Nepal emerges as 'poacher's paradise'

Deepesh Shrestha Yahoo News 7 Nov 09;

KATHMANDU (AFP) – Forest warden Narendra Man Babu Pradhan is on the frontline of Nepal's battle against poachers and he grimaces as he recalls the recent discovery of an injured rhino whose horn had been cut off.

"We found a male rhino with bullet in his head around a lake in the park. It was a horrific sight," said Pradhan, who was informed by tour guides about the injured animal.

"The poachers had cut the horn off without killing it and it seemed in great pain," said the chief warden of the Chitwan National Park in southwest Nepal, a UNESCO world heritage site that is popular with foreign tourists.

Pradhan, who said the incident was the worst of his 20-year wildlife career, did everything he could to save the rhino but it died within two weeks.

In Nepal, poaching is getting worse, conservationists say, and the country has emerged as a hub for the illegal trade in animal parts given its strategic location between India, the source of material, and the Chinese market.

Porous borders, a lack of coordination between countries in the region and political instability in Nepal mean the men with guns and underworld connections are gaining the upper hand.

"The disappearance of tigers and seizures of skins, bones and rhino horns indicate poaching and trafficking is growing," Shiva Raj Bhatta, spokesman at Nepal's department of national parks and wildlife conservation, told AFP.

"Our wildlife is in a critical stage. We believe Nepal is fast developing as an international hub for wildlife trade and turning into a poacher's paradise."

Chitwan Park has lost 24 rhinos -- 17 of them killed by poachers -- in the past 18 months.

The figures for Asian big cats are not encouraging either.

A new tiger census carried out earlier this year showed that there were 121 adult tigers in Nepal's parks. In two parks in southwestern Nepal, the numbers fell by 60 percent, from 65 to 26.

World Bank president Robert Zoellick, who sent a video message to a tiger conservation forum at the end of October, said that traders and poachers were better organised than policymakers and conservationists.

"At present the illegal trade in wildlife is estimated at over 10 billion dollars (annually) across Asia -- second only to weapons and drug smuggling," he said.

In India, where tiger numbers are dwindling, experts say the border between India and Nepal serves as the principal route for contraband from India to the main market in China.

Poachers bribe poor forest dwellers to guide them through the dense jungles.

Part of the problem in Nepal, explained Bhatta, is that recent political turmoil has handed smugglers the opportunity to expand their operations.

Nepal's decade-long civil war between Maoist rebels and the state ended in 2006 with a UN-brokered peace agreement.

Since then the country has seen tumultuous change, with the ultra-leftists winning landmark polls, abolishing the 240-year-old monarchy and declaring Nepal a secular state before their government fell in May.

"Before the peace accord, the army used to be mobilised both inside and outside the parks, which created a psychological deterrent to the poachers," Bhatta said.

"Now the army is confined just inside the parks and in barracks."

Tiger and leopard parts, rhino horns, otter skins, live birds and turtles are known to pass through Nepal.

Rhino horns are highly valued as an aphrodisiac in China, and are used to make dagger handles in Arab countries.

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

Samir Sinha, head of TRAFFIC India, a wildlife trade monitoring network, agreed with Zoellick that smuggling in animal parts had grown into a multi-billion-dollar business.

"All the signals are there to suggest that wildlife trafficking is fast emerging as transnational crime and is growing alarmingly," Sinha told AFP. "It will be difficult to win a battle against the traffickers unless countries collaborate with each other and share information and intelligence regularly."

A single tiger skin fetches a maximum of about 1,000 dollars in the local market, but more than 10,000 dollars internationally.

A single rhino horn can fetch as much as 14,000 dollars on the international black market, experts say.

Prasanna Yonzon of Wildlife Conservation Nepal, a local group monitoring the illegal trade, said Nepal had "ideal conditions" for wildlife trafficking as the borders with India and China are porous and lack proper security.

"Nepal is not the market for consumption and we don't have control over the market," said Yonzon, whose group has helped authorities nab over 100 poachers and traders through undercover operations in the last four years.

"The main market is China and other Asian countries. We are just being used as a conduit route to smuggle wildlife parts to the end users in those countries."

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Niger's giraffes stage a comeback

Martin Plaut, BBC News 8 Nov 09;

The giraffe population of Niger, which was on the verge of extinction just 10 years ago, is now on the rise and moving into new habitats.

From a herd of 50 animals, careful conservation supported by Niger's government has seen their numbers rise to around 200.

Once, thousands of giraffes roamed across tracts of West Africa from the deserts of Chad to the Atlantic coast.

They are a specific sub-species of giraffe that only inhabit the region.

These endangered animals are now only to be found in a tiny area close to Niger's capital, Niamey.

Remarkable synergy

Julian Fennessy, of the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, says they live side by side with farmers just 60km (37 miles) from the city.

"You can see them cross the fields," he says.

"They are drinking from the same water pans as cattle. It is quite a remarkable synergy that the people have with the giraffe, and it is the last wildlife left in this whole area."

As their numbers rise, the giraffes are on the move.

They are looking for fresh ranges and keeping track of them is vital.

Conservationists have been given a grant to buy collars for the animals to monitor their movements.

The government of Niger has banned all hunting and believes the giraffes will help build the country's tourism industry.

From these herds it is hoped that the animals, which grow to up to 6m (19ft) tall, will rebuild the population of the region.

