Ravaged by drought, Madagascar feels the full effect of climate change

A 10% increase in temperature and a 10% decrease in rainfall sees Indian Ocean island struggle to feed its children
David Smith, guardian.co.uk 23 Oct 09;

Remanonjona Feroce founded the village of Anjamahavelo – meaning At the Lucky Baobab – in Madagascar a generation ago. With memories of a flood still fresh, he chose a spot far from the nearest river. He cleared the wild forest and sacrificed a sheep in the hope that it would make the owls, lemurs and snakes go away.

"Animals can't live together with little children and young girls," explained Feroce, an 85-year-old great-grandfather. "They don't want snakes to be here because they have bad spirits. They strangle children by curling around the neck. Owls are bad birds. If one hoots, it means somebody will die."

The animals did go away, but so did the luck of Anjamahavelo, a cluster of wooden houses. Southern Madagascar has had three years of crop failure in five years, resulting in chronic hunger for tens of thousands of families and soaring rates of malnutrition, stunted growth and death among children.

Three forces are combining with deadly effect on the Indian Ocean island, which is incalculably rich in wildlife but impoverished in basic infrastructure. Climate change is widely blamed for playing havoc with the seasons and destroying agricultural harvests. This is exacerbated by local deforestation, which has altered the microclimate and reduced rainfall.

Finally, a bloody political coup earlier this year paralysed essential services and led to the crippling suspension of several foreign aid programmes. The UN says that nearly half of households in the south have severe food shortages.

To feed her five children in Anjamahavelo, Tinalisy – her only name – works as a prostitute at the end of each month, when the local men, mostly in the police, have been paid. The unmarried 27-year-old has slept with men for sex since she was 17. "If the men don't want to marry, that is not really a problem. We have to survive."

Tinalisy says her 20-month-old daughter, Vany Lentine, suffers a fever each evening. "We eat once or twice a day – always cassava. I'm worried but what I can do? There is no money. People here are unhappy because their children do not eat. There is nothing to be happy about."

Other villagers say that the fierce competition for dwindling resources has led to lawlessness and violence. Valiotaky, 56, the village chief, supplies an explanation for the drought. "When we plant trees we don't have rain and nothing grows," he said. "I think God is angry. Young people don't respect the traditions."

Perversely, people in the south are so starved of water that they crave the increasingly fierce cyclones that pound the north three times a year. Two separate dry seasons have progressively expanded until they meet to form one long hot season, hitting crops such as maize, manioc and sweet potato.

Tovoheryzo Raobijaona, director of a food insecurity early warning system in nearby Ambovombe, said: "Before, people spoke about the cycle of drought every 10 years. Now it's every five years, or every three years. After a bad year like 2009, people need two to three years to get back to standard."

Unicef, the UN's children's agency, said that in the past six months 8,632 children had been treated for severe acute malnutrition in three southern regions – more than double the expected number. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) warns that 150,000 children could be affected this year.

There are reports of people resorting to eating lemurs and turtles, even though these are culturally taboo. They have also resumed cutting down trees for firewood or to make space for rice fields, inadvertently adding to the drought problem by reducing the capacity of forests to capture water that will evaporate into clouds and become rain.

The added impact of global climate change is difficult to quantify. The World Bank says that only one thing is certain: in the past half century Madagascar has seen a 10% increase in temperature and 10% decrease in rainfall. Experts say it is not a question of whether this trend will continue, but by how much.

Silvia Caruso, deputy country director of the WFP, said: "Environmental degradation and climate change are building on each other. The results are dramatic in Madagascar."

This has been compounded by political instability. In March Andry Rajoelina, a city mayor, businessman and former DJ, seized power from president Marc Ravalomanana after clashes that left dozens dead. The fallout has been political deadlock, economic downturn, job losses, price inflation, collapsing public services, a flight of investors and international sanctions on a country that relies on foreign aid for half its budget.

Caruso added: "The coup has paralysed services that we need to work with in the provinces. It has made the response to drought more complex. We had to fill the gaps at regional level."

Bruno Maes, Unicef's representative for Madagascar, described the coup as "a disaster for children", adding: "Madagascar was on the road to take-off. They understood it was time to make reforms in health and education, so that all children can have access. Now all this is frozen. Nothing is moving."

Unicef has provided medicine and training to all regional health clinics for acute malnutrition cases, supported food distribution and worked to improve sanitation. The WFP has begun programmes to provide school meals to 215,000 children, help 8,000 households mitigate against environmental change and supply supplementary feeding to around 70,000 children under two and pregnant and lactating women.

Maes said Unicef was also negotiating with the World Bank to directly administer money earmarked for teachers' salaries. "Children's rights should be addressed in any situation – whatever the crisis."
Case-study: 'Lack of food is eating us up'

Zanasoa Relais Anjado, 38, has 11 children. Her husband, a former plantation worker, is unemployed. They live in Anjado village in southern Madagascar.

"Lack of food is eating us up every day. We often go through very hard moments – in the most difficult we ate only tamarinds [fruit] mixed with ashes. We were hungry and tired and had to beg for something to eat. We were like famine victims … I have 11 children and I don't know how to feed them. Sometimes we have one meal a day, sometimes two. One of my children was sick. He managed to survive and recover, but I know people in the community who are still very weak. The river is 5km from here and we walk for hours to get there … With rainwater we would cook food and diversify agriculture. We'd plant cabbages, green leaves, corn and beans. What we planted so far dried and failed … It will be really difficult and we will suffer. That is why I am asking the government for help, directly and immediately. Without it, we risk dying here. I don't care about the political situation in the country. The only thing that concerns me is that I'm eating."

Read more!

Copenhagen 'backup' group meets

BBC News 23 Oct 09;

Legislators from 16 major economies will meet on Saturday to seek consensus on a raft of climate-related policies ahead of December talks in Copenhagen.

The 120 delegates believe that the policies could address 70% of the emissions cuts necessary before 2020.

A consensus, if reached, could ensure the policies are put into practice regardless of the outcome of the landmark climate talks in December.

The group will present its results to the Danish PM who will host the talks.

