Best of our wild blogs: 20 Sep 10

Join us - Chek Jawa Boardwalk trip on 25 Sep 2010
from Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs

25 Sep (Sat): Migratory Bird talk and guided tour at Sungei Buloh
from wild shores of singapore

Reef Survey@Raffles Lighthouse
from Psychedelic Nature

Monkey Baby Boom!
from Crystal and Bryan in Singapore

Birdwatching at Semakau with Dr Ho Hua Chew
from Urchin's World

After Rain @ Upper Seletar Reservoir
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature

A pair of common kingfishers @ Japanese garden 翡翠
from PurpleMangrove

Determining which birds cause airplanes to crash
an interview with a feather expert from Mongabay.com news

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Get Singapore shipping lines to use cleaner fuel, like in HK

Straits Times 13 Sep 10;

I REFER to last Thursday's report ('Maersk turns to cleaner fuel in HK') which said that Danish shipping giant Maersk Line will switch to cleaner, low-sulphur fuel when its ships make port calls in Hong Kong - which is about 850 times a year.

This will cost the company an extra US$1 million (S$1.34 million) a year, but it is worth it - for the people of Hong Kong.

The article went on to explain that the bunker fuel widely used by the shipping industry 'has high nitrogen and sulphur content, making it significantly more noxious than other types of fuel'.

It sounds terrible, and indeed it is. Sulphuric emissions contain microscopic particles that can penetrate deep into the lungs. They are invisible and potentially more harmful than the large-particle haze we can see.

Since Jan 1 this year, Europe has required ships in its waters to use the cleaner fuel. The United States and Canada will do the same from 2012.

Asia has lagged behind.

It continues to allow dirty fuel and leaves it to the shippers to voluntarily switch to the cleaner variety. It is commendable that Maersk Line has done this in Hong Kong.

Now, how about us? Will Maersk and other shipping companies switch to cleaner fuel here too?

It all comes down to costs. A Maersk spokesman admitted: 'If we chose to switch to low-sulphur fuels all over the Asian region, it would give us a serious competitive disadvantage.'

Maersk said it was singling out Hong Kong partly because of calls for action from Civic Exchange, a public policy institution that is active on environmental issues, and also because of the proximity of the port to a densely populated city.

Singapore also should require all ships using our waterways and berthed in our port to use low-sulphur fuel. Are there plans to do so?

Perhaps the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and the other relevant authorities can comment.

Larry Haverkamp

Singapore in forefront of steps to curb ship-linked pollution
Straits Times 20 Sep 10;

WE THANK Mr Larry Haverkamp for his letter ('Get shipping lines to use cleaner fuel, like in HK'; Sept 13), about using low-sulphur fuel. Singapore is one of the few Asian countries which is party to all the annexes of Marpol - the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) convention for the prevention of ship-source pollution, including air pollution.

Marpol signatories have agreed to a timetable for the progressive reduction of sulphur oxide emissions from ships. From January 2012, the global sulphur cap for marine fuel oil will be cut to 3.5 per cent from the current 4.5 per cent; and reduced progressively until it reaches 0.5 per cent from January 2020, subject to a feasibility review.

The timetable takes into account the complexities involved in changing the fuel type globally and the preparation needed by countries, shipping companies and marine fuel oil suppliers.

Beyond Marpol, harbour craft in Singapore's port waters already use marine distillate fuels such as marine gas oil, which have low sulphur content.

Ships at anchor or alongside berths also use low-sulphur fuel like diesel for their auxiliary engines.

We welcome shipping firms which are ready to take the lead in using low-sulphur fuel for their main engines in the approaches to the Singapore port.

We also actively support research and development in maritime environment protection and clean technologies under the $100 million Maritime Innovation and Technology Fund.

Together with the Nanyang Technological University, we have a maritime clean energy research programme that promotes green, carbon-neutral energy management solutions.

