Malaysia: Templer Park under threat

Nicholas Cheng and Noel Foo The Star 20 Nov 12;

PETALING JAYA: Rampant logging and development are threatening the natural beauty of Templer Park.

The Malaysian Nature Society said it was alarmed over the construction of an elevated highway and the planned building of luxury bungalows in the park.

MNS Selangor branch chairman Henry Goh said approvals for these projects should be retracted because they contradicted the Selangor State Structure Plan and the Selayang Municipal Council Local Plan.

“These projects are completely at odds with the Government's pledge to hold a moratorium on logging in forest reserves and the promise to consult the public before any development takes place in green areas,” he added.

Over 39.44ha of the Kanching Forest Reserve is being cleared for a 60m-high elevated highway called the Rawang Bypass.

It was reported that the federal project, carried out by developer Panzana Enterprise Sdn Bhd, is under the Public Works Department and was approved in 2005.

At the fringe of the reserve, 6.29ha of hillslopes at a private lot near Bukit Takun have been approved by the Selayang Municipal Council for the building of 60 luxury bungalows.

Nearby residents said they were told the project would involve clearing Class 3 and 4 hillslopes of 25 degrees and above 35 degrees respectively.

It was reported that only national infrastructure development projects are allowed on such slopes.

The Selangor Government had previously frozen development on such land pending proper guidelines.

Goh said the projects could threaten the “ecological integrity” of the park, which is a water catchment area as well as a natural habitat of rare species of wildlife and trees.

“Studies by MNS reveal that the Rawang Bypass project could affect the rare Hopea subalata tree population. Moreover, an investigation by the Wildlife Department on the Bukit Takun housing project confirms that the area designated for development is a natural habitat of an endangered species of serow,” he said.

Forest Research Institute Malaysia botanist Dr Lilian Chua said the Hopea subalata was a rare, endemic species found only in the Kanching Forest Reserve.

“Hopea subalata is confined to certain parts of the forest reserve and has very low adult population densities. This is reason enough to conserve the area,” said Dr Chua in a 2004 paper in the Journal of Tropical Forest Science.

Experts believe the bypass project would cut through compartments where Hopea subalata was found and estimate a 10% decimation of its population.

World Wildlife Fund Malaysia species conservation manager Dr Han Kwai Hin said the Sumatran serow (Capricornis sumatraensis) was a species of goat-like mammal which he estimated to number about 500-750 in the country.

“They are solitary creatures with a low reproductive success rate,” he said.

“They are highly sensitive to habitat disturbance, let alone habitat destruction.”

Groups want park projects halted
The Star 20 Nov 12;

PETALING JAYA: Environmental organisations have slammed plans for development in Templer Park and want the projects halted.

Environmental Protection Society Malaysia president Nithi Nesadurai expressed his concern over logging in what was initially gazetted as a forest reserve.

“Templer Park has for decades served as a green space and recreational area for the public. With the rapid development in Greater Klang Valley, it is essential that these green spaces are left as they are,” he said.

EcoKnights president Yasmin Rasyid said she was surprised that approvals for development in the area could be given and hoped the development would be halted.

Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) communications head Andrew Sebastian said: “We should not sacrifice crucial areas of our forests for commercial reasons.”

Templer Villa Residence Association chairman Thay Peng Kee said residents were peeved by silt and mudslides caused by land clearing activities that were clogging up roads.

On the same issue, authorities are claiming the projects are being closely monitored to ensure minimal damage.

Selangor Forestry Department director Yusoff Muda said the Rawang Bypass development project was being done in the Kanching Forest Reserve.

He said the bypass was a Federal Government project under the Public Works Department to alleviate traffic congestions in Rawang, but added that it was carefully planned to have little impact on the reserve.

Yusoff added that JKR would launch an effort to replant and “green” the area again after the project was completed.

On claims that rare Hopea subalata trees would be affected by logging, state executive councillor for tourism, consumer affairs and environment Elizabeth Wong said all trees felled had been identified and catalogued.

“No tree of that species has been cut down,” she said.

Read more!

New Species Sit on Museum Shelves for 21 Years

Stephanie Pappas LiveScience.com Yahoo News 19 Nov 12;

Discovering a new species must be a heady experience — the collection in the field, the "eureka" moment when you realize you've got something new, the jubilant announcement to the rest of the scientific community.

Well, not quite.

In fact, an average of 21 years pass from the time a new specimen is discovered until the time it's identified and reported to the world, a new study finds. The individual steps may still be very exciting, but they're often incredibly slow. And at this rate, species may go extinct in the wild while the specimens that might have identified them languish unstudied on museum shelves.