The delegates will include Climate and Energy Minister Ed Miliband, a number of MEPs and former UK Foreign Office head Lord Michael Jay alongside people holding in climate- and environment-related posts in 16 nations.

The meeting has been organised by the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (Globe).

'Real opportunity'

Issues to be discussed are standards for building and appliance standards, vehicle fuel efficiencies, renewable energy and forestry.

Together, the delegates hope to agree targets that they have committed to push through their own governments at home. In addition, they will band together to push for ambitious targets at the December COP15 (Conferences of the Parties) meeting.

Any deals that are agreed at the weekend meeting are particularly relevant in light of the claim made last week by Yvo De Boer, head of the UN Climate Change Secretariat, that a comprehensive and binding treaty at the December talks was unlikely.

Danish Prime Minister and COP15 host Lars Lokke Rasmussen said of the meeting: "The Globe Copenhagen Legislators Forum...presents a very real opportunity to outline to national leaders where the political boundaries could be for an ambitious agreement at the formal negotiations.

"This will be a powerful and new intervention contributing to the international response to climate change."

Read more!

20,000 people, 192 countries. Welcome to the carbon circus

Robin Pagnamenta, Times Online 24 Oct 09;

It has been billed as the last-chance saloon; a final opportunity for the world to seal a deal to prevent catastrophic climate change.

With only 44 days to go until the meeting in Copenhagen, the world is waiting to see if its politicians can deliver, and live up to the hype.

Whatever the outcome of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Copenhagen is braced for a carbon circus.

Hotels in the Danish capital are nearly fully booked, meaning that thousands of those due to arrive in the city from December 7 to 18 will have to stay in neighbouring Sweden — pumping out more carbon when they commute daily across the Öresund straits from Malmö.

Amid the razzmatazz, protesters and corporate sponsorship from BMW, Honda and Mercedes, as many as 20,000 delegates from 192 countries will cram into the Bella centre. Their aim is to forge a deal that will cut global greenhouse gas emissions and prevent a rise in temperatures of more than 2C (3.6F).

Scientists believe that any increase above this level would be the tipping point for irreversible damage — paving the way for rising seas, floods, storms and droughts that would threaten hundreds of millions of people.

At the centre of this meeting, led by Yvo de Boer, the UN climate head, is a 180-page document of negotiating text. The Kyoto Protocol, by contrast, which the Copenhagen agreement is meant to replace when it expires in 2012, ran to only 30 pages at the equivalent stage.

“There is limited time and so much to be done,” Andrew Hedges, a partner at Norton Rose, which specialises in carbon law, said. “If political leaders fail then the scientists tell us that the consequences could be catastrophic.”

That may sound like a powerful incentive for a deal to be struck but the challenges are immense.

Perhaps the biggest stumbling block is the complex climate politics between the US, China and India. Developing countries led by China — which is the biggest carbon polluter in the world — and India say that by 2020 the developed world needs to commit itself to cuts at least 40 per cent below 1990 levels to avoid the worst of climate change.

In the US, the second-biggest emitter, the focus on healthcare reform has reduced the chances of a commitment on anything like this scale. The US Senate has not agreed a goal for 2020.

Although China and India are not expected to agree to cuts in their emissions before 2020, coaxing them into longer-term reductions without US leadership will be tough.

It is a stalemate that threatens to kill a deal in Copenhagen despite pledges from the EU, Japan and other countries to cut their emissions by as much as 30 per cent by 2020 — and good progress that has been made in other areas such as an agreement designed to slow global deforestation by awarding forest credits.

There are many reasons why the Kyoto Protocol failed to curb the growth in global emissions; one of which is that its targets applied only to a small group of affluent countries and ignored rapidly growing emissions from the developing world.

Governments want the new treaty to encompass more nations and more sources of greenhouse gases, such as forestry and changing land use. They also want to create a framework for wealthy countries to supply money and technology to poor nations to help them to adapt to and reduce the inevitable impacts of climate change.They are keen to refine a global trading regime for carbon emissions to help to cut greenhouse gases from industry.

Copenhagen is perhaps viewed best as a Bretton Woods for carbon — an agreement that, if successful, could define the global industrial and commercial landscape of the 21st century.

Talk of it as a last-chance saloon may be premature. The most likely outcome may be a political commitment to cut emissions by mid-century and an agreement to keep wrangling over the details.

Scientists believe climate change is an urgent problem and that, according to the last report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, it is more than 90 per cent likely that humans are responsible.

There is already talk of follow-up meetings next year. Copenhagen may merely mark the start of a long period of uncertainty over global carbon regulation that may take years to resolve.

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 23 Oct 09

Kelong as a tourist destination
from singapore kelong

Singapore 350 update
from Green Drinks Singapore

Public Fornication
from Half a Bunny and the Salmon of Doubt

Wildfacts updates: dolphins, dugongs and other verts
from wild shores of singapore

Forest Geckos
from Creatures in the Wild and Looking for Spiders? Look No Further!

Juvenile White-bellied Sea Eagle
from Bird Ecology Study Group

White-rumped Munia nests
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Little matters
from The annotated budak

Flotsam and then some: on Tanah Merah
from wild shores of singapore

Amazing Pictures, Pollution in China
from ChinaHush

Read more!

Price tag of Asean progress: biodiversity loss

Lyn Resurreccion, Business Mirror 22 Oct 09;

SINGAPORE—The Asean region registered “impressive and dramatic progress” in the last 50 years, but this came with a “stiff price” in terms of the loss of biodiversity resources, the top executive of the Asean Center for Biodiversity (ACB) said on Thursday.

“We are losing our biodiversity resources and dramatically altering our ecosystems at unprecedented rates,” Rodrigo Fuentes, executive director of the ACB, said in a speech at the three-day Asean Conference on Biodiversity 2009, which started on October 21.

Of the 64,800 known species in the region, he said 1,313 are endangered, 80 percent of coral reefs are at risk, and deforestation rates are at least twice higher than in higher tropical areas.

