Seaweed city at Sentosa
from wild shores of singapore
An innocent white Rock Pigeon
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Young NTUC’s 350 Singapore Coastal Cleanup @ Tanah Merah 6
from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore
Landing at Terumbu Buran
from Biodiversity Singapore
WWF 9 Nov 10;
Hobart, Australia: An international request that Malaysia and Singapore take action to ensure their ports are closed to blacklisted fishing vessels which are illegally poaching in Antarctic waters from entering their ports has been applauded by WWF.
According to the 25 nation Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR ) vessels known to illegally fish for toothfish have been returning to Singapore and Malaysian ports after filling their holds with Patagonian toothfish in the southern oceans.
“These poachers have been able to continue harming the Southern Ocean ecosystem because they have been able to find ways to get illegally caught toothfish to market”, said Rob Nicoll WWF’s Antarctic and Southern Ocean Initiative Manager. “These fishers will continue to cause harm to the Southern Ocean as long as some gaps exist.”
The fish are repacked for the Chinese market, sometimes in packaging purporting to mark premium legally caught fish.
Exploiting the Hong Kong loophole
It is believed that some of the toothfish landed in Malaysia and Singapore are coming to Hong Kong, which did not accede to CCAMLR together with the rest of China – meaning there is no obligation to ensure toothfish coming into Hong Kong are not from illegal, unreported or unregulated (IUU) fishing.
Patagonian toothfish, also known as Chilean sea bass, can fetch up to $20 US dollars per kg landed and the equivalent of $US 75 a kg for fish fillets at the retail level. The fish have long been a favoured target of fishing pirates.
"Unregulated operators are using loopholes in international law to fish outside the framework of CCAMLR, which negatively impacts on legal operators" said Coaltion of Legal Toothfish Operators President, Martin Exel. "We're pleased that CCAMLR has taken such rapid action to alert the governments of Singapore and Malaysia to the IUU operations of these boats."
Governments can close markets to illegally caught toothfish by developing their cooperation with CCAMLR or closing ports to boats, or products from boats, on CCAMLR’s IUU blacklist.
WWF is urging governments to sign, ratify and implement the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (FAO Port State Agreement), which sets consistent standards for the use of ports by foreign flagged fishing vessels, catch verification, transshipment guidelines and for the exclusion of blacklisted vessels.
CCAMLR has closed a number of toothfish fisheries in the Southern Ocean due to the impact of illegal fishers – but despite the best efforts of CCAMLR and legal fishers to implement a catch documentation scheme and other measures to eliminate IUU fishing for toothfish it remains a significant problem.
CCAMLR estimates of IUU fishing for toothfish have been revised upwards by 30 to 50 percent, for two of the last four years – with even these numbers still considered as underestimates in some quarters.
Get set for a wet, wet year end
Expect more rainfall due to N-E monsoon, La Nina phenomenon, says NEA
Grace Chua Straits Times 10 Nov 10;
WHIP out your umbrellas - this month and the next will be wetter than average, said the weatherman yesterday.
This is because of the combination of the annual north-east monsoon and the La Nina weather phenomenon, which happens every few years, said the National Environment Agency's (NEA) meteorological services division.
Singapore can expect short and moderate to heavy showers with thunder in the afternoons and early evenings, on five to seven days out of the next two weeks.
Rainfall over the whole month is expected to be 'average to slightly above average', with next month 'as wet, if not wetter than November', the NEA said.
It added that from next month to January, the typical north-east monsoon patterns are likely to occur: afternoon showers and two to four spells of prolonged rain lasting two to five days at a time.
Flooding due to these wet spells cannot be ruled out, an NEA spokesman said, adding that floods also depend on other factors such as the rain location and high tides.
Such rainy spells have caused floods in Singapore before, such as at Thomson Road in December 2006, when the nurseries and flower shops there were inundated.
The La Nina phenomenon, where surface temperatures of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean cool off, also plays a role as it tends to deliver rain to the region. This year's effect is moderately strong, and thus dry weather is expected to return only in the first quarter of next year.
Although flash floods cannot be ruled out, the agency said the year-end conditions are different from those during July's floods, which caused millions of dollars' worth of damage to Orchard Road.
Then, fallout from Typhoon Conson over the Philippines and southern China hit Singapore, and was coupled with unseasonably heavy rain.
But national water agency PUB is taking no chances: It is beefing up flood protection at the Orchard Road shopping district by raising the level of low-lying road sections, starting this month.
It is also sending out flood advisories to the residents of 71 flood-prone areas, such as Fort Road and Mountbatten Road in Katong, and has stepped up inspections at construction sites and flood hot spots to check for blocked drains.
Orchard Road businesses, too, are gearing up for the rainy season. For example, Liat Towers has invested in flood barriers that will be finished and ready for testing next week, said Mr Chik Hai Lam, a supervisor at Goldvein, which owns the building.
'Hopefully the system should be able to control any floods,' he said.
Wetter season expected this year-end
Dylan Loh Channel NewsAsia 9 Nov 10;
SINGAPORE : Singapore can expect a wetter year-end than last year due to La Nina weather phenomenon.
Weather experts say the phenomenon may bring more rain with intense showers and thunder, likely during the holiday season.
Singapore's Meteorological Services will also issue heavy rain warnings two to three hours before the expected downfall.
Kids may love splashing in puddles, but all the joy may be washed away if floods occur - like in July when Singapore's premier shopping belt got flooded.
Patricia Ee, acting director, Operational Services Department, Meteorological Services Division, National Environment Agency, said: "In the July case, it was due to other factors as well - because of the indirect influence of the typhoon. But we don't expect typhoons coming in during this time, towards the end of the year."
However, flooding cannot be ruled out and may occur after prolonged heavy rain lasting over six hours.
The Northeast Monsoon, ushering in the year-end wet weather, should also bring showers in the afternoon and early evening.
Ms Ee said: "It can also start in the early hours of the morning and extend throughout the day and lasts for, maybe, two (or) three days."
On the bright side, the prevailing Northeast Monsoon winds should work in favour of keeping dust particles from, for example, volcanic eruptions or forest fires in the region, away from Singapore. So while the weather may be wet, at least the air would be good.
