Best of our wild blogs: 17 Feb 10

Dr. John Yong's Guides to mangroves, mistletoes and ferns
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!

great billed herons @ big sister's island
video clip from sgbeachbum and swimming anemone and sea hare

The Kings Are Raising Young Now
from Life's Indulgences

Tigers and the Belimbing
from Butterflies of Singapore

Red-breasted Parakeet eats cocoon
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Pasir Ris 的红树林
from PurpleMangrove

Photos from the Battle of Pasir Panjang Anniversary Walk 2010
from Toddycats!

Twelve-year-old on a mission to save Africa's most unusual animal, the okapi an interview with Spencer Tait from Mongabay.com news by Jeremy Hance

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18 dolphins for Resorts World Sentosa still in the Philippines

Leong Wee Keat, Today Online 17 Feb 10;

Eighteen dolphins - enroute to the Marine Life Park at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) - are reportedly stranded in the Philippines.

According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the bottlenose dolphins are now at the Ocean Adventure marine park at Subic Bay.

The Feb 5 report said that the marine mammals, imported from the Solomon Islands, were to have been sent to Singapore by the end of last year. But they are still in the care of Subic Bay Marine Exploratorium, the company contracted to train them.

The delay, according to the report, is because the facilities to house them in Singapore are not finished. When contacted, RWS spokesman Robin Goh told MediaCorp that "construction of the Marine Life Park is on schedule and is slated for an opening after 2010".

Bottlenose dolphins, one of the most common in the world, are listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) and their trade is regulated. Activists have questioned the need to import wild dolphins. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has posted the Philippine newspaper report on its Facebook page.

Executive officer Deirdre Moss said the society "objects to the keeping of dolphins in captivity, as they are usually caught/kept for the purpose of training to entertain/amuse the public" and in doing so, they are "also forced to adapt to an alternative lifestyle in a man-made structure".

Mr Goh said animals acquired for its Marine Life Park are in accordance with the Cites agreement. "In the meantime, the dolphins are in good hands and being looked after according to international standards," he added.

LEONG WEE KEAT

More background information on Will there be dolphins at Resorts World Sentosa? Part 2 on the wild shores of singapore blog.

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Bonding over a 'community cat'

Letter from Dr Tan Chek Wee
Today Online 17 Feb 10;
FIVE YEARS ago, when I moved into my block of Housing and Development Board flats, I noticed a tri-coloured cat at the void deck.

She was easily placed into a carrier and taken to the vet for sterilisation.

She was then returned to the void deck bearing a surgical cut on her left ear, a symbol of her neutered status.

Ginger (picture) - as she was affectionately called - became a mascot of the block and is cared for by several families.

One day last week, a Jewish neighbour told me that Mr Ali, a Malay resident on the third storey, was concerned that he had not seen Ginger for the past few weeks.

I went to his flat and we chatted about Ginger and cat-related things. Most importantly, a friendship was forged.

I then went to the second storey and knocked on the door of a Chinese family whom I knew was very fond of Ginger too.

Sure enough, the cat was safe and sound in the flat.

I walked up to convey the good news to Mr Ali who said he would pay a visit to the Chinese family to see our "block cat".

I then took a lift to the 11th storey to inform the Jewish lady.

It is time for Town Councils to stop "automatically" assigning "cat nuisance" to any feedback about cats.

What Ginger does to bring about inter-racial harmony and neighbourliness is akin to what some community events can achieve.

That is why cats like Ginger are aptly called "Community Cats".

This is how people really make friends ...
Letter from Raymond Lee Swee Mun
Today Online 18 Feb 10;

I REFER to "Bonding over a 'community cat' " (Feb 17). The community cats at our Housing and Development Board block in Sengkang have also worked the same magic in creating friendship among some Malay and Chinese families. My family has been feeding them from about three years ago. (Of course, we clean up thereafter.)

Along the way, we got to know a Malay couple who were also taking care of them. We named the cats together and conducted joint sterilisation exercises.

One day, a Chinese woman, unaware of what we were doing, thought we were rounding the cats up for culling and scolded us. But after she realised what we were doing, we became friends.

Another time, while taking one of the cats to the vet, a few Malay women and their children came to talk to us because they were concerned for the animal. They were relieved to hear that we were not sending the cat to be culled. Again, we made friends.

Now all of us are pretty close, but our friendships have expanded beyond the mutual goal of caring for our community cats. We go to each other's homes during festivals and once, to one of their sons' wedding.

Of late, a young Chinese boy has asked to join in our activities. His China national mother has given him the go-ahead because she thinks the boy will learn how to care and love small animals.

Once, an Indian national initiated conversation with us saying that he wanted to befriend us because he thinks we are a bunch of good people.

I hope the town councils and any related government bodies take note of what is happening on the ground - community cats do help people make friends with those from another race. My "new" friendships would never have happened if not for our cats.

We're really a community now...
Letter from Shirley Goh
Today Online 17 Feb 10;

I refer to "Bonding over a 'community cat'" (Feb 17) by Dr Tan Chek Wee.

I have been taking care of the community cats in my neighbourhood for four years and it is through these cats that I get to know many of my neighbours of various races, religions and cultures, whom I may not have got to know otherwise.

Sending greetings and presents to each other during our respective festive seasons and inviting each other to our homes for dinner are just some of the activities that we do. The bonds we forged through a common love and interests for these community cats are really far greater than those from other community events.