W. Africa's last giraffes make surprising comeback
Todd Pitman, Associated Press Yahoo News 8 Nov 09;

KOURE, Niger – A crisp African dawn is breaking overhead, and Zibo Mounkaila is on the back of a pickup truck bounding across a sparse landscape of rocky orange soil.

The tallest animals on earth are here, the guide says, somewhere amid the scant green bush on one side, and the thatched dome villages on the other.

They're here, but by all accounts, they shouldn't be.

A hundred years ago, West Africa's last giraffes numbered in the thousands and their habitat stretched from Senegal's Atlantic Ocean coast to Chad, in the heart of the continent. By the dawn of the 21st century, their world had shrunk to a tiny zone southeast of the capital, Niamey, stretching barely 150 miles (240 kilometers) long.

Their numbers dwindled so low that in 1996, they numbered a mere 50.

Instead of disappearing as many feared, though, the giraffes have bounced miraculously back from the brink of extinction, swelling to more than 200 today.

It's an unlikely boon experts credit to a combination of concerned conservationists, a government keen for revenue, and a rare harmony with villagers who have accepted their presence — for now.

___

There are nine subspecies of giraffes in Africa, each distinguished by geographic location and the color, pattern and shape of their spotted coats.

The animals in Niger are known as Giraffa camelopardalis peralta, the most endangered subspecies in Africa. They have large orange-brown spots that fade into pale white legs.

Ten years ago, an estimated 140,000 giraffes inhabited Africa, according to Julian Fennessy, a Nairobi, Kenya-based conservation expert. Today, giraffes number less than 100,000, devastated by poaching, war, advancing deserts and exploding human populations that have destroyed and fragmented their habitats. Around half the giraffes live outside game parks in the wild, where they are more difficult to monitor and protect, Fennessy said.

Giraffe hunting is prohibited in many countries. And some, like Kenya, have taken giraffe meat off the menu of tourist restaurants that once served them up on huge skewers. Even so, Fennessy said the plight of giraffes has largely been overlooked in conservation circles.

"We're trying to increase awareness, educate people, help governments put conservation practices in place," said Fennessy, who founded the Giraffe Conservation Foundation to draw attention to the animals' plight. "If we don't, giraffe numbers are going to continue to drop."

___

The first time the trucks came for them in Koure was more than a decade ago, during the reign of an army colonel who seized power in a 1996 coup.

Col. Ibrahim Bare Mainassara was adamant they would make a good gift for the president of neighboring Burkina Faso and he ordered several captured, said Omer Kodjo Dovi of the Niamey-based Association to Safeguard the Giraffes of Niger.

But "the giraffes went into a panic," Dovi said. "They couldn't outrun the trucks."

The animals weigh up to 2,200 pounds (1,000 kilograms) and can run at speeds up to 35 miles per hour (55 kilometers per hour). But if they fall, they can have difficulty getting up and die.

Dovi said five were captured. Three died on the spot; two were believed shipped to Burkina Faso. Nobody knows if they ever made it.

By 1998, Niger's government — pressed by conservation groups — began to realize the herds were about to disappear forever.

Authorities drafted new laws banning hunting and poaching. Killing a giraffe became punishable by five-year jail terms and fines amounting to hundreds of times the yearly income of farmers.

The changes had a startling effect: by 2004, the herds had nearly doubled in size.

The government "realized they had an invaluable biological and tourism resource: the last population left in West Africa," said Jean-Patrick Suraud, a French scientist with the Association to Safeguard the Giraffes of Niger.

In 2004, though, the trucks came again — this time on a mission for President Mamadou Tandja, who ordered a pair captured for the dictator of neighboring Togo.

Four vehicles barreled down the two-lane highway toward the giraffe zone. Inside them were Togolese soldiers, government forestry rangers and three local guides, according to the independent local newspaper Le Republicain, which reported the incident and published photographs.

"They did it like cowboys," said Suraud, who began working in Niger in 2005. "These are big animals, fragile. They can easily die of stress."

The giraffes were tied up, blindfolded, tranquilized and hauled onto the back of open-back trucks bound for the Togo border.

They died en route.

___

In Africa, giraffe skin is used for drums, watertight bowls, even shoes. Their bones are employed as grinders and some believe they can help bring rain. Mounkaila, the guide, said some villagers believe the hair on giraffe coats can induce fertility.

The villagers living around Koure, though, think giraffes are mostly useless, Suraud said. They aren't domesticated, and they can't be hunted for food. So the Association to Safeguard the Giraffes of Niger tries to teach people it's in their interest to keep them around.

"We tell them, 'if you are pro-giraffe, we can support you, give you loans,'" Suraud said. "But there is a quid pro quo. 'We also want you to stop chopping down their bushes and plant trees.'"

With 10 staff and help from private European zoos and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, the Giraffe Association has built wells, planted trees and educated guides like Mounkaila who make a living escorting visitors through "the giraffe zone" — the fenceless region the animals trek through.

Niger's herds bring in a modest amount of tourist money for the government, too, paid in small sums through $10 fees distributed partly to the local district.

The Giraffe Association has focused especially on loans.

One of the beneficiaries, a 55-year-old Adiza Yamba, bought a small lamb for $50. The mother of eight fed it, then sold it for twice the price after it grew, paying back the money and pocketing the profit — a huge amount in one of the world's poorest countries.

"We don't mind them," Yamba said, echoing the stated view of most farmers. "Sometimes they try to eat the beans or mangos from our fields, but they never bother us."

