Scientists discover new species of stingray at Ningaloo Marine Park

PerthNow 24 Feb 10;

The 30cm creature is part of the maskray family. It is much smaller than most of the other 118 ray species at Ningaloo.

The discovery was made by CSIRO scientists during a series of dive surveys which documented 47 species of sharks and rays.

Environment Minister Donna Faragher said the new find highlights the importance of the Ningaloo Marine Park, which was recently nominated for World Hertiage listing.

“It is an area of outstanding beauty, biological richness and international geological significance and we need to ensure it is protected and conserved,” Ms Faragher said.

CSIRO scientist Will White said since finding the rays at Ningaloo they have also been sighted at Shark Bay.

“The very specific habitat occupied by this ray means that careful monitoring and management is required. They also live close to the shore, so people may encounter the creature close-up,” Mr White said.

DEC marine scientist Kelly Waples said initial results from these surveys indicate that the marine park’s shark and ray populations are healthy and benefiting from zoning designed to protect representative populations.

“Satellite tags have also been used to track large predatory tiger and hammerhead sharks to find out whether they are residents or visitors to the marine park,” she said.

New ray shines on WA reef
Samuel Cardwell AAP Sydney Morning Herald 24 Feb 10;

Australian scientists have discovered a new species of stingray in the shallow waters off Western Australia.

The ray, whose scientific name is yet to be released, is commonly named the Ningaloo Mask Ray after the marine park in which it was discovered and is a new species in the genus Neotrygon.

Growing to a maximum of 30 centimetres width, the ray is spotted and orangy red in colour, helping it blend in with the dirty sand at the shallow depths where it lives.

CSIRO scientist Dr William White, a member of the team that discovered the new ray, says its adaption to the shallows may be why it has eluded sightings until now.

"One of the interesting things about this species is we have only seen it down to about three meters in depth," he said.

"Other rays that live deeper tend to be caught in trawling nets but because this one occurs only in the shallows it has escaped the fisherman and we haven't seen it before."

Science Minister Kim Carr praised the work of the team who discovered the new ray.

"I would like to congratulate all the scientists and researchers involved in the discovery of the new stingray species," Senator Carr said in a statement.

"Identifying and monitoring the variety of marine animals which inhabit our waters is the first step in ensuring that these creatures continue to flourish in Australia's delicate ocean ecosystems."

The CSIRO's work in discovering the ray was conducted as part of the Western Australian Marine Science Institution (WAMSI), a collaboration between federal, state, industry and academic institutions to probe the secrets of WA's large coastline.

The rays' home, The Ningaloo Marine Park, is located approximately 1200km north of Perth and occupies an area of 243,600 hectares.

The park is home to Ningaloo Reef which at over 250km long is the longest fringing reef in Australia.

Over the past few years over fifty new species have been discovered there as part of WAMSI's Ningaloo deeper water biodiversity project.

New stingray found at Ningaloo
Sydney Morning Herald 24 Feb 10;

A new species of stingray has been found at Ningaloo Marine Park.

WA environment minister Donna Faragher said the ray was part of the maskray family, with a maximum wingspan of 30cm - much smaller than most rays found at Ningaloo.

CSIRO scientist Will White said the discovery of the ray (Neotrygon sp.) highlighted there was still much to learn about the sharks and rays that inhabit the World Heritage-nominated area along the Ningaloo coast.

"Since the find at Ningaloo, we have been able to establish that this species also exists 400km further south in Shark Bay," Dr White said.

"The very specific habitat occupied by this ray means that careful monitoring and management is required.

"They also live close to the shore, so people may encounter the creature close-up."

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Indonesia mulls new capital as Jakarta sinks

Glenda Kwek (AFP) Yahoo News 23 Feb 10;

JAKARTA — It has been the economic heartbeat of the world's fourth most populous country for almost 500 years, but Jakarta's days as Indonesia's capital could be numbered.

Choked with traffic and garbage, the city on the northwest Java coast has been pushed to breaking point as its population surges above 12 million and its foundations sink under the weight of rampant development.

Floods displace thousands of people and cause millions of dollars of damage every year, and are predicted to get worse with rising sea levels, unchecked logging in catchment areas and the blocking of canals with rubbish.

A World Bank study has found that by 2025 the sea could be lapping at the gates of the presidential palace in the centre of the the former spice capital, known until 1942 as Batavia.

This could explain why President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently revived a radical plan to shift the capital to a new location.

"Going forward, the idea of moving the centre of the administration must again be considered and developed, considering Jakarta has become exceedingly crowded," Yudhoyono told reporters in December.

Similar proposals go back to previous presidents Sukarno and Suharto, who decades ago foresaw the eventual breakdown of Jakarta.

"It can be done -- what you need is strong political commitment. Malaysia moved to Putrajaya because of the strength of Mahathir Mohamad," urban studies expert Deden Rukmana said, referring to Malaysia's ex-prime minister.

