Best of our wild blogs: 4 Sep 10

How's Singapore doing in efforts to conserve our biodiversity?
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!

Stork-billed Kingfisher fishing
from Bird Ecology Study Group

PRP! Closer to home (relative to SBWR)
from The Borg's Hideout

Read more!

Singapore in final stages of developing world's first City Biodiversity Index

Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid Channel NewsAsia 3 Sep 10;

SINGAPORE : Singapore is in the final stages of developing the world's first City Biodiversity Index.

The self assessment tool aims to assist cities in benchmarking their biodiversity conservation efforts.

Stakeholders are hopeful that the index will be adopted internationally when it is discussed at the Convention on Biological Diversity's 10th Conference of Parties meeting in Nagoya, Japan next month.

Planting trees and building park connectors are some examples how a city like Singapore conserves its biodiversity.

Three hundred experts from Singapore and abroad, who are attending the Hitachi Eco Conference, are looking at ways on how to push the conservation message.

For land-scarce Singapore, it can be a tricky issue.

Singapore National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said: "While Singapore is blessed with a rich natural heritage, we face the dilemma in maintaining a careful balance between biodiversity conservation and other competing needs to meet our needs, social and recreational objectives.

"With a limited space of 710 square kilometres, we need to pay particular attention to land use planning to make sure that every piece of land is well -used.

So the proposed City Biodiversity Index aims to be a comprehensive measuring tool.

More than 30 cities like London and Paris have completed or are in various stages of test bedding the index that has over 20 assessment indicators.

But just how did Singapore fare?

Dr Leong Chee Chiew, deputy CEO, N Parks and Commissioner of Parks and Recreation, said: "I would say that we are okay. I think as Singapore goes, we know that there are certain areas that we are strong in, and areas that we need to improve in.

"Each of us can do our part to reduce the fragmentation, increase the natural linkages between habitats and eco-systems, so that the conservation strategy of Singapore will not be confined to nature reserves."

The index has since been fine-tuned to make it more applicable to cities with different characteristics.

Dr Leong said: "It gives a lot of scope for cities to pick up on areas on what they can improve on, and that gives us hope that it will be adopted. We hope that with the adoption in October, we can move to the next phase of training and working with the Convention to help cities use it."

If adopted, cities are likely to be assessed every three or four years. - CNA/ms

Singapore's okay but we can do better: NParks
Saifulbahri Ismail Today Online 4 Sep 10;

SINGAPORE - While Singapore has been able to maintain a healthy biodiversity, it can improve the natural links between habitats and eco-systems.

The room for improvement was highlighted by a self-assessment tool which Singapore has completed and can be used by cities to benchmark their biodiversity conservation efforts.

More than 30 cities, including Montreal, Nagoya, Brussels and Singapore have completed or are test-bedding the City Biodiversity Index, which was mooted by Singapore in May 2008.

How did Singapore do?

Dr Lawrence Leong, deputy chief executive officer of the National Parks Board (NParks), said: "I would say that we are ... okay. I think as far as Singapore goes, we know there are certain areas that we are strong in, we know there are areas that we will need to improve in."

NParks said the index has been fine-tuned to give cities the scope to pick areas they are comfortable with improving on.

Dr Leong said this might include having more park connectors and adding greenery to Singapore's streets and skyline.

In fact, the "green cover" here has jumped from 36 per cent in 1986 to almost half the Republic's land area today.

Dr Leong was speaking on the sidelines of the Hitachi Eco-Conference on Friday.

The index was developed in partnership with the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.

It will be tabled for adoption at a meeting in Nagoya, Japan, next month.

Dr Leong is hopeful that it will be adopted. He said: "There is potential for the index ... The response from cities so far being willing to test-bed it and to adopt it as a measure in their various programmes gives us a lot of encouragement."

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, who opened the eco-conference, said the focus and challenge of promoting biodiversity now is in the cities.

He said companies could incorporate biodiversity conservation as part of their corporate social responsibility mandate and forge partnerships with relevant government agencies to promote the cause. Saifulbahri Ismail

Join forces to protect biodiversity
Esther Teo Straits Times 3 Sep 10;

THE public and private sectors must join forces to tackle the ongoing loss of biodiversity, a conference heard on Friday.

Rapid urbanisation has made the problem more urgent, said Hitachi group chief environmental strategy officer Takashi Hatchoji.

Countries face the perennial policy dilemma of pursuing economic growth while ensuring environmental sustainability, said National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, who was guest of honour at the Hitachi Eco Conference.

He said companies could incorporate biodiversity conservation as part of their corporate social responsibility mandate and forge partnerships with relevant government agencies to promote the cause.

Mr Hatchoji said the conference would allow participants to exchange information and discuss pragmatic, effective solutions. 'With rapid growth in Asia, biodiversity conservation and urban development are key issues we have to face... Public and private partnerships play an active role in achieving a responsible balance with the environment,' he added.

Singapore is leading the way on the international front by partnering the Secretariat of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity to develop an index that can track biodiversity in cities, Mr Mah said.

This index will serve as a self-assessment tool for cities to benchmark and evaluate their biodiversity conservation efforts. It might be adopted at the Convention on Biological Diversity 10th Conference of Parties in Japan next month.

National Parks Board deputy chief executive officer Dr Lawrence Leong said the index - with its 23 different indicators - will give cities the scope to pick areas they are comfortable with improving on. For Singapore, this might include having more park connectors and adding greenery to both the streetscape and skyline, he added.

In fact, the 'green cover' here has jumped from just 36 per cent in 1986 to almost half the Republic's land area today.

The conference, held at Capella Singapore, was attended by about 300 people including government officials, non-governmental organisations and business leaders.

SPEECH BY MR MAH BOW TAN, MINISTER FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AT HITACHI ECO CONFERENCE 2010 ON 3 SEPTEMBER 2010 AT 9.30AM, CAPELLA SINGAPORE, SENTOSA
MND website 3 Sep 10;

Mr Takashi Hatchoji
Executive Vice President and Executive Officer, Hitachi Group Chief Environmental Strategy Officer, Hitachi, Ltd.

Mr Yasunori Taga
Chief Executive and Chief Innovation Officer for Asia, Hitachi, Ltd.

Distinguished guests

Ladies and gentlemen,

1 The theme for today’s conference, “Conserving Biodiversity through Efforts by Public and Private Partnerships” is both apt and timely. This year, the global community is celebrating the United Nations’ International Year of Biodiversity. According to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (or CBD), the world has failed to meet the target set in 2002 to significantly reduce the current rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. The CBD report calls for urgent and effective actions by both the public and private sectors to address the continued loss in biodiversity.

2 Biodiversity contributes to our fundamental well-being. The wide variety of plants, animals and organisms help to create ecosystems which can boost our capacity to manage the potential impact of global warming. But countries around the globe face the perennial policy dilemma of pursuing economic growth and ensuring environmental sustainability. Singapore is no exception.

3 I commend Hitachi for organising this conference which provides a useful platform to discuss the issue of biodiversity loss and what more we can do about biodiversity conservation. It is important for the three ‘Ps’ – the public, private and people sectors, to understand the value of biodiversity and the need for its conservation.

Singapore’s Efforts in Conserving Biodiversity
4 Let me share with you Singapore’s experience in conserving our biodiversity. Despite being a highly urbanised and densely populated country, we are in fact quite well endowed in biodiversity. At last count, we have over 2,000 species of native plants, more than 370 species of birds, 280 species of butterflies and 98 species of reptiles. Our waters harbour about 250 species of hard corals, which is one third of the global total, and this, despite us being one of the busiest ports in the world. We have 12 of the 23 seagrass species found in the Indo-Pacific region in our waters.

5 While Singapore is blessed with a rich natural heritage, we have to maintain a careful balance between biodiversity conservation and other competing needs to meet our economic, social and recreational objectives. With a limited land space of 710 square kilometres, we need to pay particular attention to land use planning to ensure that every piece of land is used efficiently. As a result, we are able to dedicate a significant 10% of our land to parks and nature conservation. In addition to parkland and nature reserves, we have invested heavily in streetscape greenery and park connectors. This has allowed us to achieve an overall green cover which has grown from just 36% in 1986 to almost 50% of our total land area today.

6 With this pervasive matrix of tropical greenery in place, we are working towards creating a truly unique urban ecosystem where biodiversity can thrive within our environment.

7 We also see the importance of raising public awareness on biodiversity conservation. As part of Singapore’s celebration of the International Year of Biodiversity, the National Parks Board (NParks) organised the BiodiverCity Photo Competition in May this year, attracting over 2,000 entries from students and members of public. NParks also rallied 91 schools in Singapore to participate in the global Green Wave campaign to celebrate the United Nations’ International Day for Biological Diversity on 22 May this year.

8 On the international front, Singapore has partnered the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Global Partnership on Cities and Biodiversity to develop a Cities Biodiversity Index. This index serves as a self-assessment tool for cities to benchmark and evaluate their biodiversity conservation efforts. After pilot testing by several cities around the world, we will discuss the adoption of this Index at the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 10th Conference of Parties meeting in Nagoya, Japan next month.

Private Sector Involvement
9 Biodiversity conservation cannot be undertaken by the Government alone. We need the continuous support of corporations and the general public. Corporations can incorporate biodiversity conservation as part of their corporate social responsibility mandate. They can also forge partnerships with relevant government agencies to promote this cause. For example, NParks works with many corporations whose staff volunteer their time to participate in educational projects in our parks and nature reserves. Corporations have also donated generously to NParks’ Garden City Fund to provide resources to complement the Government’s efforts to ensure the health of Singapore’s biodiversity.

