Best of our wild blogs: 5 Nov 10

Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker: Family outing
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Observing the Micromovements of Bugs
from Macro Photography in Singapore

Read more!

NParks launches four new DIY trail guides

Mustafa Channel NewsAsia 4 Nov 10;

SINGAPORE: The National Parks Board (NParks) has launched four new Do-It-Yourself (DIY) trail guides, in conjunction with Clean and Green Singapore (CGS) 2011.

Members of the public will get more opportunities to learn about trees and appreciate their importance in making Singapore a highly liveable city through these guides.

The guides are available for trails at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, Pulau Ubin, Changi and Fort Canning Park.

They will highlight the interesting features of trees along these trails. For example, the Baobab (Adansonia digitata) at Fort Canning Park has an interesting bottle-like trunk, akin to a tree being flipped "upside-down".

The more-than-100-year-old Penaga Laut (Calophyllum inophyllum) at Singapore Botanic Gardens is more than a tree - its trunk plays host to a rich diversity of ferns, climbers and wildlife.

For those who prefer to participate in guided tours, NParks is also organising more regular tree appreciation walks in various parks in Singapore.

Simon Longman, Director (Streetscape) at NParks explained that the DIY guides and tree appreciation walks are an extension of its ongoing initiatives to reach out to the public to create awareness and appreciation of trees in shaping our Garden City.

"Besides promoting interest and understanding of trees, we also hope to share the importance of these living organisms in our environment."

The guides are currently available for downloading on the NParks website www.nparks.gov.sg/eguides

NParks also announced the dedication of Heritage Trees to Mrs Margaret Lien, ExxonMobil, FCL Pte Ltd and Kikkoman, in appreciation of their contribution to the Garden City Fund.

Collectively, they have contributed about S$3 million to the Garden City efforts.

-CNA/ac


DIY trail-guides at parks
Hannah Koh Straits Times 4 Nov 10;

The trail-guides will be available at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, Pulau Ubin, Changi and Fort Canning Park and will highlight the interesting features of trees along these trails.

For those who prefer to join in guided tours, NParks is also organising more regular tree appreciation walks in various parks in Singapore. Conducted in parks like Fort Canning Park and Yishun Park by experienced guides, the walks aim to promote interest in trees among park visitors and help them appreciate these green landmarks of our Garden City.

NParks on Thursday also announced the dedication of Heritage Tree to donors including ExxonMobil, FCL Pte Ltd (Far East Organisation and Frasers Centrepoint), and Kikkoman as a gesture of appreciation for their assistance.

Collectively, they have contributed about S$3 million to the Garden City efforts with donations ranging from more than S$300,000 to S$1 million.

The Heritage Trees Scheme was set up with the support of HSBC, to conserve significant individual trees that are part of Singapore's green heritage. Some 178 trees in Singapore have been designated as Heritage Trees since August 2001.

Read more!

Global recognition for Singapore's Green Label

Environment Council adding 21 categories to current 45 covered
Victoria Vaughan Straits Times 5 Nov 10;

AN ECO label from the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) has become so sought-after here and around the world, that the non-profit organisation is expanding its scope and upgrading it.

SEC's Green Label, which certifies companies whose products - ranging from stationery to shaving foam - meet certain international eco-friendly standards, will have 21 more categories added to its current 45.

By September next year, it will include products such as refrigerators, air-conditioners and clothes dryers.

Each accreditation will also come with additional information, like water consumption, carbon footprint and pollutants generated during manufacture.

Companies from 13 countries, such as Germany, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia, have sought the Singapore Green Label for their products, with at least 18 more products accredited compared to last year.

All in, the council saw a jump in 80 more products certified compared to last year. The increase comes mainly from companies that produce panel boards, paints and coating and products made from at least 50 per cent recycled content such as glass and plastics.

SEC's chief executive, Mr Howard Shaw, said: 'There is an atmosphere of greater demand for third-party verification. Since environmental awareness has risen, everyone has tried to jump on the bandwagon.'

Since the Singapore Green Labelling Scheme began in 1992, 1,655 products from 526 companies here and overseas have obtained the stamp of approval.

It has become increasingly important for exporters such as South Korea and Taiwan to receive such certification as buyers in areas like the United States and Europe are demanding them.

Mr Shaw said Singapore's reputation for good governance is part of the reason the label is growing in popularity.

There are about 30 eco-labelling schemes globally.

SEC predicts it will accredit 2,500 or more products a year based on the current uptake.

The council will also increase its current charges, which range from $300 to $1,000, to a flat fee of $1,005 from Dec 1. The label needs to be renewed each year.

Other accreditation schemes, like those in Australia and South Korea, cost $3,000.

SEC hopes the additional information on the label will also help with calculating payments for a carbon tax or trading scheme if Singapore takes either route.

'Over time, I think consumers have become more discerning and they demand far more information. The new label will look more like a report card,' he added.

Read more!

Anson Wong slapped with five-year jail term for wildlife trafficking

The Star 5 Nov 10;

SHAH ALAM: Convicted wildlife smuggler Anson Wong has been slapped with a five-year jail term, after a High Court here allowed an appeal filed by the Attorney-General's Chambers for a heavier sentence against him.

The court also ordered for a fine of RM190,000, imposed on Wong in a previous judgement by a Sessions Court judge, to be returned to him.