"If we have a good plan ... we can build a city from scratch, like Brasilia in Brazil."

Malaysia in 1999 began gradually shifting its administrative bodies to Putrajaya, 25 kilometres (15 miles) south of Kuala Lumpur, to reduce congestion and overcrowding in the capital.

No one knows exactly how much the move cost in total, but more than 5.8 billion dollars was reportedly funded by taxpayers.

Urban planners said the price tag on a new capital would be huge for Indonesia, but the cost of doing nothing would be higher.

"Jakarta's problems can't be solved without expensive solutions," Rukmana said.

"When the 2007 floods hit, you could see how much of an impact the city had on Indonesia. For days, Jakarta was dead and Indonesia's economy was crippled," Rukmana said.

But where would Indonesia build its new capital?

Jakarta is on Java, the most populous of Indonesia's 17,000 islands and home to its largest ethnic group, the Javanese, who are unlikely to relinquish their grip on the centre of national power.

Military strongman Suharto favoured Jonggol, 50 kilometres east of Jakarta, but the idea was scrapped when he resigned in 1998.

Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, proposed Palangkaraya, central Kalimantan, in what would have been a bold shift away from the Javanese powerbase.

"It's a good suggestion... If we just moved to Jonggol we'd still be in metro Jakarta and the current problems would continue," Rukmana said.

Despite the president's fears for the viability of Jakarta, the city's much-maligned administration is pressing ahead with a 20-year development plan.

It sees a future where the population is limited to 10 million, green spaces blossom and carbon emissions are slashed by 30 percent.

But given the city's history of corruption and mismanagement, few planning experts are holding their breath in anticipation of Governor Fauzi Bowo's vision becoming a reality any time soon.

The launch of the 2030 plan hardly filled anyone with confidence -- the designs for the revamped city omitted a long-discussed urban railway, which had to be hastily added in after the error was pointed out.

"The first draft didn't even include the new train system everyone knows is being planned," architect Macro Kusumawijaya said.

"It's always a utopian dream to start a new city. But if they can't get Jakarta to work now, I'm doubtful they can make a new city work."

Another plan to set aside 13 percent of the city's land for sorely needed parks has also come to nothing. Environmentalists estimate green spaces account for only seven percent of the city, two percent of which are cemeteries.

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35 pangolins rescued by police in Malacca, Malaysia

The Star 20 Feb 10;

MALACCA: A week-long surveillance by authorities off the coastal waters of Ujong Pasir for possible illegal wildlife trade paid off when marine police rescued 35 pangolins destined for cooking pots.

The live anteaters, estimated to be worth about RM30,000, were believed to have been caught by poachers in Sumatra and were about to be smuggled into the country for sale to restaurants in Malacca and the Klang Valley.

State Marine Police commanding officer ASP Rizal Ramli said they received a tip-off last week of possible smuggling activities being conducted at the Parit Cina jetty in Ujong Pasir.

“We spotted a blue sampan with two men making their way up Parit Cina at about noon on Friday,” he told reporters when met at the Marine Police jetty in Banda Hilir yesterday.

“However both of them jumped off the boat and swam to shore before escaping on foot into a housing area nearby.”

He said the men are believed to be locals as their boat bore the registration number of boats belonging to fishermen from Malacca.

He added that those behind the illegal trade had tried to dupe authorities by carrying out their activities during Friday prayers to avoid detection.

He said that a kilo of pangolin meat could fetch up to RM250 on the black market.

He said the pangolins would be handed over to wildlife authorities here and the marine police are assisting in investigations.

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Endangered Rhinos to Get New Home in Ujung Kulon

Jakarta Globe 23 Feb 10;

Ujung Kulon National Park is planning to develop a 3000 hectare conservation area for the endangered Javan rhino next year in an effort to boost the population of the endangered species by 2015.

“The conservation area is also expected to become a world-class wildlife park that could also help to boost the number of domestic and foreign tourists,” said Enjat Sudrajat, a spokesman for the national park, on Tuesday.

The plan was first made public in June when wildlife authorities announced they would divide the lone herd of Javan rhinos into two populations.

The new herd would be relocated only as far as the Gunung Honje area, which borders the current population’s habitat in the Semenanjung Ujung Kulon area.

By starting a new herd, authorities believe the animals will be encouraged to breed faster.

Enjat said the conservation area will be developed in cooperation with the Indonesian Rhino Foundation (YABI) and a number of international non-governmental organizations such as the International Rhino Foundation.

YABI’s secretary Agus Darmawan expressed his optimism that the effort would be successful since the project would involve scientists and conservationists who are very familiar with the species.

Indonesia is home to two out of the five rhino species in the world — the Sumatran rhino and the Javan rhino.

Enjat said they will assist in the effort to increase the single-horned rhino’s population in the park, where an estimated 60 Javan rhinos still remain.

