European bison on 'genetic brink'

Matt Walker, BBC News 4 Aug 09;

Europe's largest mammal, the European bison, remains extremely vulnerable to extinction, despite long-standing efforts to save it, new research shows.

One of the two remaining wild herds of pure bred European bison is down to an effective population size of just 25.
That is despite the actual number of wild bison in the herd having steadily risen to around 800.

The effective population measures the bison's genetic diversity, and can help predict the animal's survival chances.

At 3m long, 2m tall and weighing up to 900kg, the European bison ( Bison bonasus ) is Europe's heaviest surviving land mammal.

It survives in the wild in just two herds, each living on either side of the Bialowieza forest which straddles Belarus and Poland.

While European bison can interbreed with American bison (Bison bison), they are generally considered to be separate species, having considerable genetic and morphological differences.

However, the species has a tortured history.

For hundreds of years, the European bison was protected across large parts of its European range, being considered 'King's game' protected by the monarchy and Russian tsars that conquered Poland.

But early in the 20th Century, its numbers crashed as people left hungry by World War I and a lack of protection saw ruthless poaching of the animals for meat and hide.

By 1919, none were left in the wild.

Back from the dead

"So in the 1920s, biologists decided to reconstruct the population out of the few individuals left in the public and private collections and zoological gardens," says Malgorzata Tokarska of the Mammal Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, in Bialowieza, Poland.

Of 54 European bison left in the world at the time, just four bulls and three cows went on to found the surviving pure-bred population. Of those alive today, all originate from just from just one bull, with 90% of all their genes coming from two founders.

Today's population stands at around 1400 spread all over the world. The only wild animals live in the Bialowieza forest, with around 400 individuals on either side of the border.

To quantify the impact of the 20th Century bottleneck, Tokarska and colleagues Agata Kawalko, Jan Wojcik and Cino Pertoldi genetically sampled 178 individuals at 12 different points in their genome.

By testing the skulls and frozen soft tissues of long-dead animals, as well as live animals, the team could analyse bison born each decade from 1950 onwards.

Despite the growth in actual bison numbers, the genetic tests have revealed that the herd contains an effective population of just 25 animals, the team report in the Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society.

The effective population of any group of animals will be lower than the number that actually exist, due to factors such as non-breeding individuals or a skewed sex ratio.

But it's clear that the European bison has not recovered from the genetic bottleneck it suffered during the early 20th Century.

Usually, a population of animals must have an effective genetic population of 50 animals to be considered to be safe from an immediate threat of extinction caused by the dangerous effects of inbreeding or having too few genes to adapt to new environments.

"They are highly inbred and closely related and the genetic surveys confirmed that," says Tokarska.

"We could pretend that we have a big plan, but honestly, there's not much we can do. We can not enrich the genetics using breeding methods, since there are no out-bred animals. They all come from the same seven founders."

"Mostly, we can work on maintaining the bison-friendly environment and widen it," she says.

Tokarska is also just beginning to analyse the remaining Belarus bison.

Though they originate from the same animals, the other herd does have some slight genetic differences.

If they are confirmed it may be possible to bring bison together from the two herds to further improve the species' survival chances, she says.

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'Trees of life' are vital food source

Miranda Spitteler, BBC Green Room 4 Aug 09;

The "famine food" of trees can keep drought-hit communities alive when all other food crops fail, says Miranda Spitteler. In this week's Green Room, she argues that policy makers need to recognise the important role trees play in providing emergency food aid.

Food insecurity is a defining characteristic of life for many of the world's poorest people, exacerbated now by climate change and the rise in food prices.

Emergency food aid has been the staple of international responses to crises, such as drought and famine for decades.

However, it is much better that the emergency is addressed before it happens.

Farmer Arzouma Thiombiano from eastern Burkina Faso recalls how trees saved lives in the mid 1980s.

"Over 20 years ago, a big famine came but people escaped starvation by eating baobabs leaves and fruit," he says.

Communities living in countries most affected by food shortages have long known about the key role that trees can play in reducing the need for conventional aid.

Recognition of this by the West, and practical support for a localised tree-based solution is urgently needed.

Food for through

Widespread droughts across Africa have devastated crops this year. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 30 countries around the world are in crisis and require help from overseas.

The effects of climate change are making droughts more of a norm than an exception. This is a pattern that places some of the most vulnerable communities in an increasingly precarious position when it comes to meeting basic food needs.

In Burkina Faso in West Africa, malnutrition affects nearly 40% of the rural poor. Climate change is further impacting on already fragile agricultural lands, and high food costs are affecting people's health.

By the time shortages and hunger in countries like Burkina Faso reach "emergency" levels and warrant aid; families, communities, agricultural practices and lands will have suffered greatly.

The G8 summit held in Italy at the beginning of July pledged $20 billion to support indigenous food production to alleviate the need for such emergency food aid.

What is missing from this pledge is any mention of the key role that trees can play.

"Conventional" crops are often not native and require expensive inputs, significant irrigation and land preparation in order to produce a successful harvest.

This means that they are more vulnerable to droughts. For smallholder farmers in Africa's drylands, a failed harvest can mean months of malnutrition and hardship.

