HSC tracking project – trial
from isn't it a wonder, how life came to be
Weevils are not Evil!
from Macro Photography in Singapore
Long-tailed Parakeets eating tropical mistletoe fruits
from Bird Ecology Study Group
My Green Space: A flying 'tree doctor', rare tree rescue and more!
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!
Oil spill exercise near Cyrene
from wild shores of singapore
Banking on innovation for green shoots
from BBC NEWS blog by Richard Black
Wayne Chan Channel NewsAsia 29 Oct 10;
SINGAPORE: The oil spill in May from two ships that collided off Singapore's East Coast cost S$7 million to clean up.
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said the companies that own the ships will have to bear this cost.
Meanwhile the MPA led a multi-agency oil spill exercise on Friday to ensure Singapore's readiness in future.
Code-named JOSE 2010, it played out a scenario where an oil tanker spills oil that can fill more than two Olympic-sized pools. About half that amount was spilled in the May collision.
An aircraft was also on hand to show how it would spray chemicals for a clean-up.
The exercise also rehearsed a rescue of ship crew members trapped in a fire.
Over 150 personnel from 14 government agencies took part in the drill.
The exercise took place along Sinki Fairway, about eight kilometres southwest of Sentosa.
MPA's group director, Captain M Segar, said it is critical for Singapore to maintain operational readiness because of its strategic location and connection.
A person in charge of a vessel that causes an oil spill can be fined up to S$1 million or jailed for up to two years or both.
The MPA also reported a 20% drop in the number of ships caught for dumping waste from January to July this year, as compared with the same period last year.
The exercise was also observed by over 60 international participants of the Singapore International Bunkering Conference.
- CNA/ir
Oil spill exercise to 'ensure Singapore's readiness'
Wayne Chan Today Online 30 Oct 10;
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) led a multi-agency oil spill exercise on Friday to ensure Singapore's readiness in future, following a major clean-up of a spill off the East Coast in May as a result of a collision between two vessels.
The cost of the clean-up, which amounted to $7 million, will be borne by the owners of both vessels, the MPA said.
In Friday's exercise, code-named JOSE 2010, the scenario was that of an oil tanker which spilt oil to the extent of more than two Olympic-sized pools.
About half that amount was spilled in the May collision.
An aircraft was on hand to show how it would spray chemicals for a clean-up. The exercise also rehearsed a rescue of ship crew members trapped in a fire.
Over 150 personnel from 14 government agencies participated in the exercise along Sinki Fairway, about eight kilometres south-west of Sentosa.
Joint oil spill exercise conducted in Singapore
AsiaOne 29 Oct 10;
A multi-agency joint oil spill exercise was conducted on Friday to test and demonstrate Singapore's readiness to respond to oil spills at sea.
Code-named JOSE 2010, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) led the exercise at PSA Vista.
The aim of the exercise was to familiarise responding agencies on oil spill contingency plans.
Over 150 personnel from various agencies participated in the table-top and seaward exercise along Sinki Fairway, about 8 km south-west of Sentosa Island.
The scenario that was used in the exercise involved a collision between an oil tanker with 62,000 tons of crude oil and a cargo vessel.
The impact of the collision also caused a fire and some crew members were reported to be trapped.
MPA deployed aircraft fitted with aerial dispersant spraying system to combat the spill.
The spill response teams also demonstrated the deployment of equipment such as oil containment booms around the tanker to prevent further escape of oil.
The exercise was observed by over 60 international participants of the Singapore International Bunkering Conference.
MPA Leads Multi-Agency Team for Joint Oil Spill Exercise
SG Press Centre 29 Oct 10;
In an effort to test and demonstrate Singapore's readiness to respond effectively to oil spills at sea, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) led a multi-agency joint oil spill exercise (code-named JOSE 2010) on Friday, 29 October 2010.
Comprising a table-top exercise at Port Operations Control Centre 2 at PSA Vista and a demonstration on local oil spill response capability, the aim of JOSE 2010 was to familiarize responding agencies on the Oil Spill Contingency Plan (OSCP) for combating major oil spills at sea. Over 150 personnel from various agencies participated in the table top exercise and seaward exercise, located along Sinki Fairway, about 8 km south west of Sentosa Island. See Annex A.
"Singapore being the world's major hub port lies in a strategic location. It is well-connected to 600 ports in 120 countries. Hence, it is critical for Singapore to remain vigilant and maintain operational readiness at all times. This year's exercise demonstrates the close co-ordination of both aircraft and vessel based dispersant spraying systems in the busy waterways of the Port of Singapore. This further ensures an effective and swift response to oil spill incidents within Singapore port limit,” says Capt Segar, MPA’s Group Director (Hub Port).
JOSE 2010 involved a scenario whereby an oil tanker, loaded with 62,000 tonnes of Arabian Heavy crude oil was hit by a cargo vessel at Sinki Fairway. The vessel suffered damage to two cargo tanks and some 4,500 tonnes of oil was spilled. The impact of the collision also caused a fire near the Engine Control Room (ECR) and some crew members were reported to be trapped in the ECR. The cargo vessel suffered minor damage and proceeded to anchor at the Western Anchorage.
As a large quantity of oil was spilled and was spreading quickly, MPA deployed the aircraft fitted with aerial dispersant spraying system to combat the spill. The spill response teams also demonstrated the deployment of equipment such as oil containment booms around the stricken tanker to prevent further escape of the oil, and recovery of oil by specialized skimmers.
JOSE 2010 was yet another successful exercise which saw close cooperation among MPA, government agencies and industry partners. Refer to Annex B for the list of exercise participants. The exercise was observed by over 60 international participants of the Singapore International Bunkering Conference (SIBCON 2010), held from 27-29th October
ANNEX A: Exercise area
ANNEX B: EXERCISE PARTICIPANTS
EOC’s exercise participants are:
a. MPA
b. National Environment Agency
c. MINDEF (MJOC)/SAF
d. Singapore Police Force/PCG
e. Singapore Civil Defence
f. PUB, the National Water Agency
g. National Parks Board
h. Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA)
i. Housing and Development Board
j. Singapore Land Authority
k. Sentosa Development Corporation
l. JTC Corporation
m. Immigration and Checkpoints Authority
n. Building and Construction Authority
In attendance:
o. Shell Eastern Petroleum Pte Ltd (oil terminal)
p. Sinanju Tankers Pte Ltd
q. P&I Representatives
r. Oil Spills Contractors
Observers:
s. MOT
t. MHA
u. MICA
v. Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore
w. Tankstore Singapore
x. Oiltanking Singapore Pte Ltd
Related links
Channel NewsAsia 30 Oct 10;
SINGAPORE: A newly endorsed self-assessment tool for cities to measure biodiversity is Singapore's contribution to the biodiversity conservation movement, said Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan.
The Singapore Index on Cities' Biodiversity was developed by various experts in Singapore.
It was formally endorsed on Friday as a biodiversity measurement tool for cities, at the 10th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya.
Mr Mah, who is in Nagoya for the conference, said the index would help cities and local authorities measure the progress of their biodiversity conservation effort over time.
"Cities and governments around the world are well aware of the importance of biodiversity conservation and its impact on social and economic development," he said.
"Singapore is a good case study in illustrating how economic development and greenery and biodiversity conservation can be mutually reinforcing."
The Singapore Index uses a "report card" scoring system where cities can carry out their own assessment, allocate points for a diversity of 23 indicators, before coming up with an overall quantitative score.
The information can help cities make better decisions on how to prioritise their biodiversity conservation initiatives.
It would also evaluate cities' progress in reducing the rate of biodiversity loss.
Mr Mah said the index endorsement was an excellent closure to the International Year of Biodiversity 2010.
-CNA/wk
Singapore Index formally endorsed as a biodiversity measurement tool for cities
AsiaOne 30 Oct 10;
The first self-assessment tool for cities to measure biodiversity - the Singapore Index on Cities' Biodiversity - has formally been endorsed at the 10th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (COP10) in Nagoya yesterday.
