Best of our wild blogs: 16 Aug 10

Finally, caught up with a Mangrove Snake
from Life's Indulgences

Living cells
from The annotated budak

Time to feed!
from Psychedelic Nature

Guides of Singapore shores: Finale in the field
from wild shores of singapore

Big Sister Island (Subar Laut)
from Biodiversity Singapore

The biology and conservation of declining coral reefs, an interview with Kristian Teleki from Mongabay.com news

Read more!

Sea turtle eggs sold at Terengganu market may be from neighbouring states

R.S.N. Murali and Zabidi Tusin The Star 16 Aug 10;

KUALA TERENGGANU: The state government has directed the Fisheries Department to check whether turtle eggs sold at the Pasar Payang central market here were harvested by licensed turtle egg collectors.

“We believe the eggs sold here come from neighbouring states or have been rejected but we still want to get to the bottom of this,” State Secretary Datuk Mazlan Ngah said.

Mazlan, who is also chairman of the Terengganu Turtle Sanctuary Advisory Board, said licensed turtle eggs collectors preferred to sell to the department as they are paid more for each egg compared to the market price.

Last year, the state announced a new price list that ranges from RM5 for a leatherback turtle egg to RM4 for other species.

The state has sanctioned 35 licensed collectors who have been allocated specific areas to collect the eggs and sell to the department.

Mazlan believes the eggs sold at the market were harvested by poachers or imported but labelled as local so they could be sold easily.

“It’s hard for us to totally ban the sale of eggs here as neighbouring states allow the trading of turtle eggs,’’ he said.

Mazlan was commenting on a report in The Star that traders at the central market are openly selling endangered turtle eggs.

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

There is a huge demand for turtle eggs as they are believed to increase the sexual prowess of the elderly and are also consumed to treat asthma and backaches.

Previously, traders sold eggs supplied from Sabah and Indonesia but there is great demand for Terengganu eggs.

This is because locally-laid eggs are fresher.

Read more!

Biodiversity Index Needed in Brunei To Evaluate Conservation Policy

BruDirect.com 16 Aug 10;

Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei is looking to develop a national biodiversity index as an evaluation and monitoring tool for its conservation policy in its quest to become one of the world's most liveable cities, the deputy director of Forestry Department said.

The index can be applied to a specific locality such as Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB) or a city and other districts in a broader application, said Mahmud Yussof in an email.

"With the current biogeographical conditions of the country, the implementation of the index will not be a problem especially for BSB, as a stepping board to lift BSB's rank as the most liveable city in the world in the near future."

The deputy director made the remarks after attending the Second Expert Workshop on the Development of the City Biodiversity Index in Singapore last month.

The formulation of the index, which is under the Convention on Biological Diversity, is one of the strategic efforts in reducing global biodiversity loss, he said, adding that Singapore was tasked to lead the experts on the development of the index.

The workshop was aimed to develop a city biodiversity index to assist national governments and local authorities in benchmarking biodiversity conservation efforts in the urban context, help evaluate progress in reducing the rate of biodiversity loss in urban ecosystems and help measure the ecological footprint of cities.

The workshop discussed ways to improve the index prepared by the expert group, based on the testbedding from participating cities and to present the documents at the upcoming Tenth Session of the Conference of the Parties in Nagoya, Japan.

Based on the experiences of the participating cities, the workshop has identified the problems of practicality and operational definitions of the current index, especially the indicators, scoring methodology, the definitions of specific terminology, inter-agencies issues, and political implications.

Currently, 17 cities worldwide are testing the index a tool for biodiversity conservation and monitoring.

Mahmud said Singapore would assist Brunei on the test-bedding, including the data procurement to enhance national capacity.

"This information will be provided to the Municipal Board and other relevant agencies to be incorporated into the BSB Masterplan."

"The quality of biodiversity is very much dependent on the extent of natural, semi-natural area and forests, the protection of ecosystem services and wildlife population or selected wildlife species within the city harmonised with infrastructural development," he added. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

Read more!

'First' newborn beavers spotted in the UK

BBC News 12 Aug 10;

The first newborn beavers born in the wild since their re-introduction to the UK last year have been spotted by officials in a Scottish forest.

At least two kits, estimated to be eight weeks old and belonging to different family groups, have been seen in Knapdale Forest in Argyll.