“We have narrowed the genetic range of our endemic foods through agricultural intensification, and concentrated the production systems to varieties and species of food that have short rotation,” Fuentes said at the conference with the theme “Biodiveristy in focus: 2010 and beyond.”

However, he quickly said that “biodiversity loss is beyond losing plants and animals. It’s an issue of human survival, with the greatest impact on the poor.”

He said it is a real threat which could affect the lives of more than 500 million Southeast Asians.

Meanwhile, Singapore, which is known as a “garden city” owing to the trees and gardens that line its streets, is now working with the secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and other partner cities to develop the Singapore Index on Cities’ Biodiversity.

Grace Fu, Singapore’s senior minister of state for national development and education, said this will serve as a “self-assessment tool” that cities could use to evaluate their own biodiversity-conservation efforts.

The draft Singapore Index is being tested by the cities of Brussels, Curitiba, Edmonton, Joodalup, Montreal, Nagoya and by Singapore itself.

Fu said in a speech at the conference the measure would help cities benchmark the success of their efforts and enhance urban biodiversity in the long term.

Fuentes said species of both plants and animals that overwhelm and replace the region’s more endemic and beneficial species were allowed in. The region’s natural assets and heritage are decimated by illegal trade in wildlife.

“Unbridled economic activities have caused unwarranted pollution that leads to the destruction to our ecosystem and their natural functions,” he said.

While there was no available estimate on the cost of the region’s development to the ecosystem, Fuentes cited a 12-year ago estimate of the global ecosystem services at $33.3 trillion, while the global gross national product was valued at $18 trillion.

“Clearly, the measured benefit of economic progress is not even enough to even pay for the value of ecosystems services,” said the executive of the four-year old ACB.

Asean, a treasure trove of biodiversity resources

Fuentes said Asean is known to be a “treasure trove” of biodiversity resources—so much so that although it occupies only 3 percent of the earth’s total surface, its diverse landscape, seascapes and ecosystem are home to more than 20 percent of all known plant, animal and marine species.

It has three mega-diverse countries (Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines); several biogeographical units (Malesia, Wallacea, Sundaland, Indo-Burma and the Central Indo-Pacific; a third of the world’s highly diverse coral reefs; and extensive mangrove forest areas that comprise a significant portion of the world’s total.

“Our biodiversity resources and the ecosystems that support it is our lifeline and is a crucial contributor to global environmental sustainability,” Fuentes said.

Fu added that the region’s vast mangrove cover “play an important role in protecting our shorelines and buffer coastal settlements” from the hazards of tsunamis.

Finally, biodiversity contributes significantly to the economy, supporting agriculture, pharmaceuticals, ecotourism and recreation.

Singapore’s holistic biodiversity plan Minister Fu said each Asean member-country can do much to conserve the region’s rich biodiversity by formulating their respective National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.

“Such action plans lie at the heart of our biodiversity conservation efforts. The successful implementation of these plans at the local level is critical to reversing the rate of biodiversity loss in the region,” she said.

She added that biodiversity conservation plans should have a “holistic approach that balances the needs of nature conservation with the competing demands on their resources.”

She said it is important that biodiversity-related agencies work closely with agencies in charge of agriculture, forestry, fisheries, urban development, trade, industry and tourism to ensure that considerations on biodiversity are factored into the sectors.

Singapore, a small city-state of only 700 square kilometers, faces the challenges of the tradeoffs between conservation and development, Fu said.

“Recognizing our constraints, we have adopted a long-term and integrated approach toward land-use planning and nature conservation,” she said.

Fu emphasized that Singapore was able to retain its rich biodiverisity “despite rapid urbanization” in the past four decades through legislation protecting nature reserves, judicious land use, careful urban planning and sensitive development.

Its greening efforts have yielded almost half of the island under a “green cover.”

Singapore is home to 2,300 species of plants, 360 species of birds, 280 species of butterflies, a large variety of animals, a third of the world’s hard coral reefs and half of the number of seagrass species in Indo-Pacific.

“As the trend of urbanization continues, the conservation of biodiversity in cities is emerging as an important challenge that demands critical attention,” Fu said.

The Asean biodiverisity conference was held in time for the preparation for the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity, and the 10th Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan, next year.

At the same time, Fuentes announced that as of October 1, ACB became a full-fledged international organization when the center’s establishment agreement received the required ratification of six of the 10 Asean member states in July, and the ratification of the host-country agreement between ACB and the Philippines was concurred in by the Philippine Senate in September.

Read more!

Downtown Line train will be more environmentally-friendly

Channel NewsAsia 22 Oct 09;

SINGAPORE: The new Downtown Line train will be environmentally friendly.

The Land Transport Authority said the use of new technology in the train's power generation and drive systems will help reduce its overall energy consumption.

It added that it would help translate to an energy saving of some 8,000 kilowatt hours per year.

The train will also have some new features. Some of the ergonomic seats are colour-coded red for commuters with special needs.

The seats at the side have been converted to perch seats, allowing a wider space for movement around the doorway.

And like the current batch of trains on the main lines, there will be a route map display. Its mock-up can be viewed at the Land Transport Authority's Hampshire Road office.

Stage one of the Downtown Line is scheduled for completion in 2013.

The Downtown Line is the longest fully underground rail project to date, at 40 kilometres with 33 stations.

It will run through high-traffic and built-up corridors, allowing direct travel from the northwestern and eastern areas of Singapore to the Central Business District.

The trains are designed in Germany and manufactured in China. - CNA/vm

Downtown, where the trains are eco- and people-friendlier
Today Online 23 Oct 09;

SINGAPORE - They don't just come with features to encourage users to be considerate, the new Downtown Line (DTL) trains will also be more earth-friendly.

Each train will be 1.4 tonnes lighter, and new technology in power generation and drive systems will allow them to consume less energy, saving some 8,000kWh per train each year, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said yesterday.

Designed in Germany and manufactured in Changchun, China, the trains will feature an ergonomic seat profile, with seats reserved for commuters with special needs in a striking red. Perch seats in place of two-seaters in the gangway area, except for two wheelchair spaces in the centre car of the train, will create a wider standing space.

