Tough to raise awareness about rising sea levels

Jennifer Smith, Newsday 18 Feb 09;

It's hard to whip up concern for a creeping threat whose predicted advance can be compared to "being attacked by a giant snail."

That's how environmental advocate Sarah Newkirk of the Nature Conservancy, at a recent forum in Upton, described sea level rise.

Her phrase was a rueful nod to empty seats at the meeting, convened by state planners to seek public input on rising oceans. Just a few dozen residents had shown up, though the turnout was more than in Nassau the day before, when organizers outnumbered audience members.

This despite new predictions that global sea level rise - already pegged at 2 feet by 2100 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - could come decades sooner. The changes would worsen flooding and erosion on Long Island's low-lying South Shore, home to half a million people, key roads and the region's largest sewage plants.

But the wide range of possible outcomes makes sea level rise a tricky thing to plan for, much less a popular public meeting topic. Local governments are still adjusting to revised federal flood maps that recalculated the risks coastal communities face now. Planners walk a tightrope: They could underestimate the ocean's advance, or overspend to protect buildings and shorelines that might face a relatively low risk of damage.

"No one is good enough to say, 'In 50 years, this is what it's going to look like,'" said Joseph Vietri, chief of planning and policy for the North Atlantic Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Looking ahead

Despite the uncertainty, a New York State task force that is readying recommendations on the best way to adapt to sea level rise soldiers on. That work comes as a federal report released last month by the Environmental Protection Agency said coastal regions "need to rigorously assess vulnerability" to sea level rise and plan strategies to protect property, wetlands and barrier islands.

"The issue that all of us have to deal with is the reality that the projections contain some uncertainty," said Alan Belensz, a climate scientist with the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which is leading the task force. "So how do we plan given that fact?"

Among the advice the task force could deliver: direct development away from coastal areas; elevate roads and other infrastructure; or change wetlands regulations to increase no-development zones so marshes threatened by sea level rise have room to migrate upland.

"If we're building an outfall pipe for a sewage treatment plant, obviously sea level rise is going to be a serious consideration," said task force member Brad Tito, Nassau's deputy director of environmental coordination. "But if we're going to build a new basketball court at a park on Long Beach, we're not going to build a big wall around it to protect it."

More evidence

At the recent Long Island forums, Newkirk, Belensz and others on the task force made an aggressive case for action.

Exhibit A: Tide gauge records showing sea level rising at faster rates at Montauk, Port Jefferson, Willets Point in Queens and New York City than the 20th century average.

Exhibit B: Before and after pictures of drowning wetlands at Goose Island in South Oyster Bay, where nearly one-fourth of the marsh was submerged between 1974 and 1998.

Exhibit C: New projections that sea level along Long Island's South Shore could rise 2 to 5 inches in the 2020s - and a worst-case scenario of an almost 4-feet rise in the 2080s.

Those numbers were developed for the Nature Conservancy by the Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the Columbia University Earth Institute. The advocacy group is using the information to build inundation maps that will show the range of future risk faced by South Shore communities.

The Columbia estimates are based on seven global climate models and three scenarios assuming low, medium and high greenhouse gas emissions. The high-end numbers factor in rapid ice melt in Greenland and the Antarctic.

Message reaches few

"We're not trying to scare anybody," said the DEC's Mark Lowery. "Sea level rise is very real, and it's important to understand the magnitude of the risk that these coastal communities face."

But few people heard the message that week. Organizers attributed low attendance to a winter storm and scheduling conflicts for local officials, including Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy's state of the county address.

And those who did show - mostly academics, environmental and civic advocates, and a handful of town staffers - seemed to be those least in need of philosophical conversion.

"You guys need to get Joe the Plumber to understand what this is all about," said Michael Bilecki, chief of natural resources at Fire Island National Seashore, at the Jan. 29 task force presentation at Brookhaven National Labs.

Some voiced concern that the task force's recommendations - due to the legislature at the end of the year - would be ignored by state lawmakers preoccupied with other matters.

Others wondered if local planners, who often have the final say on coastal projects, would heed state advice given Long Island's customary resistance to regional planning.

"It's kind of hard when you've got developers on a board making decision in favor of what they do," Walter Bundy, Southampton Town's storm water manager, said later. "It's a problem."

Robert Wieboldt, a consultant for the Long Island Builders Institute, said New York needs a comprehensive plan for sea level rise and erosion, but that it's too early to make hard decisions.

"It may well be that within the next few years we decide that we're going to assume a 2-foot rise in the ocean, and we'll deal with it," Wieboldt said. "But we need a few more years of ice-cap measurement to really know what we're going to be dealing with here."

How high could it go?

