Best of our wild blogs: 21 Nov 12

Sylvia & Zipper the rescued common palm civets
from Life of a common palm civet in Singapore

Unspottable
from The annotated budak

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Indonesia: Sumatran tiger poaching remains high

Antara 20 Nov 12;

Jambi (ANTARA News) - The poaching of Sumatran tiger in Kerinci Seblat National Park, Jambi, remains high as 120 tiger meshes to trap the large cat species were found and secured by the National Park Board.

Head of Area II Kerinci Seblat National Park Board (TNKS), Dian Rusdianto said the tiger meshes were set by poachers to trap the tigers so that they could illegaly sell the animals.

The traps, however, not only pose serious threat for the Sumatran tigers population but also other protected animals in the national park, Rusdianto who is also a field director of Sumatran tiger preservation program (PHS) in TNKS said.

"We have sent three suspects of tiger poaching for legal process. Two of them are village heads in Merangin and a civilian," Dian Rusdianto said here Tuesday.

The Kerinci Seblat has the most sumatran tiger population than other national parks in Indonesia. Data from 2011 census shows there are 165 tigers live in the national park.

However, the threats come not only from the poaching and illegal traps. The 1.4 million-hectares national park is threatened by encroachment of the protected forest area.

Thus, the natural habitat of Sumatran tigers and the other protected animals, including the tigers` prey, is diminishing.

However, sumatran tigers could survive better than the javanese one-horned rhinoceros in term of diminishing habitat.

"Actually, the most important thing is to preserve the tigers` preys as the big cat can breed in almost every (environment) condition provided the preys are still available and preserved," Rusdianto said, adding that the one-horned rhino, in other hand, needed a naturally preserved habitat to breed.

The shrinking natural habitat would also lead to conflicts between human and animal. "There are some conflicts between tigers or even bears and human. Those might be caused by the damaged natural ecosystem," Rusdianto said.

(A059)

Editor: Maryati

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Yangtze River expedition points to decline of endangered finless porpoise

WWF 20 Nov 12;

Yichang, China -- Scientists from a research expedition that is looking to find out how many finless porpoises now live in the Yangtze have spotted 10 individuals in a 630km section of the river, fewer than detected in the area during a similar study six years ago.

A combination of visual and sonar identification are being used to guarantee the independence and accuracy of the findings, according to the expedition team, which docked near the city of Yichang Monday afternoon.

Initial results suggest a drop in the population of the world’s only freshwater finless porpoise but the results are pending until late next month when the evaluation is finalized.

"We have spotted 10 finless porpoises from Wuhan to Yichang, the first leg of the survey, mainly in the lower reaches of the Honghu section, upper reaches of the Dongting estuary, upper and lower reaches of the river near Jianli county and the section adjacent to Gong'an county, with few discoveries elsewhere," said Wang Kexiong, deputy head of the research expedition and an associate researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB).

Shipping traffic, infrastructure to blame for population decline

The Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis), which numbers between 1,200 to 1,500 in the wild, lives mainly in the central and lower reaches of the 6300km Yangtze River and two large adjoining lakes, Dongting and Poyang.

Estimates from the 2006 survey say that the finless porpoise is expected to decline to around 200 by 2035 - Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List – but more recent studies say that the species could become extinct in 15 years if nothing is done to protect them.

Scientists on the expedition point to the growth of commercial shipping traffic and the construction of dams and other large-scale infrastructure projects as some of the major reasons behind the decline of the rare species.

“In order to study human impacts on finless porpoises in a scientific and comprehensive manner, we will count the number of cargo and fishing ships in the Yangtze from Yichang to Shanghai to evaluate the pressure posed by shipping and fishery activities on the endangered species," said Zhang Xinqiao, expedition team member and WWF finless porpoise programme officer.

The expedition team, which first set sail on 11 November, is scheduled to depart Yichang for Wuhan on 20 November, travelling along the Yangtze through the provinces of Anhui, Jiangxi, and Jiangsu to Shanghai, wrapping up the voyage in late-December when the first research report is to be published.