Dynamic route maps will show current journey status and route information, and also indicate the side of doors that will open.

The 40km DTL is projected to see a daily ridership of around 500,000 when in full operation.

More room in Downtown Line trains
Extra standing room will accommodate 120 more commuters
Straits Times 23 Oct 09;

WHEN the new Downtown Line trains start running in 2013, they will have room for an extra 120 standing commuters, going by a mock-up unveiled yesterday.

The three-carriage trains will do away with 16 seats, replacing them with vertical plastic panels that commuters can lean against.

Each train will be able to take a total of 1,050 passengers, 120 more than trains running on the Circle Line now.

A spokesman for the Land Transport Authority said that the changes will encourage commuters to move towards the end of the train and provide greater ease of movement during boarding and alighting from the train.

The first section of the $40 billion Downtown Line is a 4.3km stretch with six stations, due to open in 2013.

When the entire line is completed in 2016, it will link the north-western and eastern areas of the island to the Central Business District and Marina Bay.

The 73 trains, which will begin to arrive here in 2012, are fully automatic and driverless, and cost a total of about $571million.

Canadian train-maker Bombardier is manufacturing the fleet at its plant in Changchun, China.

This is the first time Bombardier's trains will be used in Singapore.

Besides extra standing room, the trains will feature ergonomic seats with higher ridges at the sides of each seat.

Newly designed overhead handles will provide better grip and balance for commuters.

They are similar to the ones used on Hong Kong's MTR trains.

Other features - some of which can be found in existing trains - include red seats to indicate places reserved for elderly, pregnant or disabled commuters, real-time route information maps and indicators showing which side of the train to exit from.

The use of new brake and power generation technology will make the trains more eco-friendly than current models here.

The train is 1.4 tonnes lighter, helping the system to save 8,000 kilowatt hours per year for each train.

It is expected that more than 500,000 commuters will use the Downtown Line once it is operational.

People can view a mock-up of the train at the Land Transport Authority headquarters in Hampshire Road and give their feedback by Nov 30.

MARIA ALMENOAR

Read more!

Upsurge in firms using Newater

Cheaper than potable water, purer for some processes
Amresh Gunasingham, Straits Times 23 Oct 09;

SIX years after its launch, Singapore's ultra-pure reclaimed water - Newater - continues to make a splash as a cheaper and cleaner alternative to potable water for companies seeking to improve their bottom lines.

A check of national water agency PUB's annual report for the year ending March shows more than 300 companies used piped Newater, spending close to $66 million on it, compared to 24 companies using it when it was introduced in 2003.

The 300 were primarily in the retail, wafer manufacturing and petrochemical industries.

This translates to about 180,000cum of Newater used here every day - enough to fill 72 Olympic-sized swimming pools - an increase from the 27,000cum a day consumed in 2003.

There are two main reasons for industries turning to the high-grade water, reclaimed from passing used water through a series of membranes and ultraviolet radiation: purity and cost.

Cleaner than tap water, Newater is a valuable feedstock for wafer-fabrication plants and electronic companies, said the PUB.

It is cheaper too, priced at $1 percum compared to $1.52 percum for potable tap water, which carries a tax.

By escaping the tax, the 300 firms making heavy use of Newater saved close to $39 million in the last financial year.

Mr Chong Hou Chun, director of PUB's water supply network, said companies stood to save up to 30 per cent on their water bills by switching to the reclaimed water.

Wafer fabrication plant Systems on Silicon Manufacturing, which was the first to make the switch to Newater in the manufacturing of integrated circuits in 2003, saves $700,000 annually from the 1.5 millioncum of Newater it uses, said its vice-president of corporate services, Mr Lee On Nam.

Retail group CapitaLand uses Newater at seven retail malls in air-conditioning cooling towers and fire sprinkler water tanks.

Said a spokesman: 'We started to use Newater as the cost is lower compared to potable water and there is no water conservation tax.'

Newater meets more than 15 per cent of Singapore's total daily water needs, a figure the PUB hopes to double next year as production increases.

The plants at present pump to industrial areas in Woodlands, Ang Mo Kio, Jurong, Tuas, Tampines and Pasir Ris, as well as the city.

A PUB spokesman said production at Singapore's four Newater plants in Ulu Pandan, Seletar, Kranji and Bedok had been ramped up to cope with the increasing demand.

A $180 million plant in Changi built by SembCorp - the fifth and largest to date - will produce 228,000cum a day - enough to fill 91 Olympic-sized swimming pools once completed next year.

PUB will also progressively pump more of the reclaimed water into Singapore's reservoirs to meet about 2.5 per cent of total daily water consumption by 2011. The ultra-pure Newater is mixed with raw water in reservoirs to pick up essential minerals for the body that it lacks.

Dr Seetharam Kallidaikurichi, director of the Institute of Water Policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, believes Newater will become a firm component of the 'business cycle' here.

'The perception (of Newater) and its value to society has evolved. As it becomes cheaper to industries, they will no longer be competing for freshwater supplies, which are the more expensive commodity.'

Read more!

Singapore water sector to get boost from partnership with Netherlands

Dylan Loh, Channel NewsAsia 22 Oct 09;

SINGAPORE: Singapore's growing water sector will get an additional boost from a partnership with the Netherlands, as both countries have agreed to enhance collaborations in the water industry.

The Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Jan Peter Balkenende, was given a tour of the Marina Barrage to gain a better understanding of Singapore's efforts in creating its first reservoir in the city. Also, the intention to set up the Netherlands Water House (NWH) in Singapore was announced here.

The NWH aims to strengthen ties between Singaporean and Dutch businesses and research institutes in the water sector. It will also organise conferences and workshops, as well as provide Dutch expertise in water management.

"I feel really proud, because this is a good example of cooperation between Singapore and the Netherlands. And we spoke about the expertise of Dutch companies, and you are realising it," said Dr Balkenende.

Earlier in the day, the Dutch Prime Minister was at the Istana, where he met President S R Nathan and attended a banquet hosted by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

In a speech, Mr Lee pointed out key areas of cooperation between the two countries amidst challenges.

