New Zealand turning possum pest into luxury business

David Brooks Yahoo News 17 Dec 08;

WELLINGTON (AFP) – The Australian brushtailed possum is an ecological disaster in New Zealand but these days it can be found in Washington and Hollywood as well.

Millions of dollars are spent every year trying to control the millions of cute but destructive possums found throughout the country, and the rapid growth of a commercial industry to exploit its fur is making a difference.

Former US president Bill Clinton, and his wife Hillary -- the incoming Secretary of State -- are among those who own clothing made from possum fur blended with merino wool.

Peri Drysdale is the founder of New Zealand fashion label Untouched World, which has an emphasis on environmentally sustainable products and has won fans in the Clintons and Hollywood luminaries including "Desperate Housewives" star Felicity Huffman and Sharon Stone.

Drysdale is one of the pioneers of blending possum fur with merino, knitting her first garment from the blend in 1992 and first selling it commercially in 1996.

"The thing we really like about it is it creates a light, luxurious, beautifully soft garment and unusually for a very fine textile it has very good long wearing qualities," Drysdale told AFP.

Possum fibres are hollow and fine, providing great warmth despite their light weight and they don't tangle and create fibre balls like wool.

"We're passionate about it because it's such a good product," she said.

The product is unique and Drysdale's Snowy Peak and Untouched World companies are among a rising number of New Zealand firms making products under names such as merinomink, eco-possum, possumdown, eco fur and possum wool.

Sales of merino-and-possum-blend knitwear and accessories such as socks, scarves and gloves have grown rapidly and account for about 95 percent of all commercially caught possum fur.

The rest in the form of possum pelts is used for fur trims, jackets, bed throws, possum leather gloves and even novelty items such as fur nipple warmers and g-strings.

Demand has risen sharply worldwide in recent years despite the campaign by animal rights groups such as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) against wearing fur.

Industry figures say most criticism over possum dissipates when critics become aware of the facts about the environmental damage done by possums in New Zealand.

Brushtailed possums were first introduced to New Zealand in 1837 from their native Australia in hopes of starting a fur industry, and their numbers have exploded in the absence of predators.

"They destroy the trees, they eat birds, they eat eggs and they compete directly with many native species for resources," says Department of Conservation senior advisor Herb Christophers.

Numbers of many native New Zealand birds including the iconic flightless kiwi are falling fast and they could be doomed to extinction in the wild unless possums and other pests including rats and stoats are brought under control.

Possums also spread bovine tuberculosis, threatening New Zealand's beef, dairy and venison exports. Animal health and conservation authorities spend many millions of dollars each year on trapping and poisoning campaigns to try to control the pest.

Controversially this includes dropping the sodium fluoroacetate poison, known as 1080, from the air over large tracts of forest, with deer and a small numbers of birds also falling victim to poisoning.

Many in the commercial possum industry want the poisoning to be reduced or stopped and for government authorities to work more closely with the commercial industry.

"The issue is whether the commercial industry can play a major role in meeting the animal health and biodiversity goals, and if it can then we should be giving it all the support we can give," says Steve Boot, owner of Basically Bush.

Basically Bush is a trading company responsible for buying more than half the possum fur caught by hunters for commercial use in New Zealand.

Boot estimates that around 1.8 million possums have been harvested in the wild by the commercial industry over the last year.

"If we could grow it to three million possums harvested and keep that up for five to 10 years, it would be very difficult to find animals in some areas," he said.

But the Department of Conservation's Christophers says commercial harvesting can never replace the trapping and poisoning possum control programme run by the government.

"Some people think it's a substitute for possum management, it's certainly a good supplement but it's not a substitute," he said.

"Show me the people who are going to go out there and do all this work. It's hard work and it's not everybody's cup of tea.

"If we stop using 1080 we will lose species, it's as simple as that."

But he says conservation authorities are happy to work with the fur industry and don't want any conflict.

Boot says most in the possum business would be happy if their hunting was so successsful that it killed off their industry.

"By and large the industry feels that if it ever got to the point in 15 to 20 years time that there weren't enough possums left to support it then we should all be able to hold our heads up and say well done."

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Cedric, the great hope for Tasmanian devils, is sick

Kathy Marks, The Independent 18 Dec 08;

He was supposed to be the saviour of his species, but now a Tasmanian devil named Cedric has contracted the deadly facial tumour that has brought the creatures to the brink of extinction.

