Chek Jawa Boardwalk trip, 12 March 2011, bookings open
from Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs
Brahminy Kite eating prey in flight
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What's awesome like Batman?
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Updates for volunteers with NParks Conservation Division
from wild shores of singapore
Daryl Chin Straits Times 6 Mar 11;
Keep a lookout for more bird species such as the painted snipe and whistling duck, and a greater biodiversity of flora and fauna, in Singapore's north-east.
Avid bird-watchers and nature buffs will want to do so, now that the new Punggol Promenade and eco-friendly Lorong Halus Wetland are ready. The joint launch yesterday, attended by some 1,000 residents, was part of the Government's efforts to spruce up the north-eastern area.
The promenade, costing $16.7 million and located on the Serangoon Reservoir bank, was built by the Urban Redevelopment Authority to let residents in the area enjoy recreational activities like jogging.
The first phase of construction has been completed and the next will include a sports complex, a driving range and other facilities.
And just 170m across the promenade - linked via a pedestrian bridge - is the Lorong Halus Wetland, a PUB initiative under its Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters project to give the country's waterways and reservoirs a makeover.
Formerly part of a landfill, Lorong Halus has been transformed into an educational site. It is hoped that it will be a sanctuary for plants, birds and wildlife too.
Nature Society president Shawn Lum believes the two new projects are a step in the right direction. 'Previously, this area was an isolated place, so it will be exciting to have residents nearby coming to interact with nature,' he said.
Present at the launch yesterday were students from nearby schools who have adopted the wetland as part of their learning programmes.
Some, like Pawandeep Singh Sekhon, 14, even acted as guides for the day. 'This is such a beautiful place, and I would like to come back as many times as I can and teach people more about it,' said the Punggol Secondary student.
Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, who officiated at the opening, said: 'This goes to show that in Singapore, water is not only a resource, but also an environmental and economic asset.'
Mr Lum added: 'The perennial challenge is getting people to visit and... at the same time not overwhelm the wildlife.'
DPM Teo opens Lor Halus Wetland biodiversity haven
Straits Times 6 Mar 11;
MORE than 1,000 residents gathered for a brisk walk to mark the occasion as Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean officially opened the Lorong Halus Wetland and part of the Punggol Promenade on Saturday.
Located in north-eastern Singapore along the eastern bank of Serangoon Reservoir, Lorong Halus Wetland was transformed from a landfill into an educational site and biodiversity haven for plants, birds and other wildlife.
The project is part of the Active, Beautiful, Clean Waters (ABC Waters) Programme by national water agency PUB. 'The Lorong Halus Wetland will provide a new space for members of the public to enjoy not just the tranquility and greenery of the wetland, but also the new habitat that this wetland has created for birds, butterflies, dragonflies and other wildlife,' said Mr Tan Nguan Sen, PUB's Director of Catchment and Waterways.
The Riverside Walk portion of the 4.9km-long Punggol Promenade was also opened by Mr Teo on Saturday. Envisioned as a rustic promenade, it allows families to enjoy the natural setting of the river banks. It is designed with exercise stations, dedicated bicycle and jogging tracks, as well as lookout points that allow visitors to get closer to the water's edge.
The Punggol Promenade is part of URA's Parks and Waterbodies and Identity Plans. In the plans, the coastal and waterfront areas of Punggol were envisaged as a major recreational and leisure destination for the residents in the north-east of Singapore.
When fully completed at the end of the year, the promenade will provide seamless public access to the entire Punggol waterfront and serve as a recreation corridor to support future waterfront housing and a range of recreation developments.
New wetland and riverfront promenade officially opened
AsiaOne 5 Mar 11;
A NEW eco-friendly wetland and riverfront promenade was officially opened in the north-east region of Singapore on Saturday morning.
Located within the Punggol New Town, the Lorong Halus Wetland and Riverside Walk of the Punggol Promenade will offer residents a range of commercial, social and recreational facilities.
More than 1,000 brisk walkers turned up at 8am to join in the official opening by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, who took a tour of the area.
Found along the eastern bank of the Serangoon Reservoir, the Lorong Halus Wetland occupies a section of the old landfill site, and has been transformed into an educational site and a sanctuary for plants, birds and other wildlife.
Using an innovative bio-remediation system, national water agency PUB designed the Lorong Halus Wetland to collect and treat water passing through the former landfill, preventing it from flowing into Serangoon Reservoir.
A rustic trail has been laid out among the reed beds and the ponds, allowing the public to get up close to the wetland system.
Members of the public and residents from Punggol New Town can easily access the wetland via a pedestrian bridge constructed across Serangoon Reservoir.