Playing with community cats helps relieve tensions
Letter from Lawrence Lee Today Online 18 Feb 10;

I refer to "Bonding over a 'community cat'" (Feb 17) by Dr Tan Chek Wee.

I am a resident of Pasir Ris and the community cats there have added colour and joy to to my life and that of many others. For various reasons, many residents are not able to keep pets of their own. The community cats provide an avenue for me to ease the tensions of the day by stroking and massaging them. In the process, I get to know other residents who are happy to play with the cats. They come from my block and the neighbouring blocks, and I would not have met them if not for the cats. They provide a platform for us to connect with residents of different races, including foreign nationals. The cats are properly cared for by responsible cat carers. In the interest of community bonding and fostering harmony, it would be helpful for the town councils to be mindful of the positive contributions made by the community cats and not overreact to complaint from non-animal lovers who may even exaggerate the nature of complaints in order to get the cats out of the community.

Kindness to animals is an important value to teach children
Letter from Abdul Rashid, Today Online 22 Feb 10;

The intent of this letter is purely to raise our awareness of the general lack of compassion to animals (cats, especially) in our society. Lately, it has been moving to read about the concept of community cats. But here, I hope to bring to the fore the effects of negative behaviour inculcated in our children, through our behaviour.

Here is my observation of things which happen around public places like void decks, coffee shops and even parks - some children's lack of compassion for animals manifested in the way the children treat them. I thought compassion for animals would come naturally with children but I can understand why the forces of nurture can far outnumber nature itself, in children's growing years. I have seen adults in the presence of their children, kicking animals (gently or otherwise,) or throwing things at them. Judging from the adults' behaviours and mannerisms, I can safely say that they were probably brought up seeing such behaviour in their own growing years. They seem to be overly careful about hygiene and disease such that they treat these animals as balls of plagues on four legs.

I was at the vet recently with my kids, to pay our ailing cat Louie a visit. Another cat, Dani, was in a neighbouring cage with obvious bowel control problems. It was such a sorry sight - his fur was wet with urine and we thought Dani had undergone some form of surgery. A tearful elderly lady with her daughter came to visit Dani. After some small talk, we learnt that somebody had brought Dani up to the top floor of a block near the owner's flat and threw Dani off. Dani sustained a fractured spine which rendered him paralysed on his hind limbs with loss of bowel control. Honestly, this note can never paint the horrific picture of what Dani is going through. The situation for Dani is so bad that he may be euthananised.

Getting back to the issue of how this came to be, I have seen for myself the number of times children abuse cats (probably, because they seem to be more ubiquitous in public housing estates) by kicking, spitting, throwing lighted candles at them, shooting them with rubber-bands, etc. Perhaps we can partly blame the media for casting a black shroud on cats. Cats are almost always portrayed as conniving and evil. Such images send sub-conscious negative connotations about cats in general. But how we guide our children remains at the core.

To be fair, I have seen children who are very nice and kind to animals and simply love to see animals at the zoo or some animal shows - but loving animals goes beyond just being entertained by them. Kindness to animals is an important value to teach children and for them to continue to uphold throughout life. In a society bent on achieving A-stars and educational excellence, seeing such cruelty to animals indicates a significant lacking in what we can teach our children at school as well as home. Some people may not like animals, but they can at least learn not to be mean and cruel if there is inculcation of kindness and compassion towards other creatures. Let children grow up to realise how therapeutic animals can be and how good it is to be kind to them. They are after all, a form of life, worthy of respect.

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Floating lanterns: Fire hazard

Straits Times Forum 17 Feb 10;

'Setting off fireworks is illegal here. Shouldn't these floating lanterns also be declared illegal?'

MS ANGELINE NG: 'On Chinese New Year's Eve, at around 9.30pm, I noticed a group of people setting off half a dozen sky lanterns at the end of Lentor Loop in Lentor housing estate.

One of the floating lanterns, kept afloat by a naked flame heating the air in the lantern, landed on a tree about 80m from my house. The others continued flying till they were out of sight.

I can only hope they landed somewhere safe. If these lanterns land on a house, lives and property could be lost. Even if that does not happen, in dry weather, it could cause a fire by igniting bushes and trees nearby. Setting off fireworks is illegal here. Shouldn't these floating lanterns also be declared illegal?'

Related links
Sky lanterns: deliberately released debris on the wild shores of singapore blog.

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Soon: fill 'er up - with emulsion diesel?

Business Times 16 Feb 10;

SgEF has developed a fuel that's a lot more environment-friendly. Are we ready for it? By Timothy Seow

IF JEREMY Ng - founder and CEO of Singapore Emulsion Fuel Pte Ltd (SgEF) - has his way, all of Singapore's public buses will be powered by his company's very own nano-emulsion diesel in the near future.

SgEF opened Asia's first clear nano-emulsion diesel plant in Tuas two weeks ago. With last December's Copenhagen summit yielding disappointing results, and climate change statistics under much scrutiny recently, eco-enthusiasts could consider this a small plus for Singapore's green drive.

Mr Ng, describing the emulsion diesel, said, 'our team of researchers developed a breakthrough emulsion fuel that significantly lowers the diesel content within biofuels in use in the market today'.

This is done by blending diesel with water and SgEF's biodegradable patent-pending proprietary additive, said Mr Ng.

Formerly in the semiconductor industry, Mr Ng comes across as an optimist - with big plans for a company barely three years old. For example, SgEF's new 40,000 square foot facility is targeted at meeting the needs of both Singapore and the greater Asia-Pacific region.

