Best of our wild blogs: 3 Oct 10

Origin of Some Common Names of Butterflies
from Butterflies of Singapore

The Fastest Running Land Animal on Earth
from Macro Photography in Singapore

Rufous-bellied Eagle honing its hunting skill
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Coastal cleanup, nature hunt and ‘makan kechil’ – a Nature Society (Singapore) tradition at Kranji Bund mangrove & mudflats from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

SBG revisited Wealth of the Rain Forest Exhibition
from Fahrenheit minus 459

Read more!

China hopes 'eco-city' will prove a model alternative

Allison Jackson (AFP) Yahoo News 2 Oct 10;

TIANJIN, China — At a construction site in northern China, a billboard boasts of a "liveable city" where residents can drink tap water, travel on clean energy public transport and enjoy acres of parkland.

For now, the ambitious "eco-city" covering 30 square kilometres (11.6 square miles) of non-arable salt pans and former fishing villages has more cranes than wind turbines and will not be finished for at least another decade.

But its developers hope the settlement near the port city of Tianjin will serve as an ultra-efficient alternative to ill-planned and heavily polluting mega-cities not only elsewhere in the country, but around the world.

"We hope to influence our neighbours," said Goh Chye Boon, chief executive of Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Investment & Development Co.

"With the right ingredients, with the right eco mindset, I think together we can change the environment."

The governments of China and Singapore have combined their expertise and finances to develop the future city, which has a planned population of 350,000 and includes schools, medical facilities and business districts.

Foreign companies such as Japan's Hitachi and Dutch electronics giant Philips will provide green technology for the development, where buildings will be insulated and have double-glazed windows to increase energy efficiency.

Nearly two-thirds of household waste will be recycled and 20 percent of the city's power will come from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar -- with the rest coming from other sources such as highly polluting coal.

Treated sewage will be channelled into a lake which will supplement water supplies for local communities.

"Eco-cities are needed because China is facing a huge challenge of pollution," said Hiroaki Suzuki, a top specialist in the Finance, Economic and Urban Department of the World Bank, which is assisting on the project.

"China's serious pollution problems do not mean that it cannot develop an eco-city."

Top leaders in Beijing also hope the project will serve as a model for a long-term solution to the country's ballooning urban population, which is putting enormous pressure on already strained water and energy resources.

China is undergoing an unprecedented urbanisation process as hundreds of millions of people have headed to fast-growing metropolitan areas since the nation's economy embarked on a fast-paced growth track more than 30 years ago.

To handle the massive influx of people, China may need to invest up to 3.6 trillion dollars in urban infrastructure by 2020, state media said last month, citing a report by the state think-tank China Development Research Foundation.

Greenpeace supports the development of "eco-cities" as a way to handle urban overcrowding, which it says could prevent China from curbing its world-leading carbon emissions and meeting its ambitious energy targets.

"It's a really good idea because that is where change has to happen," Yang Ailun, climate and energy campaign manager for the environmental watchdog in China, told AFP.

But Yang cautioned it was very difficult for Beijing to develop truly low-carbon cities when there was no clear definition of the term and the country was still developing.

China has already broken ground on a separate ecologically friendly settlement that has yet to been finished.

In 2005, former British prime minister Tony Blair and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed the two countries could collaborate on building the world's first so-called "eco-city" Dongtan, near Shanghai.

The "city of the future" was meant to be showcased at this year's World Expo in Shanghai but the settlement remains in the planning stages.

Plans for dozens of other low-carbon "eco-cities" and towns are springing up around the country, as developers rush to cash in on the green movement and government authorities seek to attract foreign investors to their regions.

China recently carried out low-carbon technology pilot projects in five provinces and eight municipalities, with the aim of rolling them out nationwide, said the country's chief climate change official, Xie Zhenhua.

"We hope that through our concerted efforts, we can work out incentives and policy measures that support upgrading of technologies and changing people's consumption patterns," Xie told reporters this week.

Goh insists the Tianjin development will not be another Dongtan -- construction of the first stage is under way, with the first batch of apartments on sale and residents due to start moving in as early as next year.

"We are far from the Dongtan example -- we have got over the masterplan stage and are executing it now," he said.

When AFP visited the sprawling site, several buildings were under construction, some streets had been paved and marked, trees planted and wind-solar powered street lights erected.

But it is a long way from the miniaturised model on display in the exhibition hall, which shows hundreds of high-rise buildings surrounded by 1,500 hectares of parks and wetlands, broken up by crystal-clear waterways.

Read more!

Sabah adopts rare and valuable Slipper Orchid as official orchid

The Star 2 Oct 10;

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has adopted the rare and valuable Slipper Orchid (pic) as its official orchid.

Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman named the orchid when launching the five-day Borneo Orchid Show at the Suria Sabah mall here yesterday.

“I hope we will take this opportunity to learn more about this particular species of orchid, and strive to keep its habitat intact,” he said.

Commonly known as the Sumazau Orchid, the Slipper Orchid (Paphiodilum rothschildianum) has petals that resemble the hand gestures made in a Kadazandusun traditional dance.

Musa said it was appropriate for the Slipper Orchid to be named Sabah’s official orchid as it was picked as the most popular species in the Borneo Orchid Show in 2007.

He said more research was needed on the seemingly endless varieties of Sabah orchids, noting that the state was home to at least half the orchids found in Borneo.

“I believe there are many more species yet to be discovered and documented scientifically,” Musa added.

In this regard, he said, Sabah was fortunate to have dedicated individuals who were actively researching the state’s native orchids resulting in the discovery of new species.

