Upcoming NSS Kids’ Visit to Green Circle Eco Farm
from Fun with Nature
Jong quickly
from wild shores of singapore and Psychedelic Nature
Doleschallia bisaltide australis (Autumn Leaf)
from into the wild
Laced Woodpecker catches a worm?
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Straw-headed Bulbul eating petals of bauhinia
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Making waves in clean energy sector
Singapore-based firm develops world's largest tidal turbine, to be unveiled today
Jessica Cheam Straits Times 12 Aug 10;
SINGAPORE'S clean energy sector can pat itself on the back today as the world's largest tidal turbine is unveiled at Invergordon, Scotland.
While the turbine, which can generate consistent electricity to power 1,000 British homes, is thousands of kilometres away, it represents a key moment for the growing clean technology or 'cleantech' industry in Singapore.
The AK1000 turbine was largely designed here and tested in the waters off Raffles Lighthouse in 2008 during its lengthy development.
Mr Timothy Cornelius, chief executive of Singapore-based Atlantis Resources Corporation, the firm behind the turbine, told The Straits Times that its unveiling is the 'culmination of 10 years of hard work and belief from all partners and staff'.
The 1MW turbine - which weighs 150 tonnes, is 22.5m tall and costs about US$3 million (S$4.1 million) - will be located at a site in the Orkney Islands and connected to the power grid later this month. The payback period is five to 10 years, depending on the flow rate of the waves, he said.
It is an important milestone not only for Atlantis, which has invested $100 million of private investors' funds into developing the turbine, but also for the global marine power industry, he added.
'This is when ocean power generation goes from being in the research space to the commercial space.'
The company, which originated in Australia before moving its headquarters to Singapore five years ago, is now looking for locations to build a manufacturing plant that will produce turbines for commercial use.
Dwindling fossil fuel resources and growing concerns about their impact on climate change have sparked a global race for clean power, with tidal energy shaping up as a key alternative.
Apart from Scotland, countries like Japan, South Korea and India have vast untapped tidal energy resources that could be converted into renewable energy, thus reducing reliance on fossil fuels, said Mr Cornelius.
But Singapore's waters are too busy with shipping for tidal energy to be tapped. If all goes well, Atlantis could look into listing on an Asian bourse - possibly Singapore - next year, he added.
Mr Cornelius credited the company's success to its move to Singapore, which gave it access to a highly skilled labour force and research collaborations with institutions like Nanyang Technological University. It now has a local staff strength of about 15.
'Singapore has strong intellectual property laws too, which was a key pull factor for us,' he said.
The Economic Development Board's cleantech director Goh Chee Kiong said yesterday Atlantis' presence in Singapore will 'increase the vibrancy of the fast-growing cleantech industry'.
'This project affirms Singapore's attractiveness as a global home for cleantech businesses,' said Mr Goh, who also highlighted that Atlantis benefited from Singapore's strengths in existing industry clusters like precision engineering, offshore and marine.
Atlantis said it was pursuing projects in the Asia-Pacific region, especially to 'power-hungry' markets. 'We are confident of developing tidal power as a credible new renewable asset class in Asia,' said Mr Cornelius.
Zainuddin Muhammad New Straits Times 12 Aug 10;
DUNGUN: The Puteri Rantau Abang (Rantau Abang Princess) is leaving her birthplace again.
Only this time, the 32-year-old leatherback turtle will be carrying a satellite tracking device on its back.
The Turtle and Marine Ecosystem Centre Research researchers hope this will go a long way in learning more about the migration patterns of leatherback turtles.
Malaysian Fisheries Department director-general Datuk Ahamad Sabki Mahmood was present during the release of Puteri back into the sea yesterday.
"It is a miracle that leatherback turtles are making a comeback to this (Rantau Abang) area again," said Ahamad, adding that back in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, leatherbacks were synonymous with with the Rantau Abang beach.
There was a dry spell as far as landings were concerned after the mid 1980s, until recently.
"But now we are lucky to have three leatherback landings in the past two months alone."
Ahamad said the return of Puteri may signal a new beginning in making Rantau Abang a turtle nesting ground again.
The first landing, after a long dry spell, was reported on July 15, where 69 eggs were found.
The next was on July 26 with 77 eggs, followed by 91 eggs on Aug 2, 71 on Aug 6, 104 eggs on Aug 8 and 80 eggs on Tuesday.
The next speculated period for nesting is between Aug 15 and 20.
Puteri was hatched in Rantau Abang in 1978 and marked by staff from the Fisheries Department on its left flipper. Those days there were no sophisticated marking.
"But we were happy to see her again. She landed here again on July 6," said Ahamad.
Of the three leatherbacks that landed, only Puteri was tagged, on her shell. The device can only be monitored for 14 months because of its battery life-span.
Puteri The Leatherback To Provide Data On Turtle playground
Bernama 12 Aug 10;
DUNGUN, Aug 12 (Bernama) -- Puteri Rantau Abang, a 32-year-old leatherback turtle was released to the sea yesterday, carrying with it a transmitter that will provide crucial data on its feeding ground and migration pattern.
The turtle was first released to the sea in 1978 as part of a conservation project and made its way back here 32 years later, weighing 500kg and measuring 1.51m-long and 1.16m-wide.
The Malaysian Fisheries Department identified Puteri Rantau Abang based on a marking on its back.
The turtle landed here on July 15, July 26 and Aug 6 and laid a total of 217 eggs.
