Palm oil body criticises Malaysia's IOI for environment, social damage

Niki Koswanage Reuters 7 Apr 11;

* IOI the 2nd firm to face censure after Indonesia's SMART
* IOI licence for green palm oil may get suspended-RSPO
* IOI shares flat, analysts see limited market impact
* Firm accepts RSPO view but warns on NGOs' false statements

KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 (Reuters) - An industry body for eco-friendly palm oil has censured Malaysia's second largest palm oil planter, IOI Corp , alleging it has drained peatlands and felled forests on Borneo island to expand and that it could face further sanctions.

The censure follows complaints by green groups over IOI's environmental practices in the Malaysia's Borneo state of Sarawak, including a protracted land dispute with a local community.

The Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a group of planters, NGOs and consumers, said its grievance panel found IOI to have breached its membership obligations, making it the second firm after Indonesia's SMART to face censure.

IOI's current and ongoing applications to certify its plantations as environmentally and socially responsible have been suspended and the firm has until May 2 to come up with an acceptable solution to the issues raised, the RSPO said.

"Failure to deliver the required proposal ... will result in the RSPO considering further sanctions, which may include the suspension of (the) IOI licence," RSPO said in a statement on its website seen on Thursday.

The comments will invite further scrutiny to $30 billion palm oil industry that has tried to boost its green credentials in the wake of an aggressive campaign by environment and social activists as well as consumers shunning palm oil-based products.

IOI shares were up slightly to 5.56 ringgit around 0400 GMT on Thursday.

Analysts said there will be muted market impact unless big customers like Unilever (UNc.AS: Quote) and Finnish oil refiner Neste Oil stop buying from the firm although that may provide more opportunities for companies in China and India to snap up cargoes.

IOI said on its website that the company accepted the RSPO's decision and would work with the industry body to find a solution, especially for the land dispute issue.

But it warned that activists were making unfair and false statements against the planter.

"Merely pressuring one party will not guarantee or facilitate the successful conclusion of the discussion said," IOI said.

U.S.-based green activists Rainforest Action Network welcomed the RSPO statement and called on agribusiness giant Cargill, the largest palm oil importer to the U.S., to scrutinise its relationship with IOI.

"This ruling reinforces RAN's demand that Cargill institute basic safeguards on its supply chain to ensure it is not selling palm oil from stolen indigenous lands to American consumers," said Lindsey Allen, RAN forest programme director.

The spotlight on IOI comes as Golden Agri Resources , the parent of Indonesia's SMART, joined the RSPO and pledged to commit to producing green palm oil as both companies raced to win back their customers. [ID:nL3E7F41I0]

Major palm oil consumers such as Unilever and Nestle stopped buying from SMART because of environmental concerns, and have yet to resume supply ties, traders said. (Reporting by Niluksi Koswanage; Editing by Ed Lane)

Malaysia's 2nd-biggest listed palm-oil company under scrutiny
The Star 7 Apr 11;

KUALA LUMPUR: IOI Corp Bhd, the country's second-biggest listed palm-oil company, is being scrutinised by an industry group following allegations about land disputes and illegal deforestation.

IOI was given 28 days to respond to the allegations, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil said in a statement on its website.

The group would consider further sanctions, including the suspension of licences for new certified sustainable transactions, if IOI didn't deliver the required response by May 2, it said. IOI shares fell 17 sen, or 3%, to RM5.55, the most since Feb 10.

The dispute concerned plantation land in Sarawak occupied by IOI Pelita Plantation Sdn Bhd, which is 70% owned by IOI, the company said.

The complaints were made by “several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the local community of Long Teran Kanan in Sarawak,” the RSPO statement said.

The organisations weren't named. Calls to the company's head of corporate communications after office hours weren't answered.

“The nature of the grievance covers two locations and three specific matters land dispute over native customary land leased by IOI for palm oil production in Sarawak; drained peat land on endangered wildlife habitat and clearing of forest area; and illegal deforestation,” the statement said.

“IOI accepts this decision and will work closely with RSPO in developing a plan to find an acceptable solution to the issue of compensation,” the company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

“However, IOI is concerned over the sustained actions by various NGOs and some online news websites, which seek to mislead public opinion on the issue by repeating various false statements and unfair allegations against IOI.”

RSPO certification indicates that palm oil used in a particular product is “produced without undue harm to the environment or society,” and that “volumes are traceable,” according to the group's website.

“Current and ongoing certification” of IOI's production had been suspended with immediate effect, the group said.

“IOI welcomes an independent organisation like RSPO to appoint representatives to observe the proceedings of the meetings between IOI Pelita and the natives and possibly mediate in the negotiation over the affected land area and the amount of compensation,” the company said.

