Logging ‘pushes birds to brink of extinction’

The Jakarta Post 1 Jun 10;

Continued logging is pushing more bird species to the brink of extinction, a researcher with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said Tuesday.

Dewi M. Prawiradilaga said in Bogor that certain species were vulnerable to environmental hazards such as forest loss, poaching and air pollution.

The LIPI has noted that the great slaty woodpecker, which used to be found in droves in Java, Kalimantan and Sumatra, has entered the list of endangered species.

BirdLife and the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) has raised the bird’s status from “least concern” to “vulnerable”.

Dewi said that the woodpecker could still be sighted at Riau Islands. “Their existence indicates that the area still has reasonably good primary forests,” she said as quoted by Antara.

Outside Indonesia, the bird can be found in South Asia, Southeast Asia and parts of China.

In Indonesia, she said, the population of birds continues to decline because they were traded in as pets. — JP

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Indonesia Palm Expansion To Halve With Climate Deal

Niluksi Koswanage, PlanetArk 1 Jun 10;

Indonesia's annual oil palm expansion may halve to 50,000 hectares from 2009 levels once a $1 billion climate change deal with Norway comes into effect next year, a top industry official said on Monday.

Following a financing deal signed with Norway last week, the Southeast Asian country plans to revoke existing forestry licenses held by palm oil and timber firms to save its vast rainforests and peat lands that are seen as a carbon sink.

The government has promised land swaps for cancelling some forest concessions, a process that may take years to fine tune and also prevent the world's No. 1 palm oil producer from achieving its 40 million output target by 2020.

"That target would be achievable if oil palm estates expanded at a rate of 200,000-300,000 hectares a year but not with this. We will need to boost productivity," Derom Bangun, vice-chairman of the Indonesian Palm Oil Board (IPOB) told Reuters in an interview.

Expansion in Indonesia hit 300,000 to 400,000 hectares at the height of the commodity boom in 2007 and 2008 but has fallen back due to pressure from green groups and the financial crisis that had stymied investment into the sector.

This year top planters like Singapore listed Wilmar and Sime Darby are gearing up to expand and plant in new concessions across Indonesia as land prices soften from record $15,000-$20,000 a hectare in 2008, analysts say.

Although a government official told Reuters compensation could be offered to the planters, Bangun said it may be a time-consuming process that may involve huge payouts.

"Just initial investment to clear the land can reach $3,000 to $5,000 a hectare alone. It is hard to see whether they can fully compensate," he said. "It will be a messy, complicated affair."

OUTPUT STILL UP

Green groups say Indonesia has huge tracts of tropical forests but a rapid deforestation rate, a practice which releases vast amounts of global warming emission.

Industry and government data show that palm oil acreage in Indonesia now hovers around 7.9 million hectares

Indonesia has pledged to cut emissions by 41 percent by 2020 if it gets foreign funding and by 26 percent if it doesn't.

Palm oil production is expected to grow 8.7 percent to 22.6 million tonnes as more oil palms planted during the surge in acreage expansion come into maturity, Bangun said.

"We can hold up in production still. Unlike Malaysia, oil palms are spread all over the archipelago so the effects of EL Nino are not so severe," he said.

Rival Malaysia, the second largest palm oil producer, may well miss its 18.1 million palm oil production target as El Nino-driven drier weather hit key growing regions of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo island.

(Editing by James Jukwey)

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Imported seeds could risk endemic species, biodiversity in Indonesia

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 1 Jun 10;

The government target to plant one billion trees this year should put priority on the use of local seedlings to ward off the loss of endemic trees spreading in country’s forests, an expert said.

Senior adviser of environmental science at United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Kuswata Kartawinata said that planting one billion trees should be used to conserve original species in Indonesia.

“The use of imported seedlings to support tree planting could lead to the loss of endemic species in forests,” Kuswata told a dialog on biodiversity issues on Tuesday.

The dialog was jointly organized by the Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation (Kehati) and the Environment Ministry.

Kuswata made the remarks on the government’s program to plant about 85 million trembesi seedlings (Samanea Saman) to support the one billion tree planting this year.

Originally from South American countries such as Brazil, Peru, Venezuela and Mexico, the wide-canopied rain trees may grow to almost 25 meters high with a diameter of 40 meters in its tropical rainforest habitat.

“Trembesi is not a local tree and could not be grown in all type of soil,” he said.