Scientists struggling to conserve the carnivorous marsupials had pinned their hopes on Cedric, who appeared to be immune to the highly contagious, disfiguring viral disease. For the past two years, he had produced antibodies when injected with dead and live facial tumour cells. But this week Cedric tested positive for DFTD (devil facial tumour disease). They had hoped to start a breeding programme to propagate his mix of genes but his love life has been put on hold.

Greg Woods, at the University of Tasmania, said yesterday that he had removed two small growths on Monday that "almost certainly" indicated he was infected. "It's like a family member having cancer," he said, adding that Cedric is expected to recover fully.

Tasmanian devils could be extinct in the wild within 10 to 20 years.

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Netherlands to strengthen flood fortifications

Yahoo News 18 Dec 08;

THE HAGUE (AFP) – The Dutch government on Thursday unveiled a multi-billion dollar plan to reinforce dykes and the coastline and augment fresh water supplies in the face of rising sea levels due to global warming.

Two-thirds of the Netherlands lies below sea-level and the country is increasingly worried about the threat of devastating floods.

The government's national water plan proposes strengthening hundreds of kilometres (miles) of dykes along the North Sea, adding massive sand deposits to the coast, increasing river drainage capacity, and expanding the freshwater Ijsselmeer (lake) north of Amsterdam.

"The Netherlands has good fresh water provision, but it won't always be guaranteed," said a government statement, warning about the "intrusion" of salt water due to the rising seas.

Highlighting the need to also take advantage of abundant water, the government said a windmill park in two areas of the North Sea should be built to generate 6,000 megawatts of energy by 2020.

They will reportedly be able to generate as much energy as six coal-fired power stations.

Nine million people from a population of 16 million live in inland areas directly sheltered from the sea and rivers by dykes and dunes.

Sixty-five percent of the national production capacity lies in flood-prone areas.

The plan, presented to parliament on Thursday, also moots the possibility of creating an artificial island in the North Sea for energy storage and production.

A government-appointed commission said in September that the Netherlands would have to spend more than 100 billion euros (143 billion dollars) over the next century on dyke upgrades and coastal expansion to avoid flood damage resulting from global warming.

Once passed by parliament, the plan will be incorporated into a national water law.

In 2007, fortification measures against water cost the country a total of five billion euros.

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Three Gorges Dam Tested As Water Rises

Ian Ransom, PlanetArk 19 Dec 08;

BEIJING - Rising water levels in China's giant Three Gorges Dam have triggered dozens of landslides in recent months, damaging houses, land and infrastructure worth millions of dollars, state media said on Thursday.

In July, China finished evacuating residents from the last town to be submerged by the massive 660-km (400-mile) long reservoir on the Yangtze River, ending an exodus of some 1.4 million people that began four years ago.

The 2,309-meter-long dam, the world's largest, aims to tame the river and provide cheap, clean energy for the country's rapid development.

But critics say rising water levels in the reservoir are eroding already fragile slopes and triggering landslides which could worsen as levels reach their maximum height next year.

The reservoir's administration began withholding water outflows in September to push the reservoir's water level up to 175 meters.

But since then, the rising water level had "further induced geological harm including landslides and collapsing of the reservoirs' banks," the Xinhua news agency quoted Chongqing government spokesman Wen Tianping as saying.

"(These) have caused damage or created a latent threat to ... infrastructure, land and housing in dam areas above the evacuation line," Wen said.

He added that 93 "surface threats" had emerged in 12 regions and counties around the dam area, causing direct losses of 360 million yuan ($53 million), but had not caused any injury or loss of life.

He however said the problems were anticipated during the dam's feasibility study and that there was no cause for concern.

Officials said last year 12 billion yuan ($1.75 billion) had been spent on repairs around the massive dam in past years and were confident such efforts were successful.

But in April, a large mudslide hit a village in the Gaoyang area near the dam in April, sweeping into a school playground. A landslide nearby killed 35 people late last year.

Finished in 2003, the dam's water level has risen in stages, reaching 156 meters in 2006. It is expected to reach its final height next year.

(Editing by Nita Bhalla)

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China cull amid bird flu outbreak

BBC News 17 Dec 08;

More than 370,000 chickens have been culled in China's eastern province of Jiangsu after an outbreak of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, say officials.

The outbreak is thought to be the first in mainland China since June.

Meanwhile, a man has reportedly contracted the virus in Cambodia, while Taiwan is investigating suspected infection among birds.