Researchers have projected how high sea levels might rise along the South Shore, using global climate and greenhouse gas emissions models. Graph below shows the middle range of water under those scenarios, as well as a worst-case situation that factors in faster rates of ice melt in Greenland and Antarctica.

2020s

Middle range: 2 inches - 5 inches

Worst-case scenario: 7 inches

2050s

Middle range: 7 inches - 12 inches

Worst-case scenario: 22 inches

2080s

Middle range: 12 inches - 23 inches

Worst-case scenario: 45 inches

SOURCES: Projections were developed for the nature conservancy by the goddard institute for space studies and the Columbia University earth institute

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Protected mangroves face petroleum threat

New Scientist 18 Feb 09;

THE world's largest surviving mangrove ecosystem - home to the endangered royal Bengal tiger - faces a new threat: petrochemicals.

On 3 February, the state government of West Bengal along with an Indian government committee approved plans for a petrochemicals hub on the island of Nayachar. A final national decision about the plant, which will refine crude oil and produce petroleum by-products, is expected within weeks.

Environmental groups in India are gearing up for the worst. The island is barely 10 kilometres from the Sunderbans, a biodiversity hotspot containing a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

"Setting up a petrochemical cluster in that region is tantamount to ecocide," says Santanu Chacraverti of the Society for Direct Initiative for Social and Health Action, a Kolkata-based NGO. "Noxious effluents will flow into the coastal waters and spread into the vast network of rivers and creeks. Sunderban, the nursery of a range of marine, coastal, and estuarine lifeforms, will be subjected to pollution," he adds.

India has a history of industrialising with little regard for the environment. The most notable example in recent times has been the building of over 3000 dams across the Narmada river, which devastated the river's ecosystem and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

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Green Revolution with a Capital G is Needed to Feed the World

Cutting Food Losses from Farm to Kitchen and Converting Wastes into Animal Feeds a Key Opportunity
UNEP 17 Feb 09;

Nairobi, 17 February 2009 - A seven point plan to reduce the risk of hunger and rising food insecurity in the 21st century is outlined in new report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Changing the ways in which food is produced, handled and disposed of across the globe- from farm to store and from fridge to landfill - can both feed the world's rising population and help the environmental services that are the foundation of agricultural productivity in the first place.

Unless more intelligent and creative management is brought to the world's agricultural systems, the 2008 food crisis - which plunged millions back into hunger - may foreshadow an even bigger crisis in the years to come, says the rapid assessment study.

The report, entitled 'The Environmental Food crises: Environment's role in averting future food crises', has been compiled by a wide group of experts from both within and outside UNEP. It supports UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's task force on the world food crisis.

Major findings:

- The one hundred year trend of falling food prices may be at an end, and food prices may increase by 30-50 per cent within decades with critical impacts for those living in extreme poverty spending up to 90 per cent of their income on food. These findings are supported by a recent report from the World Bank stating that if agricultural production is depressed further, food prices may rise.

- Up to 25 per cent of the worlds food production may become lost due to 'environmental breakdowns' by 2050 unless action is taken. Already, cereal yields have stagnated worldwide and fish landings are declining.

- Today, over one third of the world's cereals are being used as animal feed, rising to 50 per cent by 2050. Continuing to feed cereals to growing numbers of livestock will aggravate poverty and environmental degradation.

- The report instead suggests that recycling food wastes and deploying new technologies, aimed at producing biofuels, to produce sugars from discards such as straw and even nutshells could be a key environmentally-friendly alternative to increased use of cereals for livestock.

- The amount of fish currently discarded at sea - estimated at 30 million tonnes annually - could alone sustain more than a 50 per cent increase in fish farming and aquaculture production, which is needed to maintain per capita fish consumption at current levels by 2050 without increasing pressure on an already stressed marine environment.

The report shows that many of the factors blamed for the current food crisis - drought, biofuels, high oil prices, low grain stocks and especially speculation in food stocks may worsen substantially in the coming decades.

Climate change emerges as one of the key factors that may undermine the chances of feeding over nine billion people by 2050. Increasing water scarcities and a rise and spread of invasive pests such as insects, diseases and weeds - may substantially depress yields in the future.

This underlines yet another reason why governments at the UN climate convention meeting in Copenhagen in some 300 days' time must agreed a deep and decisive new global deal.

Other actions under the seven point plan include:

- Re-organizing the food market infrastructure to regulate prices and generate food safety nets for those at risk backed by a global, micro-financing fund to boost small-scale farmer productivity in developing countries.

- Removal of agricultural subsidies and the promotion of second generation biofuels based on wastes rather than on primary crops - this could reduce pressure on fertile lands and critical ecosystems such as forests.