Truer sentiments, perhaps, were evident last year when a pair of giraffes was killed by a truck as they crossed the highway: villagers swiftly moved in and divvied up huge chunks of red meat from the roadkill.

___

Since 1996, Niger's giraffe population has expanded by 12 percent per year — three times their average growth rate on the rest of the continent, Suraud said.

One reason: they face no natural predators. Poachers around Koure long ago wiped out the region's lions and leopards — which can claim 50 to 70 percent of young giraffes before they reach their first year.

The giraffes had also stumbled upon a peaceful region with enough food to sustain them, and a population that mostly left them alone. Today, they crisscross the land in harmony with turbaned nomads in worn flip-flops shepherding camels and sheep.

Drawn to freshly growing vegetation that sprouts during the rainy season, the giraffes can be seen in herds of 10 or 15, wrapping 18-inch black tongues (45-centimeter black tongues) around thorny acacia trees and combretum bush.

They graze within eyesight of farmers living in thatched dome huts, sometimes crossing through their bean and millet fields.

They are so used to humans, tourists can walk virtually right up to them.

"It's quite special in Niger how habituated they've become," Fennessy said. "You don't normally find giraffes living so close to villagers."

__

As the herds grow, some question how much the land can support.

The animals have been exploring new zones close to the border with Mali. In 2007, two crossed into Nigeria, and never returned.

"When they go away from this zone, it's a big risk, they can be hunted easily," said Suraud. "The population may be growing, but they're still very threatened."

The biggest hazard: habitat loss.

On a recent day, Salifou Mamoudou, an Environment Ministry official, spotted a turbaned man raking away vegetation from a dirt field. He told the man he was breaking the law; the man said he was only plowing a family plot — legally.

Mamoudou shrugged, and moved on.

Villagers relentlessly cut down dead wood to sell, he said. And, in an effort to make way for crops, they cut down vegetation the giraffes feed on. That's technically illegal, but there is almost no authority around to stop them.

"If we let them, they'll cut trees all the way up to the road," Mamadou said, waving a hand toward the highway, several miles (kilometers) away. "If there is no habitat, there will be no giraffes."

___

In the early morning dusk, a family of five giraffes is feeding on bubbles of vegetation freshened by recent rain.

It is a peaceful, primordial scene.

Mounkaila, the guide, takes a drag off a cigarette and walks casually toward them. He is just a few yards (meters) away, dwarfed by animals nearly three times his height.

Mounkaila rattles off some facts, not bothering to keep his voice down. The gentle creatures eye him, but don't seem to mind. A step closer, and they will slowly walk away.

They can grow up 20 feet tall (six meters tall), he says. They can eat 65 to 85 pounds (30 to 40 kilograms) per day, live an average of 25 years, and are able to go without water for weeks, needing less than camels.

Amid a clutch of treetops in the opposite direction, the heads of another pair poke out.

Mounkaila sweeps his shriveled hand across the landscape, toward a red and white cell phone tower rising not far away above the greenery.

"It wasn't always like this," the 50-year-old says, digging his flip flops into the orange soil. "When I was a boy, the giraffes were far more numerous, but they were harder to see."

There used to be enough vegetation to conceal them, he said, but the bush and forests are disappearing. And with nowhere to hide, the animals are forced to come out in search of food.

"They're easier to spot," Mounkaila said. "But that's good for us, not them."

___

On the Net:

Giraffe Conservation Foundation: http://www.giraffeconservation.org

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Bats not the bad guys

Australian Biosecurity CRC, Science Alert 9 Nov 09;

Hendra has given bats a bad name. Understandable given Hendra virus has killed people and horses, and scientists have discovered that Hendra virus is carried by bats. But it’s not all the bats’ fault.

“Flying-foxes or fruit bats are large, very mobile animals that can fly long distances, possibly 100s of kilometres overnight. They are also very social animals, and roost during the day in large communal groups. We are very aware of them because they are so visible at dawn and dusk when we see them leaving or returning to their roosts” says Billie Roberts, an expert in flying-fox ecology and behaviour.

“Because flying-foxes roost and feed within urban and coastal landscapes people have the impression there are more flying-foxes than ever, when in fact some species are actually undergoing dramatic decreases in numbers because of habitat loss and shooting of flying-foxes to protect crops.”

We’ve long had a mixed relationship with bats. These species are important to Australian forests because they are the major pollinators and seed dispersers of the forests, and tourist operators regarded them as a key ecotourism species. In urban areas, though, local governments are interested in the impact of flying fox camps on residential areas, because people are disturbed by the bats’ noise and smell. Farmers are concerned about fruit damage and loss. And now health departments and horse owners are worried about Hendra virus.

But some of the negative outcomes we blame on bats are of our own making.

“As urban development sprawls the flowering eucalypt trees that flying foxes should be feeding on are being chopped down. As a result, hungry flying foxes have to travel more to search for food, and sometimes they find an orchard with ripe fruit as a substitute to their natural food.”

“We should think of flying foxes as the canary in the coalmine; they are messengers of what we’re doing to our environment. We shouldn’t be shooting the messengers but regarding them as important indicators of the health of our environment.”

Scientists are starting to think that the recent appearance of Hendra virus is a symptom of bats showing stress as a result to changes we’ve made to the environment.