Minister for National Development, Mr Mah Bow Tan, who is in Nagoya for the conference, noted that this is an excellent closure to the International Year of Biodiversity 2010.
He commented that the Singapore Index will be Singapore's contribution to the biodiversity conservation movement.
It will assist cities and local authorities to measure the progress of their biodiversity conservation efforts over time.
He said, "Cities and governments around the world are well aware of the importance of biodiversity conservation and its impact on social and economic development. Singapore is a good case study in illustrating how economic development and greenery and biodiversity conservation can be mutually reinforcing.
"We are a small city-state with limited land resources, but rich in flora and fauna. We are thankful for the support of the CBD Secretariat and the various experts in developing the Singapore Index. It is our contribution towards ongoing global efforts on biodiversity conservation."
The Singapore Index also has the potential to be used to measure the economic benefits of biodiversity.
For example, ecosystem services such as trees converting carbon dioxide to oxygen and tree canopies reducing ambient temperatures are not assigned any monetary value.
The Singapore Index collates quantitative data on such services and can facilitate economic valuation of biodiversity.
This will help cities better consider policies that impact biodiversity conservation.
The Singapore Index has been test bedded by over 30 cities around the world.
It uses a 'report card' scoring system where cities can carry out their own assessment, allocate points for a diversity of 23 indicators, and come up with an overall quantitative score.
The information can help cities make decisions on how to prioritise their biodiversity conservation initiatives and to evaluate their progress in reducing the rate of biodiversity loss.
Singapore has also offered to host a Cities and Biodiversity Forum for Mayors during the next World Cities Summit to be held in mid-2012, as a preparatory meeting to CBD COP-11 in India in October 2012.
At this Mayors Forum, cities can report on their progress in biodiversity conservation and the application of the Singapore Index.
The deliberations of the forum can then be reported to CBD COP-11.
New training programme on biodiversity conservation
To enhance understanding of the Singapore Index, the Centre for Urban Greenery and Ecology (CUGE), will be organising a new training and capacity building programme on urban biodiversity conservation in May 2011.
Targeted at officials from cities and local authorities, participants will also learn about Singapore's experience and efforts in urban biodiversity conservation.
Singapore Index formally endorsed as a biodiversity measurement tool for cities
NParks media release 30 Oct 10;
1. The first self-assessment tool for cities to measure biodiversity - the Singapore Index on Cities' Biodiversity - was formally endorsed at the 10th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (COP10) in Nagoya yesterday.
2. Minister for National Development, Mr Mah Bow Tan, who is in Nagoya for the conference, noted that this is an excellent closure to the International Year of Biodiversity 2010. He commented that the Singapore Index will be our contribution to the biodiversity conservation movement. It will assist cities and local authorities to measure the progress of their biodiversity conservation efforts over time.
3. He said, "Cities and governments around the world are well aware of the importance of biodiversity conservation and its impact on social and economic development. Singapore is a good case study in illustrating how economic development and greenery and biodiversity conservation can be mutually reinforcing. We are a small city-state with limited land resources, but rich in flora and fauna. We are thankful for the support of the CBD Secretariat and the various experts in developing the Singapore Index. It is our contribution towards ongoing global efforts on biodiversity conservation."
4. The Singapore Index also has the potential to be used to measure the economic benefits of biodiversity. For example, ecosystem services such as trees converting carbon dioxide to oxygen and tree canopies reducing ambient temperatures are not assigned any monetary value. The Singapore Index collates quantitative data on such services and can facilitate economic valuation of biodiversity. This will help cities better consider policies that impact biodiversity conservation.
5. The Singapore Index has been test bedded by over 30 cities around the world. It uses a 'report card' scoring system where cities can carry out their own assessment, allocate points for a diversity of 23 indicators, and come up with an overall quantitative score. The information can help cities make decisions on how to prioritise their biodiversity conservation initiatives and to evaluate their progress in reducing the rate of biodiversity loss.
6. Singapore has also offered to host a Cities and Biodiversity Forum for Mayors during the next World Cities Summit to be held in mid-2012, as a preparatory meeting to CBD COP-11 in India in October 2012. At this Mayors Forum, cities can report on their progress in biodiversity conservation and the application of the Singapore Index. The deliberations of the forum can then be reported to CBD COP-11.
New Training Programme on biodiversity conservation
7. To enhance understanding of the Singapore Index, the Centre for Urban Greenery and Ecology (CUGE), will be organising a new training and capacity building programme on urban biodiversity conservation in May 2011. Targeted at officials from cities and local authorities, participants will also learn about Singapore's experience and efforts in urban biodiversity conservation.
Singapore's celebrations during International Year of Biodiversity 2010
8. To support the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB2010) , the Singapore National Parks Board (NParks) has organised a series of events to raise public awareness of the rich biodiversity in Singapore. They include documentary screenings, a photo exhibition along Orchard Road, one of Singapore's busiest shopping streets, and tree planting activities. NParks also announced a series of conservation initiatives such as the establishment of the Sembcorp Forest of Giants and Singing Forest at Southern Ridges. (Please see Annex A for more information)
9. Year 2011 has been declared by United Nations as the International Year of Forests. NParks will be implementing a series of activities to raise awareness about the importance of trees and forests through guided tours, workshops and other programmes.
New book features over 1,600 Pacific reef critters; some are new species
Victoria Vaughan Straits Times 30 Oct 10;
CRITTER hunters have scoured the coral reefs of the Pacific to find and photograph species, many of them new, for an identification book launched in Singapore this week.
Dr Tan (above, left) with a crab specimen, and Mr Deloach pointing to a photo of the same species in his new book. PHOTO: JOSEPH NAIR
Americans Ned Deloach and Paul Humann have spent more than 20 years recording life in the oceans for their identification books, which are renowned among the diving community as a spotters' guide to what's beneath the waves.
Their latest 500-page book - Reef Creature Identification: Tropical Pacific - documents more than 1,600 animals from Thailand to Tahiti and took five years to compile.
Although about a third of the critters - from shrimps to crabs - are thought to be new species, the findings are merely 'scratching the surface' of what has yet to be discovered, said Mr Deloach, who was in Singapore for the book launch.
His sentiments were backed up by the recent Census of Marine Life, a 10-year global study that discovered more than 6,000 new species.
Seeking out the tiny creatures - many of them camouflaged to avoid becoming prey and some only half a centimetre long - was a lesson in patience for the authors.
Mr Deloach, 66, and his wife Anna, 56, along with Indonesian guides, would dive from 6pm to 11pm, five days a week for five months of the year. For each dive, they would spend nearly two hours underwater in one spot hoping to catch sight of the rare creatures.
Speaking at the book launch, Mr Deloach singled out a shell mimic shrimp as his favourite find. It was spotted in the Lembeh Strait near Sulawesi, Indonesia.
The Texan said: 'I was running out of air, but I saw one of the dive guides, Sarindah, waving his torch wildly... His eyes were as big as saucers in his mask and he was pointing at this tiny shell on the reef.
'I thought it was stupid but just to humour him, I took four shots.'
When they got to the surface, the photos revealed that it was more than just a shell. Only two such shrimps have been seen before and both had scientific papers written about them.
'This is the last great natural history on Earth. We are the first generation to be able to go down there - the tradition is to dredge to get species up - and see it with our eyes,' said Mr Deloach.
Although 75 per cent of the photos were taken by the authors, local underwater photographers Mathieu Meur, Indra Swari Wonowidjojo and Ivan Choong, as well as Wild Singapore blogger Ria Tan, contributed to the book.
'The underwater realm is largely undescribed. Taking images of new species or simply documenting the variety of species present in a specific location is a rewarding activity, as it helps further our knowledge of the underwater world,' said Mr Meur, 35, who works at engineering company Meinhardt Group.
