Malaysian lost wetlands being recovered

Teresa Yong, New Straits Times 3 Feb 08;

MALAYSIA has lost almost half of its mangroves over the past four decades and this alarming trend will continue if we do not recognise the grave implications. Malaysian wetlands shrunk to 564,970 hectares four years ago from the estimated 1.1 million hectares of mangroves in 1966, said Sarala Aikanathan, Wetlands International Malaysia director.

After the tsunami disaster in December 2004, the Malaysian government recognised the important role of coastal peat swamps in reducing the impact of waves and the other benefits. It ordered mangrove replanting schemes to begin in all states.

“Last year, the target was to plant 200ha of mangroves in the peninsula,” Sarala said.

The Johor floods last year accounted for RM50 million losses. Two years ago, 90,000 people were evacuated and last year, over 34,000. Sarala attributed the severity of the floods to the loss of wetlands in the state.

Drainage of peatland in Johor over the years for planting pineapples caused land subsidence. This caused many areas to be below river levels.

“While we cannot prevent major floods, we can ensure that we benefit from the flood protection that wetlands offer. Rivers, lakes and marshes slow down and retain floodwaters.

“The broader implications of concrete chanellisation of our rivers and draining our marshes and natural flood plains need to be understood in our urban planning.”

Peatlands are not just useless marshes. Increasingly, environmental researchers and scientists have found it to be the greatest carbon stores in the ecosystem.

Though it covers only three per cent of the Earth’s land area, it accounts for about a third of the global soil carbon and 70 times the current annual global emissions from fossil fuels.

“In Southeast Asia, peatlands account for 2.7 million hectares or about 10 per cent of the land area, with an estimated carbon storage of 2,000 mega tonnes of carbon.

“Burning of peatland and drainage activities have led to massive increases in greenhouse gases (GHG).

“It’s estimated that emissions from degraded peatland alone emit 600 million tonnes, accounting for eight per cent of the total global GHG emissions,” Sarala said.

Sewage treatment plants, animal farms and factories continue to cause water pollution.

In 2006, 18,956 point source pollution incidents were reported. Pollution from sewage treatment plants was 9,060 (47 per cent) and manufacturing, 45 per cent.

Non-point sources of water pollution would include agricultural activities and the run-off.

“Wetlands are highly undervalued and often taken for granted by people. What is misunderstood and undervalued are the multiple ecological, social, psychological and economic functions they serve.”

Consider these facts:

• Wetlands supply us with fish (including shellfish) and plants (including fruits, seeds and vegetables).

• One billion people rely on fish as their main or sole source of protein and many more consume fish regularly.

• Rice is the most important at a global level, providing 20 per cent of the world’s dietary energy supply.

• Declining fish stocks in Malaysia endanger the lives of birds, the bigger fish and mammals.

• Our wetlands, if well managed, will continue to provide food to keep us healthy — but there are many human actions that negatively affect the capacity of wetlands to continue to provide for us.

• Inland wetlands (rivers, lakes, ponds, marshes, etc) perform a vital function in filtering and purifying fresh water, rendering it “clean” for human consumption.

• Over one billion people lack access to clean water supplies. Wetlands can only provide us with clean water if we keep them healthy through effective management.

• Rubbish, especially plastics in water are dangerous to birds, fish and mammals of the wetlands.

Sarala said the wetlands were also a source for medicines.

“Many wetlands plants and animal species have been used in traditional medicines for millennia and this continues until today.

“They are used in homeopathic medicines, an ever-growing industry in developed countries, and play a role in the development and production of modern medicines.

“However, over-collection, destructive harvesting techniques, habitat loss and alteration challenge the capacity of wetland species to continue to fulfil their roles,” Sarala said.

The World Health Organisation estimates that depression-related illnesses will become the greatest source of ill health by 2020. Physical inactivity in urban populations is also contributing to other diseases.

“Urban green spaces, which include rivers, lakes and reservoirs, provide space for recreation, education and relaxation.

“The value of green spaces in improving the mental and physical health of urban populations is gaining greater recognition.

“Current studies indicate measurable physical and psychological benefits from regular contact with urban green spaces.

“So urban wetlands have a key role to play,” Sarala emphasised.

There are projects funded by the United Nations Development Programme that look into implementing an integrated management plan in peat swamp forests in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.

“We need to review the role of wetlands in Malaysia and the role they play in flood prevention.

“Protection of the remaining peatlands and restoration of degraded peatlands provide a very cost-effective way to reduce GHG emissions in the region.

“This was recognised at the recent United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and different financial mechanisms are now being studied to compensate nations to protect and conserve the peatlands,” she added.

What is a wetland?

IT is an area of marsh, peatland or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or saltish, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres.