Justice Mohtarudin Baki said in his judgement Thursday that the Sessions Court judge did not consider the large number of snakes in Wong's possession in his ruling.

"From the charge, it was stated that there were 95 boa constrictors.

"The judge did not emphasise on the number," he said.

Justice Mohtarudin said had the snakes escaped, the safety of the airport and flight would have been in jeapordy.

"It is apparent that the accused is greedy and only thought of himself. He did not care about other people.

"Let this punishment be a deterrent for the accused and would-be offenders out there," he said.

Wong’s sentence increased to five years
TRAFFIC 4 Nov 10;

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 4th November 2010—Wildlife smuggler Anson Wong, sentenced to six months in jail in September, has seen his prison term raised to five years by a Malaysian High Court.

The change followed an appeal by the Attorney-General's Chambers over the earlier sentence.

In his judgement, Justice Mohtarudin Baki of the Shah Alam High Court said that the Sessions Court judge, who initially sentenced Wong, had not taken into account the large number of snakes in Wong's possession in his ruling.

Had the snakes escaped, the safety of the airport staff and passengers would have been in jeopardy, Justice Mohtarudin Baki said.

He added that the accused was motivated by profit and was willing to smuggle with no concern for the safety of those around him and had no regard for the law. In reaching his decision, Justice Mohtarudin also took into account public interest in the case, noting that it should always prevail.

He then said the earlier sentence of six-months jail and RM190,000 (USD61,500) in fines was overruled before going on to announce the new, increased jail term to a packed courtroom.

In addition to the longer prison sentence, the court also ordered the RM190,000 fine imposed on Wong in the previous judgment be returned to him as this was his first offence in the country.

Wong’s defence counsel Datuk Seri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah immediately announced his intention to appeal the sentence.

“The message to wildlife smugglers in Malaysia is loud and clear: carry on as you are and you will be spending years of your life behind bars,” said TRAFFIC Southeast Asia senior programme officer Kanitha Krishnasamy.

TRAFFIC Southeast Asia Regional Director, William Schaedla also expressed optimism over the sentence.

“This is a great start. We hope Malaysia’s new ‘get-tough’ stance will continue with investigations and convictions of other large-scale wildlife smugglers still operating in the country.

“We also hope other nations in Southeast Asia take notice of today’s watershed ruling. For far too long, countries in this region have allowed their reputations to be tarnished and their natural treasures to be taken by thieves.

“This bold sentence shows they can address wildlife crime when the will is there.”

Prison term of wildlife smuggler raised to 5 years
Rita Jong New Straits Times 5 Nov 10;

SHAH ALAM: Businessman Anson Wong Keng Liang, who was initially supposed to serve six months in jail for illegally exporting boa constrictors, will now have to spend five years behind bars.

This came about when High Court judge Datuk Mohtarudin Baki on Thursday allowed the prosecution's appeal against Wong for a heavier sentence.

He said Wong's counsel, Datuk Seri Muhammad Shafee, had submitted that the offence was technical in nature and that Wong was a licensed trader.

"I disagree with the counsel's submission as exporting the snakes without a permit is equivalent to smuggling.

"The respondent (Wong) had himself admitted (during sentencing at the lower court) to the concern of profits and not to the animals' welfare," Mohtarudin said when allowing the prosecution's appeal against Wong's earlier sentence, which was delivered by the Sepang Sessions Court.

On Sept 6, Wong was sentenced to six months' jail and fined RM190,000 after he pleaded guilty to illegally exporting the endangered species without a permit at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang at 8.50pm on Aug 26.

The prosecution subsequently filed an appeal for a heavier sentence following an outcry from non-governmental organisations and the public.

Yesterday, Mohtarudin said the 95 boa constrictors were crammed into a small bag and that the Sessions judge had erred when he did not take into account the numbers of the boas involved.

"According to the facts of the case, there were also two venomous rhinoceros vipers found in Wong's bag. If the animals had escaped, the people at the airport would be in danger.

"For profit, you were willing to place other people's lives at stake. Hence, you must be taught a lesson and a strong message must be sent to the public," he said.

He added that in the haste to chase wealth, consideration must be given to people and animals. "Otherwise, we might as well be animals ourselves.

"It clearly shows you (Wong) did not respect the law.

"Therefore, I find the lower court judge had erred for not considering the severity of the case."

Mohtarudin allowed the appeal and set aside the earlier sentence.

He then ordered Wong to serve five years in jail from the date of his arrest on Aug 27.

He also ordered the RM190,000 fine, which Wong had paid, to be returned to him.

"Since this was your first offence and that you had pleaded guilty, I shall not impose a fine," he said.

Shafee applied for the court to provide grounds of judgment to enable him to file an appeal as Wong's earlier sentence of six months' jail will expire in January.

Deputy public prosecutor Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar appeared for the prosecution.

Wong, 52, an international wildlife trader, was in KLIA on transit from Penang to Jakarta when the snakes were found in his suitcase.

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

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

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

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

Read more!

Harry Potter fans, black magic decimating India's owls

Henry Foy Reuters 4 Nov 10;

NEW DELHI, Nov 4 (Reuters Life!) - Die-hard fans of the best-selling Harry Potter stories are seriously threatening India's owl population, as demands for the ultimate wizarding accessory increase, a wildlife group says. Potter's snow-white owl Hedwig, his trusty messenger throughout the book and film series, is being blamed by animal groups and politicians for fuelling the trade in Indian owls, as fans look to ape every aspect of their young wizard hero.

