Best of our wild blogs: 7 Sep 10

Milky Stork sunning
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Wacky corals growing in our marinas
from wild shores of singapore

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Indonesian volcano erupts again; strongest yet

Binsar Bakkara Associated Press Google News 7 Sep 10;

TANAH KARO, Indonesia — An Indonesian volcano shot a towering cloud of black ash high into the air Tuesday, dusting villages 15 miles (25 kilometers) away in its most powerful eruption since awakening last week from four centuries of dormancy.

Some witnesses at the foot of Mount Sinabung reported seeing an orange glow — presumably magma — in cracks along the volcano's slopes for the first time.

"There was a huge, thunderous sound. It sounded like hundreds of bombs going off at one," said Ita Sitepu, 29, who was among thousands of people staying in crowded emergency shelters well away from the base. "Then everything starting shaking. I've never experienced anything like it."

Mount Sinabung's first eruption last week caught many scientists off guard. With more than 129 active volcanoes to watch in this vast archipelago, local vulcanologists had failed to monitor the long-quiet mountain for rising magma, slight uplifts in land and other signs of seismic activity.

Indonesia is a seismically charged region because of its location on the so-called "Ring of Fire" — a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.

There are fears that current activity could foreshadow a much more destructive explosion in the coming weeks or months, though it is possible, too, that Singabung will go back to sleep after letting off steam.

More than 30,000 people living along the volcano's fertile slopes have been relocated to cramped refugee camps, mosques and churches in nearby villages.

But some have insisted on returning to the danger zone to check on their homes and their dust-covered crops.

The government sent dozens of trucks to the mountain to help carry them back before Tuesday's eruption, which sent ash and debris shooting three miles (5,000 meters) into the air, said Surono, who heads the nation's volcano alert center.

"It was really terrifying," said Anissa Siregar, 30, as she and her two children arrived at one of the makeshift camps, adding that the mountain shook violently for at least three minutes. "It just keeps getting worse."

Local media said ash had reached as far as Berastagi, a district 15 miles (25 kilometers) from the base of the mountain.

Surono, who, like many Indonesians, uses only one name, said activity was definitely on the rise: There were more than 80 volcanic earthquakes in the 24-hour lead-up to the blast, compared to 50 on Friday, when ash and debris shot nearly two miles (3,000 meters).

The eruption early Tuesday occurred just after midnight during a torrential downpour. Witnesses said volcanic ash and mud oozed down the mountain's slopes, flooding into abandoned homes. Others said saw bursts of fire and hot ash.

The force of the explosion could be felt five miles (eight kilometers) away.

Indonesia has recorded some of the largest eruptions in history.

The 1815 explosion of Mount Tambora buried the inhabitants of Sumbawa Island under searing ash, gas and rock, killing an estimated 88,000 people.

The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa could be heard 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) away and blackened skies region-wide for months. At least 36,000 people were killed in the blast and the tsunami that followed.

Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini contributed to this report from Jakarta.

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Living large on a little red dot

Cheong Suk-Wai, Straits Times 7 Sep 10;

ARCHITECTS Khoo Peng Beng and Belinda Huang were on a plane from Venice to Singapore when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong cited them in his National Day Rally speech as foreigners who have contributed meaningfully to Singapore.

The husband-and-wife team designed The Pinnacle@Duxton, the Republic's first 50-storey public flats. Now a national landmark, it was recently named the Best Tall Building in Asia and Australasia by the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.

Of the Prime Minister's accolade, Mr Khoo, 42, said: 'We're still in shock and deeply honoured. But what we've done rests on the work of giants like URA and HDB, without which there wouldn't be such a project in the first place.' He should know; Mr Khoo sits on HDB's Design Advisory Panel.

The Malaysian-born Singapore permanent resident is a direct descendant of the family that founded Penang's iconic clan house, Khoo Kongsi. He has been on the council of the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) for the past seven years and was the lead curator for the Singapore pavilion at this year's Venice Biennale, with an exhibit entitled 1,000 Singapores. Created by the SIA and the DesignSingapore Council, it depicts a cross-sectional sliver of Singapore as a model of how compactly people can live and still enjoy a high quality of life.

This alumnus of the National University of Singapore set up ARC Studio with his wife in 1999. Today, it is a 20-strong firm, with ongoing projects spanning from Calcutta, India, to the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia.

Fresh from his stint at the Biennale, the father of three tried to convince me last week that cramming as many people as possible into as little land as possible is a viable way to live sustainably:

# What is this idea you call 1,000 Singapores?

The Government is planning for Singapore to house 6.5 million people on 710 sq km. If it can do that successfully then, theoretically, the entire global population of approximately 6.5 billion can be housed in 1,000 Singapores - or 0.5 per cent of all land on Earth. That's the equivalent of two Japans, two Italys or one Texas...What would it be like to live like this?

# How did you get people at the Biennale to think about that?

We made a model of Singapore, measuring 35m long and 200mm wide, which literally slices across Singapore from Tuas to Pulau Ubin in a straight line. In doing so, we tried to show that the sectional profile of Singapore is not dense all the way as many might imagine.

We actually occupy only less than 1/5 of the 710 sq km, with another 2/5 covered by forests, parks and water catchment areas and the remaining 2/5 given over to roads, defence areas and airports. So our footprint on Earth is incredibly small and light because we chose to go with a high-rise model, which can still accommodate developments like Sentosa Cove.

# But surely living compactly is counter-intuitive when most people's ideal homes are by the beach or near parks?

Quite right. The point is, by living in an extremely compact and connected way, more land will be freed up for everyone to enjoy. You won't be too far away from that seaside or mountain escape... We'd build fewer roads, string out fewer street lights and need fewer kilometres of pipes and cables, (thus turning) our homes into urban villages within which we can walk everywhere or drive about in compact electric cars.

Our sense of territory came from man's move from the agrarian to the industrial age, so that you actually needed a fence around your factories or land you owned. But today, we can leverage off the idea of interrelationships. In a high-density environment, we inherently need to share things.

# But while we share freely in cyberspace, we tend to be selfish and distant in real life. So who would share meaningfully?

Let's compare Jakarta and Singapore. Jakarta is sprawling, like the fingers on your hands, with the ends of these fingers continuing to shoot outwards. With such a pattern, each bus stop and train station would serve fewer families the farther you go beyond the city. Which means that buses and trains can't run so frequently because so few people take them; and if it runs infrequently, nobody finds it convenient and so nobody uses it. Also, if a sprawling city continues to sprawl, you'll have to build and extend roads and pipes and end up with ageing infrastructure that you'll have to maintain.

Compact Singapore, by contrast, is organised in a loop. We have a central water catchment area and our houses and MRT lines just ring around it.

There's another angle to this: In Australia, more and more people are learning that living away from the city, means that when they travel they have to worry about their pets and lawns. So they start shifting back to the city where they can have the community right at their doorstep so that they just lock up and go.

