Hawaii scientists waging uphill battle against alien seaweeds

Kane'ohe Bay one of few highlights so far in fight against alien seaweeds
Rob Perez, Honolulu Advertiser 26 Jul 09;

Before Eric Conklin and fellow divers plunged into Kane'ohe Bay a few years ago to clear a reef of invasive algae, it had become nearly engulfed by the pesky seaweed.

The gorilla ogo covered roughly 60 percent to 70 percent of the reef along an 820-foot stretch off Coconut Island, displacing native marine organisms and smothering corals. The fast-growing seaweed had been a problem there for years.

Today, that section of the reef is ogo free.

It is one of the few success stories that Hawai'i scientists, conservation managers and others can point to in their seemingly never-ending battle to rid the reefs of alien seaweeds that are choking off corals and disrupting the natural balance of the nearshore ecosystems.

It is a complex problem that poses a major threat to certain reefs, is creating stinky and unsightly messes along some shorelines and is conservatively costing the economy tens of millions of dollars, by some estimates.

It also is a problem that the state is struggling to contain, especially in these tough budget times.

"Eradication is just incredibly difficult to do in marine systems," said Conklin, marine science adviser for The Nature Conservancy in Hawai'i.

The Kane'ohe effort included the debut of the Super Sucker, an underwater vacuum system that was used by Conklin and his cohorts to collect 20,000 pounds of gorilla ogo over several months in 2005 and 2006. That extraction seemed to be just enough to allow seaweed-grazing reef fish to take care of the remaining ogo, restoring a balance to that small ecosystem that hadn't been seen in years.

"All we did was give (the fish) a bit of a helping hand," Conklin said.

Another key factor was that the region at the time already was part of a marine protected area. The taking of marine life from those waters essentially is prohibited, allowing the grazing fish to munch on the seaweed without interference from fishers.

Most areas in the main Hawaiian Islands where invasive algae are a problem don't have that kind of protection, making solutions much more difficult to find.
Harbors, bays at risk

The Super Sucker, which was developed in Hawai'i, and its spinoffs are among the multiple options local scientists, conservation managers and others potentially can tap to fight the proliferation of invasive seaweeds, five of which are causing the main problems.

At least three of them, including the gorilla ogo, were brought to Hawai'i as potential aquaculture crops in the 1970s, while another species, the spiny seaweed, is believed to have landed here accidentally on the hull of a ship traveling from Guam in 1950. It's not known how the fifth, the leather mudweed, got to Hawai'i in the early 1980s.

It generally takes about a decade or more for the seaweeds to become dominant. Interior nearshore areas, such as harbors or bays, with somewhat stagnant conditions are especially vulnerable, according to Steve Coles, a Bishop Museum research zoologist.

An out-of-balance ecosystem dominated by alien algae suggests the fish population there isn't sufficient or the nutrient level in the water is too high, or both, according to Celia Smith, a University of Hawai'i botany professor.

Scientists don't fully understand why one species will take over a reef and another won't, adding to the challenge of finding solutions. They say the most effective approach usually involves multiple strategies.

"There's almost never one magic wand," said Dwayne Minton, coral reef biologist with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

What's more, control — not eradication — usually is the most realistic goal because of all the variables affecting a marine ecosystem and the extreme difficulties in completely removing a fast-growing species, scientists say.

At Maunalua Bay in East Hono- lulu, officials will be relying partly on manual labor funded by more than $3 million in federal stimulus money to address a proliferation of leather mudweed. As many as 60 workers are expected to be hired soon for more than a year to pick the invasive algae from the bay, which is suffering from one of the largest algae infestations in the state. Over the past 18 months, volunteers working with Nature Conservancy and Malama Maunalua have removed nearly 25 tons of mudweed.
Money a factor, too

The federally funded effort is believed to be the first time nationally that a large labor force will be used over a large area to control invasive algae — a situation that could provide valuable lessons for other areas dealing with infestations, Conklin said.

Scientists also are hoping to learn more about potential solutions locally when a state plan aimed at protecting specific seaweed grazers goes into effect off Kahekili on Maui. The Department of Land and Natural Resources board recently approved the first-of-its-kind plan, banning the taking of four grazing herbivore species, to address a serious seaweed infestation along a one-mile section of the North Ka'anapali coast.

Similarly, the agency is planning to ramp up efforts to raise sea urchins, a grazer, so they can be placed on reefs with a seaweed problem, according to Tony Montgomery, an aquatic biologist with the department. The idea, he said, is to have a range of possible tools that can be used in combination to control invasive species.

The motivation behind restoring ecosystem balance to the reefs is more than just environmental. Money also comes into play.

Researchers several years ago studying a North Kihei area hit by an algal bloom found the problem was costing roughly $20 million a year, mainly in depressed property values. Dead algae washing up on the Maui beaches created stench and aesthetic problems.

Largely because of the unsightly, smelly beaches, the study said property values, hotel room rates and occupancy levels dropped in the area. And North Kihei isn't the only community suffering economic hits, scientists say.

"There are very, very real costs and very large costs to ignoring this problem," Conklin said.

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Extinction Crisis Looms In Oceania

ScienceDaily 28 Jul 09;

Governments must act urgently to halt loss of habitats and invading species that are posing major threats to biodiversity and causing species extinctions across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, according to a landmark new study.

Published in the international journal Conservation Biology, the report is the first comprehensive review of more than 24,000 scientific publications related to conservation in the Oceanic region. Compiled by a team of 14 scientists, it reveals a sorry and worsening picture of habitat destruction and species loss. It also describes the deficiencies of and opportunities for governmental action to lessen this mounting regional and global problem.

"Earth is experiencing its sixth great extinction event and the new report reveals that this threat is advancing on six major fronts," says the report's lead author, Professor Richard Kingsford of the University of New South Wales.

"Our region has the notorious distinction of having possibly the worst extinction record on earth. This is predicted to continue without serious changes to the way we conserve our environments and dependent organisms. We have an amazing natural environment in our part of the world but so much of it is being destroyed before our eyes. Species are being threatened by habitat loss and degradation, invasive species, climate change, overexploitation, pollution and wildlife disease."

