Best of our wild blogs: 12 May 12

Signs of dugong in the South!
from wild shores of singapore

Phenomena - Longkang Encounters
from POSKOD.SG

A Scarlet Flash @ MacRitchie Nature Trail
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature

little grebes @ lorong halus - 01may2012
from sgbeachbum

Blue-crowned Hanging-parrot feeding on guava
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Ew, white liquid spotted in drain in the Katong area
from Lazy Lizard's Tales

The Earth Day Coastal Clean-up 2012: 106 clear 400kg but not in thunder, lightning or in rain! from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

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Birds feeling heat of climate change

Delay in migration from breeding sites is cause for concern, says birder
Grace Chua Straits Times 12 May 12;

THE curlew sandpiper - a small, common wading bird - flies vast distances from Arctic Siberia to get to Singapore, and sometimes journeys on to spend the northern winter in Australia.

But it is getting here a day later in the year than it did three decades ago, which could signal it is changing its migration patterns as temperatures rise up north.

That is cause for concern, said birdwatcher and junior college lecturer Yong Ding Li, who is studying such migration patterns using data from Singapore birders.

Mr Yong, 28, remarked that the timing of migratory birds' arrivals from and departures for their tundra breeding sites indicates how likely the species is to be threatened by climate change.

'If they don't reach their breeding sites on time, food might not be plentiful and survival rates may be lower,' he said.

That wreaks havoc on the birds' breeding cycle, which depends on both internal biology and the external environment.

In Europe, some waterfowl species are setting off as much as a month late, Finnish researchers have found from 30 years of data.

Migratory birds are also threatened by habitat loss farther north, especially in East Asia's fast-developing coastal regions, Mr Yong said.

Here, generations of birders have enjoyed spotting foreign avian visitors at sites like Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, mudflats at Mandai and even parks and gardens.

A third of Singapore's more than 300 recorded bird species are migrants. The island state is a pit stop along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, the migratory pathway from eastern Russia to New Zealand.

It may not host as many birds as other countries, where feeding and roosting grounds are much larger, but there are occasional surprises, said Mr Alan Owyong, 66, of the Nature Society's Bird Group.

In 2008, a Nordmann's greenshank, a rare wader, showed up at Sungei Buloh 27 years after the last one was sighted here.

And early last year, a common redshank which was tagged with an ankle ring here 20 years ago was spotted - a record for an individual bird, said Mr Wong Tuan Wah, director of conservation at the National Parks Board.

A number of events will be held today at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve to mark World Migratory Bird Day.

They include Migratory Bird Day talks at 9.30am and 11.30am, guided walks at 9am, 10am and 11am, and a talk by National University of Singapore geography researcher Dan Friess about Singapore's mangroves at 10.30am.

The guidebook, Migratory Birds Of Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, will also be launched today, and is available at the reserve for $15. An exhibition on migratory birds ends tomorrow.

Admission to the reserve costs $1 for adults and 50 cents for children, students and senior citizens.

Those interested in the talks and guided walks can contact Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve on 6794-1401.

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Students make a splash with nature research

Jose Hong Straits Times 12 May 12;

SOME people might feel that research is best left to scientists in universities and laboratories. But last month, 11 teams from various secondary schools and junior colleges set out to prove them wrong in the Little Green Dot Student Research Grant Symposium 2012.

The symposium, held for the first time, was jointly organised by Ikea Singapore, the World Wide Fund for Nature (Singapore) and the Nature Society (Singapore).

It marked the culmination of eight months of scientific research undertaken by the teams last year.

From May to December, the teams collectively received $45,000 in funding to conduct research on the theme of marine and freshwater conservation.

They were picked from a pool of 34 projects by a panel consisting of the three organisers.

These projects ranged from measuring the biodiversity of Singapore's coasts after reclamation, to efforts in saving the Malayan Boxshell Terrapin.

The students' findings were presented at the symposium.

One highlight was the work undertaken by Sharmaine Wong, Andrew Chia, Dillen Ng and Lim Jia Min of the NUS High School of Mathematics and Science.

The 18-year-olds studied the effect of changing salinity levels on marine copepods, tiny aquatic crustaceans that form an important part of the food chain.

