Indonesia forestry ministry seeks moratorium extension

* Government decision on forest moratorium expected in May
* Agriculture and Forestry ministries have conflicting views
* Palm industry urged to use degraded forest land

Michael Taylor Reuters 14 Jan 13;

JAKARTA, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Indonesia should embrace its key role in climate change and extend a ban on the destruction of forests and peatlands despite opposition from the agriculture minister and the influential palm oil industry, a senior forestry ministry official said.

Indonesia, home to the world's third-largest expanse of tropical forests, is under intense international pressure to limit deforestation and destruction of its carbon-rich peatlands, at risk from urbanisation and the rapidly expanding palm oil and mining sectors.

Southeast Asia's largest economy imposed a two-year moratorium on clearing forest in May 2011 under a $1 billion climate deal with Norway aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation, and the government has yet to announce what it plans to do about the ban.

Hadi Daryanto, secretary general at Indonesia's forestry ministry, told Reuters he hoped it would be extended.

"The ministry of forestry would like to continue the moratorium and provide degraded land for business," said Daryanto, whose ministry is legally responsible for the economic and ecological management of Indonesia's forests.

"We have had success with the moratorium," he added, citing a decline of the deforestation rate since 2011.

Illegal deforestation is common in Indonesia, and especially in Central Kalimantan, where scores of palm oil and mining concessions overlap with protected forests.

The forestry ministry makes millions of dollars from selling permits to use forests each year, and a recent survey by the government's anti-graft agency showed it was perceived as one of the most corrupt institutions in the country.

Daryanto said a more transparent tender procedure should put an end to allegations of graft, adding: "The corruption is in the past."

Indonesia in the world's biggest producer of palm oil and its pledge to protect its forests is being tested by soaring demand for the edible oil. Palm oil companies such as Sime Darby , Wilmar International, Sinar Mas and Astra Agro Lestari, are some of the biggest in the country, and edible oil exports totalled $21.6 billion in 2011.

Environmental groups see the moratorium as a step in the right direction, but activists lament the various loopholes in the ban that they say are concessions to the palm oil industry.

Palm oil companies want the moratorium scrapped, saying it casts Indonesia's management of plantations in a bad light.

The agriculture minister also says the ban is unnecessary and should be replaced by a stricter permit criteria for palm plantations.

PEOPLE POWER

Palm estates sprawl across around 8.5 million hectares in Indonesia, and that number is expected to rise by about 200,000 hectares a year for the next decade.

Daryanto said palm oil plantations should expand on the almost 24 million hectares of degraded forest land currently available, even if the area is inhabited.

"It is better to use degraded land for investment for palm oil," he said. "The companies don't want degraded land because normally people are already there, and to remove them is very expensive."

Last month, Indonesia approved a rainforest conservation project that sets aside an area roughly the size of Singapore and rewards investors with tradeable carbon credits in the first of its kind to win formal backing in the country.

The project, Rimbay Raya Biodiversity Reserver, is part of a U.N.-led scheme called reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) and is aimed at showing forests can pay for themselves and compete with powerful palm oil, mining and timber interests.

Norway, however, has said Indonesia's progress in reforming its forestry sector will not be sufficient to meet its pledge to reduce carbon emissions by 26 percent by 2020. ($1 = 9635.0000 Indonesian rupiah) (Additional reporting by Yayat Supriatna and Rieka Rahadiana; Editing by Miral Fahmy)

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Fish Poop Helps Spread Seagrass

Douglas Main LiveScience.com Yahoo News 15 Jan 13;

To spread and regenerate, an important marine plant depends on animals to eat its seeds and poop them out around the ocean, according to recent research.

Seeds from eelgrass, a type of marine grass found around the world, can survive and germinate after being eaten by three types of fish, one turtle and one type of bird, said Sarah Sumoski, a researcher at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and co-author of a study published recently in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series.

It's hard to understate the importance of eelgrass and other seagrasses, which globally can store up to twice as much carbon as the world's temperate and tropical forests, according to a separate study. This is potentially important as humans pump more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Eelgrass meadows, which grow on the ocean floor in shallow waters, also help shelter many different types of fish and crabs, and serve as food for animals as diverse as manatees and ducks, Sumoski told OurAmazingPlanet.

