Best of our wild blogs: 9 Aug 10

Celebrating National Day on Cyrene Reef!
from wild shores of singapore and into the wild and Singapore Nature

Baby boom
from The annotated budak

The Heat is On...!
from Macro Photography in Singapore

Blue hollow
from The annotated budak and Land shrimp

Officials point to Russian drought and Asian deluge as consistent with climate change from Mongabay.com news

Read more!

'I hope people realise that every little action makes a difference'

Cheong Wei Siong, 21, student and environmental volunteer
Ng Hui Wen Today Online 9 Aug 10;

It's easy for him to hit Control-C and Control-V whenever he comes across a website talking about the ailing environment.

But for Cheong Wei Siong, forwarding emails to his friends and leaving website links on their chat windows is never quite as fulfilling as his work with International Coastal Cleanup Singapore (ICCS).

There, he is able to reach up to 1,500 Singaporeans a year. And it is his hope that more people would have their eyes opened to the impact of their everyday actions on the environment.

It takes more than just getting the participants of ICCS' programmes to pick up the bottle caps, toothbrushes, plastic cups and other litter that pollutes the shores. Mr Cheong tells them stories of how birds, turtles and fishes are harmed after swallowing such items.

And when participants, who are usually sent by schools and companies, witness this first hand, they can see that "marine debris doesn't fall from the sky but from human hands".

Before each cleanup, participants attend workshops where they learn how the collected trash contributes to data used in tackling marine pollution.

It was his experience in just such a programme with his secondary school eight years ago that led Mr Cheong to contribute to the ICCS' cause. He came across a few horseshoe crabs entangled in discarded nets.

"It was a disheartening sight," he said. "This very first cleanup made me realise that we have a personal responsibility for the health of the ocean."

He remained active throughout his JC and army days, serving as a mangrove site coordinator for three years.

Now, he oversees the cleanup operation on beaches along the country's north-eastern shore.

But the nature lover, who is now pursuing business administration at the Nanyang Technological University, still believes it is the little actions that go a long way. At home, he switches off the lights when not in use and keeps his air conditioner at 25°C.

"As long as people do the minimum, that's actually really good already," he said.



' I wish we all recycled'

Raina Ow, 51, self-employed
Ng Hui Wen Today Online 9 Aug 10;

Several times a week, she gets on her slightly rusty, blue bicycle and puts on her pink floral-print hat and sunglasses. As she cycles by - sometimes wearing make-up and heels - curious heads turn to stare at the two baskets in the front and back of her bike, which are filled to the brim with recyclables.

Meet Raina Ow, the 51-year-old who cannot wait. To recycle, that is.

Not content with having her recyclables collected fortnightly, Ms Ow began depositing them at recycling bins in her estate two years ago.

It is a simple routine for her, but she understands that not many people have the time for this. And so, her dream is that the central refuse chute in HDB blocks can be turned into a convenient recycling bin for all residents.

Ideally, she hopes the chutes will have separate slots for plastic, paper, tin and waste food.

Her dream is not that out of place: Since 2006, some residents in Choa Chu Kang have been benefitting from an initiative where their refuse chutes have two compartments, for recyclables and trash.

Not knowing if such a project will come to her estate, Ms Ow has already influenced others to "go green".

One neighbour, for instance, noticed her packing her recyclables. "Now, I see her recycling too," she said.

Her sons, too, have caught the bug: They pass her their empty drink cans and old study notes to her for recycling, while old toys, uniforms and textbooks are given away or exchanged.

Ms Ow's enthusiasm makes it hard to believe she was once part of the "buy and throw" culture. She used to replace her old furniture without hesitation; now she realises how wasteful that is.

It takes just three minutes each time for Ms Ow to cycle to the recycling bin, but with every trip she makes, she buys even more time for future generations on this Earth. NG HUIWEN

Read more!

X-rated egg rush in Terengganu: sea turtle eggs for sale

The Star 9 Aug 10;

KUALA TERENGGANU: Market traders here are openly selling endangered turtle eggs, much to the shock and dismay of the state authorities.

While the Pasar Payang central market traders are enjoying brisk sales of the Green Turtle (Chelonia Mydas) eggs, State Agriculture and Agro-based committee chairman Ashaari Idris intends to get to the bottom of the illegal business.

“I am really shocked that the market traders are selling eggs collected from the beaches of Terengganu. Previously, they only sold eggs from Indonesia.