Trees, on the other hand, often survive when other crops fail. Commonly seen by the West as "famine foods", tree foods already form a significant part of daily diets across rural Africa.

Trees provide fruits, nuts, seeds, leaves, flowers, sepals, even sap, which can all be used as food.

Take Moringa oleifera - its leaves have more beta-carotene than carrots, more protein than peas, more vitamin C than oranges, more calcium than milk, more potassium than bananas and more iron than spinach.

Data shows that nursing mothers produce more milk when they add Moringa leaves to their diet.

The leaves can be dried and eaten during the hungry period, and animal fodder from trees is also vital in producing milk and meat.

This existing localised "emergency relief", is what the G8 funding must seek to strengthen.

Self-help

The fight against hunger - especially in drought-hit times - must target those at the epicentre of world poverty - smallholder farmers in rural Africa.

They need support to adopt agro-forestry techniques, which boost soil fertility and provide tree food crops to supplement nutrition. They need the right environment to invest in their land, the ability to share information, and modest support at grass roots level.

Training and support can help villagers earn money from things that grow on trees.

This income can give them food-purchasing power when crops fail, and access to vital services, such as healthcare and education.

This approach can increase self sufficiency for both rural communities and national economies. It can increase environmental security, diversify livelihood options and reduce the vulnerability of poor households to climate change and external shocks.

It can bring real, sustainable long-term returns.

In Dongo, a village in Burkina Faso, Tree Aid's Village Tree Enterprise project aims to help villagers generate income from tree products. All the participants are women.

One of their husbands explained: "During the last drought period, when my granary was empty, my wife's income contributed more than 50% of the household's income."

Projects like these provide communities with the skills and support to manage their trees. They enable people like the group in Dongo to improve their own resilience to drought, crop failure, and higher food prices.

It is time for the value of trees to be recognised at all levels internationally.

Groups like the G8 must make a commitment to developing the enormous potential of agro-forestry. In so doing they present a joined up approach to resolving two of the key issues facing the world today.

They will simultaneously alleviate poverty and food insecurity for people who need it most, while tackling the impact of climate change by encouraging the protection and planting of trees.

Miranda Spitteler is chief executive of TREE AID

The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website

Trees are 'crucial famine food'
BBC News 4 Aug 09;

Trees can serve as a vital "famine food" to keep drought-hit communities alive when all other food crops fail, according to campaigners.

Food insecurity is a routine fact of life for many of the world's poorest people, Miranda Spitteler, chief executive of Tree Aid told BBC News.

She said the West needed to recognise the important role trees could play in reducing the need for conventional aid.

She also called for support for a local tree-based solution to food shortages.

At this year's G8 summit, hosted by Italy, the leaders of the world's biggest economies recognised the need to improve global food security.

They pledge to spend $20bn over three years in an effort to support food production in developing nations, reducing the need for emergency food aid.

But Ms Spitteler commented: "What is missing from this pledge is any mention of the key role that trees can play."

In an article for the BBC News website's Green Room column, she added: "'Conventional' crops are often not native and require expensive inputs, significant irrigation and land preparation in order to produce a successful harvest.

"Trees, on the other hand, often survive when other crops fail."

Trees provide fruits, nuts, seeds, leaves, flowers, sepals, even sap, which can be used as food.

Self-sufficiency

The leaves of Moringa oleifera , which is cultivated across Africa, India and South America, for example, have more beta-carotene than carrots, more vitamin C than oranges and more calcium than milk, the head of Tree Aid wrote.

She said the fight against hunger, especially in drought-hit times, must target those at the epicentre of of world poverty - smallholder farmers in rural Africa.

"They need support to adopt agro-forestry techniques, which boost soil fertility and provide tree food crops to supplement nutrition."

Ms Spitteler added: "This approach can increase self-sufficiency for both rural communities and national economies. It can increase environmental security, diversify livelihood options and reduce the vulnerability of poor households to climate change and external shocks."

Global food production needs to double over the next 40 years if the world's population is to be fed, according to UN estimates.

Jacques Diouf, director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), says the massive challenge will require a global effort.

"For the first time in human history, we have more than one billion hungry people in the world.

"I am therefore happy that most of the leaders of the G8 have said that we need to focus on food production in poor countries and allow them to earn their income by producing food."

President of Tree Aid, Sir Crispin Tickell said: "As a member of the Copenhagen Climate Council, I greatly applaud the G8's initiative and hope that the vital role of trees will be fully recognised at the COP 15 Summit in Copenhagen in December."

A weekly series of thought-provoking opinion pieces on environmental topics.

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Shoe brands get tough on leather suppliers to save Amazon rainforest

Crackdown against 'environmental criminals' follows Greenpeace report
Damian Carrington and Tom Phillips, guardian.co.uk 3 Aug 09;

Some of the world's top footwear brands, including Clarks, Adidas, Nike and Timberland, have demanded an immediate moratorium on destruction of the Amazon rainforest from their leather suppliers in Brazil.

The move is the first major development since the Guardian revealed a three-year undercover investigation by Greenpeace in June. The investigation said leading Brazilian suppliers of leather and beef for products sold in Britain had obtained cattle from farms involved in illegal deforestation.

