurturing a love for nature

Wong Wei Har, For The Straits Times 16 Jul 10;

LIKE seeds dispersed by wind, garden festivals carry and convey a certain magic. The main stars of any festival - flowers, plants and garden features in artful designs - can be transported with loving care across the globe. In turn, they transport those who gaze upon them into climates and cultures far away. They inspire and fuel the hopes of a multitude of gardeners, germinating the birth of more plants and beauty. They unleash the potential of creativity and their sheer beauty and exuberance, entertain.

The Singapore Garden Festival, in which only top designers are invited to participate, aims to deliver such pleasure, excitement and inspiration. The event connects Singapore to the world map of international flower shows, which includes the likes of London's Chelsea Flower Show and the Philadelphia International Flower Show.

Behind the scenes of these international shows is a fraternity of show organisers, including Britain's Royal Horticultural Society and Singapore's National Parks Board, who are all united by the same desire - to share their love for the beauty of nature with one and all, to encourage those who garden, and to inspire others to garden. This fraternity stimulates each other and spawns new ideas and friendships among participating designers, implementing partners and visitors, at their respective shows.

At this third Singapore Garden Festival, 15 show gardens will feature 20 award-winning garden experts from 11 countries around the world. With such a stellar cast of stars, the 2010 Singapore Garden Festival has also been teasingly touted as the 'Gardening World Cup'.

Award-winning Australian designer Jim Fogarty speaks for many in his appreciation of the Singapore Garden Festival as the leading tropical garden show. He suggests that a key attraction for designers to participate in the Singapore Garden Festival is the opportunity to compete among the best designers in the world. It has even resulted in joint ventures among the design gardeners after getting to know each other in previous years' festivals.

And audiences are certainly responding to the flamboyant artistry of the Festival's designers. This can be seen in the way that the Festival's following is blossoming, having drawn about 300,000 local and international visitors in 2008, up from an estimated 200,000 at the first show in 2006.

The design of gardens is not only the preserve of professionals and experts, but also something anyone can take to. The 2006 show had some 20 community gardening groups taking part, drawn from public and private residential estates, grassroots groups and schools. This year, there will be about 60 community groups, representing over 800 active gardeners, participating in the Festival. Twenty-seven of these groups will also be competing for the inaugural Gardeners' Cup, with standards being evaluated by international judges, to boot.

As in the 2008 Festival, there will be something special and fun for children. A 'Supermarket' garden will be presented with the help of the Kranji Countryside Association. This is inspired by a need to address the increasing disjoint between children's everyday life experiences and living plants. Children breathe, eat, drink, wear, sit on or otherwise use plant products, but many have no knowledge of the plants they come from. They will be introduced to both plants and their products in this unique garden in an interesting and engaging manner.

The preparation for this year's Festival involved the people in a bigger way than ever before. Scores of gardening enthusiasts drawn from the public participated in creating an unusual garden display called 'The Man Who Planted Trees' that is inspired by a 1953 allegorical tale by French author Jean Giono. This is a charming story of a lone shepherd who quietly laboured to re-forest a sterile and desolate valley in the foothills of the Alps, near Provence in France. After several decades, he transformed the valley into a verdant forest that brought back water, wildlife and thriving human communities. It is a model of what individuals can do to help nurture greenery, on a planet faced with massive deforestation, environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity.

As in previous years, about 3,000 volunteers will be involved in the gamut of activities needed to stage an outstanding show with something for every visitor. Such community involvement further deepens the roots of a gardening culture in Singapore.

The Singapore Garden Festival features two categories of show gardens. Landscape gardens are living tapestries with perfect plants and features in beautiful combinations of forms, textures and colours, that one can aspire to create, grow and maintain. Fantasy gardens are whimsical creations that reflect all the potential of imagination and the human spirit.

In the 2008 Festival, Singapore designer Peter Cheok's fantasy garden 'Seeking Shangri-la' won a gold medal and 'best of show' award and was also voted the 'people's choice'. He was honoured with an invitation to re-create this fantasy at the prestigious Ellerslie International Flower Show 2009 in New Zealand, where it also won a gold medal.

The Singapore Garden Festival epitomises the 'City in a Garden' vision. It is nourished and sustained by many individuals from all walks of life, from societies, schools, communities and numerous organisations. It entertains, encourages, inspires and bonds individuals and communities. It connects people to plants, nurtures gardeners and nurtures a love for nature.

The writer is director of the Singapore Garden Festival and the Singapore Botanic Gardens. This year's garden festival event is on at Suntec City from July 15-22.

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Malaysia: More protected animals seized

Teh Eng Hock, The Star 16 Jul 10;

KUALA LUMPUR: Two bags containing hundreds of protected animals have been confiscated by the Customs Department at KL International Airport.

There were 369 Radiated Tortoises, five Madagascar Tortoises, 47 Tomato Frogs and several chameleons, Department Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) director-general Datuk Abd Rasid Samsuddin said.

He said the animals were brought in the hand luggage of two women from Madagascar on Wednesday.

“The tortoises were bound with masking tape to prevent them from moving, while the chameleons were stuffed in socks to prevent detection,” he said, adding that the animals cost an estimated RM250,000.

In another case, Perhilitan officers seized products made from parts of endangered animals from a shop in Petaling Jaya.

Abd Rasid said they recovered five tiger claws, two beaks of rhinocerous hornbills, two sambar deer trophies, a handbag made from asiatic cobra skin, a pair of shoes made from python skin, three feathers from birds of paradise, one barking deer trophy and 96 trophies made from elephant tusks.

He said the products were estimated to cost RM75,000.

Speaking at a press conference, he said the culprits behind the trading of endangered wildlife could face up to seven years imprisonment and a maximum fine of RM100,000 per species.

Abd Rasid Samsuddin said the 700 birds recovered from a raid in Jinjang on Tuesday were estimated to cost a total of RM600,000 to RM700,000 in the black market.