"Both of us must prepare in earnest for a more competitive world after the crisis. We will need to focus on R&D, innovation and enterprise to maintain our competitive edge," said Mr Lee.

Water has been identified as a key engine of growth for Singapore's economy, and the country has committed an estimated S$330 million over five years to develop the local water industry.

- CNA/sc

PUB, Netherlands in water tie-up
Uma Shankari, Business Times 23 Oct 09;

SINGAPORE's national water agency PUB and the Netherlands Water Partnership signed a letter of intent yesterday to boost collaboration among businesses and research institutions.

The two countries have set up the Netherlands Water House (NWH) in Singapore to enhance cooperation and strengthen ties.

NWH representatives will organise and take part in meetings, conferences, workshops, courses and exhibitions. NWH will also promote Dutch knowledge and expertise in water technology and water management in Singapore and other regional countries.

PUB's and the Netherlands Water Partnership's tie-up acknowledges the opportunities that Singapore presents as a hub for the sizeable number of Dutch companies and businesses involved in the city state's water sector.Water has been identified as a key growth engine for the Singapore economy, with $330 million to be committed over five years to grow and develop the sector into a technological hotbed. Singapore is wooing R&D investments from leading international water players and encouraging local companies to make inroads overseas.

'Today there are more than 50 local and international companies in Singapore and we aim to grow this,' PUB chief executive Khoo Teng Chye said yesterday.

'The collaboration with Netherlands Water Partnership is an important step towards advancing Singapore's global hydro-hub aspirations. This alliance will lead to a more vibrant and active Dutch water business community here.'

Mr Khoo is also executive director of the Environment and Water Industry Development Council, which oversees the growth of the water industry in Singapore.

Former Shell CEO to be honorary citizen
He helped develop Singapore as an energy, petrochemicals hub
Joyce Hooi, Business Times 23 Oct 09;

DUTCH citizen Jeroen van der Veer, a former chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell, will be made an honorary Singapore citizen, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday.

Mr van der Veer is being honoured for helping develop Singapore as an energy and petrochemicals hub.

The Honorary Citizen Award is Singapore's highest recognition for non-Singaporeans. Last year, Ratan N Tata and Frank Tsao Wen-King were conferred the award.

PM Lee was speaking at an official lunch for Netherlands Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.

At the lunch, Mr Lee stressed the need for the two countries to collaborate on water and environmental management.

'Our research institutes and corporations often have complementary knowledge, and we should encourage them to link up and share their expertise,' he said.

'I am therefore glad that Singapore's Public Utilities Board, the National University of Singapore and Dutch research institute Deltares have come together to establish the Aquatic Science Centre, a collaborative water research initiative.'

Mr Balkenende kicked off a three-day visit to Singapore yesterday, which includes a tour of the headquarters of the Singapore Armed Forces Medical Corps, the Marina Barrage and the site of the Aquatic Science Centre at Clementi.

The Aquatic Science Centre, launched in July last year, will research urban water management and showcase projects and technologies, as part of a network of centres in Singapore that monitor the island's water quality.

The Netherlands is Singapore's third-largest European trading partner. 'It is also our second-largest investor, with over $50 billion of assets in Singapore,' Mr Lee said. 'This is a remarkable figure, showing that size is no impediment to achieving a considerable economic impact.'

Singapore has $3.1 billion of investments in the Netherlands.

Road to be named after Winsemius
The late economist typified S'pore's many links with Netherlands
Nur Dianah Suhaimi, Straits Times 23 Oct 09;

FOR 25 years, Dr Albert Winsemius worked for the Singapore Government here without pay, helping to draw up 10-year development plans that transformed the island into today's high-technology, high-value-added industrial hub.

In honour of his contributions, especially between 1960 and 1985, Singapore will name a road after the late Dutch economist.

In announcing it yesterday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the relationship typified the strong and long-standing ties between Singapore and the Netherlands.

Mr Lee was speaking at an Istana lunch he hosted for visiting Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, who is on a four-day official visit. Earlier in the day, Dr Balkenende had called on President SR Nathan and Mr Lee.

In his speech, PM Lee said Dr Winsemius 'provided invaluable and wise advice on economic development and investment policy'.

The road bearing his name, Albert Winsemius Lane, is in the western part of Singapore island. It leads to the Aquatic Science Centre near Sungei Ulu Pandan. The water research centre is a tie-up between the National University of Singapore, the Public Utilities Board (PUB) and Dutch company Delft Hydraulics.

Dr Balkenende, in his speech, said he was confident both countries would retain strong ties.

Their bilateral relations can be traced to the 16th century, when the first ships of the Dutch East India Company sailed through the Strait of Malacca, he noted.

The Dutch began many businesses here, he said. A Dutch bank was Singapore's first international bank, formed in 1830. Heineken was a co-founder of Malayan Breweries, now called Asia Pacific Breweries.

'Today, Dutch companies can be found everywhere in Singapore,' he added.

PM Lee earlier noted that the Netherlands, despite being one of Europe's smallest countries, is the second-largest investor in Singapore, with more than $50 billion in assets here. 'This is a remarkable figure, showing that size is no impediment to achieving a considerable economic impact,' he said.

He also noted that the armed forces of both countries also operate together in Oruzgan province, Afghanistan, where they support Nato's International Security Assistance Force.

People-to-people ties have also remained strong. Dr Balkenende developed a personal relationship with Singapore in the 1980s when he frequently visited his younger brother, Roland, who was then working here.

Many Dutch citizens have also contributed to Singapore's economy, said Mr Lee, citing Mr Jeroen van der Veer.

The former chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell will be conferred the Honorary Citizen Award for helping to develop Singapore into an energy and petrochemicals hub.

The award is the highest form of national recognition for non-citizens who have contributed to Singapore's development. As of last year, 10 foreigners from various fields had been honoured.

Both prime ministers also highlighted new areas of cooperation, especially on water research.

One area of collaboration that has been identified is in water and environment management.

Yesterday, the PUB and its Dutch counterpart, the Netherlands Water Partnership, signed a letter of intent to boost collaboration among businesses and research institutions in the water sector.

