Best of our wild blogs: 21 Sep 10

Brown Hawk Owl calling
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Shooting snakes
from talfryn.net

Is there a future for the birds of the last greenspaces of Manila? from Raffles Museum News

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Conservationists Score Major Victory to Save Dolphins

Solomon Times Online 21 Sep 10;

The Earth Island Institute team successfully negotiated an end to a 450 year tradition of killing dolphins with three of eight tribes in the Solomon Islands.

Ric Barry, producer of the very popular "Blood Dolphins," stated in his blog that it is "a huge victory for the dolphins and will result in thousands of dolphins saved."

The Solomon Islands gained the attention of some major international lobby groups with the exportation of dolphins in early 2006.

Apart from the exportation of dolphins, traditional dolphin killings have placed the Solomon Islands quite close to Japan in terms of the number of dolphins brutally killed each year. Killing dolphins is so engrained in local customs as the teeth are used for currency.

"The team went there unsure of what to expect. So we listened, heard local concerns and together came to a reasonable conclusion. As a result, we have agreed to help them develop sustainable long-term solutions to dolphin hunting. And they will stop killing dolphins," said Ric Barry.

Ric Barry stated in his blog that progress in the Solomon Islands could be a "shining beacon of what's possible for other dolphin-hunting countries-specifically Japan and the Faroe Islands."

More Solomon Islands tribes agree to stop dolphin hunting
New Zealand International 23 Sep 10;

Three tribes in Solomon Islands have signed an agreement with the American-based Earth Island Institute to stop their traditional killing of dolphins.

An associate director of the Earth Island International marine mammal project, Mark Berman, says after the Fanalei and Walande tribes signed an agreement in April, other tribes have also stopped their dolphin hunting.

He says in return, his organisation has agreed to make grants available for sustainable community projects.

“Our goal is to make this a long-term effort where they get away from any type of dolphin hunts. In future we think that dolphin watch could be presented there, as a sustainable eco-tourism situation - that takes time to develop though - and they could show their culture by not harming dolphins but by just going to see the dolphins in the wild.”

Mark Berman says the agreement will save up to 2,000 dolphins a year.

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Bleaching in Kuwait: "20 pc of coral reefs dead, 60 pc affected"

Arab Times 20 Sep 10;

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 20, (KUNA): Bleaching of some of the country’s wealth of coral reefs is caused by high temperature in the sea waters, the Deputy Director General of the Environment Public Authority said on Monday.

Ali Haidar said in a statement that transformation of the color of the coral reefs into white in most marine regions, recently, was the result of the high temperature in the waters that soared to 35 degrees, indicating that the high temperature was measured by a diving team of the Kuwait Environment Protection Society (KEPS) on Sunday.

He was speaking following a meeting that grouped officials of EPA, the KEPS and the Kuwait Voluntary Work Center (KVWC), discussing the problem from various aspects.

The bleaching of corals is an indication of either their death or transformation into an unnatural condition, and the whitening is most probably caused by the soaring heat, said Haidar.

The deputy director general indicated that the survey of the coral reefs close to the islands of Umm Al-Maradem, Qarouh and Al-Zour revealed that 20 percent of the coral reefs are dead and 60 percent of the corals “are affected and may restore to their normal condition depending on the surrounding natural conditions.” On the soaring heat at sea, Haidar said this phenomenon, also know as Al-Nino, spread, this year, from the Arab Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, Arab Sea and coastal regions of Africa. It existed south of the equatorial, last year, affecting most of the marine regions in the world.

Haidar affirmed importance of the existence of healthy coral reefs because they secure nutrients for some sea species, protect the islands and signal the condition of the sea waters.

He indicated that the department of living resources at EPA would work out a plan and a wide-scale research program, with a three-year timetable, in coordination with the International Union for Conversation of the Nature, to study best means for the protection of the Kuwaiti wealth of corals.

For his part, Dr Thamer Al-Rashidi, the general coordinator of the project for measuring impact of the climatic change and Al-Nino on the Kuwaiti corals of the KEPC, said the high temperature at the sea was related to Al-Nino that occurs in the Pacific every five-seven years, either in month 11 or 12 — effects of which spread to the Arab Gulf late this summer.

Kuwait’s coral is dying as sea warms up
James Calderwood The National 21 Sep 10;

KUWAIT CITY: A group of Kuwaiti divers has reported bleaching in more than 90 per cent of the country’s coral reefs – a sign that the coral is either sick or dead.

“This is really bad,” Dari al Huwail, a member of Kuwait Dive Team, said. “Before Ramadan, it seemed normal; there were signs of bleaching, but they were not unusual, at least to me.” After the holy month, “we went diving for a conservation project and were shocked to discover how massive the bleaching was”.

When team members dived at a reef near Umm al Maradim island, they noticed most of the brightly coloured corals had turned a sickly white. When two teams of divers inspected Kuwait’s seven other major reefs this week, they realised that the whole country was affected.

“We’re not scientific experts, we don’t have a background in marine biology, but we are professional in documenting what we see,” Mr al Huwail said. The team said it was ready to collaborate with international experts to discover why the corals have turned white and try to solve the problem.

Ali Haidar, the deputy director general of the government’s Environmental Protection Agency, said in a statement on Monday that the bleaching was probably caused by rising sea temperatures. Sea temperatures around Kuwait have soared to 35°C this year.

About 20 per cent of the coral reefs are dead and 60 per cent “are affected and may return to their normal condition depending on their surrounding natural conditions”, Mr Haidar said.

