China, India among worst environmental performers: study

Yahoo News 23 Jan 08;

European countries and some Latin American nations topped an environmental scorecard released Wednesday in Davos, way ahead of the United States and emerging economies like China and India.

Switzerland, host of the annual World Economic Forum gathering, led the list of top environmental performers compiled by experts at Yale and Columbia universities in the United States.

Three northern European countries -- Sweden, Norway and Finland -- came next, followed by Costa Rica. Another Latin American state, Colombia, was ranked ninth -- just ahead of France.

The scorecard ranked 149 countries according to their success in meeting broadly-accepted targets in such policy categories as environmental health, air pollution and water resources.

While acknowledging that wealth was a major determinant, the study highlighted the disparity in ranking between Costa Rica (5th) and neighbouring Nicaragua (77th) as a demonstration that "policy choices also affect performance."

It also stressed the lowly ranking of the United States, which wound up in 39th place, significantly behind other industrialised countries like Britain (14th) and Japan (21st).

"Poor scores on air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions dragged down the overall US rank," it said.

The environmental cost of soaring economic growth in Asian giants China and India were reflected in their lowly rankings. China placed 105th with Indian even further back in 120th position.


Switzerland Tops Environmental Index, US Lags
PlanetArk 24 Jan 08;

DAVOS, Switzerland - Switzerland ranks first in environmental performance but the world's largest economy, the United States, lags many industrialised nations, a report drawn up by US university experts said on Wednesday.

Switzerland scored top marks among 149 countries measured in six environmental areas including air pollution, water quality and how they control industrial pollution, according to the 2008 Environmental Performance Index released at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

Sweden came second in the ranking, compiled by environmental experts at Yale University and Columbia University, followed by Norway, Finland and Costa Rica.

The United States, dragged down by poor scores on greenhouse gas emissions and the impact of air pollution on ecosystems, placed 39th, far behind other developed states like the United Kingdom in 14th and Japan in 21st.

"The United States' performance indicates that the next administration must not ignore the ecosystem impacts of environmental as well as agricultural, energy and water management policies," Gus Speth, dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, said in a statement.

The U.S ranking -- below Albania, Russia and Panama -- was "a national disgrace," Speth said.

(Reporting by Sam Cage; Editing by Michael Winfrey)

LINKS

Yale and ES Project on Climate Change

Read more!

Armed Forces Face Strain of Climate Change - Report

Jeremy Lovell, PlanetArk 23 Jan 08;

LONDON - Security forces round the world will face tough new challenges as climate change unleashes violent storms, raises sea levels and causes floods and famines, a new report said on Thursday.

Up to 200 million people could become environmental refugees by the middle of the century, bringing to one billion the number of people displaced by conflicts, natural disasters and large development projects, the Oxford Research Group report said.

"It is crucial that governments begin to take steps now towards developing effective policy solutions for the police, security services and military to help them adapt to the new and changing demands," said author Chris Abbott.

"However, they must resist the temptation to use force to try and control insecurity and maintain the status quo. In this instance, prevention really is the only cure," he added.

The Oxford Research Group is an independent think-tank that regularly issues reports on global security issues. Abbott's report is titled "An uncertain future -- law enforcement, national security and climate change."

While climate-related events will put new strains on the security services, governments' responses to global warming could give rise to militant environmental groups using terror tactics to make their points, the report said.

"In the US, the FBI ... currently consider 'eco-terrorism' to be one of the most serious domestic terrorism threats," the report said, noting an upsurge in violent rhetoric among a small group of environmental extremists.

It said the melting of ice caused by rising temperatures could raise sea levels by at least one metre this century and that more than 17 million Bangladeshis lived in that danger zone.

Key military bases such as the major US base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean could also be swamped by rising sea levels.

The report said food, water and energy -- essential for human survival -- were already in short supply in many parts of the world and shortages would worsen as populations grew and weather patterns changed.

Scientists say global average temperatures will rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius this century as a result of the burning of fossil fuels for transport and power generation.

The developing world insists that the rich developed nations which have caused most of the pollution do most to reduce the harmful emissions.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has on several occasions referred to climate change as an act of aggression by the rich against the poor, the report notes.

But climate change also has the potential to change the world in both geographical and political terms as coastlines retreat, island nations are swamped and national borders are put under pressure, it said.

New disputes may also arise as melting ice opens up viable shipping routes through the Arctic such as the Northwest Passage, where there is already tension between Canada and the United States, the report said.

(Reporting by Jeremy Lovell; editing by Tim Pearce)

New security threats caused by climate change
The Telegraph 23 Jan 08;

Climate change over the coming decades will create new security threats both in Britain and overseas, a report has warned.

As higher temperatures cause sea levels to rise and weather patterns to change, the world faces the prospect of wars over resources like water and food, according to the document.

There will also be pressure from hundreds of millions of "environmental refugees" fleeing their devastated homelands, said the paper from the Oxford Research Group.