The death of a teenage girl from H5N1 was announced in Egypt on Tuesday, and a bird cull is also under way in India.

More than 200 people in a dozen countries have died of the virus since it resurfaced in Asia in 2003, say global health authorities.

Experts fear that the virus could mutate into one that is easily transmissible from human to human.

Migrating birds blamed

China's Ministry of Agriculture said it received notification that the H5N1 virus had been found in two areas of Jiangsu on Monday.

The usual precautions have been imposed: birds have been slaughtered in the surrounding area, farms quarantined and disinfected, and the transport of fowl banned.

But no information has been released about the scale of the outbreak - how many birds were found to be carrying the H5N1 strain of the virus and how many of them died.

Officials say they think migrating birds might have been the source of the disease.

They are currently testing samples of the virus to check it has not mutated into a form that would pose a risk to human health, reports the BBC's Chris Hogg in Shanghai.

Virus returns

China is among a number of countries experiencing a return of the virus this season:

• Authorities in the Indian state of West Bengal are implementing a cull after tests on poultry from two villages yielded positive results

• In Cambodia, another cull is under way after the World Health Organisation (WHO) and government confirmed a young man had the virus, according to Reuters news agency

• Authorities in Taiwan say they are investigating the cause of the sudden death of poulty in Luzhu, Kaohsiung county, Reuters says

• Earlier in the week, Egyptian authorities announced the death of a 16-year-old girl from the virus

• The discovery of infected birds in Hong Kong last week sparked a cull of more than 80,000 birds


WHO warning

The WHO recently warned governments in Asia not to let down their guard against bird flu.

Some experts fear that because the virus has not yet mutated into a form that could spread easily among humans, the fight against bird flu is seen as less of a priority than before.

Countries like China - with huge densely populated cities and in many places only basic healthcare and veterinary services - are thought to be particularly vulnerable should the virus become more deadly, says our correspondent Chris Hogg.

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Nasa set to launch 'CO2 hunter'

Jonathan Amos, BBC News 18 Dec 08;

The US space agency is set to launch a satellite that can map in detail where carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere.

Nasa's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) will pinpoint the key locations on the Earth's surface where CO2 is being emitted and absorbed.

CO2 from human activities is thought to be driving climate changes, but important facts about its movement through the atmosphere remain elusive.

The agency believes the technology on OCO can end some of the mysteries.

"This is Nasa's first spacecraft specifically dedicated to mapping carbon dioxide," principal investigator David Crisp told BBC News.

"The objective of the OCO mission is to make measurements that are so precise that they can be used to look for surface 'sources' and 'sinks' of CO2."

Dr Crisp has been presenting details of the mission here at the American Geophysical Union's (AGU) Fall Meeting.

As he did so, OCO's launch on a Taurus XL rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California was booked for 23 February.

Nasa already has a CO2 detection instrument on its Aqua satellite but this looks at the greenhouse gas some five to 10km above the surface.

OCO, on the other hand, will detail the concentration of carbon dioxide close to the ground where its warming effect is most keenly felt.

The observatory will be engaged in what amounts to carbon accountancy. Its fortnightly global maps of CO2 concentration will help the mission team work out where the gas is entering the atmosphere and where it is being absorbed by land plants and the oceans.

Scientists have calculated that nature cycles about 330 billion tonnes of carbon every year.

Human activities put about 7.5 billion tonnes into the atmosphere - a tiny sum in comparison but enough, say researchers, to imbalance the system and raise the global mean surface temperature of Earth.

"We know where most of the fossil fuel emissions are coming from; we also know where things like cement manufacturing are producing large CO2 emissions," explained Dr Crisp, who works at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

"But there are other things such as biomass (forest) burning and clearing; and we don't have a good quantification of the CO2 released by those processes.

"If you take out the fossil fuels - for which we understand the CO2 source to within 10% - and look at the rest of the carbon dioxide that's introduced into the atmosphere by our activities, it's uncertain by 100%.

"The idea is that OCO will help us to constrain that a whole lot better."

Location, location

The sinks for CO2 - the places where it is absorbed - also have many mysteries associated with them.

The Earth is thought to be absorbing about 50% of the carbon dioxide we put out - the majority of it going into the oceans. But science's description of the other major absorbers is poor, commented UK Earth-observation scientist Shaun Quegan.

"There's a bunch of atmospheric collection flasks dotted around the planet and when we apply the models to their data, the models all show there is a carbon sink in northern mid-latitudes," he said.

