Brazil defends biofuel's merits

Gary Duffy, BBC News 28 Jul 08;

At the busy Sao Manoel ethanol plant, three hours drive from the city of Sao Paulo, the noise from the churning machinery seems relentless.

Truckloads of sugar cane arrive from the nearby fields, some cut down by hand, some - in a sign of things to come - removed by machine.

From sugar cane fields to the garages of Brazil, doubts about biofuels in other parts of the world have not visibly slowed the process here.

Marcus Jank, president of the Sugar Cane Producers Association believes ethanol from sugar cane brings environmental and economic benefits.

"The first benefit is to reduce dependence on oil," he says.

"In our case we have replaced 50% of petrol with ethanol and also it was possible to have reduced the price of fossil fuels because of the competition with ethanol.

"We estimate that if there was not ethanol the petrol price would be 30% higher in Brazil."

Flex fuel vehicles

Ethanol's strength in Brazil has undoubtedly been helped by the development of flex fuel cars, which can run on any combination of ethanol or conventional petrol.



It is also widely available at petrol stations across the entire country and is generally the cheaper option.

The technology to make a car ready to run on flex fuel is neither complicated nor expensive - it costs just a few hundred dollars to adapt engines during the manufacturing process.

At the US automotive giant General Motors' (GM) plants in Brazil, there is no doubt that this is the future.

During the past three years, 100% of the cars rolling off the production lines here have been flex fuel, while across Brazil 90% of new cars are built the same way.

Future potential

The GM management in Brazil has enthusiastically embraced ethanol from sugar cane as an energy option.

And looking to the future, GM's president here, Jaime Ardila, says if governments and the private sector work together then emerging technology will offer answers to some of the concerns about bio fuels.

"The debate that has occurred on ethanol for good reasons - the concerns about food and food prices and so on - has clouded a much more important issue," he says.

"If governments and the private sector can jointly develop technologies to produce ethanol from sources that don't affect food and water consumption and so on and then help with distribution the world will definitely be better off."

Slave labour?

Undoubtedly, cutting sugar cane by hand in the fields is some of the toughest work imaginable, and working conditions in the industry have long been controversial. In some parts of the country it is sometimes described as akin to forced labour.



"In terms of slavery," says Braz Albertine, president of the Federation of Agricultural Workers in the State of Sao Paulo, "in Sao Paulo it is very difficult to say that here there is slavery work. In other states it has been found.

"We have already found worker' accommodation in terrible conditions, ethanol plants that delay payments or don't supply personal safety equipment.

"There are companies that work properly and others that don't."

The machines replacing the men who cut down sugar cane can already be seen in parts of the state of Sao Paulo and elsewhere.

Producers say this will help to address many concerns about working conditions.

At ethanol plants such as Sao Manoel, they say they keep within rules set by the government for rural workers, and have introduced changes to improve working practices.

Other fears have been raised by the Brazilian experience; some worry that the rapidly growing demand for ethanol will push crops and cattle further north, threatening the Amazon rainforest.

It is a concern that Marcus Jank of the sugar cane producers association is keen to reject.

"We are using 3.5 million hectares to produce sugar cane ethanol, and there are 200 million hectares of pastures in Brazil, so it is extremely small," he says.

"We believe that we are going to double the ethanol area in the next 20 years, but it will still be only 2% of arable land."

Greater access

If concerns about conditions are addressed, and land is well managed, says Professor Jose Goldemberg, of the University of Sao Paulo, ethanol from sugar cane has much to offer the developing world.

"In the next 10 years it offers a replacement of 10% of the gasoline (petrol) in the world, which is a large amount," he says.

"Today, about one trillion litres of gasoline are used in the world, and 10% of that could come from renewable fuel such as ethanol from Brazil and other tropical countries.

This, he claims would happen "without damaging food production, and without indirect effects such as damaging the Amazon forest and increasing deforestation".

To fully realise that potential Brazil and other developing countries will need greater access to world markets.

And that is exactly the kind of argument they have been putting forward as part of efforts to conclude the Doha trade talks in recent days.

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Hurricane Dolly may have shrunk Gulf 'dead zone'

Janet McConnaughey, Associated Press Yahoo News 28 Jul 08;

The oxygen-starved "dead zone" that forms every summer in the Gulf of Mexico is a bit smaller than predicted this year because Hurricane Dolly stirred up the water, a scientist reported Monday.

There is too little oxygen to support sea life for about 8,000 square miles — just under the record of 8,006 square miles recorded in 2001, said Nancy Rabalais, head of the head of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium.

"If it were not for Hurricane Dolly, the size of the Dead Zone would have been substantially larger," she said in a news release sent from the consortium's research vessel, the Pelican, as she returned from her annual mapping cruise. Rabalais measures the area during the same period each year.

