UN says global farm methods 'recipe for disaster'

Yahoo News 16 Oct 10;

GENEVA (AFP) – The United Nations top official on the right to food has called for wholesale changes in farming methods to safeguard the environment and ensure everyone has enough to eat.

Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said in a statement to mark World Food Day that there is currently "little to rejoice about," and "worse may still be ahead."

"As a result of climate change, the yields in certain regions of sub-Saharan Africa are expected to fall by 50 percent by 2020 in comparison to 2000 levels. And growing frequency and intensity of floods and droughts contribute to volatility in agricultural markets."

"Current agricultural developments are ... threatening the ability for our children?s children to feed themselves," he said. "A fundamental shift is urgently required if we want to celebrate World Food Day next year," he added.

De Schutter said the emphasis on chemical fertilisers and a greater mechanisation of production was "far distant from the professed commitment to fight climate change and to support small-scale, family agriculture."

In addition, "giving priority to approaches that increase reliance on fossil fuels is agriculture committing suicide," he said.

"Agriculture is already directly responsible for 14 percent of man-made greenhouse gas emissions -- and up to one third if we include the carbon dioxide produced by deforestation for the expansion of cultivation or pastures.

De Schutter said that pursuing the current approach would be "a recipe for disaster."

Instead there should be a global promotion of low-carbon farming, he said, adding that "agriculture must become central to mitigating the effects of climate change rather than a large part of the problem."

"Low-technology, sustainable techniques may be better suited to the needs of the cash-strapped farmers working in the most difficult environments," De Schutter said.

"They represent a huge, still largely untapped potential to meet the needs and to increase the incomes of the poorest farmers."

Climate change and agricultural development must be thought of together, instead of being dealt with in isolation from one another, De Schutter urged.

"To do so, we need to resist the short-termism of markets and elections. Development of longer-term strategies through inclusive and participatory processes could and should clearly identify measures needed, a clear time line, and allocation of responsibilities for action."

"What today seems revolutionary will be achievable if it is part of a long-term, democratically developed plan, one that will allow us to develop carbon-neutral agriculture and to pursue everyone?s enjoyment of the right to food through sustainable food production systems."

The 30th celebration of World Food Day on Saturday has the slogan: "United against hunger."

The main issues in focus are rapidly increasing demand for food commodities and changing climates that affect abilities to produce food.

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Best of our wild blogs: 16 Oct 10

22 Oct (Fri): Free screening of HOME followed up discussion by NUS Office of Environmental Sustainability, SEC and Green Drinks from Green Drinks Singapore

Blog Action Day 人人参与，保护水资源 Secure our water needs everybody's participation from PurpleMangrove

Blog Action Day: Confession of a former plastic bottle junkie from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

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NO Plan B, Planet B

UN meet will highlight urgent need to protect biodiversity
Grace Chua Straits Times 16 Oct 10;

ON MONDAY, policymakers from around the world will gather at a United Nations meeting in Nagoya, Japan.

The fortnight-long Tenth Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has drawn less international attention than the UN's meetings on climate change.

But it is no less important.

According to the WWF's biennial Living Planet report released this week, species populations shrank about 30 per cent overall between 1970 and 2007.

And the damage is far worse in tropical countries, which are home to most of the world's biodiversity. There, animal, plant and other species populations shrank an average of 60 per cent in the same period.

Protecting the vast array of life on earth is critical, for it supports many human activities. For instance, more than a billion people depend on seafood as their main source of protein, while fresh water for many others is filtered through forest watersheds.

To that end, some 193 countries, including Singapore, have signed and supported the CBD, an international agreement to protect biodiversity and ensure that developing countries benefit from, say, medical discoveries made on their native plants.

But the road to conservation is fraught with obstacles, say academics, non-governmental organisations and policymakers. Earlier this year, member states admitted that they had missed their 2010 target of a significant reduction in biodiversity loss, agreed on in 2002.

That is why this year's meeting is particularly critical, explained the WWF's Ms Susan Brown, head of the environment group's negotiating team.

'We don't have a Plan B because we don't have a Planet B,' she said in a phone conference earlier this week.

The CBD member states must take biodiversity loss seriously at the highest level of government, and they must put the right value on biodiversity, she urged. Already, a United Nations Environment Programme report called The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, has put a price on the services that eco-systems provide.

In southern Thailand, for example, coastal land could be used for prawn farming, with an economic value of about US$1,220 (S$1,580) per hectare per year.

But it also holds mangrove forests that provide wood and other forest products (US$584 per hectare per year), serve as nurseries for young fish (US$987) and shelter communities from the force of tropical storms (valued at US$10,821).

In this case, the economic benefit of not converting mangroves to prawn farms should be clear.

So what is holding back efforts to protect biodiversity?

It's not that the political will is hard to muster, noted ETH Zurich ecology researcher Koh Lian Pin. Rather, biodiversity has to compete with many other issues.