By hitching a ride in these animals' digestive tracts, the grasses' seeds can travel long distances, establishing far-flung seagrass meadows. Sumoski's study found that a type of diving duck called the lesser scaup can transport seeds more than 12 miles (19.5 kilometers); after this journey, the seeds can still sprout, Sumoski said.

This is the first study to show how these seeds fare when eaten by multiple types of animals, said Sumoski. The ability of some of the seeds to sprout after being eaten surprised Sumoski, she said, especially in the case of one fish species, which commonly feed on the grasses and are well equipped to break down plant material.

The study's results will help Sumoski and co-author Robert Orth in their efforts to reintroduce eelgrass to Virginia's coastal bays. In the 1930s, an outbreak of wasting disease and an enormous hurricane virtually wiped out these eelgrass beds, which provide a bedrock for marine life. The environmental impact was so great that bay scallops (a type of shellfish) disappeared; until that time the scallops had supported a significant local fishery.

For the last 15 years, Orth and a large group of collaborators have planted eelgrass shoots and millions of seeds throughout the coastal bays. Now, more than 6.6 square miles (17 square km) of lush eelgrass meadows line these bays, according to a release from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. The researchers think the fish and other creatures have already helped spread the grasses beyond the areas planted by conservationists. Scientists hope that the animals will continue to spread the meadows in the future.

"Animals consuming seeds in one location and then excreting them in another location where they can germinate is not new," said Matt Harwell, a seagrass ecologist who was not involved in the study. "However, it is a new finding for a seagrass species that is found across much of the world. Understanding population dynamics is very important to understanding the health, longevity, and resilience of a seagrass meadow to stresses, especially since recent estimates suggest that seagrass loss — globally — is around 7 percent per year."

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Helping nature help us: conserve ecosystems, reduce the risk of disasters

IUCN 15 Jan 13;

To help protect communities from disasters and tackle the adverse effects of climate change, a new IUCN project will show how healthy ecosystems can help reduce the risks and make livelihoods more resilient.

Avalanches and landslides threaten human settlements and transport lines in mountainous regions of countries such as Nepal, Chile and China. Coastal communities in Thailand are exposed to tropical storms and soil salinization due to the degradation of mangrove forests while droughts, floods and other extremes seriously affect communities in Burkina Faso and Senegal.

Around the world environmental degradation reduces the capacity of ecosystems such as forests and wetlands to meet people’s need for food and fresh water and to protect them from hazards by providing a physical buffer, regulating floods and stabilizing slopes. Healthy and diverse ecosystems are more robust in the face of extreme weather and are better able to continue providing benefits to communities after disaster has struck.

IUCN’s Ecosystems Protecting Infrastructure and Communities (EPIC) project will be implemented in six countries in collaboration with Swiss NGO ProAct Network.

“The goal of the project is to document evidence that highlights the need for promoting and conserving ecosystem services for both climate change adaptation and in planning for disaster risk reduction,” says Radhika Murti, Programme Coordinator for IUCN's Ecosystem Management Programme.

“EPIC will also work with policy makers at national and local levels to promote policies that link the various sectors such as environment, disaster management, land-use planning and public finance, and help in coordinated planning,” she adds.

This five-year project, funded by Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety’s International Climate Initiative, is being implemented with several partners including the University of Lausanne, the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique in France, Mangrove Action Project and the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research.

Empirical and applied scientific information will be compiled from case studies addressing different scenarios in Chile and Nepal (avalanches), China and Nepal (landslides), Burkina Faso and Senegal (droughts and floods) and Thailand (coastal hazards). Based on lessons learned from the case studies, workshops will be held to improve ecosystem-based risk management in the selected countries.

It is hoped that longer term ecosystem-based adaptation strategies will be built upon the results shown from managing ecosystems for disaster risk reduction.