The Riverside Walk, located on the western bank of the Serangoon reservoir, is part of the larger 4.9 km long Punggol Promenade which is still undergoing development.
When fully completed at the end of this year, the promenade will provide seamless public access to the entire Punggol waterfront and serve as a corridor to support future waterfront housing.
The promenade is designed with exercise stations, dedicated bicycle and jogging tracks, as well as lookout points that allow visitors to get closer to the water's edge.
Stephen Coates (AFP) Google News 6 Mar 11;
WAKATOBI, Indonesia — Red anthia fish and rainbow-coloured wrasse dart among the glittering reefs of Indonesia's Wakatobi archipelago, as eagle rays and barracudas cruise past in the blue depths.
It's hard to believe Wakatobi is anything but a thriving marine paradise, packing a bewildering abundance of life that supports 100,000 people and contributes millions of dollars to Indonesia's economy.
But scientists are worried.
Last year, coral bleaching caused by higher sea temperatures wreaked havoc across the Coral Triangle, a region of rich tropical reefs spanning much of Southeast Asia and almost all of Indonesia.
Up to 70 percent of the coral in Wakatobi, off the southeastern tip of Sulawesi island, was totally or partially bleached. In Aceh province, off the northern tip of Sumatra, as much as 90 percent was killed, scientists said.
Experts from environmental groups The Nature Conservancy and WWF, as well as the Indonesian government, returned to Wakatobi last month to see if the marine park's reefs had bounced back.
Over two weeks of diving at sites with names like Table Coral City and Blue Hole, the team looked for signs of long-term damage or resilience, in the hope of learning more about how reef systems respond to climate-related stresses.
"In Aceh about 90 percent of the coral bleached, and that included some of the really big varieties that are hundreds of years old and had survived the (2004) tsunami but died because of the bleaching," said Joanne Wilson, deputy director for science in TNC's Indonesia Marine Programme.
"Very fortunately in Wakatobi ... it seems that only about five to 10 percent of the corals actually died. We're very lucky here."
Bleaching occurs when corals respond to stress, such as stronger than normal direct sunlight or elevated sea temperatures, by expelling the algae that live inside them and give them their brilliant colours.
In normal conditions the symbiotic algae provide the corals with nutrients, and without them the corals turn white and can die within days. They may also recover, depending on the circumstances.
Wilson described the "eerie" experience of diving on wintry, frozen-looking reefs during the height of the bleaching at Wakatobi last year, the warmest year on record.
"I saw that a lot of the corals were affected by the bleaching to various stages. Some were completely white but still alive," she said.
Scientists feared a repeat of the 1998-1999 global bleaching that was linked to the El Nino and La Nina weather cycles in the Pacific Ocean.
About 16 percent of the world's reefs died in that crisis, providing a wake-up call to scientists about the dangers posed to reef systems -- and the millions of people who depend on them -- from global warming.
Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, the director of the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland in Australia, said the effects of El Nino and La Nina were being magnified by "background warming" linked to general climate change.
"Over the next five to 10 years, we will probably return to fairly serious bleaching conditions," he said.
Last year's bleaching event has given scientists a chance to test theories of resilience and see which kinds of reefs, under which circumstances, are best suited to adapt to warmer seas.
The aim is to develop a kind of survival checklist which can be used to identify key reef systems that should be given priority in the designation of marine parks and conservation zones.
TNC's Coral Reef Conservation director Rod Salm, who joined the Wakatobi expedition from his base in Hawaii, said last year's bleaching hit the reefs of Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and Indonesia "very hard".
"It was a tragic event but at the same time we can get something from it -- we can learn how the corals respond, and we can relate how they respond back to our original resilience principles," he said.
Wakatobi is the only marine park designed with those principles in mind that has been hit by bleaching, he said.
"What's exciting is the chance to see if we got it right," he told AFP after a dive off Wakatobi's Tomia island.
Other teams are doing similar studies in Aceh and Bali, looking at local characteristics and micro-climates -- perhaps a cooler current or upwell of cooler water -- that may indicate a better chance of surviving global warming.
The researchers will come together at a workshop in April to compare their findings.
"We're trying to come up with the factors that are the real drivers of resilience... The idea is to identify the 10 or 12 factors that are absolutely crucial," Salm said.
Indonesia has introduced penalties for destructive activities like bomb and cyanide fishing, and declared 13 million hectares (32 million acres) of sea as Marine Protected Areas.
The massive archipelago of 17,000 islands hopes to boost this area to 20 million hectares by 2020, a recognition of the importance the government places on reefs as sources of revenue and food for millions of people.
"The question isn't whether 20 million hectares is the right number, the thing is does Indonesia have the resources and skills to manage effectively?" Wilson said.