'In the coming decades, the global human population will have to juggle conservation with economic development, food security and climate change all at once. Reconciling these often competing priorities will be the greatest challenge we face,' he said.

Closer to home, Malaysia and Singapore are already studying how gazetted nature sites in Johor - Pulau Kukup, Tanjung Piai and Sungai Pulai - can be marketed as an eco-tourism package with the popular Sungei Buloh wetland reserve.

In addition, the CBD member states are realising that biodiversity is not only about preserving wilderness. Half the world's population lives in cities, and that figure is expected to reach 70 per cent by 2050. While cities take up 2 per cent of the earth's surface area, they consume 75 per cent of its resources.

So in 2008, the City Biodiversity Index was mooted in Singapore as a way for urban centres to evaluate how well they are doing on conservation efforts.

That index is set to be adopted at this year's CBD meeting.

In preliminary tests of the urban biodiversity index, Singapore scored high on governance - rules to protect wildlife - and less well on eco-system services. For instance, there are few areas of soil here through which fresh water can be filtered.

Besides valuing and formally protecting biodiversity, the WWF's Ms Brown said, countries must set up legal protections for eco-systems, and there must be mechanisms for developing nations to benefit from medical and scientific discoveries made within their borders.

For example, a compound from a soil micro-organism isolated in Norway has been turned into a drug used to prevent organ rejection after transplants. The gains from such discoveries must be shared with the tropical, developing countries, where much of the world's biodiversity resides, said Ms Brown.

While lauding such a move, National University of Singapore biologist Peter Ng warned that there were practical implications for conservation biology research.

For instance, he said, the CBD had raised the profile of benefit sharing so much that biologists doing field research faced red tape and paperwork to get samples out of another country.

And what of that other hot-button issue, climate change?

Climate change and biodiversity are intricately related, and the WWF is suggesting that a joint work programme be set up between the two UN conventions on the issues, said Ms Brown.

The biodiversity conference takes place about a month before the United Nations' climate change meeting in Cancun.

'If we don't solve climate change, there will be new and greater threats to biodiversity,' she added. 'There's room for more than one spotlight on the stage.'

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Singapore in drive to build electric car

Amresh Gunasingham Straits Times 16 Oct 10;

A LOCALLY made electric car will be ready next year. It will be designed and developed at a new research facility set up by the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

The prototype will undergo extensive remodelling to suit local weather conditions after input is received from prospective users here. A second prototype will be developed two years later, and the car is expected to ply roads here in 2018.

NTU yesterday also inked eight deals with industry players such as ST Kinetics, Bosch, Siemens and IBM to ramp up its expertise in the field. It then hopes to engage automotive manufacturers to bring the cars to the market.

The first prototype will be unveiled at an auto show in Frankfurt, Germany, next year.

The move comes a week after the Government announced it will set up more charging stations over the next two years to encourage more electric cars on the road.

The TUM-Create centre for Electromobility, which will house about 150 researchers, will focus on developing electric cars that suit the tropical, more humid weather in Singapore.

In contrast to the hybrid vehicles now available, electric cars will be powered entirely by batteries, providing a cleaner alternative.

Researchers at NTU will also participate in an electric vehicle trial to be conducted jointly by the Land Transport Authority and Energy Market Authority (EMA) next year.

From this, they hope to glean information on the profile of drivers here, such as the size of cars they desire, and to what extent the vehicles need to be equipped with air-conditioning, said Professor Subodh Mhaisalkar, executive director of the Energy Research Institute@NTU.

Drivers in Europe generally prefer smaller cars and do not need air-conditioning due to the temperate weather there, he added. This influences the type of batteries that need to be developed to power such vehicles.

'With the 50 electric cars being tested (in the EMA's trial), we will have sufficient data on what the Singapore driver expects from his electric car. This (kind of) data is presently available only in Europe.'

A second prototype, which will incorporate these inputs, will then be developed by 2013. Each prototype will cost between $500,000 and $2 million to build.

'We expect our research to develop... the design and production of energy-saving semiconductors, power electronics and drive-by-wire technologies,' said NTU president Su Guaning.

Drive-by-wire technologies use electronic controls and systems to improve engine efficiency while reducing vehicle emissions

Speaking at the opening of the research facility yesterday, Dr Tony Tan, chairman of the National Research Foundation, noted the need to wean energy demand here away from traditional fuel-based sources, and tap clean energy.

'The knowledge and capabilities developed in electric vehicles (EVs)... would provide critical insights into issues such as what would work in EVs and what could become business opportunities.'

The move to develop an electric car here comes after the Government announced increased funding for research and development - $16.1 billion for the next five years, up 20 per cent from the previous five years'.

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Saving nature, economies at stake in Japan U.N. talks

David Fogarty and Chisa Fujioka Reuters 15 Oct 10;

SINGAPORE/TOKYO (Reuters) - Envoys from around the world meet in Japan from Monday to try to combat the destruction of nature and to value properly the services of forests, coral reefs and oceans that underpin livelihoods and economic growth.