Capt M. Segar
Group Director (Hub Port)
Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore


Maersk to Use Cleaner Fuel in Its Hong Kong Shipping
Bettina Wassener The New York Times 7 Sep 10;

HONG KONG — Aiming to reduce noxious fumes in one of the most densely populated parts of Asia, the Danish shipping giant Maersk Line said Tuesday that its ships would switch to low-sulfur fuel when at berth in Hong Kong — a move it hopes will help quicken regulation in Asia.

Maersk makes about 850 port calls a year to Hong Kong. The company estimated the voluntary switch from cheap, polluting bunker fuel to the cleaner fuel, which costs about $250 more a ton, would cost an extra $1 million a year.

“We feel this is a good investment to get the ball rolling,” Tim Smith, chief executive of Maersk Line’s North Asia operations, said in an interview. “The wheels of government turn very slowly here, and we hope that our initiative will help accelerate regulation and prompt others to follow suit.”

Bunker fuel, widely used by the shipping industry, has high nitrogen and sulfur content, making it significantly more noxious than other types of fuel.

Emission regulations require ships to use far cleaner fuel while they are in waters around much of Europe, including the North Sea and the English Channel, and a similar policy will come into force along the United States and Canadian coastlines in 2012.

No such regulations apply along Asian coastlines, however, in part because of the complex research and international liaison work that is needed to bring about a coherent framework for the industry.

Maersk said it was singling out Hong Kong for the move to cleaner fuel partly because of calls for action from Civic Exchange, a public policy institution that is active on environmental issues, and partly because of the proximity of the shipping industry to the densely populated city.

Shipping emissions are a major contributor to the poor air quality in Hong Kong and the wider Pearl River Delta, which carries heavy global shipping traffic. Pollution in Hong Kong regularly soars above levels deemed safe by the World Health Organization.

Maersk said the move would reduce its emissions of sulfur and particulate matter — tiny particles that can penetrate deep into the lung when inhaled — in Hong Kong by at least 80 percent.

Other shippers are expected to follow Maersk’s example under a voluntary industry charter that has been agreed to in principle by many leading companies and is expected to be officially announced next month.

Arthur Bowring, the managing director of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association, who helped push for the charter, said he was “very pleased” with Maersk’s move and the wider support that was signaled Tuesday at a meeting of industry representatives on the topic of cleaner fuels in Hong Kong.

“We see this as a first step that will hopefully lead to wider regulation,” he said. “We like regulation, because it creates a level playing field. It’s a very odd situation, under which the industry is pushing the government for action, rather than the other way round.”

A spokesman for Hong Kong’s Environmental Protection Department, Felix Leung, said by e-mail that the government welcomed the shipping companies’ initiative to switch to low-sulfur fuel.

Going green ahead of schedule
Progress on environmental issues can be made via cooperation, not just legislation
David Hughes Business Times 20 Sep 10;

SOMETIMES, it can seem that debates on environmental issues affecting shipping are really only the concern of the European countries, the US and a few others.

In fact, Singapore is very concerned with environmental issues and is investing significantly in this area. Moreover, as Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore group director (Hub Port) M Segar pointed out in a letter to The Straits Times this week, Singapore is one of the few Asian countries that is party to all the annexes of Marpol - the International Maritime Organization (IMO) convention for the prevention of ship-source pollution.

Capt Segar was responding to a letter to the newspaper that had been prompted by the actions of major container shipping line Maersk.

At the start of this month, Maersk Line vessels began using low-sulphur fuel while at berth in Hong Kong. The company said that its move marked the first voluntary fuel-switch scheme in Asia and would cost it US$1 million a year. It said that based on experience in California, Houston and elsewhere, it was ready to act fast with other shipping lines when the Civic Exchange, a local business NGO, and Hong Kong's environmental authorities explored the possibility of a local fuel switch.

Air pollution has long been a concern in the Chinese territory, and the Hong Kong Shipowners' Association was notable in supporting Intertanko when it proposed that the whole commercial fleet switch to distillate fuel.