"I think there's a real recognition within the government that now the hard work begins."
Globally, the value of coral reefs in terms of goods and services has been estimated at $385 billion annually. In Indonesia it's more than $3 billion.
Some 500 million people -- mainly in developing nations in Southeast Asia and around the Indian Ocean -- depend on reefs for their daily livelihoods.
A study by two dozen conservation and research groups led by World Resources International released last month said that without quick action to arrest global warming and reduce other human impacts, the world's reefs could be wiped out by 2050, with grave implications for humanity as a whole.
On Tomia, local fishermen are doing their bit by banding together to protect their precious reefs from bomb and cyanide fishing.
They said they had received death threats and been harassed by police working on behalf of commercial fishing interests.
"Some people are against us. We've been threatened," said 32-year-old fisherman Eliswan, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name.
"Some of our members have been beaten... The bad guys are the businessmen and the politicians."
For information on reef resilience and coral bleaching: http://www.reefresilience.org/Toolkit_Coral/C1_Intro.html
Leila B. Salaverria Philippine Daily Inquirer 5 Mar 11;
MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has taken steps to protect the country’s largest flower and will enlist the help of local communities in ensuring the survival of the threatened species.
The DENR has issued an administrative order declaring a two-hectare piece of land in Sitio (district) Kalanganan, Baungon, Bukidnon, as the critical habitat of the Rafflesia schadenbergiana.
The Rafflesia schadenbergiana is known as “bo-o” or “kolon busaw” to the Bogobo and Higaonon tribes of Bukidnon.
The DENR earlier categorized the flower as critically endangered. Compared to other rafflesia species, the Rafflesia schadenbergiana is more at risk of extinction because of its parasitic nature.
In the rafflesia genus, it is the second-largest flower. It can grow to as big as 80 centimeters in diameter. It is the largest of the 10 rafflesia species found in the Philippines.
Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said that with the recognition of the critical habitat, the DENR could enlist the help of local residents in keeping the rafflesia’s habitat free from exploitation or destruction.
“The Philippines takes pride in the endemicity of its biodiversity. The newly issued administrative order protecting the natural habitat of the rafflesia will allow the DENR to work closely with the surrounding communities in ensuring the survival of the country’s largest flower which, unfortunately, is a threatened species,” Paje said in a statement.
The DENR directed its regional office in Cagayan de Oro City, which has jurisdiction over Bukidnon, to delineate the boundaries of the critical habitat and to oversee its management. The regional office could also enter into agreements with local government units and people’s organizations for the management of the area.
The DENR and its partners would have to preserve the environmental conditions within the critical habitat to support the Rafflesia schadenbergiana and other flora and fauna that naturally thrive there.
There should also be a critical habitat management plan that would ensure the enforcement of environmental laws in the area and prevent prohibited acts such as squatting, dumping of waste, mineral extraction, burning, quarrying and logging.
The declaration of the critical habitat was in accordance with the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act, and has the support of the Kalanganan San Vicente Farmers Association Inc., local government units and municipal and barangay officials, according to the DENR.
The Rafflesia schadenbergiana was named after Alexander Schadenberg, a German ethnologist who conducted expeditions to the Philippines. This rafflesia was first collected near Mount Apo in 1882. It was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered on Mt. Matutum in South Cotabato in 1994. Its existence was also recorded in Baungon, Bukidnon, just outside the Mount Kitanglad Natural Park, in 2007.
It funds terrorists and civil wars, and brings more species closer to extinction
Maryrose Fison The Independent 6 Mar 11;
Animal smuggling has grown to a £6bn-a-year criminal industry, and is exceeded only by the drugs and arms trades. Its illicit profits are a major source of funding for terrorist and militia groups, including al-Qa'ida, and the snaring and slaughtering of animals is driving dozens of species to the brink of extinction.
These are the main findings from a month-long Independent on Sunday investigation into the growing scale and impact of wildlife trafficking – an illicit business which, thanks to huge profits and the violence to which it so readily resorts, is overwhelming the law and order resources ranged against it.
For all the international treaties, police units, campaign groups and NGOs battling it, the trade continues to grow. The world's tiger population has plummeted from 100,000 at the start of the 20th century to below 4,000 today; 20,000 elephants are killed each year for their ivory; the number of rhino poached in South Africa doubled last year; sea turtles are being harvested at an astonishing rate, their shells turned into jewellery; and, over the past 40 years, 12 species of large animal have vanished completely in Vietnam. The trade takes its toll in human lives, too. Each year, according to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, more than 100 African rangers are killed, the men unequipped to cope with armed poachers.
