Food push urged to avoid hunger

Richard Black, BBC News 25 Mar 10;

A big push to develop agriculture in the poorest countries is needed if the world is to feed itself in future decades, a report warns.

With the world's population soaring to nine billion by mid-century, crop yields must rise, say the authors - yet climate change threatens to slash them.

Already the number of chronically hungry people is above one billion.

The report was prepared for a major conference on farming and development that opens next week in France.

The first Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD) will bring scientists, policymakers, aid experts, businessmen and pressure groups together in an attempt to plot a way out of the hunger crisis.



"It's a huge problem," said Sir Gordon Conway from the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, the conference's keynote speaker.

"We have more than a billion people hungry at the moment, then on top of that we're going to have to feed a growing human population - we're looking at having to double food production by 2050."

The Green Revolution of the 1950s and 60s brought vast increases in yields of crops such as maize and rice to Asia and in South America.

But Africa remained largely untouched; and even in Asia, yields have plateaued.

Fertiliser use on Asian cereal fields has soared 40-fold in 50 years, but yields have only risen about four-fold.

Easy harvest

"In Asia, the Green Revolution created a sense of complacency, that we had solved the problem - and that lasted until the [food price] crisis of 2007," said Uma Lele, the former senior World Bank official who co-ordinated the report.

"What we are looking at now is a much more complex 'perfect storm', because all of the 'easy fruit' has been harvested during the Green Revolution."

There was no single, simple measure, she said, that could bring about the yield increases needed in poorer countries, and make sure that the increases were sustainable.

Ensuring all farmers had access to good information about farming methods would be a good start, she noted, but would require different mechanisms in different countries.

Access to facilities also needed to be improved, said Professor Conway.

"Everywhere you go in Africa you can buy Coca-cola or Pepsi-cola, but you can't buy a packet of seeds so easily," he noted.

Aid organisations working together with business had begun to transform that picture, he said; and when African maize farmers had access to the best techniques, their yields could jump fivefold.

But western donors were still more likely to put money into health or education projects than into agriculture, he added, despite the commitment that G8 leaders made at last year's G8 summit in Italy to spend $20bn on agriculture for development.

Despite the burgeoning wealth in South Asia, millions of people remain in stark poverty.

Ninety-seven percent of the chronic hungry live in South Asia or in Africa.

"These two regions of the world are going to be most affected by climate change," said Dr Lele.

"And that's where the majority if the world's poor live; if we don't invest in research now, that's where the problems will be in 10 years' time because developments don't happen overnight."

Combating hunger in these regions, said Professor Conway, meant using every level of technology available, from conventional cross-breeding through to genetic engineering that could specifically give new traits to crop strains.

The much-discussed Golden Rice - enhanced with Vitamin A - was in pre-commercial trials, following years of wrangling about patent issues, he said, and Chinese scientists had developed about 30 GM varieties that were almost ready for commercial release.

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China sends emergency food to drought-stricken provinces

Temperatures and rainfall reach worst levels since 1950s, affecting 18m people and 11m livestock in southern regions
Jonathan Watts, guardian.co.uk 25 Mar 10;

China has sent 1.4m tonnes of emergency grain supplies to drought-stricken southern provinces that are struggling to cope with the worst drought in decades, the local media reported today.

Authorities say well digging and other relief efforts may also need to be widened as the normally lush and humid region undergoes a dry spell that threatens wildlife, crop production and hydropower generation.

The drought has left 18 million people and 11m livestock in Yunnan, Guangxi, Sichuan and Chongqing without adequate water, according to the ministry of civil affairs.

As Yunnan is home to several of Asia's biggest rivers, including the Yangtze, Mekong and Salween, the downstream impact of a prolonged drought is of concern to almost a billion people.

The economic damage is already estimated at 24bn yuan (about £2.4bn) and with more than 7m hectares of farmland affected, including China's biggest horticulture base, the amount could rapidly grow unless there is rain.

Thousands of water trucks have been sent to the affected area, but in the Himalayan foothills, residents of at least one remote village are having to walk more than 20 kilometres each day to get water.

The authorities have blamed changing weather patterns that have curtailed the rainy season. According to Chen Zhenlin, the spokesman for China's meteorological administration, the average daily temperature in Yunnan over the past six months has been two degrees higher than normal, while the province has had only half the rainfall of an ordinary year. Both are at levels not experienced since the 1950s.

Environmental activists said the government had worsened the problem by encouraging the widespread clearing of forest for rubber and eucalyptus plantations, which are far less capable of conserving water than the original trees. "This has caused significant water and soil erosion and intensified the drought in these regions," said Yu Xiaogang, director of Green Watershed, a local NGO. "We need to review this issue and come up with solutions, otherwise we would face more serious drought problems in the future."

Villagers in Nongtai, a remote corner of Guangxi region, are having to walk six hours a day through the mountains to fetch water for their families, according to the Global Times. Most of them are over 60 years old because all the young and middle-aged adults in the community have left to do migrant work in cities.

With the drought spreading, the government has spent 2.6bn yuan on emergency measures. According to People's Daily, authorities have dispatched tens of thousands of water trucks and strengthened irrigation systems over an area of a million hectares.

The Pearl river delta – the nation's industrial hub – is also being affected. The lake at the source of the Pearl is down to less than a quarter of its normal volume. Hydroelectric dams, which normally generate almost a third of the province's electricity, are underpowered because of low reservoir levels, trimming 10% from supply capacity.

