Extreme Steps Needed To Meet Climate Target

Gerard Wynn PlanetArk 21 Sep 11;

New research, to be published in the journal Climatic Change in November, suggests humankind may have to remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere on a vast scale if emissions keep rising after 2020.

The series of articles provide scenarios which will form the basis of the next report by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2013 and 2014.

At present emissions levels, in less than 20 years the sky would effectively be full, meaning every extra tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted would have to be removed to stay within safer climate limits, one lead author says.

That so-called "negative emissions" approach, where excess carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere, is a less radical step than direct manipulation of the climate, called geo-engineering, which includes blocking sunlight using artificial clouds or mirrors in space.

Both approaches are getting more serious consideration, reflecting concern at rising emissions and a target held by world governments to keep average warming below 2 degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial levels.

Some scientists say that the 2 degrees limit is too arbitrary and not proven to link to dangerous weather events.

It was calculated partly as a threshold beyond which Greenland ice sheets may melt irreversibly, adding seven meters to world sea levels over centuries.

"If we want to stay below 2 degrees and possibly achieve 1.5 in the 22nd century then we're not going to get around these negative emissions," said one lead author, Malte Meinshausen, of Germany's Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

"This is a crucial change in perception, that there is a point and it is very close at which time if we put CO2 into the atmosphere future generations will have to take it out again."

Sharp emissions cuts now could avoid or would delay that moment to later this century.

NEGATIVE

In its next report, the IPCC will for the first time estimate what the world must do to have a likely chance of keeping long-term warming below 2 degrees Celsius. Temperatures have already risen about 0.8 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times.

Meinshausen's study calculates that the world would have to halt rises in global greenhouse gas emissions within five years.

By 2070, humans should have a net output of minus 3.5 billion tonnes CO2 annually to reduce temperature rises further below 2 degrees in the long-term and so slow sea level rise.

Researchers say that allowing emissions to continue to rise after 2020 would involve passing 2 degrees as early as mid-century.

After that, the only way back would be CO2 removal from the atmosphere on a massive scale -- a net output of minus 18 billion tonnes of CO2 annually during the next century and for about 100 years, they calculated in the new series of studies.

That compares with actual emissions of 33 billion tonnes CO2 last year from burning fossil fuels. Emissions have risen 2-3 percent per year over the last several decades.

The view that extreme steps are needed is therefore becoming more accepted.

"If we really are going to avoid more than 2 degrees of warming, we're either looking at geo-engineering in the sense of sun shields in space, or negative emissions type of geo-engineering in the second half of this century," said Oxford University climate scientist Myles Allen.

"That's increasingly where the thinking is."

Technologies which drive negative CO2 emissions include burning plant matter called biomass and trapping the resulting carbon emissions and burying these underground.

That achieves net negative emissions because the plants themselves absorbed CO2 from the air. But the idea only exists in the lab and pilot projects.

Other techniques could include crushing limestone, which absorbs CO2, but appears improbable because of the vast quantities of rock to be quarried. Engineers have also suggested using artificial photosynthesis to mimic plants.

Instead of mopping up CO2, an alternative geo-engineering approach is to screen out sunlight, for example, by spraying sulphur into the upper atmosphere. This causes water droplets to form and create hazy clouds and is to be trialed by British engineers next month.

The problem is a threat of unforeseen consequences.

"It's not the same as just rewinding things back to where we were in terms of greenhouse gases. You're doing another change which will potentially bring the temperature back but could lead to less rainfall," said Reading University's Peter Stott.

CONCERN

Some climate scientists are alarmed by how far predictions have been borne out or exceeded since the last IPCC report.

Other experts say it isn't clear how far specific changes are the result of emissions or simply natural effects.

"There's no final decision," said the Potsdam Institute's Vladimir Petoukhov.

For example, last week it emerged that Arctic sea ice this summer melted to a record low extent, or a close second. Natural weather effects partly explained the previous record in 2007, scientists say, and may help explain this year's, said Petoukhov.

In other climate changes, a study last week found rapidly rising temperatures in the northeast Atlantic Ocean driving major shifts in fish stocks.

And scientists say they can now detect a human fingerprint on trends in global rainfall.

"What's clear is that the changes do seem to be happening and consistent with the projections," said Reading's Stott.

"That's indicating that the climate is already changing, not just the global temperatures but the rainfall patterns. Then we're getting to things that actually affect people."