He said the Javan rhino population has been largely concentrated in the 38,000 hectare Gunung Honje area within the national park.

“I think Gunung Honje’s location will be suitable since it has enough pasture areas and it’s not too far [from the original habitat],” he said.

He said that he expects that the Banten provincial administration and Pandeglang district administration will support the cause since it could contribute to stimulating the local economy and creating new job opportunities, especially since the Javan rhino has been adopted as Pandeglang district’s mascot.

The development of the breeding ground for the endangered species would involve foreign researchers, he added.

Financial supporters from the United States have also pledged their commitment to donate.

The money, Enjat said, will be used to finance the conservation area’s operational costs, including for the protection and monitoring of the rhinos.

Javan rhinos are known as timid animals and are very hard to find even in their habitat.

The 120,551-hectare Ujung Kulon National Park in Banten was established in 1992 by the Ministry of Forestry.

The park is home to the Javan rhinoceroses and other threatened species such as leopards, silvery gibbons and bantengs, a kind of buffalo.

The national park is divided into three major parts, including the Gunung Honje area, the Semenanjung Ujung Kulon area and the Panaitan area.

The Forestry Ministry says it is also home to 34 other mammals, five primates, 59 reptiles, 22 amphibians, 240 bird species, 72 insect species, 142 fish species and 33 coral reefs.

Antara, JG

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Take No Pride in Palm Oil Output, Green Group Says

Arti Ekawati & Fidelis E Satriastanti, Jakarta Globe 23 Feb 10;

A leading non-governmental organization has urged Indonesia not to take pride in being the world’s biggest producer of crude palm oil because the production process has yet to meet standards for environmental sustainability.

“There are many palm oil plantations ignoring sustainable principles, [and are] planting in forest areas, including production forests and protected and conservation forests,” Elfian Effendi, executive director of Greenomics Indonesia, said on Tuesday.

“We should not be proud of being the biggest producer, when in fact we’re only damaging our forests.”

Elfian cited a 2008 report issued by the Ministry of Forestry that revealed that there are 3.5 million hectares of palm oil plantations located in forest areas that lack the necessary license.

He pointed to palm oil plantations located in production and protected forest areas in Kapuas Hulu, Ketapang and Sanggau districts in West Kalimantan.

There are palm oil plantations in conservation forests in Riau, he added.

Elfian did not mention the name of the plantation companies involved.

Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said the cases were related to “uncontrollable” moves by regional governments to issue local licenses to palm oil companies.

However, he said the plantation companies operating in forest areas without the appropriate license from the ministry would have their land seized by the state.

“If it is proven that the companies are breaking the regulations by planting palm oil in forest areas, they must be evicted from these areas,” Zulkifli said before attending the international Forest Eleven meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali.

Given that many palm oil companies operate in forest areas, Elfian said the government should evaluate its policy of giving licenses to new palm oil plantations.

Because demand for crude palm oil is expected to continue rising, he said he is concerned that more forests will be opened up for palm oil production in the future.

Minister of Agriculture Suswono said in a press release at the International Conference on Oil Palm and Environment that by 2020 global consumption of edible oils would be 232.4 million tons, an increase of about 16 percent from 2006.

“Of the edible oil consumed, palm oil is expected to account for 27 percent,” Suswono said.

In addition to food, palm oil is used in the production of oleochemicals and biodiesel.

Suswono acknowledged the many downsides to the growing numbers of palm oil plantations, including deforestation and the destruction of the natural habitat of endangered species such as orangutans and tigers.

Therefore, he urged palm oil producers to follow sustainable principles to avoid harming the environment.

Indonesia is the world’s biggest producer of crude palm oil. The country was expected to produce 23.2 million tons in 2010, an increase of 10.7 percent from last year. Most of it is exported to China, India and the European Union.

Malaysia is expected to produce 18.2 million tons of crude palm oil this year, an increase of 3.5 percent over last year.

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Oil palm plantation not in forest sector: Indonesian Government

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 23 Feb 10;

Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said he had no plan to draft a decree aimed at including oil palm plantations in the forestry sector.

“I don’t know about it. There won’t be any forest conversion into oil palm plantations,” he said Monday on the side of a hearing with the House of Representatives’ Commission IV on forestry and agriculture.

Zulkifli said the expansion of oil palm plantations would only be allowed on idle lands.

“If you ask me about forest conversion into oil palm estates, it is not now. We are still focusing to [examine land] on reaching self-sufficiency on sugar cane,” he said.

A source at the ministry said the draft of the decree on the palm oil issue had been finished and was likely to be discussed this month before being approved by the minister.

The ministry’s head of research and development Tachrir Fathoni had said the draft would include oil palm plantations into forest, which had been applied by a number of countries including Malaysia.

He dismissed fears that the draft would lead to forest conversions.

