Best of our wild blogs: 12 Dec 10

Revisiting an Oil Spill impact zone
from sgbeachbum and Sunken barge(?) at Tanah Merah

Life History of the Dark Caerulean
from Butterflies of Singapore

There’s Lots to Say about Diving at Pulau Hantu
from Pulau Hantu

A Short Afternoon Trip To Upper Seletar Reservoir
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature

Flowers and Fruits at MacRitchie
from Urban Forest and Mistletoes and some weird and nice sights

Asian Koel regurgitates pellet
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Tanah Merah 6 months after oil spill
from wonderful creation

A quick look at Sungei Buloh
from wild shores of singapore

Read more!

Recycling in SIngapore: 10 years on - Chute, we got it wrong

Rubbish chute in HDB flats has made it easier to toss things away rather than to recycle
Jessica Cheam , Grace Chua and Nicholas Yong Straits Times 12 Dec 10;

The one common feature of all HDB flats and many private apartments today is this: the ubiquitous rubbish chute which makes it convenient for residents to get rid of their trash.

But ask Singapore Environment Council executive director Howard Shaw about it and he will tell you the rubbish chute is one thing that Singapore's builders 'got wrong'.

He, and many residents alike, blame the rubbish chute as a key obstacle in getting Singaporeans to recycle.

While many developed countries such as Switzerland hit recycling rates of 80 per cent, Singapore's recycling rate was about 58 per cent last year.

This translates to 3.49 million tonnes recycled - of which just 0.36 million tonnes were from households - out of 6.1 million tonnes of waste.

It is not a shabby rate, but it could be much better.

Recycling rates have improved from the 40 per cent in 2000, and the Government has set targets to push the recycling rate to 60 per cent by 2012, and to 70 per cent by 2030.

But as the National Recycling Programme - introduced in 2001 by the National Environment Agency (NEA) - nears its 10th year, household participation rates have also slowed down.

It grew from an initial 15 per cent to 63 per cent by last year.

But for the past three years, it has remained stagnant. It has grown by less than 10 percentage points since 2004, when the participation rate was 54 per cent.

'Public participation has always been the missing link. We can spend on recycling infrastructure and put bins everywhere, but if the people don't use them, then there is no point,' said Mr Shaw.

Why can't Singaporeans do better?

For one thing, the chute makes it far too convenient for people to dispose of just about anything that would fit in there.

In a recent straw poll of 50 people conducted by The Sunday Times, the majority said that Singapore's existing infrastructure does not encourage recycling.

The problems: lack of recycling bins, overflowing and contaminated bins, and infrequent collection, all of which were cited as key reasons why people do not recycle.

There are only two large, 660-litre bins for every five HDB blocks currently, making up a total of more than 1,600 recycling bins in HDB housing estates.

Residents and public waste collectors also complain that bins are often soiled. When that happens, nothing in the bin can be recycled.

Some also say the bins are located too far away, and this makes it inconvenient for them to lug recyclables to their locations.

Mr Shaw recalled that it was not always like this.

'In the earlier days, the karung guni (rag-and-bone) men were an effective recycling system and there were many of them,' he said.

But as Singapore developed, the 'karung guni network' declined and recycling in the 1980s and1990s 'reached an all-time low', he added.

It was not until 2001, when the National Recycling Programme was introduced, that Singapore had an established recycling system.

The NEA appointed public waste collectors who collect the recyclables on a scheduled day every fortnight for HDB estates and landed homes.

That too, is not enough, say residents.

Public education is key to getting more people to recycle.

Social media consultant Daphne Maia Loo, 27, said: 'If you want people to keep up with it, you need to look into making recycling accessible for people, and continually educating them.'

Marketer and writer Desiree Koh, 33, agreed, likening the habit to belting up in a car. 'Just like wearing seat belts, recycling needs to become a way of life and part of our culture. Nobody wanted to wear seat belts when they first started appearing in cars, and now it's hard to fathom not strapping them on,' she said.

Some such as Mr Eugene Tay, director of consultancy Green Future Solutions, even expressed doubt about NEA's 63 per cent participation figure.

'I look around my own estate in Bedok, and I see at most two or three in 10 households recycling. There is still some way to go in educating residents. Some don't know what the recycling bag is for, or are not even aware of the programme,' noted Mr Tay.

Former Nominated MP and chief executive of waste-to-energy firm IUT Global Edwin Khew said there is just not enough infrastructure to promote recycling.

'We still generate a huge amount of waste which we incinerate and goes to our landfill. It's the only one we've got and it's not going to last us more than 30 to 35 years, unless we do something about it,' he said.