SgEF already has a partnership with a Malaysian company called Pamuri Green, and is finalising a joint venture with an Indonesian partner. Mr Ng also intends to test the South China and Japan markets by 2011.

Mr Ng is confident about the success of his products. 'Competition for emulsion fuels? I don't see anyone. Biofuels are not even a competitor because of the difference in volume we can provide,' he said.

SgEF currently has the capacity to produce 30,000 litres a day. 'In the next 12 months, we hope to ramp up production to 100,000 litres,' added Mr Ng. SgEF eventually hopes to add an extra digit to this figure, reaching a maximum daily capacity of 300,000 litres.

That is not all. SgEF presently has 13 staff, and Mr Ng is looking to increase this by almost 50 per cent in 2010. 'By the end of this year, we will probably increase to about 20, with additional chemists, technical and sales staff,' he said.

Mr Ng also said he expects revenue this year to be 'in the range of $3-5 million'.

Things were far less rosy when it all began in December 2006. Recalled Mr Ng: 'There were challenges such as getting funds and getting support from the government. For a niche start-up company like us, without a track record, it's not easy.'

To compound matters, SgEF met with the worst financial crisis in more than 70 years less than two years into the venture

Yet, the financial storm clouds had a thick silver lining. 'It is a fact that the recession helped us,' admitted Mr Ng.

'In 2008, a lot of big companies and MNCs began pulling out of Singapore. Only then did the government realise they needed to grow local entrepreneurs. That's when I changed my strategy and decided to look for Spring Singapore,' he continued. 'That made it easier for us to talk to Spring.'

This change of strategy proved to be a winner; in June 2009, Spring SEEDS (Start-up Enterprise Development Scheme) agreed to provide capital.

Mr Ng is also not hesitant to credit other partner government agencies like the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and the National Environment Agency (NEA), which he said were very supportive.

In fact, it was the NEA that introduced SgEF to Poh Lian Construction. 'Poh Lian was in search of an alternative energy provider to help them manage their carbon footprint in residential areas. They have been using super green diesel to power their machinery ever since,' Mr Ng shared.

Super green diesel, along with eDiesel, are SgEF's flagship products that were released in conjunction with the opening of their production facility.

The former is designed for building and construction machines, while the latter targets the public transport, maritime and port, and industrial sectors.

Currently, in the green energy world, one of the most common forms of biofuel is biodiesel, used widely in Europe. Biodiesels are produced from renewable resources such as vegetable oils and animal fats. It is usually blended with petrodiesel, and most cars can run on a blend of 5 per cent biodiesel and 95 per cent petrodiesel without modification.

Mr Ng says that emulsion diesel is 'totally different' from biodiesel. According to SgEF, its emulsion diesel requires only 60 per cent of petrodiesel, with the other 40 per cent made up of water and their patent-pending additive. SgEF emulsion diesel also does not require any retrofitting or modification of engines.

Mr Ng believes emulsion diesel's advantage is logical. 'Just think about it: when a certain amount of fuel is replaced by water, it is logical that the emissions would have less carbon,' he said.

Mr Ng's claims appear to have stood up to the test. SMRT partnered SgEF in product testing over a period of three months, and the use of SgEF emulsion diesel reduced CO2 emissions 10 per cent and other greenhouse gases almost 50 per cent. Fuel efficiency also improved 9 per cent.

Despite these promising figures, challenges remain. 'The greatest challenge,' he said, 'is making the consumer switch to green technology. They need to understand that protecting the environment is more important than cost-saving.'

While most are cynical about the climate change summit in Copenhagen, Mr Ng is hopeful. 'Even though the outcome of Copenhagen was not quite what we expected, all nations now know how important CO2 reduction is,' he said.

He added, 'prior to this, it wasn't so easy for me to talk to people about this issue. Now, everyone realises that to go into green technology, they need to pay a premium. It makes it easier for me as well.'

And while profit margins may be thin now, Mr Ng is not worried. 'It's basically economy of scale. Eventually, cost will decrease.'

Economy of scale means getting bigger, and when asked whether the domestic transport market was a target, Mr Ng responded with a resolute 'definitely'.

If his optimism is rewarded, it might not be too long before emulsion diesel becomes an integral part of how Singaporeans get from place to place.

Water-blended diesel to fuel green drive
Singapore firm develops emulsion fuel to curb reliance on fossil fuels
Christopher Tan, Straits Times 18 Feb 10;

WATER and oil do not mix, but a Singapore start-up begs to differ.

Singapore Emulsion Fuel (SgEF) has formulated diesel that is one-fifth water, and is marketing it as fuel that is greener and more cost-efficient.

On Feb 5, it opened a $1 million, 40,000 sq ft plant in Tuas that can produce up to 300,000 litres of emulsion fuel a day.

'We are starting with 30,000 litres a day, and shall go to 100,000 litres in a year's time,' said SgEF founder and chief executive Jeremy Ng.

Mr Ng, 55, left a 20-year career in the semiconductor industry for this green pursuit four years ago.

With $300,000 seed money from Spring Singapore's Start-up Enterprise Development Scheme, and about $700,000 shared between partners, he set up SgEF in 2006 'to address the global dependence on fossil fuels and to offer a viable alternative to existing biofuels'.

Mr Ng admits that emulsion fuels are not entirely new, and that the idea goes back a century.

'For the past 10 years or so, city buses in Europe have been using emulsion fuel,' he said.

But he added that SgEF's formula is unique - a patent is pending - in that the water and diesel do not separate when left unused for extended periods.