Threats in Oceania

* Loss and degradation of habitat is the largest single threat to land species, including 80 percent of threatened species.
* More than 1,200 bird species have become extinct in the Pacific islands and archipelagos.
* In Australia agriculture has modified or destroyed about 50 percent of woodland and forest ecosystems, and about 70 percent of remaining forests are ecologically degraded from logging.
* Invasive species, particularly vertebrates and vascular plants, have devastated terrestrial species of the Pacific Islands and caused 75 percent of all terrestrial vertebrate extinctions on oceanic islands.
* More than 2,500 invasive plants have colonized New Zealand and Australia – representing about 11 percent of native plant species.
* Many invasive weeds, vertebrate pests, and fishes were introduced by government, agriculturalists, horticulturalists and hunters.

Species deceases: global snapshot

* Nearly 17,000 of the world's 45,000 assessed species are threatened with extinction (38 percent). Of these, 3,246 are in the highest category of threat, Critically Endangered, 4,770 are Endangered and 8,912 are Vulnerable to extinction.
* Nearly 5,500 animal species are known to be threatened with extinction and at least 1,141 of the 5,487 known mammal species are threatened worldwide.
* In 2008, nearly 450 mammals were listed as Endangered, including the Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), after the global population declined by more than 60 percent in the last 10 years.
* Scientists have catalogued relatively little about the rest of the world's fauna: only 5 percent of fish, 6 percent of reptiles, and 7 percent of amphibians have been evaluated. Of those studied, at least 750 fish species, 290 reptiles, and 150 amphibians are at risk.
* The average extinction rate is now some 1,000 to 10,000 times faster than the rate that prevailed over the past 60 million years.

"Many people are just beginning to understand the full extent of these problems in terms of land-clearing, degradation of rivers, pest species and overfishing," says Professor Kingsford. "Climate change is a very important issue but by no means the only threat to biodiversity. The biggest problem seems to be that the policy challenges are just not being taken up by governments. Conservation policies are just seen as a problem for the economy."

For each of the major threats to biodiversity and conservation, the scientific team has proposed between three and five specific policy recommendations that should be adopted by governments around the region.

Many of these broad policies are being implemented but in a piecemeal way. For example, the scientists recommend setting targets for protected areas such as National Parks of at least 10 percent of terrestrial areas and up to 50 percent of marine areas but these may not be enough.

Dr James Watson, President of the Society for Conservation Biology and an author of the report, says: "There is a need for commitment to more protected areas and more effort into rehabilitation of major threatened ecosystems such wetlands."

The report's authors are particularly concerned about the impacts of destructive fisheries and the effects of by-catch from long-line fishing, bottom trawling, cyanide and explosive use in some Pacific nations.

"Our recommendations have clearly identified the need for more restrictions on harvesting and better ecosystem management of fisheries," says Professor Kingsford. "There is a real need to have better international mechanisms for protecting against unsustainable fisheries." Of particular importance is the overwhelming impact of burgeoning human populations in the region on the environment. Populations are set to increase significantly by 2050; for example Australia 35%; New Zealand 25%; Papua New Guinea 76%; New Caledonia 49%.

"The burden on the environment is going to get worse unless we are a lot smarter about reducing our footprint on the planet or the human population," says Professor Kingsford. As well, many Pacific Island states have a relatively poor information base for conservation. The study found that 88.5% of all scientific studies were from Australia (53.7%), New Zealand (24.3%) and Hawaii (10.5%). In most other countries in the region, there was relatively poor capacity to inform the community about the state of the environment.

There is a real need to invest in building the scientific and government capacity for conservation throughout the region. "Unless we get this equation right, future generations will surely be paying more in terms of quality of life and the environment we live in. And our region will continue its terrible reputation of leading the world in the extinction of plants and animals," says Professor Kingsford.

Adapted from materials provided by University of New South Wales, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Call for treaty to save Pacific species
Rosslyn Beeby, The Canberra Times 29 Jul 09

Australia is ignoring a wildlife extinction crisis on its doorstep, doing little to help Pacific nations deal with overwhelming conservation problems, a leading scientist says.

In the lead-up to the Pacific Islands Forum in Cairns next week, University of NSW ecologist Professor Richard Kingsford has called for Australia to look at drafting a regional treaty to guarantee environmental aid to developing island nations.

Despite its ''palm trees and paradise'' image, the Pacific region including Australia and New Zealand ''has the notoriety of having possibly the worst extinction record on Earth''.

More than 80 per cent of plant and animal species in eight Pacific island nations including Vanuatu, Fiji, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga and Hawaii are threatened by habitat loss caused by land clearing and urban development, according to a new study co-authored by Professor Kingsford.

Published today in the international journal Conservation Biology, it is the first detailed review of more than 24,000 scientific publications on conservation issues across the Pacific.

The list of environmental threats includes over-harvesting of corals, shells and tropical fish for the aquarium trade, bird diseases such as avian malaria and cholera, over-fishing, the illegal wildlife trade and the spread of root-rot fungus or die-back, which is killing forests in Western Australia.

Human activity is driving Earth's 'sixth great extinction event'
Population growth, pollution and invasive species are having a disastrous effect on species in the southern hemisphere, a major review by conservationists warns
Ian Sample, guardian.co.uk 28 Jul 09;

Earth is experiencing its "sixth great extinction event" with disease and human activity taking a devastating toll on vulnerable species, according to a major review by conservationists.

Much of the southern hemisphere is suffering particularly badly, and Australia, New Zealand and neighbouring Pacific islands may become the extinction hot spots of the world, the report warns.

Ecosystems in Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia need urgent and effective conservation policies, or the region's already poor record on extinctions will worsen significantly.

Researchers trawled 24,000 published reports to compile information on the native flora and fauna of Australasia and the Pacific islands, which have six of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. Their report identifies six causes driving species to extinction, almost all linked in some way to human activity.

"Our region has the notorious distinction of having possibly the worst extinction record on Earth," said Richard Kingsford, an environmental scientist at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and lead author of the report. "We have an amazing natural environment, but so much of it is being destroyed before our eyes. Species are being threatened by habitat loss and degradation, invasive species, climate change, over-exploitation, pollution and wildlife disease."

