Surviving Kyoto's 'do or die' summit

Gracelia Chichilnisky, BBC Green Room 15 Sep 09;

Global warming is the first truly global problem that needs all nations to work together in order to limit its impact, says carbon markets expert Graciela Chichilnisky. In this week's Green Room, she highlights a way forward that could suit all nations at the "do or die" summit in Copenhagen.

A global summit in Copenhagen in December will decide the fate of the Kyoto Protocol, the only international agreement we have ever had to combat the dangers of climate change.

But the protocol expires in 2012 and, like Cinderella, it will become a pumpkin as the clock strikes 12.

The Danish capital city is the last stop on the rollercoaster ride of hope and despair since the protocol was signed by 160 nations in 1997.

Partial attempts to move negotiations forward limped from failure to failure in recent years.

The world's two largest emitters - the US and China - cannot agree on limits, and the outlook looks bleak.

Yet, as an insider in the Kyoto process with 25 years of UN experience, I can read the smoke signals. I believe that Kyoto is worth saving, and it can be saved.

The failures so far are meaningless because nothing at the UN happens until the 11th hour, when we are forced to reach a decision.

Every nation has an incentive to procrastinate: no nation wants to reduce carbon emissions on its own.

Global warming is the first true global problem we have ever faced and we need every nation to participate or else there is no solution.

By burning its own fossil fuels, Africa could unwillingly cause trillions of dollars worth of damage to the US when sea levels rise and polar caps melt. There is nowhere to hide.

The main event

But UN negotiators are sophisticated diplomats who will not break cover. Without compulsion to agree, there will be no agreement.

The Berlin Mandate in 1995 committed the world to an agreement, and the Kyoto Protocol was born in 1997.

In 2007, the Bali gathering concluded that this year's meeting in Copenhagen would resolve the problem of Kyoto post-2012. So, in this context, Copenhagen is "do or die".

As nations get ready for the Danish showdown, the pieces are falling into place for a major confrontation between the two largest emitters, the US and China.

This is where the environment meets geopolitics.

The two nations alone could cause catastrophe for the world. The US does not want to limit its emissions unless China does, but developing nations are not required to reduce emissions without compensation.

They need energy to stave off poverty, and 89% of the world's energy comes from fossil fuels.

More than 50% of the people in the world live on less than $2 (£1.20) per day, and in excess of 1.3bn people are at the edge of survival with $1 (£0.60) per day.

Developing nations house 80% of humankind but produce only 40% of the world's emissions, while 60% of global emissions originate from the rich nations that house 20% of the world's population.

The stand-off between the US and China is reminiscent of the Cold War between Russia and the US in the middle of the 20th Century.

Russia and the US both refused to limit their nuclear arsenal unless the other did first.

The times are different, the weapons are different, but the situation is the same.

Into Africa

The carbon market that I designed and crafted into the Kyoto Protocol is key, because $60bn (£36bn) in carbon credits is traded each year in the EU's Emissions Trading System (ETS).

Developing nations do not trade in the carbon market because they have no limits on emissions, but they use the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which compensates (with carbon credits) private investments from industrial nations that reduce emissions.

This has led to more than $23bn (£14bn) in successful, productive and clean transfers.

So far, more than 60% of all CDM funding has gone to China, because the CDM is designed to reduce emissions and China - as the largest emitter - has most to reduce.

Africa is responsible for only 3% of the world's emissions and therefore has little to reduce; the continent has obtained little CDM funding. This needs to change.

How can we reach a consensus between industrialised and developing nations?

There is a formula that uses the protocol's own structure and updates it to overcome the impasse.

It involves financial and technical assistance, as highlighted at July's G8 summit, which has been officially supported by the Chinese delegation.

The financial part is a modest extension of the carbon market - engineered so that both sides get what they want.

For example, the US can buy an option to reduce Chinese emissions, thus obtaining what it wants, while providing "compensation" to China as is required by the UN climate convention for developing nations.

At the same time, the Chinese can secure a minimum price for the credits, ensuring that they would not be selling economic growth for a pittance.

This one-two punch reduces the overall monetary exchange while giving each party what they want; it can be a modest extension of the carbon market and sold in secondary markets to provide liquidity and stability for the carbon market.

Compensation can take the form of export credits for technology that makes emissions reduction possible; a modest extension of the CDM can certify new technologies that produce energy while reducing carbon from the atmosphere.

When used in Africa, the technologies can help the region reduce more carbon than it emits, meaning the continent can attract significant CDM funding that was not possible until now.

For rich nations, this involves $43 trillion (£26 trillion) in energy infrastructure - the right size to stimulate today's world economy -creating technology jobs, increasing exports and stimulating trade.

Copenhagen is the "do or die" mission for the climate negotiations. The price of failure could be catastrophic but there is a solution available.

Will the international community step up to the plate and save Kyoto?

Professor Graciela Chichilnisky is Unesco professor of mathematics and economics at Columbia University, New York, and has worked extensively in the Kyoto Protocol process, creating and designing the carbon market

She is also co-author of the book Saving Kyoto, which is published by New Holland

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

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Climate change will damage your health

World's doctors unite in challenge to politicians over 'biggest health threat of this century'
Michael McCarthy, The Independent 16 Sep 09;

Human society faces a global health catastrophe if climate change is not effectively tackled at the UN conference in Copenhagen in December, leading doctors from around the world warn today.