"Inthe context of the current extinction crisis, it is a matter of documenting what will otherwise never have been known, as species may become extinct even before the scientific community becomes aware of their existence," said study researcher Benoît Fontaine, a diversity researcher at France's Le Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle.

Species shelf life

Working in a museum triggered Fontaine and his colleagues' interest in how long it takes to get a new species on the record. After all, Fontaine told LiveScience, he spends his days surrounded by shelves and drawers full of specimens waiting to be studied. [6 Strange Species Discovered in Museums]

The researchers randomly chose 600 species out of the amazing 16,994 new species described worldwide in 2007 for an estimate of how long specimens wait. In 570 cases, the date of first collection was available. The average, or mean, length between collection and description was 20.7 years.

"We suspected the shelf life was long, but not that long!" Fontaine said.

The length of time varied widely, from almost immediate announcements to a whopping 206 years between discovery and identification. A temple pit viper from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, Tropidolaemus laticinctus, took the prize for longest time to describe. It's an animal with a complicated taxonomy, Fontaine said, and assigning species is difficult, because differences in the snake's color patterns don't always correlate with its geography or other body shapes, making identification tough.

What takes so long?

Some factors influenced how fast a species got off the shelf and into public knowledge. Plants and vertebrates (organisms with backbones) took longer than other organisms, perhaps because museums have huge backlogs of plants, vertebrates and insects to study, but have relatively fewer fungi and non-insect invertebrates lurking in storage rooms, meaning there is less to sift through.

When a species is part of a recently revised scientific category, it's more likely to get a quick ID, likely because it's easier to describe organisms by modern, rather than archaic, standards. It takes longer to describe species when the main scientist is from a wealthy country, again likely because wealthier countries have more of a backlog of specimens. New speciesalso get described quicker when an amateur, non-scientifically-trained person discovers them.

Part of the problem, Fontaine said, is the vagaries of scientific publishing. About 60 percent of new species get described in books or journals without an impact factor — basically, a score of how influential that publication is and how often other researchers cite it in their journal articles. Only 8 percent of new species get described for the first time in publications with high impact factors. Scientists' own careers can depend on publishing in journals with high impact factors, so they have little incentive to describe new species in little-noticed journals.

A 2011 study in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution estimated the price tag for cataloguing all the unknown speciesin the world would be $263.1 billion.

Quicker identification of species would require training more taxonomists and streamlining the methods for describing new species, Fontaine said. Researchers would also need to spend more time outside.

Taxonomists usually need several specimens to positively identify a new species, Fontaine said, so multiple trips to the field are often required.

"Most speciesare rare, and as a result, a field expedition often produces only one specimen of a given species," Fontaine said.

The researchers report their results Nov. 20 in the journal Current Biology.

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UK bird population down by 44m since 1966, report finds

BBC Nature 19 Nov 12;

The UK bird population has declined by 44 million since 1966, according to a report by conservation groups.

The study is the first of its kind to give an overall view of how birds in the UK have fared over the decades.

It found that while certain species had increased in number, populations of some common birds had diminished dramatically.

The report, "State of the UK's Birds 2012", was compiled from volunteers' observations of birds since the 1960s.

According to the report, carried out by experts from organisations such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the British Trust for Ornithology, there are an estimated 166 million birds nesting in the UK compared with 210 million in 1966.

House sparrows were found to be among the worst hit, with numbers down by 20 million compared with the 1960s.

Since 2000 a modest increase has been reported in sparrow numbers, but causes of the overall decline of the bird population remain unclear.

"It's like the bird populations of the UK are on a roller-coaster, and we've seen a lot of ups and downs," said RSPB spokesperson Grahame Madge.

"We have more species breeding in the UK now than any other time in history... but we've got 44 million fewer individual birds nesting than in the 1960s."

Birds that are reliant on farmed land, such as lapwings, cuckoos and turtle doves, have seen a significant decrease in numbers, according to the study.

Experts believe this is largely down to changes in landscape providing less habitat in which birds can feed and nest.

"But what we're seeing at the moment is a huge interest from farmers in trying to help the wildlife on their land," added Mr Madge.
Successful species

"We know... that some species like wood pigeon and collared dove have done incredibly well and increased their populations," commented Mr Madge.

The wood pigeon has doubled its population since 1970, to an estimated 5.4 million nesting pairs.

Another example of a bird doing well is the great spotted woodpecker.

Mr Madge explained: "Many of our woodland birds are in trouble but great spotted woodpeckers have gone up 368% since the 1970s, which is an incredible increase."