The review, published in the journal Conservation Biology, highlights destruction and degradation of ecosystems as the main threat. In Australia, agriculture has altered or destroyed half of all woodland and forests. Around 70% of the remaining forest has been damaged by logging. Loss of habitats is behind 80% of threatened species, the report claims.

Invasive animals and plants have devastated native species on many Pacific islands. The Guam Micronesian kingfisher is thought to be extinct in the wild following the introduction of the brown tree snake. The impact of invasive species is often compounded by pollution and burgeoning human populations on the islands, which have outstripped their capacity to deal with waste. Plastics and fishing gear are an ongoing danger.

The impact of humans on wildlife is likely to increase in Australasia and the Pacific islands. By 2050, the population of Australia is expected to have risen by 35%, and New Zealand by 25%, while Papua New Guinea faces a 76% increase and New Caledonia 49%.

More than 2,500 invasive plant species have colonised Australia and New Zealand, competing for sunlight and nutrients. Many have been introduced by governments, horticulturists and hunters. In addition, the report says, average temperatures in Australia have increased, in line with climate change predictions, forcing some species towards Antarctica and others to higher, cooler ground.

The report highlights several studies that point to serious threats from diseases such as avian malaria and the chytrid fungus, linked to declines in frog populations. An infectious facial cancer is spreading rapidly among Tasmanian devils and populations of the world's largest marsupial predator are believed to have fallen by more than 60% as a result.

Plants have also fared badly: a root fungus deliberately introduced into Australia has destroyed several species.

The report sets out a raft of recommendations to slow the decline by introducing laws to limit land clearing, logging and mining; restricting deliberate introduction of invasive species; reducing carbon emissions and pollution; and limiting fisheries. It raises particular concerns about bottom trawling, and the use of cyanide and dynamite, and calls for early-warning systems to pick up diseases in the wild.

"The burden on the environment is going to get worse unless we are a lot smarter about reducing our footprint," said Kingsford. "Unless we get this right, future generations will surely be paying more in quality of life and the environment. And our region will continue its terrible reputation of leading the world in the extinction of plants and animals."

Dead and buried

Cretaceous-Tertiary 65m years ago, the dinosaurs were wiped out in a mass extinction that killed nearly a fifth of land vertebrate families, 16% of marine families and nearly half of all marine animals. Thought to have been caused by asteroid impact that created Chicxulub crater in the Yucatan.

End of Triassic About 200m years ago, lava floods erupting from the central Atlantic are thought to have created lethal global warming, killing off more than a fifth of all marine families and half of marine genera.

Permian-Triassic The worst mass extinction took place 250m years ago, killing 95% of all species. Experts disagree on the cause.

Late Devonian About 360m years ago, a fifth of marine families were wiped out, alongside more than half of all marine genera. Cause unknown.

Ordovician-Silurian About 440m years ago, a quarter of all marine families were wiped out by fluctuating sea levels as glaciers formed and melted. again.

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First climate refugees start move to new island home

Adam Morton, The Age 29 Jul 09;

IMAGINE that your home, water and a fair whack of your food are under threat. Imagine it is only going to get worse.

Imagine that you live on the Carteret Islands, seven tiny coral atolls in the Pacific that have been described as the home of the world’s first climate change refugees.

Six months ago, the 2700 islanders began what will eventually become a big evacuation to Bougainville, about 80 kilometres to the south.

The decision to relocate followed years of worsening storm surges and king tides that infected the fresh water supply and ruined the islanders’ staple banana and taro crops.

Fearing worse is to come — more frequent floods are expected to be the most visible signs of rising sea levels due to global warming — the islanders secured three blocks of coastal land. Five men moved earlier this year to build houses and plant crops, the first step in the relocation of 1700 people in the next five years.

The relocation is being headed by Ursula Rakova, an islander who quit a job with Oxfam in Bougainville three years ago to set up Tulele Peisa, an organisation that raises money and campaigns for social justice on behalf of her people. ‘‘We have a feeling of anxiety, a feeling of uncertainty because we know that we will be losing our homes. It is our identity. It is our whole culture at stake,’’ she said in Melbourne yesterday.

The move has been helped by the Catholic Church, which provided the land for relocation, but not the Bougainville Government.

Ms Rakova said the $1thmillion provided by the Papua New Guinea Government in Port Moresby had been swallowed by provincial bureaucrats.

The purpose of her trip to Australia this week is two-fold — to secure a market for the organic cocoa the islanders plan to grow at their new home and to call on the Australian Government, through its AusAID program, to pressure the Bougainville Government to deliver the promised money.

Just as urgently, she wants to see Western leaders take on much deeper cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

The Australian Government’s most ambitious emissions proposal of stabilising atmospheric carbon dioxide at 450 parts per million was not enough to give the Pacific a safe future, she said.

‘‘We are angry. Some people do not understand the science, but they know they are losing their homes and they are angry they are having to pay for what other people [in industrialised nations] have done,’’ she said.

While climate scientists warn that the future for atolls like the Carterets is bleak, the extent to which climate change is responsible for their current predicament is unclear.

Campaigners believe the impact of rising sea levels may have been amplified by the gradual sinking of an extinct volcano that supports the atolls.

One of the world’s leading sea level experts yesterday called for caution. John Hunter, from the University of Tasmania, said sea level rises would eventually cause ‘‘huge problems’’, and called for the building of sea walls to protect the islands’ culture and ‘‘buy a few more decades’’.

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When Rain Falls On Snow, Arctic Animals May Starve

Christopher Joyce, NPR 28 Jul 09;

When wildlife biologists visited a remote spot in Canada called Banks Island in the spring of 2004, they discovered thousands upon thousands of dead musk oxen. It took years to determine the cause. They called it "rain-on-snow" — the worst case of it ever documented.

"Long story short, about 20,000 musk oxen starved to death because of this event," says geologist Jaakko Putkonen. It was a "humongous event" that took place in the fall of 2003.