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Black carbon a powerful climate pollutant: international study

Deborah Zabarenko PlanetArk 16 Jan 13;

Black carbon, the soot produced by burning fossil fuels and biomass, is a more potent atmospheric pollutant than previously thought, according to a four-year international study released on Tuesday.

Emitted by diesel engines, brick kilns and wood-fired cookstoves, black carbon is second only to carbon dioxide as the most powerful climate pollutant, according to the study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres.

But because black carbon only lasts in the atmosphere a matter of days, compared to carbon dioxide's atmospheric endurance of centuries, addressing it could be prime target for curbing global warming, the report said.

"This new research provides further compelling evidence to act on short-lived climate pollutants, including black carbon," Achim Steiner, chief of the United Nations Environment Program, said in a statement.

Steiner pointed to efforts under way to cut black carbon emissions from heavy-duty diesel vehicles, brick production and municipal waste disposal as part of the international Climate and Clean Air Coalition. The United States was one of the coalition's founders last year.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in mid-December also tightened limits on soot pollution from power plants, diesel engines and burning wood from levels set in 1997.

The report found black carbon's effect on climate is nearly twice what the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated in its landmark 2007 assessment.

At that time, climate scientists ranked black carbon third behind carbon dioxide and methane. The new research, conducted by a multinational team of 31 experts, moves black carbon up in the ranking.

The new assessment found black carbon emissions caused significantly higher warming over the Arctic and other regions, could affect rainfall patterns, including those of the Asian monsoon system, and have led to rapid warming in the northern United States, Canada, northern Europe and northern Asia.

The sooty particles that make up black carbon can be a major component of urban air pollution like that now blanketing Beijing, said Durwood Zaelke, president of the Washington-based non-profit Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development and a reviewer of the study before its publication.

"Black carbon is not only more important for climate than we thought, it also kills over a million people every year who contract deadly respiratory diseases by breathing air polluted by black carbon," Zaelke said in a statement.

The study was published four days after the United States released a draft assessment of the climate, finding that the consequences of climate change are now evident in U.S. health, infrastructure, water supply, agriculture and especially more frequent severe weather.

That report followed a U.S. announcement that found 2012 was the hottest year on record in the contiguous United States, with thousands of individual weather records shattered.

(Editing by Paul Simao)

Climate change: Soot's role underestimated, says study
Matt McGrath BBC News 15 Jan 13;

Black carbon, or soot, is making a much larger contribution to global warming than previously recognised, according to research.

Scientists say that particles from diesel engines and wood burning could be having twice as much warming effect as assessed in past estimates.

They say it ranks second only to carbon dioxide as the most important climate-warming agent.

The research is in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres.

Black carbon aerosols have been known to warm the atmosphere for many years by absorbing sunlight. They also speed the melting of ice and snow.
Half a degree

This new study concludes the dark particles are having a warming effect approximately two thirds that of carbon dioxide, and greater than methane.

"The large conclusion is that forcing due to black carbon in the atmosphere is larger," lead author Sarah Doherty told BBC News.

"The value the IPCC gave in their 4th assessment report in 2007 is half of what we are presenting in this report - it's a little bit shocking,"

The researchers say black carbon emissions in Europe and North America have been declining due to restrictions on emissions from diesel engines. But they have been growing steadily in the developing world. However as these type of particles don't last very long in the atmosphere, cutting their number would have an immediate impact on temperatures.

"Reducing emissions from diesel engines and domestic wood and coal fires is a no-brainer as there are tandem health and climate benefits," said Professor Piers Forster from the University of Leeds.

"If we did everything we could to reduce these emissions we could buy ourselves up to half a degree less warming, or a couple of decades of respite," he added.

The report warns that the role of black carbon is complex and can have cooling and warming effects.

"Mitigation is a complex issue because soot is typically emitted with other particles and gases that probably cool the climate," said Prof Forster,

"For instance, organic matter in the atmosphere produced by open vegetation burning likely has a cooling effect. Therefore the net effect of eliminating that source might not give us the desired cooling," he added.

Black carbon is said to be a significant source of rapid warming in the northern United States, Canada, northern Europe and northern Asia. The particles are also said to have an impact on rainfall patterns in the Asian monsoon.