Medium to long term measures include managing and better harvesting extreme rainfall on Continents such as Africa, alongside support to farmers for adopting more diversified and ecologically-friendly farming systems - ones that enhance the 'nature-based' inputs from pollinators such as bees as well as water supplies and genetic diversity.

A recent report by UNEP and the UN Conference on Trade and Development surveyed 114 small-scale farms in 24 African countries, publishing our findings in late 2008.

- Yields had more than doubled where organic, or near-organic practices had been used, with the in yield jumping to 128 per cent in east Africa.

- The study found that organic practices outperformed traditional methods and chemical-intensive conventional farming and also found strong environmental benefits such as improved soil fertility, better retention of water and resistance to drought.

The research also highlighted the role that adapting organic practices could have in improving local education and community cooperation.

A report launched by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in April 2007 also highlighted the key role of ecosystems in food production. The Rapid Food Assessment also follows the IAASTD report on sustainable agricultural production, which was co-produced by UNEP in 2008.

Only last week UNCTAD reported that, despite the economic crisis, organic agriculture would continue to grow, representing an opportunity for developing country farmers including those in Africa.

It estimated that sales of certified organic produce could reach close to $70 billion in 2012, up from $23 billion in 2002.

"We need a Green revolution in a Green Economy but one with a capital G", says UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner. "We need to deal with not only the way the world produces food but the way it is distributed, sold and consumed, and we need a revolution that can boost yields by working with rather than against nature."

He said the report also shone a light on perhaps one of the least discussed areas - food waste, from the farm and the seas to the supermarket and the kitchen.

"Over half of the food produced today is either lost, wasted or discarded as a result of inefficiency in the human-managed food chain. There is evidence within the report that the world could feed the entire projected population growth alone by becoming more efficient while also ensuring the survival of wild animals, birds and fish on this planet," he added.

- Losses and food waste in the United States could be as high as 40-50 per cent, according to some recent estimates. Up to one quarter of all fresh fruits and vegetables in the US is lost between the field and the table.

- In Australia it is estimated that food waste makes up half of that country's landfill. Almost one-third of all food purchased in the United Kingdom every year is not eaten.

- Food losses in the developing world are also considerable, mainly due to spoilage and pests. For instance, in Africa, the total amount of fish lost through discards, post-harvest loss and spoilage may be around 30 per cent of landings.

- Food losses in the field between planting and harvesting could be as high as 20-40 per cent of the potential harvest in developing countries due to factors such as pests and pathogens.

This underlines the need for greater agricultural research and development which in Africa amounts to just 13 per cent of global investment, versus over 33 per cent in Latin America and over 40 per cent in Asia.

Innovative solutions are also required. A case in point is Niger where an estimated 60 per cent of the national onion crop, or some 3,000 tonnes a year, can be lost. The losses also lead to emissions of the greenhouse gas methane as the vegetables rot. Experts are looking at using solar dryers and other systems to preserve the onions so they do not rot in storage or on the way to market.

Environmental degradation poses a major risk to food production. For instance:

- The melting and disappearing glaciers of the mighty Himalayas, linked to climate change, supply water for irrigation for near half of Asia's cereal production or a quarter of the world production.

- Globally, water scarcity may reduce crop yields by up to 12 per cent. Climate change may also accelerate invasive pests of insects, diseases and weeds, reducing yields by an additional 2-6 per cent worldwide.

- Continuing land degradation, particularly in Africa, may reduce yields by another 1-8 per cent. Croplands may be swallowed up by urban sprawl, biofuels, cotton and land degradation by 8-20 per cent by 2050, and yields may become depressed by 5-25 per cent due to pests, water scarcity and land degradation.

- In Sub-Saharan Africa, population growth is projected to increase from the current 770 million to over 1.7 billion in less than 40 years, while also being the Continent on the front-line in terms of climate change, land degradation, water scarcity - and conflicts. Unless a major economic, agricultural and investment boom takes place, the situation may become very serious indeed.

- Increased use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides, increased water use and cutting down of forests will result in massive decline in biodiversity.

Already, nearly 80 per cent of all endangered species are threatened due to agricultural expansion, and Europe has lost over 50 per cent of its farmland birds during the last 25 years of intensification of European farmlands.

"Simply ratcheting up the fertilizer and pesticide-led production methods of the 20th Century is unlikely to address the challenge", says Achim Steiner. "It will increasingly undermine the critical natural inputs and nature-based services for agriculture such as healthy and productive soils, the water and nutrient recycling of forests, and pollinators such as bees and bats."

Notes to editors

The report 'The environmental food crisis: Environments role in averting future food crises' can be accessed at at www.unep.org or at www.grida.no including high and low resolution graphics for free use in publications.

The report is released during the 25th session of the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum taking place in Nairobi, Kenya from 16-20 February. The meeting's main focus is on finding solutions to the current environmental, financial, food and energy crisis through the emerging concept of Green Economy.

