A Plague on Java’s Paddies

Godeliva D. Sari & Maratus Sholihah Jakarta Globe 24 Apr 11;

The hairy yellow and green caterpillars that have swarmed parts of the archipelago have appeared, like mini-celebrities, in the news in papers, on TV and online for weeks.

But the cretins that are eating farmers’ crops and making schoolchildren itch are the least of Javanese rice farmers’ problems — they have bigger bugs to kill.

This season’s rice harvests have failed dramatically, thanks to the wereng — a rice hopper — and packs of rats. Driving through the district of Ngawi in East Java, wide expanses of weeds and withering rice plants have replaced the vibrant green paddy fields that characterize Java.

Taya, a 65-year-old rice farmer, owns around one hectare of rice paddies. For each harvest over several days, he brings in five to seven tons of dried, unhusked rice. This harvest easily fills the large concrete front of Taya’s old Javanese house.

This season, however, the rice hoppers have gotten to the crops first, and Taya has gleaned only 200 kilograms.

“My heart sinks when I think about my losses,” he said. “My family and I worked so hard in our fields, starting every day after morning prayer, before sunrise. My rice plants were so healthy. We were expecting a big harvest.”

“Then the rice hoppers came and within days my rice plants began to shrivel and dry. My son, who lives in another village, told me that his neighbor hanged himself because he could not bear to live with his losses.”

Joko Siswanto, head of Cepoko village in the Ngrambe subdistrict of Ngawi, said rice hoppers and rats had attacked at least 50 percent of the rice fields in Cepoko. At least 70 percent of the village’s 1,200 residents depend on the rice fields for their livelihood, according to Joko.

“Out of the 474 hectares of rice fields here, at least 250 hectares have failed to yield a harvest,” he said. “The farmers have suffered a loss of around Rp 6 million [$600] for each hectare.”

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Agriculture announced it had allocated Rp 2 trillion to compensate farmers for their losses.

“From the data that we have, there are only around 100,000 hectares of failed harvest, so for that we only need Rp 388 billion,” Agriculture Minister Suswono said.

He said that this equated to a modest Rp 2.6 million for every hectare of failed rice harvest, to be given in the form of seeds, fertilizer and money.

But in Ngawi, no one seems to have heard about government aid, and promises of help from Jakarta mean little to farmers who have to hurry to make the most of the rainy season.

“Last year we had a mild failure and there was some assistance from the government in the form of seeds, fertilizer and chemical pesticides,” Joko said.

“I distributed that government aid to the farmers associations here but there was not enough to go around. For this year’s failed harvest, which is much worse, I have not heard of any plan from the government to give aid to the farmers in my village.”

Suswono explained that the aid would only be given after the failed harvests were officially reported and that the government would monitor the distribution of the aid to the subdistricts.

Mondit, who oversees agriculture in Sekaralas village, said he had reported to the district agriculture office in Ngawi.

“I was told that the aid available was only for 12 hectares in every village,” Mondit said.

Almost 400 of the 450 hectares of rice fields in the village have experienced a complete failure, Mondit said, with an additional 10 hectares suffering a 50 percent failure.

“I told the official that if the aid for my village was only for 12 hectares, I would not be able to distribute it. People would beat me up because they would think that I had stolen the aid money,” he said.

Landowners are not the only ones who lose out economically on a bad harvest. Laborers and their families who depend on a good harvest are also now tight for cash.

Samingan, 56, a laborer in Gedoro village, earns a living working across seven fields, mostly during harvest time. Samingan gets paid with 10 percent of the harvest.

“In a normal harvest season I get between 40 and 50 kilograms of rice for every field,” he said. “So just helping around my own village I get around 300 to 400 kilograms of unhusked rice, which is plenty to feed my family until the next harvest, with some left to sell for cash too.”

Samingan is not so worried about the harvest failure, saying he can get a job outside his village if necessary.

His wife, Mutikanah, also a laborer, however, is not so optimistic. “When we have a failed harvest, we go into debt,” she said. “We borrow money from left and right, to pay school fees and also to pay other debts.

“We dig a hole to cover another hole, and we end up digging deeper and deeper. A failed harvest turns our lives upside down.”

Suyono, an 86-year-old retired farmer in Sekaralas, once worked for the government’s agriculture ministry and suggested certain measures to prevent the pests from returning next season.

“The government, at least at the district level, should facilitate the planting of an alternative crop, such as maize, soybean or sesame, for one or two seasons,” he said.

“This would sever the life cycle of the rice hopper so that when the farmers begin to plant rice again, their fields will be safe from that particular pest.

“In the meantime, the government should also develop strains of rice that are immune to the rice hopper.”

However, from the farmers’ point of view, the government is not taking the urgent action necessary to save their crops. Some farmers have left their fields barren to try their luck in Jakarta.

Others have decided to plant other crops, like chilies.

But in the absence of strategic assistance, what more can farmers do to fight these pests?