Their research showed that copepods can be killed when the surrounding salinity levels are changed drastically. The finding has potential implications for the management of Singapore's reservoirs when water is discharged into the sea.

Despite this, the students acknowledged that their work was far from conclusive.

'We're not confident that the results are foolproof,' said Sharmaine.

However, what the students have managed to accomplish thus far has impressed those who have supervised them.

'What struck me about the students' projects is that they actually managed to do anything related to marine and freshwater conservation at all, contrary to the popular perception that there's no nature left in Singapore,' said Mr Goh Ter Yang, outreach officer of the Nature Society.

He noted that Singaporeans hardly talk about the natural environment, except when 'some place is going to be bulldozed and people start protesting', leading to a negative discourse.

He hoped the results of the students' research will provide a chance 'to talk about our environment in a more neutral and curiosity-inducing light'.

The Little Green Dot Student Research Grant continues this year, this time with the theme of forest conservation.

JOSE HONG

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Malaysia: Electric fencing fails to keep out elephants

S. Ista Kyra New Straits Times 12 May 12;

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: Herd sighted just 20m from Orang Asli villages

GRIK: Some 500 residents from several Orang Asli settlements here are living in fear following sightings of a herd of wild elephants in the area.

The herd of 13 elephants was spotted two weeks ago.

Despite the presence of a 12km electric fence put up last year to prevent such intrusions, the animals were believed to have gained entry through a gate which was left open.

Perak Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) director Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim said their staff had advised the villagers to keep the gate closed, especially at night, but the warning was often ignored.

Among the affected settlements are Kampung Banun, Kampung Raba, RPS Desa Permai and RPS Pengkalan Permai.

Now, the department is faced with the hard task of tracking and driving the elephants out of the fenced-up area.

"We have a team working on it."

Perhilitan Grik branch chief Zainal Abidin Mat said the gate was part of a logging road linked to remote villages deep in the Belum-Temenggor forest complex like Kampung Semelor, Kampung Pulau Tujuh, Kampung Sungai Tekam and RPS Kemar.

"These villages are located in areas that have long been the elephants' roaming ground.

"Before the electric fence was put up, the herds used to pass by these villages and back into the jungle.

"Now that the animals are inside, it's more difficult to lead them out again through the main gate."

He said a four-man team had been stationed in the area since last month after the sightings. "The latest sighting of the herd was at 2am on Thursday, some 20m from the village."

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Malaysia: Bid to smuggle pangolins among live crabs foiled

New Straits Times 12 May 12;

GEORGE TOWN: The authorities foiled two separate attempts to smuggle live pangolins, tortoises and arowana fishes worth RM241,000 recently.

The Penang Wildlife and National Parks Department first rescued 94 live pangolins at the cargo complex in Batu Maung here, and 103 tortoises from a pet shop in Bukit Mertajam on Thursday.

The 50-year-old shop operator was detained and later released on police bail.

Department director Jamalun Nasir Ibrahim said the smugglers had placed the pangolins in 40 different boxes mixed with live crabs. "We believe the pangolins were brought in from a neighbouring country and were headed to Hong Kong."

Meanwhile, the state Fisheries Department detained a Taiwanese man who was carrying 241 arowana fishes worth RM128,500 in two bags at the Penang International Airport yesterday.

The 35-year-old was heading to Guangzhou, China, when he was stopped at the airport check-in counter at 7.30am.

Fisheries director Mohd Sidek Md Jahaya said records showed the man had been here four times since last November.


Crab ruse can’t hold water
Winnie Yeoh The Star 12 May 12;

NINETY-FOUR pangolins believed to be bound for the cooking pots in the region were seized by the authorities at the cargo complex in Batu Maung, Penang.

The importer had shipped the animals in boxes from Sabah and declared them as crabs.

However, checks by the Penang Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) and the Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services (Maqis) found that 43 of the 49 boxes contained pangolins.

State Perhilitan director Jamalun Nasir Ibrahim said they were still investigating where the protected species worth about RM106,000 were heading.

“We believe the animals will be sold in foreign markets where the demand for exotic meat is high.

“The price of the pangolin meat can go up to RM220 per kg.