More information can be found online at: www.unep.org/gc/gc25

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Best of our wild blogs: 18 Feb 09

First record of some marine fishes in Singapore!
on the wild shores of singapore blog

New Facebook group: "Bad Idea for Whale Shark in Sentosa IR"
on the wild shores of singapore blog

Plant Magic: Auspicious and Inauspicious Plants from Around the World on the Biodiversity crew @ NUS blog

nemos & giant carpet anemone at terumbu raya
video clip on the sgbeachbum blog

Barn Owl asleep on highway
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Craig Robson revised
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Seen on STOMP: lots of fiery posts
on the Lazy Lizard's Tales blog

Voluntourism – A more rewarding travel experience?
on Wild Asia

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City light-up: tiered electricity charges fairer

One bright idea on charging for electricity usage
Straits Times Forum 18 Feb 09;

I REFER to "Let there be light, bright ideas for the city" in Saturday's Life! section, on the trend of integrating lights into architectural design.

The article mentioned that the glittery facades in architectural design were in line with the Urban Redevelopment Authority's (URA) Lighting Masterplan.

I find that the masterplan contradicts the Government's aim to conserve electricity.

The article mentioned that developers and architects used light-emitting diodes on building facades, which consume less power than conventional fluorescent lights. However, brightening up entire facades still involves large amounts of electricity consumption.

Singapore may be nowhere near the brash neon lights of Hong Kong and Japan, or Paris. However, the URA, developers and architects ought to bear in mind that electricity tariffs here are generally very much higher than these countries.

Whenever the Government announces that electricity usage has gone up, I believe that it has taken into account usage by commercial and public buildings, as well as private dwellings. Ultimately, electricity charges will increase and apply across the board to all.

Developers would not feel the pinch from the increase of electricity tariffs as the cost would have been factored into the construction costs, and it would also be included in the tenancy or sale of the units.

Ultimately, home owners are the ones that would be badly affected whenever electricity tariffs increase.

To be fair to home owners, I would like to suggest to the Government to implement two different charges: One for commercial/public buildings, as these account for the bulk of electricity consumption, and the other for home owners.

Michael Yeo

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Bukit Batok bush fires keep firemen busy

Sujin Thomas & Kimberly Spykerman, Straits Times 18 Feb 09;

FIREFIGHTERS have been virtually camped out in a vegetated area along Bukit Batok West Avenue 3, where pockets of fire have been breaking out over the last 11/2 days.

Soon after one blaze is brought under control, another springs up.

The fires have been breaking out atop a hill, which sits on land about the size of five football fields. It is a steep slope, rising on a 70-degree incline to a height of between 50m and 60m.

Officers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) have been taking 45 minutes to clamber up it using long retractable ladders.

The incline aside, they have had to carry tools to cut through the undergrowth.

The first fire broke out at around 4.45pm on Monday in two areas there, each the size of half a basketball court.

Fifty officers brought the blaze under control in half an hour, but they ended up being on standby for the next 17 hours on the chance that embers, fanned by winds, would re-ignite.

The SCDF officers left the area at 9.35am, but barely five hours later, twice the number of firefighters were back battling flames in four fresh areas, each about the size of two basketball courts.

Between Jan 1 and Monday, a record 292 fires had erupted in bushland and forested areas. The spate of fires in Bukit Batok is believed to be one of the longest bush-fire operations in recent years.

Those living nearby have been finding ways to cope with the choking cloud of thick smoke. Many have kept their windows and doors shut to keep out the fine white ash.

Some have had breathing difficulties.

Canteen helper Fauzlinda Tahir, 44, who lives on the ground floor of Block 123 in Bukit Batok Central, said: 'My husband has even joked that it is snowing outside. His asthma started acting up on Monday evening too.'

A minor traffic jam built up along Bukit Batok West Avenue 3. Thick water hoses were lying on the streets, some as far as 30m from fire hydrants.

Republic Polytechnic student Ganesh Murusamy, 20, said he had not seen bush fires this big in his 12 years living there. 'From my flat on the fourth floor, I saw a tree on fire. The flames were huge.'

For some residents, it is business as usual. They have been jogging and walking their dogs amid the smoky haze.

Sales engineer S. S. Chua, 52, was not unduly worried: 'There is nothing for us to be scared about as there have been many firemen in the area trying to put out the fire.'

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BCA launches green award

Ananya Roy, Straits Times 18 Feb 09;

A NEW green award designed to spur builders to adopt green practices has been launched by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA).

The Green and Gracious Builders' Award - the first of its kind in Singapore - seeks to encourage builders to use more recycled materials in construction. It also wants them to put public access high on their agendas.

