A damselfly that is the size of a pin head
from Life's Indulgences
Chek Jawa boardwalk during Hari Raya
from wonderful creation
Feeding Spotted Dove: 14. Papaya seeds
from Bird Ecology Study Group
Tiger Towns
from The Straits Times Blogs - Nirmal Ghosh
Hoe Yeen Nie Channel NewsAsia 22 Nov 10;
SINGAPORE: The return of the haze last month has prompted MPs to ask the government to do more to prevent another occurrence.
For several days in mid-October, Singapore was shrouded with the haze, which at one point reached the unhealthy level.
Speaking in Parliament on Monday, Environment Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said joint efforts with the Indonesian government have reduced the number of hotspots in Jambi and Riau.
Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo added that ASEAN ministers are also working together on the issue through a ministerial steering committee.
But some MPs pointed out that Indonesia has not yet ratified the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution.
MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC, Lee Bee Wah, said: "They're dragging their feet. Would the minister take this up to international organisations like WHO (World Health Organisation)?"
MP for Hougang, Low Thia Khiang, said: "Despite the efforts and the minister talking to his counterpart in Indonesia, it seems to me that the haze remains smoky and the situation doesn't improve."
Minister George Yeo said: "Diplomatically we certainly hope to be more successful, but there are limits to what we can do.
"It doesn't mean that (if) we make stronger speeches or internationalise the issue it will necessary help solve this problem.
"It is not just to give emotional satisfaction to our own sense of hurt and grievance.
"Important thing is to be effective and if we can be effective without commotion, all the better. If we need a commotion, we have a commotion. But the key is to be effective."
- CNA/ir
Singapore will continue to engage Indonesia to fight haze
Elgin Toh Straits Times 23 Nov 10;
SINGAPORE will continue to use all available channels to urge the Indonesian government to tackle the haze problem, Foreign Minister George Yeo and Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim assured Parliament yesterday.
Mr Yeo said Indonesia stood to gain the most from eradicating the haze. When the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) hits the unhealthy level of 100 here, parts of Indonesia would be experiencing far more hazardous levels of between 200 and 300. 'The most interested party in solving the haze problem is Indonesia itself, because millions of its own people are affected,' he said.
Last month, fires in Indonesia caused hazy conditions over Singapore, with the PSI climbing above 100 for the first time since 2006.
Dr Yaacob said the haze onset was short this year and its impact 'minimal'. But Singapore continued to engage Indonesia on the issue. Singapore offers firefighting assistance to Indonesia. It also works with regional countries through a Ministerial Steering Committee to monitor hot spots.
Mr Yeo said Singapore would raise the issue with international groups like the United Nations and the World Health Organisation when it is 'necessary and helpful' to do so.
Bilaterally, Singapore is in close collaboration with the central and provincial authorities in Indonesia. For example, programmes in Jambi province initiated by Singapore to fight fire and promote sustainable land-farming practices have kept the number of hot spots there low.
Yesterday, MPs quizzed the ministers on efforts to combat the haze. Ms Lee Bee Wah (Ang Mo Kio GRC) asked if the Indonesian government lacked political will to resolve the issue and was dragging its feet. Others noted that Indonesia remains the only Asean country that has not ratified the 2002 Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution.
Responding, Mr Yeo said Indonesia had made 'big efforts', citing an instance when it leased water bombers from Russia to fight fires. Its efforts paid off, with the past few years haze-free. This year's haze was brought on by burning to clear land, exacerbated by a dry spell resulting from the El Nino warm weather effect.
On the 2002 Asean Agreement, Mr Yeo said the Indonesian government had signed the document, but the House of Representatives (DPR) - which 'has got a life and voice of its own' - has not ratified it.
Opposition MP Low Thia Khiang (Hougang) asked if the recurrence of the haze was a 'diplomatic failure on the part of Singapore and Asean'. Mr Yeo acknowledged that 'diplomatically we certainly hope to be more successful, but there are limits to what we're able to do'.
Madam Ho Geok Choo (West Coast GRC) suggested seeding clouds to make rain, but Dr Yaacob said studies showed this was ineffective. He also dismissed with a 'flat no' her call for utilities rebates for Singaporeans who stayed indoors to avoid the haze and ran up higher bills using the fan or air-conditioner.
There are limits to what Singapore can do about haze: George Yeo
Ong Dai Lin Today Online 23 Nov 10;
SINGAPORE - Despite talks over the years to get Indonesia to stop the haze, the problem still persists. Does this reflect a diplomatic failure on the part of Singapore or Asean, asked Workers' Party chief Low Thia Khiang in Parliament yesterday.
Foreign Minister George Yeo replied that while Singapore hopes that diplomatic efforts are more successful, there are limits to what Singapore can do.
"It doesn't mean if we make stronger speeches or internationalise the issue, that will necessarily help solve this problem," he added.
The haze problem is complex and is likely to come back from time to time depending on the climate. Mr Yeo said a multi-pronged approach to help Indonesia at the international, regional and corporate level should be taken.
When asked by MP Lee Bee Wah if Singapore can take the issue to international organisations, Mr Yeo said: "It is not just to give emotional satisfaction to our own sense of hurt and grievance ... If we can be effective without commotion, all the better. But if we need a commotion, well, we'll have a commotion.
"But the key is to be effective. We try very hard at all levels to do all we can."
Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim reiterated the work that Singapore has done to help Indonesia combat the haze.
For instance, Singapore has collaborated with Indonesia's Jambi province to implement initiatives such as haze monitoring, assessing fire-fighting capabilities, as well as capacity building on sustainable land-farming practices.
The number of hot spots in Jambi has been low and Dr Yaacob said it is important to replicate the experience gained there with other local governments in Indonesia.
As the current chair of the Sub-regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution, Singapore will work more closely with regional countries to put in place more measures to prevent land and forest fires.
"This will avert the need for huge resources required by affected countries to tackle the problems after trans-boundary haze occurs," said Dr Yaacob.
Vague legal definitions may allow Indonesia to class forests as 'degraded' and 'rehabilitate' the land with palm trees and biofuel crops
John Vidal, The Guardian 23 Nov 10;
Indonesia plans to class large areas of its remaining natural forests as "degraded" land in order to cut them down and receive nearly $1bn of climate aid for replanting them with palm trees and biofuel crops, according to Greenpeace International.