Calling on medical practitioners everywhere to put pressure on politicians in advance of the meeting, the doctors say that the world's poorest people will be hit first by the health effects of global warming, but add that "no one will be spared".

Their stark challenge to governments follows a report in May which said climate change would represent "the biggest global health threat of the 21st century".

Malaria, dengue fever and other tropical diseases would increase, the study predicted, spelling out how rising temperatures will cause health crises in half a dozen areas: there will be increased problems with food supplies, clean water and sanitation, especially in developing countries. Meanwhile, the migration of peoples will combine with extreme weather events such as hurricanes and severe floods to make for disastrous conditions in human settlements.

The doctors make their appeal as momentum begins to build for the UN conference, which will be held in the Danish capital from 7-18 December, and which will see the world community attempt to draw up a comprehensive new climate treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto protocol. Its crucial objective will be drastic worldwide cuts in the emissions of industrial gases such as carbon dioxide which are causing the atmosphere to warm.

On Tuesday, the UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon is convening a climate change summit of world leaders in New York, including Gordon Brown and President Obama, to try to give some impetus to the tortuous pre-conference negotiating process – the draft text of 200 pages already contains 2,000 "square brackets": that is, points where the 190 countries taking part disagree.

The doctors' challenge to politicians to sort this out comes in a letter published simultaneously in Britain's two principal health journals, the British Medical Journal and The Lancet.

In the letter, Professor Ian Gilmore, the president of the Royal College of Physicians, joins 17 other national doctors' leaders from the US to Australia in saying: "There is a real danger that politicians [at Copenhagen] will be indecisive, especially in such turbulent economic times as these. Should their response be weak, the results for international health could be catastrophic."

They go on: "Doctors are still seen as respected and independent, largely trusted by their patients and the societies in which they practise ... As leaders of physicians across many countries, we call on doctors to demand that their politicians listen to the clear facts that have been identified in relation to climate change and act now to implement strategies that will benefit the health of communities worldwide."

The letter follows the report on the health effects of global warming which was launched jointly last May by The Lancet and University College London (UCL), and which squarely labelled climate change as the 21st century's biggest global health threat.

That report's lead author, Professor Anthony Costello, director of UCL's Institute for Global Health, said at the time: "The big message of this report is that climate change is a health issue affecting billions of people, not just an environmental issue about polar bears and deforestation. The impacts will be felt not just in the UK, but all around the world – and not just in some distant future but in our lifetimes and those of our children."

Today's letter is accompanied by an editorial written by two of Britain's most senior figures in the area of health and development: Professor Sir Michael Marmot, director of the UCL International Institute for Society and Health, and Lord Jay of Ewelme, who as Sir Michael Jay was head of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and is now chair of Merlin, (Medical Emergency Relief, International), the UK charity which provides healthcare and medical relief for vulnerable people caught up in natural disasters, conflicts and major disease outbreaks.

The two men write: "A successful outcome at the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen this December is vital for our future as a species, and for our civilisation." And they echo the writers of the letter in asserting: "Failure to agree radical reductions in emissions would spell a global health catastrophe."

They point out that there is now wide consensus that global temperatures are rising and that human actions are responsible; that there is a need to cut carbon emissions by at least 50 per cent of 1990 levels by 2050 to avoid dangerous climate change; and that the economic argument that taking action now rather than later will be cheaper has also been widely accepted since the Stern report in 2006. Furthermore, they say, the election of President Obama has shifted policy in the US from seeking to block an agreement to seeking to find one.

They go on: "So the chances of success should be good but the politics are tough. The most vocal arguments are about equity: the rich world caused the problem so why should the poor world pay to put it right? Can the rich world do enough through its own actions and through its financial and technological support for the poor to persuade the poor to join in a global agreement?"

Doctors warn on climate failure
Richard Black, BBC News 15 Sep 09;

Failure to agree a new UN climate deal in December will bring a "global health catastrophe", say 18 of the world's professional medical organisations.

Writing in The Lancet and the British Medical Journal, they urge doctors to "take a lead" on the climate issue.

In a separate editorial, the journals say that people in poor tropical nations will suffer the worst impacts.

They argue that curbing climate change would have other benefits such as more healthy diets and cleaner air.

December's UN summit, to be held in Copenhagen, is due to agree a new global climate treaty to supplant the Kyoto Protocol.

But preparatory talks have been plagued by lack of agreement on how much to cut greenhouse gas emissions and how to finance climate protection for the poorest countries.

"There is a real danger that politicians will be indecisive, especially in such turbulent economic times as these," according to the letter signed by leaders of 18 colleges of medicine and other medical disciplines across the world.

"Should their response be weak, the results for international health could be catastrophic."

Rising risk

Earlier in the year, The Lancet, together with University College London (UCL), published a major review on the health impacts of climate change.

