Fast-spreading fungus threatening useful U.S. bats

Randolph E. Schmid, Associated Press Yahoo News 5 Aug 10;

WASHINGTON – One of the most common bat species could face extinction in the Northeast within decades due to white-nose syndrome, a disease now rapidly spreading.

While bats may have a bad reputation, frightening many people, they are vital in controlling insects that not only annoy but spread disease to people and animals.

The threatened little brown bat has been known to eat its weight in insects in a night.

Yet researchers led by biology professor Thomas H. Kunz of Boston University report in Friday's edition of the journal Science that white-nose syndrome, caused by a fungus, could all but wipe out the little brown bat in the Northeast in 20 years.

The syndrome was first discovered near Albany, N.Y., in 2006, and since then bats have declined from 30 percent to 99 percent in various areas. The illness has been confirmed in 115 bat hibernating locations in Canada and the U.S., ranging as far south as Tennessee and west to Oklahoma, the researchers reported.

Last month the U.S. Forest Service said it is barring entry to caves on service-owned land in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas and South Dakota to help prevent people from inadvertently spreading the disease there.

And the New Mexico-based Center for Biological Diversity has asked state wildlife officials across the country to consider closing state-owned caves to the public to prevent the spread of the illness.

"This is one of the worst wildlife crises we've faced in North America," said co-author Winifred F. Frick. "The severity of the mortality and the rapidity of the spread of this disease make it very challenging and distressing."

The fungus grows on the nose, wing membranes and ears of bats while they hibernate in caves and mines during the winter. The researchers said this causes the bats to wake up frequently, burning up vital fat stores, with the result that they starve to death before spring.

Fungus Threatens Extinction Of Some U.S. Bats: Study
Maggie Fox PlanetArk 5 Aug 10;

Deadly white-nose syndrome is threatening to make one insect-eating species of bat extinct, at least regionally, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.

The infection is spreading quickly across the Northeastern United States and Canada and is likely to cause the regional extinction of the little brown myotis bat, the researchers report in the journal Science.

It had been one of the most common species of bats in North America and was considered beneficial because of its appetite for mosquitoes, flies and other pests.

"This is one of the worst wildlife crises we've faced," said Winifred Frick of the University of California, Santa Cruz.

"Bats affected by this disease are all insect-eating species, and an individual bat can consume their body weight in insects every night, including some consumption of pest insects."

The syndrome, linked to a fungus that spreads among bats as they hibernate, affects at least seven species, the researchers said.

It was only identified four years ago, in bats nesting in caves near Albany, New York. Since then, more than 1 million of the flying mammals have died as far afield as Tennessee and Oklahoma.

"The loss of so many bats is basically a terrible experiment in how much these animals matter for insect control," Frick said.

The fungus kills in an insidious way, making the bats restless as they try to hibernate. As they fidget, they burn up their reserves of fat. The researchers estimate that 73 percent of animals in a colony die once the infection reaches them.

"Given the rapid geographic spread of this fungus over the past four years, we can expect that white nose syndrome will adversely affect bat species that form some of largest hibernating bat colonies in the U.S, including two federally listed endangered species that occur mostly in the Midwestern states," Boston University biologist Thomas Kunz said in a statement.

Some research has suggested that people exploring caves have helped spread the fungus so quickly. It also appears to spread from bat to bat, and many regional and local authorities have closed caves to public access when the infection pops up.

Bats appear to have little or no immunity to the cold-loving fungus, called Geomyces destructans, the researchers said. It covers their muzzles and invades their skin, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"Such a severe population decline, especially if the disease spreads farther south and west of its current distribution in eastern North America, may result in unpredictable changes in ecosystem structure and function," Kunz and Frick's team concluded.

(Editing by Philip Barbara)

'Scary Stuff': Most Common U.S. Bat Headed to Extinction
Stephanie Pappas LiveScience Yahoo News 5 Aug 10;

North America's most common bat, the little brown myotis, will be all but extinct in the northeastern United States in 16 years, thanks to a rapidly-spreading fungal infection, researchers reported Thursday.

The fungus, called white-nose syndrome, grows on the exposed skin of bats as they hibernate in cool caves or mines. The infection causes the bats to wake up from their slumber, depleting valuable fat stores and eventually killing them. If infection continues at current rates, the researchers reported in the journal Science, there is a 99-percent chance the little brown myotis population will drop below 0.01 percent of its current numbers by 2026.

"It's really scary stuff," said Sonia Altizer, an ecology professor at the University of Georgia, who was not involved in the study. "The little brown bat, which is the most common bat species in North America, is being decimated by a single pathogen in a very short period of time."

An underground killer

White-nose syndrome first emerged in New York state in 2006. The fungus has now been confirmed in bat colonies across the northeastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario. Bats as far west as Oklahoma and as far south as Tennessee have also been infected. No one knows how the disease came to North America, but humans may have unwittingly carried the fungus from Europe.

Exactly how white-nose syndrome kills and whether some bat species are more vulnerable than others are open questions. What is known is that white-nose is virulent. In some infected caves, 90 percent to 100 percent of bats die, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. On average, the disease takes out 73 percent of the bat population at a given hibernation site.