# So you're saying that Singapore is the epitome of compactness?

Yes. It has arrived at that out of necessity. Today, it's even managing certain aspects that it was not able to previously, such as treating waste water. But we could do better in producing more of our own food and consuming energy more efficiently. Perhaps we could cool air at night and store it for use in the day?

Also, when the Government says it's housing a nation, it's not only about the physical but also about integrated community-building. It's about the family over the individual, ownership over rental, subsidies to the right groups. We should share this (knowledge) with other countries, particularly those in Asia, whose rate of urbanism is so rapid that cities as well as rural areas are collapsing all at once from influx (into the cities) and exodus (from the rural areas).

But cities are capitalistic and capitalism is in crisis.

I'm quite aware that living in a city creates stress and possibly psychoses. But perhaps it is the pace of life and the need to overproduce that leads to that. The environment itself has less to do with it than the need to keep up. For so long, Singapore has been on the growth trajectory and when you are on that, there is constant change because that is what growth means.

# But where's the room for happiness in all this?

In capitalism, many of us outsource our happiness to material possessions. Unfortunately, happiness does not reside in the physical; it resides in your attitude towards the physical. And that search for meaning is how we become more aware of ourselves.

But self-awareness is not the same as happiness.

It's not as if people here don't have any beach or jungle to go to and contemplate, you know. And we don't feel so cramped because the National Parks Board has done wonders with urban biodiversity.

# Why should anyone endure living compactly to save the planet?

Only 10 per cent of the cells in our bodies are uniquely human. We share the remaining 90 per cent with microbes and fungi. So when you consider that microbes in the soil are working to produce oxygen or affix nitrogen, we should never be so arrogant as to say we are better than anything else (in Nature). We are literally breathing in one another. So we can't even think of doing something now that will not affect others in the future. We have to work to keep this Earth alive.

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Warming to the hybrid approach in solar energy

EFFORTS to harness the sun's energy are spreading in the heartland.
Teo Han Guan & Catrina Yeo Straits Times 7 Sep 10;

The Housing Board recently bought solar photovoltaic panels worth about $2.3 million for various residential estates. In total, the panels are expected to produce 170 megawatt-hours of energy each year which, said an HDB spokesman, would represent about $40,000 in savings a year per precinct.

The HDB began installing solar panels in the estates of Serangoon and Wellington in December 2008. Since then, the price of solar panels has dropped by more than half, from $5.17 a watt-peak to $2.33 a watt-peak.

While there are many options for renewable energy - hydropower, biofuel and wind among them - solar power could become a significant energy source in Singapore.

Solar energy is usually understood as harnessing the sun's capacity for electricity production through photovoltaic (PV) panels, which convert part of the solar radiation into electricity. But such systems often do not use thermal energy.

Another kind of system can harness solar energy for heating purposes, using a solar thermal collector. Thermal energy can then be transferred by water or other refrigerants for a range of uses.

In places such as hospitals or industrial kitchens, thermal collectors can be coupled with heat exchangers, so the heat can be used for sanitation or food preparation. An example would be the solar hot water plant installed at Changi International Airport Services. With a collection area of 1,200 sq m, the plant provides enough heat to meet 68 per cent of the ground-handling company's annual demand, while dramatically reducing its carbon emissions.

PV-only systems have garnered much attention, due to their ease of use and track record. But in recent years, advancements have led to the integration of the two forms of solar technology into hybrid photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) systems, which can produce electricity and heat simultaneously.

PV/T systems are generally more efficient than non-hybrid solar ones, as solar energy with lower heat content can be recovered for use. A 2004 study conducted in the Netherlands for the 19th European PV Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition showed that the PV/T system was more economically competitive than the PV-only system and at least 40 per cent more efficient than the thermal collector and PV-only system.

We believe PV/T systems will become more popular with greater interest in 'green' buildings. Other than producing electricity for office appliances, PV/T systems can also generate heat for space heating. For instance, in cooler climates, heated air can be introduced into a building as ventilation air during the colder months, and shunted outside in summer.

Examples of PV/T systems are those in Thailand's Banglamung and Queen Sirikit hospitals, which save about 4,320 kilowatt hours (kwh) and 14,856 kwh of electricity, and 42,330 kwh and 164,885 kwh of heat, respectively, a year.

At the current price of electricity in Singapore - 24 cents a kwh in the second quarter of this year - this amounts to $1,037 and $3,565 a year in electricity savings for the respective hospitals. In Singapore, the heat could be used to boil water, which would help to reduce electricity bills further.

Global warming and diminishing resources have added urgency to the search for alternative energy. The sun seems to be the most viable of these sources. And of the range of solar energy technology, hybrid systems hold the greatest promise. PV/T systems will in all likelihood gain popularity and dominate the future solar market.

The writers are analysts at the Energy Studies Institute, National University of Singapore.

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Anson Wong 'Lizard King' jailed, Penang wildlife dept head transferred

The Star 7 Sep 10;

SEPANG: Always elusive, wildlife trafficker Anson Wong — described as the “Pablo Escobar of the wildlife trade” — was jailed six months and fined a total of RM190,000 for smuggling 95 snakes without a permit.

The Lizard King, as he is known in the United States, was caught at the KL International Airport on Aug 26 while trying to smuggle boa constrictors without a permit to Jakarta.

He pleaded guilty to committing the offence.

This is the first time the 52-year-old Pe­­nangite has been sentenced in Malaysia.

He was arrested and prosecuted in the Uni­ted States in June 2001, when he was handed a 71-month jail term and fined US$60,000 (RM187,000) for wildlife trafficking.


Penang wildlife dept boss transferred
The Star 7 Sep 10;

PETALING JAYA: Natural Re­­sources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Douglas Uggah Embas said his ministry would appeal and seek a tougher penalty against international wildlife trafficker Anson Wong.

“I believe Wong got off lightly.

“My ministry will appeal for an appropriate penalty for a man who has a clear conviction record abroad,” he told The Star, adding that he would soon meet NGOs to eradicate loopholes in traffic enforcement.

In George Town, news of the transfer of the Penang National Park and Wildlife Department director to another state effective on Oct 1 became a hot topic among the employees of the state office.

Uggah confirmed that the director would be transferred to Terengganu but he declined to elaborate on the reasons to transfer the director.

A Wildlife Department official said the news came as a surprise to staff in the office yesterday morning.

“Everyone was puzzled as to why he should be transferred at such short notice,” said the official.

“The director will be on holiday during Hari Raya and will continue with his leave prior to the transfer.”

The director was posted to Penang in 2006 when he was promoted to the post of state National Park director.

Prior to that he was a senior officer at the department’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.


Wildlife kingpin who traded from Penang
The Star 7 Sep 10;

Nicknamed the “Lizard King”, “Pablo Escobar of the wildlife trade” and “Asian wildlife kingpin”, Anson Wong began his foray into the wildlife trade by exhibiting reptiles at the now-defunct Bukit Jambul Reptile Sanctuary, a registered company that he and his wife owned.