If incineration fees are low - which they are, compared with that in other countries - there is really no incentive to recycle, he said.

'What we need are laws and regulation to force people to recycle. Waiting will be futile,' he said.

The process: From collection to compression
Straits Times 12 Dec 10;

1 LANDED HOMES: Attendants from Veolia Environmental Services go door to door to collect yellow and blue recycling bags from landed homes in Jalan Sinar Bintang, from 8am to 5pm.

Veolia is the appointed public waste collector for the Pasir Ris-Tampines, Bedok and Tanglin-Bukit Merah sectors.

Collection is done via co-mingling, or mixing the recyclables in a common bag or bin. They will then have to be sorted into, for example, different grades of plastic and paper.

Residents often do not seem to know the difference between recyclables and reusables. Mr Ismail Wahab, 35, who has been on the job for 10 years, said residents have tried to dispose of furniture. When he tells them his truck cannot take such items, they have even offered him cash at times.

2 LOADING: The attendants move on to the recycling bins at HDB estates in Pasir Ris Street 52. One problem they face every day - finding non-recyclable or food waste amid the recyclables.

Among the items found: flip flops, floppy disks, shoes, socks and even a handbag. The attendants simply load everything into the truck, to be sorted out later at its material recovery facility in Tuas. 'We often find a lot of the recyclables placed around the bin, instead of inside it. We also have to spend a lot of time clearing food waste around the bin,' said field inspector Abdul Karim Ali, 35. Food waste creates an even bigger problem - it contaminates the recyclables, turning them into literal waste.

3 RECOVERY FACILITY: The truck then heads to Veolia's material recovery facility in Tuas. It delivers its load after being weighed.

Up to 20 per cent of the recyclables collected can be contaminated, said Veolia's Singapore operations manager Mathieu Davy. Entire truckloads have been rejected before. Rejected recyclables end up being incinerated.

'It's important that each resident plays his part,' stressed Mr Davy. If you have 99 residents playing the game and putting their material in the correct bin and one person putting food inside, it will contaminate the whole bin.'

The bags are manually opened and their contents placed on a conveyor belt to be sorted by machine, magnets and workers. The recyclables are first sorted by size, with small ferrous metals and fine glass extracted by magnets and an air separator. The remainder is manually sorted.

4 SORTING BY HAND: Between eight and 10 workers in a cabin sort the remaining recyclables by hand, dropping them into seven open-top containers.

They are sorted into containers for PET bottles, HDPE bottles, mixed plastic, paper, glass, ferrous metals and aluminium. This is to ensure the quality of the reprocessed material, as different kinds of plastic or paper have different physical properties.

The glass is also sorted into clear green and amber glass, as glass retains its colour after recycling.

The remaining recyclables, which include tin and aluminium cans as well as non-recyclables, are further sorted by machines and magnets, ending up in other open-top containers.

5 A NEW USE: The sorted recyclables are then compressed by machines into bales weighing 300kg to 400kg each. Some weigh as much as 1.2 tonnes.

They are then shipped as secondary raw materials to glass recycling factories, paper mills and the like, in destinations all over the region.

The value varies according to the type of material. Glass fetches $30 to $40 a tonne; aluminium, more than $1,000 a tonne.

Veolia's country manager Jerome Baco said: 'We are an environmental company, so we cannot afford to be picky at all. A recycling programme is there to recycle everything that is recyclable.'

Discarded items often of no value
Straits Times 12 Dec 10;

Public waste collectors do not have an enviable job. First, they have to collect the waste.

Then comes another headache: People simply are not recycling properly.

Recyclables are often contaminated with food waste, and residents often try to recycle things that are reusable.

At the sorting plant of public waste collector Veolia, old handbags, shoes and even stuffed toys make their way down the sorting line. All must be thrown out.

Contamination is also an issue. Veolia operations manager Matthieu Davy cited an example of a private condominium where separate chutes for recyclables had been installed on every floor.

He said: 'How much more convenient can you get? But for the first few months, all the recyclables were rejected because they were contaminated.'

The situation improved after Veolia officers were deployed to help educate residents with stickers and posters.

Smaller recycling firms which collect from condos, too, bear a big burden.

Ace Recycling, which collects recyclables from more than 200 condos, said a lot of waste it collects gets contaminated by food or general rubbish and has to be incinerated instead.

Things that can be recycled are sorted out by a combination of machinery and manual labour.

Its manager, Mr Stanley Peh, said the top three items households recycle are paper, plastic and glass.

