"Green jobs" to outweigh losses from climate change

Alister Doyle, Reuters 6 Dec 07;

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) - Climate change is creating millions of "green jobs" in sectors from solar power to biofuels that will slightly exceed layoffs elsewhere in the economy, a U.N. report said on Thursday.

Union experts at U.N. climate talks in Bali, Indonesia, said the findings might ease worries among many workers that tougher environmental standards could mean an overall loss of jobs for many countries.

"Millions of new jobs are among the many silver, if not indeed gold-plated, linings on the cloud of climate change," Achim Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) said in a statement.

"New research reveals that these jobs are not for just the middle classes -- the so-called 'green collar' jobs -- but also for workers in construction, sustainable forestry and agriculture, engineering and transportation," he said.

The study of "Green Jobs" around the world said that measures to promote ethanol in Brazil, for instance, had created 500,000 jobs. In China, 150,000 people were employed in solar heating, a sector with sales revenues in 2005 of $2.5 billion.

And it said that renewable energy programs in Spain and Germany, such as in promoting wind power, had "already created several hundred thousand jobs".

The environmental industry employed more than 5.3 million people in the United States in 2005, according to a UNEP statement that did not give a breakdown by sector.

"There's every indication that there will be a net gain (in jobs) but probably not a very large net gain," Janos Pasztor, a senior UNEP official, told a news conference in Bali.

NUCLEAR POWER

"The labor intensity of renewables is higher than those of fossil fuels or nuclear power," he said. Jobs could be lost in coal mining, for instance, if the world sought to shift away from fossil fuels.

The study did not try to estimate the total number of jobs that could be created or lost by measures to combat climate change, which U.N. reports project will bring more droughts, floods, heatwaves and rising seas.

"The fears that this will turn into a job killer...are unfounded," said Peter Poschen, a development specialist at the U.N.'s International Labor Organization. "There is a huge opportunity for 'green jobs'."

"Fear of job or livelihood losses...continues to pose a barrier to greater worker involvement," said Lucien Royer of the International Trade Union Confederation, grouping workers in more than 100 nations.

He welcomed the study as confirming past economic theories about net gains in jobs linked to combating global warming.

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Costa Rica plants 5 million trees

Reuters 6 Dec 07;

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (Reuters) - Costa Rica, a leader in eco-tourism and home to some of the world's rarest species, planted its 5 millionth tree of 2007 on Wednesday as it tries to put a brake on global warming.

President Oscar Arias shoveled dirt onto the roots of an oak tree planted in the grounds of his offices, reaching the milestone in the Central American nation's efforts to ward off what some experts say are the first signs of climate change.

By the end of the year, Costa Rica will have planted nearly 6.5 million trees, which should absorb 111,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year, Environment Minister Roberto Dobles said. The country aims to plant 7 million trees in 2008 as part of the newly launched program.

Along with other green-minded nations like Norway and New Zealand, Costa Rica is aiming to reduce its net carbon emissions to zero, and has set a target date of 2021.

"I don't know if we will end up being carbon neutral in 2021 as we have proposed, but the important thing is the audacity of the goal and the work we have to do," Arias said.

Costa Rica is a magnet for ecology-minded tourists who come to visit the lush national parks and reserves that cover more than a quarter of the country and are home to almost 5 percent of the world's plant and animal species including exotic birds and frogs.

Over the last 20 years forest cover in Costa Rica has grown from 26 percent of the national territory to 51 percent, though environmentalists complain that loggers continue to cut down old trees and that the national park system is under funded.

Costa Rican authorities have blamed the loss of more than a dozen amphibian species, including the shiny yellow "golden toad," on higher temperatures caused by global warming.

Experts also say climate change is behind a spike in mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever at high elevations where they were once rare.

The number of dengue fever cases so far this year in Costa Rica's high-altitude central valley stands at 3,487 -- 86 percent higher than in the whole of 2006.

(Reporting by John McPhaul, editing by Eric Walsh)

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China releases Three Gorges water to ease drought

Reuters 6 Dec 07;

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has raised the flow of water from behind its massive Three Gorges Dam to ease a downstream drought that is the worst in half a century, the official Xinhua agency reported on Thursday.

Low rainfall along the upper parts of the Yangtze River, China's longest, meant levels on the middle stretches had retreated 1.5 meters below average, stranding at least 26 cargo ships over the past month.