Little brown myotis bats aren't the only bats affected by the disease, but as the most common North American bat, they're particularly important to the ecosystem. To find out how the little brown bat is likely to fare, researchers from Boston University and the University of California Santa Cruz collected data from 30 years of bat surveys taken at 22 caves in the Northeast. They found that before the introduction of white-nose syndrome, little brown bat populations were stable or rising.

Next, the researchers ran computer simulations to test the future effects of the white-nose fungus. They performed 1,000 different simulations, including multiple environmental variables to make the models as realistic as possible.

A dire future

The results were "dire," said Winifred Frick, a postdoctoral researcher affiliated with Boston University and UC Santa Cruz and lead author of the research paper. Even if the white-nose death rate slackens to 10 percent a year, the researchers found, the species will be wiped out from the region within 65 years. The death rate has to drop below 5 percent a year to give the little brown myotis a fighting chance in the next century, Frick said.

The bat's possible extinction is on par with the destruction of the American chestnut tree by a fungal blight in the early 1900s, said Altizer. Once the most common hardwood in the eastern United States, the chestnut all but disappeared within a few decades and has never recovered.

The loss of the little brown myotis and other bats affected by white-nose would be particularly catastrophic for humans, Frick said, because bats eat their body weight in bugs each night. Many of these bugs are agricultural pests or carriers of human disease.

There is still a lot of uncertainty as to the future of the little brown myotis, Frick said, particularly because researchers don't yet understand how population declines from white-nose syndrome will change over time. With such a limited understanding, there is little humans can do to save bats or eradicate the fungus, she said.

"Really, we need more research," Frick said. "We need to study the transmission dynamics to better understand how this is spreading from bat to bat, as well as from site to site ... At this point there's not a silver bullet for a cure."

Bats facing regional extinction from rapidly spreading disease
University of California - Santa Cruz
EurekAlert 5 Aug 10;

SANTA CRUZ, CA -- A new infectious disease spreading rapidly across the northeastern United States has killed millions of bats and is predicted to cause regional extinction of a once-common bat species, according to the findings of a University of California, Santa Cruz researcher.

The disease, white-nose syndrome, first discovered near Albany, N.Y. in 2006, affects hibernating bats and has caused millions to perish, writes lead author Winifred F. Frick, in a study published in the August 6 issue of Science.

Frick, a UC Santa Cruz graduate who is now a post-doctoral researcher in UCSC's Environmental Studies department, said the disease is spreading quickly across the northeastern U.S. and Canada and now affects seven bat species. If death rates and spread continue as they have over the past four years, this disease will likely lead to the regional extinction of the little brown myotis, previously one of the most common species in North America, she said.

"This is one of the worst wildlife crises we've faced," Frick said. "The bat research and conservation communities are trying as hard as possible to find a solution to this devastating problem."

Frick notes that "bats perform valuable ecosystem services that matter for both the environments they live in and have tangible benefits to humans as well. Bats affected by this disease are all insect-eating species, and an individual bat can consume their body weight in insects every night, including some consumption of pest insects," Frick said.

"The loss of so many bats is basically a terrible experiment in how much these animals matter for insect control," she said.

Frick received her BA in environmental studies at UCSC in 1998. She completed her Ph.D. at Oregon State University in 2007 and is currently a National Science Foundation Bioinformatics Postdoctoral Fellow with a joint appointment at UCSC and Boston University. She is also the research director of the Central Coast Bat Research Group in Aptos, Calif.

White-nose syndrome is associated with a newly discovered fungus that grows on the exposed tissues of hibernating bats.

Frick and the study's co-authors, including Jacob F. Pollock, in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCSC, and noted bat experts Thomas H. Kunz and D. Scott Reynolds at Boston University, analyzed bat population data collected over the last 30 years, from 22 caves and other hibernating sites, in five states throughout the northeastern U.S.

The serious population declines of the little brown myotis were recognized based on surveys made by officials from state departments of natural resources going back to 1979. Surveys in the winter of 2006-2007 revealed evidence of white fungal growth on bats' noses, ears, and forearms, aberrant behavior, and an unusually high number of dead bats. As many as 500,000 bats may occupy a single cave.

Decreases in the number of bats counted range from 30 percent to 99 percent compared with earlier counts before the disease struck. Since its discovery four years ago, white-nose syndrome has now been confirmed in at least 115 bat hibernating locations in the U.S. and Canada, and as far west as Oklahoma.

Current research suggests that the fungus disrupts the bats' hibernation, causing them to awake early, behave oddly, and lose critical fat reserves, resulting in death. The researchers predict a "99 percent chance of regional extinction of little brown myotis within the next 16 years" if mortality and spread continue unabated.

"Our results paint a grim picture of a once-healthy population of an abundant and widely distributed species now experiencing unprecedented losses," the authors write.

"The rapid decline of a common bat species from white-nose syndrome draws attention to the need for increased research, monitoring, and management to better understand and combat this invasive wildlife disease," the authors conclude.

The researchers said it is possible the deadly fungus came from Europe from human trade or travel based on evidence that the same fungus has been observed on hibernating bat species in Europe.