Wetlands can be:

• marine (coastal wetlands, including coastal lagoons, rocky shores, and coral reefs);

• estuarine (including deltas, tidal marshes, and mangrove swamps);

• lacustrine (wetlands associated with lakes);

• riverine (wetlands along rivers and streams); and,

• palustrine (meaning “marshy” — marshes, swamps and bogs).

Threats to peatlands

• Pollution, excessive water abstraction, poor sanitation, over-harvesting and wetland destruction all reduce or destroy the capacity of wetlands to provide food for human consumption and environmental services.

• The wetlands act as filters or traps for many pathogens. When water flows through wetlands, pathogens lose their viability or are consumed by other organisms.

• Man-made wetlands are being constructed in urban and rural areas to perform this function. It thus prevents untreated sewage reaching natural wetlands that are used as an immediate source of drinking water.

World Wetlands Day is celebrated each year on Feb 2, It marks the anniversary of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention) in Ramsar, Iran, on Feb 2, 1971. There are five Ramsar sites in Malaysia and the country’s largest lake, Tasik Bera in Pahang, was the first. Together with Tanjung Piai, Pulau Kukup, Sungai Pulai in Johor and the Kuching Wetlands in Sarawak, they cover 55,355ha. The theme for the 2008 World Wetlands Day is ‘Healthy Wetlands, Healthy People’.

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Best of our wild blogs: 3 Feb 08

Butterfly Photography - Shooting the Eclosion of a Butterfly
stunning shots and learn the meaning of a new 'Big Word' on the butterflies of singapore blog

Extinct birds of Singapore: Trogons
on the bird ecology blog

The Great Barrier Reef's influence on global conservation efforts
a series of articles that clearly outlines the issues to the Reef on the helium website

Read more!

Know your S'pore? Citizens as clueless as new migrants

Tan Dawn Wei, Samantha Eng, Alex Liam & Chen Meiyue, Straits Times 3 Feb 08;

10 basic questions put to S'poreans, new citizens and PRs; majority couldn't muster passing grade of 75 per cent

THEY know what 'kiasu' means, but not what the crescent moon and five stars on the Singapore national flag symbolise.

Don't count on Singaporeans to name you their first elected president either, although they may have no difficulty coming up with the name of a Singaporean brand.

When it comes to testing their understanding of their country, Singaporeans are hardly anywhere near the top of the class. What's more, they don't fare much better than new citizens and permanent residents, according to a survey by The Sunday Times.

But they aren't the only ones flunking.

Recently, it was reported that about 30 per cent of aspiring citizens of Britain who sat for a citizenship test failed to make the 75 per cent passing grade.

Australia's test also came under scrutiny earlier last month when data showed that 20 per cent of applicants were failing. Last week, its government announced that it will review the four-month-old citizenship test.

The Singapore Government does not require its permanent residents to sit for such a test when applying for citizenship.

So The Sunday Times designed a questionnaire comprising 10 questions ranging from Singapore's history and politics to its culture, and put it to 100 Singaporeans and 100 new citizens and permanent residents.

Taking 75 per cent to be the passing grade, an astonishing 85 Singaporeans didn't make this cut, while as many as 90 new citizens and permanent residents who have plans to become Singaporeans also failed.

The question that stumped both groups was who Singapore's first elected president was. Only one in four Singaporeans and new citizens or PRs correctly named the late Mr Ong Teng Cheong.

Nearly half of the Singaporeans named Mr Yusof Ishak, the country's first president. Some not only got the answer wrong, they couldn't even muster Mr Yusof's name.

'It's the guy on the note,' said 38-year-old sales executive Jasmine Koh.

Project secretary Norzana Samsi, 34, went even further back in history: Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles.

Both groups also did badly when it came to reciting the pledge and pinpointing the year Singapore became an independent nation.

Another head-scratcher: the national flag.

Half of those Singaporeans polled and nearly 70 new citizens had no idea what the crescent moon or any of the five stars symbolised - only one person knew all. One response that kept cropping up: 'The five stars represent the five races in Singapore.'

It was enough for cab driver Wong Weng Fatt, 51, to protest: 'I left school so long ago. You should ask students, they will know better.'

Dr Teo Ho Pin, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs and Law, was not surprised at the poor showing.

'The questions are too difficult. Perhaps if you asked 'when is National Day?', that might be a fairer question,' said Dr Teo, who is also mayor of North West District.

The survey does not necessarily reflect the well-held view that Singaporeans are apathetic either, he said.

'These issues may not make a lot of difference to their daily lives. They're more worried about jobs, their children, their parents.'

Nanyang Technological University accountancy student Angeline Yeo, who topped the new citizens and PR group, said her score of 85 per cent was due to an interest in Singapore.

The Malaysian, a permanent resident since last October, was already reading books about Singapore before her move here five years ago.

