Seagrasses dying at Cyrene?
from wild shores of singapore and TeamSeagrass
A macro look at Pulau Hantu
from Pulau Hantu and more
Changi shore- "Heavily utilised"
from wonderful creation
MacRitchie Reservoir Park
from Crystal and Bryan in Singapore
Kwong Wai Chong: A student of bird behaviour
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Will biodiversity agreement save life on Earth?
from Mongabay.com news
Monday Morgue: 8th November 2010
from The Lazy Lizard's Tales
Joanne Chan Channel NewsAsia 7 Nov 10;
SINGAPORE: Punggol and Sengkang residents can now enjoy Singapore's largest man-made floating wetland.
The Sengkang Floating Wetland in Punggol Reservoir is a floating structure half the size of a football field - the first of this scale to be built in Singapore.
It was officially opened by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday.
The wetland links Anchorvale Community Club to the Sengkang Riverside Park.
Rich in biodiversity, the wetland also serves to cleanse the water in the reservoir.
And there are plans to set up a water sports activities centre at Sengkang West so that residents can participate in canoeing and dragon boating.
To promote conservation, NTUC FairPrice has sponsored S$30,000 to set up an educational fund for the Sengkang Floating Wetland.
The project is developed by national water agency PUB as part of the
Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters (ABC Waters) Programme, which aims to revitalise water bodies in Singapore.
Other ABC Waters Programme projects underway include Bishan Park and Alexandra Canal.
Prime Minister Lee also called on Singaporeans to keep the parks and waters clean.
"We've got to keep our parks and waters pristine and beautiful, and keep our estates clean, too, because when it rains in Sengkang or Anchorvale or Punggol, the litter on the ground will be washed into the reservoirs through the drains and the canals and eventually it will mess up our drinking water," he said.
- CNA/ir
Floating wetland opens in Punggol Reservoir
Ong Dai Lin Today Online 8 Nov 10;
SINGAPORE - Residents in the Punggol and Sengkang area can look forward to enjoying water sports in a scenic reservoir with the opening of the Sengkang Floating Wetland yesterday.
The wetland, situated in the Punggol Reservoir, links the Anchorvale Community Club to the Sengkang Riverside Park via a boardwalk and a bridge. Roughly the size of half a football field, it is the largest man-made floating wetland in Singapore.
The Anchorvale CC management committee is working closely with the People's Association Water-Venture to set up a water sports activities centre at the reservoir. Some of the water activities will include canoeing and dragon boating.
Dr Lam Pin Min, an MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC, said the opening of the floating wetland and proposed water activities centre "bring us one step closer to our vision of transforming Sengkang West into a suburban recreation hub".
The wetland is home to about 18 plant species that have been chosen for both their cleansing and aesthetic properties. Besides beautifying the reservoir, the plants will help keep the water clean.
Sengkang West Division is home to more than 12,000 households.
Guest of honour at the opening ceremony, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said that since the wetland was completed, more birds and dragonflies have been spotted at the reservoir. He also stressed the need to keep the place pristine.
He said: "Unless the residents take care of it and nurture it, it's not going to last. We've got to keep ... our estates clean also. Because when it rains in Sengkang, or Anchorvale or Punggol, then the litter on the ground will be washed into the reservoirs through the drains and the canals and eventually it will mess up our drinking water."
The Sengkang Floating Wetland is a $7.5 million project under the Public Utilities Board's Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters Programme. Schools in the area, such as Fernvale Primary School and Anchor Green Primary School, have adopted the wetland and will help to keep it clean.
NTUC FairPrice Co-operative will also sponsor $30,000 over two years to support school activities related to the area. Mdm Tan Bee Leng, who lives in Sengkang, is thrilled with the new floating wetland. "I'm quite surprised that Sengkang has this kind of scenery. It's nice and is a place for residents to come and jog," she said.
Time to add 'blue' to a green Singapore, says PM
New Sengkang wetland part of ongoing effort to beautify water bodies
Kor Kian Beng Straits Times 8 Nov 10;
WHENEVER Punggol Central resident Tini Norahmad, 28, wants to let her two boys, aged three and one, enjoy the calming effect of water, she heads to the Woodlands waterfront area near the Causeway.
But that means putting up with an hour-long bus journey.
Now she has a better option, which is a 15-minute ride by Light Rapid Transit (LRT) to the Anchorvale Community Club.
This comes with the opening of the Sengkang Floating Wetland yesterday, a floating structure built in a stretch of the Punggol Reservoir near the CC.
The wetland, which is connected by bridges to two banks of the reservoir, also provides a sanctuary for birds and fish.
Ms Tini, an administrative executive, said: 'It's a good idea to have a place nearby where we can enjoy walking next to the water, without having to travel too far.'
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who opened the wetland yesterday, said it was part of ongoing efforts to revitalise Singapore's water bodies into clean, pleasant and bustling community spaces for the benefit of residents.
To mark the annual Tree Planting Day this month, Mr Lee, together with fellow MPs for Ang Mo Kio GRC, also planted a tree at the nearby Sengkang Riverside Park.