"But whether that's in North America, in Siberia, or wherever and what's causing it is a big debate."

Since science does not have a good handle on where the CO2 is being absorbed, researchers can have only limited understanding of how CO2 sinks are likely to evolve as the climate changes.

"Let's say we found that the boreal forests in Canada and Siberia were the primary sinks of CO2 because of their incredibly rapid growth during summer months when the Sun is up," speculated Dr Crisp.

"Well those environments are changing dramatically right now.

"Will they still be the primary absorbers of CO2 as time goes on? We don't really know how big an impact they're having right now.

"This is why OCO is so essential."

Reflected glory

The observatory carries a single instrument - a spectrometer that breaks the sunlight reflected off the Earth's surface into its constituent colours, and then analyses the spectrum to determine how much carbon dioxide and molecular oxygen is present.

The data can be used to work out atmospheric concentrations.

OCO will map carbon dioxide over 1,600-sq-km (620 sq miles) regions of the Earth's surface to an accuracy of just fractions of 1%.

However, to locate the sources and sinks, scientists will need to combine the information with models that estimate how CO2 is being moved and mixed through the air.

Once in orbit, OCO will join a fleet of other satellites - known as the A-Train - which carry a range of instrumentation to give a rounded picture of Earth's atmospheric and water systems.

The spacecraft cross the equator in the early afternoon on a path that takes them over broadly the same observation point in quick succession.

OCO will be followed into orbit next year by a Japanese carbon mission known as the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT).

Europe is considering two carbon observatories - A-SCOPE (Advanced Space Carbon and Climate Observation of Planet Earth) and a mission called BIOMASS - which could fly in 2016.

Professor Quegan, from the UK's University of Sheffield, is working on the BIOMASS proposal.

"The spacecraft would measure global forest biomass at scales of about one hectare," he said.

"It's a crucial natural resource and ecosystem service - for materials, for energy, for biodiversity - there's a good correlation between how much biomass you've got and how much biodiversity you've got - and for climate and water protection."

"So from a carbon cycle science aspect, forests have some critical parameters that need to be pinned down."

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Tidal energy system on full power

BBC News 18 Dec 08;

A tidal turbine near the mouth of Strangford Lough has begun producing electricity at full capacity for the first time.

The SeaGen system now generates 1.2MW, the highest level of power produced by a tidal stream system anywhere in the world.

The system works like an "underwater windmill" but with rotors driven by tidal currents rather than the wind.

It has been undergoing commissioning trials since May.

SeaGen will now move towards full-operating mode for periods of up to 22 hours a day, with regular inspections and performance testing carried out.

The power generated by the system is being purchased by Irish energy company, ESB Independent, for its customers in Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The turbine has the capacity to generate power to meet the average electricity needs of around 1000 homes.

Martin Wright, managing director of SeaGen developers, Marine Current Turbines, said that having the system generating at full power was an important milestone.

"It demonstrates, for the first time, the commercial potential of tidal energy as a viable alternative source of renewable energy," he said.

"As the first mover in tidal stream turbine development, we have a significant technical lead over all rival tidal technologies that are under development.

"There are no other tidal turbines of truly commercial scale; all the competitive systems so far tested at sea are quite small, most being less than 10% the rotor area of SeaGen."

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Swiss engineer completes first world tour in solar-powered car

Yahoo News 18 Dec 08;

GENEVA (AFP) – A Swiss engineer completed Thursday the first ever round-the-world trip in a solar-powered car after more than 17 months on the road during which he crossed almost 40 countries.

Louis Palmer, 36, arrived back in Lucerne in central Switzerland in his "solar taxi" after covering 53,451 kilometres (33,213 miles) over four continents.

Since his departure on July 3 2007, he travelled through eastern Europe, the Middle East and India before heading to New Zealand, Australia, southeast Asia and China and finally the United States.

He finished his trip after a detour through France, England, Scandinavia and Germany.

"We have achieved our first world tour without using a single drop of oil," Palmer rejoiced at the end of his trip.

The three-wheeler solar taxi, which towed a trailer packed with batteries charged by the sun, reached speeds of 90 kilometres (55 miles) per hour. It had a battery for travel in the night and in cloudy conditions.

"One of my goals was to persuade as many people as possible that renewable energy is ecological, economical and reliable," Palmer told reporters.