It was then captured to allow researchers to attach the platform transmitter terminal that will beam the turtle's location as it voyages the open sea.
The department's director-general Datuk Ahamad Sabki Mahmood said the RM7,000 transmitter would allow researchers to establish the turtle's playground and other data such as water temperatures.
"We expect Puteri Rantau Panjang to head to the waters of Vietnam and Japan before heading to the Pacific.
"It is also possible that it will head to Indonesian waters, to the Solomon Islands and Australia and New Zealand before heading back to Terengganu," he told reporters after the release of the turtle yesterday.
He expects the turtle to return here sometime next week.
-- BERNAMA
Rare 'princess' turtle returns to Malaysia
Google News 12 Aug 10;
KUALA LUMPUR — A leatherback turtle has made a surprise return to a Malaysian beach after 32 years, a report said Friday, hailed as a "miracle" by conservationists and renewing hopes for the endangered species.
The leatherbacks -- the largest of all sea turtles -- were once a star attraction at Rantau Abang beach in Malaysia's northern state of Terengganu but overfishing, poaching and pollution caused the population to plummet.
The turtle, dubbed the "Puteri Rantau Abang" or Rantau Abang Princess and identified by special markings, returned last month to end a long dry spell of turtle landings which have been rare in Terengganu since the 1980s.
"It is a miracle that leatherback turtles are making a comeback to this area," Malaysian Fisheries Department director-general Ahamad Sabki Mahmood said according to The Star newspaper.
Ahamad said the turtle's return showed that Rantau Abang was being made a turtle nesting ground once again, and he hoped for more during the next possible nesting period between August 15 and 20.
The Puteri Rantau Abang, which was hatched in the area in 1978 and marked on its shell and left flipper, returned at a weight of 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds), measuring 1.5 metres (five feet) in length and 1.16 metres wide.
It was released back into the sea on Thursday, carrying a satellite transmitter which will help conservationists track turtle migration patterns.
"We expect Puteri Rantau Abang to head for Vietnam and Japan before heading to the Pacific," Ahamad said, adding that the turtle was also expected to travel to Indonesian waters and as far as New Zealand before returning to Malaysia.
Leatherback turtles have been around for the past 75 million years, surviving cycles of near extinction. Terengganu was the only place in Malaysia where leatherbacks nested.
In the 1950s, up to 10,000 female turtles struggled up the beach to lay their eggs each year, but by 1984 the number had fallen to 800 and in 2006 only five nests were found from two turtles, without any hatchlings emerging.
Apart from the leatherbacks, green turtles have also made a return to Malaysian beaches in recent weeks, but experts warned that the species is still headed for oblivion if habitat loss is not stopped.
Turtle to be tracked around the world
The Star 12 Aug 10;
DUNGUN: Puteri Rantau Abang, a leatherback turtle which returned to Rantau Abang 32 years after it was first released in 1978, has been released again by the Turtle and Marine Ecosystem Centre.
This time, Puteri Rantau Abang which was identified through a marking on its shell and flipper when it returned on July 6, will carry on its back a transmitter to provide crucial data on its feeding ground and migration pattern.
Malaysian Fisheries Department director-general Datuk Ahamad Sabki Mahmood, who was present during Puteri’s release here, said the RM7,000 transmitter would allow researchers to define the turtle’s travel pattern and other data.
Puteri Rantau Abang, weighing 500kg and measuring 1.51m in length and 1.16m-wide is expected to travel across the Asia-Pacific region before returning home.
“We expect Puteri Rantau Abang to head for Vietnam and Japan before heading to the Pacific,” he said, adding that the turtle could also enter Indonesian waters, and to the Solomon Islands, Australia and New Zealand before returning to Terengganu.
Ahamad Sabki added that Puteri Rantau Abang’s return showed that Rantau Abang was being made a turtle nesting ground again after a dry spell in the 1980s.
“It is a miracle that leatherback turtles are making a comeback to this area,” he said, adding that the next speculated period for nesting is between Aug 15 and 20.
Roy Goh New Straits Times 12 Aug 10;
KOTA MARUDU: A team of scientists, divers and businessmen have set up a base in a small village here to breed sea cucumbers.
Fibreglass water tanks, holding rooms, containers and makeshift offices have been put in place to learn more about the squiggly creatures which are a much sought-after delicacy.
At the heart of the centre in Kampung Limau-Limauan, a scenic fishing village located at the border of the district here and Kudat, is project leader and main investor, Wong King Ti.
An established businessman who owns budget hotels, chalets and a property investment and management company in his home base in Kuala Lumpur as well as a seafood trader and prawn aquaculture operator, Wong sees good prospects in the sea cucumber industry for Sabah.
"A few years ago, I traded in sea cucumbers, but my supply from local fishing villages dwindled dramatically. That is why I chose Sabah recently to start up a research and development centre so that we can produce sea cucumbers more consistently.
"This location, for instance, has a good supply of high quality sea cucumbers and the quality of its water is the best," he said of Kampung Limau- Limauan, which fronts the Marudu Bay, north of Sabah.
"We wish to succeed in breeding sea cucumbers and, at the same time, with our research, we hope to be able to replenish their dwindling population through releasing juveniles into the sea," he said recently during a visit by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili.
Wong added that sea cucumbers also acted as deposit feeders or "vacuum cleaners at the bottom of the sea".