"The decision is good news," said Carlos Minc, Brazil's environment minister. "With government pressure on one side and with the pressure of the consumer on the other, we have started to close in on [environmental] criminals."

"It's great progress in a very short space of time," said Greenpeace's James Turner. "What this does now is really put pressure on the UK food companies. The shoe companies have realised there is a problem and taken action, now it's up to the supermarkets to follow that lead."

Clearing tropical forests for agriculture is estimated to produce 17% of the world's carbon emissions – more than the global transport system. Cattle farming is now the biggest threat to the remaining Amazon rainforest, a fifth of which has been lost since 1970. "I'd say that 65-75% of deforestation is linked to the growth of ranching," Minc said. "We are closing in on this, but it is still the sector that is most opposed to change and responsible for the most deforestation in the Amazon."

Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change secretary, who is in the Amazon on an unrelated diplomatic trip, said: "We can only get an agreement on climate change if it involves Brazil and it involves forestry. There is no solution to the question of climate change without forestry. The Amazon forest is such a beautiful place when it is untouched and then you see these scars on the landscape from the deforestation, bigger and bigger scars."

In addition to the moratorium on leather from newly deforested areas, the footwear makers have also demanded that suppliers bring in a stringent traceability system within a year, which will "credibly" guarantee the source of all leather.

Last night, one large supplier agreed to ensure that the farms it takes cattle from are not responsible for deforestation. Bertin, one of Brazil's - and the world's - major suppliers of leather and beef also agreed to meet Greenpeace this month to negotiate how to prevent cattle ranching from driving deforestation.

The Greenpeace investigation compiled field work, government records, company documents and trade data from Brazil, China, Europe, Vietnam and the US to piece together the global movement of leather and meat from Brazilian cattle.

The organisation said cattle from hundreds of legal and illegal farms across the Amazon were mixed and processed on their way to export sites, making it currently impossible to trace the origins of products. "In effect, criminal or 'dirty' supplies of cattle are 'laundered' through the supply chain," said the report. Greenpeace has asked companies to refuse to buy from such suppliers and for consumers to press supermarkets and high street brands to clean up the supply chains.

It said that some Brazilian processing companies exported products linked to Amazon destruction to dozens of blue-chip companies across the world, and named three major processors, Bertin, JBS and Marfrig, which together control a third of Brazilian beef exports.

"We all agree [preventing deforestation] is possible," Leonardo Swirski, head of Bertin's leather division, told the Guardian last night. But he warned against measures that would harm the livelihoods of the 20 million people in the Amazon region.

"If all [consumers] are not buying any products from the Amazon, they will surely create other sorts of problems." He believes other supply companies will also take action: "We have an advantage if they don't. I believe everyone will follow."

JBS and Marfrig reiterated commitments to not sourcing cattle from illegally deforested land, and all three have agreed with the federal prosecutor to reject these cattle. Marcus O'Sullivan, a director in JBS's London office, said: "We are very committed to the protection of the Amazon biome. We work closely with Ibama [the Brazilian ministry of defence's enforcement agency] and don't purchase cattle from the blacklisted farms."

Under the moratorium, the footwear companies will refuse to buy leather sourced from farms on both legally and illegally deforested land. It will be extended if the demand for credible traceability is not in place within a year.

Clarks, which is a major customer of Bertin, said in a statement: "Clarks will require suppliers of Brazilian leather to certify, in writing, that they are not supplying leather from recently deforested areas in the Amazon biome."

Timberland said: "We are grateful for the work of NGOs such as Greenpeace in exposing problems deep within the Brazilian leather supply chain."

Adidas said: "We believe that joining together with our industry partners in this effort ensures an ongoing and sustainable method to stop deforestation in the Amazon biome region."

Adidas, Clarks, Nike and Timberland agree moratorium on illegal Amazon leather
The Telegraph 4 Aug 09

Leading shoemakers, including adidas, Clarks, Nike and Timberland, have demanded suppliers stop sending them leather from illegal ranches in the Amazon, after Greenpeace published a report highlighting the problem.

The environmental charity found that shoe companies were unknowingly accepting leather from cattle raised on ranches set up on land that had been illegally cleared.

Greenpeace said leather from cattle raised on legal and illegal ranches was often mixed up by the time it was exported from Brazil, making it impossible to trace a piece's origin.

The report, published in June, said: "In effect, criminal or 'dirty' supplies of cattle are 'laundered' through the supply chain."

Its conclusion followed a three-year undercover investigation by the organisation, which looked at government documents, company records and trade data to compile a picture of the global leather trade, as well as visiting ranches in the Amazon.

After Greenpeace contacted shoe companies and told them of the situation, several of them have responded by saying they will tighten up their leather purchasing arrangements.

Clarks said in a statement: "Clarks will require suppliers of Brazilian leather to certify, in writing, that they are not supplying leather from recently deforested areas in the Amazon biome."

Timberland said: "We are grateful for the work of non-governmental organisations such as Greenpeace in exposing problems deep within the Brazilian leather supply chain."

Adidas said: "We believe that joining together with our industry partners in this effort ensures an ongoing and sustainable method to stop deforestation in the Amazon biome region."