River authorities issued a warning to shipping about low water levels, and ships had to be checked for weight and unload excess cargo before heading through the drought-stricken section, the report said.

Over 1,000 workers and 100 boats were also digging out silt along the river, which is usually lower over the autumn and winter but replenished by spring floods, Xinhua added.

The flow of water has now increased by more than 5 percent from Tuesday levels, according to the China Three Gorges Project Corporation (CTGPC), raising downstream water levels around half a meter. The extra flow will last at least until next Tuesday.

Large areas of south China are also suffering from serious drought, with water levels on two major rivers -- the Gan and the Xiang -- in rice-growing provinces dropping to historic lows, state media said in November.

China suffers a water shortages of nearly 40 billion cubic meters a year which its Water Minister has blamed largely on global warming, state media have reported, although severe pollution and rising consumption by both farmers and booming cities have compounded shortages.

(Reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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Mangroves help Indonesia fend off climate change

Adhityani Arga, Reuters 6 Dec 07;

SUWUNG KAUH, Indonesia (Reuters) - Dark, foul-smelling mangrove swamps can help Indonesia's coastal communities fend off rising seas and stronger tropical storms caused by climate change, experts say.

As 190 nations meet for December 3-14 U.N. climate talks on the resort island of Bali, looking for ways to broaden a pact to slow down global warming, experts say mangroves are not getting the attention they deserve as a protective coastal barrier.

"Mangroves are a natural way to lessen the severity of the impact (of climate change) to coastal communities," said urban planning and climate change expert Enda Atmawidjaja.

"They are natural sea barriers, and they are also much cheaper then building sea walls made of concrete."

Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of 17,000 islands, is extremely vulnerable to a rise in sea levels, storm surges or more intense tropical storms linked to global warming.

The U.N. climate panel says seas could rise by 18 to 59 cms (7-23 inches) by 2100. More than 40 million of Indonesia's 220 million population live less than 10 meters above sea level.

Mangroves are trees and shrubs that grow along a saline strip along the coast, now and then swamped by tides. The thin roots provide a habitat for shrimps and small fish, break up waves and hold back silt and soil from that damage coral reefs.

Mangroves can keep rising seas at bay to a certain extent, giving communities more time to adjust. The trees can help people cope with heatwaves and help break up waves in the event of a tropical storm.

DEFORESTED

But decades of rampant development along Indonesia's 57,000 kms (35,000 miles) coastline have left nearly 70 percent of its 5 million hectares (12 million acres) of mangrove forests deforested or degraded, scientist Hiroyuki Hatori told Reuters.

"Indonesia is the world's number one country in terms of mangroves. Some statistics say that 25 percent of the world's mangrove exist in Indonesia," said Hatori. "However in many areas of Indonesia mangroves are fast receding."

Like in many parts of Indonesia, vast swathes of mangrove forest in "the neck of Bali", a strip of land that connects a tiny peninsula in the south to the main part of the island, were turned into shrimp ponds during a boom in the 1980s.

But the ponds were soon abandoned, leaving large areas barren. Scientists later discovered that violent waves were chipping away at the coast, sparking fears that lower part of the island could be cut off in a decade's time.

A government project sponsored by Japan's development arm set off in the early 1990s to restore the area's vast mangroves, filling about 1,000 hectares of land with nearly 20 types of mangrove.

It became the first big-scale restoration project in Indonesia, with a mangrove nursery supplying free saplings to 18 restoration projects across Indonesia.

Today, project head Sasmitohadi said Indonesia has made giant leaps in its effort to preserve mangrove forests, but the increasing demand for settlements in the world's fourth most populous nation is putting pressure on the mangrove forests.

"To be honest, human beings are the biggest threat to mangroves," Sasmitohadi said. Small-scale conversion into shrimp and fish ponds also continue to pose a threat to mangroves.

"Indonesia should step up its conservation efforts for the world's next generation," Hatori said. "There are only 18 million hectares of mangrove forests left in the world, once degraded, it would be difficult to recover."

(Editing by Alister Doyle)

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Half of Amazon could be gone by 2030

Paul Eccleston, The Telegraph 6 Dec 07;

More than half of the Amazon rainforest could disappear or be damaged by climate change and deforestation by 2030, a new report warns.