He hopes to collect specimens from the village's water and breed them in the research centre.
"We are now pooling the expertise of a team of people who know about the creatures, the sea and the sea cucumber industry. On top of that, we are also getting the local community to help us out.
"Many sea cucumber traders have already approached us and are eager to know what we can offer them in the future. We believe there is a need to have proper legislation and enforcement to limit the harvesting of wild sea cucumbers.
"There is also a need to ban trawling in bays where the breeding process usually takes place."
He added that only with such enforcement in place could the industry flourish and meet the demand for the delicacy which sells for between RM50 and RM1,000 per kilogramme.
Antara 11 Aug 10;
Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - Tiger Conservation Foundation (YPHS) developed the Sumatran Tiger (Phantera Tigris Sumatra) predation method to prevent conflicts between the animals and humans in the Senepsis conservation, Sungai Sembilan sub-district, Dumai, Riau.
"The method is quite simple, by placing a boar as the tiger`s prey in a cage," said the conservation`s head, Bustoni, here, Wednesday.
It is to reduce tiger-human conflicts caused by the narrowing habitat of the dangerous animals.
The Method is by placing 10-20 boars in a 0.25 hectares semi permanent cage built in the conservation area of the tigers considered as the basic tiger sanctuary, he said.
In the future, feeding will be enhanced by making stables for the tigers forming a kind of 3.6 hectares tiger sanctuary.
The Senepsis tiger sanctuary will be equipped with five stables, four 200x200 meters wide, and a main stable for mating purposes.
"Tigers that are placed in the sanctuary are taken from the conflicting species," he said.
Besides tiger stables, a stable for animals as natural food resources will also be built there.
"I believe this method can increase the tiger population and does not reduce their wildness, and restricting their movement," he said.
Human-Tiger conflicts in the Senepsis region is very high because the tiger`s habitat is decreasing due to forest conversion giving way to housings, plantations, and the concessions of three forestry companies.
In the development of this method, the foundation is also cooperating with forest industrial companies from Sinar Mas Forestry.
(Uu.A050//H-NG/A014/P003)
TRAFFIC 11 Aug 10;
Cambridge, UK, 11 August—Hunting appears to have been significantly underestimated as a key reason for the historical decline of Orangutans, according to a new study published today.
An international team of scientists noted how animal collectors operating in the mid-19th Century in Borneo were able to shoot Orangutans on a daily basis and speculated that 150 years ago, encounter rates with the forest primates must have been far higher than they are today.
To test the hypothesis, the researchers attempted to quantify historic encounter rates from information contained in hunting accounts and museum collections and comparing them to recent field studies.
“Even after allowing for variations in the size and length of hunting and survey expeditions and other variables, we estimated that daily encounter rates with Orangutans have declined by about six-fold in areas with little or no forest disturbance,” said Dr Erik Meijaard, of People and Nature Consulting International in Indonesia, the lead author of the study.
Possible explanations for the decline were examined, including habitat loss and degradation, hunting, disease, and even changes in behaviour, such as animals becoming more wary in the face of human persecution.
“Although there are gaps in the data, after examining several possible explanations, we concluded that high levels of hunting was the most likely cause of the reduced encounter rates over time,” said Dr Vincent Nijman, of Oxford Brookes University, a co-author of the study.
Despite legal protection, hunting of Orangutans still occurs and may have had a more significant impact on wild populations than previously realized.
According to Meijaard, recent unpublished studies in Indonesian Borneo suggest that more than 1,000 Orangutans are killed annually.
Orangutans are hunted for a variety of reasons, including food, as agricultural pests, and to obtain young individuals for the pet trade.
Hanging in the balance, an assessment of trade in gibbons and orangutan in Kalimantan, Indonesia, a TRAFFIC report published in 2005 found that the vast majority of Orangutans in trade were young animals, suggesting that the adult females had been hunted.
“We need to understand better how Orangutan populations are affected by different levels of hunting pressure,” said Nijman.
“Indeed, our findings may force us to rethink the whole biology of Orangutans. Much of our current ecological understanding is possibly based on field studies of animals living at densities below those that would be imposed by food availability.”
“How would the species behave if natural densities were 5 or 10 times higher than those we currently observe?”
Declining orangutan encounter rates from Wallace to the present suggest the species was once more abundant by Erik Meijaard, Alan Welsh, Marc Ancrenaz, Serge Wich, Vincent Nijman and Andrew J. Marshall, is available from PLoS One.
Arti Ekawati Jakarta Globe 11 Aug 10;
Indonesia. Indonesia on Wednesday launched a giant project to create a $5 billion agricultural estate spanning three districts in Papua.
The Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate program is the latest attempt by the government to gain self-sufficiency in food production, with a longer-term goal of someday becoming a food-exporting nation.
At a ceremony held in Merauke district on Wednesday, Agriculture Minister Suswono said he expected that the area would become the nation’s bread basket.
“Merauke needs support from all stake holders to become the center for food crop production and renewable energy in the eastern part of the country,” Suswono said.
A number of local investors are currently developing large-scale farms in Merauke, including the Medco Group, the Artha Graha Group and Sinar Mas Group.
According to documents from the Agriculture Ministry, there will be four areas developed between 2010 and 2014 in Merauke and the surrounding areas of Semangga, Sota and Tanah Miring.
Slated to cover about 480,000 hectares, the project is expected to yield a number of agricultural products, such as rice, corn, nuts, fish and cattle.