Ultra-low sulphur diesel is blended with water (20 per cent) and a proprietary binding agent (20 per cent) to make fuel that is clear like conventional diesel, unlike other emulsion diesels.

The fuel can be used in all existing diesel engines and machinery with no need for any modification.

Because of its water content, it is said to reduce black smoke emission by up to 80 per cent, improve fuel efficiency by up to 9 per cent, and reduce exhaust temperature by 20 per cent.

Building contractor Poh Lian Construction tested the emulsion diesel and found positive results.

'We used it for our air compressor and generator sets at two private property developments and the black smoke emission dropped significantly,' said Poh Lian's senior project manager Png Koon Guan.

He said he was trying to convince the management to continue using the fuel.

Construction foundation specialist CSC Holdings tried out the fuel too, but did not obtain any conclusive results.

Its purchasing manager Eileen Wong said: 'We tested it nine months ago, but we are not convinced because we could not quantify any benefits.

'We will embark on a more detailed test after Chinese New Year.'

Transport operator SMRT said it tested the product four years ago and 'did not find it suitable for our use'. It would not elaborate but The Straits Times understands cost was one reason.

Mr Ng said the emulsion fuel 'is generally more expensive than conventional diesel' with a premium of about 5 per cent. 'But increasing environmental awareness is pushing more companies everywhere towards alternatives such as hybrids and biodiesels,' he noted.

Indeed, building contractors with green credentials 'have a higher status, which helps them in future tenders', said Poh Lian's Mr Png.

SgEF, meanwhile, is working to distribute its product to regional markets such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

Mr Ng said the company will also work towards raising the fuel's water content to 30 per cent in future, thus reducing its environmental impact further and cutting Singapore's oil dependence.

'Singapore uses between 6 million and 10 million litres of diesel a day, so even if we can reduce that by 1 per cent, it is significant,' he said.

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Leopard found mutilated in Malaysia

Evangeline Majawat, New Straits Times 16 Feb 10;

KUALA LUMPUR: It was a gruesome start to the Chinese New Year for wildlife officers who found the mutilated carcass of a leopard on Sunday.

The animal, which had been trapped in a snare, had been skinned and all its limbs had been chopped off.

But the full extent of the horror did not hit them till yesterday when they found more animals -- a clouded leopard and five wild boars -- snared in the same vicinity.

All the animals were either dead or dying.

Pahang Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) officials had rushed to Persimpangan Hutan Persit near a Sungai Yu tributary in Pahang late Sunday evening after a tip-off from an Orang Asli.

State Perhilitan director Khairiah Mohd Shariff believed that the leopard, known locally as harimau kumbang, and other animals had strayed into wire snares meant for tigers.

"When we first got the information, we thought it was a tiger. Thankfully, it wasn't. But it's still a horrible act."

The leopard, which is the second largest cat in Malaysia, was reclassified in 2008 as "Near Endangered" in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

Khairiah said officers who made the grisly discovery estimated that the animals had been dead for at least three days.

Perhilitan officers cleared a total of 17 snares within the perimeter where the initial carcass was found.

"Wire snares, whether in small or large quantities, are dangerous," she said.

Although no arrests were made, Khairiah suspected locals were acting as middlemen in the wildlife trade.

"We believe the poachers had set the snares to trap tigers," she said.

"But since a leopard was caught, I think they didn't want to waste it. So it was butchered and skinned.

"It's a sad start to the new year."

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Mycat: Most wildlife culprits in Malaysia roaming free

The Star 17 Feb 10;

PETALING JAYA: A conservation group wants the Attorney-General’s Chambers to treat cases of cruelty to wildlife with importance and urgency.

The Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (Mycat) noted that perpetrators of previous cases involving cruelty to animal had walked away free after paying paltry fines.

“This includes a man who was found guilty of illegal possession of a dead tiger five years ago. The tiger had been butchered and stored in his freezer,” said Mycat programme coordinator Loretta Shepherd.

“For that offence, he paid a fine of RM7,000 and walked out a free man.

“Compare this to the case involving the theft of 11 cans of Tiger beer and Guinness Stout worth RM70 in January this year, where a man was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.

“Clearly our values are misplaced.”

Seven orang asli are currently being investigated for brutally killing a male tiger in the Bukit Tapah Forest Reserve in Perak two weeks ago.

While the incident has angered many Malaysians, Shepherd voiced concerns that they too might only receive a slap on the wrist.

The Protection of Wild Life Act 1972 provides for a maximum sentence of five years’ jail and a RM15,000 fine for killing a tiger.

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Johor to ration water if dry spell continues

New Straits Times 16 Feb 10;

KLUANG: Johor is bracing for the possibility of water rationing in the next few months if the current dry spell continues.

Kluang is already hit as levels at water catchments and processing plants in Sungai Sembrong Timur and Barat are fast dropping.

As of yesterday, the water supply at Sungai Sembrong Timur reached the critical level of 10 millilitres per day (mlpd), down from the normal level of 20mlpd.

The larger Sungai Sembrong Barat plant is still being maintained at 60mlpd, but in light of the dry spell, the water supply authorities fear that it will also not last.

Johor's water management company, SAJ Holdings Sdn Bhd, is hoping for rain to ease the situation.

The authorities will be monitoring the levels at the Bekok dam in Yong Peng and the Congok dam in Mersing.

If the dry spell in Johor continues, the two dams may face water depletion and it will affect supply to Batu Pahat and Muar.

