Best of our wild blogs: 4 Aug 10g

Otters
from Ubin.sgkopi

Sat 07 Aug 2010: The pre-National Day coastal cleanup @ Lim Chu Kang mangrove from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

Pink-necked Green Pigeon feeding fledglings
from Bird Ecology Study Group

New books on Singapore's dragonflies and freshwater life
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!

Everything you need to know about Global Warming in 5 minutes from EcoWalkthetalk

International Year of Biodiversity 2010 Video - a reminder from Habitatnews

Endangered Animals: 10 Reasons for Hope
from Mongabay.com news

World Bank looking at 'ecosystem-based approaches' to infrastructure projects from Mongabay.com news

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More Singapore firms lauded for going green

3 companies honoured at Environmental Achievement Awards
Harsha Jethnani Straits Times 4 Aug 10;

SINGAPORE-REGISTERED companies appear to be adopting a green approach more enthusiastically, with three local companies being honoured at this year's Singapore Environmental Achievement Awards.

In previous years, only one company had been recognised.

Going the extra mile out of choice and not compulsion, the award recipients 'represent an emerging breed of green companies', said the chairman of the Singapore Environment Council (SEC), Ms Isabella Loh, at a ceremony held yesterday at the Shangri-La Hotel.

The Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, who was guest of honour at the event, handed out the awards.

Gammon Construction Singapore was recognised for optimising energy and water efficiency at construction sites, including a site housing its own offices.

Internally, it has introduced a system that mimics a carbon trading scheme, encouraging employees to reduce their carbon footprint from work activities.

Green products supplier and construction company Samwoh wowed the judges with its use of recycled materials to produce concrete and green products for road maintenance, helping to address concerns of waste build-up.

The third firm to win recognition was Siloso Beach Resort which was given an award for its 200-room eco-hotel, built on a site which has been mainly preserved in its original state.

Winning the award has been 'exciting' and an added confidence boost for Mr Kelvin Ng, executive director of the resort.

He added that Singapore's green industry is still growing and education to raise awareness remains important.

Home-grown firm Winrigo was awarded the SEC-Senoko Energy Green Innovation Award for its production of eco-friendly plastic. Senoko Energy is the awards' main corporate sponsor.

The company recycles plastic and strengthens it with rice husk fibre to produce a material that can be used to make items such as cutlery and spectacles.

Recently, it also took part in a project facilitated by the Singapore Manufacturers' Federation (SMa) to develop by-products from local brand Prima's bran waste from food production.

The idea is to recycle waste and make use of renewable sources for production, its operations director, Mr Teri Teo, told The Straits Times.

Six other companies were commended with merit awards for making strides in using environmentally sound practices.

These were: City Developments, EnGro, Keppel Land, NatSteel, Panasonic and ST Marine.

Ms Loh told about 250 people attending the award ceremony that in the next few weeks, the SEC will be announcing a new certification for environment management consultants, so they are recognised here and abroad.

The council is also working with government agencies and other organisations to devise a framework allowing small and medium-sized enterprises to use environmental consultants at generous subsidies.

Previously, SEC was the sole organiser of the annual awards. This year, for the first time, the council is working with a partner, the SMa, in holding the awards.

Customers will not be willing to pay a premium for green products for too long, said SMa president George Huang.

Manufacturers can go green without being more expensive, Mr Huang said, stressing that higher productivity and better innovation are the way to go.

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Coral Bleaching: UMS Marine Scientists Urge Best Practices, Not A Knee-jerk Response

Newmond Tibin Bernama 4 Aug 10;

KOTA KINABALU, Aug 4 (Bernama) -- Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) marine scientists, who reported the occurrence of coral bleaching in Sepanggar Bay last week, do not suggest a knee-jerk response to coral bleaching from a management perspective.

UMS Director of Borneo Marine Research Institute Prof Dr Saleem Mustafa said instead they urged a rational decision based on scientific facts.