Some of the headline findings were that rising temperatures are likely to increase transmission of many infectious diseases, reduce supplies of food and clean water in developing countries, and raise the number of people dying from heat-related conditions in temperate regions.

But it also acknowledged some huge gaps in research - for example, that "almost no reliable data for heatwave-induced mortality exist in Africa or south Asia".

Nevertheless, the main conclusion was that in a world likely to have three billion new inhabitants by the second half of this century: "Effects of climate change on health will affect most populations in the next decades and put the lives and wellbeing of billions of people at increased risk".

The current Lancet and BMJ editorial that accompanies the letter from doctors' organisations argues that climate change strengthens the cases that health and development charities are already championing.

"Even without climate change, the case for clean power, electric cars, saving forests, energy efficiency, and new agriculture technology is strong.

"Climate change makes it unanswerable."

Written by Lord Michael Jay, who chairs the health charity Merlin, and Professor Michael Marmot of UCL, the editorial argues that there are plenty of "win-win solutions" available.

"A low-carbon economy will mean less pollution. A low carbon-diet (especially eating less meat) and more exercise will mean less cancer, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

"Opportunity, surely, not cost."

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World Bank urges rich states to act now on climate

Lesley Wroughton, Reuters 15 Sep 09;

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The world's rich nations must make immediate and deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions or the steeply rising cost of climate change will fall disproportionately on poor countries, the World Bank said on Tuesday.

In a major report on the threat of climate change, the Bank's "World Development Report" said developing countries will bear 75 to 80 percent of the costs of damage caused by climate change and rich countries, the biggest CO2 emitters in the past, have a "moral" obligation to pay for them to adapt.

It said tackling climate change in developing countries need not compromise poverty-fighting measures and economic growth, but stressed that funding and technical support from rich countries will be essential.

The report comes amid tough global negotiations ahead of a meeting in Copenhagen in December on a new global climate accord to combat man-made climate change, to succeed the current Kyoto Protocol which expires in 2012.

Unlike in the Kyoto talks when frictions were between Europe and the United States, current talks have focused on differences between rich and rapidly developing countries.

"The countries of the world must act now, act together and act differently on climate change," World Bank President Robert Zoellick said.

"Developing countries are disproportionately affected by climate change -- a crisis that is not of their making and for which they are the least prepared. For that reason, an equitable deal in Copenhagen is vitally important," he added.

While the report did not take a specific position on Copenhagen, it said a deal will take a "credible commitment" by high-income countries to drastically cut their emissions.

It also said developing nations must do their part and keep down the overall costs of climate change by adopting policies that reduce emissions or their growth rate.

"Unless developing countries also start transforming their energy system as they grow, limiting warming to close to 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial levels will not be achievable," it said.

It said annual energy-related CO2 emissions in middle-income economies have caught up with those of the rich, and the largest share of current emissions from deforestation and other land-use change comes from tropical countries.

The report said countries in Africa and South Asia could permanently lose as much as 4 to 5 percent of their gross domestic product if the earth's temperature increases 2 degrees Celsius as opposed to minimal losses in rich countries.

IMPACTING POVERTY GOALS

Rosina Bierbaum, one of the report's authors and Dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan, said climate change could disrupt U.N. goals to halve global poverty and hunger by 2015 because of the impact to agriculture and food prices.

The report estimated that by 2050 the world will need to feed 3 billion more people at a time when countries are dealing with a harsher climate, with more storms, droughts and floods.

Bierbaum told a news conference in Washington the cost of addressing climate change will be high but was still manageable if countries act now. The longer the delays, the harder it will be to alter infrastructures, economies and lifestyles.

The report said mitigation measures in developing countries to curb emissions could cost around $400 billion a year by 2030. Currently, mitigation finance averages around $8 billion a year.

In addition, annual investments that will help developing countries figure out how to live with climate change could cost around $75 billion. This compares to less than $1 billion a year currently available, the Bank said.

The World Bank said the global financial crisis should not be used as an excuse to delay action to address climate change because the future climate crisis is likely to be more damaging to the world economy.

"The economic downturn may delay the business-as-usual growth in emissions by a few years, but it is unlikely to fundamentally change that path over the long term," it said.

(Editing by James Dalgleish)

Rich nations must lead global warming battle: World Bank
Yahoo News 15 Sep 09;

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The World Bank on Tuesday called on rich countries to step up the battle against global warming, saying their assistance is essential to help developing countries reduce their carbon footprints.

Developing countries can shift to lower-carbon paths while promoting development and reducing poverty, but this depends on financial and technical assistance from high-income countries, the World Bank said in a report released ahead of the December international conference on climate change in Copenhagen.

"The countries of the world must act now, act together and act differently on climate change," said World Bank president Robert Zoellick.

"Developing countries are disproportionately affected by climate change -- a crisis that is not of their making and for which they are the least prepared. For that reason, an equitable deal in Copenhagen is vitally important," he said.

The report, "World Development Report 2010: Development and Climate Change," says that advanced countries, which produced most of the greenhouse gas emissions of the past, must act quickly to reduce their carbon footprints and boost development of alternative energy sources to help tackle the problem of climate change.