Bleaching occurs when the pigmented algae that live in the coral’s tissue are expelled, revealing the coral’s bright white skeleton. Without the algae, the coral begins to starve.

Thomas Goreau, the president of Global Reef Alliance, a non-governmental organisation based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, dedicated to studying and restoring coral reefs, said the reefs have suffered from massive bleaching all over the world this year.

“This year is certainly the hottest year in history,” Mr Goreau said. “This is a result of global warming.”

If the sea exceeds its average temperature during the hottest time of year by 1°C for one month, the coral will turn white, Mr Goreau said. If the temperature remains high for two months or increases to 2°C above the average for one month, the corals will die.

The phenomenon has been discovered in the Gulf because Kuwait Dive Team actively surveys the country’s marine environment, Mr Goreau said. He expects coral reefs in Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Iran have all undergone a similar change, but the damage has not been reported yet.

Mr Goreau, who has been tracking global sea temperatures by satellite since 1982 and visiting endangered reefs all over the world, said the bleaching began in the southern hemisphere this year. Coral reefs in Mauritius were the first to bleach and others were affected as the location of maximum temperature migrated across the globe.

Coral reefs in the Seychelles and the Maldives were next to feel the effect of the extraordinary heat, then Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. Waters off the Philippines and the Caribbean have also faced unusually high temperatures this year, Mr Goreau said.

When coral reefs die, the sea loses the majority of its marine diversity and fish will disappear in search of other areas to feed and serve as a nursery for their young. Dead reefs will not absorb wave energy or replenish sand, causing nearby beaches to slowly erode.

“Coral reefs are the most fragile ecosystem there is,” Mr Goreau said. “They can be killed by water that is too hot, cold, salty, fresh, muddy or has an excess of nutrients. Boats’ anchors pose a physical threat to the delicate reefs, as does dredging to build islands and ports or to clear lanes for shipping.”

Scientists are unsure why coral reefs have grown in the Gulf despite extreme temperatures, saline and muddy waters, and high levels of pollution from sewage and the petrochemicals industry. Mr Goreau said if researchers were given the opportunity to study why the region’s corals are so resilient, it might be an opportunity to propagate them to other parts of the world.

“These are exceptional corals because they’ve been pushed beyond conditions that no other corals could survive, but now they’ve been pushed beyond their limit.”

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CNG cars in Singapore: moment in the sun over

Few refuelling stations, poor conversions among factors deflating demand
Christopher Tan, Straits Times 21 Sep 10;

INTEREST in compressed natural gas (CNG) cars has fizzled out after a brief spurt.

The trend can be blamed on a number of factors - the languishing car market, a persistent shortage of refuelling facilities, negative publicity over poorly carried out petrol-to-gas conversions and even the uncertainty hanging over the tax break granted to such cars.

The numbers from the Land Transport Authority (LTA) say it best: Only 25 or so CNG cars were registered in the first eight months of this year, down from 250 last year and 2,000 the year before.

From January to August this year, all other alternative-fuel cars were more popular than CNG models. Petrol-electric hybrids pulled in about 500 new buyers, and diesel cars, about 40 - despite the high taxes payable on them.

Buyers of budget cars have traditionally been the biggest CNG converts, but this year's deep cut to the supply of Certificates of Entitlement (COEs) sent their premiums skyrocketing. The car market cooled in response, nudging out such price-sensitive buyers. Sellers, particularly the parallel importers, were also hit.

A senior executive from authorised Toyota agent Borneo Motors observed: 'Parallel importers have lost steam because of the high COE prices.

'Ninety-nine per cent of CNG cars were sold by them.'

General Motors Overseas Distribution Corp, the importer of Chevrolet cars, stopped offering CNG models in March.

Its spokesman said customers were turned off because the savings they were to reap from using gas instead of petrol did not make up for the inconvenience of having only limited places where they could refuel.

There are four refuelling stations in operation: in Jurong, Mandai, Toh Tuck (off Upper Bukit Timah) and Serangoon North. This is twice the number of stations available before last year, but they can hardly be said to be centrally sited.

Customer service representative Wong Chee Wei, who drives a CNG Chevrolet Optra Magnum, said of the refuelling hassle: 'There's always a long queue at the Serangoon station.'

For better or worse, he is stuck with his CNG-model Chevy for now, because he finds car prices too high for him to trade it in.

Mr Melvin Toh, 28, a wealth management consultant, has the same model car, but has taken to using its petrol engine 60 per cent of the time. He said: 'Ideally, I'd want to use more CNG, but the nearest station for me is Serangoon, and it closes quite early, at around 8pm.'

He also feels that the high COE prices mean changing his car is not an option now.

C Melchers, a company specialising in converting petrol cars to run on CNG, is feeling the drop in interest acutely. Its sales manager, Mr Gilbert von der Aue, said the company is doing only about two conversions a month, down from as many as 120 two years ago.

'Things are not so good,' he said. 'I don't think conversions will go back to what they were like.'

He said it has not helped that some of Melchers' smaller rivals have done 'bad installations', which have resulted in adverse effects such as severe power loss or stalled engines.

The LTA said 16 car owners with such problems have been allowed to remove the CNG systems from their converted vehicles, thus reverting to petrol-only vehicles.

'Applications for the removal of CNG systems are considered on a case-by- case basis,' an LTA spokesman said. Permission is granted only if the technical problems cited are found to be genuine.

And then there is the looming uncertainty over the tax break granted to CNG cars, which is due to run out at the end of next year.