And in Britain, police and security services may have to cope with demands for tougher border controls, potentially violent protests against polluting companies and intercommunal tensions.

Resistance to Government measures to mitigate global warming, on top of the additional burden of policing new laws to limit greenhouse gases, is also a possibility.

Author Chris Abbott, a fellow of Bristol University's Centre for Governance and International Affairs, warned that attempts to tackle these new problems using existing strategies are doomed to failure.

He called for leadership from politicians to develop new co-operative approaches which focus on preventing and managing climate change.

"If governments simply respond with traditional attempts to maintain the status quo and control insecurity they will ultimately fail," wrote Mr Abbott.

"In today's globalised world, using military force to secure resources overseas, while attempting to create a fortress state at home, will not work - despite the potential attraction of such policies for governments faced with such an uncertain future.

"The security consequences of climate change will not just manifest themselves 'over there'; there will be domestic security concerns for both developed and developing nations alike.

"Leadership within the police, security services and military will need to use their considerable influence to make this clear to policy-makers and impress upon them the importance of taking steps now to prevent and manage climate change, rather than relying on force to try and control the insecurity later."

It is "almost certain" that, by 2050, droughts, food shortages and flooding will lead to the mass movement of up to 200 million environmental refugees, warned the paper, entitled An Uncertain Future: Law Enforcement, National Security and Climate Change.

This will inevitably lead to "kneejerk" demands for tighter border controls which are "unlikely to succeed in the long-term".

The rapid rise in immigration will impose additional burdens on police and is likely to lead to changes in rates and types of crimes, due to cultural differences over offences like drink-driving and knife crime, said Mr Abbott.

But he said it was vital to recognise that people driven from their homes by changing weather are refugees with a right to support and protection.

Citing the flawed response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, Mr Abbott warned that any failure by the authorities to respond to extreme weather events may lead to the public "losing confidence in the Government's ability to protect them".

Emergency services will face "massive demands" from extreme weather events.

But "Draconian" official measures to protect and provide for populations could lead to resentment, resistance and a breakdown of trust in the police, particularly if they are seen as protecting the interests of the political and financial elites, he said.

And fringe elements of environmental movements may resort to "violence and sabotage", or even terrorist tactics, aimed at governments and corporations regarded as not doing enough to halt climate change.

While it is "unlikely" that wars over resources will be fought in Europe or North America, increasing scarcity could spark inter-communal violence, right-wing protests and racially-motivated attacks on immigrants.

Meanwhile, there will be greater demands on the military to take part in peacekeeping and disaster relief operations, as the very countries most likely to be affected by climate change have weak and fragile states with limited capacity to respond effectively.

Climate change could act as a "threat multiplier" in strategically important areas of the world already plagued by instability, like the Horn of Africa and the Persian Gulf.

Rising sea levels and melting ice-caps will redraw physical boundaries, potentially forcing the evacuation of island nations like Tuvalu in the South Pacific and causing tensions over new shipping routes through the Arctic, like the North-West Passage.

And the military could face a huge bill relocating strategic defence assets based on coastlines and low-lying islands - like the US airbase on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean - as well as coping with the impact of extreme environmental conditions on equipment and personnel.

The report called for extensive construction of disaster protection measures like flood defences, "massive and sustained" funding for renewable energy and international agreement on the management of environmental refugees.

It also demands consideration of the effects of climate change in foreign aid programmes and more research on the areas of instability most vulnerable to global warming.

And it concluded: "In the long-term, the risks of climate change demand a rethink of current approaches to security and the development of co-operative and sustainable ways of achieving that security, with an emphasis on preventative rather than reactive strategies.

"While this may seem like a huge task, the seriousness of the threat means that it is wholly necessary, and must be started now."

Read more!

EU Climate Change Plans Get Cool Reception

Jeremy Lovell, PlanetArk 24 Jan 08;

LONDON - Activists and environmentalists reacted cooly on Wednesday to the European Commission's new plans to cut climate warming carbon emissions by one-fifth and boost energy from renewables like wind, waves and sun by 2020.

The Commission's plans will implement renewable energy and emissions-cutting targets agreed by EU leaders last March, and need approval by member states and the European Parliament.

But the 20 percent greenhouse gas emissions cuts are well below the 25-40 percent target the developed world agreed at a UN meeting on the Indonesian island of Bali last month.

"The promising parts of this energy package are overshadowed by a greenhouse gas target that falls well short of what is needed," said Friends of the Earth campaigner Sonja Meister. "Reducing greenhouse gases by only 20 per cent is simply not enough. The EU must live up to the agreements made in Bali."

Environmentalists and business welcomed the boost to renewables given by the committment to get 20 percent of all EU energy from these sources by 2020, and called on governments to make the money and conditions available to make it happen.