(Editing by Jason Neely)

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Best of our wild blogs: 21 Sep 11

Butterfly of the Month – September 2011
from Butterflies Of Singapore

Asian Koel found dead by a highrise apartment building
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Little Brown beasts
from The annotated budak

A Guided Walk at Sungei Buloh
from Crystal and Bryan in Singapore

Friess et al (2011) – “Are all intertidal wetlands naturally created equal?”
from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS

Happy Feet @ Fort Canning Park, 25 Sep 2011
from Otterman speaks

A Day in the Life of a Sun Bear Volunteer
from Bornean Sun Bear Conservation

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Disaster coverage lacking in Asia: MAS

It suffered US$74b in total losses last year but only US$2b insured
Melissa Tan Straits Times 21 Sep 11;

ASIA is not insured enough against natural disasters despite the region suffering more catastrophes than other parts of the world, said a Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) official yesterday.

Mr Ng Nam Sin, the assistant managing director (development group), told a conference that Asia was the victim of half the world's natural disasters last year.

He noted that the region accounted for 35 per cent of the US$210 billion (S$265.4 billion) in total economic losses from natural and man-made disasters last year, or around US$73.5 billion.

But the total amount of insured losses in Asia last year was about US$2 billion.

Insured losses refer to economic losses that are covered by insurance.

Mr Ng cited the example of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March to illustrate the size of the gap between insured losses and total losses.

Total losses from the Japan disasters came to between US$200 billion and US$300 billion, but insured losses totalled US$15 billion to US$30 billion.

Asia faces extra threat from natural disasters due to the fact that several countries are located along the Pacific Rim of Fire, an earthquake-prone zone.

He noted that it is also the region with a rapidly increasing number of large cities, adding that these factors mean managing the risk of natural disasters was 'one of Asia's biggest challenges'.

Mr Ng, who was speaking at a conference on financial risk management of natural catastrophes in Asia Pacific, asked insurers to form more public-private partnerships to solve the problem of Asia's under-insurance.

He also called for more affordable protection plans especially for the poor.

'The less affluent population... is more exposed to the impact of natural catastrophes, given (their) lower financial preparedness and higher dependency on agriculture,' he said.

Mr Ng added that insurers should work to raise awareness of natural disaster risks and improve their risk modelling capabilities.

The conference at the AXA University Asia Pacific Campus was organised by insurance firm AXA and insurance broker AON.

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Malaysia: Coastal Swamp Forests, A Potential Eco-system

Wan Shahara Ahmad Ghazali Bernama 20 Sep 11;

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 20 (Bernama) -- Did you know that the coastal swamp forest in Matang (HPL Matang) has been acknowledged as the best maintained coastal swamp forest in Malaysia, if not the world?

The work on maintaining the 101,877-hectare forest started 107 years ago and it has become a role model for the management of other swamp forests in the country.

In HPL Matang, graded and systematic felling and cultivation of trees is done through a 30-year cycle, while 40,000 hectares of forest have been set aside for ecology studies.

According to the latest study on various swamp forests in Malaysia, HPL Matang has been highlighted as a land ecosystem which absorbs the highest carbon levels generated in the country. This also indicates the importance of an integrated forest management as the key to prosperous human life.

GLOBAL WARMING

Forestry Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) Director-General Datuk Dr Abdul Latif Mohmod said the swamp forest ecosystem plays an important role in mitigating the effects of global warming and climate changes.

The carbon sequestration study carried out in several swamp forests, including those in Kedah and Johor, points out that HPL Matang has the highest carbon absorption rate up to 6.0 tonnes of carbon per hectare in a year.

"This proves that the importance of swamp forests is not only as a barrier against the Tsunami but also a crucial ecosystem that can absorb carbon," he said, on the sidelines of the National Seminar On R&D Projects On Coastal Mangroves In Malaysia.

The coastal mangroves play an important role in stabilising the ecosystem along the coastal areas.

Dr. Abdul Latif added that the swamp forests are wetlands rich in biodiversity and also function as an economic resource for the production of charcoal, firewood, pulp and construction materials, apart from being the habitat for breeding of marine life.

DECLINE OF SWAMP FORESTS

"Over the past 20 years, the nation's swamp forests had reportedly experienced drastic decrease in size due unsustainable land reclamation work for development and agriculture reasons," he said, attributing the scenario to the population growth.

In Malaysia, swamp forests were increasingly coming under reclamation work for projects to breed shrimps and arowana fish. This had compromised the potential ecosystem, apart from producing more carbon emissions and jeopardising the food resources for the future.

"The study reveals that coastal swamp forests must be maintained for the sake of future generations," Dr Abdul Latif said.

He added that the study, conducted by FRIM Geoformation Programme, found that erosion had caused almost 20 per cent of the damage to costal swamp forests on the west coast of the Peninsula.

IMPORTANCE OF R&D

The seminar, attended by more than 110 researchers, academicians and represenatives from government agencies, discussed 14 working papers related to the research carried out on the coastal areas.

Dr. Abdul Latif noted that FRIM was also involved in studying the feasibility of various innovative and conventional cultivation techniques for high risk areas, apart from researching on the suitability of the soil, various tree diseases and production of saplings.