Led by China's Ministry of Agriculture and organized by the IHB, WWF and Wuhan Baiji Dolphin Conservation Fund, the expedition comes only six years after the Baiji dolphin - another rare cetacean and close relative of the finless porpoise - was declared functionally extinct.

"Statistics will be finalized after we take into consideration the validity of calculation, density of distribution, width of the river, sailing length and areas covered," said Wang Kexiong from the IHB.

Shipping, overfishing pushing Yangtze finless porpoise towards extinction
WWF 28 Nov 12;

Wuhan, China – The number of endangered finless porpoise spotted in an ongoing research expedition along the Wuhan-Yichang section of the Yangtze River has declined drastically with growing evidence pointing to impact of shipping and overfishing pushing the rare animal towards extinction, scientists on the expedition say.

The survey team has visually identified 39 individuals of the Yangtze finless porpoise – endangered on the IUCN Red List – during the 1,252km round-trip voyage on Wuhan-Yichang-Wuhan section of the river.

"Based on visual and sonar identification, the number of the Yangtze finless porpoises we've spotted is about one-third of the detected in the area during a similar study six years ago," said Wang Kexiong, deputy head of the research expedition and an associate researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB).

Most of the 39 finless porpoises were spotted in the waters close to the Yanshou Dam, near the city of Yichang, Gong'an county, Chenglingji and Luoshan.

The distribution became concentrated and its location moved up stream compared to results in 2006, when the majority of discoveries were made across a wider area.

"The changes could be attributed to the comparatively gentle flow and rich fishery resources in waters near Yanshou Dam and Gong'an," said Wang.

The Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis), which numbers between 1,200 to 1,500 in the wild, lives mainly in the central and lower reaches of the 6300km Yangtze River and two large adjoining lakes, Dongting and Poyang. Recent studies say that the species could become extinct in 15 years if nothing is done to protect them.

The expedition team is due to depart Wednesday for Shanghai before heading back to Wuhan late next month when the initial results of the research are expected to be announced.

Calculation of the number of cargo and fishing ships in the Yangtze started from Yichang onward to evaluate the pressure posed by shipping and fishery activities on the endangered species.

"Shipping traffic and fishing activities can cast an influence on the survival of the Yangtze finless porpoises. The relatively concentrated distribution and fixed location could possibly result from excessively busy shipping traffic in certain sections of the river that may have severed route of communication of the porpoises," said Zhang Xinqiao, expedition team member and WWF finless porpoise programme officer.

For instance, in the waters off Shijitou in Xianning and Hannan district of Wuhan that have the busiest traffic of fishing and cargo shipping so far, little traces of porpoises were detected, said Zhang.

A total of 80 fishery boats and 697 cargo ships were counted by the team from Yichang-Wuhan. Twenty-seven cargo ships were calculated within 30 minutes in the waters off the Hannan district of Wuhan, while the number in Shijitou stood at six.

Led by China's Ministry of Agriculture and organized by the IHB, WWF and Wuhan Baiji Dolphin Conservation Fund, the expedition commenced on November 11 and comes only six years after the Baiji dolphin - another rare cetacean and close relative of the finless porpoise - was declared functionally extinct.

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Global investors call for action on serious climate danger

David Fogarty PlanetArk 21 Nov 12;

A coalition of the world's largest investors called on governments on Tuesday to ramp up action on climate change and boost clean-energy investment or risk trillions of dollars in investments and disruption to economies.

In an open letter, the alliance of institutional investors, responsible for managing $22.5 trillion in assets, said rapidly growing greenhouse gas emissions and more extreme weather were increasing investment risks globally.

The group called for dialogue between investors and governments to overhaul climate and energy policies.

The call comes less than a week before major U.N. climate talks in Doha, Qatar. Almost 200 nations will meet in Doha from November 26 to December 7 to try to extend the Kyoto Protocol, the existing plan for curbing greenhouse gas emissions by developed nations that runs to the end of 2012.

