Wild horse roundup to begin in Nevada amid protest

Oskar Garcia, Associated Press Yahoo News 20 Dec 09;

LAS VEGAS – A two-month capture of about 2,500 wild horses from public and private lands in northern Nevada began Monday amid protests that the roundups are unnecessary and inhumane.

Federal officials said the roundup is needed because the 850 square miles of land is overpopulated and could become unlivable to wildlife and livestock within four years.

Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman JoLynn Worley said the agency began gathering horses Monday in the eastern portion of the Black Rock Range, a stretch of mountains more than 100 miles north of Reno, Nev.

A contractor was using two helicopters under BLM supervision to move the horses to corrals, Worley said. The animals were then being trucked to Fallon, Nev., for immunizations and veterinary care, she said.

Worley said officials won't know how many horses were captured on Monday until early Tuesday. She said the agency would likely be in the range for one week to 10 days — with a goal of capturing 250 mustangs — before moving on to the next of five areas.

Long-term plans call for the mustangs to be placed for adoption or sent to holding facilities in the Midwest. The agency said a facility in Reno was full of adoptable horses, making it unclear when the animals gathered in the latest capture could be put up for adoption.

Horse defenders say the use of helicopters to drive horses to corrals is inhumane and risks their injury and death. Opponents also contend winter roundups expose horses to the risk of respiratory illness.

Program Director Suzanne Roy of In Defense of Animals said the group questions the timing of the roundup and methods that prevent public monitoring of the roundup.

"It just all smells bad," she said. The California-based group has had trouble getting White House and other federal officials to work through their complaints during the holidays, she added.

About 30 protesters gathered Sunday at the entrance to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area west of Las Vegas, waving down motorists and holding placards.

The group also planned to demonstrate Wednesday outside the San Francisco office of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who protesters hope will sympathize with their calls for a moratorium on wild horse roundups. Other protests were being planned for Wednesday in Chicago and Denver.

Worley said the agency planned to take reporters near the corralling sites on Wednesday and was working through details for public viewing areas as the roundup moves to different areas.

The roundup was to include horses from five federally managed areas in the Calico Mountains complex.

A September count showed more than 3,040 wild horses were living in the area, about three times the land's capacity, federal officials said.

Without the roundup, the horse population in the area would grow by 20 percent to 27 percent annually, passing 6,000 mustangs within four years, according to BLM. At that point, wildlife and livestock wouldn't have enough water or forage.

The roundup is part of the Bureau of Land Management's overall strategy to remove thousands of mustangs from public lands across the West to protect wild horse herds and the rangelands that support them. The bureau estimates about half of the nearly 37,000 wild mustangs live in Nevada, with others concentrated in Arizona, California, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming.

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Africa-wide "Great Green Wall" to Halt Sahara's Spread?

Christine Dell'Amore, National Geographic News 28 Dec 09;

China built its famous Great Wall to keep out marauders. Now, millennia later, a "Great Green Wall" may rise in Africa to deter another, equally relentless invader: sand.

The proposed wall of trees would stretch from Senegal to Djibouti as part of a plan to thwart the southward spread of the Sahara, Senegalese officials said earlier this month at the UN's Copenhagen climate conference.

The trees are meant "to stop the advancement of the desert," Senegalese president and project leader Abdoulaye Wade told National Geographic News in Copenhagen.

In many central and West African countries surrounding the Sahara, climate change has slowed rainfall to a trickle, according to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Crops have died and soils have eroded—crippling local agriculture. If the trend continues, the UN forecasts that two-thirds of Africa's farmland may be swallowed by Saharan sands by 2025 (explore an interactive Sahara map).

Trees are almost always formidable foes against encroaching deserts, said Patrick Gonzalez of the University of California, Berkeley's Center for Forestry.

That's because stands of trees act as natural windbreaks against sandstorms, and their roots improve soil health—especially by preventing erosion.

But choosing the right tree species to populate the wall will be crucial to the project's success, Gonzalez said via email.

Similar tree-planting efforts by outside agencies have failed, he said, in part because they planted foreign species that soon perished in the harsh desert.

"We Have to Do What We Have to Do"

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo first proposed the idea of a desert-blocking wall in 2005, and it was approved by the African Union in 2007.

All 11 countries that would house the Great Green Wall have pledged to help fund the project.

But the wall has been slow to break ground: Of the 4,350 miles (7,000 kilometers) it needs to cover, only about 326 miles (525 kilometers) have been planted so far, all within Senegal.

In Copenhagen, President Wade emphasized that he has made the wall a priority, and he has already asked scientists working on the project to choose species hardy enough to survive in arid conditions without maintenance.

