Madagascar biodiversity under threat as gangs run wild

Catherine Brahic, New Scientist 12 Oct 09;

Roasted lemurs and criminal gangs exporting precious hardwood: this is the sad state of affairs for Madagascar's legendary biodiversity. Since a military coup forced the president to resign in March, conservationists and biologists have watched as loggers have stripped the country's forests and killed its animals for bushmeat.

Much of the foreign aid to Madagascar has been withdrawn and, without a stable government to enforce rules and laws, criminal organisations have been quick to exploit the unique animal and plant life of the country.

"It has been a gold rush for logging gangs and bushmeat hunters to do as much as they can before the government gets organised and puts a stop to it," says Edward Louis, a conservation biologist at the Omaha Zoo, who has been working in Madagascar for a decade.

In August, Conservation International reported that 15 bushmeat traders, contracted by a restaurant, were arrested carrying hundreds of endangered lemurs, which had been killed and roasted. "This happened in one of the country's best managed parks," says Louis. "If it's happening there, I can't begin to imagine what is happening elsewhere."
Unique assemblage

Sometimes called the "8th Continent" because of its diversity of species, many of Madagascar's plant and animal species are unique to the island. The 100-odd species of lemur are not found anywhere else in the world, for example.

Data collected by the environmental campaign group Global Witness shows that, at the very least, 120 rosewood and ebony trees, worth an estimated $480,000, are being taken out of Masoala, Madagascar's largest national park, each day. At least thirteen illegal traders, known locally as the "rosewood Mafia", buy the wood and export it, mostly to China. Conservationists say the logging is destroying the island's national parks and having knock-on effects on the forest's animals.

"Something needs to be done rapidly or the whole country is going to lose everything in about a year," says Louis.

Part of the problem is that when the nation's former president, Marc Ravalomanana, was ousted the tourism trade collapsed, leaving parks and other conservation projects, as well as the locals, gasping for money. "I don't blame the people," says Louis. But the environmental situation is not helped by the fact that international donors have withdrawn their aid.

In addition, the interim government in place until next year's presidential elections has been sending mixed messages about logging. Having initially closed one of the main ports for rosewood export it issued an inter-ministerial order allowing the sale and export of 750 tonnes of wood.
Call for boycott

"This not only legalises, once again, illegal timber but encourages the collectors and traders to cut down even more trees," says Reiner Tegtmeyer of Global Witness.

Alarmed, 15 NGOs and scientists including WWF, Conservation International and the Wildlife Conservation Society have called on the government to reverse the order. "Madagascar has 47 species of rosewood and over 100 ebony species that occur nowhere else, and their exploitation is pushing some to the brink of extinction," they wrote in an open letter on 7 October.

"Thousands of rosewood and ebony logs, none of them legally exploited, are stored in Madagascar's east-coast ports. The most recent decree will allow their export and surely encourage a further wave of environmental pillaging."

The group is calling on consumers of precious woods to boycott those coming from Madagascar.

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Dutch ban frees eels, angers fishermen

Reed Stevenson and Catherine Hornby, Reuters 11 Oct 09;

NUMANSDORP, Netherlands (Reuters) - When Aart van der Waal chose 20 years ago to fish for eel rather than join the legal profession, he didn't expect to be told someday to make a choice between making a living and breaking the law.

The burly 40 year-old, a tattoo-bearing Rolling Stones fan, says he has made a comfortable enough living so far. Now he would have extra benefit of the dark moon in October.

Not only is it the time to catch most eels, but also the cover may help as he breaks a Dutch government ban on commercial eel fishing, risking a fine of 3,000 euros ($4,400).

Fishing the muddy, shallow canals near his home for plump, fattened eels that the Dutch consider a delicacy smoked on toast or in bread -- and which are eaten in stews across Europe -- is no longer allowed during October and November.

"I'm just going to keep fishing," he said, hauling up dozens of writhing eels from a 4 meter-long trap net.

"That's what I do."

Bringing his catch back to a wooden shed reeking of dried slime and muddy fish, he will be defying a government ban aimed at stemming a 95 percent slide in the European eel population in the past four decades.

It has prompted the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources to classify Anguilla anguilla, or the European eel, as "critically endangered."

Eel catches in Asia have also fallen 82 percent since 1969, researchers say.

The Dutch ban will increase to three months in coming years, and despite planned compensation has aroused anger in the vastly depleted community of fishermen in a country where in the 19th century people rioted for days about eels.

Just over 900 tonnes of eel are caught in Dutch canals, lakes and rivers every year. Europe's total annual eel catch is estimated by the European Union at 18,000 tonnes.

The government will pay a total of 700,000 euros, which fishermen say amounts to about 1,000 euros each per month. Van der Waal says he sells 9,000 euros worth of eels monthly.

MYSTERIES

The ban, a unilateral step, has been complicated by the fact no one knows what is behind the decline.

"Nobody knows why, that's the bottom line," said Willem Dekker, senior scientist and eel researcher at Dutch marine ecology institute IMARES.

Several theories exist, ranging from the presence of pollutants in ocean waters through over-fishing to a viral infection.

The Dutch arm of environmental group WWF, supporting the ban, blames fishing for 70 percent of eel deaths in the Netherlands, and says eating an eel roll is like consuming a panda sandwich.