A report released this week in New Delhi by wildlife group TRAFFIC-India, which found that 15 of the country's 30 species were for sale in markets, also blames the demand for owl parts in ancient rituals for driving the illegal trade.

The report's author, Abrar Ahmed, said that his research was sparked when a friend asked him to procure an owl for her son's Harry Potter-themed birthday party. "Although Hedwig spends much of her time in a bird cage in Harry's room, real owls do not make good pets because they need room to fly and hunt for food," said Ahmed.

"Following Harry Potter, there seems to be a strange fascination even among the urban middle classes for presenting their children with owls," India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told the BBC at the launch of the report. Traditional practitioners in India, known locally as tantriks, also demand owl bones, feathers, claws and organs, as well as the bird's blood and tears, for ceremonial rituals, the report said. The heavily-coveted "ear-tufts" -- feathery extensions on the heads of larger owls -- are thought to grant the birds greater magical powers, and fetch a high price for the tribal communities that make a living from the trade. One ancient practice demands the mixing of ground ear-tufts with seeds and milk, before spraying the dried powder on a person's head in order to hypnotize them. (Editing by Kim Coghill) (del.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com, +91-783 865 0753)

Read more!

Tired of choking on growth, China launches green GDP

Reuters AlertNet 4 Nov 10;

BEIJING, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Growing fast but choking on smog is just not good enough for a new "green development" index that China launched on Thursday.

The index, which in part revives an earlier attempt to put a price on pollution, is a small example of how China is gradually changing its course after years of pursuing fast growth with little regard for the environment.

It ranks cities and provinces according to their performance in striking a balance between economic expansion and environmental protection.

In its first edition, it gave top marks to the capital city of Beijing and ranked the coal-rich mining province of Shanxi at the bottom.

The world's largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions, China has pledged to seek a greener growth model and to make big cuts in energy intensity. But getting gross domestic product-obsessed officials to fall in line remains a challenge.

Analysts have said that the government must place greater emphasis on people's welfare and the environment in assessing cadres, but such a system is hard to develop.

Li Xiaoxi, a professor with Beijing Normal University who led the design of the index, said it could serve as a tool for appraising officials in future, but added that it was just an academic exercise so far.

"We hope China's top decision-makers will find our book valuable and incorporate it into official documents," Li said.

The green development index, which was compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics and two universities, factors in 55 detailed indicators, from per capita CO2 emissions to the share of environmental spending in overall fiscal expenditure.

China's Environment Ministry and the statistics agency previously tried to develop a "green GDP" measure, but scuppered the project because of resistance from local governments.

In 2006, they reported that pollution had cost China 511.8 billion yuan, or 3 percent of GDP, in 2004. No further reports were published after that. (Reporting by Zhou Xin and Simon Rabinovitch; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Read more!

Climate and consumers biggest threats to future: UN

Yahoo News 4 Nov 10;

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) – The warming Earth and the globalization of the consumer society are becoming the biggest threats to future wealth and happiness, the United Nations said Thursday.

Rich countries "need to blaze the trail" on making economic growth less dependent on fossil fuels and helping poor nations get onto the path of sustainable development, said the annual Human Development Report.

Highlighting the failure of last year's Copenhagen climate summit, it called for international commitment at events such as new UN-sponsored climate talks in Cancun, Mexico next month "if we are to face up to what may be the most serious threat the world has ever faced."

The report -- "The Real Wealth of Nations" says that overall most of the world has become wealthier, healthier and better educated over the past 20 years that the study has been released.

But it added: "The main threat to maintaining progress in human development comes from the increasingly evident unsustainability of production and consumption patterns."

"Increased exposure to drought, floods and environmental stress is a major impediment to realizing people's aspirations," said the UN Development Programme study.

With the world population expected to hit nine billion by 2050 and incomes rising, pressure on energy and fuel sources will grow, the report said.

"Climate change may be the single factor that makes the future very different, impeding the continuing progress in human development that history would lead us to expect.

The report said one estimate that wheat prices could double would have "massive repercussions".

In a worst case scenario, by 2050 per capita consumption of cereals could fall by a fifth leaving 25 million additional children malnourished with South Asia the worst affected, it said.

With the international financial crisis still being felt, "the continuing reliance on fossil fuels is threatening irreparable damage to our environment and to the human development of future generations," said the report.

"These developments pose serious questions about the long run feasibility of the world's current production and consumption patterns."

Read more!

Mountains of trash removed from China's Three Gorges Dam

Yahoo News 4 Nov 10;

BEIJING (AFP) – Workers in central China have fished 3,800 tonnes of rubbish out of the Three Gorges Dam in just six days, state media said, as the trash threatened to jam up the massive structure.

The clean-up process, which began on October 26 when the water level in the dam's reservoir hit its maximum capacity, saw 100 people sent out in 15 boats daily, the China Daily quoted Wang Yafei, head of the operation, as saying.

Over six days, the workers in Hubei province pulled out more than 600 tonnes of trash a day -- or a total of 3,800 tonnes -- which consisted mainly of tree trunks, branches and straw, the report said.