Nike has signed a policy document that requires all of its suppliers "to certify that they are supplying leather for Nike Inc. products from cattle raised outside the Amazon biome."

The company said this policy would remain in place until it felt a system of governance was in place that allowed every consignment of leather to be traced to source.

The move was welcomed as "good news" by Carlos Minc, Brazil's environment minister.

He told The Guardian: "With government pressure on one side and with the pressure of the consumer on the other, we have started to close in on [environmental] criminals."

About a fifth of the Amazon forest's area has been lost since 1970, according to satellite imagery and other data.

Besides the loss of habitat and biodiversity, the environmental issue has been given greater impetus in recent years because of a growing understanding about the contribution that deforestation makes to man-made climate change.

Deforestation is thought to account for up to 25 per cent of global emissions of greenhouse gases, according to the Oxford-based Global Canopy Programme. Ranching is thought to be responsible for about two-thirds of that forest loss.

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Forestry hurt by crisis, looks to clean energy boom: UN

Yahoo News 4 Aug 09;

GENEVA (AFP) – The forestry industry in Europe, the ex-Soviet Union and North America has suffered the biggest drop in demand for wood since the 1970s with the slump in housing markets, the United Nations said Tuesday.

But as the industry closes down sawmills and restructures, it can see a booming new market for environmentally-friendly wood-based energy, such as pellets and biofuels, the UN Economic Commission for Europe said.

"This year we had one of the biggest drops ever in consumption of forest products," said Ed Pepke, one of the authors of the UNECE's annual market review of forest products.

"This was an amazing turnaround from a few years ago when we were at record levels of consumption," Pepke said.

Consumption of sawn wood, paper and board in the UNECE region fell 8.5 percent in 2008 to about 1.26 billion cubic metres, the sharpest decline since the oil crisis in 1973, as the biggest consumer of wood, the construction industry, slumped.

"Much of this has to do with the housing crisis in the United States first and, secondly, in Europe," Pepke said.

From a peak of 2.2 million homes built in the United States in 2006, construction has fallen to about half a million houses in 2009, with a 50 percent drop in the past year alone, according to industry data cited by UNECE.

With the paper industry also declining due to the growth in electronic communications, the crisis has prompted the closure of sawmills and massive restructuring in Nordic countries and Canada, the report said.

"There's a lot of change in emphasis from wood and paper products to wood energy as a result of this," Pepke told reporters.

Wood energy is accelerating in the UNECE region, with production of wood pellets for heating and furnaces growing from about two million tonnes in 2000 to more than 10 million tonnes this year.

"Wood energy markets are surviving the economic crisis better than the other sectors," said Tapani Pahkasalo, UNECE Forest Products Marketing Specialist.

The report forecast that the market for wood fuel pellets is expected to double by 2012 from the 2008 level of nine million tonnes.

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Amazon deforestation speeds up: Brazil space agency

Yahoo News 4 Aug 09;

BRASILIA (AFP) – Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest in June was four times more devastating than the month before, further depleting what is seen as one of the biggest buffers against global warming, official data revealed Tuesday.

Satellite imagery analyzed by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research showed 578 square kilometers (223 square miles) of Amazon woodland was burned or cut down.

That was more than four times the devastation recorded in May, and roughly equivalent to the size of Switzerland's Lake Geneva, or half the area of California's biggest city of Los Angeles.

Most of the destruction was concentrated in the Brazilian states of Para and Mato Grosso. Ranchers and farmers regularly encroach on the vast zone.

Between July 2008 and June 2009, more than 4,700 square kilometers of Amazon jungle has disappeared, according to the space agency's imagery.

Brazil last December vowed to slow the rate of deforestation in the Amazon, the world's biggest tropical woodland, by 70 percent over a decade.

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Water crisis in parched northern China

Robert J. Saiget Yahoo Groups 4 Aug 09;

YIXIAN, China (AFP) – The river has dried up, the well yields only dust, and Li Yunxi is hard pressed to irrigate his plot of land, even though he lives right next to the largest water project in history.

The elderly farmer watches in despair as his corn crop wilts under the scorching northern China sun, knowing that a fresh, abundant stream is only a stone's throw away.

"We ordinary people don't dare use that water," Li told AFP as he nodded toward the fenced-in canal, part of China's hugely ambitious but troubled South-North Water Diversion Project.

"That water is for Beijing, and people here do not steal water."

The temperatures have approached 40 degrees centigrade (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for weeks this summer in Hebei province, a region surrounding Beijing that has been stricken by drought for much of the last decade.

But although Li's crops are withering away, he is getting no sympathy from the authorities -- quite the opposite.

Earlier this year the government announced that the completion of the project's central canal, stretching 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) from a tributary of the Yangtze river to Beijing, will be delayed five years to 2014.

This means that instead of being a beneficiary of the project, Hebei will now be tasked with supplying water to the capital until the project is completed.

The delay will further complicate a water shortage in northern China that experts say is caused by global warming, drought and rising demand from 96 million people who live in the booming Beijing region that includes Hebei.

Currently a 300-kilometre portion of the canal from the Hebei city of Shijiazhuang to Beijing is supplying emergency water to the capital from three reservoirs that previously provided water to the parched province.