Joko, the head of Cepoko village, gave a wry chuckle: “We pray to God that the rice hoppers will stay away.”

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Deforestation concerns in the Burma delta

Nay Thwin Democractic Voice of Burma 25 Apr 11;

Locals in the Irrawaddy Delta’s Bogalay township have expressed concerns about the environment and their livelihoods due to an alleged increase in deforestation in the region.

Retired school teacher Hla Myint, 70, and resident of Bogalay said the growing population in the region had led to a significant deforestation of large trees, leaving locals to cut down smaller palm-type trees for firewood which he said was “not a good sign.”

“[Bogalay] township once flourished with trees but now most forests have turned into farmlands,” said Hla Myint.

“I don’t want to point a finger at this or that person but we are likely to face a serious shortage of firewood – there are so many people cutting down all kinds of trees for firewood including mangrove trees that inhabit the shore areas,” he told DVB.

“Now mangrove is also becoming rare so people are turning to coconut and Areca palm trees. This is not a good sign and is in fact a very dire [situation].”

Hla Myint said the deforestation is triggered by a growing need for firewood, expansion of farmlands due to increased population and rapacious use of timber in the fishing industry.

A local resident, under condition of anonymity claimed the government’s Forestry Department was also contributing to the deforestation by selling permits to cut down trees.

“Now there is no more forest on Mainmahla Island – all trees were cut down for foreign export. Locals have to pay money to the forestry department to cut down trees; from 3000 up to tens of thousands Kyat depending on size of the boat [carrying the load],” said the local.

The government had similarly been accused of profitting from the illegal timber trade from northern forests, whilst rebel armies are also said to fund their war efforts through relentless logging of their remaining jungles.

“There are no more trees decent enough to make firewood so they are turning to palm trees now. If we continue like this, we will run out of trees in the next five years”, said the Bogolay local.

Deforestation of the delta’s mangroves was blamed by some as an exacerbating factor for the scale of damage caused by 2008′s devastating cyclone Nargis.

Bogalay, like many other parts in Burma relies on wood as the main source of energy despite being near to Burma’s lare reserves of natural gas. The area is well-known for being a large distributor of charcoal to across the country.

Burma’s agricultural sector has been accused of being inefficient with its use of land, using more land to meet growing demand instead of intensifying inputs to already used land to increase yields.

Low levels of electrification and poverty mean that roughly 2/3rds of Burma’s population still rely on wood as their main source of energy, according to the NGO Altsean, such a reliance contributes to the rapid rate of deforestation in the country.

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Migrating Sea Turtles Pick Up More Pollution

Nicholas Bakalar The New York Times 25 Apr 11;

One of the many threats loggerhead sea turtles face is man-made pollution, but the extent of the risk is a question. To begin to look for the answer scientists have measured contaminants in the blood of a group of adult male turtles and tracked their migration along the Atlantic Coast.

The group, led by Jared M. Ragland, a graduate student at the College of Charleston, in Charleston, S.C., captured 19 loggerheads near Cape Canaveral, Fla., in 2006 and 2007. Group members measured and weighed the turtles, took blood samples, and examined their reproductive systems with testicular biopsies. Then they fitted them with satellite transmitters and released them. Over two months, 10 of the animals traveled north as far as Cape May, N.J., while nine remained near Cape Canaveral.

The study, published in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, found that the animals had measurable blood levels of 67 different chemicals used in pesticides and other industrial products. The loggerheads that migrated had higher levels than those that stayed near Florida, confirming prior research that found more pollutants in turtles in northern latitudes.

It is possible that the fish and invertebrates that turtles feed on in northern waters are more polluted, but the scientists point out that turtles that migrate eat more, and therefore consume more pollutants. Migrating turtles were on average larger than the permanent residents.

The animals seemed healthy, researchers said, but what constitutes good health in an adult male loggerhead is not clear. “These were reproductively active animals,” said Jennifer M. Keller, a co-author of the study and a biologist with the National Institute of Standards and Technology. “But the males have higher blood levels of contaminants than the juveniles, and that adds to our concern.”

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Chilean scallop farms devastated by tsunami

Paulina Abramovich Yahoo News 25 Apr 11;

TONGOY, Chile (AFP) – Thousands of miles from the shores of Japan across the Pacific Ocean, Chilean shellfish farmers are facing an uncertain future after a giant wave traveled the seas and washed away their scallop beds.

"I don't think I can carry on. Too much has been lost. I had all the scallops I could wish for, and now, look," said fisherman Patricio, shaking his head in despair.

Tongoy, some 450 kilometers (290 miles) north of the capital Santiago, stands on part of the scenic Chilean coast which was put on alert on March 11 after a catastrophic earthquake in Japan triggered a massive tsunami.

The huge wave devastated entire towns in northeast Japan and left more than 27,000 people dead or missing. Nearly 131,000 people are still living in emergency shelters while many others are staying with relatives and friends.

In Chile, the alert was lifted after just 24 hours. Only a few relatively weak waves had come ashore and authorities confidently proclaimed that there had been no victims and no damage.