At the same time the clearing of forests to make way for crops and livestock could release almost 100 billion tonnes of CO2 - the equivalent of more than two years of total global greenhouse gas emissions.

The destruction would threaten one of the key influences on helping keep the global climate cool, according to the WWF report.

It warns that the future of the Amazon is on a knife-edge and if logging and the spread of farming is allowed to continue unchecked - fuelled by world demand for soya, biofuel, and meat - the forests will be caught up in a vicious spiral of slash and burn leading to a dramatic reduction in rainfall.

The report, The Amazon's Vicious Cycles: Drought and Fire in the Greenhouse, was released to coincide with the Bali climate summit.

WWF used the report's findings to call for measures which would reduce cattle ranching and farming and expand protected areas.

Dan Nepstad, Senior Scientist at the Woods Hole Research Centre in Massachusetts, and the report's author, said: "The importance of the Amazon forest for the globe's climate cannot be underplayed.

"It's not only essential for cooling the world's temperature but also such a large source of freshwater that it may be enough to influence some of the great ocean currents, and on top of that it's a massive store of carbon."
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The report claims that changes already under way in the Amazon are much further ahead than had been predicted and will lead to extensive conversion and degradation over the next 15-25 years.

As much as 55 per cent of the forests could be lost or damaged by agriculture and livestock expansion, fire, drought and logging.

An ecological tipping point would be reached when a combination of all these factors would reduce pristine rainforest to fireprone brush with a consequent loss of biodiversity and the chances of conserving the forest greatly reduced.

Forests that burn are more susceptible to further burning because the loss of trees allows more sunlight to reach the forest interior, drying dead leaves and branches on the forest floor.

The loss of the Amazon forests could speed up global climatic disruption, influencing the amount of rainfall in far-flung places around the planet.

Some models indicate that rainfall could decline in India and Central America, and that less rain may fall during the crop growing season in the grain belts of Brazil and the United States of America.

If the trends continue important eco-regions of the Amazon, such as the Maranhão babaçu forest, the Marañon dry forest and the cloud forests of Bolivia would be lost and many species of animal, including several primates, will lose more than 80 per cent of their forest habitat over the next few decades.

Beatrix Richards, head of forests at WWF-UK. said: "The Amazon is on a knife edge due to the dual threats of deforestation and climate change.

"Developed countries have a key role to play in throwing a lifeline to forests around the world.

"At the international negotiations currently underway in Bali governments must agree a process which results in ambitious global emission reduction targets beyond the current phase of Kyoto which ends in 2012. Crucially this must include a strategy to reduce emissions from forests and help break the cycle of deforestation."

The report called for a bold new conservation strategy for the Amazon which would avoid the tipping point and allow the forests to rapidly regrow.

Freed from the slash and burn policy and properly protected, the Amazon would return to closed-canopy forest and would recover its rainfall stabilisation role within 15 years.

The report concludes: "There is still time to lower the risk of widespread forest degradation and the acceleration of global warming that it would stimulate.

"All opportunities to govern Amazon frontier expansion must be seized. One of the most promising approaches to the large-scale conservation of Amazon forests is to compensate tropical nations for their reductions in heat-trapping gas emissions from tropical forests."

LINK

Climate change speeds up Amazon’s destruction on the WWF website

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Australian PM distances himself from big emissions cuts by 2020

Yahoo News 6 Dec 07;

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Thursday denied his government would support deep carbon emission cuts for developing nations by 2020 aimed at curbing global warming.

Rudd said Australia remained opposed to the binding cuts of between 25 and 40 percent in the next 12 years, despite reports that Australian officials had publicly embraced the plan at a major UN climate change conference in Bali.

Speaking after his cabinet's first meeting in the eastern city of Brisbane, Rudd told reporters his government was opposed to the target, which originated from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change earlier this year.

"(Nations) have ... indicated that they do not necessarily accept those targets, nor do they accept those targets as binding targets for themselves," he said.

"That is also the position of the Australian government," he added, days before flying to Bali to attend the conference along with four of his senior ministers and just after he moved to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

Two major Australian newspaper groups reported earlier Thursday that Australian representatives to the Bali conference had told delegates that Canberra "fully supports" the proposal that developed countries need to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 25 to 40 percent by 2020.

Environmental groups had praised the reported announcement, while Australia's new opposition said such a move would have a "devastating impact" on the country's economy.