Nestle SA, the world's biggest food maker, and Unilever, the largest palm oil user, last year suspended purchases from Indonesia's Sinar Mas Group after allegations from Greenpeace that the company was illegally destroying rainforests. An independent study cleared Sinar Mas. - Bloomberg

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Gir lions flourish, thanks to adjoining areas

DNA India 7 Apr 11;

The Lion King's successful conservation story is making international headlines. An academic paper titled 'A conservation success story in the otherwise dire megafauna extinction crisis: The Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica) of Gir forest' that chronicles Gujarat's efforts in conserving the big cat has been printed in a Singapore-based magazine.

The paper authored by Gujarat's senior IFS officer, HS Singh and Luke Gibson of the Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore brings out the stellar increase of the lions in the wild from its near extinction a century ago to a thriving 411 as per the census last year.

The paper points out that the availability of native ungulates and the lions' migrations to satellite areas around the sanctuary has tremendously helped to increase its population. "Protection of core and satellite habitats and the relocation of pastoral communities and their livestock triggered forest recovery and coincident increases in native prey populations. Wild ungulate populations increased by 10-fold between 1970 and 2010, supporting an increase in the lion population from 180 animals in 1974 to 411 animals in 2010," the paper states.

Dr Singh, a veteran forester and who has authored several books on the wildlife in Gujarat is an avid observer of trends. "Coincident with the increase of the ungulate population, lions shifted their predation preferences from a diet composed of 75% livestock to one composed of just 25% livestock. This example demonstrates the value of native prey populations to sustain imperiled carnivore species," Dr Singh has observed in his paper.

Another aspect pointed out as a reason for effective conservation is moving out the native pastoral communities (Maldharis) and their livestock outside the protected lion habitat.

However, the paper also remarks that, "Despite impressive recoveries of wild ungulates, recent increases in livestock populations in the Gir Conservation Area may limit the potential recovery of wild prey species and consequently the Asiatic lion."

"Another key aspect in the conservation of the Asiatic lion was their dispersal and the subsequent protection of surrounding satellite populations. Approximately one fourth of Asiatic Lions are located in protected satellite populations outside the Gir Conservation Area, and subsist primarily on wild prey species. The protection of these satellite habitats and the maintenance of corridors linking them to the core population in the Gir Conservation Area has allowed for the continued growth of this endangered species," the paper concludes.

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World food prices fall for first time in eight months

Yahoo News 7 Apr 11;

ROME (AFP) – World food prices fell for the first time in eight months in March after record highs largely due to oil prices, though the situation remains volatile, the UN's food agency said on Thursday.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation's Food Price Index dropped to an average 230 points in March, down 2.9 percent from its peak in February, but still 37 percent above March 2010, the Rome-based agency said.

"The decrease in the overall index this month brings some welcome respite," said David Hallam, director of the FAO's trade and market division.

"But it would be premature to conclude that this is a reversal of the upward trend," he added.

The FAO index, which monitors average monthly prices for key staples, showed international prices for oils, sugar and cereals in particular had dropped.

Rice prices also fell, largely as a result of abundant supply in exporting countries and sluggish import demand. By contrast, dairy and meat prices rose.

"The biggest story is the oil sector, that's the driver behind the decline in prices," said Abdolreza Abbassian, FAO economist and grains analyst.

"The drop was driven by sell-offs in the market, but didn't last," he said.

"We saw a decline only in the first two weeks of March. In the second half of the month prices rebounded. Most of the price increase is not captured in this index but is likely to be reflected in the next one," he said.

March was also extremely volatile for grains, largely due to growing economic uncertainties and the turmoil in North Africa and parts of the Near East as well as the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, the FAO said.

"We need to see the information on new plantings over the next few weeks to get an idea of future production levels," Hallam said.

"But low stock levels, the implications for oil prices of events in the Middle East and North Africa and... Japan all make for continuing uncertainty and price volatility over the coming months," he said.

The oil and fats price index fell 19 points in March, breaking nine months of consecutive increases, while the sugar price index averaged 372 points -- down as much as 10 percent from the highs of January and February.

The dairy price index averaged 234 points, up 1.9 percent from the previous month and 37 percent above its level in March 2010, while the meat price index changed little from its February levels at an average of 169 points.

"As we have said before, this crisis will be volatile. The prices are still at very high levels. It all depends on the 2011 harvest. The market is not going to ignore uncertainty for at least the next six months," Abbassian said.

World food prices hit record highs at the beginning of the year and the agency had warned in March that oil price spikes could push them even higher as increasing violence in Libya sent jitters through commodity markets.

"With many poor communities already feeling the effects of higher food prices and grain stocks in the main food exporting countries at dangerously low levels, sighs of relief in response to today?s announcement by the FAO would be premature," Oxfam's policy advisor Luca Chinotti said in a statement.

"Food remains far too expensive for many poor people," he said.

Latest FAO Food Price Index shows first decrease in eight months
FAO 7 Apr 11;

7 April 2011, Rome - The FAO Food Price Index has dropped for the first time after eight months of continuous price spikes, FAO announced today.

The Index averaged 230 points in March 2011, down 2.9 percent from its peak in February, but still 37 percent above March of last year.