But despite its 17,000-kilometer (10,500-mile) journey from Japan, the strength of the wave remained very real here, packing enough force to toss aside blocks of concrete weighing nearly a tonne.

It was under these blocks that the Tongoy fishermen hung their nets holding the scallops in their fan-shaped shells until the shellfish reach maturity, a lengthy, time-consuming two-year process.

"Never did I imagine that this would cause so much damage," said Tongoy shellfish farmer Eduardo Briones. "We thought the wave would die out before reaching us, or that it would be a small wave."

"But it was an underwater current that tumbled everything, leaving it all upside down," he added, describing the tangled nets and shellfish which had been ready to harvest, now sitting at the bottom of the bay.

Local authorities have not yet estimated the value of the loss of the Tongoy shellfish, but the local press has put the figure at $6 million, and fishermen say between 50 and 100 percent of their total production was destroyed.

It's a devastating blow to this small village of Tongoy Bay which has been the center for scallop farming in Chile since the 1980s.

The rise of the scallop farms marked a turning point in the fortunes for the 5,000 inhabitants as local fishermen began to raise mollusks to meet growing world demand. Local fishing traditions, more risky and dangerous, fell into decline.

In 2006, one kilo (2.2 pounds) of scallops fetched as much as $15. But the price has dropped to $8.30 in recent years, pushed down by competition from neighboring Peru to the north, the principal supplier to hungry European markets.

The price of Peruvian scallops is kept low thanks to a cheaper labor force and better sea conditions for raising the shellfish, said Franklin Munoz, from the Sacmar shellfish company.

Two of his competitors were forced to close last year, with the loss of some 700 jobs. Now only five shellfish factories remain, compared with 11 during the height of the boom, supported in part by strong Chilean demand.

"But we can't continue," said Briones. Like his fellow fishermen, he sees no other alternative but to return to Tongoy's more traditional fishing customs -- taking their boats out to sea each day.

It may well be that a force of nature which swelled on the other side of the unpredictable ocean has sounded the death knell for the once lucrative scallop industry here.

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Tsunami Quickens ‘Terminal Decline’ of Northern Japan’s Fishing Industry

Stuart Biggs, Kanoko Matsuyama and Frederik Balfour Bloomberg 25 Apr 11;

The wreckage of a 379-metric ton tuna boat blocks the road to the deserted fish market in Kesennuma, once Japan’s largest port for bonito and swordfish. Even after the debris from last month’s tsunami has been cleared away, the industry may never recover.

“Thirty years ago we used to think Japan was the number one fishing country in the world, with the best catching and processing methods, but that’s really no longer the case,” Ryosuke Sato, chairman of the Kesennuma Fisheries Cooperative Association, said in an interview in the town, 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Tokyo. “We’ve been in terminal decline.”

Traffic at the port had dropped by 90 percent over the last 20 years as seafood imports rose, even before the country’s northeastern coast was devastated on March 11. Destruction of boats, harbors and processing plants, coupled with fears of radioactive contamination in marine life, threatens to hasten Japan’s turn to overseas for its most important food staple after rice.

Japanese eat more fish per capita than any other developed country, consuming 56.7 kilograms (128 pounds) annually, compared with a global average of 17.1 kilograms, according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Fish accounts for 23 percent of protein in the daily Japanese diet, compared with four percent in the U.S.
Fish Broth

Consumption begins with breakfast in Japan, an archipelago of nearly 7,000 islands, where a traditional morning meal consists of rice and grilled fish. In addition to sushi, staples including miso soup also contain fish broth. To feed the habit, Japan is the world’s largest importer of fish, buying $14.4 billion worth in 2008, according to data from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization.

“We’re the biggest fish lovers among the major industrial nations and the number one consumer,” said Masayuki Komatsu, a professor at Tokyo’s National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies specializing in ocean and marine resources. “It’s like water and air to us.”

Auctions at Tokyo’s Tsukiji, the world’s largest fish market that stretches over an area the size of 43 football fields, influences prices all over the world, according to Sasha Issenberg, author of ‘The Sushi Economy.’

“It’s like a combination of Wall Street and Sotheby’s in the art market and a commodities trading floor,” he said.
Five Years

Last month’s earthquake and tsunami, which left almost 28,000 dead or missing, disproportionately affected Japan’s northeastern fishing ports and towns. In Iwate prefecture, the tsunami caused about 106.6 billion yen ($1.3 billion) of damage to the fishing industry, according to data from the government. That’s about ten times the combined total for the prefecture’s agriculture and forestry industries.

Fishermen in Kesennuma, which has a population of 73,000, expect it to take as long as five years to rebuild the port and market, central to a fishing industry that provides 85 percent of the town’s jobs.