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Global tropical forests threatened by 2100

Carnegie Institution EurekAlert 5 Aug 10;

Palo Alto, CA: By 2100 only 18% to 45% of the plants and animals making up ecosystems in global, humid tropical forests may remain as we know them today, according to a new study led by Greg Asner at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology.
The green areas are the distribution of refugia from recent deforestation, logging, and moderate and severe climate impacts in the tropical humid forests of the world.

The research combined new deforestation and selective logging data with climate-change projections. It is the first study to consider these combined effects for all humid tropical forest ecosystems and can help conservationists pinpoint where their efforts will be most effective. The study is published in the August 5, 2010, issue of Conservation Letters.

"This is the first global compilation of projected ecosystem impacts for humid tropical forests affected by these combined forces," remarked Asner. "For those areas of the globe projected to suffer most from climate change, land managers could focus their efforts on reducing the pressure from deforestation, thereby helping species adjust to climate change, or enhancing their ability to move in time to keep pace with it. On the flip side, regions of the world where deforestation is projected to have fewer effects from climate change could be targeted for restoration."

Tropical forests hold more then half of all the plants and animal species on Earth. But the combined effect of climate change, forest clear cutting, and logging may force them to adapt, move, or die.

The scientists looked at land use and climate change by integrating global deforestation and logging maps from satellite imagery and high-resolution data with projected future vegetation changes from 16 different global climate models. They then ran scenarios on how different types of species could be geographically reshuffled by 2100.They used the reorganization of plant classes, such as tropical broadleaf evergreen trees, tropical drought deciduous trees, plus different kinds of grasses as surrogates for biodiversity changes.

For Central and South America, climate change could alter about two-thirds of the humid tropical forests biodiversity—the variety and abundance of plants and animals in an ecosystem. Combining that scenario with current patterns of land-use change, and the Amazon Basin alone could see changes in biodiversity over 80% of the region.

Most of the changes in the Congo area likely to come from selective logging and climate change, which could negatively affect between 35% and 74% of that region. At the continental scale, about 70% of Africa's tropical forest biodiversity would likely be affected if current practices are not curtailed.

In Asia and the central and southern Pacific islands, deforestation and logging are the primary drivers of ecosystem changes. Model projections suggest that climate change might play a lesser role there than in Latin America or Africa. That said, the research showed that between 60% and 77% of the area is susceptible to biodiversity losses via massive ongoing land-use changes in the region.

"This study is the strongest evidence yet that the world's natural ecosystems will undergo profound changes—including severe alterations in their species composition—through the combined influence of climate change and land use," remarked Daniel Nepstad, senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center. "Conservation of the world's biota, as we know it, will depend upon rapid, steep declines in greenhouse gas emissions."

###

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, support the Carnegie Landsat Analysis System, the Global Spectronomics project, and this study. (http://claslite.ciw.edu; http://spectranomics.ciw.edu)

The Carnegie Institution for Science (carnegieScience.edu) has been a pioneering force in basic scientific research since 1902. It is a private, nonprofit organization with six research departments throughout the U.S. Carnegie scientists are leaders in plant biology, developmental biology, astronomy, materials science, global ecology, and Earth and planetary science.

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U.N. Climate Pact Could Be Three Treaties: Mexico

Nina Chestney PlanetArk 5 Aug 10;

A U.N. climate pact to extend or replace the Kyoto Protocol could be a set of up to three legally binding instruments, not just a single one, Mexico's climate chief said on Thursday.

A U.N. summit in Copenhagen last year failed to produce a legally binding agreement to combat climate change, leaving around 190 nations with no choice but to go back to the negotiating table this year.

Luis Alfonso de Alba, Mexico's special representative for climate change, told Reuters there could be up to three treaties which legally bind countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions and support the countries most vulnerable to the effects of global warming.

"We are not just talking about one single legally binding instrument but a set of them," he said on the sidelines of a U.N. climate meeting in Bonn.

"One instrument will cover (parties to the) Kyoto Protocol but it is also possible to have something for the U.S. and a third one for developing countries," he said.

The European Union told Reuters on Tuesday it was open to considering the option of two treaties instead of one to overcome an impasse between developing and rich nations.

Mexico will host U.N. talks in Cancun in November and hopes for the "maximum, not the minimum" outcome, De Alba said.

However, he admitted it could take "several years and several instruments" to put in place a legally binding document.

SUBSTANCE MATTERS

Mexico's climate chief expressed frustration at slow progress during the first two days of talks this week, when delegates spent too much time on the negotiating process rather than the main issues.

"Groups have now picked up speed but they need to concentrate on the substance and identify the main issues so we can build a comprehensive package of decisions at Cancun," he said.

It now seems unlikely that the Bonn talks will result in a new negotiating text by Friday due to proposals and amendments being added to the text rather than taken out.

The main sticking points are how and who should raise their emissions reduction pledges, financing, adaptation measures and tackling loopholes in the Kyoto Protocol which could undermine rich nations' pledges.

"I am hoping by tomorrow that we get through the text and get familiar with the proposals but identifying the main issues we can concentrate on in China," De Alba said, referring to the next round of talks in October.

"In China we have to find the middle ground -- we cannot go line by line or paragraph by paragraph."

