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from Singapore Nature and Nature's Wonders and wonderful creations and wild shores of singapore
Bee-eater hybrid 3
from Bird Ecology Study Group
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from Butterflies of Singapore
The gentle treks at the new Dairy Farm Nature Park suit nature newbies, older walkers and kids
tay suan chiang, Straits Times 19 Sep 09;
First-time nature trekkers and wobbly walkers will cheer - a new park has opened next to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, but minus its heart-stopping hills.
Nature newbies, plus older walkers and young children, will love the Dairy Farm Nature Park at Upper Bukit Timah, where instead of progressing painfully up peaks, they will find it easier to pause and check out butterflies, birds and plants.
The 63ha park was opened earlier this month by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan.
It is managed by the National Parks Board (NParks), which began developing the park in 2007.
Unlike the neighbouring 126-year-old Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, which has many uphill trails along the way to its 164m-high summit, the $5.7-million Dairy Farm Nature Park has flatter trails which 'will be more enjoyable for new hikers', says MsSharon Chan, NParks' assistant director of the Central Nature Reserve.
Where cows once mooed and chewed grass, visitors will be able to amble along two trails: One follows an old road leading to the Singapore Quarry while the other meanders through secondary jungle to the Wallace Education Centre, a learning lab and information centre.
The park has already proven a hit with visitors. Retiree Mickey Tan, 67, found the trails easy to manage when he visited the place last week. 'It's a new spot to take my walks in,' he says.
There are two carparks within the park, and there is a bus stop nearby as well.
Another who is aflutter over the park is architect Khew Sin Khoon, in his 50s, who is a member of Butterfly Circle, a group of photographers with a special interest in butterflies.
He says: 'Nature enthusiasts are always looking for new places to go to. The opening of this park gives greater accessibility to those who drive, and also makes it more convenient for those with young children.'
He had often been to the area before it was developed into a park, when it was accessible only by foot.
For visitors who want to spot butterflies, he recommends they go between 9am and 3pm on sunny days. 'More than 150 species have been spotted here,' he adds.
It is not just butterflies which have caught the eye of nature lovers. NParks' Ms Chan says dragonflies, damselflies, beetles, fish and birds, such as the kingfisher and the endangered Little Grebe, can be found here.
She also advises those keen to study the park's plants to keep their eyes peeled when hiking in the forest for plant life such as bracket fungi, a type of inedible mushroom that grows on trees.
Bike trail with a view
The park sits on what was formerly a dairy farm set up 80 years ago, hence its name. The farm was established on a 24ha patch of thick secondary jungle which MrFred Heron, then the managing director of Cold Storage, had purchased and cleared.
In 1929, 24 cows were imported from Holland and Australia to establish a dairy herd.
The farm stopped operating in the 1970s and the area was used for vegetable farming. Several orchid farms were later started there.
A horticulture-related company occupied the area that used to house the farm from 1981 to 2006. The following year, the estate was taken over by NParks for development.
It is not just nature lovers who will benefit from the new park. Its opening will also help ease the squeeze in Bukit Timah park, which gets 400,000 visitors a year to its 163ha environs.
NParks is expecting 100,000 visitors to the Dairy Farm park annually.
Besides being a nature showcase, Dairy Farm Nature Park will also serve as an alternative recreational venue to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve: It is becoming a hit with mountain bikers as it has two trails for them.
Mr Lim Hui Min, a trail specialist from DirTraction, an organisation that promotes mountain biking, says: 'The new Dairy Farm trails cater to the intermediate level of riding, and also to beginners who want to have the thrill of mountain biking'.
Public relations executive Cheryl Han, 26, says the trail at Dairy Farm is her favourite place to ride in, as it is 'intense with steep descents and climbs so you get an adrenaline rush'. The bike trail cuts through hilly jungle, unlike the walking trails which are on flatter ground.
She adds: 'Plus the view of the quarry is magnificent and makes it all worth it.'
taysc@sph.com.sg
'The trail is intense... Plus the view of the quarry makes it all worth it'
Biking enthusiast Cheryl Han on the mountain biking trail at Dairy Farm
Milk the walk
The Dairy Farm Nature Park has two sections. One trail leads to the Wallace Education Centre and the other goes to the Singapore Quarry.
Trail to Wallace Education Centre
Distance: 200m to the centre from Carpark B
Time taken: 10 minutes one way. Set aside about 60minutes for the walk and to enjoy the area.