'Sometimes, the quantity and quality of recyclable items from the condos are of low or no value, and not enough to offset our operational costs,' he said.

In those situations, Ace negotiates a fee from the condo management for the collection of recyclables.

Over the past three years, how- ever, Ace has noticed a slight increase - about 5 per cent - in the quantity of items recycled.

'Residents need more education on what can be recycled - it's not just a dumping ground for unwanted items,' he said.

Veolia, which has its own plant to collect and sort recyclables, says that the sale of recyclable materials does not cover the operating costs of its plant.

That is because it does not collect a high enough volume of uncontaminated recyclables, which it sells to firms which process them into recycled materials.

Veolia country manager Jerome Baco explained that it covers costs with waste collection fees.

But he is hopeful, noting that more Singaporeans are concerned about environmental issues.

'I think we can be fairly optimistic about the future improvement of recycling in Singapore,' he said.

People like housewife Lim Chou Kang, 65, are reason for recycling firms to have hope.

Madam Lim, who has been recycling for a decade, fills up to four recycling bags every fortnight.

She quipped: 'One bin is not enough for me.'

What is more, things are about to change, as the frequency of recyclable waste collection goes up from next July.

As part of the requirements of an NEA tender exercise in July for waste collection in the Pasir Ris- Tampines sector, landed homes will have their recyclables collected weekly, while Housing Board flats will have theirs collected daily, instead of fortnightly.

HDB blocks will also get a recycling bin each, instead of the current two large, 660-litre bins for every five HDB blocks. Landed properties will each get a bin too.

The seven-year contract is expected to set a precedent for future public waste collection contracts in Singapore.

Jessica Cheam

Grace Chua

Nicholas Yong


Wanted: A guide to recycling
Straits Times 2 Jan 11;

I refer to the special report on recycling in Singapore, 'Chute, we got it wrong' (Dec 12), and agree there is a need for continual education.

Often, I hear the comment that there is no point in being one of a handful of people who recycle. But every little bit counts.

I try to recycle whenever I can, even to the extent of keeping empty tissue packs in my handbag so I can put them in the recycling bin at home, rather than in the litter bin on the street.

Also, in terms of education, it would be useful to have a clear and concise guide on how to properly prep everyday items to ensure they are recyclable and do not end up in the incinerator. This guide should be sent to every household.

For example, do we need to cut up toiletry containers and skincare tubes and rinse them out? Do we need to remove labels from wine bottles?

I first learnt to recycle when I lived in Tokyo between 2000 and 2003, and the impetus to continue recycling comes in the form of my two young children.

Adeline Chong (Ms)

Many don't know how to sort items
Straits Times 2 Jan 11;

I refer to the Dec12 articles, 'Chute, we got it wrong' and 'Discarded items often of no value', on recycling in Singapore.

Many people would in fact like to recycle unwanted items but may have no information on how they can do it properly.

The main problem is that it is not clear how one should treat certain items. Should these be treated as trash, reusables, or recyclables?

For example, which of the above categories do unwanted shoes, bags, toys, clothes, paper from fliers or letters belong to?

And what about food or drink containers, such as mineral water bottles, soft-drink cans, pizza boxes, styrofoam containers and paper cups? Should they be trashed or recycled?

There are also old electronic products which could be damaged, outdated, or working but no longer have any commercial value. They may not have any commercial value but the plastic or metal parts in them may have recycling value. This also applies to the wood and metal parts in old furniture.

When I read that many old handbags, shoes and stuffed toys end up in the sorting plant, I felt it was a good sign, as it means that many Singaporeans in fact want to recycle.

So the problem is not that people do not have the recycling mentality, but that they are not sure how to go about it the right way.

For recycling to work here, people have to be clear about how to deal with the various items, be educated about which categories these belong to and the available channels for each category.

However, such information is not widely available, so it is not surprising that the rubbish chute is seen as the answer to getting rid of unwanted items.

Roy Koo

Read more!

Hard to say 'no' to shark's fin soup

New Straits Times AsiaOne 12 Dec 10;

MALAYSIA - MALAYSIAN Nature Society's "Fins - Best on Sharks" campaign made a "comeback" two weeks ago when Holiday Inn KL Glenmarie pledged its support for the cause. It was the first hotel to do so. It was surprising to many familiar with the campaign, launched since 2007 to encourage organisations and individuals to pledge not to serve or be served shark's fin soup at corporate functions, to see that it has garnered the support of only 30 organisations after more than three years.

The original target was to get at least 100 Malaysian-based companies to say that they would not stomach shark's fin soup on the menu.