Noting the success in 'greening' the country despite urbanisation over the years, he said 'blue-ing' efforts have been under way to bring waterfront living to residents and enhance the quality of life.
He urged residents to play their part in keeping the parks and waters 'pristine and beautiful' by not littering.
The wetland is half the size of a football field and is said to be the largest of its kind here.
The 18 wetland plant species were chosen for their ability to cleanse the waters by taking in nutrients and pollutants through their roots.
The wetland is designed with a fruit theme and features orange-shaped seats and a giant 'mangosteen' pavilion providing shelter for park users.
There are also plans to set up a water activities centre so that residents can take part in canoeing and dragonboating activities, said Dr Lam Pin Min, MP for the GRC's Sengkang West ward.
The project received the thumbs-up from engineer Lee Boon Han, 38.
Mr Lee, who often travels from his Hougang Avenue 9 flat to jog near the reservoir, said: 'The reservoir is a beautiful place for residents to relax, enjoy nature and appreciate more about birds and plants. It makes me want to get out of my house more often.'
PM opens Sengkang wetland
Straits Times 8 Nov 10;
PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday opened the Sengkang Floating Wetland in Punggol Reservoir, which is designed with a 'fruitful' theme.
Among the features are a mangosteen pavilion and orange seats. The wetland is a floating structure which is half the size of a football field - the first of this scale to be built in Singapore.
PM Lee said about 18 specially chosen wetland plant species have been planted in the area. These plants take in nutrients and pollutants through their roots, cleansing the water naturally.
As wetland also provides a habitat for fish, birds and other wildlife, Mr Lee said NParks has noticed more birds and dragonflies since the project was completed.
In his speech, Mr Lee said despite population growth and increasing urbanisation, Singapore has actually increased our green cover. It now has an extensive water network, spanning 17 reservoirs, 32 major rivers and more than 7,000 km of canals and drains.
He said two more waterways are being developed at Bishan Park and Alexandra Canal under the Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters programme, and will create new community spaces which are clean, pleasant and bustling with life and activity.
Ong Dai Lin Today Online 8 Nov 10;
SINGAPORE - If Singapore is to prepare to use nuclear energy here, expect courses and overseas training to build up capabilities. But do not hold your breath for an undergraduate degree on nuclear energy, say experts.
In fact, there are already faculty members in the local universities who are trained in the basic principles of nuclear energy and who can be tapped, Professor Soh Yeng Chai, associate dean of research at Nanyang Technological University's College of Engineering, told MediaCorp.
"There is existing expertise in Singapore. It's just that, in the past, there was no opportunity to work on this issue. Now's the chance to gather them to work together," he said.
Dr Tseng King Jet, who heads the division of power engineering at NTU, says around 50 experts would be needed.
The first priority may be to beef up capacity in nuclear physics but Singapore would also need experts such as mathematicians, geologists and computer scientists, said Dr Hooman Peimani, principal fellow at National University of Singapore's Energy Studies Institute.
Besides looking at nuclear safety and engineering, they would have to tackle issues such as energy economics, environmental considerations and, if nuclear power becomes feasible, plan a nuclear programme, said Dr Tseng and Dr Peimani.
"You need the specific type of expertise for the type of reactor you choose. So, we'll need to send people overseas for training with the supplier of the reactor," said Dr Peimani.
As to whether Singapore should set up university courses to train nuclear engineers, he says it depends on the scope of nuclear energy as a power source here.
"If Singapore wants to have a small nuclear programme, then maybe it does not make sense to invest in training a large number of people," he said.
Mr Graham Tyler, head of Wood Mackenzie's South East Asia Gas & Power service, said there are three phases of nuclear power development.
"Firstly, governments need to set up a comprehensive nuclear legal framework with regulatory systems and operation plans. Secondly, an independent regulatory authority needs to be set up to implement the operation plans according to International Atomic Energy Agency standards," he said. "Lastly, there needs to be supervision during implementation as well as continued international commitments to maintain the confidence of neighbouring states."
Mr Tyler said that Singapore would need to set up a nuclear directorate to oversee the independent regulation and inspection of a nuclear industry. He added that Singapore would also need to prove the commercial and technical rationale for having a nuclear programme.
A team of experts assembled in April by the Trade and Industry Ministry is now studying the feasibility of nuclear energy here.
Waleed PD Mahdini Borneo Bulletin Brunei Direct 7 Nov 10;
Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei is located in one of the top biodiversity hotspots in the world, but only about 20 named species have been documented within its lush tropical jungles. For this very reason, the High Commissioner of the Republic of Singapore, Mr Joseph Koh, who is also a keen arachnologist, will be donating some of the spider specimens that he has collected during his posting to the Sultanate over the last five years.
"My spider collection, now with me in Brunei Darussalam, consists of two parts, with more than 12,000 specimens from Singapore and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, except Brunei, collected sporadically over the last 40 years, as well as more than 1,000 specimens from Brunei Darussalam, collected during my posting in Brunei over the last five years," said Mr Koh of his arachnid collection.