"There is a high chance European eel becomes extinct if we don't do anything," said Clarisse Buma, a WWF spokeswoman. "We know it's a problem for fishermen but if we don't do anything, we will never be able to eat eel in the future."

The European Commission has been telling member states for the past five years to restrict eel fishing. Non-member Norway has adopted restrictions this year, but the Dutch are the first EU member state to adopt a ban.

The Dutch are often the first to adopt such measures, tending to be activist on environmental issues, said Koen Van den Bossche of the Institute for European Environmental Policy.

"The Dutch want to tackle this issue," Van den Bossche said.

BREEDING

A long dark-grey snake-like fish with a silver belly, the eel's decline acquires significance in the light of the fact that restoring their numbers through breeding isn't an option, because the eel's life cycle remains a mystery to science.

European eels spend most of their lives in freshwater tributaries and canals along the coast of Europe and the Mediterranean, but return 5,000 km (3,100 miles) to the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic to reproduce.

They have never been observed mating or spawning in the wild, captive breeding has been unsuccessful and the only way to farm them has been by capturing and raising wild baby eels.

Many blame the harvesting of these young fish, known as "glass eels" because they are transparent, for the decline. Apart from being caught on the coast of Spain and France, glass eels are also bought by fishermen in Europe and Asia to stock aquaculture farms, where they are raised for consumption.

Van der Waal drives to France every year to buy glass eel from coastal fishermen, and releases them in the canals where he fishes. It's a significant investment: restocking costs him up to 12,000 euros yearly and eels take 15 years to reach maturity.

A cheap fish decades ago, eels now cost upwards of 10 euros per kg. In Europe, grown eels are mostly caught in the Nordics, Netherlands and Italy.

DIKES

Eels hold a special place in Dutch history: in the 19th century, people died in the "eel uprising" that followed a ban on the sport of "eel pulling," which involved stringing a rope across a canal and hanging an eel for people on boats to try to grab. Many ended up in the water.

But Dutch livelihoods threatened by the ban already represent a shrinking tradition.

Only about 240 eel fisheries remain in the Netherlands, employing 715 people. That is about a tenth of what it used to be, nearly mirroring the decline in the eel population.

Even farmed eel is bad news for 69-year old eel smoker Joost Kant as he gutted fresh fish and strung them for smoking.

"It's a disaster," he said, pungent fumes rising in the room. "Smoking's not the same without wild eel."

Another factor that may be aggravating the decline is the way eels are caught in the Netherlands. Usually fished in coastal freshwaters, the Dutch also catch them when their route to sea is blocked by the pumps and dikes used to manage water.

Fishermen like Van der Waal set traps near the pumps, which eventually lead out to bigger rivers and canals and out to sea.

"I'm trying to turn the polders and dikes into aquaculture areas," he said.

The Dutch Commercial Fishers Association, opposing the fishing ban, argues these obstacles are more to blame. The association has proposed transporting 157 tonnes of the catch to the sea so mature eels can return to their spawning waters.

But Europe's regulators say not enough eels are returning to spawn: the fishing bans aim to allow 4 out of every 10 eels to return to the seas.

(Editing by Sara Ledwith)

FACTBOX: Endangered, but eaten: the European eel
Reuters 11 Oct 09;

(Reuters) - More at risk than the polar bear (vulnerable), giant panda (endangered) or blue whale (endangered), the European eel is classified "critically endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).

A widely eaten snakelike fish caught in freshwater rivers and tributaries along the coasts of Europe and the Mediterranean, eels are an expensive delicacy as their numbers have shrunk by more than 95 percent over recent decades.

Here are some facts about Anguilla anguilla:

* Eels begin life as larvae called Leptocephalus, but despite the efforts of modern science, virtually nothing is known about how they reproduce.

* European eels reproduce in the North Atlantic's Sargasso Sea, about 5,000 km (3,100 miles) from Europe's shores. The larvae travel to coasts and grow into small transparent fish called "glass eels."

* Glass eels grow into golden yellow "elvers" and make their way into rivers, streams and creeks to feed on insects, worms and smaller water organisms. They can be found anywhere on the coasts between Norway and Egypt.

* They can take 10 to 15 years to mature, and eventually become "silver eels" about 1 meter long, with a dark-grey coloring on their back and silver bellies.

* The cause for the decline in eel population is not known, but excessive fishing, the presence of PCB pollutants and a viral infection are suspected by the scientific community.

* Eels are a popular treat at Dutch fairs, often smoked and eaten with small toast slices. London shops sell jellied eels, eel stew is a common dish across Europe. In Italy eels are often fried, in the south as a traditional Christmas Eve dish. In Spain baby eels are a prized ingredient for angulas a la bilbaina, served sizzling hot in olive oil and garlic. Eels are also caught off Egypt's coast to be fried and eaten.

(Reporting by Reed Stevenson; editing by Sara Ledwith)

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Carbon capture coal tech must be ready by 2019: U.S.

Reuters 12 Oct 09;

LONDON (Reuters) - A technology to bury underground the greenhouse gas emissions produced from burning coal must be ready for global deployment by 2017-2019, U.S. energy secretary Steven Chu said on Monday.

Coal is the world's single biggest source of carbon emissions, at 40 percent. Other sources included burning oil and natural gas, and deforestation and the production of cement.

Chu was optimistic about the prospects for carbon capture and storage (CCS), even though no commercial-scale plant is being built yet anywhere. He said that the United States could have 10 demonstration plants online by 2016.