Many people associate animal smuggling with small-time crooks trying to bring a few lizards in a suitcase to be sold by the under-the-counter pet trade. It is, in fact, a multifaceted business catering to huge demand among collectors for exotic species, ornaments and clothing, plus traditional Chinese medicine's industrial-scale appetite for animal parts. Linda Arroyo, team leader at Sweden's National Police for Environmental Crime, says widely held superstitions surrounding certain animal parts drive the illegal industry within Asia. "There are beliefs that rhino horns cure cancer, that if you drink out of a rhino horn cup you get eternal happiness, and that some of these wild animals raise men's potency. The fact that the Asian economy is growing makes it possible for more people to buy these products."
Bones, paws and penises of tigers and leopards are used as aphrodisiacs in Mong La, a northern state of Burma with a large sex industry, according to an extensive study of the big cat trade conducted by the wildlife NGO Traffic last year. Large vats of tiger-bone wine – which sell for between $40 and $100 a bottle – were being promoted as a health tonic in outlets catering to Chinese customers. Around the world, including in US Chinese medicine stores, bear bile is widely used to "treat" a multitude of symptoms from swollen eyes and haemorrhoids to skin lesions and fever.
The profits are vast. Beautifully coloured birds found in the Amazon basin and South-east Asia frequently command the highest prices. Lear's macaw, an ocean-blue parrot from Brazil, is thought to be one of the most lucrative species on the black market. In 2008, it was reportedly trading at an estimated $90,000 per bird. Only 960 of the birds are believed to be left in the world. A single kilo of rhino horn was going for as much as $34,000 in 2009 – well in excess of legally traded precious metals such as gold. Tiger skins can fetch up to £20,000. A pound of tiger glue (made from the animals' bones) was selling in Vietnam for $2,000 in 2008, while Tibetan antelope hair – known as shahtoosh – is made into shawls that can cost between $1,200 and $12,000 apiece.
But it isn't just in Africa and South-east Asia where the cruel trade operates. Last August, Jeffrey Lendrum pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court of trying to smuggle 14 rare peregrine falcon eggs out of the UK. He was booked on a flight for South Africa with a 14-hour-stop-over in Dubai. He was arrested in Birmingham airport after a cleaner noticed him acting suspiciously in the toilets. The prosecution claimed an intermediary was due to take the eggs to an individual in Dubai, putting a value of up to £70,000 on the consignment. As the world's fastest bird, capable of travelling at speeds of up to 150mph, it is popular in Dubai where falconry is a traditional sport.
Brian Stuart, chairman of Interpol's Wildlife Crime Working Group and head of the National Wildlife Crime Unit, said that the two most recent Interpol investigations had recovered ¤35m from animal smuggling networks over three months. "In February last year Operation Tram recovered globally about ¤10m-worth of illegal products worldwide and we've still got inquiries initiated from that ongoing. The second operation [Operation Remp, covering illegally traded reptiles and amphibians] involved 52 countries and recovered in the region of ¤25m-worth of illegal products worldwide."
With revenues such as these, majorcriminal and terrorist groups have long since moved in to control the industry. The Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS), one of the world's largest databases of animal contraband, found that nearly 2,000 more elephant products were seized in 2009 than in the previous analysis in 2007 – a sign of the increased involvement of organised crime syndicates.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), 15,562kg of ivory were seized between 1989 and 2009, with 66 per cent of this collected in the last decade. Analysis from ETIS indicates three-quarters of this was obtained through organised crime rings. In Tanzania, the picture is even worse, with 68 per cent of the 76,293kg of ivory seized during this period being smuggled by organised crime. Forensic evidence has enabled scientists at the University of Washington to create "DNA maps" of African elephants and work out from which populations the contraband comes.
Elisabeth McLellan, species manager at WWF International, says that until law enforcement is strengthened, ivory will continue to leak out of Africa. "We're not just talking small-time smugglers here; we're talking hardened, organised criminal gangs." A US congressional hearing on animal smuggling in 2008 reported that ivory en route from Cameroon to Hong Kong had been hidden in three containers with false compartments – clearly not the doing of local poachers.
Many criminal gangs have links to warlords and militias, and an increasing body of evidence suggests animal smuggling is being used to bankroll civil wars. In 2008, the trades in bushmeat and ivory were found to be directly supporting rogue military gangs, and providing economic support for several persistent pockets of rebel activity in the DRC, including the Hutu rebels implicated in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Arms and ammunition were provided in exchange for ivory and illegal bushmeat during the second Congo war of 1998-2003. Somali warlord factions and the Sudanese Janjaweed – the militia group associated with the genocide in Darfur – have been identified in the poaching of ivory from elephants in the DRC and Chad.