"In high risk areas, researchers and local residents planted 10,104 trees along the coast from 2007 to 2010, using the innovative technique," he said.

The locations selected for this included Kampung Sungai Haji Dorani and Pulau Carey in Selangor, Kuala Gula in Perak, Kuala Sanglang (Perlis) and Kuala Muda in Pulau Pinang.

"The study shows that planting mangrove saplings using the Comp-Mat and Comp-Pillow techniques is effective in the high risk muddy coast, provided the planting is supported by wave-breaking structures known as the geotube. Without the innovative technique and geotube support, the tree planting will not be successful, due to factors such as big waves, soft soil, erosion and others," Dr Abdul Latif said.

He noted that a survey found that 76 per cent of 578 respondents were keen on being involved in planting trees along the coast.

This shows that there is an increased awareness among the society on the importance of having coastal swamp forests as a protection against strong wind and erosion.

This is the second in the series of two features on research of coastal forests.

-- BERNAMA

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Controversial dolphin study goes ahead

China Daily 21 Sep 11;

Ocean Park is pressing ahead with controversial research into bottlenose dolphin populations in and around the Solomon Islands, but insists it will not capture wild mammals from the area.

Animal welfare groups were outraged last year when it emerged that the park had entered discussions with the Solomon Islands government about funding a dolphin population survey with a view to importing wild-caught dolphins if the population was found to be sustainable.

The park agreed to fund a $100,000 study and is said to have discussed importing around 25 bottlenose dolphins from the Solomon Islands depending on the findings.

Following an outcry over the project and the subsequent controversy over the proposed import of beluga whales from Russia, Ocean Park Chairman Allan Zeman confirmed that the park was no longer considering importing dolphins from the Solomon Islands.

However, in response to questions from the China Daily, Ocean Park's public affairs director, Una Lau, said a population study would go ahead even though she said the park had no intention to import from the Solomon Islands either now or in future.

She said: "Ocean Park is still committed to assist with the understanding about the bottlenose dolphin population, not only in the Solomon Islands, but elsewhere in the Western Tropical Pacific and South East Asia in order to support the conservation of this species.

"This region is also known for its tuna fisheries, where dolphins are still a significant by-catch. In addition, these coastal habitats are changing rapidly with over exploitation and urban development, due to human population growth and potentially due to climate change.

"With little or no data about the bottlenose dolphin species and populations in many of these areas within the region, it is important to gather information upon which marine conservation action plans can be built."

The study will be conducted by Leszek Karczmarski of the Swire Institute of Marine Science and Associate Professor at Hong Kong University, she said, and evaluated by independent marine mammal experts.

However, Lau insisted: "We have no intention of collecting and are simply fulfilling our conservation mandate, which begins with good assessment of population status and conservation ecology research."

The Solomon Islands part of the project had not yet begun, as a new government was still settling in, Lau said. The governments of several island states and other countries would also be approached for cooperation.

Samuel Hung, chairman of the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society, said: "I am encouraged to learn that population studies on dolphins in Solomon Islands are still going ahead by Ocean Park. But I am concerned about the motive behind it.

"I have to stress once again that I am against any import of bottlenose dolphins to Ocean Park from a wild stock, and I hope that the intention of funding such study by Ocean Park is not to pave the way for future acquisition, but just simply to conserve the wild population of bottlenose dolphins in the Solomon Islands."

Currently, a debate is raging in the Solomon Islands over the proposed export of 25 bottlenose dolphins to an undisclosed location on the mainland, which has reportedly already been approved by the government.

Hung said: "It is very important that these dolphins will not go to the mainland in the first place, and more importantly will not end up in Ocean Park through so-called animal laundering.

"I certainly hope that Ocean Park will not have any tie to these mainland aquariums and get a hand on their dolphins, either through direct purchase, indirect loan, or collecting semen from these dolphins for future captive breeding program.

"This would further encourage other aquariums to purchase more bottlenose dolphins from the Solomon Islands and in that region. And as a leader in the industry in this region, Ocean Park should exert their influence and try to persuade their peers on the mainland not to import those dolphins, until their own sustainability study is being conducted by independent scientist."

Asked about the export of dolphins to the mainland, Lau insisted: "Ocean Park has no connection nor stake either directly or indirectly with this export."

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Captive Breeding Could Transform the Saltwater Aquarium Trade and Save Coral Reefs

ScienceDaily 20 Sep 11;

Marine biologists at The University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute are developing means to efficiently breed saltwater aquarium fish, seahorses, plankton and invertebrates in captivity in order to preserve the biologically rich ecosystems of the world's coral reefs.

These scientists believe their efforts, and those of colleagues around the world, could help shift much of the $1 billion marine ornamental industry toward entrepreneurs who are working sustainably to raise fish for the aquarium trade.