According to internal government documents from the forestry, agriculture and energy departments in Jakarta, the areas of land earmarked for industrial plantation expansion in the next 20 years include 37m ha of existing natural forest – 50% of the country's orangutan habitat and 80% of its carbon-rich peatland. More than 60m ha – an area nearly five times the size of England – could be converted to palm oil and biofuel production in the next 20 years, say the papers.
"The land is roughly equivalent to all the currently undeveloped land in Indonesia," says the report. "The government plans for a trebling of pulp and paper production by 2015 and a doubling of palm oil production by 2020."
The result, says the environmental group in a report released in Jakarta today, would be to massively expand Indonesia's palm, paper and biofuel industries in the name of "rehabilitating" land, while at the same time allowing its powerful forestry industry to carry on business as usual and to collect international carbon funds.
"[Money] earmarked for forest protection may actually be used to subsidise their destruction with significant climate, wildlife and social costs," said the report.
The report comes at a critical time in global climate talks, due to resume next week in Cancun, Mexico. Forestry and peatland contribute nearly 18% of all global carbon emissions and Indonesia is negotiating a model $1bn forestry deal with Norway and the US. This could save millions of tonnes of climate emissions in return for Indonesia agreeing to a moratorium on future forest and peatland clearances.
But weak legal definitions of "forest" and "degraded land", have allowed the global logging industry and officials in some governments to take advantage of an ambitious UN forest-reform scheme known as Redd (Reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation). This would pay countries to replant trees and restore land. Indonesia has pledged drastic action to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26% on its own and 42% with international climate aid. If it agrees to a binding deal to limit deforestation, says Greenpeace, this would send a powerful message to other forested countries.
"A strong deal to prevent the destruction of natural forests and peatlands would put the troubled climate talks back on track. But if international money intended to support the protection of forests and peatland is allowed to enable their destruction, any confidence in the UN talks is expected to dissolve," said a Greenpeace spokeswoman.
The Indonesian and Norwegian governments last night declined to respond until they had seen the report.
Indonesia's billion-dollar forest deal in danger
Arlina Arshad Yahoo News 23 Nov 10;
JAKARTA (AFP) – Greenpeace on Tuesday warned that a billion-dollar deal between Norway and Indonesia to cut carbon emissions from deforestation is in danger of being hijacked by timber and oil palm companies.
The environmental group said "notorious industrial rainforest destroyers" such as palm oil and pulp producers intended to manipulate the funds to subsidise further conversion of natural forests to plantations.
The allegations came in a new Greenpeace report called "REDD Alert: Protection Money", expressing doubts about Indonesia's plans to use a UN-backed scheme to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD).
It said Indonesia's greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction proposals "may create perverse incentives to clear forests and peatlands, create opportunities for corruption... and actually drive an increase in GHG emissions".
Under a REDD scheme announced in May, Norway has agreed to contribute up to a billion dollars to help preserve Indonesia's forests, partly through a two-year moratorium on new clearing of natural forests and peatlands from 2011.
Indonesia is the world's third biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, due mainly to rampant deforestation by the palm oil and paper industries, fuelled by corruption.
"Expansion plans show that these sectors intend to utilise the Indonesian government?s ambiguous definitions of forests and degraded land to hijack the funds and use them to subsidise ongoing conversion of natural forests to plantations," the group said in a statement.
The industries' current expansion plans -- which have support within some government ministries -- seek to treble pulp and paper production by 2025 and double palm oil production by 2020, the report said.
"This expansion, coupled with weak definitions for degraded land in Indonesia, could see REDD funds which are designed to support protection of Indonesia?s forests and peatlands actually being used to support their destruction," it added.
The areas earmarked included 40 percent of Indonesia's remaining natural forest -- an area the size of Norway and Denmark combined.
It also risked up to 80 percent of the country's remaining peatland -- which stores massive amounts of carbon -- and nearly 50 percent of the remaining forested orangutan habitat in Kalimantan, on Borneo island.
The forest and peatland carbon at risk amounted to four years? worth of global greenhouse emissions, the report said.
Greenpeace applauded Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's "progressive vision" on the need to cut emissions of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
But Greenpeace Southeast Asia forest campaigner Bustar Maitar said his plans were being "systematically undermined by the influence of the palm oil and pulp and paper industry".
With increased focus on productivity and higher yields, the palm and paper industry could reach its production targets without further deforestation, he added.
The report also criticised Indonesia for bundling plantation activity up with REDD-funded schemes to "rehabilitate" degraded or "idle" land, leading to forest replacement.
"Consequently, international REDD funds earmarked for forest protection may actually be used to subsidise their destruction, with significant climate, wildlife and social costs," it said.
AFP was unable to reach the Forestry Ministry for comment.
Protecting native flora and fauna
Tan Cheng Li The Star 23 Nov 10;
Botanists are mapping the health of our native plants and the results so far are grim.
THE Shorea kuantanensis is no more. All that remains of it is a couple of faded, dried leaves and buds, taped to a piece of cardboard and stored in one of thousands of boxes filling the shelves of the vast Kepong Herbarium at the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM).
We will never know how high the tree grows. Or the shade of green of its leaves. Or the colour of its blooms. We can only guess how its seedlings look like. The species was lost to science and mankind after the only area where it grew, the Bukit Goh forest reserve near Kuantan, Pahang, was cleared and planted over with oil palm.
Three other Peninsular Malaysia plants share the same fate as S. kuantanensis. The fern Oreogrammitis crispatula has not been seen in Bukit Larut, Perak, since 1952. Its cousin, Oreogrammitis kunstleri, was last collected from Gunung Ledang, Johor, in 1880. The Begonia eromischa disappeared after its forest home in Penang was turned into a farm.
Now, we only know all these four plants from pressed specimens in the herbarium. With over half of Peninsular Malaysia’s original forests now replaced by townships, industrial sites, farms and estates, our wild native flora has certainly taken a beating.
The latest stock-take of our plant kingdom shows just how bad things are: of the 580 species and subspecies looked at so far, almost half face some degree of threat. The results are merely scratching the surface. With over 7,700 species left to study, more grim news might come.
The data is the culmination of the first five years of project Safeguarding the Plant Diversity of Peninsular Malaysia, undertaken by FRIM to update knowledge on our flora. It is our most ambitious project on plant biodiversity to date, and marks our first attempt to document, in detail, how our plants are faring in the wild.