“The actual virus is uncommon in flying-foxes and does not appear to cause them any problems. All indications are that Hendra virus spills over from bats to horses and then from horses to humans – there are no known cases of people contracting Hendra virus from flying-foxes” says Dr Stephen Prowse, CEO with the Australian Biosecurity CRC.

Despite recent annual outbreaks, Hendra infection is rare in horses and people. Hendra virus does not appear to be highly infectious and does not spread easily; however when it does the consequences can be devastating.

“More research is required to get a better understanding of how the virus persists in bats and spreads to horses, and for the development of vaccines and treatments. However, the public should not be unduly concerned about fruit bats but treat them as they would any other wild animal and enjoy having them in our urban environment. We need to better learn to live with bats.”

So, if you find a sick or injured bat don’t try to pick it up, but call the RSPCA or the bat rescue helpline on 0488 228 134. Horse owners need to try to minimise the likelihood of contact between fruit bats and horses. And horse owners and veterinarians need to improve their biosecurity and infection control practices.

In this way we can better manage and reduce the risks of Hendra virus outbreaks and allow bats, horses and people to safely share our environment.

For more information about Hendra virus research visit www.abcrc.org.au/

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Putting a price tag on nature’s services – new book

IUCN 9 Nov 09;

Cutting-edge science and striking photography are combined in a new book about ecosystem services, biodiversity and human well-being.

Placing a financial value on the services and goods that nature provides is critical to guarantee that ecosystems stay healthy and continue to provide the benefits that all people depend on to survive, leading scientists write in the Wealth of Nature book.

Compiled by CEMEX, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Conservation International (CI), the International League of Conservation Photographers (ILCP) and The Wild Foundation, the book combines more than twenty essays by many of the world’s leading conservation scientists with hundreds of striking full-colour photographs by world renowned nature photographers. It is a celebration of nature’s ecological services and demonstrates in detail how they can contribute to our health, economic prosperity and cultural values.

IUCN Director General, Julia Marton-Lefèvre, who wrote the foreword of the book, said: “We now recognize that the climate will change, posing new challenges and threats to nature. Conserving biodiversity will play a key role in our ability to adapt to these changes. This book is a bridge between negotiations on a climate deal at Copenhagen and the launch of the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010.”

The Wealth of Nature is being unveiled today 9 November at the 9th World Wilderness Congress in Mexico, and is the 17th title in the CEMEX Conservation Book Series.

For more information:

The Wealth of Nature - Ecosystem Services, Biodiversity and Human Well-Being
ISBN-13:978-0-9841686-0-6
Publication date: October 2009
Suggested Retail Price: $58
More info: www.thewealthofnature.org

Photos are available here: http://bit.ly/iVPC9

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Concerns raised over Marine Stewardship Council’s fish label

Frank Pope, Times Online 9 Nov 09;

An eco-labelling scheme intended to encourage people to eat fish from sustainable sources is being criticised by conservationists.

The collaboration between the conservation group WWF and Unilever, one of the world’s biggest seafood retailers, now gives its stamp of approval to $1.5 billion (£900 million) of business every year.

There is concern, however, that the scheme’s blue label, which is put on packaging, is being awarded to fisheries whose stocks are not properly managed or where the ecosystem is being damaged.

The scheme was established ten years ago by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), based in London. There are 58 certified fisheries, with a further 114 in the process of being assessed. It is intended to benefit fishermen by ensuring long-term sustainability of their livelihood and boosting the price of their catch.

The source of the New Zealand hoki — a bug-eyed, deep-water fish once used for McDonald’s Filet O’Fish — was one of the first fisheries to be certified in 2001. Stocks promptly crashed and quotas were slashed from 250,000 tonnes to just 90,000 tonnes by 2007.

While the hoki industry cites the reduced quotas as a sign of pre-emptive good management, conservationists say that they are a sign of underlying problems with the science of how stocks are judged sustainable.

At the other end of the Pacific, the same argument rages over the pollock used to make many of Britain’s fish fingers. The MSC-certified Alaskan pollock fishery is worth nearly $1 billion a year, but despite being rigorously managed by the National Marine Fisheries Service the stock’s assessments are controversial. Populations appear to have halved since 2004, and last year quotas were cut by nearly 20 per cent. Jeremy Jackson, of Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, California, said: “Economic pressures to keep on fishing at such high levels have overwhelmed common sense.”

The MSC prides itself on its transparency and well-regulated objections process, but there are signs that it is not fulfilling its function. Southeast of the pollock grounds, the Pacific hake fishery was in the closing stages of certification earlier this year. The Monterey Bay Aquarium and Oceana, a marine conservation group, filed an objection, pointing out that the stock was at the lowest level ever observed, down nearly 90 per cent from the 1980s. The claim was dismissed.

To date, no objections have resulted in a rejected application. Only one fishery — for lobsters, in British waters — has been turned down after an assessment has been paid for The MSC uses independent companies to assess fisheries, which critics say leaves the door open to “special arrangements” between them and the fishing companies which pay to be evaluated. The fees are typically between £9,000 and £72,000.

Moody Marine International does about half of all MSC certifications around the world. Like the other certifiers, Moody will provide fisheries with a pre-assessment to assess their likelihood of being accepted. But as Andrew Hough, one of Moody’s lead assessors, admits, “as the market has increased, far more enquiries we get now lead to pre-assessment, and most of those lead to full certification”.

“I wouldn’t say they’ve all come out smelling of roses ... Each fishery has some area of weakness,” he said.