His vehicle only broke down twice during the tour, he said, and surmounted the extreme heat in the Middle East and the hazardous terrain in America's Rocky mountains.

The small blue-and-white vehicle carried around 1,000 passengers, including United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Rajendra Pachauri, head of the Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Palmer has previously said the prototype for the solar taxi could be mass produced but that it would need serious modifications.

He said he plans to travel around the world in 80 days for his next challenge, but in a faster car.

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Coal Should Be Warming Concern: Scientists

Clare Baldwin, PlanetArk 19 Dec 08;

SAN FRANCISCO - Researchers and officials concerned about global warming have focused on oil usage, but scientists on Wednesday said liquefied coal could have a greater affect on global climate change.

Global warming scenarios are based on oil reserves, but those reserves will have less impact on global climate than the extent to which liquefied coal replaces oil and gas, scientists said at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.

"Oil and gas by themselves don't have enough carbon to keep us in the dangerous zone for very long by themselves, but that's assuming we do something about coal," Pushker Kharecha, a researcher for the U.S. space agency NASA and Columbia University in New York.

Estimates vary, but coal is the most abundant fossil fuel, and countries like China and the United States are looking at liquefaction technology. Many industries in South Africa already use liquefied coal.

In 2007, Illinois Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Kentucky Republican Jim Bunning introduced legislation that would set the stage for large-scale production of transportation fuels from coal. Bunning and president-elect Obama come from state with prodigious coal supplies.

Liquefied coal releases 40 percent more carbon dioxide than oil when burned, said Ken Caldeira, a scientist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

"Addressing the climate problem means addressing the coal problem," he said. "Whether there's a little more oil or a little less oil will change the details, but if we want to change the overall shape of the warming curve, it matters what we do with coal."

ELEVATED LEVELS OF CARBON DIOXIDE

Caldeira said his climate models show that if all oil used in the world is replaced with liquefied coal, global temperatures will rise 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2042, three years sooner than if oil remains a staple.

If oil is replaced with solar, wind, or nuclear power, temperatures will rise 11 years later.

Many scientists believe high levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide lead to warming and effects like melting glaciers, thawing permafrost, ocean acidification and latitudinal shifts in climate.

Current atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are 385 parts per million and rising at a rate of about 2 parts per million (ppm) year as a result of burning coal, oil, and gas, the researchers said.

The generally accepted threshold for atmospheric carbon dioxide is 450 ppm. But scientists today said that number should be 350 ppm.

Climate change is a slow process, Kharecha said, and the effects may take decades and centuries to show up.

"There are currently more than enough fossil fuels and coal to push us well past safe atmospheric CO2 levels," he said.

None of the models presented at the session included carbon dioxide emissions from unconventional fossil fuels like tar sands, methane hydrates or oil shale.

Representatives from the liquefied coal industry could not be immediately reached for comment. In February, Robert Kelly of DKRW Advanced Fuels, which is building a liquefied coal production facility in Wyoming, told Reuters, "liquefied coal could be a huge fuel source for the next 50 years if we do it responsibly." He said coal emissions could be safely captured and stored underground.

(Editing by Maggie Fox and Stacey Joyce)


Climate outcome 'hangs on coal'
Jonathan Amos, BBC News 19 Dec 08;

If growth in carbon dioxide emissions is to be constrained and even reversed then the world cannot afford a coal renaissance, scientists have said.

Some commentators have argued that falling reserves of oil and gas will automatically limit CO2's rise.

But at an American Geophysical Union meeting, researchers said reserves of coal dwarfed those of other fuels.

It was even possible oil's demise could trigger an acceleration in emissions through more coal use, they added.

"We can replace oil with liquid fuels derived from coal," said Ken Caldeira from the Carnegie Institution at Stanford University in California.

"But these liquid fuels emit even more carbon dioxide than oil, so the end of oil can mean an increase in coal and even more carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere, and even more rapid onset of dangerous climate change."

Professor Caldeira's group has used climate and carbon cycle models to look at how future emissions and temperature projections would be altered by different fuel strategies.

The team tried to work out the maximum effects that would arise from replacing oil either entirely with coal-based liquid substitutes or entirely with renewable energy sources.

The assessment found that if coal-derived liquids are adopted, the Earth would achieve a 2C rise in temperature from pre-industrial times (a figure sometimes quoted as being a desirable ceiling to stay beneath in order to avoid "dangerous climate change") by 2042. This is three years faster than a business as usual future with oil.

