Leave the beautiful Mandai rainforest alone

Letter from George Pasqual, Straits Times Forum 27 Nov 07;

I READ with dismay the planned conversion of 30ha of the Mandai rainforest into a nature-themed park for tourists ('Mandai to get new nature attraction on 30-hectare site'; ST, Nov 21).

We are just a tiny island with not much forest left after our much-lauded efforts in transforming it into a world-class city within a garden, recognised for its steady economy, reliable infrastructure and governance.

ourist arrivals have increased tremendously and it is forecast that the population in Singapore could reach 5.5 million.

Do we need another tourist attraction at the expense of plundering our small rainforest and upsetting the ecosystem and biodiversity of the area?

Where there is much human activity, Nature cannot stay its course and degradation of the once-pristine landscape will follow, to the point of no return.

There are many 'back to nature' tourist resorts in neighbouring countries which are a hop, skip and jump away and with more expansive jungle or forest landscapes and panoramic scenes which will easily eclipse our 30ha offering.

We already have many world-class tourist attractions and with the integrated resorts and the Formula One race coming on stream, do we need to sacrifice a portion of our island's rainforest heritage just to attract a couple of million more tourists?

We do not need more hotels and chalets to denude whatever remaining greenery we have on this fast-urbanising island.

The Mandai road is flanked by a waterway and thick rainforest of sheer tropical splendour, which merge naturally into the theme parks of the zoo and Night Safari. The surrounds of the zoo and Night Safari are a fitting introductory welcome to visitors to these two attractions.

Please don't spoil the ambience of the Mandai area.

RELATED ARTICLES

Mandai at risk?
Straits Times 25 Nov 07

If not properly done, plans to turn Mandai into nature retreat could backfire
Letter from Marianne Maes, Today Online 22 Nov 07

Do we need another nature-themed attraction?
NO: Nature Society thinks it will cause greater damage to nature reserve
YES: A nature escape will add to Singapore's attraction as a tourist destination, say travel agents
Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times 22 Nov 07

Nature Society expresses concerns about plans for Mandai
Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times 21 Nov 07;

Mandai to be turned into Asia's top nature spot
Channel NewsAsia 20 Nov 07

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Time to allow diesel cars on the road

Letter from Steve Tan Peng Hoe, Straits Times Forum 27 Nov 07

MANY months ago, I wrote to this Forum with several suggestions for the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to consider.

One of my suggestions was to allow diesel cars on the road, given that diesel was easier to refine, and the latest-generation diesel engines emit less pollutants.

All these months, car manufacturer after car manufacturer have rolled out turbo-diesel variants of their new cars. All have proclaimed that this was a viable solution to balancing car ownership with environmental concerns.

Surely, there must be a basis for all the car manufacturers to make such a claim?

Could the LTA, therefore, review again the possibility of allowing diesel cars on the road without punitive taxes?

Given that Asean has just ratified a constitution that has a keen focus on environmental concerns, Singapore as the country holding the chairmanship should lead in this area where there is all to gain and little to lose.

Diesel cars allowed on roads but tax higher
Reply by NEA and LTA, Straits Times Forum 7 Dec 07;

WE THANK Mr Steve Tan Peng Hoe for his letter, 'Time to allow diesel cars on the road' (ST, Nov 27).

We would like to clarify that diesel-driven cars are allowed on Singapore roads. However, they are taxed more because they emit significantly more pollutants which will damage the environment and human health to a greater extent than petrol-driven vehicles.

We recognise that significant advances have been made in diesel-engine technology that have helped to improve emissions from diesel vehicles considerably. Therefore, in recognition of the cleaner Euro IV diesel engines, the special tax for Euro IV diesel passenger cars was reduced from six to four times their road tax with effect from Jan 1 last year.

The Government will continue to review the tax structure for diesel passenger cars as more stringent emission standards are implemented.

Tan Quee Hong
Acting Director
Pollution Control Department
National Environment Agency

Suhana Kharudin (Ms)
Manager
Media Relations
Land Transport Authority

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Overall food index up 4.3% over that in 2006

Reply from Department of Statistics, Straits Times Forum 27 Nov 07;

MR RICHARD Seah's letter on the inflation rate of food prices ('5% inflation next year? Food already up 10- 20%'; ST, Nov 20) gives us the opportunity to explain how the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is constructed and how food prices are measured.