But activists rejected the EU's plan to get 10 percent of road fuels from agriculture as unworkable and unsustainable, noting the vast swathes of rain forest that have already been cut down to make way for production of so-called biofuels.

"The EU target for biofuels is a mistake. Biomass is more efficiently used for electricity and heat production, rather than to fuel high-consumption cars," said Greenpeace renewables campaigner Frauke Thies.

Campaigners welcomed the changes proposed in the EU's carbon emissions trading scheme from 2013, specifically that power generators will have to pay for their pollution permits. Currently the power utilities are given the permits free of charge, although they have charged consumers the price the permits fetch on the open market thereby earning themselves billions of dollars in windfall profits.

But the activists criticised proposed loopholes for smokestack industries facing competition from countries outside the 27-nation bloc with no such anti-pollution measures.

"In exempting these sectors from auctioning until 2020, the Commission is starting from the negative assumption that no other countries will introduce binding measures to reduce emissions," said Green Europarliamentarian Caroline Lucas.

Industry lobbyists had threatened that if they faced strong extra carbon costs they would simply relocate outside Europe.

Scientists warn that global average temperatures will rise by between 1.8 and 4.0 degrees Celsius this century due to burning fossil fuels for power and transport, causing floods and famines and putting millions of lives at risk.

Despite the criticisms, the EU hopes its package of emissions control measures, the most far reaching of any to date, will act as a spur to action by other major polluters including the United States and China. (Editing by James Jukwey)

EU plan sets out cuts for CO2 emissions
Aoife White, Associated Press Yahoo News 22 Jan 08;

The European Union's plan for tackling climate change calls for imposing emissions cuts on member states, building more windmills and making it costlier for major polluters, according to documents to be unveiled Wednesday.

The proposals by the European Commission, the bloc's administrative body, are intended to get emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases linked to global warming down a fifth by 2020 — as pledged by leaders of the 27 EU nations last year.

Draft documents obtained by The Associated Press describe Europe and the rest of the world as being at a crossroads in dealing with global warming. The documents call for "decisive and immediate action" in developing homegrown renewable power sources.

But EU officials acknowledge their approach will carry a high cost — at least 0.5 percent of the bloc's gross domestic product, some $80 billion a year — and likely see electricity prices go up.

Businesses warned last week that driving up costs could make them less competitive in world markets. EU trade unions said they were worried by the risk of major job losses if companies move abroad, saying 50,000 jobs in the steel sector along were at risk.

The documents insist the spending envisioned by the plan would be balanced by a $72 billion reduction in the EU's bill for oil and natural gas imports. They also say forcing cuts in emissions and energy use would give Europe a boost in the race to produce energy-efficient goods and renewable power technology for export.

Richer nations would have to do the most to rein in emissions, while some poorer countries, such as EU newcomer Romania, would be allowed to increase emissions as their economies expanded. No country would have to cut emissions by more than a fifth from 1990 levels.

The plan envisions getting a fifth of the EU's energy needs from renewable power by 2020, up from 85 percent in 2004.

Many European countries would have to rapidly ramp up their amount of wind, solar or hydro power to hit new binding targets. Britain, which generated 1.3 percent of its energy from renewable sources in 2005, is expected to be ordered to increase that to 15 percent.

Hydropower-rich Sweden, meanwhile, already is close to 40 percent, while Denmark's wind farms provided 17 percent of its energy.

Associated Press writers Jan Sliva, Barbara Schaeder and Paul Ames contributed to this report.

FACTBOX: The EU's energy and climate plan
Reuters 23 Jan 08;

(Reuters) - The European Commission presented on Wednesday draft reforms to the European Union's energy sector to aid the climate change fight, based on targets agreed by EU leaders last March.

Following are the main elements in the plan, which must be approved by member states and the European Parliament.

OVERALL GOALS

* 20 percent reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases in 2020 compared to 1990 levels. The cut would be increased to 30 percent if there is an international climate change deal

* 20 percent of energy demand to be sourced from renewables such as solar, wind, wave, hydro and biomass by 2020, versus 8.5 percent now

* 10 percent of biofuels in transport fuel

COSTS AND BENEFITS -- EUROPEAN COMMISSION

* Overall cost estimated at about 0.5 percent of GDP or 60 billion euros ($86.53 billion) a year

* Electricity prices to rise 10-15 percent by 2020

* Reduction of energy imports worth 50 billion euros a year

* Reduced need for air pollution control, saving 11 billion euros a year by 2020

* Spur innovation in energy sector, efficiency improvements, global political leadership on fighting climate change

EMISSIONS TRADING FROM 2013-2020

* Emissions trading scheme (ETS) to be extended to more industries, such as chemical and aluminum. Other greenhouse gases, apart from carbon dioxide to be included, covering 40 percent of total EU greenhouse gases in all.

* Quota of emissions permits to be cut by 21 percent compared to 2005 emissions levels.

* Full auctioning of emissions permits to the power sector

* Propose by 2010 which energy-intensive industries should get free permits.