“We have not arrested anyone yet. But we have information on the importer and exporter,” he said at the Perhilitan office in Jalan Gurdwara, George Town.

The smuggling attempt was foiled at about 12.30pm on Thursday in an operation led by state Maqis chief Abdul Hamid Sulaiman and Perhilitan officer Tang Teong Kim at the Kuala Lumpur Airport Services’ (KLAS) cargo complex.

Jamalun said the case was being investigated under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 (Act 716) and if convicted, the offender would face a fine between RM50,000 and RM100,000 or a jail term up to three years.

In a separate case, the department’s licensing unit led by officer Rofley Ambuka raided a petshop in Bukit Mertajam and found 103 turtles not listed in its registry.

There were 40 Southeast Asian Box Turtles (Cuora amboinensis), 41 Giant Asian Pond Turtles (Heosemys grandis) and 22 Black Marsh Turtles (siebenrockiella crassicollis) with a total market price of RM7,000

Pangolins come in as crab consignment
The Star 12 May 12;

GEORGE TOWN: Ninety-four pangolins have been seized by the authorities at the cargo complex in Batu Maung here.

They were in boxes originating from Sabah and declared as crabs.
Imperilled creature : The exotic Pangolin, the meat of which is a highly sought-after delicacy overseas and worth about RM220 per kilo.

However, checks by the Penang Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) and the Malaysian Quarantine and Inspection Services found that 43 of the 49 boxes contained pangolins.

State Perhilitan director Jamalun Nasir Ibrahim said it was investigating where the protected species worth about RM106,000 had been heading.

“We believe the animals were to be sold as the price of pangolin meat can go up to RM220 per kilo.

“We have not arrested anyone but we have information on the importer and exporter,” he said at the Perhilitan office here.

The smuggling attempt was foiled at about 12.30pm at the Kuala Lumpur Airport Services' cargo complex on Thursday.

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Wild Tigers Remain Vulnerable to Poaching In Most Protected Areas

WWF 11 May 12;

A recent preliminary assessment by WWF of 63 legally protected areas in seven tiger range countries shows that the minimum standards for protection according are only maintained in 22 of these areas, or 35%. This indicates that the areas set up to protect tigers and other threatened species are not necessarily the refuge they are designed to be.

“Poaching is the most immediate threat to tigers and protected areas are the first line of defence against poaching,” says Mike Baltzer, Leader of WWF’s Tigers Alive Initiative. “If this preliminary assessment reflects the full situation on-the-ground, then protected areas are not functioning as an effective safe haven for tigers. Without places tigers can be safer from poaching, there is no hope to meet the target of more than 6,000 tigers by 2022.”

In November 2010 at the “Tiger Summit” in St. Petersburg hosted by the Government of Russia and the World Bank, the 13 Tiger Range Governments and partners committed to doubling the number of wild tigers by 2022. From 15-17 May 2012, they will meet again to assess progress and plan the next steps.

Poaching of tigers, to meet consumer demand for their body parts and products, is now the main factor reversing the gains made by governments, donors and other partners working towards the 2022 goal. The meeting in New Delhi next week provides a perfect opportunity for the 13 countries to immediately launch an elevated operation to improve the protection of sites critical to tigers and take deliberate action towards Zero Poaching.

WWF’s internal preliminary assessment covered 84 locations, 63 of which are legally protected areas, in seven of the 12 countries where WWF currently works on tiger conservation. Scientists, researchers and managers working in the field, have determined these sites to be critical for wild tiger population growth.

Each site was evaluated on three critical factors for protecting tigers: the number of protected area staff, the use of law enforcement monitoring tools, and whether the park was officially protected by law. Data for the assessment was collected from published sources and through a survey of WWF field staff and managers of the sites wherever available.

Results from the assessment showed that staff and WWF field personnel from 41 of the 63 protected areas, or 65%, feel there are not enough staff to protect those areas and achieve Zero Poaching. One example is Malaysia’s Royal Belum State Park, critical for the survival of the Malayan tiger and where considerable poaching activity has been documented. Although occupying an area of over 1,000 km2, the park only has 17 enforcement staff. In contrast, protected areas such as Kaziranga National Park in India, with approximately 800 enforcement staff for about 860 km2, have been able to stem poaching activity. In Nepal, 2011 was recently celebrated as a Zero Poaching year for rhinos, which was largely attributed to the increase of range posts across several protected areas from 7 to 51.