Household garbage is also a problem, as more than 150 million people live upstream from the dam, and trash is sometimes dumped directly into the Yangtze river because nearby municipalities are unequipped for waste disposal.

China considers the 22-billion-dollar Three Gorges Dam a modern wonder. Since its completion in 2008, it has pumped out much-needed hydroelectricity, increased shipping on the Yangtze and helped reduce flooding.

The garbage was threatening the operation of the dam's 26 power generators, the report said.

"All of the salvaged garbage will be disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. There will be no disposal in rivers and nearby places," Wang was quoted as saying.

In August, heavy rains and floods in the area had washed a lot of rubbish into the Yangtze, China's longest waterway, causing concern as it created a pile-up threatening to jam the dam.

The garbage was so thick in parts of the river that people could walk on the surface, state media reported at the time.

Chen Lei, an official with the China Three Gorges Corporation, said in August up to 200,000 cubic metres (seven million cubic feet) of garbage -- the equivalent of 80 Olympic-sized pools -- is collected from the dam every year.

The corporation spends about 10 million yuan (1.5 million dollars) per year to clear floating waste, the newspaper said.

Critics charge the dam has caused ecological damage and increased landslides in the area. About 1.4 million people were displaced by the dam, the construction of which put several heritage sites deep underwater.

Read more!

Plastic debris 'killing Adriatic loggerhead turtles'

Mark Simpson BBC News 4 Nov 10;

One in three loggerhead turtles in the Adriatic Sea has plastic in its intestine, according to researchers studying the impact of debris on marine life.

The shallow waters of the Adriatic are important feeding grounds for the turtles as they develop into adults. But the sea-floor is one of the most polluted in Europe.

The team studied the bodies of dead sea turtles that had been stranded or accidentally caught by fishing vessels.

The impacts of debris on marine creatures are not entirely clear. But scientists have found that animals ranging from invertebrates to large mammals consume plastic waste and are concerned that it could damage their health.

For a turtle, just a few grams of debris can be fatal if it obstructs the gut.

The researchers from the University of Zagreb found that more than a third of the 54 turtles they examined had ingested marine debris of some kind including plastic bags, wrapping foils, ropes, polystyrene foam and fishing line.

One turtle had consumed 15 pieces of plastic, which almost filled its stomach.

Although the plastic weighted just 0.71g in total, they said it was enough to "probably cause the death of this individual".

Plastic can weaken the turtles by taking up space in the gut which would otherwise digest food.

Population pressure

The shallow coastal waters of the northern Adriatic are one of the most important feeding grounds for loggerhead turtles in the Mediterranean. Here they are able to progress to feeding on the sea floor at a young age.

The southern Adriatic is also important in their development into ocean-going animals.

"It is important to know more about the Adriatic Sea in order to help loggerhead turtles across the whole Mediterranean." says Romana Gracan, one of the researchers involved in the study.

"The water temperature here suits them and because it is shallow they have the opportunity to feed on benthic [sea-floor] animals."

The concentration of litter on the sea floor is among the highest along European coasts, after the northwestern Mediterranean and the Celtic Sea.

The waste comes from the dense population of four million people who live along the coast and are joined each summer by 18 million tourists.

The sea is small and largely cut off from the rest of the Mediterranean, only joined to the Ionian Sea by the 70km wide Strait of Otranto.

Conservation hope

Loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) are omnivorous feeders that feed at a variety of different depths.

Where the Mediterranean is too deep for the turtles to reach the sea floor, they feed on floating animals.

But in shallower coastal waters of the Adriatic they take the opportunity to feast on larger sea-floor animals. This brings them into contact with large amounts of debris.

The researchers say their study, published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, is the first to address the problems caused by solid debris in the Adriatic Sea.

Chemical pollution in the Adriatic has been studied for more than 30 years and is already central to marine conservation in the Mediterranean.

The researchers hope that, now they have shown that the turtles are particularly vulnerable to plastic debris, more will be done to reduce it.

"Loggerheads are opportunistic feeders which will eat almost anything that is in front of them and plastic stays around for a very long time in the sea," says Dr Gracan.

"In the future we must think more carefully what we put in the sea."

Read more!

Oceans – time to take out the garbage

Christine Williams Science Alert 5 Nov 10;
ECOS Magazine: Towards a Sustainable Future

When the Plastiki – a boat made of 12 500 plastic bottles – arrived in Sydney in July, it alerted Australians to the impact of refuse on our oceans and sea life. In a statement congratulating the Plastiki crew, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) noted that marine debris kills 100 000 turtles and other marine animals – dolphins, whales and seals – each year.

The UNEP statement also noted that if we collectively continue using the sea as a dustbin, ‘human beings will soon have turned the once beautiful and bountiful marine environment from a crucial life-support system into a lifeless one’.

Ms Kim McKay, from Momentum 2 and the Sydney Institute of Marine Science Foundation, says the issue of marine debris has been a driver in her life since 1989, when she co-founded Clean Up Australia – now a worldwide movement – with Ian Kiernan.1

‘The sad thing about the Plastiki voyage was that they didn’t see many fish. They only caught four fish during the entire voyage,’ she says.