But Mr Madge went on to say that despite such success stories the overall findings of the report were of concern, and that the report had allowed experts to appreciate "the enormity of the decline".

"When you see en masse that the UK has lost such a huge number of birds, the figures themselves are quite staggering," he said.

Read more!

Urban sprawl bad for birds

The University of Queensland Science Alert 19 Nov 12;

Australian cities can keep their native wildlife – but only if they can kick their habit of urban sprawl.

That’s the finding of a new study by leading Australian environmental researchers Jessica Sushinsky, Professor Hugh Possingham and Dr Richard Fuller of The University of Queensland.

“While urban development usually reduces the number of birds in a city, building more compact cities and avoiding urban sprawl can slow these reductions significantly,” says lead author Jessica Sushinsky. “Compact housing developments leaves birds’ homes untouched, leading to fewer local extinctions.”

The researchers surveyed native and feral birds in Brisbane’s urban areas, including residential and industrial suburbs, public parks and gardens, major roadways, outdoor shopping centres and airports. They then used statistical modelling to find out what will happen to the birds as the city grows.

The first scenario was compact growth – where multiple homes are built on land that previously had only one house.

The second scenario was sprawling growth – a familiar pattern where low density suburbs straggle beyond the city’s current boundaries.

The team’s forecasts showed that a much greater diversity of species was lost over 20 years under the sprawling scenario compared to the more compact strategy.

“Urban sprawl resulted in the disappearance of many urban-sensitive birds – birds that only live in areas where there is native vegetation, such as parklands and woodlands,” Ms Sushinsky says. “It also led to an increase in feral birds such as the common myna or the spotted turtle dove, as they tend to thrive in low density suburbs.

“On the other hand, we found the city with the compact development retained more birds, including species such as Lewin’s honeyeater, grey shrike-thrush, the red-backed fairy-wren and the striated pardalote, because it kept more of its parks and green areas.”

To reduce land conversion, the Queensland Government has adopted a more compact urban growth strategy, which—this study confirms—is better news for Australia’s native birds, the researchers say.

“These birds are habitat specialists – they need a particular environment to do well,” says Prof. Possingham. “So instead of having only ‘classic’ parks with short grass and scattered trees, we need ‘high quality’ green spaces with dense vegetation, including denser thickets, tall trees, low-growing shrubs and scraggly grass.”

“While compact development means smaller backyards, it can also make our entire cities more biodiverse,” according to Dr Richard Fuller. “The study shows that we should hold on to our green spaces instead of clearing them for sprawling development.”

This is the first time science has modelled the effects of different urban growth strategies on birds, the researchers say. “Statistical models like these are important because they help decision makers understand the ecological consequences of a particular decision,” says Dr Fuller.

The team’s paper “How should we grow cities to minimize their biodiversity impacts?” by Jessica Sushinsky, Jonathan Rhodes, Hugh Possingham, Tony Gill and Richard Fuller appears in the latest issue of Global Change Biology. See: http://bit.ly/QQgsNv

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Violent dolphin deaths in the U.S. a mystery for scientists

Tamara Lush Associated Press Yahoo News 20 Nov 12;

ALONG THE GULF COAST (AP) — Over the past several months, dolphins have washed ashore along the northern Gulf Coast with bullet wounds, missing jaws and hacked off fins, and federal officials said they are looking into the mysterious deaths.

The most recent case was of a dolphin found dead off the coast of Mississippi, its lower jaw missing.

Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday they're asking everyone from beachgoers to fishermen to wildlife agents to be on the lookout for injured or dead dolphins — and any unusual interaction between the mammals and people.

"It's very sad to think that anyone could do that to any animal," said Erin Fougeres, a marine mammal scientist for NOAA's southeast office in St. Petersburg, Fla. "There have been some obviously intentional cases."

Fougeres said five dolphins have been found shot. In Louisiana, two were shot in 2011 and one in 2012. And in Mississippi, three were found shot this year, the most recent one last week, which was first reported by the Sun-Herald newspaper.

Besides the shootings, a dolphin in Alabama was found with a screwdriver stuck in its head over the summer. Another in Alabama had its tail cut off, and that animal survived. Still others were missing fins or had cuts to their bodies.

"I think it is outrageous," said Moby Solangi, the executive director of Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Miss. "These animals are very docile, very friendly and they're very curious. They come close to the boats, so if you're out there, you'll see them riding the bows. And their curiosity and friendship brings them so close that they become targets and that's the unfortunate thing."