* National allocations plans for C02 emissions to be abandoned in favor of a single cap by sector for the whole EU, with member states receiving auctioning rights.

* Revenues from auctioning at about 50 billion euros ($73.09 billion) annually by 2020, to go to member states, 20 percent of which should be used to combat climate change.

EMISSIONS OUTSIDE ETS

* Emissions from sectors not covered by ETS, such as transport, building, services and agriculture, to be cut by average 10 percent from 2005 levels in 2020.

* National targets will depend on GDP per capita and range from -20 percent to +20 percent of 2005 emissions. Bulgaria allowed to increase emissions by 20 percent; Denmark, Luxembourg to cut by 20 percent; Germany and France to cut by 14 percent.

RENEWABLES AND BIOFUELS

* Targets for power production from renewable energy sources to increase for all countries, taking into account ability to produce renewables

* At least 10 percent biofuels to be used in road transport fuels by 2020, but subject to environment rules

* Key biofuels criteria: a real carbon emissions saving of at least 35 percent compared to oil; not from land of "high biodiversity" or high carbon stocks; must use best agricultural practices

* Countries unable to reach their goals to be allowed to pay other EU states to produce renewables on their behalf

PROMOTING CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE

* First rules and economic incentives to govern the capture, transport and underground storage of carbon

GUIDELINES ON STATE AID TO PROMOTE ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION

* State aid for environment-friendly power generation schemes will be allowed to cover the difference between production costs and market prices, capped by the project's overall cost. The EU normally bans state aid that distorts competition

Read more!

Fear of the supernatural spares old trees in Indonesia

Godeliva D Sari, The Jakarta Post 23 Jan 08;

Experts say the deforestation of the areas that support the Bengawan Solo River was one of the main causes of the recent floods in Central and East Java.

Most teak forests in the regions that suffered floods have been completely razed to the ground in the past decade. The replanting of these forested areas has been a failure.

Customarily the task of replanting teak forests is given to the communities who live around the forests, in a system called mbaon. The root word of mbaon is bau, which means labor.

The mbaon people are allowed to plant ground crops such as peanuts, sweet potato or maize, and are responsible for the young teak while it grows. When the teak matures and shades the ground, the villagers are supposed to leave and let the forest grow.

After several decades the teak will be harvested and once again the villagers will be recruited to tend the young trees in the mbaon system.

Joned is such a villager and he tends his mbaon plot in the area that a decade ago was an old teak forest that had been standing since the Dutch colonial era. Now the area looks like agricultural land. Joned is planting wet rice on the land that used to support teak.

Forestry officials in this area have decided against a homogeneous teak plantation and have given him seedlings of quicker maturing hardwood trees such as neem, sengon and mahogany. Because he has elected to plant rice he can only plant the forestry's trees on the dividing walls between the plots.

"Officials told me they would come and harvest the trees in eight years," he explained as he spread a concoction of three types of chemical fertilizer on his rice plants.

"After three years the mbaon people are supposed to leave. But usually by that time the young hardwood trees have disappeared," Joned said. This forces the authorities to start another mbaon term, and the forest never matures.

Joned's mbaon plot is not far from Begal, a village that used to be deep in the middle of an old teak forest. This sizable forest once covered the districts of Jogorogo, Kedunggalar and Widodaren in Ngawi regency in the Western part of East Java. Now there are barely any big trees here.

The teak has been carted away, and every other type of tree has been chopped down. With the local price of firewood exceeding Rp 200,000 for a small pickup truck full, any type of wood now fetches worthwhile money.

This is one reason why it is nearly impossible to find a really old, big tree in Java today. Surveying the horizon there is only one tall, lonely tree in the distance.

Joned explained that no one dared chop it down because it had resident spirits called dhemit living in it. By the big tree, a huge kepuh, there is a ruin of an old swimming pool, fed by a natural spring. The kepuh stands by the forgotten pool, unaware that a fear of the supernatural has spared it from the chain saws that felled the thousands of other trees that once dominated the landscape.

The absence of big, ancient, trees becomes noticeable when you start to look for them. Then you notice that every big tree in this region is either in a cemetery or is haunted. There is nothing here to compare with the famous giant redwoods of North America. Trees there are thousands of years old, large enough to cut a tunnel that a car can pass through. Here, a tree that is 50 years old is considered big.

Look up the north side of Mount Lawu and you see whole slopes that have been completely deforested. The ridges of the mountains form a depressing silhouette against the sky: scraggly pines where the forest should be thick. Everywhere there is evidence of careless land use. Steep slopes are planted with flimsy seasonal crops like cassava and maize. Landslides are evident in too many places.