Last year a six nation coalition of countries began a combined effort to curb the impact of short lived climate agents such as black carbon.

The authors say that while cutting back on soot is important, cutting carbon dioxide emissions is the best way to address climate change in the long term.

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2012 was in top 10 warmest on record

Matt McGrath BBC News 15 Jan 13;

US scientists say that 2012 was among the 10 warmest years the world has experienced since 1880.

Nasa researchers said it was the ninth warmest year while experts from another American agency said it was the tenth.

Both teams said that temperatures would have been higher if it hadn't been for the La Nina weather pattern that brought cooling to some regions.

They were equally certain carbon dioxide had been the principal driver of the rise over the past 50 years.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) said that their analysis of temperature data from a global network of weather stations indicated that the average temperature for 2012 was 0.57C above the 20th century average.

The agency stated that all 12 years of the 21st Century rank among the 14 warmest in the 133-year period of record keeping.

"This past year, unlike the US they were not a record globally but they certainly were warm," said Thomas Karl, director of NOAA's National Climatic Data Centre.

"In fact it marks a persistent above average - every year has been above average since 1976."

Using the same data but carrying out a slightly different analysis, Nasa said it was the 9th warmest year with temperatures 0.6C warmer than the mid 20th century baseline.

Dr James Hansen, from Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies acknowledged that even in a period of global warming some seasons will be cooler than the long term average.

"The perceptive person should notice that the frequency of unusually warm extremes is increasing. It is the extremes that have the most impact on people and other life on the planet," he said.

According to both groups of researchers most areas of the world had higher than average temperatures in 2012 while the Arctic experienced a record breaking ice melt.

NASA: 2012 Was 9th Hottest Year on Record Worldwide
Tia Ghose LiveScience.com Yahoo News 15 Jan 13;

Last year was the ninth hottest year for the globe since 1880, according to new data released by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) today (Jan. 15).

Of the nine hottest years on record, eight have come since the year 2000, with 2005 and 2010 sharing the dubious title of hottest year on record. The new data reveal the alarming, long-term trend of global warming caused by human emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, climate scientists said.

"The planet is out of balance, there's more energy coming in than going out," said James Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, during the press conference. "So therefore we can predict with confidence that the next decade is going to be warmer than the last one."

To calculate the global surface temperature, scientists at the NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York collect temperature data from 1,000 weather stations around the world and combine that with sea-surface temperatures derived from satellite imagery and data from Antarctic research stations. The global surface temperature last year was about 58.3 degrees Fahrenheit (14.6 Celsius), about 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.6 Celsius) above the average from 1951 to 1980.

While the planet overall experienced a warm year, the continental United States faced a particularly hot year that blew all previous records away. The average temperature, about 55.3 degrees Fahrenheit (12.9 Celsius) was 3.25 degrees Fahrenheight (1.8 degrees Celsius) higher than the average from 1951 to 1980. [The 7 Hottest Climate Change Stories of 2012]

"We've broken the record by more than one degree, that is quite impressive," said Thomas R. Karl, director, NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, Asheville, N.C., during a press briefing today. "It literally smashed the record."

The incredibly warm spring and summer in the United States led to early greening of vegetation, followed by extreme drought conditions that are still going on, Karl said in the press conference.

The findings emphasize that skyrocketing emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane are warming the planet. These gases trap heat in the atmosphere rather than letting it escape back into space.

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen precipitously since the advent of the industrial revolution: In 1880, the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration was about 285 parts per million, while today, it is more than 385 parts per million, according to NOAA's data. Though that carbon dioxide can come from natural sources, most of it comes from the burning of fossil fuels to power modern society.

Natural variations in weather mean the spike in atmospheric carbon dioxide may not translate into a year-over-year, consistent increase in the planet's temperature, but each successive decade will probably be warmer.

But one trend that will most probably occur next year is 2012's stunning loss of sea ice in the Arctic this summer and fall, Karl said. That can have global implications because the Arctic can affect weather patterns across the planet.