The CPI measures the change in price over time of a fixed basket of goods and services that are consumed by households.

In Singapore, the CPI basket comprises seven main groups, namely, Food, Housing, Clothing & Footwear, Transport & Communication, Education & Stationery, Health Care, and Recreation & Others.

The relative importance of these groups in the CPI basket is based on a detailed analysis of the consumption patterns of some 5,400 households covered in the Household Expenditure Survey (HES). The HES is conducted on a regular basis to take into account changes in consumption patterns over time. This basic methodology is in line with international convention.

Food has the highest weight in our CPI basket, at 23 per cent. This means that, on average, a household spends 23 cents out of every dollar on food. Cooked food carries a heavier weight of 13 per cent, compared to 10 per cent for non-cooked food, given the 'Singaporean habit of eating out', as noted by Mr Seah.

It is important to note that the increase in the overall food price index in the CPI represents the average of price movements across various food items and outlets. So while prices of some food items have increased by as much as 10 to 20 per cent at some outlets, there are also items or outlets where prices increased by much less or not at all.

For example, while the price of fresh chicken was 14 per cent higher in October 2007, compared to October 2006, the price of fresh pork went up by just 0.8 per cent during the same period. Likewise, while prices at some hawker stalls had increased substantially, average hawker food prices were up by 2.8 per cent in October 2007, compared to October 2006. Taking into consideration the price movements of all these various items, the overall food index increased by 4.3 per cent in October 2007, compared to a year earlier.

Foo-Wu Wen Chee (Mrs)
Deputy Director
(Consumer Price Index)
Department of Statistics

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Whatever Happened to Biodiesel?

Michael Schirber, LiveScience, Yahoo News 26 Nov 07;

Biodiesel made from vegetable oil seems to have good green credentials. Several musicians fill their tour buses with it, and environmental entrepreneurs brew it themselves from recycled kitchen grease.

However, expectations that this renewable fuel will deliver significant reductions in greenhouse gases may be too high.

"The general belief is that biodiesel offers a huge benefit from a global warming standpoint," said Russell Heinen, vice president of SRI Consulting, which last month released a biofuel report for the chemical industry. "We found that it's not necessarily that great."

Biodiesel and other biofuels such as ethanol release carbon dioxide when burned, but part of this is offset by the carbon dioxide absorbed by the biofuel crop. However, Eric Johnson, the report's author and editor of the journal Environmental Impact Assessment Review, found the environmental benefits of biofuels depend on what crops are planted and how the land might be used otherwise.

Surprisingly, European farmers currently growing rapeseed for biodiesel could reduce their carbon footprint by more than half if they planted trees and let regular diesel be burned instead. This is partly because commonly used fertilizers emit nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that has nearly 300 times more warming effect than carbon dioxide, which tends to get all the attention.

Fry fuel

Using vegetable oil or animal fats for fuel is hardly a new idea: The first diesel car more than a century ago ran on peanut oil.

Current diesel engines can be modified slightly to run on straight vegetable oil, but it's more common to chemically modify the oil to make biodiesel. Pure biodiesel can gel up in cold temperatures, so it is often blended with ordinary petroleum-based diesel.

Biodiesel is politically attractive as a way to lessen dependence on oil, while also supporting local farmers.

Government incentives and rising petroleum prices have helped the biodiesel industry grow by more than a factor of 20 in the past decade. The European Union has the largest biodiesel production worldwide with nearly 1.5 billion gallons last year, mostly from rapeseed oil. The United States comes in second in the groupings, with about 250 million gallons last year, mostly from soybean oil.

Plant forests instead

The United States, the European Union and other countries have mandated that biofuels make up certain fractions of their fuel consumption in the coming years, as part of programs to combat global warming and increase energy independence.

To determine the environmental impact of these policies, Johnson analyzed various biofuel scenarios. Generally, he found that emissions of nitrous oxide and CO2 from farming practices negated much of the carbon dioxide soaked up by the plants.