"One thing the president has insisted is … we have to begin the work now, right now," added Ndiawar Djeng, advisor to the Senegalese environment minister.

"If other international committees follow us, that's OK. If not, we have to do what we have to do," Djeng told National Geographic News.

"It's in the interest of our local people."

Farming Boon

The lush channel through the desert would help farmers already displaced by drought—and may even stem the exodus of "environmental refugees," organizers say.

More than 70 percent of Africa's poor depends on farming, according to the IPCC.

But drought, desertification, and other climate-related disasters are forcing many farmers to abandon their lands, spurring a heavier flow of immigrants out of central and North Africa.

The 9.3-mile-wide (15-kilometer-wide) wall of trees would improve the surrounding, now-degraded soils, allowing farmers to again grow crops and more easily raise livestock in the region.

Senegal also plans to dig rainwater reservoirs along its portion of the wall—virtual lifesavers in a region where rain falls only three months out of the year, supporters say.

"France is helping us by bringing its soldiers, who are working with us planting trees and building reservoirs," President Wade added.

The gigantic tree barrier would also trap some atmospheric carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas, and produce a refuge for native animals and plants.

Some of the trees themselves may become valuable crops.

The native acacia senegal tree, which is to be a staple plant in the Great Green Wall, produces gum arabic, a main ingredient in consumer products such as cosmetics and soft drinks.

Farmers could collect the sap and even sustainably harvest some of the wood to make tools or produce charcoal, Senegalese environment advisor Djeng said.

Local Know-How

But Senegal may do more for farmers by simply supporting age-old solutions to desertification, UC Berkeley's Gonzalez noted.

For example the ethnic groups of the Sahel—a swath of semi-arid savanna on the Sahara's southern border—have long been successful at reforesting their land using "natural regeneration."

In this method, farmers plant small native trees from seeds found in the region and raise the trees in agricultural fields protected from nibbling livestock, Gonzalez said.

"The Great Green Wall is less feasible than supporting and reinforcing local farmers and the practice of natural regeneration," he said.

What's more, planting trees alone will not stop the Sahara's spread, according to Matt Brown, senior conservation advisor for the Nature Conservancy's Africa program.

Instead, African governments need to find ways to protect existing vegetation and water sources from overuse, Brown said by email.

Overall, though, the Great Green Wall is an "extremely bold" undertaking, he said, and "sometimes thinking big is what is needed to draw attention to a problem."

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'Back to nature' cuts flood risks

Mark Kinver, BBC News 28 Dec 09;

Reconnecting flood-plains to rivers will help reduce the risk of future flooding, suggest US scientists.

A study by US researchers said allowing these areas to be submerged during storms would reduce the risk of flood damage in nearby urban areas.

Pressure to build new homes has led to many flood-prone areas being developed.

Writing in Science, they said the risks of flooding were likely to increase in the future as a result of climate change and shifts in land use.

"We are advocating very large-scale shifts in land use, "said co-author Jeffrey Opperman, a member of The Nature Conservancy's Global Freshwater Team.

"There is simply no way economically or politically that this could be accomplished by turning large areas of flood-plains into parks," he told the Science podcast.

"What we are proposing in this paper is a way that this strategy can be compatible, and even supportive, with vibrant agricultural economies and private land ownership."

For example, the authors explained, the flood season and growing season in California did not occur at the same time.

This meant that allowing the land to be submerged by floodwater would not result in a permanent loss of farmland or crops being destroyed.

In their paper, they said that man-made flood management systems, such as levees, also had an ecological impact.

"Control infrastructure prevents high flows from entering flood-plains, thus diminishing both natural flood storage capacity and the processes that sustain healthy riverside forests and wetlands," they observed.

"As a result, flood-plains are among the planet's most threatened ecosystems."

'Ecosystem services'

The reconnection programmes would deliver three benefits, they added:

• Reduce the risk of flooding

• Increase in flood-plain goods and services

• Greater resilience to potential climate change impacts

In other parts of the world, Dr Opperman said that there was a range of agricultural strategies for private landowners that would be compatible with allowing areas to be flooded.

"There are emerging markets for ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration and nutrient sequestration," he explained.

"These are services that flood-plains do provide, so with various climate policies there will be a price for carbon."

The researchers cited the Yolo By-pass, in California, US, in their paper as a successful demonstration of the idea they were advocating.

The scheme absorbed 80% of floodwater during heavy storms, they said, protecting the nearby city of Sacramento.

"During a March 1986 flood, the by-pass conveyed [about] 12.5bn cubic metres of water, more than three times the total flood-control storage volume in all Sacramento basin reservoirs.