In the village of Ngrendeng in the district of Sine there are two huge trembesi rain trees. Sure enough, under these two beauties there are two graves. Pak Hadi Susanto, the keeper, explains that in one of the graves is a certain Ki Ageng Pasuruan while the other one is where his weapons were buried. Ki Ageng Pasuruan was also known as Pangeran Wirayuda and is supposed to have hailed from the times of Sultan Agung of the Islamic Mataram kingdom. History notes that in the early 17th century Mataram sent a force to annex Pasuruan. If the grave in Ngrendeng is from that time, the trembesi trees there have been growing for nearly 400 years.

Trees in Java are endangered. Economic needs, lack of arable land, and population growth have together caused deforestation and the felling of big trees in non-forest areas. However the idea that spirits haunt certain places, like cemeteries, appears to be effective in protecting trees from the chain saw.

In this respect it might be useful to consider the experience of Thailand, where forest communities have successfully managed and conserved their natural resources. In Thailand, communities found that conservation was much more efficient when spirits were involved. The village of Tam Nai in North Thailand, for example, has successfully conserved its community forest by consecrating the trees to Buddha and local spirits.

The forests of Java are too important to be treated as plantations, expected to produce a harvest of timber. Java needs a complete moratorium on logging. The forests need to be given back to the communities and the local spirits. The local forest communities know that they depend on their forest for their livelihoods and are the most motivated to conserve them. With help from spirits such as the Javanese dhemit we will keep trees standing for longer. Maybe the government should consider recruiting these dhemit.

Read more!

Poachers hunting for protected species in Indonesia

The Jakarta Post 23 Jan 08;

JAMBI: Uncontrolled poaching has been spreading to protected forests and national parks, threatening rare species, local experts say.

Technical coordinator of the Jambi center for natural resources conservation, Titin Heryatin, said poachers have been hunting for protected animals including Sumatran tigers, elephants, rhinos, crocodiles, snakes and forest goats.

Poachers have freely hunted protected species in protected forests and national parks since special forest police were allegedly involved in a poaching and rare species trade syndicate.

"Poachers have frequently worked at night and used sophisticated weapons to avoid police," she said here on Tuesday.

She said her office and police were also lacking personnel to improve surveillance and enforce the law.

The center has deployed only some 24 personnel to conduct surveillance over the 60,500 hectare-Bukit Duabelas National Park, 4.1 million-ha East Coast mangrove forest and the 120,000-ha Durian Luncuk natural reserve, she said.

"We are working to improve coordination between relevant authorities including the Forestry Ministry and the Environment Ministry, the police and local military to control the poaching," she said. --JP

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Pollution in Batam keeps fishermen on shore

Fadli, The Jakarta Post 23 Jan 08;

Hundreds of traditional fishermen in Batam, Riau Islands, have stopped fishing over the past few weeks due to the heavy pollution dumped by oil tankers in Batam waters.

Jumangin, a 60-year-old fisherman in Teluk Mata Ikan, said most fishermen in his village had stayed home and a few had sought other work in construction projects since the sea and coastal areas around the village were heavily contaminated.

Fishermen say they have frequently filed complaints to relevant authorities but no positive response has been given so far.

"The polluted waters have forced fish to migrate to deeper waters and made nets and bodies black. It is impossible for us to use our small boats to fish in deeper water along the Malacca Strait," he told The Jakarta Post here on Tuesday.

Jumangin said he doubted the capacity of local security authorities to protect the area against sea pollution. He said it the main pollution was caused by oil sludge dumped by oil tankers passing through the Malacca Straits and it has happened right under security authorities' noses.

"Each time we file complaints to the authorities we are asked to identify oil tankers and vessels dumping oil sludge. It is their task, and not ours, to conduct surveillance and arrest the polluting tankers," Jumangin said, also an executive of the local chapter of the All-Indonesian Fishermen Association (HNSI).

Under normal conditions, fishermen could earn up to Rp 200,000 per day but following the pollution, Jumangin said it had been very difficult to get even Rp 40,000 a day.

Another fisherman, Abdurrahman, said he has moored his boat for three weeks and would be seeking other work if the pollution continues.

He said many vessels dump toxic wastewater in the Batam sea and local authorities did not take any measures to stop them.

"The poisonous wastewater is packed in plastic bins before being dumped far off the island but later they are carried back to shore by waves and strong winds," he said.

Meanwhile, chairman of the Toxic Waste Transporters Association (Aspel B3) Kurniawan said the oil sludge and toxic waste were dumped by tankers undergoing cleaning service in the middle of the sea between Indonesia and Singapore.

He also regretted the government could not enforce the law to stop the sea pollution, saying Indonesia should uphold its sovereignty on its sea territories.

Secretary of the HNSI local office Awaluddin Nasution said almost all fishermen in the Riau archipelago could not set out to the sea after the waters were badly polluted.

"Foreign oil tankers have dumped their sludge when the wind was blowing toward Indonesia," he said, citing that the dumping occurred when the tankers were undergoing an illegal tank cleaning service which involved Indonesian workers.