Malaysia, the second largest producers of palm oil after Indonesia, uses the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) standard to identify the forest — which is land with tree crown cover of more than 10 percent and an area of more than 0.5 hectares with trees reaching a minimum height of five meters.

The 1999 law on forest defines the forests as an integrated ecosystem in the form of land comprising biological resources, dominated by trees in natural forms and the surrounding environment, and which cannot be separated from each other.

Executive director of Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) Berry Furgon warned that the government should follow the definition of forest as stated in the law.

“The draft shows the government has no will to protect the forest. They must amend the 1999 law on forestry if the government wants to apply standards from the FAO.”

He said the draft would only legalize deforestation in the country.

Indonesia has 137 million hectares of forest but the deforestation rate has reached over one million hectares per year due to illegal logging and forest conversion including for oil palm plantations.

The Agriculture Ministry said last week it planned to use 1.8 million hectares of land designated as industrial forests (HTI) for oil palm plantations.

Agriculture Minister Suswono said that of 9.7 million hectares of land available for oil palm plantations, 7.9 million hectares was already developed, leaving the 1.8 million hectares designated as HTI.

Executive director of the Greenomics Indonesia, Elfian Effendi said Indonesia has no reason to be proud as the world’s largest producer of palm oil since hundreds of oil palm plantations operating in forest zones were illegal.

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Health of rivers in the spotlight

This year's Water Week will look not just at technologies, but also at ecological aspects
Straits Times 24 Feb 10;

THE health of the world's rivers and their surrounding landscape is increasingly being looked at by experts, in an effort to conserve water resources.

Policymakers are realising the importance of managing river basins like South-east Asia's Mekong Delta, to help the region develop industry and agriculture while maintaining a clean water supply.

And this year's Singapore International Water Week at the Suntec convention centre is following suit.

A workshop on managing the health of river basins will be held for the first time at the annual event, to take place in June.

Previously, the annual Water Week, launched in 2008, focused on showcasing advanced water technologies that could be applied in cities. But this year, the event's organisers are looking at water management from a broader ecological perspective.

According to the World Bank, integrated river basin management means considering the conflicting uses of water for agriculture, hydropower and other needs, taking into account the financial and environmental costs of water use, and even looking at the way land use or deforestation might affect water supply.

In a 2006 report, the World Bank said: 'Increased stresses on a basin's natural resource base caused by development pressures are leading to degradation that is felt well beyond the immediate area of a particular project.'

For Singapore International Water Week, national water agency PUB said it was working with the Singapore-Delft Water Alliance to plan and conduct the inaugural water management workshop.

Also held for the first time will be an Asia-Pacific water ministers' forum, where ministers discuss water issues.

This is in addition to the Water Leaders Summit for government officials, experts and industry leaders.

Water Week 2010, with the theme Sustainable Cities - Clean and Affordable Water, will occupy more exhibition space and see deals inked that are on a par with the previous year's $2.2 billion.

Its managing director Michael Toh said the event is expected to draw 12,000 visitors, up from last year's 10,000, and 450 participating companies, an increase of 10 per cent from the number in last year's event. To date, he added, more than 80 per cent of the 18,000 sq m of exhibition space has been sold.

Water Week will be held in conjunction with the biennial World Cities Summit, to be held here from June 28 to July 1, which puts forth solutions for urban sustainability.

The Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize and the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize will also be awarded then. The former recognises outstanding solutions for global water problems, while the latter, given out for the first time, recognises contributions towards vibrant, liveable and sustainable urban communities.

Among this year's water industry highlights, Mr Toh added, is the completion of the Sembcorp Changi Newater plant, set for the middle of this year. When complete, it will be Singapore's largest Newater plant, capable of producing 228,000 cubic m a day.

GRACE CHUA

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Changing lives through sustainability

UNEP 23 Feb 10;

2009-10 Sasakawa Prize winners bring light and heat to communities in Latin America, Africa and India

Bali (Indonesia), 23 February 2010 - Two projects bringing green stoves and clean lighting to remote communities in Latin America, East Africa and India are the laureates of the 2009-10 UNEP Sasakawa Prize, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) announced today.

This year's winners are Nuru Design, a company bringing rechargeable lights to villages in Rwanda, Kenya and India; and Trees, Water and People (TWP), an organization that collaborates with local NGOs to distribute fuel-efficient cook stoves to communities in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Haiti.

The UNEP Sasakawa Prize, worth $200,000, is given out each year to sustainable and replicable grassroots projects around the planet. The winners will receive their prestigious Prize at an Award Ceremony in Bali attended by dozens of Environment Ministers during the 11th Special Session of the UNEP Governing Council.

In a year that saw global leaders meet in Copenhagen for the crucial climate conference, the 2009 theme for the Prize is 'Green Solutions to Combat Climate Change'. The winners, who were selected by a panel of four people including Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and UN Messenger of Peace Wangari Maathai, will receive $100,000 each in order to expand and develop their grassroots projects.