On 15 May 2007, a failed Janjaweed attack that sought to capture Chad's national stockpile of ivory at Zakouma National Park killed three rangers. Chadian authorities accuse the same Janjaweed of being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of elephants around Zakouma at this time. The same year, seven rangers from the Kenya Wildlife Service were forced to stand their ground against a gang of heavily armed Somali poachers. Three rangers and four poachers were killed in the exchange, which occurred in the middle of the night.
The sophistication of weapons used, the abundance of ammunition and the disciplined military tactics of the poachers all point towards them working at the behest of one of Somalia's warlords. These, and terrorist leaders, are effectively acting as poaching gangmasters who exploit the poverty of local people. Civil strife, rampant in the African range states, also creates refugees, and these can have a detrimental impact on wildlife. Angolan, Burundian and DRC refugees living in the Meheba refugee camp in Zambia were persistently implicated in poaching in West Lunga National Park in 2008. Other extremist groups are also linked to the illicit trade. According to a report on transnational crime published by the Washington-based think tank Global Financial Integrity, at least two Islamic extremist groups are believed to have links to animal smuggling, among them the Harakat ul-Jihad-Islami-Bangladesh (HUJI-B) and Jamaat-ul Mujahedin Bangladesh (JMB). Janjaweed militants and Somali warlords in East Africa are thought to receive support from al-Qa'ida.
A wildlife expert with more than two decades' experience examining the illegal wildlife trade in Africa, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "There is credible evidence they [Al-Shabaab, the Somali affiliate of al-Qa'ida] are involved in ivory poaching and rhino trafficking. This is serious business. [The army] is personally well armed and well trained and can cross hundreds of kilometres of land very rapidly. They know how to force-march, deprive themselves of water, and when they are told to come back with a dozen ivory tusks they do it." The individual said that the most common weapons used by poachers were AK47 rifles, but G3 weapons – which fire bullets 500-600m, twice the distance of AK47s – had been found along with M16s.
While the black-market profits are enormous, the complexity of the smuggling chain is long and involves numerous intermediaries. At the bottom, poachers hired by syndicates capture or kill the chosen species. Poachers will typically be expected to spend an extended period in the wild, and are equipped by gangs with vehicles, weapons and – depending on whether the animal is to be caught dead or alive – training. Once caught, smaller animals are transferred to mules – humans paid to carry the wildlife either in a suitcase or on their person. Cross-continental journeys are a traumatic ordeal for the animals, with reports of birds being drugged and having their beaks taped shut. Nearly 80 per cent of birds die en route while the remainder are either maimed or severely traumatised by the experience.
One of the major obstacles to cracking down on the trade at the mule level is a lack of credible deterrents. Mules run the risk of being caught at customs or en route to airports and borders, but the penalties for animal smuggling pale in comparison with those for other forms of trafficking. A report by wildlife monitoring NGO Traffic last year found that those found in possession of protected species face a fine of up to £800 in Thailand and/or imprisonment for up to four years. In Burma a fine of up to £4,700, and/or imprisonment of up to seven years is applicable.
Compared with the sentences imposed for drug trafficking in the region – where possession of marijuana can result in the death penalty – such punishments are barely a deterrent. Late last year, Anson Wong, one of the biggest animal traffickers in the world, received a mere six months' imprisonment and a £38,500 fine for attempting to smuggle 95 boa constrictors, two rhinoceros vipers and a mata mata turtle into Malaysia. By contrast, in 2000, the man dubbed the "lizard king" was jailed for 71 months and fined £36,500 for trafficking a menagerie of endangered species into the US.
The gangs frequently bribe border guards or pay organised crime networks to use their established smuggling channels. The criminals have been found to triangulate routes, falsify certificates and mix legal shipments of animals with illegal ones to confuse officials. A World Bank-sponsored report from 2008 found smuggling gangs using fake army and government number plates, funeral and wedding cars, as well as ambulances.
The effect on the countries from which wildlife is taken can be devastating. In South Africa, there have been reports of Chinese triads exchanging the raw ingredients for methamphetamine ("crystal meth" – known locally as "tik") for abalone, an endangered shellfish served as a delicacy in Asia. According to a Wall Street Journal report in 2007, one pound of the shellfish was able to command $200 within Asia. Because drugs are the currency of payment, the exchange is virtually untraceable yet it is tearing apart the fabric of South African society. The International Narcotics Control Board's annual report for 2010 shows that at least 30,000 addicts use more than a gram of methamphetamine per day in South Africa, and in Cape Town it is reported to be the primary or secondary substance of abuse among two-thirds of drug users. A 2005 study by the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior in Los Angeles also found that it resulted in greater likelihood of unprotected sex among users in South Africa – highly problematic given the prevalence of HIV in the region.