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"Goddess" Glacier Melting in War-Torn Kashmir

Rebecca Byerly, National Geographic News 24 Mar 10;

This story is part of a special series that explores the global water crisis. For more clean water news, photos, and information, visit National Geographic's Freshwater website.

The Kolahoi glacier in the western Himalaya is known as Gwash Brani—"goddess of light"—to the millions of people in India and Pakistan who depend on its yearly run-off for survival.

"Kolahoi is our everything," said Ashraf Mohammed Ganai, 24, a lean Kashmiri man who makes his living guiding scientific expeditions to Kolahoi. "Without her, we are lost."

Because of climate change, these glaciers, and the people who rely on them, may now need some divine intervention.

Surrounded by the snow-capped peaks of the world's tallest mountain range, the Kashmir region, disputed over by India and Pakistan, is home to thousands of glaciers. Until recently scientists had claimed they would be gone in just a few decades, mostly based on data from the United Nation’s (UN) 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report.

However, in 2009 scientists discovered major flaws with this prediction. A report published in November 2009 claimed the glaciers in the Himalayas are not receding and some have even expanded.

Despite the errors, it's clear that at least some glaciers, including Kolahoi, are still retreating. The latest data from a 2009 New Delhi-based Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) expedition shows that in the past four decades, Kolahoi has lost between 15 to 18 percent of its total volume. The research also shows that the glacier is retreating by almost ten feet (three meters) a year.

Climate Change Leader

Locals such as Ganai say they do not need scientists to tell them that the glacier is shrinking.

"My father tells me the tip of the glacier used to be there," said Ganai, pointing to a dried-up river bed visible several kilometers down the mountain. "Now the glacier ends up here."

He lives in a small village called Aru, the last town on the path to Kolahoi, and he spent his youth listening to gunfire crackle through these mountains. For nearly two decades India and Pakistan have waged a bloody dispute over who should lay claim to the Kashmir region, laying down arms in 2002. Prior to 2002, scientists were forced to gather glacial data solely by satellite imaging.

But as relative peace returns to the region, scientists have returned. Last year, TERI established the first program to measure Kashmir's glaciers, selecting Kolahoi, in the Liddar Valley (see map), as a focus area. Ganai was hired by TERI to help with the expeditions to Kolahoi, making him the first in his village to study climate change.
It's 6 a.m. on day two of an expedition led by Ganai, which includes two glaciologist, three journalists, and 24 mountain guides and pony wallahs—men who hire out their ponies to haul supplies.

"Today we are going to dig snow pits on the accumulation zone, at the top of the glacier," explained TERI glaciologist Shresth Tayal as he strapped ice clips to his boots.

As he walked, Tayal's assistant, Nathaniel Dkhar, suggested thinking of Kolahoi "as a huge bucket with a hole in the bottom."

"If you have more water going out than you have coming in, you have a negative mass balance, and the glacier is shrinking," Dkhar said. "That's exactly what's happening to Kolahoi and thousands of other glaciers across the Himalaya."

Himalayan Glacier Research Has Global Impact

Though Ganai does not have enough scientific experience to trek to the accumulation zone, he and six other members of the team play a vital role collecting data on the lower portions of the glacier know as the ablation zone, or the area where the ice melts.

Ganai and colleagues first drill a series of holes into the ice of the ablation zone and then take pre-measured sticks (literally bamboo poles) and place them in the holes. After each melting season, the team will measure the length of the pole exposed, take notes, and repeat the procedure. This tells them how much the volume of the glacier has changed between melting seasons.

The process may sound elementary, but it's extremely tedious and labor-intensive. Much of the cutting and drilling takes place at heights of 13,000 feet (3,962 meters) on icy crevasses, where a mishap could mean severe injury or even death. While taking measurements on the accumulation zone on this expedition, Tayal slipped through a crevasse and fractured his tailbone.

Despite the risk, Tayal believes the research done on Kolahoi will have a global impact.

"We do not have much reliable data on western Himalayan glaciers," he said.

"If you want to know what the global impact of climate change is going to be and make accurate projections, you can not exclude the Himalaya from the Rockies and the Alps."

"No Good Anymore"

To measure the flow of meltwater through the Liddar Valley, TERI established a monitoring station. Genai helped build the structure in the West Liddar River, the main tributary of the Jhelum River, which is one of the largest rivers in Kashmir.

Each day the station is collecting data on a looming disaster, Tayal said.

As the glaciers in the western Himalaya disappear, seasonal run off coming into Pakistan from Kashmir could drop by 40 percent, according to the Washington, D.C.-based research institute the Woodrow Wilson Center.

This will no doubt have a devastating effect on the millions who depend on the run off, experts say.

And some people downstream from Kolahoi are already suffering. The bakarwals, or nomadic herders, who bring hundreds of thousands of sheep to graze in the Liddar Valley have dealt with unpredictable water fluxes in recent years.

"We used to know when the waters would be in the river," said a middle-aged bakarwal woman, as she smacked a few of her sheep that had scattered from the herd.

"But now the waters are too high or too low. I want my children to get an education," the mother of three said. "This way of life is no good anymore."

Ganai is also worried. "We are dependent on the beauty of Kashmir," he said, looking at the mountain skyline.