Sulphur reduction

This initiative prompted local letter writer Larry Haverkamp to suggest a similar initiative here.

Singapore is a strong supporter of IMO, and Capt Segar pointed out that Marpol signatories, including, of course, Singapore, have agreed to a timetable for the progressive reduction of sulphur emissions from ships. From January 2012, the global sulphur cap for marine fuel oil will be cut to 3.5 per cent from the current 4.5 per cent, and reduced progressively until it reaches 0.5 per cent from January 2020, subject to a feasibility review.

So sulphur levels will come down, and in fact, harbour craft in Singapore's port waters already use marine distillate fuels such as marine gas oil, which have a low sulphur content. Ships at anchor or alongside berths also use low-sulphur fuel such as diesel for their auxiliary engines.

But it looks like the door is open to voluntary initiatives to move faster. In an apparent nod to the Hong Kong approach, Capt Segar said: 'We welcome shipping firms that are ready to take the lead in using low-sulphur fuel for their main engines in the approaches to the Singapore port.'

The important thing here is that progress on environmental issues can be made through cooperation, rather than simply relying on legislation. And along these lines, several major industry players in London are joining forces with environmental groups to work together on issues including climate change, rising fuel costs, new patterns of global trade and other challenges.

Ambitious project

Maersk Line, Gearbulk, BP Shipping, Lloyd's Register and ABN Amro announced this week that they are working with Forum for the Future and WWF on an ambitious project that aims to chart a course to a sustainable future. Forum for the Future describes itself as the the UK's leading sustainable development NGO, while the WWF is an international organisation working on issues ranging from species and habitat survival to climate change.

According to its founding members, the new project - the Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI) - will examine the challenges and opportunities that face the industry over the next 30 years and what it needs to do to ensure that, by 2040, it is robust and profitable with a strong record of social and environmental responsibility.

'Shipping plays a vital role in global trade and affects the lives of billions of people around the world,' said Jonathon Porritt, founder director of Forum for the Future. 'Smart shipping companies can see the way the wind is blowing in terms of today's pressing sustainability issues, and leadership of this kind is crucial to the future success of the whole industry.'

Clearly, the idea is to make this project a global one. Given changing attitudes, in Asia now, as well as elsewhere, this does not sound as far-fetched as it would have just a few years ago.

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Up close with sea turtles in Sarawak

Nancy Nais New Straits Times 20 Sep 10;

SEMATAN: It was shortly after 9pm following a downpour in Pulau Talang-Talang Besar when a dark shape was seen making its way up the beach.

Word quickly spread around the island that a turtle was coming to nest.

Lights were switched off and noises reduced to a minimum so that the creature would not be frightened away.

Pulau Talang-Talang Besar is one of Sarawak's turtle islands located within the Talang-Satang National Park, off the coast here, about 100km from Kuching.

For a group of media personnel invited by the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) for an overnight stay on the island in conjunction with the launch of its turtle adoption programme, it was the chance of a lifetime to get up close with one of nature's rarest creatures.

As the turtle was laying its eggs, SFC employees went to work measuring its size and checking it for identification tags.

The turtle was slightly over a metre long and had a tag on each flipper, which means it had nested on the island in the past.

After the turtle had made its way back to the sea, the nest was dug up and the eggs counted and transferred to a hatchery.

"The eggs must be transferred in less than two hours after being laid. Otherwise, they will not have a chance of incubating," said SFC marine biologist, James Bali.

He added that it was necessary for the turtle eggs to be moved to the hatchery because of the high nest density on Pulau Talang-Talang Besar's small beach.

A number of baby turtles, which had hatched during the night, were also released into the sea.

Hatchlings were released either at night, or early in the morning to reduce the threat of predation.

Bali said about 2.86 million hatchlings were released from Sarawak's turtle islands in the past 40 years.

However, only 2,859 of them were expected to have grown into mature turtles because scientists estimated that only one out of every 1,000 hatchlings reached maturity.