The 40-percentage-point reduction in the Additional Registration Fee was what fuelled the surge in the number of CNG- converted cars in the last two years. The Government also plans to levy a petrol-like duty at gas pumps from 2012.

Only taxi companies seem to be driving any sort of momentum in CNG conversions now. About 460 new CNG cabs were put on the road in the first eight months of the year. The strongest advocate is Trans-Cab, which plans to treble its CNG fleet of about 1,500 by next year.

Taxi firms and a small but growing fleet of private gas-powered buses are keeping the CNG refuelling business afloat.

Mr Johnny Harjantho, the managing director of refueller Smart Energy, which operates the Mandai and Serangoon stations, said: 'Our business has been growing, but we need 1,500 fillings a day to make money. Right now, we are getting 800 to 900, sometimes 1,000.

'We still need more support from the Government, especially in providing sites for new CNG stations.'

Read more!

Malaysia's dengue death rate spirals 53 percent this year

(AFP) Google News 20 Sep 10;

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia said Monday its dengue fever death rate spiralled 53 percent this year, but backed away from a controversial trial of releasing genetically modified mosquitoes to wipe out the disease.

"There was a major rise in deaths due to dengue fever, with 107 deaths so far this year compared to 70 deaths for the same period last year," said deputy premier Muhyiddin Yassin.

Muhyiddin said the majority of the deaths could have been avoided, and urged the public to take action to eradicate the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes -- which spread dengue -- from their homes and workplaces.

"We have identified 19 hotspots throughout the country where the disease is prevalent, and action is being taken to tackle the situation in these areas," he said.

However, Muhyiddin was cool on a plan to release genetically modified mosquitoes designed to combat dengue fever, in a proposed landmark field trial that has come in for criticism from environmentalists.

In the first experiment of its kind in Asia, 2,000-3,000 male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were to be released in two Malaysian states in October or November if the plan had won government support.

The insects in the study have been engineered so that their offspring quickly die, curbing the growth of the population in a technique researchers hope could eventually eradicate the dengue mosquito altogether.

Females of the Aedes species are responsible for spreading dengue fever.

Muhyiddin said the project would not be implemented "at the moment".

"Seemingly it is quite an interesting (solution) to deal with such a problem but I think... not until and unless every aspect of research being carried out is clinically tested and... environmental issues have been addressed," he said.

"And of course most importantly at the end of the day, it is endorsed by international organisations -- that it is something we can apply for the purposes of dealing with the epidemic."

The development is a boon for environmentalists who were were concerned the GM mosquito could fail to prevent dengue and could also have unintended consequences.

Critics have said the larvae will only die if their environment is free of tetracycline, an antibiotic commonly used for medical and veterinary purposes.

The field trial for the GM anti-dengue mosquitoes was developed by a British-based insect bio-tech company, Oxitec, and was to be undertaken by the Malaysia's Institute for Medical Research, an agency under the health ministry.

Dengue infection leads to a sudden onset of fever with severe headaches, muscle and joint pains, and rashes.

The virus has historically been found in tropical regions, particularly in urban and semi-urban areas, but has spread in recent years to colder and higher places and is now endemic in more than 100 countries.

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Tigers found at record altitude in boost for survival hopes

Yahoo News 20 Sep 10;

LONDON (AFP) – A television crew filmed a "lost" population of tigers living at a higher altitude than any others known, raising hopes of linking isolated groups of the big cats across Asia, the BBC said Monday.

The cats were spotted roaming in the hills in the remote Himalayan nation of Bhutan by a conservationist and a team from the BBC's Natural History Unit at a height of 4,100 metres (13,450 feet), said the broadcaster on its website.

"Tigers are thought of as jungle creatures and there is pressure on their habitats from all sides. Yet we now know they can live and breed at this altitude which is a safer habitat for them," said tiger expert and conservationist Alan Rabinowitz, who led the expedition.

The team set up hidden cameras wedged into gullies and trees for six weeks to capture the first hard proof that the animals could live at such high altitude, following earlier anecdotal evidence, the BBC said.

The footage shows a male tiger and a female tiger at 4,100 metres and other tigers living at 3,000 metres, it added. Colour footage shows one tiger sniffing the air, while a night shot shows one of the animals prowling.

The female is lactating, suggesting they are breeding, said BBC cameraman Gordon Buchanan, who set up the camera traps that automatically filmed any creature that moved in front of them.

He said he was "convinced that there must now be cubs somewhere on this mountain."

"This is such a significant discovery for tiger survival," he said. "The fact they can live here is just so important, for tigers in the wild, for their future."

Rabinowitz said the discovery would boost an ambitious plan for a "corridor" across Asia in which tiger populations are safe from humans.

"Bhutan was the missing link in this tiger corridor," he said.

Conservation group WWF says numbers of tigers have plunged to fewer than 3,200 from 100,000 over the past century.

Thirteen "tiger-range" countries are to meet in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in November to discuss plans to double the number of wild tigers by 2022.

Lost tiger population discovered in Bhutan mountains
Matt Walker BBC News 20 Sep 10;

A "lost" population of tigers has been filmed living in the Himalayas.

The discovery has stunned experts, as the tigers are living at a higher altitude than any others known and appear to be successfully breeding.

Their presence in the Bhutan highlands has been confirmed by footage taken by a BBC natural history camera crew.

Creating a nature reserve around the tigers could connect up fragmented populations across Asia, preventing the extinction of the world's biggest cat.

Tigers are known to live in the Himalayan foothills of Bhutan, though little is known about them, or how many there are.