Scientists had predicted that flood runoff would bring so much fertilizer and other nutrients into the Gulf that the area of low oxygen would be a record 8,300 to 8,800 square miles. Those nutrients feed microscopic plants at the surface, which die and fall to the bottom. Their decomposition uses up the salty layer's oxygen.

Additionally, the fresh water from the Mississippi River and salt water in the gulf don't mix well and form layers, keeping oxygen from filtering through to the sea bottom. The oxygen-depleted, or hypoxic, waters can be deadly to fish, shrimp, crabs and clams.

The Mississippi River's nitrogen levels in May were 37 percent higher than last year and the highest since measurements began in 1970, Rabalais said.

Based on that, R. Eugene Turner of Louisiana State University predicted the oxygen-starved area would cover 8,800 square miles, and Donald Scavia of the University of Michigan estimated it would be 8,300 to 8,700 square miles.

But Dolly's winds and waves mixed up the layers of water, stirring in oxygen, especially along the western and shoreward areas, Rabalais said.

Another load of nutrients may be headed toward the dead zone as runoff from the mid-June floods in Iowa reach the Gulf of Mexico, said Steven F. DiMarco, an associate professor in the oceanography department at Texas A&M who also studies the dead zone.

"I expect that pulse to be making its way out in a few weeks. It could extend this year's hypoxic zone or dead zone further into the summer — maybe even in September," he said.

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7-square-mile ice sheet breaks loose in Canada

Yahoo News 30 Jul 08;

A chunk of ice spreading across seven square miles has broken off a Canadian ice shelf in the Arctic, scientists said Tuesday.

Derek Mueller, a research at Trent University, was careful not to blame global warming, but said it the event was consistent with the theory that the current Arctic climate isn't rebuilding ice sheets.

"We're in a different climate now," he said. "It's not conducive to regrowing them. It's a one-way process."

Mueller said the sheet broke away last week from the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf off the north coast of Ellesmere Island in Canada's far north. He said a crack in the shelf was first spotted in 2002 and a survey this spring found a network of fissures.

The sheet is the biggest piece shed by one of Canada's six ice shelves since the Ayles shelf broke loose in 2005 from the coast of Ellesmere, about 500 miles from the North Pole.

Formed by accumulating snow and freezing meltwater, ice shelves are large platforms of thick, ancient sea ice that float on the ocean's surface. Ellesmere Island was once entirely ringed by a single enormous ice shelf that broke up in the early 1900s.

At 170 square miles and 130-feet thick, the Ward Hunt shelf is the largest of those remnants. Mueller said it has been steadily declining since the 1930s.

Gary Stern, co-leader of an international research program on sea ice, said it's the same story all around the Arctic.

Speaking from the Coast Guard icebreaker Amundsen in Canada's north, Stern said He hadn't seen any ice in weeks. Plans to set up an ice camp last February had to be abandoned when usually dependable ice didn't form for the second year in a row, he said.

"Nobody on the ship is surprised anymore," Stern said. "We've been trying to get the word out for the longest time now that things are happening fast and they're going to continue to happen fast."

Giant Chunks Break Off Canadian Ice Shelf
PlanetArk 30 Jul 08;

OTTAWA - Giant sheets of ice totaling almost eight square miles (20 square km) broke off an ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic last week and more could follow later this year, scientists said on Tuesday.

Temperatures in large parts of the Arctic have risen far faster than the global average in recent decades, a development that experts say is linked to global warming.

The ice broke away from the shelf on Ward Hunt Island, an small island just off giant Ellesmere Island in one of the northernmost parts of Canada.

It was the largest fracture of its kind since the nearby Ayles ice shelf -- which measured 25 square miles -- broke away in 2005.

Scientists had already identified deep cracks in the Ward Hunt shelf, which measures around 155 square miles. The shelf is one of five along Ellesmere Island in the northern Arctic.

"Because the break-off occurred between two large parallel cracks they're thinking more could go this summer before the freeze sets in," said Trudy Wohlleben of the Canadian Ice Service.

Asked to be more specific, she told Reuters: "More could be a piece as large as the Ayles ice shelf."

Ellesmere Island was once home to a single enormous ice shelf totaling around 3,500 square miles. All that is left of that shelf today are five much smaller shelves that together cover just under 400 square miles.

"The break-off is consistent with other changes we've seen in the area, such as the reduction in the amount of sea ice, the retreat of the glaciers and the break-up of other ice shelves," Wohlleben said.

She said a likely reason for the shelf breaking away was a strong wind from the south.

Warwick Vincent, director of the Centre for Northern Studies at Laval University in Quebec, said much of the remaining Ward Hunt ice shelf is now in a vulnerable state.