The United Nations says natural resources, or natural capital, are being lost at an alarming rate and urgent steps need to be taken to combat the destruction of plant and animal species that ensure mankind's survival.

Envoys will hold two weeks of talks in the Japanese city of Nagoya to try to win agreement on new targets and funding to help nations save and better manage vanishing ecosystems.

A treaty on sharing the genetic richness of nature between countries and corporations is also a central focus of the talks that are the culmination of years of negotiations.

Developing nations want a fairer deal in sharing the wealth of their ecosystems, such as medicines created by big pharmaceutical firms, and back the draft treaty, or "access and benefit-sharing" protocol. Failure to agree the pact could derail the talks in Nagoya, conservation groups say.

Drug firms in some rich nations are worried about how it will work in practice, for example, making it harder to get patents.

"Nagoya is a milestone," said the head of the United Nations' Environment Programme, Achim Steiner. "It's the most important attempt in a decade to tackle the issue of biodiversity and ecosystem services," he told Reuters.

The United Nations says countries must fully value the benefits ecosystems bring to economies, such as food, water, clean air and medicines.

Forests are a key source of fresh water and clean air and they help regulate the climate. Coral reefs and mangroves are crucial fish breeding grounds that support mulit-billion dollar fisheries, while also protecting coastlines from storms.

TARGETS

The meeting aims to set new 2020 targets to guide nations after governments largely failed to meet a 2010 target of achieving a significant reduction in biodiversity losses.

Nations will decide either to set a 2020 deadline to halt the loss of biodiversity or opt for taking action toward halting loss of plant and animal species, the draft text shows.

Under a 20-point plan, nations will consider goals covering greater protection of fish stocks, halving or halting the loss and degradation of natural habitats, phase out incentives harmful to biodiversity and conserve much larger land and marine areas.

But developing nations, which own much of the remaining richness of plant and animal species, want a 100-fold increase in funding to achieve these targets.

Steiner said talks about funding could become difficult.

Japan biodiversity meet adopts rules on GM crop damages
Yahoo News 15 Oct 10;

TOKYO (AFP) – An international meeting on biodiversity held in Japan Friday agreed on rules which hold businesses liable if genetically modified organisms they have imported pollute ecosystems, a report said.

The meeting on the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety reached agreement ahead of the major Convention on Biological Diversity which opens in the Japanese city of Nagoya on Monday.

The protocol holds business operators liable if genetically modified (GM) organisms which they had imported from other countries or companies pollute ecosystems and risk human health, Kyodo News said.

The protocol will open for signatures at the UN headquarters from March. The accord takes effect 90 days after 40 countries and regions ratify it.

Japan hopes to ratify it in autumn next year after obtaining parliamentary approval, Kyodo said, citing government officials.

Talks on compensation for damage caused to ecosystems by GM organisms began in earnest in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur in 2004.

The international biodiversity conference opening on Monday, which includes more than 190 countries and NGOs, is due to discuss how to pay for the "equitable sharing" of the benefits from natural resources.

The talks will also discuss a fresh target on preserving animal and plant species that are disappearing mostly as a result of human activity.

Species under threat include 21 percent of all known mammals, 30 percent of known amphibians and 12 percent of known birds, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Scientists warn that wildlife habitat destruction is destroying ecosystems that give humans "environmental services" such as clean water and air and are vital for climate control and food production.

Valuing nature the way to protect it, WWF advises biodiversity summit
WWF 15 Oct 10;

Nagoya, Japan - Nations now gathering in Nagoya, Japan for the most crucial meeting in a decade of parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) need to not only agree on new targets for halting biodiversity loss but also set up the mechanisms and commit the resources to achieving them.

“What the world most wants from Nagoya are the agreements that will stop the continuing dramatic loss in the world’s living wealth and the continuing erosion of our life support systems,” said Jim Leape, WWF International Director General.

“First and foremost, we need to ensure that the immense value provided by healthy, functioning and diverse ecosystems is factored into economic decisions. We need to put the price tag on nature’s role in providing the clean air and water for our cities, the healthy soils and fisheries for our food and the genetic secrets and chemistry for our health.”

WWF will therefore strongly urge adoption of a proposed target to incorporate the values of biodiversity into national accounts, development and poverty reduction strategies and planning processes.

WWF earlier this week documented the scale of humanity’s demands on earth and the impacts on biodiversity with the release of a Living Planet report showing we are using one and half planet’s worth of resources while the Living Planet Index – a long established and well regarded measure of the health of biodiversity – has plummeted by 30% globally since 1970 – and by 60% in the tropics.

“The Living Planet Report is a health card for the planet and a measure of the pressures on it. It is showing us there is a real biodiversity crisis in the tropics that is undermining the development prospects of the world’s poorest countries,” Jim Leape said.

The 193 parties to the CBD – nearly all the world's nations – agreed in 2002 to “significantly reduce” the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, in part by protecting a representative 10 per cent of habitats on a national basis. But a May 2010 CBD Secretariat report found that the 21 global goals to protect biodiversity had not been met. This includes no protection for the habitats of a fifth of all threatened species and less than one percent protection for the open oceans.