However, leading tiger expert Dr Alan Rabinowitz, formerly of the World Conservation Society and now President of Panthera, a conservation organisation dedicated to safeguarding big cat species, suspected that tigers may also be living at higher altitude, following anecdotal reports by villagers suggesting that some were roaming as high as 4000m (13,000ft).

So, together with a BBC film crew, he decided to investigate by journeying to Bhutan to seek proof that such mountain tigers did indeed exist.

Dr Rabinowitz enlisted the help of BBC wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan, who has filmed wild cats worldwide for more than 10 years.

Under Dr Rabinowitz's direction, Mr Buchanan trekked up into the mountains, where he then set a series of camera traps, that would automatically film any creature moving in front.

The team left the traps at an altitude of between 3,000m and 4,100m, above which trees start being unable to survive.

Three months later, he returned to see what they had caught on camera.

The cameras recorded a wealth of wildlife, including red foxes, jungle cats, monkeys, leopards, Himalayan black bear, tarkin, serow, musk deer and even a red panda.

This is the only place on earth known to have tigers, leopard and snow leopards all sharing the same valley.

It is remarkable to have these three big cats sharing their range.

Most extraordinarily, the cameras took footage of two wild tigers, one male and one female, a discovery that moved Mr Buchanan to tears.

The images are the first known footage of tigers in the remote mountains of Bhutan and the first hard evidence that tigers are capable of living at that altitude.

This find was made in close collaboration with Bhutan Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, with help and guidance from forest guard Phup Tshering.

"The fact they can live here is just so important, for tigers in the wild, for their future," said Mr Buchanan, on seeing the footage for the first time.

The large male tiger, sighted at an altitude of 4,100m is recorded scent-marking, confirming that the tiger pair are living within their own territory, and not just passing through.

The female tiger, sighted at the same altitude, can also be seen to be lactating, strongly suggesting the tigers are breeding at that altitude.

Further footage shows tigers living lower at an altitude of 3000m.

The discovery, which is broadcast this week as part of the BBC One programme Lost Land of the Tiger was made by the same BBC team that discovered a new species of giant rat living on the slopes of a remote volcano deep inside the jungle of Papua New Guinea.

Dr Rabinowitz and the BBC team are not revealing the exact location of the tigers, in order to prevent them being found by poachers.

Tigers used to roam across Asia, now only pockets remain. There are estimated to be as few as 3,000 left in the wild, due to poaching and habitat loss.

The discovery of tigers living at altitude in Bhutan could be crucial to one scheme proposed to help save the species from extinction.

Known as a "tiger corridor", the idea is to connect up many of these surviving isolated and fragmented groups.

That would allow individual tigers to move between populations, allowing them to breed more widely, bolstering the genetic diversity of those surviving.

It would also offer some tigers sanctuary from human towns and villages and the increasing pressures they bring.

The Tiger Corridor Initiative, promoted by the conservation organisation Panthera, hopes one such major corridor could extend along the foothills of the Himalayas from Nepal into Bhutan and northern India, then through to Myanmar, stretching across 2000km with an area of 120,000 sq km. The ambition would then be to connect it to another corridor spanning Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, terminating in Malaysia.

"The significance of finding tigers living so high in Bhutan is that it means that huge areas of Himalayas, that people didn't think were natural places for tigers to live, can now be included in the tiger corridor," says Jonny Keeling, a BBC producer who helped track and film the big cats.

"Bhutan could act as tiger nursery from which tigers could breed safely and spread out to re-populate forests of some of the surrounding countries."

Read more!

Extreme Heat Puts Coral Reefs at Risk, Forecasts Say

Justin GIllis New York Times 20 Sep 10;

This year’s extreme heat is putting the world’s coral reefs under such severe stress that scientists fear widespread die-offs, endangering not only the richest ecosystems in the ocean but also associated fisheries that feed millions of people.

From Thailand to Texas, corals are reacting to the heat stress by bleaching, or shedding their color and going into survival mode. Many have already died, and more are expected to do so in coming months. Computer forecasts of water temperature suggest that corals in the Caribbean may undergo drastic bleaching in the next few weeks.

What is unfolding this year is only the second known global bleaching of coral reefs. Scientists are holding out hope that this year will not be as bad, over all, as 1998, the hottest year in the historical record, when an estimated 16 percent of the world’s shallow-water reefs died. But in some places, including Thailand, the situation is looking worse than in 1998.

Scientists say the trouble with the reefs is linked to climate change. For years they have warned that corals, highly sensitive to excess heat, would serve as an early indicator of the ecological distress on the planet caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases.

“I am significantly depressed by the whole situation,” said Clive Wilkinson, director of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, an organization in Australia that is tracking this year’s disaster.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the first eight months of 2010 matched 1998 as the hottest January to August period on record. High ocean temperatures are taxing the organisms most sensitive to them, the shallow-water corals that create some of the world’s most vibrant and colorful seascapes.

Coral reefs occupy a tiny fraction of the ocean, but they harbor perhaps a quarter of all marine species, including a profusion of fish. Often called the “rain forests of the sea,” they are the foundation not only of important fishing industries but also of tourist economies worth billions.

Drastic die-offs of coral were seen for the first time in 1983 in the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean, during a large-scale weather event known as El Niño. During an El Niño, warm waters normally confined to the western Pacific flow to the east; 2010 is also an El Niño year.

