The greening of the bottom line for SMEs in Singapore

For SMEs, going green has its rewards, but trying to maintain a sustainable green culture is a challenge, reports JASLENE PANG
Business Times 16 Mar 10;

AS the global economy recovers in the roaring tiger year, the next hurdle for companies to cross could be environmental concerns. With the Apec SME summit on green opportunities for SMEs and the Copenhagen summit, the green buzz is getting distinctly louder. And SMEs can carve a niche for themselves by going green, regardless of the industry they are in.

At January 2010, 99 per cent of companies in Singapore were small and medium enterprises. They feel the intensity of competition more than multi-national companies as they are part of a value-chain where suppliers like them are plentiful.

Many SMEs are recognising they can become the preferred partners of bigger corporations if they adopt eco-friendly and sustainable practices.

'Clearly, Lenovo or Fujitsu will not work with suppliers who do not have green manufacturing practices, or risk losing credibility over any part of their manufacturing supply chain is not environmentally friendly,' said Howard Shaw, executive director of the Singapore Environment Council (SEC).

SEC, a non-profit and non-government organisation that facilitates environmental causes locally, administers a holistic environmental award - The Singapore Environmental Achievement Awards (SEAA).

John Lim, group general manager of K C Dat - an SME offering relocation services - shares this sentiment.

'We have been doing the 3Rs - recycling, reusing and reducing - in house all along,' he says. 'This was common sense to us. But one day, our customer Tetra Laval told us it would give us two years to get certified as environmentally friendly, or our deal was off. Weighing our options, we decided to apply for the ISO 14001 certification.'

Tetra Laval is a private multinational corporation of Swedish origin.

'Eight of 10 of the foreign companies we work with ask for our environmental qualifications and policies,' Mr Lim says.

The number of green-conscious consumers is vast these days, so companies cannot afford to upset them. 'It was very difficult to sell the idea of being green 22 years ago,' says Peter Ko, managing director of Crusade Services.

But that's not the case now. So Crusade - a SME that provides cleaning services - decided to be green right from the start, because it saw it would be something special. 'We want to be outstanding - better than just 'biodegradable',' says Mr Ko.

Siloso Beach Resort is another SME that has been green since the planning stage.

But Kelvin Ng, executive director of Siloso Beach Resort, says the reason was as simple as 'doing the right thing'.

'Even if it's a one-person company, no company need wait until regulation or expansion kicks in to go green,' says Mr Ng. 'Future generations will be thankful we took the first step.'

Still, the expense of going green may be a source of inertia for some SMEs.

There is the cost of getting certification, as well as regular staff training. Mr Ko spent $80,000 to obtain ISO 14000 certification, a standard for environmental management systems that is applicable to any business, regardless of size, location or income. On top of that, he spent $1,500-2,000 for bi-monthly staff training.

However, this 'is the only way to go', and green efforts do pay off, as seen from the increase in Crusade's revenue of 5-10 per cent from last year. Although the increase in revenue cannot be said to be solely due to the green movement, it does play a part.

As Sunny Koh, managing director of Chinatown Food Corporation, puts it: Going green can increase profits by reducing the cost of production. His company saved about $30,000-$40,000 by simply reducing the thickness of plastic used in packaging by about 10 microns.

'There are other ways to cut costs too,' he says. 'You can reduce freight and warehousing charges by transporting or storing more food due to the smaller packaging.'

Mr Lim says K C Dat saved $13,000 on disposal costs for wooden waste alone in the first year alone.

But the savings are 'only a bonus' and should not be the main reason for going green, because 'being green has to be sustainable and lots of time and commitment is needed', he adds.

For many SMEs, trying to maintain a sustainable green culture is a challenge.

But SMEs are not alone. According to SMEs from various industries that BT spoke to, having like-minded green friends is a big help, be it to award a certificate if a companies meets requirements, or just to provide green advice.

For example, SEC has an ongoing programme to raise awareness about environmental issues among companies and to cultivate green habits. Called Project: Eco-Office, it has launched resource kits to encourage workers to improve environmental practices in offices.

Adding weight to the call to go green, Renny Yeo, President of Singapore Manufacturer's Federation, says: 'Green business practices are here to stay. We either adopt them and do well - or become obsolete without them.

'It is increasingly important for our manufacturers to adopt green business practices, not only boost their corporate social responsibility profiles but also to attain long-term sustainability and gain a competitive edge in a growing market of environmentally conscious consumers.'

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Shopping Gets A Conscience In Asia Pacific: Survey

Miral Fahmy, Reuters 16 Mar 10;

SINGAPORE - Commercialism is developing a conscience in the Asia Pacific region, where over six in 10 shoppers are buying items that are either "fair trade" or environmentally friendly, a survey shows.

The MasterCard poll, which involved more 3,500 consumers in 13 markets in the region in late 2009, also found 70 percent of respondents said they would go out of their way to purchase ecologically sound gifts, and don't mind paying extra for them.

"There is a shift toward ethical shopping for a new class of knowledgeable and discerning shoppers in the region," said Georgette Tan, MasterCard's vice president of communications for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa.

"Consumers are now aware that even when they make their purchases, they can make a difference," she said in a statement.

Five of the markets surveyed scored above the regional average for willing to pay more for environmentally friendly items with China leading the curve at 94 percent, followed by Thailand (87 percent), India (83 percent), the Philippines (82 percent) and Hong Kong (77 percent).

China and India are among the world's worst pollution offenders.

Ethical shopping was embraced by both males and females in the region, where more than 80 percent of respondents said they were likely to somewhat likely to make a purchase just because the merchant was socially and environmentally responsible.

The survey also found that 60 percent of the respondents in Asia Pacific purchased items because a percentage of the sale is donated to a good cause.