"It underscores the fact that each year we're now crossing new thresholds in environmental change in the High Arctic, and of course our concern in the longer term is that these may signal the onset of serious change at all latitudes, much further to the south, for example," he told Reuters.

Derek Mueller, an Arctic ice shelf specialist at Trent University in Ontario, said he was concerned by the rapidity of changes in the High Arctic over the last few years.

"It's a bit of a wake-up call for those people who aren't yet affected by climate change that there are places on earth that are, and the same could be true for them (these people) if you fast-forward a decade or two or three," he said.

Mueller initially estimated that 1.5 square miles of ice had broken off the shelf but increased that figure to eight square miles after studying the data more closely.

"Whatever has kept this ice shelf in balance for 3,000 years is no longer keeping it in balance," he told Reuters, saying he too would not be surprised to see more ice breaking away from the Ward Hunt shelf this year.

Wohlleben said the ice shelves, which contained unique ecosystems that had yet to be studied, would not be replaced because they took so long to form.

"Once they've broken off they're gone," she said. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Peter Galloway)


Story by David Ljunggren

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Best of our wild blogs: 29 Jul 08

The Animal Protector's Grant
support for ideas to help animals in Singapore, closing date 14 Aug on the Habitatnews blog

Feedback requested for a Sustainable Singapore
a quick summary on the wildfilms blog

Wild boars and madcap mudskippers at Chek Jawa
on the Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs blog

Pigged out
on Chek Jawa on the budak blog

Fun with horseshoe crabs
on the fun with nature blog

Surprising snails of Singapore
sluggish but superb on the singapore celebrates our reefs blog

Yellow-vented Bulbul eating Tabernaemontana corymbosa fruits
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Mother of synaptids
a giant sea cucumber on the sgbeachbum blog

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Wanted: Public's ideas for a greener Singapore

Feedback from the ground to shape 10-year programme
Tania Tan, Straits Times 29 Jul 08;

SINGAPORE is embarking on a 10-year journey to build a greener future - and the first steps start with you.

Views from individuals, businesses and interests group are being sought in a ground-up approach to drafting government policy that will shape how Singaporeans live, work, play and commute for years to come.

The goal - to create a 'liveable, lively home, with a vibrant economy', said Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan. He co-chairs a high-powered inter-ministry committee appointed by the Prime Minister in February to spearhead the green push.

Over the next three months, the public can give feedback on topics like transport, housing and industry at a dedicated website.

Public forums will also be held, and there will be consultations with volunteer groups, grassroots, and companies to involve as many people as possible.

Suggestions on everything from improving public transport to boosting recycling in homes will be woven into the committee's report to be tabled at next year's Budget.
Five ministers representing Environment, Transport, Trade and Industry, National Development and Finance came together yesterday to unveil this initiative, a sign of the far-reaching impact the committee's work will have.

'Energy is our biggest concern right now', said Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim, who co-chairs the committee.

Rising fuel prices and an affluent growing population are putting immense strain on already limited resources, he explained.

The hope - to find a Newater solution for the energy sector.

Investing in home-grown R&D will help make clean energy a viable alternative to fossil fuels, said Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry S. Iswaran.

But do not expect solutions to come quickly or without sacrifice, cautioned the ministers.

Using raised road tolls as an example, Transport Minister Raymond Lim said that unrestrained driving was 'not possible' as it undermined the urban environment by creating pollution and gridlock.

The benefits will come with time when the $40 billion being invested in new rail lines and road projects take shape.

What will not be compromised is economic growth, said Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

'We will balance the costs and benefits,' he added.

To achieve that, solutions should be 'pragmatic and result- oriented' but at the same time 'bold'.

The committee will tread carefully with top-down mandates.

Other countries have gone ahead of the curve by legislating green policies but at great cost to the people and companies, said Mr Mah.

Endorsing the ground-up approach being taken, Dr Amy Khor, chairman of Reach, the Government's feedback unit, said: 'This is especially important for such a topic which the ground may not find easy to relate to since some policies implemented in the immediate future may not directly benefit them now, but (will)ensure that future generations will continue to have a high quality living environment'.

Three areas of focus for a liveable city

TRANSPORT

Residents in Yishun and Sembawang might be sharing their footpaths with cyclists soon, following a similar effort already underway in Tampines to promote cycling.

Cycling is part of the plan to get more people out of cars and onto public transport, said Transport Minister Raymond Lim.

Its part of the 'BMW' approach, which has nothing to do with the German car-maker.

'Next time you take a trip, instead of driving, consider taking the Bus, the MRT and Walk.'

ENERGY-EFFICIENT BUILDINGS

Commercial buildings guzzle about half the country's annual power output, mainly for cooling.

To ease the costs of retrofitting buildings to make them green, National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said the Government will look at how to help companies 'cross initial hurdles' by building on existing green initiatives.