Dolphins are among the species protected by the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act. Violators can be fined up to $10,000 per violation and sent to prison for a year.

The California-based Animal Legal Defense Fund said it is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whomever harmed the dolphins.

The gruesome discoveries are heartbreaking for Gulf Coast scientists, who follow the population. Fougeres said that two months before the 2010 oil spill disaster off the coast of Louisiana, dolphins began stranding themselves and that there were unusually high mortality rates — possibly due to a cold winter that year.

Since then, the spill and another cold winter in 2011 have contributed to several deaths within the Gulf's dolphin population, experts say. Investigators have also found discolored teeth and lung infections within some of the dead dolphins.

Since Feb. 2010, experts have tallied more than 700 recorded dolphin deaths.

Experts have also found increased "human interaction" cases, which include dolphins tangled in fishing lines — and the more violent incidents.

Fougeres cautions that some of the dolphin mutilations might have happened after the animal died from natural causes and washed ashore. She said that in the case of the dolphin with the lower jaw missing, someone could have cut off the jaw for a souvenir after the animal died.

"We have to do a necropsy on the animal and collect tissue samples to try to determine whether or not the injury was pre-or post-mortem" she said.

She also said that the increase in cases might be due to NOAA's dolphin stranding network becoming better trained to notice cruelty cases or unusual deaths.

Some have suggested that the deaths are the work of a few angry fishermen who are upset about bait-stealing dolphins. Yet the majority of fishermen say that while dolphins can be annoying, they wouldn't harm the creatures.

"I don't know who to suspect ... I was really sickened when I read about it," said Tom Becker, of T&D Charters out of Biloxi, Miss., and head of the Mississippi Charter Boat Captains Association, said he's never had a problem with dolphins.

The mammals tend to swim behind his boat until a fish too small to keep is tossed over the side.

"You'll see him under your boat," Becker said, about the dolphin. "He'll get it before it can reach the bottom. I usually leave the area if they're doing that."

Fougeres said she doesn't think the dolphins are being targeted by a gang of people or even by a lone, sick individual.

"The cases are fairly spread apart," she said. "I don't think there is one dolphin murderer out there."

She added that anyone who sees a dead or stranded dolphin, or spots people harassing a marine animal can call the NOAA Enforcement hotline at 800-853-1964.

AP writer Janet McConnaughey contributed from New Orleans.

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Tropical Reefs Become Biggest US Marine Sanctuary

LiveScience.com Yahoo News 20 Nov 12;

A pristine tropical reef that has weathered several natural disasters is now part of America's largest marine sanctuary.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) finalized a huge expansion of the Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary in American Samoa last month, from 0.25 square miles (0.65 square kilometers) to 13,523 square miles (33,024 square km).

The boost takes the sanctuary from a single protected coral reef to a marine area larger than the state of Maryland. The agency also renamed the protected region, now calling it the National Marine Sanctuary of American Samoa.

Five new marine units joined Fagatale Bay's reef: Fogama'a/ Fagalua (Larsen Bay), waters around Swains Island and Muliva, also known as Rose Atoll, and some of the waters around Aunu'u Island and Ta'u Island.

NOAA cited the "tremendous advancement in marine discovery and exploration, marine conservation science, and ecosystem-based management" as factors in its decision to expand the sanctuary. The decision was published July 26 and finalized Oct. 31 in the Federal Register.

"The Sanctuary contains a unique and vast array of tropical marine organisms, including corals and a diverse tropical reef ecosystem with endangered and threatened species, such as the hawksbill and green sea turtles, and marine mammals like the Pacific bottlenose dolphin," NOAA said in the Federal Register.

Of the five new units, one was already under federal protection. Rose Atoll was designated a marine national monument in 2009 by President George W. Bush. It is the world's smallest atoll, and home to American Samoa's largest populations of giant clams, nesting seabirds and rare reef fish.

Ta'u Island hosts some of the oldest and largest known corals in the world, with one colony measuring 23 feet (7 meters) tall and 135 feet (41 m) in circumference, according to NOAA. And from June to September, southern humpback whales migrate north from Antarctica to calve in the protected waters surrounding American Samoa.

Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary was established in 1986 in response to a proposal from the American Samoa government. The impetus was a devastating attack on the region's coral reefs by crown-of-thorns starfish in the late 1970s. Millions of starfish ate their way across the reefs, destroying more than 90 percent of living coral. Hurricanes and coral bleaching have also hit the coral in the last 20 years.

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Deforestation risks turning Somalia to desert

Boris Bachorz (AFP) Google News 19 Nov 12;

JALELO, Somalia — Hassan Hussein cuts down 40 trees every month to fuel his charcoal business, fully aware of the impact his action has on the environment.