It will pave the way for the Dutch to share their expertise in water technology and management with Singapore.

The move is the latest in a series of research collaborations with Dutch water research centres.

Said PM Lee: 'Our cooperation in water and waste management is a good example of how two knowledge-based economies can add value to each other.

'There is much more that we can do.'

At a separate event, the Dutch Embassy said five Singaporeans had been given the Friend of the Netherlands Award, which is for people viewed as most-valued contacts for its ambassadors and consuls-general.

Among the five were Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan and the chief executive officer of Hyflux water company, Ms Olivia Lum.

Read more!

Marine life endangered by Timor Sea oil spill: WWF

Lex Hall, The Australian 23 Oct 09;

HUGE amounts of marine life are under threat from an ongoing oil spill off the Western Australian coast, an environmental group says.

A survey by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) says dolphins, migratory sea birds, sea snakes and marine turtles were found in abundance in the affected area, with many of these species swimming through toxic oil.

The West Atlas oil rig, operated by PTTEP Australasia, has been leaking oil for nine weeks. The last three attempts to stop the flow of sweet light crude oil, gas and condensate from the Montara wellhead, 250km northwest of the Truscott air base in Western Australia's Kimberley region, have all failed.

A team of engineers will make a fourth attempt to plug the leak today.

"We recorded hundreds of dolphins and sea birds in the oil slick area, as well as sea snakes and threatened hawksbill and flatback turtles," said WWF-Australia’s Conservation Director Gilly Llewellyn.

Dr Llewellyn said the findings contradicted comments by the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, claiming the WWF survey found no evidence of harm to marine life.

"This is clearly a false representation of our results and appears to be an attempt to sweep this environmental disaster under the carpet," she said.

The expedition recorded 17 species of seabird, four species of cetacean and five marine reptiles including two species of marine turtle. At least eleven of the species were listed migratory and two – hawksbill and flatback turtles - are listed as threatened with extinction under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

Dr Llewellyn said the spill could have a long-term effect on the ecosystem.

"We know that oil can be a slow and silent killer. Impacts from the Exxon Valdez disaster are still being seen 20 years later, so we can expect this environmental disaster will continue to unfold for years to come."

"The public needs to have all available information concerning what has been observed and reported, including findings from Ashmore Reef, and from the vessels and platforms in the area."

Three previous attempts to intercept the leak have failed, but PTTEP Australasia has released a statement saying the drilling team has come within centimetres of the target.

Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett said he was confident everything possible is being done to stop the oil leak.

"The fact of the matter is, it's a fiendishly difficult exercise - a little bit like threading the needle - to try to get this oil spill stopped," he told ABC Radio.

"I very much hope that it will be on this occasion. I'm concerned about it, but we've put a lot of measures in place not only to monitor it, but to make sure that any wildlife that's affected is properly treated."

Earlier this week, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said the cost of the clean-up had reached more than $5 million.

Expedition observes hundreds of marine creatures in oil slick
WWF 23 Oct 09;

The area affected by the Montara oil spill off the Kimberley coast contains a huge amount of marine life, including some of the most iconic and threatened species in the ocean, according to a marine wildlife survey conducted by WWF.

Dolphins, migratory sea birds and sea snakes were found in abundance in the area, in addition to marine turtles, and many of these species were recorded swimming through the toxic oil affected area during WWF's recent expedition to Timor Sea.

The survey report released today paints a picture of a rich marine community under threat of toxicity from the Montara oil leak which has been ongoing for more than two months.

"We recorded hundreds of dolphins and sea birds in the oil slick area, as well as sea snakes and threatened hawksbill and flatback turtles," said WWF-Australia’s Director of Conservation Dr Gilly Llewellyn, who led the team of ecologists.

"It's a stark contrast to comments made this week by the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) that claimed our survey found no evidence of harm to marine life. This is clearly a false representation of our results and appears to be an attempt to sweep this environmental disaster under the carpet," Dr Llewellyn said.

Overall the expedition recorded 17 species of seabird, four species of cetacean and five marine reptiles including two species of marine turtle. At least eleven of the species were listed migratory and two - hawksbill and flatback turtles - are listed as threatened with extinction under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

On Wednesday, PTTEP, the company responsible for the oil slick, reported high levels of mortality among oil- affected seabirds.

"Clearly, wildlife is dying and hundreds if not thousands of dolphins, seabirds and sea-snakes are being exposed to toxic oil. The critical issue is the long term impact of this slick on a rich marine ecosystem, taking into consideration the magnitude, extent and duration of the event," said Dr Llewellyn.

"We know that oil can be a slow and silent killer. Impacts from the Exxon Valdez disaster are still being seen 20 years later, so we can expect this environmental disaster will continue to unfold for years to come."

WWF is aware of a second sea-based survey team that has been to the area and collected data on impacts on marine life and calls on all evidence and observations to be made publically available.

"The public needs to have all available information concerning what has been observed and reported, including findings from Ashmore Reef, and from the vessels and platforms in the area." Dr Llewellyn said.

"There is global concern about this oil spill and its effects on marine wildlife. More surveys are urgently needed as every piece of information helps build a more complete picture."

Read more!

China ignoring tiger trade: campaign group

Yahoo News 22 Oct 09;

NEW DELHI (AFP) – China is turning a blind eye to the thriving illegal trade in tiger parts, a campaign group said Thursday following an undercover investigation in western China and Tibet.

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a British-based organisation, showed photos it said were taken by a spy camera revealing the "rampant" sale of tiger and white leopard skins, bones and claws in retail stores.

The majority of tiger parts sold in China are smuggled from India via Nepal and the lack of enforcement of a ban on the trade is hobbling efforts by New Delhi to save the animal, it said.

"China has really run out of excuses... if they can put a man into space, they can do more to save the wild tiger," Debbie Banks, lead campaigner at the EIA, told a press conference here.

Tigers attract huge sums of money in China and elsewhere in Asia, with their body parts used in traditional medicines and aphrodisiacs while their skins are used for furniture and decoration.