Putkonen, who is a professor at the University of North Dakota, has since discovered a few anecdotal accounts of big rain-on-snow events that killed reindeer in the Arctic and in Scandinavia.

What happens is this: Unusually warm weather drops rain on top of snowpack. The rain either pools at the surface or trickles down to the soil below the snowpack, then freezes into a sheet of ice. Musk oxen, which are shaggy, cow-sized animals that weigh hundreds of pounds, can't break through the ice to browse on plants underneath the snow. Sooner or later, they starve.

Putkonen says it's hard to know where and how often this is happening. The Arctic is vast and remote, and one never knows where or when a rain-on-snow event will happen. Even if you put down instruments to record one, they freeze up or get snowed under.

Now, this may be bad news for musk oxen or reindeer or caribou, but is it really a big deal? Putkonen and his fellow rain-on-snow experts — there aren't many in this specialty yet — think it is. They suspect that a warming climate may increase the number and geographic reach of these events.

"If the climate warms up, it doesn't just grow palm trees in sunny Fairbanks, Alaska," says Tom Grenfell, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington. "It creates more storms and mixes the atmosphere up a lot more." That could mean more rain-on-snow events, he says.

Grenfell says rain-on-snow events could also affect people who live in the high northern latitudes. "There are other places around the Arctic that have these things," he says, "like Finland and Russia, where people herd reindeer or caribou and depend for their livelihood on these things."

But so far no one knows whether these events are increasing — no one has ever checked. That's what Putkonen and Grenfell are planning to do next. They've figured out what rain-on-snow looks like on a satellite image.

Now, they have 30 years of images of the Arctic to look through.

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Monaco seeks global bluefin tuna trade ban

Yahoo News 28 Jul 09;

GENEVA (AFP) – Monaco has tabled a proposal to place Atlantic and Mediterranean bluefin tuna on the list of the world's most endangered species in a move that could ban international trade of the fish.

As one of the most popular sushi staples, bluefin tuna has become increasingly in demand in recent years and its stocks have plummetted over the last decade in both the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

Now, according to a draft proposal put forward by Monaco with CITES, the UN agency against illegal wildlife trade, stocks are so fragile that the species should be classified as being at threat of extinction.

"At this stage we believe that the time for CITES to intervene is long overdue," Monaco said in its submission.

If the proposal were to be adopted by the 175 countries in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), it would end international trade in the fish although local fishermen would still be allowed to sell their catches in domestic markets.

"This measure wouldn't imply a ban on fisheries but it will eliminate the main cause of overfishing: high sushi and sashimi market demand of countries such as Japan or United States," said Maria Jose Cornax, a marine scientist at Oceana, an environmental group specialising on marine life.

Despite warnings that bluefin tuna stocks have been running low, attempts in recent years to simply impose limits on fishing have sparked controversy.

At the moment, bluefin tuna has no form of protection under CITES -- the only global body with the authority to limit or ban global trade in animal and plant species.

Monaco argued that tuna spawning stock in the Mediterranean has declined by more than 74 percent between 1957 to 2007, the bulk of it in the last decade.

Meanwhile, tuna stock in the west Atlantic has plunged by 83 percent between 1970 to 2007.

Even with a near-complete ban on bluefin tuna fishing until 2022, the population would still fall to record lows in the coming years, it added.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in mid-July that France would support such a proposal despite its objections to European Union fishing quotas.

Cornax noted that the signal from France -- which she describes as having huge economic interest in tuna fishery -- leads one to "believe that a reversal of the situation is possible."

Prince Albert I, the Mediterranean's principality ruler, has a strong track record of environmental activism and recently cancelled a major development project on Monte Carlo seafront which he said would disturb marine life.

Other countries supporting the ban include Germany, Britain and the Netherlands.

Late last year, a meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas agreed to cut bluefin tuna fishing by 30 percent over two years in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

However, Monaco argued that ICCAT -- a organisation including major fishing nations -- has "consistently set catch quotas... above levels recommended by its scientists and the failure of its management measures is demonstrated by the continuously decreasing population."

Monaco's proposal is expected to be considered by CITES' 175 member states at a meeting in Qatar in March.

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"Deadliest Catch" seamen say fishermen not greedy

Christine Kearney, Reuters 28 Jul 09;

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boat captains from the U.S. television show "Deadliest Catch," which chronicles the perils of Bering Sea crab fishing, say small commercial fishermen are unfairly blamed in the debate over declining fish populations.

Marine ecologists and environmentalists have criticized commercial fishing and what they see as a lack of proper government regulation since large-scale industrial fishing began decades ago.

Several fishing boat captains from the Emmy-nominated cable TV show say government bodies and fisheries need to set wiser fishing quotas to ensure healthy fish populations and a balanced food chain. The show's fifth season finale airs on Tuesday on the Discovery Channel cable television network.

"When things go wrong, the fishermen get blamed, but the truth is we are only fishing what they tell us we can fish," captain Phil Harris told Reuters, referring to the quotas that Alaskan crab fisherman like him are given at the beginning of each season setting limits to how much they can catch.

Harris, 52, and other captains are seen on the show, which airs in 170 countries, displaying their prowess in catching king and Opilio crab in dangerous currents and icy conditions in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia.

The television series, which began in 2005, features Harris and other captains and their crews risking their lives for commercial fishing. Alaska is home to one of the world's largest food fisheries.

"It makes me so angry when people talk about overfishing. We have never overfished, they give us a quota and we catch it," said captain Andy Hillstrand, who heads his family-owned vessel the "Time Bandit." "People call fishermen greedy, but it is not their job to regulate it."

"HIGH EXPLOITATION"

Michael Crocker, a fisherman turned environmentalist who has written about fisheries management, said fishermen should be included in debates on solutions to overfishing.

"Not all fisherman are the same. There are small mom-and-pop fisherman who have a relatively small impact on the ocean," Crocker said, adding that larger fishing conglomerates or vessels were unfairly favored in some quota systems. "It rewards high exploitation."

Scientists, environmentalists and the commercial fishing industry often differ on opinions of fish quotas in Alaska.

Last December, the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which oversees management of fishing off Alaska, cut catches of Alaskan pollock because of a reduction of stocks in the Bering Sea.