Most analysts do not expect the technology to be widely available before 2020 at the earliest.

"I believe we must make it our goal to advance carbon capture and storage technology to the point where widespread, affordable deployment can begin in eight to 10 years," Chu said in a letter to energy ministers gathered in London to promote global collaboration, and where Chu would speak on Monday.

Carbon capture technology is widely considered to be vital because high-carbon coal is one of the world's cheapest and most available sources of energy, making it unlikely the world can simply stop burning it.

The technology involves trapping carbon dioxide produced from burning the fossil fuel, for example using chemical solvents, and then separating the greenhouse gas and piping it underground for storage in depleted oil wells or acquifers.

But CCS adds about $1 billion to the capital cost of a coal plant and sacrifices about a quarter of energy output, making government support essential for initial deployment at a time when public finances are stretched.

The United States is investing more than $4 billion in the technology, to be matched by $7 billion from the private sector.

The European Union has a target to deploy up to 12 pilot plants by 2015, but few if any would be operational by then, analysts say, because of lead times to make cash available, win planning permission and build the plants.

Chu said his target was ambitious. "It will require an aggressive global effort, harnessing the scientific talent and resources of governments as well as industry," he said.

Some green groups argue uncertainty over CCS technology, and the short time-frame to curb greenhouse gas emissions, means the world should instead devote effort to deploying low-carbon fossil fuel alternatives such as wind and solar power.

The International Energy Agency said last week that global carbon emissions must stop rising before 2020 for the world to avoid more dangerous climate change.

At a global meeting in Copenhagen in December countries will try and agree a new climate pact to replace the Kyoto Protocol from 2013 and this week's London meeting aimed to define inclusion of CCS in that deal.

(Reporting by Gerard Wynn, Editing by Keiron Henderson)

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'Big step' needed on UK landfill

Jeremy Cooke, BBC News 12 Oct 09;

Standing in a huge hole in the ground which is slowly being filled with thousands of tonnes of stinking rubbish it's easy to see why landfill gets a bad press.

The site in Bury is one of dozens across the country - it is a giant sand quarry with a void in the middle which feels the size of a football stadium.

And all day, every day that void is being filled by a fleet of heavy lorries which dump rubbish into the path of a bulldozer which compacts it down to make way for the next load - 600,000 tonnes a year.

Landfill has never been pretty. But it has for decades been an effective way of dealing with waste. It is true that we are - as a nation - getting better. But the UK still dumps over half of its waste into landfill, compared with EU neighbours like Germany where the figure is about 1%.



The Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn, says it is time for a radical rethink: "We can't keep producing large amounts of rubbish and putting it in holes in the ground... it's producing greenhouse gases which are contributing to a problem we have to solve, we are throwing away things that have a value.

"We've been living in a 50-year bubble in which we thought we could throw away things without regard to the consequences. It's got to change."

There are already tough European rules - and fines - designed to dramatically cut the use of landfill. But now the government is calling together local authorities to tell them they must do more.

'Zero waste'

At a "waste summit" in London, Mr Benn will tell council leaders they' have done well to increase recycling from 8% to 37% in the past 12 years, but that another "big step" is needed.

Latest government figures say we in UK send more than half our waste to landfill. That is a huge 62 million tonnes a year in England alone. Now the aim is to reduce landfill by at least 50% over the next 10 years.

If the UK is going to achieve its new "mission statement" of becoming a "zero waste nation" it will need to see more investment on the scale adopted by the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Agency.

It is ploughing an estimated £4.5bn into waste management over the next 25 years. The money is being used to build and run huge a variety of projects including composters for garden and food waste, anaerobic digesters to create energy from rubbish and huge recycling schemes.

The director of contract services, David Taylor, says it represents good value for money.

"We want to divert waste away from landfill and get as much value as we can from the waste we receive. That's being achieved through composting, recycling and through treatment of the residual waste," he says.

"We have a simple choice: we can do nothing but that will cost people considerably more that what it has cost to develop all these facilities."

Colour coding

But big recycling projects often rely on the goodwill and participation of individual households.

In Oldham for instance, rubbish has to be sorted into four separate bins, each of them colour coded: The black ones are for general waste, the big brown ones for plastic, glass and cans, the large green bins are for garden waste and the bucket-sized green ones are for food waste.

The government targets demand massive investment in recycling plants, composting facilities, anaerobic digesters and new-generation incinerators.

Margaret Eaton is chair of the local government association. She says big spending on waste management may be beyond some increasingly cash-strapped councils.

"The targets for 2013 and 2020 will be very difficult to achieve without better investment in recycling opportunities and facilities. It's easy to say spend more money. But Council tax is already stretched to the limit," she says.

"We need support and help from government through the tax they are already removing from local authorities. Local Authorities need that money back to invest in the system of recycling."

To achieve the government's aim of becoming a "zero waste nation" will demand a change of mindset -- rubbish needs to regarded as valuable resource rather than an expensive problem.

But observers say that ultimate success will mean waging a war on rubbish on all fronts - not just recycling but reducing the amount that we all throw away in the first place.

Rubbish rules 'to be tightened to cut landfill'
Householders could be forced to sort every last piece of rubbish that can be recycled, composted or incinerated under Government plans to reduce Britain’s landfill waste deposits.
Murray Wardrop, The Telegraph 12 Oct 09;

Ministers are proposing tightening rules on what people throw away in an attempt to move Britain towards becoming a zero waste nation.