Local tourism also suffers. With fewer and fewer tigers and other popular species left on the planet, countries that rely on international visitors to visit natural parks stand to lose out. Brian Stuart of Interpol's Wildlife Crime Working Group says that the disappearance of species is bad news for communities dependent on the revenue from travellers.
"If there are no rhino or other endangered species in some of the range states in Africa, why would people want to go there?" he said. "If there are no ospreys or buzzards in the glens of Scotland, why would people want to come and visit? And if there are no fish in the rivers, why would the fishermen want to go there? Wildlife crime has an impact on rural economies and on the wider scheme of things."
But far away from these countries, there are global health threats posed by the illegal trade as animals cross continents. Two parrots were seized at Heathrow airport in 2005 infected with the avian influenza virus. A year earlier, a man was caught trying to smuggle mountain hawk eagles also infected with the H5N1 virus. Because some diseases are able to jump from animals to humans, wildlife trafficking can pose a grave threat to health.
Yet in spite of the scale of the problem, there appears to be a lack of consensus among governments when it comes to proposing a unified response. Interpol's annual budget for wildlife protection is a mere $300,000 – a fraction of the $86m donated to the WWF for conservation purposes last year. David Higgins, manager of the environmental crime programme at Interpol, based in Lyon, told The Independent on Sunday he found the level of funding low. "It's like owning a car and not having enough fuel to put in it. You can still drive the car but you can never really drive it properly if you don't have enough fuel. We're not fighting a losing battle. I think we are just containing a little more than fighting," he said.
Much can and should be done to combat the smuggling. Mr Higgins said that even with limited resources, the response could be enhanced if conservation and law enforcement groups pooled their knowledge. Awareness campaigns would be one way to enhance Westerners' knowledge of whether a species is endangered and therefore illegal to purchase. At present, the internet can be used to advertise endangered species as legally traded species when in fact they are not, playing on the public's ignorance. Tougher penalties with larger fines and longer prison sentences for the top-level criminals masterminding the trafficking chains and an incentivised whistle-blowing service would all help.
Until then, wildlife trafficking will continue to wipe out the world's most precious species, destroying the lives of those around them along the way, bankrolling a bloodbath of civil wars and devastating local economies.
The smuggler: 'Lizard King' caught with a bag full of snakes
International wildlife trafficker Anson Wong first gained notoriety after pleading guilty to smuggling a menagerie of endangered species into the US in 2000, when he was sentenced to 71 months in jail and fined $60,000 (£36,800).
Dubbed "the Lizard King" by the media, he was arrested again last year in Kuala Lumpur airport after a bag containing 95 boa constrictors burst open on the conveyor belt. Also inside the bag were two rhinoceros vipers and a mata mata turtle.
A Malaysian court was told that Wong had imported the snakes into Malaysia legally but failed to apply for a permit to re-export them to Indonesia. When questioned by sessions court judge Zulhelmy Hasan, Wong said that his customer had pushed him to deliver the snakes before the Muslim celebration of Hari Raya (Eid). Wong said that in his haste to keep the buyer happy, he did not apply for a permit.
The court also ordered that the three mobile phones and laptop Wong was carrying at the time of arrest remained in the custody of the Wildlife and National Parks Department.
Tigers — one third of subspecies extinct
Three of the original nine subspecies of tiger have become extinct over the past 60 years. Poaching, destruction of forests, and climate change are all believed to play a role in this. The last Bali tiger died in the 1930s; the Caspian tiger became extinct in the 1970s; the Javan tiger followed in the 1980s. Today, all remaining tiger subspecies are either endangered or critically endangered; in the African range states, wild tiger numbers are thought to be as low as 3,200. Most recent estimates of wild tigers in Burma indicate that as few as 150 roam there.
Black rhinos – trade in horns is dramatically reducing numbers
Rhinoceros horns are prized for their purported medicinal properties, and numbers have declined sharply over the past 40 years. According to WWF, 96 per cent of black rhinos were killed between 1970 and 1992. Today, the combined population of black and white rhinos in Africa is thought to be just over 18,000. Poaching killed 333 rhinos in South Africa in 2010, twice the number slaughtered a year earlier. In 2008, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna established a rhinoceros enforcement task force, to try to counter rising levels of rhino poaching in Asia and Africa.
Leopards – killed for skins
Like all the animals cited in this investigation, leopards are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (Cites), which prohibits all international commercial trade. With their skins and body parts commanding high prices, their numbers have been declining. The clouded leopard is classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and the snow leopard is endangered. In December 2008, two snow leopard skins were observed in the Burmese border village of Tachilek being offered for £500 each, according to international wildlife monitoring NGO Traffic.