The city government says 837 townspeople died and 1,196 were listed as missing as of April 22. A further 5,838 people, or 7.8 percent of the population, are in evacuation centers. In addition to the destruction of maintenance and refueling facilities, about 40 fishing vessels were lost, the cooperative’s Sato said.
‘Not Alone’

“There’s so much damage, this is a crisis for the town and the fishing industry,” said the 69-year old Sato, whose Kanedai Co. fish company has sales of 9.4 billion yen in Japan and China, with 230 employees. A poster on the wall signed by wholesalers and customers reads: “You’re not alone, everyone is with you. Thank you always for the delicious fish.”

South Kesennuma, where most of the fish processing plants were located, was the first area to be hit by the tsunami after it passed the island of Oshima that creates the entrance to Kesennuma’s harbor about two kilometers off shore. In the harbor, trawlers and a refueling tank were slammed together, spewing fuel. Fire spread across the fuel-water mix, creating an inferno.

The 50-meter-long Myojin Maru No.3, licensed to catch yellowfin and albacore tuna in the Indian Ocean, is one of at least 10 giant vessels dumped around the town. It towers over gutted two-storey buildings owned by fishing companies about 500 meters from the fish market.

“Companies may have the money to rebuild but people are saying they don’t want to come back,” Yaeko Komatsu, 53, said as she gazed at the rubble of her seafood company employer she didn’t identify. “They say it’s dangerous.”
Planned Reopening

The fish market is planning to partially re-open in June to provide a sales floor for the expected arrival of bonito boats. Longer-term plans depend on the amount of central government assistance, the cooperative’s Sato said.

Reconstruction needs to happen fast to prevent workers from leaving the town for good, Itsunori Onodera, a Diet Member representing Kesennuma, said in an interview at the city hall.

Like many ports in Japan, Kesennuma developed a reputation for handling specific kinds of fish. Ships from all over Japan came to the town to sell saury, sharks and tuna. By adding maintenance and refueling facilities, Kesennuma became one of Japan’s 10 largest fishing ports, Sato said.

The importance of fishing and towns like Kesennuma in Japanese culture belies the fishing industry’s declining status in the economy. Fishing contributes about 0.2 percent of Japan’s GDP, and the number of fishermen has dropped to about 200,000 from about a million after World War II, according to the National Graduate Institute’s Komatsu, also a former official at Japan’s Fisheries Agency.
Indonesian Workers

For fishermen like Tokio Takatsuka, who returned to Shiogama Port, 315 kilometers north of Tokyo and 80 kilometers south of Kesennuma, earlier this month to sell yellowfin tuna from the Pacific, that means hiring more crew members from the Philippines and Indonesia to make up for the shortage of Japanese applicants. They come as part of a government plan to ease labor shortages, and signs at the port are now written in Bahasa as well as Japanese.

“My generation never considered doing anything besides fishing,” Takatsuka, 62, said in an interview last week next to his boat. “It’s different for young people now.”

Even as the government hurries to rebuild facilities, fishermen and consumers are worried about radiation from Tokyo Electric Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant, Akira Sato, mayor of Shiogama, said in an interview after the town’s first fresh tuna auction since the March 11 earthquake. The fisherman Takatsuka sailed more than 60 kilometers wide of the plant on the way to the port, rather than hugging the coast, in order to reassure buyers.

About 520,000 liters of water with a level of radioactivity that was 20,000 times the legal limit leaked into the ocean between April 1 and 6, Junichi Matsumoto , a Tepco general manager, said last week.
‘People Are Spooked’

“It puts a cloud over the entire fishing industry and Japan’s food culture is suffering as a result,” Jeff Kingston, director of the Department of Asian Studies at Temple University’s Japan campus said. “People are spooked.”

The level of radioactivity in water leaked from the No. 2 reactor of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant was 20,000 times the regulatory limit, Tepco said on April 21. A total of 520 tons of contaminated water leaked between April 1 and April 6, said Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at the utility.

At Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market, sales of fresh fish fell to an average 583 metric tons per day in the week ended March 17, down 28 percent from a year earlier. The following week they dropped by 44 percent.

“If this continues for two or three years we don’t know what will happen to our bodies from consuming contaminated fish,” Yasuo Kawada, a 59-year-old manufacturing employee said in an interview. “I do worry.”
Fish Bans

Radiation from fish and lobsters near the U.K.’s biggest nuclear polluter suggest radioactive material dumped into the sea from Tepco’s Fukushima power plant isn’t a long-term health threat, according to Richard Wakeford, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Manchester’s Dalton Nuclear Institute.

The Sellafield nuclear-processing plant in northwest England has discharged at least 320,000 times more radioactive material into the Irish Sea since 1952 than what Tepco released from Fukushima this month, according to Bloomberg calculations based on data from both sites. Still, average radiation doses by seafood-consumers near Sellafield over 15 years have been half the recommended limit, studies show.

That hasn’t stopped China, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong from banning fish imports from parts of Japan. The countries accounted for about 70 percent of Japan’s fish exports in 2009, according to Japan External Trade Organization figures.