"It is difficult to exactly quantify (the extent of) coral bleaching which can be a subjective matter, but going by experience of diving in the area it is certainly not as severe as reported for west Malaysia," he told Bernama, here today.

On July 29, he was quoted as saying that UMS scientists had discovered widespread coral bleaching in Sepanggar Bay, off Sabah waters, and such activities deserved serious attention due to its implications on marine biodiversity and coral reef fisheries in the state's waters.

Dr Saleem said in Sabah, bleaching seemed to have started in recent months and three scientists -- Aw Soo Ling, Muhd Ali and Dr Abentin Estim, who detected it, were examining the coral bleaching problem in more detail.

"Of course, all possible efforts should be made to reduce stress to corals during the bleaching process by following universally accepted 'best practices' while diving.

"These include careful navigation to avoid contact with the corals, preventing oil and gas spill from boat engine, using buoys, rather than anchors wherever possible, avoiding contact of the body and diving gear with the corals," he said.

Dr Saleem said although control on fishing activity reduced stress, it was hard to achieve beyond the protected areas.

He said underwater nature tourism, which is important in Sabah, was aimed at appreciating and admiring the marine biodiversity that promoted conservation.

However, he said: "Restrictions on diving can be placed if it contributes to bleaching or is a setback to recovery of corals from bleaching, and this requires scientific evidence and experience," he said.

He said recent observations raised the possibility of an increase in pathogen concentration in the coastal waters linked to climate change.

"If some pathogens are indeed taking advantage of the climate change, their effects on ocean ecosystem by attacking corals or their photosynthetic symbionts called zooxanthellae, remains to be scientifically confirmed.

"This is yet another factor to be considered in addition to the release of zooxanthellae from corals due to warming of the sea water. It is the loss of zooxanthellae that causes corals to bleach," he said.

Dr Saleem said UMS scientists had suggested long-terms measures to build resilience in coral reef ecosystem in the earlier report.

"It is time that measures for adaptation to climate change for managing our marine resources are elaborated and implemented. Such adaptations need to be incorporated in managing marine fisheries and aquaculture, conservation of mangroves and seagrasses, and in fact, in the comprehensive coastal zone," he added.

-- BERNAMA


Miri not hit by coral bleaching
Diana Rose The Star 5 Aug 10;

MIRI: Dive sites in Miri are safe and not affected by the current worldwide coral bleaching which has seen temporary closure of a few popular dives sites in Peninsular Malaysia.

Coral bleaching occurs when the sea temperature rises above 31°C for more than two days, causing corals to revert to its original white colour.

Corals are essentially white. The colour comes from the algae living in them. Any stress on the corals, such as temperature change will cause them to expel the algae.

James Wan, the owner of Planet Borneo, a popular travel agent here, which organises diving activities, told The Star that they were still bringing guests to dive at various popular sites off the coast of Miri.

“Marine life and the coral reefs here are still in beautiful condition,” he said.

According to the Reef Watch website, there are negligible occurrences of coral bleaching off the coast of Miri measured at about 0.46 degrees (coloured pink).

A Sarawak Forestry Corporation Sdn Bhd spokesman said so far they have not received any formal complaints on any coral bleaching off the Miri coast. “We have plans to monitor it though,” he said.

Miri dive sites within the 150sq km triangle off its shoreline have some of the most pristine coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific basin.

Just a 30-minute boat ride from the Miri River mouth is the golden triangle of an underwater haven. Some of these reefs have been earmarked for scuba diving and are comparable with other world-renowned dive sites.

Coral bleaching was highlighted in a recent report in The Star that said some 90% of Malaysia’s corals are dead due to global warming, and the reefs may never recover unless the people switch to a greener lifestyle.

It said that the corals in marine parks at Pulau Payar, Pulau Tioman and Pulau Redang had suffered bleaching, leading to the closure of some dive sites until October.

Universiti Sains Malaysia marine biologist Prof Dr Zulfigar Yass was quoted as saying that bleaching had occurred since April, spreading from the coast of India to Australia.