A report by Consumer Focus, formerly the National Consumer Council, adds to criticism of the scheme today, saying it is not convinced supermarkets give the information shoppers need to decide whether fish are from sustainable stocks.

“In theory certification is a great idea, but this scheme has never fulfilled its potential,” said Barry Weeber, of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. “The bar has always been set far too low.”

Rupert Howes, CEO of the MSC, said: “Fisheries science is an evolving business. At some stage in the future standards will be reviewed. In the interim, don’t let expectations of perfection obscure the significant progress that is being delivered.”

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Is Asia Taking Corporate Social Responsibility Seriously?

Chris Tobias, Reuters 7 Nov 09;

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a critical issue across Asia. From local companies to multi-national conglomerates, how successfully business interacts with its environs and community is of supreme importance.

The recent CSR-Asia Conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia gave some worthwhile perspectives in a region home to roughly 60% of the world's population. But how many of the case studies demonstrated a genuine portrayal of companies doing good work, and how much was at best blatant greenwash? What countries, industries, and companies are emerging as leaders? What are they key issues facing the region?

Aviation Industry's Climate Woes

One of the bright spots included a refreshingly honest account from Cathay Pacific's Mark Watson. Working in the area of environmental management and CSR, Watson detailed the airline's efforts in many areas like improving fuel efficiency (23% improvement over the last decade), investigation of biofuels, and redesigning their jet fleet with suppliers like Boeing and Rolls Royce.

Cathay is also proactively working with industry groups like IATA to set clear carbon related policies for the aviation industry leading up to Copenhagen's climate negotiations later this year. Watson was frank in his admission that, "Airlines do not have the abatement options of other industries. There is no silver bullet for aviation emissions."

While aviation emissions are around 2-3% of the global total, due to the altitude at which they occur, they pose a disproportionate effect on the climate as they affect the complex chemistry of Earth's upper atmosphere. Watson outlined Cathay's attempts make a clear, level playing field for airlines to take responsibility for their carbon emissions, and noted that the upcoming climate negotiations in Copenhagen later this year would be difficult.

Developing Nations, Climate Negotiations, and CDM

"Countries like Brazil, India, and China are against the equal treatment of emissions across countries and industries worldwide," Watson said. "Instead, they push for the common but differentiated responsibility treatment." Within United Nations negotiations, this essentially means that so-called developing nations get different treatment and are not liable in many of the same ways as developed nations. This is a likely sticking point for many countries coming to a cohesive agreement, and with carbon atmospheric levels already over 380ppm, timing is critical to correct the problem.

Countries taking this position on emissions has knock on effects for their national industries, such as aviation. Some countries such as Singapore are crafty in how they straddle both sides of the fence: for business and investment, they position themselves as developed nations; on climate and carbon issues, they wish to be seen as developing countries to avoid major emissions liability.

Recently, Singapore has been especially vocal on avoiding emissions cuts , rather than taking a critical leadership role in Southeast Asia- to much disapproval from more informed citizens. [Side note: with such national tactics afoot, it's not surprising that Singaporean companies rank low on CSR-Asia's Sustainability Rating, near the bottom of the list with countries like Pakistan.]

While Cathay Pacific seemed to be toe-to-toe with other aviation leaders like Air New Zealand and Continental, Watson noted that the bulk of the industry were laggards on many climate and environmental issues. "Because aviation survives on very low margins, any company not taking the cost of carbon emissions, fuel costs, and efficiency into serious account faces massive risk," he said. On the fuel and climate change fronts, the aviation industry seems set for a continued shakeout of poorly managed companies in the years ahead.

The good news is, on the subject of carbon trading and CDM projects [clean development mechanism], Business Development Manager Richard Mao from First Climate shared some promising information. "According to recent research, carbon markets are rapidly developing. The 2009 volume is expected to double that of 2008, and countries with the greatest number of CDM projects are topped by developing nations like China, India, and Malaysia," he said. So while at one level, big developing nations might be swatting off responsibility, on the ground level there is a lot going on to reduce emissions.

Regardless of whatever happens in Copenhagen climate negotiations, Mao noted that the EU was prepared to take a leadership role, and aim for 20% reduction emissions targets if no international agreement took shape. If other countries worldwide got on board with sweeping cuts, the EU was going to commit to a 30% reduction against their 1990 emissions levels.

The Thrust for Transparency and Better CSR Policy in Asia

The Malaysian Bursa Stock Exchange is trying to foster better CSR in Malaysia. In terms of policy and governance issues, Bursa is taking a lead by requiring that all listed companies have at least a basic CSR policy.

While specific criteria around what is contained in the policy has not yet been established, CEO Yusli Mohamed Yosef has publicly stated that companies need to include CSR criteria in their operations as "the new business as usual."

Coupled with the Malaysian government's recent announcement of a 100 million Ringgit fund to support CSR development in companies across the country, these are promising developments in Southeast Asia, and indeed the larger global context.

Summing up the state-of-play, CSR-Asia Chairman Richard Welford indicated that one year ago as the financial crisis was in full effect, he was concerned for the future of CSR in Asia.

However, he stated "That due to the financial meltdown, CSR has been pushed to the forefront as a part of the serious debate and discussion around the irresponsibility of business." He highlighted that trust, governance, transparency, accountability, communication, and disclosure will need the utmost attention going forward to rebuild public trust in business. It is likely CSR will become more deeply imbedded in the business landscape as a result.