“Our prosperity and indeed our survival depend on healthy ecosystems.” Jim Leape said. “The Earth’s forests, oceans and rivers are the very foundation of our society and economy. Even in purely economic terms, it is far, far more cost effective to conserve or restore healthy ecosystems than to artificially provide natural services that we currently take for granted.”

“Governments could make huge gains simply by ending the subsidies that drive over-exploitation of natural resources.”

For instance, the global fishing fleet is two and a half times the capacity that oceans and coasts can sustain, with the World Bank estimating lost profitability of $50 billion a year, 27 million jobs at risk and the well-being of more than one billion people affected.

According to the United Nations Environment Program, investing around $8 billion a year rebuilding and greening the world's fisheries could raise catches and improve food security and income for hundreds of millions. Phasing down and phasing out fishing subsidies which could be more than three times that amount could help in cutting over-fishing while providing some of the funding for fisheries protection and restoration.

WWF is promoting a target of “20 per cent by 2020” for protected areas that nationally, would secure the survival and the richness of all terrestrial and coastal ecosystems and would include multi-national agreements for a similar proportion of protection to cover biologically rich open ocean areas outside national jurisdiction.

As well as mainstreaming biodiversity considerations into decision making and planning, WWF is also specifically pushing for limits on water abstraction to the levels rivers and groundwaters can sustainably provide. Biodiversity threatening “perverse” subsidies need to be slashed and a major international effort is needed to make fishing sustainable.

“Climate change is a key contributing factor to biodiversity loss. And it is diverse, healthy ecosystems that are the most resilient in the face of climate change impacts,” said Jim Leape. “This meeting has an opportunity to bridge the divides between the international agendas on biodiversity, development and climate – most clearly and immediately through support to a 2020 target of zero net deforestation.”

Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) programmes – already on the table in climate talks – could play a major role in countering forest loss currently running at the rate of about 36 football fields a minute in the tropics.

“REDD initiatives present an unprecedented opportunity to fund one of the important services provided by tropical plants – sequestration of carbon. Nations in Nagoya have the opportunity to create the safeguards needed to ensure that programmes to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation in tropical forests also protect the extraordinary biodiversity of those forests and the interests of the communities who depend upon them,” said Jim Leape.

WWF will also be urging progress on one of the CBD's original three objectives, establishing a fair basis for sharing the benefits of genetic resources. The 2008 CBD meeting gave a direction for a Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) to be finalised at Nagoya.

“An ABS Protocol that recognizes the interests of the biodiversity-rish countries and ensures the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities to genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge is long overdue,” said Jim Leape.

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Financial Benefits In Indonesia's Biodiversity

Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 16 Oct 10;

Jakarta. Indonesia stands to benefit financially if it agrees on a scheme to share genetic data from its wealth of biodiversity at a conference next week in Japan, an expert in the field says.

The 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, to be held Oct. 18 to 29 in Nagoya, will attempt to draw up an agreement between more than 190 countries on a so-called access and benefit sharing protocol, also known as the genetic resources pact or ABS.

The pact is a legally binding agreement on how countries can use genes from plants or animals that originate in other countries, and aims to ensure that developing countries are compensated for discoveries that are derived from their native species.

“Indonesia is listed as one of the 12 countries with the highest biodiversity in the world, alongside Brazil, the United States and Australia, and there are indications that many countries are highly dependent on our biodiversity,” Harry Alexander, a legal expert for the Wildlife Conservancy Society and a member of the Indonesian delegation to the conference, said on Friday.

“If we don’t agree to the ABS scheme, then plenty of our genetic resources will be stolen from right under our nose.”

The ABS protocol, he added, was crucial in establishing a benefit-sharing protocol.

“We’re not talking about getting royalties from the end-products,” he said. “What we want is to share the benefits of the genetic resources. So if a country takes genetic resources from us and turns them into other products... there should be clear benefit-sharing guidelines for that.”

Separately, Emil Salim, a prominent environmentalist and presidential adviser, said Indonesia should pursue the scientific expertise and technology necessary to develop its own genetic research sector.

“Our biodiversity can be our strength when competing against China or India, because we have abundant resources,” he said.

“If we could just obtain the technology needed to exploit those genetic resources, imagine how powerful we would become on the world stage.”

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Three baby orangutans released into the wild

The Jakarta Post 15 Oct 10;

JAKARTA: Three orphaned baby orangutans recently rescued in an East Kalimantan jungle by the Center for Orangutan Protection (COP) will be released into the wild, an environmental group said Thursday.

BOS Foundation, a local NGO dedicated to Kalimantan orangutan conservation, said it was in discussion with international donors about funding of the primates’ release.

BOS spokesman Emilia Bassar said in a media statement that the foundation accepted the baby orangutans after COP had threatened to take them to Le Grandeur Hotel in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, where a conservation conference was taking place.