"It's the kind of thing that could transform the industry in the way that the idea of 'organic' has changed the way people grow and buy fruits and vegetables," says Joan Holt, professor and associate chair of marine science at The University of Texas at Austin. "We want enthusiasts to be able to stock their saltwater tanks with sustainably-raised, coral-safe species."

Holt is a co-author of a recent article, "Advances in Breeding and Rearing Marine Ornamentals," published in the Journal of the World Aquaculture Society in April.

The paper is a complement to Holt's broad-ranging work over the past 10 years to promote captive breeding of ornamentals. She's been a pioneer in developing food sources and tank designs that enable fragile larvae to survive to adulthood.

Holt has also been a vocal critic of the extraordinarily wasteful methods currently used to bring sea creatures from the oceans to the tanks.

"One popular method is to use a cyanide solution," says Holt. "It's squirted into the holes and crevices of the reef and it anesthetizes the fish. They float to the surface. Then the collectors can just scoop them up, and the ones that wake up are shipped out."

This method, says Holt, has a number of unfortunate effects. It bleaches the coral. It kills or harms other species that make the coral their home, particularly those that can't swim away from the cyanide. It can deplete or distort the native populations of the species. And it contributes to 80 percent of traded animals dying before ever reaching a tank.

Unlike the freshwater ornamental market, which relies mostly on fish raised in captivity, the saltwater ornamental market is 99.9 percent wild caught. Holt says this is largely because there's less accumulated knowledge on breeding saltwater fish in captivity. Saltwater species also tend to spawn smaller, less robust larvae, which are harder to rear to maturity, and to rely on various foods, such as plankton, that are not readily available in mass quantities for breeders.

Yet all these difficulties, says Holt, are surmountable.

She and her colleagues in Port Aransas, where the Marine Science Institute is located, have successfully bred in captivity seven species of fish, seahorses and shrimp they've caught from the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, including species that other biologists had tried but failed to rear before. Others have successfully bred popular species like clownfish, gobies, dottybacks, and dragonets, as well as coral, clams, invertebrates, and algae.

Several big aquariums, including SeaWorld, have committed to assisting in the breeding and egg collection effort, and to integrating into their exhibits information about how the aquarium trade impacts the coral reefs.

Holt and her colleagues envision, ultimately, is a "coral-safe" movement. The science, the economics and the social awareness could together result in a sea change in how saltwater aquariums are populated and how saltwater tank enthusiasts think of themselves and their passion.

As more tank-raised ornamentals percolate into the market, Holt believes people will see another advantage to buying sustainably. The fish will simply do better. They'll live longer, be healthier and be easier to care for.

"Species that are bred in captivity should adapt much better to your tank than something that was just caught halfway across the world, in a different system," says Holt. "Good retailers will want to sell these species, and consumers will benefit from buying them."

Journal Reference:

Ike Olivotto, Miquel Planas, Nuno Simões, G. Joan Holt, Matteo Alessandro Avella, Ricardo Calado. Advances in Breeding and Rearing Marine Ornamentals. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society, 2011; 42 (2): 135 DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-7345.2011.00453.x

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Protests mark rising environment awareness in China

Bill Savadove (AFP) Google News 20 Sep 11;

HAINING, China — A major anti-pollution protest has forced the Chinese government to take swift action for the second time in as many months, spurred by a rising environment movement that is spreading online.

More than 500 residents living near a plant making solar panels protested for three days last week in the eastern city of Haining, forcing authorities to temporarily shut the factory, which belongs to the US-listed Jinko Solar.

The incident came just over a month after authorities in the northeastern city of Dalian agreed to relocate a chemical plant following similar protests, underscoring official concern over mounting public anger about pollution.

"Citizens, particularly a rising Chinese middle class, have become more aware about how deep the impact of environmental issues is to their health," said Phelim Kine, senior Asia researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch.

"They are no longer willing to take it passively."

Protests against pollution are not new to China, as breakneck economic growth over the past three decades has caused severe degradation of air, land and water quality.

But the growth of social networking, in particular Twitter-like "weibo" or microblogs, has helped spread the word about environmental issues and mobilise protests against perceived polluters.

Wong Yiu-chung, a politics professor at Hong Kong's Lingnan University, said the shutdown of plants in Haining and Dalian was directly linked to the rising power of the Internet.

"The government moved quickly to order a halt in production on fears news of the protest would further spread on weibo, given the control on traditional news outlets," he told AFP.

Zhang Zhi'an, a communications professor at Zhongshan University in the southern province of Guangdong, agreed, saying microblogs had helped give a voice to people with grievances.

"It has played an important role in gathering public opinion, which has helped some vulnerable groups," he said.

China, which has the world's largest online population with nearly 500 million users, constantly tries to exert control over the Internet by blocking content it deems politically sensitive as part of a vast censorship system.