Level of difficulty: Fairly easy as it is a road (the old Dairy Farm Road) leading to the centre. But the actual Wallace Trail itself, which cuts into the forest, has some inclines. This trail can get slippery after a downpour.
What to see: The Wallace Education Centre: It is named after English naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, who collected specimens in the area in the 19th century. The centre, a former milking shed that has been restored, houses an information centre that traces the history of the area. Also check out the interactive info kiosk that has pictures of the biodiversity found in the area.
Wallace Trail: Also named after Mr Wallace, this 1km walking trail cuts through secondary forest. Look for fruit trees such as the durian and rambutan, flora such as the bracket fungi and fauna such as beetles.
Abandoned home and old-fashioned English garden: Located slightly after the centre, this one-storey house is believed to have been built in the 1920s. There are no plans to restore it. In front of it is a small garden planted with ixora, lantanas and hibiscus, making it a popular spot for photo buffs.
Trail to Singapore Quarry
Distance: 1km from Carpark A
Time taken: 30 minutes one way. Set aside about 90 minutes for the walk and to enjoy the area.
Level of difficulty: Easy
What to see: Singapore Quarry: A former quarry that was in use till the late 1980s, it has been transformed into a wetland. There is a viewing deck with a sheltered area that allows visitors to go into the quarry. Dragonflies and birds, such as the kingfisher and the Little Grebe, an endangered bird, can be spotted here.
The releasing of fish or other animals into the wetland is prohibited, so as not to disrupt the ecosystem here.
Best time to go: Before 10am or in the evenings. The trail to the quarry is not sheltered and it can get very hot at times. It is a good idea to take an umbrella along.
Other nature spots
The Dairy Farm Nature Park is the latest spot for nature enthusiasts but here are more to check out:
Admiralty Park
This 27ha park has a nature area within its premises. Amenities include three boardwalks and a 2km nature trail. Two boardwalks span the river Sungei Cina, so visitors can appreciate the beauty of the river at various water levels. The third boardwalk is within a mangrove forest.
Bukit Batok Nature Park
This park was developed from an abandoned quarry site. It has undulating terrain and footpaths that meander through lush secondary forest leading to look-out points reaching more than 10 storeys high, giving breathtaking views of the former quarry.
Labrador Nature Reserve
It is only minutes by car from VivoCity, but this nature reserve offers a spot of tranquillity. It also boasts Singapore's only rocky sea-cliff that is accessible to the public for recreation. More than 50 kinds of birds, such as the Blue-crowned Hanging Parrot and the Rufous Woodpecker, have been spotted here.
Pasir Ris Park
This park is popular not only with families who want to take pony rides on its premises, but also with nature lovers.
It has a 6ha mangrove forest which has boardwalks for visitors to get closer to the wildlife here. Bird enthusiasts can also observe birds from a three-storey-high bird-watching tower located within the mangrove forest.
Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve
There is plenty of wildlife to see at this 87ha wetland site. Keep an eye out for mudskippers, crabs, shellfish, water snakes and monitor lizards. The site is also a hot spot for seeing migratory shorebirds or waders such as plovers and sandpipers.
For MORE wild places on the wildsingapore website: info for visitors, how to get there, what to see and do.
Straits Times 19 Sep 09;
SINGAPOREANS are part of an ambitious plan to transform desert regions in Mongolia into green belts.
Local Timberland employees were among those who made the trip to Inner Mongolia's Horqin desert last month for a tree-planting blitz.
During the three-day trip, 60 volunteers from China, Japan and Taiwan, as well as five Singaporeans, planted close to 1,000 saplings. The work involved transporting soil and plants, digging holes and planting and watering the young trees, as well as pruning existing trees.
Volunteers with the outdoor footwear and apparel company have planted more than 700,000 trees there since 2001, together with Japanese non-profit organisation Green Network.
The goal is to plant a million trees there by next year.
Timberland Singapore marketing manager Cheryl Kow, 31, joined the tree-planting effort for the second time in two years. 'When I saw the trees we planted earlier had grown to knee-height, I felt a sense of pride,' she said.
The Horqin desert, now the size of Switzerland, is expanding at 10,000 sq km every year, said Timberland, and this growing barren region generates massive migrating dust clouds that affect air quality in China, Japan and other Asian countries.
Planting trees helps to reverse the process.