“Previous work had only looked at the description and distribution of species. This project goes one step further to include their conservation status (such as whether the species is endangered),” says botanist Dr Saw Leng Guan, who heads the project. Saw is director of the Tropical Forest Biodiversity Centre at FRIM.
The effort is much needed as there are gaps in our understanding of native plants. Although Peninsular Malaysia has a long history of botanical collection, with naturalists and botanists gathering and documenting plant specimens since the 1800s, much of the information has not been updated for years.
Our earliest floristic account was the six-volume The Flora Of The Malay Peninsula by Henry Ridley, published between 1922 and 1925. Over the years, attempts to revise the knowledge have been scattered, limited or confined to plant families of economic importance (such as timber trees) or of personal interest to scientists (such as ferns, orchids and begonias). As such, we have plant groups, such as lianas, which have not been reviewed since Ridley’s time.
The FRIM project has so far resulted in three publications, with more to come: two volumes of Flora Of Peninsular Malaysia (one on seed plants and one on ferns and leucophytes) and one volume of the Malaysian Plant Red List (on dipterocarp trees). The Flora Of Peninsular Malaysia compilations contain the most up-to-date information on 580 species, covering taxonomic descriptions, botanical drawings, distributions, ecology, and conservation status.
The updated information will provide baseline information that is essential for the management and conservation of Peninsular Malaysia’s botanical treasure trove. Aside from the four extinct species, FRIM researchers documented 262 species (45.2%) as threatened, out of which 79 are critically endangered, 88 are endangered and 95, vulnerable. They found that restricted and declining distribution, due to loss of natural habitats, is the greatest threat to plants. A reduction in population size and small numbers of mature individuals are the other causes.
The Malaysian Plant Red List is a brief version of the Flora as its focus is on the conservation status of plants. The first volume focuses on dipterocarpaceae, an important timber group and the dominant family in lowland forests. Aside from the extinct S. kuantanensis, the Red List revealed 15 dipterocarps to be critically endangered and 35, endangered. Of the critically endangered species, six are peninsula endemics.
“Dipterocarps are the skeleton of the forest from where other plants grow. They form the canopy of the forest and if removed, other plantlife will be affected. By doing this (the Red List), we will know the response of the forest to threats,” says Saw.
Plant scrutiny
To revise the scientific knowledge on our plants, the researchers start by first vetting the 300,000 dried specimens – some dating back 100 years, and the oldest one is dated 1819! – in the Kepong Herbarium. From there, the distributions of the species are plotted on a map and then collated with the extent of forest cover; this narrows down the range of plants in our present day.
If the habitat of a species is gone, that species is likely to be gone, too. From there, the researchers determine the level of threat faced by the species, whether critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable, based on the criteria of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Cross-referencing is done with collections and information from herbariums in Sabah, Sarawak, Singapore and the Netherlands, as well as with agencies such as the Forestry Department.
“It is impossible to go to the ground to look for all the plants as this will take too long. But for some 40 highly endangered plants, including the rare ones and those feared to be extinct, we went out to the field to do population counts,” says Saw.
In their pursuit to document local flora, the researchers found both good and bad news. One good news is the discovery of Dryobalanops beccarii in Peninsular Malaysia. The plant was previously found only in Borneo. The bad news is that one population of the critically endangered Vatica yeechongii in Setul forest reserve in Negri Sembilan has been wiped out by building construction. The only other population of the species, described only in 2002, in Sungai Lalang forest reserve in Selangor, is safe – but it has all of 10 trees.
“We have lost much of our forests, so the range of distribution for most species has declined. That’s why we have such a high number of threatened species,” explains Saw.
Malaysia has 15,000 plants species; Peninsular Malaysia hosts 8,300 species while Sabah and Sarawak, 12,000.
Saw estimates that revising all of the species found in the peninsula will take at least 20 years. The Flora Of Peninsular Malaysia features two series to cover all our plants. Series I, on Ferns and Lycophytes, will have another four to five volumes. Series II is on Seed Plants and 20 volumes are expected. Future publications of the Malaysian Plant Red List will be on begonias and palms.
To accomplish all this, funds are sorely needed. The initial RM7mil provided by the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry covered only the first phase from 2005 to 2010. Saw says funding for botanical inventories usually comes up short despite the importance of such research. “By identifying what species are threatened, we can then do something about it. Very often, we act in ignorance. People do not have the right information to make the right decisions. The key is generating the data to give the right information.”
He cites the example of Hopea subalata or merawan kanching, an endemic that grows only in Kanching forest reserve in Selayang, Selangor. When FRIM botanists heard that a new road, the Rawang bypass, would cut through the only known site where the trees grow, they immediately appealed to the Forestry Department and the state government. The road was subsequently realigned.
In a similar case, the Forestry Department set aside 63ha within Jerangau forest reserve in Terengganu as a “genetic resource area”, protecting it from loggers, after the critically endangered Dipterocarpus sarawakensis (keruing layang) was found there. This may well be the last population of the species in Peninsular Malaysia as the other population in Sungai Dadong could no longer be located.
Yet another positive conservation example is that of the critically endangered Dipterocarpus semivestitus (keruing padi). Historical records show that the species grows only in two places: central Kalimantan and Perak. The species was feared to be all but lost as the sites in Perak, in the freshwater swamps of Parit, Sungai Rotan and Sungai Tinggi, have been taken over by tin mining.
In 2006, a FRIM researcher found D. semivestitus in a patch of freshwater swamp in the Universiti Teknologi Mara campus in Seri Iskandar, Perak. Unfortunately, the site was to be cleared for new buildings. After consultation, the university authorities agreed to make changes to their expansion plans. Although some trees were sacrificed, 53 stands remain. FRIM is working with the university to preserve the swamp as the trees survive on fluctuations of the water table.
“This is likely the last population of D. semivestitus in the world as the central Kalimantan population is most likely gone as the area has been planted with oil palm. So it is fortunate that the university was responsive to our suggestions,” says Saw.
But there is also bad news. The limestone hill where the endangered begonia Senyumia minutiflora grows is earmarked for quarrying by YTL Cement. The hyper-endemic species is restricted to the two adjacent limestone hills of Gunung Senyum and Gunung Jebak Puyuh in Pahang. Only 60 plants have been seen so far. Saw says several letters appealing for conservation of the plant drew no response from YTL and the state government.