But the rising popularity of weibos has posed a major challenge to the censors.

A blogger living near the site of a deadly high-speed train crash in Zhejiang province in July is widely believed to have broken news of the accident, while millions of others kept up criticism in the days that followed.

Bloggers were also thought to have orchestrated the largely peaceful, 12,000-strong protest in Dalian, although posts and photographs were swiftly removed from the Internet after the demonstration.

Residents near the Jinko Solar plant, meanwhile, said they had voiced concerns about pollution for half a year, to no avail.

One elderly man who has lived in the area his whole life told AFP the air smelled bad and locals had no idea whether it was harmful to their health.

The issue finally came to a head with the deaths of a large number of fish in a nearby river and an Internet posting blaming the factory for polluting the area, which residents say has since been deleted.

Protesters broke into the factory in Zhejiang, ransacking offices and overturning vehicles before being forced back by police in a three-day protest from last Thursday.

News of the incident started emerging on blogs and weibo, before being reported by the official Xinhua news agency on Sunday -- a day before authorities decided to temporarily shut the plant.

But local residents said this success was bitter-sweet, claiming the government had employed hard tactics to stop the mass protest, as well as trying to appease locals with pledges to stop pollution.

They say riot police used force to disperse the protestors, who overturned cars and threw rocks.

"They beat them (the protestors) like dogs," one young man, who lives just outside the walls of the Jinko plant, told AFP.

Haining's city government said Tuesday 31 people had been detained over the protests and another 100 were to be given "legal re-education", which normally involves giving minor offenders classes about the nation's legal system.

It had earlier put that number at 21, including one man held for spreading "rumours" online about people living near the plant allegedly suffering from disease, highlighting government concern over the power of the new medium.

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UN Invites Interaction on Live Biodiversity Web TV Show

Environment News Service 19 Sep 11;

NEW YORK, New York, September 19, 2011 (eNS) - One in four mammals, one in eight birds and more than one in three amphibians are now at risk of extinction, according to the Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

In a live interactive web TV program from New York on Tuesday, the extraordinary loss of this diverse range of creatures will be in the spotlight as two experts answer questions from the public about the UN Decade on Biodiversity.

The planet's biodiversity is being lost at an unprecedented rate, scientists from around the world report in a multitude of professional journals. In an effort to turn back the tide of extinctions, the United Nations General Assembly has declared 2011 - 2020 as the UN Decade on Biodiversity, UNDB.

The Convention on Biological Diversity is an agreement that promotes sustainable development. Signed by 150 government leaders at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, it was conceived as a practical tool for translating the principles of Agenda 21, also agreed at that summit, into reality.

The Convention "recognizes that biological diversity is about more than plants, animals and microorganisms and their ecosystems," the secretariat said in a statement. "It is about people and our need for food security, medicines, fresh air and water, shelter, and a clean and healthy environment..."

Monique Barbut is CEO and Chair of the Global environment Facility, GEF, the world's leading financier of projects to protect the global environment. She will discuss the role of the GeF in encouraging species survival and she, too, will take questions.

On camera, Djoghlaf and Barbut will consider what actions can be taken now to avert even more serious loss of biodiversity.

They say the entire United Nations system is striving to make the UN Decade on Biodiversity a lasting success to preserve and protect species instead of watching them go extinct one after another - birds, primates, frogs, fish, butterflies,

Join the show live online at: http://www.studiotalk.tv/show/live-interactive-un-webcast-the-un-decade-on-biodiversity-20112020

Times: 12.00 eST / 16.00 GMT / 17.00 BST / 18.00 CeT on Tuesday, September 20th.

Click here to submit questions before the program.

Hundreds of Earth's diverse speces are losing their battles for survival. "The main causes, including habitat and climate change, overexploitation and pollution, are constant or increasing in their intensity," the Convention on Biological Diversity warned in a statement.

As a result ecosystems such as forests, coral reefs and rivers are declining in most parts of the world and many species are being pushed closer and closer to extinction.

The earliest and most severe impacts of biodiversity loss are felt by the poor, but ultimately all societies and communities will suffer, the agency said.

Faced with this reality, in May 2010 the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity urged that concerted and effective action was needed if humans are to avoid hitting irreversible global ecological tipping points.

Five months later the CBD adopted the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 to inspire and drive change by every country.

Barbut will discuss how GeF funding can be made available for developing countries seeking to implement the Convention on Biological Diversity's Strategic Plan.

Another new resource for understanding the planet's biodiversity and the challenges species face is "Species on the edge of Survival - The ultimate guide to nature in need," a new anthology published August 30, 2011 by the IUCN.

The book, inspired by IUCN's Species of the Day initiative, features a selection of 365 plants, animals and fungi listed on The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. each profile includes a photo, a description of the species, its conservation status, geographical range and the conservation action that is needed to protect it.