Some environmentalists argued for an even smaller harvest quota, saying the Bering Sea is undergoing drastic changes that might cause fisheries to crash.

The captains vowed to argue for the rights of fishermen even after the show finishes. It will air its sixth season next year and its future is unclear after that.

"We are not celebrities, we are crab fisherman, and somebody started coming and taking pictures," said captain Sig Hansen, 43, a fourth-generation fisherman. "When the show goes off (the air) people won't know my name. I know that."

(Editing by Michelle Nichols and Will Dunham)

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DR Congo needs clear logging policies: Greenpeace

Yahoo News 28 Jul 09;

KINSHASA (AFP) – Greenpeace has urged authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo to clarify reforms bringing transparency to the logging sector in the world's second biggest rainforest after the Amazon.

The "objective is still far from being reached," the global environment campaign group said in a letter to the minister of the environment, a copy of which was given to AFP on Tuesday.

"It is urgent to have clarifications of the current situation, marked by irregularities."

Since 2002, the Congolese government has obtained World Bank support in a plan to convert existing logging rights into concessions and impose a temporary freeze on further concessions. The aim was to bring order to the sector and cut down the illegal logging of precious timber.

Greenpeace said that reforms "seem to be only a fig leaf that can barely hide the anarchy in the exploitation of lumber, both industrially and by artisans, in the forested provinces."

It said there have been serious abuses, and that it was worried about "the opacity surrounding implementation" of the reforms.

The Congolese government should "not miss out on the opportunities presented by international attention to the exceptional wealth of Congolese forests," Greenpeace said in the letter.

Among "serious irregularities," Greenpeace cited a difference of 2.9 million hectares of forest where logging was allowed between the 9.7 million hectares officially announced at the beginning of 2009 and the 12.6 million shown on a ministry of the environment map.

"The government has now committed to a legal review of the logging industry and we are calling on them to maintain and enforce the moratorium - withdrawing any illegal concessions," Greenpeace said in a separate statement on its website.

"Currently the review is characterised by secrecy and sloppiness so we?re demanding the international community and the DRC Government ensure this review process is completely transparent, the moratorium is maintained and enforced and that a participatory land use plan is put in place," it said.

The organisation also protested at special exemptions granted to concession holders whose rights were invalid and the failure of the government to publish a list of logging companies currently authorised to work in the vast central African country.

There is also concern for the well-being of the estimated 500,000 Pygmies living in the rainforest.

"The communities see the loggers come to cut and take away wood. Their role is reduced to that of helpless witnesses of the degradation of their forests and their means of subsistence," Greenpeace said in the letter.

"It is time to save the primary forests still intact in the DR Congo and to support models of management that are genuinely sustainable and of local development that benefit the Congolese."

After the Amazon in Brazil, Congo has the second largest rainforest on the planet at 86 million hectares (212 million acres), of which nearly 60 million hectares (148 million acres) are exploitable.

It also constitutes about 60 percent of all forests in the Congo basin.

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Colorado river running on empty by 2050

There is a one-in-two chance of fully depleting reservoir storage by 2050, says University of Colorado study. From the Ecologist, part of the Guardian Environment Network
The Ecologist, part of the Guardian Environment Network
guardian.co.uk 28 Jul 09;

The lifeblood of the American west, the Coloradoc river, is running dry under current usage, according to a study from the University of Colorado.

Travelling almost 1,500 miles, the river supplies drinking and irrigation water for about 30 million people from Colorado to the Gulf of California.

The study looked at how water supplies would be affected by climate fluctuations and water demand.

Reservoirs low

In 2000 reservoirs fed by the river were at 95 per cent of capacity. In 2009 they had dropped to 59 per cent of capacity.

If climate change results in a 10 per cent reduction in the Colorado River's average stream flows, as some recent studies predict, the chances of fully depleting reservoir storage will exceed 25 per cent by 2057.

If climate change results in a 20 per cent reduction, the chances of fully depleting reservoir storage will exceed 50 per cent by 2057, said the study.

Depleting supplies

'On average, drying caused by climate change would increase the risk of fully depleting reservoir storage by nearly ten times more than the risk we expect from population pressures alone,' said study author Balaji Rajagopalan.

'By mid-century this risk translates into a 50 percent chance in any given year of empty reservoirs, an enormous risk and a huge water management challenge,' he said.

Researchers warned against being 'lulled into a false sense of security' by the current high water capacity of the Colorado River system.

'This study, along with others that predict future flow reductions in the Colorado River Basin, suggests that water managers should begin to re-think current water management practices during the next few years before the more serious effects of climate change appear,' said Rajagopalan.

• This article appeared on the Ecologist, part of the Guardian Environment Network

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US green technology stifled by funding woes: experts

Jasmin Melvin, Reuters 28 Jul 09;

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - American innovation needed to reduce the greenhouse gases that cause climate change could be squelched if the government drags its heels in providing incentives and funding for developers, company executives told lawmakers on Tuesday.

Officials of companies involved in solar and carbon capture technologies told the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming that their biggest challenge to creating new green technologies was financing, not the science.

"Using proven technology available today, we can produce electricity along with other basic commodities at market prices while sequestering 90 percent of our CO2 (carbon dioxide)," said Frank Smith, chief executive of PurGen One.

His plant chemically converts coal into a synthetic gas and then removes the pollutants and 90 percent of the carbon from the gas, leaving nearly pure hydrogen. The hydrogen is used to produce energy while demand is high, but can alternately be used to produce urea fertilizer, which is sold and adds to profits when electricity demand is minimal.

"The new technology here is in the business model," Smith said. "Everything else is off-the-shelf, proven technology."

But the huge capital costs, coupled with the lack of an established track record, make finding debt financing for new facilities nearly impossible, Smith said.

"Big power plants are hard to finance in the best of times," he added.

Tessera Solar is embarking on a form of solar technology that uses heat from the sun to create energy that's converted into electricity. The company's method emits no greenhouse gases, uses less water than other solar technologies and has high electric efficiency.