BOS runs two centers for orphaned orangutan reintroduction into the wild, one in Samboja Les-tari of East Kalimantan and the other in Nyaru Menteng in Central Kalimantan.

Foundation chairman Togu Manurung said that both facilities became overcrowded and the next reintroduction project would start early next year.

“We accepted the three babies and risked failure in reintroducing them into the wild because we do not know if they have tuberculosis or hepatitis, which are prevalent among the animals,” he said. — JP

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Harnessing the sun to protect people and wildlife

Purna Bahadur Kunwar, WWF-Nepal WWF 15 Oct 10;

For Narad Mani Poudel, a 45-year-old farmer living in the Madi valley of Chitwan, Nepal, life used to be in a constant state of terror. Recalling an incident three years ago, he said, “Wild elephants ransacked my house and consumed almost all of the rice that I had stored for the coming season. My family and I could do nothing but watch, thankful that we got away with our lives.”

Situated in the southern part of Chitwan, the Madi valley is surrounded on all the sides by protected areas; the southern border is shared with India, through the Balmiki Tiger Reserve. However, this unique geography has led to human-wildlife conflict, resulting in severe crop damage, attacks on livestock, destruction of property and human injuries and casualties. Traditional methods of defending crops from wildlife – torches, drums, trenches and thorn bushes – proved futile. Already poor and struggling to make ends meet, the communities of Chitwan took a dim view of the parks and the animals that inhabited them; some retaliated with violence.

Purna Bahadur Kunwar, Co-manager for WWF-Nepal’s Terai Arc Landscape Protected Areas and Buffer Zone project, remembers back to 2007, when he began discussions about biodiversity conservation with community groups. “They repeated a local adage, saying they are trapped in a ‘natural jail.’ They were not paying any attention to us at that moment.”

But over the course of several months, the community groups and WWF found common ground. Residents wanted to live in peace, and WWF wanted to safeguard endangered tiger, rhino and elephant populations. Both agreed that the solution might lie in another adage: Good fences make good neighbors.

“We worked together on a detailed plan for solar-powered electric fencing. The proposal included total cost, community contribution, the possibility to leverage other funds and a management and maintenance plan for the wooden fence posts. With this plan, we called a joint meeting of four Buffer Zone User Committees of Madi,” said Kunwar.

Support for the project was unanimous. The committees chose to start from the southeastern corner of Madi valley, the Ayodhyapuri, which is contiguous to the Parsa Wildlife Reserve and home to wild elephants. It was also the area with the most reported cases of human-wildlife conflict. With the installation of 14km of solar fence, wildlife damage to crops and property dropped immediately.

WWF-Nepal assessed the first harvest following the installation of the fence and found that the value of the crop production has increased by 300%. What’s more, farmers have now started to cultivate other crops during winter season. A farmer in Ayodhyapuri expressed his satisfaction at having harvested lentils for the first time in 29 years; before he kept his field fallow during lentil cultivation because the risk of encountering wildlife or losing his whole crop was just too high.

The fence is maintained by community members, with each household contributing cash on the basis of its land holding. The farmer Narad Mani says he can sleep soundly all night without fear of his crops being destroyed or his family being harmed.

“Based on this experience, we plan to replicate this achievement with three other Buffer Zone User Committees,” said Kunwar. “I have a vision to develop this valley as a poaching free zone. Instead of lamenting their ‘natural jail,’ now I hear people say, ‘If there is a heaven, it is Madi.’”

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Stop buying mangrove logs: Selangor government to developers

Stuart Michael The Star 16 Oct 10;

The Selangor government has called on developers to stop buying mangrove logs for construction.

According to state tourism, consumerism and environment committee chairman Elizabeth Wong, there are other alternative materials for construction like cement in the market rather than mangrove logs.

“We need the support from the developers and the construction industry to ensure that our mangrove forest are not lost

“We have to create awareness on the need for developers to stop buying mangrove logs for construction,’’ saidWong, after visiting pockets of mangrove forest off Port Klang that were felled.

She said an estimated 20,000 logs were seized during the Selangor Forestry Department raid on illegal loggers at the area and was proud of department personnel in taking drastic action to save the mangrove forest.

“The loggers are very cunning, they only fell trees in the middle of the island so that fishermen cannot see what they are doing.

“Over the 10-year period, the price per log fluctuated between RM3 and RM7.90. This comes to about RM100 million worth of logs that the state had lost in a decade. The state should put a stop to mangrove forest logging entirely as mangrove saplings take about 15 years to be fully mature before they are ready to be harvested,’’ she said.

Wong added that the Forestry Depart-ment itself was unable to carry out raids alone but needed help from other relevant departments.

From next month onwards, the Forestry Department will carry out air surveillance to check on encroachment and stealing of mangrove logs.

“It is very difficult to monitor from land but we can see the activities better up in the sky.

“The Forestry Department will also present a paper to the state regarding the illegal logging and would even propose ways to save the mangrove forest from further devastation.