"If Kolahoi goes, I don't know what we will do."

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Asian Monsoons Spread Pollutants

livescience.com Yahoo News 26 Mar 10;

The economic growth in Asia in recent years has meant more pollution coming from the continent, and, according to a new study, that pollution is being wafted up into higher layers of the atmosphere during the Asian monsoons, which makes it longer-lived in the air.

This finding, detailed in the March 25 online issue of the journal Science, suggests that the impact of Asian pollutants on the stratosphere could increase in coming decades because of the growing industrial activity in China and other rapidly developing nations.

William Randel, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), and his colleagues suspected that the seasonal Asian monsoons might funnel air from the lower layer of the atmosphere, called the troposphere, to the layer above it, called the stratosphere. Such a mechanism could explain satellite measurements showing anomalous levels of stratospheric ozone, water vapor, and other chemicals over Asia during the summer. (A monsoon is a seasonal shift in the wind that tends to bring some rainy, violent weather with it.)

The team used a chemical called hydrogen cyanide - produced largely as a result of the burning of trees and other vegetation - as a way to trace the movement of parcels of air during the Northern Hemisphere summer months.

The team examined satellite measurements, which detected significant amounts of hydrogen cyanide throughout the lower atmosphere and up into the stratosphere over the monsoon region. Furthermore, satellite records from 2004 to 2009 showed a pattern of increases in the chemical's presence in the stratosphere each summer, correlating with the timing of the monsoon.

The observations also showed hydrogen cyanide, which can last in the atmosphere for several years before breaking down into other chemicals, moving over the tropics with other pollutants, including ones that contribute to acid rain and impact ozone levels, and then circulating globally.

The researchers then used computer modeling to simulate the movement of hydrogen cyanide and pollutants, such as black carbon, sulfur dioxides, and nitrous oxides, from other sources, including industrial activity. The model indicated that emissions of pollutants over a broad region of Asia, from India to China and Indonesia, were becoming stuck in the monsoon circulation and transported into the lower part of the stratosphere.

Once in the stratosphere, the pollutants circulate around the globe for several years. Some eventually descend back into the lower atmosphere, while others break down.

"The monsoon is one of the most powerful atmospheric circulation systems on the planet, and it happens to form right over a heavily polluted region," Randel, the lead author of the study, said. "As a result, the monsoon provides a pathway for transporting pollutants up to the stratosphere."

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, NCAR's sponsor, together with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency.

Asia pollution circles the globe in stratosphere: study
Yahoo News 25 Mar 10;

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Pollution from Asia's booming economies rises into the stratosphere during the monsoon season then circles the world for years, according to a report out Thursday.

A study by the Boulder, Colorado-based National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) said the strong air circulation patterns linked to Asia's monsoon rainy season serves as a pathway for black carbon, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and other pollutants to rise into the stratosphere.

The stratosphere is the layer of the atmosphere located some 32 to 40 kilometers (20 to 25 miles) above the Earth's surface.

"The monsoon is one of the most powerful atmospheric circulation systems on the planet, and it happens to form right over a heavily polluted region," said NCAR scientist William Randel, the study's lead author.

"As a result, the monsoon provides a pathway for transporting pollutants up to the stratosphere."

Using satellite data and computer models, the scientists found that once the pollutants are in the stratosphere they circulate around the globe for several years.

"Some eventually descend back into the lower atmosphere, while others break apart," read a statement on the study.

Researchers fear that the impact of Asian pollutants on the stratosphere may increase in the next decades due to fierce industrial growth in countries like China and India.

Scientists however do not know the impact of climate change on the Asian monsoon, unsure if it will strengthen or weaken the monsoon's vertical air movements.

The international study, published in the March 26 edition of the journal Science, was funded by the National Science Foundation together with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Canadian Space Agency.

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Influence behaviour to cut energy use

Benjamin Tang, For The Straits Times 25 Mar 10;

TELL the average person here to use energy more efficiently and the response is likely to be: How much will it cost me and where are the biggest savings?

Research suggests that 'behaviour interventions' in energy use score well in terms of cost effectiveness, when compared with other energy efficiency and carbon abatement programmes. What are behaviour interventions?

Traditional economic models assume that consumers are always rational spenders, seeking to get the best value for their money. Behavioural economists view humans in a less idealised manner. This makes for less precise theory but is arguably closer to the messiness of real life. After all, we all procrastinate or lose focus at times. Many intangible factors can influence our decisions.

Behaviour interventions work by subtly altering the context in which consumers make choices. This can result in more efficient use of energy and help reduce carbon emissions.

In Singapore, aspects of behaviour interventions have already been incorporated into energy policy. Examples include the energy labelling of household appliances, the Electricity Vending System and the design of the electricity bill. These are all attempts to improve the consumer's awareness of his electricity consumption patterns.

The Energy Labelling Scheme was introduced by the National Environment Agency (NEA) in January 2008. At present, it is mandatory for air-conditioners, refrigerators and clothes dryers to be labelled. These appliances were chosen because they are relatively energy intensive and account for a significant proportion of a household's energy consumption.

Much thought has been given to the design of the energy labels. For example, the NEA's scheme gives appliances a rating of between zero and four ticks, with four ticks indicating that the appliance is among the best in its class for energy efficiency.