But its vice president of marketing and regulatory affairs, Sean Gallagher, said financing could halt deploying this technology.

"It's been six months already since the stimulus package was passed, and we still don't have the loan guarantee guidelines," Gallagher said of the Energy Department's program to fund clean energy projects.

Gallagher urged the department to issue regulations consistent with commercial banking practices and move swiftly to start the next round of solicitations for the program.

Loan guarantees and other financial impetus from the federal government will be critical to getting new green technology projects off the ground, given the current financial situation, panelists said.

"If it weren't for the financial crisis, that would be of less emphasis," Smith said.

First movers, or those first to commit to a new technology, are now facing bankers more afraid of suffering losses, and that fear is making investment from the private sector scant.

Smith told lawmakers reliance on federal funds will not always be necessary. "We're talking about how to get started," he said.

(Editing by Walter Bagley)

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UK pins climate race hopes on carbon capture pilot

Nina Chestney, Reuters 28 Jul 09;

RENFREW, Scotland (Reuters) - A pilot project in Scotland has begun testing a method of cutting the amount of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, which Britain hopes will be a leap forward in the fight against climate change.

Doosan Babcock Energy switched on its OxyFuel combustion burner, Britain's largest demonstration project for carbon capture and storage (CCS), on Friday.

More than 100 people from industry, the media and the regional and national governments were invited to witness the event, just outside the city of Glasgow.

"We will supply this technology as soon as the market allows. We are 100 percent confident the demo will work," Iain Miller, chief executive of Doosan Babcock Energy, told guests.

CCS captures CO2 from power stations and stores it underground to prevent it from entering the atmosphere. It should help European countries meet their joint target of a 20-percent cut in CO2 emissions by 2020 while safeguarding continued operations of coal-to-power industries.

CCS could cut emissions by 90 percent. Several technologies are being tested but none have been proved on a commercial scale yet.

The OxyFuel method burns coal with pure oxygen rather than air, making almost pure CO2 gas and water vapor. This is compressed to trap the CO2, leaving only residual latent gases to be released into the atmosphere.

Doosan Babcock led the 7.5-million-pound ($12 million) project, backed by the British government, Scottish and Southern Energy, and sponsors including Drax, EDF, E.ON, ScottishPower and Vattenfall.

Vattenfall has operated a 30-megawatt test facility attached to a power plant in Schwarze Pumpe in Germany since 2008.

Relatively small at 17 meters (56 feet) long, 5.5 meters (18 feet) wide and 5.5 meters (18 feet) tall, the 40-megawatt burner will undergo 20 days' testing until December at a cost of 10,000 pounds a day. If it works, the technology will be fitted to new or existing coal plants to reduce their emissions.

SCALING UP

Britain wants to take the lead on the technology to create green jobs and profit from global business potentially worth 2 billion to 4 billion pounds by 2030. It could also make up ground lost to its European neighbors in renewable energy deployment.

"CCS is our priority. The alternatives are far less attractive," Joan Ruddock, minister of state for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, told Reuters at the launch.

Big questions remain over how the technology will be paid for on a commercial scale and how carbon dioxide will be transported and stored. CCS is expected to add about $1 billion to the cost of a power station.

To speed up the race to prove CCS, the European Union this year unveiled a 1.05-billion-euro ($1.50 billion) package to support up to seven large-scale projects or parts of between 10 and 12 schemes.

While welcoming the Doosan Babcock project, Barbara Helfferich, spokeswoman for European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, told Reuters the European Union's goal would be a challenge and demonstration projects required "significant scaling up."

Britain has done more than any other European country to get CCS off the ground. New coal plants in Britain will have to fit CCS within five years of 2020. The government promised support for up to four 300-to-400 megawatt schemes, with the first operational by 2014.

Experts say the technology can and must be deployed earlier to reap the industrial and environmental benefits.

"I would like to see the government accelerate its time frame and bring forward deployment well before 2020. It can be done," Miller told Reuters.

Doosan Babcock aims to have a 250-megawatt unit running by 2015 and 1,000-megawatt units by 2020, he added.

COMMERCIAL-SCALE PLANT

E.ON's CCS project at Kingsnorth, the potential site for a new coal plant, is in the running to win up to 90 million pounds from the government in a competition for a commercial-scale plant. An additional 15 million pounds is available for pilot schemes, from which the Doosan Babcock project received 2.5 million.

Some argue this is not enough, with industry lobbying for subsidies like those given to wind power.

"It is unrealistic to get to 2014 from where we are now. To step up to 300 megawatts requires a different order of magnitude in terms of funding," said Hannah Chalmers, CCS expert at London's Imperial College.

The government is pinning its hopes on the recovery of carbon prices in the EU's emissions trading scheme to drive the technology eventually.

Environmentalists are concerned that CCS will be used to justify the construction of more coal plants, diverting money away from energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy.

There is the problem of transporting and storing the carbon dioxide. The Doosan Babcock burner will not attempt to store CO2 but release it in a diluted, less harmful, form into the atmosphere.

Britain has enough storage capacity for decades in its depleted oil and gas fields and saline aquifers. Countries such as Japan and India have little capacity and would have to export liquid CO2 for burial elsewhere.

For Britain, keeping up the momentum of pilots is key to getting the technology proved.

"The UK would be barmy to lose this opportunity. Slipping behind is just not acceptable," said Jeff Chapman, chief executive of the CCS Association.

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China energy firms must take action on climate: Greenpeace

Yahoo News 28 Jul 09;

BEIJING (AFP) – China's energy firms must do more to combat climate change and reduce dependence on coal, environmental group Greenpeace said on Tuesday, warning of a rise in "extreme" weather.

"China is suffering the pains of extreme weather events such as droughts, heatwaves, typhoons and floods, worsened by climate change," Greenpeace China's climate campaigner Yang Ailun said as he unveiled a new report.

"These power companies can and must help China to prevent climate disaster by rapidly increasing efficiency and the share of renewable energy such as wind and solar."

The new Greenpeace China report urged China's top 10 power companies to take the lead in addressing global warming and cutting greenhouse gas emissions as they are the biggest emitters.