If developed countries act now, a "climate-smart" world is feasible and the costs to achieve it "will be high but still manageable," the Washington-based development lender said.

"A key way to do this is by ramping up funding for mitigation in developing countries, where most future growth in emissions will occur," it said.

Bank urges climate 'action now'
Richard Black, BBC News 15 Sep 09;

Climate change will be a serious barrier to growth in poorer nations and must be curbed, says the World Bank.

The bank's World Development Report (WDR) urges a rapid scaling-up of spending on clean energy research and protection for poorer countries.

Even a warming of 2C (3.6F) - the G8's target - could reduce GDP in poor nations, the report concludes.

The bank urges governments to conclude an "equitable deal" at December's UN climate summit in Copenhagen.

That "equitable deal" should involve industrialised countries paying for the damage that their historical emissions have caused and will cause in poorer parts of the world, it suggests.

"Developing countries are disproportionately affected by climate change - a crisis that is not of their making and for which they are the least prepared," said World Bank president Robert Zoellick.

"For that reason, an equitable deal in Copenhagen is vitally important."

Part of that deal, the report says, involves industrialised countries making rapid cuts in their greenhouse gas output, creating "emissions space" to allow for rising fossil fuel use in poorer societies.

Developing problem

The acceptance of "historical responsibility" found resonance among organisations that campaign for the relief of developing world poverty.

"A broad coalition from Bolivian President Evo Morales to the World Bank is united in saying that past emissions matter, and that rich countries have to confront this rather than avoid it," noted Tom Sherman, head of climate change with the charity ActionAid.

The report concludes that policy "cannot be framed as a choice between growth and climate change".

In fact, it says, "climate-smart policies are those that enhance development, reduce vulnerability and finance the transition to low-carbon economic growth".

The bank notes that some developing countries' outlay on coping with weather emergencies is already rising.

Poor countries in Africa and Asia could see their GDP fall by about 5% under a global warming of 2C - the target adopted by the G8 and a number of important developing countries during their summit in Italy in July.

"Grappling with climate shocks that are already hampering development will not be easy," said Rosina Bierbaum, co-director of the WDR and dean of the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment.

"But promising new energy technologies can vastly reduce future greenhouse gas emissions and prevent catastrophic climate change."

Cash costs

The full financing package that the bank believes is likely to be needed annually by 2030 includes:

* $75bn to help poorer nations adapt to, or protect themselves against, climate impacts
* $400bn for mitigation - reducing emissions - in the developing world
* hundreds of billions for energy research and development

And the vast majority, it concludes, must come from nations that have already industrialised through intensive fossil fuel use.

The bank's explicit conclusions - that climate change has to be curbed to aid development, and that richer countries have to pay - will harden the case that developing countries are making for more cash in the lead up to Copenhagen.

It parts company with some observers who argue that climate change should only be addressed once societies have become rich enough to solve it painlessly: "Development will get harder, not easier, with climate change".

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Best of our wild blogs: 15 Sep 09

“Freshwater Aquaculture - Prospects and Challenges for meeting the global demand" Tue 15 Sep 2009: 6.30pm, NIE LT3 from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS

The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology Supplement No. 21
A Classification Of Living And Fossil Genera Of Decapod Crustaceans now available for download from Raffles Museum News and wild shores of singapore

Mud Skipping Escapades
from Fish, Respect And Protect

Mangroving Replanting
from Project Orion

On A Hot Sunny Saturday
from Life's Indulgences

Striated Heron chicks wandering out of nest
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Caseolaris check up with Brandon
from wild shores of singapore

APO Singapore – 3rd ICCS and counting!
from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

Energy Challenge Fair 2009
from Low Carbon Singapore

Saving the last megafauna of Malaysia, an interview with Reuben Clements from Mongabay.com news

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Haze prompts Jambi airport closure

The Jakarta Post 15 Sep 09;

Sultan Thaha Saifudin Airport in Jambi was closed for four hours Tuesday due to thick haze that reduced visibility -- the latest in a series of airport closures across Sumatra this year.

Airport information officer Olan Simanjuntak said visibility on Tuesday morning had fallen to less than 800 meters, far below the normal level of 1,800 meters.

"We’ve had to close the airport until 10:30 a.m. because of the thick haze; all flight activities, departures and arrivals, will be delayed for the time being," Olan said as quoted by Antara.

He added a Lion Air flight to Jakarta, scheduled for takeoff at 7:10 a.m., had to be delayed for four hours. Likewise, the 7:45 a.m. arrival of a Garuda flight from Jakarta was also delayed.

Arrivals of Batavia Air and Sriwijaya Air flights from the capital were also delayed. The two airlines are awaiting confirmation from Jambi about the haze condition, Olan said.

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Economic Growth in Singapore: Just a numbers game? Quality counts too

Basant K. Kapur, Straits Times 15 Sep 09;

RECENT observations by economists suggest a need to reconsider some aspects of Singapore's economic growth experience.

In an article in this newspaper last Saturday on the inflow of foreign workers, National University of Singapore professor Hui Weng Tat was quoted saying: 'Growth at any cost is not something we want.'