Amongst those surveyed, shops and retail outlets, rather than online shopping sites, were the preferred location for more than 60 percent of shoppers looking for buy ethical goods, even though those that did shop online said there was more choice for environmentally friendly and fair trade items on the Internet.

The survey involved consumers from several countries including Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan and Thailand.

(Editing by Jerry Norton)

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Tree shrew uses pitcher plant as potty

Tasty deal... tree shrews pitch in
Evangeline Majawat, The Star 15 Mar 10;

KUALA LUMPUR: Potty training is a breeze for tree shrews (Tupaia montana) as they answer nature's calls perched delicately on the odd-looking pitcher plant.

The world's biggest carnivorous plant, the Nepenthes rajah, comes in handy as toilet for the small mammals, a new research has found.
The shrew's excrement is food for N. rajah and two other species of pitcher plants, the Nepenthes lowii and Nepenthes macrophylla, all found only in Borneo.

The nutrient-rich droppings supply important minerals to the plants. In return, the plants secrete a tasty nectar that the shrews love. So, those furry creatures can feed and defecate at the same time.

Ecologist Dr Charles Clarke and his student Chin Lijin, from Monash University Sunway campus, made the astonishing discovery last year at Mount Kinabalu.

"It's nature's toilet. It's a great discovery to make, which comes 150 years after N. rajah was first described.

"We've never understood why it has big pitchers, and so the finding is really good," Clarke told the New Straits Times.

Their finding, which was published in the journal New Phytologist earlier this year, busted the myth that larger pitcher plants depended on small animals for survival.

For a long time, N. rajah, believed to be the biggest meat-eating plant in the world, was reputed to trap small vertebrates.

"Actually, it was assumed it catches insects. Just occasionally, dead mice and rats have been found in the pitcher plants. It doesn't need big pitchers to catch large insects," said Clarke.
Last year, he suggested that Chin study the pitcher plants, known locally as periuk kera, because "nobody has looked at it in detail".

It wasn't long into their four-month research that they realised the three species of pitcher plants rarely caught small animals.

"When we studied the contents, we noticed tree shrew poo," said Clarke.

He knew from an earlier research that N. lowii was designed specifically to collect the shrews' faeces.

The duo confirmed their suspicion on the other two species when cameras caught the shrews in the act on their "thrones".

The result pleased them.

"At least half, and possibly 100 per cent of N. lowii's nutrients come from the tree shrews," Clarke said.

As for the other two species, they supplement their diets with insects.

For Chin, this turned out to be her lucky break in her first attempt at scientific discovery.

She said she hoped the findings would add conservation value to the rare pitcher plants.

"By understanding the species more, it'll provide more information to (afford) better protection of its habitats. N. lowii looks exactly like our toilet! It's amazing."

Huge meat-eater plant prefers poo
Matt Walker, BBC News 15 Mar 10;

The largest meat-eating plant in the world is designed not to eat small animals, but small animal poo.

Botanists have discovered that the giant montane pitcher plant of Borneo has a pitcher the exact same size as a tree shrew's body.

But it is not this big to swallow up mammals such as tree shrews or rats.

Instead, the pitcher uses tasty nectar to attract tree shrews, then ensures its pitcher is big enough to collect the feeding mammal's droppings.

Details of the discovery are published in the journal New Phytologist.

Big reputation

Pitcher plants have elaborate structures which entice creatures such as ants or spiders into a precarious position, from which they fall into a fluid-filled trap, where they drown and are ingested.

These arthropods are thought to provide the plant with vital nitrogen and phosphorus, which it cannot obtain any other way.

Pitchers are the largest carnivorous plants, and the largest pitchers grow in Borneo.

One, known as Nepenthes rajah , is believed to be the largest meat-eating plant in the world, growing pitchers that can hold two litres of water if filled to the brim.

This plant's pitcher is so big that they are reputed to catch vertebrates.

"This species has always been famous for its ability to trap rodents, but I've been looking at the pitchers of this species on and off since 1987, and I've never seen a trapped rat inside," says Dr Charles Clarke, an expert on carnivorous plants based at Monash University's Sunway Campus in Selangor, Malaysia.

"This made me wonder: if it is large enough to trap rats, but it only traps them very rarely, it is likely that the pitchers are large because of some other reason?"

To find out, Dr Clarke and colleagues Ms Lijin Chin of Monash University and Dr Jonathan Moran of Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada turned their attention to tree shrews, which inhabit the same forest as N. rajah .

They did so after noticing that tree shrews, which are a similar size to rodents but most closely related to primates, sometimes left faeces in the traps of large pitchers.

"All of a sudden we realised that there may be some relationship between big pitchers and tree shrews," says Dr Clarke.

"So we decided to look at the pitcher geometry."

What they found "totally blew us away", says Dr Clarke.

Precise dimensions

N. rapah pitchers have huge orifices, but they also grow large concave lids held at an angle of about 90 degrees away from the orifice.

The inside of these lids are covered with glands that exude huge amounts of nectar.

Most importantly, the distance from the front of the pitcher's mouth to the glands corresponds exactly to the head to body length of mountain tree shrews.

The same is true for two other species of large meat-eating pitcher plant, N. lowii and N. macrophylla that are also visited by tree shrews.

However, the pattern does not hold for other pitcher species not associated with the small mammals.

"In order for the tree shrews to reach the exudates, they must climb onto the pitchers and orient themselves in such a way that their backsides are located over the pitcher mouths," explains Dr Clarke.

The tree shrews then appear to defecate as a way of marking their feeding territory.

That suggests these supposedly "meat-eating" plants have evolved a mutualistic relationship with tree shrews.

The tree shrews get nectar, a valuable food source, and in return, the plants get to catch and absorb the tree shrew's faeces which likely supplies the majority of nitrogen required by the plant.