“Radiation is a grim reaper, you can’t see it and you can’t smell it,” said Ken Banwell who has worked as a fish importer in Tokyo for 22 years. “I would say it would have a profound effect on sales from those areas.”

Still, overall sales at Tsukiji recovered to pre-quake levels last week, indicating Japanese consumers are returning to fish. Prime Minister Naoto Kan proposed a 4-trillion yen ($49 billion) extra budget that is likely to be the first of several packages to rebuild areas devastated by last month’s record earthquake and tsunami, which will include assistance for the industry, the government said in an April 22 statement.

“It’ll take three years, at most five years to rebuild the fish market,” said Sato, in his ninth year as head of the Kesennuma Fisheries Association. “In the meantime we need to know how we can continue to live here today, tomorrow, without jobs at plants which don’t exist anymore.”

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U.S. coasts losing battle with climate?

UPI 25 Apr 11;

MANTEO, N.C., April 25 (UPI) -- Conservationists are making slow gains in the race against erosion in environments along the U.S. coast but it's an uphill battle, organizers say.

Sea level is rising more than 1/8 of an inch a year and isn't expected to slow anytime soon as global temperature increases mean result in glacial melt in polar regions.

Conservationists in North Carolina are working to protect sensitive coastal ecosystems. Scientists are trying to determine whether planting cedar trees could create a forest near coastal wetlands. This, they tell National Public Radio, could help restore vulnerable habitats for wolf, bears and others that rely on coastal areas.

The planting campaign, and similar efforts to create barrier reefs, could slow coastal erosion but not quicker than waves take their toll.

Brian Boutin, a scientist from the Nature Conservancy, told the broadcaster that global climate change was creating long-term problems not easily remedied.

"We expect change from sea level rise as a consequence of the warming and the melting of ice," he said. "And as that sea level rises, we expect to lose land."

Energy funds target coastal protection
UPI 25 Apr 11;

NEW ORLEANS, April 25 (UPI) -- More than $25 million in federal money would help protect the shoreline of Louisiana from erosion, the U.S. interior secretary announced.

The Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement announced more than $25 million from the Coastal Impact Assistance Program was going to help protect Louisiana's coast.

The funding targets the construction of a land bridge that will protect the coast from erosion and preserve area marshlands. CIAP funds were created under a 2005 energy act to conserve and protect coastal environments in states along the U.S. outer continental shelf.

"This is an example of how energy revenues can be wisely reinvested in the protection of marshes, shorelines and wildlife habitat," said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar in a statement. "Louisiana's wetlands are a national treasure that have been steadily disappearing and we must continue to do all we can to protect and restore them."

A so-called marine mattress system is built from rock-filled containers that protect the area against wave erosion. The interior department said it should also help with the restoration of a marshland along the eastern border with Mississippi.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2011/04/25/Energy-funds-target-coastal-protection/UPI-15611303736578/#ixzz1Ka3alCTc

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Best of our wild blogs: 25 Apr 11

Latest Green Jobs in Singapore [18 - 24 Apr 2011]
from Green Business Times

Signs of dugong at Chek Jawa?
from wild shores of singapore

Another Starry & Sluggish Trip
from colourful clouds

Chek Jawa (24 Apr 2011)
from teamseagrass

Red-Nosed Cicada and Glochidion brunneum
from Flying Fish Friends

Cicada
from Monday Morgue

The Green Corridor: Wildlife, Alive and Dead, along the Tracks
from Wanderfolly and Jurong Line: Wildlife and Old Times in the Forest

Maiden Trip To Semakau
from The Gal – Nicole

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Three ways to help turn every day into Earth Day

Danielle Nierenberg & Mara Schechter for the Straits Times 25 Apr 11;

ON APRIL 22, thousands of people around the world participated in events to celebrate Earth Day, demonstrating their commitment to protect the environment. In Singapore, people planted trees as part of the Million Trees Project. Changes in our everyday activities, including reducing pesticide use in our gardens or committing to eat more locally sourced foods, can make a big difference.

Although agriculture is often blamed for water scarcity and rising greenhouse gas emissions, farming is also emerging as a solution to global problems. Sustainable farming practices can help mitigate climate change, improve soil fertility and preserve biodiversity.

Through our research for Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing The Planet project (www.NourishingthePlanet.org), we travelled to 25 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting innovations that offer effective models that can be scaled up and replicated beyond Africa.

We offer three recommendations that showcase agriculture's untapped potential to address some of our most urgent environmental challenges.

Reducing food waste

In 2008, Singaporeans threw away 0.6 million tons of food waste, only 12 per cent of which was recycled. Large quantities of food rotting in landfills emit methane, a greenhouse gas that is more potent than carbon dioxide.

In Singapore, local organisations help redistribute waste to keep it out of landfills. Waste Is Not Waste connects businesses getting rid of unwanted items with organisations that can use those materials. Food For All has a food rations matching service to connect food suppliers and community food programmes. Food From The Heart distributes unsold bread from hotels and bakeries to hungry people and welfare organisations, serving over 11,000 people a month.