The assessment also indicated that only 18 of the protected areas surveyed, or 29%, are currently using computer-based, law enforcement monitoring systems to help them manage their sites more effectively; the majority still rely on manual analysis. The number using computer technology should increase as two new systems, MSTrIPES and SMART, are rolled out in many protected areas in the next few months.

“Clearly, a large number of areas important for tigers urgently need increased investment in protection and enforcement,” said Mr. Craig Bruce, WWF’s expert on enforcement and protection of wild tigers. “Tiger range governments should immediately and dramatically increase their commitment and investment in securing these sites. They should ensure there are sufficient, effective and dedicated enforcement teams on the ground, working towards Zero Poaching.”

WWF has identified three actions tiger range governments can take immediately to launch an elevated operation towards Zero Poaching. These include identifying and delineating the most important sites requiring good protection from poaching, and ensuring these sites have sufficient numbers of enforcement staff who are well trained to monitor and improve their effectiveness by using monitoring systems. WWF also suggests that the police and judiciary need to help to ensure strict punishment on poaching and to actively engage local communities living adjacent to important tiger conservation areas.

A brief on the assessment How vulnerable are wild tigers to poaching in the sites critical for their survival? and its results is available at
http://awsassets.panda.org/downloads/wwf_tai_tiger_vulnerability_to_poaching_report_2012.pdf

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Best of our wild blogs: 11 May 12

International Coastal Cleanup Singapore 2012 – Public registration for Organisations now open! from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

U@live | Featuring Louis Ng (ACRES), 23 May 2012: 7.30pm @ Shaw Foundation Alumni House
from Otterman speaks

NParks Chek Jawa intertidal tours cancelled: 1 Jul to 31 Dec 2012
from wild shores of singapore

Changi very much alive!
from wild shores of singapore with Cunning Clam Escape and Singapore Nature

tree fa// @ changi coastal park - 06may2012
from sgbeachbum and crimson-rumped waxbill @ lorong halus

The Flower Mantis of Singapore
from Macro Photography in Singapore

Juvenile Asian Koel Takes an Afternoon Nap
from Bird Ecology Study Group

黄鹂成长记 Black-naped Oriole
from PurpleMangrove

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Businesses not doing enough to help society, says Singaporeans

Kristie Neo / Rachel Kelly Channel NewsAsia 10 May 12;

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans think businesses are not doing enough to help society.

A recent study by Edelman, the world's largest independent public relations firm, shows that nine out of 10 Singaporeans believe it is important for companies to address societal issues, yet only three in 10 think they are doing enough in this area.

The top three social causes that Singaporeans are most concerned about are: the environment, healthcare and education.

Since 2001, corporate donations to charities in Singapore has doubled to S$507 million in 2010. This accounts for two-thirds of the S$776 million in donations made in the same year.

Singapore however, still lags behind developed countries like the United States, where corporate giving comprises 0.38 per cent of GDP, as opposed to 0.17 per cent in Singapore.

According to the study, 84 per cent of Singaporeans said that they are more inclined to buy the products and services of a company that actively supports a cause.

Bob Grove, Managing Director of Edelman Southeast Asia, said: "If consumers are telling you that they want to purchase things which are aligned to causes, perhaps businesses should give it to them because that's going to become a long-term business plan."

The study added that "societal attributes now play an important role in helping businesses and brands build future trust and success, and that it is no longer just about operational factors."

Experts said that motivation needs to come from the top to have a long-term commitment to social causes, adding that 50 per cent of Singaporeans say CEOs should be making that commitment, and visibly.

Mr Grove said: "The trick here is, don't treat it as part of a discrete CSR programme, treat it as part of your business. Let me give you an example, General Electric came up with a with a concept seven years ago called 'GE ecomagination'. That business is now 25 per cent of its global revenue and is growing twice as fast in terms of revenue than any other part of GE's business.

"That is a return on investment and that is measureable by very traditional forms, revenue, margins, etc, because they've really integrated it in to their business. So they have aligned profit with purpose, and that is the part that people need to get."