“In order to sustain the mangrove forest, we have to do replanting. We have to plant 15 trees for each tree felled,’’ she said.

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Extreme weather forces Indonesia to import rice

Yahoo News 15 Oct 10;

JAKARTA (AFP) – Indonesia will be forced to import rice in bulk and reduce exports of other commodities after extreme weather harmed agriculture over the past few months, officials said Friday.

Crop yields -- especially rice -- were harmed when the La Nina phenomenon significantly reduced the dry season period between April and September, said Indonesian Farmers Association secretary general Benny Pasaribu.

"La Nina played a big role in decreasing agricultural output. It has caused flooding across Indonesia that also reduced production of some crops," he said.

"If this condition persists, then crop output could sink further," he added.

La Nina is a weather pattern that leads to stronger monsoons, greater rainfall and hurricanes in the Pacific basin.

"Growth in rice production has reached only two percent this year compared to 6.7 percent in 2009," said state logistics agency head Sutarto Alimoeso.

"In order to maintain the stockpile of rice, the agency will import rice from Thailand and Vietnam," he added.

Indonesia, the world's third largest rice producer, is expected to import up to 300,000 metric tonnes of rice in the country's first bulk purchase since 2007.

Indonesian Cocoa Association chairman Zulhefi Sikumbang said La Nina had also caused many cocoa plants to be infected by fungus and eventually rot.

"Compared to last year, the production of cocoa has fallen more than 10 percent. The farmers in Sulawesi and Sumatra islands are affected the most by this," he said.

In 2009, cocoa production reached 550,000 tonnes, while this year it is predicted to total 500,000 tonnes despite a target of 600,000 tonnes.

The intense rainfall has also disrupted chilli crops, rubber-tapping activity and production of minerals such as tin and coal.

But Indonesia's palm oil industry, the world's largest, has mostly been unaffected.

The local climatology agency has predicted that the extreme weather across the archipelago will continue until March next year.

A similar weather pattern occurred in 1998, but this year's rainfall was more intense, according to the agency.

Indonesia has abundant biodiversity: alternative staples to rice
Antara 15 Oct 10;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has abundant biodiversity as an alternative in place of rice as staple food, an environmentalist has said.

"We have biodiversity in abundance as an alternative to replace rice as staple food and therefore don`t worry about food shortage," former environment minister Emil Salim said here.

The member of Presidential Advisory Council as the adviser for environment and sustainable development issues said other staple food in place of rice had long been known by Indonesian people but unfortunately it has yet to be popularized to replace rice.

He said that if the abundant biodiversity was used properly, the government would not bother itself to import rice because Indonesia has more than 30 types of hybrid rice and over 100 varieties of non-hybrid rice that had been developed by the farmers.

Besides, Indonesia is also rich in basic food of various kinds such as sago, edible tuber, corn and other stuff that could be developed to replace rice.

The government is planning to launch "A Day Without Rice" campaign this year in a bid to reduce ride consumption in Indonesia because it is double to global consumption.

With that "A Day Without Rice" campaign, it is expected to create 1.2 million tons of rice efficiency and to reduce the people`s dependency on rice.

Indonesia experiences a decrease in rice production this year because of extreme weather condition and and incessant rain that has created harvest failure in a number of areas across the country.

Indonesians Urged to Kick Rice Habit
Bilhuda Haryanto Jakarta Globe 21 Oct 10;

Jakarta. As cases of poverty-induced starvation still occur in resource-rich Indonesia, the government is calling on people to diversify their diets in order to strengthen the nation’s food resilience.

“We have numerous sources of carbohydrates [in Indonesia], so we need to end our sole dependency on rice. There are sweet potatoes [for instance] and there is cassava,” Indroyono Soesilo, the secretary general at the Coordinating Ministry for People’s Welfare, said at an international seminar held in Jakarta last Saturday, on World Food Day 2010.

The ministry says about 30 million people in Indonesia live below the poverty line. But it aims to have reduced that number by 8 percent in 2014.

Soesilo said a long-term strategy is needed to wean the country off its dependence on rice, which nowadays has to be imported.

“It is crucial for us to cut down starvation, food insufficiency and to eliminate poverty,” he added.

In Indonesia, 77 foodstuffs are grown with nutritional values similar to rice, so, according to Soesilo, a transition should not be too difficult.

But development in the fields of technology and farming infrastructure are still necessary to help boost food supplies.

“The research and development team at the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology has come up with an invention to produce noodles from corn flour and sago flour,” Soesilo said.

“It would help cut our demand for imported wheat, which is the primary ingredient to the wheat flour needed to make our instant noodles,” he added.

The director for food and agriculture at the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), Wahyuningsih Darajatiningsih, said corn, sweet potatoes and cassava can be harvested several times a year in Indonesia and thus could be in abundance.

Yet, she said, the Indonesian demand for rice remains much larger than demand for other potential staple foods.