Ticks are chosen because most consumers associate check marks with 'correct' or 'good' things. There will be no confusion since shoppers will understand that more ticks equate to a more energy-efficient product.

The typically cost-conscious Singaporean would want to know if the more expensive model will eventually pay for itself in terms of energy savings. This is particularly true where the upfront costs are significant, as they are for items with long lifespans such as air-conditioning units and refrigerators.

Estimating an appliance's life-cycle cost at the store is no mean feat. In this case, consumers would find it useful to have information on the estimated annual electricity cost of using a particular appliance. Currently, this information is not available on the energy label.

Reforms are also being gradually made in the ways we pay for our electricity. A recently concluded trial run of the Energy Market Authority's Electricity Vending System allowed participating households to monitor the live consumption of electricity in dollar per hour values, via the display equipment provided. As a result, these households voluntarily consumed less electricity during the trial period.

Consumers may also change their usage patterns when certain information appears in their bills. Thus SP Services' bill for domestic consumers presents the billed household's consumption over the last six months in a bar chart, as well as the national average consumption for the household's unit-type. This makes it easier for people to compare their current energy use with that in the past, as well as with their peers' use.

But this data could be presented in a more hard-hitting manner. For example, some electricity retailers in Australia provide such information concisely in the first page of the bill, where it is much more likely to be seen by the consumer. In Singapore, these statistics are tucked away at the end of the bill.

In addition, simply providing information on the national average consumption does not make as strong an impact as giving a monetary value to this difference. For example, a short statement telling the consumer that he is paying $360 more in electricity bills per annum than the average household is likely to be more effective than saying that he uses about 130kwh more electricity than his peers.

Behaviour interventions in energy use can be expanded to the entire community at low cost once they are proven to be effective in energy conservation. It is a cost efficient measure that should be welcome in pragmatic Singapore.

The writer is a senior economic analyst at the Energy Studies Institute.

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China overtakes US in green investment: study

Shaun Tandon (AFP) Google News 25 Mar 10;

WASHINGTON — China has surpassed the United States as the top investor in clean energy with the rising Asian power becoming a "powerhouse" in the emerging field, a study by environmentalists said.

The report said that China has shown determination to be on the frontline of green technology, while US investors have been put off by uncertainties amid the legislative battle on climate change.

Chinese investment in clean energy soared by more than 50 percent in 2009 to reach 34.6 billion dollars, far more than any other country in the Group of 20 major economies, the study led by the Pew Charitable Trusts said.

Total US investment was about half that at 18.6 billion dollars, the first time in five years that the world's largest economy lost the top spot in clean energy, the study said.

"China is emerging as the world's clean energy powerhouse," Phyllis Cuttino, global warming campaign director of the Pew Environment Group, told reporters on a conference call.

"This represents a dramatic growth when you consider that just five years ago their investment totaled 2.5 billion dollars," she said.

China has also overtaken the United States as the top emitter of carbon blamed for global warming and came under fire for its role in December's much-criticized UN climate summit in Copenhagen.

But the study found that China had made a strategic decision to invest in wind and solar technologies as it copes with sharply rising demand for energy -- and has set some of the world's most ambitious targets on renewable energy.

The study also found strong investment by Britain, which ranked third with 11.2 billion dollars for clean energy; Spain, which came in first in green investment when taken as percentage of gross domestic product, and Germany.

Nations seen as struggling in the clean energy competition include the United States, Australia and Japan, the study said. Cuttino said the three nations have "less consistent, clear and long-term policies in place."

US President Barack Obama, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama have all championed climate action but none of the countries have set in motion nationwide plans to curb emissions.

But the study noted that Australia had potential in wind energy and said Japan was "one of the G-20's most promising growth markets" if the resource-poor nation carries out plans to ramp up solar and wind power.

The study found that even though the United States dominates technological innovation, its investment in clean energy tumbled 42 percent last year from 2008 levels.

The researchers partly blamed the global economic slowdown but also said there was a lack of direction. Climate legislation has been stalled in the Senate, although Obama allies have vowed to push it ahead now that Congress has completed the top priority of expanding health care.

John Woolard, chief executive officer of California-based solar plant builder BrightSource Energy Inc., said that the government needed to take action to create markets.

"We have never had certainty or predictability in the United States," Woolard said. "We have not had a thoughtful and coherent energy policy in this country for decades."

Obama and his congressional allies argue that curbing emissions will open up a new green economy, helping fuel the economic recovery.

Many Republican leaders are skeptical, saying that restrictions on carbon would only worsen a fragile economy.

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Green economy could save planet: experts

Sebastian Smith Yahoo News 25 Mar 10;

NEW YORK (AFP) – The planet is overheating, under-resourced, and almost out of time, but technical innovation and green economics could save the world, experts and leaders Thursday told an international conference here.

Video-linked panels in New York, Monaco, Mexico City, Beijing, London, Nairobi and New Delhi painted an alarming picture of global poverty and environmental degradation.

They called on the United States and other rich countries to show leadership, for example by investing in carbon capture technology and other long-term methods of reducing greenhouse gasses.

But developing countries, where pollution is growing rapidly, can also play a big role -- and at the same time lift their populations from poverty, they said.

"We can have prosperity this way, fighting climate change -- and a prosperity that will last a lot longer," Mexican President Felipe Calderon said by video link to the conference at New York's Columbia University.