This was especially true for rapeseed, but environmental benefits could be reaped from other crops.

"Soy biodiesel and palm-oil biodiesel are generally better than petrodiesel on greenhouse gas emissions," Johnson told LiveScience. "It is mainly a function of crop yield and fertilizer amount."

Carbon footprint reductions of as much as 40 percent were possible from soy-derived biodiesel. However, in most cases that Johnson looked at, planting trees on the farmland and using regular diesel made a larger dent in carbon dioxide levels than producing and using biodiesel.

The results do not agree with other studies.

"The overwhelming evidence is that most biofuels offer a greenhouse gas savings," said Greg Archer, director of the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, a UK group that promotes eco-friendly cars and fuels.

The amount of savings depends on how the biofuel is produced. Smart practices—such as limiting fertilizer amount, heating with biomass instead of coal and generating electricity from waste heat—can make practically any biofuel less polluting than petroleum, Archer said.

Mcfueling

One way to be sure to reduce the carbon footprint is to reuse vegetable oil or animal fat to make biodiesel. Johnson estimated that waste-derived biodiesel releases 60 percent less greenhouse gas in its lifetime than normal diesel.

Recycling kitchen grease into biodiesel has become popular in small pockets around the country, where "the cars can smell like French fries when they drive down the street," Heinen said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that restaurants generate some 3 billion gallons of waste cooking oil each year.

"The biggest problem is how dispersed it is at all the McDonald's and the like," Heinen said. "You need a concentrated supply to have an economy of scale."

One solution might be to locate a biodiesel factory next to a meat-packing plant or a potato chip manufacturer.

"Then at least you would have all the fat you need right next door," Heinen said.

Editor's Note: This article is part of an occasional LiveScience series about ideas to ease humanity's impact on the environment.

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'Alternative' nuclear energy forum opens in Bratislava

Yahoo News 27 Nov 07;

Around 100 politicians, industrialists, producers and experts met in Bratislava Monday for the first European Energy Forum dedicated to reviving nuclear power as an "alternative" energy source.

The meeting comes against a backdrop of declining carbon energy resources and the battle against global warming.

"Nuclear energy is a promising alternative solution, its current revival sends a positive message to the world," Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said as he opened two days of debate under the aegis of the European Commission.

"The decision to close or not to build a new nuclear plant is political decision. It is to be respected, but a majority of European countries have taken another option," emphasised Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek.

Slovakia, like the Czech Republic, France, Finland, Lithuania and Bulgaria are some of the 15 EU countries (out of 27) which produce nuclear energy.

The Bratislava forum opens a debate "without taboos and without preconceived ideologies" on nuclear production, according to Christian Taillebois, chief executive of Framatome, a joint subsidiary between Areva and Siemens.

He told AFP his hope is that nuclear will be fully integrated into EU energy policy, complementing renewable energy.

For its advocates, nuclear power holds no worries: "Nuclear energy is currently the first and foremost form of energy production with zero CO2 emissions," the brochure accompanying the forum states.

Contrary voices on the first day of the conference were rare. A handful of opponents, primarily from the Green Party and Greenpeace, held placards outside Bratislava town hall saying "No To Nuclear" -- watched over by heavy security.

Their objections centre on the issues of nuclear security, and waste.

Nuclear energy currently provides around a third of the EU's electricity consumption, according to figures provided by the Bratislava forum.

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Japan Says Whaling Will Not Halt Despite Australia

PlanetArk 27 Nov 07;

"Humpback whales are very popular in Australia. I have heard that to catch and kill a humpback whale is a very emotional thing. We have discussed this within the government, but for the moment we are continuing as planned."

TOKYO - Japan will not end what it calls its research whaling programme, but it also expects to maintain strong ties with Australia, one of the most vocal critics of the hunt, the top government spokesman said on Monday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura was speaking after Australia's Labor party swept to power in national elections on Saturday, ending 11 years of conservative rule under John Howard, an ally of Tokyo.

While in opposition, Labor called for legal action against Japanese whaling in Australia's Antarctic Whale Sanctuary, which is not recognised by other nations.

"Whales are a problem," Machimura told reporters. "We conduct research whaling and we can't just stop this all of a sudden."