- CNA/al
PUB steps up drain inspections ahead of Northeast Monsoon
Dylan Loh Channel NewsAsia 9 Nov 10;
SINGAPORE : National water agency PUB is stepping up drain inspections ahead of the Northeast Monsoon season, which normally lasts from December to March in Singapore.
The season is expected to bring heavy showers with thunder.
Rain coinciding with high tides could also lead to localised flash floods.
PUB said this may happen in low-lying areas like Lorong Buangkok, Jalan Seaview, Meyer Road, Lorong 101 to 106 Changi, and Everitt Road North.
The agency will be distributing flood advisories to people in these areas for them to take the necessary precautions.
PUB has also increased inspections of construction sites to check for drain blockages.
The agency advises pedestrians, motorists and residents to be careful during the monsoon season in the event of flash floods occuring due to heavy storms.
In addition, PUB has recently completed drainage projects to alleviate flooding along several areas.
Drain improvement works will also be carried out for the stretch of Bukit Timah Canal from Jalan Kampong Chantek to Maple Avenue in late November.
It is scheduled to be completed by December 2012 and is the first stage of an overall drainage scheme to improve the Bukit Timah First Diversion Canal. - CNA /ls
Amresh Gunasingham Straits Times 10 Nov 10;
THE recent haze may still be fresh on people's minds, but Singaporeans have mostly enjoyed clean air over the last 40 years, Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said yesterday.
This, despite challenges posed by the need to rapidly industrialise the city-state, which in the years after independence, lacked proper homes and blue-chip industries needed to sustain a young country.
In the last four decades, the Pollutant Standard Index (PSI) - used here to measure air quality - has been in the 'good' range on nine out of 10 days, said the minister, who opened the Better Air Quality 2010 Conference at Suntec Convention Centre.
On most of the other days, the index crept into the 'moderate' range, while only on three occasions in the last 10 years did it hit the 'unhealthy' range.
This happened in 1997, 2006 and last month, when severe haze blanketed the island, caused by smoke blown this way from neighbouring Indonesia. A PSI reading of over 100 is considered unhealthy.
He said: 'From the planning stage, such as locating pollutive industries away from residential areas, down to mandating and enforcing strict emission standards, we have been careful...to strike a fine balance between supporting economic development and ensuring a high quality of life.'
Although last year's Copenhagen climate change conference failed to bring a binding agreement to cut greenhouse gases, and the one in Cancun, Mexico, next month is not expected to reach that goal either, Singapore has released a blueprint which spells out key targets to maintain the environment over the next 20 years.
Among them, the government wants to cut the amount of particulate matter known as PM 2.5, which are dust-like particles smaller than a raindrop, found in the air here over the next 10 years.
Dr Yaacob yesterday called on various stakeholders, from governments, non-governmental organisations, educational institutions to the media, as well as the public, to play their part so that cities can grow in a more sustainable way.
Bryan Huang Straits Times 10 Nov 10;
Changi Airport will also continue to explore means to use more recycled water from 55 per cent to 58 per cent over the next three years. -- ST PHOTO: CHANGI AIRPORT GROUP
SINGAPORE'S Changi Airport is targeting to reduce electricity consumption and use more recycled water at its terminals over the next three years.
As part of its effort towards environmental sustainability and the Changi Airport Group's (CAG) plan to set up an Environmental Management System based on ISO 14001 standards, the CAG announced a set of targets at the 'Changi Goes Green' roadshow on Monday.
These initiatives include dimming lights at airport terminals during off-peak hours, using natural lighting where possible, and installing motion sensors in some areas.
Changi Airport will also continue to explore means to use more recycled water from 55 per cent to 58 per cent over the next three years.
The airport currently uses recycled rainwater to irrigate plants, and NEWater for airport fire-fighting, sanitation and cooling of air conditioning chillers.
Other measures to conserve water include installation of tap flow regulators in all toilet taps to limit water flow from six litres per minute to two litres per minute.
LiveScience.com 9 Nov 10;
Some Vietnamese locals have long enjoyed dining on a type of self-cloning lizard, but researchers only recently stumbled upon the species' existence.
The all-female, self-cloning lizard discovered in a Vietnamese restaurant by Ngo Van Tri, Lee Grismer and Jesse Grismer. Credit: Lee Grismer
A Vietnamese researcher was first to notice a restaurant selling oddly similar looking lizards, and sent pictures to a father-son pair of herpetologists (reptile experts) in the U.S. The researchers suspected that they had found an all-female lizard species, and so the U.S. pair immediately booked a flight to Vietnam.
Upon arrival at the restaurant, they were dismayed to find that a drunken restaurateur had served up all the lizards to his customers, according to National Geographic. But their disappointment receded once they realized that the lizards were commonly found in restaurants and in the wild.
Reptiles that can clone themselves through parthenogensis are not uncommon: Monitor lizards, boa constrictors and even Komodo dragons have been observed giving birth without the genetic contribution of males. Researchers think that the latest example may represent a hybrid between two related lizard species.
Sean Augustin New Straits Times 10 Nov 10;
KUALA LUMPUR: An Asian Golden cat was rescued by the Selangor Wildlife and National Parks department (Perhilitan) from a snare on Sunday.
The department rushed to its aid near the Hulu Langat Forest Reserve after it was spotted by a villager on his way to an orchard.
Weighing 11.45kg, the adult male Catopuma temminckii was rescued at 5.30pm and is under observation for a swollen left foreleg.
Once the feline has recovered, it will be sent to Malacca Zoo to help with the breeding of the species. The zoo is home to a pair of these rare cats.
Selangor Perhilitan director Rahmat Topani said while he was not sure who had set the snare, he had a feeling it was meant to capture wild boars.
"It was a bettersweet find for us. On one hand, the trapped animal means there is a healthy population in the jungle, but sad, because it was injured," he said when contacted, adding that the department did not find anymore snares when they searched the surrounding areas.
Listed as "near threatened" under the International Union for Conservation of Nature just two years ago, the Asian Golden Cat has dwindled due to habitat loss and hunting.
The cats live throughout Southeast Asia and is said to be a territorial and solitary species.