From the early 1990s, Jones Road in Penang was the operating address for a host of companies linked to Wong, among them Sungai Rusa Wildlife, CBS Wildlife and air cargo operator Aerofleet.

In 1998, Wong was lured to Mexico to seal a deal with an undercover agent from the US Fish and Wildife Service, who posed as a buyer.

Codenamed Operation Chame­leon, undercover agents infiltrated Wong’s network, which imported and exported more than 300 protected species via Penang by concealing them in express delivery packages, airline baggage and large commercial shipments of legally declared animals.

He was arrested but fought a US order for his extradition for two years.

He failed in the end and was prosecuted in the United States on June 7, 2001, when he was handed a 71-month jail term and fined US$60,000 (RM187,000).

Wong was also banned from selling animals to anybody in the United States for three years after his jail term.

Groups not happy with light sentence
The Star 7 Sep 10;

PETALING JAYA: Conservation groups have expressed disappointment over the sentence against Anson Wong, saying Malaysia should show the world it was serious in tackling wildlife trafficking.

Traffic South-East Asia regional director Dr William Schaedla said in a statement yesterday the authorities must be serious in clearing Malaysia’s reputation as a wildlife trafficking hub.

Traffic South-East Asia is part of the global Traffic network, which is a joint programme of the International Union for Conser­vation of Nature and WWF, established to monitor trade in wild plants and animals.

A Sessions Court yesterday sentenced Wong to six months’ jail and fined him a total of RM190,000 after he pleaded guilty to illegally exporting 95 boa constrictors.

WWF-Malaysia executive director Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma said that in view of the fact that Wong had 95 snakes in his possession and that the aggregate maximum fine that could be imposed was RM1mil, “the fine comes up a little short in relation to the offence”.

Dr Sharma urged the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry to revoke all of Wong’s current licences to trade in wildlife.

Smuggler wanted to meet Raya deadline
Rita Jong New Straits Times 7 Sep 10;

SEPANG: Businessman Wong Keng Liang, better known as Anson Wong, was sentenced to six months' jail and fined RM190,000 for illegally exporting 95 boa constrictors.

Wong, 52, who had served time in the United States nine years ago for animal trafficking, was sentenced by Sessions Court judge Zulhelmy Hassan after he pleaded guilty to exporting the endangered species without a permit at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport here at 8.50pm on Aug 26.

Wong, believed to be an international wildlife trader, was in KLIA on transit from Penang to Jakarta. The snakes were found in his suitcase.

Under the International Trade of Endangered Species Act 2008, he was liable to a maximum fine of RM100,000 for each animal but the total fine should not exceed RM1 million, or up to seven years' jail, or both.

When asked by Zulhelmy why he had committed the offence, Wong said: "My customers were pushing me to send the snakes to Surabaya before Hari Raya.

"In my haste to keep my customers happy, I made a misjudgment."

He said the boa constrictors found in his luggage were not actually endangered species, but were captive-bred.

In mitigation, his counsel M. Sivam pleaded for leniency as Wong had saved the court's time and cost by pleading guilty.

"In this case, the animals were not injured or tortured. The snakes were imported legally. He only did not obtain a permit to export," he said.

"I also ask that my client's laptop and three handphones be returned to him as they are not related to the case today," he said, adding that the items were seized because they were found with Wong when he was detained.

Senior legal adviser Faridz Gohim Abdullah, from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, however, pressed for a custodial sentence.

"Animal smuggling activities are serious and rampant and must be curbed. If no drastic or stern action is taken, it can cause the extinction of wildlife," he said.

"The government has established an act (International Trade of Endangered Species Act 2008) two years ago to protect these endangered species."

Faridz said Malaysia has become known as a hub for wildlife smugglers because of people like Wong.

He also told the court that Wong had served time in the US for a similar offence.

Faridz also objected to Sivam's application for the laptop and handphones to be returned to Wong as it was believed that the items contained information and names of suspected wildlife traders.

Zulhelmy agreed and dismissed the lawyer's application.

He also ordered Wong to serve another 12 months' jail if he failed to pay the fine. Wong paid the fine.

The boa constrictor is a large species of snake, very adaptable and lives in a number of habitats in different climates. It is a member of the Boidae family, found in Central America, South America and some islands in the Caribbean.

Wong was charged on Wednesday and had pleaded guilty. He was granted a RM50,000 bail with one surety pending his sentencing yesterday.

In 1998, Wong was arrested in Mexico City and was extradited to the US three years later where he was sentenced to 71 months' jail.

He had pleaded guilty to 40 counts of smuggling, conspiracy, money laundering and violations of US wildlife protection laws.

It was dubbed one of the largest cases of illegal trade ever prosecuted in the US.


Disappointing verdict, says group
New Straits Times 7 Sep 10;

KUALA LUMPUR: A non-governmental organisation has questioned the rationale behind what it believes to be too light a sentence for Wong Keng Liang in attempting to smuggle 95 snakes.

Traffic Southeast Asia regional director Dr William Schaedla called the sentencing of the businessman, better known as Anson Wong, to six months' jail and a fine of RM190,000 "disappointing" and a "tragedy".

"The Anson Wong verdict indicates unwillingness or inability to get tough with the real wildlife criminals. The authorities were clearly not prepared to see justice served and show the world it was serious about tackling wildlife trafficking.

"The disappointing sentence also does little to reward vigilant enforcement officers at Kuala Lumpur International Airport who foiled the attempt," he said in a statement.

Schaedla reminded the authorities to continue investigations as many questions were still unanswered.

"How was Wong able to bypass security checks at Penang Airport?"

Schaedla also urged the authorities to investigate Wong's laptop and handphones which were confiscated during his arrest. He said the items could hold information pertaining to other known wildlife smugglers and trade activities.

Malaysian 'Lizard King' jailed for smuggling snakes
Yahoo News 6 Sep 10;

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – A notorious Malaysian wildlife trafficker nicknamed the "Lizard King" was sentenced Monday to six months in jail for smuggling snakes, a penalty activists said was far too lenient and a "tragedy".

Anson Wong, 52, described as one of the world's most-wanted traffickers, pleaded guilty last week to attempting to smuggle 95 endangered boa constrictors to neighbouring Indonesia.

He was sentenced under laws which prohibit the export of animals without a permit and fined 190,000 ringgit (61,000 dollars), the Star newspaper said on its website.

An official from the Wildlife and National Parks Department confirmed the sentence to AFP but declined further comment. Wong had faced a maximum seven years in jail.

Wildlife groups criticised the penalty, saying it was "disappointing" that the courts had not thrown the book at "a man who has brought shame to this country" with his wildlife smuggling conviction abroad.

"This is a tragedy. It clearly tells wildlife traffickers that they have little to fear from Malaysian law," Traffic Southeast Asia regional director William Schaedla said in a statement.