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Malaysia banking on Tongkat Ali's popularity

New Straits Times 4 Aug 10;

KUALA LUMPUR: Think Tongkat Ali, think Malaysia.

Banking on Tongkat Ali's popularity, the government is working to make it synonymous with the country in the same vein as ginseng and green tea is to Korea and Japan respectively.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas said he was confident that the herb was unique and endemic to Malaysia and could be turned into a flagship product.

"I hope the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) can focus on strengthening the development of Tongkat Ali and other herbs like misai kucing and kayu manis.

"We must learn from Korea's and Japan's success story. Our herb industry has huge potential," he said in a speech read by his deputy, Tan Sri Joseph Kurup, at the launch of the Medicinal and Aromatic Plants seminar in FRIM yesterday.

Also present was FRIM director-general Datuk Dr Abd Latif Mohmod.


Later at a press conference, Kurup said annual exports of the Tongkat Ali, or Eurycoma longifolia, amounted to RM100 million.

The local herbal market, meanwhile, is worth RM10 billion.

The United States and South Korea were the two major importers of Tongkat Ali.


"We want to add value to Tongkat Ali so people will automatically relate it to Malaysia."

Meanwhile, Latif said the institute for the past year had been collaborating with a private firm to grow more Tongkat Ali and ensure uniformity in terms of quality to meet market demands.

The laboratory-produced Tongkat Ali can be harvested within several years and will contain thrice the nutrients then the wild herbs.

This, he said, would help with the conservation of the species without compromising on its quality.

"It is getting more difficult to find Tongkat Ali in the wild.

"A lab will not only save a lot of money and time, but will prevent us from over-harvesting the plant," he said.

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California Sea Otters Mysteriously Declining Despite Protection

Jess McNally Wired Science 3 Aug 10;

The world’s cutest furry sea creature, the California sea otter, has been making a slow recovery since it was nearly wiped off the map by 150 years of hunting for it’s ultra-soft, waterproof fur. But despite being federally protected, the creature’s numbers are going down again, and no one is sure why.


Annual surveys of the California sea otter population, which are averaged over three years to compensate for variability in observation conditions, show the overall population has declined by nearly 4 percent compared to estimates in 2009, and the number of sea otter pups has declined by 11 percent. The otter’s range along the central California coastline has also shrunk by nearly 30 miles.

“Right now we don’t know the specific causes of the decline,” said biologist Tim Tinker of the U.S. Geological Survey, lead scientist of the annual otter survey. “All our data point to a combination of factors, both natural and human caused.”

The sea otters have been getting thinner and smaller relative to otters of the same age and sex in past years, says Tinker, which means they are having a harder time finding food. The number of shark attacks has also gone up, as have the number of bacterial and viral infections found in the otters.

“Diseases that come from terrestrial sources are one of the factors that are also contributing to increased mortality,” Tinker added.

One of those diseases is Toxoplasma gondii, which is spread to otters when the fecal matter of infected cats gets washed out to sea, says Tinker, but there are other diseases as well.

To understand how to most effectively help the otters recover, Tinker says they plan to compare different sea otter populations along the California coast and populations of the northern sea otter, which lives on the coast from Alaska to Washington. By measuring the factors that could be leading to the sea otter decline in these various regions and comparing that to the relative health of their otter populations, scientists can analyze the relative impact of the different factors.

“Sea otters are a really good indication in the health of the coastal ocean,” said Tinker. “And what they’re telling us right now is that it’s not doing so well.“

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World's Largest Tiger Reserve Created

LiveScience.com Yahoo News 4 Aug 10;

The world's largest area devoted to protecting tigers has been declared by the government of Myanmar.

The entire Hukaung Valley in the Southeast Asian country will become a tiger sanctuary under the declaration, which officially protects an area the size of Vermont and is a major step forward for saving tigers - one of most endangered species on the planet. The number of tigers in the wild has plummeted from up to 100,000 a century ago to less than 3,000 today.

