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Inclusion of more green-friendly tax incentives in the Budget will help influence the right corporate and individual behaviours
Latha Mathew Business Times 10 Feb 11;
THERE is little doubt that climate change is a pressing global environmental challenge, bringing awareness of the need to reduce our impact on the environment.
In order to effectively curtail and mitigate the detrimental effects of climate change, a collective and concerted response involving individuals, businesses and governments is necessary.
Businesses are aware of the merits of pushing the green agenda. A 2010 Ernst & Young survey titled Action amid uncertainty: the business response to climate change found that despite uncertain economic conditions, global executives are committed to the climate-change agenda and expect investment in climate-change initiatives to rise in the next few years. The survey had polled 300 global executives spanning 16 countries and 18 industry sectors. Respondents believed that climate-change strategies can make money, save money and mitigate risk as businesses transform to a low-carbon economy.
Governments across the world are also demonstrating political will in making the right steps towards fighting climate change. In 2009, Singapore had pledged to undertake mitigation measures leading to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 16 per cent versus projected business-as-usual levels by 2020.
Singapore also has a national climate-change strategy, which includes various initiatives to encourage lower emissions of greenhouse gases and enhance energy efficiency, as well as to invest in clean-energy technologies. To succeed in shifting to a low-carbon economy, aligning the country's tax policies to its national climate-change strategy can go a long way in galvanising corporates and individuals around a more environmentally responsible culture.
With Singapore Budget 2011 just around the corner, it is opportune to consider how we can further advance the green agenda through tax measures and incentives.
Encouraging companies to find their carbon footprint
For a start, companies should be encouraged to determine their carbon footprint. This can then be used as a starting point to plan initiatives to lower their carbon footprint, enhance energy efficiency or implement recycling programmes.
Here, assistance in defraying the initial costs of establishing companies' carbon footprint can help.
To this end, this year's Budget can include enhanced tax deductions for companies that engage advisory or consultancy services to determine their carbon footprints and recommend specific measures to reduce carbon emissions or improve energy efficiency.
Encouraging companies to enhance energy efficiency
Currently, Singapore's Income Tax Act provides for a 100 per cent accelerated capital allowance for certified energy-efficient or energy-saving equipment.
To stretch the attractiveness of the capital allowance scheme, the government could consider providing an investment allowance to allow additional deductions of 50 per cent for businesses that invest in energy-efficient equipment.
The investment allowance could include the replacement of energy-consuming office and processing equipment with more energy-efficient or energy-saving ones, and the installation of pollution or energy-control systems.
Establishing Singapore as a test bed for clean technology
There is also a real opportunity for Singapore companies to develop capabilities in the area of clean technology, such as solar energy, fuel-cell technology, and water and wastewater management.
Investments in developing Singapore as a front-runner in this sector has huge downstream business potential and tangible benefits to the long-term economic growth of Singapore. To encourage companies to identify, pilot and test-bed clean-energy ideas, prototypes and solutions in Singapore, the government can consider enhancing research and development grants and incentives for the clean-technology sector, as well as enhancing tax deductions for angel investors and venture capitalists in the sector.
Encouraging green buildings
With Singapore continuing to see expansion in the real estate sector, it is important to encourage the development and use of energy-efficient buildings.
One way to do so is to link tax incentives, such as property tax rebates, to the Green Mark Scheme that is currently administered by the Building and Construction Authority.
Influencing consumer behaviour
The difference that every consumer can make towards the green agenda should not be underestimated. However, considerable inertia or inhibitive costs can sometimes discourage green behaviours. Budget measures geared towards helping consumers embrace green practices will be welcomed.
For example, tax rebates can be availed to homeowners, or even property developers, who install energy-efficient applications such as solar panels to help in defraying capital costs. This will also go some way in creating economies of scale that can eventually bring down the cost of solar panels.
In addition, the Budget could include an extension of the Green Vehicle Rebate, which currently offers a 40 per cent rebate equivalent to the open market value of electric, hybrid and CNG passenger cars, but will expire on Dec 31, 2011.