"Without the by-pass flood-plain, California would need to build massive additional flood-control infrastructure," they observed.

The Yolo by-pass was created back in the 1930s, when a 24,000 hectare flood-plain was reconnected to the Sacramento River.

The scheme was introduced when it became apparent that a "levees only" approach would not offer the required flood protection.

"It's connected in an engineered way, which mean that when the river reaches a certain volume it flows over a weir and enters the flood-plain," Dr Opperman explained.

He added that the scheme also had numerous additional ecological benefits: "In recent decades, people began to notice that this area was a phenomenal habitat for birds.

"In the past 10 years, people recognised that native fish were moving from the river on to the flood-plain, and deriving all of the benefits that fish get from natural flood-plains.

"It was an excellent place for fish to spawn, and for juvenile fish to be reared."

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Climate and humans: the long view

Professor Clive Finlayson
Director, Gibraltar Museum
BBC News 24 Dec 09;

We seem preoccupied today by looming predictions of imminent climate change.

This is understandable as our lifestyles and lives appear to be coming under threat from this global phenomenon of unprecedented scale.

But if we were to use the deep history of this planet as our yardstick, the unusual thing would be for our climate to remain immutable.

Earth's climate has always been in flux and the last 10,000 years, which in relative terms have been fairly stable, are not the rule.

In those 10,000 years we have gone from hunter-gatherers to farmers, industrialists and travellers in cyberspace, seemingly safe within the cocooned illusion that climatic stability was the way of the world.

Human imprint

And all the time, the deadline for the next climatic downturn, leading to the next Ice Age, was getting closer. It gets closer every day that goes by and our science cannot predict when this will happen. But happen it will.

We became increasingly uneasy as we began to realise that the effects of the industrial revolution had, over the last two centuries, generated new variables that were complicating an already complex multivariate, multi-scale, melee.

The debate then centred on how we could distinguish our own imprint on the Earth's climate from the background gamut of natural factors that generated climatic variability.

And we came to the conclusion, after a long-drawn debate, that our mark could be picked up, appearing like a curved hockey stick on a graph of temperature against time.

The "hockey stick" spoke of warming not cooling. Perhaps a new Ice Age would come, but in a remote future that was not worth considering.

Perhaps our own brand of global warming would counteract it. But the imminent danger would be the warming of the planet.

We should be under no illusion as to the effects of global warming, natural or man-made. It will change the face of the planet even though we don't really know where, when or how, in any kind of detail.

But natural climate change has altered the face of the planet many times before, and in far more dramatic ways. Even the rate of change expected today is not outside the limits of natural change.

Climate swings

The 40-odd thousand years leading up to the last Ice Age included countless wild and sharp climatic oscillations that would have provided the most sensational of world headlines had our Neanderthal cousins had satellite television, mobile phones or internet.

The regularity of drastic climate change would soon have offered little by way of breaking news.

So, in terms of the well-being of our planet, little of what is coming will scare it. It has seen extreme global warming, as when tropical forests covered the poles, and extreme deep freezes, as when icebergs reached the latitude of Lisbon, Portugal - with strays drifting into the Mediterranean.

The difference with this one, and we should be open and honest about it, is that it will affect millions of people. Our own history, and that of our Neanderthal cousins and our predecessors, has been shaped by climate change and luck.

Our population was so small that being in the right place at the right time, or the wrong place at the wrong time, really mattered.

The Neanderthals, who had been so successful in Europe for much longer than we have been around, vanished because of too much global cooling.

Many of our own stock - and this may surprise people - also went extinct because they couldn't handle the climate and its effects.

Several small populations, in Africa, Australia and on the plains of central Asia, scraped through and we are all descended from them.

No living human has experienced the kind of climate change that they had to go through. Most perished but a few survived.

Clive Finlayson is director of the Gibraltar Museum and author of the book "The Humans Who Went Extinct. Why Neanderthals died out and we survived", in which the theme of this article is expanded.

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China introduces law to boost renewable energy

Lucy Hornby, Reuters 28 Dec 09;

BEIJING (Reuters) - A new Chinese law requires power grid operators to buy all the electricity produced by renewable energy generators, in a move that will increase the proportion of energy that comes from renewable sources in coal-dependent China.

The amendment to the 2006 renewable energy law was adopted on Saturday by the standing committee of the National People's Congress, China's legislature, the Xinhua news agency said.

The amendment also gives authority to the State Council energy department, together with the State Council finance department and the state power authority, to "determine the proportion of renewable energy power generation to the overall generating capacity for a certain period."