Protection plan
To best protect threatened plants, Saw says we need to pinpoint important plant areas (IPAs), which are sites rich in plant diversity and endemic species, and protect them. IPAs for dipterocarps and palms include the Kledang Saiong Range in Perak, north-west Negri Sembilan-East Selangor, Terengganu, as well as central and east Johor.
It is high time the Government provided legal protection for our plants. Right now, plants are not shielded under any legislation. Only those that happen to grow in protected areas such as state or national parks or wildlife reserves, are safeguarded.
“Critically endangered species should be listed in an Act and automatically protected. With such a legal instrument, if an endangered species is found, the land owner or developer will be required by law to protect it. Now, protection is just based on goodwill.”
We also need to move into species recovery and restoration of the most threatened species. Conservation actions include monitoring the populations to determine their health; developing conservation measures to remove the threats; initiating protection and recovery programmes; and initiating ex-situ conservation programmes to aid recovery (such as artificial breeding and genetic conservation).
“The Government has to take more serious action to protect our species. Once a plant is extinct, it’s gone forever. There’s no going back,” stresses Saw.
The Star 23 Nov 10;
KOTA KINABALU: An international team of marine biologists will be assessing the biodiversity and health of coral reefs in waters off Semporna, which is a priority conservation area.
WWF Malaysia said the 20-day expedition, which begins on Nov 29, was jointly organised with Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Universiti Malaya and the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity Naturalis.
Members of the expedition include Netherlands’ Dr Bert Hoeksema who is the team leader, and UM’s Affendi Yang Amri, the coral reef status leader.
The team would also help to enhance conservation and outreach efforts through better understanding of the ecosystem.
The area is recognised as a Globally Outstanding Priority Conservation Area within the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Eco-region in the Coral Triangle, the world’s centre for marine biodiversity.
“Semporna is unusual because of its rich mix of five major reef types. Such areas usually have high levels of biodiversity because of the mix of habitat types and ecosystems,” said WWF Malaysia in a statement here yesterday.
It said there were also strong indications that the Malaysian Semporna area, together with the Indonesian Berau region, shared some rare and unique species.
“A modified reef check methodology and reef profiling will be used at each site in order to take a ‘snapshot’ of the reefs’ health,” it said.
Preliminary results of the expedition will be announced in Kota Kinabalu on Dec 20.
Survey to assess biodiversity richness in Semporna
WWF 22 Nov 10;
Kota Kinabalu: From 29 November until 19 December 2010, an international team of marine biologists from Malaysia, the Netherlands and the USA will be on an expedition organized by the WWF-Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Universiti Malaya (UM) and the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity (NCB) Naturalis.
This Semporna Marine Ecological Expedition (SMEE) will assess marine biodiversity and coral reef health in Semporna Priority Conservation Area, recognized as a Globally Outstanding Priority Conservation Area within the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion, at the apex of the Coral Triangle – the world’s centre of marine biodiversity.
Semporna is unusual because of its rich mix of reef types, representing 5 major geomorphological reef types. Such areas usually have high levels of biodiversity because of the mix of habitat types and ecosystems. There are also strong indications that that the Malaysian Semporna area, together with the Indonesian Berau region, share some rare and unique species.
The survey is based on comparable methodologies that have been used in many areas of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Solomon Islands since 1998. There are only very few examples of similar studies being done previously in Malaysia. There is a need to document the coral and fish richness of all of Malaysia’s reefs to clarify the relationship with the existing definition of the Coral Triangle.
The overall objectives of the expedition are threefold: First, to assess the coral reef biodiversity; second, to assess the coral reef status and reef population health; and, third, to enhance conservation and outreach efforts through better understanding of the marine ecosystems of Semporna. A modified Reef Check methodology and reef profiling will be used at each site for two depths, in order to take a “snapshot” of the reef health.
Jointly leading the expedition are Dr. Bert Hoeksema of NCB Naturalis, Leader of the Biodiversity Team, and Affendi Yang Amri of UM, Leader of the Coral Reef Status Team. Other expedition participants include marine scientists from USA, UMS, and other researchers from the Netherlands, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) and Sabah Parks.
Follow the expedition blog, where the expedition members will update their daily work and share new findings, as well as their stunning images and short videos. Visit: www.ncbnaturalis.nl
The preliminary results of the expedition will be announced at a press conference in Kota Kinabalu on 20 December 2010.
The Semporna Marine Ecological Expedition is made possible in part by funding from Adessium Foundation.
Editor’s note:
* WWF-Malaysia’s Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion Programme in Semporna PCA is currently implementing a project to facilitate collaborative management of fisheries and marine resources among stakeholders, which include government agencies, district office, private sectors, tour/dive operators and local communities. WWF’s Semporna PCA Team works with these partners to manage coral reefs and adjacent ecosystems in a sustainable way to protect biodiversity. Economic activities such as tourism, reef fisheries and aquaculture can continue to provide livelihood and income for many people and sectors of society.
* The Semporna Priority Conservation Area (PCA) is one of three Globally Significant PCAs in Malaysia within the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion (SSME). It is has Malaysia’s largest concentration of coral reefs linked to complex habitats including mangroves, seagrass beds, and is home to 400 species of hard corals, 650 species of fish, endangered green and hawksbill turtles and contain migratory routes for whale sharks and manta rays. The SSME is located at the apex of the Coral Triangle.
* The Coral Triangle—the nursery of the seas—is the most diverse marine region on the planet, matched in its importance to life on Earth only by the Amazon rainforest and the Congo basin. Defined by marine areas containing more than 500 species of reef-building coral, it covers around 6 million square kilometres of ocean across six countries in the Indo-Pacific – Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste. For information go to: www.panda.org/coraltriangle
Study on Semporna marine life
The Star 25 Nov 10;
AN INTERNATIONAL team of marine biologists from Malaysia, the Netherlands and the United States will be on an expedition to assess the rich biodiversity of marine life off Semporna in Sabah from Nov 29 to Dec 19.
This Semporna Marine Ecological Expedition (SMEE) will assess marine biodiversity and coral reef health in the Semporna Priority Conservation Area, which is recognised as a globally outstanding area in the Sulu-Sulawesi marine eco-region.