In Malaysia, the species is protected under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972
Individuals can be fined a maximum RM3,000 or jailed two years or both if they are found guilty of possession.
Rahmat also reminded the public to call the department if wild animals were a nuisance, instead of setting up snares as it was illegal.
The punishment is a maximum fine of RM5,000 or jail of up to five years, or both.
Malaysia rescues rare golden cat from pot
Yahoo News 10 Nov 10;
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – Malaysian wildlife authorities said Wednesday they rescued a rare Asian golden cat, which was caught in a snare and destined for the cooking pot.
Central Selangor state wildlife and national parks chief Rahmat Topani told AFP villagers in the south of the state alerted officials late Saturday after stumbling upon the trapped animal, known in some countries as a "firecat" because of its reddish-brown fur.
"The cat was caught in a snare which was meant for wild boars but we are concerned because such cats are very rare and usually end up sold for its meat and fur," he said.
"We have examined the cat and its right paw is slightly injured so we are waiting for it to heal before transferring the animal to a zoo in Malacca," he added.
The Asian golden cat, an elusive medium-sized wild cat, is found from Tibet to Sumatra, preferring forest habitats and rocky areas while hunting birds, large rodents and reptiles. They can also bring down much larger prey such as water buffalo calves.
Officials say they do not know how many of the felines, who are often hunted for their fur and meat, remain in the wild but that their numbers have been declining in recent years following a loss of habitat in the region.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature classifies the cat as near threatened, saying it comes close to qualifying as vulnerable because of the threats it faces.
Mark Kinver BBC News 9 Nov 10;
The illegal trade in tiger parts has led to more than 1,000 wild tigers being killed over the past decade, a report suggests.
Traffic International, a wildlife trade monitoring network, found that skins, bones and claws were among the most common items seized by officials.
The trade continues unabated despite efforts to protect the cats, it warns.
Over the past century, tiger numbers have fallen from about 100,000 individuals to just an estimated 3,500.
The study, which used data from 11 of the 13 countries that are home to populations of Panthera tigris, estimated that between 1,069 and 1,220 tigers were killed to supply the illicit demand for tiger parts.
'Poaching pressures'
Since October 1987, tigers have been listed as an Appendix I species (threatened with extinction) under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), which means all commercial trade in the animals or their parts is banned.
The figure was based on analysis of 481 seizures. More than 275 of the seizures were in India, which - the report's authors said - represented between 469 and 533 tigers.
China, with 40, had the second highest number of seizures, accounting for up to 124 animals, while Nepal reported 39 seizures, or 113-130 tigers, they added.
"Given half the world's Tigers live in India, it's no real surprise the country has the highest number of seizures," explained co-author Pauline Verheij, joint TRAFFIC and WWF tiger trade programme manager.
"While a high number of seizures could indicate high levels of trade or effective enforcement work, or a combination of both, it does highlight the nation's tigers are facing severe poaching pressure," she added.
"With parts of potentially more than 100 wild tigers actually seized each year, one can only speculate what the true numbers of animals are being plundered."
Drugs, weapons, wildlife
The authors said the data showed that the trade continued "unabated despite considerable and repeated efforts to curtail it on the part of tiger range and consumer countries, intergovernmental organisations and NGOs".
Commenting on the findings, leader of WWF's Tigers Alive initiative Mike Baltzer said: "Clearly enforcement efforts to date are either ineffective or an insufficient deterrent.
"Not only must the risk of getting caught increase significantly, but seizures and arrests must also be followed up by swift prosecution and adequate sentencing, reflecting the seriousness of crimes against tigers," he added.
In March 2010, during the most recent high level meeting of Cites, nations agreed to increase intelligence sharing against criminal networks that smuggled big cat parts.
Speaking in 2009, World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said the global black market in wildlife products was worth about $10bn (£6bn) per year, making wildlife the third most valuable illicit commodity after drugs and weapons.
Conservationists also point to China's "tiger farms" as a threat to the wild animals because, they say, it perpetuates a market into which wild tiger parts can be sold, often commanding a higher value as products made from wild animals are perceived to be more "potent".
Although China does not officially permit the sale of goods from these farms, in practice several investigations have revealed tiger parts are being sold.
The report called for an improved understanding of the tiger trade and much tighter law enforcement.
"But good enforcement alone will not solve the problem," warned Steven Broad, executive director of Traffic.
"To save tigers in the wild, concerted action is needed to reduce the demand for tiger parts altogether in key countries in Asia."
Enforcement efforts to date, the authors concluded, "point to a lack of political will among those responsible at national and international levels".
They hoped the report would provide an "important baseline to inform the understanding of this persistent yet illegal trade".
Illegal tiger trade kills 1,000 in a decade: study
Yahoo News 9 Nov 10;
LONDON (AFP) – More than 1,000 tigers have been killed in the past decade to fuel the illegal trade in parts of the endangered big cats, a report by a wildlife monitoring group said Tuesday.
India, China and Nepal ranked highest in the number of seizures of tiger parts but the trade has spiked recently in Southeast Asian nations, British-based Traffic International said.
Complete skins, skeletons, claws, skulls and penises were among the most common items seized, while officials had also found whole animals -- both live and dead, it added.
"With parts of potentially more than 100 wild tigers actually seized each year, one can only speculate what the true numbers of animals are being plundered," said Pauline Verheij, one of the authors of the report.
From January 2000 to April 2010 parts of between 1,069 and 1,220 tigers were seized in 11 of the 13 countries where tigers live in the wild, the report said.
India, home to half the world's tigers, had by far the highest number of seizures of tiger parts. The 276 raids uncovered parts from 533 tigers.
China had the second highest with 40 raids, followed by Nepal on 39.
But the report said there was a growing number of parts seized in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Myanmar's borders with India and China were a major hotspot, as were the Malaysia-Thailand frontier and the Russia-China border.
Tiger parts are used in many cultures for decoration, traditional medicines and good luck charms.
Mike Baltzer, leader of the environmental group WWF, said the report "demonstrates that illegal tiger trade continues despite considerable and repeated efforts to curtail it by many governments and organisations."