The group pointed out that two women, both first-time offenders, who were found with two endangered Madagascan tortoises had been sentenced to one year in jail in July.

"As the government was not successful in delivering a harsh, deterrent sentence to a long-time, globally known and convicted wildlife trafficker, it gives up little hope that other offenders will be penalised accordingly."

"It sends a clear message that Malaysia is not ready to stand up and battle wildlife crime," Schaedla added.

WWF Malaysia described the amount of the fine as a "slap on the wrist", and urged the authorities to revoke Wong's licences to trade in wildlife, including permits for wildlife establishments he runs as well as those linked to his family.

Its executive director Dionysius Sharma said the move against Wong's trade was needed to prevent "the risk of illegal wildlife trade being furthered under the guise of legality and still very much under Wong's control".

Authorities have said Wong was arrested after his luggage broke while on the conveyor belt. Airline staff later found snakes and a turtle in his bag.

Wong was reportedly sentenced to 71 months in jail in the United States in 2001 after he pleaded guilty to trafficking charges.

Despite efforts by Southeast Asian authorities to crack down on animal smuggling, the practice still persists in the region, posing a threat to endangered species, activists say.

Malaysian jailed for 95 snakes on a plane
Reuters AlertNet 6 Sep 10;

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 6 (Reuters) - A Malaysian was jailed for six months and fined 190,000 ringgit ($61,000) for trying to smuggle 95 snakes out of the country, a sentence that campaigners said was too light.

Anson Wong, already convicted of trafficking in wildlife in the United States in 2001, pleaded guilty last week and will start his sentence on Sept. 13.

Under Malaysian law, Wong could have faced seven years in jail and fines of up to 100,000 ringgit ($32,000) for each snake up to a maximum of a million ringgit or both.

Wong was detained when in transit from the Malaysian island state of Penang to the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Aug. 26 when staff at Kuala Lumpur airport were alerted to a bag that had broken while on a conveyor belt.

They found 95 boa constrictors, two rhinoceros vipers and a matamata turtle inside the bag.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Wong had pleaded guilty to a trafficking in the United States in 2001 and was sentenced to 71 months in jail.

TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring organisation, said the sentence indicated unwillingness by Malaysian authorities to get tough with real wildlife criminals and to show the world it was serious about wildlife trafficking.

"This is a tragedy. It clearly tells wildlife traffickers that they have little to fear from Malaysian law," said TRAFFIC Southeast Asia regional director, William Schaedla. (Reporting by Bazuki Muhammad and Chee Weng Yoong; writing by Royce Cheah; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Revoke licences call for repeat wildlife trafficking offender
WWF Malaysia 6 Sep 10;

Selangor, Malaysia: A six month jail sentence for one of the world’s noted wildlife trafficker is welcome but the offender should also have all licences for possession of totally protected and protected wildlife revoked, WWF-Malaysia said today.

The comments come after the Malaysia Sessions Court sentenced Keng Liang “Anson” Wong, owner of two wildlife establishments in Penang, to six months jail today, after he was caught last August with listed boa constrictors in his luggage at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

“On the other hand, the fine of merely RM190 000 ($US 60,000) appears to be a slap on the wrist in view of the fact that Wong had 95 snakes in his possession and that the aggregate maximum fine that could be imposed was RM 1 million ($US 320,000),” said Dato’ Dr. Dionysius Sharma, Executive Director/CEO of WWF-Malaysia.

“The fine comes up a little short in relation to the offence.”

Anson Wong, known as “the Lizard King” and a “notorious” wildlife trafficker, was sentenced in the US to six years jail and fined $60,000 in 2001 after admitting to wildlife trafficking crimes.

However, his counsel in the current case told the court Anson was a first time offender.

“ WWF-Malaysia also urges the Ministry to now revoke ALL of Anson Wong’s current licenses to trade in wildlife, including his two wildlife establishments in Penang as well as those linked to his family members,” Dato’ Sharma said.

This would be in line with Section 17 of Malaysia’s International Trade in Endangered Species Act 2008 under which Wong was charged, where the Management Authority may cancel permits if the holder of such permits has been convicted under this Act.

According to Dato’ Sharma, it is justified to revoke any such licenses granted to his family members as there is a strong need to pre-empt the risk of illegal wildlife trade being furthered under the guise of legality and still very much under Wong’s control.

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Release Orangutans Before It’s Too Late, Indonesian Minister Says

Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 7 Sep 10;

Jakarta. Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan on Monday vowed to speed up issuing permits for orangutan release areas in Central Kalimantan, saying the longer they were kept in cages, the harder it would be for them to adapt to their natural habitat.

Around 611 orangutans are still in cages at the Nyaru Menteng orangutan rehabilitation center in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, managed by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation.

Of these, 141 are ready for release into the wild. However, there are still difficulties in finding a suitable habitat for the apes.

The BOS Foundation, a non-profit organization established in 1991, has been focusing on reintroducing orangutans to their natural environment at its rehabilitation centers.

So far, around 300 orangutans have been released in East Kalimantan province. “I appreciate what BOS is doing here, but we can't keep [the orangutans] here for long, considering that there are limits to their resilience,” Zulkifli said after a short visit to Nyaru Menteng.

“They could get too stressed and end up dead in the cages.”

In Central Kalimantan, Zulkifli added, many forest areas had been converted into palm oil plantations — monoculture forests where the orangutan has no chance of survival.

“So one of the solutions is to find places where they can be released immediately,” he said. “We’ve found suitable locations for their release,” he added, citing an area of 106,450 hectares in East Kalimantan, previously granted to timber companies Mugitriman and Narkata.

Zulkifli also identified areas of 94,000 hectares managed by Akhates Plywood and 68,000 hectares managed by Tunggul Pemenang in Central Kalimantan.

“We’ll try to find other locations to replace those areas because [the companies are not at fault],” he said, adding that if the companies did not agree to the proposition, their concessions would be revoked.

Fransiska Sulistiwo, a veterinarian at Nyaru Menteng, said the rehabilitation center was already overpopulated as it had been designed to accommodate a maximum of 300 orangutans.

“The main problem is to find the right location to release them,” Fransiska said, adding that orangutans needed to be released into primary forests.

Hadi Daryanto, the Forestry Ministry’s director general of forest production, said the government had already issued an “ecosystem restoration” permit that would allow the orangutans to be released into the wild.

Orangutans Running Out of Jungle
Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 8 Sep 10;

Jakarta. Nearly 150 orangutans remain at the Nyaru Menteng rehabilitation center in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, despite being deemed ready for release back into the wild.

The 141 orangutans are among 611 being housed in cages measuring 2-by-2 meters at Nyaru Menteng, which was founded by the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation in 1999.

The BOS Foundation has already released 300 orangutans from its different rehabilitation centers in Kalimantan, but says it is running out of suitable habitat.

To qualify for release, orangutans must first enter a quarantine phase, in which they are given a health check and tested for a variety of human diseases that the species is vulnerable to, including hepatitis, tuberculosis and HIV.