The difference was palpable, said Ms Kow.
Describing how her group had walked from a desert area to one where trees were planted, she said: 'At first, you could just feel the sand grains pelting against your skin. The minute we reached the forest, all this stopped and it was cooler.'
Globally, Timberland has planted close to one million trees in 25 countries to help prevent erosion, protect wildlife habitats, improve air quality and green urban areas.
CHANG AI-LIEN
Electric dreams
Venessa Lee Today Online 19 Sep 09'
CHARGING an electric car is not unlike charging a mobile phone: Stick the plug into the wall socket and wait for the bars on the battery gauge to fill out nicely.
Using a household outlet, it takes about eight hours to fully charge the electric car prototype that I test drove recently.
Low-emission, battery-powered electric cars have been touted by some as the car for the near-future, with 2020 posited in some quarters as the beginning of the electric wave.
Auto-makers and governments have invested in these virtuously green vehicles with an eye on reducing the carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. However, there are kinks to be ironed out, as I found out for myself.
The all-electric prototype I drove, which is powered entirely by lithium-ion batteries, accelerated at the lightest touch. With its tight turning circle, parking was easy. So was scaling slopes, though Mount Faber isn't ideal for a test drive up slopes. (Perhaps we need a higher iconic hill.)
Battery-powered cars are known to be more silent than petrol-driven ones with combustion engines. Mine made the most attractive little sounds, somewhere between a hum and a breeze. In contrast to conventional cars, it moved as quietly as a ninja, a difference that was all the more marked when I drove briefly alongside a revving Ferrari and later, a diesel taxi.
The intoxicating new-car smell may have got to me, but I was finding the electric car a dream to drive. It was a good-looker too, with its futuristic blunt contours and minimalist fixtures.
Eat my sparks, gas-guzzlers.
From my starting point at Alexandra Road, I'd driven around Mount Faber, Tanglin and Holland Village before I decided to head to Changi Airport to test how far I could go on the car's fully charged battery.
The manufacturer's rep told me that it could theoretically do 160km when fully charged, but the reality was more modest since everything in the car was powered by its battery, including the air-conditioning and radio. Anywhere between 90km and 100km was more likely.
I decided to drive from Changi to Tuas.
Along the PIE towards Tuas, however, before the Toa Payoh exit, I realised that there were only three of 16 bars left on the battery gauge, indicating that it was time to recharge the battery.
This called for drastic measures.
I switched off the air-con and soldiered on in the sticky heat.
I was forced, however, to turn back at the Dunearn Road (City) exit of the PIE and make my way down Bukit Timah Road. Near Eng Neo Avenue, I found that there was only one battery bar left. The digital odometer showed that I'd travelled 87.5km.
I decided to head to Holland Village and rely on the kindness of strangers.
This didn't work out so well..
I pulled up at a coffee shop at Holland Village with the battery completely flat. According to the distance display, I'd travelled 91km. I asked a man at the zichar stall if I could recharge the car using the electrical outlets at the coffee shop.
He said this would trip the system and, looking at the 10 plugs and switches on the wall, I was inclined to agree. I called for help and a tow truck soon came along.
BETTING ON ELECTRIC CARS
It was a somewhat ignominious ending, but the episode also illustrated the thorny issue of battery technology for the electric vehicle industry.
Limited range, high costs and long recharging times characterise present car batteries. Electric cars generally run between 60km and 200km on a single charge, while taking anywhere between two and seven hours to fully recharge.
But even as researchers work on improving battery technology, car-makers are racing to get electric vehicles on to the roads.
Nearly all major auto-makers had at least one electric model on display at the 63rd Frankfurt Auto Show this week. Renault introduced no fewer than four electric models. Volkswagen AG will put its new E-Up! electric car into production in 2013.
In August, Nissan Motor in Japan unveiled the Leaf, an electric car set to go into mass production for a global market in 2012. In June, Mitsubishi Motors started leasing its electric vehicle, the ¥4,599,000 ($71,300) i-MiEV, in Japan.
According to The Economist, over the next 40 years, the global fleet of passenger cars is expected to quadruple to nearly 3 billion, with profound implications on the climate change issue. Governments worldwide have invested in electrified vehicles as part of an environmentally-conscious strategy.
Such investments can also serve other ends such as reducing urban pollution, creating clean-energy jobs and decreasing a dependence on imported oil, as in the case of China, which seeks to be one of the leading producers of hybrid, as well as all-electric vehicles within three years.