A total of 11 beavers were brought to Scotland from Norway last year as part of the Scottish Beaver Trial. Beavers were hunted to extinction in the UK 400 years ago.

Some feral beavers have been known to exist in the wild as a result of being released by people who owned them as pets.

Christian Robstad, beaver field officer for the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, described seeing the new arrivals was an "amazing" experience.

"After weeks of patient observation, we were finally rewarded with not just one kit being spotted but a second kit from a different family group as well," he said.

"The first emerged as part of a 'family outing' with its parents and older sister close by to offer additional protection.

"It kept close to the edge of the loch and called out to its family for reassurance while it began to learn to forage for food."
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

We will be tracking our animals closely and hope to determine the exact number of kits produced as part of the trial soon”

End Quote Simon Jones Scottish Wildlife Trust

The reintroduction is a partnership between the society and the Scottish Wildlife Trust.

Simon Jones, Scottish beaver trial project manager with the trust, said the kits marked a "fantastic step forward" for the trial.

He said: "Both these beaver families are real trial success stories, having settled into Knapdale very well.

"Both have built their own lodge and one family has had great success building a dam to access better food supplies.

"This has created a magnificent new area of wetland in which wildlife is now flourishing in.

"There is a chance that even more kits have been born this year.

"We will be tracking our animals closely and hope to determine the exact number of kits produced as part of the trial soon."

Beavers were a native species to the UK and were once common before they were hunted to extinction by man.

The trial aims to provide information which could determine whether or not animals are reintroduced into the wild across Scotland.

Scottish Environment Minister, Roseanna Cunningham, said: "It's exciting to see these beavers thriving in Knapdale Forest and producing beaver kits so soon after their reintroduction.

"We were hoping that this would happen and I'm looking forward to watching the progress of the beaver families over the coming years."

Nick Purdy from Forestry Commission Scotland, the trial's host partner, said: "We are delighted to have the beavers resident in Knapdale and this is just the news we have been hoping for.

"I know visitors will be keen to get a sighting of the new arrivals, but will also understand that this is a very sensitive time for these beaver families.

"It would be of great help to the beavers if the public avoided the loch edge for the next few weeks to help minimise disturbance while the kits get used to their new environment."

The kits are currently thought to be about the size of large guinea pigs.

The young weigh about 1lb (450g) at birth, are born with a full coat of fur, their eyes open and the ability to swim.

Read more!

Artificial meat? Food for thought by 2050

Leading scientists say meat grown in vats may be necessary to feed 9 billion people expected to be alive by middle of century
John Vidal, The Guardian 16 Aug 10;

Artificial meat grown in vats may be needed if the 9 billion people expected to be alive in 2050 are to be adequately fed without destroying the earth, some of the world's leading scientists report today.

But a major academic assessment of future global food supplies, led by John Beddington, the UK government chief scientist, suggests that even with new technologies such as genetic modification and nanotechnology, hundreds of millions of people may still go hungry owing to a combination of climate change, water shortages and increasing food consumption.

In a set of 21 papers published by the Royal Society, the scientists from many disciplines and countries say that little more land is available for food production, but add that the challenge of increasing global food supplies by as much as 70% in the next 40 years is not insurmountable.

Although more than one in seven people do not have enough protein and energy in their diet today, many of the papers are optimistic.

A team of scientists at Rothamsted, the UK's largest agricultural research centre, suggests that extra carbon dioxide in the air from global warming, along with better fertilisers and chemicals to protect arable crops, could hugely increase yields and reduce water consumption.

"Plant breeders will probably be able to increase yields considerably in the CO2 enriched environments of the future … There is a large gap between achievable yields and those delivered ... but if this is closed then there is good prospect that crop production will increase by about 50% or more by 2050 without extra land", says the paper by Dr Keith Jaggard et al.

Several studies suggest farmers will be up against environmental limits by 2050, as industry and consumers compete for water. One group of US scientists suggests that feeding the 3 billion extra people could require twice as much water by then. This, says Professor Kenneth Strzepek of the University of Colorado, could mean an 18% reduction in worldwide water availability for food growing by 2050.

"The combined effect of these increasing demands can be dramatic in key hotspots [like] northern Africa, India, China and parts of Europe and the western US," he says.

Many low-tech ways are considered to effectively increase yields, such as reducing the 30-40% food waste that occurs both in rich and poor countries. If developing countries had better storage facilities and supermarkets and consumers in rich countries bought only what they needed, there would be far more food available.