So why aren't Singapore companies doing more to make their customers happy and cut costs?

Audrey Chia from the Asia Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy at NUS, said: "I think we need to understand what some of the paybacks are. I think perhaps that is not being made clear to them. A few years ago, there was a book that came out called 'Green to Gold' that argued that by being environmental, companies can actually save costs because being environmental companies can cut down on waste and making better use of resources, thus increasing efficiency."

-CNA/ac

Singaporeans think firms not doing enough for social causes: study
rachel au-yong Business Times 11 May 12;

SINGAPOREANS say businesses aren't doing enough to support social causes, a newly released study found.

Conducted by public relations firm Edelman, the study is the first of its kind to measure consumer attitudes around social purpose in Singapore.

Although nine in 10 Singaporeans believe companies ought to address social issues, only 30 per cent think businesses are living up to this expectation.

Those surveyed were most concerned with protecting the environment, improving the quality of healthcare, and having equal access to education.

"It is clear that societal attributes now play an important role in helping businesses build future trust and success," said Bob Grove, managing director for Edelman Southeast Asia. "It is no longer just about operational factors."

Addressing societal issues may provide companies with financial incentive too. Some 84 per cent of Singaporeans said they would buy the products and services of a company that actively supports a good cause.

If quality and price were the same, 54 per cent said that social purpose would be the most important factor in their purchasing decision - more than design, innovation or attractive pricing.

In fact, if costs were not a factor, Singaporeans would rather purchase more "societally-friendly" items. Seventy-nine per cent said they would drive a hybrid car over a luxury one.

Other findings include Singaporeans' demands for the government to play the lead role in addressing these issues.

The results were released at the first-year anniversary event of the Asia Centre for Social Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy, National University of Singapore Business School.

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Why the Recent Sumatra Quake Was So Strange

Charles Q. Choi LiveScience.com Yahoo News 11 May 12;

The unexpectedly large earthquake that hit Sumatra last month is forcing scientists to rethink common assumptions about earthquake physics, researchers say.

The magnitude 8.6 earthquake that struck in the Indian Oceanoff the western coast of Sumatra on April 11was one of the 10 largest earthquakesever recorded, and was felt as far away as Bangladesh and India. However, no quake-related fatalities were reported.

Seismologists have done preliminary studies on the earthquake and found that it had some unusual aspects, ones that could help them better understand earthquakes that happen away from the boundaries between tectonic plates and better appreciate how powerful those quakes could potentially be.

Odd earthquake

Unusually, this quake apparently occurred in the middle of an oceanic plate. All the other top 10 quakes happened at subduction zones, where one of the tectonic plates making up the Earth's surface is diving beneath another. [13 Crazy Earthquake Facts]

Also oddly, the Sumatra temblor was a strike-slip earthquake, where two parts of Earth's crust slide past each other. Strike-slip quakes are not typically so powerful — the Sumatra event was "far and away the largest strike-slip earthquake ever recorded," said researcher Gregory Beroza, a seismologist at Stanford University. Its magnitude 8.2 aftershock was also among the largest recorded strike-slip earthquakes.

The reason why this quake was surprisingly powerful might lie in how deep the faults that triggered it ran, scientists now suggest.

Seismology readings suggest the Sumatra quake and its aftershock originated at depths between 25 to 33 miles (40 to 54 kilometers). At those depths, rock is blazingly hot, about 1,110 to 1,470 degrees Fahrenheit (600 to 800 degrees Celsius). At such temperatures, rock can become viscous at certain points, and in extreme cases, fault zones may even melt, enabling large amounts of energy to be released as parts of the Earth slide past each other.

Mid-plate quakes

Although the Sumatra quake is the only time a temblor in the middle of an oceanic plate was powerful enough to make the top 10 largest known earthquakes, major earthquakes do regularly occur in the middle of oceanic plates.

"Oceanic plates cover the majority of the earth, and a lot of magnitude 8 earthquakes have occurred within the interiors of oceanic plates in the last few years," said researcher Jeffrey McGuire, a seismologist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. "So while the probabilities are extremely low in any one spot, essentially the majority of the Earth's surface can experience a magnitude 8 earthquake."