Next, the animals enter a reorientation stage, where they are taught how to survive in the forest, build nests, find their own food and recognize predators and other threats.

Orangutans younger than three years old spend their days in the forest under the supervision of baby sitters.

The final stage is meant to be the release, in which the orangutans are introduced into habitats where there is no wild population of the animal

Jhon Leo, head caretaker at Nyaru Menteng, says the 141 orangutans were unable to complete the final phase because there was nowhere to release them.

“The orangutans are already wild, but we have to keep them in cages because we don’t have anywhere suitable in which to release them,” he said.

During a visit to the center on Monday, Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said there were up to 162,000 hectares of suitable forest in Central Kalimantan in which to release the animals.

Of that figure, 94,000 hectares are managed by Akhates Plywood and the rest are managed by Tunggul Pemenang, both logging companies.

The ministry has issued permits for orangutan release areas to Restorasi Habitat Orangutan Indonesia, a company set up by BOS to manage 86,450 hectares of forest previously logged by Mugitriman in East Kutai.

It allocated another 20,000 hectares in the same district previously logged by Narkata Rimba.

BOS chairman Togu Manurung says the foundation will start releasing the orangutans into the new areas later this year.

“We have around 800 orangutans in two rehabilitation centers,” he said. “We have around 200 at our Samboja Lestari center, about an hour’s drive from Balikpapan [East Kalimantan], and around 600 at Nyaru Menteng.

“They will be released gradually starting in November, but not all of them are deemed ready for this stage because of the physical condition that they’re in.” Some are sick and will be separated from the others.

The first animals to be released will be a batch of 24 from Nyaru Menteng, Togu said.

“In East Kalimantan, we plan to release five orangutans in April 2011, and continue releasing more up until 2015,” he said.

The 2015 deadline to release all orangutans at rehabilitation centers back into the wild is stipulated in the Orangutan National Action of Plan, drafted in 2007.

Togu said this would be the BOS Foundation’s first string of releases since 2002.

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Bangladesh: Population pressure, climate change drive search for new rice varieties

IRIN Reuters AlertNet 6 Sep 10;

NAOGAON, 6 September 2010 (IRIN) - Like many farmers in Bangladesh, Abdul Aziz from Naogaon District in northwestern Bangladesh has had to adapt his plantings to increasingly erratic weather: "Twenty years ago we had a rainy season at this time. Now we don't even know when the seasons come… Twenty years ago we experienced five months of monsoon, now it's only 15-20 days in two or three months."

To adjust to the unreliable rains, local farmers for the past 20 years have been using 'pariza', an indigenous rice that requires less irrigation and can be harvested off-season, from May to August, between the dry season 'boro' rice and the monsoon 'aman' rice.

Aziz and his friends are now also using new varieties developed by the Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI) [ http://www.brri.gov.bd/ ] and the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) [ http://beta.irri.org ]. They are drought-tolerant, dry season varieties - dubbed BRRI dhan 6, 28, 29 and 33 - and harvested in April.

Bangladesh is seen as one of the country's most susceptible to climate change [ http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81978 ] and is seriously affected by droughts and flooding.

With a population of 160 million, growing at about 1.4 percent per year, Bangladesh produces about 30 million tons of rice each year - 2.5 million less than it needs to feed itself. As arable land decreases by about 1 percent a year, more productive crops are urgently needed.

"The population pressure on land resources is the key driving force for the use of the new technologies," said Mahabub Hossain, executive director of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) [ http://www.brac.net/ ] and former head of IRRI's social sciences division.

Rice race

Bangladesh's population boom in the 1950s led to farmers cultivating two crops a year instead of one. The 1960s saw increased yields thanks to modern inputs like chemical fertilizers. IRRI, set up in 1959, sought new ways of feeding growing populations.

"In the 1960s, one rice variety was developed called IR8. It's a semi-dwarf variety. They introduced a dwarfing gene, which reduces the rice plant from tall to small," Hossain said.

The idea was that if the plant was smaller, it could absorb more nutrients.

"They improved the yield from about four tons per hectare to 10 tons per hectare as a result of that discovery," he said.

Since BRRI was set up in 1970, work by IRRI has been passed on to BRRI to test in Bangladesh and see which varieties make the grade.

"Increased production of rice can only be done through the development of modern rice varieties," said Khairul Bashar, BRRI's chief scientific officer. "Now we have three and a half, four times higher yields than in the 70s, but in the future, our population will increase again."

Natural disasters

Bangladesh is prone to a variety of natural disasters [ http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=89305 ] throughout the year, meaning rice often needs to be imported to make up for losses.

"Bangladesh is affected by tidal surges, cyclones, drought, flash-flood submergence. That's why we need to develop new varieties that can actually tolerate those situations," Bashar added.

BRRI scientists have released three salt-tolerant varieties, [ http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=88426 ] two-submergence tolerant varieties, and in the pipeline are drought-tolerant and some cold-tolerant varieties.

Western Bangladesh is hardest hit by drought, [ http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=81232 ] while flash-flooding takes its toll in central regions, and salinity affects crops in southern coastal areas.

Developing a new variety of rice [ http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=90189 ] can take 4-10 years.

Among this year's innovations are BRRI dhan 51 and 52, which were released in June and can survive 15 days underwater while also withstanding salinity.

"When it goes under water, it goes into hibernation so it doesn't use energy and it remains dormant, so it uses that mechanism to survive," said Mohammed Abedin, IRRI's senior scientist and representative for Bangladesh. "What is important now is to develop varieties with multiple stress tolerances."

Aziz, the farmer in Naogaon, said he ideally needs a high-yielding rice that can withstand extreme drought, something Hossain from BRAC says is still a little way off.

"In the area of drought, no real progress has been made. This is a major environmental problem… If we are successful, then we can make another breakthrough in increasing rice production, particularly during the monsoon season."

mc/at/cb

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Mutual nosedive for dolphins, river health

WWF 7 Sep 10;

Dwindling freshwater dolphin numbers are raising concerns about the declining health of some of the world’s most important rivers, shows a new study by WWF.

The main culprit, says River Dolphins & People: Shared Rivers, Shared Future, is the increasing pressure that unchecked human demands for food, energy and other goods is placing on freshwater ecosystems.

“The well-being of river dolphins is a telltale indicator of river health, and their decline should sound an alarm bell for everyone – our rivers are at risk, and we need to clean up our act to stop this nosedive,” says Dr. Li Lifeng, Director of WWF’s Freshwater Programme.

River dolphins and porpoises swim in some of the world’s largest rivers, including the Yangtze, Ganges, Mekong, Indus and Amazon. But these river basins are also home to hundreds of millions of people in some of the most densely populated and poorest areas of the planet.

In these regions and many others, human actions including unsustainable fishing, toxic runoff from agriculture and industry, as well as the construction of dams and infrastructure projects that block river flows have contributed to the decline of freshwater dolphins.