But novel ways to increase food production will also be needed, say the scientists. Conventional animal breeding should be able to meet much of the anticipated doubling of demand for dairy and meat products in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, but this may not be enough.

Instead, says Dr Philip Thornton, a scientist with the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, two "wild cards" could transform global meat and milk production. "One is artificial meat, which is made in a giant vat, and the other is nanotechnology, which is expected to become more important as a vehicle for delivering medication to livestock."

Others identify unexpected hindrances to producing more food. One of the gloomiest assessments comes from a team of British and South African economists who say that a vast effort must be made in agricultural research to create a new green revolution, but that seven multinational corporations, led by Monsanto, now dominate the global technology field.

"These companies are accumulating intellectual property to an extent that the public and international institutions are disadvantaged. This represents a threat to the global commons in agricultural technology on which the green revolution has depended," says the paper by Professor Jenifer Piesse at King's College, London.

"It is probably not possible to generate sufficient food output or incomes in much of sub-Saharan Africa to feed the population at all adequately … For least developed countries there are prospects of productivity growth but those with very little capacity will be disadvantaged."

Other papers suggest a radical rethink of global food production is needed to reduce its dependence on oil. Up to 70% of the energy needed to grow and supply food at present is fossil-fuel based which in turn contributes to climate change.

"The need for action is urgent given the time required for investment in research to deliver new technologies to those that need them and for political and social change to take place," says the paper by Beddington.

"Major advances can be achieved with the concerted application of current technologies and the importance of investing in research sooner rather than later to enable the food system to cope with challenges in the coming decades," says the paper led by the population biologist Charles Godfray of Oxford University.

The 21 papers published today in a special open access edition of the philosophical transactions of the royalsociety.org are part of a UK government Foresight study on the future of the global food industry. The final report will be published later this year in advance of the UN climate talks in Cancun, Mexico.

Read more!

Russia ban on grain export begins

BBC News 15 Aug 10;

Russia has imposed a ban on grain exports until the end of the year, after a severe drought and a spate of wildfires devastated crops.

Russia is one of the world's biggest producers of wheat, barley and rye, and the ban is likely to see bread prices rise in places like the Middle East.

The measures are designed to keep domestic food prices under control.

But agriculture ministry data has revealed that this year's crop is unlikely to meet even domestic demand.

Hundreds of wildfires have been burning across central Russia in the last three weeks. But officials say the area being affected by the fires is now almost a quarter less than a week ago, reports say.

The grain harvest is down by at least a third compared with last year.

The BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow says it comes as no surprise that Russia is temporarily banning exports as it seeks to stop prices sky-rocketing at home.

Correspondents say the temporary ban is being motivated by more than just economics - Russians eat bread with practically everything and rising bread prices is an issue which has traditionally had the power to stoke popular unrest.

More than 50 people have died in the fires and many more are thought to have been adversely affected by smog which has enveloped Moscow and other areas.

Moscow's daily death rate is twice what it would be normally for the current time of year. While officials have been careful not to link this to the heat and smog, doctors have been doing so off the record.

On Saturday, heavy rain cooled the capital, providing respite from the record-breaking temperatures and the smog for the first time in weeks.

However, dozens of wildfires are still burning around Moscow, and according to the Emergency Situations Ministry more than 500 wildfires are continuing to burn across the country.

These include a new blaze to the east of the major nuclear research facility in Sarov, about 400km (250 miles) east of Moscow.

Earlier this month, as fires raged near the site, all nuclear and explosive materials were removed as a precaution.

When those fires were brought under control, the materials were returned to Sarov.

However, Sergei Novikov, a spokesman for the Rosatom state atomic corporation, told the Associated Press that there was no immediate need to move them out again.Shortfall

The country's leadership has so far been unable to say when the ban might end.

President Dmitry Medvedev predicted that the measures could be lifted before the end of the year.

But Prime Minister Vladimir Putin suggested the ban could remain in place until well into 2011.

Mr Putin said that this year's crop could be as low as 60 million tonnes, well below last year's 97 million, and Russia needs almost 80 million tonnes to cover domestic consumption, so even with this ban, there might be a shortfall of nearly 20 million tonnes for the Russian consumer.

The Kremlin says talks on the issue will be held in October.

Last year, Russia exported a quarter of its 2009 grain output.