Many other countries also have requirements that grid operators priorities the dispatch of power from renewable sources, even if it is more expensive than coal-fired baseload plants.

In China, a boom in wind-power plants thanks to government subsidies has resulted in a large amount of wind capacity that is not always properly connected to the grid. In some cases, the wind farms are not located at the optimal spot for wind.

One-third of China's installed wind power capacity is not well connected to the grid, Xinhua said, citing industry experts.

Much of China's wind power is installed in remote, wind-swept regions like Inner Mongolia and Gansu, where power demand is low. But some of the country's cheapest coal generators are also in Inner Mongolia, pricing the wind farms out of the power market.

"Renewable energy power in the country's resource-rich, underdeveloped northwestern region must be sent to the resource-scarce, prosperous coastal area," said Wang Zhongyong, renewable energy director at the National Development and Reform Commission's Energy Research Institute, according to Xinhua.

The relative independence of regional grids made such transmission difficult, Wang said.

China must develop more efficient "smart grids" as part of the solution, said Xiao Liye, director of the Institute of Electrical Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The new requirement will also benefit China's massive new nuclear power plants, although nuclear power is usually cheap enough to be competitive on its own.

Grid operators refusing to buy power produced by renewable energy generators could be fined up to double the loss suffered by the renewable energy generator, the amendment said.

China's target is for renewable energy sources to make up 15 percent of its power generation by 2020, up from about 9 percent currently. It also targets a reduction in carbon intensity, or the amount of carbon produced per unit of GDP, of between 40 and 45 percent by 2020 compared with 2005.

(Editing by Sugita Katyal)

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Best of our wild blogs: 28 Dec 09

Last Dive For Year 2009
from colourful clouds

Butterfly Survival Strategies - Part 1
from Butterflies of Singapore

Diego the devourer
from The annotated budak

Changi Beach
from the NEW blog encounters with nature

Slow at Kranji Nature Trail
from wild shores of singapore

Pulau Ubin Bird ID workshop: Part 1
from Biodiversity Singapore and Part 2

Monday Morgue: 28th December 2009
from The Lazy Lizard's Tales

Rescue of a mobbed Amur Falcon in India
from Bird Ecology Study Group

To Save the Planet, Save the Seas
from Pulau Hantu

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Garbage Disposal Sites in Malaysia Getting 'Critical'?

Syed Azwan Syed Ali, Bernama 28 Dec 09;

This is the first part in a series of two features on garbage disposal

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 28 (Bernama) -- The bustling economic growth experienced by a developing country like Malaysia demanded the effective disposal of its domestic solid wastes.

The government's commitment in this aspect was proven with the existence of the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry as well as agencies such as the National Solid Waste Department and Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Management Corporation (PPSPPA).

The National Green Technology Policy was also drafted.

In the international level, Malaysia had signed the Kyoto Protocol 1997 to deal with the climatic changes and global warning due to the green house effect.

However despite this commitment, there were several issues that needed immediate action and improvement particularly in the management of garbage disposal in the country.

SEVEN SANITARY DISPOSAL SITES

Only seven of the 289 garbage disposal sites in the country were environmental-friendly sanitary sites.

This means less than 2.5 percent of the existing garbage disposal sites in the country were being well managed while the rest were operated on the 'open-dumping' basis.

For Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)'s Prof Ir Dr Hassan Basri, this scenario reflected that solid wastes disposal system in the country was still inefficient.

"It is critical in the long run," said the professor in environmental engineering.

Hassan's statement was based on the environmental pollution risks posed by the open-dumping garbage disposal sites.

WATER, AIR POLLUTION

The implication of using open-dumping garbage disposal sites were the permeation (seepage) of 'leachate' into the underground water resources and the release of methane gas (CH4) caused by decomposition of the garbage.

The open-dumping sites also required high maintenance costs apart from causing depreciation in the value of the surrounding real estate.

"There are also constraints facing the opening of new open-dumping garbage disposal sites posed by the infrastructure requirements due to the limited land available," said Dr Latifah Abdul Manaf, a lecturer on environment from Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).

A visit by this writer to the sanitary garbage disposal site at Bukit Tagar found the facility to have several 'pleasant' features.

The site has a 'liner' to prevent seepage of the leachate into underground water sources apart from a system of underground pipes that pool the leachate and channelled the susbstance into a treatment plant.

The site was also equipped with the 'daily cover' made up of clay and plastic used to cover the garbage to prevent it from being accessible to pests like rodents and crows.

Hence, Bukit Tagar sanitary garbage disposal dump was a much welcomed garbage disposal facility as compared to the open-dumping sites that discharged foul odour that can be smelled kilometres away.