A check by the New Straits Times showed that much of the green lung here had turned brown due to lack of rain. The main Sungai Mengkibol that cuts through the town was dry with only patches of water.

SAJ Holdings corporate communications head Jamaluddin Jamil said the Kluang district, which has about 25,000 residents, had been experiencing low water supply since Chinese New Year's eve.

"The festive season will see Kluang's population swell to more than 50,000 people as many will come back to visit family and relatives.

"We will make do with the month-long water rationing exercise. Water tanks will be mobilised to areas which are badly hit."

Jamaluddin said the same problem was experienced five years ago.

"If the drought continues, we may have to shut down the Sembrong Timur water processing plant," he said, adding that the dry spell was part of the El Nino phenomenon.

Water crisis making dams in Johor save every drop
Nelson Benjamin, The Star 20 Feb 10;

KLUANG: Johor water authorities have been directed not to release water from dams, especially those used for flood mitigation, and to conserve water where possible.

State International Trade, Industry, Energy, Water, Communication and Environment Committee chairman Tan Kok Hong said the dams would normally release water whenever it rained heavily and reached a certain level.

“Over the past few months, they have been trying to store as much water as possible, even above the usual level as part of our preparation for the dry spell,” Tan said yesterday.

“At the moment, taking care of the needs of the people supercedes the need to provide water for other purposes.”

There are 11 dams in the state.

Tan added the state government was hoping for assistance from the Federal Government to provide funds for marking boundaries properly and fencing up dams to prevent encroachment.

He said the funds, amounting to millions of ringgit which were previously requested, were not allocated under the Ninth Malaysia Plan and the request had been resubmitted under the 10th Malaysia Plan.

State Drainage and Irrigation Department director Chong Chee Han said the department had requested RM5mil to carry out the survey and to gazette the area within the dams managed by the department.

Asked about the findings of the 2008 Auditor-General’s report on encroachments and the need for reservoirs to be better protected, including from illegal farming, he said this could be done after the survey and gazetting had been carried out.

The director of Johor’s water regulatory body Bakaj, Mohd Idris Kaparawi, added that it was important to ensure the dams were protected from encroachment for water quality to be maintained.

“If oil palm plantations are set up too close to the dams, they can absorb too much water or even cause soil erosion,” he said.

On the water crisis in Kluang, SAJ corporate communications chief Jamaluddin Jamal said showers on Thursday had caused the water level in rivers to rise slightly, but the level still needed to be above 0.5m before water supply could be fully restored.

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WWF condemns ‘slaughter’ of whale shark off Batangas shores, Philippines

gmanews.com 17 Feb 10;

An international group seeking the protection of endangered species condemned the attack on a whale shark (locally called the butanding) found off the shores of Tingloy Island in Batangas province last Monday.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the World Wildlife Fund voiced concern over the possible slaughter of the shark, whose fins were sliced off.

"WWF condemns the perpetrators of this illegal act. This is a real eye opener, for it proves that the slaughter of endangered species – even one as big as a butanding – can still take place if we let our guards down," said WWF Philippines Conservation Programs vice president Joel Palma.

Divers found the shark last Monday. It was later taken near the Caban Cove where volunteers from Bantay Dagat, a civilian fisheries patrol in the country’s coastal areas, tried to attend to the shark.

"Sadly, its wounds were too great – and the shark, nicknamed Tingloy Baby, died the next day (Tuesday)… and was laid to rest in Caban Cove," the World Wildlife Fund said.

BFAR probe

The statement quoted Bantay Dagat members as saying that police and the Bantay Dagat recently found fishing vessels with strobe lights operating on Mabini town’s shores and asked them to leave.

The fishermen left but transferred to Tingloy town. The incident prompted WWF and Bantay Dagat to allege that local fishermen could be the possible culprits of the incident.

Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources director Malcolm Sarmiento also said the agency would investigate the possible slaughter of the whale shark.

In the Philippines, whale sharks have been hunted in the waters off Bohol, Misamis Oriental and Sorsogon, the WWF said.

"Shark fins and meat are usually exported to China, Hongkong and Taiwan. Whale shark flesh, called ‘Tofu meat’ sells for roughly $8 (P360) per kilogram, while dried shark fins are valued a hundred times more – approximately $800 (P36,000) per kilogram," it said.

Citing BFAR data, the WWF said about 200 whale sharks were slaughtered in 1997 alone, prompting the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the BFAR to call for legal action to protect the whale shark.

Republic Act No. 8550 or the Fisheries Administrative Order prohibits the possession or slaughter of whale sharks. Violators are punished with four years in jail, a maximum fine of P10,000 and the cancellation of the violator’s fishing license. - with Sophia Dedace/RSJ, GMANews.TV

Prosecute butchers of butanding - WWF
Katherine Adraneda The Philippine Star 18 Feb 10;

MANILA, Philippines - An international conservation group is calling for the prosecution of people responsible for the “butchery” of an 18-foot butanding (whale shark) on the shores of Tingloy town in Batangas, with the marine animal’s dorsal and pectoral fins cut off.

The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF-Philippines) believes poachers from a nearby town could be responsible for the illegal act and urged all sectors concerned to step up enforcement efforts across the country to prevent a repeat of the incident.

Based on the documentation of WWF-Philippines, the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) was fighting for its life when it was found floating belly up in the rough waters of Bahay Kambing, a sheltered cove in Tingloy town.

The WWF-Philippines said the whale shark’s twin pairs of dorsal and pectoral fins were neatly sliced off, as knife marks were evident all over its tail.