The WWF warned last month that tigers could become extinct within 12 years, with the number of the big cats worldwide plunging 97 percent from its peak to around just 3,200 today.
Russia is scheduled to host a "summit" of the 13 so-called tiger-range countries in Saint Petersburg on November 21-24.
Over 1,000 tigers killed in decade of illegal trade
Reuters AlertNet 10 Nov 10;
TOKYO, Nov 10 (Reuters) - More than 1,000 tigers have been killed over the last decade for illegal trade in parts such as skin and bones, and this is likely only a small fraction of the true numbers, a study by wildlife protection groups says.
India saw by far the most seizures of tiger parts, followed by China, Nepal, and Indonesia, said British-based Traffic International, which carried out the study with help from the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF).
"With parts of potentially more than 100 wild tigers actually seized each year, one can only speculate what the true numbers of animals are being plundered," said Pauline Verheij, joint Traffic and WWF Tiger Trade Programme Manager and an author of a report on the study.
A study issued in September by the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society said Asia's tiger population could be near extinction, with fewer than 3,500 remaining in the wild.
Tiger parts reported in trade ranged from complete skins, skeletons, and even whole animals -- alive and dead -- through to bones, meat, claws, teeth, skulls, penises and other body parts, the report said.
A total of 481 parts seizures were analysed, suggesting at least 1,069 tigers killed and a maxiumum of 1,220, between January 2000 to April 2010.
That works out to an annual average ranging from 104 to 119 tigers, though the report warns that this is only a fraction of the total trade.
Though India remains a major player in the supply of tiger parts, the roles of Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam as suppliers are growing as demand remains for tiger products.
"The data show that illegal tiger trade continues unabated despite considerable and repeated efforts to curtail it on the part of tiger range and consumer countries, inter-governmental organizations, and NGOs," the report says.
Tiger parts are used in many cultures as good luck charms, decoration or in traditional medicines, with the animals symbolising strength, courage and luck.
More than 1,000 Tigers reduced to skin and bones in last decade
TRAFFIC 10 Nov 10;
Cambridge, UK, 9th November 2010—Parts of at least 1,069 Tigers have been seized in Tiger range countries over the past decade, according to new analysis of Tiger seizures carried out by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network.
Reduced to Skin and Bones (PDF, 4 MB) shows that from January 2000 to April 2010, parts of between 1,069 and 1,220 Tigers were seized in 11 of the 13 tiger range countries—or an average of 104 to 119 animals per year.
Of the 11, India, China and Nepal ranked highest in the number of tiger part seizures, the report states, with India by far the highest number of Tiger part seizures at 276, representing between 469 and 533 Tigers. China, with 40, had the second highest number of seizures, or 116-124 Tigers, and Nepal reported 39 seizures, or 113-130 Tigers, according to the report.
“Given half the world’s Tigers live in India, it’s no real surprise the country has the highest number of seizures, and while a high number of seizures could indicate high levels of trade or effective enforcement work, or a combination of both, it does highlight the nation’s tigers are facing severe poaching pressure,” said Pauline Verheij, joint TRAFFIC and WWF Tiger Trade Programme Manager and an author of the report.
“With parts of potentially more than 100 wild Tigers actually seized each year, one can only speculate what the true numbers of animals are being plundered.”
More enforcement needed to save wild tigers
Tiger parts reported in trade ranged from complete skins, skeletons and even whole animals—live and dead, through to bones, meat, claws, teeth, skulls, penises and other body parts.
They are used by a variety of cultures for decoration, in traditional medicines and even as good luck charms.
“First and foremost, the report demonstrates that illegal Tiger trade continues despite considerable and repeated efforts to curtail it by many governments and organizations in both consumer and range countries,” said Mike Baltzer, leader of WWF’s Tigers Alive initiative. TRAFFIC is a joint programme of WWF and IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
“Clearly enforcement efforts to date are either ineffective or an insufficient deterrent,” said Baltzer. “Not only must the risk of getting caught increase significantly, but seizures and arrests must also be followed up by swift prosecution and adequate sentencing, reflecting the seriousness of crimes against Tigers.
The report also notes an apparent increasing number of seizures in Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand and Viet Nam. Some areas stand out in the report as hot spots in the illicit trade, including Nepal as a transit country, and the India-Myanmar, Malaysia-Thailand, Myanmar-China and the Russia-China borders. Additionally, many seizures take place within 50 km of protected tiger areas, such as those in the Western Ghats, Sundarbans and Terai Arc.
“But good enforcement alone will not solve the problem. To save Tigers in the wild, concerted action is needed to reduce the demand for Tiger parts altogether in key countries in Asia,” said Steven Broad, Executive Director of TRAFFIC.
Enforcement efforts to date, the authors conclude “point to a lack of political will among those responsible at national and international levels for protecting Tigers from illegal killing and trade.”
“A paradigm shift in terms of commitment is needed and all stakeholders will have to join forces to create an intelligence-driven, well co-ordinated, trans-boundary and sustained push against forces driving one of the most legendary species on Earth to extinction,” says the report.
In decline but hope remains
Wild Tiger numbers are in steep decline, caused by a combination of poaching and illegal trade in the animals themselves, coupled with habitat loss and encroachment and excessive poaching of key prey species. A century ago there were around 100,000 wild Tigers; today the figure is believed to be as few as 3,200.
The report comes as heads of governments from tiger range states prepare to meet at a tiger summit later this month in St. Petersburg, Russia to finalize the Global Tiger Recovery Program, a plan that aims to double the number of tigers in the wild by 2022. It will include a major enforcement push by the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC), which comprises CITES, INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the World Bank, and the World Customs Organization. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will host the International Tiger Forum from 21–24 November and representatives from all 13 tiger range countries are expected to attend.
“The forthcoming summit is a vital one for the future of wild Tigers, their very future hangs in the balance,” said Broad.
ENDS
More information
Richard Thomas, Communications Co-ordinator, TRAFFIC. Tel: +44 1223 279068, mobile + 44 752 6646 216, email: Richard.thomas@traffic.org
Ian Morrison, Media Officer, WWF International. Tel: +41 22 364 9554, mobile: +41 79 874 6853 email: imorrison@wwfint.org
Notes
Reduced to Skin and Bones. An Analysis of Tiger Seizures from 11 Tiger Range Countries (2000–2010) (PDF, 4 MB) by Pauline Verheij, Kaitlyn-Elizabeth Foley and Katalina Engel.