"To ensure energy security, environmental protection and healthy economic and societal development, the electricity sector... must play a strong role in tackling climate change and reducing China's reliance on coal," the report said.

For every one kilowatt hour of energy produced, China emits 1.8 times more carbon dioxide than the average in Japan's electricity sector and significantly more than in Germany and the United States, it said.

The report urged the government to drive the nation's energy companies towards renewable energy by implementing environmental and energy taxes on coal burning.

China should also double its national renewable energy target for 2020 to 30 percent of total energy production, it said.

China's power companies must quicken the pace of shutting down or converting inefficient power plants and should be made to publish detailed strategies on addressing climate change and reducing carbon emissions, it said.

China is adding energy capacity at a rapid speed, but power generated by coal continues to account for about 70 percent of the overall mix, the report said.

In 2008, China's biggest three power companies China Huaneng, China Datang and China Guodian emitted more greenhouse gases than all the United Kingdom, it added.

Emissions of 3 big China power firms exceed UK: report
Reuters 28 Jul 09;

BEIJING (Reuters) - Greenhouse gas emissions from the three biggest Chinese power firms in 2008 were higher than those of the entire United Kingdom, activist group Greenpeace said on Tuesday in a report that called for an environmental tax on coal.

The emissions-intensive fuel provides China with well over two-thirds of its electricity, and years of booming energy demand have had a massive impact on the Asian giant's carbon footprint.

China's 10 biggest power generators burned through a combined 600 million tons of coal last year alone, or around one fifth of the country's entire output, the report said.

They are reliant on the dirty fuel because it is cheap and the country has vast reserves that can meet most domestic demand.

"By burning 20 percent of China's coal in 2008, the (10 power) companies emitted an equivalent of 1.44 billion tons of carbon dioxide," the report said.

The country's three largest firms by installed generating capacity -- China Huaneng Group, China Datang Corp and China Guodian Corp -- were responsible for more than half of those greenhouse gases, or 769 million tons, the report said.

Greenpeace calculated emissions estimates by using fuel data combined with Chinese government figures on the amount of carbon dioxide produced when coal is burned in China's power stations.

In contrast, the provisional estimate for total 2008 emissions in the United Kingdom -- which has power generating capacity barely one-tenth of China's -- is 623.8 million tons.

The need to fuel rapid economic growth and worries about compromising energy security mean China will not turn away from coal in the short-term.

China is the world's biggest annual emitter of greenhouse gasses but on a per capita basis and over the course of history it is far outpaced by Western nations that have smaller populations and have enjoyed decades of emissions intensive growth.

But Greenpeace said it wanted Beijing to curb output of greenhouse gasses by putting an environmental tax on coal prices and set tighter efficiency and renewable energy targets.

The report also underlined China's progress in shutting down its least efficient, small power stations.

Generating capacity equivalent to more than all of Australia's installed capacity, or some 54 gigawatts (GW), has been taken offline over the past three and a half years.

This has helped cut the coal used to generate each unit of power to 350 grams per kilowatt hour or less at the big firms. Another 31 GW are scheduled to go by the end of 2012.

China says it is already working hard to curb growth in emissions, but should not be asked to take any steps that would undermine economic growth when it still has millions of citizens living in poverty.

Beijing wants rich nations to offer more technical and financial support to developing nations seeking greener growth.

(Reporting by Emma Graham-Harrison, Editing by Dean Yates)

China's three biggest power firms emit more carbon than Britain, says report
Greenpeace report names top three polluters and calls for tax on coal to improve efficiency and encourage switch to renewables
Tania Branigan, guardian.co.uk 28 Jul 09;

China's three biggest power firms produced more greenhouse gas emissions last year than the whole of Britain, according to a Greenpeace report published today.

The group warned that inefficient plants and the country's heavy reliance on coal are hindering efforts to tackle climate change. While China's emissions per capita remain far below those of developed countries, the country as a whole has surpassed the United States to become the world's largest emitter.

Greenpeace said the top 10 companies, which provided almost 60% of China's total electricity last year, burned 20% of China's coal — 590m tonnes — and emitted the equivalent of 1.44 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide.

The efficiency of Chinese power generation compares unfavourably with other countries. In Japan, 418 grams of carbon dioxide are emitted per kilowatt hour and in the US, the equivalent figure is 625 grams. But most of the top 10 firms in China produce 752 grams of CO2.

"China is suffering the pains of extreme weather events such as droughts, heat waves, typhoons and floods, worsened by climate change. These power companies can and must help China to prevent climate disaster by rapidly increasing efficiency and the share of renewable energy such as wind and solar," said Yang Ailun, Greenpeace's climate campaign manager, at the launch in Beijing of the Greenpeace report, Polluting Power: Ranking China's Biggest Power Companies.

The report says that in 2008, Huaneng, Datang and Guodian — the top three firms — emitted more greenhouse gases than the whole of the United Kingdom.

But Yang added: "China is ideally placed to…[become] the world's superpower in terms of smart energy and renewable energy."

The group said China closed down 54.07 gigawatt of the least efficient coal-fired plants over the last three and a half years — more than the total electricity installed capacity of Australia.

It urged power firms to phase out all inefficient coal-fired plants under 100 megawatt by 2012, saving 90m tonnes of coal consumption and 220m tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

Firms are already turning to renewable energy and by the end of last year Guodian had installed 2.88 gigawatt of wind power; almost 24% of China's total and enough to make it the biggest wind energy firm in Asia.

But Greenpeace said only three of the top 10 produced 10% or more of their energy from renewable sources. The vast majority relied heavily on hydropower — with eight of the firms not even halfway to their legal obligation to produce 3% of energy from other renewable sources by 2010.

Greenpeace urged the Chinese government to impose energy and environment taxes on coal, encouraging increased efficiency and a move to renewable sources.

It also called for a doubling of the national renewable energy target to 30% by 2020 and for stricter efficiency standards for coal-fired power stations.

The State Council, China's cabinet, is currently drawing up plans for a massive "new energy" programme to cut emissions and ensure energy security. Reports in the domestic media and from foreign diplomats suggest the next decade could see between 1.4 trillion (US$200 bn) and 4.5 trillion yuan (US$600bn) investment in projects ranging from nuclear power, low carbon transport and clean coal technology to super-efficient electric grids.