THE BEST CHOICE

Sanitary garbage disposal sites also have a pipe system that absorb the methane gas released from decomposition of garbage that can be used for power generation.

In the case of the Bukit Tagar garbage disposal site, its 'advance cell' that was closed in November 2007 after operating for two years, now generated 1.0 Megawatt of electricity used for operations at the site.

The existence of the pipes prevented accidental combustion of green house gases.

The latest example on this was the fire at the 300 feet high garbage pile-up at the illegal dump at Kampung Sungai Kertas, Gombak early last September.

The problems related to disposal of solid wastes was not only faced by Malaysia but also in other countries due to rapid economic development, population boom and limited land.

POPULATION INCREASE

In Malaysia, with the population jump forecast at 2.4 percent or 600,000 a year (since 1994) more solid wastes was expected to be produced, reducing the life span of the garbage disposal dumps.

The scenario was further worsened with the statistics that showed 113 of the 289 garbage disposal sites in the country were no longer operating. Most of them were waiting for 'decomissioning'.

However the operations of several of theze sites had to be extended, like tha garbage dumps at Sungai Sedu, Banting that received garbage flow from Sepang and Putrajaya. The site was supposed to be closed last June!

And, most of these 113 dumps were not sanitary garbage disposal facilities. Another interesting fact was that these garbage disposal sites were managed by the local authorities or their appointed firms.

According to the PPSPPA, 114 garbage disposal sites were under the management of the local authorities with 58 in the Peninsula and Labuan Federal Territory, 41 in Sarawak and 15 in Sabah.

LIMITATION, SOLUTION

For Prof Hassan, this issue was rather complex coupled with factors like the shortage of funds and expertise, lack of public awareness apart from the 'grey' legal aspects.

Parliament passed the Solid Waste and Public Cleansing Act 2007 on Aug 30, 2007 but due to certain reasons, it had yet to be implemented.

According to industry sources, the delay was due to the privatisation of solid waste management which was yet to be finalised despite the fact that the management of solid waste was being handled by Alam Flora, SWM Environment and Idaman Bersih Sdn Bhd according to their respective zones since 1996.

Presently, the 'employers' of these garbage disposal firms were the respective local authorities.

Back to the garbage disposal dumps issue. The government had implemented the Action Plan 1988 that was aimed at boosting the efficiency of the garbage disposal sites in stages.

The stages -- controlled disposal (phase one), sanitary fill-up with daily covers (phase two), sanitary fill-up with leachate circulation system (phase three) and sanitary fill-up with leachate treatment (phase four).

However, it appeared that this action plan was not working well as proven by the fact that only seven garbage disposal dumps in the country were sanitary facilities and they were operated by the private sector.

Three of these sanitary garbage disposal dumps were in Selangor and one each in Kedah, Pahang, Melaka and Johor.

RECYCLING LENGTHENS LIFE SPAN OF DISPOSAL SITES

The situation was further compounded by the society's lackadaisical attitude on the recycling campaign launched in 1993 and 2000. This was proven by the percentage of recycling being a mere 5.0 percent.

This was a great distance away from the government's target of 22 per cent by the year 2020. What more when compared to a developed nation like Japan where the recycling percentage was at more than 50 percent.

The time has arrived for the government to come out with a more effective measure apart from conducting campaigns and advertisements.

Problems associated with garbage disposal such as the unregular collection of garbage should be dealt with in a transparent and wholesome manner as the amount of solid wastes was continuing to pile up everyday and expected to reach 30,000 tonnes within the next 11 years.

Hence, the society does not really have much choice except to recycle, and this can begin right in the home.

-- BERNAMA

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A season of feasting... and wasting

Waste collector sees up to 30% spike in dumped food during festive period
Victoria Vaughan and Kim Spykerman, Straits Times 28 Dec 09;

CHRISTMAS is a time of excess - excess spending, excess eating and drinking, and excess waste.

From discarded wrapping paper to leftover turkey, Singapore's waste levels rise during the festive season - despite the fact that many have left the country to go on vacation.

Data recorded since 2005 shows Singapore generates an average of 7,000 tonnes of waste daily, which is equivalent to the combined weight of about 950 full-grown elephants. During December, the figure goes up by a further 187 tonnes daily or about the weight of 25 elephants.

A National Environment Agency spokesman said: 'The festivities and celebrations leading up to Christmas and New Year could result in more waste being disposed in the month of December.'

There are four public waste collectors in Singapore charged with collecting domestic waste along with recyclables. One such company, SembWaste, which collects waste from Woodlands-Yishun, Hougang-Punggol, Clementi and the city area, said that there is about a 20 per cent to 30 per cent increase in food waste during the festive season, so much so that it deploys an additional truck to cart away all the waste from the shopping malls and major restaurants.