'As a PR, I feel that it's important to know such information, because it'll be embarrassing if people ask and you don't know,' said the 21-year-old.

According to the National Population Secretariat, there were 13,969 new citizens between last January and October, up from 13,209 for all of 2006.

Latest figures suggest more foreigners are also becoming permanent residents. About 46,900 of them were granted PR status in the first nine months of last year, compared to 57,300 for all of 2006.

Singaporeans fared better with the softer questions: More than half knew what the three acronyms AYE, CPF and SGH stood for; nearly all knew what 'kiasu' meant and about 80 per cent could correctly name a Singaporean brand that made it overseas.

The most popular brands: Creative Technology, Singapore Airlines and BreadTalk.

But to immigrant Gina Mallari Alcan, 40, what's more important than knowing the answers to these questions is how involved you are with your community.

The civil engineer from the Philippines may have got only two out of the 10 questions correct, but she has been an active volunteer at her residents' committee in Bedok since 2003.

'I'm very proud to be a Singaporean and I think I know more about Singapore than some of my neighbours. Some don't even know who their Member of Parliament is.'

Read more!

Singapore: Big throw-out of high-priced, nearly new consumer items

Karung guni men get 'almost new', pricey goods
Jamie Ee Wen Wei, Straits Times 3 Feb 08;

Boom time for second-hand dealers as people 'upgrade'

A SEVEN-MONTH-OLD flatscreen TV, price - $550. Louis Vuitton monogram handbag, price - $400.

These are just some of the deals available at second-hand shops, all because Singaporeans are furiously 'upgrading'.

With bigger bonuses and a booming economy, people are tossing out belongings - many expensive or just months old - to get better ones. And karung guni dealers have been quick to spot this trend and cash in on it.

It was how second-hand dealer Kok Khen Wei landed a seven-month-old 32-inch Sony Bravia LCD television set for just $300 two months ago. Its owner had paid $1,900 for it. Mr Kok re-sold it for $550.

That set was just one of 70 LCD and plasma TVs he picked up for his store, Barangguru, in December. 'In the past, people would change their TV sets after four or five years. Now, we are getting television sets that are less than a year old,' he said.

Since December, Barangguru's collection has gone up by about 40 per cent. Its 8,000 sq ft Eunos warehouse is so crammed with refrigerators, hi-fi systems and washing machines that Mr Kok had to rent a 2,000 sq ft warehouse in Toa Payoh to store the spillover.

Others in the trade have also noticed these quality cast-offs.

Karung guni man Michael Satha visited 20 homes in December - double his usual workload - to pick up TV sets, hi-fi systems and desktop computers.

Most sellers of household items want to 'upgrade'.

So, too, owners of designer bags who are clearing out the old to make way for more current fashions.

Mr Henry Poh, owner of Cavallino, a second-hand luxury bag shop in Tanglin Shopping Centre, said about 250 designer bags were sold to him in December, triple what he usually gets.

'We used to get bags that were a few years old but now, people are selling their new bags to make space in their wardrobe,' he said.

Ms May Fong, the owner of Madam Milan, another second-hand luxury bag shop in Raffles Place MRT station, said people here are able to 'pamper themselves' because of the big bonuses they have received.

Describing most of the sofa sets he helps to remove from flats, Mr Abdul Rahman, a conservancy supervisor at East Coast Town Council, said: 'Some have only small tears or their colours have faded.'

He added: 'When we carry them down, passers-by even approach us to ask if they can have them.'

At Cavallino, Mr Poh said at least 20 Louis Vuitton bags in auspicious colours like red and yellow have been sold since Christmas. They cost about $1,900 each but second-hand buyers can get them for about $1,200.

Low- to middle-income families are also snapping up used television sets and home theatre systems at Barangguru. More than 10 were sold last month.

Said Mr Kok: 'They don't mind it because nobody can tell it's second-hand.'

Charity puts cast-offs to good use
Straits Times 3 Feb 08;

THE Salvation Army is also benefiting from the massive throw-out.

Since December, the charity has been getting 10 tonnes of donations daily - a 30 per cent jump from its average collection.

Its seven collection bins islandwide have been so overwhelmed that they have to be cleared three to five times a day.

Among the most commonly donated items are clothes, toys and electrical appliances. The donations will be distributed to the charity's thrift stores, needy families and also stored up for emergencies.

Mr James Tian, general manager of Red Shield Industries, which runs the Salvation Army's thrift stores, said they have hired more relief staff and added extra work shifts to sort and process the donations.

While about 20 per cent of the donated items were new, another

10 per cent had to be thrown away because they were unusable.

They included broken furniture and electrical appliances. In the past, the charity had received broken vases and television sets, and even tattered couches stained with pet faeces.