Has the Financial Industry Learned Anything?

Speaking of the financial meltdown, while the recent crisis has meant some advancement for CSR, has the attitude of financial institutions actually changed? Are any of the underlying attitudes and causes for the crisis being addressed? If the rhetoric from Chief Risk Credit Officer Paul Norton at HSBC is any indication, there is still a lot to be desired.

While glossy overview was given on HSBC's environmental and social policy, very little emerged when boiled down to the details. Citing client confidentiality, Mr. Norton declined to answer several questions around HSBC's dealings with several forestry related projects and remained vague overall in terms of how policy was actually executed.

From the point of view of external scrutiny, here wouldn't be much to examine; again the issue of transparency and open disclosure remains elusive. This was in spite of him talking at length about the strength of their policies towards responsible forestry. While policy might put HSBC ahead of some other banks on irresponsible lending practices, the exercise came across more as a slick PR exercise than CSR initiative.

What was also concerning about his talk was an air of overconfidence, the candor of banking business as usual, the same pre-crisis rhetoric. Interestingly, a lunchtime keynote speech by Irene Dorner, Deputy Chairman and CEO of HSBC Malaysia maintained the same self-assured, all knowing tenor.

With the banking industry having gone through the throes of major crisis, one might expect something more humble and transparent. As with the Wilmar case, perhaps HSBC can be given some points for effort, but the proof is in the pudding.

In many ways, these case studies reveal the complex nature of the global issues facing us as a human race. Most of these examples demonstrate the need to look at issues in terms of larger context, not quick fix solutions or short-term profit motives. If we are going to get anywhere on issues like climate change, we will need to adopt this sort of thinking and design in all of our solutions. CSR or no CSR, there is literally a world of work left to do.

Chris Tobias is Celsias Editor-at-Large and Lead Strategist at Forward

Reprinted from Celsias.com

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Not ready for REDD?

Esteve Corbera and Manuel Estrada, Science Alert 9 Nov 09;

It is clear that any effective international 'deal' on climate change must decrease emissions from deforestation and land-use change that represent about a fifth of all emissions. An international mechanism to fund such reductions, reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), is emerging as a global blueprint to achieve this, and expectations are high.

Many developing countries are keen to participate because entering the regulated carbon market, which represented US$126 billion in 2008, raises hopes of long-term income.

Developed countries are similarly enthusiastic. REDD offers them a relatively cheap way to meet their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol (or any new climate change treaty) and could also encourage developing countries to sign up to voluntary emission reduction commitments at a sectoral level in the next round of climate negotiations.

But designing a framework that will live up to everyone's expectations will be hard, given the divergent political, institutional, technical and governance capacities within the developing world.

Permanent commitment

One immediate problem is that current proposals are for payment after emissions have been reduced. So countries would have to design and implement carbon reduction policies with their own resources — an unlikely course for those already facing significant budgetary constraints and other more pressing issues, such as poverty, health and education.

Even if the carbon market could deliver up-front funding through innovative financial mechanisms, whether it can ensure deforestation is kept low in the long-term is debatable.

Put simply, the carbon stored in forests can only be counted as emitted to the atmosphere once — so avoiding these emissions can only be sold and used against emissions reduction targets once. Developing countries are essentially being asked to accept a one-off payment for the carbon in their forests, in exchange for permanently committing to avoiding land-use change.

Indeed, if a 'seller's liability' approach is used to define the rules for REDD, this commitment could even become a financial obligation for developing countries — that is, they would have to pay up for any carbon loss for which credits have already been issued and sold.

Checks and balances

An even bigger problem for developing countries is certification. To enter the carbon market, REDD initiatives must generate real, measurable, long-term and additional emissions reductions that are certifiable by a third party. But few developing countries have the resources or expertise to collect enough data on land-use change or carbon storage to fulfill such criteria.

Sure, some individual projects have been successful — emissions reductions from the Noel Kempff Mercado National Park in Bolivia, for example, have been certified by the verification company SGS. But national emissions inventories in most developing countries do not meet the Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism (CDM) standards. For example, Mexico's reported emissions for the land-use sector over the period 1993-2002 had different degrees of uncertainty depending on the data collection methods and the reporting source, with uncertainty ranging between 4 and 34 per cent.

Equally problematic is ensuring that individual REDD credits in the carbon market are properly equivalent to each other (i.e. are fully fungible). Regulations to ensure this, set by buyer countries, could limit demand for credits and so reduce funding for REDD activities.

The European Emissions Trading Scheme's exclusion of credits from afforestation and reforestation CDM projects is a good example of how a potentially large mitigation option can be effectively nullified by regulation in buyer countries (see Climate deals should reward wider forest management and Africa needs agroforestry to cut forest emissions). If REDD is to be successful, national regulations in buyer countries will have to meet rules agreed under the UNFCCC.

Essential groundwork

So it seems unlikely that large numbers of tradable REDD credits will be generated in the short term. Pilot activities, but also massive capacity building, will be needed within the next few years if countries are to pave the way for significant emissions reductions. For example, specific and detailed assessments of what drives deforestation at national and regional levels will be required to show where REDD is most needed, how deforestation and degradation should be tackled and who should be involved in conservation efforts.

Meanwhile, governments and research organisations should be building scientific and technical expertise so that REDD's future architecture does not rely on developed countries' consultants and private organisations, as has often been the case for CDM projects.