But for the livestock keeper, the forests are the last remaining resource. And he is not alone.

Hundreds of thousands of Somalia's traditional pastoralist herders do the same, putting their impoverished country on a path of heavy deforestation that risks turning large swathes of their country into a desert.

"I used to keep animals, but I lost my herd to famine and disease and am the eldest in the family," says Hussein, 27, adding that he has 10 mouths to feed back home -- two children, seven brothers and his mother.

Four years ago, Hussein had 25 camels and 300 goats. Now, only three camels and 15 goats from his once respectable sized herd are left.

Thus every morning, with an axe slumped over his shoulder, he sets off in search of wood for charcoal.

Once he locates and cuts down a tree, it takes two days of burning, and two more days of cooling the smouldering heaps before he can sell the charcoal, at six dollars (five euros) for a 20 kilogramme sack.

The village of Jaleo, in the northern self-declared state of Somaliland, once prided itself on being at the heart of the savannah.

British explorer Harald Swayne recounted, in his 19th century memoirs, the adventures he had while tracking and hunting "a large herd of elephants."

But the last elephant was killed in 1958, and were Swayne to retake his journey today, he would only find the smallest of game in a rocky landscape dotted with shrubs and charred tree stumps.

"Twenty percent of the forest has disappeared in the last ten years -- definitely this country is turning into a desert," Ahmed Derie Elmi, director of forests in Somaliland's environment ministry, recently tells AFP.

"If the deforestation continues at this pace, this country will be a desert in two or three decades," echoes Ahmed Ibrahim Awale of the Candlelight organisation, which tackles environmental and health issues in Somaliland.

Charcoal burning has not always been preferred in Jalelo.

Three years ago an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever in the Horn of Africa forced Gulf states to suspend importation of animals or animal products from the region, forcing the herders to look for alternative sources of income.

But it is urbanisation and a population explosion that are the biggest threats to the country's environmental well-being.

Somaliland's capital Hargeisa has a population of 850,000 people, six times its population in the 1970s, which consumes approximately 250 tonnes of charcoal daily.

Elmi says that charcoal is the main source of energy, as electricity is rare and expensive for many.

The rampant deforestation is not unique to Somaliland. In southern Somalia, Al Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents turned charcoal burning and exportation into one of their major sources of income.

In a report, the UN monitoring group on Somalia and Eritrea says the Islamist group made up to 25 million dollars every year from charcoal trade.

Several regions of southern Somalia were declared famine zones by the United Nations last year, with the deforestation contributing to an extreme drought.

In a bid to put an end to rampant deforestation, Somalia's newly elected President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in one of his first official duties banned all exportation of charcoal, in line with a UN embargo in February.

However, much more than a UN declaration and a presidential decree are needed to bring the deforestation to an end.

"The underlying causes of poverty and the general decline of the size of livestock herds have to be addressed," says Awale.

Alternative sources of energy must be harnessed to cater for the population, massive reforestation campaigns need to be initiated and some of the pastoralists need to switch to agriculture.

In a country where the government faces numerous challenges, environmental matters are not a priority.

"The Ministry of Environment has the smallest budgetary allocation that only covers the salaries of 187 employees," says Elmi.

"All the mature trees have disappeared.... In the past one could get six or seven 25 kilogramme sacks of charcoal from a tree. Today, maybe one or two," Awale says.

As a consequence, charcoal prices in Somaliland have doubled in the past four years, to 10 dollars a sack.

"Each time I cut down a tree, I am left with a bitter taste in my mouth," Hussein says. "The future is bleak.... All the trees will have disappeared."

Read more!

No nation immune to climate change: World Bank

Anna Yukhananov PlanetArk 19 Nov 12;

All nations will suffer the effects of a warmer world, but it is the world's poorest countries that will be hit hardest by food shortages, rising sea levels, cyclones and drought, the World Bank said in a report on climate change.

Under new World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, the global development lender has launched a more aggressive stance to integrate climate change into development.

"We will never end poverty if we don't tackle climate change. It is one of the single biggest challenges to social justice today," Kim told reporters on a conference call on Friday.

The report, called "Turn Down the Heat," highlights the devastating impact of a world hotter by 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, a likely scenario under current policies, according to the report.

Climate change is already having an effect: Arctic sea ice reached a record minimum in September, and extreme heat waves and drought in the last decade have hit places like the United States and Russia more often than would be expected from historical records, the report said.