10 I am heartened that Hitachi Singapore has taken the step to commit itself to an Environmental Vision 2025, where the company aims to conserve the environment and realise a sustainable society through prevention of global warming, conservation of resources and preservation of ecosystems. I hope that Hitachi’s example will encourage more companies to come forward and play their part in sustaining our living Planet.

Conclusion
11 To conclude, with the sharing of knowledge and expertise by distinguished biodiversity and environment experts such as Professor Leo Tan and Dr Thomas Lovejoy, I am confident that today’s conference can help to increase awareness on the importance of biodiversity conservation, and the roles we each can play to contribute to this global effort.

12 I wish you a fruitful conference ahead. Thank you.

Read more!

Sharing the Singapore model with the world

Venice Biennale exhibit showcases Republic's ability to perfect social, economic, environmental balance
Paul Gilfeather Today Online 4 Sep 10;

While Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was paying tribute to architects Khoo Peng Beng and his wife Belinda Huang during his National Day Rally speech last Sunday, the couple were more than 11,000 km away in Venice selling Singapore as the greatest compact city on the planet.

I travelled to Venice, one of the world's most beautiful cities, with the couple who, along with National University of Singapore professors Eric L'Heureux and Florian Schaetz, are responsible for the Singapore pavilion at the annual Biennale International Architecture Exhibition.

The husband-and-wife team are behind one of the most innovative public housing blocks on the planet, The Pinnacle@Duxton, which houses a phenomenal 7,000 people on an area of land the size of two football pitches.

And since the theme of the Singapore pavilion is "superdensity" - or how you house 5 million people on a land area of only 710 km sq - their appointment has proved a masterstroke.

The four curators are using their exhibit in Venice to make the point that if you used the Singapore model of compact living 1,000 times over, you could in theory house the world's entire 5-billion-strong population.

If you do the sums, you'll find that the concept does, in theory, actually work.

The pavilion, "1000 Singapores - A Model of the Compact City", is captivating, thought-provoking and was born out of four months of brain-storming sessions.

It is designed to show the rest of the world that sprawling urbanism is not the only answer and as land becomes more and more sacred, high-quality, sustainable living can be achieved using a different model.

Peng Beng and Belinda used their experience in designing The Pinnacle to demonstrate how high-density doesn't have to mean low-quality.

The exhibit, using graphs, charts, photographs and a scale model of Singapore, explains that if the world's population was housed on an equivalent land mass using the Republic's model, just 0.5 per cent of the Earth would be required.

Peng Beng told me: "That would mean 99.5 per cent of the world would be natural landscape - a portion would remain for farming and natural resources surely but the rest of the area would remain significantly natural.

"1000 Singapores as a proposition is dense, efficient and green. Visions of sustainability seem even more plausible in such a vision."

And he's right. With rapid urbanisation taking place all over the world, cities face the common challenge of accommodating extraordinary growth in a sustainable manner.

To do this, cities need to work out strategies and measures to balance social, economic and environmental priorities.

And it's because Singapore copes so well with these challenges that it's uniquely placed to teach the rest of the world how to adapt to these changes.

The Republic's unique set of circumstances means that it has always had to adopt land conservation as a core policy objective. Singapore has been at this for almost 50 years. Now the rest of the world is catching up.

But that's where the Singapore pavilion comes in. These events, primarily for the architecture and urban planning communities, are designed to give other cities a leg-up in the areas where they are found wanting.

So, in terms of achieving this goal, Singapore does it brilliantly by demonstrating the success of its compact new towns and affordable, high-rise public housing.

The fact that 80 per cent of Singaporeans live in public housing, with 95 per cent of them owning their flats, is an accolade in itself.

"1000 Singapores" throws up many other interesting scenarios.

If the entire world population could live on just 0.5 per cent of the planet's land, can you imagine what it would mean for energy consumption?

And travel? The furthest journey would be minimised to a 45-minute flight.

Around 900km would be the maximum distance end to end - around the size of Texas.

Footprints of all kinds - carbon, pollution and emissions - would be compacted in relation to current urban models.

Wi-Fi and high-speed mobile and data communications would be available everywhere with just a few transmission towers. And housing would be dense, diverse, walkable and full of the amenities that the world's population aspires to. Utopia?

A MODEL FOR OTHERS

It will never happen, of course, But there are many, many lessons to be learned from the Singapore exhibit. And although it receives no special mention from the Biennale judges, you get the feeling that the concept has caused something of a sensation.

To be honest, it was a pleasure to be in the company of such bright talents as Peng Beng, Belinda, Eric and Florian, and I enjoyed every minute of my time with them.

Even though I've only lived and worked in Singapore for the past 18 months, I feel proud that the city I have chosen as my home produces and attracts such incredible thinkers.

While Peng Beng and Belinda are at the forefront of the design and planning revolution taking place here, Eric - a native New Yorker - and Florian - a native German - are responsible for producing Singapore's next generation of architects by teaching classes at NUS.

Talking to me inside the pavilion, housed in a side-street building where Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi produced his greatest works, Eric said: "Instead of looking to Singapore hoping to find dirt, poverty and struggle as indicative of a 'real' urbanism, or the Orientalism imagined by the West, Singapore now represents the model that other cities the world over look to for strategic inspiration.

"In our exhibit, we have tried to show how Singapore is built for success."

He highlighted the recent Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize as evidence, adding: "Here in Singapore, awarding Spain's Bilbao as an innovator, the tables are finally turned and East judges West."

As is usual when world planners look to Singapore, it is the city's HDB scheme which continues to inspire.

And it is only right that Peng Beng and Belinda's Pinnacle HDB project is featured in the exhibition.

In many ways, it is the very epitome of the superdensity living the pavilion invites the world to consider.

The project became operational in December last year and rises 50 storeys on the edge of the Central Business District. The building itself has sky bridges, of which you can pay $5 to access and take in views of Singapore. It also has a public park on the ground level and almost a hectare of sky gardens woven through its seven blocks on the 26th and 50th storeys.

In fact, the 26th storey houses an 800-metre running track.

I congratulated the couple for beating off 200 other firms to win the contract and as we studied images of the building on the walls of the pavilion, you could not help but look forward to what this incredible team might produce next.

Peng Beng said that the Pinnacle will give the Biennale an opportunity to watch the superdense model at close quarters.

He added: "The Pinnacle is a model of superdensity and warrants deeper observation over a longer period. How compact can our urban habitation become and consequently how tight and efficient the network?

"Interestingly, an Internet community has formed among the residents to discuss issues and observations.

"But the Pinnacle does require that we imagine new architectural spaces and programmes that are attractive alternatives to the spaciousness and the individuality of sprawling urbanism."

So, I'll say it again. Well done to the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts and the DesignSingapore Council for choosing such a talented and progressive curatorial team.

They took this project by the scruff of the neck and produced something truly wonderful and thought-provoking.

They took a slice of superdense Singapore and displayed it among the beautiful canals and cathedrals of ancient Venice. And that was something truly worth seeing.

Read more!

Away from classroom - for Active Learning

Jennani Durai Straits Times 4 Sep 10;

DURING school hours yesterday, a Primary 2 class from MacPherson Primary School spent an hour making toys for the parrots in Jurong BirdPark.

A month ago, the pupils pitched tents and groomed ponies at the Singapore Zoo.

These were not co-curricular activities or even class excursions. They were carried out during curriculum time under the new Programme for Active Learning (PAL), which is aimed at giving Primary 1 and 2 pupils a less academic, more holistic education.

The programme, now being tried out in a dozen primary schools, will be introduced to another 24 schools next year, said the Ministry of Education.

The idea for the programme was among a slew of recommendations by the Primary Education Review and Implementation (Peri) committee last year. This panel also mooted scrapping examinations for Primary 1 and 2 pupils.

PAL offers more than 54 modules, from which schools pick any six for their pupils. Ranging from puppetry and singing to gymnastics and outdoor skills, the modules fall under broad themes - sports, outdoor education, visual arts and the performing arts.

At least two hours a week are devoted to PAL activities, which are carried out on top of the schools' regular physical education, music and art lessons.

Each module, conducted by a third-party vendor, lasts seven to 10 weeks. By the end of Primary 2, pupils should have completed six modules.

Senior Minister of State for Education and National Development Grace Fu said feedback from children who have undergone PAL has been unanimously positive.

She said: 'It's apparent they are enjoying themselves, and that this is providing opportunities for them to explore things and have a richer education.

'It can also help them discover what they like, and what they are good at.'

She said the programme will eventually be in place at all primary schools.

Meanwhile, the pupils of MacPherson Primary are revelling in the outdoor exploration module run by Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS), which is among the 33 vendors for PAL activities.

During the eight-week module, pupils spend six weeks learning about the outdoors, and two weeks applying their knowledge outside the classroom, said Ms Rekha Nair, assistant curator of WRS' education department.

The lessons cover outdoor preparedness, first aid, pet responsibility and simple navigation, among other things.

Live animals such as snakes, scorpions and hedgehogs are brought into the classroom, with the module climaxing in visits to the BirdPark and the zoo.

Primary 2 pupil Aiden Visser, eight, said his favourite part of the programme was the visit to the zoo.