The report called "A Deadly Game of Cat and Mouse" comes just five days before a Global Tiger Workshop scheduled in Nepal where international experts and officials are to discuss the dwindling numbers of the animal worldwide.

No more than a few dozen wild tigers are left in China and only a couple of thousand live in their native habitat worldwide, according to EIA figures.

Tiger skins fetch anywhere around 11,660-21,860 US dollars and bones are sold for about 1,250 US dollars per kilogram, the report stated.

"China has to enforce a blanket ban on tiger part trade, India's conservation plans to protect the endangered species greatly depend on them," added Banks.

Tiger hunting is illegal worldwide and the trade in tiger parts is banned under a treaty binding 167 countries, including India.

China outlawed the sale of tiger bones and hides in 1993, but there have been suggestions in the past that the country might lift the ban.

In August this year, India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh met his Chinese counterpart to discuss how to save the tiger but no consensus was reached.

Experts said the porous border between India and Nepal continues to serve as a smuggling corridor for the poachers, who bribe poor forest dwellers to guide them through the dense jungles.

China is the only country in the world to allow mass breeding of tigers, with 5,000 of the big cats housed in huge farms in the northeast and southwest.

Read more!

Secrets of frog killer laid bare

Richard Black, BBC News 22 Oct 09;

Scientists have unravelled the mechanism by which the fungal disease chytridiomycosis kills its victims.

The fungus is steadily spreading through populations of frogs and other amphibians worldwide, and has sent some species extinct in just a few years.

Researchers now report in the journal Science that the fungus kills by changing the animals' electrolyte balance, resulting in cardiac arrest.

The finding is described as a "key step" in understanding the epidemic.

Karen Lips, one of the world authorities on the spread of chytridiomycosis, said the research was "compelling".

"They've done an incredible amount of work, been very thorough, and I don't think anybody will have problems with this.

"We suspected something like this all along, but it's great to know this is in fact what is happening," the University of Maryland professor told BBC News.

Skin deep

Amphibian skin plays several roles in the animals' life.

Most species can breathe through it, and it is also used as a membrane through which electrolytes such as sodium and potassium are exchanged with the outside world.

The mainly Australian research group took skin samples from healthy and diseased green tree frogs, and found that these compounds passed through the skin much less readily when chytrid was present.

Samples of blood and urine from infected frogs showed much lower sodium and potassium concentrations than in healthy animals - potassium was down by half.

In other animals including humans, this kind of disturbance is known to be capable of causing cardiac arrest.

The scientists also took electrocardiogram recordings of the frogs' hearts in the hours before death; and found changes to the rhythm culminating in arrest.

Drugs that restore electrolyte balance brought the animals a few hours or days of better health, some showing enough vigour to climb out of their bowls of water; but all died in the end.

Grail quest

Lead scientist Jamie Voyles, from James Cook University in Townsville, said the next step was to look for the same phenomenon in other species.

"This is lethal across a broad range of hosts, whether terrestrial or aquatic, so it's really important to look at what's happening in other susceptible amphibians," she said.

Another step will be to examine how the chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis - Bd) impairs electrolyte transfer.

"What this work doesn't tell us is the mechanism by which chytrid causes this problem with sodium," said Matthew Fisher from Imperial College London.

"It could be that Bd is excreting a toxin, or it could be causing cell damage. This causative action is actually the 'holy grail' - so that's another obvious next step."

The finding is unlikely to plot an immediate route to ways of preventing or treating or curing the disease in the wild.

Curing infected amphibians in captivity is straightforward using antifungal chemicals; but currently there is no way to tackle it outside.

Various research teams are exploring the potential of bacteria that occur naturally on the skin of some amphibians, and may play a protective role.

Understanding the genetics of how Bd disrupts electrolyte balance might lead to more precise identification of protective bacteria, suggested Professor Lips, and so eventually play a role in curbing the epidemic.

'Gatorade for frogs' could stymie fungal killer
Bob Holmes, New Scientist 22 Oct 09;

The fungus now decimating frog populations around the world does its damage by impairing the animals' ability to absorb electrolytes through their skin. This discovery may eventually lead to treatments that make the disease less lethal.

Biologists now generally agree that the fungal disease known as chytridiomycosis is responsible for the worldwide die-off of frogs that has caused a conservation crisis in recent years. However, the fungus affects only the outer layers of the skin, leaving few clues to why it is so lethal.

But now Jamie Voyles of James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, and colleagues have an answer. In diseased frogs, the skin's ability to take up sodium and potassium ions from the water decreases by more than 50 per cent, they found. As a result, the concentration of these two ions in the frogs' blood fell by 20 and 50 per cent, respectively. This ion loss – similar to the hyponatraemia that a human athlete might experience from drinking too much water too fast – eventually leads to cardiac arrest and death.

The researchers found they could delay death by giving diseased frogs an oral electrolyte-replacement solution – a sort of froggy Gatorade. Fungal damage to the skin was too extensive for this to prevent death altogether, the study represents a first step toward finding an effective treatment for the disease, Voyles says.

Journal reference: Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.1176765

Read more!

US to give threatened polar bears vast 'critical habitat'

Yahoo News 23 Oct 09;

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Thursday announced plans to designate more than 200,000 square miles in Alaska as critical habitat for polar bears, a key step towards increasing protection for the threatened species.

"Proposing critical habitat for this iconic species is one step in the right direction to help this species stave off extinction, recognizing that the greatest threat to the polar bear is the melting of Arctic sea ice caused by climate change," Interior Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks Tom Strickland said in a statement announcing the move.

The habitat would cover 200,541 square miles (519,399 square kilometeters) and include barrier islands along Alaska?s coast, sea ice habitat, land and rivers near the coast where the bears make their dens.

The United States listed the polar bear as a threatened species in May last year, saying climate change has caused a drastic loss of Arctic sea-ice, which is essential for the survival of the bears.

But although the Endangered Species Act calls for a critical habitat to be designated at the same time as a species is declared threatened, wildlife officials under the previous administration of president George W. Bush held off on naming the habitat area.

The Bush administration also pushed forward with the sale of offshore exploration leases in parts of Alaska where polar bears dwell, insisting that developing oil activities in Alaska would not harm the bears.