"The decrease in the overall index this month brings some welcome respite from the steady increases seen over the last eight months," said David Hallam, Director of FAO's Trade and Market Division. "But it would be premature to conclude that this is a reversal of the upward trend," he added.

"We need to see the information on new plantings over the next few weeks to get an idea of future production levels. But low stock levels, the implications for oil prices of events in the Middle East and North Africa and the effects of the destruction in Japan all make for continuing uncertainty and price volatility over the coming months," said Hallam.

Oil and sugar prices lead the decline

International prices of oils and sugar dropped the most, followed by cereals. By contrast, dairy and meat prices were up, although only marginally in the case of meat.

The Cereal Price Index averaged 252 points in March, down 2.6 percent from February, but still 60 percent higher than in March 2010. March was extremely volatile for grains, with international quotations first plunging sharply, driven largely by outside market developments such as the increased economic uncertainties accompanying the turmoil in North Africa and parts of the Near East as well as the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, before regaining most of their losses. Rice prices also fell as a result of abundant supply in exporting countries and sluggish import demand.

The FAO Oils/Fats Price Index fell 19 points, or 7 percent, in March, interrupting nine months of consecutive increases.

The FAO Sugar Price Index averaged 372 points in March, down as much as 10 percent from the highs of January and February.

The FAO Dairy Price Index averaged 234 points in March, up 1.9 percent from February and 37 percent above its level in March 2010.

The FAO Meat Price Index averaged 169 points in March, little changed from February.

A positive outlook but food stocks diminish

World production of cereals fell in 2010, resulting in falling stocks, while total cereal utilization is expected to reach a record level in 2010/11.

While most indications point to increased cereal production in 2011, the projected growth may not be sufficient to replenish inventories, in which case prices could remain firm throughout 2011/12 as well.

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New warning on Arctic ice melt

Richard Black BBC News 8 Apr 11;

Scientists who predicted a few years ago that Arctic summers could be ice-free by 2013 now say summer ice will probably be gone within this decade.

The original prediction, made in 2007, gained Wieslaw Maslowski's team a deal of criticism from some of their peers.

Now they are working with a new computer model - compiled partly in response to those criticisms - that produces a "best guess" date of 2016.

Their work was unveiled at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) annual meeting.

The new model is designed to replicate real-world interactions, or "couplings", between the Arctic ocean, the atmosphere, the ice and rivers carrying freshwater into the sea.

"In the past... we were just extrapolating into the future assuming that trends might persist as we've seen in recent times," said Dr Maslowski, who works at Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.

"Now we're trying to be more systematic, and we've developed a regional Arctic climate model that's very similar to the global climate models participating in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessments," he told BBC News.

"We can run a fully coupled model for the past and present and see what our model will predict for the future in terms of the sea ice and the Arctic climate."

And one of the projections it comes out with is that the summer melt could lead to ice-free Arctic seas by 2016 - "plus or minus three years".
Thin evidence

One of the important ingredients of the new model is data on the thickness of ice floating on the sea.

Satellites are increasingly able to detect this, usually by measuring how far the ice sits above the sea surface - which also indicates how far the ice extends beneath.

Inclusion of this data into the team's modelling was one of the factors causing them to retrench on the 2013 date, which raised eyebrows - and subsequently some criticism - when it emerged at a US science meeting four years ago.

Since the spectacularly pronounced melting of 2007, a greater proportion of the Arctic Ocean has been covered by thin ice that is formed in a single season and is more vulnerable to slight temperature increases than older, thicker ice.

Even taking this into account, the projected date range is earlier than other researchers believe likely.

But one peer - Dr Walt Meier from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado - said the behaviour of sea ice becomes less predictable as it gets thinner.

"[Maslowski's] is quite a good model, one thing it has is really high resolution, it can capture details that are lost in global climate models," he said.

"But 2019 is only eight years away; there's been modelling showing that [likely dates are around] 2040/50, and I'd still lean towards that.

"I'd be very surprised if it's 2013 - I wouldn't be totally surprised if it's 2019."
Crystal method

The drastic melt of 2007 remains the record loss of ice area in the satellite era, although subsequent years have still been below the long-term average.

But some researchers believe 2010's melt was equally as notable as 2007's, given weather conditions that were favourable to the durability of ice.

Although many climate scientists and environmental campaigners are seriously concerned about the fate of the Arctic ice, for other parts of society and other arms of government its degradation presents challenges and opportunities.

The Russian and Canadian governments, for example, are looking to the opportunities for mineral exploitation that will arise; while the US military has expressed concern about losing a natural defence around the country's northern border for part of the year.

"I'm not trying to be alarmist and not trying to say 'we know the future because we have a crystal ball'," said Dr Maslowski.

"Basically, we're trying to make policymakers and people who need to know about climate change in the Arctic realise there is a chance that summer sea ice could be gone by the end of the decade.

"For the national interest, the defence interest, I think it's important to realise that 2040 is not a crystal ball prediction."