Calderon said Mexico had ambitious plans to cut carbon emissions, replant forests and generate a quarter of electricity needs from renewable resources by 2012.

"I am further convinced that the first countries to change will gain considerable competitive advantages," he said.

Nitin Desai at the Energy and Resources Institute in New Delhi said India and China were also "both being very proactive" in pursuing low-carbon technologies.

Businesses are starting to exploit a "huge, huge market" for solar and other renewable forms of energy, he told the conference by video link.

Experts credited simple innovations, such as animal-powered electricity generators in rural India and the spread of mobile phones in Africa, for bringing opportunity to isolated communities, while greening the economy.

On a bigger scale, Achim Steiner, executive director for the UN Environment Program, said Africa should stop being a "mine" for rich countries and instead turn over its natural resources to sustainable industries.

"Agriculture, tourism, natural resources, forestry, these are the drivers of the economy today. So let's turn it around, instead of letting others take it out of here," he said from Nairobi.

"The green economy also applies the principle that we cannot go on polluting the way we do," he added. "Half the world's hospital beds are filled with people who are sick from dirty or bad water."

Glenn Denning, who teaches professional practice at Columbia, pointed to agricultural renaissance in Malawi as a model of a green economy helping to alleviate poverty and give populations a stake in their country.

"What we've seen in Malawi is that when you stimulate agriculture and boost agricultural productivity, people do start to make savings," he said. "One of the first things they do is buy a mobile phone."

The alternative to changing the world economy is to plunge into an ever deeper climate crisis, experts said.

They warned that public trust in global warming scientists was shredded last year when world leaders failed in Copenhagen to agree on a joint response and the underlying scientific arguments faced fierce criticism.

"What we have faced now is a crisis of trust, trust first in the science," Desai said.

Mark Cane, a climate sciences professor at Columbia said, governments and their public simply might not be ready to tackle what he said was impending disaster until too late.

"Pessimistically, it takes some kind of crisis, or some kind of threat that they feel really viscerally," he said in New York.

"I really think it's not going to happen until nature performs and we start to see the effects and people get worried," agreed Wallace Broecker, an environment professor at the university.

"If the Arctic ice disappears in 20 years, that will send a very strong signal that things are happening."

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Scientist Doubts Indonesia’s Leadership in Climate Talks

Fidelis E Satriastanti, Jakarta Globe 25 Mar 10;

Recent policies favoring mining and palm oil plantations make the nation’s claims that it holds an important role at climate-change negotiations nothing more than lip service, a climate scientist said on Thursday.

“Everyone can claim that they have big roles [on climate-change negotiations]. It’s going to be different if others state that,” said Daniel Murdiyarso, a senior climate scientist who is a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He added that Indonesia’s claim to such a role was contradicted by “recent policies on mining and agriculture.”

Indonesia first came under the spotlight at climate-change negotiations in 2007, when it hosted the 13th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, resulting in the adoption of the Bali Action Plan.

The initiative had five main targets: deeper cuts in emissions, mitigation of harmful effects, boosting adaptation, transferring key technologies for countries that need them, and hammering out funding mechanisms. The Bali accord also set a deadline for final agreement on those issues at UN climate summit in Copenhagen last year.

Fitrian Ardiansyah, program director for climate and energy at WWF Indonesia, said the country had the chance to show strong leadership at the negotiation table after the Bali climate talks but never took the opportunity. All it had to do, he said, was “guard the Bali Action Plan from the moment they declared it, make sure the negotiations stayed faithful to that plan.

“Compared with the BASIC countries [Brazil, South Africa, India and China], we don’t really come out as a key country, even though we have had some share of the negotiations,” Fitrian said. “It’s not about having the country’s name on the declaration; we haven’t figured out our [bargaining] position.”

Agus Purnomo, head of the secretariat at the National Council on Climate Change, disagreed that Indonesia had no significant role, noting that the country held a unique position as advocating the “middle path.”

“We are the first [major] country to announce our emissions target, which was then followed by other countries. We made that pledge when no countries have done it. So I don’t think our role is that small,” said Agus, adding that Indonesia’s middle path had opened opportunities to approach all parties.

Furthermore, he said, the benefits of being in the middle did not come automatically but would bring advantages in the long run.

“It’s not in our nature to whine or to be angry all the time like most countries, but we are there to listen to other parties and try to solve [the problems],” he said. “I think the middle-path position is not well understood and is being underrated.”

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Developing world candidates eye UN climate chief role

From Panos, part of the Guardian Environment Network
Harry Surjadi and Pierre Fitter, guardian.co.uk 25 Mar 10;

The race for the UN's top climate change post is heating up with calls for it to go to a candidate from a developing country. Costa Rica put its hat into the ring this week, nominating its lead climate change negotiator Christiana Figueres to succeed Yvo de Boer. Alongside South Africa, other frontrunners include India and Indonesia. Environmental journalists Pierre Fitter in Delhi and Harry Surjadi in Jakarta weigh up their chances.

Harry Surjadi in Jakarta

Indonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently returned from talks in Australia, where alongside topics such as people smuggling and terrorism was another pressing issue: climate change. A fortnight ago the two countries signed a US$27 million deal to tackle deforestation on the island of Sumatra - a key problem in Indonesia where 80 per cent of emissions come from deforestation, both by legal and illegal loggers.