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Hooking the high seas' fishing 'pirates'

Karen Sack BBC Green Room 1 Jun 10;

It's time to close the net on fishing "pirates" who threaten to undermine vital marine ecosystems, says Karen Sack. In this week's Green Room, she highlights the scale of the problem of illegal fishing and calls on the international community to act.

Tales of pirates have filled countless books and films for generations.

Today, modern tales of piracy off the coast of East Africa have captured the world's attention.

Yet, there's another form of piracy on the high seas - fish pirates, who are stealing the wealth of life out of the oceans.

And the international community ignores this problem at the peril of the billions of people who depend on healthy marine ecosystems for both food and their livelihoods.

According to the UN, the total value of world fish exports was US $102bn (£70bn) in 2008 alone.

More than half of all fish caught worldwide is traded internationally, with most being caught in the waters of developing countries or on the high seas but sold to markets in Europe, North America, Japan or China.

As a result of collapsing fish populations, some scientists have estimated that industrial-scale commercial fishing may be a thing of the past by 2048.

Under the radar

Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) or "pirate" fishing is a lucrative practice which compounds the problem of overfishing.

Worth as much as $23.5bn (£16.1bn), IUU fishing takes an estimated 11 to 26 million tonnes of fish from our oceans annually, roughly equivalent to about one-fifth of the global reported total marine fish catch.

But this practice does not take place entirely below the international community's radar. Indeed, in the EU there are documented cases of vessels which have benefitted from public subsidies later being found guilty of fisheries infringements.

Recently, the UN convened a special week-long conference to discuss the state of fisheries management on the high seas.

Included on the agenda was a look at the implementation of the 1995 UN Fish Stocks Agreement and the efforts of Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs) to combat the threats facing global fish populations.

In order to focus the attention of world leaders on the threat of IUU fishing, the Pew Environment Group presented the results of a recently published study in the journal Science at the conference.

The research illustrated how gaps in current international fisheries management and the failure to tackle IUU fishing are undermining the health of marine life in our oceans.

Based on publicly accessible data, the report examined port visits by vessels recognised and listed by RFMOs as having engaged in IUU fishing.

Researchers, though, could only track port visits by one-third of the vessels on the IUU lists. The study also found that the states where IUU vessels enter ports only properly fulfilled their international obligations to control these vessels in one out of every four cases.

This is a trend that cannot continue.

Closing the net

For the international community to make significant progress in the fight against IUU fishing, we must close the current loopholes that allow vessels to fish illegally without strong reporting requirements or accountability.

We also have to stop further public funding of known malefactors - including numerous subsidised vessels recently identified by the website Fishsubsidy.org.

To start, three key steps must be taken.

First, all vessels capable of fishing in the international waters of the high seas should have a unique vessel identification number from the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

These numbers are required for all commercial shipping vessels, but fishing vessels have been exempted.

Without a unique IMO number, illegal vessels can disguise themselves by altering their names, or changing the flag of the country they are registered to, and evade detection by already overstretched authorities in many countries.

Second, countries must quickly ratify and then enforce the new UN Port State Measures Agreement which, for the first time, creates an obligation on governments to refuse port access to vessels suspected or known to have been involved in IUU fishing.

This would close down the avenues to pirate-caught fish, and make it much more expensive for those trying to flout international rules and regulations.

Third, governments need to establish an electronic global register of IUU fishing vessels - just like an international watch list.

This "one-stop" information shop would enable authorities to make informed decisions on whether to allow them into port.

IUU fishing undermines the livelihoods of coastal communities and global food security, as well as the conservation of the world's marine resources.

Ending it will by no means be an easy task, but it is time for the world community to address the problem with the seriousness it deserves.

Governments should take strong, meaningful action - at home, through Regional Fisheries Management Organizations and at the UN -- if this pirate tale is to have a happy ending.

Karen Sack is director of international ocean conservation at the Pew Environment Group, a US-based global think tank

The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website

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How New York City is preparing for climate change

Wiley-Blackwell EurekAlert 1 Jun 10;

First report by NPCC reveals New York City's plans for adaptation to climate change

New York City is establishing itself as a global leader in forming a proactive response to climate change, reveals a new report detailing the city's plans to adapt to the challenges and opportunities the changing climate presents. The plans, revealed in the first report of the New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC) and published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, outline the measures the city will take to proactively respond to climate change in a way that will provide both long-term environmental, and short-term economic, benefits to the city.