If the renewables strategy is adopted, the 2C figure is not reached until 2056.

"Clearly, to address the climate issue we have to address the coal issue," Professor Caldeira told BBC News.

His assessment was shared by Pushker Kharecha from Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (Giss).

"We cannot move into things like coal-to-liquids and unconventional fossil fuels such as methane hydrates, tar sands, oil shale and so forth," he said.

"If they become large-scale substitutes for oil and gas, that would worsen things because they are much dirtier than oil and gas because they produce more emissions per unit energy delivered."

Reserve judgement

Dr Kharecha presented details of recent research from the US, UK and France looking at the feasibility of not only constraining the growth of CO2 emissions but actually reducing its concentration in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million by volume (it is currently up at about 385ppmv).

The group found it was possible, but only with a prompt moratorium on new coal use that does not capture CO2, and a phase out of existing coal emissions by 2030.

Reforestation together with improved agricultural practices could help draw down CO2.

"Efficiency and conservation have huge potential to offset emissions in the near term," Dr Kharecha told BBC News.

"And then in the mid-term and long-term we can focus on moving to alternatives such as renewable energies, and possibly a balanced look at nuclear because it does provide many benefits in addition to the numerous problems that it poses."

A new analysis presented here puts the total available global coal reserves at 662 billion tonnes.

The figure is substantially lower than the ones used in assessments by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to gauge possible future emissions scenarios.

"This is a radically different number from what is conventionally assumed," said Professor David Rutledge from the California Institute of Technology, who led the analysis.

"The IPCC assumes that about five times as much coal is available for burning."

But the scientists at this meeting said that if burnt, even this smaller amount of coal would radically alter the climate unless all the emissions were captured and stored.

"There is far more than enough currently useable coal and other fossil fuels to push us past the threshold beyond which we would not want to go with the climate," Dr Kharecha said.

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Asean Addresses Climate Change, Food Security

Bernama 18 Dec 08;

JAKARTA, Dec 18 (Bernama) -- Asean is making a move towards elaborating a regional strategy on agriculture, forestry and fisheries in order to address the global issue of climate change.

This follows the global commitment and response to climate change agreed at the recent UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland.

The fourth ASEC Brown Bag Series by the Asean Secretariat today titled "Climate Change and Food Security: Challenges for Asean", highlighted the need for strategic planning and policy coordination in Asean to address the complex and interrelated issues of food security and climate change.

Guest speakers were Dr Wulf Killmann, chairman of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations' (FAO) Interdepartmental Working Group on Climate Change and director of the Forest Products & Industries Division of FAO's Forestry Department, and Dr Irsal Las, head of the Indonesian Center for Agricultural Land Resources Research and Development.

Dr Killmann pointed to the interrelation of climate change, food security and forestry and underscored that inter-sectoral coordination was required to meet changing and more difficult environmental conditions.

"Societies will have to weigh trade-offs between land-uses," he said, concluding that climate change could only be dealt with in an integrated manner through integrated land-use policies and implementation at local, national, regional and international levels.

Dr Las called for collaborative research and regional strategy development in Asean, including the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors to address the impact of climate change effectively.

"The impact of climate change to agriculture has broadened and therefore requires a holistic strategy to this situation. Climate change is a trans-boundary issue, so policy coherence, knowledge-oriented policy-making as well as mutual learning and common understanding among Asean member states are crucial to this end," he said.

Meanwhile, the principal director of the Bureau for Economic Integration and Finance at the Asean Secretariat, S. Pushpanathan said Asean through its ministers for agriculture and forestry had adopted a strategic plan of action on Asean food security where linkages with climate change were emphasised.

"Asean is also committed to pursuing a regional plan to elaborate measures in dealing with mitigation and adaptation to climate change on agriculture, fisheries and forestry that will lay the foundation for tackling important and interrelated issues of climate change, including food security," he said.

More ASEC Brown Bag Series on contemporary topics of interest to Asean will be organised in the coming months as the Asean Secretariat intensifies its public outreach efforts to promote the Asean Community and the work of Asean.

-- BERNAMA

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Best of our wild blogs: 18 Dec 08

December: Last Chek Jawa Boardwalk Tour for 2008
on the Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs blog

Siloso Surprises
on the Lazy Lizard's Tales blog

Flathead
on the annotated budak blog

Bulbophyllum vaginatum
on the Garden Voices blog

Common Sandpiper: Foraging behaviour
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Crimson Sunbird in the rain
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Black-naped Tern feeding chick
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Half a Million Sharks Finned Each Year in Ecuador
on Shifting Baselines

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Scientists predict severe bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef

The Sydney Morning Herald 18 Dec 08;

Northern parts of the Great Barrier Reef is likely to suffer severe coral bleaching this summer, the conservation group WWF Australia warns.