Said Mr Tian: 'For those who inadvertently dispose their waste, thinking they are doing us a favour, we hope that they will visit our thrift store to see what useful things Singaporeans would still buy and use.'

Read more!

Lunar New Year dinner in Singapore: Prices up, so some delicacies are out

Jamie Ee Wen Wei , Chen Meiyue & Alex Liam, Straits Times 3 Feb 08;

SEA cucumber may be a popular item in reunion dinners but some Singaporeans are giving the delicacy a miss, after a supply shortage caused its price to double this year.

Housewife Yap Qui Hong, 71, who serves braised sea cucumber with abalone or duck for her family of 11 at reunion dinners, is one of them.

She said: 'I'm the only one in the family who enjoys eating it, so I decided not to buy it this year since it is so expensive.'

Traditionally, the prices of popular ingredients would see a surge in the days leading up to Chinese New Year because of the festive demand.

But this year, Singaporeans are harder hit as inflation in the prices of food items - caused by increased supply costs - had set in months ahead of Chinese New Year.

Costlier food, transport and health care drove Singapore's inflation rate to a 25-year high of 4.4 per cent in December - with food prices rising 5.5 per cent.

Yesterday, The Sunday Times visited 10 wet markets and three wholesale stores and found that at least seven traditional favourites cost more this festive period, compared with the same time last year.

Sea cucumber shows the biggest jump with a doubling of its price, followed by fish maw, which has gone up by about 50 per cent.

Chicken, pork and beef, popular items in steamboat dinners, are all up by about $1 per kg.

Housewife Yeo Kim Hong, 62, said her expenses for the reunion dinner have gone up by $50 this year. Her bill for the ingredients: $200. This, despite shopping for groceries a week in advance in a bid to beat the price hike.

To cut costs, some Singaporeans are replacing their reunion dinner favourites with cheaper alternatives.

Tailor Elise Lim, 45, said she will serve shellfish instead of abalone at her family dinner this year.

Housewife Seah Sai Chew, 70, will substitute her pomfret dish with the much cheaper batang fish. Others, however, are not keen to cut costs for the occasion.

Administrative clerk Cecilia Lim, 55, who has spent $150 so far on her reunion dinner for seven, said: 'Chinese New Year is a once-a-year celebration. We can cut costs on any other day, but not on this day.'

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Singapore: $5,888 for reunion dinner, anyone?

Jamie Ee Wen Wei, Straits Times 3 Feb 08;

IT HAS been a good year, the bonuses are in and some people appear more willing to splurge on their Chinese New Year reunion dinner.

The Hua Ting restaurant in Orchard Hotel offers one of Singapore's most expensive reunion dinners at $5,888 a table. Three groups - two companies and a family - have snapped up reservations for Chinese New Year's eve.

The nine-course meal will be prepared by the hotel's award-winning Group Master Chef Chan Kwok and boasts of top-grade ingredients in its dishes.

One of the highlights is braised Australian dried abalone with top-grade fish maw and fa cai (Chinese black moss). This dish by itself, if ordered a la carte, would cost over $3,000.

Restaurant manager Irene Yue said this was the first year a $5,888 set menu was introduced.

Last year, its most luxurious set menu cost $1,888. But some diners started asking for better ingredients in their menu, hence the restaurant's idea to create the more expensive selection.

Despite the hefty price tag, Chef Kwok is confident Singaporeans will bite on the $5,888 menu which he spent two months shaping. He sourced for ingredients from countries such as Australia, India and even Chile.

Not only are the ingredients rare, they also take a long time to prepare and cook, which adds to the cost, explained Chef Kwok.

The Australian dried abalone, for example, has to be soaked for at least two days, then braised for half a day.

Chef Kwok, named Asian Ethnic Chef of the Year at the World Gourmet Summit in 2005 and 2006, will head a 28-member kitchen crew.

He does not think such pricey menus will become the staple here though, unlike in China where the most expensive reunion dinner is going for $5,000 per person.

'People will want to try new and interesting dishes but the average Singaporean will still go for the $1,000 and $2,000 meals,' he said.

'The quality of the food is already considered very good.'

Read more!

Severe winter storms in China: higher Lunar New Year bills there

Chinese New Year bills shoot up
Chua Chin Hon, Straits Times 3 Feb 08;
Severe winter storms in China pushing up prices already at 11-year high

BEIJING - THIS Chinese New Year is turning out to be the most expensive ever, families complain, as fierce winter storms whipped up prices already at an 11-year high.

Many families say in interviews that they are expecting to spend 50 per cent to 100 per cent more on festive shopping, gifts and related expenditures this year compared to last year, due to price hikes for food and other essentials like cooking oil.

The recent spell of heavy snow and rain that crippled transportation networks, as well as destroyed crops and livestock, pushed expenses higher.