"This is why conservation is important as it takes so many hatchlings to produce one mature turtle."

SFC has introduced a turtle adoption programme to spread awareness on turtle conservation and get the nature-loving public actively involved.

Its general manager, Wilfred Landong, said the Sarawak Sea Turtle Volunteer Programme was the first in the world and a unique eco-tourism initiative run by SFC.

Open from May to September, the programme allows volunteers to participate in Sarawak's turtle conservation efforts by spending four days at the turtle conservation station on Pulau Talang-Talang Besar.

"Upon arrival on the island, volunteers are briefed on the conservation programme before being allocated tasks, or areas of responsibility.

"Duties include beach patrols to locate turtle arrivals, monitoring turtle nesting activity, tagging and measuring turtles, transferring eggs to the hatchery, releasing hatchlings, data recording and other on-site conservation activities," Landong said.

However, he added that there were only 12 slots available under the programme, with each slot limited to six people.

He said the minimum cost of participation was RM600 per person for Malaysians and RM1,200 for non- Malaysians, inclusive of food, lodging and transport.

The fee included a RM200 donation for adopting a turtle and participants would receive a certificate with the tag number of their adopted turtle.


Read more: Up close with the turtles http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/23TUR/Article#ixzz101VVyXlG

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Malaysian officers in cahoots with illegal traders to be weeded out

Florence A. Samy The Star 20 Sep 10;

PETALING JAYA: The Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) will undergo a shake-up to weed out officers who are in cahoots with illegal wildlife traders.

The department has been dogged with allegations of corruption among its enforcement officers following the arrest of infamous wildlife trader Anson Wong recently.

Natural Resources and Environ­ment Minister Datuk Douglas Ug­­gah Embas said this was among the measures being taken to plug loopholes and enhance enforcement in the department, which had come under fire from conservationists.

“We have set up an internal au­­dit. We are reviewing the standard operating procedures, legislation and departmental structure,” he said.

Asked if Perhilitan officers had been helping illegal wildlife traders, Uggah said: “Those are some of the issues we are looking at.

“We do not condone anyone who breaks or fails to enforce the law. We will take stern action.”

Uggah, who acknowledged that illegal wildlife trade was a very lucrative business, urged the public to come forward if they had evidence of such collaboration so that action could be taken.

He said experts and non-governmental organisations would be brought in as part of the process to review current procedures in the department.

The ministry, particularly Perhilitan, had been heavily criticised following Wong’s arrest for trying to smuggle out 95 boa constrictors without a permit.

Wong, who was caught at the KL International Airport on Aug 26 while on transit from Penang to Jakarta, was sentenced on Sept 6 to six months’ jail and fined RM190,000 by the Sepang Sessions Court.

Many groups, however, were unhappy with the sentence. Wong had previously been sentenced to 71 months’ jail by the United States for illegal wildlife trafficking.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers has since appealed against the sentencing for the latest offence.

Following Wong’s arrest, the Penang National Park and Wildlife Department director was reportedly transferred to another state effective Oct 1.

International magazines such as National Geographic had highlighted Malaysia in their articles as the so-called “hub” for illegal wildlife trafficking.

Uggah said the ministry was working with several agencies, including Rela, the military, police and Maritime Enforcement Agency, to strengthen enforcement against illegal wildlife trade.

“We want to identify the poachers’ hotspots and the outlets they use to illegally bring in and out animals. We are accused of being a hub but if you study carefully, we are not,” he said.

Tougher action, Uggah added, would be taken against those who operated zoos without a licence to prevent these from being used as a front for wildlife trade.

“Currently, there is no law that allows us to license zoos. Thus, our zoos are operating without licences.

“The new (Wildlife Conservation) Act will empower us to license zoos so that it adheres to international zoo standards. If we are not happy with any zoo, we can close it down,” he said, adding the Act was expected to be gazetted and enforced by year-end.