The project bridged the gap between the artistic and the scientific, as many of the species in the photos were identified with the help of scientists at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
'Taxonomists don't work from photos but dead specimens. We wanted this book to bridge the science and the diving, as these guys don't get much chance to be out in the field,' said Mr Deloach, who e-mailed photos to 44 scientists around the world to help with the identification.
Live specimens, however, are still needed for the recording of new species.
NUS crab taxonomists Tan Swee Hee and Jose Christopher Mendoza were able to identify many of the elbow crabs in the photos for the book.
For Dr Tan, it was the first time he got to see photos of the creatures in living colour.
'The photos give us a sense of the colouration and allows us to give a more comprehensive description, although it may vary within the same species,' he said.
Echoing his sentiments, Mr Mendoza said: 'It's really amazing to see these things for the first time in living colour in their natural habitat. It's very informative for scientists specially, as we have seen them only in specimen bottles.'
Related links
Launch of Reef Creature Identification Tropical Pacific on wild shores of singapore.
Chisa Fujioka and David Fogarty Reuters AlertNet 29 Oct 10;
* New targets to conserve fisheries, reefs and forests
* Nagoya Protocol sets rules on sharing genetic resources
* Breakthrough boosts mood for Cancun climate talks
NAGOYA, Japan, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Nearly 200 nations agreed on Saturday to a sweeping plan to stem the loss of species by setting new 2020 targets to ensure greater protection of nature and enshrine the benefits it gives mankind.
Environment ministers from around the globe also agreed on rules for sharing the benefits from genetic resources from nature between governments and companies, a trade and intellectual property issue that could be worth billions of dollars in new funds for developing nations.
Agreement on parts of the deal has taken years of at times heated negotiations, and talks in the Japanese city of Nagoya were deadlocked until the early hours of Saturday after two weeks of talks.
Delegates agreed goals to protect oceans, forests and rivers as the world faces the worst extinction rate since the dinosaurs vanished 65 million years ago.
They also agreed to take steps to put a price on the value of benefits such as clean water from watersheds and coastal protection by mangroves by including such "natural capital" into national accounts.
Services provided by nature to economies were worth trillions of dollars a year, the head of the U.N. Environment Programme, Achim Steiner, said in a statement, adding businesses from banks to miners were key in halting rapid loss of ecosystems.
"These goals recognize and value the irreplaceable benefits that nature provides to people in the form of food, fuel, fiber, fodder and freshwater that everyone depends on," Andrew Deutz, director of international government relations for U.S.-based The Nature Conservancy, told Reuters.
Delegates and greens said the outcome would send a positive signal to troubled U.N. climate negotiations that have been become bogged down by a split between rich and poor nations over how to share the burden in curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
U.N. climate talks resume in Mexico in a month.
"TORTUOUS NEGOTIATIONS"
"We're delighted there's been a successful outcome to these long and tortuous negotiations and I think it shows that these multilateral negotiations can deliver a good result," said Peter Cochrane, head of Australia's delegation in Nagoya.
Delegates agreed to a 20-point strategic plan to protect fish stocks, fight the loss and degradation of natural habitats and to conserve larger land and marine areas.
They also set a broader 2020 "mission" to take urgent action to halt the loss of biodiversity.
Nations agreed to protect 17 percent of land and inland waters and 10 percent of coastal and marine areas by 2020. Currently, 13 percent of land and 1 percent of oceans are protected for conservation.
The third part of the deal, the Nagoya Protocol on genetic resources, has taken nearly 20 years to agree and sets rules governing how nations manage and share benefits derived from forests and seas to create new drugs, crops or cosmetics.
The protocol could unlock billions of dollars for developing countries, where much of the world's natural riches remain.
"The protocol is really, really a victory," Brazil's Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira told reporters.
It will also mean changes for businesses.
"This isn't a boring protocol. It will regulate billions of dollars for the pharmaceutical industry," said Tove Ryding, policy adviser for biodiversity and climate change for Greenpeace.
Karl Falkenberg, head of the European Commission's environment department, said it would also fight poverty.
"We finally have something that is going to give great results for the environment, for the poor people," who will be able to earn money in exchange for access to genetic materials, he said after the talks ended.
Delegates and greens had feared the ill-feeling that pervaded climate negotiations after last December's acrimonious meeting in Copenhagen would derail the talks in Nagoya.
"There's been a mood of change. I think the failure of the Copenhagen meeting last year perhaps has meant a new realisation that we need to more flexible in negotiations," said Jane Smart, director of conservation policy for the International Union for Conservation of Nature. (Editing by Jon Boyle)
FACTBOX-World agrees how to share nature's riches
Reuters AlertNet 30 Oct 10;
Oct 30 (Reuters) - After some 20 years of talks, nearly 200 nations agreed on Saturday rules for sharing genetic resources, a step that could hand developing nations billions of dollars from drug, agri-resources and cosmetics firms.
The access and benefit-sharing pact aims to give nations much better control over resources, from trees to fungi and from fish to frogs, that can lead to cures for cancer or new crops more resistant to climate change.
Following are some details of the pact, called the Nagoya Protocol, which was a central focus of two weeks of U.N. talks in the Japanese city of Nagoya on saving nature. The talks ended on Saturday.
HISTORY
Fair sharing of genetic resources is a key goal of the Convention on Biological Diversity that went into force in 1993.
Voluntary measures were not adopted until 2002, and in 2006 a target was set: to agree on a legally binding treaty by 2010.
The issue is complex and controversial, and some pharmaceutical firms have said they fear it will be more expensive to develop new drugs and harder to get patents.
WHAT ARE GENETIC RESOURCES?
Under the Convention, genetic material refers to anything from plants, animals and microbes that can be inherited or passed on, while genetic resources means any genetic material of actual or potential value. Each nation has the sovereign right to own and manage its resources.
MAIN POINTS OF THE NEW PACT
-- Covers use of genetic material, such as research into and development of the genetic and/or biochemical composition of a genetic resource.
The new pact also defines the use of biotechnology, and the controversial area of derivatives, such as snake venom, tree sap and enzymes. Some countries feared this area would mean too much regulation of nature's resources, while developing nations saw it as a loophole that needed to be closed if, for example, a chemical derived from snake venom leads to a valuable new drug.
-- The final text sidesteps specific references to whether benefits from genetic resources will apply after the new protocol is ratified, or before the 1993 start of the Convention.
Some developing nations want to take into account benefits acquired historically, such as during colonial times or from new drugs derived from specimens collected years ago and now stored in university or museum vaults. Rich nations firmly opposed any treaty that would be retrospective.
-- It creates a global benefit-sharing mechanism for situations where benefits are derived "in transboundary situations or for which it is not possible to grant or obtain prior consent".
-- It says nations should take action to ensure the fair sharing of any benefits from genetic resources owned by indigenous groups.
-- It recognises the value of "traditional knowledge", so that local communities' knowledge of forests and their products will be rewarded.
-- It creates a clearing house to share data, and outlines the rules of compliance and dispute resolution as well as rules to monitor the use of genetic resources, such as the creation of designated check points.
National agencies, research institutions or other bodies could monitor use. (Writing by David Fogarty, editing by Tim Pearce)
FACTBOX-UN plan to protect animals, plants by 2020
Reuters AlertNet 29 Oct 10;
Oct 30 (Reuters) - A U.N. meeting agreed on Saturday new 2020 targets for combating the increasing extinction of animals and plants caused by threats such as pollution, climate change and forest clearance.
The United Nations says the world has failed to reach a goal, set in 2002, of a "significant reduction" in biological diversity losses by 2010. Some U.N. studies say the world is facing the worst losses since the dinosaurs vanished 65 million years ago.
Negotiators at the end of two-weeks of talks in the Japanese city of Nagoya agreed a formal 20-point plan to protect biodiversity by 2020.
Following are details of the draft plan:
OVERALL "MISSION"
Nations agreed on a 2020 deadline to take urgent action to halt the loss of biodiversity to ensure ecosystems are resilient and continue to provide essential services.
