Best of our wild blogs: 13 Nov 10

The Total Vascular Flora of Singapore Online
from Urban Forest

Feeding of Spotted Dove: 13. A pair of Peaceful Doves
from Bird Ecology Study Group

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Geylang River gets makeover

Mustafa Shafawi Channel NewsAsia 12 Nov 10;

SINGAPORE: National water agency PUB is investing S$37.8 million to make improvements to the Geylang River under the Active, Beautiful, Clean (ABC) Waters programme.

PUB said this would benefit residents in the Dunman Road and Guillemard Road areas.

The river would feature architectural and landscaping designs, in line with the theme of "delighting in simple pleasures".

PUB said the design elements would be reflective of the area's heritage, such as a Songket-inspired paving design, and shelters and trellis spotting an interpretative style of stilts-and-posts, along the river bank.

Besides incorporating ABC Waters features along the 830-metre stretch from Dunman Road to Guillemard Road, the project also includes a widening of the stretch of river as part of drainage improvement.

Another key feature of the project is a rain garden to demonstrate the connection among water, nature and people.

The works would be carried out by Koh Brothers Building & Civil Engineering Contractor, who was awarded the contract.

It's scheduled to be completed by May 2013.

-CNA/wk

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Study reveals enormous levels of illegal turtle harvesting in Madagascar

Up to 16,000 rare turtles are illegally caught each year in just one region in south-west Madagascar, conservationists have found
Alok Jha The Guardian 12 Nov 10;

Up to 16,000 of the world's rarest turtles are being caught every year by villages in just one part of Madagascar, a year-long survey has revealed.

The study is the first direct assessment of the level of exploitation of turtles in Madagascar. Until now, measuring information on the small-scale turtle catches in the most remote areas has been tough, because of difficulties accessing these regions.

"Because turtles are an endangered species, it's important for us to know what's going on in the region so we can work with the local community to find a sustainable way forward," said Annette Broderick of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter, who led the latest survey. The harvesting of turtles is illegal in the region, but the ban is not enforced for various cultural and practical reasons.

Broderick's team trained villagers to monitor turtle catches in Toliara, part of a remote south-western region of Madagascar. In 12 major villages along 60km of coastline, locals collected biological and fisheries data and photographed each catch. In total, they documented 699 marine turtle landings. The majority of these were green turtles, the commonest species in the water, but the catches also included the more endangered hawksbill turtle.

"When we contextualise our data with those of previous studies elsewhere in the region, we conservatively estimate that the annual turtle catch in the southwestern province of Madagascar is between 10,000 and 16,000," wrote Broderick in a paper published in the journal Animal Conservation.

Even this estimate is likely to be on the low end, Broderick said. "In reality it's likely to be much larger than that. We don't have a good handle on how the in-water populations have changed over the years."

All species of marine turtle have experienced population declines in recent years and are included in the IUCN red list of endangered species. In Madagascar, all marine turtles are protected from domestic exploitation by presidential decree but the laws are not enforced because of lack of capacity for implementation along the enormous length of the coastline, and also the cultural history of turtle harvesting.

Frances Humber of Blue Ventures Conservation said that catching turtles for meat is an important part of Malagasy culture in many coastal populations. "But the villagers also understand the importance of ensuring the future of this resource. This study is a great way of involving communities in the process of finding a sustainable way forward. Obviously we can't be sure every turtle catch is reported, so we view the figures from this study as a conservative estimate which is still nevertheless very valuable for informing policy."

Stopping the decline in turtle numbers would be a matter of working out where the harvested turtles are being used. "The important thing is whether the harvest is for subsistence use or for commercial exploitation," said Broderick. "If it's for villages for subsistence use, it's quite a different management issue. It's very difficult to tell people that they're going to have to stop using a certain source of food, especially in developing nations where it's an important source of food. There's a danger with these kinds of harvests that these turtles are being taken to larger markets and possibly being exported out of the country."

Humber added that Madagascar should not be singled out in harvesting turtles. "We'd expect similar harvests in many countries in the tropical coastal developing world, so this isn't an isolated issue, but clearly it is a cause for concern when dealing with endangered species. It's possible the model for this study could be used elsewhere to get a better idea of numbers. Until we get more details, it's difficult to draw conclusions about what is sustainable and how we can find solutions. Clearly making turtle fishing illegal hasn't worked, so we need to work with communities to promote sustainable practices."