In Germany, the government proposes spending some ?500 million ($1.04 billion) on a plan that aims to put 1 million electric cars on the road by 2020.
President Barack Obama has committed US$42.4 billion ($60 billion) in federal grants to develop next-generation electric vehicles and batteries in the US.
Domestic chargers are not the only way to charge electric vehicles; street-level charging devices are another way.
More generally, analysts have long contended that a roadblock to the deployment of electric cars has been the lack of infrastructure to ensure they can be charged anywhere, at home, at the office or at stations in the city or along a highway.
Building that infrastructure could cost billions of dollars and stakeholders have stressed the need for government support in the early days.
"We think the potential is beyond but it's going to depend not so much on the technology but on how governments, mayors, presidents and governors are willing to push this technology," said Renault-Nissan's chief executive Carlos Ghosn.
He added that car-makers had little choice but to make the shift, given that oil prices would probably go up and emissions regulations would likely get stricter. He has forecast that 10 per cent of vehicles would be electric globally by 2020.
Not all auto-makers are convinced of the potential of electric cars, given the variety of power sources for cars available. All-electric cars are still much more expensive than petrol-electric hybrids, which match battery power with combustion engines, for instance.
The high cost of batteries is seen as prohibitive and analysts say it will take at least a decade to see if electric cars can keep pace with, or surpass, petrol-powered automobiles.
Audi of America president Johan de Nysschen recently called General Motors' Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid "a car for idiots".
"No one is going to pay a US$15,000 premium for a car that competes with a Corolla. So there are not enough idiots who will buy it," he said.
The trick apparently is whether to place your bets on electric technology improving, and fast. With Israel one of the early enthusiasts of electric cars, Israeli entrepreneur Shai Agassi is reported to have said that the industry will take off in just a few years, just like mobile phone technology did.
Mr Agassi told the Knowledge@Wharton series: "We will have a billion electric cars on the road sometime around 2025 because we will have a billion people driving and there's no way they can be driving gasoline cars ...
"If you think of an industry that will make a billion of something, with an average price of US$20,000, you're looking at a $20 trillion industry rising up from nothing today within a span of 10 to 15 years."
Unwanted water tubes and plastic crates are part of the decor of a beauty services shop
tay suan chiang, Straits Times 19 Sep 09;
About the only thing that is new at the Spa Esprit Group's newest outlet at Wheelock Place may be how you look as you walk out of the beauty services establishment.
Little else about the nearly 3,000 sq ft place which houses its three brands - Brazilian waxing service Strip, brow-grooming service Browhaus and facial service Mask - is new.
Old furniture and assorted industrial objects such as a sink and plastic pipes have been recycled for the beauty spa's interior decor.
A 1950s cake chiller has been turned into a cash register. Discarded kitchen cabinets have had their doors reupholstered with vintage fabric and now store beauty products.
Even old copies of The Straits Times were used. Mr Jerry De Souza, the group's creative director and store designer, had initially wanted a display shelf made entirely of papier mache.
'We created three prototypes, which were tricky to build. But they couldn't stand and fell flat,' he says. In the end, the shelf was created using a recycled wooden frame covered with newspaper.
Elsewhere, recycled items are purely decorative. The main reception counter is spruced up with repainted old compressor fans that appear like mini windmills. Wooden crates were taken apart then reassembled to create a feature wall. Plastic water tubes make another reception area inside look vaguely like a prop from a science-fiction movie.
Mr De Souza has designed more than 30 outlets under the group, including Strip at Suntec City and Raffles Place and restaurants Barracks and Tippling Club at Dempsey. He had all along seen treasure in so-called junk, using recycled material such as reupholstered old chairs in the stores and eateries.
This is the first time he is doing it on such a large scale. He says: 'Rather than spend money on new items, I decided to be creative and transform old, disused items.'
Going green, however, does not mean going cheap.
He says recycling 'definitely costs more as it requires more manpower, such as consultants and contractors to use unfamiliar materials, and more time and effort to get it right'.
'It is challenging to recycle material for commercial uses as the new furniture must be functional and durable for daily use. There are regulations set by the Singapore Civil Defence Force, such as those concerning fire safety, that we had to abide by,' he adds.