Indeed, since Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid, then natural resources and environment minister, pledged that his ministry and all its departments would not serve shark's fin soup at their events, little has been heard about the campaign or the issue of shark conservation.

A quick check with several non-governmental organisations active in marine conservation here showed that MNS remains the only organisation with a specific programme that champions shark preservation in Malaysia.

But MNS's senior conservation officer, Fairul Izmal Jamal Hisne, and its communications manager, Andrew J. Sebastian, both admitted that the campaign had ground to a temporary halt until recently.

"It was mainly because of lack of manpower and resources," said Fairul.

Besides, there have been bigger fish to fry, so to speak.

Like the issue of the fast depleting fish stocks in our ocean Malaysians now top the list of the biggest consumers of seafood in Southeast Asia and in just 40 years, we run the risk of not having any seafood to eat if we continue to consume indiscriminately, said Fairul.

"But an NGO like us can only do so much."

Perhaps the fact that there is no actual finning industry in Malaysia -- the cruel practice of removing a live shark's fin and releasing the shark back into the sea to die a slow and painful death -- has also contributed in part to the issue being relegated to the back-burner.

Most of the sharks' fins Malaysians eat are imported. According to the Fisheries Department, our fishermen don't fish for sharks specifically, but they are caught together with other commercially important species.

When caught, they are brought back whole to the port and sold at a reasonable price, with the fins fetching a higher price.

Malaysia is also not a major consumer of the delicacy -- not when compared with the likes of Hong Kong and China.

When asked on the current shark preservation situation here, Sebastian made a telling remark when he said: "In Malaysia, although there are no statistics available on sharks caught, we understand from the Fisheries (Department) that the catch is increasing."

However, the Fisheries Department claimed to have no latest data on shark capture or sharks' fin consumption.

Senior fisheries officer Ahmad Saktian Langgang, responsible for the conservation and management of marine endangered species and the implementation of the National Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks, said: "There is no allocation for sharks so we have not been able to conduct courses for our staff on sharks -- on how to identify and the types of sharks out there. But we do tell the fishermen not to catch particularly endangered species like yu parang (swordfish) and yu paus (whale shark)."

Despite the seemingly lack of concerted efforts, there has been a mushrooming of blogs, postings and pages on social network media like Facebook against the consumption of shark's fins.

This may explain why some restaurants serving it in town are reporting steadily declining demand for the dish in the past few years.

"But there are definitely people who still want to eat it so we continue serving, especially for wedding banquets and other special occasions," said Imbi Palace Group general manager Annie Chang.

The younger generation, she said, tend to say no to the dish for environmental reasons.

"But the older generation still insist on having it, so some couples, although reluctant, would eventually bow to pressure from their elders."

To Jenny Choo, 61, serving shark's fin soup to guests at banquets signifies wealth and success.

But Fairul said the argument makes no sense, not when there are more expensive seafood and dishes to choose from.

But regardless of the controversy around it, Chang said her restaurant would continue to serve the dish as long as there was demand.

"We also offer an alternative vegetarian 'shark fin' soup, but most people still want the real deal or none at all."

But chef Chew Chin Yee, who runs his own Chinese eatery in Kuchai Lama, claims that more and more customers are coming to accept the faux shark's fin soup option -- prepared either without the fin completely but with more crabmeat added into the stock, or with ones made from gelatine.

"People who like the real shark's fin soup just enjoy the taste of the stock it's cooked in. The shark's fin itself has no taste.

"The gelatine ones that we get these days are also well-made. Most people can't tell the difference really," said Chew.

Technology, Fairul said, had definitely been playing its role to abet the rise of a stronger green consciousness among the younger generation.

"Our generation was previously struggling with booklets and pamphlets. But today, they watch a video on YouTube and send it to hundreds of their friends with just a click," said Fairul.

They say a picture says a thousand words, what more a video.

Recently, a three-minute video of a mutilated whale shark lying helpless on a beach in the Philippines with its fins hacked off was shared on YouTube. It had been towed to shore by some fishermen to give it a quicker death.

The tragic death was recorded by a group of Hong Kong tourists and once posted online, triggered a popular Facebook campaign "Say No To Shark's Fin Soup" that gained tens of thousands of supporters.

The level of green awareness today is such that Fairul feels the time is right for any type of environmental campaign to succeed because people can now really see for themselves the impact of their actions, or non-actions, on their lives and surroundings. Hence, MNS will be repositioning its campaign next year.

"Our campaign was previously overly focused on organisations. We will look at reaching out to individuals more."

Read more!