'I liked grooming the ponies and feeding the goats. I love animals and I've never had a chance to do something like that before,' he said.

Read more!

Food: Everyone has the right to choose

Straits Times 4 Sep 10;

I refer to the article, Between Ethics And Etiquette (LifeStyle, Aug 29). I think the environmentalists are passionate but self-centred. They make it seem that only they are in the right and everyone else is in the wrong.

I respect their decision to eat what they choose to. However, they have no right to impose their beliefs on others. I eat only fish, vegetables and fruit but I attend lunches and dinners where meat is served. I just do not eat the meat dishes. I do not demand that my friends and relatives eat only fish and vegetables. They have the right to eat what they want, just as I have the right to eat what I want.

He XiuYun

My wife and I have never touched or consumed meat. Our eating habits do sometimes cause us inconvenience especially when we travel overseas. However, we do our best not to inconvenience others and complain as little as possible when we do not get what we desire. We also keep our opinions to ourselves. We are okay with dining in the company of non-vegetarians.

Shashi Lal Kashyap

Telling people what they should eat happens only in countries which have lots of food choices. Try asking a man who is dying of hunger whether he is a vegan, �a vegetarian or a meat-eater, and he would probably eat your tongue.

All foods have their own special nutrients that are important to the body. We should be thankful there is a wide variety in Singapore.

Eric Chia

Vegetarians and vegans are peace-loving people who respect all living things. Declining a wedding invitation where shark's fin is served or serving a vegetarian wedding dinner is not imposing one's belief on others. If meat-eaters accept the truth that they do have 'blood on their hands' and if vegetarians and vegans accept that the meat-eaters are happy with 'blood on their hands', we can all eat together in peace.

Priscilla Chng

If you do not want to eat shark's fin, you can tell the waiter you are skipping it. This way, you can stand up for your beliefs and demonstrate your tolerance at the same time.

Couples who throw vegetarian wedding dinners should tell their guests in advance. It is just courteous to do so.

Ringo Tan

Someone once told me that in sharing the gospel of the Christian faith, one should 'use words only when necessary'. Forcing a religion on a non-believer would only repel him from wanting to find out more. In the same way, wouldn't bringing up the brutal slaughtering of endangered animals during a meal only cause others to recoil?

Vegans should let the benefits of their healthy eating habits (they look healthier, for example) speak for themselves.

Speaking up against eating endangered animals is acceptable at the dinner table so long as you are mindful of other diners' reactions. You should take the hint if they try to change the subject.

I refrain from eating shark's fin. I have also watched documentaries which expose the unethical means employed by fast-food chains used to obtain meat for their patties. Despite that, I would still like to eat a cheeseburger occasionally without someone sitting across the dinner table trying to make me feel guilty.

Kerri Pang

The article undermines the environment movement and attempts to portray those who support enlightened eating as rude and socially inept.

The media has vilified environmentalism and made it out to be some form of deviant cult.

I am a vegetarian and I have never avoided a wedding dinner or handed out packets telling people to boycott certain dishes.

In fact, my experience has been that vegetarians tend to be 'attacked' by everyone else at the dining table, for simply passing on the shark's fin.

Would you say that people who sell and eat shark's fin are militantly trying to obliterate one of the sea's greatest creatures? And should people who eat foie gras be labelled as individuals who hate geese and want them to suffer a painful death?

In today's world, where the environment is being degraded and humans are directly affected, shouldn't people change their eating habits a little to respect the environment?

Bee Li

EDITORIAL: No shark's fin, no meat
Straits Times 5 Sep 10;

There is a small but growing group of Singaporeans, many among them young, who will not eat shark's fin, bluefin tuna, foie gras and meat and dairy products. Shark's fin and bluefin tuna, because sharks and the tuna are endangered species, and it is seen as a cruel act when fishermen saw off the fins of sharks while they are still alive. And foie gras because it comes from farm ducks that have been force-fed to grow big unnaturally so they will have bigger livers, or so this group contends.

Those who abstain from meat and dairy products call themselves vegans. They see the slaughter of animals as cruel. These 'ethical eaters' are not alone. They are part of a worldwide movement whose coordinating body is Peta, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Society thrives on diversity. It should respect the stand taken by this group. They believe in their cause and act on it, even if a little too zealously, in their lives. They do not do it for profit or any other material gains. But a problem arises when such folks try to impose their values on others who do not subscribe to their cause.

An ethical eater who refuses to attend a friend's wedding dinner because shark's fin soup is on the menu cannot be applauded for his righteousness, because he is putting his cause above friendship. He can go to the dinner and sit out the shark's fin soup course - quietly. To protest while the dish is being served would also not be the right thing to do. Nor would lecturing others around the table as to why they should boycott what they consider a delicacy.

The Sunday Times Lifestyle section last week featured a vegetarian couple who are tying the knot next year. They are planning an all-vegetarian wedding buffet dinner for about 180 guests. The groom said, if a bit theatrically: 'It's our wedding. We don't want blood on our hands.'

But would that be an imposition on their guests? Some will think so and not share in the joyous occasion. Pity.

Stop, not just discourage, cruelty to animals
Straits Times 12 Sep 10;

I refer to last Sunday's editorial, 'No shark's fin, no meat'.

Changing mindsets takes affirmative action.

The editorial states, without agreeing, that the harvesting of shark's fins and foie gras are deemed cruel to the animals.

This fact has been published in mainstream media for many years. Yet many people continue to eat such food in the full knowledge of the suffering of the animals harvested to produce them.

Cruelty to animals by human beings should be stopped, rather than simply discouraged.

I have lived here for 12 years. Engaging Singaporeans in a debate regarding shark's fins at dinner tables generally elicits agreement that, indeed, the practice of consuming such food should be discouraged - next time, perhaps. But next time does not ever seem to arrive, as this scenario is perpetuated.

My suggestion is we start acting more maturely about this issue. After all, positively changing people's attitudes to animal cruelty should be regarded as a sign of maturity.

Darren Blakeley

Read more!

Singapore Recycling Week to focus on e-waste disposal

Grace Chua Straits Times 4 Sep 10;

WHEN minimum energy-efficiency standards for fridges and air-conditioners kick in next year, energy-guzzling models will be taken off the market.

Manufacturers will have unsold items on their hands; and retailers and home owners will have to think about dumping old items, getting them recycled or refurbishing and selling them.

Unwanted appliances, known as e-waste, contain valuable metals and plastics that could be recycled. But left unrecovered, they could release toxic chemicals when incinerated or dumped into landfills. And bulky items like fridges and washing machines take up precious landfill space.

About 200,000 washing machines and 250,000 fridges are sold here each year and the numbers are set to grow.

Mr Alfred Pheh, marketing department manager of Toshiba's consumer electronics division, said this is because young couples moving into their own flats instead of living with their parents are buying appliances.

To curb the waste and mount a dry run for its own push into recycling, Toshiba has taken a booth opposite Lot 1 Shoppers' Mall today, the first day of this year's Recycling Week.

People can sign up there to get their old Toshiba fridges sent for recycling. There will also be booths accepting recyclable appliances of other brands.

Recycling Week, an annual effort by the National Environment Agency (NEA), is focusing on electronics and electrical appliances this year.

Toshiba expects to get 40 to 60 fridges during the event. If the response is good, it may make fridge recycling a fixture and expand the programme to include washing machines.

LG Electronics has been offering customers a recycling service for four years, said its corporate marketing manager Wayne Tang.

An NEA spokesman, explaining the focus on electronic and electrical equipment, said the average lifespan of these items is shrinking. New models are being launched frequently and the range of items is expanding, he said.

Recycling firms say e-waste volume has grown over the years.

Mr Joseph Tan of Recycling Point Dot Com said he processes 200 tonnes of e-waste a month, up from five to 10 tonnes a month 15 years ago.

Introtech, another recycling middleman, ships serviceable machines to other countries in Asia, while Mr Tom Ong, who runs a collection service, refurbishes them for sale here.

Sustainability expert Kua Harn Wei of the National University of Singapore's Department of Building called for business models to be developed to deal with such 'sporadic waste'.

For example, small firms could form networks, each taking a different aspect of recycling, from waste collection to transportation and processing, he said.

Where to recyclewhat

THE National Environment Agency's Recycling Week activities aim to collect 7,000kg of recyclables, including e-waste comprising unwanted electronics and electrical appliances.

These collection centres will accept electronics and household appliances such as computers, computer peripherals, cellphones and accessories, microwave ovens, television sets, hi-fis, kettles and small fridges.

The collection points will be at the following community venues on the stated dates:

Today, 9am to 5pm: Opposite Lot One Shoppers' Mall

Sept 10, 11am to 7pm at:

# West Mall

# Level 1, Northpoint Shopping Centre

# Level 3, Junction 8 Shopping Centre

# Changi Simei Community Club

Sept 11, 9am to 5pm at:

# The open field beside Eastpoint Mall

# Block 502, Jurong West Avenue1

# In front of Toa Payoh Public Library

# Hougang Central Hub, next to Hougang MRT station


Food-for-recycled items swop goes down a treat
Straits Times 5 Sep 10;

Every week, residents in the Changi-Simei constituency can exchange their recyclable items for food items like rice, noodles and canned food at one of its four residents' committee centres.