These exotic species were protected under the International Trade in Endangered Species Act, he said, which provided for a fine not exceeding RM100,000 per species, a maximum of seven years jail, or both.

Hundreds of Malagasy tortoises seized in Malaysia
TRAFFIC 15 Jul 10;

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 15 July 2010—Malaysian Customs Department officers on Wednesday foiled another attempt to smuggle hundreds of Critically Endangered Madagascar tortoises into Malaysia and arrested two women in whose bags, the tortoises were hidden.

The Malagasy women had filled two bags with 369 Radiated Tortoises Astrochelys radiata and five Ploughshare Tortoises Astrochelys yniphora. Apart from the tortoises, the duo had also hidden 47 Tomato Frogs Dyscophus antongilii and several chameleons in their luggage.

This is the second case in just over a month involving the smuggling of these rare tortoises into Malaysia. In early June, Customs officers at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, discovered 285 Radiated Tortoises, 14 Spider Tortoises Pyxis arachnoids and a Ploughshare Tortoise in two unclaimed suitcases that also contained a stash of drugs. No arrests were made in that incident.

The reptiles and amphibians seized in both cases have been handed over to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan).

Perhilitan Director-General Datuk Abd. Rasid Samsudin told press that the two suspects were being investigated under Section 10(A) of Malaysia’s International Trade in Endangered Species Act 2008, which came into force this month.

This section of the law provides for a total fine of up to MYR 1 million or a maximum jail sentence of seven years, or both, if a person is convicted of importing or exporting any scheduled species without a permit.

These cases confirm links between criminal elements in Southeast Asia and Madagascar. TRAFFIC Southeast Asia urges enforcement agencies within the ASEAN-WEN to collaborate in shutting these syndicates down, especially in international airports, as these are truly the hubs of the trade.

Investigations to find the masterminds behind the trade in Madagascar’s tortoises in Southeast Asia should be initiated. It is these people, and those that continue to buy these illegal animals that are driving Malagasy wildlife towards extinction.

The second seizure of Madagascar tortoises comes hot on the heels of several Perhilitan successes this month.

On 11 July, Perhilitan’s Wildlife Crime Unit (WCU) raided the premises of a flea market trader in the state of Selangor and seized several wildlife trophies including five Tiger claws, the casks and beaks of two Rhinoceros Hornbills, Sambar and Barking Deer antlers, bags and shoes made of python and cobra skins and 96 items made of elephant ivory.

On 13 July, the WCU and Malaysian Police raided a car workshop in Kuala Lumpur and discovered over 600 birds, many of them protected under local legislation and/or by international conventions, including three Straw-headed Bulbuls Pycnonotus zeylanicus a Blue-and-Yellow Macaw Ara ararauna, nine Sulphur-crested Cockatoos Cacatua galerita, three Palm Cockatoos Probosciger aterrimus and a pair of Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise Seleucidis melanoleucus.

Two men linked to this case are still at large, police told press on Tuesday when announcing the seizure.

Take back animals, Madagascar told
Lester Kong The Star 17 Jul 10;

PETALING JAYA: Madagascar must take back the animals that have been smuggled into Malaysia from that island, the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) said.

A last option for the department if Madagascar refused to take back the animals was to “euthanise” them, its legal and enforcement principal assistant director Loo Kean Seong said.

Loo said the department had written to the country to bear the costs of returning the animals, estimated to be between RM10,000 and RM15,000.

“We have contacted the authorities there under provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) for them to take back the animals.

“We have not determined the actual cost of repatriating the animals to Madagascar. It depends on the total weight but the cost is less because there is no need to hold them in special cages,” he said here yesterday.

The animals, estimated to cost a total of RM250,000, were brought into Malaysia in hand luggages by two Madagascar women.

The wildlife, comprising 369 Radiated Tortoises, five Madagascar Tortoises, 47 Tomato Frogs and several chameleons, are being kept at Perhilitan’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur since they were seized by the Customs Department on Wednesday.

Loo said that if Madagascar refused to accept the animals, Perhilitan, as the management authority, would have to look into ways of disposing the animals.

He said releasing them into the wild in Malaysia was out of the question because they were not native to the country’s ecosystem.

“They will create problems and threaten our ecosystems. It will not be wise for conservation purposes if we introduce them into Malaysia,” said Loo.

He added that the country could not spend public money on conserving species that were not from the country and could not be introduced into the ecosystem here.

“Under the International Trade in Endangered Species Act, the management authority is allowed to sell the animals if this is deemed a suitable move and the proceeds given to the Government,” he said.

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Malaysian wetlands: Resurrection of Paya Indah

New Straits Times 16 Jul 10;

PAYA Indah Wetlands is a tale of man's efforts to bring life back to an inhospitable terrain. The idea, mooted more than a decade ago, was for the creation of a green lung for Putrajaya and Cyberjaya.

Back then, the site was a degraded piece of land ravaged by years of sand, tin and clay-mining activities.

But the effects were slowly reversed thanks to the efforts of the now-defunct Malaysian Wetlands Foundation.

Located in the Kuala Langat District, the 3,200ha wetland was rehabilitated to become a low impact eco-tourism attraction.

The sanctuary encompasses a myriad of ecosystems that include tin mine land, logged peat swamp forests, large open lakes and the Kuala Langat Permanent Peat Swamp Forest totalling an approximately 2,500ha.

When it opened in 1999, Paya Indah was home to more than 130 species of birds, 40 species of fish, 25 species of mammals and reptiles, 220 species of aquatic and terrestrial plants and rare herbs.


The biodiversity of life in the wetlands expanded in 2001 with the introduction of four Nile hippopotami from Botswana.

Motorised vehicles were banned inside the sanctuary. Walking was the only way to admire the beauty of the wetland.