These particular species of pitcher also live in the highlands where insects and other arthropods are more scarce.

Such creatures would normally provide the nitrogen needed by the pitcher, forcing it to evolve its huge size to attract tree shrews instead.

Radical rethink

"150 years after the discovery of N. rajah , we finally have an explanation for why the largest carnivorous plant in the world produces such big pitchers," says Dr Clarke.

Dr Clarke says it is the "neatest" discovery he has made in more than 20 years of studying Nepenthes meat-eating plants.

"The findings should radically alter how we look at these plants," he says.

He believes there is much we still have to learn about the true habits of carnivorous plants.

They suspect another highland species, N. ephippiata, likely feeds on faeces too, as may a huge meat-eating plant called N. attenboroughii which was only discovered last year.

In the lowlands of Borneo, bats roost in the pitchers of yet more Nepenthes species, suggesting these plants may too feed off the faeces of other small mammals.

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Efforts to save tiger have 'failed miserably': CITES

Yahoo News 15 Mar 10;

DOHA (AFP) – Thirty-five years of efforts to save tigers in the wild have been "failed miserably" and the great cat is walking ever closer to extinction, the head of the UN's wildlife trade body warned on Monday.

"If we use tiger numbers as a performance indicator, then we must admit that we have failed miserably and that we are continuing to fail," said Willem Wijnstekers, secretary general of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

"2010 is the Chinese Year of the Tiger and the International Year of Biodiversity. This must be the year in which we reverse the trend. If we don't, it will be to our everlasting shame," he said.

Delegates from nearly 150 nations have gathered in Doha, capital of Qatar, to vote on more than 40 proposals on restricting or banning trade in endangered animals and plants.

Less than a century ago, more than 100,000 tigers roamed jungles and forests, from Turkey to China and from the Russian Far East to Indonesia.

A ban on tiger parts was implemented in 1975, marking one of the very first initiatives under CITES, which regulates cross-border commerce in imperilled species.

Today, though, less than 3,200 of the great cats remain in the wild.

Their range has been reduced by 93 percent through habitat loss for farming and human habitation, and several population pockets are teetering on the brink of extinction.

The animals are still poached, primarily for their skins but also for their bones and organs, used to make traditional medicines and supposed longevity potions.

"These animals don't have much time left unless we really get our act together," said John Sellar, CITES's senior enforcement officer.

"There is a real underground market going on here," he told journalists.

"People are willing to pay to get the genuine articles, and so there are still practicians that are buying tiger bones, tiger meat in order to supply their specialised clients," he said.

Sellar added: "If we lose the tiger, that in many ways is an indicator of the health of our planet. That is a terrible indictment."

Tiger decline 'sign of failure'
Richard Black, BBC News 15 Mar 10;

Governments need to crack down on illegal tiger trading if the big cats are to be saved, the UN has warned.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting in Doha, Qatar heard that tiger numbers are continuing to fall.

Organised crime rings are playing an increasing part in illegal trading of tiger parts, CITES says, as they are with bears, rhinos and elephants.

Interpol is working with CITES to track and curb the international trade.

Last year, World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said the global black market in wildlife products was worth about $10bn per year, making wildlife the third most valuable illicit commodity after drugs and weapons.

Global medicine

Despite attempts to protect tigers, numbers have approximately halved over the last decade, with fewer than 3,200 remaining in the wild.

The decline is seen across sub-species and in most range states. Many populations are small, and are threatened by deforestation as well as poaching.

"If we use tiger numbers as a performance indicator, then we must admit that we have failed miserably and that we are continuing to fail," said CITES secretary-general Willem Wijnstekers.

"Although the tiger has been prized throughout history, and is a symbol of incredible importance in many cultures and religions, it is now literally on the verge of extinction."

CITES enforcement officials said government agencies including police and customs needed to step up efforts to combat the illegal trade.

Although China and other East Asian countries are the principal consumers of tiger parts, exports travel much further afield.

Earlier this month, Operation Tram, co-ordinated by Interpol and including enforcement authorities in 18 countries, netted medicines containing wildlife products worth an estimated $10m.

Tigers, bears and rhinos were among the animals used in making the medicines.

Traditional cures

Conservationists also point to China's tiger farms as a threat to the wild animals.

Although China does not officially permit the sale of goods from these farms, in practice several investigations have revealed tiger parts are being sold.

Campaigners warn this perpetuates a market into which wild tiger parts can be sold, often commanding a higher value as products made from wild animals are perceived to be more "potent."

Just before the CITES meeting opened, the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies (WFCMS) called on traditional medicine practitioners to abandon the use of tiger parts.

"We will ask our members not to use endangered wildlife in traditional Chinese medicine, and reduce the misunderstanding and bias of the international community," said WFCMS deputy secretary Huang Jianyin.

"The traditional Chinese medicine industry should look for substitutes and research on economical and effective substitutes for tiger products."

A resolution before the fortnight-long CITES meeting calls for greater co-operation between regional enforcement authorities to cut down the tiger product trade, and to ensure that breeding operations are "consistent with the conservation of wild populations".

UN Agency: Tiger on verge of extinction
Yahoo News 15 Mar 10;

DOHA, Qatar – The world has "failed miserably" at protecting tigers in the wild, bringing an animal that is a symbol for many cultures and religions to "the verge of extinction," a top official with the United Nations wildlife agency said Monday.

Just 20 years ago there were 100,000 tigers in Asia, but now only 3,200 remain in the wild, according to U.N. Willem Wijnstekers, the secretary general of the 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES.

He called on countries to come up with strategies, and cooperate with international agencies such as Interpol, to end poaching and illegal trade in tiger products.