Typically, there is a 5 per cent increase in the total amount of waste generated from November all the way through to the Chinese New Year period, SembWaste added. Chinese New Year is the busiest time for public waste collectors. SembWaste alone deploys 13 extra trucks during that period.

A spokesman for Veolia ES Singapore, which collects waste from Tanglin-Bukit Merah, Bedok and Pasir Ris-Tampines, added: 'During the Chinese New Year period, we will need to increase our collection frequency to twice or thrice a day for certain locations where the waste generation is higher than on normal days. This is due to the tradition of spring cleaning.'

Keeping wastage to a minimum has been a priority for the 30-member extended Tan family this year. Said 24-year-old teacher Karol-Ann Tan: 'Every year, we always have quite a lot of food left over, enough for lunch the next day!'

To make sure more was consumed during Christmas dinner, the family chose to forgo the traditional roast turkey.

This year, with a large turkey out of the way, most of the dishes were empty by the end of the night.

Hotels and supermarkets order extra food in preparation for the festive season and have different ways of dealing with the surplus, if any.

The Swissotel Merchant Court saw an increase of between 10 per cent and 12 per cent for its Christmas orders this year. Senior marketing communications manager Koo Sok Hoon said: 'For Christmas takeaways, we do not have a situation of leftovers as orders are placed three days in advance and we cook to order.

'For the Christmas items served at the buffet, we usually have minimal leftovers. As we specialise in buffets, we are able to estimate the amount of food to serve based on the actual reservations.'

A similar practice is followed at the Sheraton Towers in Scotts Road where orders are placed based on the previous year's consumption so as to avoid wastage, said a spokesman, adding that any leftovers will be thrown away.

At the Goodwood Park Hotel, leftover cakes and puddings are sold at the staff canteen until the end of the Christmas season on Jan 5.

The Grand Hyatt, too, prepares take- away food based on orders. The hotel also gives daily leftover bread to charity Food From The Heart, a voluntary food distribution programme. Founded in 2003 by Mrs Christine Laimer and her husband Henry, the charity delivers food to 120 welfare homes and more than 5,500 needy individuals directly through its 24 distribution centres.

Mrs Laimer, 48, said that although there has not been a spike in the amount of leftover food they receive from their partners, the type of food changes.

'We collect about 21,000kg of bread every month but at Christmas we get log cakes and seasonal goodies from places such as Delifrance and Bengawan Solo, just as at Chinese New Year we get cookies and mooncakes,' she said.

Food From The Heart can help companies with surplus party goodies - if given a day's notice, a volunteer from the charity can collect leftovers.

Supermarkets Sheng Siong and NTUC FairPrice offer an order service for Christmas goodies to avoid waste.

FairPrice sells leftover cakes and pastries at discounted prices, which usually sees most food cleared, and anything left will be thrown away.

'Its important when thinking about the 3Rs - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle - that the order is recognised. Reduce comes first,' said Mr Eugene Tay, 32, director of Green Future Solutions, which runs the website Zero Waste Singapore.

'If people are holding a party, they should cook 10 per cent to 20 per cent less food than they think they need as people are more interested in socialising than eating at a party,' he added.

Mr Tay also noted that wrapping paper should be kept for use again or material like cloth could replace paper.

Singapore Environment Council projects manager Uma Sachidhanandam said: 'Pack up leftovers from a party for guests to take home or use them in the next day's meals.'

Singapore's waste in numbers

5.97m tonnes

Amount of waste generated in Singapore last year, an increase from 5.6 million tonnes in 2007

1.26m tonnes

Amount of waste generated in the form of paper and cardboard - the main culprits - with 48 per cent being recycled

0.68m tonnes

Amount of waste generated in the form of plastics, with 8 per cent being recycled

30 per cent for food and 35 per cent for plastic by 2012

Target recycling rates set out under the Singapore Green Plan 2012

0.57m tonnes

Amount of food waste generated, with 12 per cent being recycled

56% (2008) to 65% (2020) to 70% (2030)

Target recycling rate set earlier this year The Government hopes to achieve this by providing more recycling facilities and introducing new measures, such as incentives, to increase recycling.

Tips on saving
Straits Times 28 Dec 09;

CHRISTMAS is over, but there is still the New Year and Chinese New Year to come. Here are some ways to cut down on waste and give the planet a break during the festive seasons.

# Use leftover meat to create new dishes such as turkey curry or porridge. Boil the carcass to create stock for soups and stews.