Households that already separate rubbish into up to four bins could get even more, including slop buckets, to ensure that only waste with “absolutely no other use” goes to landfill.

The strategy is to be thrashed out at a waste summit attended by ministers, councils, businesses and waste experts on Tuesday aimed at ending the country’s throwaway culture.

Hilary Benn, the environment secretary, and John Denham, the communities and local government secretary, want to halve the amount of unrecycled waste by 2020.

At present, 55 per cent of household waste and 50 per cent of commercial and industrial waste is buried underground. A further 25 per cent of construction and demolition waste goes to landfill. In total, 62 million tons of rubbish goes to landfill each year.

Mr Benn will also draw up plans to generate electricity from waste, using technologies such as burning methane from food.

By 2020, he wants Britain to use 25 per cent of its household waste for generating power and 50 per cent for recycling, with only the remaining 25 per cent going to landfill.

Mr Benn said: "Why do we send valuable items like aluminium and food waste to landfill when we can turn them into new cans and renewable energy?

"We must now work together to build a zero waste nation – where we reduce the resources we use, reuse and recycle all that we can and only landfill things that have absolutely no other use."

The blueprint for future waste disposal is to be piloted in six areas – Brixton, Hoxton and Newham, all in London – plus schemes in Suffolk, Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxon, and Bishop’s Castle, Shrops. Each will be set reduction targets.

The government also hopes to implement measures to reduce packaging in shops such as encouraging firms to remove cellophane wrapping from fresh fruit and vegetables. Manufacturers would also be urged to use packaging that is easier to recycle.

Last month Mr Benn unveiled plans which could see households handed fines of up to £500 for failing to recycle food scraps using slop buckets.

One in four councils already collects food waste separately in order to reduce the amount of biodegradable rubbish being dumped in landfill.

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Land of Leopard in Flames

WWF 12 Oct 09;

Primorye, Russia - Satellite monitoring of the worst fire season since 1996 in key biodiversity areas of the southernmost part of the Russian Far East has pinpointed a need to make landholders and state authorities take greater responsibility for fires on their land.

The monitoring showed that in the autumn spring fire season of 2008-2009, one third of south-west Primorye – the maritime province bordering China and North Korea - was lost in fires. Among significant wildlife areas affected was the Leopardovyi federal wildlife refuge where 15 forest fires covering 11% of its entire area were registered.

The 169,000 hectare refuge created in 2008 is vital habitat for the Far Eastern leopard (also known as the Amur Leopard) which has the dubious distinction of being the world’s most endangered large cat. The area is also home to Siberian tigers

“This year we decided to define not only borders of burnt plots but also exact location of fire sources,” said Denis Smirnov, head of the Forest Programme at WWF-Russia’s Amur branch.

“We then overlapped this data on land users’ map and indentified persons and organizations responsible either for fire ignition or for not taking appropriate actions to combat fires”.

Results have shown that fires did not only break out in vacant state reserve land or undistributed agricultural lands. More than half of monitored fires broke out on owned or leased land.

For instance, In Leopardovyi refuge significant fires broke out in lands of Agro Khasan Ltd., the largest land owner across Khasanskii district, as well as on army forestry lands.

“To stop further degradation of vital leopard’s habitat we are suggesting some priority actions for the provincial and district administrations,” Smirnov said.

“First, they need have to appoint responsible persons or bodies for fire prevention and suppression on state reserve lands and agricultural lands, and provide funding for these activities. Second, they need to rest responsibility on land owners and leaseholders for combating forest fires on their plots.”

The results of satellite monitoring conducted by WWF in cooperation with the non-profit partnership Transparent World were presented earlier this month to the Khasanskii district administration, at a preparatory consultation for the fire season this fall.

The research forms part of a broader WWF project on forest restoration in the leopard’s habitats.

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Drought: Kenya's own banking crisis

Will Ross, BBC News 11 Oct 09;

The drought which has hit East Africa is wreaking havoc among the region's pastoralists. Their herds of livestock have been decimated. Even the hardy camels are dying.

Turkana district in north-west Kenya is a harsh environment at the best of times. Driving along the sandy roads with temperatures tipping 40C, the air coming through the car window feels like the blast from a load of hair-driers.

The landscape is desert-like and the only signs of life are the occasional circular mud huts thatched with grass. There is very little vegetation - just a few brown thorny shrubs.

In a dry river bed in Lochoraikey, close to the shrinking Lake Turkana, men and women gathered. The women were on one side - most wearing a mountain of brightly coloured necklaces.

They were sitting in the sand and lying among them were dozens of emaciated goats - concave with protruding ribs.

"I had a herd of 100 goats but just in the last month 40 have died," said Esther Ekouam, who had walked about 15km (10 miles) and had to carry her goat as it was too weak to make the journey.

"Now the children are very weak because, as the animals are dying, they are not getting enough food. This is the worst drought we have had here since 1969."

Ms Ekouam was propping up the head of her goat. But it appeared the animal was already dead.

The woman behind Ms Ekouam was gently rocking a white goat in an attempt to keep it alive. A closer inspection of the group revealed that several other goats were also dead.

With their livestock in such a fragile state, it is little wonder that an offer to buy up their goats has been popular among the Turkana.