He said he suspected the reason authorities had turned a blind eye to the oil dumping was because they were receiving bribes from oil tankers during their passage through Indonesian waters.

Chief of the local waste water and environmental impact management office Dendi N. Purnomo said his office has deployed devices to collect toxic waste to be sent to the toxic waste water processing plant in Cibinong in West Java.

He also said the sea pollution has also affected the tourist resort on the island. "Tourists can no longer swim or do other water activities like surfing or canoeing.

He said he had spoken with the naval base on the island to enhance supervision and urged them to bring harsh sanctions against oil tankers dumping waste in the area.

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 23 Jan 08

The Lorax - By Dr Seuss
in memory of the Hopea sangal tree in Changi, on the nature scouter blog; what will YOU do with the seed of the last Truffula Tree?

Research Assistant opportunity at the Departments of Biological
Sciences, NUS on the rmbr news blog

February reef events: Kusu Reefwalk and Dive Pulau Hantu
bookings now open for these IYOR events, more on the singapore celebrates our reefs blog

Caterpillar Conundrum
what eats atlas moth caterpillars? on the bird ecology blog

Chek Jawa first check up for 2008
and the team's work is going to featured on TV! on the wildfilms blog and more about the marinelife there on the discovery blog

Sentosa Revisited #2
on the urban forest blog

Green Wave Environment Competition
in inspire green innovation among Singapore students on the AsiaIsGreen blog

Sun 10 Feb 2007: The Battle of Pasir Panjang Commemorative Walk on the habitatnews blog

Startup@SG Panel Series: Alternative Energy
on the AsiaIsGreen blog

Baya Weaver: Nest building, hornets and poaching
on the bird ecology blog

Read more!

Community cats bring Singaporeans together - let us give ourselves a chance

Letter from Jumiah Ahmad (Ms), Straits Times Forum 23 Jan 08;

IT WAS like a breath of fresh air when I read the article about 'Getting to know your neighbours' with Miel's cartoon showing a smiling woman poking her head from her flat with an equally happy cat beside her (The Sunday Times, Jan 13).

I recalled a similar picture of a woman in red feeding a group of community cats at an HDB void deck with fireworks in the background during our National Day celebrations of 2007 that came out in the National Day edition of The Straits Times.

I do not recall if Miel was the artist but the picture made a strong impression on me then too.

I also read the letter by Mr Tan Chek Wee, 'HDB should reconsider replacing ban on cats with 'motivational' regulations' (Online forum, Jan 21) and I realised that even though the HDB may have antiquated notions about how cats affect the neighbourhood, it is undeniable that cats and, particularly, community cats can be a great source of joy and inspiration to many in the heartlands.

Community cats bring people together, as Miel's cartoon shows. Many Singaporeans complain about them but just as many find the time and are willing to spend their own resources to take care of the many cats that we have in our neighbourhoods. Many caregivers are private individuals who come together because of their love for cats and feel that more care and attention should be given to these animals who share this Earth with us. Caregivers transcend race and stereotype.

I am a caregiver myself and hence I may have a particular bias. I readily admit that I spend much time and energy trying to give my community cats as much care as I give to my family and friends.

When community cats get into 'trouble' because they might have 'transgressed' in some way or they had unintentionally offended someone, all of us get together to solve the problem. We are as young as 14 to as old as 72. I do not ask the 'old aunty' who takes care of the community cats around my house her age. She said she is as old as she feels and she is a fiery one, unafraid of people who had tried to intimidate and scare her into giving up her passion of saving 'her' cats.

What about the cats themselves? Well they come when it's time for dinner or breakfast and then they leave just as quietly, leaving no trace and disturbing no one. Sometimes, their notion of public property and public space may be different from ours but surely we also need to consider that we are not the only ones with a right to live and should exercise love and care when relating to them.

They live their lives and they let us live ours and one of these very long days, we hope that the HDB would really look at how small our lives are, how limited our space is and how much we really would benefit from having community cats in our houses as well as living safely in our neighbourhoods.

An indoor cat is a safe cat and a human being who takes in one community cat saves one life from extermination. One day, some of us would be able to open our doors to our neighbours and smile widely at them with our happy cats by our side. Until that day comes, we will soldier on in our quiet way, smiling with warm affection for cartoons such as Miel's who gives us hope that our dream will come true... some time in Singapore's future.

Read more!

Rising prices of traditional chinese medicines in Singapore

TCM herb prices on the boil
Reasons: Shrinking supply coupled with rise in demand in mainland China
Judith Tan, April Chong, Lee Pei Qi, Straits Times 23 Jan 08;

TRADITIONAL Chinese medicine (TCM) is hot - and the rising price tags for herbs are burning holes in consumers' pockets.

Demand for herbs here and overseas, juxtaposed against a shrinking supply of these herbs and herbal products, have pushed prices up.

Most of the world's supply of these herbs and processed medicine comes from China. Some are cultivated, others are harvested from the wild.