Bears – killed for their bile or used in bear baiting
Bears are captured for use in bear baiting and to harvest their bile for use in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In rural Pakistan, up to 2,000 spectators will assemble to watch a tethered bear set upon by trained dogs, according to the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), in spite of the practice being banned. Within China bile is widely extracted from the gallbladder of bears in a process that is excruciating for the animals. There are more than 50 herbal alternatives to bear bile.
Tibetan antelope – prized fur makes them endangered
There are between 75,000 and 100,000 Tibetan antelope left on the planet, making this species officially endangered. High demand for shahtoosh – the hair found on the creatures – has resulted in poachers slaughtering them to sell fur on the illicit market. It takes about four animals to make a single shawl and prices can vary from $1,000 to $5,000, according to the WWF.
Falcons – used for sport
Peregrine falcons are classified as endangered, and the most up-to-date reports put the bird's breeding population at just over 1,400 pairs. Because they can travel at extremely high speeds they are in demand from buyers who want to use them in the sport of falconry. The majority do not migrate, staying within 100km of their birthplace.
Lear's macaw – was on the brink of extinction
This exotic parrot found in the Amazon basin is believed to be among the most expensive wildlife species trafficked on the black market. It was brought back from the brink of extinction in 1989, when fewer than 100 of the birds existed, but remains listed as an endangered species. Conservation groups have worked hard to protect the bird's natural habitat to enable numbers to grow.
Elephant – ivory trade destroying population
Elephants form the top level of the food chain in much of sub-Saharan Africa, trampling down dense flora in the savannahs, enabling smaller animals to forage for food. Demand for ivory, which is sold at a premium on the black market, puts elephants at grave threat from hunters and poachers. Between 1989 and February 2010, 18,771kg of ivory was seized in Nigeria, 17,681kg in Cameroon, 28,848kg in Kenya and 33,207kg in Namibia. This is just a fraction of the overall total across Africa's 37 range states.
* Rising oil prices make illegal refineries profitable
* Pipelines vandalised to obtain crude oil
* Damage costs oil firms millions of dollars a year
Samuel Tife Reuters 5 Mar 11;
ODIGBO, Nigeria, March 5 (Reuters) - A Nigerian soldier opens fire into drums of gasoline stacked among the mangroves, then runs back to a safe distance.
His colleagues set light to rags on the end of a stick and fling them into the liquid seeping from the bullet holes. The heat forces them to look away as orange flames roar into the air, billowing thick, black smoke.
Destroying illegal oil refineries dotted among the creeks of the Niger Delta is almost as dangerous for these soldiers as working here was for the young men who turned stolen crude oil into home-made gasoline.
Crude oil thieves -- known locally as "bunkerers" -- have been a fact of life for years in Africa's biggest oil and gas industry, puncturing pipelines and costing Nigeria and foreign oil firms millions of dollars in lost revenues each year.
A government amnesty two years ago for gunmen in the Niger Delta, where dirt-poor thatch-roofed villages sit among some of Africa's biggest industry installations, brought some respite.
But rising world oil prices have pushed the cost of gasoline in Nigeria up by a third to 150 naira ($0.98) a litre over the past three months, increasing demand on the black market and making the illegal refineries as profitable as ever.
"The local communities raised the alarm because of the devastating effects on their waterways and farms, and complaints have also started coming from the oil majors," said Timothy Antigha, military spokesman in the Niger Delta.
"We are winning the battle. The situation would have been worse if we were not around," he said.
A hundred soldiers backed up by gunboats and two helicopters were involved in Saturday's operation, which targeted three illegal refineries around Odigbo, a village near the border between Bayelsa and Rivers states.
By the time the soldiers arrived, abandoned barrels of gasoline, blackened earth pits and scorched foliage were all that remained -- these are close-knit communities and the bunkerers knew the military were coming.
The army seized equipment including home-made pumps and welding machines, but no arrests were made.
SCORES KILLED
Scores of people have been killed by explosions in illegal refineries like these in recent years.
The stolen crude is heated in a home-made tank over a fire in a pit in the ground. The aim is to boil off the gasoline, which condenses in a water-cooled pipe and runs off into barrels stored dangerously close to the naked flames.
"Gasoline explosions are traceable to these illegal refineries, and it's in the interests of the Niger Delta to put them to a halt," Antigha said.
The vast wetlands region on the Gulf of Guinea is arguably Africa's most heinous example of the "resource curse", where multi-billion dollar oil facilities run by firms including Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and Agip sit among some of its least developed communities.
The illegal refiners risk their lives to eke out a living in a region where most people survive on $2 a day or less.
Industry executives estimate that as many as 100,000 barrels of oil a day were being stolen at the peak of unrest in the Niger Delta a few years ago -- worth more than $10 million a day at today's prices -- although much of it was taken by forging shipping manifests rather than tapping pipelines.