About $300,000 was spent on renovation, interior decoration and customising old furniture for the store. The sum includes the cost of making prototypes such as the papier mache shelf and buying recycled materials.
Mr De Souza says most of the recycled materials were bought from a scrap heap factory in Paya Lebar, where metal objects are usually melted and sold.
Items such as the compressor fans cost about $80 each.
Ms Janet Lim, Spa Esprit's public relations manager, says the company is taking small steps towards green conservation. She adds that more of the group's stores will be 'going green' in the future.
Its second Skinny Pizza restaurant, also at Wheelock Place, will have seats made from restructured bicycle seats and tables made from bicycle wheels. It will open in November.
The Wheelock beauty services store opened on Sept 1 and has already attracted the attention of shoppers passing by.
Undergraduate Kelly Lee, 20, says: 'It's quirky and makes me think about how I can get creative with what may be junk.'
Jessica Yeo, Channel NewsAsia 18 Sep 09;
SINGAPORE : The Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) was 29 at 4pm on Friday. The 24-hour reading was the lowest so far this month. This puts Singapore's air quality in the good range.
The National Environment Agency said the drop in PSI is due to the rain earlier Friday.
It added that more showers in the region over the next few days may help to alleviate the haze situation. - CNA/ms
Caroline Jackson, The Star 19 Sep 09;
KUCHING: Located about 40km northeast of Kuching City is the Bako-Buntal Bay, an expanse of intertidal mudflats fringed by mangrove forest with Gunung Santubong lying to the west and Bako National Park on the east.
Residents of the two Malay villages in the area, Kampung Bako and Kampung Buntal, derive their primary income from fishing, with increasing participation in tourism activities.
However, the proximity of Bako-Buntal Bay to the capital city is like a double-edged sword.
The bay is one of only two project sites in the country undertaken to support the implementation of the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention) in four South-East Asian countries including Malaysia.
The other site considered of global importance as a wintering spot for waterbirds is the north-central coast of Selangor.
While being located considerably close to the city means easy access for urbanites who appreciate nature, it also makes the wetlands vulnerable to urban activities and development.
According to Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Kuching branch chairman Rebecca D’Cruz, the bay has enormous potential for eco-tourism but the human population and infrastructure development in the area applied a constant stress on the site and its natural resources.
“Kampung Bako is the only entry point to the (Bako) National Park and villagers gain significant income from ferrying visitors while several tour companies provide wildlife cruises in the bay area, which offer close-up views of proboscis monkeys, dolphins, crocodiles, fireflies and many bird species,” she said when highlighting the Bako-Buntal Conservation Study, a collaborative effort between the Sarawak State Planning Unit and MNS Kuching.
The cruises cover the nearby Kuching Wetlands National Park, which is Sarawak’s first and only Ramsar Site, and the popular seafood destination of Kampung Buntal with restaurants lining the sandbar that is also the high-tide roost for shorebirds.
Bird-watching enthusiasts from MNS Kuching frequently go on excursions at the bay where 32 shorebird species have been recorded so far, with an estimated 15,000 waterbirds arriving there to escape winter.
The most significant are the Spotted Greenshank, Asian Dowitcher and Fareastern Curlew while the numbers of Red Knot and Great Knot are among the highest for any site in Malaysia.
“Of particular note in recent years are the 31 Chinese Egrets counted at the bay in 2003, accounting for 1% of the global population and may be the largest number recorded to-date in Borneo,” said D’Cruz.
She said the previous record number of 13 was charted in Brunei in December 1984 and between 15 and 25 in April 1986, which reinforced the global conservation importance of the bay.
With continuous observations dating back to the early 1900s, it was noted from historical records that even back in February 1913 Spotted Greenshanks were seen at Buntal while in 1935, Fareastern Curlews were described as ‘swarming’ at the same bay, she added.
The area also supported a steadily increasing population of proboscis monkeys, initially confined to the park but protection has increased their numbers beyond its carrying capacity and the excess is spreading across the bay and into Santubong.
D’Cruz said dolphin- and crocodile-watching activities were rising in popularity as the waters within the bay supported at least three species of dolphins — the Irrawaddy Dolphin, Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin and the Finless Porpoise — while its delta has a healthy population of estuarine crocodiles.
“The larger crocodiles can be seen basking along the exposed mudbanks and may constitute one of the most important populations of crocodiles in the state,” she said, adding that the study’s objective was to improve the conservation status of the bay through the establishment of a local conservation group (LCG).