20-POINT PLAN:
* RAISE AWARENESS OF BIODIVERSITY BY 2020 AT THE LATEST
1) Make people aware of biodiversity and what they can do
2) By 2020 at the latest, ensure that the values of biodiversity are integrated into national accounts and local development plans
3) Eliminate, phase out or reform incentives, including subsidies, harmful to biodiversity
4) Ensure sustainable production and consumption
* CUT PRESSURES ON BIODIVERSITY BY 2020
5) The rate of loss and degradation of natural habitats, including forests, is at least halved or where feasible brought close to zero
6) Fish and invertebrate stocks are managed and harvested sustainably, with recovery plans in place for all depleted species
7) Manage agriculture, aquaculture and forestry sustainably
8) Cut pollution to levels that do not damage nature
9) Control or eradicate invasive alien species
10) By 2015, minimise pressures on coral reefs and other ecosystems hit by climate change and ocean acidification
* SAFEGUARD ECOSYSTEMS BY 2020
11) Conserve 17 percent of land areas and 10 percent of coastal and marine areas
12) Prevent extinction and decline of known threatened species and improve their conservation status
13) Genetic diversity of cultivated plants, farm animals and non-domesticated wild relatives is maintained.
* RAISE BENEFITS TO ALL FROM BIODIVERSITY BY 2020
14) Safeguard and restore ecosystems vital for health, livelihoods and well-being
15) Make ecosystems more resilient -- including by restoring at least 15 percent of degraded ecosystems. This will help store carbon dioxide in plants and slow desertification
16) Ensure fair "access and benefit sharing" of genetic resources.
* IMPROVE PLANNING BY 2020
17) By 2015, all countries have adopted a "national biodiversity strategy and action plan"
18) Promote ways to tap traditional knowledge of indigenous and local communities relevant to protecting biodiversity
19) Improve and apply biodiversity knowledge, science and technologies
20) By 2020, financing should increase "substantially from current levels" to fully carry out the strategic plan. (Compiled by Alister Doyle in Oslo and David Fogarty in Nagoya; Editing by Alison Williams)
Biodiversity talks end with call for 'urgent' action
Richard Black BBC News 29 Oct 10;
The UN biodiversity meeting in Japan has agreed a 10-year plan aimed at preserving nature.
Targets for protecting areas of land and sea were weaker than conservation scientists wanted, as was the overall target for slowing biodiversity loss.
Most developing countries were pleased with measures aimed at ensuring they get a share in profits from products made from plants and other organisms.
Nations have two years to draw up plans for funding the plan.
"This agreement reaffirms the fundamental need to conserve nature as the very foundation of our economy and our society," said Jim Leape, director-general of WWF International.
"Governments have sent a strong message that protecting the health of the planet has a place in international politics, and countries are ready to join forces to save life on Earth."
The meeting settled on targets of protecting 17% of the world's land surface, and 10% of the oceans, by 2020.
These are regarded as too small by many conservation scientists, who point out that about 13% of the land is already protected - while the existing target for oceans is already 10%.
Many poorer countries say they do not have the resources to implement such targets.
"The forest and the other biological resources we have serve the general interests of the global environment," said Johansen Voker from Liberia's Environmental Protection Agency.
"So we expect assistance to be able to effectively conserve our environment for the common good of the world community."
Developed nations agreed to establish mechanisms for raising finance to help them - which could amount to hundreds of billions of dollars per year by 2020.
They are required to have a plan to raise such sums in place by 2012, when Brazil will host the second Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
The sums might appear astronomical - particularly when you recall that governments are already committed to raising $100bn (£125bn) per year for climate change by 2020 - but French Ecology Minister Chantal Jouanno said it was not impossible.
"If you think that to solve the problem of biodiversity only public funds can be sufficient, it's just a dream, because the amounts necessary are so huge," she told BBC News.
"It needs to be private funds too - and not only voluntary private funds but... binding funds [from business].
"You are making profits from the use of biodiversity; so it's logical and it's legitimate that those profits return to biodiversity."
The trickiest issue - the agreement on sharing profits from the development of products drawing on genetic resources in developing countries, known as Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) - was resolved after developed nations, led by the EU, made some crucial concessions.
In particular, they agreed that the measures should cover anything made from this genetic material, technically known as "derivatives".
They had previouslty argued for a much narrower scope.
'More work needed'
Conservation groups warned that the agreement as it stands does not guarantee the erosion of species and ecosystems will be stopped.
"Participants may be leaving Nagoya, but they still need to be working to save life on this planet from Monday morning," said Jane Smart, head of the species programme at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
"We need to harness the energy of this meeting, where we've seen huge and significant commitments in terms of reinvigorated political will as well as real money from the likes of Japan, and in terms of pledges to increase protected areas from the likes of Guinea Bissau."
Japan looks set to emerge with credit, having steered the tough negotiations through its final hours.
"What the Japanese government really wants to do here is to get agreement so they can be proud of the Nagoya CBD," said Wakao Hanaoka, oceans campaigner with Greenpeace Japan.
"What is really needed, since the Japanese government has just started its role of chairing the CBC until 2012, is to keep doing what they have promised to international society."
This meant, he suggested, taking effective conservation in the marine environment - including backing cuts in fisheries for threatened but lucrative fish such as bluefin tuna.
Biodiversity talks: Ministers in Nagoya adopt new strategy
Chair of the UN biodiversity talks gavelled into effect a set of targets for 2020 to at least halve the loss of natural habitats
Jonathan Watts guardian.co.uk 29 Oct 10;
Environment ministers from almost 200 nations agreed late tonight to adopt a new United Nations strategy that aims to stem the worst loss of life on earth since the demise of the dinosaurs.
With a typhoon looming outside and cheering inside the Nagoya conference hall, the Japanese chair of the UN biodiversity talks gavelled into effect the Aichi Targets, set to at least halve the loss of natural habitats and expand nature reserves to 17% of the world's land area by 2020 up from less than 10% today.
Fish and other aquatic life should be provided with greater refuge, under the Aichi Targets — as the plan is named, after the region around Nagoya — which including a widening of marine protected zones to 10 per cent of the world's seas, an increase from barely 1 per cent today.
Frantic late-night negotiations also saw the UN's COP10 biodiversity conference adopt a new treaty, the Nagoya Protocol, to manage the world's genetic resources and share the multibillion-dollar benefits with developing nations and indigenous communities.
Despite concerns that targets are inadequately funded and not sufficiently ambitiousto reverse the decline of habitats and species, most organisers, delegates and NGOs expressed there was relief that negotiations had avoided the friction and fracture of last year's climate talks in Copenhagen. "This is a day to celebrate in terms of a new and innovative response to the alarming loss of biodiversity and ecosystems," said Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme.
"It is an important moment for the United Nations and the ability of countries to put aside the narrow differences that all too often divide in favour of the broader, shared issues that can united peoples and nations."
Under the Aichi Targets, all signatories to the UN Convention on Biodiversity,are supposed to draw up national biodiversity plans. Together, their voluntary actions are supposed to halt over-fishing, control invasive species, reduce pollution minimise the pressure on coral reefs from ocean acidification, and halt the loss of genetic diversity in agricultural ecosystems.
Perhaps the most remarkable breakthrough, was the adoption of the Nagoya Protocol which lays down ground rules on how nations should cooperate in accessing and sharing the benefits of genetic resources — including plants, fungi and pathogens.
Governments have been discussing this subject for 18 years, but it has been held up until now because it ran across issues of trade, health, traditional medicine and science and pitted multinational pharmaceutical companies against indigenous communities.
Tthe Nagoya Protocol, will see governments considering ways to provide recompense for genetic material and traditional medical knowledge collected in the past that is now being used, patented and sold. This is likely to be done through a special fund for developing nations that could be used for conservation or scientific research centres.
The protocol will come into effect in 2020 and needs to be ratified by signatory nations. Several delegates, including those from Cuba, Bolivia and Venezuela, expressed unease that the protocol inadequately safeguarded the benefits due to developing nations, but said they would not stand in the way of a consensus.