RECYCLING

Last year, homes and businesses generated about 5.6 million tonnes of waste. Companies recycle about half of what they throw out, but getting households to recycle and not litter is still 'something we crack our heads over', said Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim.

Education and community involvement can help turn this around, he believes.

Log on and give your feedback

A WEBSITE set up to collect suggestions from the public on building a greener Singapore made its debut yesterday.

It offers background material so that netizens can make informed suggestions on how to improve the way they live, work, play and commute.

It also lists the areas in which ideas are being invited.

For example, a member of the public interested in offering ideas on more efficient commuting will find information on the relative efficiency of buses and cars as modes of transport as well as figures on the level of air pollution here.

He will also learn that the Government will home in on four aspects of this issue, namely, making public transport a choice mode, cycling as a form of transport, fuel-efficient private transport and clean transport.

The deadline for suggestions is October.

The ministries will also organise focus-group discussions during this period.


Nationwide call for ideas on sustainable development
Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia 28 Jul 08;

SINGAPORE: Singapore has launched a nationwide call for ideas to make the country more eco-friendly and to ensure more efficient use of its resources.

An Inter-Ministerial Committee – tasked to promote sustainable development – said on Monday that it will not shy away from bold approaches. But its recommendations, which are likely to be announced next year, will not compromise economic growth.

Climate change and escalating fuel prices have been on the international agenda recently, and Singapore, too, will push for more optimal use of scarce resources, especially energy.

Individuals will have to make lifestyle changes and companies will be encouraged to adopt more efficient practices.

Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry S Iswaran, who sits on the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Sustainable Development, said: "There are also significant opportunities in clean energy and alternative energy, and these are areas we should be promoting with greater effort in the R&D area.

"Some of these have yet to be competitive in the cost point of view, compared to conventional energy sources.

"The key thing to do here is to facilitate greater R&D so that they can boost the technology to make it more efficient, and therefore competitive and viable, and sustainable in an economic environment."

The committee said it would explore ways to help companies make the transition. But one thing is certain – the government will not be too eager to amend legislation or give out subsidies unnecessarily.

Industry players said sustainable development is not just about money; it is also about creating greater awareness among consumers. They suggested that establishing an industry-wide accreditation scheme to honour green companies may help facilitate the process.

Kurt Wee, vice president of the Association of Small & Medium Enterprises (ASME), said: "Maybe some kind of certification process can be initiated so that consumers or product and services buyers have a choice between one that is environmentally certified and one that is not. Of course, the one that is environmentally friendly may cost more, but we can let the market decide."

Apart from the cost issue, there is also a concern about timing. For instance, some companies are worried that their investment in new environmentally sustainable techniques or practices may be obsolete within a few years as newer technologies become available.

The Inter-Ministerial Committee is now seeking views on ways to drive the green building movement and pollution control by launching a website to solicit feedback from the public.

The committee is expected to table its report in Parliament next February during the Budget debate.- CNA/so

Links

Sustainable Singapore on the MEWR website
http://app.mewr.gov.sg/web/Contents/ContentsSSS.aspx?ContId=1034

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Sustainable if costs don’t tip the scales

Today Online 29 Jul 08;

IN A picture-perfect Singapore, environmentally speaking, people would
cycle not just to the nearest MRT station but between towns; all homes
would use energy-saving appliances; buildings would be "green" and solar
panels would power our lives.

But is such a scenario sustainable, even if it is green?

For example, even as other countries have taken the plunge with feed-in
tariffs to promote solar energy, the technology is still not price
competitive and involves high capital cost.

"We have to bear in mind that solar is still two to three times what we
pay for in grid power," said Senior Minister of State for Trade and
Industry S Iswaran. Subsidies would "distort" market signals and consumer
habits.

So, what kind of green initiatives would be worth going the distance for?

This is what the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Sustainable Development
wants Singaporeans to think about and give their views on, with its launch
of www.sustainable-singapore.gov.sg yesterday.

Formed in February, the committee is co-chaired by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan and Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim. Other members are Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Transport Minister Raymond Lim and Mr Iswaran.

With the population growing, said Mr Mah, there is a need to re-look the balance between growth and sustainability, while ensuring high-quality living.

Setting down the general path the Republic would take, Mr Shanmugaratnam promised that the measures “will be bold”. “We are not going to be puny in the way we go about this, but we’ll be pragmatic and we’ll weigh costs and benefits and make sensible judgements on how to prioritise and what to do, and so on.”

The Government is also mindful of inflationary pressures and does not want to “add to costs for either businesses or consumers”, he added. “Many of the things we do will have benefits in the long-term. Some of it wouldn’t show up as benefits in the short-term.”