Japan's whaling fleet set out for the Antarctic Ocean just over a week ago despite renewed outcries from several countries, sparked by its plan to target humpback whales, a perennial favourite among whale-watchers.

Japan, which says whaling is a cherished cultural tradition, abandoned commercial whaling in accordance with an international moratorium in 1986, but began what it calls a scientific research whaling programme the following year.

Machimura acknowledged the angry response from Australia.

"Humpback whales are very popular in Australia. I have heard that to catch and kill a humpback whale is a very emotional thing," he said. "We have discussed this within the government, but for the moment we are continuing as planned." Machimura said Japan congratulated the new Australian government under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a former diplomat fluent in Mandarin, and expected close ties to continue.

"Japan has maintained very good relations with Australia for a long time. We are strategic partners," Machimura said.

"We had good ties with former Prime Minister (John) Howard, and we think we can maintain this with the new Rudd administration. There is no room for doubt on this," he added.

Japan signed a landmark defence pact with Howard in March, setting out areas of cooperation including counter-terrorism and maritime security.

Leaders of Japan, the United States and Australia also held their first trilateral summit in Australia in September. (Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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Ewok eco-friendly sphere for high living

Telegraph 26 Nov 07;

"The objective of this project is to be able to move into the rainforest and have an experience of it - with as little impact as possible. I want to celebrate the beauty and energy that is already there, without changing anything."

Looking more like the homes used by the Ewok characters in the Star Wars film Return of the Jedi these tree houses enable families to live in the forest without having to worry about their carbon footprint.

The 11ft-wide eco-friendly Free Spirit Spheres, which can sleep four people, are suspended in the trees and accessible by a rope bridge.

The £74,000 hand-crafted wooden spheres are constructed using boat building techniques and are coated in fibreglass, making them waterproof and robust.

They have a fully equipped kitchen, including a microwave, fridge and sink. The rest of the interior, including loft beds and bronze doors can be custom ordered.

Tom Chudleigh, the designer, said: "Uses for these durable Spheres are limited only by one's imagination. Healing, meditation, photography, canopy research, leisure and game watching are just some of the things you could do.

"Wood spheres are made of two laminations of wood strips over laminated wood frames. The outside is then finished and covered with clear fibreglass. The result is a beautiful and tough skin.

"The structural integrity of a sphere and the ability to move and absorb shock loads combine to produce a robust accommodation package."

The spheres are attached to the trees by a web of supporting ropes in at least three places.
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Mr Chudleigh, from Vancouver, Canada, and a carpenter by trade, added: "The objective of this project is to be able to move into the rainforest and have an experience of it - with as little impact as possible.

"I want to celebrate the beauty and energy that is already there, without changing anything."

He is now in the process of designing a sphere which will hold a washroom, a shower and a sauna. He added: "It will produce only clean water and compost - with luck it could serve a whole colony of spheres on a remote setting."

The spheres take three people no more than three days to put up and can be ordered from www.freespiritspheres.com.

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Forest protection: Giving power to local communities helps curb deforestation

Forest protection: Local and global
Frederick Sagisolo, BBC News 26 Nov 07;

After logging: New values appear, like wanting to have more than your neighbour and putting a price on everything, instead of valuing what we already have.

Local communities living in the world's dwindling tropical forests bear the brunt of the insatiable demand for cheap timber, argues Frederick Sagisolo. In the Green Room, he recounts his experience of illegal logging, and explains why community forest management is the way forward.

For the Knasaimos people, we do not see nature as something to be destroyed.

The forests here provide for our needs. For building houses we take rattan, bamboo and other woods, for lighting fires we take damar, and for food we process sago taken from the forest in the traditional method.

The forests give us wood for fishing boats, gaharu trees for trade, and many fruits which we can sell.

The relationship between our people and their nature is important, and it's become our pride and part of our traditional wisdom. That's why we manage the land in a simple way.

The way we manage our land, however, has been disturbed by outsiders coming here to log trees.

It started in 1999 with meranti wood being taken, and once that was finished in 2002 they started to cut merbau trees.

This created problems for our community. Before, there was a sense of working together, a feeling of togetherness.