# For leftover vegetables (must include potatoes): combine in a pan with a chopped fried onion to create potato and vegetable cakes to serve with cold turkey. This is known as Bubble and Squeak in Britain.

# Take leftover cakes to work to share with your colleagues and avoid throwing them away.

# Make sure any guests staying with you know where the recycling bins are so they can sort the rubbish correctly.

# Open presents carefully and iron the paper (not foil wrap) on a low heat to use again. Or use material which can be easily reused to wrap presents such as net or silk.

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Safety of reservoir user comes first but PUB reviewing rules

Straits Times Forum 28 Dec 09;

PUB, the national water agency, thanks Mr George Wee ('Ease up - Review the need for licences for doing so many of the innocent things that make life fun') and Ms Frances Tan (''No U-turn syndrome' taking joy out of leisure') for their letters last Thursday on kayaking in reservoirs.

We are heartened that more Singaporeans are enthusiastic about kayaking at our reservoirs. We encourage Singaporeans to enjoy recreational activities at the reservoirs so they can have a closer relationship with water, and in turn come to appreciate and value it.

However, we take a serious view of the safety of the reservoir user, which is why we currently do not allow individuals to carry out water activities on their own.

To provide more recreational options at reservoirs, PUB has over the years worked with partners such as the Singapore Canoe Federation and the People's Association to open kayaking centres at Bedok Reservoir, MacRitchie Reservoir, Marina Reservoir, Jurong Lake and Lower Seletar Reservoir.

These operators ensure that members of the public are briefed on safety regulations and they do not venture outside the designated areas.

The operators also keep life vests and kayaks in good condition and track the number of kayaks out on the water so all individuals are accounted for.

With these precautions in place, members of the public, especially families with children, can enjoy paddling in the water with ease of mind.

We are currently reviewing the procedures and will take into consideration the feedback received. The public are welcome to give us their feedback at PUB's 24-hour call centre on 1800- 284-6600.

Tan Nguan Sen
Director, Catchment and Waterways
PUB, the national water agency

Ease up
Straits Times Forum 24 Dec 09;

'Review the need for licences for doing so many of the innocent things that make life fun.'

MR GEORGE WEE: 'I refer to Monday's report, 'Left high and dry by waterway rules'. If safety reasons are taken to extreme lengths, even swimming in public pools will need certification. The authorities should review the need for licences for doing so many of the innocent things that make life fun.'

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Owners of protected animals in Malaysia have six months to register

The Star 28 Dec 09;

PETALING JAYA: Owners of endangered species will be required to apply for permits from the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) starting today.

The requirement — even for endangered species as pets — is the result of the International Trade in Endangered Species Act 2008 coming into force.

Perhilitan legislation and enfor­cement director Saharudin Anan said all owners of such species have six months beginning today to obtain the necessary permits.

“They have six months’ grace to register before enforcement begins,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Besides pet owners, pet shop owners and any other individuals who could be in possession of such species of animals will also have to obtain the necessary permits.

Common household pets which are on the endangered species list include tortoises such as the star and radiated tortoises. Other exotic pets such as imported snakes and reptiles are also covered.

Saharudin said registration was required under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) and the endangered specie list under the Act mirrors the lists of species under Cites.

Malaysia acceded to Cites on Oct 20, 1977, and the convention entered into force in Malaysia on Jan 18,1978.

Saharudin said: “Under the Act, endangered animals found to be without permits will be confiscated and the owners fined.”

Under the Act, possession of such animals without a permit could attract the owner a fine of a maximum of RM100,000 for each one found up to a total of RM1mil, or be sentenced to a maximum of seven year’s jail.

Corporate bodies and zoos found in violation can be fined from RM200,000 up to a total of RM2mil. Similar fines and jail sentences are provided for those who sell, advertise for sale or display to the public such species without permits.

The public can refer to Perhilitan’s website www.wildlife.gov.my for more information.

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Taiwan opens new national park along the coast

Taijiang National Park in Tainan City and Tainan County will protect traditional economies such as fish farms as well as plants and animals
By Loa Iok-sin, Taipei Times 28 Dec 09;

Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and several ministry officials yesterday inspected ­Taijiang National Park (台江國家公園) a day ahead of its inauguration.

The park covers 4,905 hectares of coastal land in Tainan City and Tainan County and 34,405 hectares of sea. It features tidal flats, sandbanks and wetlands that are habitat for diverse flora and fauna, including mangrove forests and the endangered black-faced spoonbill.

“Taijiang National Park is the country’s eighth national park and its creation carries very special meaning,” Jiang said outside of a wildlife observation deck inside the national park. “This national park tries to preserve not only the landscape, but also the wildlife, the historic relics and the traditional economic activities here.”