This will hopefully motivate more consumers to reduce their carbon footprint by switching to green vehicles that are more fuel-efficient.
Conclusion
Combating the threats of climate change requires the participation and buy-in of various stakeholders. Tax policies, when used wisely, can be a proactive and effective way to influence the right corporate and individual behaviours.
While the call for green is not new, there are always opportunities to further fine-tune our fiscal regime to align with the country's larger climate-change strategy. The inclusion of more green-friendly tax incentives in this year's Budget will certainly be much welcomed.
The writer is a Tax Partner, Ernst & Young Solutions LLP
Energy-efficient lights for HDB blocks can yield carbon credits too
Jessica Cheam Straits Times 10 Feb 11;
IT'S a bright idea - install LED lights in the common areas of 2,000 Housing Board blocks islandwide and help town councils save $5 million a year.
Better still, the switch to this energy-efficient option may also yield about $250,000 worth of carbon credits a year for the next 10 years.
This is what 10 town councils here will be doing this year - registering their energy-efficient efforts with the United Nations (UN), in what will be Singapore's first public-sector carbon-credit project.
Under the UN's Kyoto Protocol, certain countries, including Singapore, are allowed to register for carbon credits, which they can sell for money in the carbon market.
Dr Teo Ho Pin, coordinating chairman of the 14 People's Action Party-run town councils, told The Straits Times that the town councils had been actively looking for ways to increase energy efficiency for many years.
'We started with a pilot project in Jurong earlier this year and received good feedback. Now that the cost of LED technology has come down, we felt it was a good time to do this,' said Dr Teo, who is also the MP for Bukit Panjang.
He added that the 10 town councils involved in the project have identified some 340,000 fluorescent lights in corridors and staircases to be replaced.
The estates that will benefit include Bukit Panjang, Sembawang, Ang Mo Kio, Yio Chu Kang, Bishan and Toa Payoh.
There are about 9,000 HDB blocks in Singapore.
LED, or light-emitting diode, lights use 60 per cent less energy, are just as bright, and generate far less heat than their less efficient counterparts.
It costs about $60 to $80 to install an LED light, compared with $20 to $25 for a fluorescent one. However, an LED light lasts for 12 years, while a fluorescent light lasts for two years.
Dr Teo said the energy savings will help lower maintenance costs, which have been rising at 3 per cent to 4 per cent a year due to higher manpower and equipment expenses.
The savings will also help keep a lid on service and conservancy charges.
HDB residents currently pay $10 to $100 a month in service and conservancy charges, depending on the type of flat and estate.
The firm that wins the tender - launched in December last year and closed early last month - will bear the $22 million project cost.
In return, the firm and the town councils will share the energy savings of $5 million a year for the first five years.
Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council general manager Albert Teng, who is helping to manage the project, said the tender drew bids from 21 firms, both foreign and local.
The HDB Building Research Institute, a partner of the project, is helping to evaluate the bids, and the town councils will make a decision soon.
HDB said it will help the town councils 'assess the firms' quality of work, and whether they have performed according to the requirements' set out.
The town councils have also engaged United Premas, an energy services company, to work out the details of registering this project with the UN to claim carbon credits.
'It's a bonus for the town councils to be able to reap the economies of scale and register this project. It also sends a message to our citizens and the international community that Singapore is taking steps to address energy efficiency seriously,' said Dr Teo.
Details of when the project will be officially registered will be disclosed later.
Madam Karen Eiw, 48, a resident at Fajar Road, said she is looking forward to the LED switchover as the new lights look better aesthetically while saving energy.
HDB said it is studying the feasibility of introducing LED lighting for new flats under its build-to-order scheme.
What are carbon credits?
EACH carbon credit allows the holder to emit the equivalent of one tonne of carbon dioxide.
Under the existing international climate agreement, the Kyoto Protocol, developed countries have to meet certain greenhouse gas emission targets.
An excess of these gases in the atmosphere is believed to be the main cause of climate change.
Each developed country under the treaty is permitted to emit a certain amount of greenhouse gas.