In promoting the approach as an effective contribution to the implementation of the Ramsar Convention in Malaysia, she said the LCG as an effective community-based organisation worked to find solutions for nature conservation issues.
“The success of such an approach depends a great deal on the awareness level of stakeholders,” she said of the project to promote sustainable wetland-based livelihood especially for the people in Bako and Buntal villages.
Besides Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam are participating in the project to strengthen government-civil society partnerships funded by the Darwin Initiative (United Kingdom), Keidanren Nature Conservation Fund (Japan) and Japan’s ministry of environment.
The project received the nod from Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, which served as the administrative authority for the Convention in Malaysia and will run for an initial period of two years, with the possibility of an extension for a third year.
“South-East Asia’s wetlands are very important for biodiversity, national economies and the well-being of local communities but unfortunately, the same wetlands have frequently been viewed as unproductive areas and converted into other land uses,” D’Cruz noted.
She said South-East Asia’s remaining natural and semi-natural wetlands supported tremendous biodiversity wealth, including many threatened and endemic species that provide vital ecosystem services, particularly to local communities.
There are six Ramsar sites nationwide -- Tasek Bera in Pahang (1994), Pulau Kukup, Sungai Pulai and Tanjung Piai in Johor (2003), Kuching Wetlands National Park in Sarawak (2005) and the Lower Kinabatangan-Segama Wetlands in Sabah (2008), covering a total area of 134,158ha. — Bernama
Ben Webster and Emily Gosden Times Online 19 Sep 09;
They are the must-have accessory for fashion-conscious shoppers who want to be seen carrying home the most exclusive and expensive brands.
But there is a dirty secret behind the glossy paper bags often spotted dangling from the arms of socialites.
Several of Britain’s top fashion brands and makers of luxury goods have been buying these bags from a supplier majority-owned by a company responsible for destroying millions of acres of Indonesian rainforest.
One of the last refuges of the critically endangered Sumatran elephant and tiger is being steadily eroded by Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) to produce cheap, high-quality paper for bags, gift boxes and other designer packaging.
APP is planning to pulp up to 480,000 acres of forest in Jambi province, Sumatra. Environmental groups claim that this will include the site of the only successful reintroduction programme for orang-utans. Alexander McQueen, Marc Jacobs, OKA, H&M Group and Osborne & Little have admitted buying bags from Pak2000, which is majority-owned by APP.
When approached yesterday by The Times, Osborne & Little, a luxury wallpaper company owned by the family of George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, said that that it would stop buying bags from Pak2000.
COS, part of H&M Group, said: “We can confirm that we have decided to terminate our business relationship with PAK2000. We do not have any further comments.”
OKA, a home furnishings company co-founded by Viscountess Astor, mother-in-law of David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said it would cease trading with Pak2000 “as soon as possible”.
Alexander McQueen refused to say whether it would continue to use Pak2000 bags. Marc Jacobs declined to answer questions from The Times.
The five companies were among almost 100 clients listed by Pak2000 on its website. Pak2000 removed the list two weeks ago at the request of several clients who had received letters from Rainforest Action Network, a US-based conservation group.
Michael Brune, the network’s director, wrote: “Our research indicates that your company is, we assume unknowingly, contributing to the destruction of endangered tropical rainforests in Indonesia through your procurement of packaging products and shopping bags from PAK 2000.”
Claude Roessiger, Pak2000’s chief executive, said that the company sold 300 million bags a year and 25 per cent of the company’s paper came from Indonesia.
Asked about the source of the 25 per cent, he said: “Either it’s entirely plantation wood or forests which are exploited in a proper plan.”
Mr Roessiger said Pak2000 did not “knowingly” use paper from original rainforest but he could not guarantee that it did not.
The Times tried to contact APP directly but it did not respond to phone calls or e-mails.
Reuters 17 Sep 09;
BEIJING, Sept. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW-www.ifaw.org) announced today that Alibaba (www.taobo.com.cn), the world's largest business-to-business and outsource portal site for traders worldwide, has agreed to ban all online trade in elephant ivory, sea turtle, and shark fin.
In addition, Alibaba has strengthened its internal control of wildlife products traded to accord to international and national regulations.
Alibaba's announcement comes nearly a year after eBay, working with IFAW, agreed to ban the sale of all ivory products.