Those who travelled back to their hometowns despite the inclement weather have had to fork out more money for their transportation, as compared to last year.

Mr Lu Ming, a computer technician who travelled from southern China's Shenzhen city to his parents' home in northern Hebei last week, said that he had to spend over 1,500 yuan (S$295), taking buses, cars and taxis to get to his destination.

In the past, when the railway network functioned normally, he could get home for under 700 yuan.

Official figures released two weeks ago showed that overall food prices went up by 12.3 per cent last year. Grain prices increased by 6.3 per cent, while the cost of meat and eggs shot up by a whopping 31.7 per cent and 21.8 per cent respectively.

The spiralling food prices, largely caused by supply shortages, powered overall inflation to 4.8 per cent for the whole of last year. The previous record was in 1996, when annual inflation reached 8.3 per cent.

Low- and middle-income families have been the worst hit by the rising prices.

Madam Yi Xiufen, whose family of six survives on about 3,000 yuan a month, said she is feeling the pinch this year. Her family expects to spend 2,000 yuan to celebrate the Chinese New Year, compared to just over 1,100 yuan last year.

'We can't afford rich food this year, and will have to make do with more vegetables and less meat,' said the 78-year-old grandmother, who used to work at a factory producing zippers.

'To cut down on daily expenses, I buy vegetables only when the stalls at the market are about to close. You can get a pile of greens for one yuan or two.'

Upper-middle income families, while unfazed by the price increases, say they have noticed the spike.

'It seems to be getting more expensive to have meals at restaurants, but we definitely have no problems shouldering the additional costs at the moment,' said economics lecturer Wang Xian, 31.

She and her husband Dong Yu, a senior sales executive, earn a combined salary of about 29,000 yuan a month.

The record inflation has also not stopped another couple with a comparable level of family income, the Shengs, from budgeting about 40,000 yuan for generous hongbaos and a trip to north-eastern Heilongjiang province to visit their parents.

The comments by families interviewed by The Sunday Times underscore the view of many analysts that while there is widespread unhappiness with the spike in prices, the threat of social unrest remains a remote one.

For one thing, healthy pay rises and increased government subsidies have helped many families weather the inflationary pressure.

Madam Yi, for instance, said that the monthly retirement benefits for her and her husband have been raised by more than 200 yuan each since the beginning of the year. The Dongs and the Shengs have also reported salary increases of between 10 per cent and 17 per cent this year.

The concern is, however, that the economic fallout from the snow storms would cause prices to rise even faster this year, and push inflation to around 5 per cent for the full year.

'We can't do anything about the situation other than to pray that no one in the family falls sick,' said Madam Yi, adding that a bout of flu could set them back by some 300 yuan in medical bills. 'That would be a disaster.'

Read more!

Congo Wetlands reserve to be world's second largest

WWF website 2 Feb 08;

WWF has welcomed the World Wetlands Day declaration of the world’s second largest internationally recognized and protected significant wetlands reserve in the Congo as a clear sign of the world’s increasing interest in the green heart of Africa.

The nearly 6 million hectares of inundated forest making up the Grand Affluents wetland in the middle reaches of the Congo River was one of five wetlands in the Congo and the Cameroon to be notified under the RAMSAR Convention on internationally significant wetlands today.

"WWF lauds the effort in this, the second driest continent, to secure clean and abundant water for millions of people. Wetlands are a critical source of water and other countries would do well to take Africa's lead," said Richard Holland, WWF's Freshwater Director.

WWF International’s wetlands manager Denis Landenbergue, a veteran of the long and challenging process of achieving the declarations, said they were “an outstanding achievement” of the governments and agencies concerned.

"This will help secure water and livelihoods for millions of people and the conservation of important water features, forests and habitats,” he said. “Areas of these wetlands are particularly important dry time refuges for elephants, hippopotamuses and buffalos and for many migratory bird species.”

Around 300,000 people are dependant on the 5,908,074 hectare Grand Affluents RAMSAR wetland, with the four major tributaries to the Congo being the origin of its name as well as making the area an important transport network. The world’s largest RAMSAR wetland is the 6,278,200 ha Queen Maude Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Canada.

Other Congo area RAMSAR sites declared on World Wetlands Day included wetlands on major Congo tributaries such as the Libenga, the Cayo-Loufoualeba, the Conkouati-Douli, and the Sangha in Cameroon.

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Algeria drops plan to protect wetland

Reuters 2 Feb 08;

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria has started building a motorway through a major Mediterranean wetland despite a previous promise to re-route the $11 billion project around it, a newspaper said on Saturday.

The government said last year it was planning to avoid the El Kala coastal park after pressure from environmentalists who warned the site would disappear unless the 1,200 km (750 miles) road linking Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco was routed around it.