Asked how many species there were in each collection, the Singaporean envoy said, "I do not really know as my official work has not allowed me enough time to catalogue them systematically. I would guess there must be well over 150 species in the Brunei collection and more than 500 species in the larger Singapore and Southeast Asia collection."
Mr Koh will be donating some of his collection to the Singapore's Raffles Museum for Biodiversity Research and also intends to donate some to the Brunei Museum.
"I have pledged the former to the RMBR, but will be depositing a full set of 'voucher specimens' (specimens accompanying a record) from my Brunei collection at the Brunei Museum. With the permission of Brunei Museum, RMBR will also receive some specimens from Brunei, but only if they are spares after the first set of voucher specimens has been deposited in Brunei," affirmed Mr Koh, adding, "I am not donating my 'entire collection' to the RMBR, but a substantial part of it.
"The 12,000 specimens of spiders destined for the RMBR will greatly boost the existing holding of 5,000 specimens, which will include all my arachnological books, reprints of scientific papers, colour slides and digital images accumulated over the last 40 years."
The Singaporean envoy went on to point out that his photographic collection is particularly valuable, "for it includes thousands of nature shots taken in the field and microscopic shots of spider genitalia (sex organs) taken in my home laboratory," which he highlighted "is the fruit of 40 years of labour and probably the largest collection of photographic images of Southeast Asian spiders in the world".
As for donating to the Brunei Museum, Mr Koh explains his motive as "more than just a case of depositing specimens collected from Brunei in Brunei".
"Brunei is located in one of the top biodiversity hotspots in the world, but only about 20 named species have been documented in Brunei. The actual number must be much higher but no one knows exactly how rich the spider fauna in Brunei is. The existing spider collections at the Brunei Museum and the Universiti Brunei Darussalam are negligible. I have therefore volunteered to help the Brunei Museum to build up a national reference collection, so that Bruneians will have an inventory, complete with voucher specimens, of an important part of their natural heritage."
Asked what he hopes this would mean for his host country, the High Commissioner said, "I hope it will encourage young Bruneian scientists to take up arachnology and continue the research after I have completed my posting in Brunei. I also hope to attract the international arachnologist community to visit Brunei and study the spiders there. I hope research by Bruneian and international scientists kick-started by the Brunei National Spider Reference Collection will help Brunei to evolve eventually into one of the centres of excellence in biodiversity research in the region."
Mr Koh went on to explain, "This is important. Strong biodiversity research in Brunei and others in the region will underpin the conservation vision as embodied in the `Heart of Borneo' (HoB) Initiative, a joint commitment undertaken by Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia to conserve the rainforests across their common borders between Brunei, Sabah, Sarawak and Kalimantan. I am a passionate supporter of the HoB Initiative."
The main motive, which the 62-year-old career diplomat explained is because "Brunei is a close friend of Singapore. My wife and I have enjoyed the warm hospitality and friendship in the five most enjoyable years that we have spent in Brunei so far. It is our way of saying 'thank you' particularly to all our friends in the Brunei Museum and Universiti Brunei Darussalam for their advice, support and companionship at our field trips in Brunei."
More importantly, "As, the Singapore High Commissioner in Brunei, I would also like to leave behind an enduring reminder of Singapore-Brunei friendship in the form of the Brunei National Spider Reference Collection."
As to his belief behind the donation, Mr Koh explained that it is two-fold: "First, the science of taxonomy (identification and classification) cannot be developed in isolation. Other scientists must have easy access to the speciniens I have studied; otherwise it will undermine not only the advancement of science, but also the credibility of my scientific work."
"Second, the collection, representing four decades of painstaking field work, is so large that there will be thousands of specimens that I will not have time to study within my life time. It will be morally wrong, if not downright criminal, if such a large collection is left at home to collect dust when it should be studied by other scientists."
Mr Koh's interest in spiders started long before he had even begun zoology at the University of Singapore.
"My late father got me interested in zoology when I was a kid, by showering me with numerous wildlife and natural history magazines and nature guides to different insects and other animals. The old Raffles Museum at Stamford Road became my favourite haunt. Fuelled also by my interest in outdoor life, it was natural that I started collecting seashells, butterflies and other insect specimens and built my own 'mini museum' collection at home."
He also credits his father for stimulating his interest in nature and macro photography. "As I took a closer look for the smaller creatures in my garden and our nature reserves, I was quickly struck by the multitude of colours, shapes, body forms, and behaviours among spiders. I also quickly discovered the pleasure of matching what I have read in the books with what I saw in the field."
During his years at university, "encouraged by Prof D H Murphy, then the lecturer in entomology at the Univeisity of Singapore, I got deeper into studying and identifying spiders during the long vacations when I was granted access to the microscope and other equipment in his laboratory. I have not stopped since then".