The Cancun meeting could see agreement on moving to a second commitment period of the protocol, but it would depend on developed countries taking the lead, De Alba said.

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Best of our wild blogs: 5 Aug 10

monkey business (Macaca fascicularis)
from into the wild

Anatomy of Fruits?
from The Biology Refugia

Noaa: The right answer to the wrong question?
from BBC NEWS blog

The Politics of Dispersants
from NYT blog

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The Sand Smugglers: Singapore and the illegal trade in sand

Singapore's business-friendly climate has seen the country grow by leaps and bounds -- literally. But it's all based on a murky, billion-dollar illegal trade in sand.
Chris Milton Foreign Policy 4 Aug 10;

The causeway linking Singapore to the southern tip of the Malaysian peninsula is normally clogged with cars and trucks making the short international journey, but things got particularly bad on Feb. 1, when traffic came to a grinding halt. Thirty-seven trucks were abandoned where they stood on the Malaysian side, just yards away from a customs checkpoint, their drivers having simply walked away. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that they were carrying an illegal substance -- but not drugs, illegal migrants, or precious jewels. They were carrying sand.

Singapore's economy quite literally rests upon maintaining a huge and continuous supply of sand -- and smuggling has become a multibillion-dollar trade, driving a huge web of corruption and theft in a country renowned for honest business practices and corporal punishment.

The tiny island nation, one of the 20 smallest states in the world, has enjoyed a phenomenal economic boom since the 1980s. In the space of only 30 years its population has doubled and its GDP has exploded by more than 1,000 percent (making it now the wealthiest country in Asia). Singapore's economic success is largely based upon the phenomenal growth in its services industry. The country has taken advantage of two factors: its ability to process silicon for use in microchips and electronics, and its positioning as a regional business hub within Asia, connecting industrial leaders and business executives from across the continent.

But the boom times have come at a cost. The country has, quite literally, run out of space. Since Singapore's independence in the 1960s, its land area has grown from 581.5 to 710 square kilometers. By 2030, the country plans to expand by another 70 square kilometers. That would see Singapore's land area grow 30 percent from its original size, giving it the same area as New York City.

This added girth requires dumping a mind-boggling quantity of sand into the ocean, in what is known as land reclamation projects. To reclaim 1 square kilometer of land from the sea, up to 37.5 million cubic meters of sand are needed -- the equivalent of filling three and a half Empire State Buildings. Singapore's main airport is built almost entirely on reclaimed land, and one of the largest recent projects is the aptly named Marina Bay Sands project, a five-star hotel and casino on Singapore's shoreline whose major investors include the owners of the Las Vegas Sands Corp.

There are two types of sand generally used for land reclamation projects: sea sand, which is dumped into the ocean as filler, and river sand, which has a far finer granularity and is a central ingredient in concrete, which Singapore uses in vast quantities to fuel its monumental building program.

Although Singapore is itself an island nation, it ran out of its own sand many decades ago. Today the entire island consists of urban areas or protected-environment sanctuaries. This shortage has fueled a massive industry, worth at least $1 billion between 1998 and 2008. And it's only growing: In 2008 alone, according to its own figures, Singapore imported more than $273 million worth of sand, more than any other country in the world. But these numbers -- which account for only the legal trade in sand -- are only the tip of the iceberg.

This insatiable need for sand has created a slew of problems not often associated with this by-the-book country, which is rated by Transparency International as the third-least corrupt country in the world, behind only Denmark and New Zealand. In recent months, however, a number of illegal sand excavation activities have been traced back to Singaporean companies. Whether this smuggled sand entered Singapore through government collusion or willful ignorance is hard to ascertain, but questions are increasingly being asked about how much officials really know about the quantity and provenance of sand imports.

Until recently, the vast majority of it has come from right next door: Malaysia, which lies less than half a mile away across the Singapore Strait. And that's odd, as Malaysia has had a blanket ban on the export of river and sea sand for more than 10 years, since it discovered that materials for its own land reclamation projects were being illegally diverted to Singapore.

There are no hard figures regarding the extent of the illegal trade between Malaysia and Singapore. The best official figures available come from the United Nations' Comtrade database, which lists countries' declared trade figures for a variety of commodities. But even a cursory comparison of its data shows that something is drastically amiss. For example, in 2008, Singapore declared it had imported only 3 million tons of sand from Malaysia -- yet Malaysia's figures show that a staggering 133 million tons of sand were reportedly exported to Singapore despite the 10-year blanket ban.

It's hard to say whether either figure is accurate, but it's clear that vast quantities of Malaysian sand are being smuggled into Singapore. A recent report by the Malaysian civil servants union estimates that 41 percent of Malaysia's officials are involved in some form of corruption. Mohamad Khir Toyo, the former governor of Malaysia's most prosperous state, Selangor, has even insinuated that his successor is allowing the illegal trade to continue unhindered. "Sand is being stolen every day, and not a single lorry has been seized and no one has been charged," he said in May. "I suspect certain leaders from a certain party … are protecting the culprits."