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Developing Countries Step In Where Richer Nations Fear to Tread

Marwaan Macan-Markar IPS News 8 Apr 11;

BANGKOK, Apr 8, 2011 (IPS) - Led by countries like Indonesia, 48 developing nations are rolling out a range of pledges to voluntarily cut their respective emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by 2020, the year climate scientists say the earth’s rising temperature should peak by if an environmental catastrophe is to be avoided.

Indonesian negotiators confirmed during a U.N. climate change conference here that Jakarta is prepared to cut its GHG emissions by 26 percent on its own accord. But that is not all: the world’s most populous Muslim country is prepared to increase emissions cuts to 41 percent if it receives development assistance that industrialised nations have committed to providing.

"It is a pledge that sends out an important message: Indonesia is prepared to do its share to shoulder the burden of reducing greenhouse gases," says Shalimar Vitan, economic and justice campaigns coordinator for the East Asia office of Oxfam, the British humanitarian agency. "It also is informing the citizens of the country that Indonesia is eyeing a low carbon development agenda."

"To cover the cost of the initial cuts from its own resources reflects its recognition that developing countries have a common but differentiated responsibility towards the global climate change agenda," Vitan told IPS.

Indonesia’s affirmation here, at the first of three rounds of climate talks this year ahead of a U.N. climate summit in the South African city of Durban in November, marks a significant shift from what a country currently ranked as the fifth highest emitter of GHGs - after China, the United States, India and Brazil - had pledged previously. Following the 2007 U.N. climate summit it hosted on the resort island of Bali, Indonesia had said it would only focus on slashing its deforestation rates.

Smaller developing countries are doing their part as well, reveal experts at Climate Analytics, a think tank based in Potsdam, Germany, which runs a website monitoring emissions commitments and actions. The Maldives, Bhutan, Papua New Guinea and Costa Rica have been singled out for their ambitious pledges to slash GHG emissions significantly, reveals the Climate Action Tracker at www.climateactiontracker.org.

The Maldives, an archipelago of islands in the Indian Ocean, has been described as a ‘role model’ by Climate Analytics for its "declared intention to become climate neutral by 2020. The South Asian nation intends to "apply for [foreign development assistance] but states that their pledge is voluntary, unconditional to external support."

"For most developing countries, it is an attempt to demonstrate what they are doing, and a signal to the developed countries that they want to see more ambitious emission cuts," Marion Vieweg, climate policy analyst at Climate Analytics, told IPS. "From the political side, it is the right signal to send to this process."

The significance of this trend has exposed a fault line at the Bangkok talks, pitting negotiators of the developing world - who represent the largest bloc as part of the 131-member Group of 77 (G77) and China - against those of the developed world. Environmental diplomats from the G77 have been pressing their counterparts from the richer nations to make a political commitment to guarantee that they will meet their obligations towards GHG emission cuts under the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol, from 2013 onwards.

The 1997 Kyoto Protocol is the world’s only international treaty that, since entering into force in 2005, binds 37 industrialised nations and the European Community to slash their GHG emissions to curb the rise of global warming.

The first phase of the protocol - a key pillar for the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) - runs out in 2012. By then the developed world was expected to slash their emissions by five percent, measured against 1990 levels.

"We need to hear [developed] countries say they are going to comply to the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol," asserted a visibly frustrated Pablo Solon Romero Oroza, the head of Bolivia’s delegation here, during a discussion on the future of the protocol. "Developing countries are doing more to cut emissions without legal obligations than developed countries."

The prospect of developed nations meeting their treaty obligations under the second phase of the protocol - with an increased level of emission cuts - has come under a cloud of uncertainty at the climate talks here.

"A political commitment [by the developed countries] towards the second commitment period is very important; it focuses on deliverables," Rajani Ranjan Rashmi, a senior member of India’s negotiating team, told IPS. "That is a stepping stone to move forward. Higher ambitions are needed."

As it is, the total amount of GHG emissions the developed world is prepared to slash by 2020 will be between 10 to 15 percent, measured against 1990 levels. It is a figure far short of the required global emission cuts of 25 to 40 percent that has been stressed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Nobel Peace Prize winning body of climate scientists.

"There is a large gap between pledges - by both developing and developed countries - and what is needed to keep temperatures below the limit set for 2020," says Bill Hare, a lead author of the IPCC’s ‘Fourth Assessment Report’ on climate change. "[Developed] countries could do a few more gigatonne reductions to help close the gap."

To keep temperatures from rising two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, climate change experts like Hare say that global emissions need to drop to between 40 to 40 billion gigatonnes of carbon dioxide by 2020. "Three years ago it was 45 billion gigatonnes, and even after the pledges we are left with a nine billion gigatonne gap."

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Rich, poor nations feud at UN climate talks

Karl Malakunas Yahoo News 8 Apr 11;http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

BANGKOK (AFP) – The first UN climate talks for the year entered their final phase on Friday with negotiators still trying to hammer out a deal after familiar feuds between rich and poor nations flared.