"Myanmar now offers one of the best hopes for saving tigers in Southeast Asia," said Colin Poole, director for the Wildlife Conservation Society's Asia Programs. "The newly expanded protected area in the Hukaung Valley will be a cornerstone of tiger conservation throughout this iconic big cat's range."

The world's remaining tiger populations exist in small, isolated fragments that are constantly threatened by the illegal hunting of tigers and their prey. The Hukaung Valley reserve joins a number of other areas of existing and potential tiger habitat that exist in many parts of Asia. The Hukaung Valley Tiger Reserve covers approximately 8,452 square miles (22,000 square kilometers) in the northernmost part of the country and has the potential of holding several hundred tigers. Illegal hunting both of tigers and their prey has caused a steep decline in their numbers in the area; some estimates show as few as 50 of the big cats currently in the region.

In 2004, the Myanmar government designated 2,500 square miles (6,500 square km) of the Hukaung Valley as a wildlife sanctuary.

The new designation extends that protected area an additional 4,248 square miles (11,000 square km). The resulting wildlife sanctuary stretches 6,748 square miles (17,477 square km) and makes up the core of the larger Hukaung Valley Tiger Reserve.

The designation was enacted after Myanmar's Prime Minister Thein Sein gathered 17 other Cabinet Ministers to fly to Hukaung Valley earlier this year to assess its conservation needs and convey the importance of the region for tigers, and other species.

The designation protects some of the last expanses of closed forest in the Indo-Pacific region and is one of the most important ecosystems for the long-term conservation of large mammals such as tigers, clouded leopards and Asian elephants.

Approximately 370 bird species, including the critically endangered Rufous-necked Hornbill, have been found in the region. Of the current global estimate of 13,500 plant species, approximately 7,000 are found in the Hukaung Valley and nowhere else on the planet.

"I have dreamt of this day for many years," said Alan Rabinowitz, CEO of the wild cat conservation group Panthera. "The strides we made in 2004 were groundbreaking, but protecting this entire valley to ensure tigers are able to live and roam freely is a game changer. This reserve is one of the most important stretches of tiger habitat in the world, and I am thrilled that the people and government of Myanmar understand the importance of preserving it."

Scientists and conservationists believe that tigers can make a comeback if the most critical threats to their existence - poaching of the cats themselves and their prey - are addressed effectively and immediately.

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Where on earth is biodiversity?

New biodiversity tool to encourage conservation-driven decision making
UNEP 3 Aug 10;

Cambridge (United Kingdom), 3 August 2010 - Mount Kenya, the second-highest peak in Africa has been renowned for its wide tableau of animal and plant life, from the bamboo zone with its dense stands of bamboo to the upland forest, laden with orchids, ferns, wildflowers and trees.

But according to a new United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) database, animal and plant species living on the 5,199 meter peak are globally threatened.

In collaboration with leading conservation organisations, the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) has devised Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) for governments, development banks and private sector organisations to access accurate and reliable information on biodiversity and critical natural habitats on a worldwide scale - to answer the seemingly simple question "Where on earth is biodiversity?"

Jon Hutton, Director of UNEP-WCMC said, "In the International Year of Biodiversity, IBAT proves a major stepping stone towards pushing conservation issues higher up the development agenda."

"Information generated by the tool can be factored into risk assessment reports and national or regional development strategies. It can also assist industries in implementing environmental safeguard policies and industry best practice standards," he added.

Presently, there is an overwhelming amount of information scattered across countless websites, publications and the broader scientific community, but no single, reliable, trusted place to retrieve this information.

However, in the case of IBAT, a family of web-enabled systems synthesise and interpret the most significant biodiversity information available for key decision-makers in the project planning stages when alternatives and changes are most economically viable.

Besides UNEP-WCMC, the IBAT Alliance comprises three other globally-respected international conservation organisations; BirdLife International, Conservation International (CI), International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) working on a shared programme of work in partnership with leading institutions from the public and private sectors.

These four organisations also represent some of the most established networks of national and regional environmental experts and organisations on the planet.