If they exceed that, they have to buy carbon credits to meet their targets.
The credits create a market for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by putting a monetary value on the cost of pollution.
Under the United Nations' Clean Development Mechanism, non-industrialised countries are allowed to register projects, for example in wind or solar energy production or in energy efficiency, which allow them to generate carbon credits.
They can then sell the credits for money on the global carbon market. A certified carbon credit fetches around €11 to €14 (S$19 to S$24).
Investments in chemical plants pour in as new petrochemical crackers provide the feedstock
Ronnie Lim Business Times 10 Feb 11;
(SINGAPORE) Chemical investments are streaming into Jurong Island as feedstock flows from its new petrochemical crackers. The chemicals that are churned out will go into producing a variety of everyday products, ranging from plastics, DVDs, plywood and paints to textiles.
Taiwan's Chang Chun Group is setting up three new plants here while Japan's Denka will open one more. Chang Chun expects to employ about 500 personnel for its Singapore operations, which will generate annual revenue of about S$1.5 billion.
A hint of the Taiwan group's investment was first dropped by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam at a recent conference when he cited Dairen Chemicals as one of the new incoming chemical investors on Jurong, together with others like Lanxess and Asahi Kasei.
Dairen Chemicals is, in fact, a joint venture between Chang Chun and another Taiwanese group, Nan Pao Resins Chemical Company, industry sources said.
Chang Chun's three plants will cost a total of S$500 million and are expected to be up and running by the first quarter of 2013. One possible trigger for the investment is Shell's new US$3 billion petrochemical complex, from which the Taiwan group will source ethylene and propylene to help it meet the strong global demand for chemicals.
One of its new units is a 150,000 tonnes per year (tpa) allyl alcohol plant. Allyl alcohol is a starting material for a variety of speciality monomers and polymers (plastics).
Chang Chun is also setting up a 540,000 tpa cumene plant to make phenols that go into producing plywood, DVDs and CDs.
Its third plant will churn out 350,000 tpa of vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) which is used in paints, adhesives and textiles.
Meanwhile, Japan's Denka is investing S$46.5 million in its second plant here. The Japanese company first came to Singapore in the early 1980s when it started producing acetylene black here. That plant drew feedstocks from the first petrochemical complex here, Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore.
Its second investment here, at the Seraya sector on Jurong Island, will produce 20,000 tpa of chemicals that can go into producing automotive interior parts. This Denka IP plant is expected to use styrene feedstocks from the new Shell petrochemical complex.
The availability of feedstocks on Jurong Island was clearly a draw for Denka to invest here, given that its 16,000 tpa Chiba plant, near Tokyo, is already operating at full capacity to cater to markets like China, India and the Middle East.
To meet further market demand, and given 'the favourable business climate in Singapore', Denka said it decided to build the high-value styrene-based plant here. It has already secured land for the new plant which is targeted to start up in April 2012.
The Chang Chun and Denka investments are the latest in a stream of chemicals investments being made here.
The Economic Development Board said last month that 'the strong FAI (fixed asset investments) forecast for 2011 (of S$12-14 billion) is in part indicative of the interest in speciality chemicals projects that have been enabled by the two recent petrochemical crackers'.
Shell's new petrochemical complex started up early last year, while Exxon's US$5-6 billion second petrochemical complex is expected to start up later this year, or early next year.
The petrochemical complexes, including PCS, have drawn in a recent wave of Japanese synthetic rubber investors like Zeon Chemicals, Sumitomo Chemicals and Asahi Kasei, after Germany's Lanxess' S$712 million buytl rubber facility.
Shell is also ramping up production of high-purity ethylene oxide (HPEO) to fuel new investors making products like detergent and offshore drilling chemicals at a new 'HPEO corridor' there.
Dean Irvine, CNN 9 Feb 11;
CNN) -- In Hong Kong, where factory space is stacked in skyscrapers, the 15th floor of an industrial block houses vast tanks in which thousands of rare fish swim under the eerie, purple glow of UV lights.