Then, when some people are attracted to the wood company they refuse to work on the sago any more. They think that because the company promises money, they don't want to do the traditional work in the forest any more.

New values appear, like wanting to have more than your neighbour and putting a price on everything, instead of valuing what we already have.

Rich wood

The merbau logging was carried out by one company, supported by foreign investors.

We never invited this company here and it did not have proper permission to log.

I am the head of the tribal council, but the company never talked to me. Instead it did an illegal deal with one individual from our community, and this created many problems for us.

But the company was backed by a local military officer, so what could we do?

Soon after it first arrived the company was cutting our trees in four areas, destroying the land with heavy equipment. Yet when people here see the military person involved, then cannot sit down together and discuss things. Impossible.

I was really worried by this company. Our land is not that large, and with the logging after a few years we would have had no trees left, only grass.

This would mean disaster for us. It is our mission to treat the land as something entrusted to us for our grandchildren and so we must not destroy it.

Self-determination

If we are left alone we manage the forest well as it is part of our life.

But companies from outside only think about money and leave us with tears. While the company was here there was no improvement for local people - just problems.



We know our rights, but got no help from the local government. They just came here with a map we had never seen before - some kind of imaginary map.

Under this some of our sacred places would be destroyed. We asked "why did you do this?" and the company said it was allowed because of the map.

We know that this map was illegal and it is clear that money talked. We asked the government to stop this company, but nothing happened.

Then finally, in 2005, Papua was the target for a big action by the government against illegal logging. The military officer left, and the company operations stopped.

We felt we were once more in control of our lands and set about healing the wounds created by the company.

Community awareness

In early 2007 I was contacted by people from two environment groups, Telapak and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).

These groups had come to Seremuk in 2003 and filmed our way of life and the problems we were having with the logging company.

These people explained to me that they were organising a meeting in Belgium to tell European Union officials about the bad impacts of illegal logging and wanted me to speak. I agreed, believing this could benefit our community.

I came across so many interesting stories on the trip.

I found out how timber stolen from Seremuk and other "remote" areas eventually goes to places like Europe and is worth a lot of money. It seemed strange to me that the people who live in the forests are still poor, while the timber taken from them is worth so much when it is sold in Europe.

On the trip, I saw how in Europe NGOs work together with their governments, while in Indonesia they are seen as the enemy of the government.

This made us realise how the Knasaimos people have to develop strong institutions to press the government to have a more open mind, and allow us to manage our land free of interference.

Now, in Seremuk, I'm working to use the lessons of the trip to help improve the situation for the Knasaimos.

At a recent big gathering of our people it was agreed that no member of our community would sell trees to outsiders.

Instead we plan to develop a system where we, the Knasaimos, as the guardians of this land, manage it ourselves and gain benefits to help the lives of our people through better education and health.

We have suffered from illegal logging and now we want to build a co-operative to carry out small-scale community logging.

This is our vision as to how we can live together with nature and improve the lives of our people.

Frederick Sagisolo is traditional chief of the Knasaimos people living in the western region of Papua, Indonesia

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

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Singapore to build S$38.5m research centre for alternative fuel sources

Channel NewsAsia 26 Nov 07;

SINGAPORE : A $38.5m centre is being built in Singapore to develop energy systems using alternative sources like solar, wind and fuel cell technology.

The centre will also research on how alternative energy could supply a power grid.

Fusionopolis will be the headquarters for the Singapore Initiative in New Energy Technologies (SINERGY) Centre.

Due to open next year, the Centre will conduct research on how energy is collected and distributed, by using advanced infocomm technology.

The research is into alternative energy like fuel cells, bio-energy and the next generation of solar panels called solar PV.

Solar PV uses a low cost alternative to silicon and so it can be used for appliances like consumer products needing power - or bigger applications.

Associate Professor Ho Hiang Kwee, Programme Director, Energy Technology R&D Programme, A*STAR, says: "A lot of work has to be done still at the facilities like the SINERGY Centre. We hope that at some point of course the activities will then enable policy reforms and regulatory reforms to take place. We are interacting now with the Energy Market Authority, with Singapore Power Grid. These will be the important organisations to work with."