Where does all the rubbish come from? Shipping is an obvious source. A UNEP report published in April 2009 cites a need for international agreements through national regulations for ‘reception facilities for ship-generated wastes (including damaged fishing gear and nets) [and] cooperative action within the fishing sector to prevent abandonment and discarding of old fishing gear’.2 A lot of rubbish also comes from unsustainable land-based waste disposal practices such as throwing away plastic water bottles.

Mr Doug Woodring, from Project Kaisei – a collaborative research initiative established to identify the scale of marine debris and its impact on the marine environment – says the project’s mission is to prevent the increase of marine debris, to collect it sustainably, and to enable its conversion into recyclable energy.3

The project’s current research is focused on the North Pacific, where one of five major gyres in the world spins a widening spiral of rubbish, estimated to be many thousands of square kilometres in size. Mr Woodring believes up to 80 per cent of ocean debris originates from land pollution.

‘Governments have an obligation to use better practices to prevent this pollution, for example, when land waste products pour into the sea from river mouths during rainstorms,’ he says. ‘A solution to the problem lies in enforcing national laws, so polluters are fined if they flout laws that reflect moral and societal responsibilities. The way the laws of the sea are written means there’s a focus on national boundaries and ocean-related business such as shipping lanes, industrial spills and fishing.’

Mr Woodring and his team – based in California and Hong Kong – are instead encouraging an international approach to tackling the problem of marine debris, with community engagement at the local level.

Plastic bags constitute a particular problem, as seals and other mammals can mistake them for jellyfish and consume them. Other plastics break down into small edible pieces, and the toxicology of their breakdown is little understood.

Having found plastic at depths of 200 metres during last year’s expedition, the Project Kaisei team tested for chemical toxicity on molluscs and other sea life. This year, the team sent a vessel to verify modelling of where debris collects within the gyre. This required tracking thousands of GPS-equipped buoys.

Mr Woodring hopes plastic marine debris might be harvested using ‘passive’ systems such as nets and booms, while ‘ghost nets’ might be recovered through a reward system encouraging fishers to bring back nets to shore for waste-to-energy programs, which already happens to a small extent in the United States and Korea.

According to a 2009 report on the impact of plastic debris on Australian marine wildlife, most records of impacts of plastic debris on wildlife relate to ‘entanglement rather than ingestion’.4 However, the report’s author acknowledges that ‘the rate of ingestion of plastic debris by marine wildlife is difficult to assess as ... [ingestion] may not be recorded where it is not considered as the primary cause of death’.

The report cites 77 species impacted by entanglement or ingestion of plastic debris since 1974. These include six species of marine turtle, 12 of cetacean, at least 34 species of seabirds, six of pinnipeds (seals), at least 10 of sharks and rays, and dugongs. The report called for a national database to be established on the impacts of plastics on marine wildlife.

Dr Jennifer Lavers, who currently works at CSIRO, has studied flesh-footed shearwaters on World Heritage-listed Lord Howe Island. She says seabirds ingest plastic after mistaking it for food. This has been linked to population declines, including the shearwaters on Lord Howe, where the number of breeding pairs has declined by more than 60 per cent since the late 1970s.

‘Chicks remain in the nest for 90 days, and it’s during this time that the parent birds ingest plastic, and then download it to their offspring,’ Dr Lavers says.

‘In a number of seabird species, chicks containing large plastic loads were found to be significantly lighter and in poorer body condition compared with chicks who were fed less plastic by their parent, so their chance of survival during the first crucial year at sea was likely to be a lot lower.

‘On Lord Howe, up to 90 per cent of flesh-footed shearwater chicks were found to have plastic in their stomachs. This plastic has resulted in ulcers, rupturing of the digestive tract, and contamination of the bloodstream with toxins such as mercury and arsenic, which are used in the plastic manufacturing process.’

Dr Lavers is seeking funding from individuals and corporate bodies interested in investing in seabird conservation and marine debris research in Australia.

Mr Jonathon Larkin from WWF Australia is concerned about the far-reaching effects of the North Pacific gyre, but acknowledges that the solution to the problem lies much nearer to home.

‘Marine debris doesn’t become an Australian government issue until it reaches Commonwealth waters, and I know of no international efforts to collect marine debris at sea,’ he says. ‘WWF strongly believes that we need to stop the rubbish getting into the ocean in the first place. Reducing the amount of disposable plastic (eg shopping bags, water bottles, food containers) that we consume is vital.’

A number of volunteer organisations based in remote areas and urban centres have been attempting to deal with problems created by the excessive amount of rubbish on Australian beaches and bays under the National Marine Debris Initiative.

Oceancare’s Tangaroa Blue works in partnership on the National Marine Debris Initiative with the Surfrider Foundation, an organisation that arose out of surfers’ concerns about the state of the oceans.

Ms Kristy Theissling, General Manager of Surfrider, spent time with a crew collecting 9500 pieces of rubbish at 12 locations off Port Davey in the remote seas of southern Tasmania in April last year.

‘Seventy-five percent of the rubbish had originated from the fishing industry – bait straps, boxes and fishing lines, including four gill nets (fine filament nets, now illegal) – but we also found the odd item such as a child’s potty. Whereas at Cape Kimberley in the Daintree in July this year, we collected oil drums, tyres, cushions, furniture – and light globes, which we find everywhere, mostly intact,’ she says.