Mr Lim Choon Huat, who founded Chien Chi Tow Healthcare, a Chinese traditional treatment centre, said: 'Supply is dwindling because of the changing weather patterns in China and vast urban development eating up available land.'

Growing affluence in China is another factor.

Mr Tan Lee Huak, general manager of Beijing Tong Ren Tang Science Arts, noted that while mainland Chinese were previously focused on making a living to pay for staples, they were now well-off enough to buy health-boosting herbs and other forms of TCM and supplements.

The rise in costs of TCM has not escaped Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, who put down last year's 6.2 per cent jump in health-care costs to the rise in medical fees and prices of Chinese medicine.

He said in Parliament on Monday that TCM - included in a basket of items as a bellwether for the health-care inflation rate - cost 33 per cent more last year than in 2005, which went some way to push health-care costs up by 6.2 per cent.

For example, cordyceps, a herb said to strengthen the body's immune system, cost about $100 per liang (37.5g) in 2002 and $200 in 2004. Today, it costs up to $600, depending on quality.

TCM practitioners say the rise in costs of Chinese medicines can also be traced to stricter regulations imposed on manufacturers of Chinese proprietary medicine (CPM).

These stricter rules have resulted in the phasing out of CPM oral liquid preparations that failed to get official endorsement from their countries of origin.

Mr Lim explained that as a result of more stringent manufacturing requirements by the health authorities here, TCM practitioners have had to import the raw materials and brew the medicines themselves.

'This means additional manpower costs and it is passed on to the patients,' he added.

Mr Ang Liang, director of Singapore Chung Hwa Medical Institution, said the need to look for alternative herbs and escalating raw material costs have sent TCM herb prices up by 30 to 40 per cent in the past two years.

Civil servant Christine Sim, 30, told The Straits Times she bought more than $2,000 of herbs, including cordyceps, as a hedge against the relentless price increases.

She has her purchase stored at the herbalist's shop, so she draws down on her stash whenever she visits.

But practitioners assure clients they will keep their consultation fees affordable.

Mr Tan, noting that most of his clients were middle-aged or elderly without much disposable income, said: 'Sometimes, we even waive consultation charges. Unfortunately, the medicine is where the higher charges are.'

Some charges 'have gone through the roof'
Lee Pei Qi, Straits Times 23 Jan 08;

THE squeeze on supply has sent the prices of some traditional Chinese herbs through the roof.

About half a dozen medical halls named cordyceps (dongchongxiacao) and chrysanthemum as two herbs with the steepest price climbs.

Both have doubled in cost: Cordyceps, a herb said to strengthen the body's immune system, which cost about $300 for 37.5g three months ago, can now cost up to $600 depending on the quality.

Chrysanthemum, used to lower the heat in one's body, has gone from last year's $5 to $10 for 500g.

Even herbs with less spectacular price climbs now cost at least 10 per cent more than last year.

These include angelica root (danggui), astragalus (huangqi) and codonopsis root (dangshen).

The medical halls, which get their supplies mainly from China, put the price rises down to bad weather and poor harvests.

Dragon Pavilion Chinese Medical Hall off Jalan Besar has cut back on its imports of cordyceps, while Ee Tat Chinese Medical Hall in Pasir Ris has stopped selling it altogether.

But people are still buying chrysanthemum. The owner of Fang Zhou Chinese Medical Hall in Tampines, who wanted to be known only as Mr Goh, said it was still relatively affordable.

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Threat to medicines from plant extinctions
Paul Eccleston, The Telegraph 18 Jan 08;

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Food, energy may take Singapore inflation to a 25-year high

Today Online 23 Jan 08;

Singapore's inflation might have hit a fresh 25-year high last month as imported food and energy costs soared.

A Dow Jones Newswires poll of economists forecast the consumer price index to have risen 4.3 per cent from a year earlier in December, after increasing by 4.2 per cent in the previous month. November's price rise was the fastest since 1982.

Forecasts for the data, due at 1pm today, ranged from 4.1 to 4.5 per cent.

Analysts say the price rise was broad-based, but higher food and transportation costs posed the heaviest burden on consumers.

"Increases in pump prices by major petrol retailers and the 18-per-cent to 49-per-cent fare hike by two major taxi operators in the middle of the month likely brought transport inflation higher," said economics and market analyst Leon Hiew, from Citigroup.

He said prices of electricity and rentals also contributed to overall inflation — a trend that may continue this year.

"We expect inflation to continue rising, possibly breaching the 6-per-cent mark in January," he said.

The poll forecasts the CPI to have risen 0.3 per cent from November in seasonally adjusted terms. The index rose 0.6 per cent in November from October. — Dow Jones

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Suharto or soybeans?: Price of staple food in Indonesia

Rising cost of staples the bigger concern, say Indonesians
Jessinta Tan, Today Online 23 Jan 08;

Rising commodity prices are worrying Indonesians more than the fluctuating reports of former President Suharto's health, or whether he recovers enough to face charges for alleged corruption and human rights crimes.