And so that Singaporeans will take ownership of such measures, the Government has moved away from the traditional top-down approach in such matters and is seeking their suggestions.

from cycling to lightbulbs

One achievable goal, said Mr Lim, isre-looking the humble bicycle as something for everyone. To promote bicycles as a mode of transport between towns, more parking facilities could be added at MRT stations. “It’s a shift in the way we look at cycling,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Government will continue to address issues such as car emission levels, by looking at the costs and benefits involved.

Said Mr Shanmugaratnam: “For example, diesel cars: Should we phase in Euro IV and eventually Euro V, and accept that existing vehicles will continue to emit particulate matter at higher than desirable levels? Or do we go aggressive and require all existing stock be converted, which will cost a lot?”

“That’s the kind of issue we are looking at: At significant cost, are the benefits worth it or should we just phase things out and allow for a more graduated move towards reduced emissions?”

Another conundrum: Going “green” with buildings. As it is more expensive to retrofit than to build new buildings, there is the question of how much the Government should subsidise developers or building owners, since these parties will enjoy cost savings over time.

But even as the Housing and Development Board, for one, looks at how to design energy efficient flats and retrofit existing blocks, the public must play its part in cultivating a sustainable lifestyle.

Said Dr Yaacob: “Conserve water, switch off when you don’t use the air-con, switch to more energy efficient appliances ... If they (Singaporeans) choose to cycle and walk, it will help us. The Transport Ministry will provide the infrastructure, but we have to get Singaporeans onboard.”

And if the public and private sectors do not respond to public education, more aggressive measures can be adopted, suggested Singapore Environment Council president Howard Shaw. Referring to now-compulsory energy efficiency labels for certain appliances, he said: “It started out voluntary but the private sector didn’t take it up, so consumers did not recognise its significance. So we had to take a drastic measure.”

Energy resources critical in ensuring Singapore's sustained development
May Wong, Channel NewsAsia 28 Jul 08;

SINGAPORE: Energy is the most critical resource in Singapore, given high oil prices and the country's lack of alternative resources, said the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Sustainable Development.

The committee, which was set up in February this year, said on Monday that if Singapore expends the same effort on energy efficiency as it did for water management, the country will enjoy benefits in the long run.

That is why it is calling on members of the public to suggest ways on how to make Singapore a more eco-friendly city.

Professional show host, Samson Zee, makes it a point to save energy in every little way, such as adjusting the air-conditioner temperature from 18 degrees Celsius to 25 degrees Celsius.

He said: "You have to be responsible and also be conscious about the (amount of) energy that you're using. Start looking into changing the bulbs at home to compact fluorescent light, instead of the incandescent light.

"The next thing is to look out for equipment or home appliances that have energy-saving consumption system."

Aside from managing resources like energy and water, Singapore is also looking into pollution control and improving the physical environment so that the country can grow economically, while building a sustainable environment.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said: "Although our contribution to the global carbon emission reduction will be small because we are a small country, I think if we can demonstrate that a highly urbanised city can still have good growth and a good quality of life using the approaches and measures that we have taken, the demonstration effect on other cities around the world will be quite significant."

Mr Mah co-chairs the Inter-Ministerial Committee with Minister for Environment and Water Resources, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim.

The committee has suggested broad solutions such as making existing buildings more energy efficient and developing new technologies to optimise resources.

But it has declined to state concrete plans, saying it wants to get public feedback first through its website.

Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who also sits on the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Sustainable Development, said: "One of the things that we're very mindful of is that each of the initiatives that we can think of comes with costs as well as benefits.

"We'll be quite pragmatic in the way we go about this – avoid extremes. 'Extremes' meaning, either going green regardless of costs, or on the other hand, not doing anything simply because there are costs. So I think we have to find a pragmatic middle ground in this whole initiative."

The committee has emphasised that it may take about ten years for any initiative to produce results, so it intends to collate as much public feedback and solutions as possible by next February's Budget debate in Parliament.


- CNA/ls/so

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New scholarship to attract Singaporeans to water and environment sectors

Margaret Perry, Channel NewsAsia 28 Jul 08;

SINGAPORE: Financial help will soon be available for students wanting to pursue degrees in the environment and water sectors.

A new scholarship programme has been launched by the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR).

Called the National Environment and Water (NEW) Scholarship, up to 20 undergraduate awards will be offered each year for studies at reputable local and overseas universities, starting from 2009.

To interest the young in the environment and water sectors, students will also be invited to take up internships at the national water agency PUB, the National Environment Agency, MEWR or related organisations.

Under this internship scheme, known as the NEW Programme, selected students will get the opportunity to participate in environment or water-related projects, and those showing particular promise can be offered the NEW scholarship.

Mr Khoo Teng Chye, PUB chief executive and executive director of the Environment and Water Industry Development Council, said the NEW Programme will help attract talents and allow PUB to select the best possible candidates to be developed.