The same factors will also have a major impact on people, Dr. Li says:

“The Yangtze river dolphin, or baiji, is functionally extinct. Our lack of action is compounding this tragedy around the world, harming both river dolphins and the communities that rely on these rivers to survive.”

Further evidence of this decline can be found in the Ganges, where small river dolphin populations have become increasingly isolated due to the presence of dams and barrages. Already listed as endangered, their inability to travel to find mates or food is among the many serious hurdles they face.

Meanwhile, the devastating floods affecting over 17 million people in Pakistan are testing the endangered Indus river dolphin. While difficult to predict the overall effects on this elusive species, it is likely they will move out of their usual territories and find themselves trapped when water levels return to normal.

Overfishing and pollution are other important factors that River Dolphins and People identifies as major threats. Southeast Asia’s Irrawaddy dolphin, for example, has suffered a great deal from these and other factors, with all three subpopulations in the Irrawaddy, Mekong and Mahakam rives now listed as critically endangered.

But Dr. Li he adds that there is also room for optimism.

“The good news is that because the threats are of our making, the solutions can be of our making too. And saving the dolphins will have positive effects beyond the species – extending to surrounding freshwater ecosystems, international river basins, and ultimately ourselves.”

Counting dolphins, critical to preserve health of South American rivers
WWF 7 Sep 10;

Bogotá, Colombia - A slow-moving canoe full of marine biologists gingerly steers through a narrow Amazon tributary. On both sides, treetops surface above a flooded forest.

10 minutes later the group emerges onto a huge and placid oval lake, the Cocará lagoon, located on the Peruvian side of the Putumayo river. Suddenly, a powder-pink dolphin jumps and dives in an elegant arc.

This is the 11th expedition to count river dolphins in South America, a critical way to assess not only the dolphins’ numbers, but also the health of rivers and related biodiversity. In June 2010, the scientific team of the Omacha Foundation set sail from Puerto Leguízamo to evaluate how healthy the dolphins and their habitats are in the three-border area along the Putumayo river, where conservation is crucial for the Amazon Biome.

River dolphins are an umbrella species: a high population is a sign that the rivers are healthy as well as other land and aquatic species.

“When rivers deteriorate in quality, dolphins disappear first”, said Saulo Usma, Fresh Water Coordinator for WWF Northern Amazon & Chocó-Darién Regional Programme.

Ultimately, scientists hope this research will lead to better protection of South America’s freshwater dolphins, and the rivers they call home.

A major venture

Since 2006 the Omacha Foundation, with WWF support, has travelled more than 4,200 kms along 12 of the most important rivers in South America. In the past four years they have spotted more than 4,000 dolphins in the Orinoco and Amazon basins, broken down among three different species: the grey (Sotalia fluviatilis), the pink (Inia geoffrensis) and the Bolivian (Inia boliviensis).

There are an estimated 40,000 thousand river dolphins in the region, and even though this may sound like a healthy population, dolphins are more threatened now than ever. Deforestation, water pollution from mining, overfishing, the use of dolphin meat as bait and infrastructure projects are some of the biggest threats to these species.

As recently as four years ago, data on river dolphin populations in the Orinoco and Amazon basins, two major fresh water reservoirs in the planet, was not sufficient. A standardized counting method and consistent statistics were also missing.

Scientists, as well as other environmental organizations, convinced of the necessity to persuade governments to give priority to the Orinoco and Amazon basins’ conservation, decided to undertake a journey through the most important rivers in South America in countries like Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and some parts of Brazil, to finally learn how many dolphins live in this region, their health, and how to develop a long-term conservation programme.

The dolphin census is the brainchild of Fernando Trujillo, Director of the Omacha Foundation. Trujillo adapted a model for counting and extrapolating data about dolphins designed by statisticians at St. Andrew’s University in Scotland and has carried out 11 expeditions so far.

The method is being applied to a similar survey in Asia, which hosts the world’s only other significant population of freshwater dolphins.

A charismatic symbol
By monitoring the dolphins and their health, the biologists hope that these aquatic mammals, with their playful habits and unique appearance, could become a charismatic symbol for preserving the Orinoco and Amazon basins.

Today, there is a plan supported by WWF to protect freshwater dolphins in South America, and countries like Bolivia and Colombia would be the first ones to implement it, using some of this research as a basis.

Governments are being encouraged to do more to protect dolphins, there is a network of 80 researchers trained to be part of other expeditions outside their countries, and agreements with local indigenous communities to apply sustainable fishing methods have been settled.

Yet, the problem with fisheries, the most difficult one to deal with, still remains.

Dolphins are being used as bait to catch mota (Calophysus macropterus), a scavenger fish from the Orinoco and Amazon basins which fish sellers discovered could replace the catfish capaz, a highly demanded species from the Magdalena river -almost on the brink of extinction-, and then sell it in the main cities in Colombia under the name Capaz. “So it is essential to put this issue on the international agenda”, asserted Trujillo.

The science of counting dolphins
Counting dolphins is a simple task but has its own specialized methodology. Math formulas are used to calculate the speed at which dolphins swim as well as their distance in relation to the riverbank.

The researchers divide into two groups. One team goes to the fore the other to the aft. Both groups carry a compass, binoculars, a GPS, a pencil and index cards to record the time, the angle, distance coordinates, if it’s gray or pink, and the number of dolphins spotted.

The boat zigzags at a speed of 12 kms per hour and a hundred meters from the riverbank. After having travelled two kilometres, it crosses to the other side.

Asia, the mirror
Researchers fear that the Amazonian dolphins could reach a similar situation to those in Asia, where in some places dolphins have been declared extinct.

“We don’t want to be in the same situation as in the Yangtze, where dolphin sighting has become an exception”, said Trujillo.

While some believe there is still an opportunity here for river dolphin conservation, others see the mirror of Asia as a blurred image.

María Delgado, a 29-year-old subsistence fisherwoman, thinks environmentalists are creating an unwarranted alarm. “There are plenty of fish, they just know how to avoid being caught”, she said.

Scientists make clear the threats in South America are still at a manageable stage. “The fishery industry situation, pollution from mining and oil exploitation, deforestation and bycatch, can be slashed back if we involve all actors and encourage governments to get on board”, concluded Usma.

The plan, called the Action Plan for South American River Dolphins: 2010-2020 hopes to address these threats.

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UN calls special meeting to address food shortages amid predictions of riots

Poor harvests and demand from developing countries could push cost of weekly shop up by 10%
Julia Kollewe The Guardian 5 Sep 10;

Two years after the last food crisis, when prices surged by nearly 15% in the UK, food inflation is back. Soaring global food prices have prompted City and food industry experts to warn that the cost of the weekly shop is set to rise by up to 10% in the coming months.

As in 2008, rocketing prices are the result of rising demand and supply shortages caused by freak weather and poor harvests. Moreover, these conditions are exacerbated by speculation on commodity markets and changing diets in fast-growing Asian countries.