Even assuming that the funding issues and technical problems are solved, there are still significant management and governance hurdles to overcome. For example, forest management programmes often fail due to limited staff, equipment and training, corruption among government officers, and misunderstandings about existing property and benefit-sharing arrangements with rural communities.

Informal and customary tenure makes it difficult to set formal contracts with rural stakeholders, and particularly with the most disenfranchised. This means that as well as building scientific and technological capacity to measure, report and verify emission reduction projects, REDD must help improve governance and fairly reward indigenous peoples and communities.

Identifying all the stakeholders, raising awareness about REDD and consulting on how the scheme can or should work are crucial to a successful mechanism for reducing forest emissions. All of these require time and must not be rushed, simply to match the starting date of a post-2012 climate policy regime, or the agenda of supporting organisations.

Esteve Corbera is a researcher at the School of International Development, University of East Anglia, and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in the United Kingdom.

Manuel Estrada is an independent senior consultant on climate change, Mexico.

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Japan eyes solar station in space

Karyn Poupee Yahoo News 8 Nov 09;

TOKYO (AFP) – It may sound like a sci-fi vision, but Japan's space agency is dead serious: by 2030 it wants to collect solar power in space and zap it down to Earth, using laser beams or microwaves.

The government has just picked a group of companies and a team of researchers tasked with turning the ambitious, multi-billion-dollar dream of unlimited clean energy into reality in coming decades.

With few energy resources of its own and heavily reliant on oil imports, Japan has long been a leader in solar and other renewable energies and this year set ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets.

But Japan's boldest plan to date is the Space Solar Power System (SSPS), in which arrays of photovoltaic dishes several square kilometres (square miles) in size would hover in geostationary orbit outside the Earth's atmosphere.

"Since solar power is a clean and inexhaustible energy source, we believe that this system will be able to help solve the problems of energy shortage and global warming," researchers at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, one of the project participants, wrote in a report.

"The sun's rays abound in space."

The solar cells would capture the solar energy, which is at least five times stronger in space than on Earth, and beam it down to the ground through clusters of lasers or microwaves.

These would be collected by gigantic parabolic antennae, likely to be located in restricted areas at sea or on dam reservoirs, said Tadashige Takiya, a spokesman at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The researchers are targeting a one gigawatt system, equivalent to a medium-sized atomic power plant, that would produce electricity at eight yen (cents) per kilowatt-hour, six times cheaper than its current cost in Japan.

The challenge -- including transporting the components to space -- may appear gigantic, but Japan has been pursuing the project since 1998, with some 130 researchers studying it under JAXA's oversight.

Last month Japan's Economy and Trade Ministry and the Science Ministry took another step toward making the project a reality, by selecting several Japanese high-tech giants as participants in the project.

The consortium, named the Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer, also includes Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Fujitsu and Sharp.

The project's roadmap outlined several steps that would need to be taken before a full-blown launch in 2030.

Within several years, "a satellite designed to test the transmission by microwave should be put into low orbit with a Japanese rocket," said Tatsuhito Fujita, one of the JAXA researchers heading the project.

The next step, expected around 2020, would be to launch and test a large flexible photovoltaic structure with 10 megawatt power capacity, to be followed by a 250 megawatt prototype.

This would help evaluate the project's financial viability, say officials. The final aim is to produce electricity cheap enough to compete with other alternative energy sources.

JAXA says the transmission technology would be safe but concedes it would have to convince the public, which may harbour images of laser beams shooting down from the sky, roasting birds or slicing up aircraft in mid-air.

According to a 2004 study by JAXA, the words 'laser' and 'microwave' caused the most concern among the 1,000 people questioned.

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Best of our wild blogs: 8 Nov 09

Life History of the Large Four-Line Blue
from Butterflies of Singapore

Getting high at Hantu
from wonderful creation and singapore nature and wild shores of singapore and psychedelic nature

Collared Kingfisher eats pufferfish
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Smooth Otters & Water Monitors Part II
from Life's Indulgences

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Singapore studying vulnerability to climate change

Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia 7 Nov 09;

SINGAPORE : Singapore is studying in detail its vulnerability to climate change, so that it can identify how to respond to the challenge.

Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said Singapore's development of desalination and water recycling has allowed it to diversify its water supply.

It has also helped the country buffet against the effects of extreme weather events.

Dr Yaacob added that despite signs of economic recovery, countries may find it a challenge to carry out expensive water infrastructure projects.

That is why there is a need to find practical water solutions that are both energy-efficient and cost-effective.

Dr Yaacob was speaking at the opening of the International Desalination Association World Congress in Dubai. - CNA /ls

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Johor plans new dam as water woes continue

The Star 8 Nov 09;

JOHOR BARU: The Johor Government is studying the possibility of building a new dam in Kahang as an alternative water source for the state.

State International Trade and Industry, Energy, Water, Communications and Envi­ronment Committee chairman Tan Kok Hong said the suggestion was made after several of the state’s dams showed low water levels even during the monsoon.

“We face this problem yearly and it is quite alarming especially at the Sembrong dam in Kluang,” he said.

He added that the issue was brought up during the State Water Resource committee meeting chaired by Mentri Besar Abdul Ghani Othman.

“We anticipated the problem at the beginning of the year and raised the dam’s capacity.

“This however, has not helped to solve the problem as the water level at the dam is still quite low.”

Tan said the other dams had not reached critical level and gave an assurance the state would be able to provide water for at least two additional months before running dry.