TRAFFIC works to support government agencies in law enforcement networking across Asia and globally to combat illegal wildlife trade. Technical assistance across the enforcement continuum, including facilitation of inter-governmental dialogues, engaging the judicial sector, and working with WWF to improve linkages from national level agencies to field-based rangers, is provided on demand to member countries of the ASEAN and South Asia Wildlife Enforcement networks, as well as to China and its immediate neighbours.
M. Jegathesan Yahoo News 9 Nov 10;
PENANG, Malaysia (AFP) – Overfishing in Southeast Asian seas has left garoupas and sea bass in dire straits, searching for mates on denuded seabeds, according to experts alarmed by ever-declining catches.
Marine scientists and fishermen say that popular fish species -- especially the large and valuable ones -- have been caught indiscriminately, causing numbers to plunge dramatically.
For big fish "finding a mate is a difficult task. They have to swim a long distance to find one," said Edward Allison from the World Fish Center in Malaysia's northern resort island of Penang.
One of the culprits is bottom trawling, which involves dragging huge, heavy nets along the sea floor. Large metal plates and rubber wheels attached to the nets move along the bottom and crush nearly everything in their path.
Allison said the habitat for young fish, or fry, is also shrinking because the mangrove swamps which provide food and protection are being obliterated by coastal development including tourist resorts.
Demand for top-quality seafood, from Southeast Asian nations themselves and from Hong Kong and China, is another major factor behind the emptying of the seas.
According to World Fish data, there were 10 times more fish in the Gulf of Thailand in 1965 than 30 years later.
In Malaysia the decline was between 80 and 90 percent while in the Philippines it is estimated that there was a 46-78 percent dropoff in fish stocks.
There is little data from other countries without the resources to carry out the studies, but World Fish believes the rate of decline in those three countries is reflected across Southeast Asia.
In Tanjung Karang, a fishing village in central Malaysia on the banks of the murky Tengi river which flows into the Malacca Strait, coastal fishermen are gloomy as they come ashore to sell their daily catch.
After spending four hours at sea Kamarul Nizam, 35, managed to net only a few kilos of small prawns and cheap catfish. He sells them to Gan Soon Heng, a wholesaler who has been in the business for more than two decades.
Sitting in his wooden shop on the banks of the Tengi, Gan gives Kamarul about 30 dollars -- meagre pay for a hard day's work, as half is eaten up in costs.
Gan shows off a 37 kilo (81 pound) stingray, a 12 kilo garoupa and a long Spanish mackerel.
"Such a big stingray is rare. Even the 12 kilo garoupa is considered small. Twenty years ago you could catch much bigger fishes. Now you only get small ones," he said as he pointed to a few palm-sized stingrays lying in an icebox.
Tiew Kian Hap, 44, has fished the Malacca Strait for three decades, trawling for giant stingray, redfish and black pomfret.
"If we catch them we can make a profit. But their numbers now are much less. Also there are a lot of fishing boats out there hunting for them too," he said.
Instead, he mostly hauls in tiddlers that go to make belachan, a strong-smelling fish paste that is a vital ingredient in some popular Malaysian dishes.
Tiew lamented the lack of enforcement that sees big trawlers encroach close to the shore, wiping out the fry that, if left undisturbed, would grow into a valuable catch.
"Popular fishes like kambong or mackerel which we hope to catch get wiped out because even the small ones -- one to two inches -- are caught when their nets sweep the ocean floor," he said.
"There is no point reporting it because no action is taken."
Another fisherman, Ong Chee Hooi, 33, said the decline had been sharp in the past five years, and that even the mud crabs that used to be plentiful in the mangroves were disappearing.
"Their numbers have fallen. Factories and houses put up by the coast are polluting the water and this is killing the mangrove swamps," he said.
Allison said the use of dynamite and cyanide to fish in coral reefs, common in Indonesia and the Philippines, also poses a serious threat.
He urged enforcement authorities to adopt conservation measures such as encouraging the use of hook and line traps that net only targeted fish, and aquaculture to produce popular species.
"The aquatic system is quite resilient and they can recover if we can remove some of the pressures. What is needed is the political will and motivation to do so," he said.
Jarius Bondoc The Philippine Star 10 Nov 10;
PRIETO DIAZ, Sorsogon — More and more local governments and NGOs are reforesting their coastlines with mangroves. They can learn from this Pacific town how to do it by the hundreds of hectares, both to save the earth and spur the economy. It’s a success story of environment protection leading into different livelihoods.
Nearly 300 hectares of salt- and brackish-water trees have been replanted in Prieto Diaz, ten hours’ drive from Manila. The mangroves shield the shoreline from erosion, typhoons and floods. They serve as habitat of mollusks and birds, nursery of fish and crustaceans, and source of income. The few thousand residents draw not only food from the seaside forest, but also materials for shell craft that earn them some cash. Bigger bucks come from eco-tourism. Year round, high school and college students, scientists, environmentalists, government officials, and nature trippers flock by the hundreds to research or relax.
Prieto Diaz’s shoreline is Bicol’s pride, beams Sorsogon Gov. Raul Lee. In 1999 it was cited among the country’s Best Coastal Management Programs. For, by then the asparagus-thin foot-long propagules had grown to six-inch-thick trunks 15 feet high, with branches extending up to ten feet. Twenty-six native mangrove varieties thrive, and three more are being introduced experimentally. The people’s organization Seamancor (Seagrass, Mangrove, Coral; chairman Joselito Domdom, 0908-9872822) trains fellow re-foresters and supplies mangrove propagules.