The IBAT Alliance represents an unprecedented step towards conservation data sharing and integration, enabling the private and public sectors to incorporate critical biodiversity information at key decision points in the planning and operation of development projects.

To achieve the broader vision of IBAT, the conservation partners are seeking to expand their collaboration to include additional partners from the private, public and community development sectors, particularly those organisations involved in implementing environmental safeguards and screening such as the multilateral development banks.

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Model shows 'waves of forest degradation'

Mark Kinver, BBC News 3 Aug 10;

An international team of researchers has developed a model that suggests degradation of tropical forests occurs in a series of "waves".

High-value trees were felled in the first "wave", followed by a wave that removed mid-value timber before the remaining wood was felled for charcoal.

The team hopes the model will help manage forests as vital carbon sinks and limit the loss of biodiversity.

The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers said an economic theory was used to provide a general model to predict patterns of tree loss.

"This translates to a prediction that waves of forest degradation will emanate from major demand centres and expand into nearby forested areas, targeting resources in sequence, starting with those of highest value," they wrote in their PNAS paper.

"Such a sequence of demand, linked to resource utilisation, has been demonstrated for unmanaged fisheries... but has not been shown for the exploitation of differently valued tropical forest products."

The team used data collected in the area surrounding Tanzania's largest city, Dar es Salaam, to see how far the degradation "waves" had travelled between 1991 and 2005.

"The first wave that emanates is high-value timber, and that is mostly used for export," explained co-author Antje Ahrends, an ecologist at the Royal Botanical Garden, Edinburgh.

"There has been a massive demand for this in China, and this is where most of the timber ends up."

Dr Ahrends said the first wave moved out from Dar es Salaam rapidly, averaging about nine kilometres each year, because the "timber companies had lorries and loads of people working for them".

"For the firms, it is only worthwhile to stay in a forest when timber can be accessed relatively easily," she told BBC News.

"So once it becomes not so easy to get hold of the rest, the companies generally move on."

The first wave had already moved outside of the team's study area, and Dr Ahrends estimated that it was already more than 200km from Dar es Salaam.

The second wave saw trees being felled for medium-valued timber, which was generally used in the city for construction and furniture.

"This is expanding very rapidly, in line with urban migration," she explained. "The town has an average growth rate of about 7% each year, so there is - again - a rapidly growing demand for this material."

The timber is harvested by local companies, again with lorries, allowing large volumes to be collected in a relatively short space of time. This resulted in this degradation wave to also cover about nine kilometres each year.

The third and final wave involved local people collecting wood to make charcoal for cooking.

"It's the most destructive of all of the waves because charcoal burners would collect everything," observed Dr Ahrends, who was based at the York Institute for Tropical Ecosystem Dynamics when she carried out this research.

"It is only worthwhile moving on once there are no sizeable trees left in the forest."

As a result, the charcoal wave had moved relatively slowly - from 20km outside Dar es Salaam in 1991 to 50km away in 2005.

"It is the most difficult of the waves to tackle because it is very poor people who burn charcoal and their livelihoods depend upon it."

"Targeting that wave would mean trying to provide alternative resources for cooking, and alternative incomes for people who burn charcoal."

Species loss

The team also developed their model to gauge what impact forest degradation had on "public good" services, such as carbon storage and biodiversity.

They did this by recording what species of trees were in a particular area of the study, and what size the individual trees were.

"This later enabled us to calculate species richness and also the amount of carbon those trees were storing," Dr Ahrends said.

"We found that there was a very strong linear impacts; for example, tree species richness dropped to only 14 species-per-sample-unit close to Dar es Salaam, whereas it is more than 40 species in areas 200km away."

Dr Ahrends suggested that the model could be used to understand the impact of forest degradation in other sub-Sarahan nations in Africa.

"This is because conditions are very similar: high levels of corruption, weak law enforcement and very rapid rates of urbanisation."

She added that the team's model could help policymakers who were looking at ways to limit deforestation rates.

"What is really important is to understand the pattern of degradation and the way it spreads," she suggested.