“We must catch the culprits supplying them,” he said.

Under the law, only licensed collectors are allowed to harvest the eggs which must be sold to the Fisheries Department, which then sends the eggs to incubators to be hatched.

Ashaari said he would direct his officers to check whether poaching was rampant as it could have a dire effect on the turtle landings on local beaches.

He also stressed that the belief that turtle eggs could improve sexual prowess was a myth. This, however, has failed to stop couples wanting to revive their flagging sex lives from buying the eggs.

Salleh Solat, who has been trading at the market for over two decades, said he had buyers from as far as Kuala Lumpur.

He sells the Green Turtle eggs at RM30 for a packet of 10 and said he could get double or triple the price during off-season.

“There is a huge demand for these eggs as they can also be used to treat asthma and backaches,” he claimed.

He added that he previously sold eggs supplied from Sabah and Indonesia but there was now a great demand for Terengganu eggs.

This was because the locally laid eggs can be obtained for sale within a few hours of collection and therefore fresher, compared with eggs from elsewhere which took about two weeks to reach here.

Salleh said he got his supplies from two agents, but declined to name them.

The endangered Green Turtle is the largest hard-shelled sea turtle in the world. Females lay their eggs at night in a process that takes two hours, each time laying 110 to 115 eggs.

The leatherback and Olive Ridley turtles are already said to be close to extinction in Terengganu while the number of Hawksbill and Green Turtles has also plunged drastically.

It has been reported that a leading cause for the decline of turtle species is egg consumption.

Read more!

Global hunt begins for 'extinct' species of frogs

Richard Black BBC News 8 Aug 10;

A frog hunt like no other is about to begin, as conservationists scour the world for species thought to be extinct but which may just be hanging on.

Over the next two months, missions will begin in 14 countries searching for species such as the golden toad, the hula painted frog and the scarlet frog.

Amphibians are the most threatened animals on the planet, with one third of species at risk of extinction.

Many have been eliminated by a fungal disease carried in water.

The scientist leading the project, Robin Moore, said he believes some of the 100 amphibians targeted in the survey will turn up.

"A couple of years ago when I was in Ecuador with a team of local scientists, we went in search of a species that hadn't been seen in 12 years," he told BBC News.

"We weren't very hopeful that we'd find it, but after a day of searching we uncovered a rock and found one of these little green frogs.

"Similar stories have started popping up of people finding frogs that we thought had gone; so it gives me hope that there are a lot out there that we think may have disappeared but may actually still be alive."

Dr Moore, of Conservation International (CI), is organising the search for the Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG) of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Golden goal

The biggest issue for amphibians globally is loss of their habitat, as forests are cleared and wetlands drained.

But this survey will target many species that have fallen prey to a newer and starker threat - the fungal disease chytridiomycosis.

There is currently no way of preventing infection in the wild, or of preventing its spread across the world.

Although some species are immune, the chytrid fungus wipes others away suddenly. The iconic golden toad of Costa Rica (Incilius periglenes) went from abundant to extinct in little more than a year.

This spectacular species has become a poster-child for the amphibian crisis, and finding some specimens still alive - about which the team is not optimistic - would be a major coup.

The same applies to the gastric brooding frogs of Australia, which uniquely in the animal world raise their tadpoles in their stomachs.

This involves turning off production of stomach acid. Medical researchers hoped that understanding how the frogs did it could lead to new treatments for stomach ulcers.

But their disappearance in 1985 - probably another victim of chytridiomycosis - put paid to such notions.

If it turns out that a few of them do still exist, or of any of the other species to be surveyed, conservation measures would be implented in full.

"We're limited by our knowledge of many of these species and whether they even exist - if we don't know whether a species exists, we can't protect it," said Dr Moore.

"So it really is a mission to increase our knowledge of what's out there, what's still alive, so that we can follow up and hopefully do some conservation work on species that are found."

Among the other top targets for the survey teams are:

* the hula painted frog (Discoglossus nigriventer) of Israel. Last seen in 1955, it probably went extinct because of marsh drainage - an attempt to curb malaria

* the African painted frog (Callixalus pictus), formerly found in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. It was last seen 1950, and is thought never to have been photographed

* the Mesopotamia beaked toad (Rhinella rostrata). Featuring an unusual pyramid-shaped head, the last sighting dates back to 1914.