Still, large earthquakes in the middle of ocean plates likely do not pose much hazard to life or property, since they are well away from populated areas. They also usually only generate small tsunamis, although "there is always a chance that they might set off a submarine landslide — such landslides have the potential to generate large tsunamis," Beroza said.

However, these mid-ocean quakes could shed light on the potential power that quakes in the middle of continental platescan achieve.

"The very largest earthquakes that a fault system or plate boundary is capable of might be larger than was previously appreciated," Beroza told OurAmazingPlanet. "That's not to say this is necessarily normal behavior, but it has to be considered as possible."

Understanding earthquakes that occur within the interior of oceanic plates is challenging "because we do not have long-term monitoring networks on the seafloor," McGuiretold OurAmazingPlanet. "I think one future direction that will be very interesting is that the National Science Foundation's Cascadia Initiative is in the midst of a multiyear monitoring effort of the Juan de Fuca and Gorda plates, which have significant internal strain. This initiative has the chance to capture a moderate intra-plate earthquake with nearby instruments which might really help us understand the processes that lead to the magnitude 8s that have occurred in more remote locations."

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Asia Faces Threat To Crops If El Nino Unleashed Again

Naveen Thukral and Lewa Pardomuan PlanetArk 11 May 12;

A return of the El Nino weather pattern may threaten food output in Asia, the world's top producer of rice and palm oil, but drier conditions in some areas could also benefit crops such as coffee and cocoa and keep global prices in check.

With memories of the devastating El Nino in the late 1990s still fresh in their minds, farmers are braced for the return of the weather anomaly, which can bring drought in some places and heavy storms in others.

Although forecasters say it is too early to say whether a full-blown El Nino is on the way, several models in Australia and India show warming of the Pacific Ocean after two straight years of La Nina that resulted in excessive rainfall.

"We are relatively bullish on a number of markets in Q4 of this year because of seasonality and if we start seeing dry weather concerns affecting the market, it is going to amplify that bullishness," said Abah Ofon, commodities analyst at Standard Chartered in Singapore.

Ofon singled out soybeans, palm oil and sugar.

Malaysia and Indonesia account for almost 90 percent of the world's palm oil supplies, while most of the world's rice is exported from Asia. The region also accounts for nearly 40 percent of wheat production and the bulk of natural rubber output.

Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, is also the world's second-largest sugar exporter after Brazil.

La Nina, which has brought excessive rains in Australia, caused a severe drought earlier this year in Brazil and Argentina, the world's leading soybean suppliers, lifting U.S. soy futures to a near four-year peak last week.

This year El Nino could exactly do the opposite.

"If you have El Nino here there will be typically more rain in North America which is favorable for summer crop development," said one Melbourne-based commodity analyst.

El Nino, which means "little boy" in Spanish, is driven by an abnormal warming of the eastern Pacific Ocean. It can create havoc in weather patterns across the Asia-Pacific region.

The last severe El Nino in 1998 killed more than 2,000 people and caused billions of dollars in damage to crops, infrastructure and mines in Australia and other parts of Asia.

La Nina is less famous and less destructive than El Nino, which has the opposite effect of warming the waters of the Pacific.

SPOOK MARKETS

"Early talk of El Nino weather could spook the market and trigger panic demand should this weather risk crystallize," said Ofon at Standard Chartered, referring to the sugar market which is at a 20-month low due to ample global supply.

But coffee and cocoa could thrive this year after being hit by heavy rains last year. Vietnam and Indonesia, the world's top robusta producers, account for nearly a fifth of the world's coffee crop. Indonesia accounts for 10 percent of global cocoa output.

In Brazil, the world's largest coffee producer, the crop faces a smaller risk of frost this year because of the likelihood of El Nino, which brings higher-than-normal rains and moisture to the coffee belt.

EARLY DRYNESS IN AUSTRALIA

Australia's weather bureau said models indicate the tropical Pacific Ocean may continue to warm over the next six months.

"All the models are consistently warming up," said Andrew Watkins, manager of climate prediction at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. "Given what we see at the moment, going beyond July, there is probably equal likelihood of neutral or El Nino conditions at this stage."