But why spiders people often ask him. "I am actually not attracted to spiders per se; I do not find spiders particularly cool or cute. But I am attracted to arachnology, the study of spiders. And there are two basic reasons. Firstly, I find it very exciting to establish new patterns of diversity. I am `turned on' by the discovery of new patterns of similarities amidst the variations. I see these fascinating patterns in wider and wider varieties of spiders. Just consider the divergence and radiation from the same basic theme: from the small house jumping spider to the giant jungle tarantula; from spiders that mimic different species of ants to spiders that mimic wasps, scorpions and even snails; some trap their prey with a web, others hunt by chasing their prey and others just wait in ambush."
Mr Koh's second reason is the enjoyment he receives from the intellectual detective work in getting a spider identified or described.
"Identifying Southeast Asian spiders, even the common species, are not as straight forward as identifying well-studied groups such as butterflies or dragonflies. In the case of the more popular groups, names can quickly be traced in easily available reference books."
Breaking down the intellectual challenge in studying spiders, the envoy has had to track down the scientific literature, often in university or museum libraries overseas; decipher the descriptions, many of the classical ones are bare and vague with no illustrations,- some were written in Latin; make comparison of closely related specimens, often with loans from overseas museums; narrow down possibilities, and make judgement of "what it is" and "what it is not".
"The process itself is intellectually stimulating. But at the end of the day, the ultimate pleasure is solving a mystery when the spider is identified, or is judged to be new to science."
For most people, the thought of these creepy-crawly arachnids would be enough to send shivers down one's spine.
Asked if he personally felt of his creature, hobby, Mr Koh pointed out: "Almost all spiders are venomous. They immobilise their prey by injecting venom into them.
"But the fangs of most spiders are too small to puncture our skin, and therefore the overwhelming majority of spiders are harmless to humans."
He was quick to also highlight, "I have not come across any fatal cases of spider bite anywhere in Southeast Asia. But I do treat larger spiders with respect. I do not handle them with my bare hands, since some of them do bite when threatened or provoked."
Asked if he had ever experienced a spider bite, Mr Koh acknowledged: "Only once, at one of my fingers. The wound turned 'necrotic', which is when lesion developed and the tissue died.
"But it healed within a few days. It is important to disinfect the wound and watch for allergic reactions."
As an envoy, his hobby may seem somewhat misplaced, to which to a certain extent, Mr Koh agreed. "As an ambassador, I am expected to behave with dignity and decorum.
"But friends who have accompanied me on my field trips find me most 'un-ambassadorial' as I go around in the jungle shaking beaches vigorously over a reversed umbrella.
"This is my main collection technique - spiders living among the foliage will fall into the umbrella and can then be easily chased into my collection tubes."
The Singaporean High Commissioner also acknowledged his partner's contribution to his hobby.
"My wife Peifen does not find spiders menacing, but she is not particularly excited about spiders either."
He went on to share the story of his love interest with his hobby and his wife.
"When I proposed to her 36 years ago, she said she would agree provided I removed all the specimens from my room which was supposed to become our 'bridal chamber'.
We had to live with my parents then and this was my only room. I had to agree. But as the collection grew, the specimens made their way gradually back to our 'love nest'.
But really, she has been most supportive. For safety reasons, I never venture into the jungle alone, and she has always made a special effort to accompany me, particularly in the forests in Brunei and other more remote places in Southeast Asia.
We would take turns to drive and she would physically help in the collection.
Without her, the size of my collection would have been a lot more modest."
Smiling as he recounted the story, he also quipped on her enthusiasm with the spider-catching.
"She is an energetic collector but with a more serious long-sightedness problem than mine, so she would sometimes mistakenly collect ants, bugs, and even fallen twigs. On one occasion, she caught a tiny jungle stream crab thinking that it was a giant crab spider!"
Zain Isnaeni Adnan, Jakarta Post 7 Nov 10;
“California has nothing but a desert and Intellectual Property [IP].” This statement by the American commercial attaché at the Jakarta Business Dialogue in 2009 is also true for other countries with few natural resources but a strong culture of innovation. Hence the rise of Japan, Germany, South Korea and other countries with little or no natural resources. Tiny Singapore utilizes the strength of its financial sector and ease of doing business to compensate for its lack of resources. Jeffrey Sachs even wrote a paper analyzing “the curse of natural resources”. That statement is true for Indonesia — cursed with abundant biodiversity.
In countries such as the United States with abundant resources, states like California have bucked the “curse”. This is exemplified by the rise of Silicon Valley and, prior to that, the emergence of Hollywood. Countries such as China and India, with some natural resources, have also shown that innovation and IP is important.
Numbers of patent applications from China and India have increased, while applications from Indonesia are nonexistent. Data from the Indonesian Directorate General of Intellectual Property shows that 95 percent of applications are from foreign companies. Compare this with China’s 50 percent.
So are products based on biodiversity or IP worth protecting in a country such as Indonesia? Do we have assets worth protecting? Are they protectable?
An Oct. 21, 2010 Kompas article laments the patenting of temulawak ginger or Javanese turmeric (Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb). The article claims that Javanese turmeric is part of Indonesia’s biodiversity, and there should be a benefit sharing scheme.