Race to save sea cucumbers of Langkawi

The Star 12 Dec 10;

LANGKAWI: The Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry is taking measures to increase the gamat (sea cucumber) population in Langkawi waters to prevent the extinction of the valuable marine life.

Deputy Minister Datuk Johari Baharom said the Fisheries Department was identifying a potential area to breed the sea cucumber, which is used in the production of a variety of balms, medication and health supplements as well as eaten by some people.

“We do not want this marine life, found in abundance in Langkawi waters at one time, to become extinct,” he told a news conference after launching a meet-the-the-people programme at the Mardi Agro-Technology Park here on Friday.

Mohd Johari urged the people of Langkawi, particularly fishermen and farmers, to come up with agro-based products to draw more tourists to the legendary island.

He said the fishing village of Tuba Island, for example, had the potential to carry out home-stay programmes which could incorporate attractions such as seafood and angling. — Bernama

Read more!

Climate talks: 18 years, too little action?

Alister Doyle, Reuters 12 Dec 10;

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - "I was born in 1992. You have been negotiating all my life. You cannot tell us that you need more time," Christina Ora of the Solomon Islands complained to delegates at U.N. talks on fixing global warming.

Her line from a brief, riveting speech to a 2009 climate summit in Copenhagen was emblazoned on activists' T-shirts at the latest U.N. talks in Mexico, expressing exasperation at small steps meant to slow floods, droughts, heat waves and rising sea levels.

The two-week 190-nation conference in Cancun, a Caribbean resort, agreed on Saturday to step up action against climate change, including a goal of $100 billion a year to help the poor from 2020 and action to protect carbon-absorbing rain forests.

Almost all admit it fell woefully short of action needed. Cancun underscored that a treaty, as urged by Ora, is out of reach because of disparate economic interests among China, the United States, OPEC oil exporters and Pacific islands.

"Signs that climate change is happening and with catastrophic consequences are there -- flooding in Pakistan, heat waves in Russia, China," Norwegian Environment Minister Erik Solheim said.

"This is a huge step forward but of course not sufficient based on science," he said of the Cancun agreements that at least restore some faith in the United Nations after Copenhagen fell short of the widespread goal of reaching a treaty.

The U.N. panel of climate scientists in 2007 said greenhouse gas emissions would have to peak by 2015 to give a chance of limiting a rise in average temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above pre-industrial times -- a ceiling agreed to in Cancun.

But based on current projections, that will not happen.

Existing government policies for combating global warming will lead to a rise in world temperatures of about 3.6 C (6.5 F) above pre-industrial times, according to Niklas Hoehne, director of energy and climate policy at consultancy Ecofys.

'MATTER OF OUR SURVIVAL'

Surging economic growth in emerging nations led by China and India are helping to ease poverty but are driving up world emissions even as rich nations' economies flounder.

Such changes do not sound like much, but the difference between an Ice Age and now is only about 5 degrees C (9 F).

A new treaty has eluded the world since a U.N. Climate Convention was agreed to in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The convention's 1997 Kyoto Protocol only binds about 40 rich nations to curb emissions during an initial period ending in 2012.

Outside the conference hall, youth delegates wearing blue T-shirts with Ora's quote waved banners saying, "1.5 to stay alive." They say a temperature rise ceiling of 1.5 C (2.7 F) is needed to avoid the worst impacts.

Even to some delegates, especially from vulnerable African nations and low-lying islands at risk of sea level rise, the talks seem like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

"This is a matter of our survival," said Colin Beck, who like Ora is from the Solomon Islands and a vice-chair of the Alliance of Small Island States.

Average world temperatures have already risen about 0.8 degree C (1.4 F) since the Industrial Revolution and 2010 is set to be among the top three years on record, vying with 1998 and 2005, since records began in the 19th century.

'THINGS YOU CAN DO NOW'

Despite the gloom, others say a response is happening away from the glacial U.N. talks, with investment shifts from coal, gas and oil toward renewable energies. China is investing heavily in projects ranging from solar power to high-speed rail links.

"We've been trying to emphasize that the focus shouldn't solely be on the struggles with the treaty negotiations -- this word and that word -- because there are things you can do now," World Bank President Robert Zoellick said.

"Business is not sitting back and waiting for this process to come to a result. ... The world is moving ahead anyway," said Yvo de Boer, climate adviser at audit, tax and advisory group KPMG and a former U.N. climate chief.

He listed concerns over climate, energy prices, energy security, materials scarcity, consumer preferences and a realization that things had to change with the world population set to reach 9 billion by 2050 from 6.8 billion now.