According to a statement from MEWR, jobs in the environment and water industry are expected to increase to 20,000, and these will in turn triple the industry's economic value-added to S$1.7 billion by 2015.

Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, said: "Environmental sustainability is important not just for Singapore but also the world.

"Singapore has been at the forefront with our approach to integrated water management and projects such as NEWater, Marina Barrage, Semakau Landfill and Deep Tunnel Sewerage System."

The scholarship is available for undergraduate degree programmes in Environmental Science, Engineering, Applied Sciences, Chemistry, Biology, Economics and other courses relevant to NEA or PUB.

Scholars receiving an overseas award for universities in English-speaking countries (for example, US, UK and Australia) will be bonded for six years, while those attending local universities will have to serve a bond of four years.

- CNA/ir

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Green tax break for CNG cars: Call for firm ruling

Straits Times 29 Jul 08;

PLAYERS in the compressed natural gas (CNG) industry are lobbying for certainty in a tax policy governing cars that use the cleaner-burning fuel.

These vehicles are currently exempt from a so-called 'special tax' that applies to vehicles that do not use petrol. For diesel cars, it starts at $1,250 a year.

If not for this exemption, CNG cars would be taxed more heavily than petrol cars.

The exemption was introduced six years ago to encourage people to switch to greener vehicles, and expires at the end of next year.

There are more than 1,600 CNG vehicles on the road today, triple last year's number.

Motor traders, CNG retailers and companies that convert petrol-driven cars to run on the fuel are lobbying for a long-term policy - preferably one in favour of CNG.

'If the Government really wants to encourage environmentally friendly vehicles, it should not impose the special tax,' said Mr Johnny Harjantho, managing director of CNG-refuelling company Smart Energy.

The Land Transport Authority would only say that 'a review will be conducted in due course'.

At the same time, it is leaving the door open for an extension to the tax break.

A spokesman said the review would take into account, among other factors, the environmental benefits of such vehicles.

Earlier this month, the Vehicle Traders Association and the Automotive Importers and Exporters Association met ministries and government agencies over the fate of the special tax on CNG.

Mr Neo Nam Heng, who heads both associations, said: 'We were pushing for certainty so people can decide clearly whether they will buy a green car.'

Mr Gilbert von der Aue, sales manager at C. Melchers, a company that converts cars to use CNG, said: 'Even if the Government extends the exemption by another two years, it is not going to help much.'

He said car buyers and gas sellers have made 'long-term' investments in the fuel.

Shipping executive Agus Kassim, 44, who drives a bi-fuel Toyota Estima, said a tax would be 'unfair to owners because we are supporting a policy to go green'.

CHRISTOPHER TAN

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Climate change will increase the erosion of coral reefs

Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com 28 Jul 08;

Coral reefs are particularly susceptible to climate change. Warming waters have been shown to bleach coral, killing off symbiotic algae that provide them with sustenance, and often leading to the death of the coral itself. Much attention has been placed on bleaching coral, but now scientists have discovered an additional danger to coral reefs in a warming world: erosion.

A study published in this week's issue of PNAS has shown that coral reefs in the waters off Panama and Galapagos, which live in a naturally acidic and high CO2 environment, contain dangerously low percentages of cement to hold them in place.

The researchers believe that these reefs are a vision into the future of reefs worldwide, since their environment replicates the expected increased in acidity and CO2. Oceans have already absorbed about one-third of all carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution.

The researchers believe that early marine cementation is key to a coral reefs "rigidity and stability".

Studying early marine cementation in three test sites, one in Galapagos and two in Panama, the researchers searched interskeletal pores for evidence of cementation. They found that cementation was in 1.5 to 16.1 percent of these reef's pores. The Galapagos was the most cement-free with six samples showing no cement whatsoever. The researchers also took samples from a reef in the Bahamas. In these less acidic and less CO2-rich waters, 60 percent of coral contained cementation: four times more than the most cement-rich coral found by scientists in the waters off Panama. Bearing out the link between less cementation and risk of erosion, the scientists note that erosion rates in the Galapagos and Panama "are among the highest measured for any reef system to date".

Coral reefs are bombarded by threats. A recent study from the IUCN showed that nearly one in three coral species in the world are endangered. Threats included human disturbance, coastal development, sedimentation from land erosion and deforestation, high nutrient run-off from agriculture causing algae blooms, over-fishing, and bleaching due to warming oceans. This new study reveals yet another vulnerability, the increasing instability of reefs in face of climate change.

"Poorly cemented coral reefs of the eastern tropical Pacific: Possible insights into reef development in a high-CO2 world," by Derek P. Manzello, Joan A. Kleypas, David A. Budd, C. Mark Eakin, Peter W. Glynn, and Chris Langdon. PNAS.