In June, an investigation by the Malaysian newspaper the Star blew the lid off the sand smuggling trade. The paper's reporters followed a Malaysian dredging company working on the Johor River, about 50 miles inland from the Singapore Strait. The company had won a transport license by claiming it was shipping extracted sand internally, to the Malaysian ports of Tanjung Pelepas or Danga Bay. The shortest route to the destination, however, took ships through Singaporean waters. Once the sand was extracted, the barges sailed downriver to the Malaysia-Singapore border and passed through customs. The barges never made it to the claimed destination -- they simply stopped at the Singaporean jetty of Pulau Punggol Timur, presented freshly forged paperwork, and unloaded their cargo.

The newspaper estimates that around 3 million cubic meters of river sand have followed this route since 2007, making smugglers a cool profit of $77.8 million. Understandably, the Malaysian government is not pleased, having been deprived of $11.5 million in tax revenues. But the million-dollar question is how such massive shipments are able to reach Singapore without anyone being the wiser. For its part, the Singaporean government flatly denies that it condones the import of illegal sand.

"The documentation that sand suppliers are required to show include licenses to dredge or extract sand at specific sand locations in the source countries, draft survey reports, and bill of loadings," K. Senbagavalli, a spokeswoman at the Singaporean Ministry of National Development, said in an interview. "[We verify with] sand concession holders of source countries regularly that the documentation provided by the sand suppliers is authentic and accurate.... To date, the sand vendors have all been able to provide valid documented evidences of clearance from the source countries."

But this oversight depends on reliable paperwork -- and reliable officials -- throughout the supply chain. If corruption is as rife as it appears to be within Malaysia, the documents are not worth the paper they're printed on.

Although the black market Malaysian trade appears to be thriving, Singapore's addiction requires far more sand than one country can provide. And Indonesia, a vast and sprawling archipelago of more than 17,000 islands (the nearest of which to Singapore lies about six miles to the southeast), has jumped headlong into the breach. Many of Indonesia's islands that lie within easy reach of Singapore have few or no inhabitants -- and Singapore has taken advantage of this geography, going so far as to wipe some places entirely off the map.

Rapacious exploitation, which saw up to 77 percent of the world's sand dredgers operating in seas between Indonesia and Singapore, soon took its toll. By 1999, some islands had been mined so extensively that plans were being drawn up for sea walls to protect inland citizens from rapid erosion and rising seas. In 2003, Nipah island, which lies on the Singapore-Indonesia border, disappeared completely under the waves, "with only 3 to 4 palms trees visible to mark the island's location," according to the local NGO Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia.

Indonesia's export figures show that, in the five years before 2002, it shipped at least 150 million tons of sea sand to Singapore in total. But the black market probably accounts for at least double this figure: In 2003, smugglers excavated and shipped an estimated 300 million cubic meters of sand, worth $2.5 billion. In 2007, following Malaysia's lead, the Indonesian parliament issued a blanket ban on sea sand exports. It was completely ignored, even by the Indonesian government. Over the past five years, a further 24 islands are believed to have disappeared under the waves. Even if officials were serious about stamping out the trade, it's simply too easy to steal sand from Indonesia's thousands of miles of unguarded coastlines. All any would-be thief has to do is pick a remote spot where large and loud dredging equipment won't be easily spotted and work quickly under the cover of darkness. They can return to Singapore safely within a matter of hours and, using forged documents, unload the cargo.

And yet Singaporean officials still profess ignorance. Beyond the enormous variance in official import-export figures, there's simply no getting around the fact that Singapore's land mass has grown by leaps and bounds -- so the landfill is certainly coming from somewhere. Thus far, they've managed to escape the repercussions for a willing complicity in this trade by feigning surprise at bogus paperwork. For the time being, the trade is making all players happy and rich.

Singapore is poised for a bright future: It is booming economically and has positioned itself as a world leader in urban sustainability. But to fulfill that promise, however, it must first swallow an unpalatable truth -- that its prosperity has come at the cost of it neighbors' corruption and environmental destruction. Size isn't everything; the country's sterling reputation is now at stake.

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PUB launches e-games to educate children on the importance of water preservation

Milton Sau Channel NewsAsia 4 Aug 10;

SINGAPORE: National water agency PUB has launched two online games on their website as it marks the fifth anniversary of its mascot, Water Wally.

Children can learn to conserve water resources through these games.

One game teaches them to use water wisely while the second stresses the importance of keeping the reservoirs clean.

Director of PUB's 3P Network George Madhavan said the games will enhance their sustained efforts in school outreach programmes to encourage children to value water resources.

Water Wally was created in 2005 to raise the public awareness on water issues. - CNA/vm

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More sea turtles landing in Cherating

New Straits Times 5 Aug 10;

KUANTAN: Turtle conservation in Cherating has shown positive results as more landings are recorded every year and about half the number are females hatched at the sanctuary.

Efforts taken by the authorities since 1980s have increased the landings from about 100 in the late 1990s to 252 last year.

To date, 252,184 turtle hatchlings have been released at the Cherating Turtle Sanctuary and 18,596 were hatched last year.

State Fisheries Department director Datuk Mohamad Mat Saman said this was a significant achievement for the turtle sanctuary as it had maintained an average of 260 turtle landings per year for the past 10 years.

He added that a sanctuary in Tioman was also collecting and hatching about 6,000 turtle eggs every year.