Normally found thousands of miles away on the reefs of the tropics, the coral grouper are being bred on land in one of the world's most densely populated metropolises to feed a local population that consumes 3.6 times the global average in seafood.
Sold live, fish like leopard coral grouper are highly valued in China, where ostentatious dining calls for expensive and attractive centerpieces for celebratory or business banquets -- last week during the Lunar new Year a single fish could cost around $130.
From CNNBernama 9 Feb 11;
KOTA KINABALU, 9 Feb (Bernama) -- Any proposed coal-fired plant in Sabah should not be branded as "clean" as no such facility exists in the world at present, a group here said.
A coalition of five non-governmental organisations which called themselves Sabah Unite to Re-Power the Future or Green SURF said the term "clean coal" should refer only to the idea of building coal plants that capture carbon emissions and then store the carbon underground.
"This is a dream for the future, not a present reality. No plant of this kind exists anywhere in the world yet. The proposed coal-fired plant in Sabah, like every other coal plant in the world, will not be able to capture and store carbon.
"At best, reports show such a facility will only come on stream in 2030," Green SURF said in a statement here Wednesday.
The group said this in response of the use of the term "clean coal technology" by the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry, apart from Tenaga Nasional Berhad and Lahad Datu Energy Sdn Bhd, the company handling the proposed coal-fired power plant in Lahad Datu.
Green SURF further explained that having basic controls on emissions of certain gases and on wastewater, does not make a coal plant clean.
Green SURF also quoted an article in TIME magazine on Jan 10, 2009 which reported that there was currently no economical way to capture and sequester carbon emissions from coal, and that experts doubt there would ever be.
"Numerous reports have also pointed out that the cost of generating power from coal using carbon capture technology will be significantly higher.
"The cost and energy just to produce clean coal would make using coal just or more expensive than using wind, solar and other renewables," it added.
Green SURF members are World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Malaysia, Land Empowerment Animals People (LEAP), Sabah Environment Protection Association (SEPA), Partners of Community Organisations (PACOS) and the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Sabah branch.
-- BERNAMA
Julie Quek Channel NewsAsia 9 Feb 11;
SINGAPORE : Singapore-listed Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) has said it will work with the Indonesian government and green groups to build a "sustainable palm oil industry" in Indonesia.
Last year, an independent environmental audit gave a mixed score card to GAR and its subsidiary PT SMART Tbk, saying that the company cleared forests housing endangered species.
The Forest Trust, which is a Geneva-based global non-profit organisation, said it will help the palm oil company save vulnerable forests in Indonesia, while remaining profitable.
With an annual revenue of US$2.3 billion, GAR is the largest palm oil producer in the world's leading palm oil-producing country.
The company and The Forest Trust have jointly developed a Forest Conservation Policy to ensure that GAR has no deforestation footprint.
The policy promotes non-development on "High Conservation Value" forest areas and peat lands, as well as "High Carbon Stock" forests.
According to The Forest Trust, the total area of land allocated for oil palm production has more than tripled globally since the early 1980s, reaching nearly 14 million hectares in 2007.
It added that most of this expansion has occurred in Indonesia.
- CNA/ms
Golden Agri turns over a green leaf
It inks pact to reduce impact of palm oil operations on forests
Jessica Cheam Straits Times 10 Feb 11;
SINGAPORE-LISTED Golden Agri- Resources (GAR) yesterday announced a new forest conservation policy intended to ensure its palm oil operations have less impact on forests.
The move - seen as a response to intense pressure and lobbying by green groups such as Greenpeace recently over allegations of illegal forest clearing - will not have a significant impact or cost on its operations, said the firm.
GAR is the world's No.2 palm oil producer and the largest in Indonesia with annual revenues of US$2.3 billion (S$2.9 billion). It signed a deal yesterday in Jakarta with The Forest Trust (TFT), a Geneva- based non-profit organisation, which will start work now with GAR to identify high carbon-stock forests, high conservation value (HCV) areas and peat lands.
These significant areas are defined as forests that contain or store 35 tonnes of carbon per hectare - a definition that may change after consultations with stakeholders, the company said.