The U.N. panel of climate scientists says it is at least 90 percent likely that human activities are the main cause of most of the global warming in the past half-century. Natural causes cannot be completely ruled out.

Rajendra Pachauri, the head of the panel, warned delegates in Cancun that one underestimated effect of climate change was that water expands as it warms, raising the oceans at the same time as more flows in from melting glaciers.

The world is destined to experience a rise in sea levels of 0.4 to 1.4 metres (1-4 feet) simply because heat in the atmosphere will gradually reach ever greater ocean depths.

(Editing by Peter Cooney)

Read more!

Climate talks end with modest steps, no Kyoto deal

* New fund agreed to give money to poor countries
* Future of key Kyoto Protocol left on hold
* Britain says deeper EU emissions cuts more likely
Alister Doyle and Gerard Wynn Reuters AlertNet 11 Dec 10;

CANCUN, Mexico, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The world's governments agreed on Saturday to modest steps to combat climate change and to give more money to poor countries, but they put off until next year tough decisions on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

The deal includes a Green Climate Fund that would give $100 billion a year in aid to poor nations by 2020, measures to protect tropical forests and ways to share clean energy technologies.

Ending a marathon session of talks in the Mexican beach resort of Cancun, almost 200 countries also set a target of limiting a rise in average world temperatures to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) over pre-industrial times.

There was, however, no major progress on how to extend the Kyoto Protocol, which obliges almost 40 rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

The failure to resolve the central problem of emissions dismayed environmental groups. It was also unclear how the $100 billion a year for the Green Climate Fund will be raised.

The first round of Kyoto expires in 2012, it does not include China and the United States -- the world's two biggest emitters -- and there is no consensus over whether developing countries should have binding targets to cut emissions or whether rich countries have more to do first.

The main success in Cancun after two weeks of talks was simply preventing the collapse of climate change negotiations, promoting support for a shift to low carbon economies and rebuilding trust between rich and poor countries on the challenges of global warming.

Major players were relieved there was no repeat of the acrimonious failure seen at the Copenhagen summit last year, but they warned there was still a long way to go.

"The most important thing is that the multilateral process has received a shot in the arm, it had reached an historic low. It will fight another day," Indian Environment Minister Jairam Rameshtold Reuters. "It could yet fail."

"We have a long, challenging journey ahead of us. Whether it's doable in a short period of time, to get a legally binding deal, I don't know," the European Union's climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard said of a deal beyond 2012.

U.S. President Barack Obama said the Cancun meeting was a success and advances the world's response to climate change.

Carbon offset markets worth $20 billion depend on Kyoto emissions caps to drive developed countries to pay for cuts in greenhouse gases in developing nations as a cheaper alternative to cutting their own greenhouse gases.

The Cancun agreement would "build upon" such markets, giving them some support despite the doubt over Kyoto itself.

Abyd Karmali, global head of carbon markets for the Bank of America Merrill Lynch said the deal lays the foundation for progress.

"Now that countries' emission reduction targets are enshrined in the new Cancun Agreement, it is critical for countries to move forward with their domestic policies and measures," he said in a research note.

KYOTO DISPUTES

The agreement reached on Saturday set no firm deadlines for an elusive legally binding accord on Kyoto. The next major global climate talks will be in South Africa at the end of 2011 and ministers will not meet on Kyoto before then, although lower-level negotiations are possible.

China's top climate negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, said the agreement shows the Kyoto Protocol is still alive.

"At the South Africa conference, we'll undertake discussions and negotiations over the substantive content of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol," he said, adding that developing countries hoped for further progress on the issues of funding, technology and protecting forests.

Japan, Canada and Russia had earlier this week said they would not extend Kyoto, demanding instead that all major emitters including the United States, China and India join in a new global deal.

Developing nations insist that rich Kyoto countries, which have burned the most fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution, must extend the agreement beyond 2012 before the poor agree to measures to curb their emissions.

The Cancun talks were held as evidence of global warming mounted. Michael Jarraud, the head of the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization, told the conference that this year could be the warmest year since records were first kept in 1850. It also caps a record-warm decade. [ID:nN02236423]

Environmentalists worry that global leaders are not moving fast enough to tackle the big climate issues.

"Cancun may have saved the process, but it did not yet save the climate," said Wendel Trio, Greenpeace's international climate policy director.

Britain's energy and climate secretary, Chris Huhne, said the advances in Cancun made it more likely that the European Union would toughen cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, to 30 percent below 1990 levels from a current 20 percent.