"Cities are at the forefront of the battle against climate change. We are the source of approximately 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions. And as the climate changes, densely populated urban areas—particularly coastal cities—will disproportionately feel the impacts," said New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. "Those of us in local government recognize the importance of national and international leadership on climate change. But we are not waiting for others to act first."

Established by Mayor Bloomberg in 2008, the NPCC report outlines a powerful and original framework for deploying sophisticated risk management tools to address the city's climate adaptation challenges, particularly the challenges posed to the city's energy, transportation, water, and communication systems.

The NPCC brings together teams of committed scientists and experts, led by Co-chairs Cynthia Rosenzweig (NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies; and Columbia University Earth Institute, Center for Climate Systems Research) and William Solecki (City University of New York, CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities), to protect the city's critical infrastructure from the risks of a changing climate.

Under the existing New York City comprehensive sustainability plan, PlaNYC, efforts focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions with initiatives to increase building energy efficiency and retrofit ferries to use cleaner fuel. The new NPCC plan recognizes that these actions will not stop climate change alone and points to the climate risks already facing the city, such as heat waves, blackouts, flooding, and coastal storms.

In response to these challenges the NPCC calls for New York City to begin to adapt to climate change immediately and proposes the creation of flexible Adaptation Pathways, strategies that evolve through time as climate risk assessment, evaluation of adaptation strategies, and monitoring continue.

The report demonstrates how New York City has developed an effective approach to climate change adaptation by presenting the challenges of adaption as win–win opportunities for city managers. For example, cutting down on greenhouse gases has already provided economic savings to both the public and private sectors.

In addition, approaches to climate change adaptation can be incorporated into the management of the city's infrastructure, such as recalibrating building design standards to include climate change projections, expanding the legal framework governing the design and operation of infrastructure to include the impacts of climate change, and engaging with the insurance industry so that it contributes to adaptation strategies by creating products that respond to and recognize long-term risks.

The NPCC suggests that all agencies and organizations that manage infrastructure adaptation strategies should draw from a range of responses, including adjustments in operations and management, capital investments in infrastructure, and development of policies that promote flexibility.

The NPCC proposes several recommendations for action, focusing on critical infrastructure and alignment with broader-scale actions, including the creation of a climate change monitoring program to track and analyze key climate change factors, impacts, and adaptation indicators across the city, as well as studying relevant advances in research on related topics.

"Planning for climate change today is less expensive then rebuilding an entire network after a catastrophe. We simply can't wait to plan for the effects of climate change" concludes Mayor Bloomberg. "The NPCC. . . will help ensure that we create a greener, greater New York for future generations."

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India's mangroves Face Severe Threat from Human Activities

Manipadma Jena IPS 1 Jun 10;

BHUBANESWAR, Orissa, India, June 1, 2010 (IPS) - When a super cyclone devastated the coastal districts of Orissa state in 1999, the government pledged to regenerate 3,000 hectares of mangrove. Or so forest official Chandra Sekhar Kar thought.

"Where are the regenerated forests?" he asks as he scans the vast swath of land comprising the 672-square-kilometre Bhitarkanika Wildlife Sanctuary run by the state’s forest and environment department.

Mangrove forests – which include trees, shrubs, ferns and palms – have been severely depleted, he notes, having given way to villages and hamlets, 80 of them located right beside what remains of the forests. Some 240,000 people are found living inside the Bhitarkanika sanctuary, says Kar, a senior researcher at the forest department.

The Bhitarkanika sanctuary is the smallest of four major contiguous mangrove forests in India. Yet, it is the richest in terms of biodiversity, according to environmental studies conducted by the forest department and similar institutions in India. Its habitats range from tidal rivers and creek networks to riverine islands, coastal wetlands and inter-tidal zones.

Of the 58 mangrove species – out of 70 found worldwide – that are available in India, 55 are found in Orissa, the bulk of which is in Bhitarkanika, according to the forest department. The eastern state’s floral biodiversity is the second largest in the world after Papua New Guinea.

Experts say the mangroves in Orissa, particularly in the Bhitarkanika area, have been under heavy human pressure as a result of population growth and a vast range of human activities that serve both domestic and livelihood needs.