Almost all the turtles that land in Cherating comprise the agar species (green turtle) while in Tioman, 60 per cent consist of green turtles. The remaining are penyu karah or hawksbill turtles.


"We receive support from the locals, especially fishermen and their families, who help collect turtle eggs and send them to the sanctuaries," Mohamad said.

He was speaking after the launch of a turtle awareness programme by Kuantan district officer Datuk Mariam Ismail at the Cherating Turtle Sanctuary near here yesterday. Present were Turtle and Marine Ecosystem Centre (Tumec) head Syed Abdullah Syed Abdul Kadir and AquaWalk Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Simon Fong.

Mohamad said the number of dead turtles found in the state had dropped to two last year compared with 15 in 1999. Although there was no report of turtle eggs being sold in the state, he said the department had proposed a fine of RM500 as a deterrent.


At the event, four young green turtles were released into the sea, with one of them fixed with a satellite telemetry tracking device. The turtles were raised at the Aquaria KLCC after they were hatched at the turtle sanctuary in Cherating four years ago.

AquaWalk had donated the satellite tracking system while Tumec will bear the cost of the satellite connection service.

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Rare dolphins threatened by boat strikes, fishing gear

WWF 4 Aug 10;

Sydney, Australia: A new study by WWF into one of the world’s rarest and most threatened species has found two out of three snubfin dolphins in Roebuck Bay near Broome, Western Australia have been injured by boat strikes and fishing gear.
Snubfin dolphins are Australia’s only endemic dolphin species and are found only in Australia’s tropical northern waters. The species was not known to exist before 2005, when it was first scientifically described.

Of 161 snubfin dolphins identified in coastal waters around the tourist town of Broome, 124 were photographed and a staggering 63 per cent bore scars from vessel strikes, fishing nets and fishing lines.

Small whales, dolphins and porpoises (collectively known as ‘small cetaceans’) are disappearing from the world’s oceans and waterways as they fall victim to fishing gear, pollution, and habitat loss – compounded by a lack of conservation measures such as those developed for great whales, according to a 2009 WWF report.

Small Cetaceans: The Forgotten Whales revealed that all small cetacean species for which the population trend is known are in decline, and inadequate conservation measures are pushing them toward extinction.

Small cetaceans fulfill a critical role in their environment, stabilising and ensuring a healthy and productive ecosystem. They also are part of the highly profitable whale and dolphin watching industry, which generates around US $2.1 billion each year worldwide.

“It’s startling to think that a rare population of Australia’s only native dolphin species would be carrying such a high number of injuries,” said Lydia Gibson, WWF-Australia’s spokesperson on tropical marine species.

“The area where these dolphins feed and breed is a hotspot for boating and fishing. Human activity is having a massive impact on the resident population of these rare dolphins.”

WWF researchers discovered the high incidence of snubfin dolphin injuries by chance as they documented the species in and around Roebuck Bay.

The study’s findings did not include snubfin dolphins that may have died from their injuries (unrecoverable due to strong tides, sharks and other scavengers), meaning the proportion of strikes could be far higher.

“Roebuck Bay’s shallow waters are popular for recreational boating activities. On top of this, coastal development, petroleum exploration, tourism and fishing increase the number of vessels in the area and add to the risk of these dolphins being injured,” Ms Gibson said.

ING DIRECT, Australia’s largest online bank, has funded WWF’s snubfin dolphin campaign since 2007, working closely with the conservation organisation on its snubfin projects, including the release of the latest report.

“It’s remarkable that of 12 international whale and dolphin injury studies, Australia manages to top the list as the country with the highest injury rate to dolphins species,” said David Breen, Head of Corporate Affairs, ING DIRECT.

“This new research shows that human activities are having a huge impact on the snubfin dolphin’s survival. We are dedicated to working with researchers to understand more about these remarkable creatures, to help safeguard them long into the future.”

Among many suggested reforms to help protect this population of snubfin dolphins, the WWF study recommends:

• Implementing speed limits of 5 knots around creeks, mangroves, seagrass and shallow areas of Roebuck Bay;
  
• Warning boaters to maintain a lookout for dolphins and other wildlife, and slowing to avoid them;
  
• Urging fishermen to recover monofilament line and nets, and not to fish inside mangrove areas due to high risk of line entanglement;
  
• Educating the public and asking them to help photograph and document local snubfin dolphins.

“Reform to boat regulation is critical to the snubfin dolphin’s survival,” said Ms Gibson. “Simple actions can help remedy this problem in Roebuck Bay.

“However, it is just as important for state, territory and federal governments to uplist the current conservation status of the snubfin dolphin to ‘threatened’, and rapidly identify and protect ‘hotspots’ of snubfin dolphins across northern tropical Australia.”

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Corridor Of Life For Sabah's Endangered Wildlife

Emin Madi Bernama 2 Aug 10;

KOTA KINABALU, Aug 2 (Bernama) -- The protected wildlife in Sabah is set to see better chances of survival, thanks to the `corridor of life' introduced by the Sabah state government.

The corridor of life is not only aimed at creating more forest for the wild animals to move about but also to complement the state government's goal of ensuring that 55 per cent of Sabah's total area has green cover.

State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said the program would involve rehabilitation of the riparian reserve to create a passage for the wild animals to move about.