Speaking about the potential harvests the land could offer, Suswono said he expects the area to produce enormous annual output, including almost two million tons of rice, two million tons of corn and 167,000 tons of soybeans.
He added that the area would also provide grazing for 64,000 cattle.
He said the state could also yield 2.5 million tons of sugar and 937,000 tons of palm oil per year.
The government initially calculated the project would require as much as 1.28 million hectares of land, but after a review by the central government found that large amounts of the land surveyed belonged to indigenous people or was classified as peat land, the estimate was lowered to 480,000 hectares
Reuters AlertNet 11 Aug 10;
JAKARTA, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Unseasonally heavy rains will continue across Indonesia for the rest of this year, officials from the country's state weather agency said on Wednesday, after rains have damaged crops, hampered miners and boosted inflation.
Officials said in a twice-yearly weather forecast on Wednesday the unseasonal rains in the country, which has seen rain continue after the normal end of the wet season in April, were because of the La Nina weather anomaly.
"In our 2010-2011 rainy season estimation, we can see that rains will start earlier than they used to in 60.5 percent of Indonesia," said Soeroso Hadiyanto of the Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics agency (BMKG).
This could be bad news for the government, which is trying to ensure inflation does not get out of hand. Rains have reduce crop harvests and helped push annual inflation to a 15-month high of 6.22 percent in July, above the central bank's end-2010 target.
Food prices were already expected to rise further in the next month because of the festive Ramadan season, with inflation fears pushing debt investors towards the front end of the bond curve.
"Shorter-dated bonds are safer with rising inflation expectations," said Ari Pitoyo, head of research at PT Mandiri Sekuritas.
In Sumatra, a sources of commodities such as coffee, tin and coal, a rainy season due to start in October had already started this month, said Hadiyanto.
Coffee exporters in Indonesia's main growing province of Lampung in Sumatra have stockpiled at least 120,000 tonnes of beans after heavy rains damaged the quality. [ID:nSGE67A0C3]
Rains are also a concern for miners. Rains led to a force majeure of coal output at a unit of Indonesian coal miner PT Bayan Resources
Most of Indonesia usually has a dry season in July, August and September, but agency data in July and for the first 10 days of August showed that extreme weather has hit the archipelago, with rainfall intensity above normal except in some parts of eastern province Papua.
In coming months, some parts of the main island Java, all of tourist resort island Bali, eastern Nusa Tenggara and some parts of Papua will be dry, Hadiyanto said.
Extreme weather could also disturb sea transportation as the agency expected high waves will hit Indonesian waters, he said, in a week that saw at least 11 people die after a boat in Nusa Tenggara was swamped by big waves.
(Reporting by Telly Nathalia; Editing by Neil Chatterjee)
Agency warns of extreme weather in August, September
The Jakarta Post 11 Aug 10;
Heavy rains, strong winds and high waves will mark the transition period from dry to rainy seasons between August and September, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) warns.
“We call on the public to keep an eye to the transition period in August and September, marked by extreme phenomena," deputy head of the agency for climatology Soeroso Hadiyanto was quoted by Antara news agency on Wednesday.
The agency has registered 52 extreme rainfalls in the first 11 days of August across the country at an intensity of more than 59 mm/day.
Previously the agency had forecast more extreme rainfalls in August than in July, when the number of extreme rainfalls was recorded at 125.
Thick clouds could now be seen in the skies over Sumatra, western part of Java, western and southern part of Kalimantan, western part of Sulawesi and part of Papua during the transition period.
However, the areas stretching from East Java to East Nusa Tenggara would have less rainfalls in the same period, Soeroso said. "This is because the sea surface temperature in the western and eastern parts of Indonesia is hot, meaning that positive temperature anomaly has an impact on the fairly high intensity of evaporation which later forms clouds to cause rains," he said.
According to the agency's provisional weather forecast, rains will fall in 19 percent of the Indonesian territory in September, 42.3 percent in October and 33.2 percent in November.
Fidelis E Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 11 Aug 10;
A recent study showing sea level rise and shifting rain patterns in West Nusa Tenggara should not be used as evidence of climate change, its authors warn.
The study, published this week by the Environment Ministry and the German Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), was undertaken to assess the vulnerability of small islands to the impact of climate change, and was conducted on Lombok and Sumbawa.
It showed there was a rise in sea levels of up to eight millimeters between 2008 and 2009 on the southern coasts of the islands.
The study also found that the peak of the rainy season, which from 1961 to 1990 was usually in January, has fluctuated between December and February in the last two decades.
Tri Wahyu Hadi, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) who took part in the study, said that while the initial conclusion was that these changes were brought about by climate change, the lack of long-term data made it impossible to offer a final scientific judgement.
“We’ve already answered the first question, whether there has been any change,” he said. “The next question is, how much have these parameters changed? That’s a difficult one to answer,” he said.
“Take, for instance, the fact that it’s supposed to be the dry season now. Yet it continues to rain. But can we really attribute this to climate change rather than a weather anomaly?”
Tri cited research that had been conducted in Indonesia in 1929 by Dutch scientist Cornelius Braak, who wrote: “In some years the farmer will wait in vain for the dry season, whereas in other years he will look out for months and months for the first good shower.”
“That means that we’ve been experiencing weather anomalies for a long time now,” Tri said. “The next question is whether these anomalies are arbitrary or part of a wider pattern.”