Rudd had earlier repeatedly said Australia would not set its own 2020 target until he received a report he has commissioned from his climate change economic specialist next year.

The prime minister, who has set a 2050 target for cutting greenhouse gas pollution by 60 percent, said Thursday he would wait for the report before setting short-term targets.

"I think speculation on individual numbers prior to that is not productive and I would suggest it would be better for all concerned if we waited for the outcome of that properly deliberated document," Rudd said.

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Johor on red alert as floods hit

Meera Vijayan and Farik Zolkepli, The Star 6 Dec 07;

JOHOR BARU: Continuous rainfall over the last 24 hours has caused floods in five districts in Johor.

As at 2pm Thursday, over 1,000 victims had been evacuated in Johor Baru, Segamat, Batu Pahat, Kota Tinggi and Kluang. The Meteorological Services Department has also upgraded its heavy rain warning from orange to red for Kelantan, Terengganu and northern Pahang, and advised the people to be on alert for floods.

The red stage warning refers to tropical storm or typhoon with sustained wind speed of at least 60kmph accompanied by moderate to heavy rain, while orange stage means moderate monsoon rain is occurring and expected to continue for several hours.

A bridge from Labis to Segamat near Sungai Karas has been cut off and was accessible only to heavy vehicles.

Johor Police Chief Dep Comm Datuk Hussin Ismail said that police had opened their 24-hour flood operations room as of 8am on Thursday.

“We are prepared for the floods and all our men are on standby,” he said.

State Women, Family and Community Development Committee chairman Dr Robia Kosai said that the Welfare Department had already sent out food and emergency supplies to all districts as of Wednesday.

“The supplies have even been sent out to the islands off Mersing and interior areas like Kampung Peta in Endau-Rompin,” she confirmed.

For more information, the public can contact the police hotline at 07) 221-6393 and the Fire and Rescue Department hotline at 07) 224-7444.

The Meteorological Services Department also issued a first category warning on strong winds and rough seas for the coastal waters off Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, east Johor, Sarawak and Sabah. The first category warning shows strong northesterly winds of 4050kmph with waves up to 3.5m.

Hundreds in Johor evacuated as flooding fears rise
Authorities in two states on full alert as heavy rain tipped to continue
Straits Times 7 Dec 07;

JOHOR BARU - HUNDREDS of people on the outskirts of Johor Baru and surrounding areas were evacuated yesterday from their homes as continuous rainfall since Wednesday night flooded five districts.

More than 1,000 people have been evacuated in Johor Baru, Segamat, Batu Pahat, Kota Tinggi and Kluang. Segamat is in north Johor while the other districts are in the central and southern parts of the Malaysian state.

The authorities are on full alert in Johor and Pahang. The two states suffered widespread flooding after heavy rain last December and January, with 110,000 people evacuated.

Those floods caused damage estimated at more than RM100 million (S$43 million).

A resident of Masai, Mr Arbain Wahab, 67, said he had not expected the water to rise so quickly as the rain was not that heavy on Wednesday morning.

'The water suddenly came up to my chest level...there was no time to save many things,' he said.

Social welfare officer Manayi Ibrahim was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency that eight relief centres had been opened in Johor Baru, with two more in Kota Tinggi.

The Malay-language Utusan Malaysia daily said more than 1,000 families living in low-lying areas had been warned they might be evacuated if the rain continued.

The Meteorological Services Department has issued a 'red' alert to residents in Johor and southern Pahang as weather forecasts predicted torrential rain for three days starting from yesterday.

It also upgraded its heavy-rain warning from 'orange' to 'red' for the northern states of Kelantan, Terengganu and northern Pahang.

The red alert is the highest level in a three-stage warning system.

The red alert refers to tropical storms or typhoons with sustained wind speeds of at least 60kmh together with moderate to heavy rain, while 'orange' refers to moderate monsoon rain.

Meteorological Services Department deputy director-general Che Gayah Ismail said: 'Such heavy rain can cause floods. However, it may not be as bad as last year's floods.'

Johor Civil Defence Department director Che Othman Hussin said rescue teams had been deployed to monitor the situation in flooded areas.

'We are ready for the possibility of floods, and we can deploy our teams at any time,' he was quoted as saying by Utusan Malaysia.

Johor police chief Hussin Ismail said police opened a 24-hour flood operations room yesterday.