This huge expansion is already causing problems. Manufacturing capacity is outstripping supply and the country's under-invested power grid networks were not ready for large-scale wind power input. Some wind farms have been unable to start operating because of a lack of grid connection or were operating at levels lower than planned.

But experts warn that de-carbonising the energy supply must happen fast, given the massive toll on China's environment. State news agency Xinhua reported yesterday that the country's largest desert lake could vanish in decades due to climate change and human activities.

"Just 10 years ago, one couldn't see the other bank of the Hongjiannao even through a telescope. Today, it's visible with the naked eye," said He Fenqi, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The Hongjiannao, sandwiched between the Muus Desert in Shaanxi Province and the Erdos Plateau in Inner Mongolia, has shrunk by at least 30% in the past two decades, Xinhua reported. It now covers 4,600 hectares and its water level is declining by 20 centimetres annually.

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Shell works to fix Gulf of Mexico pipeline leak

Bruce Nichols and Joshua Schneyer, Reuters 28 Jul 09;

HOUSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shell and the U.S. Coast Guard rushed Tuesday to contain 1,400 barrels of crude oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico from a leaking Shell-operated pipeline, fighting back an oil slick with skimmer ships and airplanes.

Shell discovered the leak Saturday on its 173,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) capacity Eugene Island oil pipeline, 30 miles from Louisiana's coastline and 60 miles southwest of Houma, Louisiana.

The pipeline has been shut down, halting daily supplies of 100,000 barrels a day of Eugene Island oil. The Eugene Island line also was carrying new oil from Chevron's Tahiti platform which began flowing in May.

The pipeline is still leaking a "small amount" as it drains, a Shell spokesman said.

Shell had no estimate on repairs or a target date for restart of the 20-inch diameter pipeline, but people knowledgeable about operations said fixing it in 60-foot-deep water could take a day if the problem is small to weeks if it is big. Restart requires government approval.

"At this time, we cannot forecast when restart will occur. Our top priorities during the response and restart phases are safety and the environment," a company spokesman said.

The oil spill was among the largest in recent years in U.S. waters, officials said. Helicopters and airplanes that flew over the spill viewed a 16-by-3-mile "rainbow-like" oil sheen, Coast Guard Petty Officer Tom Atkeson said.

The slick is unlikely to reach land because the oil will evaporate and decompose if it is not picked up before reaching shore, Atkeson added.

Two skimming vessels by Tuesday had cleaned up 1,500 gallons of oil and water mixture of the 58,000 gallons believed to have spilled, Atkeson said. Some of the oil also has been dispersed by chemicals dropped from airplanes.

The cause of the leak awaited investigation. Shell said divers would inspect the source of the leak when they arrived on the scene late Tuesday, and planning of repairs could begin as soon as Wednesday.

As pipeline operator, Shell owns a 23 percent stake in the line. Other stakeholders include ExxonMobil, Marathon, Chevron and ConocoPhillips.

Saturday's oil spill was equivalent in volume to a November 2007 bunker fuel spill into the San Francisco Bay that drew ire from environmental groups. That spill reached local beaches.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Transportation, which regulates the pipeline, the Coast Guard and the Minerals Management Service, all said they would investigate and help determine when the pipeline may restart.

In addition to repairs, Shell may consider rerouting some of the Eugene Island offshore crude through other offshore pipelines, a spokesman said. Rerouting helped keep flows steady to refineries following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The futures market shrugged off the news, with U.S. light sweet crude for September delivery falling $1.08 to $67.28 a barrel on Tuesday. In the cash crude market, traders saw no deals for Eugene Island, but a similar grade, Bonito, was offered at up to $2.40 a barrel above West Texas Intermediate, a rare premium, traders said.

Bonito last dealt publicly for 35 cents above WTI, on July 22.

(Editing by Christian Wiessner)

U.S. Gulf oil spill nearly cleaned up, pipe waits fix
By Bruce Nichols and Joshua Schneyer, Reuters 31 Jul 09;

HOUSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The mess caused by the Eugene Island pipeline leak last weekend - in the Gulf of Mexico and the U.S. cash crude market - appeared nearly cleaned up Friday.

It was unclear how long it would take to fix the line, in which divers found a crack 33 miles offshore after it was shut down last Saturday. The damage has not been described in detail, and no repair plan had been announced as of Friday.

But Shell Pipeline Co and the Coast Guard issued a joint news release declaring impending victory over the 1,500 barrels of oil spilled. A spokesman predicted they would pick up the last remnants this weekend before it reaches shore.

Traders and brokers in the U.S. cash crude market, who had bid prices up sharply after the leak was disclosed late Monday, sent them back down in thin trading Friday after Shell said it had restored most of the affected oil flow.

"Overflights this morning revealed that skimming had reduced the remaining oil to several six-foot-(1.8-meter)-wide streamers approximately a quarter-mile long," a news release said. "Skimming will continue until the streams are collected ... and should conclude this weekend."

In the crude market, Heavy Louisiana Sweet fell $1.15 a barrel to $2.50 a barrel over West Texas Intermediate. Light Louisiana Sweet slid 60 cents to a $4.30-premium. Traders still assessed Eugene Island crude bids at WTI plus $2.00 against plus $2.50 offered, rare strength, but no sales were reported.

At its peak, the spill was described by officials on scene as "a nine-mile sheen with several streamers of darker oil," and had it moved to within 12 miles of the coast Thursday. On Friday, what was left was 15 miles from shore.

Shell said Friday the pipeline was still shut down but that it had managed to reroute 80,000 barrels per day (bpd) of the 100,000 bpd that was flowing through the pipeline when the leak was discovered.

It remained unclear exactly how much delivery of oil was impeded after Shell said the line was shutdown to control the leak. Chevron Corp said its Tahiti platform, which sends oil through the line, never stopped flowing.

Shell did not elaborate. All a Chevron spokeswoman would say is there are alternative pipeline routes that can be used.

(Editing by Marguerita Choy)

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