Achim Steiner, UNEP Executive Director and UN Under-Secretary-General who chaired the Jury Panel, said: "Combating climate change is not just up to governments: it starts at the grassroots level, as communities tap into the power of renewables and sustainable technologies. Through pioneering green ovens and sustainable lighting, Nuru Design and Trees, Water and People are changing the lives of thousands of schoolchildren, housewives and villagers across Latin America, Africa and India. This is the Green Economy of tomorrow, in action today."

The two projects are both helping to improve daily lives in far-flung, non-electrified villages while helping to fight climate change.

Nuru Design has already converted thousands of households to rechargeable lights, and aims to prevent the emission of around 40,000 tonnes of CO2 from kerosene lighting in 2010.

And through fuel-efficient cooking stoves that burn 50 to 70 per cent less wood, TWP is helping households save money and preventing nearly 250,000 tonnes of hazardous emissions.

The winners

Nuru Design

Lack of reliable energy and lighting affects over two billion people in the developing world and remains a primary obstacle to improving health, increasing literacy and education, and, ultimately, reducing poverty and hunger. Meanwhile, the equivalent of 260 million tonnes of CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere yearly from burning kerosene and firewood, which millions of people around the world rely on for lighting.

With seed-funding from the World Bank Lighting Africa initiative, Nuru Design UK co-developed and field-tested the Nuru lighting system with villagers and local partners in Rwanda - UNDP Rwanda and Millennium Villages. Nuru means "light" in Swahili, and the system consists of portable, inexpensive rechargeable LED lights that sell for $5.

Nuru lights can be recharged by solar panel or AC charger, but the primary recharging source is human power using the world's first commercially available, locally-assembled, pedal generator: the Nuru POWERCycle. Gentle pedalling for 20 minutes using feet or hands, bicycle-style, can fully recharge up to five Nuru lights - each one lasting up to 37 hours. The lights give up to two weeks of bright light on a full recharge, allowing children to study, home-based businesses to operate, and households to function after dark.

The project has been a runaway success, making a significant, immediate and long-lasting environmental impact. In Rwanda alone, Nuru is adding 40 entrepreneurs every quarter, meaning 10,000 households every quarter will switch from kerosene to Nuru light.

Nuru Design plans to use the Sasakawa funding to scale up in Rwanda and to replicate their work in Burundi, Kenya, Uganda and India - expanding to 800 entrepreneurs who will deliver lighting to about 200,000 households.

Trees, Water and People

Nearly half the world's 6.8 billion people rely on smoky open fires to cook their daily meals. This traditional practice causes deadly indoor air pollution which kills 1.6 million women and children annually.

Trees, Water & People (TWP) , a non-profit organization, collaborates with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Haiti to distribute fuel-efficient cook stoves that burn 50 to 70 per cent less wood and remove toxic smoke from homes. Other projects include community tree nurseries, reforestation, protecting watersheds and the promotion of renewable energy.

To date, TWP has coordinated the building of 35,000 stoves throughout Central America and Haiti, benefitting more than 175,000 people. The ecostoves burn 70 per cent less wood than traditional ovens, saving families $1 to $5 per day.

They also decrease harmful carbon emissions by 1 tonne of CO2 equivalent per year per stove for domestic users and 3.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year for commercial users, like tortilla makers.

To supplement the fuel-efficient stoves project, TWP has helped villages create 16 community-run tree nurseries that sequester carbon and counter the effects of deforestation. To date, three million trees have been planted throughout Latin America.

TWP will use the Prize money to support and expand the fuel-efficient stove projects and community tree nurseries throughout Central America and the Caribbean, purchasing equipment and materials necessary for increased stove production, as well as vehicles for transportation and delivery.

Notes to Editors:

About the UNEP Sasakawa Prize

The UNEP Sasakawa Prize is sponsored by the Japan-based Nippon Foundation, an independent, non-profit grant-making organization that supports both Japanese and international philantropic projects. The UNEP Sasakawa Prize was originally created in 1982 by the late Ryoichi Sasakawa. The Prize was re-launched in its current format in 2005, and is currently chaired by Mr. Sasakawa's son, Yohei Sasakawa.

The four members of the 2009-10 UNEP Sasakawa Prize jury are Jury Chairman and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and UN Messenger of Peace Pr. Wangari Maathai, Nobel chemistry Laureate and 1999 Sasakawa Winner Pr. Mario Molina, and Ms Wakako Hironaka, Member of Japan's House of Councillors.

At the UNEP Sasakawa Award Ceremony on 23 February, last year's Sasakawa Winners - Sunlabob Rural Energy and Practical Action - will deliver a report on their progress since they were awarded the Prize.