'We are prepared for the floods, and all our men are on standby,' he said.

Meanwhile, residents in low-lying areas in Sarawak have been told to prepare for the possibility of floods between Dec 22 and 29.

Bernama also reported that Sarawak has placed 6,000 rescue officers on standby, identified 584 temporary relief centres that could shelter more than 200,000 people and prepared more than 1,000 boats and 3,410 life jackets.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

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Bali Conference: Diplomats warned that climate change is security issue, not a green dilemma

Daniel Howden, The Independent 6 Dec 07;

Foreign policy-makers are waking up to the impact of climate change on conflict zones worldwide, and will add their voice to those calling on governments at the UN conference in Bali to act urgently.

An internal presentation to senior diplomats at the Foreign Office listed every recent, serious breakdown of civil order around the world and mapped it against those countries hardest hit by climate change.

The fit was almost perfect. One of the diplomats present said there was an "audible intake of breath" from the audience when the slide was shown.

As the scientific debate has been unequivocally settled by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change this year, it has become increasingly apparent that its effects will have major implications for foreign policy.

"Climate change presents an enormous challenge to the international community, and unless we respond effectively we won't be able to deal with the implications," said John Ashton, the UK's special representative for climate change. "We need to see how we can use the assets at our disposal to something about it."

Those assets include the know-how to build international coalitions, and the kind of influence over governmental decision-making that environment ministers can only dream of. Analysts point out that while environment experts know how to make emissions trading work, it's a "political fact" that you get a quicker response to a security crisis.

Delegations from some 190 countries began talks on the Indonesian island of Bali yesterday, aimed at agreeing a "road map" for a successor to the Kyoto protocol. There are concerns that, despite scientific and business consensus on the urgent need for deep cuts to carbon emissions, Bali will be simply more talks about talks.

From rising sea levels in the Indian Ocean to the increasing spread of desert in Africa's Sahel region and water shortages in the Middle East, global warming will cause new wars across the world and is being described by diplomats as a "threat multiplier" – adding new stress to areas of traditional geopolitical instability.

Mr Ashton was brought into the Foreign Office by the former foreign secretary Margaret Beckett last year as a "climate-change ambassador" to try to instil a sense of urgency on the issue in the diplomatic service. Britain also used its presidency of the UN Security Council to lead its first debate on climate change and conflict. "What makes wars start?" asked Mrs Beckett. "Fights over water. Changing patterns of rainfall. Fights over food production, land use. There are few greater potential threats... to peace and security itself."

Those sentiments were echoed in June by the head of the UN Environment Programme, Achim Steiner, who launched a report revealing the environmental roots of the conflict in Darfur.

Mr Steiner said global warming would produce new wars. "People are being pushed into other people's terrain by the changing climate and it is leading to conflict," he said.

"Societies are not prepared for the scale and the speed with which they will have to decide what they will do with people."

How 'climate proofing' could prevent conflict

Were global carbon emissions to be cut by half today, any mitigating effects on climate change would take at least two decades to appear. In the short term we are locked into global warming, so efforts to "climate proof" the nations set to be hit hardest by it is one of the biggest tasks facing the UN, and the most effective means of reducing the likelihood of climate-driven wars.

Schemes to mute the impact of climate change, such as wider use of drought-resistant crops, irrigation or better forecasting of storm surges, could help protect hundreds of millions of people.

In parts of Sudan, for instance, a study showed that a shift to small-scale irrigated vegetable gardens and efforts to stabilise sand dunes had raised food output.

For Uruguay and Argentina, the report urged "a review of coastal and city defences, and of early-warning systems and flood-response strategies" along the river Plate. In Gambia, a projected decline in rainfall this century is likely to cut yields of millet. Cases of dengue fever in the Caribbean could triple, and better education about the risks could help. "Adaptation is not an option – it's essential," said Neil Leary of the International Start Secretariat in Washington, who led the studies.

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Thin-film solar sheets seek time in the sun

Richard Dobson, Reuters 6 Dec 07;

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Soaring oil prices approaching $100 a barrel are fueling a sleek new kind of solar technology that could some day set skyscrapers and high-rise apartment windows quietly buzzing with renewable energy production.

The emerging technology uses thin films mounted on the glass windows of skyscrapers and other surfaces to harness the sun's power.