Mangroves provide shelter and serve as breeding grounds for a wide variety of aquatic species. As a vital component of coastal ecosystems, they are also known to provide protection against erosion and other destructive natural forces. Their loss can adversely affect marine and terrestrial biodiversity, says retired zoology professor S.K. Dutta.

Orissa, located on the east coast of India, accounts for about 5 percent of the total mangrove forests in India, estimated at 4,639 sq km, according to India’s ‘State of Forests’ report of 2009.

At Hatiaganda village near the Bhitarkanika sanctuary, where mangroves are still relatively denser, Sushanta Maiti, 25, a resident, says, "people still collect wood from the mangrove forests," unmindful of the law restricting this practice.

"Each household uses 14 kilograms of firewood daily for cooking, of which 12 kg come from mangroves," says Chandra Sekhar Kar.

The forest guards, Maiti alleges, take 5 to 10 rupees (about 10 to 20 U.S. cents) in bribe payments from unscrupulous villagers and let them get away with their illegal acts.

"Communities use 51 species for traditional and medicinal purposes," says Sudhakar Kar, another senior researcher with the forest department. Moreover, timber and fronds found in mangroves are used for construction purposes while fisher folk make boats, rafters and paddles from suitable mangrove tree species, he explains.

Based on the latest mangrove mapping conducted by India’s National Remote Sensing Agency in 2004, agriculture accounted for 52 percent of the Bhitarkanika sanctuary, leaving only 22 percent of dense mangrove cover while some of the remaining areas have been used for human habitation.

Another major threat to mangroves are grazing cattle, numbering at least a hundred thousand in the 80 villages near the Bhitarkanika sanctuary, says Chandra Sekhar Kar.

In 1971, hordes of illegal immigrants from the then newly formed Bangladesh started coming to Orissa, where they cleared massive areas of mangroves along the entire east coast for farming, environmentalist Biswajit Mohanty recounts to IPS. "They built embankments that choke off the tidal waters, mangroves’ lifeline," he says.

In 2005, the state government served deportation notices on some 1,500 Bangladesh nationals that had illegally settled in India. The opposition political parties raised a furore, arguing that the immigrants should be treated as refugees instead. Such notices were never served again on Bangladeshis occupying areas planted with mangroves.

"Immigrants or nationals, there is no law restricting people from settling inside the sanctuary. There has to be one," says forestry expert Chandra Sekhar Kar.

Then by the early 90s, "the global shrimp export turned hugely lucrative," says Mohanty. "Sheltered creekside mangrove forests, mudflats, even agriculture fields were converted into illegal brackish water prawn culture ponds indirectly funded by non-local shrimp traders."

"After the crackdown on shrimp ponds built on government land, private lands are now being bought for the purpose and there exists no law restricting this," says Bibhas Pandav, a scientist with the Wildlife Institute of India. Selected areas within the sanctuary are still in the name of their original inhabitants.

"Unless we have a law against land use conversion inside the Bhittarkanika sanctuary, it will be impossible to check species extinction," says Kar. "People simply do not want mangrove regeneration in the land they have cleared for income generation," he adds.

According to the Red List of Threatened Species – an inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species – released last month by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), one in six mangrove species worldwide is facing extinction due to coastal development, aquaculture, logging, agriculture and climate change.

India, alongside South-east Asia, has lost 80 percent of all mangrove areas over the past 60 years, states IUCN.

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Forest, agricultural fires threaten the Arctic: report

Yahoo News 1 Jun 10;

OSLO (AFP) – Forest fires and straw and stubble burning for farmland in regions as far afield as North America and Eastern Europe have a devastating effect on the Arctic's environment, a Norwegian study published Tuesday found.

According to the study published by the Research Council of Norway, fires in North America and Eastern Europe release persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including the toxic compound polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB).

These POPs, which are the result of accumulated pollution and have been stocked in North American and Eastern Europe soils over time, are now found at record levels in the Arctic, where they are brought by winds and contaminate the food chain.

"As far as we know, this is the first study that shows a connection between the burning of biomass and PCB concentrations in the atmosphere far away," researcher Sabine Eckhardt said in a statement.

The connection was shown thanks to new research methods allowing scientists to trace the origin of pollutants to North America and Eastern Europe.

"In 2004 and 2006, big fires ravaged these areas (...) Several weeks later, the researchers found record-high values of PCB in the atmosphere above (the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of) Svalbard," the statement added.