The initiative has been a hit with the residents, with the constituency collecting more than 200 tonnes of recyclables from July last year to June this year. It collected about 68 tonnes between July 2008 and June last year, and about 25 tonnes the year before that.

This is just one of the 102 outreach activities planned by the constituency over the past three years to promote recycling. For that, it was one of five constituencies that won the inaugural 3Rs Achiever Awards, given out yesterday at the launch of Recycling Week.

The award is given to constituencies with the highest number of 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle) programmes and events per district.

The other four winners are Punggol South, Woodlands, Thomson and Choa Chu Kang.

Mr Andrew Tan, chief executive of the National Environment Agency (NEA), said the constituencies helped push the household participation rate for the National Recycling Programme from 15 per cent in 2001 to 63 per cent last year.

One focus of this year's Recycling Week will be electronics and electrical appliances. Collection points have been set up in the heartland and shopping malls for the public to drop off their old computers, TV sets and fridges.

The NEA is also working with more companies to cut packaging waste. To date, 121 firms have signed the Singapore Packaging Agreement, up from 32 in 2007. The agreement commits companies to reduce the weight, size and thickness of packaging materials.

Jamie Ee Wen Wei

Read more!

Giving old batteries a new lease of life

Local firm's charger can boost conservation and recycling, and benefit electric vehicle industry
Lester Kok Straits Times 4 Sep 10;

RECHARGING batteries too often can cause them to die after a while.

But a new charger invented by a local start-up can extend batteries' shelf life by juicing them up differently from other chargers.

The product, on sale for $85 at Bliss Computer Trading in Sim Lim Square, can also charge normal alkaline and dry-cell batteries fully in an hour.

This is unlike other chargers on the market which require special rechargeable batteries and take up to four hours for a full charge.

Battizer, which started in March, used the same technology to develop a quick charger for electric vehicles (EVs).

It then took its vehicle charger to FTD Technology, the local distributor of India-made Ampere electric scooters.

In the test, the scooters' batteries were charged fully in just one hour, a fraction of the normal four to eight hours taken with the normal charger.

Mr Johnny Lai, sales manager of FTD Technology, said it was amazed by the results, as initially it was 'sceptical about the technology'.

'However, after repeated testing, we were convinced. The charging time is shortened, the battery remains cool while charging and the e-scooter's performance is much better than before,' he said.

Mr Lai said this quick-charging innovation is critical for EVs, especially in countries like India and Indonesia, where electrical supply can be disrupted at any time. He added that as EVs require more energy, the capacity of batteries will need to increase, which would then lengthen the charging time - so Battizer's innovation could be a solution.

Professor Lu Li, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the National University of Singapore, said the quick-charge duration will be a boon to the electric vehicle industry.

'If the batteries for EVs can be charged as fast as pumping petrol, EVs can be used without hesitation.'

The two founders of Battizer, Mr Jeremy Yap and Mr Alvin Tan, started out in the battery industry in 2005, when they were contacted by the United States company Battery Doctors and asked to operate battery servicing in Asia.

Mr Tan, who is in charge of marketing, said they have sold more than 8,500 charging sets since the launch at the end of April.

Local aviation engineer Ong Sze Tiong had bought a set out of curiosity after reading about them in The Straits Times.

'I have to admit that after using the charger, I have no complaints about it. It is fantastic and unbelievable,' he said.

Sales are coming in steadily for the chargers, especially from developing countries like Thailand and the Philippines.

Mr Tan said this was because shop owners in the Philippines had purchased multiple chargers, so they can recharge used batteries and resell them at low prices.

'The people (there) cannot afford the charger but they are willing to buy recharged alkaline batteries because they are cheaper than new ones,' Mr Tan added.

He also said that more public awareness and education about recharging used batteries is needed in Singapore, to promote the habit of recycling and help conserve the environment.

In 2008, while running their first company, Battery Doctors Asia, Mr Yap and Mr Tan toured local schools, conducting recycling programmes to collect used batteries, then recharging them and giving them to charities.

They will be restarting the recycling project again later this year.

Despite the benefits of the new charger, not everyone welcomes it.

After a demonstration of their battery charger prototype to a major battery manufacturer in Indonesia, both Mr Yap and Mr Tan were told to leave, as their charger might cause many factory workers to lose their jobs.

Associate Professor Choo Fook Hoong, from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, said the battery industry will be affected, with lower sales in the short term since normal batteries can now be used many times before disposal.

However, he added: 'In the long term, more products will be designed to exploit the convenience and lower costs of batteries in the long run. Consumers would probably utilise their gadgets and equipment more often.'

Prof Choo also said that recharging used batteries is a form of recycling, which is needed for 'sustainability, because demand for batteries will rise again to a new steady-state'.

Prof Lu, on the other hand, thinks that the battery industry will not be affected much as the take-up rate of the charger depends on its price and the battery usage of the consumers.

'Let's take the remote control, for example. Normally, you change the batteries once a year or even two years, which would cost one or two dollars. How many people think it is worth paying much more for a charger?' he said.

Read more!

Vulture numbers take flight in Cambodia: group

Yahoo News 3 Sep 10;

PHNOM PENH (AFP) – Cambodia's critically endangered vulture population has become the only one in Asia on the rise this year, helped by nest protection and a chain of "restaurants", a wildlife group said Friday.

The country's three species of vulture -- white-rumped, red-headed, and slender billed -- now number 296 birds, from 260 in 2009 and just 166 in 2004, a census by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) found.

WCS said vulture numbers have been dwindling throughout Asia for years, driven in part by deaths caused when the birds eat cattle carcasses laced with an anti-inflammatory drug -- dicloflenac -- which is fatal to them.

The group said Cambodia is the only Asian nation where the drug is rarely used, while the Cambodia Vulture Conservation Project, a partnership led by WCS, has introduced a number of innovations to help the birds avoid threats.

Communities have been paid to protect nests, while diclofenac-free food has been supplied at seven "vulture restaurants" -- feeding stations across eastern and northern Cambodia that also allow tourists to see the huge birds up close.

"By protecting nests and supplementing food supplies, we are saving some of the world?s largest and most charismatic birds," Dr Hugo Rainey, WCS technical adviser to the project said in a statement on the group's website.

"Nowhere else in Asia do vultures have such a promising future."

WCS said its census indicated that numbers of white-rumped vultures are increasing, while populations of red-headed and slender billed vultures are stable, though all three are still officially listed as critically endangered.

The group said 36 vulture chicks hatched from colonies across the north and east of the country, almost twice the number in the previous season.

But WCS warned rising pesticide use in agriculture posed a new threat to the vultures, causing more than 20 deaths since 2008.

Increase in Cambodia's vultures gives hope to imperiled scavengers
Wildlife Conservation Society EurekAlert 3 Sep 10;

While vultures across Asia teeter on the brink of extinction, the vultures of Cambodia are increasing in number, providing a beacon of hope for these threatened scavengers, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and other members of the Cambodia Vulture Conservation Project.

Researchers report that record numbers of vultures have been counted in Cambodia's annual vulture census, with 296 birds of three species found at multiple sites across the Northern and Eastern Plains of Cambodia by the Cambodia Vulture Conservation Project, a partnership of conservationists led by the Wildlife Conservation Society.

The record count means that Cambodia is home to the only increasing population of vultures in Asia. Specifically, the census indicates that the country's population of white-rumped vultures is increasing; populations of red-headed and slender billed vultures were found to be stable. All three of Cambodia's vulture species are listed as "Critically Endangered" by the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

Vulture populations in Southeast Asia are primarily threatened by the declining number of large herbivores in the region, but have been largely unaffected by a far greater threat to Asia's vultures: the veterinary drug diclofenac. Widely used as an anti-inflammatory drug for cattle in South Asia, diclofenac is toxic to vultures, causing death through renal failure and visceral gout to birds that feed on the cattle carcasses and has led to global population declines higher than 99 percent in some vulture species.

The census success follows a record breeding season for vultures in Cambodia. This year, a total of 36 vulture chicks fledged from colonies across the north and east of the country, an increase from last year's total of 19 chicks.

Vulture conservation efforts in Cambodia are the result of a number of activities promoted by the Cambodia Vulture Conservation Project. For instance, vulture nests are protected by local community members who are paid a small fee for their support. This ensures that vulture nesting success is greatly improved and also benefits local community members who often have few other sources of income during the dry season, which coincides with the vulture breeding season. Vulture food sources are supplemented by 'vulture restaurants,' feeding stations that also give visitors the opportunity to see these huge birds up close.

"By protecting nests and supplementing food supplies, we are saving some of the world's largest and most charismatic birds," stated Dr. Hugo Rainey, WCS technical advisor to the Cambodia Vulture Conservation Project. "Nowhere else in Asia do vultures have such a promising future."

While conservationists can point to recent successes in the conservation of Cambodia's vultures, they also warn of the rising threat of agricultural pesticides to the birds. Since December 2008, more than 20 vultures are known to have died from consuming domestic animals that had been poisoned accidentally by the inappropriate use of pesticides. This practice may also present a risk to human health.

Song Chansocheat, Ministry of Environment and WCS Vulture Project Manager, commented that "Cambodia is the only Asian country where diclofenac is rarely used and vulture populations are managed. We have been monitoring vultures since 2004 and there have been increasing numbers of poisoned birds recently. Educating people about the risk to wildlife and people from incorrect use of poisons is important."