Organised by the World Wildlife Fund-Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Universiti Malaya (UM) and the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity (NCB) Naturalis, the expedition’s objectives are to assess the reef’s biodiversity, status and population health.
It will enhance conservation and outreach efforts through better understanding of Semporna’s marine ecosystem.
A modified reef-check method and reef profiling will be used at two depths to take “snapshots” of the reef’s health.
Jointly heading the expedition are Dr Bert Hoeksema of NCB Naturalis, who will lead the biodiversity team, and Affendi Yang Amri of UM, who will lead the coral reef status team.
Semporna is unusual because of its rich mix of reef types representing five major geomorphological types.
Such areas have high levels of biodiversity because of a mix of habitat types and ecosystems.
There are strong indications that the Semporna area and the Berau region in Indonesia share some rare and unique species.
The expedition is based on methods used in other areas off Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Solomon Islands since 1998.
There are a few examples of similar studies done previously in Malaysia.
The expedition can be followed on the blog at www.ncbnaturalis.nl, where the expedition members will give updates on their daily work and share findings through images and short videos.
Results from the expedition will be announced at a press conference in Kota Kinabalu on Dec 20.
SMEE is made possible by funding from Adessium Foundation.
Experts assess richness of Malaysian coral reefs
WWF 28 Nov 10;
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia: An international team of marine biologists has started a 20-day expedition to assess the health of the marine environment in part of the Coral Triangle, the world’s centre of marine biodiversity.
Experts from Malaysia, the Netherlands and the United States will participate in the Semporna Marine Ecological Expedition (SMEE) from 29 November to 19 December 2010 within the Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion in the waters off Semporna, Malaysia, a global priority conservation area.
The expedition can be followed on the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity (NCB) website, www.ncbnaturalis.nl. Real time updates on new findings as well as images and short videos will be posted until preliminary expedition results are announced at a press conference in Kota Kinabalu on 20 December.
According to WWF, there is an immediate need to document the amount of coral and fish diversity in all of Malaysia’s reefs to clarify how they function within the Coral Triangle region, which extends across the tropical marine waters of Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste.
Similar studies have been conducted across the territorial waters of many of the nations located in the Coral Triangle region, yet few have looked at Malaysia’s 7680km2 Semporna Priority Conservation Area.
Semporna is unusual because of its rich mix of reefs, representing 5 major reef types. This unique blend of habitat types and ecosystems means that many rare species are found in the area, some of which also inhabit Indonesia’s nearby Berau region.
The expedition will assess the health of Semporna’s marine environment by examining its fish, coral and invertebrate populations with a modified version of the internationally standardized Reef Check methodology. This includes profiling at two different depths to take a “snapshot” of overall reef health and looking for the best ways to enhance conservation and outreach efforts to better protect Semporna’s rich marine resources.
WWF-Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), Universiti Malaya (UM) and the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity (NCB) Naturalis have organized the event
Jointly leading the expedition are Dr. Bert Hoeksema of NCB Naturalis, Leader of the Biodiversity Team, and Affendi Yang Amri of UM, Leader of the Coral Reef Status Team. Other participants include US-based marine scientists from Old Dominion University, UMS, as well as other researchers from the Netherlands, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) and Sabah Parks.
The Semporna Marine Ecological Expedition is made possible in part by funding from Adessium Foundation.
Erik Olsen The New York Times 22 Nov 10;
KEY WEST, Fla. — Crawling through turquoise murk on the ocean floor near Tea Table Key, Rob Pillus glances at a half dozen lobsters that twirl their antennae in the fast-moving current. Mr. Pillus, an avid spear fisherman, would normally stuff the crustaceans into his mesh bag for dinner, but today he is after more exotic quarry: an invasive species called the lionfish that threatens to wreak havoc on this ecologically sensitive marine system.
Within a few minutes Mr. Pillus spots a lionfish and its extravagant zebra-striped fins on a bridge pylon. He steadies his homemade spear and skewers the fish, slicing off its venomous fins before putting it in his bag. He gives an enthusiastic thumbs-up and keeps moving.
Later, on the deck of his 28-foot motorboat, Mr. Pillus turns his bounty of five lionfish over to his teammate, Mike Dugan, who puts them on ice.
“Jackpot, fellas,” exclaims Mr. Pillus.
Mr. Pillus is team captain of the Lion Hunters, one of 18 groups of divers armed with nets or sharp spears who are here to compete in the final stage of a newly created lionfish derby in the Florida Keys.
Derbies like this are one way that officials and scientists are seeking to bring attention to the potential damage caused by this voracious, rapidly breeding fish and to control its spread, which in the Florida Keys has been so quick that wildlife managers are having a hard time adapting. The first fish wasn’t discovered until January 2009, when a single female was found and immediately removed by scientists from a reef in Key Largo. Now the lionfish is plentiful enough to have multiple derbies.
“We’re terrified,” says Dave Walton, site manager of Dry Tortugas National Park, a group of islands and an ecological reserve 60 miles west of Key West, where lionfish first appeared in September 2009.
If the lionfish’s impact on other parts of the Caribbean is any guide, Mr. Walton and others in the region are right to be concerned. It is a formidable predator that can devastate fish populations wherever it feeds. Researchers here examined more than 1,000 lionfish stomachs and found more than 50 species of prey fish inside, including juveniles of commercially important grouper and snapper. The fish also eat juvenile parrotfish, which graze on algae and keep it from overgrowing and killing corals.
“What we do know is what we can see in areas like the Bahamas where you go to a particular reef and all you can see is lionfish,” says Sean Morton, superintendent of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, a 3,900-square-mile park stretching from Biscayne Bay to Dry Tortugas National Park.
If the reef system here is depleted of other fish species because of the lionfish’s appetite, the impact could be devastating to the region’s economy, which relies heavily on commercial fishing and recreational diving. Bob Holston, the owner of Dive Key West, a local dive shop, says the potential threat could spell doom for his business.
“Imagine going into Yellowstone and not being able to see any birds, any bears, any deer or whatever — you would just be looking at trees,” he said.
A native of the Indo-Pacific Ocean and the Red Sea, the lionfish has no known predators. It is believed to have been released by aquarists sometime in the 1990s and has since spread up the East Coast to North Carolina and through the Caribbean.