Livestock economy

In a programme funded by the European Union's humanitarian wing, ECHO, the pastoralists have been offered the equivalent of about $10 a goat - less than the market price of a healthy goat but a far better option than watching the entire herd die for no return.

The river bed was rapidly transformed into a huge open air abattoir and butchery.

The men, many of them wearing traditional checked cloth tied toga-style over one shoulder, slit the throats of the goats.

The women, some removing the sharp metal bangles from their wrists to be used as knives, dragged the animals on to a bed of leaves and skinned them.

"For a Turkana to bring their goats to slaughter is like putting their life on the line," said Kephas Indangasi of Vets Without Borders, which is implementing this de-stocking programme.

"Seventy per cent of the Turkana are pastoralists who entirely rely on their livestock for survival.

"They get milk and meat from livestock and they sell the animals to buy other items and even pay school fees. Livestock is like the bank for the Turkana. They are losing their entire economy."

Between March and October, a total of 15,000 goats and sheep as well as 500 cattle have been slaughtered in central and southern Turkana.

But it is not only the goat population that has been hit. Even the hardy camels have been dying and, in a bid to salvage some revenue before it is too late, two weak camels were brought to be slaughtered along with the goats.

"A camel is the most resistant and it is their last resort. When they are slaughtering camels it is like throwing away the pension," said Mr Indangasi.

Rivals attack

Another worrying implication of the drought is an increase in violent conflict. The number of livestock raids has shot up as increasingly desperate people look for ways to boost their dwindling herds. In late September, 26 people were killed in one raid.

In the village of Lobei, about 80km south-west of Lodwar town, Turkana herdsmen are engaged in twin battles against drought and livestock theft.

"I moved my camels and goats to an area with better pasture and water, but last week I lost 25 camels when some Pokot [rival tribesmen] attacked," said Naukon Lonyaman.

"I fear the rest of my camels may now die because of drought."

Another herdsman said 6,000 goats had been stolen in September.

Joseph Elim of the Riam Riam organisation, which aims to protect the interests of the Turkana people, fears the life of these herdsmen is going to get worse because the climate is changing.

"Scientifically we may not know about climate change but we can interpret the weather patterns and say something significant has shifted," he said.

"We can no longer predict the rainfall patterns. Temperatures have also increased as well as diseases. And when rainfall comes we get floods. If that is what is called climate change then it is here with us now."

With God's help

Many Turkana have been forced to abandon their pastoralist lifestyle and have headed for Lodwar town in search of work.

"If God assists, I will go back home and look after the animals - but right now I have nothing. I have lost all my animals because of this drought," said 68-year-old Eram Moru, who was holding two discarded car shock absorbers, which he intended to flatten out and make into knives to sell.

Despite the pressure to change their way of life, Mr Elim feels the Turkana culture is too deeply entrenched to be lost.

"People have lived with pastoralism for the last 3,000 years. This is only an adjustment and the drought will not decimate everything. Some animals will remain and they can build from there," he said.

But with still no sign of any rain clouds, it is little wonder that people here say God has become angry.

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Kashmir's main glacier "melting at alarming speed"

Reuters 12 Oct 09;

SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Indian Kashmir's biggest glacier, which feeds the region's main river, is melting faster than other Himalayas glaciers, threatening the water supply of tens of thousands of people, a new report warned on Monday.

Experts say rising temperatures are rapidly shrinking Himalayan glaciers, underscoring the effects of climate change that has caused temperatures in the mountainous region to rise by about 1.1 degrees Celsius in the past 100 years.

The biggest glacier in Indian Kashmir, the Kolahoi glacier spread over just a little above 11 sq km (4.25 sq mile), has shrunk 2.63 sq km in the past three decades, a new study said.

"Kolahoi glacier is shrinking 0.08 square kilometers a year, which is an alarming speed," said the study, presented at a workshop on "Climate Change, Glacial Retreat and Livelihoods," in Srinagar, Indian Kashmir's summer capital.

The three year-long study was led by glaciologist Shakil Ramsoo, assistant professor in the department of geology at the University of Kashmir.

The Kolahoi glacier is the main source of water for Kashmir's biggest river, the Jhelum, and its many streams and lakes.

According to a United Nations Environment Programme and World Glacier Monitoring Service study, the average melting rate of mountain glaciers has doubled since the turn of the millennium, with record losses seen in 2006 at several sites.

But India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said in August there was a need for more scientific studies to conclusively establish the link between climate change and shrinking glaciers.

He said while "a couple of" Himalayan glaciers were receding, some others such as the Siachen glacier were advancing, while others like the Gangotri glacier were receding at a decreasing rate compared with the last two decades.

But Ramsoo said: "Other small Kashmir glaciers are also shrinking and the main reason is that the winter temperature in Kashmir is rising."

Experts say the melting of Kashmir glaciers could have serious fallout as most Kashmiris rely on glaciers for water.

(Reporting by Sheikh Mushtaq; Editing by Krittivas Mukherjee)

Kashmir glaciers shrinking at 'alarming' speed
Yahoo News 13 Oct 09;

SRINAGAR, India (AFP) – Rising winter temperatures are shrinking Himalayan glaciers in Indian Kashmir at "alarming" speeds, threatening water supplies to vast tracts of India and Pakistan, according to a new study.

The Kolahoi glacier, the largest in the region, has shrunk by 2.63 square kilometers (one square mile) in the past three decades to just over 11 square kilometers, said the study presented at a three-day international workshop on climate change that began Monday in the Kashmiri summer capital Srinagar.