"We must admit that we have failed miserably," Wijnstekers said at the two-week conference in the Gulf state of Qatar. "Although the tiger has been prized throughout history ... it is now literally on the verge of extinction."

Tigers are poached for their skins and parts of their bodies are prized for decoration and traditional medicine.

Delegates at the U.N. conference will also consider the spike in rhino poaching and ways to combat criminal networks involved in the illegal trade in horns in parts of Africa and Asia. All in all, there are 42 proposals on the table, ranging from stopping elephant poaching to banning trade in polar bear skins.

Later this week, an all-out ban on the export of Atlantic bluefin will also be discussed, a contentious issue that has the countries of Asia and the West locking horns over a fish prized in sushi.

Global stocks of bluefin are dwindling, especially in the Atlantic, and some governments around the world are increasingly supporting a complete trade ban to let the fish recover.

The issue pits the Europeans and Americans against fishing nations in North Africa and Asia, especially Japan, which has already vowed to ignore any bluefin ban.

About 80 percent of the species fished ends up in Japan. Raw tuna is a key ingredient in traditional dishes such as sushi and sashimi, and the bluefin variety — called "hon-maguro" in Japan — is particularly prized.

A bid to regulate the trade in red and pink corals — harvested to make expensive jewelry — could also divide the delegates.


CITES to discuss initiatives to dismantle criminal networks involved in tiger and rhino poaching
UNEP 15 Mar 10;

Doha, 15 March 2010 - Delegates and enforcement experts attending the CITES summit in Qatar will discuss this week the perilous state of tigers in the wild and the nature of poaching and illegal trade in tigers. The CITES Secretariat, in conjunction with INTERPOL, is calling for countries to submit information about crime against tigers, so that it can be analysed and effective anti-poaching strategies developed.

In the early 1900s, tigers were found throughout Asia and numbered over 100,000. Current estimates indicate that less than 3,200 of these remain in the wild. Tigers are today primarily poached for their skins but almost every part of a tiger's body can be used for decorative or traditional medicinal purposes. Most tigers are now restricted to small pockets of habitat, with several geographical populations literally teetering on the brink of extinction.

The CITES community will learn of progress being made by the Global Tiger Initiative, a partnership of governments, international agencies and non-governmental organizations, who are working collaboratively to save the tiger. The Initiative's next major event will be in Vladivostok, Russian Federation, in September 2010, when Prime Minister Putin will host a meeting of heads-of-state to commit political will for tiger conservation.

It is almost four decades since the world realized that tiger numbers were falling alarmingly. Between the 1970s and 2010, governments and the conservation community spent tens of millions of dollars trying to save this magnificent animal. Millions of dollars, euros, pounds, rupees and yuans continue to be spent.

"If we use tiger numbers as a performance indicator", says CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers, "then we must admit that we have failed miserably and that we are continuing to fail. How have we let this happen? Although the tiger has been prized throughout history, and is a symbol of incredible importance in many cultures and religions, it is now literally on the verge of extinction. 2010 is the Chinese Year of the Tiger and the International Year of Biodiversity; this must be the year in which we reverse the trend. If we don't, it will be to our everlasting shame."

Aside from its significance as a 'flagship' species, the tiger is also a marvellous indicator of the health of our forests. Falling tiger numbers also ring an alarm bell in relation to loss of habitat, human encroachment into important areas of biodiversity and wilderness, conflict between tigers, humans and livestock and wildlife crime.

Protected from international commercial trade through its listing in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), tigers still suffer significantly from illegal trade. They are poached for their skins and body parts, which are used for decorative and traditional medicine purposes.

Delegates at CITES CoP15 will also consider the escalation of rhino poaching and the approaches to fight criminal networks involved in the increasing illegal trade in their horns in parts of Africa and Asia. Whereas the tiger is suffering from threats such as loss of habitat and tiger numbers have been steadily declining, this is not the case for rhinoceroses. The early- and mid-1990s saw rhino numbers grow encouragingly in many of its range States. There were dramatic recoveries and poaching of this animal became fairly infrequent.

However, in the mid-2000s, rumours emerged that rhinoceros horn could stave off cancer or halt its spread in people suffering from the disease. Rhinos in countries such as India, South Africa, Nepal and Zimbabwe now appear to be killed by organized crime groups that control the smuggling of rhino horns to the far east of Asia, where they are sold on the black market for thousands and thousands of dollars.

South Africa and Zimbabwe have seen dramatic increases in rhino poaching in the past

2-3 years, where over 300 animals are estimated to have been illegally killed. The 'shoot to kill' policy adopted by some governments in Africa does not seem to be deterring poachers and one national park store was even robbed at gunpoint, so that horns removed by park staff from rhinos that had died naturally could be stolen.

CITES calls upon its partners, such as INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and the World Customs Organization to join it in this war against organized crime that seeks to rape the world's natural resources.

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UN Meeting Asked To Regulate World Shark Trade

Deborah Zabarenko, PlanetArk 16 Mar 10;

WASHINGTON - Exploding Asian demand for shark fin soup has slashed worldwide shark populations, and global regulation is the best way to save eight species now under pressure, ocean conservationists reported on Monday.

Eight types of sharks -- oceanic whitetip, dusky, sandbar, spurdog, porbeagle, scalloped, smooth and great hammerhead -- should be regulated under the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), a marine expert at the Washington-based group Oceana said.

"The demand for the shark fin is so high, they're being taken out of the water faster than they can reproduce in the water to sustain their population," said Rebecca Greenberg, co-author of an Oceana report released at a U.N. CITES meeting on endangered species being held from March 13 to 25 in Doha, Qatar.

Sharks are under particular pressure because of the growing Chinese appetite for shark fin soup, traditionally a symbol of power and prestige that was formerly reserved for the wealthy.