Such extreme weather is likely to become the "new normal" if the temperature rises by 4 degrees, according to the World Bank report. This is likely to happen if not all countries comply with pledges they have made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Even assuming full compliance, the world will warm by more than 3 degrees by 2100.

In this hotter climate, the level of the sea would rise by up to 3 feet, flooding cities in places like Vietnam and Bangladesh. Water scarcity and falling crop yields would exacerbate hunger and poverty.

Extreme heat waves would devastate broad swaths of the earth's land, from the Middle East to the United States, the report says. The warmest July in the Mediterranean could be 9 degrees hotter than it is today -- akin to temperatures seen in the Libyan desert.

The combined effect of all these changes could be even worse, with unpredictable effects that people may not be able to adapt to, said John Schellnhuber, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, which along with Climate Analytics prepared the report for the World Bank.

"If you look at all these things together, like organs cooperating in a human body, you can think about acceleration of this dilemma," said Schellnhuber, who studied chaos theory as a physicist. "The picture reads that this is not where we want the world to go."

SHOCKED INTO ACTION

As the first scientist to head the World Bank, Kim has pointed to "unequivocal" scientific evidence for man-made climate change to urge countries to do more.

Kim said 97 percent of scientists agree on the reality of climate change.

"It is my hope that this report shocks us into action," Kim, writes in the report.

Scientists are convinced that global warming in the past century is caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases produced by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. These findings by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were recognized by the national science academies of all major industrialized nations in a joint statement in 2010.

Kim said the World Bank plans to further meld climate change with development in its programs.

Last year, the Bank doubled its funding for countries seeking to adapt to climate change, and now operates $7.2 billion in climate investment funds in 48 countries.

The World Bank study comes as almost 200 nations will meet in Doha, Qatar, from November 26 to December 7 to try to extend the Kyoto Protocol, the existing plan for curbing greenhouse gas emissions by developed nations that runs to the end of the year.

They have been trying off and on since Kyoto was agreed in 1997 to widen limits on emissions but have been unable to find a formula acceptable to both rich and poor nations.

Emerging countries like China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, have said the main responsibility to cut emissions lies with developed nations, which had a headstart in sparking global warming.

Combating climate change also poses a challenge for the poverty-fighting World Bank: how to balance global warming with immediate energy needs in poor countries.

In 2010, the World Bank approved a $3.75 billion loan to develop a coal-fired power plant in South Africa despite lack of support from the United States, Netherlands and Britain due to environmental concerns.

"There really is no alternative to urgent action given the devastating consequences of climate change," global development group Oxfam said in a statement. "Now the question for the World Bank is how it will ensure that all of its investments respond to the imperatives of the report."

Kim said the World Bank tries to avoid investing in coal unless there are no other options.

"But at the same time, we are the group of last resort in finding needed energy in countries that are desperately in search of it," he said.

(Reporting by Anna Yukhananov; Editing by Diane Craft)

Climate Scientists Applaud Dire World Bank Report
Stephanie Pappas LiveScience.com Yahoo News 22 Nov 12;

Climate scientists who have been warning of the dangerous effects of global warming now have the World Bank on their side, after a new report from that organization calling for action to prevent climate catastrophe.

"The World Bank did a great service to society by issuing this report," said Michael Mann, a climate researcher at Pennsylvania State University and the author of "The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars" (Columbia University Press, 2012).

Climate deniers often claim that solutions to global warming are part of a "global socialist agenda," Mann told LiveScience.

"The fact that the World Bank — an entity committed to free market capitalism — has weighed in on the threat of climate change and the urgency of acting to combat it, puts the nail in the coffin of that claim," he said.

A changing world

The report, issued by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics for the World Bank, urges nations to work to prevent the Earth from warming 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius) past preindustrial averages. Already, global mean temperatures are running about 1.3 degrees F (0.8 degrees C) hotter than before the onset of the industrial revolution.

Likewise, carbon-dioxide concentration in the atmosphere is high and rising. As of September, the concentration was 391 parts per million, a record high, up from a preindustrial 278. That number is now rising by about 1.8 parts per million each year.

All of these changes are accompanied by ice loss, including accelerating melting in Greenland, according to research published this week. As a result, average sea level has risen between 6 and 8 inches (15 and 20 centimeters) or so on average around the world. [8 Ways Global Warming Is Already Changing the World]

Dire warnings

But what the World Bank warns of is an even bleaker future. Even if the world's nations deliver on their promises of emission limits and global warming mitigation, there is a 20 percent chance that the world will hit the 4 degrees C mark by 2100, according to the report. If emissions continue as is, the planet may reach that point by the 2060s.