"Cambodia has become a critical source site for vultures, one that we need to protect as a means of saving these ecologically valuable birds," said Joe Walston, director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Asia Program.

###

The Cambodia Vulture Conservation Project is a partnership of different government agencies and conservation organizations led by WCS and also includes the Forestry Administration of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, the General Department of Administration for Nature Conservation and Protection of the Ministry of Environment, BirdLife International in Indochina, Worldwide Fund for Nature, Angkor Centre for Conservation of Biodiversity (ACCB) and Conservation International. Support for these efforts is provided by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF)/United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), ACCB, WWF US and the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF). The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund is a joint initiative of l'Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan, the MacArthur Foundation and the World Bank. A fundamental goal is to ensure civil society is engaged in biodiversity conservation.

Read more!

Satellite data reveal why migrating birds have a small window to spread bird flu

Lifesciencenews@wiley.com EurekAlert 3 Sep 10;

In 2005 an outbreak of the H5N1 'bird flu' virus in South East Asia led to widespread fear with predictions that the intercontinental migration of wild birds could lead to global pandemic. Such fears were never realised, and now research published in the British Ecological Society's Journal of Applied Ecology reveals why the global spread of bird flu by direct migration of wildfowl is unlikely but also provides a new framework for quantifying the risk of avian-borne diseases.

The highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus is primarily a disease of poultry, often resulting in mass mortality for infected flocks. However, the virus can also infect other species, including wild birds and humans. Experimental infection has also revealed that some wild ducks, geese and swans can carry the virus asymptomatically, that is before the symptoms of the virus become apparent, meaning that they have the potential to spread the virus as they migrate.

"The potential risks to humans led to extensive media coverage often focusing on migratory birds, which fuelled public concern and led to calls for the mass culling of wild birds," said lead author Dr Nicolas Gaidet. "However, the actual risk of H5N1 spread through migratory birds depended on whether infected individuals were capable of migratory movements while shedding virus, and the distance over which such individuals could travel. Our research has answered these questions using analysis of infection and migratory routes and timings for many bird species."

Dr Gaidet's team analysed 228 birds from 19 species using satellite telemetry from 2006 to 2009 over the bird flu affected areas of Asia, Europe and Africa. The results indicated that migrating wildfowl do have the potential to disperse H5N1 over extensive distances as mass migration can result in infected birds covering as much as 2900km before symptoms become apparent.

However, while this is theoretically possible the team found that direct virus dispersal by migrating birds would require asymptomatic infection to coincide precisely with the migration season. The results revealed a very small 'window' of between 5 to 15 days when dispersal of the virus over 500 km could occur.

It is crucial to the spread of disease over such a distance that an infected bird must not be showing the symptoms of infection. If the symptoms are evident then it is highly likely that the individual may not migrate, or at least they will be unable to cover the distance as well as a healthy bird.

Along with the precise timing required to spread the virus across the maximum distance, the migrating birds would also have to fly the shortest route possible, as quickly as possible. However, the team found that most migrating wildfowl stop at various staging posts throughout the trip for periods longer than the asymptomatic duration period. Virus transfer between staging birds or infection from the environment would allow a greater potential for spread, and while neither of these routes of transmission are well documented, the latter is most likely.

"Our results indicate that individual migratory wildfowl do have the potential to disperse H5N1 over extensive distances, however the likelihood of such intercontinental virus dispersal by individual wildfowl is very low," concluded Gaidet. "Our results provide a detailed quantitative framework for the dispersive potential of avian borne viruses, which will help to better understand the risk posed by other avian-borne diseases such as the West Nile Virus".

Read more!

Taxonomists Needed to Classify Indonesia’s Vast Vegetation, Experts Say

Ismira Lutfia Jakarta Globe 3 Sep 10;

Jakarta. Indonesia should look no further than its own backyard for answers to a myriad of world problems, with its rich and as yet largely unclassified vegetation possibly holding the secrets to stopping climate change or curing cancer, a leading scientist has said.

But development of forest lands and exploitation of resources have resulted in Indonesia having the world’s longest list of critically endangered plant species, Kuswata Kartawinata, an expert on plant ecology at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said recently at the institute’s 43rd anniversary celebration.

“Indonesia is abundant with floral biodiversity but many species have still not been scientifically detailed, while deforestation is threatening to bring them to the brink of extinction,” he said, adding that about 60 percent of the country’s 30,000 native flowering plants had been systematically recorded.

However, even the biological aspects of the majority of the recorded species are still unknown because a comprehensive catalog of the plants is not available, he added.

This is where the expertise of taxonomists would come in handy. Classifying the country’s diverse plant species would allow scientists to predict the unobserved characteristics of plant organisms, including their chemical elements, molecular data, anatomy or life history.

A comprehensive classification system could help trace down chemicals such as taxol, which is used in some chemotherapy treatments. Taxol is found in the extract of the Pacific yew, a coniferous plant native to Pacific North America. However, producing taxol from a single species is inadequate and risks driving it to extinction.

Kuswata said taxonomy help could detect taxol in other species of yew, including the Chinese yew found on the islands of Sumatra and Sulawesi. “Although the predictions are based on probability, it could provide solid grounding for future biological research,” he said.

Together with the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Papua New Guinea and East Timor, Indonesia is part of a coherent floristic region called Malesia, whose vegetation is distinct from the rest of Southeast Asia, Australia and the Pacific.

Malesia, Kuswata said, was estimated to have 40,000 species of plants, of which 30,000 were found in Indonesia. “This is equal to roughly 10 percent of the world’s flora,” he said.

However, the country still lacks a complete reference for flora, with the latest being a study by Dutch botanists in Java in 1963.

Lukman Hakim, LIPI’s new chairman, said the situation emphasized the important role of taxonomists in detailing the country’s rich biodiversity. “Indonesian scientists should be the masters of their own country’s biodiversity,” he said.

Read more!

The case of the vanishing taxonomists

Just as our planet's organisms have begun dying off, the scientists who classify them have also begun to decline, and this could have dire implications
Matthew Hart Globe and Mail 3 Sep 10;

On July 26, 1999, police in the English Channel town of Worthing broke into a house and found the bludgeoned body of Jean Barnes, an 87-year-old spinster. Miss Barnes had not been missed until a neighbour realized that she had not seen her for a while, and called the police. They found her under a blanket on the floor, obviously dead for some time.

To find out how long, police called in the bug man, and with that call set in motion a series of events that helped to illuminate much more than the causes of a crime.

Henry Disney, a Cambridge University researcher and former medical entomologist, is the leading world authority on scuttle flies, also sometimes known as coffin flies because some species breed in human corpses. When they do, the stage of their life cycle can establish the time of death.

Dr. Disney examined scuttle-fly larvae from the body, and said the victim had been dead for two weeks. But a problem soon cropped up.

Police recovered a note, purportedly from Miss Barnes, cancelling her milk delivery and dated after the time of death set by Dr. Disney. Thinking he must be wrong, they called in bug man No. 2.

This second expert, an accredited forensic examiner, looked at the larvae and said death had occurred even earlier – a full month before the date on the note. Perplexed, the detectives summoned yet another entomologist.

This one checked out both reports and said Dr. Disney's was correct and the second one was nonsense: Not only had it got the insects' species wrong, but the genus too.

With Dr. Disney's dates re-established, the police took another look at the note and solved the case.

The point, though, is that Dr. Disney's dates had been challenged at all. For the Barnes case revealed much more than a bungled scuttle-fly ID.

That someone licensed to interpret insect larvae – the second “expert” – could make such a blunder was an example of a larger crisis that Dr. Disney and other scientists on both sides of the Atlantic have identified: the dwindling of a class of expert and a store of expertise.

What's at stake is much more than helping to solve murders. It's the ability of science to assess the state of life on Earth at a moment of whirlwind change – as new species are discovered and others go extinct.

A THREAT TO SCIENCE

The science of describing and naming species – of saying what they are – is called taxonomy. A taxonomist is an expert in a taxon – a group of plants or animals. In the classical model, a taxonomist scrutinized the physical traits of a specimen, said where it belonged in the system of classification and named it.

In the words of Harvard University's E.O. Wilson, a leading figure in contemporary biology, “master taxonomists” are a breed that is “fading from the scene. They die and are not being replaced.”

Known internationally as the “taxonomic impediment,” this problem is a rising issue among those struggling to understand biodiversity. In Britain, the Natural History Museum will deliver an assessment of the state of taxonomy at the end of this month – 18 years after a House of Lords committee first identified the decline in taxonomic research as “a threat to the science underpinning conservation.”

The morphological taxonomist, engrossed in a single group and identifying its members by visual inspection, is increasingly an emeritus professor or someone near retirement. Younger scientists are drawn to molecular taxonomy, where powerful new techniques in the study of DNA have revealed interspecies connections never before suspected.

Such advances, including the Canadian-pioneered use of DNA barcodes to identify species, while undeniably useful, are “not a replacement for the [traditional] taxonomist,” says Gary Saunders, who holds a chair in Molecular Systematics and Biodiversity at the University of New Brunswick.

“At times, the DNA-generated answer is wrong,” Prof. Saunders says. “A trained taxonomist can look at a molecular result and know that there is cause to question the outcome.”

“The risks associated with loss of traditional knowledge also will apply directly to the molecular approaches,” says Laurence Packer, a York University bee expert, “as identifications based on the latter ultimately entirely rely upon accuracy in the former.”