The sanctuary was a model for habitat rehabilitation and a top eco-tourism destination until financial constraints forced the park to be closed in 2005. For three years, it remained off-limits to the public and slowly fell into a state of disarray.


It was only after the Wildlife and National Parks Department engineered a massive regeneration exercise that the park was reopened.

It took 30 months and RM10 million to resuscitate and revive the Paya Indah Wetlands.

The importance of wetlands
New Straits Times 16 Jul 10;

WETLANDS offer a range of benefits, from being a natural flood control system to being a sink retaining nutrients and pollution.

Malaysian Nature Society's head of communications Andrew Sebastian said vegetation around the area could the absorb the nutrients.

"The mangrove in particular protects the river banks and coast lines from erosion, while peat swamps are natural carbon sinks."

Sebastian added that wetlands could support a large variety of wildlife, some of which were endemic or threatened species.

Calling such sites the "cradles of civilisation", Sebastian said wetlands were also an ideal spot for recreation and tourism.

Fishing, bird and wildlife watching can be conducted at wetlands.

"This is why wetlands are important to us."

Sebastian said when a wetland was degraded, it would become "lifeless" and result in an imbalance in the ecosystem.

He cited the example of water contamination in Tasik Chini, Pahang, which led to the "invasion" of lotus and algae as they flourished in the lake.

United Nations Development Programme's Energy and Environment programme manager, Hari Ramalu Ragavan, shared the same views.

He called the wetlands "one of the most important ecosystems in the world".

He said mainstreaming the environment into development was already part of government policies, as found in the 9th and 10th Malaysian Plans, the National Physical Plan and the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry's "Common Vision on Biodiversity" policy.

"For this to succeed there must be strict adherence to these policies.

"State governments must also support the Federal government to create a win-win situation for the development and protection of the environment."

Read more!

Indonesia: Green groups gaining ground

Bruce Gale, Straits Times 16 Jul 10;

THE activities of environmental groups may ultimately prove to be more important than government policy in saving Indonesia's forests.

Last month, soon after conservation group Greenpeace released a report entitled How Sinar Mas Is Pulping The Planet, retail giant Carrefour announced that it had decided to suspend all orders of paper supplies from Sinar Mas subsidiary Asia Pulp & Paper (APP).

The Sinar Mas Group is one of the largest conglomerates in Indonesia. Founded by Chinese tycoon Eka Tjipta Widjaja in the early 1960s, its main investments are in pulp and paper, oil palm plantations, property and financial services.

'Carrefour is committed to sustainable development and has decided to cease sourcing APP supplies for private label products from the middle of this year until further notice,' Carrefour Indonesia external communication manager Hendri Satrio told the media.

United States-based food producer Kraft Foods has announced a similar decision.

In recent months, the corporate customers of Sinar Mas' subsidiaries have been abandoning the company in droves. In December last year, a similar Greenpeace report targeting the environmental impact of Sinar Mas Agro Resources and Technology's (Smart) oil palm plantations prompted Unilever Indonesia to announce that it would not be ordering any more palm oil from the subsidiary. Swiss-based food producer Nestle followed suit this March.

In its latest report, Greenpeace accuses APP of secretly planning a massive expansion of pulp mills. It also claims that many of the new forestry concessions being sought by the company overlap with the habitats of endangered species. In addition, it charges that the company has cleared peatland extending more than 3m in depth, an illegal move under Indonesian law. (Peatland is made up of semi-decomposed vegetation, and acts as a carbon sink.)

These Greenpeace reports, together with the reaction of major Western corporations, come in the wake of the lukewarm response of environmental groups to a US$1 billion (S$1.38 billion) deal President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made with Norway in May. The agreement imposes a two-year moratorium on new permits to clear virgin forest and peatland. Critics charge that the pact is not sufficiently comprehensive as it fails to place limits on existing forestry concessions. Many also believe that widespread corruption and bureaucratic dysfunction will ensure that the agreement fails in its objectives.

Could environmental groups succeed where governments have failed?

A series of recent incidents across the world suggests that conservationist groups are indeed gaining influence.

A Greenpeace report last year that accused cattle ranchers in the Amazon of deforestation, for example, forced cattle companies to improve their practices after corporate buyers such as Wal-Mart, Nike and Timberland demanded greater accountability. And a campaign by environmentalists forced several European companies to announce early this year that they would no longer trade in rosewood illegally logged in Madagascar.

Worried about negative consumer reaction, many corporate buyers are also carrying out their own investigations. The British media reported that the decision of Anglo-Dutch company Unilever to suspend an annual £20 million (S$41.9 million) contract with Smart last December came after the company had obtained photographic evidence of Sinar Mas clearing protected rainforests. Tellingly, however, the decision was announced only after the Greenpeace report naming Unilever as one of Smart's customers appeared.

Sinar Mas has denied Greenpeace's allegations and the debate continues over the report's accuracy. Governments, corporations and conservationist groups frequently disagree over methodologies used in assessing environmental damage.

But the fact that Unilever's investigators came to a similar conclusion as Greenpeace suggests that the palm oil industry's self-regulation may not be working. Unilever had set out to verify the extent to which Smart was complying with the standards set by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) - a self-regulating industry body formed in 2004 to prevent illegal forest clearance. It includes Smart as one of its members.

Some environmental groups have accused the RSPO of being toothless. A more serious concern, however, is that demand for RSPO-certified sustainable palm oil has so far been slow to materialise. Only if consumers are convinced that the products they buy are linked to environmentally friendly supply chains will such certification programmes prove an effective means of arresting deforestation.

In the meantime, it seems the environmentalists are gaining ground.

Read more!

Greenpeace activists hold up Pulp&Paper vessel

Jakarta Post 16 Jul 10;

PEKANBARU: Twenty-five Greenpeace activists blockaded a vessel loading thousands cubic meters of timber at a port operated by PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP) at Teluk Binjai Village, Pelalawan Regency, Riau, on Thursday.