Serious regional bleaching has occurred intermittently since the 1983 disaster. It is clear that natural weather variability plays a role in overheating the reefs, but scientists say it cannot, by itself, explain what has become a recurring phenomenon.

“It is a lot easier for oceans to heat up above the corals’ thresholds for bleaching when climate change is warming the baseline temperatures,” said C. Mark Eakin, who runs a program called Coral Reef Watch for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “If you get an event like El Niño or you just get a hot summer, it’s going to be on top of the warmest temperatures we’ve ever seen.”

Coral reefs are made up of millions of tiny animals, called polyps, that form symbiotic relationships with algae. The polyps essentially act as farmers, supplying the algae with nutrients and a place to live. The algae in turn capture sunlight and carbon dioxide to make sugars that feed the coral polyps.

The captive algae give reefs their brilliant colors. Many reef fish sport fantastical colors and patterns themselves, as though dressing to match their surroundings.

Coral bleaching occurs when high heat and bright sunshine cause the metabolism of the algae to speed out of control, and they start creating toxins. The polyps essentially recoil. “The algae are spat out,” Dr. Wilkinson said.

The corals look white afterward, as though they had been bleached. If temperatures drop, the corals’ few remaining algae can reproduce and help the polyps recover. But corals are vulnerable to disease in their denuded condition, and if the heat stress continues, the corals starve to death.

Even on dead reefs, new coral polyps will often take hold, though the overall ecology of the reef may be permanently altered. The worst-case situation is that a reef dies and never recovers.

In dozens of small island nations and in some coastal areas of Indonesia and the Philippines, people are heavily dependent on reef fish as a source of protein. The death of corals is not immediately lethal to the fish, but if the coral polyps do not recover, scientists say the reef can eventually collapse, and the associated fishery will become far less productive.

Research shows that is already happening in parts of the Caribbean, though people there are not as dependent on fishing as those living on Pacific islands.

It will be months before this year’s toll is known for sure. But scientists tracking the fate of corals say they have already seen widespread bleaching in Southeast Asia and the western Pacific, with corals in Thailand, parts of Indonesia and some smaller island nations being hit especially hard earlier this year.

Temperatures have since cooled in the western Pacific and the immediate crisis has passed there, even as it accelerates in places like the Caribbean where the waters are still warming. Serious bleaching has been seen recently in the Flower Garden Banks, a marine sanctuary off the Texas-Louisiana border.

In Thailand, “there some signs of recovery in places,” said James True, a biologist at Prince of Songkla University. But in other spots, he said, corals were hit so hard that it is not clear young polyps will be available from nearby areas to repopulate dead reefs.

“The concern we have now is that the bleaching is so widespread that potential source reefs upstream have been affected,” Dr. True said.

Even in a hot year, of course, climate varies considerably from place to place. The water temperatures in the Florida Keys are only slightly above normal this year, and the beloved reefs of that region have so far escaped serious harm.

Parts of the northern Caribbean, including the United States Virgin Islands, saw incipient bleaching this summer, but the tropical storms and hurricanes moving through the Atlantic have cooled the water there and may have saved some corals. Farther south, though, temperatures are still remarkably high, putting many Caribbean reefs at risk.

Summer is only just beginning in the Southern Hemisphere, but water temperatures off Australia are also above normal, and some scientists are worried about the single most impressive reef on earth. The best hope now, Dr. Wilkinson said, is for mild tropical storms that would help to cool Australian waters.

“If we get a poor monsoon season,” he said, “I think we’re in for a serious bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef.”

Read more!

Fish or frankenfish? FDA weighs altered salmon

Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press Yahoo News 21 Sep 10;

WASHINGTON – Genetically engineered salmon that grows twice as fast as the conventional fish appears to be safe, an advisory committee told the Food and Drug Administration Monday. But they argued that more testing may be needed before it is served on the nation's dinner tables.

If the FDA approves the sale of the salmon, it will be the first time the government allows such modified animals to be marketed for human consumption. The panel was convened by the agency to look at the science of the fish and make recommendations on its safety and environmental impact.

Ron Stotish, chief executive of the Massachusetts company that created the salmon, AquaBounty, said at Monday's hearing that his company's fish product is safe and environmentally sustainable.

FDA officials have largely agreed with him, saying that the salmon, which grows twice as fast as its conventional "sisters," is as safe to eat as the traditional variety. But they have not yet decided whether to approve the request.

Critics call the modified salmon a "frankenfish" that could cause allergies in humans and the eventual decimation of the wild salmon population. Representatives from consumer, environmental and food safety groups asked the agency to decline the company's application to market the fish, saying it is untested.

The advisory committee agreed with the FDA that the company has presented compelling evidence that the fish is safe. But members raised several concerns about the data, saying many of the sample sizes were too small and how healthy the fish will be after many years of breeding.

It is still unclear whether the public will have an appetite for the fish if it is approved. Genetic engineering is already widely used for crops, but the government until now has not considered allowing the consumption of modified animals. Although the potential benefits — and profits — are huge, many people have qualms about manipulating the genetic code of other living creatures.

Part of the hearing focuses on labeling of the fish. It is possible that if the modified salmon is approved, consumers would not even know they were eating it. Current FDA regulations require modified foods to be labeled as such only if the food is substantially different from the conventional version, and the agency has said that the modified salmon is essentially the same as the Atlantic salmon.

If approved, the fish could be in grocery stores in two years, the company estimates.

Approval would open the door for a variety of other genetically engineered animals, including a pig that is being developed in Canada or cattle that are resistant to mad cow disease. Each would have to be individually approved by the FDA.