Last week, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) called an emergency meeting for 24 September to discuss the food crisis. In Mozambique, riots broke out following the government's decision to raise bread prices by 30%, leaving seven people dead and hundreds injured. At the same time the Russian government extended its export ban on wheat by another 12 months as it battles drought, shortages and inflation at home, which threatens to push up prices further. European wheat prices hit more than €231 (£192) a tonne last week, just below last month's two-year high of €236 but still 60% higher than a year ago in sterling terms. Corn prices are at their highest level since June 2009 while sugar has been on a rollercoaster ride after hitting a 29-year peak in February.

FAO economist Abdolreza Abbassian raises the prospect of further civil unrest in less developed countries if the price of basic food continues to rise: "Russia's move is another unfortunate development that will prolong upward pressure on grain prices and contribute to higher price instability in world markets. Rioting may reappear in poor districts around the world if prices of basic foodstuff commodities continue to rise further. "

Surging wheat prices, along with higher sugar and oil-seed costs, drove the FAO's international food price index up 5% last month, the biggest rise since last November. The organisation estimates this year's wheat crop at 646m tonnes – down 5% from last year – while world barley production, also hit by bad weather in the former Soviet Union and the EU, is forecast to drop by 22% to a 30-year low of 129m tonnes. Last month global meat prices hit a 20-year high.

In the UK, Premier Foods, owner of the Hovis brand, has warned the global shortage of wheat could push up the cost of bread by at least 5p a loaf, while other food brands such as McDougalls flour and Mr Kipling cakes will also cost more.

A leading UK supplier of flour, Rank Hovis, is to increase its prices from 6 September. Soaring barley prices mean that the pub price of a pint of beer could top £4 this time next year.

Experts fear that UK food price inflation, which was running at an annual rate of 3.4% in July, could now rise to 10% – depending on whether costs continue to climb and to what extent food manufacturers absorb the increases.

The Grocer's food and drink editor Alex Beckett reckons that if prices for commodities such as wheat, sugar, cocoa and palm oil remain at current levels, by January the weekly shop could cost 10% more than 12 months previously.

Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec, said: "If the current rise in prices is sustained, food price inflation might climb to 7-8% by mid-2011." And Philip Rush, at Nomura, sees food prices going higher over the next year, tipping back up to above 5% year-on-year growth.

Meat

Global meat prices have risen sharply as a drop in production from exporters such as Argentina and the US has coincided with rising demand from China, where consumers are eating more meat than they used to. The FAO's index of meat prices in August climbed to its highest level since it started compiling the index in 1990, up 16% over the past year. Lamb prices are at a 37-year high, beef prices are at their highest level in two years and pork and poultry have also become dearer.

Mark Topliff at Eblex, which represents the English beef and sheep industry, explains that in recent years, falling cattle prices have led to fewer farmers keeping cows in major exporting nations like Argentina, Brazil and the US, the world's biggest beef producer. The removal of EU subsidies under the common agricultural policy for British and European sheep farmers has also led to a decline in sheep numbers.

Wheat

The European flour milling association has highlighted the role of speculators in driving up wheat prices, although the global shortage appears to be the main factor. The main culprit is the weather – wheat prices have been going up since the summer when crops were hit by a drought and wildfires in Russia and dry weather in Ukraine and Kazakhstan, compounded by unusually wet weather in Canada and the floods in Pakistan.

Russia, the world's fourth-biggest wheat producer, has imposed an export ban on grain amid its worst drought in at least 50 years, and prime minister Vladimir Putin warned last Thursday that the ban could stay in place until after the 2011 harvest, forcing importers in the Middle East and North Africa to turn to Europe and the US for supplies.

"This has completely changed the complexion of the market," said Sudakshina Unnikrishnan, a commodities analyst at Barclays Capital. "We see further upside for corn and wheat prices. Consuming countries are scrambling to gain access to supplies," she warns.

Britain's wheat crop is expected to be close to average this year, but Germany, which had more rain in August, could become reliant on wheat imports for the first time in 10 years. The winter wheat harvest will be 9% lower this year than last, according to the German farmers' association, forcing Germany to import grain from France and the US.Bad weather has also affected the quality of the wheat, which suffers when it stands too long in the rain. Lower-quality wheat is used as animal feed.

The premium for high-quality milling wheat used in bread, cereals and biscuits, which now costs about £195 a tonne, has climbed to £30-£40 from the typical £10-£15.

"If we don't get a bumper harvest from the southern hemisphere, namely Argentina and Australia [due at Christmas], the wheat price could continue to stay where it is," said Guy Gagen, chief arable adviser at the National Farmers' Union. The Northern hemisphere – the US, Canada, Russia and northern Europe – produces 80% of the world's wheat supply.

Experts note, however, that the market is not in the same position as it was in 2007/08, when global wheat stocks were very low, as there have been two seasons of replenishment. The problem is that many countries will not release their surplus stocks to the market but are hoarding them, says Alexander Waugh, director general of the National Association of British and Irish Millers.

On a brighter note, he adds: "High prices tend to encourage farmers to plant more crops. The situation may be uncomfortable but it's not out of control or unmanageable."

Cocoa

In mid-July, a US commodities trading company, Armajaro, attempted to corner the market in cocoa by taking delivery of 7% of the world's supply at a time when prices were at a 32-year high of $3,200 per tonne (£2,077) – a $1bn bet. The fear was Armajaro would squeeze the market, forcing prices even higher. In the event prices have gone into reverse, falling by more than 25% as fears have receded that supplies from Ivory Coast, which produces 40% of the world's cocoa, would be hit by bad weather.

However, last week Barry Callebaut – the world's biggest chocolate company, which supplies confectioners such as Nestlé – said prices would stay high.

"Retailers do not want to accept higher prices at the moment in spite of higher raw material costs," said the company's chief executive. "But pressures will rise, prices will just have to increase."

Sugar

Sugar prices hit a 29-year high in February, but then fell back sharply. However, last week Brazil – the world's biggest sugar producer – warned crops may be lower than expected as a result of dry weather and the price climbed back to its highest level since March.

Coffee

Coffee prices are at a 12-year high and global stocks at their lowest level for a decade. Several coffee bars have started to push through price rises, although Starbucks said last week that it would not raise prices.

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'Bakun, Murum dams insufficient': Malaysian state minister

New Straits Times 7 Sep 10;

KUCHING: A state minister yesterday dismissed claims that the Bakun and Murum hydroelectric dams in Belaga could generate all the power Sarawak needed in the future.

Second Planning and Resources Management Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said the plan to build more dams to meet the state's and export demands for power would proceed.

"Based on requests by investors, we are not generating enough to meet demand," he said after presenting land titles at Kg Man in Samarahan. "One smelter had asked for over 2,000MW. I told them we could not dedicate this for just one smelter."

He did not name the smelter but the Bintulu end of the state's industrial belt known as the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score) could have as many as four power hungry smelters.