The four days of talks had an apparently modest main goal of sorting out an agenda for the rest of the year's negotiations that would lay the foundations for agreements at an annual UN climate summit in South Africa in November.

But delegates said the agenda had still not been decided by early Friday, with one key point of dispute an insistence by many poorer countries for a greater focus on actions developed countries must take to fight global warming.

"Everybody is a bit surprised, we did not expect the agenda to stall the talks for this long," France's ambassador for climate change negotiations, Serge Lepeltier, told AFP.

Delegates said a compromise could still be reached by the end of the talks on Friday evening that would set a path towards the end-of-year summit in Durban.

But they said the spirit of cooperation between developed and developing countries that led to breakthroughs at the last annual summit in the Mexican resort city of Cancun in December was not nearly as strong in Bangkok.

"This year will be more difficult and Durban will be more difficult than Cancun," Lepeltier said.

"The power struggle is back."

The talks began on Tuesday with poor nations demanding that rich ones agree to a second round of legally binding greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments under an updated Kyoto Protocol.

The first round of commitments are due to expire at the end of 2012, but some richer countries have said they do not want to sign up to a second phase because major polluters the United States and China will not.

The United States never ratified the Kyoto Protocol and its climate envoys have repeated this week that the country has no intention of signing on.

Developing countries, including China, did not have to commit to cutting emissions as part of the Kyoto Protocol and most of them maintain this should remain the case.

Throughout the Bangkok talks, some of the richer countries have pushed to have the focus for this year's negotiations primarily on pushing forward the more modest agreements achieved in Cancun last year.

However poorer nations say that, if only the Cancun agreements are put into action by the end of 2012, rich nations will not have to agree on legally binding emission cuts and the Kyoto Protocol will have largely fizzled out.

The Cancun agreements saw all nations pledge "urgent action" to keep temperatures from rising no more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.

A Green Climate Fund was also established that aims to by 2020 channel $100 billion annually from rich countries to poor ones to help them cope with climate change.

But many of the hardest issues were put aside in Cancun because nations were seeking to rebuild trust and revive UN climate negotiations, following a near collapse in the process 12 months earlier at a summit in Copenhagen.

Those issues, most particularly whether developed countries will agree to a second phase of emission cuts under the Kyoto Protocol, threaten to weigh down negotiations throughout 2011.

UN climate chief Christiana Figueres has also warned that the non-binding pledges made by nations in Cancun to curb their emissions will not be nearly enough to keep temperature rises under the crucial two-degree threshold.

U.N. Climate Talks Risk Backsliding on Cancun Outcome
David Fogarty PlanetArk 8 Apr 11;

Arguments over the agenda that have stalled U.N. climate talks in Bangkok this week show that some nations are trying to row back from hard-won agreements reached last December, Russia said on Wednesday.

The December deal in Cancun included a Green Climate Fund to manage $100 billion a year in aid to poor nations by 2020 and to limit a rise in average world temperatures to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial times.

It also won consensus on measures to protect tropical forests and a framework to help poorer nations adapt to rising seas and greater weather extremes, in a series of agreements viewed as saving the fraught U.N. climate negotiations from collapse.

But the April 3-8 talks in Bangkok, the first major climate meeting since Cancun and meant to agree on a plan to build on the December agreements, have stalled because of a dispute over an agenda presented by the 131-member G77 grouping plus China.

Rich nations say that agenda doesn't reflect all the agreements in Cancun and pushes for the resolution of key outstanding issues by the end of the year instead of trying to work through things step-by-step as agreed in Cancun.

"The hopes and the expectations were that after Cancun we will start more focused work on building up on the outcome of Cancun," said Oleg Shamanov, head of the Russian delegation.

He said the idea was to come up with the specific elements of what would become the formal decisions at major climate talks in the South African city of Durban at year's end.

"Instead we are now trapped and locked into purely procedural discussions about the agenda that could have been avoided.

"That highly disappoints me that we are pulling back from the dynamics that we achieved in Cancun," he told Reuters in an interview.

FIREWALL

Cancun left unresolved tougher issues such as the fate of the Kyoto Protocol, the U.N.'s main weapon in the fight against climate change. Poor nations want Kyoto's fate resolved by Durban.

Kyoto's 2008-12 first phase binds nearly 40 rich nations to emissions targets. But no successor pact that would expand or replace Kyoto from 2013 is in sight and rich and poor nations are deeply divided on the shape of any new pact.

Poorer nations want Kyoto to remain as the main agreement. Under the pact, developing nations are obliged to take voluntary steps to curb emissions.

"My assessment is that some parties that are a bit scared of the outcomes of Cancun, that they are too far reaching and that they are trying to take a precautionary position," said Shamanov, adding that Russia was keen to see progress in the talks.