In developing countries, 15 per cent to 20 per cent of food is lost each year, decreasing farmers' incomes and increasing malnutrition. But regionally appropriate storage and preservation techniques are helping farmers protect their harvests. In West Africa, farmers have saved around 100,000 fruits by using solar dryers to dry mangoes, papaya and other fruit.

Increasing local food biodiversity

The shift from local and indigenous foods to monoculture crops, including maize, wheat, soya beans and rice reduces biodiversity, threatens local economies and undermines the community's cultural identity.

For countries that import most of their food, like Singapore, a lack of food production for local consumption can mean vulnerability to foreign markets and speculation. But in many places, local and diverse food is gaining ground and beginning to thrive. In Senegal, for example, women farmers are switching back to traditional varieties of fruit, including karkade, pain de singe, tamarindo and ditakh that they process into value-added products, such as juices and jam.

Using agriculture to cope with climate change and build resilience

As climate change takes hold, erratic temperatures, shifting growing seasons, and frequent drought will reduce soil fertility and crop yields.

Singapore will likely be impacted by climate change in many ways, including land loss, flooding, increased temperatures and reduced water resources.

But agroforestry and intercropping can help mitigate climate change, while also boosting soil quality and improving water management. By planting trees among crops, stewarding nearby forests, and keeping soils planted with crops for more of the year, African farmers can sequester 50 billion tons of carbon dioxide over the next 50 years. This is equivalent to eliminating an entire year of the world's greenhouse gas emissions - a generous contribution from a region that emits only a small share of these gases.

Urban populations are expanding at an unprecedented rate. The United Nations estimates that more than 65 per cent of the global population will live in cities by 2050. In Vancouver, New York and Nairobi, communities are turning to urban agriculture as a solution that is not only helping to boost food self-sufficiency, but also helping to raise incomes, empower women and improve urban environments.

Although it is known as the Garden City, Singapore devotes less than 3 per cent of its land to agriculture, and its farmers grow less than 10 per cent of the country's food. But there is a lot of space for food - rooftop space, for example, is about 1,000ha. Taking into account balcony spaces and some ground areas between apartments, Professor Lee Sing Kong from Nanyang Technological University estimates that Singapore could become self-sufficient in vegetable production by expanding urban farming.

Innovative methods make urban farming easier. Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority has created a high-rise farm system for spare warehouse space or any tight areas, where vegetables in soil-filled trays can be stacked up to 10 shelves high, and can be grown indoors with LED lighting. The National Parks Board's Community In Bloom programme encourages residents to start community gardening by providing land.

By focusing on agriculture to not only alleviate hunger and malnutrition, but also to achieve our environmental goals, we can make every day Earth Day.

The writers are from the Washington-based environmental group Worldwatch Institute, where the former is co-director of the Nourishing The Planet project and the latter is a research intern.

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Water sports making a huge splash

PA's 8 Water-Venture outlets are helping to boost participation rate
Daryl Chin Straits Times 25 Apr 11;

ON MOST weekends in the last four years, Lim Teck Koon, 17, has taken a two-hour ride by train and bus from his home in Jurong to a water sports club at Changi Beach.

He spends the next six hours on the water, polishing his kayaking skills. The reason he makes the long journey is that Changi's Water-Venture outlet is one of two clubs where he can sharpen his capsize drills; the other is in Sembawang.

The Institute of Technical Education student hopes to become a kayak instructor when he hits 18, 'so I can share my passion for water sports and get to know more people too'.

He is almost there. Last December, he earned his three-star kayaking certificate, which allows him to paddle a one-man kayak on most water bodies, in the company of another kayaker.

The teenager is riding the crest of a wave of new enthusiasm among ordinary folk for water sports, which used to be too expensive for the man in the street.

The promotion of water sports by the People's Association (PA) through its network of Water-Venture outlets has a lot to do with this.

It now runs eight outlets in Changi, Pasir Ris, Sembawang, East Coast, Kallang, Bedok Reservoir, Jurong Lake and Lower Seletar Reservoir, and plans to reach out to one in five residents by 2015 through such community sports.

It offers reasonably priced courses and equipment rental for activities such as dragon-boating, abseiling, kayaking, sailing and windsurfing. A kayak costs $15 to rent for two hours, and a windsurfing board, $35 for the same time period, with members paying half that rate.

With the facilities in place, the people have responded by showing up: In 2008, 5,933 people used the facilities; by last year, the figure had grown nearly sevenfold to 40,989. Eight in 10 of these participants were under 35.

Dragon-boating attracted the most participants - 46 per cent - last year, followed by kayaking at 35 per cent.

Ms Zoe Lek, 32, who has been kayaking for 14 years, credits the increased number of facilities for the new interest in water sports, and estimates that the number of kayakers has gone up by three times in the last 10 years.

Said the IT project manager: 'In the past, I had to look through a phone directory to find a kayak club. Now, it's more accessible to the community and people can head to the one nearest them.'