The statistic that one in four mammals, one in eight birds and more than one in three amphibians are at risk of extinction is well known to Simon Stuart, Chair of IUCN's Species Survival Commission.

"These startling statistics are an alarm call that should be heard by everyone," says Stuart. "Species are key to our survival, the quality of our lives and our economic security. It's important to know what threats they face and how we can protect them."

"The IUCN Red List is crucial in defining future conservation action, as it shows where it is needed most and encourages the necessary changes in legislation to make it more effective," says Jean-Christophe Vie, deputy director of IUCN's Global Species Programme.

"But this book is also a celebration of the magical diversity and beauty of life," he said. "It is amazing to see what splendid creatures share the planet with us."

To view some of the species profiles from the book, visit the Species of the Day website. To buy the book, click here.

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Humanity falls deeper into ecological debt: study

Marlowe Hood (AFP) Google News 20 Sep 11;

PARIS — Humankind will slip next week into ecological debt, having gobbled up in less then nine months more natural resources than the planet can replenish in a year, researchers said Tuesday.

The most dominant species in Earth's history, in other words, is living beyond the planet's threshold of sustainability, trashing the house it lives in.

At its current pace of consumption humankind will need, by 2030, a second globe to satisfy its voracious appetites and absorb all its waste, the report calculated.

Earth's seven billion denizens -- nine billion by mid-century -- are using more water, cutting down more forests and eating more fish than Nature can replace, it said.

At the same time, we are disgorging more CO2, pollutants and chemical fertilizers than the atmosphere, soil and oceans can soak up without severely disrupting the ecosystems that have made our planet such a comfortable place for homo sapiens to live.

Counting down from January 1, the date when human activity exceeds its budget -- dubbed "Earth Overshoot Day" -- had receded by about three days each year since 2001.

The tipping point into non-sustainability happened sometime in the 1970s, said the Oakland, California-based Global Footprint Network, which issued the report.

This year, researchers estimate that the equivalent of Earth's resource quota will be depleted on September 27.

"That's like spending your annual salary three months before the year is over, and eating into savings year after year," Global Footprint Network President Mathis Wackernagel said in a statement.

"Pretty soon, you run out of savings."

Even as Earth's capacity to host our ever-expanding species diminishes, the demands on "ecosystem services" -- the term scientists use to describe Nature's bounty -- continues to grow.

"From soaring food prices to the crippling effects of climate change, our economies are now confronting the reality of years of spending beyond our means," Wackernagel said.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon earlier this month said sustainable development now tops the global agenda of issues demanding urgent action.

"Overshoot" is driven by three factors: how much we consume, the global population, and how much Nature can produce.

Technology has vastly boosted productivity of edible plants and animals, but that expansion has barely kept pace with the rate at which demand has increased, the report said.

As critical, it has not taken into account all the collateral damage inflicted on the environment.

The United States is the biggest ecological deficit spender, according to an earlier calculation by the same group.

If all people adopted the American lifestyle -- big house, two cars, huge per-capita energy consumption -- the world's population would need about five "Earths" to meet its needs.

By contrast, if everyone on Earth matched the average footprint of someone in India today, humanity would be using less than half the planet's biocapacity.

But as India, China and other emerging giants continue to grow their economies at breakneck pace -- fuelled in large part by the desire for a "Western" lifestyle -- that per-capita footprint will become much larger, scientists warn.

Already today, for example, China is the top emitter of greenhouse gases and the top producer of automobiles.

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Best of our wild blogs: 20 Sep 11

Uncovering the mangroves at the inaugural Lim Chu Kang East cleanup from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore and Backing up NUS’ foray into Lim Chu Kang East mangrove

A graveyard look
from The annotated budak

A night at Bukit Brown Cemetery
from wonderful creation

The beauty of tall trees
from Life's Indulgences

12 Ideas for the National Climate Change Strategy 2012
from Low Carbon Singapore

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Building Boom Causes Asian Sand Smugglers to Expand

Luke Hunt Kuala Lumpur Voice of America 19 Sep 11;

Singapore's decades-long effort to reclaim land from the ocean has expanded the nation's coastline and fueled its building boom. But it has also depleted its supply of sand. In recent years, the massive sand shortage has been worsened by export bans by neighboring countries, driving up the price and encouraging the smuggling of useable land-fill.

It used to be that sand dredgers had only to travel to nearby Indonesia to get sand for use in Singapore construction projects. But the Indonesian government banned exports after activists and locals complained about disappearing islands and ruined riverbeds. Vietnam and Malaysia have enacted similar curbs on the practice. In Cambodia, officials have curtailed dredging and suspended sales as they assess the environmental damage caused by sand mining.

Environmentalists say this is forcing miners to search elsewhere in the region and driving the practice of sand smuggling in the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Burma.