Russia produces a soft type of wheat that is suited to making unleavened bread, so much of its wheat is exported to the Middle East.

Egypt is its largest market, followed by Turkey, Syria, Iran and Libya.

Analysts say there is likely to be a small increase in bread prices in the short term.

But they say wheat prices should soon fall back down again because the US - the world's biggest exporter - is predicting a bumper harvest of its current crop.

This week economists predicted that the heatwave and wildfires would cut $15bn (£9bn) from Russian economic output.

The figure, which does not include the cost of rebuilding hundreds of destroyed homes, is predicted to slow down the country's recovery from the recent global crisis.

Nuclear facility

Read more!

The world's first really green oil deal

Ecuador's $3.6bn scheme to save its rainforest from exploitation could point the way to sparing other threatened landscapes
Esmé McAvoy The Independent 8 Aug 10;

The world's first genuinely green energy deal is about to be sealed. In a plan which could be a blueprint for saving large tracts of the planet from exploitation, a greater value is being put on a pristine wilderness than on the oil that lies beneath.

While the world's industrialised countries are building complex carbon markets to enable them to carry on polluting, Ecuador has come up with a much simpler idea for mitigating climate change: leave the oil underground. It is promising to lock up as much as a fifth of its oil reserves indefinitely, providing rich nations pay out at least half the market value of the oil – some $3.6bn – as compensation.

The trail-blazing proposal was first floated in 2007, but it took a step towards reality last week when the UN Development Programme signed an agreement with the Ecuadorean government to be the independent administrator for the project's trust fund. The accord makes Ecuador the only country in the world offering to leave lucrative oil reserves untapped in an attempt to slow climate change.

Crucially, the oil in question – some 846 million barrels of crude – lies beneath the Yasuni National Park, one of the most bio-diverse swathes of rainforest on the planet. Located in the heart of the Ecuadorean Amazon, one hectare contains more tree species than the whole of the US and Canada combined. It is also home to 105 amphibian species – the UK has six – more than 500 birds, 200 mammals and countless insects and plants. Declared a world biosphere reserve by Unesco in 1989, the park is also the ancestral land of two of the world's last remaining uncontacted indigenous tribes, the Tagaeri and the Taromenane.

The plan, backed by Greenpeace and even the oil-producing Opec countries – applies to a 675sq mile area of Yasuni known as the ITT block after the three oil-fields that lie beneath it. Locking up the oil would not only protect the rainforest and the indigenous tribes, but it would also stop at least 407 million metric tonnes of CO2 being released into the atmosphere, according to Carlos Larrea, the initiative's technical adviser. "That's more than the total annual emissions of France or Brazil," he said.

In return, Ecuador is asking for $3.6bn – roughly half the expected revenue if the oil was extracted and sold at current prices – to be invested in renewable energy developments to help the country further cut its carbon emissions.

If it works, the scheme could be rolled out to countries such as Colombia, Peru and the Philippines which face similarly stark choices between protecting globally significant ecosystems and oil. "Ecuador began exporting oil in 1972, and oil now accounts for over 60 per cent of exports," Mr Larrea said. "Locking away 20 per cent of our oil reserves is a bold decision but we can't do it without international support."

Yet, after three years, securing anything more concrete than praise has proved elusive. At the end of last year, President Rafael Correa embarked on an international tour, including the UK, France, Sweden and Canada, to drum up support for the proposal before December's climate change summit in Copenhagen. But none has offered a firm cash commitment.

The Yasuni-ITT committee was originally poised to sign the agreement at the summit, but Mr Correa, unhappy with the terms, baulked at the 11th hour. His actions, and subsequent statements, led to several resignations from the Yasuni-ITT board. But a new board was assembled, with some original members, and the contentious points in the agreement have been ironed out.

Despite the setbacks, Germany remains a supporter and is likely to contribute around $50m, although no figures are confirmed. Signing up an independent body such as the UN to oversee the trust fund was a key German criterion, along with the support of at least one other country. With the trust fund in place, Mr Larrea is confident the final obstacle will be removed. "Spain and Belgium have expressed support, as have a number of other European countries. We're very optimistic."

Contributions to the fund would be spread over at least 10 years and countries would be issued with Yasuni Guarantee Certificates (CGYs in Spanish) to the value of the non-emitted CO2 their contribution has secured. Should any future Ecuadorean government break the commitment and drill for oil, the certificates entitle their holders to their money back with interest.