It's more aesthetic and cheaper than the bulkier conventional solar cells made from polycrystalline silicon whose supplies have tightened and prices have risen as solar energy has taken off.

Current thin-film surfaces generate less power per area than traditional polysilicon modules, but they also use less polysilicon then conventional cells making them attractive to some of the world's top solar panel makers.

"Silicon is in short supply. This is a very critical issue so at the moment we are focusing on thin-film investment," said Tatsuo Saga, deputy general manager of Japan's Sharp Corp solar systems, one of the world's leading solar panel makers.

Thin-film is cheaper to produce, more durable and more aesthetic than bulky solar panels, which are often accused of being eyesores. The transparent sheets can serve as facades for skyscrapers and housing roofs where they absorb the sun's rays and turn it into energy.

"One big advantage of the thin film products is that they don't have to use too many raw materials and they are much cheaper than silicon solar wafers," said Robin Cheng, an analyst at UBS Securities.

The potential has attracted major solar energy players such as German-based Q-Cells AG as well as the likes of industrial giants like Applied Materials Inc, the world's biggest maker of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, which see big growth potential in thin-film machinery.

Thin film solar cells use much less silicon -- which accounts for between 40-50 percent of a module's costs -- than traditional crystalline silicon cells which require 200 times more silicon.

Thin film's advantage comes in its low price in terms of production costs as well as its ability to serve as attractive transparent panels on large buildings.

"We are sure in the years to come we'll have the same sized (products) as architectural glass," said Winfried Hoffmann chief technology officer of Applied Materials' solar business group at an event in Taipei.

HALF-BAKED?

Despite thin film's promise, the technology still faces many challenges, said Jerry Yang, vice president of United Solar Ovonic Corp, a U.S. company.

In terms of generating efficiency rates, or the percentage amount of power made from the available sunlight, thin film modules average around 6 percent. That is less than half of the 15 percent for traditional crystalline silicon cells, according to Solarbuzz LLC, a solar energy research and consulting company.

"A lot of work needs to be done to expand the market, reduce costs and improve the efficiency," said Yang. "Our product efficiency is 8 percent. Within a short time we will reach 8.5 or even 9 percent. That's our goal."

The pay-off is in the lower cost.

Thin film module prices were being sold in Europe in November for $3.69 per watt compared to $4.29 per watt for the lowest priced traditional multicrystalline module of similar power sold in the United States, according to a Solarbuzz survey.

"The lower retail prices are making companies interested in the technology as an alternative. However, there is a large capital expenditure to build a thin-film plant and the solar power conversion rates are low," according to KGI Securities researchers in Taipei.

"It's still too early to know if it can be a profitable technology in the future, as we'll have to see if the conversion rate can be boosted and also how many players enter the market, which will affect competitiveness," said KGI.

Obstacles aside, many believe that thin-film efficiency will steadily rise, possibly reaching 15 percent, with improving technology to take a bigger share of the solar energy market.

Thin-film solar cells could account for up to 30 percent of the global solar cell market by 2010, from around 7 percent in 2006, according to estimates compiled by Taiwan's E-Ton Solar.

Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp plans to boost its thin-film solar cell production capacity from 15 megawatts per year to 1,000 megawatts (MW) by 2010 with the construction of a massive plant in Sakai City.

No investment figure was available from Sharp, but rising costs of silicon are making the new technology more attractive.

The lure of thin film is spreading, with firms across the industry getting involved with the technology, including Taiwan's Motech Industries, China's Suntech Power Holdings and Germany's SCHOTT Solar. Chi Mei Optoelectronics, Taiwan's No. 2 maker of LCD panels, also recently said it was entering the thin-film business.

Germany's Q-Cells has invested aggressively in companies producing or planning to produce thin-film technologies, buying as Calyxo GMBH and Brilliant 234 GMBH, with annual capacity of 25 MW and 24 MW, respectively, by the first quarter of 2008.

(Additional reporting by Baker Li)

(Editing by Doug Young and Megan Goldin)

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Pedal power and recycling at UN meet buck the trend in Indonesia

Charlie McDonald-Gibson, Yahoo News 6 Dec 07;

Rubbish is generally cast aside with little thought for the environment in Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, while exhaust-belching traffic clogs the roads in big cities.

But among the lush manicured lawns of the Nusa Dua resort on the island of Bali, delegates at a key United Nations climate change conference are being treated to a different vision of a greener Indonesia.