"I think it definitely makes an agreement on 30 percent in the EU more likely," he said.

Bolivia's left-wing government was alone in objecting to the Cancun accord. It had demanded far deeper cuts in greenhouse gases by rich nations and accused them of "genocidal" policies causing 300,000 deaths a year.

Under the U.N.-led negotiations, all agreements are supposed to have consensus support, but Bolivia was sidelined with the accord simply noting its concerns. (Additional reporting by Timothy Gardner, Patrick Rucker and Christopher Buckley; Writing by Russell Blinch, Editing by Kieran Murray)

UN climate meeting OKs Green Fund in new accord
Arthur Max, Associated Press Yahoo News 11 Dec 10;

CANCUN, Mexico – A U.N. conference on Saturday adopted a modest climate deal creating a fund to help the developing world go green, though it deferred for another year the tough work of carving out deeper reductions in carbon emissions causing Earth to steadily warm.

Though the accords were limited, it was the first time in three years the 193-nation conference adopted any climate action, restoring faith in the unwieldy U.N. process after the letdown a year ago at a much-anticipated summit in Copenhagen.

The Cancun Agreements created institutions for delivering technology and funding to poorer countries, though they did not say where the funding would come from.

In urging industrial countries to move faster on emissions cuts, it noted that scientists recommended reducing greenhouse gas emissions from industrial countries by 25 to 40 per cent from 1990 levels within the next 10 years. Current pledges amount to about 16 percent.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon, in a 4 a.m. speech, declared the conference "a thoroughgoing success," after two separate agreements were passed. The agreements shattered "the inertia of mistrust" that had settled over the frustrated efforts for a broad climate treaty, he said.

One of the agreements renewed a framework for cutting greenhouse gas emissions but set no new targets for industrial countries. The second created a financial and technical support system for developing countries facing grave threats from global warming.

Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa, the conference president, gaveled the deal through early Saturday over the objections of Bolivia's delegate, who said it was so weak it would endanger the planet.

Decisions at the U.N. climate talks are typically made by consensus, but Espinosa said consensus doesn't "mean that one country has the right to veto" decisions supported by everyone else.

The accord establishes a multibillion dollar annual Green Climate Fund to help developing countries cope with climate change, though it doesn't say how the fund's money is to be raised. Last year in Copenhagen governments agreed to mobilize $100 billion a year for developing countries, starting in 2020, much of which will be handled by the fund.

The agreements also set rules for internationally funded forest conservation, and provides for climate-friendly technology to expanding economies.

Espinosa won repeated standing ovations from a packed conference hall for her deft handling of bickering countries and for drafting an acceptable deal, though it fully satisfied no one.

"It's been a challenging, tiring and intensive week" said U.S. special climate envoy Todd Stern, clearly content with the results.

The European Union's top climate official, Connie Hedegaard, said Saturday's decisions would help keep international climate talks on track.

"But the two weeks in Cancun have shown once again how slow and difficult the process is," Hedegaard said. "Everyone needs to be aware that we still have a long and challenging journey ahead of us to reach the goal of a legally binding global climate framework."

Christiana Figueres, the U.N.'s senior climate official, said the agreements would put all governments on cleaner trajectory. "Cancun has done its job," she said.

Environmentalists cautiously welcomed the deal.

It "wasn't enough to save the climate," said Alden Meyer of the Washington-based Union of Concerned Scientists. "But it did restore the credibility of the United Nations as a forum where progress can be made."

The Cancun deal finessed disputes between industrial and developing countries on future emissions cuts and incorporates voluntary reduction pledges attached to the Copenhagen Accord that emerged from last year's climate summit in the Danish capital.

It struck a skillful compromise between the U.S. and China, which had been at loggerheads throughout the two week conclave on methods for monitoring and verifying actions to curtail greenhouse gases.

"What we have now is a text that, while not perfect, is certainly a good basis for moving forward," Stern said during the decisive conference meeting. His Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, sounded a similar note and added, "The negotiations in the future will continue to be difficult."

The accord "goes beyond what we expected when we came here," said Wendel Trio of the Greenpeace environmental group.

Underscoring what's at stake in the long-running climate talks, NASA reported that the January-November 2010 global temperatures were the warmest in the 131-year record. Its data indicated the year would likely end as the warmest on record, or tied with 2005 as the warmest.

The U.N.'s top climate science body has said swift and deep reductions are required to keep temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.8 F) above preindustrial levels, which could trigger catastrophic climate impacts.

Bolivian delegate Pablo Solon protested that the weak pledges of the Copenhagen Accord condemned the Earth to temperature increases of up to 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 F), saying that is tantamount to "ecocide" that could cost millions of lives.