He said a comprehensive study of parameters affected by climate change, such as temperature, precipitation and wind, would ideally require a body of records going back several decades, which was unavailable for the West Nusa Tenggara study.
The World Meteorological Organization stipulates that any such study would require 30 years worth of data for the control period and 30 years for the test period.
“We couldn’t get records dating that far back, a minimum of 60 years,” Tri said. “We did, however, get data from 1961, and we used the period from 1961 to 1990 as our baseline for the years from 1991 to 2007.”
He added that this data showed that even in the pre-1990 control period, the peak period for rainfall in Lombok occasionally fell outside of January.
There is thus no conclusive case for climate change based on this data, Tri said, adding that the only conclusion that could be drawn was that rain patterns in Lombok varied significantly.
“If you really want to test for climate change, you need to have 30 years of data after the control period,” he said.
“The issue of whether what we’re seeing is climate change or a number of weather anomalies is a secondary one. The real point is that climate patterns can be unpredictable.”
However, Sulistyowati, the assistant to the deputy for climate change impact control at the Environment Ministry, said the study was conclusive proof of climate change, regardless of the WMO criteria.
“It found changes in rainfall patterns and intensity, all of which point to climate change,” Sulistyowati said, adding that a 10-year body of data was sufficient to convince her.
Ibnu Sofian, an oceanographer from the National Coordination Agency for Surveys and Mapping (Bakosurtanal), said the increased frequency of rough seas around Indonesian islands was proof of global warming, the lack of data notwithstanding.
“The rise in the sea levels comes from global warming, which has a direct impact through thermal expansion and leads to the melting of ice at the polar caps,” he said.
“Meanwhile, climate variability such as La Nina and El Nino can also affect sea levels, precipitation and sea surface temperatures,” Sofian said.
Taiwan Focus 11 Aug 10;
Taipei, Aug 11 (CNA) Thermal discharge from a nuclear power plant in southern Taiwan is behind the rapid destruction of Kenting National Park's coral reef, a marine researcher said Wednesday, and he warned the reef's disappearance would jeopardize Taiwan's fishing industry and national security.
Allan Chen, a research fellow with Academia Sinica's Research Centre for Biodiversity, said the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant owned by state-run Taiwan Power Company has sped up the deterioration of corals by emitting thermal discharge that has driven local seawater temperatures 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius higher over the past 26 years.
Because of this and other anthropogenic disturbances, the number of coral types has fallen from 20-30 26 years ago to three today, Chen said.
Taiwan is rich in corals. Except for the sandy area of western Taiwan, various types of coral reefs can be found around the island and even off the outlying island of Penghu, where the water temperature has shot up by 1.09 degrees Celsius in recent years.
Dubbed as the rain forests of the ocean by scientists, coral reefs are considered the most important marine ecosystem in the world for the fishing industry, tourism, culture, medicinal purposes and coastline protection, Chen noted.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) , although corals cover less than one percent of the world's oceans, they serve as the homes and feeding areas of one-third of globally known marine species.
Chen's research shows that Taiwan's seawater temperature peaked between the 1970s and the 1980s, in line with global trends. In the last six decades, the average temperature of Taiwan's seawater has risen 0.79 degrees Celsius, slightly higher than the 0.5 degrees Celsius experienced by other tropical sea regions in the world.
Scientists have warned that if global warming continues at its current pace, the world's coral reefs will completely disintegrate by the end of the century in 2010.
In addition to industrial waste, overfishing, pollution, ocean acidification and typhoons all contribute to the destruction and bleaching of corals in Taiwan, Chen said.
He explained the current live coral coverage rate in Kenting is approximately 70 percent, roughly the same as in 1986, but he stressed that the rate could be a misleading indicator because coverage rate does not mean the live corals are fully functioning.
"It is like tearing down a multifunctional high-rise building like Taipei 101 and replacing the area with one-story houses. You lose most of the original diversity and functionality," he said.
Meanwhile, in northern Taiwan, a group of rare soft corals was recently discovered off the coast of Taipei County's Rueifang Township.
Wang Min-hsiang, a diving instructor who made the discovery, described the area as an underwater "crystal palace, " but he feared the ecosystem will be doomed if plans to build a coal-handling wharf near the site is allowed to proceed.
Taipower has proposed to build a 1,464-meter pier to handle shipments of the coal used by a nearby thermal power plant, according to local media reports.
Local residents have vehemently objected to the plan, but Taipower President Lee Han-shen said the concerns are unnecessary at the moment because the plan is still under review. (By Jenny W. Hsu) enditem/ls
Hawaii 24/7 11 Aug 10;
MEDIA RELEASE
Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument (PMNM) is one of the most pristine and best protected coral reef ecosystems in the world. While PMNM’s management is designed to best support the ecosystem’s resilience to climate change, these measures cannot completely prevent damage from climate change.
One of the effects of climate change is to increase the risk of reef damage through mass coral bleaching events. Mass coral bleaching occurs when unusually warm water temperatures disrupt the relationship between corals and the symbiotic microscopic algae that live within their tissues.
Temperature stress causes the coral to expel the algae, and the reef appears white or “bleached” as its calcium carbonate skeleton becomes visible. Coral bleaching was recorded in PMNM in 2002 and 2004, and is likely to occur again in the future.
Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument is co-managed through a partnership of the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the State of Hawaii.