In a campaign on forest preservation, the protesters demanded the company stop its logging activities and the government step in.

The protesters unfurled a banner, calling for the urgent halt of environmentally unsound land use. Another banner reading "Stop Pencurian Masa Depan Kami" (Stop the robbery of our future), was hung on the pile of logs on the vessel.

Zulfahmi, the spokesperson of Greenpeace Asia, said their blockade of the vessel to prevent it from transporting timber to a pulp factory was held to protest Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan's policy issuing logging permits for the Kampar peat land.

"The newly issued permit contradicts the ministry's commitment to preserve peat lands," Zulfahmi said.

The blockade lasted only ten minutes as hundreds of police personnel stepped in to remove the banners and drive away protesters. - JP

Greenpeace activists intercept RAPP pontoon boat
Antara 15 Jul 10;

Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - Tens of Greenpeace activists intercepted a pontoon boat of PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP) loaded with logs at 6 am here on Thursday, a Greenpeace activist said.

The logs were suspected to come from natural forest trees cut down in the company`s Hutan Rawa Gambut concession in the Kampar Peninusla of Pelawan district, Riau province.

A total of 25 Greenpeace activists climbed up the 15-meter high pontoon wall.
According to Greenpeace Southeast Asia Campaigner, Zulfahmi, the action was staged as a protest against the policy of the forestry minister who had issued 17 permits for the company to cut trees in 2010.

"The permits covered a natural forest areas of 112 thousand hectares. It threatens the government forest moratorium plan to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation as agreed upon by with the Norwegian government," said Zulfahmi.

Read more!

Wild elephants rampage in Aceh

Jakarta Post 16 Jul 10;

BANDA ACEH: Herds of wild elephants are on a rampage in Aceh's Pidie regency, devouring crops and destroying houses, residents said Thursday.

"At least one house and four hectares of food crops were destroyed in the past three days," Muhammad Sabi Basyah, a resident, told Antara news agency.

The wooden house that the elephants destroyed belonged to Syawali Hanafiahin in Bangkeh hamlet, forcing him to stay with a relative at a neighboring village, Sabi Basyah said.

This recent incident has scared off farmers, with many of them choosing to stay away from their farms.

They called on the Natural Resources Conservation Agency to build a conservation and rescue center to control the elephants in the area. - JP

Read more!

Malaysian Leggong forest reserve: Shocked by rape of forest reserve

Ivan Loh The Star 16 Jul 10;

GERIK: The Forestry Department is alarmed over the rape of a forest reserve in Lenggong where trees have been illegally felled for their quality timber worth about half a million ringgit.

The activity, deep in the Bintang Hijau Forest Reserve, is believed to have gone on for the past six months.

A National Forestry Department spokesman said it found eight illegally logged spots during a joint operation with the state Forestry Department and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday.

“We found numerous logs sawn from cengal, meranti, merbau and balau trees,” said the forestry officer.

He added that cengal was worth about RM8,000 per tonne, while the merbau and meranti could fetch up to RM4,000 per tonne.

The investigation team also noticed that illegal loggers had started to process timber in the area where the trees were felled.

“It is faster to make wood planks straight away after felling the trees. This also makes for easier transportation of the wood out from the forest using a small truck,” he added.

The officer noted that sawn timber was sometimes left in the forest to be transported out at other times.

On the operation, he said the investigation team did not catch any suspects but seized a bulldozer, a truck, sawn timber and other equipment abandoned in the forest.

“We also found a demolished hut. They must have got wind of our arrival and fled the place,” said the officer.

He also pointed out that the department had received tip-offs about the illegal operations inside the forest earlier this year and had been conducting investigations at the sites.

He said three individuals were believed to be behind the illegal activity.

Those found guilty of illegal logging can be fined a maximum RM500,000, and jailed up to 20 years under Section 15 of the National Forestry Act 1984.

Read more!

Indonesia-Australia joint action for Montara oil spill

Antara 16 Jul 10;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian and Australian governments have decided to take action on the oil pollution in the Timor waters of Indonesia after the Montara oil field explosion in August 2009, a minister said here Thursday.

"The fact is that both the Indonesian and Australian governments are in the same position and concern that the oils spill had affected the environment," Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said here Thursday.

Both countries had conducted environmental research on the matter, he said in a joint press conference after meeting his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith at his office here.

"In this morning`s discussions we decided to send the environmental threat issue to the related company for their responsibility of the incident," Marty said,

Marty claimed that both governments are in the same position to ensure the Australian company, PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) Australasia, to be held responsible.

A special meeting led by the Indonesian Transportation Minister as the national team leader of this case to establish an advocating team in contacting the issue to the oil company in question.

"All we have to do is to develop a synergy with the Australian government in strengthening our efforts," Marty said.

On the occasion, Australian Foreign and Trade Minister Stephen Smith said that Australian Minister of Resources and Energy and Minister for Tourism Martin Ferguson made an inquiry of the causes and assessment with the Indonesian government.(*)

Read more!

New U.N. Body To Put Value On Planet

Reuters 16 Jul 10;

The world relies on a range of services nature provides -- water filtration by forests, pollination by bees and a supply of wild plant genes for new food crops or medicines.

If nature charged for these, how much would it cost?

Most such values are excluded from measures of national economies and from prices and markets which would force businesses and governments to recognize them, and the result has been a bias toward development over conservation.

U.N. states have proposed a new body, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), to advise on valuing nature and conservation targets.

An early priority should be measurement, said Pavan Sukhdev, study leader for The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) U.N. initiative, which published a business and biodiversity report this week.

"For a country to say 'let's increase biodiversity', it's quite difficult because it's not measuring biodiversity," Sukhdev said.