The canal, which sits above Li's farmland, abruptly disappears as it nears the dry riverbed of the North Yishui river only to reappear on the opposite bank next to a large pump station that sucks the water through pipes underneath the dusty riverbed.

"There has been no water in the river for 30 years," the bronzed Li said, sweating under a straw hat, a partially capped silver tooth gleaming in the sunlight.

His family's well dried up about 10 years ago, so he like other villagers must now rely on water from a machine-pumped well -- and pay for it, making irrigation prohibitively expensive.

"At first the machine-pumped well was only 30 or 40 metres deep, now it is well over 100 metres deep," Li said of the falling underground water table, a phenomenon seen throughout north China.

This situation should have been alleviated by the water diversion project -- an unprecedented 400-billion-yuan (58-billion-dollar) plan to channel water from the humid south to the parched north along three separate lines.

"Now that (construction of the canal) has been pushed back for five years, we will see a deepening of the crisis in the North China region," said Zhang Junfeng, a water expert with Green Earth Volunteers, an environmental group.

"The North-South project was supposed to come on line earlier and it was designed to reduce the amount of underground water being used in urban areas."

The delay means that the region will have to rely on pumping more underground water to meet demand.

Zhang estimates that Beijing already pumps up to two thirds of its water from underground aquifers with wells in some place up to 1,000 metres deep.

Government officials with the South-North project and the Hebei water resources authority refused to be interviewed for this article.

But according to plans, in 2014 about 13 billion cubic metres (460 billion cubic feet) of water is expected to be channelled along the central canal from the Yangtze tributary every year, with one tenth earmarked for Beijing.

The rest will go to Hebei and other cities and regions along the route, while a significant amount will be lost to evaporation and leakage, the government has said.

Beijing's total water consumption in 2008 was 3.5 billion cubic metres, according to government figures.

According to state press reports, the delay in construction stems from the rising costs of the project as well as the resettlement of up to 300,000 people still living along the route of the canal.

Costly plants to treat badly polluted water along the project's eastern line have also put the construction and the delivery of water on that line behind schedule, they said.

A western line that was to transfer water from the headwaters of the Yangtze river to the Yellow river along the Tibetan plateau, which had been scheduled to break ground in 2010, has been postponed indefinitely, reports said.

If the western line is scrapped completely the overall cost of the project will fall significantly, they said.

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Developed world must slash greenhouse gases: Pacific Island states

Yahoo Groups 4 Aug 09;

CAIRNS, Australia (AFP) – Developed countries must slash their greenhouse gas emissions to ensure the survival of vulnerable island states, Pacific island leaders said Tuesday.

Leaders of seven tiny Pacific island states met ahead of the Pacific Islands Forum summit starting Wednesday.

They include some of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, including the atoll archipelagos of Kiribati, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands, which include land just two to three metres (six to nine feet) above sea level.

The leaders supported the stance of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), a global grouping, which has called for 45 percent cuts below 1990 levels in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and 85 percent cuts worldwide by 2050.

"We know there will be differences, we understand some of the difficulties the developed countries have with respect to the changes that are needed," said Toke Talagi, chairman of the forum's Small Island States grouping.

"The small island states have agreed we must make a very strong stance with respects to the greenhouse gas emissions," said Talagi, the Premier of Niue, a tiny island state with a population of around 1,100 people.

Talagi told journalists there were a lot of funds available for mitigating and researching the effects of climate change but there was often difficulty in getting access to that money.

An Oxfam report last week said by the year 2050, about 75 million people could be forced to leave their homes due to climate change in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Climate change has the potential to affect almost every issue linked to poverty and development in the Pacific," said Oxfam New Zealand executive director Barry Coates.

"Without immediate action 50 years of development gains in poor countries will be permanently lost," he said.

Climate change is expected to worsen storm surges, cyclones and high tides.

"Scientists have also projected an increase in diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, together with significant soil and coastal erosion as a result of climate change," Oxfam said.

Unless wealthy, developed countries like Australia and New Zealand take urgent action to curb emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, some island nations in the Pacific could become uninhabitable, Oxfam said.

Oxfam estimated that around 150 billion US dollars would be needed every year to fund adaptation and emissions reductions in developing countries on top of existing aid.

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Carbon offsets not perfect but can slash costs: CBO

Reuters 4 Aug 09;

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Carbon offsets could help slash costs in a U.S. market designed to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, but questions linger about whether all of the mechanisms fully cut such pollution, a Congressional Budget Office report said.

Annual savings from offsets under the climate legislation passed by the House of Representatives could be 70 percent per year from 2012 to 2050, said the report from the CBO, which provides nonpartisan analyses to Congress on economic and budgetary issues.

"The cost savings to the economy generated by offsets could be substantial," the report said.

Offsets allow polluters like coal-burning power plants that would face regulation under a U.S. climate plan to invest in projects that aim to cut greenhouse gases when they determine it's too expensive to cut their own pollution.

Such projects include burning methane, a potent greenhouse gas, given off by pits of rotting manure instead of letting it escape to the atmosphere, or storing carbon in soil and plants through agricultural practices such as no-till farming or planting trees.