On the shore of the Gulf of Carpentaria, a concentrated effort is bringing some positive results, with about 100 ‘ghost nets’ collected last year over a stretch of up to 100 kilometres of shoreline. The nets are treacherous, first enmeshing fish and birds, then sea mammals such as seals, dolphins and sea turtles seeking feed.

Ms Vanessa Drysdale, Sea Country Facilitator for the Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation, says that during its annual marine debris cleanup along four kilometres of beach at Cape Arnhem last year, a group found more than ‘a tonne of rubbish such as plastic bottles (1800), footwear including thongs (2000), toothbrushes (100), rope and buoys (130)’. The total haul was more than 7700 items. The rubbish collection is part of the initiative to clean up the Indigenous Protected Area under an ‘all of us together looking after country’ conservation charter.

Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) organises marine debris surveys across key coastal areas of Australia, including the annual Cobourg Peninsula initiative, which it has run over the past five years.5

CVA’s Ms Joanne Davies says the volunteers who take part come from other states and overseas, paying just over $600 for the privilege of picking up rubbish in outstandingly beautiful remote country.

Mr Rod Collier, who led two groups of volunteers into the Top End – to Cobourg Peninsula in June this year, and Brown Point in the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park in August – hopes there are some signs of improvement.

‘At Wilgi near Cobourg last year, we found a couple of hundred feet of fishing net and about 100 black buoys, whereas this year we found one net too big to get out of the water, and picked up about 30 feet of net, and no buoys at all,’ he says.

The CVA team uses colour, size of mesh and size of twine to identify nets from a book provided by WWF. The identities of fishing nets and details of other debris found are documented and sent to WWF for recording. Although most fishing nets are now manufactured in China, they might have been used by Australian prawn trawlers or fishing boats from anywhere in Asia.

Ms Heidi Taylor, from Tangaroa Blue Ocean Care Society, says different areas are impacted by different types of debris, but plastics are the most common items found.

‘The problem that is becoming more and more obvious is the breaking down processes that occur with plastics,’ she says.6 ‘There are not many animals or birds that could ingest a plastic water bottle, but over time that plastic bottle breaks down into countless smaller pieces.’

Other dangerous items include six-pack rings and other small plastic rings and packing tape.

‘We only see the small percentage of what washes up, or is left on the Australian coastline from those sites that are monitored,’ Ms Taylor explains.

She says that in south-west Western Australia, beach clean ups conducted in 2008 and 2009 showed the density of debris had increased by 23 per cent.

‘While volunteers contribute many hours and a huge amount of effort to keep their coastline clean, the continued flow of marine debris onto a beach can be disheartening. We believe that consumers, manufacturers and government must all work towards a common goal of reducing the amount of waste and packaging.

‘Do people actually notice the excess packaging? Creating a link to excess packaging, rubbish and the poor turtle with a bag in its stomach is a key message so people understand the long term impacts of their behaviour.’

1 Ian Kiernan, AO, was an early advocate for cleaning up oceans after he saw the famous Sargasso Sea littered with rubbish in the 1980s. See Williams C (2006). Green Gurus: Environmentalists Who Have Changed the Face of Australia. p. 100. Lothian, Melbourne. Kim McKay, AO, is currently Chair of the ECOS Editorial Advisory Board and Director of Momentum 2, a ‘social and sustainability marketing and communications’ company.
2 UNEP (2009). Marine Litter: A Global Challenge. p. 14. UNEP, Nairobi.
3 Project Kaisei is funded by a number of organisations, including the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego. www.projectkaisei.org
4 Ceccarelli DM (2009). Impacts of Plastic Debris on Australian Marine Wildlife. C&R Consulting, Brisbane.
5 www.conservationvolunteers.com.au
6 www.oceancare.org.au

Read more!

Smart cities: Living on a platform

For cities to become truly smart, everything must be connected

The Economist 4 Nov 10;

IN SINGAPORE conversations about water quickly turn political. The city-state no longer wants to depend on water from Malaysia when the current water-supply agreement between the two countries expires in 2061. More than once the neighbour to the north, of which Singapore was part before an acrimonious split in 1965, has threatened to increase prices or even cut off supplies.

Yet politics is not the only reason for Singapore’s advanced water system. The information centre at the Marina Barrage features pictures of floods and droughts. “We have either too much water or too little,” explains Yap Kheng Guan, a director of Singapore’s PUB. Even today, despite a sophisticated system of ditches and tunnels, floods can suddenly strike. In July parts of the main shopping district were under water after heavy rainfalls.

The problems of scarcity and excess are in evidence on the city-state’s roads too. Singaporeans, who are among the world’s richest people, love to drive, but space for roads is severely limited. When in the early 1970s the central area became too congested, the government introduced the world’s first manual urban road-pricing system. In 1998 it became the first to be automated. “Singapore proves that necessity is the mother of invention,” says Teo Lay Lim, who heads the local office of Accenture.

Now the city wants to become a “living laboratory” for smart urban technologies of all kinds—not just water and transport systems but green buildings, clean energy and city management too. Both local and foreign firms in these sectors will be able to develop and show off their products on the island before selling them elsewhere, explains Goh Chee Kiong, who is in charge of the clean-energy cluster at Singapore’s Economic Development Board.