"I would like to see the work focused on specific elements where we have more or less clear mandates emanating from Cancun. We have to go step by step."He said poorer nations needed to understand it was impossible to renegotiate or revise the Cancun Agreements "through the backdoor of procedural disputes on the agenda."

"I think that is what it is about. It's all about a firewall between the actions of developed countries, commitments of the developed countries and the possible actions by developing countries."

(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

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Best of our wild blogs: 7 Apr 11

Fri 15 Apr 2011: 5pm – James Watson on “Impacts of climate change for biodiversity: Planning for adaptation” from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS

Latest wetland craze - Lorong Halus Wetland
from Water Quality in Singapore

Early Easter Eggs
from Bird Ecology Study Group

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Singapore programme: Get kids outside to save their eyesight!

New programme aims to study effect of the outdoors on myopia in children
Feng Zengkun Straits Times 7 Apr 11;

THE long and short of the programme is this: Does spending time outdoors reduce the likelihood of a child getting myopia or short-sightedness?

To zoom in on the answer, an outdoor activities programme was launched last week.

The one-year project is funded by the National Medical Research Council and costs $200,000.

Some 450 children aged six to 10 will be selected from applicants for the project run by the National University Health System (NUHS) and National Parks Board.

Half of these 450 children and their families will visit a different park each weekend for organised activities such as guided tours and games, starting from May 21.

The families can win prizes such as cash vouchers for regular attendance. They are encouraged to turn up every weekend but it is not compulsory.

The other half of the group will not take part in the park activities to allow researchers to compare the two groups and study the effects of spending time outdoors.

All the children and their siblings will be given free eye checks, referrals to doctors if necessary, as well as subsidies for such medical visits.

Studies in recent years in the United States and Australia have shown that children who spend time outdoors cut their risk of suffering from myopia by up to 20 per cent.

Scientists believe this is because the unobstructed view trains the eye to see better.

Myopia happens when the lens in the eye cannot focus images on the retina. Singapore has one of the highest rates of myopia in the world, with a quarter of children being short-sighted by age seven, and half by age 10.

NUHS professor Saw Seang Mei, who is the programme's principal investigator, said the reason for the high rate of myopia in Singapore is that children stay indoors and spend a considerable amount of time reading and writing.

'Children with myopia are also more likely to become blind later in life, due to diseases like macular degeneration, so we need to intervene early,' she added.

In 2004, the Health Promotion Board introduced the annual National Eye Care Week. Primary schools are encouraged to set aside time during the week to teach pupils about taking care of their eyes.

If the outdoor programme is successful, it will be expanded to a larger trial of 2,000 children early next year.

One eventual goal is to encourage schools to have more activities out in the open.

Prof Saw said: 'For example, seven- year-old Singaporean children spend only about five to six hours outdoors every week, including the physical education classes in school. This is not enough.'

Ideally, she added, children should spend a minimum of 10 hours outdoors weekly.

The Health Promotion Board advises parents to take their children to the playground a few times a week, and to make sure they take breaks from reading or using the computer every half-hour.

Dr Au Eong Kah Guan, an ophthalmologist at Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre, said the study could be important if it is carried out rigorously and with large enough numbers.

He added: 'Currently, nothing has been proven consistently by multiple studies to prevent myopia so no measure can be recommended routinely.

'If the programme is effective and can be done in different countries, it could be recommended more widely.'

Similar programmes are ongoing in Australia and China.

A trial run of the programme - with 40 children over the last three months - saw a good response, with 75 per cent of the families showing up every weekend.

Madam Seetha, one of the participants, said the experience was also a good time to bond with her two children - Chris, nine, and Harshini, seven.

The 42-year-old immigration officer added: 'We work as a team for some of the games and we get to learn about nature together.'

To apply to join the programme, call 6516-4985, 6516-6930 or 9050-3867. Only Singapore citizens and permanent residents without any severe chronic medical conditions are eligible.

Outdoor activities can help prevent myopia in children: study
Alvina Soh Channel NewsAsia 11 Apr 11;

SINGAPORE : The National University Health System (NUHS) is urging children in Singapore to get out and play, in its latest myopia prevention study.

The year-long study aims to find out if spending more time outdoors can help prevent myopia in children who are between six and 10 years old.

Singapore has one of the highest rates of myopia in the world.

NUHS said this is worrying, as half of the children are myopic by the time they turn 10.

About eight in 10 will have myopia when they reach 18.

It added that the average age of the onset of myopia is eight years old.

Professor Saw Seang Mei, vice-dean for research at the National University Health System, said: "We want to target a group which is susceptible to the environmental factors, so if we increase the outdoor time, it may be able to prevent the development and progression of myopia in this age range."

NUHS said there has been a recent rise in myopia trends in recent years.

In the study, children will take part in weekly activities in the parks - organised by the National Parks Board - such as guided walks and scavenger hunts.

Tay Boon Sin, assistant director at the National Parks Board, said: "Kids nowadays do not spend enough time outdoors, so we really hope that by spending more time outdoors, not only do they get in touch with our parks, nature, they can actually have a more healthy lifestyle."