President Goodluck Jonathan, the first head of state from the Niger Delta, has pledged to develop the region if he wins April's election. But similar promises have been made before.
The oil minister said last month that communities in the region would receive an estimated $600 million in annual dividends as part of efforts to improve security and development under reforms currently before parliament.
But security experts say that only sustainable employment for tens of thousands of unemployed youths will prevent the illegal refineries springing up again once the army's back is turned. For now, that prospect remains a pipe dream.
(Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Kevin Liffey))
Millions living near the coast are likely to be hit by rising sea levels, erosion and storm surges, warns a new study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Jamie Doward The Observer 6 Mar 11;
On Benbecula, they know all too well that rising tides threaten the UK's coastline. For the 1,200 inhabitants of the small, low-lying island in the Outer Hebrides, the sea's encroachment is becoming a serious problem, especially on its western shores.
Impacts of Climate Change on Disadvantaged UK Coastal Communities, a report to be published tomorrow by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, an influential thinktank, records how local people have seen the coastline retreat before their eyes in just a few years.
The threat posed by erosion has been exacerbated by the fact that the sea has taken material from the island's beaches that is normally used for constructing roads and buildings. But Benbecula is not alone: the report claims that rising sea levels are likely to have a "severe impact" on much of the UK's coastline by 2080.
The authors note that "the total rise in sea levels off the UK coast may exceed one metre, and could potentially reach two metres". They warn that "the frequency of intense storm events is expected to increase and, along with the rise in sea level, to lead to more coastal flooding".
As a result, many of the 30 million people living near the UK's coastline – which has 291 inhabited islands – will need to anticipate how climate change will affect them. "We haven't devoted enough time to debating these issues," said Jeremy Richardson, director of the engineering consultancy URS-Scott Wilson, who co-authored the report.
"Because we're talking about what happens in 2050 to 2080, people tend not to talk about this, but the coast is going to be at the forefront of these climate change impacts. We're not just talking about flooding or drought, but also rising sea levels and an increase in storminess; it will affect a lot of towns, many of which are especially vulnerable because they are isolated geographically."
Climate change threatens to be an additional burden on coastal regions already experiencing major socioeconomic problems. Many have increasingly elderly populations, with younger people forced to move inland to find work. Among Britain's local authorities with the largest proportions of pensioners, all but one are coastal, according to the report.
Each coastal region will be affected differently, it suggests. Winter precipitation is likely to increase markedly on the northern and western coastlines of the UK, prompting concerns that these areas will experience a rise in flooding. The east of England, with its low-lying and soft-sediment coasts, will be most vulnerable to erosion, with towns near estuaries particularly at risk.
Some 17% of the UK's coastline is already thought to be suffering from erosion. Five areas are identified as particularly at risk: south Wales, north-west Scotland, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, East Anglia and the Thames estuary.
One of the towns that will be particularly affected is Llanelli, on the Loughor estuary in Wales. The inhabitants told the report's authors that they believe many parts of their town could be under water within 50 years. Recent storms have destroyed the Millennium Coastal Path around Llanelli, while sand dunes at nearby Pembrey have disappeared.
Skegness in Lincolnshire is identified in the report as being at particular risk from sea-level rises and increased storm surges. The report warns that the town's problems are compounded by its "predominant architectural style, which consists of largely single-storey dwellings, meaning that residents cannot simply go upstairs to avoid floodwaters. In addition, there is a suspected 'hidden population' living in caravans all year round."
Another town identified as a key concern is Great Yarmouth on the Norfolk coast, which was flooded in 1953. A "near miss" in November 2007, when a tidal surge and high tides resulted in partial flooding, has raised concerns among the town's business leaders that its tourist industry is vulnerable to climate change.
The government has wrestled with the dilemma of how best to defend the UK's coastline for decades. For the last half a century, successive administrations have employed a "hold-the-line" policy – defending the coast through the use of "hard" defences such as sea walls and groynes.
Advocates of such a policy point out that around 60% of the best agricultural land is five metres or less above sea level, while 90% of UK trade comes and goes through sea ports. In addition to being a major tourist destination, the UK's coastline is also home to internationally significant wetlands and habitats for major bird populations. Around 10% of Britain's nature reserves are located near the coast.
Recently ministers have questioned whether maintaining this approach is cost-effective in the long term as sea levels rise. But Richardson said it was vital that the government provided coastal communities with adequate resources to combat the new threats posed by climate change.
"We are an island nation; we live and die by the sea," he said. "Even if protecting the coastline does not make sense in cost-benefit terms, it is vital to our national character and identity."
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