On Sunday, the World Bank said current climate policies meant the world was heading for a warming of up to 4 degrees Celsius by 2100. That will trigger deadly heat waves and droughts, cut food stocks and drive up sea levels.

"Current policies are insufficient to avert serious and dangerous impacts from climate change," said the group of investors from the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia.

The investments and retirement savings of millions of people were being jeopardized because governments were delaying tougher emissions cuts or more generous support for greener energy.

The group said the right policies would prompt institutional investors to significantly increase investments in cleaner energy and energy efficiency, citing existing policies that have unleashed billions of dollars of renewable energy investment in China, the United States and Europe.

But many economies were still going to be heavily reliant on polluting fossil fuels such as coal, and policies needed to be implemented to speed up the shift to cleaner energy, the investors said.

They issued seven action points, including slashing fossil fuel subsidies and boosting carbon markets, for governments to focus on and said the re-election of Barack Obama in the United States and the leadership change in China were an opportunity to push for tougher climate talks.

"Strong carbon-reducing government policies are an urgent imperative," said Chris Davis, director of investor programs at Ceres, a U.S.-based coalition of investors and green groups.

"Hurricane Sandy, which caused more than $50 billion in economic losses, is typical of what we can expect if no action is taken and warming trends continue," said Davis, who also works for the Investor Network on Climate Risk, which groups 100 institutional investors with assets of more than $11 trillion.

(Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Natural resources can affect value of sovereign bonds - UNEP

Nina Chestney PlanetArk 20 Nov 12;

Countries' natural resources should be considered when assessing sovereign credit risk as their worth can affect the underlying value of sovereign bonds, the United Nations' Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Monday.

Pressures on nations from the overuse and scarcity of water, food, forests and minerals, coupled with the effects of climate change, are currently mostly left out of models used to set sovereign credit ratings.

"Commodity markets, food prices and food and resource security are becoming increasingly volatile, exacerbated by climate change-caused weather extremes and uncertainty," UNEP said in a study.

"Raters, investors and governments alike will therefore need to not only become more aware of the repercussions of these trends on a country's economy but also better able to assess the impact of these risks within sovereign credit risk assessment."

Demand for natural resources exceeds the world's ability to provide them by one and a half times. Many countries find they cannot provide resources from within their own borders, import bills rise and there is fierce competition for resources.

"Bonds are not shielded from the impact of resource constraints and environmental degradation," UNEP said.

"Together with increasing volatility in commodity prices and human consumption of natural resources, these issues are gradually being recognized as having the potential to affect the risk profile of bonds."

Sovereign bonds - securities issued by governments to raise money on capital markets - account for more than 40 percent of the global bond market. At the end of 2010, outstanding sovereign debt equaled $41 trillion.

Traditionally, they have been considered a reliable and risk-free investment by fund managers but in the past two years that view has been challenged as Europe's sovereign debt crisis took hold and helped deepen the global economic downturn.

As a result, some investors see a need to understand wider emerging risks in bond markets, such as environmental factors.

The report analyzed the risks associated with five countries - Brazil, France, India, Japan and Turkey.

"We tried to find a direct link between the net resource- rich (countries) and sovereign credit risk," Ivo Mulder, programme officer at UNEP Finance Initiative, told Reuters.

"In terms of resource balance and trade-related risk, Japan comes out as more vulnerable than the other four countries. In terms of degradation of natural capital, India and Turkey are the most prone to those risks."

UNEP found that in the short-term - a period of up to five years - a 10 percent change in commodity prices could alter a country's trade balance by between 0.2 to 0.5 percent of gross domestic product.

Over five to 10 years, a 10 percent cut in the productive capacity of renewables and natural resources could lead to a reduction in the trade balance of between 1 and over 4 percent of a nation's GDP.

Sovereign wealth and pension funds can help drive the move to more comprehensive risk frameworks by requesting rating agencies to account for environmental risks, UNEP said.

This could prompt changes to accounting standards in both countries and companies.

(Editing by Catherine Evans)

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