The study is expected to be completed by April 2012.

The findings will be used to develop a programme to reduce myopia, obesity and other chronic illnesses in Singapore children.

- CNA/ms

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PUB, Hyflux unit seal $890m 25-year water deal

Maxie Aw Yeong Business Times 7 Apr 11;http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

PUB and Tuaspring, a Hyflux subsidiary, yesterday signed a 25-year water purchase agreement (WPA) for Singapore's second and largest desalination plant.

The plant will start its operations in 2013, adding 318,500 cubic metres of desalinated water to Singapore's daily water supply. This project will cost $890 million.

The desalination plant will be built beside the existing SingSpring plant in Tuas, which has a capacity of 136,000 cubic metres per day. It will be built under a design, build, own and operate model, and is expected to start in the fourth quarter.

The first-year price for the desalinated water is set at $0.45 per cubic metre, which works out to $52.3 million a year. Tuaspring will provide desalinated water to PUB until 2038.

PUB chief executive Khoo Teng Chye and Hyflux group president and chief executive officer Olivia Lum, who was representing Tuaspring, signed the WPA yesterday.

Mr Khoo reiterated PUB's plans to increase desalination and NEWater capacities to meet up to 30 per cent and 50 per cent of water demand respectively by 2060. He also said that desalinated water was 'set to play a bigger role in meeting Singapore's future water needs'.

Ms Lum said that Hyflux was pleased to collaborate with PUB again for the development of the second desalination plant to meet Singapore's rising demand for water.

Recently, Ms Lum told The Straits Times that Hyflux has shelved its plans for expansion in Libya, and may allow a US$100 million contract that it won in the country to lapse. It now plans to focus on growing its business in China and Singapore.

Hyflux shares closed down a cent to $2.15 yesterday.

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Biodiversity Vital To Streams As Extinctions Rise

Deborah Zabarenko PlanetArk 7 Apr 11;

As Earth enters a period of mass extinction, a study released on Wednesday offers a new reason to preserve biodiversity: it's an effective, natural pollution scrubber in streams.

Environmental activists have long warned that waning biodiversity means the loss of such ecological services as stream-cleaning, control of pests and diseases and increased productivity in fisheries.

The latest study, published in the journal Nature, shows how this works, demonstrating that streams that contain more species have better water quality than streams that have fewer.

The species being discussed are microorganisms such as algae that incorporate elements of pollution into their bodies. The more types of algae there are in a stream, each with a minutely different habitat, the better they are collectively at filtering pollution out of the water.

"If we were to maintain streams in their naturally diverse state, these streams that we love for their recreation, for their beauty, for fishing, etc. ... have the tangential benefit of cleaning up our water for us," said Bradley Cardinale, the study's author.

"One implication (of the study) is, if we let nature do its thing, we don't have to run around creating very expensive water treatment plants all over the planet," Cardinale, of the University of Michigan, said by telephone.

MINI-STREAMS AND HUNGRY ALGAE

To reach his conclusions, Cardinale set up 150 miniature model streams that mimic the varied conditions of natural streams in the United States. He added from one to eight varieties of algae and measured how well the mini-streams got cleaned.

The pollutant they targeted was a nitrogen compound called nitrate, a common by-product of chemical fertilizers that Cardinale called "the world's single greatest water quality problem."

Nitrate is responsible for the hypoxic "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, outbreaks of toxic algae and red tides, he said.

The full eight-species mix of algae removed nitrate from streams 4.5 times faster, on average, than a single species alone, according to the study, which was funded by the National Science Foundation.

One species known as filamentous snotty algae does a good job on its own of taking in nitrate and other excess nutrients from stream water. But it smells bad and most other species don't like to eat it, Cardinale said.

Knowing the benefits of biodiversity is important because scientists see Earth entering a period of mass extinction when as much as 75 percent or more of the life on the planet vanishes forever.

Cardinale said there is little doubt that this trend, largely due to the destruction of places where many different species live, has already begun.

"It's not necessarily how much we've lost already," he said. "It's that the rate of extinction is so outrageously high compared to what we know is normal."

The rates of extinction now are between 100 to 1,000 times faster than normal, and between 30 percent and 50 percent of species could be lost by 2100, Cardinale said.

(Editing by Xavier Briand)

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KFC to stop using palm oil

Martin Hickman, The Independent 7 Apr 11;

The company says it is removing the vegetable oil from deep fat friers to gain a "double benefit" by reducing climate change and heart disease.

Used widely as a cooking oil, palm oil employs hundreds of thousands of people in developing countries but has a poor health and environmental record. Forests in Indonesia and Malaysia have been cut down to make way for plantations and the oil is high in artery-clogging saturated fat.

From this month KFC will use high oleic rapeseed oil at its 800 outlets in UK and Ireland, at an estimated cost of £1m a year.

The move will cut levels of saturated fat in its chicken by 25 per cent, according to the company.