PCB enters the food chain as it is stored in the fatty tissues of living organisms.

The toxic substance affects humans, fish, and carnivores such as the polar bear, already threatened by the shrinking of the Arctic ice field.

Considering global warming could lead to more forest fires, Tuesday's research showed POPs are still a huge threat to the Arctic environment, countering progress made by the 2001 Stockholm convention banning several man-made POPs.

"Fires may represent an increasing environmental problem in the Arctic. That in turn will reduce the effect of the international agreements that aim to reduce emissions of these environmental toxins," Eckhardt said.

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US West Poised for Worst Grasshopper Outbreak in 30 Years

Brett Israel, LiveScience.com Yahoo News 31 May 10;

The worst grasshopper outbreak in decades may envelop the western states this summer, scientists warn.

A dramatic rise in the number of grasshoppers was found during a survey of the western states conducted last year, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). And while that may seem bad enough on its own, it's really the grasshoppers' kids that are the threat.

If last summer's adults were successful during mating season, then the worst grasshopper infestation in 30 years could strike ranches and agricultural land in the Great Plains states between late July and early August, said Roeland Elliston of the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in Fort Collins, Colo., who worked on the survey.

Ecologist David Branson who was not involved with the study but specializes in grasshopper management with the USDA in Sidney, Mont., agreed.

Pacific Northwest states such as Washington are also facing their worst grasshopper infestation in 30 years, said entomologist Richard Zach of Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., who was not involved in the survey.

The USDA survey included the number of adult grasshoppers from late spring to early fall in 2009. Based on those numbers, and favorable reproductive conditions such as the mild winter this year, researchers identified areas at risk of a grasshopper infestation, including states in the Great Plains and the Pacific Northwest.

Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska - states with typically high numbers of grasshoppers due to the large expanses of open range land there - are already seeing more than eight grasshoppers per square yard. That's like walking through a field and having eight grasshoppers fly in your face with every step, Zach said.

The problem is spreading to Pacific Northwest states not used to dealing with grasshopper outbreaks. In Washington, 451,000 acres of land had a grasshopper density higher than eight grasshoppers per square yard in 2009, up from 67,000 acres in 2006, Zach said. Across the 17 western states, adult grasshoppers blanketed 115 million acres at densities between eight and 15 grasshoppers per square yard, according to the USDA report.

The potential economic impact is uncertain, but federal agencies and researchers are advising farmers and ranchers to keep a watchful eye on grasshopper numbers and be ready to spray their land with pesticides if an outbreak hits.

The most troublesome species across the western states are the clear-winged grasshopper and the migratory grasshopper. These species could team up with another plant pest, the Mormon Cricket, to ravage natural grasses and plants. The Mormon Cricket is actually not a cricket at all, but is a close relative known as a shield-backed katydid.

Smaller grasshopper infestations have hit in recent years. Swarms of grasshoppers devastated over 7,000 acres of grassland in southeastern Oregon's high desert last summer. However, they normally strike open rangeland, which is not as valuable as farmland.

"They eat anything that's green. If they're hungry enough they'll even chew into the shoots," Zach told LiveScience, referring to the two troublesome species.

Most ranchers won't spray pesticides until grasshopper numbers reach 15 per square yard, because it isn't cost-effective on their sprawling ranches, Elliston said.

When grasshoppers run out of food, they will fly away and can get caught in wind currents and journey between 30 to 50 miles (48 to 81 kilometers) in search of food. Mormon Crickets cannot fly, but they can march across rangeland.

"If you have major outbreaks, as the rangeland dries up you'll get them moving into adjacent crop fields, which is also a major problem," Branson said.

The general public shouldn't worry about the outbreak, Zach said. People may notice a few more grasshoppers in their gardens, but unless their house is on the edge of rangeland, where grasshoppers prefer to feast, the outbreak won't be a serious problem for them.

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Temperatures reach record high in Pakistan

Meteorologists record a temperature of 53.7C (129F) in Mohenjo-daro as heatwave continues across Pakistan and India
John Vidal and Declan Walsh guardian.co.uk 1 Jun 10;

Mohenjo-daro, a ruined city in what is now Pakistan that contains the last traces of a 4,000-year-old civilisation that flourished on the banks of the river Indus, today entered the modern history books after government meteorologists recorded a temperature of 53.7C (129F). Only Al 'Aziziyah, in Libya (57.8C in 1922), Death valley in California (56.7 in 1913) and Tirat Zvi in Israel (53.9 in 1942) are thought to have been hotter.