"That is a big challenge for the IPBES, to create a right set of metrics. The logical sequence is first establish what is biodiversity, what are you measuring, agree on it, so that countries are doing it pretty much the same way."

The U.N. General Assembly is expected officially to endorse IPBES later this year.

"It's bringing the world's best scientists together under an inter-governmental body, so governments can commission specific questions to that body, to provide them with guidance," said Achim Steiner, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program.

In a further political step, on the agenda at a U.N. meeting in October in Japan is an "access and benefit-sharing" regime for countries which are home to plants and other species valued by agriculture or the pharmaceutical industry.

The idea is to give such countries a share of profits from product development.

"It has major implications for the economic benefit of conserving biodiversity," said Steiner.

MARKETS

Damage to natural capital including forests, wetlands and grasslands is valued at $2-4.5 trillion annually, U.N. reports estimate, a figure excluded from measures of the global economy, or GDP.

Of 48,000 species assessed for extinction risk as of 2009, some 2 percent were already extinct or extinct in the wild, says the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Part of the difficulty in recognizing nature is the problem of assessing its various services using economic markets.

In the fight against climate change, a pure market approach has been devised to put a value on carbon-free air in the European Union's emissions trading scheme, by generating tradable carbon permits.

While some of nature's services could be similarly traded as commodities, such as proposed "rainforest bonds" which would pay for forests' wildlife, fresh water and carbon storage, most biodiversity cannot be valued or traded directly.

"We should probably be thinking about biodiversity less like the carbon market and more like a real estate market, these are very distinctive, unique assets, they can be graded and valued but they're not interchangeable," said Joshua Bishop, chief economist at the IUCN.

"It's not a commodity like carbon dioxide."

Less direct, private sector opportunities indirectly tied to conservation are booming, such as eco-tourism and organic food, UNEP argued this week in its business and biodiversity report.

And forest markets were still on track, said Sukhdev, pointing to a deal to raise about $4 billion to pay tropical forested countries not to chop their trees.

"It is complex but at the same time I think there is a huge willingness," said Sukhdev. "It will take time."

Read more!

Ancient species discovered in Barrier Reef depths

Yahoo News 15 Jul 10;

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australian scientists have discovered bizarre prehistoric sea life hundreds of metres below the Great Barrier Reef, in an unprecedented mission to document species under threat from ocean warming.
Ancient sharks, giant oil fish, swarms of crustaceans and a primitive shell-dwelling squid species called the Nautilus were among the astonishing life captured by remote controlled cameras at Osprey Reef.

Lead researcher Justin Marshall Thursday said his team had also found several unidentified fish species, including "prehistoric six-gilled sharks" using special low-light sensitive cameras which were custom designed to trawl the ocean floor, 1,400 metres (4,593 feet) below sea level.

"Some of the creatures that we've seen we were sort of expecting, some of them we weren't expecting, and some of them we haven't identified yet," said Marshall, from the University of Queensland.

"There was a shark that I really wasn't expecting, which was a false cat shark, which has a really odd dorsal fin."

The team used a tuna head on a stick to attract the creatures, which live beyond the reach of sunlight.

Marshall said the research had been made more urgent by recent oil spills affecting the world heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef, and the growing threat to its biodiversity by the warming and acidification of the world's oceans.

"One of the things that we're trying to do by looking at the life in the deep sea is discover what's there in the first place, before we wipe it out," Marshall told AFP.

"We simply do not know what life is down there, and our cameras can now record the behaviour and life in Australia's largest biosphere, the deep sea," he added.

Scientists have already warned that the 345,000-square kilometre (133,000-square mile) attraction is in serious jeopardy, as global warming and chemical runoff threaten to kill marine species and cause disease outbreaks.

Chinese coal ship Shen Neng 1 gouged a three-metre scar in the reef when it ran aground whilst attempting to take a short cut on April 3, leaking tonnes of oil into a famed nature sanctuary and breeding site.

About 200,000 litres of heavy fuel oil spewed into waters south of the reef last March when shipping containers full of fertiliser tumbled off the Hong Kong-flagged Pacific Adventurer during a cyclone, piercing its hull.

It was one of Australia's worst ever oil spills.

Marshall said the cameras would now be sent to the sludge-ridden Gulf of Mexico to monitor the effects of the oil spill there on marine life.

Read more!

Ignorance, Obstacles Hamper U.S. Sea Turtle Protection, Experts Find

Environment News Service 15 Jul 10;

WASHINGTON, DC, July 15, 2010 (ENS) - Population sizes of the six species of sea turtles listed as either endangered or threatened in the United States cannot be accurately determined based on available information, says a report released today by the National Research Council.

Reviews of federal sea turtle population assessments and research plans are not sufficiently rigorous and transparent, and there are unnecessary obstacles to the collection and analysis of critical data, including the process for issuing research permits and inadequate training of scientists, finds the committee that wrote the report.

The committee of turtle experts from Oregon State University, the University of Hawaii, Duke University, Old Dominion University, the University of Massachusetts, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the University of Queensland, Australia does not evaluate the cause of sea turtle declines or conduct its own assessment of sea turtle populations.

But the expert panel finds that key data regarding birth and survival rates, breeding patterns, and other information will be required to predict and understand changes in populations and create successful management and conservation plans.

The National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should develop a national plan to assess sea turtle populations, improve the coordination of collecting data and sharing it with other organizations, and establish an external review of the data and models used to estimate the current sea turtle population and predict future population levels, the committee advises.

"The biggest obstacle to assessing the status of sea turtle populations is that we know little about key characteristics of these creatures, such as what size they are at different ages, the average proportion of turtles that will survive through each year, and their growth rates," said Karen Bjorndal, chair of the committee that wrote the report and professor of biology and director of the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research at the University of Florida, Gainesville.