"While we have a good understanding of deforestation - which is the complete clearance of a forest - it is much more difficult to measure degradation.

"So if you have this simple model, then you have a basic understanding of how degradation might spread... which may help you develop some prediction of where it might spread from and how far it might spread."

Read more!

Adverse weather pushing prices of soft commodities higher: analysts

Chris Howells Channel NewsAsia 3 Aug 10;

SINGAPORE : Difficult weather conditions in Southeast Asia recently could cause prices of soft commodities like coffee, rice and wheat to rise this year.

This year saw the worst floods in a decade in China as well as severe droughts in parts of Russia and Ukraine.

Analysts say these will have implications for inflation in Asia, which is likely to tick higher in the second half.

It may affect food prices in markets like China, where bad weather has caused supply disruptions.

Prices of wheat rallied about 30 percent in July, partly due to these conditions.

Soy added 10 percent and corn rose 3 percent.

Observers expect wheat prices to rise a further 8 percent in the third quarter to US$6.50 a bushel.

Avtar Sandu, Asian Commodities Manager, Phillip Futures, said: "We do see a little bit of upside on wheat prices. The weather is a bit of a concern. Wheat has hit a 13-month high. There are not only problems in the Black Sea area, the European wheat is also affected."

Corn is also seen heading higher, to around US$4.50 a bushel in the third quarter from around US$3.90 currently.

Analysts say this could lead to government measures to curb price pressures in countries like China.

Song Seng Wun, Regional Economist, CIMB, said: "If inflation goes above 3 percent, which is the government target, then maybe they have to look at tweaking interest rates up.

In the worst case, (they) might have to impose price control as a result of supply disruption to cap inflation expectations."

Analysts say inflation in China could tick up to 3.5 percent in the second half after falling below 3 percent in June.

This is because food prices contribute around 40 percent to overall consumer inflation in China.

In Singapore, where food prices make up a smaller 22 percent of the consumer price index, inflation is seen rising to 2.5-to-3.5 percent in the second half, compared with two percent in the first half. - CNA/ch

The price of bread could rocket
IRIN Reuters AlertNet 3 Aug 10;

JOHANNESBURG, 3 August 2010 (IRIN) - Wheat prices have doubled in the last two months, notching up the fastest food price rise an economist said he said seen in the last 20 years.

"In the last week alone, the price went up by another 20 percent," said Abdolreza Abbassian, an economist who is also secretary of the Intergovernmental Group on Grains at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

There is no reason to panic, yet. "Any global hike takes at least six months to get transmitted to the domestic markets," he said. What it does mean is that 2011 could be a difficult one for wheat-based foods like bread.

A severe drought and fires in Russia, the world's largest country and one of the top five exporters of wheat, have sent prices skyward. "The prices are not going to come down anytime soon," Abbassian said, but noted that prices were still not as high as the 2008 levels.

Just a few months ago Russia was considering joining the "food donor club", but after the worst drought since 1972 decimated about 20 percent of its food crops, according to the US government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the country "may need to rethink its position", Abbassian commented.

On top of the drought, NOAA reported that 948 forest fires, covering 26,000 hectares, were burning in 18 of Russia's 46 provinces during July 2010. The country produces about 15 percent of the world's wheat, which it sells mainly to the Middle East and North Africa.

"At the moment the global reserves are okay, but as the drought continues in Russia it will have an impact on planting for next year; it means we might need to be very, very cautious next year," Abbassian said.

The global stock of cereals, which has until now relied mostly on countries in the western hemisphere, has begun to look towards the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), a regional organization comprising the Russian Federation, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Georgia.

Abbassian pointed out that "Unfortunately, they [CIS] are located in a part of the world which is extremely vulnerable to environmental shocks,", and this could affect agricultural production.

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Experts roll out malaria map, urge mosquito study

Tan Ee Lyn, Reuters 3 Aug 10;

HONG KONG, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Nearly 3 billion people, or two-fifths of the world's population, were at risk of contracting malaria in 2009 and closer study of the mosquito's life cycle is needed to combat the disease, researchers said in two reports.