International negotiators have agreed that warming should be limited to just half that, or 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C), in that time. A world that is 2 degrees warmer would have its own consequences, but it is crucial to hold that line, the World Bank report argues. A 4-degree warming would mean a sea-level rise of 1.6 to 3.2 feet (0.5 to 1 meter) on average, with the tropics catching the brunt of the change.

Climate research also suggests tropical storms would strengthen and drought would increase across much of the tropical and subtropical world.

"A world in which warming reaches 4 degrees C above preindustrial levels (hereafter referred to as a 4 degree C world), would be one of unprecedented heat waves, severe drought, and major floods in many regions, with serious impacts on human systems, ecosystems, and associated services," the authors wrote in the World Bank report.

Climate scientists agree.

"I am inclined to think that things will break before we get there," Kevin Trenberth, a climate scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said of a 4-degree-C world. Ecosystems would change so much and agriculture would be so disrupted that the result would likely be "major strife, conflicts and loss of population," Trenberth told LiveScience.

Among the flashpoints, according to the World Bank report, would be sparse water availability, food insecurity and loss of resources such as coral reefs, which are threatened by acidification as more carbon dioxide is dissolved in the oceans. Coral reefs provide not only food to many local economies, but also tourism dollars. Areas becoming unsustainable would likely lead to mass exodus, creating environmental refugees, Mann said. [10 Surprising Results of Global Warming]

Avoiding the 4-degree world

Avoiding the 4-degree-warmer world is a matter of political will, said Mann, who sees signs of optimism, including increased awareness and more calls to transition away from fossil fuels.

"The alternative energies (wind, solar, geothermal, etc) are there," Mann wrote in an email to LiveScience. "We just need to deploy and scale them up by investing immediately in the necessary infrastructure."

Slowing the warming may be as useful as stopping it, Trenberth said.

"It is not just the absolute amount of warming, but also the rate at which
we change things to get there," he said. "Two degrees warming in 50 years is extremely stressful, but 2 degrees warming in 500 years is perhaps manageable through adaptation."

If the world fails to act, the world will become a more disrupted, damaged place, the World Bank concluded — and the poor will suffer most.

"The projected 4°C warming simply must not be allowed to occur — the heat must be turned down," the authors wrote. "Only early, cooperative, international actions can make that happen."

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Best of our wild blogs: 19 Nov 12

Latest Green Jobs in Singapore [12 - 18 Nov 2012]
from Green Business Times

The Walking Leaf
from Macro Photography in Singapore

Random Gallery - Banded LineBlue
from Butterflies of Singapore

Magnificently Terumbu Semakau
from Peiyan.Photography and Fishy and Sluggy Day at St. John's Island and Stormy Trip to Hantu Lagoon

Some Critters Outside NTU
from Beauty of Fauna and Flora in Nature

Plant-Bird Relationship: 13. Bignoniaceae, Bombacaceae, Bromeliaceae, Caricaceae, Casuarinaceae and Combretaceae from Bird Ecology Study Group

Spotted House Gecko
from Monday Morgue

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Philippine authorities allow dolphin export to Singapore

Alice Chia Channel NewsAsia 18 Nov 12;

SINGAPORE: The Philippines authorities have approved the export of 25 Indo-pacific bottlenose dolphins to Resorts World Sentosa's Marine Life Park.

Animal welfare groups in the Philippines had tried to block export of the dolphins in a court case, which they lost last month.

A Marine Life Park spokesperson said the park is pleased to receive the permit and looks forward to welcoming the dolphins to their new residence.

The park said it has followed all international and multi-national regulations and guidelines.

For over three years, the dolphins have been under the care and supervision of a team of veterinarians and marine mammal specialists.

- CNA/xq

Philippines 'okays export of RWS dolphins'
Permit said to be granted for them to come here, despite talk of appeal
Alastair McIndoe Straits Times 19 Nov 12;

MANILA - The Philippine authorities have reportedly issued an export permit for 25 bottlenose dolphins to be sent to Singapore's Marine Life Park at Resorts World Sentosa.

Animal welfare groups in the Philippines had tried to block the move in court, but lost their civil suit last month.

The Philippine Star newspaper yesterday, quoting Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources director Asis Perez, said the Department of Agriculture had issued the export permit on the bureau's recommendation. It was not clear when the permit was issued.

Officials were not available for comment on when the dolphins, which were caught in the Solomon Islands and brought here between 2008 and last year, will be exported to Singapore.