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Newfound Monkey Could Disappear Soon

LiveScience Yahoo News 28 Jul 08;

A monkey species discovered only three years ago could soon go extinct in its tiny forest home in Tanzania, say conservation scientists.

The kipunji (Rungwecebus kipunji and also known as the Highland Mangabey) was discovered in 2005 in the Southern Highlands and Udzungwa Mountains in Tanzania. In 2006, genetic analyses revealed the species represented an entire new genus of primate - the first since 1923.

Now, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in New York has published a census of the endangered primate, revealing 1,117 individuals of the species reside in two isolated forest regions spanning less than 7 square miles (18 square kilometers). The animals live in 38 groups, each with 15 to 39 members.

The forest-dweller sports long whiskers and a crest of hair on the tip of its head. The monkey is known for its unique honk-bark call.

"The kipunji is hanging on by the thinnest of threads," said Tim Davenport, Tanzania country director for the WCS. "We must do all we can to safeguard this extremely rare and little understood species while there is still time."

WCS researchers found that much of the monkey's remaining habitat is severely degraded by illegal logging and land conversion. This loss of habitat along with the monkey being hunted by poachers has WCS scientists worried about the species' survival.

WCS officials are proposing that that the kipunji be classified by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as "critically endangered," which means the species is threatened with extinction in the wild if immediate conservation action is not taken.

The kipunji census research, detailed in the July issue of the journal Oryx, was funded by the WCS, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, and Fauna and Flora International Flagship Species Fund.

Newfound Monkey Species "Rarest in Africa," Experts Say
Steven Stanek, National Geographic News 4 Aug 08;

A recently discovered African monkey could soon be extinct, scientists report.

The first comprehensive study of a three-foot-tall (one-meter-tall) monkey discovered in Tanzania found that just 1,117 individuals exist, according to researchers with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

The Rungwecebus kipunji on Monday was listed as "critically endangered"—the highest possible threat level before extinction—by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in response to the WCS research.

"Without a doubt, they are the rarest monkey in Africa, and I would imagine there are very few with such small numbers in the world," said Tim Davenport, Tanzania country director for the WCS, who led one of the two research teams that separately found the primate in 2005.

Davenport helped IUCN to assess the conservation status of the kipunji.

Mike Hoffmann, a Washington-based program manager for IUCN, said his organization relies on information from researchers in the field about animal populations to determine a species' conservation status.

"They've got very good information," Hoffman said of Davenport's teams. "This is information from people working on the ground conducting detailed surveys."

New Genus

Davenport said the main threats to the kipunji are poachers and illegal logging in its habitat in Tanzania's southern highlands and the Udzungwa Mountains, which rise 8,000 feet (about 2,400 meters) above sea level.

As adults, the brownish gray, long-haired monkeys weigh up to 40 pounds (18 grams) and emit a unique "honk-bark," so named because it sounds like "a goose followed by a dog," Davenport said.

Originally scientists thought the monkey was a new species of mangabey, but in 2006 DNA analysis revealed it to be an entirely new genus of primate named Rungwecebus—the first genus discovered in Africa since 1923.

Patricia Wright, a primatologist at New York's Stony Brook University, said: "If it is indeed its own genus, then it becomes even more important that we save it."

The primate could disappear in 20 to 50 years without safeguards to preserve it, said Wright, a member of National Geographic's Conservation Trust Advisory Board.

(The Conservation Trust is part of the National Geographic Society, which also owns National Geographic News.)

Counting Each Individual

The WCS study—published in the July issue of the journal Oryx—was the result of more than 2,800 hours of fieldwork by scientists.

Davenport said most primate censuses estimate populations through sampling and statistical extrapolation.

"What we decided to do was a little bit more time consuming ... actually try and count every individual," he said. "It was a bit of an unusual study."

It took 20 researchers six months to map the movements of 34 separate groups of kipunji, using GPS mapping systems. Each group has 30 to 36 individuals.

The team found the monkeys—which sport distinctive, upright crests of hair on their heads—live in a range of just 6.8 square miles (17.7 square kilometers) in two remote regions, which explains why they eluded Western scientists for so long.

The researchers said the kipunji's tiny population and "shyness" also contributed to the primate's obscurity.

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Ancient Ocean Cooling Sparked a Biodiversity Boom

Kimberly Johnson, National Geographic News 28 Jul 08;

More than 400 million years ago, Earth's dramatically warmer sea temperatures plummeted to almost present-day levels, opening the door for a boom in biodiversity, new research shows.

The cooler seas—which occurred during the Ordovician period—created a more hospitable environment for a range of species, researchers say.

The find might also foreshadow a biodiversity crisis if the planet continues to warm due to climate change.

"It's a warning of what happens to life on Earth when global temperatures get extremely high," said study co-author Chris Barnes, a paleontologist at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada.