The award uses three assessment criteria - green practices, what it terms 'gracious' practices and innovation - and is supported by most builders, according to the BCA.

'Our efforts at developing a sustainable built environment have so far been accepted by developers and consultants,' said BCA chief executive John Keung. 'Given the high visibility and impact of construction works, it is important for builders to go green and adopt friendlier construction site management and practices.'

Key features of the award include a two-tier rating system to quantify performance and enable the differentiation of performance standards between builders.

Mr Pek Lian Guan, director of Tiong Seng Contractors, welcomed the launch, which he said provided 'an excellent platform to recognise the efforts of builders in adopting environmentally friendlier and considerate best practices on the site'.

The inaugural Green and Gracious Builders Award is open for nomination till March 14 and will be presented at the annual BCA Awards ceremony in May.

Apart from this latest launch, BCA also distributes awards under the Construction Excellence, Green Mark and Universal Design for the Built Environment banners. It launched the Design and Engineering Safety Excellence award last year.

'Together with the BCA Green Mark Scheme, the Green and Gracious Builders Award will form part of the holistic framework to shape a sustainable built environment,' added Dr Keung.

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Leatherback landings in Terengganu, Malaysia

Leatherback land
The Star 18 Feb 09;

KUALA TERENGGANU: There has been an increase in leatherback turtle landings in Terengganu, especially at Rantau Abang in Dungun, with nine landings detected on its shores last year.

From the landings, 511 eggs were produced, of which 419 were incubated at the Turtle Information Centre in Rantau Abang.

Terengganu Turtle Sanctuary chairman Datuk Mokhtar Nong, however, said the incubated eggs did not result in baby turtles.

“The eggs did not hatch. They are believed to have been created by the female turtle without the male,” he sais here recently.

Mokhtar, who is also the state secretary, said that two years ago, no leatherback turtles could be found nesting or landing in the area.

Besides the leatherback turtles, he said there were 2,023 other landings of hawksbill turtles and painted terrapins.

He said that 38 turtles and two painted terrapins died last year due to the use of fish contrapments and nets.

“Setiu, Kuala Terengganu, Kertih and Kemaman recorded the highest number of dead turtles,” he said. — Bernama

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Rare Philippines quail spotted - on way to cooking pot

Yahoo News 17 Feb 09;

MANILA (AFP) – A rare Philippines quail that was feared to have become extinct has been photographed alive for the first time -- as it was headed for the cooking pot, according to ornithologists.Hunters snared the Worcester's buttonquail (Turnix worcesteri) in the Caraballo mountain range last month and a TV crew took pictures and video footage of the live bird at a poultry market, the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines said.

Club president Michael Lu said the group was "ecstatic" about the find, but they also "feel sad that the locals do not value the biodiversity around them."

He added: "What if this was the last of its species? Much more has to be done in creating conservation awareness and local consciousness about our unique threatened bird fauna."

Named after Dean Conant Worcester, an American zoologist who worked in the Philippines in the early 20th century, the bird was previously only known through drawings based on dead museum specimens collected decades ago.

"This is a very important finding," said Philippines-based Arne Jensen, a Danish ornithologist who heads the bird club's records committee.

"Once you don't see a bird species in a generation, you start to wonder if it's extinct, and for this bird species we simply do not know its status at all."

The quail's breeding area remains unknown though ornithologists suspect it resides in the high mountain grasslands of the Cordillera mountain range to the west of the Caraballos on the main island of Luzon.

The quail was being sold at a Manila wet market in Manila in 1902 and since then, just a few single specimens have been documented in Nueva Vizcaya and Benguet provinces, which form part of the two mountain ranges, the club said.

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Russian PM proposes outlawing fishing with drift nets

Putin puts writing on 'walls of death' in Russia
WWF 17 Feb 09;

Moscow, Russia - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has proposed outlawing fishing with drift nets, otherwise known as “walls of death”, following a lengthy campaign by fishermen and politicians in Kamchatka as well as local organizations including WWF-Russia.

Drift nets are used to catch fish migrating in open sea. Each net can be several kilometres long and their use results in a large bycatch of sharks, turtles, seabirds and marine mammals which are usually thrown back dead into the ocean.

Large-scale ocean drift netting was banned by the UN in international waters in 2002 and near-shore drift netting is carefully regulated in US and EU waters. In the Russian Far East two kinds of ocean drift net fishing exist: Japanese, in accordance with the bilateral agreement with Russia, and the so-called “scientific” drift netting. Both are principally aimed at the highly prized sockeye salmon and it is estimated that 60,000 tons of other less valuable salmon are discarded annually.

Over the past three months WWF-Russia, together with the Kamchatka coalition “Save the Salmon Together”, has collected signatures in support of a ban on drift net fishing. The coalition, supported by WWF, unites local NGOs, fishermen and representatives of the Kamchatka legislative and executive authorities.