Teams will spend between a week and two months in the field looking for each of the targeted species.

The results of the search missions should be known before October's meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Japan, at which governments will review the reasons why they have failed to implement their 2002 pledge to reduce the loss of nature significantly by 2010.

"This [survey] is something that has never been done before, and is hugely significant," said Dr Claude Gascon, CI vice-president and ASG co-chair.

"The search for these lost animals may well yield vital information in our attempts to stop the amphibian extinction crisis, and information that helps humanity to better understand the impact that we are having on the planet."

Read more!

Oil will impact Gulf for years to come

Erica Berenstein (AFP) Google News 8 Aug 10;

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana — As BP works to finally kill its runaway well and anxious coastal residents breathe a sigh of relief, experts warn it could take years -- or even decades -- for the Gulf of Mexico to recover.

Three weeks after the flow was fully stemmed with a temporary cap, the massive slick which once spread for hundreds of miles has been mostly dissolved or dispersed.

Nightmare scenarios in which tens of thousands of birds were smothered to death by blankets of oil proved unfounded after the bulk of the slick stayed offshore. Fishermen who feared their way of life was destroyed are being allowed back into most waters.

"There's essentially no skimmable oil left on the surface," Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer, told reporters Friday.

"Things have improved quite dramatically and that's a combination of the work we've done and Mother Nature."

But while Suttles appeared relieved that the well was finally plugged and should be officially "killed" in a matter of days, he cautioned that "we're far from finished."

Hundreds of miles of Louisiana's fragile coastal wetlands remain coated with sticky sludge and each tide carries fresh tar balls onto once-pristine beaches as far away as Florida.

Vast quantities of oil remain hidden below the waves, suspended in the water column in droplets which remain toxic to the fish and other marine life which once supported a multibillion dollar commercial and recreational fishing industry.

The good news is that the oil appears to be biodegrading rapidly.

The problem is that there is simply so very much out there.

It took 87 days to fully cap the well in the wake of a devastating explosion on April 20 that killed 11 workers and sank the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig, unleashing a torrent of oil into the Gulf.

In that time, 4.1 million barrels of oil escaped into the sea: enough to fill 260 Olympic-sized pools and make this one of the world's worst spills on record.

Just eight percent of the oil was removed from the sea by skimmers and controlled burns.

A government report issued last week estimates that another 42 percent is essentially "gone" thanks the heavy use of chemical dispersants and natural processes like evaporation and the microbes which feed on hydrocarbons.

"This whole notion that that stuff is weathering away is really questionable," said Jim Cowan, a professor in Louisiana State University's department of oceanography and coastal sciences.

"What dispersed oil does is eventually dissolves into sea water and the ultimate fate of that is ultimately undetermined."

Tarballs from the 1979 Ixtoc blowout are still washing up on Texas beaches. While the oil may float initially, it will sink once mixed with sand or sediment and then get kicked back up again during storms, he explained.

"What this has turned into now is the potential for a long term chronic problem," he said in a telephone interview.

"Chronic impacts are always more difficult to deal with from an ecosystem standpoint."

The toxic mix of oil and chemical dispersants could decimate fish populations by killing off vulnerable larvae and reducing the reproductively of those which survive.

"It's a race between the microbes eating it and everything else being exposed to it," said Larry McKinney, executive director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies.

"Microbial action comes at a cost. They're organisms. They use oxygen."

The Gulf was already under stress from coastal erosion and a massive "dead zone" created when agricultural runoff from the Mississippi River feeds algae, which sucks the oxygen out of the water.

"We will likely have a pretty severe impact," McKinney told AFP, adding that the real concern is that the oil spill could be the final tipping point for an already stressed ecosystem.

"You can only be knocked down so many times before you can't get back up again."

Marine conservationist Rick Steiner, a retired University of Alaska scientist, said it's far too soon to hazard a guess at the true impact of the spill.

"What we're hearing is they don't think the damage will be as bad as they initially thought," Steiner said.

"We have to remember that the same thing was said after the Exxon Valdez. But much of the damage didn't become apparent until the second or third year."

Herring stocks have still not returned more than 20 years after the Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska. And oil is still seeping out of underground pockets on that rocky shore when it rains.

Read more!