One is the proposed multi-billion ringgit Sarawak Aluminium Company, a joint venture between Cahya Mata Sarawak Berhad and Rio Tinto Aluminium of Australia that would be sited at the Samalaju Industrial Park.

Another is the Smelter Asia Sdn Bhd, a joint venture between GIIG Holdings Sdn Bhd and Aluminium Corp of China Ltd.

South Korean Pohang Iron and Steel Company, the world's second largest steel maker and Asia's most profitable steelmaker, reportedly held talks with the state government over a plan to site a plant in Samalaju.

Three of the proposed so-called "small dams" would be built in Limbang, Lawas at the northern end of the state and in Pelagus near Kapit.

Awang Tengah said technical studies for the three dams had been completed with the dam in Limbang able to generate up to 200MW, Lawas (100MW) and Pelagus (770MW).

He said power generated would be for the smelters and other industries in in Score and for export to Indonesia, Brunei and "probably Sabah".

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Indonesia capable of reducing gas emission by 2.3 gigatons

Antara 6 Sep 10;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia is capable to reduce green house gas emission by 2.3 gigatons in 2030, or equivalent to 46 percent reduction in 2005.

It was the result of comprehensive study conducted by the National Council on Climate Change (DNPI) with 2005 latest data.

The result of the study was familiarized directly by DNPI executive chairman Rachmat Witoelar in the company of DNPI secretary Agus Purnomo here on Monday.

In that comprehensive study, they analyzed present day green house gas emission and its reduction potential in eight sectors of development with an estimation of green house gas emission in Indonesia in 205 reaching 2.3 gigatons.

If there was no change in the eight sectors of development, DNPI predicted that the total green house gas emission in 2030 would rise by 3.2 gigatons.

The eight development sectors in the study covered peat land, forest, agriculture, energy, transportation, oil and gas, cement and building.

Agus Purnomo said peat land and forest had the biggest contribution in green house gas emission in Indonesia.

Emission from peat land which is rich in carbon contributes 41 percent of total emission in Indonesia in 2005.

Agus said the primary initiative to reduce emission from those sectors was by slowing down deforestation and decomposing of peat land, better management of forest, reduction of land clearance through incineration, and the use of degraded land for angriculture.

"Now that we have known where we should reduce green house gas emission and its costs, we should no longer discuss it abstractly," he said.

He explained that one of the most important achievement in DNPI study was to clarify and quantify the importance of land use and transfer of land use in present Indonesian emission map.
(Uu.O001/HAJM/A014/P003)

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Insurers call for more action to adapt developing world to climate change

UNEP 6 Sep 10;

London, 6 September 2010 - Four initiatives representing more than 100 leading international insurance companies are today calling on governments worldwide to harness risk management techniques and insurance expertise to help the developing world adapt to climate change.

The initiatives will present a statement aimed at world leaders and negotiators of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at a press conference to be held in Lloyd's of London.

The statement will highlight how governments can unlock significant potential to increase the protection and reduce the vulnerability of developing world populations and economies from natural disasters through better risk management and by enabling insurance-type approaches.

The four groups launching the statement today, on the eve of an international, low-carbon investment conference convened by the UK government, are ClimateWise, The Geneva Association, the Munich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII) and the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI).

The recent floods in Pakistan, China and Niger are a timely reminder that the world must adapt to become more resilient to the long-lasting and significant changes in climatic conditions being experienced across the world. These changes are likely to have the most damaging impacts on the developing world, where even small economic losses can have long-term effects on development, and where human health is generally less robust.

In the past three decades, direct global economic losses for all types of natural catastrophes have averaged US$90 billion per year, with 78% of those natural catastrophes being weather-related. Meanwhile, 85% of deaths associated with all natural catastrophes over that timescale have occurred in developing countries (Munich Re, 2010).

There is enormous potential to be derived from a partnership-based approach to tackling the climatic risks faced by people and governments around the world. Indeed, several communities affected by climate change are already benefiting from projects that improve risk management and feature insurance elements.

Over 4500 Mongolian herders covered by a public-private index-insurance scheme are currently receiving indemnity payments totaling around US$1.4 million for cattle mortality losses caused by a particularly harsh winter.

And in September 2008, the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) - a public-private partnership - paid US$6.3 million to the Turks and Caicos Islands after Grand Turk was hit by Hurricane Ike.

The statement launched today underscores the view that risk management mechanisms are currently falling considerably short of their potential in delivering resilience benefits to the developing world. The insurance initiatives are therefore calling on governments to:

* Implement risk reduction measures already agreed at the 2005 World Conference on Disaster Reduction

* Provide a suitable enabling environment, including economic and regulatory frameworks, for risk management and insurance to function at all levels of society

* Invest in reliable risk exposure data and making it freely available to the public

* Act on lessons learned about the benefits of regional public-private partnerships and micro-insurance schemes which reduce losses for climatic risks

Today's statement calls on governments to formally recognise the potential role for insurance in the United Nations climate change negotiations, and to open channels for dialogue at a national level so that progress can be made immediately.

There is now an opportunity, given the current international negotiations under the UNFCCC, to firmly anchor insurance expertise and components into any global adaptation mechanism under the international climate-change regime.

A number of realistic proposals have already been submitted, the priority now is for governments to reach agreement so that they can be implemented.

Andrew Maskrey of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, will open today's launch with a keynote address. After the press conference, a high-level panel discussion led by senior insurance, government and NGO figures will explore immediate next steps. A copy of the statement will be available on the websites of the initiatives listed below at 2pm.

Andrew Torrance, Chairman of ClimateWise and CEO of Allianz Insurance, commented,

"With climatic disasters inflicting more and more damage, the increasing reliance of governments on foreign aid alone is unsustainable. As the global climate continues to warm, we have to find new ways to protect people and economies from the impacts of extreme weather, particularly those who are most vulnerable. Insurers have much to offer, but this potential can only be leveraged through a partnership approach with governments. With over 100 of the world's leading insurers standing ready to engage, the opportunity for partnership building is immense."

Patrick M. Liedtke, Secretary General and Managing Director of The Geneva Association said, "The core principle of risk management and loss prevention is that in most cases 'prevention is better than cure'. If governments, especially in the developing world, can implement robust risk management and loss reduction measures then a significant amount of both human suffering and economic loss could be prevented."

Professor Peter Hoeppe, Head of GeoRisks at Munich Re and Chairman of MCII commented, "Developing countries are most vulnerable to climate extremes, even though they contribute little to greenhouse gases. These are precisely the areas which have the fewest tools to manage and transfer the risks they face and they often lack the financial resources to adapt to climate change."

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director said, "The insurance industry is making it clear: it has the expertise and the creative solutions to assist vulnerable countries and communities manage the risks of climate change. But it is a partnership that works both ways. Governments need to act on this opportunity and harness this reservoir of risk assessment skills. Secondly, the insurance industry needs a fighting chance of success. In other words governments need to back big cuts in emissions in line with the scientific reality".

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