One of the most expensive foods on Earth, a bowl of shark fin soup can cost $100, and a single fin can be worth $1,300, Greenberg said in a telephone interview from Doha.

Formerly a delicacy reserved for the rich because of the difficulty of catching and processing sharks, shark fins are now within reach of the growing Asian middle class because of improved fishing and processing techniques, she said.

SHARK POPULATIONS PLUMMETING

Up to 22 million pounds (10 million kg) of shark fins are exported annually to Hong Kong by 87 countries, the Oceana report said.

While not seeking a ban on the trade of shark fins, Oceana wants to limit international commerce in this commodity so that the only fins that can be traded and sold internationally are from sustainable shark populations, according to Greenberg.

Because shark populations are found around the world, fishing fleets from various countries travel globally to catch them, and as recently as a decade ago it would have been hard to figure out where the fish came from and whether their population was being sustained.

However, advances in record-keeping requirements for other bodies mean that now the number and provenance of sharks can be determined, which means quotas could be set on how many sharks from could be exported, Greenberg said.

She said her group was "pretty confident" that the CITES meeting would agree to regulation of the eight shark species.

"Many of the nations that we're talking about are conscious that the populations of each individual species are just plummeting around the world because of the high fin demand," Greenberg said.

Representatives of 175 countries are convened at the CITES meeting in Doha.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

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Indonesian fishermen are running out of sea cucumbers

The Jakarta Post 15 Mar 10;

Indonesia fishermen at Scott Reef, one of the allowed areas for traditional fishermen in Australian fishing zone, are running out of sea cucumbers.

“As the result of the increasing depletion of the resource (of sea cucumbers), the selling price has increased between 33 and 200 percent within four years,” James J Fox of the Australian National University said in the meeting of Research Institute of Maritime and Fisheries on Monday.

According to Fox, the fishermen, mostly from Rote Island, East Nusa Tenggara, hoped that the price rises would compensate for decrease quantities of sea cucumber harvested.

There is a total of 550 legal Indonesian traditional fishermen came to Australia every year.

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Indonesian fishing moratorium a small step to help save Coral Triangle

WWF 15 Mar 10;

WWF welcomes Indonesian moratorium on new trawl and purse seine fisheries licenses but an immediate reduction in fishing efforts is needed in order to protect the Coral Triangle, the world’s most diverse marine environment.

Trawling and purse seine fisheries have become a problematic issue in Indonesia, strongly contributing to the overfishing of mostly fully exploited juvenile tunas, and illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing in the area (IUU).

“This moratorium on new fishing licenses for trawlers and purse seiners will certainly stop the bleeding but not the wound, so to speak. A reduction in current fishing capacity is key to addressing problems of overfishing and bycatch of juvenile tunas in the Coral Triangle” says Dr. Lida Pet-Soede, WWF Coral Triangle Programme Head.

Tuna is an important fishing resource in Coral Triangle as it supports the economies of many developing nations and represents the livelihoods of millions of people in this region and beyond.

The region contains spawning and nursery grounds and migratory routes for commercially-valuable tuna species such as bigeye, yellowfin, skipjack and albacore, producing more than 40% of the total catch for the Western Central Pacific region, and representing more than 20% of the global catch.

As of 2007, more than 10,000 trawlers and 22,000 purse seiners have been found in Indonesian waters.

‘These existing fishing fleets are highly capable of bringing already fully exploited fish stocks to an even greater overfished state’ adds Dr. Pet-Soede.

‘We would also like to seek further clarification on the criteria being used to determine stock recovery and how this is will be evaluated. WWF is willing to participate and contribute to this process.’

Trawling, which can catch as much as 30 tons of fish in a single operation, was banned nationally in 1980 but was once again made legal two years later, specifically in the Arafuru Seas in Papua.

In 2008, a regulation to allow shrimp trawling in the East Kalimantan province was issued.

Today, demersal fish stocks and shrimp are fully exploited and overfished in the Arafuru Seas. Similar results have occurred in the Flores Seas and Makassar Strait in East Kalimantan.

Purse seining has likewise become an issue in Indonesian fisheries. As much as 57% of skipjack, 71% of yellowfin and 75% of bigeye tunas caught by Indonesian purse seiners are juvenile and fully exploited.

Purse seining of small pelagic fish, or free swimming open ocean species like Skipjack tuna and sardines in Indonesia accounts for as much as 80% of the total catch in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean. This however also includes big pelagic fish, which have been overfished in the Sulawesi Seas and Pacific Ocean. Pelagic fish, both big and small, have now been classified as fully exploited in Indonesia.

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Bluefin tuna: Japan 'lobbying' blasted at CITES talks

Anne Chaon Yahoo News 15 Mar 10;

DOHA (AFP) – Japan was accused of scare tactics at world talks on wildlife protection on Monday as it campaigned against a proposal to curb trade in bluefin tuna, the succulent sushi delicacy.

The 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), meeting until March 25, is gearing up to vote on banning commerce in bluefin from the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, a motion that requires a two-thirds majority to pass.

So far, fewer than 40 of the approximately 150 countries in Doha have declared their intention to back the move.

"It is very much up in the air. There's a lot of jockeying," said Patrick Van Klaveren of Monaco, which is leading the charge for a ban.

"Japan's lobbying is formidable. Three or four people from the Japanese delegation are constantly criss-crossing the Convention, arranging meetings," he told AFP.

On Sunday, Japanese delegates met with some African nations, said a negotiator from west Africa.

"We are used to it. They do the same thing before each meeting of the International Whaling Commission," the body that oversees global whale populations, he said.

Van Klaveren said that Tokyo was also targeting developing countries, "scaring them about what could happen to their (own tuna) stocks, along the lines of 'your turn will come'."