George Boden is a campaigner for the London-based environmental group Global Witness, which reported on sand mining in Cambodia earlier this year.

“In fact some of the sand trade has also moved on from Cambodia, and Burma has now become a major source. And it’s our understanding - and for sand it’s quite possible - that Singapore is also looking beyond Cambodia for other countries in the region to fulfill its needs,” he said.

Singapore has expanded its physical borders by 22 percent over the past half century by filling in the surrounding sea with sand. Analysts say new reclamation projects will require enormous quantities of sea-sand. The tiny island-state also needs salt-free river sand for construction.

Gavin Greenwood is a security analyst for the Hong Kong-based firm Allan & Associates and has followed this issue for many years. He says that demand is proving lucrative for nearby countries.

“Freshwater sand is far superior for construction purposes than sea sand, simply because sea sand is, by its nature, with the salt in it ... highly corrosive. And to make it usable for construction you should have to wash it to get as much of the salt out as possible," he said. "Much of the reclamation in, shall we say, Singapore will be supporting large buildings with a huge amount of piling which is concrete, steel and so forth. So if you can get river sand or earth or crushed rock or a combination of all three, you’re saving yourself a great deal of money and future problems.”

Government bans in nearby countries have complicated life for Singapore builders. The government requires sand to be authorized with the correct paperwork, signifying it was legally obtained.

Companies such as Rangoon-based Bholat General Services and Philippine operator Mecca MFG tout themselves openly on the Internet, offering customers access to large quantities of sand that have been approved by the Singapore government.

Other companies offering sand from Burma include Bangkok International and Myanmar Asia Glory Trading. A spokesman for Asia Glory said river sand was being mined from the Salween and Irrawaddy rivers. The spokesman said while operations have been halted during the rainy season, sand mining and exports would resume in November.

A Mecca MFG spokesman said there are three large areas in the Philippines suitable for sand mining - primarily around Mount Pinatubo in Luzon, where clean river sand is available in abundance.

Similar offers for sand are made by Thai, Cambodian and Vietnamese companies.

Environmentalists say the practice causes widespread ecological damage to rivers, depletes fish stocks and substantially reduces the livelihoods of villagers who lead a subsistence lifestyle. The money involved also makes regulation difficult.

In Cambodia, some companies have flouted a government suspension of dredging. Activists claim that smuggling continues despite government bans in Indonesia, as well as in the east Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo.

S.M. Murthu is a council member of the Malaysian Nature Society and an adviser to the Environmental Protection Association in Sabah. He says the smuggling of sand into Singapore is continuing from around Southeast Asia, where laws are not enforced due to corruption.

“Smuggling is with the knowledge of certain authorities because nowadays ... in Southeast Asia, everything has a price. It’s illegal, so there are certain people who are paid to keep their eyes shut. They solve the problem that way,” he noted.

A year ago, 34 Malaysian civil servants were arrested for accepting bribes and sexual favors in relation to illicit sand sales. At that time, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad claimed up to 700 trucks a day were loaded with sand which was then smuggled across the border into Singapore.

Muthu says that brisk smuggling pace continues today. He says he has previously investigated complaints of illegal sand mining that resulted in villages being swept away, only to be told by Malaysian authorities this was not the case.

“I have seen houses already in the water. I have seen houses perched along the bankside, just waiting to sink into the rivers. It’s quite bad because these people do not care," Muthu said. "We have laws, but they are only on paper; in terms of practical enforcement it’s almost nil. They are all political statements at the end of the day. They just give into those who are looking for cheap sand.”

George Boden’s report for Global Witness prompted Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen to suspend dredging while his government assessed the ecological damage to the Tatai River. However, fishermen still complain that sand mining has not ceased. Boden wants international donors, who contribute heavily to the country’s annual budget, to pressure the Cambodian government to act against smugglers and illegal dredging.

“Certainly some dredging is still taking place and that really falls far short of the recommendations that we made in our report. Things we were really calling for is a proper regulatory environment, transparency over how the resources are allocated and the revenue that is collected," Boden stated. "And also proper environmental and social safeguards to ensure that the dredging is carried out in such a way that it is not massively damaging.”

Singapore’s land reclamation also has broader political ramifications because the trade in sand antagonizes relations between Singapore and its neighbors. Indonesia and Malaysia fear constant land reclamation means Singapore is now encroaching into their territorial waters.

Security analyst Greenwood is urging Singapore to protect its reputation in Southeast Asian as an environmental role model, by enacting stronger safeguards against the illegal mining.

“Singapore’s contention is that it’s legal from its end because it requires various certification and so forth from the various countries it buys from. The real problem is how valid would those certifications be in a broader legal context, and how damaging this whole thing is to Singapore from a diplomatic and reputational position and context," Greenwood said. "Singapore is very defensive and protective of its reputation as a serious country with rule of law and a strong environmental record.”