Veteran windsurfing trainer Cyrus Medora, 60, said affordability has also helped popularise the sport. 'When windsurfing took off here in 1979 or so, it was a trendy sport for yuppies and cost hundreds of dollars for equipment, which was a lot in those days.'

Prices at places like Water-Venture club in East Coast are now about a third of what they used to be.

A PA spokesman said that, in particular, constituencies near waterways have taken a shine to water sports.

A partnership between the PA and Kolam Ayer's grassroots groups led to the set-up of a water activity centre last year. Nearly 200 residents there have since had kayak orientation exercises.

The PA said more such tie-ups with grassroots groups are in the works.

The growing popularity of water sports has piqued the interest of other athletes, who may otherwise not get their feet wet.

Avid runner Chris Tay, 18, a student, said: 'My knees have been giving me problems recently, so I may give water sports a shot. The last time I tried windsurfing though, my contact lenses were washed away!'

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Nepal's rhino numbers 'recovering' after war

Yahoo News 24 Apr 11;

KATHMANDU (AFP) – The number of rhinos living wild in Nepal has risen above 500 for the first time since a civil war that led to rampant poaching of the endangered animals, the government said Sunday.

It said wildlife experts who have spent the past month conducting an exhaustive survey had counted 534 rhinos in Nepal's southern jungles -- 99 more than when the last such study was carried out in 2008.

The new figures show the one-horned rhino population is recovering after a dramatic plunge in numbers during the 1996-2006 civil war, when soldiers deployed to prevent poaching left to fight a guerrilla insurgency.

Maheshwor Dhakal, ecologist with the government's national parks department, told AFP the rhino population's recovery was down to improvements in law enforcement and in local awareness of the importance of conservation.

"The government is encouraged by this positive result, although challenges remain in curbing poaching and protecting rhino habitat," he added.

Thousands of one-horned rhinos once roamed the plains of Nepal and northern India, but their numbers plunged over the past century due to poaching and human encroachment of their habitat.

The animals are poached for their horns, which are prized for their reputed medicinal qualities in China and southeast Asia.

A single horn can sell for tens of thousands of dollars on the international black market, and impoverished Nepal's porous borders, weak law enforcement and proximity to China have made the country a hub for the illegal trade.

Nepal rhino census shows increase
WWF 24 Apr 11;

Chitwan, Nepal – Data from the three-week National Rhino Census in Nepal shows that the population of the greater one horned rhinoceros (Rhinoceros Unicornis) has increased.

There are 534 rhinos in Nepal, marking an increase of 99 rhinos from the 435 recorded in the last census in 2008, according to the census results, which were released Saturday.

Of that total, 503 rhinos were recorded in Chitwan National Park (an increase of 95 from 2008 data), 24 in Bardia National Park (an increase of 2 from 2008 data) and 7 in Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve (an increase of 2 from 2008 data). These numbers reflect the success of conservation efforts for this species and are a result of improved rhino protection measures and management of habitat.

Working together

The rhino counting was conducted simultaneously in Chitwan National Park, Bardia National Park and Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve of Nepal’s Terai Arc Landscape, and was a combined effort of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation of the Government of Nepal, WWF Nepal and the National Trust for Nature Conservation. WWF provided technical as well as financial support for the National Rhino Census.

This is a fine example of working together where all conservation partners and local communities are contributing to the conservation efforts of the Government of Nepal, says Krishna Prasad Acharya, Director General of Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation. Support received from WWF Nepal is appreciated and we are hopeful that this support will continue in the coming years with more vigor, Mr, Acharya added.

The positive result of the National Rhino census 2011 is an indication of the successful conservation efforts of the Government of Nepal in partnership with conservation partners. WWF Nepal is very pleased to see our investment being paid off, says Mr. Anil Manandhar, Country Representative of WWF Nepal. Even though the current census shows the rise in rhino number we cannot be complacent and therefore continuous efforts from all sectors is essential to protect endangered species like Rhino and their habitat.

"We are much encouraged that increased WWF support to the anti-poaching efforts of Government of Nepal has actually resulted in an increase in the Rhino population within three years," says Dr. Christy Williams, WWF’s Asian Rhino and Elephant Action Strategy coordinator.

"WWF Nepal acknowledges with gratitude the support received from the WWF US, WWF UK, WWF Finland, WWF Netherlands, WWF International, US Fish and Wildlife Service, National Trust for Nature Conservation and all other contributors, particularly local communities and private sector for this conservation endeavor," says Dr. Ghana S Gurung, Conservation Program Director, WWF Nepal. Based on this encouraging result now we need to come up with strategies to build a thriving population in the Terai Arc Landscape, Dr. Gurung added.

The threats

Today, rhinos mainly are threatened by habitat loss and poaching, and worldwide few them survive outside of national parks and reserves.

The greatest threat to rhinos is the demand for rhino horn, used in traditional Asian medicine to treat a variety of ailments.