Another area of frustration was financing. The conference did not specify how much money would be provided to achieve its goals to save habitats and species. Instead governments agreed to draw up a funding plan, with sums, baselines and other details, by 2012.
The host country, Japan, has pledged $2bn this week for biodiversity while the UK and France have earmarked smaller sums for related projects. However, most developed countries were unable to pledge major funding. Conservation groups said it was vital that significant extra finance was put in place to halt the demise of nature.
"We were disappointed that most rich countries came to Nagoya with empty pockets — unable or unwilling to provide the resources that will make it possible for the developing world to implement their ambitious targets." said Jim Leape, director general of WWF International.
But Leape welcomed the overall deal. "This agreement reaffirms the fundamental need to conserve nature as the very foundation of our economy and our society. Governments have sent a strong message that protecting the health of the planet has a place in international politics and countries are ready to join forces to save life on Earth."
Other groups emphasized that implementation was the key. "Participants may be leaving Nagoya this Friday but they still need to be working to save life on this planet from Monday morning," said IUCN's Director of Conservation Policy, Jane Smart. "There is a momentum here which we cannot afford to lose — in fact we have to build on it if we stand any chance of success in halting the extinction crisis." In earlier reports the IUCN noted that a fifth of the world's vertebrates are under threat and the die-off of all species is at a level not seen in 65 million years.
Goodwill and compromise: Nagoya biodiversity deal restores faith in UN
After the failure of the Copenhagen climate talks, a successful agreement to protect biodiversity has provided a timely morale booster
Jonathan Watts guardian.co.uk 29 Oct 10;
In the long run, the biodiversity deal scratched out in Nagoya in the early hours of this morning is intended to benefit habitats and species such as tigers, pandas and whales. But in the short-term, the biggest beast to get a reprieve may well prove to be the UN itself.
After the misery, disappointment and anger of last year's climate talks in Copenhagen, the body was fiercely criticised and the entire multilateral negotiating process called into question. It seemed time-consuming, prone to grandstanding and dominated by selfish national interests rather than pressing global concerns.
At the start of this week, the talks in Nagoya looked likely to become another chapter in the same sorry story. But since then, there has been an impressive – and ultimately successful – willingness to work.
Square brackets (which denote areas of disagreement) have been steadily whittled away from the negotiating texts. Pragmatism has been more evident than ideology. Delegates actually seemed willing to listen to the advice of scientists warning of the perils of inaction.
Some key goals have been set, including a plan to expand nature reserves to 17% of the world's land and 10% of the planet's waters. For a scarred veteran of the Copenhagen or Tianjin climate talks, the extent of the progress, goodwill and readiness to compromise during these past few days has been pleasantly shocking. Right up to the final hour, there have been moments when the talks appeared on the verge of collapse. But negotiators have been flexible enough to skirt around the danger zone.
This is no accident. Ahead of this event – and not wanting to repeat the breakdown of last year's talks - the EU negotiating team was given a wider mandate. The same may be true of other nations.
That alone cannot explain why the results of Nagoya and Copenhagen were so different. Other factors include the smaller scale of this event and the expectations for it. There was less superpower pride and influence at stake: the United States is not a signatory and China has been relatively low-key. Brazil and the EU have bent over backwards to secure a deal. China and India have shown a willingness to compromise. Even Bolivia and Cuba complained but did not block.
The Japanese hosts also deserve a great deal of credit for the smooth organisation, though at times they have been almost comically hospitable in breaking up finelypoised negotiating sessions for food, drink and music receptions.
But the most important difference may be in implementation. One of the reasons why climate negotiations are so tetchy is because rival nations want stringent checks in place to make sure everyone complies and on course to realise their goals to reduce carbon emissions.
That is sadly not true for biodiversity targets, which tend to be vaguely worded and voluntary. Nature cannot complain if it gets cheated. This is a major reason why the last set of UN biodiversity goals were nowhere near being realised.
The drafters of the new Nagoya protocol say such lessons have been learned so a tighter road-map will be put in place that ties funds to progress, mobilises private finance as well as public funds and sees nature in terms of benefits to be shared rather.
One of the great achievements of this conference has been to highlight the fact that biodiversity is not just about saving a few cute animals, but about preventing risks to entire ecosystems, economies and ultimately human life. As a result, bird-lovers and tree-huggers have started to find common cause with insurers and investors.
In the conference centre last night, the mood was one of relief more than euphoria. But many expressed hope that this deal may provide momentum for the climate talks at Cancún next month. That seems optimistic.
It is too early too say whether Nagoya marks a turning point for UN multilateralism, let alone life on Earth. But for both, it is at least a much-needed morale booster.
UN seals historic treaty to protect ecosystems
Karl Malakunas Yahoo News 30 Oct 10;
NAGOYA, Japan (AFP) – A historic global treaty to protect the world's forests, coral reefs and other threatened ecosystems within 10 years was sealed at a UN summit on Saturday.
Rich and poor nations agreed to take "effective and urgent" action to curb the destruction of nature in an effort to halt the loss of the world's biodiversity on which human survival depends.
Delegates from 193 countries committed to key goals such as curbing pollution, protecting forests and coral reefs, setting aside areas of land and water for conservation, and managing fisheries sustainably.
"This is a day to celebrate," UN Environment Programme chief Achim Steiner said straight after the accord was struck early on Saturday morning following nearly two weeks of tense talks in the central Japanese city of Nagoya.
Hosts Japan hailed the agreement, Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara saying: "From now on, our country will contribute to the protection of biodiversity and positively support developing countries' efforts to implement the Nagoya protocol, with technologies and knowledge our country has."
Delegates and green groups also said the accord offered hope that the United Nations could help to solve the planet's many environmental problems, particularly after the failure of climate change talks in Copenhagen last year.
One of the most significant elements of the accord was a commitment to protect 17 percent of land and 10 percent of oceans so that biodiversity there could thrive.
Currently only 13 percent of land and one percent of oceans are protected.
Nevertheless, Greenpeace expressed disappointment at the new targets, which delegates said were lowered on the insistence of China and some other developing countries.
There were other limitations to the Nagoya pact -- including that the United States was not a signatory as it is one of the few countries not to have ratified the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
But while some green groups said the 20-point plan was not as ambitious as hoped, most still welcomed it as a historic step towards united global action in tackling biodiversity problems and raising awareness about the issue.
"Governments have sent a strong message that protecting the health of the planet has a place in international politics and countries are ready to join forces to save life on Earth," WWF International director general Jim Leape said.
Greenpeace International stood out among the major environment groups with a critical stance.
Greenpeace had been pushing for 20 percent of oceans to be conserved, as a step towards an eventual target of 40-percent preservation.
"Alarm bells have been ringing for decades, and developed nations have been hitting the snooze button by delaying both action on and funding for environmental protection," Greenpeace said in a statement.
The accord was clinched after a last-minute breakthrough on an 18-year stand-off over "fairly" sharing the benefits and knowledge of genetic resource riches that are found mostly in developing countries.
Brazil, home to much of the Amazon basin and its global treasure trove of resources, had insisted throughout the summit that it would not agree to the 20-point strategic plan unless there was also a deal on genetic riches.
Brazil and other developing countries argued powerful nations and companies should not be allowed to freely take genetic resources such as wild plants to make medicines, cosmetics and other products for huge profits.
They had been battling developed countries -- where most of the drug and other companies that enjoy the benefits of genetic resources are based -- over the issue since the CBD was formed at the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992.
The European Union led developed nations in finally agreeing to the so-called Access and Benefits Sharing Protocol to ensure success on the 20-point strategic plan.
The legally binding protocol will ensure countries with genetic resources enjoy some of the profits of the assets' commercial development.
However many details of the protocol, such as how much this may cost pharmaceutical companies and developed nations, were left for later negotiations.