He adds that technology like solar PV gives Singapore the option whether it wants to hook up to a central power system in the future or chose local systems.

The SINERGY Centre has another testing facility on Jurong Island that will open in two years.

And the Centre will be involved in 10 projects which will share S$8 million in funding over the next three years. - AFP/ch

S'pore gets $46.5m lift for energy research
Tania Tan, Straits Times 27 Nov 07

GREEN energy research in Singapore received a $46.5 million boost yesterday with the establishment of a new centre dedicated to making energy systems work better.

The money includes $8 million worth of grants for 10 projects, which will also focus on beefing up Singapore's energy infrastructure.

The Singapore Initiatives in New Energy Technologies (Sinergy) Centre will help take research from 'lab to life', said Minister of State for Trade and Industry Lee Yi Shyan.

It will do this by transforming cutting-edge science into practical applications, for industries and households alike, he said,

Established by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, the centre will focus on developing alternative energy technologies such as solar, wind and fuel cells.

Slated for completion in 2009, the $38.5 million government- funded centre will be located at both the Fusionopolis and Jurong Island, giving scientists easy access to real-time information as they run their experiments.

Researchers will look at taking full advantage of Singapore's expertise in infocommunications technologies by creating intelligent energy management systems.

'This is a critical investment in Singapore's overall energy research and development efforts, which will transform the way we interact with energy,' said Mr Lee.

Marrying infocomms and energy is a relatively new area of research, which requires innovation in a wide range of areas, including energy storage and distribution.

Ten projects, which will complement research at the Sinergy Centre, will be awarded $8 million in grants over a three-year period, he said.

Mr Lee was speaking at the opening of the inaugural United Kingdom-Singapore Workshop on Energy Technology at the Biopolis.

Held under the auspices of the three-year-old UK-Singapore science partnership, the one-day workshop brings together 12 leading energy experts from both countries, who will share their findings in green energy research.

R&D centre for clean energy launched
Sinergy Centre will be set up by A*STAR with $38.5m funding
Matthew Phan, Business Times 27 Nov 07;

SINGAPORE launched the region's first national R&D test-bedding infrastructure for clean energy solutions yesterday.

The Sinergy - or Singapore Initiatives in New Energy Technologies - Centre will be set up by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) with some $38.5 million of funding.

Sinergy will initially focus on 'distributed energy and microgrid systems' - how to generate power from decentralised sources like solar, biomass, co-generation or other such plants, and link these distributed sources to users via a local electricity grid.

Speaking at the programme's launch at a UK-Singapore workshop on energy technology, Minister of State for Trade and Industry Lee Yi Shyan said the centre will demonstrate and speed up the commercialisation of 'near-market' energy solutions.

Researchers will obtain real-time information and better understand how to 'collectively harness' alternative energy sources, he said.

Current research efforts are disparate and focus on individual technologies, said Dr Ho Hiang Kwee, director of A*STAR's Energy Technology R&D programme. The new centre's aim is to connect various energy suppliers and buyers to learn how to optimise the use of energy within a system, he said.

'We are taking a systems approach rather than looking at particular devices - research towards the latter will still take place at research institutes, but we will bring them together at Sinergy,' he said.

Focusing on the microgrid allows Singapore to leverage strengths in infocomms such as in data security or using artificial intelligence to manage energy demand and supply, said Dr Ho.

Sinergy will be established in two locations. The first, by 2008, will be at Fusionopolis, where six of A*STAR's research institutes will be located.

The Fusionopolis centre will house the command and control facility, as well as a 'relatively small' microgrid facility to test portable power-generation systems.

A second site at Jurong Island will co-locate with A*STAR's Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences. To be ready by 2009, it will accommodate a 'bigger and more comprehensive microgrid system for testing larger distributed energy systems'.

To complement the centre's work, A*STAR has also called for research proposals in Intelligent Energy Distribution Systems.

It has already awarded $8 million to 10 projects in areas like planning and optimising microgrids, measurement and monitoring devices, and power storage.

Similar microgrid test-bedding centres exist in North America and Canada, but so far no commercial-scale project has been rolled out, said Dr Ho.