Linda Reyes-Romualdez, owner of the Casita Isabel Resort, said scuba divers from Mabini’s Acacia Resort first discovered the mutilated shark last Monday morning.

She recounted that the shark was then towed to the nearby Caban Cove, where waters were more placid.

Together with Bantay Dagat members, volunteers splinted the shark by flanking it with bamboo poles and installing a net underneath to minimize further injuries and ease the marine animal’s pain.

“Sadly, its wounds were too great – and the shark, nicknamed ‘Tingloy Baby,’ died the next day,” said Gregg Yan, information, education and communications officer of WWF-Philippines. The butanding was buried in Caban Cove on Tuesday morning.

This tragic incident came as some 50 countries vowed to protect seven shark species, including the butanding, following the approval of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that is deemed the first international cooperation for the conservation of shark populations in the Indo-Pacific region.

According to WWF-Philippines, Bantay Dagat units from Mabini reported that for several days, fishing vessels equipped with powerful strobe lights have been operating in Mabini waters, sometimes as close as 300 meters from shore.

Responding to complaints from local resorts, the Bantay Dagat and local police asked the fishermen – who were reportedly from Lemery town – to leave the area.

The group said the fishermen left, but returned several nights later, this time in adjoining Tingloy town.

WWF-Philippines said Mabini authorities were not able to respond directly because the area was under Tingloy’s jurisdiction. And so, the group said, the fishing went on until concerned divers informed Mabini officials of their grisly discovery.

Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) director Malcolm Sarmiento said a full investigation would be conducted to track down and prosecute the culprits.

Sarmiento committed BFAR’s support until a better enforcement strategy can be developed between the towns of Mabini and Tingloy.

“This is a real eye-opener, for it proves that the slaughter of endangered species – even one as big as a butanding – can still take place if we let our guard down. The public and private sectors must come together to refine and polish current conservation mechanisms,” said Joel Palma, vice president of WWF-Philippines Conservation Programs.

WWF-Philippines said Filipinos have hunted whale sharks for decades. The waters of Bohol, Misamis Oriental and Sorsogon were once fishing grounds for butanding hunters.

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Plantation inclusion will ‘kill forests’ in Indonesia

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 17 Feb 10;

Environmental activists have condemned the government’s plan to classify oil palm plantations as forests, calling it a ploy to legalize forest conversions.

Activists from Forest Watch Indonesia (FWI), Telapak Indonesia and the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) called on the Forestry Ministry to rescind the plan if the government was serious in efforts to safeguard the country’s already threatened forests.

FWI executive director Wirendro Sumargo said the plan would increase the threat to forests because it would allow local authorities to easily reallocate forest use to increase their budgets.

“It would not be surprising that under the new decree, natural forests can be easily converted for business uses,” Wirendro told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

“It also seems the plan is aimed at legalizing illegal oil palm plantations currently operating in forests.”

He insisted the ministry take legal action against illegal oil palm companies operating in forests not allocated for business use.

With the decree, the Forestry Ministry is aping several countries such as Malaysia. Coincidentally, Indonesia and Malaysia are the world’s largest producers of palm oil.

The ministry claims the decree would not lead to massive forest conversions.

The program coordinator at Bogor-based Telapak Indonesia, Hap-soro, accused the ministry of not committing to protect forests.

“The concept of calling an oil palm plantation a forest has no basis in fact. It is merely a cover to allow investors to convert forests,” he told the Post.

“Even without the decree, the government has failed to control the growth of illegal oil palm plantations.”

Currently, oil palm plantations cover 7 million hectares of land, with 3 million hectares belonging to individuals, another 3 million to private companies and 1 million to state-owned plantation company PTPN.

Environmentalists claim some plantations were developed in forests not designated for agriculture.

National Forestry Council member Hariadi Kartodiharjo said development of the palm oil industry should be focused on idle forest land.

“I don’t believe the decree will be used to convert natural forests,” he said.

He said that in the past, Indonesia had rejected proposals by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to link oil palm plantations to forests. These proposals were eventually implemented in Malaysia.
“Oil palm plantations would seriously threaten biodiversity,” he said.

Walhi climate campaigner Teguh Surya said the decree would not only accelerate forest damage, but would legalize deforestation across the archipelago.

“Don’t expect the next generation to still have forests in the future. The decree will also kill the nation’s character,” he said.

He said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should intervene or else the government would never meet its pledged emission target cut of 26 percent by 2020.

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Big business leaves big forest footprints

Andrew Mitchell, BBC Green Room 16 Feb 10;

Consumers around the globe are not aware that they are "eating" rainforests, says Andrew Mitchell. In this week's Green Room, he explains how many every-day purchases are driving the destruction of the vital tropical ecosystems.

When was the last time you had a "rainforest picnic"? Or even, perhaps, an "all-day Amazon breakfast"?

Next time you are in a supermarket picking up a chicken sandwich for lunch, or fancy tucking in to a hearty breakfast of eggs, sausage and bacon before setting off for work, spare a thought for the Amazon.

A new report by Forest Footprint Disclosure reveals for the first time how global business is driving rainforests to destruction in order to provide things for you and me to eat.

But it does also reveal what companies are doing to try to lighten their forest footprint. Sadly, however, the answer is: not much, at least not yet.

Consumers "eat" rainforests each day - in the form of beef-burgers, bacon and beauty products - but without knowing it.

The delivery mechanism is a global supply chain with its feet in the forests and its hands in the till.