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Growing pressure on water supplies affecting one in five global businesses

Survey reveals drought, shortages, flooding and rising prices are damaging companies in water-intensive industries
Juliette Jowit The Guardian 12 Nov 10;

At least one in five of the companies using the largest amounts of water in the world is already experiencing damage to their business from drought and other shortages, flooding, and rising prices.

The wide scope of commercial problems posed by growing pressure on global water supplies and changing weather patterns is revealed by a survey of the 302 biggest companies in the most water-intensive sectors, across 25 countries.

The study was commissioned by the increasingly influential Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), which conducts an annual study of what companies are doing to measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions on behalf of investors holding US$16trillion (£9.9tr) of assets.

About half the companies responded to the water survey, of whom 39% said they were already experiencing "detrimental impacts". In answer to a separate question, about half said the risks to their businesses were "current or near term" - in the next one to five years - a sample likely to have significant crossover with those already reporting problems.

Companies most at risk are in the food and drink, tobacco, and metals and mining sectors, says the first CDP Water Disclosure report. Other concerns listed were fines and litigation for pollution.

Marcus Norton, who headed the report, said companies that replied to the survey were more likely to have taken action to address water issues affecting their business, but he was still "impressed" by the replies: 96% were aware of potential problems, and two-thirds have somebody responsible for water issues at board or executive committee level.

Of the companies which did not reply, not all would be ignoring the problems, but Norton hoped in following years more companies would show they take the issue "seriously".

"I don't think this is an issue of the price of water increasing even 10-fold, which I think in many cases it will," he added. "For me it's about building resilience to and avoiding catastrophic damage from water scarcity and physical risks. If you run out of water you can't operate. We have seen floods in China and Pakistan cause hundreds of billions of dollars of damage."

Companies that ignore water dangers "pose a risk to investments", said Anne Kvam, head of corporate governance of Norges Bank Investment Management, a lead sponsor of the report.

The report, written by London-based consultancy Environmental Resource Management, names six companies showing "best practice" as mining giant Anglo American, consumer group Colgate-Palmolive, auto maker Ford, US utility PG&E, and engineers GE and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. This was not intended to suggest the named corporations were the top six, only that subjectively they were "good examples", said Norton.

A major report, Charting Our Water Future, commissioned by Nestlé and brewer SAB Miller among others last year, calculated by 2030 global water demand would outstrip supply by 40%, with shortages in some parts of the world much more severe than others, but also claimed existing management and technology could cut water use and boost supply enough to close the gap.

Nestlé chairman, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, previously warned water is a greater threat than climate change, and called for significant rises in water prices to pressure big users to be more efficient.

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Shell Wins Approval for `Game Changer' Floating LNG Project Off Australia

Ben Sharples and Gemma Daley Bloomberg 12 Nov 10;

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe’s largest oil company, won approval from the Australian government to proceed with the development of the world’s first liquefied natural gas project using a floating plant.

Prelude, located about 200 kilometers (120 miles) off the coast of Western Australia, was approved with “strict conditions,” Environment Minister Tony Burke said in a statement today. The Hague-based Shell must comply with 13 requirements to protect the marine ecosystem and minimize the risk of oil spills.

Shell plans to use what will be the world’s biggest ship to tap fields in the Browse basin off Australia’s northwest coast, where more than a third of the nation’s known offshore gas is located. Prelude is among A$200 billion ($198 billion) of proposed LNG developments in the country seeking to take advantage of increasing Asian demand for cleaner-burning fuels.

“It is going to be a game changer,” said Tony Regan, a consultant at Singapore-based Tri-Zen International, who previously worked for Shell’s LNG business. If Shell goes ahead with Prelude it’s “going to be a great seal of approval on the concept of floating LNG technology.”

A development decision on Prelude is expected in 2011, Shell spokeswoman Claire Wilkinson said by phone from Perth today. Chilling gas to liquid form on floating facilities has yet to be deployed commercially. Inpex Corp. of Japan and Australia’s Santos Ltd. are among companies investigating the technology.