A report from the US government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts severe bleaching for parts of the Coral Sea, the Coral Triangle and the reef, WWF said.

The Coral Triangle is home to 75 per cent of all known coral species and covers waters from the Philippines to Malaysia and Papua New Guinea.

WWF's climate change expert Richard Leck said the bleaching would impact on tourism, food supply and livelihoods in northern Queensland and South East Asia.

"The bleaching, predicted to occur between now and February, could have a devastating impact on coral reef ecosystems, killing coral and destroying food chains," Mr Leck said.

"There would be severe impacts for communities in Queensland, Australia and the region, who depend on the oceans for their livelihoods.

"More than 120 million people rely on its marine resources."

He said there would be significant impacts on Cairns and Port Douglas where the reef's tourism was centred.

Large scale coral bleaching was expected to happen regularly if average global temperatures rose at least two degrees Celsius.

Mr Leck said the latest data showed how important it was for Australia to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

The WWF and many other environmental groups have condemned the Rudd government's carbon pollution reduction scheme as weak.

The government this week announced a 2020 carbon reduction target of at least five per cent, but was open to a higher target if a global consensus could be reached.

Hot summer will bleach Coral reef
Jennifer Macey, ABC News 19 Dec 08;

TONY EASTLEY: Predictions of a long hot summer may please many Australians but it's not good news for one of the country's top tourist attractions.

There's a high risk the Great Barrier Reef will suffer severe coral bleaching with sea temperatures expected to be above average.

Meteorologists in the US and Australia have used satellites to predict the death of corals in the Great Barrier Reef and in the Coral Sea.

Jennifer Macey reports.

JENNIFER MACEY: It's only the start of summer but satellite images show sea surface temperatures in the Coral Sea are already higher than average.

The Bureau of Meteorology and the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have both forecast a high risk of coral bleaching this summer.

Dr Russell Reichelt is the chairman of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

RUSSELL REICHELT: They're likening the conditions that we're looking at this summer now to be same as they were in 1998 when a very large global event occurred where 16 per cent of world's coral reefs died from coral bleaching.

JENNIFER MACEY: Ten years ago, half of the Great Barrier Reef was affected by coral bleaching but only five per cent suffered permanent damage.

Dr Reichelt says reefs can recover from bleaching if they don't face further stresses from pollution, over-fishing or repeated hot weather events.

RUSSELL REICHELT: Things like poor water quality running off the land should be cleaned up. Things like damaging corals from anchoring on corals should be prevented. We want a healthy reef to be able to withstand the pressures that are happening from the global warming.

JENNIFER MACEY: Professor Terry Hughes is the director of the Australian Research Council Centre for Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. He says if the warmer temperatures last for more than two months there's a serious risk of coral dying.

TERRY HUGHES: If you lose the structure that the corals provide through their skeleton then fish populations inevitably decline as well.

JENNIFER MACEY: He says bleaching is a clear sign of global warming.

TERRY HUGHES: It's important to remember that for coral reefs, global warming is not some distant threat that might or might not happen in the future. It's already happening. So the Great Barrier Reef has already bleached twice and there's a very good chance that this year will be the third major bleaching event to impact on the Great Barrier Reef.

JENNIFER MACEY: Environment groups accuse the Federal Government of ignoring the reef in its response to climate change this week.

Richard Leck is from the Conservation group WWF Australia.

RICHARD LECK: What would be a horrible irony of the release of the emissions trading system targets this week would be to see a taste of things to come in the future, of more severe and frequent bleaching events. And that's what will happen unless we get action on climate change - significant reductions, not five per cent reductions.

JENNIFER MACEY: Marine biologist Professor Terry Hughes agrees.

TERRY HUGHES: We've got to sharply reduce CO2 emissions and if we don't do that then we will lose the Great Barrier Reef. We've got 10 to 15 years to significantly reduce CO2 emission. We need to do better.

JENNIFER MACEY: But scientists stress that a cyclone or winds that may cool water temperatures could also prevent a major bleaching event this summer.

TONY EASTLEY: Jennifer Macey.

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