The Kamchatka coastal fishermen, including indigenous people, have been fighting for several years for a ban on drift net fishing. Now, according to the press service of the Kamchatka Parliament (Duma), Prime Minister Putin has given orders for documents to be prepared on the complete ban of drift nets in Russian waters.

“We welcome this proposal because we consider ocean drift netting to be environmentally dangerous and there are better ways of catching fish,” said Konstantin Zgurovsky, Head of WWF-Russia Marine Programme.

It is not for nothing that drift nets are called walls of death. Pacific salmon and marine mammals including whales, dolphins, seabirds and even threatened species such as the Short-tailed Albatross get caught in the nets.

Another consequence of drift net fishing is that the nets become a barrier for fish on their way from the ocean to the rivers to spawn, thus depriving local fishermen of their potential catch.

“This month in Kamchatka there will be a public hearing on the drift net ban and there are some commercial interests of people who want to continue using the drift net, so the struggle is not over,” said Zgurovsky.

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Huge oil slick heads for Ireland and Wales

Brian Hutton, Press Association The Independent 17 Feb 09;

The biggest oil slick to threaten Ireland and the UK for more than ten years was tonight being tracked as it moved closer towards coastlines.

The spill, discovered near to where a Russian warship was refuelling in the Celtic Sea, is now believed to be 1000 tonnes - over three times the original estimate - and could reach Irish and Welsh shores in just over two weeks.

The incident in Irish-patrolled waters has sparked a flurry of diplomatic contact between Dublin and Russia, while British authorities have also been drawn into the ongoing investigations.

Environmentalists said it has the potential to devastate marine and wildlife, with knock-on effects on seaside tourism and fishing hot-spots.

A Russian destroyer, a British destroyer, an Irish Naval vessel and a Russian aircraft carrier remain at the scene of the spill about 50 miles south of Fastnet Rock, off the west Cork coast, along with an ocean-going tug and two refuelling tankers.

The Irish government has asked the Russian embassy in Dublin to hand over samples of the oils carried onboard the Russian tankers and aircraft carrier.

While some of the slick - originally covering an area of around 2.8 miles by 3.1 miles - will break up or evaporate, the bulk of it is expected to remain on the surface, and is veering eastwards at around 12 miles a day.

"The residual oil remaining is expected to develop into tar balls," said a spokeswoman for Ireland's Department of Transport.

"Depending on weather conditions these may end up on the Irish south east coast in approximately 16 days time and also impact on the Welsh coastline."

Both the Irish Coast Guard and the UK Coastguard are carrying out aerial surveillance flights, using special sonar equipment, over the area while a tug is being launched from Cork to carry out tests to see if the oil is recoverable at sea.

But authorities believe from past international experience that it is too difficult to contain and capture such a slick.

Friends of the Earth (FoE), the environmental organisation, has described it as a "significant spill" bound to cause serious damage to marine life and has called for a full investigation.

"It's extremely significant at that size. Damage to marine life is likely to be devastating, and this will have, as many environmental things do, economic repercussions," said Molly Walsh, FoE spokeswoman.

Samples of the oil have been taken from the scene for analysis, while Government departments and agencies are being constantly briefed about the potential impact to the environment.

Irish authorities were alerted to the spill on Saturday through a satellite surveillance pollution report by the European Maritime Safety Agency in Lisbon.

The Russian Navy confirmed one its carriers was refuelling at sea from a Russian supply tanker and said it was carrying out its own internal investigation.

The incident happened outside Irish territorial waters, but within an area known as Ireland's Exclusive Economic Zone, which it patrols, according to the Irish Government.

John Lucey, a senior biologist with Ireland's Environmental Protection Agency, said it was the biggest oil spillage in the waters around Ireland for more than 10 years and its impact depends on when it hits our shores.

When the Sea Empress ran aground off Milford Haven in south west Wales, in 1996, shedding 72,000 tonnes, it caused widespread damage to the nearby coastline.

By the time it reached Irish shores, the oil had formed into "tar balls" and had little or no impact.

But a spillage of just 31 tonnes in Cork Harbour a year later proved disastrous for marine and wildlife, particularly birds.

"If it did land here, and if it was two weeks, it could start forming tar balls and not be as potentially dangerous as a big, fresh slick coming onshore as we've had in the past," said Mr Lucey.

"If it's a slick, that's the danger."

Ireland scrambles over Russian navy oil spill
Andrew Bushe Yahoo News 18 Feb 09;

DUBLIN (AFP) – Irish aircraft monitoring an oil spill believed to come from a Russian navy refuelling accident off Ireland's south coast have recorded 522 tonnes of fuel spreading across the sea, officials said Tuesday.