"For future applications out there the sky's the limit," said David Edwards of the Biotechnology Industry Association. "If you can imagine it, scientists can try to do it."

AquaBounty says it would be the first in the world to market genetically engineered fish. The company submitted its first application for FDA approval in 1995, but the agency did not decide until two years ago to consider applications for genetically engineered animals — a move seen as a breakthrough by the biotechnology industry.

Genetically engineered — or GE — animals are not clones, which the FDA has already said are safe to eat. Clones are copies of an animal. In GE animals, the DNA has been altered to produce a desirable characteristic.

In the case of the salmon, AquaBounty has added a growth hormone from a Chinook salmon that allows the fish to produce growth hormone all year long. The engineers were able to keep the hormone active by using another gene from an eel-like fish called an ocean pout that acts like an on switch for the hormone, according to the company. Conventional salmon produce the growth hormone only some of the time.

In documents released ahead of the hearing, the FDA said there were no biologically relevant differences between the engineered salmon and conventional salmon, and there is a reasonable certainty of no harm from its consumption. FDA scientists said Monday there are very few differences between the modified and conventional fish.

Critics have two main concerns: The safety of the food to humans and the salmon's effect on the environment.

Because the altered fish has never been eaten before, they say, it could include dangerous allergens, especially because seafood is highly allergenic. They also worry that the fish will escape and intermingle with the wild salmon population, which is already endangered.They would grow fast and consume more food to the detriment of the conventional wild salmon, the critics fear.

The FDA tried to allay both of those concerns Monday, saying the fish shouldn't cause any allergies not already found in conventional salmon and that there is little chance they could escape.

Critics speaking at the meeting said they were concerned about the unintended consequences of approval, arguing the FDA is relying on too little data.

Wenonah Hauter, director of the advocacy group Food & Water Watch, said the FDA process is inadequate because it allows the company to keep some proprietary information private. Modified foods are regulated under the same process used for animal drugs.

"With all due respect, we don't believe a veterinary advisory committee is the appropriate place to discuss these food safety issues," Hauter told the panel.

European nations have been much more cautious in embracing engineered foods. Ruediger Rosenthal, a spokesman for Bund-Friends of the Earth Germany, said it is unlikely the modified fish would make it across the Atlantic for sale as many Europeans are very skeptical of genetically modified foods.

AquaBounty CEO Stotish countered his product has come under more scrutiny than most food.

"This is perhaps the most studied fish in history," he said. "Environmentally this is a very sustainable technology."

The company has several safeguards in place to quell concerns. The fish would be bred female and sterile, though a small percentage might be able to breed. They would be bred in confined pools where the potential for escape would be low.

In its environmental analysis of the fish released earlier this month, the FDA agreed with the company that there are enough safeguards in place.

Stotish says the fish would be bred in better conditions than many of the world's farmed salmon and could be located closer to towns and cities to help feed more people. The company has also said the increase in engineered salmon production could help relieve endangered wild salmon populations.

The company is also arguing that the fish do not need to be labeled as genetically engineered. Stotish said, "The label could even be misleading because it implies a difference that doesn't exist."

___

Associated Press writer David Rising in Berlin contributed to this report.

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Sub-zero seed preserves bid to save orchids

Oscar Nunez Olivas Yahoo News 20 Sep 10;

SAN JOSE (AFP) – Scientists from around the world gathered in Costa Rica this month to exchange ideas on ways to make sure orchids, among the world's most popular flowers, will still be around for the next generation to enjoy.

Many of the orchids of the future, mere seeds today, are in a deep slumber inside glass vials in sub-zero temperature cared for by botanists with a group that has an acronym that sounds like a secret spy group: the OSSSU, or Orchid Seed Stores for Sustainable Use.

Hugh Pritchard, a British scientist with the Millennium Seed Bank Project -- an international plant conservation project coordinated by the Britain's Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew -- said that the OSSSU hopes to build a network of seed banks around the world to preserve orchid seeds.

The initial focus will be on the 250 species of the 35,000 orchid species in danger of extinction, Pritchard told AFP.

"One of the factors is over-exploitation of species in the forests with commercial ends; another is climate change that is expected to accelerate the extinction of many species over the next 40 years," Pritchard said.

Specialists from 23 countries belonging to the OSSU concluded a five-day meeting on the subject here on Friday.

The project encourages scientists in each country to freeze large amounts of seeds of their native species at temperatures of -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit).

"The seeds will serve in the future for species re-introduction projects, habitat restoration and other sustainable uses," Pritchard said.

Orchid seeds measure mere micrograms, so millions can be stored in vials in small freezer.

"Theoretically, a representative sample of seeds from all of the world?s orchid species could be stored in a space no larger than that occupied by a few domestic refrigerators," Pritchard wrote in an article with co-author Philip Seaton in the October 2008 edition of Orchids magazine.

"Thus, seed banks can provide a means of preserving maximum genetic diversity in a minimum space, and at relatively little cost," the authors wrote.

Ecuadoran biologist Eduardo Sanchez said that at the meeting, scientists from each country had their own ideas on the best ways to preserve their species.

In Ecuador, for example, Cuenca University has decided to germinate 35,000 of the most marketable orchid species, then sell 10,000 of them at cut-rate prices to saturate the market and lower the demand.

They will then plant the remaining 25,000 in forests near rivers, at botanical gardens and at the university itself to encourage both eco-tourism and an appreciation for the flower, Sanchez said.