But while climate change might make it onto a global political platform, back home it means almost nothing to the average Indonesian.

Indonesia has so far expressed interest in submitting a candidate but when the news broke it made little impression on the local media. So far only three national newspapers have covered the story, two of which are English language publications. In this case environment reporters had to push the story onto the agenda, calling up experts to ask their opinions on potential candidates. Meanwhile, the vernacular media rarely covers climate change issues at all.
Divided opinions

Opinion remains divided over who will be chosen. Emil Salim, a member of the Advisory Council to President Yudhyono and Indonesia's first environment minister, is considered a frontrunner as a result of his international track record and his role in developing the country's first environmental laws. He is also seen to be equally tough on developed and developing nations, expecting both sides to pull their weight when it comes to lowering emissions. Meanwhile, the Jakarta Post claims the three most likely candidates are former foreign minister Nur Hassan Wirajuda, Agus Purnomo, head of the National Council on Climate Change and a special staff member to the president on climate issues and Liana Bratasida, deputy environment minister.

Beyond a small number of environment journalists, climate change is not a priority for either the media or the public. The media is more interested in politics than climate change and a key issue for both the public and the media is corruption.There is agreement among Indonesia's few dedicated environment journalists that it is time to appoint a developing world candidate to the UNFCCC. Ideally it would be someone with a character strong enough to bridge the divide between the views of developed and developing countries.
Leading role for Indonesia?

Indonesia would be a good choice. It is a developing country that manages most of the time to strike a middle ground. An Indonesian at the helm of the UNFCCC, for instance, would find less resistance from both developing countries (such as the G77 and China) and from developed countries such as the US and Australia, one of its key allies.

Indonesia also showed strong leadership when it hosted UN talks in Bali in 2007. However, its delegations took more of a back seat in Poznan and Copenhagen. If Indonesia gets this opportunity, most environmental journalists believe Indonesian can play bigger role in bridging and finding a resolution for the current deadlock in climate change negotiations.

Climate change is important to the government in so far as it has pledged to cut emissions by 26 per cent by 2020. But in reality, the most important thing for Indonesia is how to reduce poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
Pierre Fitter in Delhi

When the news broke that Yvo de Boer was standing down from his post at the head of the UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change, India was the first country to offer up a candidate for the role.

The candidate is Vijay Sharma, India's environment secretary. According to local media, Jairam Ramesh, the country's environment minister, has said India has China's support for the bid. Sharma would "provide a bridge between developing and developed worlds", he added.

A bridge is just what is needed right now as when it comes to climate change on a global stage there is a trust deficit in the negotiating room. Yvo de Boer, the outgoing UN climate chief, did a respectable job. His stewardship gave us the Bali road map and, to some extent, the Copenhagen Accord. But attempts by rich countries last year to kill the Kyoto Protocol - the only treaty that guarantees penalties if countries don't act to stop climate change -angered developing countries. Denmark's prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen didn't help matters when he tried to bulldoze through the so-called 'Danish draft' at the Copenhagen Summit last December.

Many Indians decry what they see as attempts by the rich Western world to keep us locked in a cycle of poverty: "Sorry, you can't use cheap coal like we did, but we're not going to give you the money or technology to clean up your act either." They fear that if the West forces India to cut emissions, the increased costs of things like clean energy would bury us in debt.

Energy, clean or otherwise, is a highly contentious issue in India. Even thinking of increasing energy costs, for example, is tantamount to political suicide. Just ask India's ruling United Progressive Alliance. The coalition government's proposed annual budget now stands on shaky ground after a proposal to raise fuel prices by just a few rupees. With Indian wallets already struggling under the strain of food price inflation, which has remained above 15 per cent for months, there was public outcry.

So when news broke that Yvo de Boer was stepping down, the Indian government saw it as a chance to get its voice heard. Jairam Ramesh has been reported in local media as saying Sharma's appointment would reflect "India's importance in climate change negotiations".

Interesting political choice

Sharma makes for an interesting political choice. Brazil, South Africa, India and China emerged as the single most powerful bloc in the Copenhagen climate change talks last December. South Africa has also nominated its own candidate Marthinus Van Schalkwyk. The hope is that by putting an Indian or South African candidate at the helm of the UN's climate negotiations process, the balance would shift in favour of developing countries. While that's not entirely true (the executive secretary answers directly to Ban ki-Moon, not his or her home government) at least developing countries will get a sense of security that they will be heard.

The Indian media has not given the race as much coverage as you might expect, considering climate change is now a hot topic. Perhaps it is because they have low expectations for Sharma winning the race. Ironically, China's support could end up being the major handicap. After all, both India and China are demanding the extension of the Kyoto protocol, which does not require them to cut any carbon emissions. US lawmakers believe this is an unfair deal, especially as China and India are now the largest and fourth-largest emitters of carbon, respectively. Having "their man" lead the negotiations and dictate terms to US diplomats would not sit well in Washington.

The US remains the 800-pound gorilla in the fight although its authority is now being challenged by the four 600-pound gorillas of the BASIC group. As secretary general of the UN and the man who will pick the successful candidate, Ban ki-Moon finds himself in the middle of the fight. In order to keep both sides happy he will probably be forced to pick a compromise candidate. As a result, not many people in the Indian media believe the post will go to an Indian.