PMNM works with a network of leading scientists to assess bleaching risks and impacts by monitoring climate forecasts, sea temperatures, and coral conditions throughout the bleaching season (July-November).
2010 Forecast
Based on available information, the threat of widespread coral bleaching within PMNM is currently rated as low to moderate.
Globally, 2010 has been a significant year for mass coral bleaching. Severe events in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia have caused up to 100% bleaching in some areas, resulting in high levels of coral mortality. The regional heat event that caused this extreme event in Southeast Asia has recently moved toward Micronesia, with reports of bleaching already reported in Palau.
Climate forecasts raise concern that a similar heating event may warm sea temperatures in PMNM beyond bleaching thresholds.
Predictions developed by NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch Program suggest that the bleaching risk is greatest to Papahanaumokuakea’s northern atolls: Kure, Pearl and Hermes, and Midway; the highest temperature stress is likely to occur in September 2010.
However, local weather conditions, including either storms or doldrums, will strongly influence the actual sea temperatures and could either prevent or worsen a mass bleaching event.
Current measurements of sea temperature by both satellites and in-water instruments indicate slightly above average temperatures and a very minor accumulation of heat stress.
Research cruises in August and September will provide an update on sea temperatures and coral condition, which will be described in subsequent condition reports.
— Find out more:
http://ccma.nos.noaa.gov/ecosystems/coralreef/coral_report_2005/NWHI_Ch10_C.pdf
Alyson Zepeda PlanetArk 12 Aug 10;
U.S. wildlife officials have recovered over 1,000 oil-soaked turtles from the Gulf of Mexico in recent weeks, but the threat from BP Plc's oil spill has waned since the ruptured well has been capped, experts said.
On April 20, a Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and spewed oil into the Gulf of Mexico for nearly three months. U.S. wildlife officials have been tracking the number of oiled turtles recovered since the spill. The number of turtles began to spike in late July.
From July 27 through August 8, the number of oil-covered sea turtles more than doubled to about 440, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported.
Calm seas made search and capture of the oiled turtles easier, so the numbers increased, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
Of the 1,000 sea turtles recovered since the spill began, 487 were alive and 516 dead, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said. About 570 sea turtles have been found stranded on Gulf Coast beaches, six times the number reported in previous years, said David Mizejewski, a naturalist at the National Wildlife Federation.
The recently recovered turtles have had much less oil on them, ranging from a light sheen to moderate coating, but no heavy oiling, said Barbara Schroeder, a NOAA turtle expert.
"Most of the turtles that we have captured in the last few weeks don't require any rehabilitation," Schroeder said.
The Gulf is far from clean and the spill still poses a danger to sea turtles, but Schroeder said there have been encouraging signs in the floating seaweed patches, known as sargassum, where young turtles in the gulf live and feed.
"Now we are starting to see much more healthy sargassum habitat," she said. "The sargassum is coming back to life."
HATCHLING RELOCATION
But turtle habitats have not recovered enough to allow hatchling turtles to venture into the water from Northern Gulf shores, Schroeder said.
About 208 nests have been relocated from the Northern Gulf to the John F. Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral in Florida, and over 4,000 hatchlings have been released off of east Central Florida beaches, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
It is unclear whether the relocated turtles will try to nest in Florida or return to their birthplace in the Gulf, said Alan Bolten of the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research at the University of Florida.
Most of the relocated hatchlings are loggerhead turtles, which return to a general region rather than a specific beach to nest. It takes 35 years before they are ready to nest for the first time, Bolten said, and consequently they are able to adapt to changes that can occur in that time.
Florida is home to 90 percent of all turtle nests in the continental United States, according to Sea Turtle Conservancy. There were over 50,000 loggerhead turtle nests in Florida last year, with each nest containing up to 120 eggs. Only about 1 in 1,000 sea turtles survive to adulthood.
Yahoo News 10 Aug 10;
RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) – An unidentified oil tanker is suspected to be responsible for a petroleum slick sullying beaches north of Rio de Janeiro, where several dead penguins were also found, Brazilian maritime officials said Tuesday.
"The oil is very diluted and has spread to almost all the beaches in the region," the head of Rio's ports authority, Walter Bombada, told the newspaper O Globo.
"But it doesn't seem to be an accident of huge proportions.... It seems to come from an oil tanker cleaning out its reservoir," he said.
The slick was found along the coast 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro city, in a pristine beach area known as the Lakes District.
Around 20 penguins were found dead on the beaches.
Brazil's state-run Petrobras oil company said in a statement it would help to clean the beaches. It also said it was analyzing the oil, but said an aerial pass out at sea failed to locate a tell-tale slick which could have pointed the way to the offending vessel.
Brazil's navy was asking 320 ships which passed by off the area over the past four days to supply samples of the oil they had on board.
If a ship is identified as being the culprit, its owners face a pollution fine of up to 25 million dollars.
Yahoo News 11 Aug 10;
WARSAW (AFP) – Environmental group Greenpeace hoisted a huge banner with a heart across the facade of Poland's environment ministry in Warsaw Wednesday, warning logging threatened Europe's last first-growth forest.
"We expect the minister to halt logging in the Bialowieza forest until new forest management plans are drawn up which limit logging to the minimum required for local residents and ban it during (bird) nesting season," Robert Cyglicki, head of Greenpeace Poland, told reporters.
Greenpeace also wants the expansion of the Polish national park which currently covers some 17 percent of the Bialowieza forest.