From next month, individuals and private companies will also be able to donate via the Yasuni-ITT website. "We hope individuals and environmentally aware companies all over the world will be excited by what we're doing and want to contribute as a gesture of solidarity," Mr Larrea said. "Supporters will be symbolically 'buying' their barrel of oil with the guarantee it will stay underground." Such international "crowd funding" would create an intimidating network of public opposition should any future government try to break the pact.

The $3.6bn will be invested in renewable energy to reduce the country's oil dependency and cut carbon emissions. These investments are expected to generate annual returns of about 7 per cent, which will go into a second pot to fund environmental and social development projects, such as reforestation, social programmes for indigenous groups and eco-tourism. Projects will be decided by a steering committee of representatives from the Ecuadorean government, the donor countries and a nominated public representative.

Reducing illegal logging is the top priority, according to Mr Larrea. Ecuador has one of the highest rates of deforestation in South America, despite protected areas covering over a quarter of the country. Matt Finer of the environmental organisation Save America's Forests has called the Ecuadorean Amazon "a complicated and confusing array of overlapping protected areas, indigenous reserves and crude oil concessions", testament to the way conservation has regularly been sidelined by oil interests. Legal loopholes have permitted oil concessions within national park boundaries and even where areas are protected, they are woefully understaffed.

Ecuador's northern Amazon bears the scars of decades of reckless oil extraction. One of the biggest environmental lawsuits has been raging for 17 years between the oil giant Chevron and 30,000 Ecuadoreans whose land and water are contaminated by oil spills and toxic open waste pits. If found liable, Chevron faces damages of more than $27bn.

However, groundbreaking changes to the constitution in 2008 mean Ecuador is the only country in the world to recognise the rights of nature and ecosystems to survive and flourish, permitting any Ecuadorean citizen to sue on nature's behalf if these rights are infringed.

Understandably, the Ecuadorean government isn't prepared to wait for ever for international co-operation: "If by December 2011, Ecuador doesn't receive at least $100m, the government has the right to call off the proposal," said Bisrat Aklilu, the executive co-coordinator of the UN's multi-donor trust fund office that will administer the Yasuni fund. "The government will repay contributors the face value of their contribution and then make up their own minds about whether to drill."

For some, the plan amounts to little more than blackmail, with Mr Correa holding the Amazon to ransom; if Ecuador can get funding for Yasuni, what's to stop other countries cashing in? Saudi Arabia made possibly the most audacious bid for financial support yet this week, claiming compensation for the expected loss of oil revenue should climate change agreements result in a drop in production.

Against a backdrop of public outrage at the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the argument for "post-oil" economies seems stronger than ever. Maria Espinosa, Ecuador's Heritage Minister, agrees. "Ten years from now projects like this will be the rule, not the exception," she said last week.

Read more!

World 2009 CO2 Emissions Off 1.3 Percent: Institute

Vera Eckert PlanetArk 16 Aug 10;

Global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2009 fell 1.3 percent to 31.3 billion tonnes in the first year-on-year decline in this decade, German renewable energy institute IWR said on Friday.

The Muenster-based institute, which advises German ministries, cited the global economic crisis and rising investments in renewable energies for the fall in emissions.

Global investment in renewable installations for power, heat and fuels last year rose to 125 billion euros ($161 billion) from 120 billion in 2008, IWR said.

But IWR director Norbert Allnoch said given the force of the crisis, the reductions in CO2 output could have been greater, had stronger output in Asian and Middle Eastern countries not overcompensated the savings obtained from declines in Europe, Russia, Japan and the U.S.

"The energy-induced CO2 output in China in 2009 due to its economic growth has grown to a level now that is as high as that of the U.S. and Russia combined," he said.

China in 2009 was in top position with 7.43 billion tonnes after 6.81 billion in 2008, followed by the U.S. with 5.95 billion (6.37 billion 2008). Russia was in third position, just before India, and followed by Japan.

Global investments in solar and wind power were helped by lower equipment costs as the crisis led to price cuts, IWR said.

But it reiterated its earlier suggestions that, in order to put brakes on the rising fossil fuels usage and to stabilize global CO2, it recommends that global annual spending on renewables be quadrupled to 500 billion euros ($644.2 billion).

Global CO2 emissions are still 37 percent above those in 1990, the basis year for the Kyoto Climate Protocol.

(Editing by James Jukwey)

Read more!