Malaysia, the world's second-largest palm oil producer, could see lower production in 2013 if the El Nino results in poor rainfall.

"There is a 50-50 percent chance of El Nino developing, if that happens in the second half of 2012, we should see Malaysian production falling next year," said Ling Ah Hong, an agronomist with Ganling in Malaysia. "I would project at least a 10 percent decline in Malaysian palm oil production in 2013 in that case."

In Australia, farmers are already facing dry weather which is delaying wheat planting.

"Southeast Australia has been quite dry and it is a bit of a concern," said one analyst. "If we had El Nino it will certainly result in below average rainfall for the growing season for winter crops, predominantly wheat, barley and canola."

Chinese authorities are keeping their fingers crossed as farmers gear up to plant the world's second-largest corn crop. Adverse weather could boost U.S. corn futures, with China emerging as a key importer in recent years.

In India, where farmers are banking on another near-record rice crop to keep the momentum of exports, forecasters are predicting a normal monsoon season.

"An absence of El Nino in the first half of the monsoon season helps planting of summer crops and also aids initial growth stages," said S. Raghuraman, a New Delhi-based analyst. "Initial forecast of India's weather office rules out the possibility of a drought year as the monsoon rains are expected to be average."

Thailand has entered the rainy season, but a change in the weather pattern could harm the crop after some rice fields were damaged in the dry season. The Thai Meteorological Department sees a short dry spell in June.

"There were some rice planning areas outside the irrigated areas that were destroyed during the dry season that ended in April," said Somchai Baimuang deputy director of the nation's meteorological department. "But there were minimal damage."

(Additional reporting by Colin Colin Packham in SYDNEY, Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat in BANGKOK, Ho Binh Minh in HANOI, Niu Shuping in BEIJING, Niluksi Koswanage in KUALA LUMPUR, Yee Kiat in SINGAPORE and Ratnajyoti Dutta in NEW DELHI)

Why Do El Nino And La Nina trigger Weather Chaos?
David Fogarty PlanetArk 11 May 12;

Why Do El Nino And La Nina trigger Weather Chaos? Photo: REUTERS
A farmer works on a drought-hit paddy field in the outskirts of Chongqing municipality in this March 24, 2009 file photo. La Nina-driven weather from South America to Australia and southern Asia will extend into early 2011
Photo: REUTERS

From record floods to crippling droughts and wildfires, a natural swing in Pacific Ocean temperatures can trigger climate chaos around the globe.

The El Nino ocean-weather pattern is linked to droughts in Australia and floods in parts of South America, while its sibling La Nina causes the opposite, with the two phenomena occurring at irregular intervals.

A powerful La Nina triggered record floods in eastern Australia in 2011 and has been blamed for the withering drought in Texas and severe dry spells in South America, hitting corn and soy crops.

Forecasters say an El Nino might develop later in the year.

Following are some questions and answers on El Nino and La Nina and their billion-dollar impacts on economies.

WHAT IS EL NINO?

El Nino, also called "Little Boy" or "Christ Child", is a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific.

Peruvian fishermen noticed the arrival of the warm waters occurred usually around Christmas. The phenomena, which occurs every three to seven years, led to more rains in that part of South America and a drop in the fish catch.

Strong El Ninos can lead to a dramatic weakening of the trade winds that blow west across the Pacific, triggering drought in Southeast Asia and Australia and parts of Africa.

Some El Ninos can also affect the Indian monsoon by reducing rainfall, threatening crops and livelihoods.

WHAT IS THE IMPACT?

Globally, El Nino can trigger above average rains in northern Peru and Bolivia, drought in Southeast Asia, Australia, India and northeast Brazil, cyclones in the central Pacific and stormy weather in southern and western United States.

El Ninos also tend to cut the number of Atlantic hurricanes but boost the number of storms in the eastern Pacific.

In Australia, strong El Ninos can slash wheat crop output, threaten water supplies by cutting river flows, shrink city reservoirs and dry out forests, triggering bush fires.

Major El Ninos occurred in 1982-82 and 1997-98 but the weak El Nino of 2002-2003 also led to severe drought in Australia.

WHAT IS LA NINA?

La Nina, or "Little Girl", is an abnormal cooling of ocean temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific.