There is strong demand for making cities smarter, not just in China and other rapidly urbanising countries but throughout the Western world. Resources like water, space, energy and clean air are scarce in urban areas, which makes them the natural place to start saving, says Mark Spelman, Accenture’s global head of strategy.

“Smart-city” projects have been multiplying around the world. Some of them are not as new as their labels suggest, and in any case what exactly constitutes a smart city is hard to define. But they all have one thing in common: they aim to integrate the recent efforts to introduce smart features in a variety of sectors and use this “system of systems”, as IBM calls it, to manage the urban environment better.

The best-known smart city is Masdar, a brand-new development in Abu Dhabi that recently welcomed its first residents and will eventually become home to 40,000 people. It is being built entirely on a raised platform, which makes maintenance and the installation of new gear much easier. Below the platform sits the smart infrastructure, including water pipes with sensors and a fibre-optic network. Above it is to be a showcase for all kinds of green technology: energy-efficient buildings, small pods that will zoom around on paths (no cars will be allowed) and systems that catch dew as well as rainwater.

Yet experts see Masdar mostly as a property project: hardware in search of a purpose. What really matters to a city’s smartness, they argue, is the software that runs on it and the network that connects its parts. “It is the common infrastructure for all the smart systems,” says Wim Elfrink, who heads the “Smart+Connected Communities” initiative of Cisco, the networking-equipment maker.

Getting it together

Cisco is trying to demonstrate that point in Songdo City near Seoul, where the firm provides all the digital plumbing. Sitting on reclaimed land, Songdo is perhaps the most ambitious smart-city project so far. It is expected to cost $35 billion and will be home to 65,000 people. Like Masdar, it will boast all the latest green technologies. But its main claim to fame is that everything in the city is wired up.

Residents of “First World”, the first completed apartment complex, already enjoy the benefits of this all-embracing connectivity. Smartphones unlock front doors. Air-conditioning, blinds and security systems are controlled by displays all over the apartment which can also be used to access all kinds of online services. With a few clicks or touches users are able set up a videoconference with a doctor, do business with the local government or find out how best get to work.

What Cisco sees as the most important application for running a smart city was shown at the World Expo in Shanghai this year. In its pavilion the firm built a command centre to keep tabs on an imaginary smart city. A huge video screen displayed everything from traffic maps and energy use to weather information and pictures from security cameras. Visitors were given a demonstration of how city managers would react to an accident on a city-centre bridge: cameras zoom in, an ambulance is dispatched, traffic is rerouted to other bridges—all automatically, within seconds.

The world’s smartest city, however, may soon rise in an unexpected place: near Porto in Portugal. PlanIT Valley, designed for an eventual population of 150,000, is an ambitious attempt to “combine technology and urban development”, in the words of Steve Lewis, co-founder of Living PlanIT, the start-up behind the project, who used to work at Microsoft.

His experience at the software giant proved an excellent preparation for the job. Microsoft is the very model of a platform company, providing technology to connect things (such as printers and PCs) and a foundation for the products made by others (such as browsers and media players). When he was at Microsoft in the early 2000s, Mr Lewis also oversaw the relaunch of a strategy called .Net—an early example of what geeks like to call “service-oriented architecture”. The idea is to build programs as a combination of loosely-coupled electronic services that can be redeployed elsewhere.

After Mr Lewis left Microsoft in 2005, he tried to introduce the concept of re-usable components to the construction industry, which seemed ripe for it. Designs are often used only once, most buildings are not energy-efficient, the industry produces a lot of waste, and many materials are simply thrown away. All this amounts to around 30% of the cost of construction, according to a case study on Living PlanIT by the Harvard Business School.

But instead of selling products to construction companies, Mr Lewis ended up applying his ideas to an entire city. Even before the first concrete is cast, PlanIT Valley has already been built—in a simulation program that also allows detailed planning of the construction. Much of the city, which is to cost about $10 billion, will rely on prefabricated parts; its foundation, for instance, will be made of concrete blocks that come with all the gear for smart infrastructures pre-installed. Eventually the entire city and its buildings will be run by an “urban operating system” that integrates all parts and combines them into all kinds of services, such as traffic management and better use of energy.

Living PlanIT has a clear idea of who will live and work in its city: the employees of the companies that form its “ecosystem”, another concept taken from the software industry. The start-up has enrolled a number of partners, among them Cisco, Accenture and McLaren Electronic Systems, a sister company of the eponymous Formula One brand, which will provide sensor technologies. The idea is that these firms will operate research facilities in PlanIT Valley, jointly improve the concept, develop applications and build similar projects elsewhere.

Such grand designs are possible only when building a city from scratch. But entrepreneurs like Mr Lewis and the planners of similar projects have other advantages. For a start they generally have government backing. Portugal granted the PlanIT Valley project “potential national importance” status, which among other things means cheap land and generous tax breaks. Songdo was launched by the South Korean government. And new cities are free from the constraints of having to deal with an established population, old infrastructure and bureaucracy.

Something old, something new

Making an existing city smart is a different problem altogether, as demonstrated by Amsterdam, the Netherlands’ biggest city. Amsterdam Innovation Motor (AIM), a public-private joint venture created for this purpose, is not intended to come up with some master plan but to identify interesting “smart” projects, work with local firms and other stakeholders and find ways to make projects worthwhile for everybody.