Hasbullah Thabrany, a public health expert from the University of Indonesia, lamented what he called a lack of effort on the part of the government and said a solution to the country’s food-supply problem should immediately be found.

“The government needs to face the problems instead of just telling fairy tales about its successful policies,” he said.

“Government subsidies should go to assisting [farmers] during the harvesting season, because full potential is seldom reached,” he added.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, 13 percent of Indonesians are poor and have insufficient access to food.

“The main problem is [food] distribution and access,” said Benni H Sormin, assistant FAO representative for Indonesia.

However, Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Agung Laksono denied there are cases of starvation in the country.

“No Indonesians are starving at this moment. And even if there is starvation, we must fight it in a serious, focused and systematic way,” he was quoted as saying by Antara news agency.

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Wasior flood disaster caused by deforestation: Indonesian activists

Nethy Dharma Somba and Markus Makur, The Jakarta Post 15 Oct 10;

Environmentalists insisted Thursday that the fatal flash floods in Wasior district in West Papua were caused by environmental degradation in the area.

They challenged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s claim that the condition in the area was reasonably good and was not to blame for the flood, which has claimed about 150 lives.

Yudhoyono said he had observed the forest condition, seen aerial photographs of forests around Wa sior, and found no visible signs of damage. “I have seen the forests and they are still well maintained,” the President said during his visit to the district. Yudhoyono and First Lady Ani Yudhoyono arrived Thursday morning at the Kuri Pasai seaport in Wasior to meet flood victims.

Yudhoyono said he had seen remnants of logs around the area, yet asserted that the finding could not be associated with illegal logging activities. “Those logs were from uprooted trees,” Yudhoyono was quoted as saying by Antara.

He also spoke with Teluk Wondama district officials. He instructed local authorities to extend the emergency response to the victims from Oct. 8 to Oct. 31. Emergency response efforts were originally scheduled for 10 days.

Meanwhile, activists have blamed the flash flood and mudslide of Oct. 4 on environmental damage caused by natural and human factors.

The flood destroyed 80 percent of conservation forests, such as the 1,453,500 hectares in Cenderawasih Bay Marine National Park and the Mount Wondiboy Natural Preserve (73 million square kilometers).

“How could the protected areas be devastated by the incident, which was not only caused by nature but also other causes?’ Foker environmental group director Septer Manufandu said in Jayapura on Thursday.

Soil structure around the Wondiboy mountainous region is unstable and prone to landslides. The surrounding ecosystem often changes due to high rainfall.

“Rainfall around Mount Wondiboy is recorded at between 4,000 and 5,000 millimeters per year. The natural condition is prone to disaster, let alone activities degrading the environment,” said Lyndon Pangkali from the Papua WWF.

Based on the latest data from Wasior, the death toll stands at 154 with 123 missing, 188 seriously injured and 2,652 people taking shelter in Teluk Wondama, Manokwari, Nabire and other areas.

The Mimika regency administration is sending relief aid to Wasior, said Mimika Deputy Regent Abdul Muis on Thursday.

Muis said his office had urged the private sector and religious groups in Mimika to raise assistance to Wasior. “We have stockpiled food such as instant noodles and rice, and will immediately send them to Wasior,” he said.

Regional police chiefs to wage war against illegal logging
Antara 15 Oct 10;

Makassar, S Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - All regional police chiefs in the eastern region of Indonesia have agreed to wage a war against illegal logging activities they blame for the occurrence of natural disasters.

The regional police chiefs of the Indonesian eastern region reached the agreement during a training on the handling of natural disaster and emergency response here on Friday.

South Sulawesi Police Chief Insp. Gen. Johny Wainal Usman said here on Friday that all regional police chiefs for Indonesian eastern region had made the agreement after seeing the many flash flood incidents as a results of illegal logging.

"During the meeting we all agreed to fight against the culprits of illegal logging in an effort to minimize the occurrence of natural disasters," he said.

Among those making the agreement were Johny Wainal Usman, East Nusa Tenggara Police Chief Brig. Gen. Yorry Y Worang, Central Sulawesi Police Chief Brig Gen Amin Saleh, Southeast Sulawesi Police Head Brig. Gen Sigit Sudarmanto, North Sulawesi Police Chief Brig Gen Carlo Tewu, West Nusa Tenggara Police head Brig. Gen Arif Wachyunadi and Maluku and North Maluku Police Chef Brig. Gen Erlan Lukman M.

"We hope we could contribute to the nation by taking repressive measures against illegal loggers. The main cause of floods is the fact that the upstream area of the rivers have been denuded," Johny Wainal Usman said.

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Civil Society Coalition Pushes Government to Finally Halt Logging Permits

Fidelis E. Satriastanti & Markus Junianto Sihaloho Jakarta Globe 14 Oct 10;

Jakarta. Ten civil-society groups, including Greenpeace, have called on the government to get serious about implementing a moratorium on issuing new logging concessions in critical areas.