"Sea turtles can live for many decades, and can take more than 30 years to reach reproductive maturity," said Bjorndal. "When more is known about their ages, distribution, and genetic differences, models can provide better population estimates and help us understand changes in population abundance."

All species of sea turtles are listed as threatened or endangered. The leatherback, Kemp's Ridley, and hawksbill turtles are critically endangered. The Olive Ridley and green turtles are endangered, and the loggerhead is threatened.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration asked the research council to examine methods that could improve population assessments carried out by National Marine Fisheries Service, which is overseen by NOAA and responsible for the management of sea turtles in the water, and the Fish and Wildlife Service, which is responsible for sea turtles on land.

In its report, the committee emphasized that long lifespans and wide-ranging migrations over different habitats make sea turtles difficult to monitor.

Current sea turtle assessments in the United States are based heavily on estimates of adult females at nesting beaches, which are inadequate measures to make population assessments because adult females usually skip one or more breeding seasons, and nest counts provide no information on the number of immature turtles, adult males, and nonbreeding females.

Although information on the number of sea turtles at various life stages is essential, this alone is not sufficient to understand the causes of sea turtle population trends, develop management plans to protect sea turtle populations, or predict future trends, the report says.

The committee found that the most serious data gaps exist in estimates of the number of immature sea turtles, survival rates of immature turtles and nesting females, age at sexual maturity, the proportion of adult females that breed each year, and the number of nests each female creates in a breeding season.

In addition, adequate information is not available for population assessments because data either have not been collected or have not been analyzed and made accessible.

The report suggests that the NMFS and the FWS develop plans for the collection and analysis of data to address gaps, create a database that identifies datasets in the United States and territories, and review data being collected now under their agencies and evaluate the costs and benefits.

The agencies should support a program to safeguard and make accessible as many sea turtle databases as possible, they committee recommends. They should ensure that all research plans generated from within federal agencies are reviewed by panels of federal and nonfederal scientists, and convene a working group to evaluate the permitting process for research projects and find ways to expedite the process while safeguarding the species.

The report was sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. They are independent, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under an 1863 congressional charter.

Committee members, who serve pro bono as volunteers, are chosen by the academies for each study based on their expertise and experience and must satisfy the academies' conflict-of-interest standards. The resulting consensus reports undergo external peer review before completion.

Read more!

World Illegal Logging Down, Still Big Problem: Study

Alister Doyle PlanetArk 16 Jul 10;

Illegal logging has fallen by 22 percent worldwide in the past decade but remains a huge problem from Brazil to Indonesia, a study showed on Thursday.

It also said that China was the main importer and processor of illegal timber, often sold to companies in countries including the United States, Japan and Britain as plywood or furniture worth billions of dollars a year.

"Total global production of illegal timber has fallen by 22 percent since 2002," according to the report by the British Chatham House think tank focused on Brazil, Indonesia, Cameroon, Ghana and Malaysia.

It said that 17 million hectares (42 million acres) of forests -- the size of Uruguay or Florida -- had been preserved by the slowdown. Trees also help to slow climate change by storing carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas.

"Illegal logging remains a major problem," Sam Lawson , a co-author of the report, told Reuters.

"The report shows that stopping illegal logging ... is reasonably cost efficient in terms of the climate and development." Better enforcement of logging permits helps to raise tax receipts as well as protect forests.

The report said that illegal logging had "dropped by 50 per cent in Cameroon, by between 50 and 75 per cent in the Brazilian Amazon, and by 75 per cent in Indonesia in the last decade."

Trends in Ghana and Malaysia were unclear. Together the five account for 40 percent of world illegal production in 2002 -- the study assumed that illegal felling rates were unchanged in other nations from Russia to Papua New Guinea.

ROUND THE WORLD

But the 154-page report estimated that more than 100 million cubic meters of illegal timber were still chopped down annually worldwide. "If laid end to end the illegal logs would encircle the globe more than 10 times over," it said.

Illegal timber still accounted for between 35 and 72 percent of logging in the Brazilian Amazon, 22-35 percent in Cameroon, 59-65 percent in Ghana, 40-61 percent in Indonesia and 14-25 percent in Malaysia.

In 2008, five importers studied -- the United States, Japan, Britain, France and the Netherlands -- bought 17 million cubic meters of illegal timber and wood products worth around $8.4 billion, much of it from China.

"China is the world's top importer and exporter of illegal wood," it said, estimating annual Chinese imports of 20 million cubic meters.

In the United States, the 2008 Lacey Act makes it illegal to handle illegally harvested timber and the European parliament approved similar legislation on July 7 this year. Lawson said other nations, including China, should tighten laws.

The report said that cracking down on illegal logging was often far cheaper than incentives to preserve forests as stores of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas. Plants soak up carbon as they grow and release it when they burn or rot.

Illegal logging of tropical forests in decline: study
Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 15 Jul 10;

PARIS (AFP) – Illegal logging of tropical woodland has fallen sharply, providing welcome news in the fight against climate change and a lifeline for a billion poor people who depend on forests for survival, a report released Thursday said.

Since 2000, international efforts to stem the illicit felling of trees has spared some 17 million hectares (42 million acres) in three countries alone, amounting to a preserved area larger than England and Wales, the London think tank Chatham House said.

In Brazil, which contains more than a quarter of the planet's tropical cover, outlaw logging over the last decade dropped by between 50 and 75 percent, mainly due to stricter laws and tougher enforcement.

The rate of decline in Indonesia was 75 percent, and in Cameroon pirate logging was cut in half.

But in two other countries covered by the study, the level remained roughly unchanged over the same period.

In Ghana, the problem continues to be endemic, accounting for around two-thirds of overall timber production. And in Malaysia, illegal harvesting still represents 14 to 25 percent of total output, the lowest of the five nations under review.

Overall, illegal logging remains a serious challenge. In 2009, a total of 100 million cubic metres were illegally harvested in these countries alone.