"Life can exist, but it is not as diverse."

Biodiversity Boom

Sea-surface temperatures hovered at about 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius) near the beginning of the Ordovician, 490 million years ago, researchers found.

The temperature fell dramatically to modern-day tropical climes by 470 million years ago, then cooled further during a brief glacial period to about 73 degrees Fahrenheit (23 degrees Celsius) around 443 million years ago. As oceans cooled to modern levels, life bloomed. At the beginning of the period, the sea averaged about 350 to 400 species, but those numbers soon spiked to more than 1,700, Barnes explained.

"What we can show in this [research] is that this sudden expansion in the evolution of life occurred only over about five to ten million years. Thats really quite astonishing," Barnes said.

New Technique

Traditionally scientists have used oxygen isotopes—versions of an element with different masses—to measure ancient ocean temperatures. That's because ratios of these isotopes change based on sea temperatures.

Barnes' team used a new, more accurate technique for analyzing oxygen isotopes in the fossilized teeth of an ancient eel-like animal called a conodont.

About the size of an adult human finger, conodonts once swam in the tropical shallow seas that covered North America and Australia. The fossils were collected throughout sites in modern-day Canada and Australia.

Like today's sharks, the animals' teeth are the only hard parts in their bodies that are preserved as fossils.

The composition of the teeth—which are made of calcium phosphate—hasn't significantly changed with time or temperature, Barnes said.

This makes the teeth better research subjects than shells made of calcium carbonate, which recrystallize over time and lose their isotopic value, he added.

Based on ratios of the isotopes in conodont teeth, the scientists established a steady decline in sea-surface temperatures from 488 to 444 million years ago.

The research was published recently in the journal Science.

Clouded by Assumptions

The authors have produced a very nice data set, Richard Norris, a paleooceanagrapher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, said in an email. The interpretation of that data, however, is clouded by assumptions.

One assumption, for instance, is that there was no ice until late in the end of the Ordovician period, he said.

Ice would have affected the ocean's isotope composition and could have lowered the temperature by several degrees. While he agrees that the study used a novel technique, Norris expressed skepticism about absolute temperature values derived from it.

He pointed out that no adjustment was made for an isotope measurement that varies due to evaporation or rainfall.

"It is also possible that the long-term temperature trend that is reported in the paper is an artifact of changes in oceanography between the different sites used in the study," Norris said.

For example, changes in the water depth, geographic position of the sites relative to areas of high rainfall or high evaporation, or changes in ice volume on the Poles could influence the results.

Norris added that he thought a link between temperature and diversification was not conclusive.

"Lots of things are correlated in nature without being strict causal relationships."

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Vietnam to freeze new golf courses to protect rice farms

Yahoo News 28 Jul 08;

Communist Vietnam plans to restrict the growth of new golf courses encroaching on rice farms to ensure national food security and protect thousands of poor farmers, state media reported Monday.

More than 140 golf courses, either operating or in the planning stages, would take up almost 50,000 hectares (more than 120,000 acres) of land, said the Vietnam News daily quoting a Ministry of Planning and Investment report.

New golf courses had been licensed at a rate of more than one per week since early 2006, when foreign investor interest surged in the "emerging tiger" economy, which saw growth of 8.5 percent last year.

But now, as food prices are sky-rocketing amid double-digit inflation, the government is planning to freeze new courses that do not meet land-use criteria and environmental protection requirements, reports said.

"Local governments should cease issuing new golf licenses if the projects are built on land which is currently used to cultivate two rice crops a year," the ministry report said according to the Vietnam Investment Review.

Vietnam currently has only 13 operating golf course projects, but new licenses have mushroomed recently, especially near the northern capital Hanoi and around the southern business hub of Ho Chi Minh City, the report found.

Long An province, near the former Saigon, had issued 18 licenses, and state-owned companies had also asked for permission to build many courses, with shipbuilder Vinashin alone planning five golf projects, it said.

Thousands of farmers had already lost their land and livelihoods, and developers had typically compensated them at a rate of about two or three dollars per square metre of land, the report said.

Golf courses also take a heavy environmental toll, said Eng Le Anh Tuan from the Can Tho University Environmental Technology Centre.

An 18-hole golf courses consumes 5,000 cubic metres of water per day, enough for 20,000 households, and three times the pesticides, fertilisers and other chemicals used for farming, he was quoted as saying by the Vietnam News.

Amid Vietnam's economic boom, rice land shrank from 4.5 million to 4.1 million hectares between 2000 and 2006 due to the growth of industrial and residential areas, the Agriculture Ministry said in June.

World grain prices have shot up this year, leading to bouts of panic-buying of rice in Vietnam and prompting the government to cap international sales and impose export tariffs to ensure national food security.

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