Mark Bristow, head of KFC food assurance said: "Switching to high oleic rapeseed oil means not only can we offer our customers the benefit of reduced saturated fats, but the assurance we're doing everything we can to lessen our impact on the environment."

KFC added: "The global expansion of the palm oil industry has been a contributor to the destruction of tropical rainforests and peat lands to make way for palm oil plantations, which has inadvertently caused large amounts of greenhouse gases being pushed into the atmosphere."

KFC will still use palm oil in fries, buns, tortillas and hash browns, but said it had begun talks with suppliers aimed at getting them to switch to alternatives or source only sustainably-certified palm oil.

Since the The Independent disclosed palm oil's role in deforestation two years ago, many retailers and manufacturers have agreed to buy supplies certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.

Campaigners want the European Union to force food firms to list palm oil as an ingredient because it is often listed as ‘vegetable oil' on packs.

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Climate 'technical fix' may yield warming, not cooling

Richard Black BBC News 6 Apr 11;

Whitening clouds by spraying them with seawater, proposed as a "technical fix" for climate change, could do more harm than good, according to research.

Whiter clouds reflect more solar energy back into space, cooling the Earth.

But a study presented at the European Geosciences Union meeting found that using water droplets of the wrong size would lead to warming, not cooling.

One of the theory's scientific fathers said it should be possible to make sure droplets were the correct size.

Cloud whitening was originally proposed back in 1990 by John Latham, now of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, US.

It has since been developed by a number of other researchers including University of Edinburgh wave energy pioneer Stephen Salter, joining a number of other "geoengineering" techniques that would attempt either to reduce solar radiation reaching earth or absorb carbon dioxide from the air.

One version envisages specially designed ships, powered by wind, operating in areas of the ocean where reflective stratocumulus clouds are scarce.

The ships would continually spray fine jets of seawater droplets into the sky, where tiny salt crystals would act as nuclei around which water vapour would condense, producing clouds or thickening them where they already exist.

It has not yet been trialled in practice, although proponents say it ought to be.
Drop kick

But Kari Alterskjaer from the University of Oslo in Norway came to the European Geosciences Union (EGU) meeting in Vienna with a cautionary tale.

Her study, using observations of clouds and a computer model of the global climate, confirmed earlier findings that if cloud whitening were to be done, the best areas would be just to the west of North and South America, and to the west of Africa.

But it concluded that about 70 times more salt would have to be carried aloft than proponents have calculated.

And using droplets of the wrong size, she found, could reduce cloud cover rather than enhancing it - leading to a net warming, not the desired cooling.

"If the particles are too small, they will not brighten the clouds - instead they will influence particles that are already there, and there will be competition between them," she told BBC News.

"Obviously the particle size is of crucial importance, not only for whether you get a positive or negative effect, but also whether particles can actually reach the clouds - if they're too large, they just fall to the sea."

The possibility of this technique having a warming impact has been foreseen by cloud-whitening's developers.

In a 2002 scientific paper, Dr Latham wrote: "... the overall result could be a reduction in cloud droplet concentration, with concomitant reductions in albedo and cloud longevity, ie a warming effect".

But, he argued, this possibility could be eliminated by careful design of the spray system.

Contacted after the presentation in Vienna, Professor Salter took the same line.

"I agree that the drop size has to be correct and that the correct value may vary according to local conditions," he said.

"However, I am confident that we can control drop size by adjusting the frequency of an ultrasonic pressure wave which ejects drop from micro-nozzles etched in silicon.

"We can test this at very small scale in the lab."

Professor Salter is working with engineers in Edinburgh to produce extremely fine yet robust nozzles from semiconductor sheets.
Small cuts

In an era when many climate scientists are frustrated by slow progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, cloud whitening has sometimes been held up as an example of a technology that could make a real difference, at least to "buy time".

It has been calculated that a fairly modest increase in the reflectivity of these marine clouds could balance the warming from a doubling of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - although even proponents admit it would do nothing to combat the other major consequence of carbon emissions, ocean acidification.

One scientist at Ms Alterskjaer's presentation, having heard her outline why it might not work, commented that it was the most depressing thing he had heard in a long time.

And Piers Forster from the UK's University of Leeds, who is leading a major UK project on geoengineering techniques, suggested more research would be needed before cloud whitening could be considered for "prime time" use.

"The trouble is that clouds are very complicated; as soon as you start manipulating them in one way, there are a lot of different interactions," he said.

"We need real-world data and we need modelling that tries to simulate clouds on more appropriate scales, and that means less than 100m or so, because if you look at a deck of stratocumulus it's not one big thing, it has pockets and cells and other features.

"Far more uncertain is the idea that you'd inject a particular drop size, because it won't stay that size for long - it will spread out, and that would be uncertain."

Professor Salter, too, believes more research needs to be done, including building a prototype injector ship and studying how it works in practice.

Interviewed by the BBC late last year, he said that such research was urgently needed because there was little sign of real cuts being made in the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

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