Such benefit sharing has been discussed for more than a decade by the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Inter-Governmental Group on Genetic Resources and Traditional Knowledge, and for more than four decades by the precursor to the WIPO. Countries such as Indonesia, Brazil and India want to protect their biodiversity and want benefit sharing schemes.
Developed countries, where most pharmaceutical companies are based, say such schemes would drive up costs in what is already the costly production of medicine.
Another forum working on these issues is the Convention of Biological Diversity. The United States is notably not a signatory, and many developed countries are only observers in the United Nation’s Environmental Program’s treaty. A benefit sharing scheme is therefore unworkable.
There is an added difficulty in having patent applications include the source of a base ingredient such as turmeric. Aside from Indonesia, Indian and Chinese traditional medicines have used Javanese turmeric for centuries, and even proving that the plant originates in Indonesia would be difficult.
However, if the patent for key elements of turmeric passes the patent examination and is registered to one company, the use of this ingredient would benefit only the patent owner, which in most cases is a multinational corporation.
If Indonesia is serious about protecting its IP or its biodiversity-derived products (in some cases materials), it should prepare patent oppositions to prove that such products have been used in medicine. Patent examiners can use this to ascertain whether the product or material is novel, requires an inventive step and is industrially applicable.
In the 1990s, NGO’s were at the forefront of a public campaign against Shiseido of Japan’s patent applications for various traditional herbs and cosmetic ingredients. The public outcry caused the company to withdraw its applications.
Unfortunately, that simply caused biodiversity-based products to be protected by trade secrets.
Some may be skeptical of Indonesia’s ability to defend its rights, but Indonesia did just that when it stopped providing samples of the avian flu virus to the World Health Organization.
Another step is simply to request benefit sharing from multinational corporations that use Indonesia’s biodiversity products.
A database to collect this information has been in the works for years with mediocre results. Scanning through patent applications at the patent offices of industrialized countries may be simpler.
Until the government decides to take action, Indonesia will remain a spectator in the utilization of its rich biodiversity.
The writer is a Jakarta-based IPO consultant.
Yahoo News 8 Nov 10;
HANOI (AFP) – Scientists from around the world meet in Vietnam on Tuesday aiming to ensure a steady supply of rice -- the staple food for Asia's poor -- against threats that include climate change and urbanisation.
"Amidst constant pressure on global food production, worsening poverty, and climate change, the need to find ways to ensure there is enough affordable rice for everyone is critical," said a statement from the International Rice Congress.
The event, held every four years, is the world's largest gathering of the rice industry, and will bring together more than 1,000 researchers, traders, agricultural ministers and other delegates from Asia and beyond.
"Our foremost concern... is how to fully extend advances in technology, biology, genetics and IT to deliver benefits to the rice industry, and especially to the poorest people dependent on rice," To Phuc Tuong, chairman of the congress's organising committee, said in the statement.
Rice is the staple food for more than three billion people, about half the world's population.
The three-day meeting in Vietnam comes after a report said Asian countries need to sharply increase and better manage rice stocks to improve food security in the region, where 65 percent of the world's hungry live.
"As Asia's population continues to grow and to urbanise at unprecedented rates, food insecurity in the region could worsen unless action is taken now," said a September report by the US-based Asia Society and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Manila, a co-organiser of the Hanoi conference.
"Declining trends in agricultural research and rural investment may lead to long-term food supply shortages and increased vulnerability to the famines that used to plague the region," the report said.
Rice-producing areas are home to nearly 560 million extremely poor people who live on less than 1.25 dollars per day. This is more than for any other crop, the report said, adding that about 90 percent of rice is grown in Asia, on more than 200 million rice farms.
"Rice is the staple food for most of the poor in Asia, where poverty remains staggering, particularly in South Asia," it said.
Vietnam is the world's second-biggest exporter of rice, behind Thailand.
IRRI estimated that annual investment of 120 million dollars in Asia between 2010 and 2030 could increase rice productivity by 8.5 percent.
This could lower the region's poverty rate by 15 percent, it said.
Among the topics to be discussed at the Hanoi meeting is the impact of climate change.
Researchers from the United States, the Philippines and the United Nations food agency said in August that even modest rises in global temperatures will drive down rice production in Asia, leading more people to slip into poverty and hunger.
"If we cannot change our rice production methods or develop new rice strains that can withstand higher temperatures, there will be a loss in rice production over the next few decades as days and nights get hotter," said Jarrod Welch, lead author of the study.
The Hanoi conference will also look at Africa's rice potential.
"Riots broke out in 2008 because of high rice prices and unavailability of rice on the market in major African capitals," a conference document said. "Relying on the world market to supply rice to African consumers is becoming a very risky, expensive and unsustainable strategy."
It said there is huge potential for growing rice in Africa, where consumption is growing by at least five percent annually.
ASIA: Key facts about rice
IRIN Reuters AlertNet 8 Nov 10;
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
HANOI, 8 November 2010 (IRIN) - Rice-producing countries, farmers and scientists from around the globe have gathered in Vietnam from 8 November for the third International Rice Congress.