"Many people, especially owners of oil palm estates, plant crop right up to the river bank, thus blocking the passage for the wild animals," he told Bernama.

Riparian forest is a forested area adjacent to a body of water such as a river, stream, pond, lake, marshland, estuary or canal that allows fragmented forest to be connected.

CORRIDOR OF LIFE

"We will be rehabilitating this area (riparian reserve) and we have given alternatives to all land owners to stop farming on riparian reserve because when they farm right at the river's edge, wild animals, especially elephants are unable to cross the river," he said.

The corridor of life is currently the focus in the Kinabatangan district, in the interiors of Sabah, which will involve the acquisition of a vast area to create the riparian reserve.

"We are buying up the land little by little and as far as possible we try to encourage Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to raise fund themselves because we want the ownership to be shared by everyone.

Masidi noted that the implementation of the programme would be done in collaboration with the state Wildlife Department and the Land and Survey Department, the two department with enforcement powers.

EXTINCTION

"Enforcement means if for any reason a farmer or plantation company encroaches into the riparian reserve, they have actually committed an offence under the Land Ordinance.

"So that enforcement will be done by the Land and Survey Department," he said.

The whole idea of the corridor of life is to allow wild animals to move from one place to another to search for food and also to give them the opportunity to propagate.

"Animals are increasingly losing their habitat and are being pushed further into the jungle and worse still, the opening up of land leads to the fragmentation of forests.

"Therefore, it becomes a problem for the animals to move from one place to another to look for food and when they encroach into plantations they become the target of planters and poachers," he said adding that sun bear is one of the most endangered species in the state.

FOREST RESERVE

Masidi pointed out that the Malua Forest Station with an area of 144,320 hectares (328,000 acres) is one of the state's most significant conservation programme dedicated for the wild animals.

"We also have the Danum Valley and the Wild Animal Sanctuary at Sepilok covering 5,000-6,000 hectares.

"About 50 per cent of the forest in Sabah is already protected and we are rehabilitating another two per cent of logged area to turn them into protected areas," he said.

The government's long term objective is to make sure 55 per cent of the state remains covered with jungle. In order to do that the state government will increase the number of forest reserve.

In fact, the State Assembly's sitting last April approved another 10,000 hectares of forest reserve and that is the surest way of saving the wild animals.

"The other one, we have also introduced planting limits preventing people from planting right on the river bank. Many people know that but plantation owners plant up to the river bank, thus blocking the passage for the animals," he said.

"So if people ask what have we done to save Sabah's endangered species, we have provided them the natural habitat so that they can multiply without the fear of being hunted or threatened.

"We want the next generation to have the opportunity see the sight of these animals in their natural habitat and not in history books or in some animal books. I think we need to leave a good legacy for our future generations," he said.

PROTECTED SPECIES

According to the Sabah's Wildlife Department, the endangered species are mostly found in the Tabin Wildlife Forest in Lahad Datu and Ulu Segama, about 400km from the state capital. Others wander in various part of the state.

Its Director Laurentius N. Ambu said the deer is the protected species most in danger of being hunted for its meat, skin or horn.

Other protected species like the elephants, Sumatran rhinoceros, Orang Utan and monkeys, including proboscis, are killed mostly because they encroach into farmland.

Sabah is divided into four major wildlife habitat types, they are coastal and mangrove forest, dipterocarp forest, heath limestone forest and montane forest.

Under the State's Wildlife and Conservation Enactment 1997, wild sanctuaries are the strongest conservation category for fauna, flora and genetic resources and habitat.

-- BERNAMA

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Forestry moratorium may hit Indonesian mining projects

Business Times 5 Aug 10;

Indonesia has drafted rules for a 2-year ban on forest clearing permits

(JAKARTA) Several coal and mining projects in Indonesia with a combined value of US$14 billion may face delays as a forest moratorium could make it harder for them to obtain forestry land-use permits, mining associations said yesterday.

Newmont Mining Corp, BHP Billiton, and Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc, are among the companies whose projects in Indonesia may be affected, officials said.

Newmont's Indonesia unit has plans to develop the Elang copper reserve in Sumbawa island, while BHP Billiton has the Maruwai coal project in Kalimantan, and Freeport operates the giant Grasberg copper mine in Papua.

Indonesia has drafted rules for a two-year ban on permits for forest clearing, after signing a US$1 billion climate aid deal with Norway aimed at avoiding greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation.

One of the clauses in the draft states that permits to convert peatland and natural forests that have already been issued will continue to be valid.

However, another section states that 'there will be an assessment of the economic impact and revocation of permission to convert peatland and cessation of issuing new permits'.

The moratorium, if applied, would make it harder for miners to obtain forest land-use permits and they may risk having their existing forest permits revoked, said Priyo Pribadi Soemarno, executive director of the Indonesia Mining Association.

'We support the moratorium but we see an attempt to review permits that have been awarded and this is negative for investment,' Mr Soemarno told reporters on the sidelines of a mining seminar, adding that there are more than eight mining projects with a combined value of US$14 billion which may face delays.

'This means existing projects will face obstacles to proceed. Investment that has been planned may be delayed,' he said.