Singapore plans to add tens of square kilometers of additional land to its borders in the next 20 years. That growth will maintain a strong demand for sand imports and could threaten more areas of Southeast Asia where weak regulation and official corruption allow damaging mining to continue.

Sand and Singapore
Luke Hunt The Diplomat 26 Aug 11;

The politics of sand is a dirty business, and there’s plenty of it around – particularly in the tiny island-state of Singapore. Its voracious appetite for constructing mega-buildings and expanding its borders by filling in the sea has led to widespread ecological damage around the region.

Indonesia has complained bitterly about its disappearing islands and banned the export of sand. So has Vietnam. Malaysia uses dealings over sand as a political bargaining chip when negotiating with Singapore, and countries further afield are also thinking twice about selling it sand.

This was the case with Cambodia, which acted on a report by environmental activists Global Witness that was released in May. It has announced that it has ordered a suspension of sand dredging while it assesses alleged damage to fish stocks and the ecology of the Tatai River.

However, all the indications are that private business in Cambodia is thumbing their nose at the government and continuing to dredge the Tatai River. This is despite pleas from impoverished villagers, who live hand to mouth and who have had their livelihoods affected and seen widespread damage to their local environment.

According to the report, Singapore expanded its surface area by 22 percent, from 582 square kilometres in the 1960s to 710 square kilometres in 2008 – and it wants to go much further.

Ho Mak, director of Rivers at the Ministry of Water resources, told The Diplomat the companies dredging the Tatai had been ordered to stop while an environmental impact study is made. Piech Siyon, a provincial director of the Department of Industry, Mines and Energy, insists this has happened.

However, the reports to the contrary are many, something supported by Chum Sok Korb, who told The Diplomat that villagers wanted all sand dredging – big and small – stopped now.

There's no shortage of smugglers in Southeast Asia and the Singapore land developers are well aware of this, prompting accusations by Greenpeace they have launched a ‘war’ for the commodity.

Indonesia has 92 outer islands which determine the country’s marine border areas. Of these, only 12 are guarded by the Navy, prompting officials in Jakarta to recently urge provincial governors to be vigilant and act in the sovereign interest by protecting the islands from smugglers.

A year earlier, 34 Malaysian civil servants were arrested for accepting bribes and sexual favours in relation to sand smuggling into Singapore. At around the same time, former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad claimed that 700 trucks loaded with sand have been crossing the border into Singapore each day.

Singapore likes to see itself as a responsible global citizen and worthy regional role model. However, the fight over such a menial commodity like sand might suggest otherwise.

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Malaysia protects Pulau Bidong: only day trippers allowed

Only day trips allowed to Pulau Bidong
New Straits Times 20 Sep 11;

SETIU: Terengganu will ban large tourism projects on Pulau Bidong and its surrounding islands and only allow day trippers, in a bid to to protect the corals and preserve it as a marine heritage island.

State Tourism, Culture, Arts and Heritage Committee chairman Datuk Abdul Rahin Mohd Said said the Pulau Bidong group of islands, comprising a main island and five smaller ones, must be protected as they were the last uninhabited islands in Terengganu.

He said the state government did not want the islands to be turned into other resort islands such as Perhentian and Redang to minimise environmental damage to marine life.

"We want to promote the islands of Pulau Bidong in a such a way that will still protect its environment hence the idea of opening it only to day trippers. Visitors can still come and enjoy the beauty of the corals and marine life but they must leave by end of the day.

"We will need to build the amenities for day-trippers, but it will be on a much smaller scale compared with large-scale construction for resorts," he said after taking part in an underwater signing ceremony of a pledge to safeguard the islands' marine heritage yesterday.

Sixty divers took part and it was certified by the Malaysia Book of Records as the first in Malaysia.

The event was organised by the Malaysia Coral Reef Conservation Society (Coral Malaysia) with the cooperation of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) and the Terengganu government.

UMT vice chancellor Prof Datuk Aziz Deraman, who welcomed the move to protect the islands, said the university would make Pulau Bidong its research island.

"Currently, we have a research facility with four laboratories on the island and we will conduct more research on the Pulau Bidong archipelago."

He said research to harness the power of tidal currents, solar and wind would also be conducted on the island, beside marine biology studies.

"We will build a windmill at our research centre on the island to supply electricity and at the same time be a subject of green energy research

"UMT has conducted research into ways to restore dying corals but what is more important is to preserve what we still have."

Coral Malaysia president Jamhariah Jaafar said artificial reefs, known as the Underwater Gallery, around Pulau Bidong had become healthy grounds for coral growth.

"The waters around Pulau Bidong have many fascinating diving sites which can be promoted to create public awareness about our marine heritage."

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