In a chapter in a forthcoming publication of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Professors Lee Soo Ann and Linda Lim observe: 'The fact that government officials are rewarded economically, through salaries and bonuses...for delivering GDP growth, may also lead to 'growth fetishism'... and thus to preference for the easiest route to growth, which is through the addition of inputs of foreign capital, labour and skills.'

These comments raise a number of related issues. Differing somewhat from professors Lee and Lim, I am of the view that, in general, inflows of foreign capital and skills provide valuable growth momentum. However, large inflows of lower-skilled foreign workers are a different matter.

Such inflows create a vicious circle. The availability of low-skilled workers reduces the incentive for employers to upgrade their operations through mechanisation, automation and the like. The resulting low productivity levels imply that they can offer only low wages, which in turn acts as a disincentive to Singaporeans to take up such jobs, and which in turn leads employers to continue demanding for foreign workers.

Of course, the foreign worker 'tap' should not be abruptly curtailed. But a gradual and sustained tightening of the inflow is likely to be highly beneficial over time. There would also appear, as professors Lee and Lim suggest, to be a need to reconsider the GDP bonus scheme for civil servants, which factors in only the real total GDP growth rate each year.

Economic growth should, one, be significantly based on productivity improvement or at least not interfere with such improvement; and two, be inclusive, benefiting all sections of society, especially the less privileged.

I am therefore of the view that consideration should be given to replacing sole reliance on GDP growth in the bonus scheme with a composite criterion, comprising:

# GDP growth

# A fairly broad-based measure of productivity growth, such as the growth of per capita indigenous GDP (GDP accruing to Singaporeans divided by the total number of Singaporeans); and

# A welfare measure, such as the growth rate of the average household disposable income of the lowest 20 per cent of Singaporean households.

No set of criteria for the bonus scheme can be perfect. Just as the current scheme leaves out other desiderata of economic policy - such as low unemployment and inflation rates - so does the proposed composite criterion.

However, a composite criterion along the lines I have proposed will have the effect of, at least symbolically, reinforcing the desirability of productivity growth and inclusiveness as public policy goals.

Two other issues: First, I have referred in the third measure above to 'disposable income', which would be inclusive of fiscal transfers. Is there a danger that an 'easy' route to achieving higher disposable income among the poor might be sought - through overly generous transfers, rather than through training and skills upgrading, thus breeding an entitlement mentality?

Clearly, the application of any criterion will have to be tempered by good judgment. Though, in this case, a little 'erring' on the side of generosity may not be a bad thing for the least-privileged among us, especially if it helps to produce a more comfortable home environment for children in these households.

Second, what weights should be attached to the three criteria in the composite scheme? Since we are considering simply a bonus scheme and the signal we wish it to send to public servants, the exact choice of weights is not critical.

Tentatively, may I suggest equal weights to all three criteria, based on the following considerations: the intrinsic worth of each criterion; and since GDP growth is also facilitated by productivity growth, on the part of both higher- and less-skilled Singaporeans, the three criteria can, to a certain degree, be mutually supporting.

The writer is professor of economics and director of the Singapore Centre for Applied and Policy Economics, Department of Economics, National University of Singapore.

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NUS to become living laboratory for improving urban environment

Dylan Loh, Channel NewsAsia 14 Sep 09;

SINGAPORE: The National University of Singapore (NUS) plans to use its Kent Ridge campus as a living laboratory for research to find solutions for the problems posed by climate change and rapid urbanisation.

By using the campus as a test-bed, NUS will conduct studies on how work from different fields of research can be integrated to produce practical solutions to transform urban environments and raise the quality of life in Singapore and other Asian countries.

Explaining the need for this initiative, NUS President Professor Tan Chorh Chuan said: "Cities will require a range of solutions to become "smarter", more ecologically sound and resource efficient. These solutions should be applicable at different scales in the built environment - from products to buildings and whole cities."

The NUS School of Design and Environment (SDE) is developing urban architecture for the tropical environment that is climatically responsive and energy-efficient, as well as creative urban spaces that feature intensive greenery.

The school is also a test-bed for the applications of solar panels in reducing energy costs and is looking into the use of plants to insulate buildings from heat.

In addition, the school has conducted a study of the micro-climate of Kent Ridge Campus for NUS planners to better understand the environmental impacts of future developments.

NUS will team up with government agencies and research institutions like Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART) to promote Singapore as a model for urban development that is environmentally sustainable.

According to the United Nations, two billion more people will be living in the world's cities by 2030. And this will put a huge strain on the quality and efficiency of urban infrastructure, especially related to energy, water and transportation.

- CNA/sc

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Cleaner water from new drainage

The Business Times 15 Sep 09;

JTC's eco-friendly drainage system reduces the amount of pollutants in the water, improving the quality in reservoirs downstream

SUSTAINABLE development has become a growing imperative and across the world, governments and corporations are investing more than ever in new technologies to reduce pollution and energy consumption.

Some agencies are leaving no stone unturned in their search for the next green application. In fact, they are making use of stones - gravel and sand to be exact - in drainage systems to produce cleaner water.