Scientists say the fish can produce 30,000 eggs in a single spawning event, and can spawn as frequently as every four days. “That means we’re looking at annual output of two million eggs per female,” says Lad Akins, a research diver and the director of operations with the Reef Environmental Education Foundation, or Reef.
Scientists and policy makers are at a loss as to how to eradicate the fish, a goal that a 2003 report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says is “nearly impossible.” The only hope, say officials, is some form of local control.
Which is where the derbies come in. On Nov. 13, 18 teams competed from sunrise to sundown to kill as many fish as they could with hopes of sharing $3,350 in prize money.
“We’re taking a part in the battle,” says Robert Hickerson, the captain of Team Frapper, a group of four divers from Vero Beach. Mr. Hickerson says he dives as often as twice a week. His “kill count” is a source of pride. “I’ve killed over a hundred of them. I try to kill them even when I’m on vacation.”
While lionfish numbers are growing, the fish can be elusive. Despite the best efforts of the 18 teams in the Lower Keys derby, only 109 fish were killed, adding to the 550 lionfish killed in the two previous contests in Key Largo in September and Marathon in October.
One potential solution is to promote the fish as food for another voracious predator: man. Lionfish are considered excellent eating. Indeed, after the lionfish derby here, participants feasted on fried lionfish nuggets.
“They taste a lot like hogfish,” says Mr. Dugan of the Lion Hunters. “They’re really good.”
Marlowe Hood Yahoo News 22 Nov 10;
PARIS (AFP) – At least 1.3 million sharks, many listed as endangered, were harvested from the Atlantic in 2008 by industrial-scale fisheries unhampered by catch or size limits, according to a tally released Monday.
The actual figure may be several fold higher due to under-reporting, said the study, released by advocacy group Oceana on the sidelines of a meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).
Convening in Paris through November 27, the 48-member ICCAT is charged with ensuring that commercial fisheries are sustainable. It has the authority to set catch quotas and restrictions.
While the global spotlight has been trained on the plight of Atlantic bluefin tuna, many species of high-value sharks are in even more dire straits, say marine biologists.
"Sharks are virtually unmanaged at the international level," said Elizabeth Griffin Wilson of Oceana. "ICCAT has a responsibility to protect our oceans' top predators."
Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, "highly migratory" sharks must be managed by international bodies.
Of the 21 species found in the Atlantic, three-quarters are classified as threatened with extinction.
North Atlantic populations of the oceanic white tip, for example, have declined by 70 percent, and hammerheads by more than 99 percent, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Other species -- including the porbeagle, common thresher and shortfin mako -- have also been overexploited, and may be teetering on the brink of viability.
Many are fished for their fins -- prized as a delicacy in Chinese cuisine -- and then tossed, dead or dying, back into the sea once the choice morsels have been sliced off.
The practice is prohibited, but loopholes in the regulation have allowed the ban to be widely ignored.
Oceana and several conservation groups, backed by some governments, have called upon ICCAT to set catch quotas and other protective measures for these and other vulnerable sharks.
The United States has proposed requiring that all sharks be brought back to shore whole, which would boost enforcement of the finning ban and help scientists measure population levels.
Japan -- which quashed a drive earlier this year to protect four threatened shark species under the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) -- is now urging ICCAT to prohibit fishing one of them, the oceanic white tip.
The initiative "is an example showing our commitment for conservation of shark resources," the head of the Japanese delegation said in an opening statement.
Sharks have reigned at the top of the ocean food chain for hundreds of millions of years.
But the consummate predators are especially vulnerable to industrial-scale overfishing because they mature slowly and produce few offspring.
"The classic fisheries management approach of 'fishing down' a given population to its so-called maximum sustainable yield, and then assuming it can recover, does not work for sharks," said Matt Rand, a shark expert at the Washington-based Pew Environment Group.
Tens of millions of the open-water hunters are extracted from global seas every year.
Regional studies have shown that when shark populations crash the impact cascades down through the food chain, often in unpredictable and deleterious ways.
Experts demand better protection for sharks
Angela Doland, Associated Press Yahoo News 22 Nov 10;
PARIS – With their pointy teeth and fearsome reputations, sharks may not be the best poster child for species in danger, but environmentalists say the predators are in dire need of protection.
Marine experts and conservation groups hope an Atlantic conservation conference in Paris this week will bolster what they say are disastrously inadequate rules on shark capture.
"There are shark populations that have declined by 99 percent, so it's a real severe situation, and there are virtually no protections at an international level," said Elizabeth Griffin Wilson, a marine wildlife scientist at conservation group Oceana.
Oceana wants delegates to toughen the existing ban on shark-finning — the practice of slashing prized fins off the animals and tossing them overboard to die — as well as prohibiting the capture of some threatened Atlantic sharks and setting catch limits for others.
Right now, only one shark species is under international protection in the Atlantic — the bigeye thresher — and there are no catch limits on others, it said in a report released Monday.
Elaborate international fishing regulations and quotas govern other types of fish, such as tuna, the main focus of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), meeting this week through Saturday in Paris.
Sharks have historically been an afterthought in the fishing industry. ICCAT deals with highly migratory sharks because they are often an accidental catch for tuna fishermen.
Conservation groups say the rise of Asia's middle class, combined with the continent's penchant for pricey shark fin soup, a traditional delicacy, has turned sharks into a lucrative target.
"It's time the world looks at sharks and starts to set serious measures to save them, otherwise these creatures that have been around since before the time of the dinosaur will quickly go the way of the dinosaur," said Matt Rand, director for global shark conservation at the Pew Environment Group.
More than 1.3 million highly migratory sharks were caught in the Atlantic in 2008, the year with the most recent data, Oceana calculated based on figures from ICCAT. Even then, Oceana believes the figure is a "gross underestimate" because 11 out of ICCAT's 48 member countries didn't report any shark catches at all in 2008.
"If you took those sharks and lined them up, they would stretch from Washington D.C. to Los Angeles, and that's just (in) one year," said Oceana's Wilson.
Oceana said 21 of the world's 72 highly migratory shark species were reported caught in the Atlantic in 2008. It said three-fourths of those 21 species are designated as threatened with extinction in parts of the Atlantic by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Oceana, Pew Environment Group and others say the existing ban against shark-finning in the Atlantic has too many loopholes, and fishermen should be required to bring sharks back to shore without their fins severed.