Winners' Biographies:

Nuru Design - Sameer Hajee

Prior to Nuru Design, Sameer Hajee was the Global Business Development manager at Freeplay Energy plc, the developers of the world's first hand-crank radio and flashlight. At Freeplay, Sameer created the international aid and development sales team which in 2006 and 2007 generated $6 million in revenue. He also co-created and co-managed a Development Marketplace project that saw the creation of 50 rural energy enterprises in Rwanda.

In 2005, Sameer launched and managed the Growing Sustainable Business (GSB) initiative at UNDP in Kenya, where he helped domestic and multinational companies, such as SC Johnson, Tetra Pak and Microsoft, to develop and implement pro-poor business models in Kenya.

Trees, Water and People - Stuart Conway

After graduating from Colorado State University with a Bachelor's degree in Forest Management, Stuart Conway served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala for three years, where he introduced reforestation, agroforestry, soil conservation, and stove building techniques into nearby villages. Upon returning to the States, Stuart received his Master's degree in International Development and Agroforestry from Cornell University. He then served as Director for the New Forests Project at the International Center in Washington D.C., where he guided the program to plant over 2 million trees annually, establish agroforestry training centers in Guatemala and El Salvador, and initiated community reforestation projects throughout Central America.

In 1998, Stuart co-founded Trees, Water & People (TWP), a Colorado-based nonprofit committed to improving people's lives by helping communities protect, conserve and manage the natural resources.

In 2005, Prince Charles presented Stuart with the prestigious Ashden Award for Sustainable Energy, for TWP's fuel-efficient stove project in Honduras. Stuart and TWP were awarded the 2008 US$1 million Rio Tinto Prize for Sustainability.

For more information, please visit the UNEP Sasakawa Prize website at: www.unep.org/sasakawa/ or e-mail: sasakawaprize@unep.org

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World's coral reefs could disintegrate by 2100

Researchers at Carnegie Institution say corals are being overwhelmed by rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
Ian Sample, guardian.co.uk 23 Feb 10;

The world's coral reefs will begin to disintegrate before the end of the century as rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere make the oceans more acidic, scientists warn.

The research points to a looming transition in the health of coral ecosystems during which the ability of reefs to grow is overwhelmed by the rate at which they are dissolving.

More than 9,000 coral reefs around the world are predicted to disintegrate when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reach 560 parts per million.

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today stands at around 388ppm, but is expected to reach 560ppm by the end of this century.

Coral reefs are at the heart of some of the most biodiverse marine ecosystems in the world. They are home to more than 4,000 species of fish and provide spawning, refuge and feeding areas for marine life such as crabs, starfish and sea turtles.

"These ecosystems which harbour the highest diversity of marine life in the oceans may be severely reduced within less than 100 years," said Dr Jacob Silverman of the Carnegie Institution in Stanford University, California.

Coral reefs grow their structural skeletons by depositing aragonite, a form of calcium carbonate, from calcium ions in sea water. As oceans absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide, they become so acidic the calcium carbonate dissolves.

Silverman's team studied a coral reef in the northern Red Sea and calculated its response to increasingly acidic waters. The research showed that the ability of the coral to build new structures depended strongly on water acidity and to a lesser extent temperature.

From these data the researchers created a global map of more than 9,000 coral reefs, which showed that all are threatened with disintegration when carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reach 560ppm. Silverman was speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in San Diego.

In a separate study, Simon Donner, an environmental scientist at the University of British Columbia in Canada, warned that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is already at a high enough level to cause devastating coral bleaching.

Corals have a symbiotic relationship with microscopic algae that live on them. The algae give coral reefs their vibrant colours, but are also an important food source for the habitat's marine life. When sea temperatures rise, the corals expel the algae and turn white. Once this happens the coral is deprived of energy and dies.

"Even if we froze emissions today, the planet still has some warming left in it. That's enough to make bleaching dangerously frequent in reefs worldwide," said Donner.

Bleaching had become increasingly widespread in recent years, Donner said. In 2006, severe bleaching struck the southern part of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef system in the world. Last year scientists reported that a "lucky combination" of circumstances had allowed the coral to recover from the disaster.

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Rising carbon snuffs coral

ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Science Alert 24 Feb 10;

Rising carbon dioxide levels in the world’s oceans could deliver a disastrous blow to the ability of coral reefs to withstand climate change.

A major new investigation by Australian scientists has revealed that acidification of the oceans from human CO2 emissions has the potential to worsen the impact of the bleaching and death of reef-building organisms expected to occur under global warming.

The study, by a team led by Dr Ken Anthony of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and the University of Queensland, published in this week’s Proceedings of the (US) National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) concludes that earlier research may significantly understate the likely damage to the world’s reefs caused by man-made change to the Earth’s atmosphere.