This triggers stronger trade winds across the Pacific that pile up very warm warmers in the western Pacific and around northern Australia, triggering above average rains.

Typically, it also boosts the number of cyclones during the November-April Australian cyclone season.

IMPACTS

Just like El Nino, the weather impact can be global. In Indonesia and parts of Australia, La Nina can bring flooding rains, affecting wheat, sugar, palm oil and rubber crops as well as coal and iron ore mining.

In Argentina and the U.S. Plains, La Nina can trigger drought, hurting the Argentine corn and soy crops and the main U.S. hard red winter wheat crop.

La Nina tends to lead to wind patterns that favor the formation of more hurricanes in the Atlantic and fewer in the eastern Pacific, potentially meaning a greater threat to U.S. Gulf oil and gas assets and cities in Florida, the Gulf Coast and eastern seaboard.

Major recent La Nina events occurred in 1973-76, 1988-89 and 2010-12.

GLOBAL LINKS

Heat from the tropics drives the global climate by fuelling ocean and atmospheric patterns that shift the warmth around the globe. Warm tropical waters fuel evaporation and add moisture to the atmosphere needed for clouds to form.

The rising air also drives atmospheric circulation patterns that help shift the moisture and warmth around to other parts of the globe. So disrupting this pattern can alter the climate elsewhere.

Scientists say climate change might also be adding an extra kick to La Nina and El Nino because warmer oceans add more fuel to storms and weather patterns.

(Sources: NOAA, Australian Bureau of Meteorology, National Centre for Atmospheric Research, Reuters)

(Editing by Ed Davies)

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Peru says 5,000 birds, nearly 900 dolphins dead

AFP Yahoo News 10 May 12;

The Peruvian government said Wednesday that 5,000 birds, mostly pelicans, and nearly 900 dolphins have died off the country's northern coast, possibly due to rising temperatures in Pacific waters.

The country's northern beaches were earlier this week declared off-limits as scientists scrambled to pin down what was causing such a massive toll, with non-government organizations blaming oil exploration work.

But Peru's deputy environment minister Gabriel Quijandria, disputed this and said warming waters, which disturbs species' food supplies, was a possible cause.

He said that although tests conducted on 877 dolphins found dead on the coast had not been completed, contamination from heavy metals or the presence of bacterial infections was not responsible.

It is probable that the phenomenon "will extend to other coastal areas," Quijandria said, noting that there could be a resulting increase in the numbers of birds and other sea life killed.

The South American nation's health ministry declared an alert at the weekend, urging the public to stay away from the beaches around Lima and on the northern coast until the cause of death of marine life is known.

One non-government conservation organization, known as ORCA, has blamed the dolphin deaths on oil exploration activities in the area, which it claims produces noises which are having an acoustic impact on the mammals.

A representative from the group, Carlos Yaipen, said Wednesday it had tested 30 dead specimens and found broken ears and damaged organs consistent with the victims suffering "the bends," also known as decompression sickness.

Weather expert Abraham Levy told AFP on Tuesday that the warming of the Pacific waters due to El Nino could be to blame.

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Asia-Pacific needs greening, UNDP finds

United Press International 10 May 12;

JAKARTA, May 10 (UPI) -- With Asian economies producing close to half of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, they need to find the right balance for prosperity, a U.N. report finds.

A report from the U.N. Development Program, "Asia-Pacific Human Development Report 2012 -- One Planet to Share: Sustaining Human Progress in a Changing Climate," states the region needs to find the right balance between prosperity and environmental sustainability.

"The world's common future will be hugely affected by the choices that are made in Asia and the Pacific on a low carbon growth path," Ajay Chhibber, UNDP regional director for Asia and the Pacific, said in a statement. "The goal is clear: reduce poverty, increase prosperity but leave a smaller carbon footprint."

The 269-page report says Asian and Pacific economies need to change the way they practice agriculture, manufacture goods and produce energy.

This will mean "moving to greener, more resilient, lower-emission options that not only sustain the environment but also offer opportunities to the poor for employment and income," the report states.

The UNDP estimates economies in the region generate 37 percent of global emissions through agricultural production, land-use changes and deforestation.

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