Tiiu Kull at the Estonian University of Life Sciences said there is a small number of orchid species in Estonia compared to the varieties found in tropical regions, but they are extremely rare and in danger of extinction.

In the Philippines there are native orchid species that are on the verge of extinction because they are being used as base for the production of hybrids which are grown by the tens of millions for commercial use, said University of the Philippines - Los Banos professor Lilian Patena.

Two earlier OSSSU workshops were held in China and Ecuador, both in 2007.

The scientists also exchanged technical advice on how best to run seed banks.

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UNEP Report: Green Economy can reduce poverty and help meet Millennium Development Goals

UNEP 20 Sep 10;

New York, 20 September 2010 - Investing in clean energy, sustainable transport, forests and environmentally-friendly agriculture is essential, if internationally-agreed goals to reduce poverty are to be achieved.

This is among the central conclusions of A Brief for Policymakers on the Green Economy and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (pdf), launched today as heads of state and ministers meet at the UN Headquarters to review progress to date - five years before the MDG deadline of 2015.

Environmental degradation is making it more difficult for governments to achieve Millennium Development Goals such as improving maternal health, providing safe drinking water and combating hunger and disease.

Conversely some countries and communities are finding that environmental improvements, catalyzed by deliberate policy choices; smart investments and often private sector partnerships can be a big part of the solution, the new study claims.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said: "There is rapidly growing evidence that accelerating a transition to a low carbon, resource efficient, employment-generating Green Economy may not only be the key to meeting sustainability challenges of the 21st century, but also provide a considerable contribution to meeting other MDGs.

The report - compiled by UNEP's Green Economy team - cites numerous cases where green strategies are paying multiple dividends in respect to the eight MDGs.

Policies and investments in Costa Rica have triggered an expansion of protected areas and national parks, now covering over 25 per cent of the country's total land area.

* Since this strategy was adopted there has been a boom in eco-tourism attracting over one million visitors a year and generating USD $5 million annually in entrance fees alone. Studies indicate that communities living in or near national parks have higher wages, employment rates and lower rates of poverty.

The report, prepared for this week's UN Summit on MDGs in New York, also spotlights China's energy policy as set out in the country's 11th five year plan covering 2006-2010. The plan has fuelled a rapid rise in renewable energy manufacturing and installation.

* China is now the world's second biggest user of wind power and the biggest exporter of photovoltaics (devices that covert solar energy into electricity). 10 per cent of households have solar water heaters and 1.5 million people are employed in China's renewables sector, with 300,000 of those jobs generated in 2009 alone.

Creative and forward-looking urban planning, allied to sustainable transport policies, have allowed the Brazilian city of Curitiba to grow more than six fold while simultaneously improving mobility and quality of life.

* The average area of green space per person has risen from one square metre to around 50 square metres; 45 per cent of journeys are made by public transport; excessive fuel use due to congestion is 13 times less per person than in Sao Paulo and the lower levels of air pollution result in health benefits for local citizens.

In Nepal, 14,000 Forest User Groups have reversed the deforestation rates of the 1990s through community-based policies which include setting harvesting rules, product prices and the sharing of profits.

* Between 2000 and 2005, the annual forested area of Nepal increased by 1.3 per cent, soil quality and water supplies are better managed and local employment has risen.

Uganda, a country where 85 per cent of the working population is employed in agriculture, has turned to organic production to boost exports and incomes. Farm-gate prices for organic vanilla, ginger and pineapples are higher than for conventional produce.

* Since 2004, the number of certified organic farmers has grown from 45,000 to over 200,000 and the area of land under organic cultivation from 185,000 hectares to close to 300,000 hectares.

Mr Steiner said: "The underlying task of the 21st century is to provide a secure and sustainable way of life for a world population that over the next four decades will increase in size by a third. It was this challenge that in September 2000 led world leaders to adopt the eight MDGs".

"On current trends it is likely that achieving all the MDGs by 2015 will be missed. In part because the responses so far have been embedded in a 20th century approach to a new century's challenges," he added.

"The Green Economy puts a fresh lens on the challenges and a spotlight on the multiple cost effective economic and social opportunities from investing and re-investing in modern clean-tech energy systems up to natural resource management of the planet's ecological infrastructure. In doing so, it addresses the economic, social and environmental objective of sustainable development and underscores the wealth of choices and options for sustained progress that meets the realities of our time," said Mr Steiner.

Some Key Points from the Report - Environmental Sustainability and the MDGs Inextricably Intertwined

The report, A Brief for Policymakers on the Green Economy and the Millennium Development Goals, underlines that the environmental goods and services that underpin the global economy - and in particular the GDP of the poor - are shrinking at a rapid rate.

It underscores how this loss of ecological infrastructure is undermining not only MDG7 on environmental sustainability but most if not all of the other MDGs and their associated targets.

Coral reefs in the Caribbean for example have declined by 80 per cent and globally 30 per cent of mangroves have been lost in the past two decades.

Both these ecosystems provide coastal defenses, tourism revenues and other services and income for local communities.

In addition they are nurseries for fish upon which a billion people rely directly for protein. The fate of coral reefs and mangroves are thus closely linked to the achievement of several MDGs, including MDG1 on hunger.

Forests are key sources of drinking water and nutrients for agriculture while providing essential goods such as wild foods and medicines.

Thus the fate of forests links to MDG1 on hunger, MDGs 4 and 5 on health and several targets of MDG7 such as halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water.

The rate of deforestation is slowing. In the past decade the annual loss of forest has averaged 13 million hectares, compared with 16 million hectares a year during the 1990s.