Fishermen now are allowed to slice off the fins before they bring the sharks ashore as long as they don't throw the bodies overboard. That makes fraud easier to commit, since it's harder for inspectors to make sure no bodies have been thrown out to sea, environmentalists say.
While ICCAT and other regional commissions regulate fishing, trade bans are handled by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES.
Environmentalists were sorely disappointed by a CITES meeting in March, where six species of sharks failed to get protection despite studies showing their numbers had fallen by up to 85 percent because of the booming fin trade.
Nizam Ahmed PlanetArk 22 Nov 10;
Bangladesh has approved a law that sets jail terms of up to 12 years for deliberately killing tigers and other wild animals endangered in the South Asian country, officials said on Saturday.
A recent cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina also agreed to provide reparations to the families of victims killed or maimed by the animals that range between 100,000 taka ($1,415) and 50,000 taka.
Each family will also get 25,000 taka as compensation if wild animals destroy assets such as houses and crops.
"The cabinet approved jail terms from two years to 12 years for killing endangered snakes and animals including tigers," Hasina's press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told Reuters.
The minimum jail term will be two years for killing pythons and crocodiles and a maximum of 12 years for killing tigers and elephants, Azad said.
Hasina will attend a conference on tigers in St. Petersburg, Russia, from Monday to discuss ways and means to protect the animals, officials said.
Bangladesh's southwestern mangrove forests, called Sundarbans and which also stretch across the border with India, are currently home to just 400 tigers and its southeastern Chittagong Hill Tracts have 300 elephants. Many animals are killed in conflicts with humans, who are increasingly encroaching on their habitat, forest officials said.
At least 80 people, and some 15 tigers, have been killed in last five years across Bangladesh-controlled areas of the Sundarbans, which are dotted with hundreds of small islands and criss-crossed by rivers.
Some 60 percent of the 10,000 square km (3,900 square mile) Sundarbans lies in Bangladesh and the rest in India's eastern state of West Bengal.
On average, nearly 20 people are killed every year by wild elephants in Bangladesh's southeastern forests region bordering Myanmar and eastern India.
The elephants often stray in to villages in search of food and then go on a rampage when confronted by villagers, forest officials said.
At least a third of the 60,000 families who live in Bangladesh's Sundarbans live off the mangrove forest, putting them in direct conflict with its animals. The families collect honey, venture deep into the forest for fish and other aquatic life and also collect timber and straw, with our without permits from the forestry department.
One of the world's most densely populated nations, Bangladesh has forest cover of only 17.5 percent.
(Editing by Miral Fahmy)
Olga Nedbayeva Yahoo News 22 Nov 10;
SAINT PETERSBURG (AFP) – Ancient Chinese traditions of using products derived from tigers for medicine are encouraging poaching and threatening the Amur tiger which lives in Russia and China, experts said.
The problem will be among those addressed during a summit this week in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg bringing together leaders from 13 countries where tigers live in the wild, including Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao.
The demand for such products in China "is one of the main threats weighing on the Amur tiger," said Alexei Vaisman, coordinator of the World Wildlife Fund's TRAFFIC programme in Russia.
In a study conducted in Chinese cities in 2007, 43 percent of those polled said they consumed products derived from tigers, including traditional medicines made from tiger bones, which in 1993 were officially removed from the traditional Chinese medicine pharmacopeia.
Eighty-eight percent of those asked said they nonetheless knew the products were illegal.
Grace Ge Gabriel, regional director for Asia at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), is spearheading a campaign against the use of products derived from tigers in China and said efforts are being focused on youth.
"We are showing a video in universities... If you talk to real Chinese professionals today most of them say they don't use tiger products any more. The idea is still engrained in older people, so we hope to educate the younger people so they can influence the older people."
Vaisman said another problem is that China lacks "adequate controls on internal trafficking."
"Patients believe in the virtues of these medicines and this faith accounts for 80 percent of their success. This influences authorities and the medicines are still sold," he said.
This encourages poachers, mainly in Russia's Far East where most of the world's 450-500 Amur tigers live. China accounts for only 40-50 Amur tigers in the wild.
"Russia and China have a long border together, most of the tigers live in Russia and it's very important to protect that border," Ge Gabriel said.
"We believe most of the poachers are Russians. There is a motive, it is for trade.... If we stop the trade, we stop the poaching," she said.
The two countries have agreements to cooperate to prevent trafficking and Russian customs agents have been specially trained to deal with the problem, "but there is corruption on the border," Vaisman said.
Another problem that needs to be addressed is the linking of tiger habitats on both sides of the Chinese-Russian border, Ge Gabriel said, because "tigers of course don't travel with a passport."
"Tigers need large areas, 250 square kilometres (100 square miles) of space for one tiger to find enough food to survive. The border regions need to be connected," she said.
Such efforts have begun, Russian Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev said during the summit, and Russia and China are "in the process of creating trans-border zones to stabilise the tiger population in Russia and increase it in China."
The summit, the first such meeting to bring together leaders from countries with tigers, is aimed saving the tiger from extinction and doubling the big cat's numbers by the next Year of the Tiger in 2022.
Decades of tiger part trafficking and habitat destruction have slashed the roaming tiger's number from 100,000 a century ago to just 3,200 today and the WWF is warning that the species is on course for outright extinction.
* Costs of slowing global warming to rise if no quick cap
* New technologies can help curb costs - Pachauri
Alister Doyle Reuters AlertNet 22 Nov 10;
GARDERMOEN, Norway, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Costs of combating global warming will rise inexorably if the world fails to cap greenhouse gases by 2015, but new technologies can curb the price, the head of the U.N. climate panel said on Monday.
Rajendra Pachauri also told Reuters he felt "reasonably optimistic" that a U.N. climate meeting in Mexico from Nov. 29 to Dec. 10 would make at least modest progress towards curbing climate change.
A scenario by his panel in 2007 said world emissions would have to peak by 2015 to get on track to limit temperature rises to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above pre-industrial times, widely seen as a threshold for "dangerous" climate change.
"If you deviate from that (2015 goal) and delay the peaking of global emissions you are moving onto a more expensive trajectory," he said on the sidelines of a conference in Norway about Zero Emissions.