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Best of our wild blogs: 15 Jan 13

Stephanotis maingayi rediscovered
from Flying Fish Friends

Quiet at East Coast Park
from wild shores of singapore

The Fleming collection is back in South East Asia again!
from Raffles Museum News and Press coverage from our groundbreaking ceremony last friday

Saving manta rays from the fin trade
from Mongabay.com news by Rhett Butler

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Malaysia: Civet coffee - Tasty but tainted

Tan Cheng Li The Star 15 Jan 13;

The delectable civet coffee has an unsavoury side.

IF YOU love kopi luwak, you might be contributing to the decimation of populations of the common palm civet, which are increasingly being netted from the wild in Indonesia to stock farms that produce the prized coffee beans.

Surveys by Traffic, a body which monitors the trade in wildlife, found the wild cat to be openly sold in Indonesian markets for the production of kopi luwak or civet coffee. Kopi luwak is made from coffee beans that have passed through the gut of a civet and are later picked from the faeces, and is considered to be the rarest and most expensive coffee in the world.

“This coffee has become increasingly trendy and as a result, civets are being increasingly captured from the wild and fed coffee beans to mass produce this blend,” wrote Chris Shepherd, Traffic’s deputy director in South-East Asia, in a recently released report, Observations of small carnivores in Jakarta wildlife markets.

He had made three visits to each of the four largest wildlife markets in Jakarta – Pramuka, Barito, Kartini and Jatinegara – between July 2010 and June 2012 and found the civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) to form the bulk (25 individuals) of the 47 small carnivores of six species being offered for sale.

Quota ignored

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed hunting and trade as a threat to the common palm civet. The species is killed as a pest and for consumption, or captured for trade as pets throughout its range. Indonesia has a quota of 270 civets for trade annually, specifically as pets. But the quota is largely ignored by hunters and traders and is not enforced by authorities, according to Shepherd.

At the same time that Shepherd surveyed the markets in Jakarta, other researchers visited the wildlife market in Denpasar, Bali, and observed 25 common palm civets for sale. The dealer said that the animals were used to make kopi luwak.

“The impact of the demand for this fashionable coffee on wild civet populations is yet unknown but may constitute a significant threat, and appears to be in violation of the quota set for pets,” wrote Shepherd.

He also found other carnivores on sale in the markets: leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis (seven individuals), Javan ferret badger Melogale orientalis (five), small Asian mongoose Herpestes javanicus (five), small Indian civet Viverricula indica (four) and small-toothed palm civet Arctogalidia trivirgata (one).

Of the six species being traded, only the leopard cat is protected under Indonesian law.

Shepherd pointed out that little is known about the Javan ferret badger, which is endemic to the islands of Java and Bali.

Given the restricted range of this species, and the potential threats of both habitat loss and trade, he suggested that Indonesia consider protecting this species.

“Generally, wildlife markets in Jakarta are unregulated. Despite laws in Indonesia protecting many species, and controlling trade of others, these laws are largely ignored and traders in the wildlife markets openly sell a wide variety of species, regardless of their legal status,” wrote Shepherd.

He urged for scrutiny of the trade in small carnivores, with the information used to detect and analyse trends, and to identify conservation concerns.

“Information should be regularly provided to the authorities who should be urged to enforce Indonesia’s laws and take action to shut the illegal trade down, and to prosecute people found violating the laws. Legal issues and conservation impacts of the growing civet coffee industry should be carefully examined and monitored.”

Lastly, he said efforts should be made to raise public support for conservation in Indonesia, and ultimately to reduce significantly the demand for these species.

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Malaysia: New manual to make oil palm plantations wildlife friendly

Keeping the wild
Allan Koay The Star 15 Jan 13;

A new manual guides plantation managers on making estates friendly to wildlife.

THE basin of the Kinabatangan river, the longest river in Sabah and rich in biodiversity, has been transformed by logging and agricultural activities in the last 60 or so years.

In 2002, the Corridor of Life project was initiated by the World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia and the conservation group has since been working with Sabah Wildlife Department, local communities and oil palm companies to rehabilitate and re-establish forests along the riverbank. The effort has shown some positive results.