TFT's involvement is also intended to prevent the plantations from contributing to the destruction of forests that are particularly valuable in terms of environmental preservation, biodiversity, landscape, or to the livelihoods of local residents.
TFT executive director Scott Poynton said yesterday's agreement 'represents a revolutionary moment in the drive to conserve forests. This shows that the private sector can quickly change its practices around forest destruction if the right factors are in place'. The NGO began working with GAR last year after Nestle engaged TFT to adopt responsible sourcing guidelines for its palm oil suppliers.
Allegations that GAR's Indonesian unit, PT Smart, was illegally clearing HCV forests and threatening biodiversity caused the loss of big-name clients such as Nestle, Unilever and Burger King.
Last year, GAR commissioned an independent audit to investigate the allegations, but after the results were released, GAR and Greenpeace clashed on how it was interpreted.
Contacted yesterday, Greenpeace spokesman Bustar Maitar said the move 'could be good news for the forests, endangered species like the orang utan and for the Indonesian economy'. �If GAR 'does make these changes, large areas of forests will be saved. But now it has got to implement these plans, and we're watching closely to make sure this happens'.
Greenpeace said the move must have the Indonesian government's support 'by stopping any more licences being granted for forest and peatland clearance, and by reviewing activities in areas where licences have already been handed out'.
Indonesia's Vice-Minister of Trade Mahendra Siregar, who was at the press conference yesterday, said Indonesia will strive to be the best in this sector, and that means adopting sustainable business practices. GAR chairman and CEO Franky Wijaja said the agreement is a 'first step' towards a wider collaboration with industry players and the company was committed to taking a leadership role.
Golden Agri inches higher on forest conservation plan
Linette Lim Business Times 10 Feb 11;
SHARES of Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) rose yesterday on news of the company's latest forest conservation initiative. The counter closed trading 0.7 per cent higher, at 72 cents.
GAR and its subsidiaries, including PT Smart, yesterday announced a forest conservation policy (FCP) with the support of the Indonesian government.
The FCP will ensure that there will be no development on high carbon stock (HCS) forests, peat lands and high conservation value (HCV) forest areas.
GAR and its subsidiaries have been under fire since Greenpeace published a damning report on its environmental practices last April. This led to a loss of business, with Unilever and Nestle dropping PT Smart as their supplier.
In response, GAR commissioned an independent investigation headed by Control Union Certification and the BSI Group.
The FCP that was announced is in collaboration with non-profit organisation The Forest Trust (TFT).
TFT is also currently working with Nestle to adopt 'responsible sourcing guidelines for its palm oil suppliers'.
Peter Heng, GAR's managing director of communications and sustainability, denied that the FCP is a reaction to the loss of Nestle's business. 'These actions are internally driven,' he said.
Fieldwork related to the FCP will be conducted in the first half of this year and it is expected to take six months.
It will determine how many of its plantations are HCS forests. Land with more than 35 tonnes of carbon per hectare will be used as the provisional definition of an HCS forest.
Mahendra Siregar, Indonesia's Vice-Minister for Trade, commended the initiative as 'an example to find concrete solutions and a model for resource-based sectors which is key to Indonesia's sustainable development'.
He had separately announced an Indonesia sustainable palm oil certification initiative that will start in 2012. The trial run of 20 companies will involve two of PT Smart's subsidiaries, a GAR spokeswoman said.
Referring to the implementation of the FCP, Mr Heng said: 'At this moment, the additional cost of this policy will not be material.'
GAR and its subsidiaries are also working with TFT to ensure that all its plantations achieve roundtable for sustainable palm oil certification by December 2015.
According to TFT's executive director Scott Poynton, Greenpeace has said that it is cautiously supportive of the announcement and will continue to monitor GAR's progress.
Indonesian palm oil giant vows to save forests
Yahoo News 9 Feb 11;
JAKARTA (AFP) – Indonesia's biggest palm oil producer pledged on Wednesday to follow new standards to protect carbon-rich forests and peatlands, in a move cautiously welcomed by environmentalists including Greenpeace.
Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) and its subsidiary SMART, part of the Sinar Mas group, said it would work with Geneva-based consultancy The Forest Trust (TFT) to ensure its palm oil is sustainably harvested.
"We will not develop plantations on High Carbon Stock (HCS) forests, High Conservation Value forest areas and peatlands," SMART president director Daud Dharsono told reporters.
He said the partnership with The Forest Trust "aims to ensure that the group has a no deforestation footprint".
Scientists believe the destruction of carbon-storing forests is a lead cause of climate change.
Indonesia is the third biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, thanks mainly to deforestation across islands such as Sumatra and Borneo, where illegal logging is rife.
Major palm oil buyers including Nestle and Unilever cancelled contracts with SMART in response to a Greenpeace campaign last year highlighting the company's allegedly unsustainable clearing of forests.
TFT executive director Scott Poynton said better management of the palm oil industry was crucial for the environment. Indonesia is the world's biggest palm oil producer.
"Without better stewardship, the phenomenal growth of the palm oil industry could spell disaster for local communities, biodiversity and climate change as palm plantations encroach further and further into forested areas," he said.
But he added: "We all know that this agreement counts for nothing if it?s not now implemented".
"We have worked with other companies to clean up their supply chains successfully, and it is our intention to do so again," he said.
Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner Bustar Maitar said the group's campaign against GAR would be put on hold to give it a chance to prove that Wednesday's announcement was more than greenwashing.
"On paper, these commitments are really a major step forwards and if GAR implements these changes, it will save large areas of forests," he told AFP.
"But we will watch closely to make sure this happens."
Palm oil deal aims to save forests and carbon
Richard Black BBC News 9 Feb 11;
A major palm oil producer is joining forces with environmental campaigners in a bid to ramp up forest protection.
The giant Indonesian company Golden Agri-Resources (GAR) has agreed to work within new standards aimed at saving forests that store a lot of carbon.
International environment group The Forest Trust (TFT) is partnering the company and will monitor compliance.
The palm oil industry has regularly been accused of destroying old-growth forest as demand rockets.
The new deal expands on existing standards agreed under the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an international alliance of producers, processors, retailers and environment groups.
Already, RSPO rules forbid clearing old-growth forest or land with high conservation value, and developers are also supposed to obtain informed consent from local people before initiating new plantations.
Under the new deal, GAR will go further, vowing not to plant on peat, and not to clear forest where significant carbon is locked up in trees.
This should mean that large tracts of forest that have been partially logged will now be off-limits to the company.
Initially, the figure of 35 tonnes of carbon stored per hectare will be used as a ceiling; but that could change as research progresses.
"We're not trying to undermine the RSPO - we're saying 'this is something you guys need to look at and maybe move towards,'" said Scott Poynton, TFT's executive director.
"Everyone's talking about taking the lead, but no-one's doing it - this is an example of taking the lead," he told BBC News from Indonesia.
Reputational hit
GAR is the world's second-largest producer of palm oil, a product mainly used in food, fuels and cosmetics.
Like other companies in the field, it has been heavily criticised by environmental groups - a state of affairs that it wants to change.
"As a leading player in the palm oil industry, we are committed to playing our role in conserving Indonesia's forests," said Franky Wijaya, GAR's chairman and CEO.
"Our partnership with TFT allows us to grow palm oil in ways that conserve forests and that also respond to Indonesia's development needs; creating much needed employment while building shareholder value."
Earlier in the year, TFT finalised a deal with Swiss-based food giant Nestle designed to "ensure that its palm oil procurement had no deforestation footprint".
This led to discussions with suppliers such as GAR - and the conclusion that in order to preserve their markets, growers would have to purify their operations.
Greenpeace, which has taken the lead on the issue among international NGOs, sees the deal as a potential step forwards.
"This is really throwing a gauntlet down to the rest of the palm oil sector, and to other players," said campaigner Phil Aikman.
"It's setting a threshold for carbon, and that's pretty good - it'll protect a lot of orangutan habitat and other important areas that have been threatened by palm oil plantations.