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The Problems With 'Natural' Products -- And How To Fix Them

Diane MacEachern - Greener World Media, PlanetArk 24 Mar 10;

The Natural Products Expo West concluded last weekend in Anaheim, Calif., and once again many businesses were able to celebrate what they learned a long time ago: That they can make a fortune by marketing almost anything as "natural." Crayola-colored gummy worms? Lipstick laden with lead? Detergents and soaps that contain questionnable phthalates? Yes, these are all being sold as "natural" - even though they resemble nothing Mother Nature ever made.

How do goods like these slide by as "natural?" It's simple: There "ain't no law against it," as one of the Little Rascals might say. The term "organic" is strictly defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture; its use is policed by both the federal government and consumer groups. But not so the word "natural." That's why I and many other consumer advocates encourage shoppers to ignore it when they shop. There's no way to know what it really means.

The Natural Products Association (NPA) wants to draw a line in the sand before consumers get wise or the government steps in. The group, which represents more than 10,000 retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors of natural foods, dietary supplements, and health/beauty aids, has issued a Natural Products Association Standard and Certification for Home Care Products like household cleaners, laundry detergents, and concentrated and ready-to-use cleaners. Only products certified under the standard can bear the NPA natural home care seal, which is supposed to signal to consumers that the product can be trusted.

Can it? Or is the standard just a clever attempt by companies that manufacture harsh and toxic ingredients to greenwash their products per usual and cash in on the "natural" craze?

What's Wrong with 'Natural'

Cara Welch, a Ph.D. scientist who coordinates NPA's department of Science and Regulatory Affairs, said the standard was borne out of "genuine concern by traditional natural-based businesses that the word "natural" had lost its meaning."

As more and more mainstream companies have begun using "natural" to describe their products, Welch said NPA "wanted to challenge every company to keep all ingredients as close to nature as possible." In other words, NPA wanted to set a meaningful bar that was higher than what many companies might set for themselves while helping consumers make the right choice when they shop.

And the certification is a step in the right direction -- products certified by the NPA can contain no parabens, phthalates, petrochemical ingredients or formaldehyde.

They must also be free of synthetic fragrances and colors, although they may still contain anti-bacterials like triclosan, which has been linked to antibiotic resistance in people and deformities in frogs and other wildlife.

They may not contain more than 5 percent synthetic ingredients and those ingredients may not be toxic to human health according to information checked against data bases maintained by the National Institutes of Health and Environmental Working Group, among others.

They may not be processed using harsh ingredients and may not generate harsh by-products (though the word "harsh" is somewhat ambiguous).

This is all well and good. But is it enough? Not even close, for the following reasons.

The standard is not mandatory. Only companies who want to get certified will. There's still nothing to prevent those that don't from continuing to use -- and abuse -- the word "natural."
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The standard does not reflect the product's entire life cycle, which includes the environmental and human health impacts of manufacturing, energy use, waste, and disposal in addition to ingredients. Furthermore, standards that focus on single attributes create a false sense of well-being about the entire product. Besides, given how much we know about resource depletion, water scarcity, climate change and packaging impact, how genuine is it to promote a standard that only focuses on ingredients?

The standard has been developed by those who have the most to gain from it financially -- the manufacturers and retailers of "natural" consumer products. There was little or no input from independent third parties, whether consumers or scientists not paid by NPA or its members. Is this a case of the fox guarding the henhouse? Lack of consumer representation is a growing concern as more and more industry standards abound; businesses should take a look at the opinions posted by the members of the Green Moms Carnival if they have any doubts that they ignore consumer input at their own peril.

It's almost impossible to understand the NPA's criteria for deciding what ingredients are natural or a non-toxic, permissible synthetic. An orange, consumers get. The tocopherol that's a derivative of Vitamin E? What the heck is that? If NPA is going to list ingredients, it should explain what they actually are.

How to Fix the 'Natural' Label

NPA's Welch said that the standard is "a work in progress that will get stronger over time." But why wait to adopt several changes that would immediately address consumers' concerns while strengthening the standard?

Invite consumers and independent scientists to participate in the process, not just the retailers and manufacturers who have so much to gain financially from legitimizing their use of the word natural.

Make it mandatory. Of course, this would mean that the federal government or enough state governments would have to step in to legally define what natural means. But until they do, marketers will continue to greenwash their products using the word natural, whether they're NPA-certified or not.

Make it popular. Until NPA issued this standard for natural home care products, I had no idea the association had previously issued similar criteria for personal care products. NPA and its certified partners need to use public media and social networks to make sure consumers know what to look for when they shop.

Get rid of antibacterials. Most doctors agree that plain soap and hot water are the most effective way to kill household germs. Leave it at that.

Expand the standard so that it includes the life cycle of the entire product. NPA should take its cues from the Sustainability Consortium and extend its standard beyond ingredients to include materials, manufacturing, transportation, and disposal impacts.

Taking these steps can only benefit natural products vendors like those who will be gathered in Anaheim. A 2009 poll showed that 64 percent of consumers surveyed doubt claims that products are "green" or "sustainable" and perceive the businesses making those claims as unauthentic. "Natural" is fated for the same disregard unless the standards that define it become more rigorous.

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Best of our wild blogs: 25 Mar 10

Be a part of Singapore's new natural history museum!
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!