The continuous collaboration between local orchid specialists with taxonomists, including those based in the United Kingdom and Singapore, is vital to educate the public on the natural treasure that exists here, said Musa.

The orchid show attracted some 20 participants from Sabah, Sarawak and the peninsula as well as Japan and Brunei exhibiting more than 500 plants in 62 classes of orchids.

Read more!

All wildlife permits, licences revoked for Wong and wife

The Star 3 Oct 10;

KUALA LUMPUR: All business licences and special permits awarded to convicted wildlife smuggler Anson Wong and his wife Cheah Bing Shee have been revoked.

The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry said in a statement that the minister decided to revoke the permits and licences on Sept 22.

It said new applications from Cheah for new wildlife permits would also be denied.

The ministry said the National Wildlife and Parks Department (Perhilitan) would be taking steps to confiscate all the animals still in the couple's possession.

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.

Read more!

Indonesian team flies to China with low expectations for REDD discussions

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 2 Oct 10;

Doubts on the fate of the Indonesian government’s main agenda for the REDD scheme linger ahead of the departure of the country’s negotiating team to a climate change meeting in China next week.

Head of the team, Rachmat Witoelar said the outcome on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, known as REDD, would depend on whether rich nations were ready to discuss their emissions cuts figures at the negotiation table.

“REDD could be one area of the negotiations that fails at this year’s talks,” Rachmat, who was President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s special envoy on climate change, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

However, Rachmat said, in the event of failure, existing REDD projects in Indonesia would go on.

Earlier, Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan also voiced his pessimism toward a REDD agreement being met this year, despite a string of international conferences.

It then led the ministry to boost bilateral agreements to pave the way for richer nations to invest in REDD pilot projects in Indonesia.

The Tianjin climate talks, due to be held from Oct. 4 to 9, will be the fourth and last preparatory meeting ahead of this year’s annual climate change summit in Cancun, Mexico. The previous three, held in Bonn, Germany, this year, were largely cited as failures.

In Tianjin, negotiators from more than 190 countries are slated to discuss long-deadlocked issues on adaptation, mitigation, technology transfer, financing, emissions cuts targets and the REDD scheme.

“Divergence mostly on emissions cuts will still transpire, but we hope positive progress can be made on specific issues affecting vulnerable peoples, such as adaptation and financing,” Rachmat said.

The richer nations that are bound to cut emissions under the Kyoto Protocol until 2012 wanted developing nations to also take part in binding emissions reductions, he said.

The developing and poor nations rejected the demand, arguing that rich countries that had started polluting earlier should bear a greater portion of the burden.

With regard to adaptation, Indonesia had pushed for the establishment of a committee that would manage the disbursement of adaptation funds, he said.

“We could also push for an agreement on financing issues, including to ask for the disbursement of US$30 billion that was pledged by rich nations at last year’s Copenhagen climate summit,” Rachmat said.

Indonesia is a member of the 11 forest-rich nations that have placed a priority on the finalization of a REDD agreement, for example in terminology and financing sources.

The deputy chief of the international negotiations working group at the National Council on Climate Change, Eka Melisa, said Indonesia would continue guarding the talks so that the REDD scheme could be agreed upon by the conference of parties (COP) this year.

“We hope the COP in Cancun will agree on the REDD scheme, at least on its definitions and financial mechanisms,” she told the Post.

She said the Tianjin meeting could still be a stepping stone toward the main target of the climate change talks. “Tianjin will be another trust-building effort for the big outcome,” she said.

Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) chief campaigner Teguh Surya said it would be no surprise if nothing came from the Tianjin talks. “From the start we have noted that the REDD scheme is not aimed at reducing emissions. It is only to shift the responsibility of reducing emissions,” he said.

Read more!

China, Greece, to set up centre to cut ship CO2 emissions

Yahoo News 2 Oct 10;

ATHENS (AFP) – China and Greece will set up a centre to look at ways of saving energy and cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the merchant navy, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Saturday.

Wen was speaking during a visit to the premises of the Chinese shipping giant Cosco at the Greek port of Piraeus, which lies next to Athens.

"To modernise Piraeus, we have to make efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions," Wen said, in comments issued in a statement.

Cosco, which won a concession to run two of the port's terminals in 2008, accounts for half of the port's commercial traffic.

Wen said he had agreed with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to set up a "research centre devoted to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the merchant navy."

Wen arrived in Athens on Saturday for a two-day visit and after talks with Papandreou signed two agreements on economic cooperation in the merchant navy.

Another 11 agreements were signed between Greek and Chinese companies, of which two will involve an expansion of Cosco's activities at Piraeus.

Of Piraeus, Wen added: "I am convinced that this transport centre is going to become a pearl of the Mediterranean and equally a communication bridge between China and Greece ... a modern port, a first-class port."

Greece and China agreed a year ago to reinforce their cooperation in maritime areas to help China gain greater access to European Union markets and to the Balkans via Piraeus.

"The number of containers due to pass through the port of Piraeus is going to rise this year to 800,000 containers and from now to 2015 this figure will reach 3.7 billion containers," said Wen.

"The merchant marine is an important sector of cooperation between the two countries because 60 percent of crude oil is imported in China on Greek boats and 50 percent of Chinese merchandise is transported on Greek boats," he added.

Greece has the largest merchant fleet in the world.

During a meeting last January in Japan, 20 countries and the European Union pledged to do more to tackle the problem of global warming caused by both maritime and air transport.

Neither is covered by the Kyoto Protocol on cutting greenhouse gas emissions and according to United Nations figures merchant shipping accounts for 4.5 percent of total emissions.

Read more!