So far AIM has launched a dozen projects, ranging from installing smart meters in some households to connecting ships to the electricity grid so that they no longer have to use diesel generators when berthed in the city’s port. The most ambitious effort so far is something called “Climate Street”, which aims to reduce the energy use of an entire shopping street.

Most existing cities, at least in the West, will go for such a step-by-step approach, predicts Carlo Ratti, an architect and engineer who heads the SENSEable City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He and his colleagues have come up with a number of smart urban projects of their own. In one, called “TrashTrack”, they asked volunteers to attach small electronic tracking devices to hundreds of pieces of rubbish to see where they would end up in order to improve waste logistics. More recently they introduced the “Copenhagen Wheel”, a bicycle wheel whose red hub can not only give the rider a boost but also measure environmental conditions, such as pollution and noise levels.

Yet many such projects will need a common platform that streamlines data gathering and supports all kinds of applications, says Mr Ratti. That would also enable him to realise his ultimate vision: turning the city into a “control system” that makes use of data from a variety of sources, from mobile phones to smart meters and sensors in buildings. The data could be mined to improve public transport and security.

So far Mr Ratti and his collaborators have mainly used data from mobile phones for their projects. In “WikiCity”, implemented in Rome, such data allowed people to see visualisations of how they moved through the Italian capital. However, a new mayor elected in 2008 proved much less interested in Mr Ratti’s projects than his environmentalist predecessor, so the team has gone off to Singapore.

But it will be not just governments, cities and utilities that will make the world smart. Private companies will also play their part, particularly start-ups.

Read more!

From around the world, lessons in 'climate smart' agriculture

New FAO website offer examples of how farming can prepare for a warmer world, reduce emissions
FAO 4 Nov 10;

4 November 2010, Rome - Farmers around the world are adopting new ways of producing food that both help cope with climate change and reduce farming's greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new FAO website on 'climate-smart' agriculture published today.

Burkina Faso's Yatenga province is being reclaimed through the use of an improved version of traditional "planting pits" known as zaï - now lands which were once barely productive are achieving yields five times greater than before.

In northern Cameroon, traditional varieties of millet, sorghum and maize had low resistance to water scarcity and production there typically suffered in the face of lowered rainfalls and droughts. Starting in 2006, Cameroon's national agriculture research institute developed improved varieties of these crops, and with support from FAO established farmer seed enterprises and got them into farmers' fields, where today they are producing good yields in spite of unfavourable conditions.

In Mozambique, smallholder farmers are getting paid for sequestering carbon through the adoption of various agrofoestry practices and reducing deforestation and degradation of forest lands.

Farmers in Vietnam are being encouraged to use special "digesters" that transform farm waste into biogas used for daily cooking and lighting needs and also create nutrient-rich slurry for fertilizing fields.

And on Bohol Island, in the Philippines, improved infrastructure has helped improve water management and stabilized rice production, while rice farming techniques that use less water were introduced, stretching local supplies still further - and reducing production of greenhouse gases in the paddies.

"A shift to climate-smart agriculture helps advance several important goals: doing so will not only help shield farmers from the adverse effects of climate change and offer a way to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester atmospheric carbon, but can also improve farm yields and household incomes," said Alexander Mueller, FAO Assistant Director-General for Natural Resources.

The rice example

The rice sector provides an example of how agriculture can adapt to meet the challenges of climate change.

Rice farming is one of the foundations of world food security - it produces a staple grain that is consumed by some three billion people every single day.

At the same time, however, rice farming is also the second largest emitter of the greenhouse gas (GHG) methane.

Methane is produced naturally in the warm, waterlogged soils of rice paddies. Research has shown that these emissions occur mainly when paddy ground is fully waterlogged - so changing the length of time they are flooded, draining them mid-season, or irrigating only intermittently can decrease methane emissions.

Similarly, while adding organic fertilizers like manure to water-filled paddies stimulates methane production, using them when paddies are drained dampens emissions.

Also, applying ammonium sulphate supplements can promote soil microbial activity and reduce methanagens, the earth-dwelling microorganisms that produce methane as a metabolic by-product.

According to the FAO report (pdf) which forms the basis for the new website on climate smart agriculture, even as the rice sector needs to reduce its emissions, rice production also faces multiple challenges due to climate change.

Irregular rainfall, drier spells during wet seasons which can damage young plants, drought and floods are already affecting rice yields and have sparked outbreaks of pests and diseases, it says.

Rising temperatures, especially night temperatures, have already impacted on rice yields, causing losses of 10-20 percent of harvests in some locations in Asia over the last 25 years, new research shows (read more).

Many governments and farmers are already taking action to reduce vulnerability to climate change, providing valuable lessons for future adaptation strategies, FAO notes.

Embankments have been built to protect farms from floods, and new drought and submergence tolerant varieties of rice are being produced and used.

Farmers are diversifying production, growing other cereals, vegetables, and rearing fish and animals, thereby increasing their incomes, improving household nutrition, and making their farms more resilient to shocks.

The development of advanced modelling techniques and efforts to map the effect of climate change on rice-growing regions are helping reduce communities' vulnerability, as are efforts to increase the availability of and improve access to crop insurance.

FAO will continue to update the website on climate smart agriculture to highlight additional examples and case studies as well as lessons learned from around the world.

Climate-smart agriculture http://www.fao.org/climatechange/climatesmart/en/

Read more!