He also complained that the text was being railroaded over his protests in violation of the U.N.'s consensus rules.

In the 1992 U.N. climate treaty, the world's nations promised to do their best to rein in carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases emitted by industry, transportation and agriculture. In the two decades since, the annual conferences' only big advance came in 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, when parties agreed on modest mandatory reductions by richer nations.

But the U.S., alone in the industrial world, rejected the Kyoto Protocol, complaining it would hurt its economy and that such emerging economies as China and India should have taken on emissions obligations.

Since then China has replaced the U.S. as the world's biggest emitter, but it has resisted calls that it assume legally binding commitments — not to lower its emissions, but to restrain their growth.

Here at Cancun such issues came to a head, as Japan and Russia fought pressure to acknowledge in a final decision that they will commit to a second period of emissions reductions under Kyoto, whose current targets expire in 2012.

The Japanese complained that with the rise of China, India, Brazil and others, the 37 Kyoto industrial nations now account for only 27 percent of global greenhouse emissions. They want a new, legally binding pact obligating the U.S., China and other major emitters.

UN climate change talks in Cancun agree a deal
BBC News 11 Dec 10;

UN talks in Cancun have reached a deal to curb climate change, including a fund to help developing countries.

Nations endorsed compromise texts drawn up by the Mexican hosts, despite objections from Bolivia.

The draft documents say deeper cuts in carbon emissions are needed, but do not establish a mechanism for achieving the pledges countries have made.

Some countries' resistance to the Kyoto Protocol had been a stumbling block during the final week of negotiations.

However, diplomats were able to find a compromise.

Delegates cheered speeches from governments that had caused the most friction during negotiations - Japan, China, even the US - as one by one they endorsed the draft.

BBC environment correspondent Richard Black said the meeting did not achieve the comprehensive, all-encompassing deal that many activists and governments want.

But he said it was being "touted as a platform on which that comprehensive agreement can be built".

Mexico's President Felipe Calderon said the summit had allowed leaders to "glimpse new horizons" where countries had the "shared task to keep the planet healthy and keep it safe from [humans]".

The UK Prime Minister David Cameron said: "Now the world must deliver on its promises. There is more hard work to be done ahead of the climate change conference in South Africa next year."

The Green Climate Fund is intended to raise and disburse $100bn (£64bn) a year by 2020 to protect poor nations against climate impacts and assist them with low-carbon development.

A new Adaptation Committee will support countries as they establish climate protection plans.

And parameters for funding developing countries to reduce deforestation are outlined.

But the deal is a lot less than the comprehensive agreement that many countries wanted at last year's Copenhagen summit and continue to seek. It leaves open the question of whether any of its measures, including emission cuts, will be legally binding.

"What we have now is a text that, while not perfect, is certainly a good basis for moving forward," said chief US negotiator Todd Stern.

His Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, sounded a similar note and added: "The negotiations in the future will continue to be difficult."

Bolivia found faults both with elements of the deal and with the way the texts were constructed through private conversations between small groups of countries.

Delegation chief Pablo Solon said that what concerned him most was that commitments would not be made under the Kyoto Protocol.

"We're talking about a [combined] reduction in emissions of 13-16%, and what this means is an increase of more than 4C," he said.

"Responsibly, we cannot go along with this - this would mean we went along with a situation that my president has termed 'ecocide and genocide'," Mr Solon said.

But Claire Parker, senior climate policy adviser for the global conservation group IUCN, said: "We have moved away from the post-Copenhagen paralysis.

"Developing countries can now see new money on the table which they can draw on to adapt to the impacts they're already facing and reduce emissions."

Tara Rao, senior policy adviser with environmental group WWF commented: "There's enough in it that we can work towards next year's meeting in South Africa to get a legally binding agreement there."

The final day of the two-week summit had dawned with low expectations of a deal.

But ministers conducted intensive behind-the-scenes diplomacy to formulate texts that all parties could live with.

Russia and Japan have secured wording that leaves them a possible route to escape extension of the Kyoto Protocol's legally binding emission cuts, while strongly implying that the protocol has an effective future - a key demand of developing countries.

The Green Climate Fund will initially use the World Bank as a trustee - as the US, EU and Japan had demanded - while giving oversight to a new body balanced between developed and developing countries.

Developing countries will have their emission-curbing measures subjected to international verification only when they are funded by Western money - a formulation that seemed to satisfy both China, which had concerns on such verification procedures, and the US, which had demanded them.

Read more!