In the first study, scientists mapped out the geographical spread of the Plasmodium vivax -- the most common parasite that causes malaria -- using reported cases of malaria and details on temperature and aridity.

"We estimate that the global population at risk of P. vivax malaria in 2009 was 2.85 billion people. Regionally, the great majority of this population (91 percent) resides in central and southeast Asian countries," wrote Simon Hay, a zoologist at the University of Oxford who co-authored the study.

"P. vivax remains the most widely distributed human malaria parasite even after a century of development and control," he wrote, replying to questions from Reuters.

However, chances of infection by this parasite is low across Africa because of a genetic trait that protects mostly people of African origin.

But transmission of the parasite does occur in the continent and remains a concern for travellers and people who do not carry the trait, the researchers said.

The malaria atlas was published on Wednesday in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

In 2008, there were 247 million cases of malaria worldwide and nearly one million deaths, mostly among children.

Knowing where the P. vivax thrives is critical so that plans can be made to control it, wrote Carlos Guerra, another author of the atlas and also from the University of Oxford.

Hay said the parasite, which is carried by the female Anopheles mosquito, is sensitive to environmental factors.

"Low temperatures delay the development of the parasite in the mosquito and if this time exceeds the life span of the vector (mosquito), then transmission is not possible," Hay said.

"Aridity acts mainly on the vector by increasing mortality through desiccation and also by limiting the availability of suitable breeding sites (i.e. collections of water)."

In the second paper, another team of researchers said vector control measures such as insecticide-treated nets and sprays have not been able to break the transmission cycle of the Plasmodium falciparum, another parasite that causes malaria in the most endemic parts of Africa and the Pacific.

It is regarded as a more dangerous cause of malaria as it has the highest rates of complications and death.

"Global commitment to malaria eradication necessitates a corresponding long-term commitment to vector ecology," wrote Gerry Killeen from the Ifakara Health Institute in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and colleagues in the journal PLoS Medicine.

"Priority areas will include understanding aspects of the mosquito life cycle beyond the blood feeding processes which directly mediate malaria transmission. (Editing by Miral Fahmy)

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Islands Warn Rich Nations' Emissions Pledges Fall Short

Nina Chestney PlanetArk 4 Aug 10;

Rich nations' emissions reductions pledges fall dramatically short of what is required to limit global warming to two degrees centigrade, a group of 43 small islands said on Tuesday at U.N. climate talks.

This week's 185-nation conference in Bonn is the penultimate step before the next U.N. climate conference in December. Parties are trying to make progress on shaping a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

However, rifts continue between poorer nations and wealthy countries over who should contribute the most to cutting emissions.

Currently, aggregate emissions pledges from developed countries represent a reduction of 12 to 18 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, Al Binger, representing the Alliance of Small Island Nations, said at the talks.

But the atmosphere could only see a 1 to 7 percent reduction by 2020 if rich nations exploit "imperfections" in the protocol, he said.

Such imperfections derive from accounting rules in the protocol covering land use and forestry which some green groups claim give industrialized nations too much flexibility.

There is also the issue of whether surplus sovereign emissions rights accumulated under Kyoto, known as assigned amount units (AAUs), can be carried over for use in the protocol's next commitment period.

Under the Protocol, nations that are comfortably below their greenhouse gas emissions targets can sell excess AAUs to countries struggling to meet their own targets.

Eastern European countries in particular have billions of dollars worth left over after their economies collapsed in the wake of communism.

"If we don't find consensus on the set of rules we could end up doing creative accounting and emissions will continue to increase," Binger told Reuters on the sidelines of the talks.

The alliance is calling for a 45 percent emissions reduction in greenhouse gases by developed nations by 2020 to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

The European Union's climate representative Artur Runge- Metzger said four options are being considered for changing forestry rules this week, but stressed that one needs to be decided upon before emissions targets can be set.

(Editing by Jon Hemming)

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