"You are not giving up the possibility but you are going to have to pay a higher price," said Pachauri.
Earlier on Monday, a study showed emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide are on track to hit a record in 2010, driven largely by booming economies in China and India and their reliance on coal. [ID:nSGE6AK014]
But Pachauri also said technological breakthroughs could mute the costs of a strong assault on global warming, projected by the panel to cost about 0.12 percent of world gross domestic product a year until 2030.
"It is entirely possible ... that the benefits might outweigh the costs," he said of efforts to avert more floods, droughts, heatwaves and rising sea levels. "And the decline in costs might be far more rapid than expected."
PHONE BREAKTHROUGHS
Telephone bills, for instance, had plunged in recent years because of unexpectedly cheap new technologies. A shift from fossil fuels means less air pollution and smaller health bills.
He said there were big uncertainties in any cost forecasts. "I don't think one can make predictions that one treats as the words of The Bible in looking at the future," he said.
Pachauri said he had no plans to quit despite errors in the 2007 report including an exaggeration of the rate of melt of Himalayan glaciers. No governments called for his resignation at a recent meeting in South Korea, he said.
About 140 governments agreed at the U.N.'s Copenhagen summit in 2009 to limit temperature rises to below 2C. Temperatures have already risen by about 0.7C from pre-industrial times.
U.N. talks in Cancun, Mexico, next week will seek agreement on steps such as setting up a "green fund" to channel aid to developing nations, protect tropical forests and share clean technologies. A full treaty is out of reach.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg expressed hopes for modest progress in Cancun despite a standoff in 2010 between China and the United States, the top two emitters.
"I am less optimistic than I have been for a long time," he said in a speech. "There will be no overall binding agreement."
Irish rock star and anti-poverty campaigner Bob Geldof told the conference the world could easily reach a target of raising $100 billion a year in aid to developing nations to combat global warming, despite austerity in many nations.
Rich nations could save $25 billion a year, for instance, just by halving consumption of sweets, he said. "I don't want to hear from politicians that we can't find $100 billion for the gravest political challenge of our time. It can be done." (Editing by Janet Lawrence)
China feels heat of climate change rifts
* China's rising emissions make it focus for talks
* China says it must protect right to develop
* Contention likely over shape of climate treaty
Chris Buckley Reuters AlertNet 22 Nov 10;
BEIJING, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Coaxing China into a global grand bargain to fight climate change that also satisfies the United States and other rich nations threatens to be even more daunting and elusive than fixing the economic rifts dividing them.
China is the world's biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases from human activity stoking global warming, having outstripped the United States. Those two powers will play a big part in determining whether climate pact talks in Cancun, Mexico, from Nov. 29 can make progress towards a comprehensive deal.
Their often rival stances have long strained climate negotiations. Beijing and Washington have also recently sparred over China's exchange rate controls and huge trade surplus.
"We talk about looking for big points of agreement and keeping small disputes in check, but Cancun will be about looking for small agreements to keep the big disputes in check," said Zhang Haibin, an expert on international climate change politics at Peking University.
Cancun is meant to take modest yet reassuring steps on the way to a binding agreement. But with Beijing at odds with Washington and other Western powers over the scale and transparency of emissions aims, and the principles underpinning any new deal, even limited success is not a sure thing.
"Ultimately what is at stake for each side is its strategic interests, and that's why even small issues can be so troublesome," said Zhang, the Beijing professor.
"A climate change agreement is about allocating emissions rights, and that involves basic interests in economic growth and the costs of mitigation (of greenhouse gases)," said Zhang.
"With the remaining emissions space so limited, China has a basic interest in preserving its space and expecting more from the developed countries so it can ensure its right to develop."
Intense negotiations last year failed to agree on a binding treaty and culminated in a rancorous meeting in Copenhagen.
CLOSELY WATCHED
Failure at Cancun could deepen discord between advanced and developing economies, especially between the U.S. and China, which between them emit 43 percent of the world's carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas from burning coal, oil and natural gas.
Global emissions are already approaching levels that many scientists believe make dangerous climate change hard to avoid, auguring more extreme weather, crop failures and rising seas.
"It is scientifically impossible to address climate change without meaningful greenhouse gas reductions from both countries, therefore the positions that these countries take in the negotiations are closely watched by countries around the world," said Joanna Lewis, an expert on U.S.-China climate and clean energy ties at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.
Negotiators hope to agree in Cancun on funds to help poor nations to cope with climate change, steps to protect forests that absorb carbon dioxide, and other building blocks of a binding agreement that negotiators hope to reach late next year.
China is now probably the world's second biggest economy, having passed Japan. Yet China's average emissions per person are still below the industrialised countries', and Beijing says it is unjust to focus on total emissions to determine climate obligations.
"The cost estimates for coping with climate change are growing, and China still needs funds and technology to address the opportunities foregone from paying for that," said Zou Ji, the China Country Director of the World Resources Institute, a Washington D.C.-based group that advocates climate change action.
Beijing's main goal in Cancun, however, will be defensive: warding off demands for it to put its emissions under stricter treaty obligations.
China's emissions have more than doubled since 2000 and they grew about 9 percent last year. That growth is set to continue for many years, and is stirring demands for Beijing to spell out in a treaty how it will control and ultimately cut them.
Beijing has made a domestic vow to reduce "carbon intensity", the amount of carbon dioxide emitted for each dollar of economic growth, by 40-45 percent by 2020 compared to 2005. But it says that goal will not be turned into a binding international target that it fears could hinder development and autonomy.
TOPPLE THE KYOTO TOWER?
Beijing instead wants to keep as the pillar climate treaty the Kyoto Protocol, under which nearly all rich countries agreed to legally binding emissions goals, with the big exception of the United States, which refused to become a party.
Under Kyoto, poorer nations, including China, take voluntary, non-binding steps to curb the growth of emissions while they focus on development and lifting citizens out of poverty.
The United States and other rich nations want a new global deal to discard that either-or division.
That could make for tense talks in Cancun.
"The issues about the Kyoto Protocol are now the most contentious issues in climate change negotiations and the biggest obstacles blocking scheduled progress," Huang Huikang, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's special representative for climate change talks, told a news conference last week.
"There's absolutely no need to topple that tower and start building over again," he said. (Editing by David Fogarty)
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