But independent French-language newspaper El Watan, publishing a picture of a bulldozer inside the park, said local authorities had allowed work to start at the site after receiving a letter from Prime Minister Abdelaziz Bemlkhadem.

Officials at the Public Works Ministry, which is carrying out the project, were not immediately available for comment.

The government had initially planned to build 15 km (nine miles) of the road inside the perimeter of northeastern El Kala, whose 800 sq km (300 sq miles) home to many varieties of predatory birds, fox, lynx, tortoise and wild cat.

The park contains one site that Algeria has undertaken to protect under the 1971 Ramsar Convention on the protection of wetlands.

(Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed, editing by Matthew Tostevin)

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Fishing boats to try to prevent hooking seabirds

Mary Pemberton, Associated Press Yahoo News 2 Feb 08;

Albatross looking for a free meal on the high seas often pay the price of being killed or injured going after baited hooks.

Now, fishing fleets around the world have agreed to use measures to prevent hooking albatross and other seabirds whose numbers are declining.

The measures — using streamer lines to drive birds away from boats' sterns as miles of baited hooks are being set as well as dying bait blue to conceal it in dark water — will go into effect this year in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

"Both of these measures are mandatory requirements for the vessels that are fishing in those areas," said Kim Rivera, national seabird coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Albatross are particularly vulnerable to being hooked on longlines used to catch tuna and other fish because of their lengthy search for food, which takes them across international waters.

"You have birds that are attracted to the fishing vessels because they see it as a feeding opportunity," Rivera said. "The birds congregate there. They see it as a free meal. They clue in on the baited hook and go after it."

Late last year, two commissions that govern high-seas fishing agreed to the measures, which also require fleets from more than 30 nations to abide by certain practices to avoid killing the birds. The practices will vary depending upon what works best and where, Rivera said.

Techniques that could be used for tuna and swordfish in the Atlantic include fishing at night when birds are less active, weighting fishing lines so that the baited hooks sink more quickly and using long streamers.

"Those streamers whip around and basically scare the birds away," Rivera said.

Similar techniques will be employed in the Pacific, with some longliners required to fish at night and others being prohibited from discharging fish waste at the same time as baited hooks are being set.

"There is really no one single measure that works 100 percent of the time," Rivera said.

Nations with large fleets that have agreed to the measures include Taiwan, Japan and Korea.

In Antarctica, where the Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources became the first international organization to require the measures, as many as 6,000 albatross a year were being incidentally caught in the late 1990s.

That commission has been very successful in preventing the hooking of several types of albatross in the Antarctic, Rivera said. No albatross have been unintentionally caught there in the last two years.

In the United States, only Alaska and Hawaii require their longliners to use anti-hooking measures. NOAA is looking into whether similar measures are needed off the coasts of Washington and Oregon.

Alaska's longline fishermen began using streamer lines in the late 1990s and have found them to be very effective, said Dan Falvey, captain of the Myriad out of Sitka, who helped design the lines for smaller vessels.

Streamer lines are attached to the stern and extend out between 150 to 300 feet behind the boat. Many times vessels will use a streamer line on either end of the stern, creating a box where the longlines are set inside. Long strings of orange surgical tubing are placed every 15 or 20 feet along the streamer line with the tubing extending to the surface of the water.

"What it creates is a moving fence around the gear that is being set and the birds are afraid to cross it," Falvey said.

The new international agreement is particularly significant for one species of albatross found in the northern Pacific.

The short-tailed albatross, which breeds only in Japan, is listed as endangered. The large black-and-white birds with cream-colored heads and distinctive pink bills with a bluish tip have a worldwide population of about 2,300.

There used to be between 2 million and 5 million short-tailed albatross, but commercial feather hunting at the turn of the century devastated the population. The feathers were used primarily for bedding, quilts and coats. Eventually, it was thought the birds were extinct.

But in 1939, there was a volcanic eruption on Torishima Island, home to the breeding colony about 360 miles south of Tokyo. If it hadn't been for young birds at sea, it could have been the end for the short-tailed albatross.

Read more!

Rain forests fall at 'alarming' rate

Edward Harris, Associated Press Yahoo News 2 Feb 08;

In the gloomy shade deep in Africa's rain forest, the noontime silence was pierced by the whine of a far-off chain saw. It was the sound of destruction, echoed from wood to wood, continent to continent, in the tropical belt that circles the globe.

From Brazil to central Africa to once-lush islands in Asia's archipelagos, human encroachment is shrinking the world's rain forests.

The alarm was sounded decades ago by environmentalists — and was little heeded. The picture, meanwhile, has changed: Africa is now a leader in destructiveness. The numbers have changed: U.N. specialists estimate 60 acres of tropical forest are felled worldwide every minute, up from 50 a generation back. And the fears have changed.