Just this week, one of Prof. Packer's students – Jason Gibbs – published his discovery of a new bee species. He had plucked the specimen from a flower in downtown Toronto, examined it by microscope, checked the DNA, and “Eureka!”

“I think there's a perception that after a couple of centuries of naming, we've already named everything there is,” says Canadian taxonomist Don Lafontaine, a world authority on moths who works for the federal Agriculture Department in Ottawa.

“That may be true with birds and animals, but I recently put out a new catalogue on noctuid moths, and even as I was publishing there were about 2,500 species right here in our own collection that hadn't been identified, and 250 new species of cutworm moths have been described in North America in the past 10 years.”

Noctuid moths are a vast family of about 50,000 species. Cutworms, some of which are pests that cost farmers millions of dollars a year, are a larval stage of noctuid moths. Making swift identifications of such animals is crucial to controlling them. Other insect pests, such as the spruce budworm and the pine beetle, can ravage whole environments.

“The loss of people who can identify an insect – there's been enormous concern about that,” says Naomi Pierce, Hessel Professor of Biology at Harvard. “I am not a classical taxonomist, I'm part of the new wave. Having said that, I work very closely with taxonomists and I see the problem. It's an amazingly serious one. There's a whole generation of people – you could give them something and they could say what it is. That is being lost because there are no jobs.”

The disappearance of traditional taxonomy from universities as molecular taxonomy takes over has orphaned whole collections of insects. Dr. Lafontaine often spends his holidays helping to maintain such uncurated “ghost collections.” Fortunately the collection he works with in Ottawa, with 16 million specimens – the third largest of its kind in the world – suffers no such neglect.

An editor of the massive compendium Moths of North America, Dr. Lafontaine is past president of the International Lepidopterists' Society, a research fellow at Washington's Smithsonian Institution and a co-author of Butterflies of Canada. As well as being a curator of Canada's enormous collection of insects, arachnids and nematodes, he maintains a steady flow of scholarly publications and helps amateurs – increasingly important to traditional taxonomy – to prepare their own work for publication.

“When I first wanted to describe a few new taxa that I had found,” says Lars Crabo, a Bellingham, Wash., radiologist and distinguished amateur lepidopterist, “I looked to Don for help. My first efforts were really pitiful and Don helped me with encouragement, editorial suggestions and technical advice.”

APOCALYPSE NOW

According to Harvard's Prof. Wilson, the loss of such expertise impairs the ability of science to assess the state of life at a time of apocalyptic change – the present – when species are disappearing before we even know what it is they do. “We are like doctors trying to diagnose a patient when we only know 10 per cent of the organs,” he said.

As an example, Prof. Wilson cited the nematode – a tiny, all-pervasive phylum of worm that makes its home from polar ice to the Sahara. They are 90 per cent of all life in the deepest ocean trenches, and swarm the soils of our planet.

“They are the most abundant animals on Earth and we hardly know anything about their biology,” Prof. Wilson says. “We have counted 20,000 species, but there are certainly a million. They are running the world for us and we don't know how.”

Taxonomy faces a staggering enterprise. In the 250 years since Carl Linnaeus invented the system of classification still in wide use, about 1.9 million plants and animals have been identified. The latest estimates put this number at a 10th of what's actually out there – just counting macro-organisms. On the micro side, there could be 100 million species.

New molecular techniques will help scientists sort out this profusion. But as E.O. Wilson and two other distinguished taxonomists cautioned in a 2004 editorial in Science, molecular researchers have benefited from “centuries of banked morphology knowledge [assembled by traditional taxon-

omists]. That knowledge, however, is limited to a fraction of Earth's species and will very soon be exhausted.”

The name of a species, Don Lafontaine says, is the address to everything that is known about it. If you get the species wrong, all subsequent information will be wrong.

“This has serious implications for human and animal health,” he says.

“We are part of a network of tens of thousands of species that surround us and affect our lives. They are critical to our health and wealth and that of our planet. Knowing their names is the first step to understanding, and that ability – for a large portion of life on the planet – is at risk.”

“In my own field of entomology,” Henry Disney wrote to the House of Lords, “the majority of specialists on large families of small insects are now retired professionals, like myself, and amateurs.

“Since retirement,” he added, “I have existed on small grants and occasional fees for undertaking forensic work.”

And the Jean Barnes murder?

When Dr. Disney's original estimate of her time of death was confirmed, police realized that something was suspicious about the note to the milkman, since it was dated after her death.

As it turned out, the note was a forgery. The killer had written it days after Miss Barnes had died, to keep people away from the house while he sold off her antiques. Police quickly found a suspect, and when all the evidence was tied to Dr. Disney's dates, the case was solved.

Matthew Hart is a Canadian writer based in London.

Read more!

Vaults to protect agricultural biodiversity

IRIN Reuters Alernet 2 Sep 10;

BANGKOK, 2 September 2010 (IRIN) - As rising food prices, [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=90055] growing populations and natural disasters increasingly put pressure on food production, governments and scientists are focusing on preserving the world's agricultural biodiversity through seed and gene banks.

"Crops are resources that are renewable as long as you can conserve them," Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust [http://www.croptrust.org] told IRIN from Rome. "In this sense, seed and gene banks are the libraries of life."

Gene and seed banks, by storing food varieties, prepare the world for food crises by acting as a "savings account". Just as one saves money for emergencies, scientists are saving seeds in case certain crops die out or are destroyed.

These stockpiles can be used to feed a growing population, which the UN [http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/longrange2/WorldPop2300final.pdf] predicts will balloon from seven billion to nine billion by 2050.

Scientists also hope to use genetic features of these stored seeds to create crops [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=90189] that can adapt to various weather conditions.

"Different varieties have different traits which are suitable for different climates, diseases, soils and markets," said Rory Hamilton, head of the T.T. Chang Genetic Resources Center at the International Rice Research Institute. "If we lose those traits, then we lose our ability to respond to challenges."

According to Diverseeds, [http://www.diverseeds.eu/] a food security project of the European Commission, the world's diet is primarily comprised of only 30 crops. Of those, wheat, corn and rice account for more than half of the world's food consumption.

IRIN lists some of the most important crop seed and gene banks around the world:

Pavlovsk Experimental Station (Berry Bank) - Russia [http://www.vir.nw.ru/structure.htm#pavlovsk]

What: Established in 1926, the Pavlovsk Experimental Station has one of the oldest collections of fruits and berries in the world and the largest in Europe. It contains 5,500 seed varieties of currants, 600 varieties of apples and 1,000 varieties of strawberries. Despite the fact that 90 percent of the station's collection is unique, it is currently facing demolition plans by the Russian government.

[http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/plant-repository-at-risk-in-russia/] Sixty percent of the currants in Russia - the top producer of black currants at $400 million per year - originated from this research centre.

Where: Built outside St. Petersburg, the station earned a special place in Russian history during the World War II siege of the city, when 12 scientists chose to starve to death rather than eat the precious seeds.

International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) - Philippines [http://beta.irri.org/index.php/Home/Welcome/Frontpage.html]

What: The oldest and largest international agricultural research institute in Asia, IRRI has more than 109,000 types of traditional, wild and ancestor rice. Rice farms cover 11 percent of the world's arable area, and almost half the world depends on rice as a major source of food and income. It was established in 1960 by the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, in cooperation with the Philippine government.

Where: Los Baños, about 60km south of the Philippine capital, Manila.

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) - Mexico [http://www.cimmyt.org/]

What: Established in 1971, CIMMYT manages the most diverse maize and wheat collections. Each year the centre ships several tons of seed to more than 100 researchers in dozens of countries. The centre has some 140,000 samples of wheat seed from more than 100 countries, and 27,000 samples of maize.

Where: Mexico City.

International Potato Center (CIP) [http://www.cipotato.org/] - Peru and Ecuador

What: CIP conducts scientific research on potato, sweet potato and other root and tuber crops, and examines ways to improve natural resource management in the Andes and similar mountain climates. Established in 1971, CIP has 5,000 samples of potato, 6,500 samples of sweet potato and 1,300 samples of nine species of Andean roots and tubers.

Where: CIP has experimental stations in a variety of climates in Peru and Ecuador, including in an irrigated coastal valley in La Molina, outside Lima, Peru's capital; in the high Andes in Huancayo (Peru); on the eastern, rainforest-covered slopes of San Ramón (Peru); and Quito, Ecuador, in the high Andes.

Svalbard Seed Vault [http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/lmd/campain/svalbard-global-seed-vault.html?id=462220] - Norway

What: Managed by the Global Crop Diversity Trust, Nordic Genetic Resource Center (NordGen) and the government of Norway, Svalbard is the largest seed vault in the world. Built in 2008 as a safety net in case other collections are destroyed, the vault cost US$9 million to build and holds 526,000 seed samples (500 seeds per sample).

Where: Dug out of an arctic mountainside nearly 1,000km north of the Norwegian mainland, the vault is located in the Svalbard Archipelago, near the town of Longyearbyen. For nearly four months a year, the Svalbard islands are enveloped in total darkness. Permafrost and thick rock ensure that even without electricity, the samples, which are stored at -18 degrees Celsius, remain frozen.

cm/ds/at/cb

Read more!