Because of growing demand for beef, soy and palm oil, which are in much of what we consume, as well as timber and biofuels, rainforests are worth more cut down than standing up.

Supermarket sweep

Governments, which claim to own 70% of them, create prosperity for their nations through this process, but poor forest communities need their forests for energy and food.

The report shows that the EU is the largest importer of soy in the world, much of it coming from Brazil.

It also shows that after China, the EU is the biggest importer of palm oil in the world.

Soy provides cheap food to fatten our pigs and chickens, while palm oil is in everything from cakes and cookies, to that fine moisturiser you gently rubbed into your cheeks this morning.

I have become a bit of a bore in supermarkets, challenging my kids to hunt for soy lecithin or palm oil (often disguised as vegetable oil) on product labels. You should try it! The stuff is everywhere.

The gargantuan farms of Brazil's Mato Grosso State can boast 50 combines abreast at harvest time, marching across monoculture prairies where once the most diverse ecosystem on Earth stood, albeit in some cases many years ago.

Further north, thousands of square miles of rainforest natural capital is going up in smoke each year, often illegally, to provide pastureland for just one cow per hectare to supply beef hungry Brazilians or more prosperous mouths in China and India.

Many of the hides from these cattle then go into the designer trainers, handbags or luxury car upholstery that wealthy markets have such an appetite for.

Few Europeans know that their fine steak au poivre or choice after dinner mints might have an added expense on the other side of the world that unknown to them, is altering life on Earth.

None of this would matter but for three things. Firstly, evolution is being changed forever. Most of us, sadly, can live with that.

Secondly, burning tropical forests drives global warming faster than the world's entire transport sector; there will be no solution to climate change without stopping deforestation.

Finally, losing forests may undermine food, energy and climate security. Yet saving them could, according to UN special adviser Pavan Sukhdev's forthcoming review on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), reduce environmental costs by $3-5 trillion per year.

Oh yes, let us not forget the 1.4bn people, many of them the world's poorest, who depend on these forests for their survival and who cannot afford to lose them, even if we can.

Full disclosure?

So what can be done? The first thing is to encourage business to mind its "forest footprint".

The impact global business has on deforestation will be a key factor in halting deforestation in the future. No amount of hand-wringing in the UN climate talks will alter action on the ground unless the drivers of global deforestation are also tackled.

Whilst poverty is possibly the largest of these drivers, so is the way in which business drives the conversion of cheap forest land to feed their global commodity supply chains - all the way to you and me.

This is why we launched the Forest Footprint Disclosure project last year: to invite companies to first recognise their impact on forests and then disclose what they were doing about it.

Such a request might be ignored by giant businesses if it were not for the fact that investment managers, with at least $3.5 trillion of assets, also wanted to know and backed our disclosure request with their names.

Why? Because it is their money that may be at risk if the companies do not clean up their act.

In 2009, Amigos da Terra's report Time to Pay the Bill, and Greenpeace's Slaughtering the Amazon highlighted the cattle industry as a driver of climate change responsible for the bulk of Brazil's greenhouse gases through deforestation and methane emissions from 180 million cows.

This resulted in the withdrawal of a $60m loan from the World Bank's International Finance Corporation to Bertin, Brazil's largest exporter of beef.

In June 2009, Brazil's major supermarkets - Pao de Acucar, Wal-mart, and Carrefour - all announced they would no longer accept beef from ranches involved in deforestation.

In July, sportswear manufacturer Nike said it would not accept leather in its products from Brazil if it came from deforested areas.

And in October, JBS Friboi, Bertin, Mafrig and Minerva - the largest players in Brazil's cattle industry - all agreed to similar action.

Daniel Azeredo, a Federal Public Prosecutor in Para State, has recently filed legal actions totalling $1bn against 22 ranches and 13 meat-packing plants for non-compliance with federal laws governing deforestation.

'Extraordinary time'

The effects are rippling all the way up the supply chain - well, to you and me again.

Consumers and businesses can play their part by demanding that their suppliers know where their "Forest Risk Commodities" come from. But will they?

Evidence from certification schemes shows that consumers care but not enough to get their wallets out.

If business cannot secure a premium for the extra costs of producing the good stuff, why should they bother?

I believe, however, that we are at an extraordinary time in human history when all that could be about to change.

What all this is evidence of is a quickening step in a remarkable journey that will result in nothing less than the transformation of the 21st Century economy.

Curbing emissions from deforestation, which was the outsider in the UN negotiations just two years ago, has moved to become the front-runner. It is now widely recognised that forests offer the quickest, most cost-effective and largest means of curbing global emissions between now and 2030.

So, are we at a tipping point in history where this could actually happen?

Conservation will never out-compete commerce with a global population rising toward nine billion.

Feeding and fuelling our growing world is one of the greatest opportunities of the 21st century, but sending natural capital up in smoke and squandering ecosystems that support wealth creation in the process will, ultimately, be counterproductive.

Businesses that understand this will be the rising stars of the future. Our report provides some of the first insights into who the potential winners and losers may be, and which business are setting the pace today.

Investors will want to spot them.

Andrew Mitchell is Chairman of the Forest Footprint Disclosure project and Executive Director of the Global Canopy Programme

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

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Diversity of corals, algae in warm Indian Ocean suggests resilience to future global warming

Penn State, EurekAlert 15 Feb 10;

Penn State researchers and their international collaborators have discovered a diversity of corals harboring unusual species of symbiotic algae in the warm waters of the Andaman Sea in the northeastern Indian Ocean.