"It challenges the rest of the sector to increase its productivity rather than target new areas over and over again, and that's been the main issue."
With RSPO, another issue has been compliance, with a number of companies accused of failing to live up to their promises.
But TFT says it will be working closely with GAR to make sure pledges are delivered.
Antara 10 Feb 11;
Dumai, Sumatera (ANTARA News) - The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has since Tuesday (Feb 8) detected 80 hot spots in Sumatera , scattered in Riau, North Sumatra, South Sumatra and Jambi provinces, a local weather bureau official said,
Marzuki, an officer of the Riau Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), said in Riau there were 29 hot spots spread in almost all regions of the province. The other hot spots were located in Indragiri Hulu (5), Bengkalis (4), Siak (3), Rokan Hulu (1)), Kampar (1), Indragiri Hilir (1), Kuansing (1), Rokan Hilir (10) and Dumai (2)
For now Kampar had the largest number of hot spots, namely 11, spread in plantation and farming areas.
"Since the finding of hot spots, most of the areas in southern and northeast Sumatera, like Jambi and South Sumatera, will be covered by smog due to winds blowing there," he said.
Marzuki said based on weather forecast and wind monitoring, the fog would also cover some foreign countries such as Singapore and Malaysia but only to a small extent because the winds tended to head to the Sumateran mainland.
"Until now, the number of hot spots will increase due to the extreme weather over Sumatera , mostly in Riau," he said.
Based on ANTARA`s own monitoring, light smog is to cover certain areas in Dumai, nevertheless the fog will not be too dangerous to people`s health and views. (*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli
Antara 10 Feb 11;
Dumai, Riau (ANTARA News) - About six wild elephants had trampled and at the same time destroyed at least six hectares of oil palm plantations and two hectares of rubber estates of the farmers of Petani village, Bengkalis regency, Riau, on Tuesday.
Petani village chief Rianto said here that besides destroying the plantations the Sumatra elephants also threatened the villagers.
"To avoid the elephants the villagers stayed away from their plantations, and only stay alert at their homes in the night," Rianto said.
The wild elephants often entered the plantations during the night destroying three to five years old oil palms and rubber trees.
"To scare the big animals away, the villagers normally used fire works normally used to celebrate new year," he said.
Rianto hoped the "war" between elephants and humans in the area could come to an end soon with the support and attention of the local government authorities and the Natural Resources Conservation Agency which had not done enough in this matter.
The conflict between elephants and humans in Petani village, was reported to have lasted for tens of years.
The relevant authorities in Riau had also several times deployed elephant tamers to reduce the conflict, but it did not last long enough, and the big animals came back with their destructive activities in Petani village. (*)
Editor: B Kunto Wibisono
Dan Martin Yahoo News 9 Feb 11;
BEIJING (AFP) – China called Wednesday for higher rice output to offset damage to its wheat crop in the drought-stricken north and pledged $1 billion in spending to battle a problem the UN warned could be "very serious".
The drought affecting large swathes of northern China is the worst in six decades in many areas and has left key grain-growing regions with no real rainfall in more than three months.
At a meeting on Wednesday chaired by Premier Wen Jiabao, the government decided to allocate funds to pay rice-growers higher prices for their grain in a bid to spur production, said a statement by the State Council, or Cabinet.
The statement did not say how much of the 6.7 billion yuan in anti-drought spending would be earmarked specifically for that purpose.
Other spending would go toward diverting water to affected areas, constructing emergency wells and irrigation facilities, and other measures to combat the dry spell.
The State Council warned the situation could worsen, saying rainfall across northern China for the foreseeable future would remain "persistently below normal levels and major rivers will continue to be generally dry."
China has a state policy of grain self-sufficiency and any move to purchase wheat overseas -- which some see as increasingly likely -- could impact world commodity markets.
Wheat is generally grown in the north, while rice is primarily cultivated in the wetter south.
Concerns about the impact of the drought sent wheat prices on the Zhengzhou commodity exchange in central China up nearly across the board on Wednesday, the exchange said.
The State Council said "grain costs will continue to rise".