Monaco's proposal entails placing Atlantic- and Mediterranean-caught bluefin under Appendix I of the CITES rulebook, meaning fish caught in those sea areas could not be sold internationally.

Even though it would not affect bluefin caught in the Pacific, "the Pacific island nations and Asia are also quite sensitive" to Japan's arguments, said van Klaveren.

"Japan is threatening them," said Sue Lieberman, policy director for the Pew Environment Group in Washington.

Tokyo has vowed to fight the moratorium, saying it would ignore any such measure voted into place.

In Seoul on Thursday, the Japanese vice farm minister, Masahiko Yamada, pressed his South Korean counterpart to support Japan's position.

"The Tokyo side made sure that Seoul will continue cooperating with Japan on this issue," Yamada said in a statement.

Tunisia, with major bluefin fisheries in the Mediterranean, is also working the halls in Doha, hoping to muster support from the 22 Arab League nations against the proposal, NGOs said.

A delegate from Tunis denied this. "We have expressed our position, but have done nothing to encourage other countries to share it," Khaled Zahlah told AFP.

Van Klaveren voiced regret that the EU had not taken a stronger stand.

The 27-nation bloc favours the ban amid mounting evidence that stocks of the precious fish -- which can sell for more than 100,000 dollars apiece in Japan -- have crashed over the past 30 years.

But it has asked for implementation to be postponed until a November meeting of ICAAT, the inter-governmental fishery group that manages tuna stocks in the Atlantic Ocean and adjacent seas.

"The EU is not very active. It is absorbed by its own internal negotiations," Van Klaveren complained.

The rotating EU presidency is currently held by Spain which, along with France and Italy, accounts for 50 percent of Mediterranean bluefin catches.

Norway, Switzerland, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Serbia also support the bluefin moratorium, he added.

Japan says that bluefin is not facing extinction, but acknowledges that recent rates of exploitation are probably not sustainable.

The solution, it insists, is stricter management of fisheries, which have consistently exceeded their own quotas.

The CITES secretariat, which makes recommendations on proposals before the Convention, declared on Saturday that bluefin tuna fisheries in the two sea zones were in crisis and met the criteria for a total ban on international trade.

The issue will be debated on Thursday, although a vote is unlikely to take place before next week, officials said.

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Canada ups seal hunt quota by 50,000

Yahoo News 15 Mar 10;

OTTAWA (AFP) – Canada's fisheries minister on Monday hiked the total number of seals that hunters would be allowed to slaughter during an annual Atlantic coast hunt set to begin later this month.

The total allowable catch for harp seals this season will rise to 330,000, from 280,000 last year, while quotas for grey and hooded seals will remain unchanged at 50,000 and 8,200 animals, respectively.

The reason cited by officials for the increased quota is a growing seal population in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and in waters east of Newfoundland.

"This government is united in its support of the thousands of coastal Canadian sealers who rely on the seal hunt for their livelihood," Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said in a statement.

"The seal hunt is a sustainable activity based on sound conservation principles."

The estimated populations of the grey and hooded seal herds are over 300,000 and 600,000 respectively and "continue to grow every year."

The harp seal population, meanwhile, is estimated at 6.9 million "or more than triple what it was in the 1970s."

Around 6,000 Canadians take part in seal hunting each year along the Atlantic coast, and 25 percent of their sales came from exporting products to Europe.

The 27 European Union states in July 2009 adopted a ban on seal products, ruling the goods could not be marketed from 2010.

Canada and Greenland account for more than 50 percent of the 900,000 seals slain in the world each year. Other seal-hunting countries include Norway, Namibia, Iceland, Russia and the United States.

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East Java needs 48,000 tons of jatropha

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post 15 Mar 10;

East Java looks to the prospect of becoming the first commercial biofuel producer in Indonesia with a capacity of 1 million liters annually.

Such a volume is expected from PT Alegria Indonesia, which is set to complete the construction of a plant in Pasuruan regency this year. The plant, located on 22 hectares of land at Oro-oro village, Kejayan district, commenced the construction last year under the Indonesia-Japanese joint venture with an investment value of more than US$300 million.

Chief executive officer of PT Alegria Indonesia Wahyu Suprihadi Eko Sasono said the plant would need 48,000 tons of dried jatropha seeds in a month.

The Pasuruan administration office has encouraged people to optimize the land use and cultivate jatropha in order to meet demands.

“For the initial stage, we expect 4,000 tons of dried jatropha seeds. The volume will gradually grow to 48,000 tons in order to produce 1 million liters of biofuel annually,” said Edy Suwanto, the head of
Pasuruan Forestry and Plantation Office.

He said his office was conducting a campaign to raise awareness about the commercial benefit of jatropha and encourage people to use their neglected land for the plantation.

He said his office was expecting to open 1,200 hectares of the neglected land for jatropha cultivation this year.

“The plantation area will gradually expand because Pasuruan has more than 30,000 hectares of neglected land left idle, although the area suitable for jatropha plantation covers only 11,000 hectares.”

Data shows Indonesia has 77 million hectares of neglected land, 50 million of which can be developed into jatropha plantations while those in Pasuruan accounts for 2 percent of 1.7 million hectares in East Java.

PT Alegria Indonesia is currently working with the Karangploso Tobacco and Fiber Plants Research Center in Malang regency to conduct tests and cultivate seedlings. The center is equipped with a processing unit able to produce 10,000 liters of biofuel daily.

The price of dried jatropha seeds with around 30 percent water content is Rp 1,200 (12 cents) per
kilogram.

Counseling programs are available for the farmers on how to grow jatropha for higher yields.
Past biofuel program have failed, resulting in losses for jatropha farmers. However, Wahyu ensured that would not be a repeat.