Gravel filtration system

Industrial landlord JTC Corporation will be testing out a gravel filtration system at one of its upcoming estates, the Business Aviation Complex in Seletar Aerospace Park. The project is the result of a study which started late last year, looking at how rainwater can be filtered through layers of gravel, rough sand and granite debris before it runs into the public drains.

Concrete drains in most industrial estates today channel unfiltered storm water directly into waterways and reservoirs. With the new gravel filtration system in place, large volumes of storm water can be cleansed before entering public drains. This helps reduce the amount of pollutants in the water, improving the quality in reservoirs downstream.

'This is our effort to support the overall sustainable development of Singapore, and do our part to make sure the water run-off from our industrial estates is made cleaner, and help reduce pollutants or load to the waterways and reservoir systems,' said JTC director of engineering planning Koh Chwee.

The new drainage system can also look better than traditional concrete drains. As the Seletar Aerospace Park is nestled in greenery and the old-world charm of Seletar, the drainage system will be designed to blend in with the environment. The gravel surfaces can be covered with soil and planted with trees, adding colour to the estate.

Furthermore, it can make good business sense to explore storm water pollution control measures - investors and industrialists have become increasingly conscious of environment and corporate social responsibility issues.

The Business Aviation Complex will sit on a 7,000-square-metre compound which channels rainwater through the gravel filtration system. JTC has appointed a consultant to design the system and expects to complete it in 2011. The agency is the overall planner for the Seletar Aerospace Park - an aviation hub for maintenance, repair and overhaul, design and training services.

JTC will monitor the new drainage system for its cost and effectiveness in improving water quality. If it proves to be successful, JTC may introduce it to other industrial estates in Singapore.

The concept behind gravel filtration systems is not new and countries such as Germany, Australia and New Zealand have such features in place. JTC studied various systems and the challenge for it was to design one that would suit Singapore's geography and apply it in an industrial area.

For instance, JTC had to come up with a gravel filtration system that would accommodate heavy rains in Singapore. During the research phase, the agency found that heavy rainfall could exceed the drainage system's load, and it had to make modifications to prevent overflows.

In public housing estates, the national water agency PUB has introduced another type of drainage system known as bio-retention swales. Drains along Sengkang West Way for instance, have troughs of shrubbery which filter rainwater through soil layers.

Storm water management

Besides Seletar Aerospace Park, JTC is also looking to introduce a storm water management system at the new CleanTech Park at Jalan Bahar, a centre for the development and production of clean technology products.

JTC has started drawing up the master plan for the area and considered implementing a wide range of eco-friendly practices. The CleanTech Park will have a 'central green core' which captures surface run-off, and then uses retention, detention and cleansing techniques to make the water suitable for non-potable use.

JTC displayed its environmentally-sustainable drainage systems at the Singapore International Water Week this year. Local and international visitors from both the academia and corporate world were supportive of its initiatives, it said.

The new drainage systems are part of JTC's initiatives in bringing innovative and sustainable real estate solutions to its industrial parks. The agency is no stranger to the sustainable development movement, being the key manager of supply and demand for scarce industrial land in Singapore. It has been spearheading Singapore's industrial growth since 1968.

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Failure to counter new anti-palm oil tactics will be costly to Malaysia

Comment by Errol Oh, The Star 15 Sep 09;

IT may be time to sound the alarm. Fuelled by a cocktail of environmental issues, the anti-palm oil lobby in the West is gaining traction, and failure to counter this well can be costly.

The lobby’s message is simple – the palm oil industry harms the planet – but once it seeps into people’s minds, undoing the damage will take years.

The latest indication that the momentum is working against the industry is the Sept 9 ruling by Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on an advertorial taken out by the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) several months ago.

Carried in the April 25-May 1 edition of The Economist, the advertorial (Palm Oil: The Green Answer) talks about the economic importance and environmental sustainability of Malaysian palm oil. It was meant to defend the industry, but the ultimate effect is quite different.

The Friends of the Earth, which describes itself as the “most influential environmental campaigning organisation” in Britain, submitted a 20-page complaint that picked apart the advertorial and pointed out sections that it alleged are in breach of the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing.

The NGO also provided background information, including photographs, to support its contention that Malaysian palm oil is not sustainably produced.

The ASA conducted an assessment (which included correspondence with the MPOC) and upheld the complaint, saying some claims made by MPOC in the advertorial were “likely to mislead”.

The result is that the ad cannot appear again in its current form. Perhaps the greater damage to the Malaysian palm oil industry is that those who have been attacking it can go around claiming vindication. And this is, in fact, what they are doing.

In an immediate response to the ASA adjudication, Friends of the Earth biofuels campaigner Kenneth Richter said: “The ASA is right to ban this misleading palm oil ad.”

British newspaper The Independent, which has advocated a consumer boycott against food products containing palm oil, began its report on the ASA decision with this: “The palm oil industry misled the public by claiming production of the vegetable fat was sustainable and socially useful, according to an official investigation.”

Naturally, the MPOC is deeply unhappy with the latest development. It may not be a body blow, but it hurt all the same.

Said chief executive officer Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron in a Sept 9 statement: “By censoring our message, this relatively small group of people is blocking the entire British public’s access to a diverse range of views and information about palm oil.