In a large experiment on Australia’s Heron Island, the team simulated CO2 and temperature conditions predicted for the middle and end of this century, based on current forecasts of the world’s likely emission levels and warming by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The results of their analyses of the bleaching, growth and survival of a number of organisms including corals indicates that a number of very important reef builders may be completely lost in near future.

“We found that coralline algae, which glue the reef together and help coral larvae settle successfully, were highly sensitive to increased CO2. These may die on reefs such as those in the southern Great Barrier Reef (GBR) before year 2050,” says Dr Anthony.

“Every time you start your car or turn on the lights, half the CO2 you emit ends up in the oceans, turning them just a tiny bit more acidic, as well as causing the climate to warm. What is new is an understanding of how these two effects interact to affect the corals and reef building algae.”

The CoECRS team erected 30 large aquaria in the waters of Heron Island in the southern GBR and studied the combined effects of warming, high CO2 and sunlight on a large range of reef organisms for eight weeks.

“The results, frankly, are alarming,” says Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg. “They clearly suggest that previous predictions of coral bleaching have been far too conservative, because they didn’t factor in the effect of acidification on the bleaching process and how the two interact.”

The results of the team’s analyses of the bleaching, growth and survival of key coral reef species indicate that a number of very important reef builders may be completely lost in the near future – in particular the coralline algae that glue the reef together and help coral larvae settle successfully, says Dr Guillermo Diaz-Pulido.

On the positive side, some coral species seem able to cope with the levels of ocean acidification expected by the mid-century by enhancing their rates of photosynthesis, says team member Dr David Kline. “This is an important discovery that can buy the reef time while the nations of the world work together to stabilise CO2emissions,” he says.

“Although high CO2 causes corals to bleach and lose their symbiotic organisms, the surviving symbionts seem able to work harder. However, when CO2 levels in the water become too high, the symbiotic coral-algal system crashes and the corals die”, adds Dr Sophie Dove.

“The implications of this finding are massive as it means that our current bleaching models, which are based on temperature only, severely underestimate the amount of coral bleaching we will see in the future,” Dr Anthony says.

“These results highlight the urgency of reducing CO2 emissions globally. Without political will and commitment to abatement, entire reef systems such as the Great Barrier Reef will be severely threatened in coming decades,” the team warns.

The results of the research are being offered to reef managers to help them develop strategies to protect the reefs which are most at risk.

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U.N. Says Emissions Vows Not Enough To Avoid Rise Of 2 Degrees C

Sunanda Creagh, PlanetArk 24 Feb 10;

NUSA DUA, Indonesia - Emission cuts pledges made by 60 countries will not be enough to keep the average global temperature rise at 2 degrees Celsius or less, modeling released on Tuesday by the United Nations says.

Scientists say temperatures should be limited to a rise of no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above pre-industrial times if devastating climate change is to be avoided.

Yearly greenhouse gas emissions should not be more than 40 and 48.3 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent in 2020 and should peak between 2015 and 2021, according to new modeling released on Tuesday by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Keeping within that range and cutting global emissions by between 48 percent and 72 percent between 2020 and 2050 will give the planet a "medium" or 50-50 chance of staying within the 2 degree limit, said the report, which was based on modeling by nine research centres.

However, the same study found that the world is likely to go over those targets. The pledges were made by nations that signed up to the Copenhagen Accord.

"The expected emissions for 2020 range between 48.8 to 51.2 gigatonnes of CO2-equivalent, based on whether high or low pledges will be fulfilled," the report said.

In other words, even in a best-case scenario where all countries implement their promised cuts, the total amount of emissions produced would still be between 0.5 and 8.8 gigatonnes over what scientists see as tolerable.

Greenhouse gas levels are rising, particularly for carbon dioxide, because more is remaining in the atmosphere than natural processes can deal with.

Carbon dioxide is naturally taken up and released by plants and the oceans but mankind's burning of fossil fuels such as coal for power and destruction of forests means the planet's annual "carbon budget" is being exceeded.

OTHER OPTIONS

UNEP's executive director Achim Steiner said the bleak prediction should motivate countries to make more ambitious cuts.

"The message is not to sit back and resign and say we will never make it," he told reporters in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian island of Bali, which is hosting a major U.N. environment meeting.

"But it's not enough at the moment and there are other options that can be mobilised."

Steiner said one such option was more investment in a scheme called reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD), in which poor countries are paid to preserve and enhance their forests.

A state of the environment assessment released by UNEP on Tuesday, the UNEP Year Book 2010, also advocated more investment in REDD.

"It has been estimated that putting $22 billion to $29 billion into REDD would cut global deforestation by 25 percent by 2015," the report said.

Forests soak up large amounts of planet-warming carbon dioxide. Cutting them down and burning the remains releases vast amounts of the gas, exacerbating global warming, scientists say.

REDD is not yet part of a broader climate pact that the U.N. hopes to seal by the end of year at major climate talks in Mexico.