The average household in Jakarta is feeling the burden of the higher cost of staples such as eggs, cooking oil and flour, with prices soaring across the country. Consumers Today spoke to said they were worried that the prices of essential goods would rise further.

The price of other commodities such as soybeans, rice and wheat is expected to remain volatile for the next six months because of high demand on the international biofuel market. This has prompted the Indonesian government to remove the 10-per-cent import duty on soybeans to help curb escalating prices.

In a country where tempeh — fermented soybean cake — is a staple source of protein, the surging price of soya beans is a serious concern.

"A piece of tempeh now costs 50 per cent more," said Mr Royani, 23, who sells tempeh and other snacks from his roadside cart in Chinatown. "Even though my regular customers still buy my tempeh, I'm making less profit."

Also feeling the pinch of rising commodity prices is Mr Alwi, who has been hawking soybean drinks in Chinatown for more than 30 years.

"I'm making very little profit now, but what I'm afraid of is that I'll make a loss if the government doesn't stabilise the prices soon," he said.

The 30-year-old trader said his business fared better during Mr Suharto's rule. "Although we had huge national debts in the past, the people enjoyed prosperity. Now, it's difficult to make ends meet."

It was reported that staple foods were the main drivers of Indonesia's inflation last year, accounting for 2.82 per cent of the total inflation rate of 6.59 per cent.

Despite the spectre of galloping inflation, some residents in Jakarta were spotted going about their business, shopping at Glodok, the city's Chinatown. Traders selling traditional goods say they are doing brisk business ahead of next month's Chinese New Year celebration.

"I've not increased the prices of my products despite the cost of cooking oil," said Mr Ah Hong, who sells mainly fried products, such as crackers.

"Chinese New Year shopping boosts my business. But I don't know what will happen to my business after the celebration ends if prices of commodities continue to rise."

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Environment damage of rich countries on poor

Roger Highfield, The Telegraph 21 Jan 08;

A study has revealed the extent to which poorer countries are trampled by the huge environmental footprints of the rich.

The environmental damage caused by rich nations disproportionately impacts poor nations and costs them almost £920 billion, on par with or exceeding their combined foreign debt, according to a first-ever global accounting of the dollar costs of countries' ecological footprints.

Meanwhile, the effect of poor on rich nations, such as Britain, is less than a third of the impact that the rich have on the poor.

Because the global environment does not respect political borders, the impact of ecological damage wrought by one country can be felt across the world. To illustrate that point, an American team has attempted to determine which nations are driving ecological damage and which are paying the price.

The study, led by former University of California, Berkeley, research fellow Thara Srinivasan, assessed the impacts of agricultural intensification and expansion, deforestation, overfishing, loss of mangrove swamps and forests, ozone depletion and climate change from 1961 to 2000.

In the case of climate change and ozone depletion, the researchers also estimated the impacts that may be felt through the end of this century.

"Low-income countries will bear significant burdens from climate change and ozone depletion. But these environmental problems have been overwhelmingly driven by emission of greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting chemicals by the rest of the world," Srinivasan says.

Climate change is expected to increase the severity of storms and extreme weather, including prolonged droughts and flooding, with an increase in infectious diseases. Ozone depletion mostly impacts health, with increases expected in cancer rates, cataracts and blindness. All of these will affect vulnerable low-income countries disproportionately.

In addition to climate change and ozone depletion, overfishing and conversion of mangrove swamps to shrimp farming are areas in which rich nations burden poor countries.

When all these impacts are added up, the portion of the footprint of high-income nations that is falling on the low-income countries is comparable to or greater than the financial debt recognised for low income countries, which has a net present value of 1.8 trillion in 2005 international dollars (International dollars are US dollars adjusted to account for the different purchasing power of different currencies.) "The ecological debt could more than offset the financial debt of low-income nations," she says.

"We think the measured impact is conservative. And given that it's conservative, the numbers are very striking," adds Srinivasan. "To our knowledge, our study is the first to really examine where nations' ecological footprints are falling, and it is an interesting contrast to the wealth of nations."

"To some extent, the rich nations have developed at the expense of the poor and, in effect, there is a debt to the poor," says coauthor Prof Richard Norgaard, also of UC Berkeley, coauthor of the paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "You don't see it until you do the kind of accounting that we do here."

The calculation of the ecological footprints of the world's low-, middle- and high-income nations drew upon more than a decade of assessments by environmental economists who have tried to attach monetary figures to environmental damage, plus data from the recent United Nations Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and World Bank reports.

Norgaard admits that "there will be a lot of controversy about whether you can even do this kind of study and whether we did it right. A lot of that will just be trying to blindside the study, to not think about it. What we really want to do is challenge people to think about it. And if anything, if you don't believe it, do it yourself and do it better."

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