Himalayan glaciers feed into Asia's nine largest rivers that flow to China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

The Kolahoi glacier is shrinking 0.08 square kilometers a year, "which is an alarming speed", said the three-year study led by Shakil Ramsoo, associate professor of geology at Kashmir University.

"Other small Kashmir glaciers are also shrinking and the main reason is that the winter temperature in Kashmir is rising," said the study, citing an increase of 1.1 degrees Celsius over the past 100 years.

The quantity of snowfall in Kashmir, known as the "Switzerland of the East", has clearly fallen in recent decades.

Despite occasional heavy snowfall, the inability of snow to freeze and develop into hard and longer-lasting crystals owing to higher temperatures has resulted in faster meltdown, say experts.

"If you talk about Kashmir and you look at the statistics of climate change, it is melting faster here than any other place in the world," said Sally Dotre, an expert from Cambridge University.

"And that's going to have a dramatic effect in Kashmir and Pakistan, because it is already affecting water levels," Dotre said.

Water levels in almost all the rivers in Indian Kashmir have decreased by two-thirds during the last 40 years.

Experts warn glaciers in Indian Kashmir melting
Aijaz Hussain, Associated Press Yahoo News 13 Oct 09;

SRINAGAR, India – Indian Kashmir's glaciers are melting fast because of rising temperatures, threatening the water supply of millions of people in the Himalayan region, a new study by Indian scientists says.

The study by Kashmir University's geology and geophysics department blamed the effect on climate change, and said it endangered the livelihoods of two-thirds of the region's nearly 10 million people engaged in agriculture, horticulture, livestock rearing and forestry.

The Kolahoi glacier, the biggest in the Indian portion of divided Kashmir, has shrunk to about 4.44 square miles (11.5 square kilometers) from about five square miles (13 square kilometers) in the past 40 years, the study found.

Shakil Romshoo, an associate professor in the department who led to three-year study, described the rate of melting as "alarming." He said Tuesday that Kolahoi had shrunk by 18 percent, and over the same period, other glaciers in the region had shrunk by 16 percent.

The Kolahoi feeds Kashmir's lifeline Jhelum River, which is also vital for agriculture in Pakistan's most populous province of Punjab.

The study was released Monday at a workshop on the impact of shrinking glaciers held in Srinagar, the capital of Indian Kashmir.

Last year, international charity ActionAid also warned that the glaciers in most areas of Kashmir have shrunk. The group said that climate change was affecting rain and snowfall patterns, which was lowering food production.

Prof. Syeed Iqbal Hasnain, head glaciologist at New Delhi-based the Energy and Resources Institute, said the findings show again that "warming of the climate system was unequivocal."

Rajeev Upadhay, an Indian geologist who has studied glaciers since 1995, said the new study was in line with previous ones.

"The study confirms the general trend that about 90 percent of all Himalayan glaciers are receding. Some glaciers are receding at an alarming rate of 44-45 meters (yards) per year," said Upadhay, who was not involved in the Kashmir University study.

He also said the Siachen glacier, where rival Indian and Pakistani troops have been entrenched for 25 years, has melted to half its earlier size.

"The unusual climate change clubbed with other activities at the Siachen Glacier has reduced it to 46 miles (74 kilometers) from 93 miles (150 kilometers) in length," he said.

The Siachen Glacier is often dubbed the world's highest battlefield. The nuclear-armed South Asian nations have competing territorial claims to Siachen and troops have been locked in a standoff there at an altitude of up to 20,000 feet (6,100-meter) since 1984.

India and Pakistani have fought two wars over control of Kashmir since 1947 after they won independence from Britain. Both claim the divided territory in its entirety.

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Climate negotiators don't meet leaders' pledges: U.N.

Reuters 12 Oct 09;

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Negotiators at global climate change talks are not delivering on promises by their leaders to clinch a deal at a key meeting in Copenhagen in December, a top U.N. environmental official said on Monday.

Despite progress on some aspects of a deal to brake the rapid growth of planet-warming carbon emissions, core issues remain unresolved, said Janos Pasztor, head of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's climate change support team.

A U.N. climate change summit last month produced promises of action by top emitters China and the United States as well as dozens of other states, and Ban said the world was one step closer to a deal at the December 7-18 Copenhagen negotiations.

But two weeks of talks that ended in Bangkok on Friday yielded little progress on the amount of cash available to poorer nations and the size of rich nations' commitments to cut greenhouse gas emissions, Pasztor said.

"There is still a disconnect between what national leaders say in summit meetings and what their negotiators offer on the negotiating floor," he told a news conference.

Pasztor noted there were now only five more negotiating days left -- in Barcelona from November 2-6 -- before the Copenhagen meeting.

"Countries must maintain the positive momentum of the (September U.N.) summit and translate that into concrete proposals that can advance progress toward an agreement," he said.

Copenhagen is meant to agree on a broader framework to expand or replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the U.N.'s main weapon in the fight against climate change. Kyoto, whose first phase ends in 2012, obliges 37 industrialized countries to meet binding economy-wide emissions targets between 2008-12.

Pasztor said there had been progress in Bangkok on ways to help poorer nations adapt to the effects of climate change, transfer of clean-energy technology, and reducing emissions from deforestation.