Temperatures in the nearest town, Larkana, have been only slightly lower in the last week, with 53C recorded last Wednesday. As the temperatures peaked, four people died, including a prisoner serving a life sentence for murder and an elderly woman. Dozens are said to have fainted.

The extreme heat was exacerbated by chronic power cuts which have prevented people from using air-conditioning. The electricity has cut out for eight hours each day as part of a severe load-shedding regime that has caused riots in other parts of Pakistan where cities are experiencing a severe heatwave with temperatures of between 43C and 47C.

"It's very tough," said M B Kalhoro, a local correspondent for Dawn.com, an online newspaper. "When the power is out, people just stay indoors all the time."

The blistering heat now engulfing Pakistan stretches to India where more than 1,000 people have reportedly died of heatstroke or heart attacks in the last two months. Although Europe and China have experienced cooler than average winters, record or well-above average temperatures have been recorded in Tibet and Burma this year.

Southern Europe was yesterday rapidly warming after a particularly cool winter. Thirteen provinces in southern Spain, including Andalucia, Murcia and the Canary islands, were put on "yellow alert" after meteorologists forecast temperatures rising to 38C (99F) in Cadiz, Córdoba, Jaén, Malaga and Seville.

According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), the national climate monitoring service that measures global temperatures by satellite, 2010 is shaping up to be one of the hottest years on record. The first four months were the hottest ever measured, with record spring temperatures in northern Africa, south Asia and Canada.

The global temperature for March was a record 13.5C (56.3F) and average ocean temperatures were also the hottest for any March since record-keeping began in 1880.

As a result of high sea surface temperatures, the Atlantic hurricane season, which officially started today is now expected to be one of the most intense in years. Last week NOAA predicted 14 to 23 named storms, including eight to 14 hurricanes, three to seven of which were likely to be "major" storms, with winds of at least 111mph. This is compared to an average six-month season of 11 named storms, six of which become hurricanes, two of them major.

On Sunday, scientists reported that Africa's Lake Tanganyika, the second deepest freshwater lake in the world, is now at its warmest in 1,500 years, threatening the fishing industry on which several million lives depend. The lake's surface waters, at 26C (78.8F), have reached temperatures that are "unprecedented since AD500," they reported in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Some scientists have suggested that the warming experienced around the world this year is strongly linked to warmer than usual currents in the Pacific Ocean, a regular phenomenon known as El Niño. Others say that it is consistent with long-term climate change.

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Climate Change To Hurt Egypt Farming, Tourism

Dina Zayed, PlanetArk 2 Jun 10;

Egypt's farming and tourism sectors could be hurt as climate change takes its toll on the country, fuelling food security concerns in what is already the world's largest wheat importer, an environment official said.

Climate change in Egypt threatens to cut key agricultural crops, force millions to migrate, flood or alter tourism destinations, and dramatically cut water supplies, head of the climate change unit of the environmental affairs agency said.

"We are looking at an expected loss of 10 to 12 percent of agricultural land, the bulk of which is threatened to flood. But more importantly, most such land will lose fertility and productive capacity," El Sayed Sabry told Reuters.

A rare study released this week detailed the country's vulnerability to climate change, indicating that the government is taking heed of concerns raised by experts who say the Arab world's most populous nation isn't doing enough to prepare.

Tourism, a major source of revenue, could be damaged as increased acidity destroys fragile coral reefs, a major draw for divers and snorkelers, and rising seawaters wash away beaches on the Mediterranean coast, another popular tourist destination.

Tourism accounts for about 11 percent of Egypt's gross domestic product. "Climate change will permanently alter the attraction of some holiday regions," Sabry said.

Wheat production could fall by 15 percent by 2050 if temperatures were to increase by two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) and up to 36 percent if they were to rise by four degrees, Sabry told said in the interview this week.

Under one scenario, maize yields would decline by 19 percent and rice by 11 percent drop by 2050, Sabry said.

More than a third of the country's 78 million people live on the low-lying Nile Delta, where nearly half its crops are grown. Parts of the Delta would be submerged or soaked in salt water.

"There is no doubt, this will create stress on the economy," he said.

Some of the worst effects could be avoided by policies such as changing the calendar for growing crops, using more salt-tolerant varieties and extra research and development.