Held every four years, the congress is the world's largest meeting of the rice industry, which feeds more than half the world.
"Rice remains of utmost importance to the developing world, especially Asia, but increasingly Latin America and Africa, where rice is a rapidly growing food staple," Robert Zeigler, director-general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), told IRIN.
The five-day conference, hosted by the Vietnamese government and organized by IRRI, in the capital, Hanoi, will have about 1,200 participants from more than 66 countries.
The congress comes at a crucial time as farming area is declining, the effects of climate change are being felt, and global rice consumption is growing, say experts.
Under the theme, Rice for Future Generations, the congress will focus on how science and technology can better help farmers grow rice more efficiently.
Key facts:
- Rice is the staple food for more than half the world's population, including 640 million undernourished people living in Asia.
- For every one billion people added to the world's population, an additional 100 million MT of rice needs to be produced every year.
- Rice is uniquely suited to wet environments in which other crops would not survive; hence its widespread popularity across Asia.
- Projected demand for rice will outstrip supply in the near to medium term unless something is done to reverse current trends.
- Rice consumption exceeds 100kg per person per year in many Asian countries.
- One-fifth of the world's population, more than one billion people, depend on rice cultivation for their livelihood.
- Asia, where about 90 percent of all rice is grown, has more than 200 million rice farms, most of which smaller than one hectare.
- Rice is the fastest-growing food staple in Africa and one of the most important and fastest growing staples in Latin America - both regions are net importers.
- In most of the developing world, rice availability is equated with food security and closely connected to political stability.
- The top five producers are: China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Vietnam.
- The top five exporters are: Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, US and India.
- The top five importers are: Philippines, Iran, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
- A paddy is a field flooded with water. Rough rice is also called paddy rice.
- There are two methods of growing rice: transplanting and direct seeding.
- Some 120,000 varieties of rice exist today.
- Worldwide, 80 million hectares of irrigated rice (55 percent of the total area) produce about three-quarters of rice harvested.
- Average global rice yields are around four tonnes per hectare, but yields of more than 10 tonnes a hectare have been recorded.
- It takes between 90 and 200 days for a rice crop to mature.
Source: IRRI, USDA
Straits Times 7 Nov 10;
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The craze for sushi has fueled a black market in tuna worth billions of dollars, as governments collaborate with the industry despite fears for the species' survival, an investigation found.
A seven-month probe by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists found that fishermen have willfully violated official quotas in order to supply the lucrative tuna market, which is dominated by Japan.
The investigation covered 10 nations but found particular violations in France, where it said the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has joined forces with the tuna industry to doctor catch numbers.
"Everyone cheated," said Roger Del Ponte, one of the six French fishing captains facing criminal charges.
"It's like driving down the road. If I know there are no police, I'm going to speed," he said in the report.
The journalists said the black market in Eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna was worth at least four billion dollars between 1998 and 2007. The calculation came from comparing the estimated total catch of tuna with official quotas and then using rates at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market.
Global fears over tuna stocks emerged in 2007 when France declared it had caught nearly 10,000 tons, almost double its quota allowed under the International Commission for the Conservation of the Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), a regulatory body.
"We found that the system failed at every point. It failed in that vessels were overfishing and that officials were turning a blind eye to that overfishing for years," said Kate Willson, a reporter on the investigation.
Facing an outcry, ICCAT came up with a new system in 2008 to keep track of the trade. But the study said the database was ineffectual and the tuna industry was heading to areas with even less oversight such as North Africa.
Willson said the French ministry declined repeated requests for comment.
"There is no way to know if the situation is getting better. We're supposed to trust them that they are getting better," she said.
ICCAT found that spawning stock of Eastern Atlantic bluefin tuna has tumbled by nearly 75 percent in the past four decades, with more than half of the loss between 1997 and 2007.
Jean-Marc Fromentin, a marine biologist on ICCAT's scientific body, said that experts had recommended a cut in fishing quotas as long ago as the late 1990s.
"If the countries had listened, then there would have been no risk of collapse," he said in the report.
"But because they didn't pay attention, and they didn't control (catch limits), then after a few years the situation became really critical and we began to speak about the risk of collapse," he said.
ICCAT meets in Paris from November 17 to 27, ahead of which European Union fisheries commissioner Maria Damanaki has called for a substantial reduction in the bloc's tuna catch quota of 13,500 tons.
France has opposed the quota, arguing that tuna stocks will be sustainable by 2022. Diplomats say that France is backed by other Mediterranean countries including Greece, Italy and Spain, while Britain is the only country clearly to back Damanaki's position.
A March meeting in Qatar soundly defeated a proposal backed by the United States and European Union to ban the international trade of Atlantic bluefin tuna after an aggressive lobbying effort by Japan.
The study said that Japan has driven the demand for the Atlantic bluefin, with the industry taking off in the 1980s when the Japanese developed a passion for "toro," the fatty belly of tuna.
But after years of financial backing for the industry, Japan has tried to distance itself from perceived excesses, the study said. Last year it temporarily halted imports from Tunisia due to a lack of required documentation on the catch.