But his concerns about the deadlock on core issues were the latest gloomy assessment in the run-up to Copenhagen. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Friday he was "very worried" about the talks.

"At some point the leaders will have to be engaged in coming up with a solution to these issues themselves, because they are very difficult and they have impacts on the economy as a whole," Pasztor said.

(Reporting by Patrick Worsnip; Editing by Philip Barbara)

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Best of our wild blogs: 12 Oct 09

Sunny fanny Sunday
from the wild shores of singapore and Singapore Nature

Exploring Singapore’s City Reefs!
from Pulau Hantu

Flowering Sea Apple trees in October
from Habitatnews

Life History of Semanga superba deliciosa
from Butterflies of Singapore

Caught In The Rain
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature

Mission Failed Again
from Colourful Clouds

Finally Saron at Tanah Merah
from wonderful creation and Urban Forest

Microcosmos
from The annotated budak

Close encounter with juvenile Coppersmith Barbets
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Crabs That Cannot Scratch Their Heads
from Catalogue of Organisms

World’s deepest bin – tools to combat improper disposal of litter
from Otterman speaks

Monday Morgue: 12th October 2009
from The Lazy Lizard's Tales

New Book on CSR for Sustainability and Success
from Green Business Times

They Created An Impact
from Nature Is Awesome

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Republic Poly's Outdoor and Adventure Learning modules at Pulau Ubin

A unique approach
New chairman Richard Seow wants to spread the word
Lin Yan Qin, Today Online 12 Oct 09;

SINGAPORE - He would like to build up the brand of Singapore's youngest polytechnic, and hopefully improve its image and popularity among prospective students - many of whom may still not understand what Republic Polytechnic (RP) has to offer.

Even as its previous board has done a "tremendous job" in establishing RP, Mr Richard Seow, who took over as chairman of RP's board of governors in July, feels the public does not know what the "relatively new" institution, opened in 2002, stands for.

The school is not "unpopular", stressed Mr Seow, who is also the chairman of Parkway Holdings. Rather, it is a matter of publicising its unique brand of polytechnic education. "I thought I understood problem-based learning (PBL), but at my first PBL class at RP, I was really surprised by how it works," said Mr Seow.

Under this approach, students solve one problem a day and present solutions to their peers at the end of the school day - much as one would in a real work environment, he said.

And while the polytechnic has learnt that not every class can be taught with the PBL approach, such as more skills-oriented courses, it is also working to improve any shortcomings through symposiums on PBL where practices and research are shared.

"It's still one of our fundamentals," said Mr Seow, who spoke to the media at the opening of RP's new Experiential Learning Centre@Ubin. The $20,000 centre located on Pulau Ubin will allow students to learn how to solve problems in an outdoor environment. There, students can build hard skills, as well as soft skills such as learning to communicate well to perform tasks effectively.

It will also support RP's Outdoor and Adventure Learning modules, and could be used for other course work in future. For example, as flooding is one occasional hazard at the quarry, School of Applied Sciences students could look at ways of addressing this problem, said Mr Ang Keng Loo, senior director for student services at RP.

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Go green on bills and save the trees

Business Times 12 Oct 09;

Start-up firm GreenBills shows how users can view their bills from different companies through a single online portal, reports ANAND SINGH

IN Singapore, more than 600 million pages of bills and envelopes are sent out to households, costing billing companies more than $50 million annually.

As expected, these usually end up in the waste bin or thrown into a pile of already-viewed bills. Studies show that only 5 per cent of Singaporeans have switched to checking their bills electronically. The rest receive their bills the conventional way by post.

However, with the public growing more tech-savvy and environmentally conscious, this trend may change soon.

Paper vs electronic

For years, organisations have been grappling with the cost of sending paper bills to their customers, especially for those who bill on a regular basis such as telcos, utility companies and banks.

While each paper bill's cost ranges from 70 cents to $2.65, the total runs into millions spent each year after factoring in the cost of paper, printing, postage, equipment and labour.

Because of this, some companies have introduced online portals, allowing users to assess bills electronically. Unfortunately, the rate of adoption by the Singapore public has been low, which is surprising considering more than 80 per cent use the Internet for day-to-day transactions.

Why is this so? Firstly, each company has its own online portal, which customers must log in to retrieve their bill information. As most households receive at least five to 10 bills a month, it takes considerable time and patience to log into different portals, and remember separate login IDs and passwords, especially when the billing cycles are different.

Another factor is human nature. It is always difficult to convince people to change from what they are comfortable with, especially when the existing system remains in place. Furthermore, companies do not actively encourage their customers to opt out of receiving paper bills.

What many do not realise is the potential of deploying such a system. Even if just a fifth of Internet users were to view their bills electronically, this would translate to saving 134 million pages and 16,000 trees annually. As paper bills are widely used not only in B2C business segments but also in B2B markets, online portals have the potential of reaching out and catering to the needs of these segments.

Seeing the commercial potential and societal benefits of electronic bills, one start-up company is developing a solution to solve these problems. Supported by NUS Enterprise, GreenBills Pte Ltd has built a common platform, which aggregates bills from different companies.

Called GreenPost, this platform allows users to view their bills through a single online portal. It aggregates bills from M1, SingTel, StarHub and Singapore Power. GreenBills is also developing a 'paper opt out' mechanism, so users can choose the environmentally friendly option of saving paper once they are comfortable with viewing bills online. Other benefits of the portal include email alerts for new bills or overdue payments, downloadable PDF-version bills and unlimited archival of bills.