Although international trade in rhino horn is banned under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora) and although some traditional medical practitioners are using alternatives to rhino horn, the demand for horn remains high.

Habitat loss is a concern too, especially in south-east Asia and India, as human populations rise and forests are degraded or destroyed.

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Monk parakeets in UK to be culled over dangers to electricity and native species

Population of wild birds, also known as quaker parakeets, deprive economy of £1.7bn a year, says Defra
Owen Bowcott guardian.co.uk 24 Apr 11;

Monk parakeets, which have established colonies in the home counties, are to be culled because they are alleged to pose a danger to crops, the electricity grid and native species.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is launching an eradication programme targeting the south American birds that first began breeding in the wild near Borehamwood, Hertfordshire in the mid-1990s.

Also known as the quaker parakeet, its raucous screech normally echoes through the subtropical forests and grasslands of Bolivia and southern Brazil. The birds' habit of building enormous communal nests does, however, cause problems.

In the United States, escaped birds have settled on electricity substations and power lines, causing blackouts when nests become sodden with rain. In some states – including California, Georgia and New Jersey – ownership, let alone release, of the species is banned.

The UK population is thought to number only 100-150 birds. With its green back, pale grey chest, pale orange beak and blue wing feathers, the monk parakeet, which grows to around 30cm in length, is a distinctive addition to the UK's wildlife.

At least three other parakeet species have established feral breeding colonies: the most numerous is the ring-necked parakeet, now common in many London parks and suburbs. Alexandrine parakeets, originally from Asia, and blue-crowned conures, from Venezuela, have also been observed nesting in eastern England.

Two years ago, Natural England designated ring-necked and monk parakeets as pests, enabling them to be shot without a licence. At the time there was an outcry of racism towards non-native species; the London Wildlife Trust said the ring-necked variety was "as British as curry".

Defra has now initiated an extermination programme against monks as a preventative measure. "Control work is being carried out as part of a Defra initiative to counter the potential threat monk parakeets pose to critical national infrastructure, crops and native British wildlife," a departmental spokesman said.

"This invasive species has caused significant damage in other countries through nesting and feeding activity and we are taking action now to prevent this happening in the UK."

The spokesman added: "We want to get rid of the wild population. There will be trapping, rehoming in aviaries and we will probably have to shoot some as well. Non-native, invasive species deprive the British economy of £1.7bn every year."

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds backs Defra's cull. A spokesperson said: "These species aren't causing any major conservation problems in the UK at the moment, but they might in future."

But Andrew Tyler, the director of Animal Aid, said: "Branding other species as vermin or intruders is intolerant and selfish. The danger is overstated. We should stop the importation of these birds which are sold as commodities and endure lives of boredom in cages.

"It's not surprising they want to escape. If we are serious about coexisting with other species, we have to concede them territory."

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Major trade organization report emphasizes need to rein in fisheries subsidies

WWF 24 Apr 11;

WWF applauds the strong language in a long-awaited report that a key World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiating body released Friday, which underscores the urgent need to halt government-subsidized overfishing.

“This WTO report is a stark wake up call for anyone who cares about the future of our oceans and our fishing communities,” said WWF Senior Fellow David Schorr. “Governments have the power to stop using taxpayer money to promote fisheries depletion, so they need to act now to enact strong WTO rules to eliminate harmful fisheries subsidies.”

The report, issued by the Chair of the WTO’s Negotiating Group on Rules, Ambassador Dennis Francis of Trinidad and Tobago, calls the dramatic decline in fisheries stocks “a crisis of exceptionally serious implications for all humankind”. The report notes broad agreement that “subsidies play a major role” in contributing to the problem, and reflects “nearly universal calls” for WTO action to eliminate inappropriate fisheries subsidies in an effective way.

“The Chair’s report clearly leaves the door open to strong WTO rules on fisheries subsidies,” added Schorr. “Particularly in light of the deepening uncertainty over the conclusion of the Doha Round, the report signals the continuing urgency of the environmental mandate underlying the fisheries subsidies talks.”

WWF further praised the important role played in recent weeks by the informal WTO coalition, “Friends of Fish” governments, who have held out for serious WTO fisheries subsidies rules. With consistent leadership from New Zealand and the United States—along with Argentina, Australia, Chile, Iceland, and Norway—the Friends of Fish coalition issued a strong statement on April 1 warning that the credibility of the WTO on environmental issues is at stake.

“While a handful of other governments continue to push for weaker rules, the Friends of Fish have been true to their name in keeping sight of the real stakes for the environment and for the quality of the WTO’s global leadership on trade,” said Schorr.

“The Doha Round may be struggling, but the need for effective disciplines on fisheries subsidies remains clear,” he added. “The Chair’s report reveals how far we have come since the start of these negotiations. Most countries support strong WTO rules to end subsidies that drive overfishing, and they have agreed on a basic framework for doing so. The WTO must not retreat from this historic opportunity to show how innovative trade rules can produce important benefits for the environment, and especially for human communities whose lives depend on the health of our oceans.”

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