“Consumers have a right to have information about the various products and services available to them and a right to determine for themselves which they want. Consequently, we are deeply concerned that the ASA is acting as an interested party in the public debate on palm oil rather than as a neutral and objective arbiter.”

This is not the first time that the ASA has ruled against an MPOC advertisement. In January last year, the authority upheld a complaint from the Friends of the Earth against the council’s television ad.

However, the ASA should not be a target of the palm oil industry’s ire; the authority hands out similar decisions to many companies and organisations all the time. For that matter, anger and petulance are not useful in this context. Self-contemplation, honesty and intelligence are definitely essential.

There has to be a reality check. Are we taking this threat to the industry as seriously as we ought to?

The worry over the fate of the Earth is powerful leverage, and the passion for the cause is contagious. The anti-palm oil lobby has long gone beyond being merely pesky. It may well turn into a mini movement that will sway the decisions of palm oil buyers.

The industry’s response has to be a balance of sophistication and forthrightness. It is a mistake to have a “been there, done that” attitude. New challenges demand new approaches and solutions. If we run out of ideas, it will not be long before we run out of luck.

# Deputy business editor Errol Oh believes that right is might, but he recognises that might alone does not win wars.

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Smart Farming To Help Penans Overcome Starvation

Bernama 14 Sep 09;

KUCHING, Sept 14 (Bernama) -- A private researcher might just have the solution for Penans facing starvation in Sarawak's remote settlements.

Having formulated an outreach smart farming system for rural communities, all Dr Elli Luhat needs is government collaboration and funding for his projects.

He said he would put forward his proposal -- based on a model that was specially adapted to the needs of the Penans -- to the agriculture and agro-based industry ministry to assist the government solve the problem.

"We know very well the Penans are closely associated with nature, and due to their special lifestyle, it is important to find an agricultural activity that they could effectively be involved in," added Dr Luhat.

He was speaking to reporters after attending the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation on the implementation of smart farming projects in Sarawak, between DLT Institute and Yayasan Ikhlas Malaysia here Monday.

Dr Luhat, who invented the technology to integrate the environmental and social factors to achieve optimal output from ventures, especially in remote ares like Ulu Baram, Ulu Murum and Bario, said a few Penan graduates had called suggested their community participate in such projects.

Unlike ongoing activities, including oil palm and rice culitivation which the Penans found difficult to adapt, he was confident they could be trained to collect gaharu or agarwood, which are used commercially for the manufacture of perfume, make-up and pharmaceutical products.

In July, it was reported that famine had hit Penans at five major settlements in Belaga due to poor rice harvests, forcing them to cry out to the government for help.

Dr Luhat said the gaharu was one of the valuable products identified as having good potential for implementation under the smart farming programme to help poor farmers in the state's interior.

So far, he has embarked on a collaboration with Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) on research and development (R&D) for the jatropha as a cash crop whose potential as biodiesel is being developed under the system.

Through his technology, he said, there was vast potential in the aquaculture industry, including the domestic rearing of the wild empurau fish, which he described as a "swimming goldmine" as it could fetch as high as RM450 per kilogramme.

Meanwhile, DLT Institute managing director Esther Mujan Wang said the company planned to conduct more in-situ trainings and workshops, especially for poor farmers in the rural areas, to impart skills on smart farming, as part of its outreach programme with Yayasan Ikhlas' assistance.

-- BERNAMA

Smarter way for Penans to settle down
Desmond Davidson, The New Straits Times 15 Sep 09;

KUCHING: A private researcher specialising in forestry said he could help the state government redefine its blueprint on getting the Penans to switch from being hunters and gatherers to farmers and planters.

Dr Elli Luhat, who had over the years conducted extensive research on the state's most backward ethnic group, which gave up its nomadic life only 20 years ago, said the current policy of teaching the Penans to plant and farm was flawed.

Despite the success of getting 97 per cent of them to give up their nomadic lifestyle, the Penans still hold strong to their tradition of eking out a living by going into the forest to hunt and gather edible plants for food.

They do not plant or rear livestock.

"Don't force the Penans to do things that they find alien. They won't adapt.

"We know they find it difficult to adopt our methods of farming," Dr Luhat said after witnessing the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between two non-governmental organisations, Yayasan Ikhlas and DLT Institute, on the development of "smart farming" in Sarawak.

The institute is adopting his concept in the smart farming programme.

He pointed to the failure in getting the Penans to plant rice and tapioca as examples of the flaw in the state's policy.

"What they farm should be more suited to their environment.

"It should be more about meeting their needs and what they like to do."

Dr Luhat said he could assist the state government in formulating a smart farming system for the Penans.

His system seeks to harmonise the social, economic and environmental factors to achieve optimal benefits for the farmers.

He said as such, better results could be achieved if the Penans were taught to do things that they were familiar with, like planting the agar wood (gaharu), which they often gathered for their own consumption.


Planting the scented wood, he added, could also uplift the economic standing of the Penan as they could also sell the excess.

He said the wood could fetch as much as US$150,000 (RM523,500) per kg and the income derived could help them get out of the poverty trap.