The stakes are high, said lead author Sam Lawson.

"Up to a billion of the world's poorest people are dependent on forests, and reductions in illegal logging are helping to protect their livelihoods," he said.

The findings also highlight the critical role of forests as a bulkhead against global warming: deviation from 'business as usual' has kept at least 1.2 billion tonnes of heat-trapping CO2 from leaking in the atmosphere, he said.

Further efforts on forest preservation are being pursued under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Loss of forestry accounts for between 12 and 20 percent of annual greenhouse-gas emissions.

But illegal logging remains a relatively small part of the problem -- conversion of forest land to crops, cattle ranching and urban construction are bigger factors.

Globally, about 130,000 square kilometres (50,000 square miles) of mainly tropical forests were lost every year over the last decade, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The Chatham House study estimates that five consumer nations -- the United States, Japan, Britain, France and the Netherlands -- together purchased 17 million cubic metres of illegal timber in 2008 worth about 8.4 billion dollars (6.7 billion euros).

Most of the wood entered these countries in the form of furniture and plywood, mainly from China, which has become the largest importer, processor and exporter of illegal timber in the world, according to the study.

Recent legislation in Washington and Brussels may help to curb traffic in illicit tropic woods even further.

In 2008, the United States became the first country to prohibit all trade in plants and plant products -- furniture, paper, lumber -- sourced illegally. The Lacey Act requires importers to indicate exact origin of wood products, and provides for stiff penalties.

The European Parliament this month approved similar legislation, widely hailed by environmental groups as a critical step in the protection of tropical forests.

In parallel, a group of wealthy nations led by France and Norway have pledged 3.5 billion dollars from 2010 to 2012 to provide financial incentives for poor tropical countries to preserve their forests rather than chop them down for timber or to make way for farms.

Illegal Logging Down, New Report Reveals
Andrea Mustain livescience.com 15 Jul 10;

The unauthorized destruction of the planet's tropical forests has dropped by more than 22 percent in the last decade, boosting hopes that international efforts to fight illegal logging are succeeding. That's according to a new report by an independent London-based think tank.

Researchers examined five major producers of contraband timber: Ghana, Malaysia, Cameroon, Brazil and Indonesia. Although unauthorized logging is down in all five nations, the latter three countries exhibited particularly steep declines, between 50 and 75 percent.

Sam Lawson, lead author of the report, said the results from deforested Indonesia were especially encouraging.

"We looked at five national parks where illegal logging had been incredibly rampant, and it had been almost completely halted," Lawson said.

However, this precipitous drop in a few places doesn't mean the contraband timber trade is disappearing. In 2009 alone, the five nations studied harvested more than 3.5 billion cubic feet of forbidden lumber.

"If laid end to end, the illegal logs would encircle the globe more than 10 times over," said Larry MacFaul, co-author of the report.

An awful lot of those logs are ending up in China, where they are "processed" and turned into furniture and plywood. And although China is the world's top importer and exporter of banned wood, Lawson said much of the blame for the continuing black-market timber trade lies with the "consumer" countries that buy China's ill-gotten goods.

In 2008, the study says, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands spent a combined $8.4 billion U.S. on illegal wood products.

The United States is making efforts to keep contraband timber out of the country. In 2008, a federal law targeting illicit logging made it illegal to import or sell wood of unknown provenance. However, it's difficult to track illegal wood's murky origins once it's a pressboard bookshelf in a store.

"Supply chains can be quite complicated," Lawson said. And although some innovative, scientific techniques for tagging and tracking timber on its journey from forest to factory are in development, Lawson said international cooperation in both the public and private sectors offers the best weapon against illegal deforestation.

"Our study shows that consumer interest and pressure combined with action by producer countries can yield very positive results," Lawson said.

Read more!

More Than Half New Power In U.S., EU Is Green: Study

PlanetArk 16 Jul 10;

More than half of all new electricity capacity added in the United States and Europe last year was from renewable power such as wind and solar, a body backed by the International Energy Agency and the UN reported.

Last year was also a record year for the amount of new green power added to the grid, partly a result of shifting deployment and manufacture to emerging economies including Brazil, India and China, from flagging developed countries.

"In 2009, China produced 40 percent of the world's solar PV supply, 30 percent of the world's wind turbines, up from 10 percent in 2007," REN21, or the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century, said in a report on Thursday.

REN21, launched in 2005, is supported by the International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises 28 industrialized countries -- and by the United Nations Environment Programme.

Of an extra 80 gigawatts (GW) of new renewable power capacity added worldwide, China added 37 GW, more than any other country, said the study, titled "Renewables 2010, Global Status Report."

Despite the impact of the financial crisis and lower oil prices, renewable capacity grew at rates close to those in previous years, including solar photovoltaic (PV) power at 53 percent and wind power at 32 percent, the report said.

Grid-connected solar PV power had grown by an average of 60 percent every year for the past decade, increasing 100-fold since 2000.

That boom has been largely on the back of support in European countries, where a recent pullback following recession has raised investor jitters. But the wind and solar sectors were still poised for a record year in 2010, operators and investors say.

While China is making great strides in renewable energy deployment, its carbon emissions also accelerated in 2009 -- placing it further ahead as the world's top emitter of the main greenhouse gas blamed for climate change.

Global Trends in Green Energy 2009: New Power Capacity from Renewable Sources Tops Fossil Fuels
UNEP 16 Jul 10;

Global investments in renewables top non-renewables for 2nd year
Pro-renewable policies critical to sector's continuing strength, growth
Clean energy investments show resilience in recession;
Share of renewable energy continues to grow
Growth of wind power in China a key feature of 2009

In 2009, for the second year in a row, both the US and Europe generated more power capacity from renewable sources such as wind and solar than from conventional sources like coal, gas and nuclear, according to twin reports launched today by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21).