Six Greenpeace activists from Poland, Austria, Finland and Hungary scaled the environment ministry building in Warsaw and strung a huge banner featuring an enormous heart saying "I love puszcza" (I love the forest) across it.
In response, Environment Minister Andrzej Kraszewski told reporters he loved the Bialowieza forest too, and that its expansion was a matter to be negotiated with local communities.
A week ago Polish environmentalists warned deforestation was threatening Bialowieza's flora and fauna and said they had complained to the EU over logging practices.
But Polish forestry officials deny any logging for commercial purposes in Bialowieza, saying that only diseased or infested trees are being felled.
The vast Bialowieza forest, which covers some 140,000 hectares (345,000 acres) and spans the Polish-Belarussian border, is the final remnant of a massive woodland that spread across Europe after the last Ice Age, which ended about 10,000 years ago.
About 800 European bison live there freely, half of them on the Polish side. It is also home to rare bird species and lynx.
Alister Doyle PlanetArk 12 Aug 10;
Some of Russia's smog-causing peatland fires are likely to burn for months, part of a global problem of drained marshes that emit climate-warming greenhouse gases, experts said on Wednesday.
Novel carbon markets could offer a long-term fix for peat bogs, from Indonesia to South Africa, if negotiators of a U.N. climate treaty can agree ways to pay to safeguard marshes that are often drained to make way for farms, roads or homes.
"Peat fires continue underground and...they will not be extinguished in Russia before winter rains and snow set in," said Hans Joosten, professor of peatland studies and paleoecology at the University of Greifswald in Germany.
To put out fires "you must inundate the area completely," he said, adding that one peat fire in South Africa near the border with Botswana, for instance, had smoldered for 5 years. Peat is formed from partly decayed vegetation.
Environmental group Wetlands International estimated 80 to 90 percent of the smog in Moscow was from peatland fires near the capital, rather than forest fires linked to what weather officials call Russia's hottest summer in a millennium.
"In Russia, peat fires can sometimes last under snow cover through the winter," said Ilkka Vanha-Majamaa, a scientist at the Finnish Forestry Research Institute.
Water dumped from planes, part of Russia's response, is rarely enough to halt peat fires, said Alex Kaat, spokesman for Wetlands International. Moscow has pledged more action to extinguish the blazes.
"Russia promised the same after peat fires in 2002 and nothing was done," Kaat said, saying past efforts to use water from the Volga River to soak peatlands had been half-hearted.
"CATASTROPHIC FIRES" WARNING
Russia has the largest national carbon emissions from peatland destruction after Indonesia, according to Wetlands International.
And the U.N. panel of climate experts warned Moscow of problems of global warming and peat in its last report in 2007.
"During dry years, catastrophic fires are expected on drained peatlands in European Russia," it said, calling for a restoration of water supplies to reverse drainage.
Peat releases carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, as it dries out. Peat is also often cut and used as a low-grade fuel.
Joosten, who is also secretary general of the International Mire Conservation Group, said there were 500,000 sq km (193,100 sq miles) of drained peatlands in the world -- the size of Spain. "To my mind that is 500,000 sq km too much," he said.
Wetlands International estimates that drained peatlands account for 6 percent of carbon dioxide emissions from human sources. The U.N. climate panel says global warming stokes desertification, wildfires, floods and rising sea levels.
Joosten said current projects for re-wetting peatlands in Belarus and Ukraine were attracting interest from investors in voluntary carbon dioxide markets. But such credits were worth only a few euros per tonne of avoided emissions.
A problem is in agreeing how much a peat bog emits.
A hectare (2.47 acres) of drained peatland in central Europe, used for agriculture, probably emits about 25 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year from continuing decay, Joosten said.
But natural peat marshes emit methane, another powerful greenhouse gas, so protecting peat does not eliminate emissions. Joosten estimated an intact hectare of wet peat emits the equivalent of 10-15 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
Russia's Fires Cause "Brown Cloud," May Hit Arctic
Alister Doyle PlanetArk 12 Aug 10;
Smoke from forest fires smothering Moscow adds to health problems of "brown clouds" from Asia to the Amazon and Russian soot may stoke global warming by hastening a thaw of Arctic ice, environmental experts say.
"Health effects of such clouds are huge," said Veerabhadran Ramanathan, chair of a U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) study of "brown clouds" blamed for dimming sunlight in cities such as Beijing or New Delhi and hitting crop growth in Asia.
The clouds -- a haze of pollution from cars or coal-fired power plants, forest fires and wood and other materials burned for cooking and heating -- are near-permanent and blamed for causing chronic respiratory and heart diseases.
"In Asia just the indoor smoke -- because people cook with firewood -- causes over a million deaths a year," Ramanathan, of the University of California, San Diego, told Reuters.
Moscow's top health official said on Monday that about 700 people were dying every day, twice as many as in normal weather, as Russia grapples with its worst heat wave in 130 years.
"The Russian fires are in principle similar to what you see from other brown clouds," said Henning Rodhe of Stockholm University, a vice-chair of the UNEP Atmospheric Brown Cloud study. "The difference is that this only lasts a few weeks."
Asian pollution has been blamed for dusting Himalayan glaciers with black soot that absorbs more heat than reflective snow and ice and so speeds a thaw. Worldwide, however, the polluting haze blocks out sunlight and so slows climate change.