The laughter of children bathing in the clean river mouth at school day’s end is one sign of a boomtown. But Prieto Diaz wasn’t always this plentiful. In the 1970s and 1980s townsfolk were cutting down mangroves for a few measly pesos a day from ten financiers. Beaches were dug up with hundreds of sandpits — furnaces to burn the wood into charcoal. Dark fumes from the dirty operations sickened the residents. Devastation of the mangroves wiped out the natural food supply. The town sank into poverty and hunger. Then-Mayor Joseph Yap sought help from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which promptly studied the locale. The woodcutters were told to stop denuding and instead replant. In only three years they began reaping the fruits of their reformed ways. When Nature used to withhold her bounty because of the forest destruction, she now gives the conservationist townsfolk rich food: crabs, clams, fish, and export-quality lobster and sea urchin (uni). Even adjacent towns like Barcelona, Sta. Magdalena and Gubat benefited, as their coasts too began to teem with marine life. (Gubat is source of the delicacy langaw-langaw, baby mangrove crab of the specie Scylla serrata.)
Prieto Diaz’s story is about the right mix of political will, scientific know-how, and people’s support. The local officials campaigned for an end to forest ruin. DENR planning officer Judy Gavarra (jgdoma@yahoo.com), one of the science researchers dispatched to Prieto Diaz, saw the potential of replanting. A 19-kilometer-long reef buffered the coast from hefty waves, her team noted then, and 800 hectares of underwater seagrass could hold the saplings upright. Yap’s mayoralty successors, one of them Benito Doma, now provincial board member, persisted with the reforestation. (Benito and Judy met at the replanting site; their love for nature blossomed into romance, and they soon wed.) Conservation became a habit of townsfolk. Fishermen passing thru the replanting zone on bancas dutifully scoop uprooted propagules from the water and stick them properly into the seabed, knowing that reforestation is for their own good. The DENR awarded Seamancor a 25-year stewardship of the 267 replanted hectares.
Schools as far as Ilocos and Davao soon heard of Prieto Diaz’s story. Science high schoolers and college biology majors arrived for weeklong field trips to study mangrove flora and fauna. Government and NGO workers too came to observe. Residents turned their homes into hostels to accommodate the visitors. Seamancor took to organizing and feeding group tours. In 2007 thousands of volunteers participated in the third replanting phase of 25,000 propagules.
Prieto Diaz’s present mayor Jocelyn Y. Lelis (0920-9207987), Yap’s daughter, is thrilled with the town’s tourism potentials. Amenities are spartan. But she and past Gov. Sally Lee believe the mangrove forest can draw in the crowds, the way gentle giant butanding (whale shark) do in neighboring Donsol town. Assigned as tourism officer is Ricky Domasic (0908-4685978).
Yahoo News 9 Nov 10;
HANOI (AFP) – Urgent action is needed to reverse inefficient farming methods and boost the world's supply of rice in order to prevent rising poverty and hunger, experts told a major world rice congress on Tuesday.
"We must take action now, not next week, not next month, not next year, but today," Kanayo Nwanze, president of the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development, told the gathering in Hanoi.
Rice is the staple food for more than three billion people, about half the world's population, and rice-producing areas are home to nearly 560 million extremely poor people who live on less than 1.25 dollars per day.
"Projected demands for rice will outstrip supply in the near to medium term unless something is done to reverse current trends," Robert Zeigler of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) told the forum.
He said these trends included "slow productivity growth and inefficient, often unsustainable management of natural resources".
Vietnam is the world's second-biggest exporter of rice, behind Thailand, but Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said the country's food production still faced many challenges, including rapid population growth and more frequent natural disasters.
"Ensuring food security is not merely an economic or humanitarian activity," he said. "It actively contributes to national as well as global socio-political stability."
The three-day meeting comes after an IRRI 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.
It said that about 90 percent of rice is grown in Asia, on more than 200 million rice farms.
According to an organiser of the congress, Minister of Agriculture Cao Duc Phat, the event aims to "feed the world's fast growing population," which may come up to nine billion people by 2050.
The event, held every four years, is the world's largest gathering of the rice industry and brings together more than 1,000 researchers, traders, agricultural ministers and other delegates from Asia and beyond.
Vietnam Aims To Boost Rice Crop For Food Security
Ho Binh Minh PlanetArk 10 Nov 10;
Vietnam vowed to maintain current rice crop areas and boost yields to ensure supplies remain adequate in the face of demand pressures from a fast-growing population as well as the effects of climate change.
The government's pledge of security of food supplies touched a key agenda topic at two conferences that opened in Hanoi on Tuesday, bringing together more than 1,300 scientists, policymakers and traders from nearly 70 countries.
With more than half of the world's 6 billion people eating rice as a staple food, changes in availability and prices often affect the poorest and most vulnerable people, said Robert Zeigler, director general of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).
"Projected demand for rice will outstrip supply in the near to medium term unless something is done to reverse current trends of slow productivity growth and inefficient, often unsustainable management of natural resources," Zeigler said in his opening remarks at one conference.
The past three years have witnessed some of the most volatile commodities prices ever, including for rice. In April 2008 Thai rice jumped to a record $1,080 a tonne, sparking food riots in some parts of the world.
Since then Thai rice prices more than halved to $480 a tonne in late October. Rice in Vietnam dropped to $350 in April and $475-$485 now from the record of $1,000 in May 2008.
Rice prices will not rise much above the level of $600 a tonne next year, predicted Eric Wailes, professor in agricultural economics of Arkansas university.
Vietnam has transformed itself from a rice importer in the 1980s into the world's second-largest exporter of the grain after Thailand.
However, it now has to deal with the severe effects of "rapid population growth, decreasing farm area and water resources, more frequent natural disasters, floods, droughts, and diseases," Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said.
"The Vietnamese government has identified that ensuring long-term national food security under any circumstance is essential for the country's socio-economic development," Dung told delegates at a conference organized by the Manila-based IRRI and Vietnam's Agriculture Ministry.
The two are running parallel conferences this week, one on rice research and another on rice policy and investment, with a shared opening ceremony.
He said Vietnam aimed to keep the area for rice production stable, increase investment in irrigation, mechanize production and processing, and use scientific and technological advances to improve rice varieties.
YIELD ABOVE WORLD'S LEVEL
Vietnam's rice yield has reached 5.3 tonnes per hectare per crop, well above the world average of 4.2 tonne, and its rice exports of around 6 million tonnes a year account for a fifth of the world's total trade in the grain.