UN chiefs told the opening of the summit that forging a global consensus on protecting nature was vital to stop the mass extinction of animals and plant species.
Nearly a quarter of mammals, one-third of amphibians and more than a fifth of plant species now face the threat of extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Pressure will only grow with the world's human population expected to rise from 6.8 billion to nine billion by 2050.
UN nature meeting agrees on land, ocean protection
Malcolm Foster, Associated Press Yahoo News 29 Oct 10;
TOKYO – Representatives to a U.N. conference on biodiversity agreed early Saturday to expand protected areas on land and at sea in the hopes of slowing the rate of extinction of the world's animals and plants and preventing further damage to its ecosystems.
After marathon negotiations that stretched hours past the designated time, delegates also managed to overcome divisions between rich and poor countries to agree to share access to and the benefits of genetic resources such as plants whose extracts have been developed into medicines — a key sticking point that had threatened to doom the entire two-week meeting in Nagoya, southwest of Tokyo.
Scientists estimate that the Earth is losing species 100 to 1,000 times the historical average, pushing the planet toward the greatest extinction age since the dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago. They warn that unless action is taken to prevent biodiversity loss, extinctions will spike and the intricately interconnected natural world could collapse with devastating consequences, from plunging fish stocks to less access to clean water.
Delegates from 193 countries at the U.N. Convention on Biodiversity agreed to protect 17 percent of the world's land areas and 10 percent of oceans by 2020. Those gains will be difficult to ensure, however, since there is no way to enforce these agreements, and many poor nations lack the funds to manage reserves properly.
Currently, 13 percent of the world's land areas and less than 1 percent of marine areas are protected — which can range from natural parks or marine sanctuaries to areas where there is sustainable fishing or land use.
The series of agreements — which each required a consensus — squeaked through after hours of debate, relieving many delegates who feared the conference would suffer the kind of collapse that befell U.N. climate talks last year. Participants stood and cheered when it was announced that agreements had been reached in all areas, attendees said.
"We are very glad for this, very happy with the outcome," said Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Brazil's Secretary for Biodiversity and Forests. "We had some doubts, but in the end we were confident we would get results."
Some developing countries balked at how to pay for larger protected areas, and delegates agreed to set up a fund from developed nations and other donors by the convention's next meeting in India in 2012, Dias said.
Eager to make the meeting a success, host Japan on Thursday offered $2 billion to help developing nations reach the goals set by the conference.
Environmental groups welcomed the agreement, but said many of the targets were not bold enough.
"At a certain point in the evening, it looked like it was all going to fall apart, so this is good news," said Nathalie Rey, an oceans policy adviser with Greenpeace International. "I would've liked to have seen more ambitious targets, especially on protected areas."
Japan proposed a compromise text Friday to break a logjam in the prickly area of sharing genetic resources, called access and benefits-sharing, or ABS, in U.N. parlance.
Developing nations and indigenous peoples argue they haven't benefited from the bounty of their resources, such as native plants, that have been developed into drugs by wealthy Western pharmaceutical companies. But in the end, delegates reached an agreement to set up a system that seeks to share these profits and benefits more equitably.
Some 193 governments have joined the biodiversity convention. Only three have not: the United States, Andorra and the Holy See.
Nagoya meeting site: http://www.cbd.int/cop10/
Convention on Biological Diversity site: http://www.cbd.int/
Historic New Treaty Lays Out Ground Rules for Sharing Benefits of World's Wealth of Genetic Resources
UNEP 30 Oct 10;
Governments Also Agree Strategic 10 Year-Plan with Targets and Timetables to Combat Loss of Planet's Nature-Based Resources
Nagoya, 29 October 2010-After close to 20 years of discussion and debate, governments from across the globe today agreed to a new treaty to manage the world's economically-central genetic resources in a far fairer and more systematic way.
The approval, to establish an International Regime on Access and Benefit Sharing of Genetic Resources (ABS), came on the last day of the convention on biological diversity meeting taking place in Nagoya, Japan.
The treaty, a Protocol to the main convention, lays down basic ground rules on how nations cooperate in obtaining genetic resources from animals to plants and fungi.
It also outlines how the benefits, arising for example when a plant's genetics are turned into a commercial product such as a pharmaceutical, are shared with the countries and communities who have conserved and managed that resource often for millennia.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) which administers the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), said: "This is a day to celebrate in terms of a new and innovative response to the alarming loss of biodiversity and ecosystems. And a day to celebrate in terms of opportunities for lives and livelihoods in terms of overcoming poverty and delivering sustainable development".
"It is also an important moment for the United Nations and the ability of countries to put aside the narrow differences that all too often divide in favour of the broader, shared issues that can unite peoples and nations. I would like to congratulate all governments concerned for bringing a fresh vision to the more intelligent management of life on Earth," he added.
The new Nagoya Protocol on ABS lays out rules on how derivatives—substances and compounds derived from genetic resources- will be dealt with under an ABS regime.
It also addresses the issue of traditional knowledge and pathogens—for example how developed countries may in emergency situations obtain a flu virus in order to develop a vaccine to counter a possible epidemic.
The Protocol also says governments should begin considering ways of recompensing developing countries for genetic material that may have been collected years, decades even centuries ago- if in future they become used to produce say a new pharmaceutical or crop variety.
One option may be to put a proportion of any profits arising into a special fund to be used by developing countries in order, for example, to build conservation or scientific capacity.
Strategic Plan
Governments also adopted a new strategic plan including targets for addressing biodiversity loss to be met b y 2020.
For example, governments agreed to increase the extent of land-based protected areas and national parks to 17 per cent of the Earth's surface up from around 12.5 per cent now, and to extend marine protected areas to 10 per cent, up from under one per cent currently.
Other elements of the extensive plan include, by 2020, lifting the extinction risk from known threatened species.
The meeting agreed to study resource mobilization for assisting developing countries to meet the new targets in the plan based on a methodology that relates support to needs and gaps.
Other decisions included taking a 'precautionary approach' in terms of emerging areas such as geo-engineering in order to combat climate change and the development of synthetic biofuels.
Mr. Steiner said the two-week meeting, building on 10 months of the UN's International Year of Biodiversity, had also delivered a sea change in the global understanding of the multi-trillion dollar importance of biodiversity and forests, freshwaters and other ecosystems to the global economy and to national economies, and in particular for the "GDP of the poor".
The case has been built via The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), an initiative hosted by UNEP, requested by G8 environment ministers as well as developing country ones and supported by governments including Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom.
In Nagoya the final, global TEEB report was launched as countries including Brazil and India announced they would be launching their own national TEEB studies.
A parallel and supporting partnership was also announced by the World Bank in collaboration with organizations including UNEP to 'green' national accounts in order to mainstream 'natural capital' within national economic and development plans.
The project is initially set to be implemented in between six and 10 countries including Colombia and Mexico.
"Conservation and the sustainable use of biodiversity need catalytic, strategic, serious and targeted investments from the public sector that reflects also the links between biodiversity and for example climate change. But ultimately the billions—if not hundreds of billions- required will only come when public policies and incentives are aligned with nature in a way that unleashes private sector investments".
"This perhaps is the ultimate litmus test with natural capital given equal standing with human and financial capital. Indeed history may show that this may be the real success and legacy of 2010 and of the Nagoya meeting," he added.
"Nagoya has certainly set new benchmarks upon which the nations of the world will be judged by their citizens. This time round these targets need to be an inspirational and drivers of fundamental change towards a sustainable, Green Economy for the many and not just the few," said Mr. Steiner.
"I would like to thank and congratulate Ryu Matsumoto, the Minister of Environment of Japan and his team, for their hospitality but above all their determination, leadership and skill in navigating nations to this positive and potentially transformational conclusion," he added.
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 29 Oct 10;
A year after the government’s vow to cut emissions, activists say they have yet to witness the government’s real actions to meet the target, while hundreds of mining firms are ready to dig forests.
The Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) and the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) warned of the rising demand for new permits for mining activities in protected forests in several provinces.