Tan is chairman for the newly formed integrated river basin management committee that monitors the water levels at rivers to reduce the possibility of floods.

“We had our first meeting on Wednesday with experts from the Malaysian Nature Society and other non-governmental organisations to find the best solution to the problem,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters after attending the 10th anniversary of BASF Southeast Asia Pte Ltd, an engineering plastics compounding plant, in Pasir Gudang here on Thursday.

“Floods are a major problem in the state and we need to find a solution that will also be environmentally friendly,” he said.

There are over 400 rivers in Johor.

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Are we ready for a Malaysia without oil palm?

NGO vs CPO
Optimistically Cautious by Errol Oh, The Star 7 Nov 09;

The campaign against palm oil’s growth in Borneo and Sumatra may come to a climax soon. Must there be losers?

ARE we ready for a Malaysia without oil palm? That sounds far-fetched and overly dramatic, doesn’t it? For that to happen, plantation companies and smallholders would have to stop cultivating the crop because it’s no longer worthwhile doing so. What are the chances of that happening?

Exceedingly slim at the moment, but the domestic plantation industry now has to acknowledge that perhaps more than ever, it’s getting harder to cling to the status quo.

There are several forces at work here. The option of developing new estates in Malaysia, particularly in the peninsula, is fast fading. So there’s the limitation of land scarcity, coupled with the slow rise in yields.

This means it’s tough for oil palm growers operating here to increase output significantly unless they can expand their landbank, which is often an expensive step. Add to that the mounting costs of labour, fertiliser, pesticide and fuel, and you have a challenging operating environment.

On the plus side, demand for palm oil is climbing steadily, driven by the economic strength of major importers such as China, India and the Middle East, and by the world population growth in general.

Also, the food industry’s shift from edible oils that contain trans fatty acids, and the biofuel frenzy triggered by the surging oil prices, have boosted the United States’ and Europe’s demand for palm oil.

Many Malaysian planters have responded to this tangle of factors by venturing into Indonesia, specifically Kalimantan and Sumatra, and to some extent, by opening plantations in Sabah and Sarawak.

The oil palm rush in Borneo and Sumatra – Indonesian companies too have been aggressively increasing their acreage – has led to another shift in the dynamics of the palm oil industry.

As the producers of crude palm oil (CPO) turn tracts of land into oil palm estates, people began questioning the environmental and social impact. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the media in the West have become vociferous opponents of oil palm expansion.

With bodies such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth at the forefront, the NGOs are often relentless and clever in swaying public opinion and political will, so as to apply pressure on the palm oil industry.

Different NGOs have different causes. Together, they link the oil palm industry’s rapid growth to deforestation and peatland degradation, which in turn is blamed for species extinction, worsening climate change and the displacement of indigenous people.

Nobody can deny that many of these NGOs are good at staging in-your-face campaigns that grab attention and influence consumers, businesses and politicians.

It helps too that these organisations operate on altruistic platforms, which also makes it easier for the media to support their fights.

The titles of Greenpeace reports on the oil palm industry, for example, scream that the industry is “cooking the climate” and “burning up Borneo”. NGO members take part in loud, theatrical demonstrations to highlight their protest against the development of oil palm plantations in Borneo and Sumatra.

The use of the orang utan as a symbol of what we stand to lose amid the oil palm boom, is inspired and effective.

The NGOs also target the big buyers of palm oil – among them are household names such as Unilever, Cadbury, Ferrero and Nestle – by urging consumers to boycott products that contain palm oil.

The attacks on the palm oil industry has intensified as the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen next month approaches. Essentially, the NGOs want to halt the surge in oil palm cultivation in Borneo and Sumatra.

Says Greenpeace UK in its website, “We want to see the Indonesian government establish a moratorium on clearing forest and peatland areas and to help achieve that, we’re asking supermarkets and food companies to cease trading with palm oil suppliers that are involved in this environmental destruction.

“We also want to see deforested and degraded peatlands being restored, preventing yet more emissions from these areas.”

In the lead-up to the Copenhagen conference, Unilever and Greenpeace are leading a campaign to persuade the Indonesian government to impose a moratorium on deforestation for two to three years.

Clearly, the palm oil industry can’t ignore the NGOs. It’s not entirely bad, of course, that the industry is compelled to examine its practices and attitude towards sustainability issues.

And they have taken a step in this direction by being a part of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), which incidentally counts Unilever as a founding member. It’s an indication that the industry recognises the need for engagement with stakeholders.

However, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth are not RSPO members, apparently by choice. It’s an example of how difficult it can be to reconcile the objectives on the NGOs with the raison d’etre of businesses and industries.

The detractors frequently describe palm oil as cheap as if it’s a commodity you sell out of the back of a van. Yet, it’s the crop that produces the most oil per hectare, making it the most efficient in land use, and thus the the lowest-cost option for food use. In addition, the palm oil industry are pivotal in the Malaysian and Indonesian economies.

These are arguments you hear all the time from the industry. Of course, these are not the only facts that matter, but they ought to be a huge consideration in assessing the worth and impact of the oil palm industry. The NGOs may have their hearts in the right place, but demonising the oil palm growers is more about strategy than fairness. Is stalling an industry’s growth truly an all-round superior alternative to engagement via the RSPO?

l Deputy business editor Errol Oh reckons that living in a world operated purely for profit is no better and no worse than living in a world run by NGOs alone.

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