Tropical forests slashed for farmland

80 percent of the new farmland created in the tropics between 1980 and 2000 came from felling forests, but the rate of deforestation may be slowing
Stanford University EurekAlert 2 Sep 10;

Global agricultural expansion cut a wide swath through tropical forests during the 1980s and 1990s. Over half a million square miles of new farmland – an area roughly the size of Alaska – was created in the developing world between 1980 and 2000, of which over 80 percent was carved out of tropical forests, according to Stanford researcher Holly Gibbs.

"This has huge implications for global warming, if we continue to expand our farmland into tropical forests at that rate," said Gibbs, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Environmental Earth System Science, who led the study.

Gibbs and colleagues at several other universities analyzed Landsat satellite data and images from the United Nations to reach their conclusions. Theirs is the first study to map and quantify what types of land have been replaced by the immense area of new farmland developed across the tropical forest belt during the 1980s and 1990s.

While this huge increase was happening within the tropics, agricultural land in the non-tropical countries actually decreased in area.

The study was published this week in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that to keep pace with increasing demand, global agricultural production will have to keep increasing, possibly even doubling by 2050. That would likely lead to millions of additional acres of tropical forest being felled over the next 40 years.

"Every million acres of forest that is cut releases the same amount of carbon into the atmosphere as 40 million cars do in a year," Gibbs said.

Most of the carbon released comes from burning the forests, but even if the trees are simply cast aside, the bulk of the carbon from the plants makes its way into the atmosphere during decomposition, she said.

Gibbs and her colleagues found that about 55 percent of the tropical forests that had been cut between 1980 and 2000 were intact forests and another 28 percent were forests that had experienced some degradation, such as some small-scale farming, logging or gathering of wood and brush for cooking or heating fuel.

"The tropical forests store more than 340 billion tons of carbon, which is 40 times the total current worldwide annual fossil fuel emissions," Gibbs said. "If we continue cutting down these forests, there is a huge potential to further contribute to climate change."

The increasing demand for agricultural production stems in part from the ever-growing number of people on the planet, who all want to eat. Additionally, members of the growing middle class in emerging economies such as China and India are showing interest in eating more meat, which further intensifies demand. And incentives to grow crops for biofuel production have increased.

But Gibbs and her colleagues also observed some encouraging signs. The patterns of change in the locations they analyzed made it clear that during the 1990s, less of the deforestation was done by small family farms than was the case in the 1980s and more was done by large, corporate-run farms. Big agribusiness tends to be more responsive to global economic signals as well as pressure campaigns from advocacy organizations and consumer groups than individual small farmers.

In Brazil, where a pattern had developed of expanding soy production by direct forest clearing and by pushing cattle ranching off pastureland and into forested areas, a campaign by Greenpeace and others resulted in agreements by key companies to rein in their expansion. Instead, they worked to increase production on land already in agricultural use.

"These farmers effectively increased the yield of soy on existing lands and they have also increased the head of cattle per acre by a factor of 5 or 6," Gibbs said. "It is exciting that we are starting to see how responsive industry can be to consumer demands. We really are seeing positive changes in this area."

Along with wiser use of land already cleared, Gibbs said, improvements in technology and advances in yield intensification also could slow the expansion of farming into the forests.

Other studies that analyzed land use changes between 2000 and 2007 have shown that the pace of cutting down the tropical forests has begun to slow in some regions.

But as long as the human population on the planet continues to grow, the pressure to put food on the table, feed in the barnyard and fuel in the gas tank will continue to grow, too.

"It is critical that we focus our efforts on reducing rates of deforestation while at the same time restoring degraded lands and improving land management across the tropics," Gibbs said. "The good news is that pressure from consumer groups and nongovernmental organizations combined with international climate agreements could provide a real opportunity to shift the tide in favor of forest conservation rather than farmland expansion."

###

In addition to her position at the Department of Environmental Earth System Science, Gibbs is affiliated with Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment. Jon Foley, a professor of ecology, evolution and behavior, and director of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota, was Gibbs' PhD adviser when the research was begun. He is a coauthor of the paper.

Read more!

China farmers under siege from wild boar invasion

Yahoo News 2 Sep 10;

BEIJING (AFP) – Farmers in eastern China are grappling with an explosion in the population of wild boars, who are destroying crops and upsetting the ecological balance, state media said on Friday.

Wild boar numbers have risen to an estimated 150,000 in Zhejiang province, compared to about 29,000 a decade ago, the China Daily said.

The population has flourished as China's notorious environmental destruction has wiped out traditional predators such as tigers and wolves, reports said.

The China Daily also quoted experts saying the huge migration of labour to cities has left fewer farmers home to keep boars in check, while curbs on gun use during the six-month World Expo in nearby Shanghai has halted hunting.

The Expo runs to the end of October.

Corn yields in at least one village this year have been reduced by a third as crops have been trampled by the four-legged marauders, and some people have been hurt by the animals, the China Daily said, giving no figures.

The swelling wild boar population also was upsetting the natural balance in other animal populations, press reports said.

Wild boars are known to eat snakes, removing a predator that normally feeds on rats and mice, and as a result, grain-eating rodent populations were on the rise.

Some local farmers were stepping up use of traps and setting up electric fences around their farms to ward off the boars, the China Daily said.

Read more!

Vietnam Cracks Down on Illegal Wildlife Trade

* Hundreds of pounds of illegal wildlife from more than a dozen species seized in restaurants by authorities
* WCS helped organize major enforcement campaign
Wildlife Conservation Society 2 Sep 10;

NEW YORK (September 2, 2010) – Hundreds of pounds of illegal wildlife from nearly 20 species were seized from restaurants in the largest enforcement campaign of its kind in Vietnam’s Lam Dong Province, the Wildlife Conservation Society reported today.

More than 100 officers from the Lam Dong Forest Protection Department (FPD) swept through Da Lat City and surrounding district towns beginning last week and confiscated over 850 pounds of wildlife including meat from wild pigs, civets, pangolins, porcupine, mouse deer, monitor lizards, bear paws, bamboo rats, snakes, and sambar deer. They also seized skins from black-shanked duoc langurs, clouded leopard, short-clawed otter, serow, muntjac, leopard cat, flying squirrel, common palm civet, binturong, and small Indian civet.

More than a dozen restaurant owners have been arrested and fined so far, and criminal prosecutions are underway for the wholesaler supplying the restaurants.

The ongoing campaign, developed with support from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), National Environmental Police, Dr. Mai The Bay, and with the support from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), follows recent surveys in Da Lat City that found 44 restaurants and 33 Traditional Chinese Medicine shops serving wildlife.

“The detection and prosecution of restaurants illegally serving wildlife is a critical step in the battle for wildlife conservation in Vietnam,” said Mr. Tran Thanh Binh, Head of Lam Dong Forest Protection Department said. “The campaign today is our warning shot to illegal wildlife traders that Lam Dong province will not condone wildlife violators anymore.”

Scott Roberton, Wildlife Conservation Society Country Representative for Vietnam said, “WCS commends the strong and decisive actions of Lam Dong province on tackling wildlife trade in Da Lat City and hopes these seizures will be followed up with investigations to identify and prosecute the illegal traders behind the restaurants. The future of wildlife in Vietnam hangs in the balance, but with more agencies showing a strong commitment like Lam Dong Forest Protection Department, things could change for the better very quickly.”

“Illegal trade is the largest single threat to wildlife in Asia,” said Joe Walston, WCS director for Asia Programs. “Strict enforcement of existing laws, such as what is happening in Lam Dong, is crucial to stemming this crisis, so that wildlife can thrive for future generations.”

Investigations are underway into the source of the wildlife and the trade networks supplying it.

The Wildlife Conservation Society recently convinced the Travel Channel to re-edit episodes "No Reservations" and "Bizarre Foods" that showed consumption of illegal wildlife in restaurants in Vietnam and Cambodia.

Read more!

Indonesia: Eruption spotlights "severe" volcano threat

IRIN Reuters AlertNet 2 Sep 10;

JAKARTA, 3 September 2010 (IRIN) - The eruption of Mount Sinabung for the first time in 400 years has highlighted the urgent need for Indonesian authorities to boost disaster preparedness, experts warn.

"This is a challenge. We should study a volcano's pattern of activity so that we can draw up guidelines to anticipate such a disaster," said Wisnu Wijaya, director of disaster risk reduction at the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB).

Mount Sinabung volcano [ http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=90332 ] in North Sumatra took the country by surprise, bubbling over after 400 dormant years and forcing 30,000 villagers to seek refuge in government-run shelters.

In the early hours of 3 September, Sinabung spewed a column of hot ash 3km into the air in the biggest eruption since 25 and 26 August.

Even though it has the largest number - 129 - of active volcanoes on Earth and a history of devastating volcanic disasters, Indonesia has very few scientists watching these potential hazards.

Disaster risk reduction became more of an issue after the 2004 tsunami, but a lack of official awareness of the importance of volcano monitoring and the potential link between eruptions and earthquakes persists, said Wahyu Triyoso, a geophysicist at Indonesia's Bandung Institute of Technology.

"A major earthquake like in Aceh may have triggered a volcanic surge by waking up dormant volcanoes," Triyoso said, referring to the quake that triggered the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 170,000 in Aceh province.

Indonesia sits on a belt of intense seismic activity known as the "Pacific Ring of Fire".

The Sinabung eruption should serve as a wake-up call for authorities to step up the monitoring of volcanoes around the islands, Wijaya said.

Waiting for warning BNPB chairman Syamsul Maarif said a 2007 law on disaster mitigation required every region to map its vulnerability to disasters, but only a few have complied.