“When the Southeast Sulawesi administration proposes a conversion of 481,000 hectares of conservation areas into mining area, the central government allowed it to happen,” Jatam campaigner Hendrik Siregar said Thursday.
Data from Jatam showed that the 481,000 hectares of conservation and protected forests would be allotted to 253 mining companies in the province.
He said that the latest case was when the government approved the conversion of 14,000 hectares of Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park for commercial purposes in Gorontalo this year.
Jatam said that four mining companies had secured permits to operate in the national park.
Data compiled by Jatam showed that a number of permits had also been issued for mining activities to operate in national parks such as in Batang Gadis National Park in North Sumatra, Laiwangi Wanggameti National Park in East Nusa Tenggara, Tangkoko Dua Saudara National Park in North Sulawesi and Lalobata National Park in North Maluku.
The activists said the proposals were in addition to 153 companies, which had secured permits since the New Order. The companies have yet to operate but for various reasons. “In addition, thousands of permits on small-scale mining firms have been issued since the regional autonomy period,” he said.
The government has promised to cut 26 percent in emissions by 2020 with a national budget and an additional 15 percent with the support of foreign countries.
The commitment was made last year with half of the target to be reached by improving forest management and cutting forest fires.
Indonesia has also signed a US$1 billion climate change deal with Norway requiring Indonesia to reduce the forest-loss rate with a two-year moratorium on new permits to dig natural forests and peatland.
Forests have become central in international talks on climate change as forest-related emissions contributed about 20 percent of global emissions.
Walhi forest campaigner Deddy Ratih expressed doubt that the government would reach the 26 percent target, provided there was no breakthrough in forest management. “Allowing conversion of protected and conservation forests into the mining sector is a serious threat to the commitment to cut emissions,” he said.
He said without shifting to more sustainable forest management and less extractive and exploitative enterprises, Indonesia would likely fail.
Forest Minister Zulkifli Hasan denied that his office had issued permits to shift protected and conservation forests into mining activities.
Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 29 Oct 10;
Jakarta. Amid pressure from environmentalists to fast-track a planned moratorium on logging permits, a senior official says the government has not issued concessions for natural forests and peatlands since 2009.
Under an agreement signed by Indonesia and Norway in Oslo in May, Indonesia has vowed to stop issuing forestry permits for peatland and primary natural forests for two years.
That moratorium is set to take effect from Jan. 1, 2011.
In return, Norway will set up a $1 billion fund for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD-Plus) schemes, a UN-backed carbon trading mechanism, in Indonesian forests.
The money will be disbursed into three phases: $30 million for preparation, $170 million for transformation, including implementing the moratorium on permits, and $800 million for verification of emissions reduction.
The agreement is part of Indonesia’s commitment to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 26 percent by 2020, or by 41 percent with international aid.
“The moratorium is nothing new because the forestry minister has clearly stated he has never issued new permits” to open natural forests and peatlands, Agus Purnomo, a presidential adviser for climate change, told the Jakarta Globe on Friday.
“It also won’t require any new legal instrument, because if the minister wants to maintain the policy until the end of his term, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Agus said the forestry minister’s policy of not issuing logging permits for certain areas had been challenged by some special interest groups. “Lots of people want this policy, and the planned moratorium, to fall through, often by using legal arguments against the definition of natural forests,” he said.
“Ideally, we need a set of regulations and laws to define [terms], but that would take 10 years,” he added.
“Basically, what we’re doing right now is forestry reform, which means fixing forestry management in this country.”
Agus also said a national task force supervising REDD-Plus projects was preparing a Web site for monitoring forest destruction through satellite images, which is expected to go live in two weeks.
“One of our problems is that we don’t have accurate, unified data,” he said. “You can find four different maps from one institution. We’re trying to fix that because we need a unified source of trusted data.”
Kristen Gelineau And Tim Sullivan, Associated Press Yahoo News 29 Oct 10;
MENTAWAI ISLANDS, Indonesia – Costly warning systems installed across Asia since the deadly 2004 tsunami did nothing to save villagers on these remote Indonesian islands who saw homes and loved ones swept away by a giant wave this week.
Such systems can be effective for people living hours away from where a tsunami is forged but are often unable to help those most at risk. A 10-foot (3-meter) wave struck the Mentawai islands Monday just minutes after a massive earthquake offshore, killing more than 400 and destroying hundreds of homes in 20 villages.
There are questions about whether Indonesia's system was working properly, but even if it was, a tsunami generated by an earthquake so close to shore can reach land long before there's a chance to raise an effective warning, experts say.
Piatoro, a coconut farmer on the wave-battered island of Pagai Selatan, said he and his family ran toward higher ground when the water slammed into their home, but it was too late. The water snatched his feet from under him, and he was sucked under the waves, tumbling over and over. His wife was torn from him.
"I felt like I was boneless," Piatoro, 49, said Friday as he sat alone on a hospital mat, skin scraped from his calf and stitches on a foot wound. Like many Indonesians, he has only one name. It was not clear if his wife had survived.
Tsunami alerts were sounded by scientists within minutes of the earthquake, but some villages have no telephone lines, making it extremely difficult for a warning to get through in time.
Renato Solidum, the director of the state-run Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, said seaside communities needed to learn to read natural signs — such as earthquakes and unnaturally receding seas — and immediately move away from the coast even before alarms go off.
But reading those signs can be difficult.
Piatoro and his wife ran from their house twice on Monday, after the initial quake and the first aftershock. But the shaking did not seem bad enough to set off a tsunami and they went back inside.
Indonesia sits amid the Pacific "Ring of Fire," a cluster of fault lines prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity, putting many of its people simply too close to get much of a warning.
As a result, Indonesian authorities have created a system designed to sound an alarm within five minutes of an earthquake, and have tried to teach people to move quickly uphill.
"But obviously that's a tall order — that's not much time to react and it's not much time for the system to work out what's happened," said Chris Ryan, co-director of the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Center.
Scientists still insist the warning systems are necessary. The 2004 tsunami, which also was triggered by an earthquake off Indonesia, proved all too well that distance from a quake's epicenter offers little protection.
Half of the nearly 230,000 dead were on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, but powerful waves also moved at jetliner speeds across the Indian Ocean, slamming into coastal communities in countries thousands of miles away.
Beach resorts were destroyed in Thailand. A train was thrown from its rails in Sri Lanka. Entire villages were wiped out in India. Dozens of people were killed as far away as Tanzania.
The disaster pushed many countries to order advanced alert systems, most of which rely on electronic buoys to detect sudden changes in water levels. The network of systems has cost many millions of dollars — with the most complex buoys sold for $1 million each.
Further from Indonesia, other countries said the new warning systems worked well, and that their response to the Monday quake proved that.
"The system that is now in place for the whole Indian Ocean did work, and would have prevented widespread areas being surprised if it had been a more widespread tsunami," said Ryan, from the Australian warning center.
"Within 10 minutes of the earthquake, we had issued a bulletin ... warning that there was potential for a local tsunami," said Satheesh C. Shenoi, director of the Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services.
The system, though, is based on an often-inexact science.
Earlier this year, a magnitude 8.8-earthquake struck Chile, spawning warnings of a deadly wave heading across the Pacific. Scientists, working from reams of data and complex computer models, warned that "urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property," sending hundreds of thousands of people fleeing for high ground in Hawaii, Japan and elsewhere.
Instead, most waves were just a few feet high and — except off the Chilean coast — there was little reported damage.
___
Sullivan reported from New Delhi. Associated Press writers Oliver Teves in Manila, Nirmala George in New Delhi, Thanyarat Doksone in Bangkok and Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, contributed to this report.
ScienceDaily 29 Oct 10;
An international team of mycologists and ecologists studying Atlantic sea turtles at Cape Verde have discovered that the species is under threat from a fungal infection which targets eggs. The research, published in FEMS Microbiology Letters, reveals how the fungus Fusarium solani may have played a key role in the 30-year decline in turtle numbers.