“We are aware that most people are not interested in growing jatropha again because many have suffered a great deal of loss because most of the biofuel programs failed. But they don’t have to worry now. We will see to it their products will not be neglected.”

Edy reasserted they would buy up all the stock and had deposited a sum of funds in the bank as a guarantee to the farmers.

“But the quality of jatropha seeds must be in line with factory standards.”

The regency administration does not seem the only one interested in developing jatropha-instilled biofuel as an alternative energy. The Defense Ministry has been sending a team to Pasuruan to observe the project.

Team member Col. Purwanto said the ministry was looking to alternative energy resources to ensure domestic energy reliance in the future.

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Indonesian House of Representatives okays nuclear plants

Antara 16 Mar 10;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The House of Representatives (DPR) has given the green light to the government`s intention to go ahead with its plan to build nuclear power plants (PLTNs).

Looking ahead, Indonesia could no longer rely on unrenewable energy sources such as gas and coal to generate electricity, chairman of the House Commission overseeing energy, technology and the environment Teuku Riefky Harsya said in a press statement on Monday.

"About safety, I believe that nuclear power plants will not leak if managed properly," he said commenting on the results of the House Commission`s visit to the National Atomic Energy Agency (Batan) in Serpong, south of here, at the weekend.

Now that Batan had recommended the construction of nuclear power plants in the country, the House was ready to give political and budget support, he said.

Deputy for nuclear energy technology development to Batam chief Adi Wardojo said Indonesia could now make preparations for the construction of nuclear power plants.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also had given the same recommendations about the matter, he said.

Indonesia had uranium reserves in Kalimantan capable of producing 1,000 megawatts of electricity for 150 years, he said.

"But the construction of nuclear power plants largely depends on the government policy. What Batan can only do is promoting, familiarizing the public with and, drafting policy on the use of nuclear energy. We need political and budget supports from the government," he said.

He said the agency had conducted a feasibility study on the construction of nuclear power plants by taking into account safety, public interests and the environment.

The technological design of nuclear power plants with a multi defense system was also safe, he said.

"We do not need to dispose of nuclear waste because it can be used again as a source of fuel for nuclear power plants after being stored for some time," he said. (*)

Nuclear Power Indonesia: Government gets nod in Parliament
Salim Osman, Straits Times 17 Mar 10;

JAKARTA: Indonesia's plan to build nuclear power plants received a big boost after a key parliamentary commission said it supported the move, aimed at meeting the country's growing demand for electricity.

The next step is for the commission for energy, technology and the environment to ask Parliament to endorse the plan by a vote, which is now a formality.

'Indonesia can no longer rely on non-renewable energy sources such as gas and coal to generate electricity in future,' the chairman of the parliamentary commission for energy, technology and the environment, Mr Teuku Riefky Harsya, said in a statement.

'I believe that nuclear power plants will not leak if managed properly,' the Antara news agency quoted him as saying on Monday.

He was speaking after he and commission members visited the National Atomic Energy Agency (Batan) in Serpong, south of Jakarta, at the weekend.

The Yudhoyono administration has yet to present a detailed proposal on the building of nuclear plants to Parliament.

But environmental groups yesterday expressed concerns anew over the plan.

'It's costly, dangerous and there's still no safe way to store the nuclear waste,' a spokesman for Greenpeace Indonesia, Mr Martin Baker, told The Straits Times.

Mr Baker maintained that it was not necessary to build nuclear plants as the government could invest in geothermal resources instead of wasting money and putting the public's health at risk.

Other activists have warned that building a nuclear plant on densely populated Java island, for example, would risk a catastrophe because of frequent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes on the island.

Indonesia is part of the Pacific 'Ring of Fire', a region prone to volcanic eruptions and major earthquakes.

The government has not decided on where to build the plants, but officials have indicated that one possible site is in Muria, Central Java, near a dormant volcano. Other possible sites include Banten in Java, Bangka Belitung in Sumatra and Kalimantan in Borneo.

Proponents of the plan say that having nuclear plants will help the country overcome current electricity shortages, particularly in the Java-Bali grid.

The deputy chairman of Batan, Mr Adi Wardojo, said that the uranium reserves in Kalimantan are capable of producing 1,000 megawatts of electricity for 150 years.

While Batan has recommended the use of nuclear energy, any such plans require political and budget support from the government, he said.

Indonesia has been working to reduce its dependence on oil and gas to meet its energy needs.

Indonesian plans to build nuclear power plants were shelved in 1997 in the face of mounting public opposition and the discovery of the large Natuna gas field.

But these plans have been floated again since 2005 as power shortages increased. Some senior government officials had said that the country's first nuclear plant would be ready by 2017.

Nuclear plans
Straits Times 17 Mar 10;

BESIDES Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand are two other Asean nations that have announced plans to build nuclear power plants.

Malaysia and the Philippines are formally exploring the nuclear energy option.

Singapore's Economic Strategies Committee recently recommended that the Republic study the feasibility of nuclear energy and develop expertise in nuclear energy technologies.

Dozens of new nuclear plants are under construction or being planned in China, Japan, South Korea, India and Pakistan.

Most of these governments face rapidly growing demand for electricity over the coming decades. They have few options other than the nuclear one and the costs are not insurmountable.

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Adding iron to sea boosts deadly neurotoxin: study

Karin Zeitvogel Yahoo News 16 Mar 10;

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Adding iron to the world's oceans to capture carbon and fight global warming could do more harm than good, as the mineral appears to boost the growth of a plankton that produces a deadly neurotoxin, a study published Monday shows.

Researchers led by Charles Trick of the University of Western Ontario in Canada found that fertilizing the ocean with iron can boost the growth of Pseudo-nitzschia, a phytoplankton that produces a component of the neurotoxin, domoic acid.