The climate bill passed by the House aims to cut emissions of greenhouse gases by 83 percent by 2050, under 2005 levels. Democratic leaders hope to bring climate legislation to a vote in the Senate in October.

The bill would allow for a total of up to 2 billion tons worth of offsets annually from both domestic and international sources.

The CBO estimated the cost of a permit to release a metric ton of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030 in a plan that allowed offsets would be $40 a metric ton, versus $138 a metric ton in a plan that did not allow offsets.

The net cost in the United States for the program with offsets would be $101 billion in 2030, about 60 percent less than if the mechanisms were not allowed, according to the CBO.

LEAKAGE AND OTHER CONCERNS

But concerns have mounted "that the use of offsets can undermine the environmental goals of the program," according to the CBO.

In other words, it may be hard to verify if some offsets, particularly ones that aim to save forests in developing countries from being cut down, may not actually cut the volumes of international emissions of greenhouse gases they say they do.

Saving one portion of forest from being cut down, for example, could have the unintentional consequence of spurring lumber harvesters to cut down parts of other forests by increasing the price of wood. That problem, known as leakage, would have to be controlled, especially in developing countries.

"It might be relatively easy to measure the amount of methane captured in the United States from ... processes to treat animal waste, it might be quite difficult to measure the amount of carbon removed ... because of efforts to plant trees or avoid deforestation in developing countries," the CBO said.

One way carbon markets can keep offsets that are harder to verify in a trading plan is to discount them versus offsets that were easier to verify. Another way would be to limit the amount of the questionable offsets allowed in a trading plan.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Walter Bagley)

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Best of our wild blogs: 4 Aug 09

Since theonlinecitizen is down right now
on creationism in our schools from Arthroplog

Pre-National Day mangrove cleanup @ Lim Chu Kang, 8th August 2009 from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

Lim Swee Cheng's "Guide to Sponges of Singapore"
and updates to wildfact sheets from wild shores of singapore

Guided Walk at Changi Beach
from Urban Forest

Rictal bristles
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Big fines to protect coral reefs
from wild shores of singapore

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Ubin residents want to be able to keep chickens, just like in mainland Singapore

Ubin residents' complain over Fowl Play
Teh Jen Lee, The New Paper 4 Aug 09;

IT HAS been four years since the Government banned the keeping of poultry on Pulau Ubin, due to fears of bird flu.

But many residents of Ubin want the rule changed.

A 67-year-old resident, who declined to be named, said: 'All families here would like to keep some chickens and ducks. Otherwise, what will we depend on for a living?

'We used to get eggs and fresh meat from keeping poultry, but now we have to get these from Changi Village. Each trip there and back costs $5. Sometimes we have to wait (for) more than an hour for the bumboat because there aren't enough people to fill it.'

He has had to change his diet to mainly canned food since the poultry ban in mid-2005.

Chicken dung was also hard to replace as fertiliser.

'My fruit trees are not doing well. Their leaves are all yellow. I've tried to rear rabbits and use their droppings, but it's not as good because rabbits eat only grass,' he said in Mandarin.

'What kind of kampung is this, if there are no chickens to be seen anywhere? People bring their kids here, but there's nothing for them to see.

'They don't know what real chickens are like.'

Residents like him are unhappy that the authorities allow up to 10 chickens to be kept in cages on the mainland. But in Ubin, no chickens are allowed.

The penalty for breaking these rules is a maximum fine of $10,000 and a year in jail.

Officers from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) visit Ubin every month to enforce the rules, an AVA spokesman said. AVA officers also regularly check all farms on the mainland.

Poultry farms in Lim Chu Kang, Murai and Sungei Tengah Agrotechnology Parks are allowed to rear chickens.

In the past three years, no one has been caught for either having too many chickens or not caging them properly in mainland Singapore or Pulau Ubin.

However, chickens have been seen roaming around non-farm areas on mainland Singapore.

Some visitors to Ubin think that the poultry ban takes away the island's kampung ambience.

Mr Ravindran Kanapathy, 48, a lecturer who visits the island about five times a year, said: 'It's a sad thing to do because this is one of the few places left behind to give us the nostalgic feeling.

'Why not let it be as natural as possible?'

Another visitor, Ms Sharifah Alwi, 36, an executive, thinks it's unfair that chickens can be kept on mainland Singapore but not on Ubin.

'Best place' to keep chickens

'I disagree with it because Ubin is the best place to keep chickens,' she said.

But the pain is felt most by the residents.

Said Mr Lim Choo Zi, 80: 'They should change the rule and allow us to keep chickens.'

He said that since Ubin residents have no jobs, it's more expensive to buy meat and eggs from provision shops.

Madam Ong Swee Eng, 82, an Ubin resident who used to keep about 100 chickens, said she also wants to see the rule changed.

She said in Hokkien: 'Here there's space for the chickens. It doesn't make sense that they don't allow it here, but it's allowed on the mainland.'

With a higher population density on the mainland, which translates to more people being potentially affected if there were to be a bird-flu outbreak, shouldn't the authorities have stricter rules on the mainland?

The AVA spokesman said: 'Bird flu can be spread through infected wild birds. The risk of poultry on the mainland coming into contact with wild birds is much lower, given the urban conditions.