But this rate is still causing lasting environmental damage and currently close to 30 countries have lost 90 per cent of their original forest cover.

Investing and re-investing in forests would not only assist in meeting the aforementioned MDGs, but also in reducing greenhouse gas emissions linked with deforestation.

While there is no specific MDG for energy, the report points out that providing clean energy will underpin the success of many of the goals, both directly in terms of sustainable development and indirectly if climate change, linked to the burning of fossil fuels, is left unaddressed.

For example 14% of the population of developing countries and around a fifth of their urban dwellers live in low-lying coastal regions and are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as rising sea levels, coastal flooding and soil erosion.

Subsidies - A Possible Source of Additional MDG Funding

One way of financing the achievement of the MDGs is through re-directing subsidies.

Fossil fuels for example still attract over US$500 billion a year in government subsidies - and there is abundant evidence that these subsidies rarely reach the poor, despite the best intentions of governments.

* In Indonesia in 2005, 60 per cent of fuel subsidies went to the richest 40 per cent of the population

* In 2003, Argentina's gas subsidies went to the far south of the country - home to just three per cent of Argentina's poor.

* In Mongolia, some 85 per cent of a recent 'life-line' heating tariff went to the 'non-poor'.

Investing all or part of these subsidies in renewable energy technologies, such as solar and wind, could trigger new kinds of employment, faster access to electricity and greater social equity - a better overall standard of living.

There would be benefits for the environment including improvements in air pollution alongside an estimated six per cent cut in annual greenhouse gas emissions.

There are other green economy approaches: In Bangladesh a subsidiary of the Grameen Bank - Grameen Shakti - has pioneered microfinance to assist local people in buying solar heating systems.

Some 20,000 'green' jobs, many of which have been for women, have been generated, with an aim of creating 100,000 new jobs by 2015. The project thus meets many of the MDGs including MDG3 relating to gender equality.

Similar arguments are made in respect to fisheries where subsidies total some US$27 billion a year and are part of the reason why fish stocks in many parts of the world are in decline.

Re-directing around US$8 billion of these subsidies into improved management measures such as marine protected areas, tradable quotas, the retiring of vessels and the retraining of fisher-folk, could boost catches and conserve stocks.

The report also points to the multiple benefits from other policies, for example those that promote the certification of biodiversity-friendly agricultural products.

With the right backing, the market for such products could be worth US$210 billion by 2020 up from US$40 billion in 2008, generating new income flows while conserving the planet's natural capital.

Notes to Editors:

Launched in 2008 at the height of the global financial and economic crisis, UNEP's Green Economy Initiative provides macroeconomic analysis on policy reforms and investments in key sectors that can contribute to economic growth, creation of jobs, social equity and poverty reduction, while addressing climate risks and other ecological challenges. The Initiative undertakes a wide-range of research and provides advisory services to more then 20 countries interested in moving towards a green economy.

This report is one of in a suite of special briefs that draws on the preliminary findings of its flagship publication, the Green Economy Report, which is scheduled to be released in early 2011.

To download a copy of the report, visit: http://www.unep.org/greeneconomy

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World powers to tackle climate amid skepticism

Yahoo News 20 Sep 10;

NEW YORK (AFP) – The 17 nations responsible for 80 percent of carbon emissions blamed for global warming will seek to unblock stalled climate negotiations this week but analysts expect little progress.

The two-day Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate kicks off Monday and will include top government envoys, including US special envoy for climate change Todd Stern.

US President Barack Obama launched the meetings to facilitate climate talks in the wake of last year's disappointing United Nations conference in Copenhagen.

The successor conference to the Copenhagen meet is set for this November in Cancun, Mexico.

"I don't think anyone is expecting any major announcement," said Michael Levi, an analyst with the Council on Foreign Relations.

"This is a working meeting... a lot of important players are at the same place at the same time" during the United Nations General Assembly, he told AFP.

Levi said the envoys would not seek to resolve the fierce debate over climate change but rather find ways to better define the issues, acknowledging the Cancun meeting would likely be another stalemate.

"No one is going to crack a big deal at this," he added.

Environmentalist Bill McKibben, co-founder of the environmental group 350.org, said the US Congress's failure to pass a law to combat climate change made it "very difficult" to clinch a strong agreement in Cancun.

"I think that the next two years will be a disappointing time in terms of actions and that we will have to use that time to build a powerful movement to get real action the next time there will be a political window that opens up," he added.

Levi warned that a period of uncertainty could follow the November mid-term legislative elections in which Republicans are poised to retake control of the House of Representatives from Obama's fellow Democrats and to increase their numbers in the Senate.

Last June, the House approved a bill that would launch the country's first nationwide "cap-and-trade" system that restricts carbon emissions blamed for global warming and allows trading in credits.

The Senate has yet to offer companion legislation, amid opposition from Republicans and Democrats from states dependent on the coal and hydrocarbon industries.

"Real change contradicts the business model of the fossil fuel industry," McKibben said, saying the industry was too powerful for Congress to effectively tackle reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. He urged more global action to create a "mass movement" in support of cutting emissions.

In October 2009, his 350.org organized a major day of political action, with 5,245 protests and other events across 181 countries.

Environment ministers from 45 countries are also scheduled to meet in Geneva in September at the invitation of the Swiss and Mexican governments.

And negotiators from the 194 signatories to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change are to meet in Tianjin, China for a final preparatory round of talks in October.

Next week's New York talks will include representatives from Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, and the United States.

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