On Oct 17, a court in Quezon City denied a petition by animal welfare groups to renew a "temporary environmental protection order" blocking the dolphins' export to Singapore.

While there has been talk of an appeal, nothing appears to prevent the dolphins from being sent to Singapore now that a permit has been granted.

But Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) maintained yesterday that not all legal avenues have been exhausted. Executive director Louis Ng said there would be a case at the courts today. He gave no other details but last month, Acres said it was planning to file an appeal to the courts.

The dolphins are being held in a special enclosure at Ocean Adventure, an open-water marine park at Subic Bay, where they were being acclimatised to a life in captivity while Marine Life Park was under construction.

The park is scheduled to open next month.

A spokesman for the park, responding to The Straits Times' queries, said it is looking forward to welcoming the dolphins to their new residence in Singapore.

"We have followed all international and multi-national regulations and guidelines, which is expressed by the favourable approval of our re-export," said the spokesman yesterday.

Additional reporting by Lim Yi Han in Singapore

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Green educational trails to be conducted at Lorong Halus Wetland

AsiaOne 18 Nov 12;

SINGAPORE - The Singapore Environment Council (SEC) has launched a partnership with the North East Community Development Council (NECDC) to conduct monthly green educational trails at Lorong Halus Wetland for one year.

This first of its kind partnership seeks to raise environmental awareness among heartlanders and residents of the North East District, and foster a heightened sense of concern and ultimately action in line with environmental protection.

"Heartlanders represent a key target group in spreading the environmental message, as habits may be more deeply ingrained and require time and effort to change," said Mr Jose Raymond, Executive Director of the SEC.

SEC and NECDC will train volunteers from the district, who will in turn conduct the trails.

The trails will be conducted once a month at no charge to North East district residents. The duration of each trail is one hour and will cover topics such as water and nature conservation, as well as waste management.

To ensure quality control and audibility in an outdoor environment, the group size will be capped at 20 per trail.

To cater to different individuals, SEC is looking to ascertain the demographics of participants prior each trail to tailor the experience accordingly.

For example, based on the majority demographic of a particular trail, efforts will be made to translate key snippets into Malay, Mandarin or even in dialects, if necessary.

"The Green Trail@Lorong Halus Wetland serves two purposes. It heightens North East residents' awareness of the environment as this walk can enable them to learn more about nature in a location within our district. This is also a good bonding platform for neighbours and friends," said North East CDC's Mayor Teo Ser Luck.

Formerly a landfill site, Lorong Halus Wetland sits next to Serangoon Reservoir, Singapore's 17th reservoir.

The area was a dumping ground for Singapore's waste from 1970 to 1999, and occupied 234 hectares - more than 100 football fields - along the eastern bank of then Sungei Serangoon.

It has since been transformed to become an important source of water supply, and the wetland is now home to a myriad of biodiversity that provides opportunities for recreation, research and education.

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Be careful of wanting slower growth: Vivian Balakrishnan

Dylan Loh Channel NewsAsia 18 Nov 12;

SINGAPORE: Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan has warned about wanting slower growth for Singapore in the hope that social inequality might be reduced.

He said if the country does not seize growth opportunities, it could mean fewer and poorer quality jobs for people.

Dr Balakrishnan was asking Singaporeans to think carefully about what they want for their future, in a dialogue with residents on Sunday.

Should Singapore hold on to the values which brought the nation to where it is today?

Environment Minister Vivian Balakrishnan posed this question to Bukit Panjang residents in the ongoing National Conversation.

He said the rapidly evolving global landscape means values in Singapore are also changing.

But the anchor, he suggested, is a fair and just society, so Singaporeans should have their chance to speak up.

Issues raised by residents at the session included overcrowding on public transportation, the adequacy of healthcare facilities, and stress brought about by the education system.

Some also suggested solutions to the problems.

"Subsequently, what the government is going to follow up on these issues are what I would be very concerned about," said resident Alice Lo.

"Because we don't want it to be empty talk, (with) no action or no follow up."

Dr Balakrishnan said there is good reason for Singaporeans to be anxious about the future, as the country is facing intense global competition not witnessed before.

He added that people have to be equipped through education, to take on the jobs of tomorrow.

Dr Balakrishnan said: "The fact that the changes are occurring so rapidly is very unsettling for many of us. So that's the backdrop behind the anxiety which we can feel on the ground. It's important that the conversation, however, leads to a positive conclusion and brings us forward."

Dr Balakrishnan said Singapore has to ensure its family structures and social safety nets are ready, for a future where the population is ageing and communal relations may not be as strong as before.

- CNA/xq

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