The country is forecast to export nearly 6 million tonnes of rice next year, Wailes forecast, down from a record shipment of 6.5 million expected this year. But Agriculture Minister Cao Duc Phat said Vietnam still needed to do more as countries seek to increase global food production by 70 percent and to double food production in developing countries by 2050 to feed fast-growing populations.
"We need new varieties with higher yields, good quality, and short maturity duration, as well as advanced production processes that are input-efficient and cost effective," Phat said.
In the Mekong Delta food basket, scientists have been developing new rice varieties to resist salination, which is forecast to strike fields in southern coastal provinces severely in the next few months.
Salination caused by the encroaching of sea water on rice fields due to high tides or low water levels during the flooding season in the Mekong Delta can stunt the growth of rice plants and even destroy the crop.
The new strains are expected to be in mass production from 2012, Director Le Van Banh of the Cuulong Rice Research Institute told Reuters last week.
(Editing by Jane Baird)
Rangga D. Fadillah, The Jakarta Post 10 Nov 10;
The two-year moratorium on forest and peatland conversions will not affect the development of new plantation areas because investors will still be permitted to open up new plantation areas, albeit in a special forest area, a forestry official said.
The Forestry Ministry secretary-general, Hadi Daryanto, said Tuesday that the government had allocated up to 41 million hectares as so-called special forest areas.
“Only 25 million hectares of forest areas have been used,” he told a discussion held by private television station Metro TV in Jakarta. He said that under the two-year moratorium, which would begin next year, the government would only halt conversions of primary forests and peatlands, not the productive forests allocated for businesses.
He claimed that there was still ample room for investments particularly in the renewable energy sector as many countries had stated their commitment to reduce fossil-fuel consumption and convert to using cleaner energy sources.
“Several energy companies, including Medco, has begun to develop renewable energy business such as wood pellet,” Hadi explained, adding that Indonesia’s natural resource potential would be the country’s competitive advantage in competing in the global market.
Indonesia agreed to impose the moratorium after it signed a letter of intent (LoI) with the Norwegian government in May this year. Under the LoI, Indonesia will receive US$1 billion, which will be disbursed once the moratorium is implemented.
Hadi said that factors disturbing Indonesia’s growth included poor infrastructure and unclear regulations on labor, not the moratorium. He added that the LoI with the Norwegian government had to be seen as an appreciation and acknowledgement of Indonesia’s commitment to preserve its rainforests.
Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association deputy chairman Silmi Karim, who also spoke at the discussion, said that the $1 billion compensation for Indonesia was not balanced with the economic potential the country could attain from its forests.
“It’s unfair,” Silmi said. “Developed countries have exploited their forests for hundreds of years and become wealthy, but now they pay us only $1 billion to stop making money from our own forests.”
He said that if the government insisted on imposing the moratorium, it should ensure that all regional governments across the country were well-informed about the content of the regulations, so the implementation would not hamper businesspeople.
“Currently, many regional governments haven’t understood on how to implement the moratorium. Such a condition will impede upon businesspeople from obtaining business permits to utilize forests,” he told the discussion.
The deputy minister for environmental damage control at the Environment Ministry, Masnellyarti Hilman, said that her ministry, together with the Forestry Ministry, had disseminated information on the moratorium to all related institutions at the regional level.
“We also have several supporting programs so the people don’t need to exploit forests any more,” she said.
* Cases stand at 660 versus 146 in 2004-social activist
* More cases seen as industry expands further
* Industry body new rule may help; planters not keen
Niluksi Koswanage Reuters 9 Nov 10;
JAKARTA, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Conflicts between Indonesian communities and palm oil firms over land use have more than quadrupled to 660 cases in the past six years as the industry aggressively expands, a social activist said on Tuesday.
These incidents may grow so long as Indonesia, the No.1 palm oil producer, uses a law to promote the industry's expansion, said Norman Jiwan of the social non-govermental organisation SawitWatch that tracks the cases.
Jiwan said the Plantation Act, made law in 2004, has not helped poor Indonesian farmers and local communities, forced off their land by authorities and companies wanting to develop palm oil production.
Land ownership is an emotive issue in the Southeast Asian country where 40 percent of a population of 220 million depends on agriculture and where land is a farmer's only social security.
"In some of the cases, the people don't want oil palms to enter their lands but they get bulldozed over by the company," Jiwan told Reuters at the sidelines of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in Jakarta.
"Once the land belongs to the palm oil company, it is the locals who become the criminals. Under the Plantation Act, a palm oil company can call private or state security to prevent the locals from accessing and taking back the land that belonged to them in the first place."
PROTESTS
Jiwan said in the past three months, more than 100 Indonesians were arrested for what was described as criminal behaviour against planters during protests over forced land acquisition, unfavourable compensation and other issues.
The RSPO, which groups planters, NGOs and consumers and formulates standards for the industry that include commitments to preserve forests and engage constructively with local communities, may provide a means of breaking the impasse.
The industry-driven body has now included a new policy that requires planters to get community feedback prior to opening up new lands, a measure that planters do not favour as it disrupts long-term operational plans. [ID:ID:nSGE69S09Z]
"The planters are always asking for a period of adjustment but they need to realise the impact of their actions on forests and communities is very immediate," Jiwan said.
Planters said some of the communities' claims on the land were unfounded. Such conflicts have stalled planters' plans to expand and can potentially delay foreign investment, they say.
"Some firms will not get top marks for engaging with local communities, but sometimes it's hard to operate when suddenly a claim comes in from someone who has not even been in the areas," said a Malaysian planter with land in Indonesia, who declined to be identified. (Editing by Ron Popeski)
Gerard Wynn PlanetArk 10 Nov 10;
Abolishing fossil fuel subsidies would boost the world's economy, environment and energy security, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday, referring to a pledge made by G20 countries.
World leaders committed in Pittsburgh in 2009 to phase out, over the medium-term, fossil fuel subsidies which encouraged wasteful consumption. A G20 meeting in Seoul this week may update progress on the goal.
"Eradicating subsidies to fossil fuels would enhance energy security, reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollution, and bring economic benefits," said the IEA, the energy watchdog to 28 industrialized countries, in its annual set-piece World Energy Outlook.