"The existence of so many novel coral symbioses thriving in a place that is too warm for most corals gives us hope that coral reefs and the ecosystems they support may persist -- at least in some places -- in the face of global warming," said the team's leader, Penn State Assistant Professor of Biology Todd LaJeunesse.

According to LaJeunesse, the comprehensiveness of the team's survey, which also included analysis of the corals and symbiotic algae living in the cooler western Indian Ocean and Great Barrier Reef area of Australia, is unparalleled by any other study. The team's findings will be published during the week ending 20 February 2010 in an early online issue of the Journal of Biogeography.

Corals are colonies of tiny animals that derive nutrients and energy from golden-brown, photosynthetic algae that live inside the corals' cells. "This symbiotic relationship is sensitive to changes in the environment," said LaJeunesse. "For example, because the algae are photosynthetic, they are very sensitive to changes in light. They are also sensitive to temperature," he said. "An increase in sea-surface temperature of just a few degrees Fahrenheit for a period of several months can cause many of the coral-algal symbioses to break down and the algae to be expelled. This process is known as bleaching because it leaves behind the clear animal tissue and the white skeleton underneath. When bleaching is severe, due to either high temperatures or low light availability, corals soon die without their symbiotic partners."

LaJeunesse said that continued global warming eventually may cause the demise of coral-reef ecosystems, which would have major impacts on the tourism and food-fisheries industries. According to team member Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a professor at the University of Queensland in Australia, coral-dominated reefs may become scarce within the next 30 to 50 years, given the increase in the number of bleaching events that recently have taken place.

"The fact that the Andaman Sea and other regions around Southeast Asia are home to such a high diversity of corals is surprising because the water there is so warm and sometimes murky," said LaJeunesse. "The inshore locations we surveyed are not the sort of places where you would expect to see thriving coral communities. Not only is the water warm and murky, but the tidal flux is so great that many of the corals can spend hours out of water, exposed to the harsh sun and dry air."

The team identified the species of algae that associate with corals, as well as giant clams, sea anemones, zoanthids, and other reef-dwelling animals that form close symbiotic relationships with the single-celled algae that are referred to as zooxanthellae. In the Andaman Sea, the scientists found a variety of seemingly thermally tolerant algae species, with one species being particularly abundant. Called Symbiodinium trenchi, the species is a generalist organism -- one that is able to associate with a variety of hosts. Corals harboring this symbiont appear to be tolerant of high heat. LaJeunesse found the same species in the Caribbean Ocean during a bleaching event that took place in 2005. "Symbiodinium trenchi, which normally occurs in very low numbers in the Caribbean, was able to take advantage of the warming event and become more prolific because of its apparent tolerance of high temperatures," he said. "The species appears to have saved certain colonies of coral from the damaging effects of unusually warm water."

In contrast, the scientists found very few thermally tolerant algae species in the cooler western Indian Ocean and Great Barrier Reef area. According to LaJeunesse, the Andaman Sea is on average three or four degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the western Indian Ocean and the Great Barrier Reef area. "Symbiodinium trenchi and other related symbiont species can tolerate this warm water, but if global warming causes the water to warm further, even these species might not be able to deal with it," he said. "However, if the water warms by three or four degrees Fahrenheit in the cooler western Indian Ocean or Great Barrier Reef area, Symbiodinium trenchi easily could persist. The problem is that Symbiodinium trenchi occurs in very low numbers in these cooler areas and, so far, has not proliferated during bleaching events as it has in the Caribbean."

LaJeunesse said that some scientists have suggested that reefs suffering from high water temperatures might be "seeded" with the thermally tolerant Symbiodinium trenchi; however, he is not sure the approach will work. "Symbiodinium trenchi forms symbiotic associations only with corals and other animals that acquire their symbionts from the environment," he said. "Other species of coral are born with algae already in their cells. If Symbiodinium trenchi were introduced into a new environment, it may be able to 'rescue' some species that acquire their symbionts from the environment, but it would not be able to 'rescue' species that are born with algae already in their cells because these species have evolved special relationships with their algae."

Not only is LaJeunesse concerned that "seeding" reefs with algae, like Symbiodinium trenchi, will fail to "rescue" animals that are born with algae already in their cells, but he also is concerned about possible negative repercussions. "You never know what the effects might be of introducing an organism into an ecosystem in which it is not well established," he said.

LaJeunesse explained that the diversity of species the team found in the Andaman Sea likely is the result of the dramatic changes in the ocean environment that the region has experienced since the beginning of the Pleistocene Epoch. Typically, during times of environmental change, generalist species of algae that are able to associate with a variety of animal hosts are more successful than specialist species of algae that can associate only with particular hosts because the generalists can spread to many hosts, thus forming new combinations that might be better suited to the new environment. Once the environmental change has stabilized, some of the generalist species form special associations with new hosts and, as a result, become new specialist species.

LaJeunesse said that one of the team's most important findings is that coral-algal symbioses are much more ecologically and evolutionarily responsive to environmental changes than previously was believed. "The responsiveness of these symbioses to historical climate change gives us hope that some species may survive in some places in the face of future warming," he said. "Yet, even though these symbiotic relationships have persisted through historical climate changes, they never have experienced the rapid rate of warming that we are seeing today. So, while we shouldn't underestimate life and its ability to respond to change, we also should do everything in our power not to test its resilience."

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This research was funded by the World Bank, Penn State University, Florida International University, and the U.S. National Science Foundation.

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