The study traced industry excesses to the mid-1990s, when Japanese companies helped set up tuna "ranches" in which fishermen would take their catches to underwater cages to fatten them up.
With little oversight, the industry began to "launder" tuna by misreporting weight and country of origin, the study said.
"For the fish that are over quota, you have to find a solution," a former manager at a Spanish tuna ranch said in the report. "You either trade it illegally or keep it until the next season."
Coral cares
Sera Whippy Fiji Times 8 Nov 10;
There are cases of coral bleaching in the furthest islands in the Mamanuca Island group. This was revealed last week by the Mamanuca Environmental Societies project manager, Beitani Salusalu.
Mr Salusalu and a crew of environmentalists look after the marine and terrestrial environment of the Mamanuca area. Their main concern is for the environment itself but also secure the commitment of island resorts and hotels towards their campaign.
However, money and human actions cannot prevent the sudden and violent rages of nature.
With the onslaught of this year's drought and El Nino weather phenomenon, the incidence of coral bleaching is no surprise.
"It is not that serious at the moment but if the temperature continues to be as hot as it is now, there is a high chance of bleaching spreading in these waters," said Mr Salusalu.
The last time our coral reefs were ravaged with coral bleaching was in 2000 where close to 80 percent of coral colonies were bleached during the La Nino phenomenon which followed the 1998 El Nino.
Coral bleaching is caused high sea surface temperatures, around 30-30.5 degrees. Data estimates 10-40 per cent of coral colonies died within four months of the onset of bleaching.
However, local scientists were astonished with the rapid recovery of coral systems. By 2005-2007, majority of the coral colonies had recovered with many newly-formed colonies gr¡owing from dead structures.
Another deadly catalyst in the death of corals is the Crown of thorns starfish.
"We have a few problems with the Crown of thorns starfish. We are fortunate that we have a lot of volunteers who aid us in eradicating these starfishes," said Mr Salusalu.
The MES has been fortunate to have been equipped with 20 cots-guns which is used for the eradication of starfishes.
"Each gun would have cost us at least $300 each. This would not be possible if it was not for the help of sponsors. They have always helped us with whatever we need especially financially," said Mr. Salusalu.
The society is sponsored by ANZ, AON Risk Services, Island Brewery and KPMG. The individual resorts and hotels play major roles in the constant preservation and conservation tasks that they carry out.
"It is not easy but we take it as a great challenge," he said.
Bettina Wassener The New York Times 7 Nov 10;
HONG KONG — Perhaps it is because most Asian economies are booming. Or perhaps it is because a series of recent weather-linked catastrophes and headline-grabbing pollution issues have hammered home the point. Either way, climate change and environmental issues have moved up Asia’s list of worries, often topping any concerns about the global economy, according to opinion polls released over the past two weeks.
“Climate change has consistently been among the major issues people worry about in each of the past three years, evoking a similar level of concern to global economic stability, terrorism and violence in everyday life,” HSBC wrote in a report that summarized the findings of a survey of 15,000 people in 15 countries. People in emerging economies showed the highest — and rising — levels of concern, and Asia is the world’s most concerned region, the HSBC report found.
Among the most worried are Hong Kong residents, with one-fourth of the people surveyed there by HSBC naming climate change as the issue they were most worried about.
In another Hong Kong study, published last month by Civic Exchange, a local public policy group, 58 percent of respondents said they believed climate change would be “very dangerous” for future generations. Significantly fewer respondents called terrorism or the global banking crisis “very dangerous.”
Meanwhile, Edelman, a public relations firm, found that consumers in emerging economies like that of mainland China were more likely than their counterparts in Western nations to purchase brands that supported good causes.
“The finding counters the popular misperception that only consumers in developed economies care about socially responsible marketing and responsible corporate behavior,” JoAnn Soo, director of consumer marketing at Edelman in Hong Kong, said in a news release accompanying the study, which was released Friday.
The study was focused on social causes in general — but “protecting the environment” ranked as the No.1 cause, helping to underline the concern about the environment among Asians.
Citibank found out about that concern the hard way in July, when it had to withdraw a special promotion in Hong Kong and Singapore that would have given Citibank credit card holders discounts on shark fin meals. Considered a delicacy and a status symbol in many parts of Asia, shark fin soup has come under criticism from environmentalists, who say that soaring demand, mostly from China, has led to a sharp decline in shark populations.
In a way, it is not surprising that people in Asia are concerned about environmental issues. Many of the world’s developing economies — unlike those in Europe and the United States — are booming, allowing job prospects and the economy to become less of a concern than in the past.
“Brazil, China, India and Mexico have reached a tipping point in terms of economic development and their consumers no longer need to make trade-offs,” said Carol Cone, a managing director at Edelman. In emerging markets, the “rise of ‘the citizen consumer’ has happened so quickly because battles over societal issues like natural resources and human rights have taken place right in their backyards.”
Add to that a steady flow of worrying environment-related news this year.