By contrast, Strickland said the administration of President Barack Obama "is fully committed to the protection and recovery of the polar bear."

But the designated critical habitat for the bears would include "areas where oil and gas exploration activities are known to occur," according to the Fish and Wildlife Services, the branch of the Department of the Interior in charge of nature conservancy.

Feds designates polar bear habitat in Alaska
Matthew Daly, Associated Press Yahoo News 23 Oct 09;

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration said Thursday it is designating more than 200,000 square miles in Alaska and off its coast as "critical habitat" for polar bears, an action that could add restrictions to future offshore drilling for oil and gas.

Federal law prohibits agencies from taking actions that may adversely affect critical habitat and interfere with polar bear recovery.

Assistant Interior Secretary Tom Strickland called the habitat designation a step in the right direction to help polar bears stave off extinction, while recognizing that the greatest threat to the bear is the melting of Arctic sea ice caused by climate change.

"As we move forward with a comprehensive energy and climate strategy, we will continue to work to protect the polar bear and its fragile environment," Strickland said at a news conference.

The total area proposed for critical habitat designation would cover about 200,541 square miles — about half in the rugged Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast. About 93 percent of the area proposed for the polar bear is sea ice, with the remaining 7 percent made up of barrier islands or land-based dens of snow and ice.

Designation as critical habitat would not, in itself, bar oil or gas development, but would make consideration of the effect on polar bears and their habitat an explicit part of any government-approved activity.

Thursday's announcement starts a 60-day public comment period, with a final rule expected next year. Interior faces a June 30 deadline for critical habitat designation under terms of a settlement agreement between the government and three environmental groups.

The Bush administration last year declared polar bears "threatened," or likely to become endangered. The May 2008 order by then-Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne cited the bear's need for sea ice, the dramatic loss of such ice in recent decades and computer models that suggest sea ice is likely to recede further in the future.

Environmental groups hailed the habitat announcement, but noted that it came in the same week that the Interior Department approved a plan by a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell to drill exploratory wells on two leases in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's north coast. The proposed drilling sites are within the area proposed for critical habitat designation.

"If polar bears are to survive in a rapidly melting Arctic, we need to protect their critical habitat, not turn it into a polluted industrial zone," said Brendan Cummings, a lawyer with the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity, which filed a lawsuit in the polar bear case.

Cummings called the Interior Department "schizophrenic" — on the one hand declaring its intent to protect polar bear habitat in the Arctic, yet at the same time "sacrificing that habitat to feed our unsustainable addiction to oil."

The announcement comes one day after the state of Alaska filed a new complaint in its effort to overturn the listing of the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Former Gov. Sarah Palin filed suit last year, saying that Interior did not respond to the state's concerns in a timely manner before listing the polar bears as threatened. State officials say the listing could cripple offshore oil and gas development in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, which provide prime habitat for the polar bears.

Gov. Sean Parnell, who succeeded Palin upon her resignation last summer, said the Endangered Species Act was being used as a way to shut down resource development along Alaska's northern coast. Parnell said he does not intend to let that happen.

Environmental groups monitoring the Arctic have long complained that federal regulators routinely grant permits for petroleum exploration without adequately considering consequences for whales, polar bears, walrus and other marine mammals. They say boats, drilling platforms and aircraft will add to bears' stress by causing them to flee and expend more energy.

Conservation groups also say oil companies have not demonstrated they can clean up an oil spill in broken ice. Cleanup off Alaska's coast could be slowed by extreme cold, moving ice, high wind and low visibility.

Andrew Wetzler of the Natural Resources Defense Council said designation of critical habitat is a powerful tool to protect threatened species, but said more must be done to save the polar bear from extinction.

___

On the Net:

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: http://www.fws.gov/

U.S. maps protected Alaska habitat for polar bears
Yereth Rosen, Reuters 22 Oct 09;

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - A vast swath of icy sea, barrier islands and coastal land on Alaska's oil-rich North Slope will be granted special protection because of its importance to the threatened polar bear, under a proposal released Thursday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The agency proposes that 200,000 square miles (518,000 sq km) of coastline and shallow Arctic Ocean waters be designated as critical habitat, a status of heightened protection afforded under the Endangered Species Act.

The area, which would be the largest ever designated for an Endangered Species Act-listed population, overlaps the territory with the largest existing oil fields in the United States where companies operate and plan to explore more.

Tom Strickland, assistant Interior Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said in a telephone news conference that the critical-habitat designation should not hinder further development as long as operations are responsible and careful.

Oil companies are already subject to rules for protecting polar bears imposed by the Marine Mammal Protection Act and under other aspects of the Endangered Species Act.

"The activities going on in the energy community, both onshore and offshore, were already subject to significant regulatory review and consideration as they might affect the bear prior to this step that we're taking today," Strickland said.

"We believe that it will not be a significant additional burden on the industry for that reason, but it does further highlight the importance of trying to minimize any kind of activity in these critical areas that might adversely impact the bear."

ENVIRONMENTALISTS PLEASED

Included in the designation are areas where polar bears establish their dens, give birth and nurse their cubs and forage for food, officials said. Over 90 percent of the habitat is water that is often covered by sea ice.

Environmentalists said they were pleased with the plan, which is subject to a 60-day public review before it becomes final.

"The maps all are what scientists say polar bear critical habitat in the U.S. should be," said Brendan Cummings, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the environmental groups that sued to gain Endangered Species Act protections for polar bears.

But Cummings and other environmentalists said the Department of Interior must stop the spread of oil development in new Arctic territory to make the critical-habitat designation meaningful.

Alaska state officials, however, are fighting the listing itself and the regulations it entails.

"Some are attempting to use the Endangered Species Act as a way to shut down resource development. I'm not going to let that happen on my watch," Governor Sean Parnell told a news conference late Wednesday.

The state has sued to overturn the listing and filed a brief earlier this week in U.S. District Court in Washington that argues that polar bear populations are robust and unaffected by sea-ice changes, the Republican governor said.

(Editing by Mary Milliken)

Read more!