Author: Wong is like a leopard that never changes its spots
Yuen Meikeng The Star 20 Sep 10;

PETALING JAYA: Convicted smugglers like Anson Wong should be denied licences to sell or possess wildlife if the authorities are serious about putting an end to illegal trafficking.

American writer Bryan Christy said Wong, or anyone related to him, should not be given any more licences by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhi­litan) in order to protect endangered species.

Christy, who wrote an expose on Wong entitled “The Kingpin” in the National Geographic magazine, said the man should have been given a tougher sentence, given his history as a wildlife smuggler.

“Certainly, his sentence sends a weak message. But an even weaker message is the fact that Perhilitan did not catch him nor did the Customs Department. An airline employee did,” Christy said in an email interview.

Christy did not believe that Wong, despite being jailed six months and fined RM190,000 for trying to smuggle 95 snakes without a permit recently, would change his ways.

“Absolutely not. He did not clean up after serving more than five years of his sentence in the US, and some of those years were in a Mexican prison,” said Christy, who is also the author of The Lizard King, a book on wildlife smuggling.

Christy urged the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry to reform Perhilitan from the top down and exercise its responsibility as the country’s management authority for wildlife as governed under the Convention on Interna­tional Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

“It should stop coming up with weak ‘audit committee’ proposals to ‘oversee’ Perhilitan, and stop asking it to investigate itself. It should start taking real action. It is embarrassing,” he said.

Christy said he was convinced the leadership in Perhilitan was the biggest barrier to wildlife conservation in Malaysia and an even bigger obstacle than Wong.

“All you have to do is look at how they respond when a smuggler like Wong is exposed.

“They did not ask who failed to stop him. They asked who dared to expose him. “They did not apologise for failure. They said they never had any evidence. That is failure,” said Christy.

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China a beacon for foreign clean tech firms

Allison Jackson Yahoo News 19 Sep 10;

TIANJIN, China (AFP) – In a laboratory in northern China, technicians are breeding billions of micro-organisms in test tubes to create enzymes -- proteins that can turn plant waste into clean-burning biofuels.

The facility near the port city of Tianjin belongs to Novozymes, a Danish biotechnology company and one of a growing number of foreign firms in China benefiting from Beijing's massive investment in green energy.

"The situation has never been better," Michael Christiansen, president of Novozymes China, told AFP in an interview.

Beijing has pledged to spend 738 billion dollars developing clean energy over the next decade as it seeks to meet a target of generating 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources -- mainly wind and water -- by 2020.

China's vast market, deep pockets and favourable policies for clean technology -- a key theme of last week's World Economic Forum's "Summer Davos" in Tianjin -- are attracting a growing number of foreign companies which face a severe funding shortage in their home markets due to the global crisis.

"I think China is seen as a very good market to commercialise technology at scale and there is a great market to try to generate long-term competitive advantage around clean technology," Ernst & Young analyst Ben Warren told AFP.

China leapfrogged the United States to become the most attractive market for renewable investment this year, the global accounting firm said in a report published this month.

It was also the most attractive market for investment in wind power after Beijing announced plans to launch 90,000 mega-watts of wind capacity by 2015, the report said.

Beijing's pledge last year ahead of global climate talks in Copenhagen to reduce carbon intensity -- the measure of greenhouse gas emitted per unit of economic activity -- by 40-45 percent by 2020 based on 2005 levels has been a beacon to foreign companies, analysts said.

"Things are tough for companies here (in the West) -- we have a shortage of debt financing," said Nicholas Parker, executive chairman of US-based clean technology research firm Cleantech Group.

"The money for deployment, for building wind farms or for building a factory where you tend to use debt financing, has dried up due to the crisis on Wall Street. That shortage doesn't exist in China."

Local government officials -- threatened with the loss of their promotion if they fail to meet energy reduction targets -- are falling over themselves to attract foreign investment in clean technology, offering firms free land and money for research and development.