Experts still warn of extinction of animal and plant life, of the loss of forest peoples' livelihoods, of soil erosion and other damage. But scientists today worry urgently about something else: the fateful feedback link of trees and climate.

Global warming is expected to dry up and kill off vast tracts of rain forest, and dying forests will feed global warming.

"If we lose forests, we lose the fight against climate change," declared more than 300 scientists, conservation groups, religious leaders and others in an appeal for action at December's climate conference in Bali, Indonesia.

The burning or rotting of trees that comes with deforestation — at the hands of ranchers, farmers, timbermen — sends more heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than all the world's planes, trains, trucks and automobiles. Forest destruction accounts for about 20 percent of manmade emissions, second only to burning of fossil fuels for electricity and heat. Conversely, healthy forests absorb carbon dioxide and store carbon.

"The stakes are so dire that if we don't start turning this around in the next 10 years, the extinction crisis and the climate crisis will begin to spiral out of control," said Roman Paul Czebiniak, a forest expert with Greenpeace International. "It's a very big deal."

The December U.N. session in Bali may have been a turning point, endorsing negotiations in which nations may fashion the first global financial plan for compensating developing countries for preserving their forests.

The latest data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) helped spur delegates to action.

"Deforestation continues at an alarming rate of about 13 million hectares (32 million acres) a year," the U.N. body said in its latest "State of the World's Forests" report.

Because northern forests remain essentially stable, that means 50,000 square miles of tropical forest are being cleared every 12 months — equivalent to one Mississippi or more than half a Britain. The lumber and fuelwood removed in the tropics alone would fill more than 1,000 Empire State Buildings, FAO figures show.

Although South America loses slightly more acreage than Africa, the rate of loss is higher here — almost 1 percent of African forests gone each year. In 2000-2005, the continent lost 10 million acres a year, including big chunks of forest in Sudan, Zambia and Tanzania, up from 9 million a decade earlier, the FAO reports.

Across the tropics the causes can be starkly different.

The Amazon and other South American forests are usually burned for cattle grazing or industrial-scale soybean farming. In Indonesia and elsewhere in southeast Asia, island forests are being cut or burned to make way for giant plantations of palm, whose oil is used in food processing, cosmetics and other products.

In Africa, by contrast, it's individuals hacking out plots for small-scale farming.

Here in Nigeria's southeastern Cross Rivers State, home to one of the largest remaining tropical forests in Africa, people from surrounding villages of huts and cement-block homes go to the forest each day to work their pineapple and cocoa farms. They see no other way of earning money to feed their families.

"The developed countries want us to keep the forests, since the air we breathe is for all of us, rich countries and poor countries," said Ogar Assam Effa, 54, a tree plantation director and member of the state conservation board.

"But we breathe the air, and our bellies are empty. Can air give you protein? Can air give you carbohydrates?" he asked. "It would be easy to convince people to stop clearing the forest if there was an alternative."

The state, which long ago banned industrial logging, is trying to offer alternatives.

Working with communities like Abo Ebam, near Nigeria's border with Cameroon, the Cross Rivers government seeks to help would-be farmers learn other trades, such as beekeeping or raising fist-sized land snails, a regional delicacy.

The state also has imposed a new licensing system. Anyone who wants to cut down one of the forest's massive, valuable mahogany trees or other hardwoods must obtain a license and negotiate which tree to fell with the nearby community, which shares in the income. The logs can't be taken away whole, but must be cut into planks in the forest, by people like David Anfor.

He's a 35-year-old father of one who earns the equivalent of 75 U.S. cents per board he cuts with a whizzing chain saw. "The forest is our natural resource. We're trying to conserve," he said. "But I'm also working for my daily eating."

A community benefiting from such small-scale forestry is likely to keep out those engaged in illegal, uncontrolled logging. But enforcement is difficult in a state with about 3,500 square miles of pristine rain forest — and few forest rangers.

On one recent day deep in the forest, where the luxuriant green canopy allows only rare shards of sunlight to reach the floor, the trilling of a hornbill bird and the distant chain saw were the only sounds heard. As forestry officials rushed to investigate, the saw operator fled deeper into the forest, sign of an illegal operation.

Environmentalists say such a conservation approach may work for rural, agrarian people in Nigeria, which lost an estimated 15 million acres between 1990 and 2005, or about one-third of its entire forest area, and has one of the world's highest deforestation rates — more than 3 percent per year.

But lessons learned in one place aren't necessarily applicable elsewhere, they say. A global strategy is needed, mobilizing all rain-forest governments.

That's the goal of the post-Bali talks, looking for ways to integrate forest preservation into the world's emerging "carbon trading" system. A government earning carbon credits for "avoided deforestation" could then sell them to a European power plant, for example, to meet its emission-reduction quota.