The milestone decision was made following a year long collaboration between IFAW and Alibaba's partner site, Taobao.com to raise awareness about the unsustainable and cruel trade of wildlife on the Internet. IFAW encourages netizens to report online wildlife crime activities and helps portal sites filter out advertisements of wildlife products. To date, 333 wildlife product advertisements and 5 traders registered from Cameron, USA, and Canada have been removed from the Alibaba site.
Grace Gabriel, IFAW's Asia Regional Director said, "From eBay to Taobao to Alibaba, a growing number of internet sites are taking responsibilities to protect the world's precious wildlife from the threat of trade. It is a very encouraging trend."
About the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) As one of the world's leading animal welfare organization, IFAW has representation in 16 countries and carries out its animal welfare work in more than 40. IFAW works from its global headquarters in the United States and focuses its campaigns on improving the welfare of wild and domestic animals by reducing the commercial exploitation of animals, protecting wildlife habitats, and assisting animals in distress. IFAW works both on the ground and in the halls of government to safeguard wild and domestic animals and seeks to
motivate the public to prevent cruelty to animals and to promote animal welfare and conservation policies that advance the well-being of both animals and people. For more information on IFAW, visit www.ifaw.org
SOURCE International Fund for Animal Welfare
WWF 17 Sep 09;
Barcs, Hungary 17 September 2009 – Croatia and Hungary signed today a declaration to establish a Trans-Boundary UNESCO Biosphere Reserve that will protect their shared biodiversity hotspot along the Mura, Drava and Danube Rivers. This paves the way to create Europe’s largest river protection area.
The ceremony in the presence of the Prime Ministers of Croatia and Hungary, Mrs Jadranka Kosor and Mr Gordon Bajnai, took place in the border city of Barcs, Hungary.
Given the global significance of this agreement, WWF has highlighted the leading role of the Governments of Croatia and Hungary with a “Leaders for a Living Planet” award, handed over by Lifeng Li, Director of WWF Global Freshwater Programme.
"This cross border agreement to protect an area of great natural importance will foster regional cooperation, international understanding and peace keeping – 20 years after the fall of the ‘Iron Curtain’”, said James P. Leape, Director General of WWF International. “It is not only a significant advance for the region but can serve as an example of how nature conservation visions can bring countries together”.
With rare large floodplain forests, river islands, gravel banks and oxbows, the new protected area covers a 500 kilometres section of the three rivers and about 630,000 hectares of unique natural and cultural landscapes. The protected area, which has been declared with help of WWF and partner organisations (e.g. Drava League, Green Action and Euronatur) is awaiting UNESCO approval to become a Biosphere Reserve in 2010.
Today’s agreement, which was signed by the Ministers of Croatia and Hungary, Božo Biškupić (Minister of Culture) and Imre Szabó (Minister for Environment and Water) has the potential to become the cornerstone for a five-country Biosphere Reserve shared with Austria, Slovenia and Serbia. This would create the world’s first Biosphere reserve, commonly shared by five countries.
“WWF greatly welcomes this step of the governments of Croatia and Hungary as a very important milestone for the conservation of Europe’s natural treasures,” said Gábor Magyar, CEO of WWF Hungary. “This cross-border undertaking between a current and a future EU member is a potent symbol of the proposed unification of Croatia with the European Union,” Andreas Beckmann, Director of WWF’s Danube-Carpathian Programme added.
The area is home to the highest density of breeding pairs of the White-tailed Eagle in Europe and endangered species such as Little tern, Black stork, otters and sturgeons. It is also an important stepping stone for more than 250,000 migratory waterfowls every year. “The diversity of species in this region is one of Europe’s richest. Such areas can only be topped by the tropical rainforests,” says project leader Arno Mohl from WWF Austria.
Moreover, the river ecosystem is vital for the socio-economic well being of the trans-boundary region. It is a major source for good drinking water, for natural flood protection, sustainable forestry, agriculture and fisheries as well as having an important role in promoting eco-tourism, awareness raising and environmental education in the region.
“We encourage Austria, Slovenia and Serbia to join the proposed Biosphere Reserve with Croatia and Hungary to complete this green belt protecting the heart of Europe”, WWF stresses.
Reuters 17 Sep 09;
ROME (Reuters) - Italian researchers said on Thursday they had found one of the largest forests of rare black coral in the world off southern Italy and a related coral species never before studied in its natural habitat.