Steiner told reporters a day earlier he expected talks this year to be a tough slog. The Copenhagen climate summit last December ended with a political accord that was not formally adopted and no clarity on the shape of a new climate pact to succeed the current Kyoto Protocol.

"A deal has become more difficult than in Copenhagen. Let's be very frank. The world has moved away, rather than closer, to a deal," he told reporters. "The politics of international negotiation and the economics, the momentum that built up toward Copenhagen will not be there for Mexico.

(Editing by David Fogarty)

UN warns greenhouse gas cuts 'not enough' to curb warming
Yahoo News 24 Feb 10;

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AFP) – Countries will have to make far greater cuts in greenhouse gas emissions if the world is to limit the rise in global temperatures to two degrees Celsius or less, the UN has warned.

Commitments made since December's Copenhagen climate conference have been insufficient, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a report at its annual meeting on the Indonesian island of Bali.

"No one should assume that the pledges will be enough," UNEP director Adrian Steiner said.

"Countries will have to be far more ambitious in cutting greenhouse gas emissions if the world is to curb a rise in global temperature."

The Copenhagen summit struck a last-minute compromise that set a goal of limiting warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and pledged a total of nearly 30 billion dollars in aid to poor countries by 2012.

But it did not spell out the means for achieving the warming limits, and the emissions pledges were only voluntary.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned the ministers and officials gathered on Bali that the clock was ticking on efforts to forge a global treaty on climate change to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.

"We have to conclude the climate change negotiations in Mexico at the end of the year," Yudhoyono noted at the opening session on Wednesday. "I think it is not too late."

Other environment ministers and climate officials echoed his call although the United States, which is the world's second biggest polluter after China, did not send any ministers to Bali.

International climate negotiators are due to meet on April 9 in Bonn to draw up a programme for the rest of the year looking towards the ministerial-level meeting opening on November 29 in Cancun, Mexico.

Green groups and most scientists say the document adopted in Copenhagen, a limited pact made after China angrily ruled out binding commitments, falls far short of what is necessary to curtail global warming.

The European Union is pledging to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020, compared to 1990 levels, if other major powers do the same. But cuts outlined by the United States and China fall well short of that.

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Hard To Agree On U.N. Climate Treaty In 2010: De Boer

Robert Nowatzki, PlanetArk 24 Feb 10;

BONN, Germany - Agreeing on a U.N. climate treaty in 2010 will be "very difficult" despite a new push to spur negotiations after the Copenhagen summit, the head of the U.N. Climate Change Secretariat said on Tuesday.

Yvo de Boer, a Dutch citizen who announced plans last week to stand down in July after four years, also suggested to Reuters Television that his successor should be from a developing nation.

"I think that's going to be very difficult," he said of prospects for agreeing a new treaty at an annual ministerial meeting in Cancun, Mexico, from November 29-December 10. Rich and poor are divided over sharing out the burden of curbs on emissions.

A U.N. summit in Denmark in December disappointed many nations by failing to agree a new legally binding deal to succeed the existing Kyoto Protocol.

It ended with a non-binding Copenhagen Accord to limit warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above pre-industrial times.

De Boer said developing countries would want to know what a treaty would mean "in terms of obligations and what it's going to bring for them in terms of finance and technology, before they're willing to take that step and say: 'yes, we're willing to work toward a legally binding treaty'."

"So I think the first step will be to get the architecture right and I think that can be done in Mexico. The next step would be to decide on a treaty on it," he said.

On Monday, key nations agreed to add an extra negotiating session of senior officials from 194 nations in Bonn from April 9-11, on top of a meeting in Bonn from May 31-June 11. Delegates said it was a sign of willingness to work for a treaty.

MEXICO

De Boer also said he expected that Mexico would host talks among some key negotiators in March.

De Boer said the choice of his successor was up to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. But he said "I think it would be quite useful to...have somebody from a developing country."

So far, 100 nations have signed up for the Copenhagen Accord, which promises almost $10 billion a year in aid from 2010-12, rising to $100 billion a year from 2020, as well as setting the 2C temperature ceiling.

De Boer said that the climate debate was shifting into a period when it could carry out decisions already taken to slow droughts, floods, heatwaves, more powerful storms and rising ocean levels.

"We're now moving into a phase that is very much about implementation and about getting developing countries on board and acknowledging cooperation and adaptation," he said.

In Indonesia on Tuesday, a U.N. study said promised cuts in emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, so far by 60 countries under the Copenhagen Accord were insufficient to limit temperature rise to 2 degrees.

Achim Steiner, head of the U.N. Environment Programme, urged countries to announce deeper cuts in emissions: "The message is not to sit back and resign and say we will never make it."

De Boer will be joining business consultancy KPMG.

"I've always said that I think the ultimate solution to climate change needs to come from the private sector, within boundaries designed by government, but from the private sector," he said.

(Editing by Jon Boyle)

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