'The 10 caged poultry rule is not a sustainable solution for Pulau Ubin as the residents will not comply with the rule after some time.'

He added that since the bird-flu situation in the region was not abating, the risk of 'backyard poultry farms becoming infected cannot be underestimated'.

He added: 'Singapore is currently free from bird flu. If bird flu occurs at Pulau Ubin, Singapore will lose its bird-flu status and public health will be compromised.'

What about free-ranging birds at tourist attractions likes Jurong Bird Park and Sentosa?

AVA has vaccinated such birds against bird flu, said the spokesman.

AVA also conducts regular surveillance on wild birds at Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve and Pulau Ubin, as well as urban pests such as mynahs and crows.

The public can call the AVA at 18004761600 if they come across anyone keeping too many chickens or not caging them properly.

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Singapore Botanic Gardens to be expanded with new parkland

Channel NewsAsia 3 Aug 09;

SINGAPORE: Singapore's Botanic Gardens will be expanded with the addition of a new parkland.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said a 9.8-hectare parkland at Tyersall Avenue will be added to the Gardens.

This parkland will form a seamless extension to the west of the Gardens, bringing the total area of the Botanic Gardens to almost 74 hectares.

And there will be a new arboretum on the parkland. The Tyersall addition is slated to be completed by 2012.

Mr Mah said: "A rich diversity of flora and fauna, including some rare species, exists in the forest at this new site. An arboretum will be developed to capitalise on this rich biodiversity, integrating the forest in the extension with the existing rainforest within the Botanic Gardens to form an enlarged forest habitat.

"This Tyersall Learning Forest will showcase the best of tropical trees that grow under local conditions, and strengthen the Botanic Gardens' position as a premier institute for research, conservation and education.

"Visitors will be able to appreciate this unique collection of trees and plants through various thematic walks within the Tyersall Learning Forest, featuring giant trees with the potential to grow up to some 60 metres in height, trees with interesting forms and barks of various textures, a conservation collection of rare fruit and nut species, and a bamboo garden."

Another highlight of the parkland will be a new marshland that will showcase a diversity of tropical wetland plant species and aquatic wildlife, including birds and amphibians. And nature lovers can take in the beauty of the marshland from viewing decks along boardwalks on the marshland.

Mr Mah was speaking at the opening of "Garden of Hope", a new section at the Botanic Gardens, on Monday.

The Garden of Hope comprises four mini gardens, connected by footpaths with plants and recycled materials woven into the garden to create lovely forms. It is a project by students from Assumption Pathway School and Northlight School.

Over the past month, these students had worked under the guidance of two internationally recognised, award-winning garden designers - Australia's Jim Fogarty, and Singapore's Alan Tan - to design and build the garden.

The Botanic Gardens turns 150 this year and to celebrate its birthday, 150 couples will gather at the Gardens next month to exchange nuptial vows in a mass wedding ceremony.

Rare plants, wildlife to feature in Botanic Gardens' latest addition
Grace Chua, Straits Times 4 Aug 09;

RARE exotic plants, marshland and wildlife will be added to the Singapore Botanic Gardens as part of its newest extension.

A chunk of prime land off Holland Road will be the Gardens' 'Learning Forest', Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan announced yesterday.
The unoccupied 9.8ha site next to Tyersall Avenue will be turned into a showcase of different types of rainforest plants, as well as a marshland habitat, bringing the Botanic Gardens' total area to around 74ha.

The 'Learning Forest' capitalises on flora already occupying the new site, said Mr Mah.

Botanic Gardens director Chin See Chung said it will feature rare tropical plant species, which are 'a group of genetic resources that we think will be valuable in the future'.

The extension will also feature a bamboo garden and a marshland that will showcase wetland plant species, amphibians, birds and other wildlife.

Night tours of the area are also planned when the extension opens, and more parking facilities will be provided.

Almost all the trees that are already there will be conserved, the National Parks Board said.

Before the new extension opens its leafy doors in 2012, Tyersall Avenue - which currently runs along the edge of the Botanic Gardens - will be re-aligned.

At present, the parcel of land is lush forest, but in the 1850s, it was part of Tyersall Park and was first occupied by lawyer William Napier, after whom Napier Road is named. It was acquired by the Government in 1990.

The new extension was announced at the Garden Of Hope opening yesterday, which showcases four miniature gardens designed and planted by some 35 students from Assumption Pathway School and Northlight School in Upper Bukit Timah and Dunman Road respectively.

The month-long student horticulture project was part of the Singapore Botanic Gardens' 150th anniversary celebrations.

More forest, even night tours
Kiersten ow, Today Online 4 Aug 09;

COME 2012, nature lovers will have a much bigger Botanic Gardens to look forward to, and it will be one with a new forested area that could include night tours.

This with the addition of 9.8-hectares of parkland in Tyersall Avenue to the 150-year-old Botanic Gardens, bringing its total area to almost 74 hectares.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, who announced the expansion plans yesterday, also highlighted the rich diversity of flora and fauna, including some rare species, at the new site.

To capitalise on this, he said an arboretum will be developed which will integrate the forest in the extension with the existing rainforest here to form an enlarged forest habitat.