Investigators said they used a remote-controlled submarine to film the forest of Antipathes subpinnata coral, spanning an area the size of two soccer pitches, submerged at a depth of 50-100 meters between mainland Italy and the island of Sicily.
Officials said they were not disclosing the exact location of the discovery for fear that treasure hunters could plunder the rare coral, used to make jewelry.
"The coral we found has a great value, primarily because of its rarity," said Silvestro Greco, head of the environment agency for the southern Italian region of Calabria.
"If somebody with no conscience knew exactly where they were, I think there would be risks. That's why we have not really disclosed where they are."
Black coral's living tissue is brightly colored, but it takes its name from the distinctive black or dark brown color of its skeleton, highly prized as an adornment. It is listed as endangered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Simone Canese, chief researcher of the 1 million euro exploration project which has been running since 2005, said progress in underwater technology was permitting breakthroughs in the filming and study of new marine habitats.
"We found an extremely rare species of black coral, 'Antipathes dicotoma', that had never been observed alive in its environment. There were only 5 fragments of it kept in museums," Canese told Reuters.
"With the recent increase in underwater exploration, more of them may be discovered but we have provided the first images of them, alive, in their environment."
The discoveries were made in the Strait of Messina, which separates Sicily from mainland Italy, close to the town of Scilla. The waterway was held to be the home in Greek mythology of sea monster Scylla, which together with Charybdis menaced ships in the channel.
(Reporting by Daniel Flynn and Antonio Denti; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
WWF 15 Sep 09;
Vigo, Spain – A team of Australian inventors today were awarded the $30,000 grand prize in the International WWF Smart Gear Competition for a fishing gear innovation that could save thousands of seabirds from dying accidentally on longlines each year.
Their invention – the underwater baited hook – allows longline vessels to set baited hooks underwater out of reach of seabirds. Designed for use on coastal tuna and swordfish vessels worldwide, the invention minimizes or eliminates accidental mortality of seabirds including albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters, which are sometimes killed in the fishing gear when they attempt to seize bait attached to longline hooks.
The grand prize winning team consists of Phil Ashworth, general manager of Australia-based Amerro Engineering and Dr. Graham Robertson, a principal research scientist with the Australian Antarctic Division. WWF and its partners made the awards announcement today at the World Fishing Exhibition in Vigo, Spain.
Every year, unselective fishing catches non-target animals as ‘bycatch’ – an issue that causes the death of hundreds of thousands of marine animals, including seabirds. A recently published study defines bycatch as unmanaged or unused catch and on this basis it is estimated that bycatch accounts for at least 40% of what is taken from our oceans each year.
”With bycatch accounting for at least 40% of what is taken from our oceans each year, competitions like Smart Gear are critical opportunities to stimulate and showcase new technologies to reduce this threat,” said Dr. Robin Davies, Interim Leader of WWF’s Bycatch Initiative. “It is inspiring to see how many innovative ideas were submitted to the Smart Gear Competition because it reflects a dedicated and extremely diverse group of people who are committed to finding solutions to bycatch.”
Two other inventions to help reduce bycatch won runner-up prizes of $10,000 for their inventors. A team from Belgian’s Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO) won for their invention named Hovercran, which substantially reduces bycatch in shrimp trawls. The other runner-up is David Sterling, of Australia’s Sterling Trawl Gear Services, who developed a device called the Batwing Board, an alternative to the standard trawl door used by most trawl operators, which both reduces impact to the sea bottom by approximately 90 percent and reduces fuel consumption.
This year’s competition also features a special East African Marine prize of $7,500 which has been awarded to Samwel B. Bikkens of Kenya’s Moi University for his device known as “The Selector.”
The invention makes use of fish responses to light and water movement to address a bycatch problem in Lake Victoria, the largest lake in East Africa and an important fishery in the region. This is the second year that WWF has offered a special regional prize to encourage inventions that address issues in areas of critical concern.
“The creative inventions designed by the winners of the Smart Gear Competition promise practical, effective, everyday solutions to the problem of bycatch - a serious issue which threatens the health of our oceans,” say Michael Osmond, WWF’s senior program officer for fisheries, who directs the competition.
The Curtis and Edith Munson Foundation, The Marisla Foundation, the Sea World & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, the Lemelson Foundation, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are supporting this year’s Smart Gear Competition.
For more information on the International Smart Gear competition go to: www.smartgear.org.
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