"In the past 30 years we have witnessed an abrupt decline in the number of nesting beaches of sea turtles worldwide," said Drs. Javier Diéguez-Uribeondo and Adolfo Marco from Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas- CSIC Spain. "While many of the reasons for this are related to the human impact of the costal environment it has been suspected that the decline is also due to pathogenic microorganisms."
Fusarium solani is a complex fungal strain which represents over 45 phylogenetic and biological species. The fungus is distributed through soil and can cause serious plant diseases. The fungus is known to have infected at least 111 plant species spanning 87 genera and has also been shown to cause disease in other animals with immunodeficiency.
During embryonic development turtle eggs spend long periods covered by sand under conditions of high humidity and warm temperatures, which are known to favor the growth of soil-born fungi.
Dr Diéguez-Uribeondo's team focused their study on the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) population on Boavista Island, Cape Verde, off the West African coast. While Boavista Island represents one of the most important nesting regions for this species a high hatching failure rate is driving population numbers down.
The team sampled egg shells with early and severe symptoms of infection, as well as diseased embryos from sea turtle nests located in Ervatao, Joao Barrosa and Curral Velho beaches and discovered 25 isolates of F. solani associated with egg mass mortalities.
Although this fungal species has been previously described in association with different infections in animals, its relationship to hatching failure had not been investigated before this study.
The finding that strains of F. solani may act as a primary pathogen in loggerhead sea turtles represents an extremely high risk to the conservation of loggerhead sea turtles across the area.
However, the description of these particular fungal strains causing this infection may help in developing conservation programs based on artificial incubation and may aid the development of preventative methods in the field to reduce or totally erase the presence of F. solani in turtle nests.
"This work reveals that a strain of F. solani is responsible for the symptoms observed on turtle nesting beaches," concluded Dr Diéguez-Uribeondo. "This shows that the infection represents a serious risk for the survival of this endangered species, while also showing immunologists and conservationists where to focus their research."
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The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Wiley-Blackwell, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Journal Reference:
1. Jullie M. Sarmiento-RamÃrez, Elena Abella, MarÃa P. MartÃn, MarÃa T. TellerÃa, Luis F. López-Jurado, Adolfo Marco, Javier Diéguez-Uribeondo. Fusarium solani is responsible for mass mortalities in nests of loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta, in Boavista, Cape Verde. FEMS Microbiology Letters, 2010; 312 (2): 192 DOI: 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2010.02116.x
Neil Bowdler, BBC News 29 Oct 10;
Efforts to eradicate malaria in some countries may be counter-productive, an international team of researchers suggest.
In the Lancet, they suggest some countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, may be better pursuing a policy of controlling the disease.
They also criticise the World Health Organization (WHO) for not providing adequate direction.
But a WHO spokesman said beating malaria must remain the ultimate goal.
'Noble' goal
The Lancet looks at the feasibility of eradicating malaria from the map, in the same way smallpox was conquered.
As the report points out, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation set the world such a target in 2007, an aim which was then endorsed by the WHO's Director-General Margaret Chan.
The Lancet concludes such a goal, while noble, "could lead to dangerous swings in funding and political commitment, in malaria and elsewhere".
And the WHO is accused of failing "to rise to their responsibilities to give the malaria community essential direction".
The series of articles instead urges a pragmatic approach in which efforts and resources are concentrated on shrinking the global area where malaria still prevails.
It suggests some countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, may be better pursuing a policy of controlling the disease rather than one of eradication.
The report's authors include Professor Richard Feacham of University of California's Global Health Group and researchers from the Clinton Health Access Initiative.
Saving lives
In an editorial accompanying the series, the Lancet's editor-in-chief Dr Richard Horton and executive editor Dr Pamela Das, argue control may save more lives.
"If existing control efforts were indeed scaled up, by 2015, 1.14 million children's lives could be saved in sub-Saharan Africa alone. This finding is important. The quest for elimination must not distract existing good malaria control work," they write.
They also conclude that "malaria will only be truly eradicable when an effective vaccine is fully available".
Responding to the report in a statement, Robert Newman, director of the WHO's Global Malaria Programme, said the ultimate goal had to be eradication
"WHO has always supported - and will always continue to support - endemic countries in their efforts to control and eliminate malaria," he writes.
"It is entirely feasible to eliminate malaria from countries and regions where the intensity of transmission is low to moderate, and where health systems are strong.
"Eliminating malaria from countries where the intensity of transmission is high and stable, such as in tropical Africa, will require more potent tools and stronger health systems than are available today."
Shrinking map
Malaria is caused by five species of a parasite that can be carried from human to human by mosquitoes.
Over the last 150 years, the portion of the world where malaria is still endemic has shrunk, but the disease is still endemic in 99 countries.
However 32 of these countries, most of them on the edges of the endemic zone, are attempting to eradicate the disease, while the rest are trying to reduce infections and deaths though control measures.
But switching from a policy of controlling the disease to one of eradication brings with it problems and risks, according to the report.
The authors point out that malaria and mosquitoes do not respect national borders and that both parasite and insect may develop resistance to existing drugs.
They also warn switching funds from control to eradication may negatively impact upon measures which have been shown to reduce infection and mortality.
A spokeswoman for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said: "Malaria eradication is a long-term goal.
"We believe that the WHO will play an important role in helping countries decide when they are ready to undertake elimination and what conditions and capabilities need to be in place for them to do so.
"High-level, sustained control will be essential before elimination can be attempted, and premature efforts at elimination, before countries are ready, will be counterproductive."
Simon Akam PlanetArk 29 Oct 10;
Sierra Leone is closing its international shipping registry to foreign-owned fishing vessels in a move intended to reduce illegal catches in its seas and around the world, the fisheries minister said on Thursday.
Officials said the West African country -- notorious as a so-called "flag of convenience" with minimum enforcement of maritime regulations -- was the first such nation in the world to implement the measure.
"When these vessels fly our flag they go to the open ocean and there's nothing we can do about it," Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources Joseph Koroma told a news conference.
"We are saying enough is enough, the buck stops here."
The minister added that the ban on foreign-owned shipping would only apply to fishing craft. Other commercial vessels will still be able to register in the country.
Sierra Leone's devastating civil war came to an end eight years ago. Now between 40 and 50 foreign-owned fishing vessels are signed up with a registry in New Orleans that allows them to fly the country's green, white and blue flag.
Activists say these ships use the flag to disguise illegal activities and their identities, using banned fishing gear and operating inside an inshore fishing zone reserved for artisanal fishermen in Sierra Leone itself as well as much further afield.
REVENUE
Duncan Copeland, a campaigner from the Environmental Justice Foundation, said last year a Sierra Leonean-flagged ship was caught illegally fishing in the Cook Islands in the Pacific Ocean, thousands of miles from the country.
"Sierra Leone is now the first country operating one of these regulations to shut it down," Copeland said.
A survey by the Marine Resources Assessment Group estimated that "illegal, unreported and unregulated" (IUU) fishing costs Sierra Leone $29 million per year, in terms of lost revenue and other expenses.
Koroma said between 2005 and 2009 ship owners paid a total of just $46,000 for flag privileges. Due to a revenue sharing agreement with the registry in the United States, the government in Freetown received only around $10,000.
West Africa in general -- with minimal government capacity for enforcement and close to the world's largest fish market in Europe -- is a haven for so-called pirate fishing.
According to the Environmental Justice Foundation, the Eastern Central Atlantic has the highest level of IUU fishing in the world, 40 percent higher than reported catches. The value of this fish is put at anything up to $500 million.
Officials in Sierra Leone say that two new fast patrol boats funded by the World Bank will help them enforce the new regulations in local waters. However, the fisheries minister said dealing with illegal fishing under their flag further afield would remain beyond their capacity.
"For the illegal vessels on the high seas, I must confess for the moment we don't have the means," said Koroma.
(Editing by Mark John)
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