And in line with the Gardens' core mission of "connecting plants and people", Mr Mah said "the Tyersall Learning Forest will showcase the best of tropical trees that grow under local conditions and strengthen the Botanic Gardens' position as a premier institute for research, conservation and education".

Another highlight here will be a new marshland that will showcase a diversity of tropical wetland plant species and aquatic wildlife, including birds and amphibians. Nature enthusiasts will be able to take in the beauty of the marshland from viewing decks along boardwalks.

Mr Mah was speaking at the opening of the "Garden of Hope", a new feature by students.

Dr Chin See Chung, director of the Botanic Gardens, said this is a significant extension due its naturalistic setting, and "people will get a slightly different experience".

He added: "If you come … there are always sounds in the forest, at night there will be more sounds, there will be an opportunity to see some of these wildlife."

Acknowledging the risk of losing the natural habitats for rare species, Dr Chin said the new area will be developed "sensitively so there is minimal damage to the garden, so we can integrate the excess and facilitate visitorship, without damaging existing forest".

The expansion plans for the Botanic Gardens have been welcomed by the Nature Society of Singapore. "This is a great move, as far as ecology is concerned," said Dr Ho Hua Chew, an exco member - as this means wildlife will have "more room to move and forage". And the green lung in the area has also been preserved.

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Co-op gives local fish stocks a boost

Five fish farms here link up and 10 others keen to join cooperative
Jessica Lim, Straits Times 4 Aug 09;

MORE local fish are now on supermarket shelves - the result of fish farmers in Singapore banding together.

Five fish farms here formed a cooperative in May - the first one among farms here - and they now sell their output directly to NTUC FairPrice, which buys an average of 500kg of fish from them daily for most of its 89 outlets.

With this sale being virtually in the bag, the fish farms will be spurred to raise their output, which will grow the stockpile of local food.

At the moment, the output of the co-op - to be registered as a business in two months - makes up about 5 per cent of the fish sold in Singapore, with FairPrice being its chief client.

It is a modest start. After all, Singapore has 105 fish farms, breeding fish like sea bass and mullet from fry bought from places like Taiwan and Indonesia.

The co-op's founder, fish farmer Malcolm Ong, 46, is determined to push membership in the Singapore Marine Aquaculture Cooperative to 50 in the next year. Already, 10 more farmers have expressed interest in joining it, he said.

In Singapore, which imports more than 90 per cent of its food, co-ops give some protection from turbulence in global food supply and prices. The world's wild fish supply has been thinning, the result of overfishing and climate change.

Unstable prices could be round the corner. Without a co-op, farmers unsure of market demand would be wary of overbreeding, for fear of being unable to sell the fish a year later, when they are grown enough to go to the market.

Thus far, fish farmers here have sold mixed stocks of local and imported fish to retailers at Jurong Fishery Port, an arrangement that has given them no push to raise their output.

And until now, FairPrice had not accepted direct sales from individual farmers to avoid the hassle of working with different individuals.

The change is among moves that the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) hopes will push the percentage of local fish in the national supply from 4 per cent to 15 per cent in the next five years. The AVA is also stepping up efforts to breed fish through genetic selection, identifying faster-growing breeds and supplying their fry to local fish farms, in a bid to raise productivity.

Even if more locally raised fish are on supermarket shelves, it is unlikely they will be cheaper, however. Market prices will still prevail.

'The intention here is to increase productivity and the supply of local food,' said Ms Wee Joo Yong, who heads the AVA's Marine Aquaculture Branch. 'We are not targeting prices, which depend on market forces.'

She explained, however, that with co-ops being able to procure fish feed and fish fry in bulk, the lowered production costs for the farmers could lead to lower costs down the road.

Co-op founder Mr Ong, who owns Metropolitan Fishery Group, expects the costs on his 2ha farm off Lim Chu Kang to come down by 20 per cent.

FairPrice will hold a local farm fish and seafood fair on Thursday, aimed at diversifying the food supply and keeping supply and prices stable.

Meanwhile, other stores, such as heartland chain MCP Supermarket, think working with the co-op is a good idea.

Mr Raymond Tan, who owns the six-outlet chain, said: 'It's good to support each other.'

Six reasons and more why Singaporeans should buy locally-farmed fish
Today Online 4 Aug 09;

NTUC FairPrice aims to get local consumers to buy more locally-farmed fish.

Singapore's leading supermarket chain is partnering the local fish farmers' cooperative in a locally-farmed fish and seafood fair on Thursday.

Six varieties of such fish will be introduced: Grey mullet, milk fish, seabass, red snapper, black king fish (cobia) and green mussel.

They will be available at 45 FairPrice supermarkets across the island.

The move comes only days after the Government announced it would aim to boost the local supply of fish from 4 per cent of the stock, to 15 per cent in five years.

"This is part of our food supply diversification strategy," said Mr Tng Ah Yiam, FairPrice's director of integrated purchasing.

But why should consumers buy into locally-farmed seafood? Because it's guaranteed fresh and of high quality, noted FairPrice.

Said Mr Tng: "The advantages of supplying locally-farmed fish include faster delivery between point of harvest and point of sale, improvement in quality due to shorter delivery time and lower transport costs."

In addition, the farms have to comply with stringent Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority standards.

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