Devastating floods have left millions of people homeless in Pakistan. Parts of China have experienced lingering heat waves. And the Asian Development Bank issued a report last month warning that Asian coastal megacities “will flood more often, on a larger scale, and affect millions more people,” if, as widely expected, climate change brings rising sea levels and more intense tropical cyclones.
Of the 10 most populous cities with heavy exposure to coastal flooding, five listed in 2005 were in Asia, the organization wrote: Calcutta, Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh City, Mumbai and Shanghai. By 2070, 9 of the top 10 cities in terms of population exposure are expected to be in Asian countries.
Hong Kong, with much of the city perched on relatively steep ground by the sea, can afford to be less concerned about this particular issue than low-lying cities. But the city has its own environmental concerns, notably an increasingly worrisome air quality problem.
In March, pollution levels literally went off the charts, streaking past the upper end of an official 500-point scale. In July, the city’s medical profession issued an appeal to the government to do more about the poor air quality.
And during the past week, while Hong Kong was host to a four-day international conference on climate change, pollution levels in the busy Central district were persistently in the “very high” category.
This label comes with the advice that children and the elderly avoid physical exertion — pretty serious stuff, in other words.
No wonder that the Civic Exchange survey found that 77 percent of Hong Kong residents want the authorities — who are conducting a public consultation on climate change — to make air pollution a top priority.
Nearly everyone, 96 percent, supported or “strongly supported” the idea that property developers in the city should be required to build energy-efficient buildings, and 83 percent agreed that building owners should be required to install renewable energy technologies.
Similarly, the HSBC-commissioned survey found that 65 percent of respondents in Hong Kong called for greater business investment and involvement to combat climate change.
Fewer than 5 percent in the Civic Exchange poll felt that the authorities in Hong Kong, Beijing and Guangdong — the Chinese province that is a major manufacturing and shipping hub and generates much of the smog in Hong Kong — were especially concerned about climate change.
More than 70 percent said those governments should be concerned.
“Clearly, these results reflect a considerable desire for a dramatic shift in attitude,” Civic Exchange said in its report.
How far and how quickly the rapidly shifting changes in public opinions translate into actual government action in Asia remain to be seen.
Mainland China is moving more rapidly on energy efficiency and emissions reduction than is commonly perceived, said Michael E. DeGolyer, director of Hong Kong Transition Project, which conducted the Civic Exchange survey.
“There has been a dramatic shift in Beijing in the last few years,” he said last month, adding that this was likely to increase the pressure on Hong Kong to follow suit.
Judging by the surveys, policy makers in Hong Kong and elsewhere have the support they need from the public for more determined action.
David Fogarty PlanetArk 8 Nov 10;
Scientists studying tree rings to reconstruct the past have found that major volcanic eruptions can boost rains in Southeast Asia, challenging a common perception of volcanoes as purely destructive forces.
Studies in the past have shown massive eruptions such as the 1815 Tambora blast, and Krakatau in 1883, both in Indonesia, dimmed temperatures globally and wiped out crops.
Researchers at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in the United States wanted to study the impacts on the Asian monsoon, whose rains are vital to crops and livelihoods for billions of people.
The only way to figure this out was to go back in time. They studied the growth rings from centuries-old trees from about 300 sites across Asia, in a study published in the online edition of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
They studied the impacts on rainfall from 54 major eruptions going back 800 years by measuring how this affected trees' growth. Narrow, thin growth rings show low rainfall and the opposite for good rains.
The tree rings showed that huge areas of southern China, Mongolia and surrounding region consistently dried up in the year or two following big volcanic blasts, while mainland Southeast Asia received more rain.
Explosive eruptions send up sulphur compounds that turn into tiny sulphate particles high in the atmosphere, deflecting some of the sun's energy. The cooling of temperatures at ground level can last for months or years.
The release of the research comes during a series of violent eruptions of Indonesia's Mount Merapi on Java island, with the mountain erupting again on Friday and the death toll reaching almost 100.
These eruptions, though large, do not yet appear to have the potential to affect global temperatures, a press release accompanying the study said.
LINK TO EL NINO?
The authors, led by Kevin Anchukaitis of the observatory, say their study underscores the close interaction of the atmosphere and oceans and also challenges existing climate models.
"Most climate models incorporating known forces such as changes in the sun and atmosphere have predicted that volcanic explosions would disrupt the monsoon by bringing less rain to Southeast Asia," a statement said.
The findings, the authors say, could help refine the next generation of models used by scientists to try to understand the global impacts of climate change and other major influences.
For example, the authors say there could be a close link between the impacts of eruptions and El Nino and La Nina weather phenomena, which trigger droughts or floods in parts of Asia and Australia.
Strong El Nino or La Nina episodes could counteract the impact of eruptions, lessening their drying and moistening effects, or under certain conditions exacerbate the impacts to create devastating droughts or floods.
The authors also say their study serves as a warning for possible unintended impacts of massive "geo-engineering" projects to fight climate change, such as building artificial volcanoes to cool temperatures by pumping sulphate particles in the upper atmosphere.
(Editing by Daniel Magnowski)
Posts
visitors since Nov 07