It also includes the place where the Chinese military commander Koxinga (鄭成功)anded in his ­successful campaign to defeat the Dutch, who occupied parts of southern Taiwan in the 17th century.

Although Koxinga swore allegiance to the Ming Dynasty after it was overthrown by the Qing Dynasty, he created his own de facto independent kingdom in Tainan and established the first Han Chinese settlements in Taiwan.

In addition to its natural and historic values, Jiang said the ­traditional economic activities in the area, mainly fish farms and salt fields, were also to be protected by the national park administration.

“Contrary to most other national parks that aim to reduce human activities within, we specifically designated zones inside the national park in which traditional economic activities would be allowed and even encouraged,” Taijiang National Park ­Headquarters director Leu Teng-yuan (呂登元) said. “We will also help the people to sell their products.”

Although most parts of Jiang’s inspection tour went smoothly, an unexpected snag in the proceedings occurred when officials were on a boat tour on one of the lagoons in the park.

Tainan City Mangroves Protection Association Chief Executive Director Lee Chin-tien (李進添), who served as a guide during the boat trip, complained about the government’s decision to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) when showing local fishing techniques.

“Fishing nets made in Taiwan cost about NT$3,000 each, but guess how much one made in China would cost? It’s less than NT$400,” Lee said. “I don’t understand why the government wants to sign an ECFA with China.”

“We should sign a trade agreement with a country where we can sell a NT$10 product for NT$11 there,” he said.

Jiang and other ministry officials smiled as Lee talked, but did not respond.

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125 pilot whales die on NZ beaches, 43 saved

Yahoo News 28 Dec 09;

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – Some 125 pilot whales died in New Zealand after stranding on the beach over the weekend — but vacationers and conservation workers Sunday managed to coax 43 others back out to sea.

Rescuers monitored the survivors as they swam away from Colville Beach on North Island's Coromandel peninsula, and by Monday morning they were reported well out to sea.

Department of Conservation workers and hundreds of volunteers helped re-float the 43 whales at high tide. The volunteers covered the stranded mammals in sheets and kept them wet through the day.

"Some 63 pilot whales stranded ... but it looks pretty good, we've got 43 live ones," Department of Conservation ranger Steve Bolten said as the pod swam out to sea.

Bolten said one of the whales may have been sick, or their sonar may have led them into the shallow harbor and they couldn't find their way out again.

Meanwhile on northern South Island, 105 long-finned pilot whales died on Saturday, conservation officials said Monday.

Golden Bay biodiversity program manager Hans Stoffregen said they were discovered by a tourist plane pilot and only 30 were alive when conservation workers arrived.

"They were in bad shape. By the time we got there two-thirds of them had already died. We had to euthanize the rest," he said.

The whales had been out of the water for a long time.

"It has been quite hot and they were very distressed. You could see the pain and suffering in their eyes," he was quoted telling the "Southland Times" newspaper

Because the site is part of a natural reserve, the 105 whale carcasses were left to decompose where they stranded, Stoffregen said.

Large numbers of whales become stranded on New Zeland's beaches each summer as they pass by on their way to breeding grounds from Antarctic waters. Scientists so far have been unable to explain why whales become stranded.

More than 125 whales die in New Zealand strandings
Yahoo News 28 Dec 09;

NELSON, New Zealand (AFP) – More than 125 whales have died in two separate strandings in New Zealand, conservation officials said Monday.

At Farewell Spit, west of the South Island tourist town of Nelson, 105 long-finned pilot whales died in a mass beaching on Saturday, while 21 pilot whales died Sunday at a beach on the east coast of the North Island.

Both areas have a history of whale strandings.

Conservation department official Hans Stoffregen said none of the stranded pod at Farewell Spit could be saved, the Nelson Mail newspaper reported.

"They were in bad shape. By the time we got there two-thirds of them had already died. We had to euthanise the rest," he said.

"It was horrible but nothing could have been done to save them. It was the most humane thing to do."

The whales had been out of the water for a long time "and they were very distressed. You could see the pain and suffering in their eyes."

Another dead whale was found washed up at a nearby beach on Monday and Stoffregen said there could be others that died in the area but had not yet been located.

On the Coromandel Peninsula in the North Island, 21 whales died from a pod of 63 who became stranded on Sunday.

Local volunteers and holidaymakers were able to herd the surviving 42 whales back to sea.

"Last they were seen they were swimming healthily out to the ocean," regional conservation spokeswoman Lyn Williams said.

One of the cows even gave birth to a calf almost immediately after being refloated, she said.

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