Following an overfly of the spill, Irish authorities downgraded an earlier estimate of 1,000 tonnes given by the British coastguard, and said the fuel oil was now in three distinct slicks in the North Atlantic, heading east.

The spill, thought to have occurred at the weekend, was about 48 to 64 kilometres (30 to 40 miles) off the south coast and could eventually pollute the Irish or Welsh coastlines, the transport ministry said.

But it added it was too early to predict how much could come ashore, noting that oil had already begun dispersing late Tuesday.

Ireland has scrambled aircraft and a naval vessel to monitor the spill, and a tug was sent out to establish whether the oil can be mechanically recovered at sea, in theory starting on Wednesday.

Irish naval vessel Aisling and British destroyer HMS Gloucester have taken samples of the oil which will be sent for testing in Scotland.

Other vessels at the scene Tuesday included two refuelling tankers, one aircraft carrier, one Russian ocean-going tug and one Russian destroyer. The Coast Guard said it had established that no nuclear vessels are involved.

The Irish authorities were alerted on Saturday by a satellite surveillance pollution report from the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) in Lisbon.

The ministry said aerial surveillance "confirmed an oil spill covering approximately 4.5 km by 5 km surrounding a Russian aircraft carrier and a refuelling tanker."

The Russian naval attache confirmed on Monday that the carrier had been carrying out a fuel transfer at sea -- called bunkering -- from a Russian supply tanker, the transport ministry said.

"The attache confirmed an internal investigation is being carried out into the cause of the incident and said that Russian aerial surveillance considered that approximately 300 tonnes of oil was on the sea surface," it said.

The statement said the attache "could not tell the Coast Guard how this happened or whether it was from their refuelling operations."

In Moscow, the head of the Russian chief of staff Nikolai Makarov confirmed that a group of Russian warships had been refuelling in the area but denied there had been any significant leaking of fuel.

"In this area a group of warships carried out refuelling but according to the commander of the group Admiral Korolev the refuelling proceeded normally and no significant outflow of fuel took place," he said, cited by Interfax news agency.

A Russian naval spokesman, Igor Dygalo, disputed the size of the oil spill, saying it neither "has a catastrophic character nor constitutes a threat to coastal ecology."

The Russian embassy in Dublin has been asked to supply samples of the oils carried on board the Russian tankers and the aircraft carrier and for oil characteristic data sheets.

"The oil spill is forecast to continue to disperse and to break up. The residual oil remaining is expected to develop into tar balls," the ministry said.

"Depending on weather conditions these may end up on the Irish south-east coast in approximately 16 days time and also impact on the Welsh coastline. At this point it is too early to predict accurate volumes."

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Climate crisis needs empowered people

Jacqueline McGlade, BBC Green Room 17 Feb 09;

People power is at the heart of the effort to beat climate change, says Professor Jacqueline McGlade, head of the European Environment Agency. In this week's Green Room, she says that the task is so great, and the timescale so tight, that we can no longer wait for governments and businesses to act.

The key to protecting and enhancing our environment is in the hands of the many, not the few.

To adapt effectively to the challenges that will come with climate change, including biodiversity loss, water stress and forced migrations of species, we need to harness the information available and will to act at the local level.

That means empowering citizens to engage actively in improving their own environment, using new observation techniques and innovative economic ideas.

Sadly, the political, economic and administrative mechanisms that we design to tackle environmental concerns all too often leave citizens sidelined as silent observers.

Information is made available as lists of figures or spreadsheets that only experts can interpret.

Imagine if all the statistics that inform our evening weather forecasts were presented in this way, or all the data that drives popular software like Google or Windows.

Do you think they would continue to be as popular?

To encourage and benefit from participation we need to present our information in a way everyone can understand.

To address this urgent need the European Environment Agency (EEA) is working with the European Union, developing new systems to engage citizens as suppliers and users of environmental data.

The Shared Environmental Information System is one such collaboration between the EU and EEA.

The initiative will guide Europe's collection and dissemination of environmental information over the coming years.

This new approach supports the shift from paper to web-based reporting, managing information as close as possible to its source and making it available to users openly and transparently.

For Europe's citizens, this will mean both greater access to information and a bigger role in reporting.

When EU bodies review members' compliance with environmental standards, they will increasingly refer to national websites where everyone can access the relevant data, rather than relying on confidential submissions.

Meanwhile, data collected pursuant to regulatory obligations will be integrated with information from voluntary, professional and amateur groups as well as from empowered citizens.

This will build a much more complete and nuanced picture of the state of Europe's environment.

Silent witnesses

Citizens have a role to play in data gathering the world over.