State-owned banks also offer loans to green technology firms at much lower interest rates than those available in the United States, according to a report by US think tanks Breakthrough Institute and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

"China currently has what seems like the most aggressive incentives for production of renewable energy and the closest thing to a coherent policy," said Michal Meidan, an analyst at political risk research firm Eurasia Group.

Demand for financing in the clean energy technology industry could reach two trillion yuan (297 billion dollars) in the next decade, the China Daily reported this month, citing a government official.

To meet these growing needs for money, China could create a market for yuan-denominated "green bonds" to support the environmentally friendly sector, said Gao Cailin, a finance official in the northeastern province of Jilin.

China -- whose pollution woes have been worsened by decades of rampant economic growth -- is pushing harder than Western governments to develop clean energy technology because it is "mission critical", said Parker.

"This is essential in China whereas Western countries think maybe today, maybe tomorrow," he said.

Despite its eagerness for foreign investment, Beijing has sought to protect certain domestic industries such as wind power from overseas competition.

"They only let companies in when they think they can benefit from it," said Thomas Maslin, an analyst at IHS Emerging Energy Research.

Foreign companies also face significant challenges in China such as the lax protection of intellectual property and policies favouring Chinese companies.

Novozymes has been in China for 15 years and now counts the market as its second biggest after the United States, underlining the potential for growth in the world's second-largest economy.

"China has the interest and the policies and the funding to drive green technology," said Christiansen.

"This is not the flavour of the day -- it will last for many, many years. We are just seeing the start of it."

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Congo Among Nations Advancing On Forest Carbon

Alister Doyle PlanetArk 20 Sep 10;

Nations including Democratic Republic of Congo are making surprise progress toward taking part in a $200 million project for slowing deforestation from late 2010, World Bank experts said.

They also said Latin America, with forested nations around the Amazon, had strong incentives to take part since most of the continent's greenhouse gas emissions came from deforestation and shifts in land use, rather than use of fossil fuels.

"We intend to start operations later this year," Benoit Bosquet, lead carbon finance specialist at the World Bank, told Reuters of the Carbon Fund, part of a facility that involves 37 forested developing nations and 14 donors.

The fund, a public-private project for which the World Bank is trustee, so far has pledges totaling $50 million and aims for a total $200 million.

"Some unlikely countries are coming out of the starting blocks, for example in central Africa," Bosquet said in a telephone briefing.

Democratic Republic of Congo was making strong progress, for instance, in defining plans and consulting local communities and indigenous peoples, he said. Five million people died in a 1998-2003 war and the country is still plagued by insecurity.

Elsewhere in Africa, Ghana was among those advancing well and in Latin America, Mexico and Costa Rica were among those with furthest progress, he said.

Burning of forests to clear land accounts for up to a fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions from human sources blamed for stoking global warming, according to U.N. estimates.

Trees soak up heat-trapping carbon dioxide as they grow. The world is trying to set up a mechanism to reward countries that slow deforestation as part of a future U.N. deal to slow global warming.

CROP YIELDS

The Carbon Fund project would not just focus on safeguarding forests but also related projects such as improving crop yields to reduce pressures to burn forests. Cash could also encourage a phase-out of some damaging farm subsidies.

Ethel Sennhauser, the World Bank's sector manager for agriculture, Latin America and the Caribbean, said that 66 percent of emissions from the region were from deforestation and changes in land use, against a world average of 20 percent.

"No other region will have such a big incentive as Latin America," she said of the schemes, known as REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation).

A total of $4 billion worldwide has been committed to projects to slow deforestation by nations led by Norway.

At last year's U.N. Copenhagen climate summit, which disappointed many nations by failing to agree a U.N. treaty to slow global warming, developed nations promised "fast-start" climate aid for the poor approaching $30 billion for 2010-12.

The $4 billion "is a very important part of the fast-start funds," said Sergio Jellinek, World Bank manager of external affairs for Latin America and the Caribbean. "REDD+ was one of the bright spots of the Copenhagen discussions."

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