Technological innovations can potentially result in huge cost savings to companies and allow individuals to play an active part in saving the environment. For example, while Singapore's 600 million pages of bills and envelopes cost companies $50 million annually, they also result in 120 football fields' worth of trees being cut down.

No matter the type of business you are in, going green can be on your agenda. Your business can be environmentally responsible, efficient and cost-effective, all at the same time.

There is usually some initial investment required for companies to go green, including incorporating necessary practices or systems throughout the company and re-training employees. However, in the long run, the benefits will surpass this investment.

Gaining carbon credits

So how does a company go green? First, identify what in your organisation's value chain can be replaced with 'green practices'. Typically, most companies choose green practices which are easy to implement and are not costly.

The savings are often enough to make up for the time and effort invested. However, companies that wish to make an impact can leverage upon latest technological knowhow to develop new solutions and even new markets. One example is General Electric, which has created products such as solar panels.

Other companies invest in green funds and carbon trading, which has become popular in recent years since the Kyoto Protocol came into force in 2005. The treaty mandates countries to adhere to emission-reduction targets. These countries try to meet the targets by generating credits from emission-reducing projects or purchasing credits from countries which have excess credits.

Companies are also trying to get into this lucrative pie by engaging in simple yet innovative emission-reducing projects themselves. For instance, JPMorgan Chase gained a foothold in carbon trading by subsidising and distributing more efficient cooking stoves that use less fuel and give out less carbon dioxide in poor countries. JPMorgan generates carbon credits from this project, which it sells off to other parties.

Singapore acceded to the Kyoto Protocol in 2006 and, through the National Environment Agency, has launched various schemes to support the country's green movement. The government is supportive of companies that contribute to these efforts.

For instance, if GreenPost can accomplish its mission of saving two million sheets of pages per month, it would enable itself and its billers to earn carbon credits which can turn out to be an alternative form of revenue stream.

Companies can use the credits to either offset their own carbon emissions or sell them off to other parties that require them. A company can thus generate extra revenue stream when it goes green.

Any company can go green by taking small and simple steps, which do not have to cost thousands of dollars but can yet generate great benefits, both commercial and societal. It is not a tough choice. Just go green.

The writer is founder and CEO of GreenBills, a company currently being incubated by NUS Enterprise

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Environmental business solutions in Singapore

Daryl Neo, Business Times 12 Oct 09;

There is much potential for companies to benefit from adopting green business models, says DARYL NEO

JOINING 'Business Solutions', the business case club of Nanyang Business School (NBS) at Nanyang Technological University was a turning point in my life as it helped shape a lifetime goal.

My first contact with business cases was when I signed up to compete in the NBS Internal Case Competition in 2006. An advertisement for the competition during freshman orientation day was the trigger to form a team by gathering a bunch of friends I had made during that period.

We were barely a month into our business school education, and already found ourselves competing against students from the other levels. We finished as runners-up. That got me hooked on business cases and I accepted the invitation to join Business Solutions and never looked back.

At that time, Business Solutions had just begun planning for the organising of the inaugural Asian Business Case Competition (ABCC). The event comprises of two main portions, the roundtable discussion lunch - where students and industry guests gather to discuss certain issues, and the business case competition itself.

As a freshman, I was assigned to be the logistics director and subsequently the financial controller for the competition. For ABCC 2007, the theme for the roundtable discussion lunch was on the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis and how Singapore had emerged and learnt from the crisis a decade on.

A year later, I had the privilege of spending five months as an exchange student for a programme in Maastricht in The Netherlands. During that time, I experienced first-hand what it was like to live in a community that takes the conservation of its environment seriously.

The Dutch have designed systems and built businesses that have developed into a thriving 'green industry'. The government's implementation of a waste disposal system that incentivises citizens to use less plastic bags, and Shell Petroleum's development and testing of wind and tidal energy systems across the country are good examples of such systems and businesses.

That sparked off a deep desire in me to discover ways in which society can go green. I realised that there was much potential for companies to benefit from adopting green business models, and it dawned that businesses will play a big part in any successful green movement. It was so compelling and I decided then that I wanted to be involved in pushing the green movement in Singapore.

Inspired, I proposed it as a concept for ABCC 2008. Hence, the theme for the roundtable discussion lunch that year was 'The Coming of the Green Economy'.

The lunch turned out to be a fantastic platform for the exchange of green business ideas and experience between professionals from various industries and students from all over the world.

The 'green' theme was also incorporated into the business case competition. The business case that was given to participants to solve was about a company wanting to expand into another country using its green business model.

Students may not always have the opportunity to make business decisions and policy changes that will impact the environment. However, the ABCC has proven that students can still make a meaningful contribution by organising similar events to provide a platform for the meeting of like-minded people to brainstorm, share ideas and to form networks for future inter-industry collaboration.

I have since graduated from NBS in July this year. Currently, as part of my work at the Singapore Exchange, I have the opportunity to develop and hone my skills in making policy changes and understanding business decisions.

Though I am still not in a position to make business decisions and policy changes that will impact the environment, I am confident that I will be able to find ways to contribute meaningfully, just as I did when I was a student at NBS.

The writer is an alumni of the Nanyang Business School at the Nanyang Technological University and is currently working in the Risk Management & Regulation Group at the Singapore Exchange Limited

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