"We keep pushing the local governments to do it," Maarif said. "When a disaster happens, they can't wait for the Jakarta-based BNPB team to arrive there in a short time and they should be able to help themselves before more help comes."

Before the latest eruption, about 10,000 people who had fled the first eruptions had returned to their villages to tend their crops, despite warnings from volcanologists that Mount Sinabung was still dangerous, said BNPB spokesman Priyadi Kardono.

"Some villagers return to their fields during the day to harvest crops and go back to the shelters at night," Kardono said. "As long as they are in the shelters, they are safe."

Surono, director of the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation, said he had advised local authorities overnight to order villagers who returned to their homes within a 6km radius of Mount Sinabung to go back to the temporary shelters.

According to the BNPB, two-thirds of the 30,000 who fled the volcano remain in 20 government shelters in Karo as of 3 September.

atp/nb/ds/mw

Read more!

Thai firm rejects Indonesian oil spill cash claim

Yahoo News 3 Sep 10;

SYDNEY (AFP) – A Thai-owned firm Friday rejected Indonesia's 2.4 billion US dollar compensation claim over a major oil spill off Australia's north which campaigners say hit the livelihoods of thousands of poor fishermen.

PTTEP Australasia, a unit of Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production PCL, said it "has not accepted any claim" by Indonesia over the months-long Montara spill, Australia's worst offshore drilling accident.

"PTTEP Australasia wishes to confirm that it has not accepted any claim made by the Indonesian government for compensation," a statement said, adding that "no verifiable scientific evidence" has been given to support the claim.

Indonesia made the claim this week, saying it included compensation for damage to coral reefs.

The leak in the Timor Sea from August 21 to November 3 was the worst from an offshore oil platform in Australian history, although it was smaller than the recent BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Like the BP spill, it dragged on for months as the company tried to plug the flow with a relief well, a process that eventually succeeded.

It also led to calls for tougher regulation of offshore drilling and criticism of the authorities responsible for monitoring the operation.

Evidence given at a commission of inquiry showed the Montara slick grew to almost 90,000 square kilometres (35,000 square miles) and entered Indonesian waters, according to environmental group WWF.

The West Timor Care Foundation, which supports poor fishermen in eastern Indonesia, estimates the spill affected the livelihoods of about 18,000 fishermen. Businesses such as seaweed and pearl farms were also reportedly hit.

Following this year's Gulf of Mexico spill, which was the biggest maritime spill on record and spewed some 4.9 million barrels of oil, BP set up a 20-billion-dollar compensation fund.

Indonesia to Present Evidence for $2.4b Oil Spill Claim Soon, Negotiator Says
Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 4 Sep 10;

Jakarta. Indonesian officials have still not compiled the evidence needed to back up their hefty compensation claim against a Thai-owned firm for last year’s oil spill off Australia’s north coast, but will do so soon, they said on Friday.

“We will try to complete it before the holiday season but there is no deadline [for the submission],” said Masnellyarti Hilman, the government’s lead negotiator and head of the advocacy team. He was referring to the Sept. 10 and 11 Idul Fitri holidays.

Officials said Indonesia formally presented PTTEP Australasia, a subsidiary of Thailand’s state-controlled PTT Exploration and Production, with a Rp 22 trillion ($2.4 billion) bill on Aug. 26 for damage caused by the oil spill, said to be Australia’s worst offshore drilling incident.

Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi, who heads the government team handling the spill, said the company was still studying the claim and would verify it within a month.

However, PTTEP has already said Indonesia did not provide any “verifiable scientific evidence” to back up its claim.

On Thursday, PTTEP issued a statement saying it “has not accepted any claim made by the Indonesian government for compensation.” In an e-mail message, the company also denied it would verify the claim within a month.

“At the 26 August meeting, the [Indonesian] delegation leader agreed to provide PTTEP with the Indonesian government’s data and evidence that it proposes to rely on to support its claim, once it is translated into English,” the e-mail said.

Furthermore, the e-mail read that it was agreed at the Aug. 26 meeting that all data and evidence produced by the Indonesian government in support of its claim would need to be analyzed by appropriate parties before PTTEP would be in a position to attend any further meeting to discuss the claim.

“PTTEP will also provide to the Indonesian government the scientific studies from the long- term environmental monitoring program which the company is funding in cooperation with the [Australian] Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts [DEWHA],” the e-mail stated.

Indonesian officials have been under fire for their handling of the compensation claim. The West Timor Care Foundation (YPTB), which supports fishermen in eastern Indonesia, said the Indonesian negotiating team only presented an overview of the claim, without any supporting data.

“This [case is one of] shameful oversight on the part of the government,” said Ferdi Tanoni, from YPTB.

East Nusa Tenggara Officials Asked to Document Oil Spill Damage for Claim
Eras Poke Jakarta Globe 5 Sep 10;

Kupang. East Nusa Tenggara Governor Frans Lebu Raya said he had ordered local officials to gather scientific data to back the nation’s Rp 22 trillion ($2.4 billion) claim for compensation over last year’s Timor Sea oil spill.

The claim, presented at an Aug. 26 meeting between a government team and representatives from PTTEP Australasia, a subsidiary of Thailand’s state-controlled PTT Exploration & Production, was widely criticized for not being backed by scientific evidence.

The government’s team has since said it would compile the data “before the holiday season” that kicks off with Idul Fitri on Sept. 10.

“Our claims weren’t rejected yet, but the data isn’t accurate, especially pertaining to victims of the oil spill,” the governor said on Saturday.

“I’ve ordered all district heads and mayors to collect data on their constituents affected by the oil spill. After we have collected all the data, an independent team will verify it.”

Frans also said the data to be submitted by the district and municipal administrations “need to be clear, starting from the names, addresses and villages,” to facilitate the verification process and ultimately the payment of compensation.

Frans said the compensation claim already submitted to PTTEP included costs for coral reef and mangrove swamp rehabilitation over the next 10 years and seaweed farm recovery over the next two years.

The spill was the result of a blowout at the Montara wellhead platform in the Timor Sea, off the northern coast of Australia, in August 2009. The leak was only plugged 74 days later and created a large oil slick that reached Indonesian waters.

The well, located 690 kilometers west of Darwin, is operated by PTTEP.

On Friday, an Indonesian official said the government would soon compile the evidence needed to back up its hefty compensation claim.

“We will try to complete it before the holiday season but there is no deadline [for the submission],” said Masnellyarti Hilman, the head of the government’s advocacy team.

The statement came a day after PTTEP said it “has not accepted any claim made by the Indonesian government for compensation.”

Meanwhile, Christine Mason, an Australian environmental activist and legal adviser for the West Timor Care Foundation, said the government did not seem to care about the impact of the oil spill, citing the lack of a lawsuit against PTTEP.

“This is very weird [compared to the spate of litigation in] the oil spill case in the Gulf of Mexico,” Mason said.

“This is a humanitarian hazard that needs to be handled as soon as possible, [and should] not only be limited to a submission of compensation claims.”

She also said the government’s claim needed to be backed by a “scientific investigation in the field to measure all economic and ecological impact.”

“Only after that can all claims be presented,” she said, adding that the Timor Sea oil spill could be considered as just as severe as other cases, including the recent Gulf oil spill and the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska.

“However, it’s really weird that there’s been no lawsuit from the Indonesian government against the company,” the activist said, adding: “I think that’s just illogical.”

Mason, who is also an expert on international oil law, said she was prepared to represent the West Timor Care Foundation’s own claims against PTTEP.

Read more!

Adopt World Bank Initiative to Cut Graft in Resources: NGOs Urge Indonesia

Nivell Rayda Jakarta Globe 3 Sep 10;

Jakarta. Nongovernmental groups are urging the government to participate in the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative, in a bid to combat corruption and minimize potential revenue losses in the oil, gas, mining and logging sectors.

The Norway-based initiative, sponsored by the World Bank, would put Indonesia on close international watch, ensuring that all state revenue generated by the extractive industry is open for public scrutiny.

Rezki Sri Wibowo, from Transparency International Indonesia, said the nation was suffering from “the curse of resources,” just like other countries with plenty of natural wealth but no transparent government. These nations tend to experience huge economic disparity, uneven development and social unrest despite enormous overall income.

“The [Indonesian] extractive industry has long been tarnished by a lack of transparency, graft, illicit fees and lack of clear regulation and government monitoring,” Rezki said.

“For oil, it is hard to say whether data provided by BPMigas on our oil output is not being manipulated because there is no comparative data and the existing data is not audited externally,” Rezki said in reference to the upstream oil and gas regulator. The mining and logging industries aren’t much more transparent, he added.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) estimated the state lost Rp 2 trillion ($222 million) based on the oil and gas cost recovery scheme in 2009. BPMigas consequently submitted the misappropriated money to state coffers voluntarily.

“How could there be a miscalculation in the first place? Because information on the subject is not disclosed to the public,” Rezki said.

After joining the initiative, resources companies will have to declare their revenues and an independent team of experts will then compare the information provided with that from the government.

David Brown, Indonesia’s representative to the EITI, said joining the initiative might boost the country’s economy and help combat rampant graft in the extractive industry.

“After implementing EITI for several years, Nigeria’s income from extractive revenue rose as much as $2 billion and its corruption perception index improved by 17 percent,” Brown said.

Read more!