'Freeport also may face problem as it still needs to process its forestry permit to develop Grasberg,' he said.

Freeport owns 90.64 per cent of PT Freeport Indonesia, which operates the huge Grasberg copper and gold mine in Papua province, while the Indonesian government owns the remainder.

Indonesia's forestry ministry in February said it has asked Freeport to submit a request to use land in a protected forest area.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has vowed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 41 per cent from business as usual levels by 2020.

The vast majority of Indonesia's emissions are caused by the clearing of carbon-rich natural and peatland forests so curbing deforestation is seen as a quick win.

Daniel Murdiyarso, senior scientist at the West Java-based Center for International Forestry Research said the moratorium on the issue of new permits to clear natural and peatland forests could affect many production forests.

'So if your mining concession is intersecting with production forest then it's very likely they will be affected. Most of the mining sectors, especially coal, will be affected.'

Indonesia has said existing permits would be honoured but Mr Murdiyarso said it was unclear if the exemption applied if the firms planned to clear the forest after the moratorium comes into effect in January 2011.

There was a risk that the delayed start date could act as a perverse incentive to clear before 2011.

'It could be 'hurry up, hurry up!'. It's hard to stop people doing that while the chance is still there,' he said, adding that industry may pressure the government to be more flexible about the new ban. -- Reuters

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China to invest 15 billion dollars in green cars

Yahoo News 4 Aug 10;

SHANGHAI (AFP) – China plans to invest more than 100 billion yuan (14.8 billion dollars) over the next decade to boost the development of energy-saving vehicles, state media reported Wednesday.

The country aims to become the world's top market for green autos with annual sales and production of more than 15 million units, the Shanghai Securities News said, citing an industry ministry proposal.

Of the subsidies 50 billion yuan will be used to support development of energy-efficiency and alternative energy technologies, the report said

The draft plan is likely to be submitted to the State Council, or cabinet, for approval by the end of the month, the newspaper said.

China said in June it would subsidise purchases of alternative energy vehicles in five cities including Shanghai on a trial basis amid efforts to reduce emissions, save energy and spur the development of green technology.

It has also announced plans to offer subsidies of 3,000 yuan for purchases of cars that have 1.6 litre or smaller engines and consume 20 percent less fuel than current standards.

China To Invest $15 Billion Over 10 years For Green Autos: Paper
Fang Yan and Ken Wills PlanetArk 5 Aug 10;

The Chinese government will invest more than 100 billion yuan ($14.8 billion) to subsidize its fledgling environmentally friendly car industry over the next 10 years, the Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday.

According to a draft plan worked out by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, 60 billion yuan will be invested in the development of energy-saving technologies, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources.

The remainder is earmarked to fund the construction of infrastructure to support energy-saving vehicles in select cities, among other projects, it said.

The government also wants to foster three to five major makers of energy-efficient cars and two to three parts makers that can supply them, it added.

Beijing unveiled plans in June to offer nationwide subsidies of 3,000 yuan for purchases of cars with 1.6 liter engines or smaller and that consume 20 percent less fuel than current standards.

The programme is estimated to cover more than 4 million such vehicles by 2012, the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, said.

China will also hand out subsidies to buyers of electric cars and plug-in hybrid models in five select cities, including Shanghai.

The move is aimed at raising consumer's interest in cars that use less energy and create less pollution than traditional models, but it is unlikely to jump-start the fledgling industry in the short term due to high battery costs as well as inadequate charging and maintenance networks in the country, analysts said.

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Saudi Arabia to seek compensation for climate pact oil losses

Saudi Arabia and other oil-producing nations stake claim to projected $19bn losses if oil production declines due to global climate deal
John Vidal guardian.co.uk 4 Aug 10;

Saudi Arabia, which has the world's largest oil reserves and earned nearly $300bn in fossil fuel exports last year, will seek financial compensation for any loss it incurs if and when production declines after a new climate change agreement is reached.

The move, which was confirmed by UN officials at the UN climate talks in Bonn this week, matches demands made by the world's poorest countries for money to adapt to climate change.

Saudi Arabia and some other Opec oil-producing countries claim that they will have to adapt their economies to a world which uses less oil and say they could lose as much as $19bn a year if countries are forced to cut fossil fuel use. Their argument is that they have only oil and sand as resources and it would be unfair to penalise them. Saudi Arabia first raised the idea of compensation for lost oil revenues at climate talks in Bangkok last year, in the run-up to the Copenhagen climate summit.

The principle of compensation for countries economically or socially affected by climate change has been established in the UN talks, but there is deep unease that the country which first denied man-made climate change and has long fought a new climate agreement should benefit from money intended to help poor countries.

Delegates from Aosis, the Alliance of Small Island States, this week said that it was "absurd" to allow Saudi Arabia to claim adaptation money.

"It goes against the spirit of the talks, which is to help the poor adapt to something they did not cause," said one diplomat who asked not to be named.

"Besides, the small pot of money expected to be made available [by rich countries] would be seriously diminished if countries like Saudi Arabia are allowed to claim," he said.

Saudi Arabia's plan to claim money is also questioned following a major study by the International Energy Agency last year which found that oil-producing countries would not lose money for many years. This was strongly disputed by the Saudi delegation.

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