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Cleaner coal key part of energy supply: environmentalists

Yahoo News 26 Nov 07;

Coal power stations will remain central to the world's energy supply for the next 40 years, but they must slash emissions to avoid pushing up global temperatures, an environmental group said Monday.

The plants could still provide 20 percent of the world's energy needs in 2050 with only a limited rise in temperatures if they used technology that could capture carbon dioxide, said Ina Pozon, co-ordinator of WWF International's Asia Pacific Coal Initiative.

"Governments must get industry to prove the viability of clean coal technologies, otherwise social and environmental impacts of local pollution and global climate change will prohibit large scale use of coal," Pozon said.

The WWF released two reports on Monday that examined whether there could be a reduction in global carbon dioxide emissions by 60 to 80 percent, while still accepting that worldwide energy demand would double by 2050.

The study found that a combination of more renewable energy, drastic efficiency improvement and cleaner coal and gas, could meet the target.

"Asian nations can't just keep relying on coal as a cheap and available source of energy, but need to boost energy efficiency and become serious about renewable energy now," Pozon said.

One of the WWF reports said the true cost of coal in China, if it reflected its full social and environmental impact, would increase by 56 percent from its current price.

The increase would make the cost of coal similar to that of wind technology, the report said.

Currently, coal accounts for about 70 percent of China's primary energy consumption, more than 40 percentage points higher than the world's average.

The reports come days ahead of a key United Nations climate conference in Bali, where world leaders will attempt to produce a roadmap to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

The emissions are blamed for dangerous global temperature rises, which could lead to rising sea levels, increased drought and elimination of thousands of species.

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Renewable energy way forward for poor countries: Germany

Yahoo News 26 Nov 07;

Industrial nations should help poorer nations to develop renewable energy from the wind and sun, Germany's environment minister said Monday, days before a conference on the world's response to climate change.

"Prosperity for everyone is possible and it is compatible with the environment," Sigmar Gabriel said in an interview with Bild newspaper.

"We must put economic growth on a different energy basis, by using renewable energy such as sun and water.

"And we must use energy far more efficiently than before."

Gabriel said Germany could be proud of its stance when it went into the talks on the Indonesian island of Bali starting next week.

"Germany has a pioneering role," he said. "We have not only set ourselves the most ambitious target for climate protection, we are also the only country that will arrive at the conference with a concrete climate protection package, proving that we are taking this target seriously."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made combatting climate change a central goal of her coalition government and has set a goal of reducing carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels.

That exceeds the 20-percent target set by the European Union for the same period.

The December 3-14 conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) must set down a roadmap for negotiations over the next two years that will have to deliver massive emissions cuts beyond 2012 and shore up support for poor countries facing the brunt of climate change.

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Ecuador backs Indonesia bid for forest compensation

Reuters 26 Nov 07

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Ecuador President Rafael Correa on Monday expressed support for Indonesia's calls to have developing nations compensated for preserving forests as part of efforts to reduce greenhouse gases.

Correa said Ecuador and Indonesia, both home to some of the world's richest biodiversity, had agreed to have a common negotiation position at a U.N. climate change conference in Bali next month.

"It is necessary to have a fairness principle in order to face this kind of issue, I mean to compensate countries that are providing this kind of good, environmental good, with high value but without price," Correa told a news conference after a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta.

"We are providing a very valuable good for human life," he said, referring to the forests.

Ecuador has asked for financial compensation from industrialized nation in exchange for forgoing the exploitation of oil fields in the Amazon.

The Indonesian government says it must be given incentives, including a payout of $5-$20 per hectare, to preserve its forests. It also wants to negotiate a fixed price for other forms of biodiversity, including coral reefs.

Indonesia has a total forest area of more than 225 million acres, or about 10 percent of the world's remaining tropical forests.

But the Southeast Asian country has already lost an estimated 72 percent of its original frontier forests.

Participants from 189 countries are expected to gather in the Indonesian resort island of Bali to discuss a new deal to fight global warming. The existing pact, the Kyoto Protocol, runs out in 2012.

(Reporting by Muklis Ali, writing by Ahmad Pathoni, editing by Sugita Katyal)

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