Other economic activities "that are their thing" to undertake, Dr Luhat believed, were the rearing of ikan empurau and ikan kelah and wild boar.

The ikan empurau, often described as the "swimming gold", fetches RM450 per kg in the market.

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Malaysia is committed to sustainable forest management

The Star 15 Sep 09;

THE Forestry Department appreciates the concerns highlighted in “Get to the root cause of why more trees are felled,” (The Star, Sept 2).

Malaysia is committed to manage its natural forest in a sustainable manner; to ensure continuous timber production, maintain multiple functions of the forests, conserve biodiversity and control environmental impact.

The sustainable forest management concept is in line with the “conservation” and “sustainable use” definitions by the World Conservation Strategy and Convention of Biological Diversity. In 2008, natural forest cover in Peninsular Malaysia was 5.85 million ha or 44.39% of the total land area (13.18 million ha).

Of the 5.85 million ha, 4.81 million ha had been designated as permanent reserved forest (PRF) to be managed sustainably for the benefit of the present and future generations.

Of this, approximately 2.81 million ha (21.3% of the total land area) are classified as production forest. The remaining two million ha (15.2% of the total land area) is classified as protection forest.

The role of the protection forest is to ensure favourable climatic and physical conditions of the country, the safeguarding of water resources, soil fertility, environmental quality, conservation of biological diversity and the minimisation of damage by floods and erosion to rivers and agricultural land.

Besides the protection forest within the PRF, other protected areas, which had been gazetted as national parks, wildlife and bird sanctuaries in Peninsular Malaysia amounted to 0.89 million ha (6.8% of the total land area).

A total of 0.12 million ha (0.9% of the total land area) of the wildlife and bird sanctuary areas are located within the PRF.

Currently, the production forests are managed under Selective Management System, which advocates the selection of a cutting regime based on diameter limits and species composition of the standing trees.

Furthermore, the harvesting operation in PRFs is being carried out with the guidelines of Malaysian Criteria and Indicators, a standard used for assessing forest management practices and MS ISO 9001:2000 certification procedures.

To further mitigate the adverse effects of forest harvesting, the Forestry Department supervises closely the implementation of the environmental conservation measures including demarcation of buffer zones for rivers and water bodies, selection of cutting regime, constructions of forests road, preparation of the forest management plan and restriction from cutting for areas with elevation above 1,000m and area of slopes greater than 40°.

In addition, conservation measures for environmental protection and biological conservation have been taken into consideration during harvesting through retention of mother trees and fruit trees, retention trees for protection, buffer zone along rivers and streams, timber tagging and directional felling, construction of forest roads, skid trails and log landings according to prescribed standards approved by the department.

Sustainable forest management is the principle of the forest management practices and the department will continue to enhance and improve its management practices in the light of new research findings, innovative technologies, better skills and knowledge.

Thus, it will demand conscientious effort, a lot of hard work and a strong commitment, determination and collaboration from the Government, private sector and non-governmental organisations.

DR AMERJIT SINGH,
For Secretary-General,
Natural Resources and Environment Ministry.

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Indonesian zoos linked to illegal sales of protected animals

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post 14 Sep 09;

The government has been urged to audit and check the inventories of at least 10 zoo managements in Java and Sumatra, over fears they may have been involved in illegal trades of protected animals.

The demand was expressed on Sunday in Malang, East Java, following the capture by Jakarta Police of a suspect named Wardi, a noted taxidermist who had reportedly worked in cooperation with almost all zoo managements in Indonesia.

"We obtained copies of transfer documents for protected animal ownership, from the zoos to the suspect," ProFauna Indonesia chairman Rosek Nursahid said.

According to police reports on the trade, animal conservation institutions including Indonesian Safari Park, Pematang Siantar Zoo and Bandung Zoo were involved, Rosek said.

Surabaya Zoo, he said, was also included in the list, but his organization had yet to obtain a copy of the official documents regarding its alleged involvement.

"The only evidence we have is a 2000 film showing an employee at Surabaya Zoo involved in the sale of stuffed skins of a Sumatran tiger *Panthera tigris sumatrae* and a leopard *Panthera pardus*," Rosek said. Among the traded protected animals were Sumatran tigers, orangutans, Malayan tapirs (Tapirus indicus), sun bears (Helarctos malayanus), leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis), birds of paradise (Paradisaea) and Sulawesi bear cuscus (Ailurops ursinus).

Trading protected animals, Rosek said, is a violation of Law No. 5/1990 on the conservation of natural resources and ecosystems.

Separately, in her press statement, the coordinator of the anti-trading forum for protected animals, Irma Hermawati, said that the forum had long found indications of such involvement.

"Serious and tight surveillance of zoo managements is thus urgent to prevent state losses from the trading of protected animals," Irma said.

A similar criticism was expressed by international animal welfare organization the Born Free Foundation. In an email made available to the press, the foundation's program manager Andrina Murrell said the news had surprised her organization very much and urged that such practices be stopped immediately.

Another ProFauna activist, Nursidi, suggested the government place a moratorium on the establishment of new zoos in Indonesia.

"It should not issue any more new licenses for the establishment of zoos, so it can focus more on existing ones," Nursidi said.

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