Eco-friendly bicycles glide along the thoroughfares linking the luxury resorts, while representatives from nearly 190 nations are encouraged to think before they throw away their lunch wrappers and superfluous schedules.

"The bicycles, they are handy, delegates are using them ... they are faster than walking, and they are environmentally friendly," said Salwa Dallalah, the UN's conference coordinator.

She told AFP that the UN had worked with the Indonesian government to make the 11-day conference as green as possible.

That is not an easy task when about 10,000 people are gathering, trying to negotiate a plan for tackling climate change when the current phase of the Kyoto Protocol -- a treaty to battle global warming -- expires in 2012.

Special bins dotted around the conference centre divide plastic and paper, where some delegates can be seen hovering before deciding where to deposit their waste.

Indonesians outside the conference walls have other ideas for disposing of rubbish.

"We put everything into the hole which I share with my neighbours, and every day we burn it," said Kadek Murtini, a 27-year-old street vendor in Bali's main city of Denpasar.

While some Denpasar residents say they pay rubbish collectors to haul away their refuse, scavenging for valuable waste is something of an industry in Indonesia.

Teenager Romli makes his living picking up what other people throw away.

"I go everyday from 5am until 3pm around the city. I collect plastic, and all kinds of tin, aluminium and papers," he tells AFP. "I take everything to my boss and he measures the weight and I get the money."

Romli is not sure where the toils of his labour end up, and the concept of formal recycling has yet to take off.

"I've never heard about (recycling). It must be high technology with big machines," said shop owner Nyoman Sudarna.

Previous investigations by local environmental groups have found that many residents in Jakarta dispose of waste directly into rivers and canals, while old vehicles ply the capital, contributing to the choking pollution.

But delegates enjoyed lungfuls of clean air in Bali on the free bicycles.

Angela Anderson, of US-based group the National Environment Trust, dismounted her yellow bicycle looking slightly breathless, and said she felt "a little overwhelmed and a little exhilarated".

"It's wonderful, the distances are close enough that it is convenient, and it saves a lot of unnecessary emissions. And some of us get exercise that they would not have got otherwise," she told AFP.

Jenny Farmer, from the Ugandan delegation, sized up which bike to take on a short hop, and was full of praise for Bali's roads.

"Compared to Uganda, they are amazing. There are no pot holes, and people stop at traffic lights," she said.

But despite the best of intentions, there are pitfalls to pedal-power.

Attendants at the bike drop-off said they were having to start closing up early after 13 bikes "went missing" on the first day.

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Carbon footprint fears for UN climate summit
Charles Clover, Telegraph 2 Dec 07;

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Best of our wild blogs: 6 Dec 07

8 Dec upcoming RMBR gallery: a guided walk in aid of ACRES
focusing on wildlife trade in Singapore, on the toddycats blog

Long weekend at Pulau Ubin
and lots seen and done on the tidechaser blog

Ubin Sensory Trail
antics on the above and under sea forest blog

Daily Green Actions: 4 Dec
a hand-powered generator sheds some light on lights-out?
on the leafmonkey blog

Little Heron's nest
on the bird ecology blog

US Carbon Rally for Singapore?
thoughts on the champions of the environment blog

Wait for costs to come down before adopting solar energy?
Some thoughts on the AsiaIsGreen blog

Bali's magic fuel
Water? or what? on the reuters environmental blog

Wild Happenings on Habitatnews!
Siva says many kind words on habitatnews

Read more!

Retain scenic trees in South Buona Vista Rd

Letter from Chong Kuan Mui (Ms), Straits Times Forum 6 Dec 07

I WAS shocked to learn of the Singapore Land Authority (SLA)'s intention to fell 63 Albizia trees along South Buona Vista Road, at the foot of Kent Ridge Park.

Although there are about 25ha of state land in that area, the trees are concentrated in pockets of green. Some have been around for 20-30 years. To fell so many trees in one go means deforesting the area.

Even though there have been instances of these trees falling and taking innocent lives, this should not warrant that every one of them be removed.

South Buona Vista Road is very scenic and it would be such a pity if so many trees are felled. It would not only destroy the beauty of the place but also the natural habitat of rare species of birds and other wildlife.

SLA should have the trees, be they the Albizia or any other, inspected and fell them only if they are diseased or in danger of snapping. It should not take the easy way out.

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