"We can't approach matters with panic," Sabry said.

However, a major challenge may be a decline in the flow of the Nile due to an expected 20 percent reduction in rain in the Nile Basin. A rise in temperature of 2 to 4 degrees Celsius would decrease its flow by 88 to 98 percent, the study said.

The Nile supplies Egypt with about 87 percent of its water, the bulk of which it uses for farming.

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Best of our wild blogs: 1 Jun 10

Singapore Oil Spill - Chek Jawa CleanUp - 29May2010
from sgbeachbum

Chek Jawa, 31 May 2010: Post Oil Spill Report
from Flying Fish Friends

Chek Jawa on 1st Jun 2010
from Manta Blog

Nature lovers band together amidst oil spill tragedy
from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!

Oill spill updates: Shore lovers checking up on our shores
from wild shores of singapore

Toddycats reports from Operation No Release 2010
from Toddycats!

Banded stomatopod at Changi
from Singapore Nature and Ant mimic mantis nymph and Upper Seletar

Web on wing
from The annotated budak

Raffles Museum Treasures: Lamp shell
from Lazy Lizard's Tales

Discovering the forgotten bears of Asia
Singapore volunteers blog from the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre from Habitatnews

Asian Glossy Starling feasts on fruits of MacArthur palm
from Bird Ecology Study Group

International Year of Biodiversity - 2010
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Climate Witness: Pak Azhar, Indonesia
from WWF - Climate Witness stories

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Cambodia's trade with Singapore rose 84pc due to sand exports

May Kunmakara Phnom Penh Post 1 Jun 10;

Sand accounts for increase despite ban on exports from Kingdom, official says

BILATERAL trade between Cambodia and Singapore increased 84 percent in 2009, driven by sand exports from the Kingdom, a Ministry of Commerce official (MoC) said on Monday, despite a government ban on sand dredging for export since May last year.

MoC figures show Cambodia-Singapore bilateral trade hit US$1.18 billion in 2009, up from $640.4 million in 2008.

Singapore’s exports to Cambodia rose 41 percent to $740.9 million from $523.95 million, while Cambodia’s exports to Singapore shot up 275 percent to $438.2 million from $117 million.

MoC Secretary of State Chan Nora said sand was the likely source of the significant increase in Cambodia’s exports.

“I think the growth of our exports to Singapore last year was probably because of the export of sand,” he said.

He declined to comment, however, on the ban on sand exports issued by Prime Minister Hun Sen last year, saying it should be referred to the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy or the Ministry of Water Resource and Meteorology.

Hun Sen conditionally banned sand exports in May last year and reiterated the order in July, citing the “destructive impact” on the country’s river and coastal ecosystems.

Spokespeople from neither the Industry Ministry or the Ministry of Water Resources could be contacted for comment on Monday.

Chan Nora said another factor behind the growth was the city-state’s re-export practices – bringing raw materials to Cambodia from Singapore for refinement, and returning them to Singapore.

Cambodia Chamber of Commerce President Nguon Meng Tech agreed re-exporting was a key factor, saying Cambodia benefited from Singapore’s financial strength.

“Singapore is very strong in management and especially good at seeking out foreign markets,” he said.

“I did not see any Singaporean factories close during the crisis last year while others shut down – that’s why our trade rose.” He said most Singaporean investment in the country was through the garment industry, and that Cambodia can rely on the island state more to take its products to foreign markets.

Apart from Singapore, almost all bilateral trade between Cambodia and its Asian neighbours fell during 2009 compared to 2008. Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and South Korea all saw trade with the Kingdom decrease. Laos rose 4 percent.

The MoC said Singapore’s main exports to the Kingdom last year included unwrought gold, diesel, petrol, alcohol, non-industrial diamonds and electronic goods, while Cambodia’s main exports were natural sand, semi-manufactured and unwrought gold, cigarettes, silk, silica and quartz sand, and woven materials, including clothes.

Environmental watchdog Global Witness released a report on May 5 citing Singapore’s appetite for sand as fuelling a “corrupt and environmentally disastrous” industry that had damaged Cambodian fish stocks and threatened long-term damage to its riverine and marine ecosystems.

It estimated about 796,000 tonnes of sand was removed each month from Koh Kong province, the epicentre of a sand trade worth an estimated $248 million annually in Singapore.

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