The report estimated such subsidies at $312 billion in 2009, mostly in developing countries, compared with $57 billion in subsidies for renewable energy.
Fossil fuel subsidies were on course to reach $600 billion by 2015, and renewables subsidies more than $100 billion, said Fatih Birol, IEA chief economist and lead author of the report.
Eliminating fossil fuel consumption subsidies by 2020 would cut global energy demand by 5 percent, compared with no action, and reduce carbon emissions by nearly 6 percent by then, said the IEA report.
Economists say that governments should penalize fossil fuels, to take account of the damage that greenhouse gas emissions will cause the climate, and blamed subsidies for encouraging waste and undermining greener alternatives.
Achim Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Programme, said on Tuesday that a G20 push to phase out subsidies for the fossil fuel industry would be a "good start" to slow climate change.
WASTE
Cash-strapped western countries are struggling to raise cash for renewable energy, which is often more expensive than conventional alternatives. The option of eliminating fossil fuel subsidies may appear more attractive.
Renewable energy needed support, said the IEA, especially given an expected, 10-year glut in gas which would suppress power prices and make renewables even less competitive.
"The gas glut will be with us 10 more years," the IEA's Birol told Reuters. "Cheaper gas prices will put additional pressure on renewable energies especially in the U.S. and Europe. If natural gas is as plenty and cheap as we think, then life for renewables will be even more difficult."
China would lead global uptake of all renewable energy technologies, helping to "bring the cost down compared to today by 20 percent between now and 2035," Birol said.
If recently announced policies to curb carbon emissions were enacted, under a "new policies scenario," renewable energy would reach one third of global power generation by 2035, catching up with coal, compared with 19 percent now, requiring $5.7 trillion of cumulative investment, the report found.
The use of biofuels would increase four-fold, meeting 8 percent of transport fuel up from 3 percent now. Greenpeace said that the IEA was underestimating the uptake of renewables.
The IEA said that pledges made by countries at last year's Copenhagen summit to curb carbon emissions would not meet the goal of limiting average global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, and that the cost of meeting that goal had risen by $1 trillion because of the extra carbon-cutting effort which would be needed after 2020.
Richard Lein Yahoo News 9 Nov 10;
PARIS (AFP) – Oil demand and price are set to grow strongly over the next 25 years despite environmental policies, essentially dooming climate-change goals, the International Energy Agency forecast on Tuesday.
Slightly more than a third of the new demand would come from China's appetite for energy.
"The age of cheap oil is over, though policy actions could bring lower international prices than would be otherwise the case," said IEA chief economist Fatih Birol at a London news conference.
The IEA, the energy monitoring and strategy arm of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, forecast the price of crude oil to increase 88 percent by 2035 to 113 dollars a barrel in inflation adjusted dollars, in its latest World Energy Outlook report.
Under the calculations which take into climate change pledges made under the Copenhagen Accord last year, fossil fuels will still account for more than half the increase in total energy demand, with oil to remain the dominant fuel.
The broad failure of the Copenhagen summit on the climate would cost the world 1,000 billion dollars (716.3 billion euros) in extra investments needed by 2030 to avoid irreparable damage to the climate, raising the total investment needed to 11,600 billion dollars, the IEA estimated.
It forecast demand for oil to rise by 18 percent between 2009 and 2035, driven by developing countries, with nearly half the increase accounted for by China alone.
Global demand for oil would total 99.0 million barrels per day in 2035, or 15.0 million barrels per day more than in 2009, and all of the increase would come from outside the OECD area of advanced economies.
Demand for natural gas should increase by 44 percent to 4.5 trillion cubic metres, also largely driven by demand from China.
The IEA concluded that this "rising demand for fossil fuels would continue to drive up energy-related carbon dioxide emissions ... (and) make it all but impossible to achieve the two degree C goal..."
The Copenhagen Accord sets a non-binding target of a two degrees Celsius increase in the global average temperature from pre-industrial changes, a level scientists believe is needed in order to prevent the most damaging climate change.
The IEA said government commitments made at Copenhagen "fall short" of what is needed to get to the two degree C target, and the forecast increases in energy consumption would likely result in an increase of 3.5 degrees C.
In particular, the IEA noted that increasing demand would force oil companies to unconventional sources, such as oil sands and shale, which are not only costly and will drive up prices, but which also generally emit more greenhouse gases.
However, the IEA said that the commitment last year by Group of 20 industrialised and emerging market countries to rationalise and phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies "has the potential to, at least partly, balance the disappointment at Copenhagen."
It added that removing the subsidies which cost governments a hefty 312 billion dollars last year, "could make a big contribution to to meeting energy-security and environmental goals, including mitigating carbon dioxide and other emissions."
The IEA said such measures would be a "crucial pillar" to meeting climate goals along with carbon pricing and abatement measures in developed economies.
The delay in tackling climate change is also driving up the cost, with the IEA estimating efforts needed to reach climate targets now would shave 1.9 percent off global GDP in 2030, more than double its estimate last year of 0.9 percent.
"The message is clear, we must act now to ensure that climat commitments are interpreted in the strongest way possible and that much stronger commitments are adopted and taken up after 2020, if not before...," said IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka.
The IEA report also emphasised the rising importance of developing countries in the energy market, expecting for them to account for 93 percent of the growth in energy demand over the next quarter century under Copenhagen pledges.
China alone is expected to account for 36 percent of the projected growth.
"It is hard to overstate the growing importance of China in global energy markets," said the IEA.
China's energy consumption more than doubled from 2000 to 2008 to overtake that of the United States, and the agency believes that prospects for future growth remain strong as its per-capita consumption level remains at only one-third the average for industrialised nations.
The IEA said China could bring about a "golden age for gas" with demand forecast to grow by an average of six percent per year, or a fifth in the overall increase in demand.
Chinese demand for gas could grow even faster if Beijing restrains use of coal for environmental reasons, it noted.
OPEC is also projected to thrive despite Copenhagen climate policies, increasing its share of global oil output to more than half.
Saudi Arabia is expected to reclaim the title of top producer from Russia with its output rising to 14.6 million barrels per day in 2035 from 9.6 million last year.
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