In the Arctic, for instance, indigenous people form part of the EEA's global observation network, providing evidence of the real change taking place to complement our observational data and models.

We know already that the Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the globe.

Yet outside the territories, little is understood of the true cost to indigenous people of retreating ice or the impact of seasonal change on hunting.

We need to rectify this if we are to make the right decisions.

It is no longer sufficient to develop passive lists or reports to "inform" citizens of changes in our environment.

We need to engage with citizens and ask how they can inform us. Obtaining and using local knowledge will help us empower citizens, and will also give us a better indication of what we need to do to be truly sustainable.

To really engage the public, more co-ordinated and timely gathering of complex data needs to be complemented by "real time" delivery of the information, in language that is accessible to all.

The EEA's recently launched online portal, which is called the Global Citizen's Environmental Observatory, will enable European environmental information to be gathered and presented in a single location.

The Observatory will give governments, policymakers and citizens easy access to clear, comprehensible data in real time.

It will provide information on all environmental media - from the global perspective to the view from the street - at levels of detail previously unseen.

Water Watch, which provides information on bathing water quality, represents an illustration of the services to come.

Launched by the EEA and Microsoft last summer, it was visited almost 265,000 times in the first three weeks of August; a clear indication of public demand for user-friendly environmental information.

Crucially, the Observatory will afford every one of us a role in the information process by prioritising two-way communication.

In the case of Water Watch, local people are encouraged to give their opinion on the quality of the beach and water, thereby supplementing and validating official information.

Information technologies offer new ways to use all available data to the full and to present findings in ways that engage citizens and policymakers alike.

An example is the Climate Change Simulator, known as C-ROADS, currently being developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with support from the EEA.

C-ROADS allows users to see how decisions on greenhouse gas emissions made by political leaders today will influence the climate over the next 100 years.

If the world cuts greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, 50% or 80%, what impacts will climate change have? The simulator provides some of the answers.

Importantly, it will be available to everyone, and isn't only for super computers and technicians.

That means each of us can use the same data as governments to model the change in his or her country.

From personal experience, I have noticed that people find the simulator simple to use and convincing in terms of its output.

It gives immediate feedback, which is essential when we want heads of state and ministers to see the consequences of their actions.

And it gives them and their citizens an insight into the scale of change that is needed.

Professor Jacqueline McGlade is executive director of the European Environment Agency

This article is based on a lecture hosted by environmental charity Earthwatch

The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website

Climate curbs need 'people power'
Mark Kinver, BBC News 17 Feb 09;

The battle against climate change can only be won "in the hands of the many, not the few", a top scientist has said.

Jacqueline McGlade, head of the European Environment Agency (EEA), warned the current approach left the public sidelined as "silent observers".

Political and business leaders were not able to tackle the problem without help from ordinary people, she added.

Professor McGlade said environmental policies would also benefit from data based on public observations.

"There is just no way that we are going to be able to shift ourselves to tackle the fundamental problems of the crisis without addressing public participation," she told BBC News.

By observing what was happening on the ground from more and more locations, Professor McGlade said that scientists and policymakers would get a more detailed picture of the impacts and what responses were needed.

She outlined her views during a lecture hosted by environmental charity Earthwatch.

'Silent witnesses'

However, coinciding with Earthwatch's annual lecture, an international survey of 12,000 people in 12 nations suggested that the people questioned actually wanted to see greater leadership from politicians and businesses.

The research, conducted by the HSBC Climate Partnership during autumn 2008, also indicated that most of those questioned wanted their governments to take more "direction action", such as investing in renewable energy.

Professor McGlade said these findings highlighted why it was important to encourage more public involvement.

"What we see around the world, even in China, is a yo-yo between government intervention, such as regulation and legislation, and the markets.

"It is this yo-yo effect that has created, in many cases, the boom-and-bust cycles.

"It is absolutely apparent that we need to balance that with much more explicit public participation."

In an article for BBC News' Green Room, she explained why she felt the current approach was not working.

"Sadly, the political, economic and administrative mechanisms that we design to tackle environmental concerns all too often leave citizens sidelined as silent observers," she wrote.

"Information is made available as lists of figures or speadsheets that only experts can interpret.

"Imagine if all of the statistics that inform our evening weather forecasts were presented in this way; do you think they would continue to be as popular?"

Professor McGlade said the EEA had launched an initiative that it hoped would overcome these barriers.

"The EEA's online portal, which is called the Global Citizen's Environmental Observatory, will enable European environmental information to be gathered and presented in a single location.

"It will give governments, policymakers and citizens easy access to clear, comprehensible data in real time," she explained. "It is no longer sufficient to develop passive lists or reports.

"We need to engage with citizens and ask how they can inform us, and it will also give us a better indication of what we need to do to be truly sustainable."

Read more!