Hydroelectric dams pose threat to tribal peoples, report warns

Dams in Brazil, Ethiopia and Malaysia will force people off land and destroy hunting grounds, says Survival International
John Vidal, The Guardian 9 Aug 10;

Giant hydroelectric dams being built or planned in remote areas of Brazil, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Peru and Guyana will devastate tribal communities by forcing people off their land or destroying hunting and fishing grounds, according to a report by Survival International today.

The first global assessment of the impact of the dams on tribes suggests more than 300,000 indigenous people could be pushed towards economic ruin and, in the case of some isolated Brazilian groups, to extinction.

The dams are intended to provide much-needed,low-carbon electricity for burgeoning cities, but the report says tribal people living in their vicinity will gain little or nothing. Most of the power generated will be taken by large industries, it concludes.

At least 200,000 people from eight tribes are threatened and a further 200,000 people will be adversely affected by the Gibe III dam on the Omo river in Ethiopia. Ten thousand people in Sarawak, Malaysia, have been displaced by the Bakun dam,which is expected to open next year, and a series of Latin American dams could force many thousands of people off their land.

The authors say enthusiasm for large dams is resurfacing, driven by a powerful international lobby presenting them as a significant solution to climate change. Lyndsay Duffield, said: "The lessons learned [about the human impact of large dams]last century are being ignored, and tribal peoples worldwide are again being sidelined, their rights violated and their lands destroyed."

The report says the World Bank is one of the biggest funders of destructive dams, despite worldwide criticism in the 1990s for supporting such projects. Its portfolio now stands at $11bn, with funding up more than 50% on 1997.

The UN now subsidises dam building via the clean development mechanism (CDM), which allows rich countries to offset their greenhouse gas emissions by investing in clean energy in poor countries. The watchdog group CDM Watch says more than a third of all CDM-registered projects in 2008 were for hydropower, making them the most common type of project vying for carbon credits.

Concern is growing over the role of China, now the world's largest builder and funder of big dams. The Three Gorges Corporation, firm behind the controversial Three Gorges dam, which has displaced more than a million people from around the Yangtze river in the last 20 years, has been contracted to build a dam on the land of the Penan tribe in Sarawak. China's biggest state bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, may fund Gibe III in Ethiopia, to be Africa's tallest. The Chinese government has financed the majority of dams built in China, which account for about half the global total of large dams.

The report says tribes have borne the brunt of the development over the last 30 years. In India, at least 40% of people displaced by dams and other developmentprojects are tribal, though they make up just 8% of the country's population. Almost all of the large dams built or proposed in the Philippines have been on the land of the country's indigenous people.

The report accuses banks and dam builders of consistently underestimating the number of tribal people affected. "There is an endemic tendency within the dam industry to significantly underestimate the number of people to be affected by their projects," it says.

"The World Bank's review of big dam projects over 10 years found that the number of people actually evicted was nearly 50% higher than the planning estimates."

Survival International called for all hydroelectric dams on tribal peoples' land to be halted unless the tribes have given full consent. "In the case of isolated or uncontacted tribes, where consultation is not possible, there should be no development of hydroelectric dams on their territories," it said.
Danger dams

Ethiopia The Gibe III dam on the Omo river in Ethiopia threatens about 200,000 people from eight tribes in the Lower Omo valley. The dam will disrupt the annual flood the tribes rely on, destroying their livelihoods and leaving them vulnerable to famine. On the other side of the border in Kenya, 300,000 people who live on the banks of Lake Turkana will also be affected.

Brazil A series of dams is planned for the river Madeira. The Jirau and Santo Antonio dams will affect many tribes, including uncontacted groups known to live a few miles from one site. The Belo Monte mega-dam on the Xingu river would be the third largest in the world, and would devastate a huge area. Kayapó Indians and other tribes of the area have been protesting against the dam since it was proposed in the 1980s.

Malaysia The Bakun dam in Sarawak, due to be completed this year, has displaced 10,000 tribal people, including many semi-nomadic Penan tribespeople. The relocated Penan now cannot hunt, and struggle to support themselves on tiny plots of land. Sarawak plans 12 more hydroelectric dams, which will force thousands more people to move.

Peru Six dams have been proposed which would flood land along the river Ene, home of the Asháninka, the largest indigenous group in Peru.

Guyana More large dams are planned for the north of Brazil and southern Guyana, including the controversial Upper Mazaruni dam which was stopped after protests but is likely to be revived.

Read more!