Development Design

Shell is in the engineering and design phase for the Prelude project, Australia country chair Ann Pickard said in a separate statement. Environmental approval is an important step, she said.

“Floating LNG technology reduces the project’s cost and environmental footprint,” Pickard said. “It removes the need for offshore compression platforms, long pipelines to shore, near-shore works such as dredging and jetty construction, and onshore development.”

Shell has ordered 10 of the $5 billion floating production vessels, which are almost 50 percent larger than a U.S. aircraft carrier. The company expects to begin production in 2016 at Prelude.

The ships will weigh about 600,000 metric tons and be around 480 meters long, 75 meters wide, and are designed to withstand a “one-in-10,000-year” tropical cyclone, Shell Executive Director for international exploration and production, Malcolm Brinded, said last year.

Oil Spill Plan

“Shell must develop an oil spill contingency plan, to the government’s satisfaction, specifying how it will minimize the risks of” leaks, Environment Minister Burke said. “Should such an accident occur, the company will pay for any environmental rehabilitation needed.”

The Australian government deferred a decision on Shell’s Prelude gas venture four times. Floating LNG technology is aimed at developing gas deposits too small or too far from the coast to be profitably exploited through onshore plants.

Prelude is expected to produce about 3.6 million metric tons of LNG annually and 1.3 million metric tons of condensate, a type of light oil, Shell spokeswoman Wilkinson said. The company needs approvals for production licenses before a development decision can be made, she said.

LNG is natural gas chilled to minus 161 degrees Celsius (minus 258 Fahrenheit) reducing it to liquid form one-six- hundredth of its original volume, so it can be transported by ship to destinations unconnected by pipeline. On arrival, it’s turned back into gas for distribution to power plants and households.

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G20 vows to 'spare no effort' for Cancun climate meeting

Peter Harmsen Yahoo News 12 Nov 10;

SEOUL (AFP) – The world's 20 largest rich and emerging economies including China vowed Friday to "spare no effort" at upcoming climate change talks in Mexico, a year after Beijing stymied a deal in Copenhagen.

"We will spare no effort to reach a balanced and successful outcome in Cancun," the Group of 20 said in a statement issued at the end of two days of talks in Seoul.

The vow came less than three weeks before 194 countries meet in the Mexican resort city of Cancun for a second go at hammering out an agreement to curb greenhouse gases after 2012, when the current arrangement expires.

The climate gathering will take place in the lingering shadow of last December's Copenhagen summit, which ended in near-fiasco, due in no large part, critics say, to Chinese reluctance to agree to binding commitments.

"Addressing the threat of global climate change is an urgent priority for all nations," the G20 statement said.

"We reiterate our commitment to take strong and action-oriented measures and remain fully dedicated to UN climate change negotiations."

Despite the promise in Friday's statement, China has routinely voiced reluctance to take the lead in curbing greenhouse gases, saying it is not to blame for the situation the world is in now.

"Developed countries have their historic responsibility over climate change," Sun Zhen, a top China climate change official said earlier this month in Hong Kong. "There is no reason not to deal with this primary concern."

China and the United States clashed at a UN climate gathering last month in the Chinese city of Tianjin, accusing each other of blocking progress ahead of the Cancun summit.

The United States wants China, the world's largest source of the greenhouse gases blamed for climate change, to commit to curbing carbon emissions and developing countries to agree to more scrutiny of their climate claims.

China has rejected pressure for outside verification, saying it was a US attempt to divert attention from the fact the United States has so far failed to get emissions-cut legislation through Congress.

This law now appears even less likely to get the green light following massive wins in this month's mid-term elections for Republicans, who are generally less welcoming of environmental constraints on business.

As the prospect of a path-breaking deal in Cancun has dimmed, efforts have moved towards more modest and incremental steps.

This has resulted in a focus on smaller goals -- deals on deforestation, progress on financing and technology transfer -- which were echoed in the G20 statement.

"We all are committed to achieving a successful, balanced result that includes the core issues of mitigation, transparency, finance, technology, adaptation, and forest preservation," the statement said.

The G20 members pledged to back sustainable development, enabling countries to "leapfrog old technologies in many sectors".

"We are committed to support country-led green growth policies that promote environmentally sustainable global growth along with employment creation while ensuring energy access for the poor," it said.

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