"These forests are the greatest global public utility," Britain's conservationist Prince Charles said in the lead-up to Bali. "As a matter of urgency we have to find ways to make them more valuable alive than dead."

Observed the World Wildlife Fund's Duncan Pollard, "Suddenly you have the whole world looking at deforestation."

But in many ways rain forests are still a world of unknowns, a place with more scientific questions than answers.

How much carbon dioxide are forests absorbing? How much carbon is stored there? How might the death of the Amazon forest affect the climate in, say, the American Midwest? Hundreds of researchers are putting in thousands of hours of work to try to answer such questions before it is too late.

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'Green collar' jobs seen as prosperous

Brian Skoloff, Associated Press Yahoo News 2 Feb 08;

When 1,800 workers lost their jobs after a Maytag appliance factory and headquarters closed last year in the small town of Newton, Iowa, a wind turbine blade company saw opportunity — an available, skilled workforce in the middle of one of America's hardiest wind energy production regions.

TPI Composites Inc. is building a new plant there as the energy industry aims for a cleaner, more sustainable future. With proper incentives, thousands of "green-collar jobs" could be created, from ethanol production to wind turbines and solar panels, and all the maintenance and construction to support them, industry officials said.

TPI used to build boats, but switched to turbines in 2001 for the "major growth opportunity," said Steve Lockard, CEO of the Phoenix, Ariz.-based company. The idea, he said, is to "transform the workforce away from the Maytag-type jobs of the past into jobs that can withstand the test of time going forward."

However, advocates and executives say training is key to making sure the industry has enough skilled workers to make it into a real economic engine, and are pushing for more lucrative tax breaks, much like oil companies already receive, to make it profitable.

With the economy sputtering, even presidential candidates are getting on board. Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both say they would funnel federal money into job-training programs for workers to become skilled in green industries, among other initiatives.

The Republican candidates, too, all have plans they say will stimulate the clean energy sector, but none have specifically addressed workforce training for sustainable energy industries.

For people like Robert Hughes, who worked at Maytag for 21 years, none of it really matters. He's been out of work since October. At 55, he was making $22 an hour on the assembly line, and worries that new industries replacing the old manufacturing jobs simply means he will become a relic as they look for younger workers.

TPI promised to create 500 jobs within three years at a base pay of $12.25 an hour, not bad for new workers, but quite a cut for Hughes, who says he might apply for work there anyway.

"I'm encouraging my grandkids to go to college and further their education and get into something other than manufacturing because it doesn't really hold a promising future," he said.

Overall, however, the unions see "an opportunity to restore some of the 3 million jobs in manufacturing we've lost in the last seven years," said Bob Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council.

But while wind and solar have been seeing steady increases in production and investment, federal tax breaks set to expire at the end of the year and an anticipated shortage of skilled workers could stall future growth, experts say.

"Already companies that have invested millions of dollars in this industry are getting nervous," said Randall Swisher, executive director of the American Wind Energy Association.

An energy bill President Bush signed last year left out tax breaks for clean energy industries. The White House said it needs to focus on programs that expire this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The bill does authorize $125 million for green-collar job training programs, but the industry says that isn't enough.

The tax credits also are not part of a House passed economic stimulus package endorsed by the White House, although the Senate has included the extensions in its version of the bill expected to come up for a vote next week.

Without prompt action, renewable industry experts say next year's market growth likely won't look so good. According to the wind association, when previous tax credits expired in 2004, the amount of wind capacity installed fell by 77 percent.

The federal government must not only extend the tax credits, but provide more money for training workers, said George Sterzinger, executive director of the Washington-based Renewable Energy Policy Project.

If not, manufacturing will go overseas and the jobs will be lost, he said. It makes no sense, he added, to wean America off its dependence on foreign oil only to become dependent on other countries for products in sustainable energy production.

"You look at a wind turbine. It's got a whole bunch of parts. Somebody makes the blades, somebody makes the tower, somebody makes the gear boxes, the electronic controls," Sterzinger said. "Those parts can come from China, India — or from Buffalo."

The wind energy industry currently employs about 45,000 people in the U.S. and had $9 billion worth of investment last year, a 45 percent increase from 2006, Swisher said.

"Given that growth, we're already seeing constraints in terms of workers," he said.

Swisher estimates that by 2030, nearly a half-million new jobs could be created in the wind industry, in manufacturing, construction and operation.

The solar industry, too, is growing. Last year set a record with 314 megawatts of new solar capacity installed in the U.S., said Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association. That's enough to power about 80,000 homes, he said.

The market was worth just about $200 million five years ago. Last year, it topped $2 billion, Resch said.

"These are jobs that are really the backbone of the economy, jobs like roofers, carpenters, electricians and plumbers," he said. "But the federal government is completely asleep at the switch here."

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