The proposed two-year moratorium, set to begin in 2011, was announced earlier this year by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as part of a deal with Norway to fund UN-sponsored emissions-reduction (REDD) schemes in the forestry sector.

Kumi Naidoo, the executive director of Greenpeace International, said on Thursday that the moratorium offered a golden opportunity to suspend the devastation of Indonesia’s forests.

“We need to use the moratorium to engage public participation, proper research and look at all the alternatives, and also look at it in terms of the future of the palm oil industry,” he said.

“In terms of REDD and REDD Plus, there’s a danger that if we don’t use the moratorium period to actually agree on procedures on transparency, then resources from REDD Plus” could be lost.

Naidoo said that while Indonesia had reasonably good forest conservation laws, the problem was in enforcement.

“The inability of the government to police such massive areas allows a lot of loopholes to be exploited [by] certain industries,” he said.

Bambang Sukmananto, a senior Forestry Ministry official, said his office was keen to work alongside groups such as Greenpeace, which he said could not resolve the issues of deforestation by themselves.

“We’re after the same goal, but we have different points of view,” he said. “For us, it’s more than just the environmental issue. We also need to consider the economic impact.”

Meanwhile, Pramono Anung, a deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, backed Greenpeace’s call for the government to make the best use of the moratorium period, and said more attention ought to be paid to environmental issues.

Speaking after the meeting with Greenpeace, Pramono said the House shared the same concern that Indonesian forests should be conserved.

“We agree with Greenpeace that special attention must be given to the forest moratorium in Riau and Kalimantan,” he said.

He added that the government must also tighten its supervision of the mining sector to minimize environmental damage from prospecting and mining.

Pramono also addressed complaints by Greenpeace that port authorities had denied the group’s ship, the Rainbow Warrior, entry into Indonesia.

The ship was supposed to dock at Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta, but was turned away.

“I believe the government should have allowed the ship to dock,” Pramono said. “Denying this permission only hurts our country’s standing in the international community.”

He said the purpose of the ship’s visit was to educate Indonesian children about environment issues, so the visit should not have been prevented.

Greenpeace, RI NGOs call for full forest protection
Antara 15 Oct 10;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Greenpeace and several Indonesian NGOs working for biodiversity, human rights, climate protection and representing indigenous people, called on the Indonesian and Norwegian governments to close loopholes in a billion dollar deal to immediately implement a moratorium on all further natural forest clearance both within new and existing concession areas.

"It is not only what you do, but also what you do not do, for which you are accountable. The Indonesian government must ensure the protection of all peatlands, tropical forests, biodiversity and indigenous people. The devil is in the detail. Details of this deal will set a precedent for future agreements to end deforestation globally, so it must be watertight," said Kumi Naidoo, Executive Director of Greenpeace International here, Thursday (Oct. 14) as published on Greenpeace Southeast Asia`s official website.

Details of the US$1 billion deal are being negotiated after a letter of intent was signed in May this year by Norwegian and Indonesian Governments. As part of the agreement, Indonesia announced a two-year moratorium on any new concessions on conversion of natural forests and peatlands into plantations.

"Irrespective of the moratorium, vast areas of tropical rainforests and carbon-rich peatlands are still earmarked for destruction in Indonesia. To be effective, this deal must revoke all existing permits to clear within these areas," he added.

Current Government concessions and illegal logging are devastating Indonesia`s carbon-rich peatlands and rainforests for palm oil and pulp and paper plantations.
The clearing of peatlands and forests significantly contributes to climate change.

Indigenous people`s customary lands and rights have been violated, causing social conflict, and natural habitats of endangered species are dwindling.

"Today we provided Indonesian decision makers with what civil society organizations recognize as minimum criteria and indicators for an effective moratorium. Norway`s negotiations with Indonesia to end forest destruction and to protect peatlands could change the course of history and move us forward to solving some of the major crises of our time: tropical rainforest destruction, species extinction and climate change," said Berry Nahdian Forqan, Executive Director of Walhi.

Kumi Naidoo was speaking at a media briefing in Jakarta after the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior on its `Turn the Tide tour of Southeast Asia` was denied entry by the Indonesian government for no plausible grounds.

"We are saddened by this unfortunate turn of events. Greenpeace is as much Indonesian as it is Canadian, Dutch, Australian, Chinese or any other nation. We are an organisation dedicated only to global environmental protection and peace. We are an organisation that exists only at the wish of the global civil community," Kumi said.

Deforestation is responsible for about one-fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Ending deforestation must be central to a global strategy to tackle climate change, as it has the greatest potential to quickly deliver massive greenhouse gas emissions cuts.

The Rainbow Warrior`s two-and-a-half month voyage across Southeast Asia to promote a green and peaceful future began in Thailand on September 17, 2010 and will conclude in Philippines on November 30.

This visit to the region, the ship`s fourth, coincides with the 10th year anniversary of Greenpeace`s official presence in Southeast Asia - as well as the Rainbow Warrior`s first ever tour of the region, the `Toxics-Free Asia Tour` in 2000.

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