The dilemma could not have come at a worse time for the government, which is struggling to cap soaring prices of food and other key goods.
On Tuesday, the central bank announced the third interest rate hike in four months, one of a series of macro-economic levers it has pulled to tame inflation -- which has a history of sparking unrest in China.
The drought has become the top issue of public concern in China and cast a pall over the country's Lunar New Year holiday celebrations, which are continuing this week.
Both President Hu Jintao and Wen paid separate visits to stricken areas during the height of the holiday last week and called for "all-out efforts" to fight the drought.
Besides the impact on farmland, nearly three million people are suffering from drinking water shortages.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) issued a warning Tuesday over the impact on the winter wheat crop, a key harvest for the world's biggest producer of the grain.
"The ongoing drought is potentially a very serious problem," the Rome-based agency said.
The eight affected grain-farming provinces produce more than 80 percent of China's winter wheat.
More than five million hectares (12.4 million acres) of crops have been damaged -- an area half the size of South Korea, China's drought control agency has said.
State television reports on Wednesday seized hopefully on snowfalls in eastern China's Shandong province and neighbouring Henan. Snow also was forecast for Thursday in and around Beijing.
The drought is the worst in 60 years in Shandong, the nation's second-biggest wheat producer, where rainfall in recent months has been 85 percent below normal.
Hebei province in northern China was already channeling large amounts of water from the Yellow River, and was poised to divert more to affected areas, the China Daily reported.
World food prices reached their highest-ever level in January and are set to keep rising for months, the FAO said last week, warning that the hardest-hit countries could face turmoil.
Rising food prices have been cited among the driving forces behind recent popular revolts in north Africa, including the ongoing uprising in Egypt and one in Tunisia that led to the ouster of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
"Wheat appears to be the main agricultural commodity driving global prices higher," Moody's Analytics said Wednesday in a research note.
It echoed the FAO in saying adverse weather in key wheat-growing areas around the globe would impact supplies and prices.
"China has traditionally been self-sufficient in its wheat consumption but may have to import a significant amount this year" as a result of the drought, Moody's said.
Yahoo News 9 Feb 11;
SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia said Wednesday carbon emissions will rise more than predicted by 2020 in the world's biggest per capita polluter, blaming its Asian-led mining boom.
The climate change department predicted Australia's emissions will surge by as much as 24 percent by 2020 compared to 2000 levels, four percent higher than last year's projections.
"Growth to 2020 is dominated by emissions associated with the extraction and processing of energy resources driven by strong export demand," the department said in its annual emissions report.
"Fugitive emissions from coal mines and oil and gas projects, as well as direct fuel combustion emissions from LNG projects, account for almost half of the growth in Australia's total emissions from 2010 to 2020."
The report found Australia was on track to reduce emissions to 106 percent of 1990 levels by 2012, two percent lower than its target agreed under the Kyoto protocol.
But it also said total emissions would grow 1.8 percent annually over the coming decade, compared with 0.4 percent since 2000.
By 2030 the report said emissions could be 44 percent above 2000 levels, though it cautioned this was a less reliable prediction.
Australia is the world's worst per capita polluter and home to its biggest coal export port, shipping millions of tonnes of energy and steelmaking coal to Asian markets annually, as well as iron ore and other minerals.
It is also heavily dependent on coal-fired power stations for electricity, a sector the report said accounted for 36 percent of Australia's total emissions in 2010.
Direct fuel combustion and agriculture each contributed about 15 percent and transport was the third biggest, at 14 percent.
The energy sector had spurred most of the emissions growth since 1990, "driven by Australia's relatively high rates of economic growth and international demand for Australia's resources," it added.
But renewable energy incentives would see growth in electricity-related pollution slow to just six percent over the next decade, the report said.
Meeting its reductions targets of between five and 25 percent offered after the Copenhagen climate summit would require "strong and concerted action on multiple fronts" in Australia, the report added.
The Labor government abandoned an attempt to introduce a cap-and-trade carbon programme early last year. Prime Minister Julia Gillard supports charging for carbon emissions, but is still investigating how to price them.
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