Push for Singapore students to learn from their environment and that seven-coloured thingy in the sky from Water Quality in Singapore

弄潮儿tide chaser
from PurpleMangrove

Parrots, bagworm moth and cocoon
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Coming Home to Tarenna
from Garden Voices

The Humane Method
from Save The Pigeons (Singapore) and Unpublished letter to The Forum Editor

Tiger Blogfest 2010 - Call for Participation
from Planet of the Monyets

Earth Hour – The Asymmetry Principle vs The Rebound Effect
from AsiaIsGreen

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Schools, community groups gain awareness through water testing

Getting hands wet to keep an eye on quality
Grace Chua, Straits Times 25 Mar 10;

HERE in Singapore, where water that gushes out of the tap is drinkable right away, it is easy to take it for granted.

But schools and community groups have taken steps to become more conscious of the state of raw, unprocessed water here by getting their hands wet - they go outdoors to collect water samples from urban canals, streams and rivers for testing.

For the school groups, water testing is a hands-on activity, a science or geography lesson taken outdoors.

For civic organisations like Waterways Watch Society (WWS), monitoring water quality dovetails with the group's aim to educate the public on keeping the waterways clean.

In the last year, WWS has offered to teach water testing to schools and corporate groups, alongside its regular waterway cleanups and workshops, and has drawn the interest of 15 schools.

Singapore Polytechnic lecturer Kwok Chen-Ko, 36, who started out teaching his own chemical and life sciences students water-monitoring techniques, also runs classes for school groups.

So far, seven primary and secondary schools and junior colleges and 30 teachers have picked up from him the basics of measuring water properties such as acidity and water clarity.

The schools are buoyed by the fact that they do not need to have sophisticated equipment to do it, he said.

They are also driven by the growing recognition that simply picking up trash and cleaning up river banks are not enough to keep water quality high.

Some schools have taken water-quality monitoring a step further: In May, a Fairfield Methodist Secondary School group will use their water-testing skills during a trip to Cambodia, where they have a long-term project to develop simple water-purification solutions for villagers.

Singapore Chinese Girls' School, on the other hand, has a water-related project at home - tracking the water quality in a section of the Dunearn Road canal nearest their school.

With help from national water agency PUB, Singapore Polytechnic and WWS, they will collect data on:

# Amount of dissolved oxygen, vital to sustaining aquatic life;

# Turbidity, a measure of sediments and solids indicative of pollution; and

# Acidity or pH level, an indicator of how acidic rain in the area is.

WWS, which looks after the Singapore River and the Kallang Basin, has been testing water annually for five years, in partnership with the Environmental Engineering Society of Singapore and PUB; it ramped this up to weekly sessions last year.

WWS chairman Eugene Heng, 60, said monitoring water quality gives the society a heads-up on how well its message against water pollution is getting through to the public.

The water-testing movement here is still young, he noted, lamenting: 'I guess people will understand the value of something like water only when they do not have easy, cheap access to it.'

Singapore Polytechnic's Mr Kwok noted in his blog Water Quality in Singapore (waterqualityinsingapore.blogspot.com) that more national attention - and public funds - is now flowing into waste-water treatment than into water-quality monitoring.

He believes monitoring water quality to be as important as treating water or recycling waste water in ensuring a supply of clean water for the country, and deserves as much research into finding better monitoring techniques.

PUB and the National Environment Agency have their own water-quality monitoring schemes, but neither involves volunteers or students in these testing programmes.

Community groups pushing for more people to take ownership of water quality here hope to change this.

In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency has a nationwide volunteer monitoring programme, and gives instructions to those willing to do water testing. Mr Kwok said he hoped the agencies here would spearhead a community-based water-monitoring scheme.

And WWS hopes to collect more stringent data over time for PUB, so that the recommendations it makes will be backed by data.

Mr Heng said: 'We're still at a learning stage, as our members are ordinary working people, students and retirees.'

All hot and sweaty over water
Straits Times 25 Mar 10;

FIFTEEN Secondary 3 students of Fairfield Methodist Secondary learnt recently that a water-testing field trip could be a hot, sweaty business.

The group, led by Singapore Polytechnic lecturer Kwok Chen-Ko, 36, and their chemistry teacher Tan Lijun, 24, tested the waters of a canal at four points along its course.

The waterway near Ngee Ann Polytechnic runs perpendicular to Clementi Road, wending through thick secondary forest behind King Albert Park and a canal in the Old Holland Road area.

The students had to measure the amount of dissolved oxygen, the turbidity, the pH level and the air and water temperatures. They also had to survey the scene for fish, insects, plants and algae.

The teenagers found themselves having to jump across small drains and climb down a flight of steps to get into a shallow concrete-lined canal. One girl asked upon reaching the canal: 'We're supposed to go down to collect samples?' Ms Tan retorted: 'What, you expect the water to come to you?'

After 2-1/2 hours, the bedraggled lot emerged at Old Holland Road. Over the next month, they will have six more sessions of classroom lectures, laboratory work and fieldwork - to prepare them for an eight-day trip to Cambodia in May. There, they will test the water at a village near Siem Reap. With the sponsorship of the Rotary Club, future batches of students will design and implement sand-filtration systems which will clean the water for villagers.

GRACE CHUA

More links
Kwok Chen-Ko blogs at Water Quality in Singapore

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