For the climate, "the main concern ... is what impact the Russian smoke would have on the Arctic, in terms of black carbon and other (particles) in the smoke settling on the sea ice," Ramanathan said.
ARCTIC ICE
In past years "we have had episodes of biomass burning that have brought clouds in over the Arctic," said Kim Holmen, director of research at the Norwegian Polar Institute.
Holmen, who runs a pollution monitoring station in Svalbard in the high Arctic, said the air over Russia was fairly stable in recent days, concentrating smoke over land. But a shift in winds, easing pollution in Moscow, could sweep smog northwards.
Arctic sea ice, which shrinks in mid-September to an annual minimum before the winter freeze, now covers a slightly bigger area than in 2007 and 2008, the smallest extents since satellite measurements began in the 1970s.
The exposure of Arctic Ocean water to sunlight is a threat to the livelihoods of Arctic peoples and creatures such as polar bears. It also accelerates global warming, blamed by the U.N. panel of climate experts on mankind's use of fossil fuels.
"Such conditions are likely to become more common in the future," Rodhe said of the Russian heatwave and related fires.
Asia is most studied for brown clouds but they also form over parts of North America, Europe, the Amazon basin and southern Africa. Burning of savannah in sub-Saharan Africa, to clear land for crops, is a new source.
Forest and peat bog fires are burning over 1,740 sq kms (672 sq mile), the Russian Emergencies Ministry said. By contrast, official Brazilian data show the Amazon rainforest lost 1,810 sq kms in almost a year to June 2010.
Holmen also echoed Russian authorities' worries that the fires may also release radioactive elements locked in vegetation since the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986.
Radioactive isotopes include strontium 90 and caesium 137. Other industrial pollutants such as PCBs could also be freed.
(Editing by Paul Taylor)
Russia Says Fires Burn Chernobyl-Tainted Forests
Alexei Anishchuk PlanetArk 12 Aug 10;
Fires have scorched forests contaminated with radiation from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, a Russian forestry official said on Wednesday, but it was unclear how dangerous the smoke might be.
Kremlin leaders are already grappling with Russia's deadliest wildfires since 1972 and a drought that has destroyed crops after what weather monitoring officials say was the country's hottest summer in a millennium.
Fears of stirring up nuclear pollution from the Chernobyl disaster could take the crisis to a new level, though officials said radiation levels were normal in Moscow and once scientist said the level of risk depended on exactly where the fires were.
"Yes, there have been fires," Vasily Tuzov, deputy director of Russia's forest protection agency, told Reuters by telephone when asked if there had been fires in forests polluted by the Chernobyl accident, the world's worst civil nuclear disaster.
"Most of them have been extinguished now," Tuzov said.
He refused to give more details about the fires, referring to a statement on the agency's website which said that fires covering an area of 39 square kilometers (15 square miles) had been registered in regions with forests polluted with radiation.
The regions affected included Bryansk province, which borders Ukraine southwest of Moscow and was polluted by radioactive dust that billowed across Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Europe after a series of explosions at Chernobyl's reactor No. 4 on April 26, 1986.
Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu said on August 5 that in the event of a fire in forests in the Bryansk region, radioactive particles could be propelled into the air.
Kim Holmen, head of research at the Norwegian Polar Institute, said trees, other vegetation and the ground had absorbed some of the nuclear material spewed out in the 1986 accident and blazes were releasing some again into the air.
"The sins of our fathers revisit us," he told Reuters.
"There is a remobilization of Chernobyl material. That is a side of biomass burning that is under-communicated. There is plenty of this still around ... In order to say anything useful about the amounts you have to see where the fires are."
Greenpeace Russia said in a statement that three fires had been registered in badly contaminated forests in the Bryansk region, which was polluted with the nuclear isotope caesium 137.
Radiation levels in the Moscow region were unchanged and within normal limits on Thursday, said on Yelena Popova, the head of Moscow's radiation monitoring center.
Asked whether fires in the areas contaminated by Chernobyl could bring radioactive particles in the Moscow region, she said the risk was still "theoretical."
"There is a possibility that winds could bring contaminated air from Kaluga or Tula regions if major fires erupt there," she said, referring to two Russian provinces a little under 200 km (125 miles) southwest of Moscow that were also polluted by Chernobyl.
"But our monitoring stations have not registered any increase in such activity so far," she said.
MOSCOW SMOKE CLEARS
The wildfires have killed at least 54 people in Russia.
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she had called Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday to express solidarity with Russia over the crisis.
Strong winds cleared the toxic smoke that has choked Moscow for three weeks on Wednesday, but weather forecasters warned it could return in 24 hours.
The heat and smoke in Moscow -- which sent pollution levels to the highest levels in decades -- almost doubled mortality rates in the capital and disrupted flights, consumer activity and even trading in Russian stocks and bonds.
Muscovites got a glimpse of clear skies on Wednesday after a thunderstorm accompanied by strong winds in the early hours dispersed the smoke. Some young Russians rejoiced in the rains, dancing in the downpour and cheering the thunder and lightning.
The Emergencies Ministry said the area of burning forests in Russia had almost halved in the past 24 hours to 927 square km (358 square miles) from 1,740 square km (676 square miles), and that nearly 166,000 people were fighting more than 600 fires.
"As soon as there is windless weather again, the smoke will return," Roman Vilfand, the director of the state weather forecasting center, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
"It has got easier in Moscow but not where the fires are burning."
(Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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