Renewables accounted for 60 per cent of newly installed capacity in Europe and more than 50 per cent in the USA in 2009. This year or next, experts predict, the world as a whole will add more capacity to the electricity supply from renewable than non-renewable sources.

The reports detail trends in the global green energy sector, including which sources attracted the greatest attention from investors and governments in different world regions.

Investment in core clean energy (new renewables, biofuels and energy efficiency) decreased by 7% in 2009 to the value of $162 billion. Many sub-sectors declined significantly in money invested, including large (utility) scale solar power and biofuels.

However, there was record investment in wind power. If spending on solar water heaters, as well as total installation costs for rooftop solar PV, were included, total investment in 2009 actually increased in 2009, bucking the economic trend.

New private and public sector investments in core clean energy leapt 53 per cent in China in 2009. China added 37 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power capacity, more than any other country.

Globally, nearly 80 GW of renewable power capacity was added, including 31 GW of hydro and 48 GW of non-hydro capacity.

China surpassed the US in 2009 as the country with the greatest investment in clean energy. China's wind farm development was the strongest investment feature of the year by far, although there were other areas of strength worldwide in 2009, notably North Sea offshore wind investment and the financing of power storage and electric vehicle technology companies.

Wind power and solar PV additions reached a record high of 38 GW and 7 GW, respectively. Investment totals in utility-scale solar PV declined relative to 2008, partly a result of large drops in the costs of solar PV. However, this decline was offset by record investment in small-scale (rooftop) solar PV projects.

The reports also show that countries with policies encouraging renewable energy have roughly doubled from 55 in 2005 to more than 100 today - half of them in the developing world - and have played a critically important role in the sector's rapid growth.

The sister reports, UNEP's Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2010 and the REN21's Renewables 2010 Global Status Report, were released by UN Under-Secretary-General Achim Steiner, UNEP's Executive Director, and Mohamed El-Ashry, Chair of REN21. The UNEP report was prepared by London-based Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The REN21 report was produced by a team of authors in collaboration with a global network of research partners.

The UNEP report focuses on the global trends in sustainable energy investment, covering both the renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors. The REN21 report offers a broad look at the status of renewable energy worldwide today, covering power regeneration, heating and cooling and transport fuels, and paints the landscape of policies and targets introduced around the world to promote renewable energy.

Achim Steiner said: "The sustainable energy investment story of 2009 was one of resilience, frustration and determination. Resilience to the financial downturn that was hitting all sectors of the global economy and frustration that, while the UN climate convention meeting in Copenhagen was not the big breakdown that might have occurred, neither was it the big breakthrough so many had hoped for. Yet there was determination on the part of many industry actors and governments, especially in rapidly developing economies, to transform the financial and economic crisis into an opportunity for greener growth."

"There remains, however, a serious gap between the ambition and the science in terms of where the world needs to be in 2020 to avoid dangerous climate change. But what this five years of research underlines is that this gap is not unbridgeable. Indeed, renewable energy is consistently and persistently bucking the trends and can play its part in realizing a low carbon, resource efficient Green Economy if government policy sends ever harder market signals to investors," he added.

Mohamed El-Ashry said, "Favorable policies now in place in more than 100 countries have played a critical role in the strength of global renewable energy investments recently. For the upward trend of renewable energy growth to continue, policy efforts now need to be taken to the next level and encourage a massive scale up of renewable technologies."

Says Michael Liebreich, chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance: "The relatively resilient performance of the sector during the current economic downturn shows that clean energy was not a bubble created by the late stages of the credit boom, but is instead an investment theme that will remain important for the years ahead."

By the numbers:

In 2009 renewable sources represented:

25 per cent of global power (electricity) capacity (1,230 gigawatts (GW) out of 4,800 GW total all sources, including coal, gas, nuclear)

18 per cent of global power production

60 per cent of newly installed power capacity in Europe and more than 50 per cent in the US; the world as a whole should reach 50 per cent or more in newly-installed power capacity from renewables in 2010 or 2011

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June Earth's hottest ever: US monitors

Yahoo News 15 Jul 10;

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Last month was the hottest June ever recorded on Earth, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Thursday, amid global climate warming worries.

The combined global land and ocean surface temperature data also found the January-June and April-June periods were the warmest on record, according to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, which based its findings on measurements that go back as far as 1880.

In June, the combined average for global land and ocean temperatures was 61.1 degrees Fahrenheit (16.2 Celsius) -- 1.22 degrees Fahrenheit (0.68 Celsius) more than the 20th century average of 59.9 degrees Fahrenheit (15.5 Celsius).

Temperatures warmer than average spread throughout the globe in recent months, most prominently in Peru, in the central and eastern United States and in eastern and western Asia, according to NOAA.

In contrast, cooler-than-average conditions affected Scandinavia, southern China and the US northwest.

The Beijing Climate Center found that Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Jilin experienced their warmest June since records began in 1951, while Guizhou saw its coolest June ever.

Spain's nationwide temperatures made June the coolest in 13 years, according to its meteorological surface.

Global ocean surface temperatures averaged 0.97 degrees (0.54 Celsius) above last century's average of 61.5 degrees Fahrenheit (16.4 Celsius) -- the fourth warmest June since records began. The Atlantic Ocean saw the most pronounced warmth, NOAA said.

The average land surface temperature that month was 1.93 degrees Fahrenheit (1.07 Celsius) more than the 20th century average of 55.9 degrees Fahrenheit (13.3 Celsius) -- the warmest ever.

Meanwhile, sea surface temperatures were declining throughout the equatorial Pacific Ocean, in line with the end of El Nino, a climate pattern that lasts an average of five years during which unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean move east.

NOAA's Climate Prediction Center forecast that La Nina conditions, where ocean waters in the east-central equatorial Pacific are unusually cool, would likely develop during the northern hemisphere summer this year.

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