Humans who eat shellfish or crab that have ingested Pseudo-nitzschia could get amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP), severe cases of which can cause neurological symptoms, including permanent, short-term memory loss, which gives the intoxication its name.

Amnesic shellfish poisoning can also be fatal.

For the study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers examined water samples taken from open-ocean tracts in the sub-Arctic North Pacific Ocean where iron-fertilization experiments were conducted.

They found that the population of Pseudo-nitzschia had doubled compared to controls, that adding iron to the water appeared to increase the amount of domoic acid produced by individual phytoplankton, and that the natural release of the toxin boosted further growth of the potentially harmful plankton.

Previous iron-enrichment experiments have focused on studying how adding iron to the sea affects carbon cycling, but have overlooked the potential ecological impacts of geo-engineering-designed fertilizations, the study, which was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, says.

Earlier studies by other teams have shown that iron fertilization produced no measurable quantities of domoic acid, and that some coastal Pseudo-nitzschia produced only low concentrations of the toxin.

Iron fertilization is still mainly in the experimental phases, with about "12 experiment-sized iron fertilizations" already undertaken, mainly in the Pacific Ocean, Trick told AFP.

The findings of the study he led raise "serious concern over the net benefit and sustainability of large-scale iron fertilizations."

Scientists in the 1990s began fortifying small areas of the ocean where the sea water is rich in nutrients but low in plankton, to see if adding iron to the water would stimulate the growth of phytoplankton and boost carbon capture.

Adding iron resulted in rapid growth of the phytoplankton, which, in the process of photosynthesis, uses energy from sunlight to fix inorganic carbon in surrounding surface waters to produce organic carbon.

Some of the organic carbon ends up deep in the ocean, effectively removing carbon from the surface waters, while surface-water carbon is replenished by taking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Iron fertilization, like other forms is geo-engineering is "purposely changing the system and may have unintended consequences," said Scott Doney, a senior scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, commenting to AFP on the findings.

"You have to weigh how the changes affect higher animals, how it affects fish and mammals," said Doney, who did not take part in the study.

"You have to know what are the trade-offs between how much carbon you actually store and how big an effect you have on the environment," he said.

Toxic troubles for climate 'fix'
Richard Black, BBC News 17 Mar 10;

Fertilising the oceans with iron to absorb carbon dioxide could increase concentrations of a chemical that can kill marine mammals, a study has found.

Iron stimulates growth of marine algae that absorb CO2 from the air, and has been touted as a "climate fix".

Now researchers have shown that the algae increase production of a nerve poison that can kill mammals and birds.

Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they say this raises "serious concern" over the idea.

The toxin - domoic acid - first came to notice in the late 1980s as the cause of amnesiac shellfish poisoning.

It is produced by algae of the genus Pseudonitzschia , with concentrations rising rapidly when the algae "bloom".

Now, its presence in seawater often requires the suspension of shellfishing operations, and is regularly implicated in deaths of animals such as sealions.

Domoic acid poisoning may also lie behind a 1961 incident in which flocks of seabirds appeared to attack the Californian town of Capitola - an event believed to have shaped Alfred Hitchcock's interpretation of Daphne du Maurier's The Birds in his 1963 thriller.

Carbon focus

Over the last decade, about 10 research projects have investigated iron fertilisation, with mixed results.

But only two of them measured domoic acid production, and only then as an afterthought, explained William Cochlan from San Francisco State University, a scientist on the new project.

"We had a number of major aims in this work; but one of them was to ask 'do you normally find the species of algae that produce domoic acid, are they producing domoic acid, and will production be enhanced by iron?'," he said.

In studies conducted around Ocean Station Papa, a research platform moored in the north-eastern Pacific Ocean, the answers to all three questions turned out to be "yes".

Pseudonitzschia algae were present naturally; they were producing domoic acid, and experiments showed that production increased during fertilisation with iron and copper.

Also, under iron-rich conditions, the Pseudonitzschia algae bloomed at a rate faster than other types.

The levels of domoic acid in iron-enriched water samples were of the same order as those known to cause poisoning in mammals in coastal waters.

Ailsa Hall, deputy director of the Sea Mammal Research Institute at St Andrews University in Scotland, said that domoic acid poisoning was already becoming a regular occurrence in some parts of the world.

"Ever since 1998 we've seen regular episodes of mass mortality and seizures in sea lions on the US west coast," she said.

The toxin accumulates in animals such as fish that are themselves immune.

"We've seen it in seals, pelicans and harbour porpoises; it does depend on how much they eat, but if a sea lion or a pelican eats its way through a school of contaminated anchovies, then that would be enough," Dr Hall told BBC News.

Domoic acid's effect on other species was unknown, she said, but it would be reasonable to think it would also affect marine mammals such as whales.

Whether iron fertilisation ever will be deployed as a "climate fix" is unclear.

The last major investigation - last year's Lohafex expedition - found that despite depositing six tonnes of iron in the Southern Ocean, little extra CO2 was drawn from the atmosphere.

Nevertheless, one company - Climos - aims eventually to deploy the technique on a commercial basis.

A Climos spokesman agreed that further research on domoic acid production was needed.

"Moving forward, we need to understand exactly how deep-ocean phytoplankton respond to iron, be it naturally or artificially supplied; whether and in what situations domoic acid is produced, and how the ecosystem is or is not already adapted to this," he said.

For William Cochlan's team, the potential impact on sea life is something that regulators and scientists must take into account when deciding whether to allow further studies or deployment.

"We saw some literature going around with claims like 'there is no indication of toxicity to sea life' - well, if you don't measure it, of course there's no indication, and we have to keep that kind of legalese out of science," he said.

"If the end goal is to use it to fight climate warming, then we have to understand the consequences for marine life."

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