“We’ve looked at some oil palm plantations that are close to the Kinabatangan river, and it’s quite exciting,” said Dr Reza Azmi, founder and executive director of Wild Asia, a group which works with businesses to improve their environmental practices. “You have some amazing birds popping in, there are orang utans visiting on a regular basis, and elephants dropping by.”

The Corridor of Life project is one of the case studies cited in Biodiversity In Plantation Landscapes, a manual published by Wild Asia and the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC). Wild Asia wanted a way to get managers with very little environmental and biodiversity knowledge to become more aware. So the manual was created as a kind of one-stop shop. It provides a primer on biodiversity and offers ways in which plantation managers can protect and enhance biodiversity in estates.

Handy guide

The manual does this by identifying landscape-level impacts, such as loss of natural habitats, and provides suggestions on how to manage such impacts. It also gives solutions for the use of fertilisers (which run the risk of runoffs contaminating aquatic environments) and pesticides (risk of poisoning wildlife), waste management and soil erosion, and managing water resources.

“For an existing plantation, sedimentation would be the big environmental issue,” said Reza. “You get this from replanting areas, or roads may have runoffs of sediment. And when you channel all this into your streams, it silts up the streams. The biodiversity of the streams are reduced.”

As they are planted with a single crop, plantations have been criticised for upsetting nature’s ecological balance. Reza said sometimes not everything in an area is cultivated, and that could be a good thing.

“Sometimes they leave pockets of forests here and there,” he said. “What we realise is that if those areas are left semi-natural, that’s also a way of attracting biodiversity within your plantation. We’ve also seen that just simply having ponds will make it attractive for migratory birds or other animals that might want to use them. We’ve seen some very rare birds in some oil palm plantations.”

Wild Asia, which started out as a simple online information-sharing hub in 1998, has been doing biodiversity assessments in and out of plantations since 2005.

“This really gives us a perspective of what the opportunities are, in terms of biodiversity conservation,” said Reza. “But also, the important thing was the time spent with the managers and staff on the ground, looking at and understanding the issues that are impacting biodiversity.”

The partnership with the oil palm industry gave Wild Asia the platform and access to the industry, and resources to do workshops with plantation managers. Prior to coming up with the manual, the organisation carried out a series of three workshops.

“The idea was get a chance to enlighten the managers on biodiversity issues,” Reza explained. “It was also to get feedback and problem-solve, and give them useful exercises. So all that became the precursor to the manual.”

Apart from the Kinabatangan example, the manual provides other success stories of biodiversity management. The River of Life Project in the Tanah Merah Estate in Negri Sembilan, for instance, involved rehabilitating a river that connected a forested hill to a mangrove reserve, and tree-planting as part of a forest enrichment exercise. The project ended in 2008, and the trees planted remained healthy.

Another is the Riparian Management Project in Sabah, undertaken in the Sabahmas Plantation outside of Lahad Datu. A biodiversity assessment found a large population of proboscis monkeys at the Segama river and a highly viable but degraded riparian area. The project was then undertaken by PPB Oil Palms and Sabah Forestry Department to enlarge and enrich the riparian area. After tree-plantings were carried out, there was an increase in sightings of wildlife in the area.

The manual is part of the Biodiversity for Busy Managers project, an initiative by Wild Asia and supported by the MPOC, to inspire and educate plantation managers to start incorporating biodiversity principles into their plantation management in order to protect their natural areas from depletion.

Wild Asia also conducted workshops for plantation workers to give them a clearer understanding of the concept of biodiversity, especially in relation to the issues connected to the oil palm industry, such as the development of riparian reserves and natural corridors in plantations. A series of Insight Guides are also being created, focusing on aspects of biodiversity which are of interest and importance to managers. The idea is to inform them about key biodiversity issues that apply to oil palm plantation development, and provide practical know-how to mitigate negative impacts on biodiversity in plantations.

The first guide, Migratory Birds In Plantations, comprises a four-page brochure and two posters which give an overview on bird migration, what birds to look out for at different times of the year, the benefits of birds in plantations, and ways in which planters can encourage the breeding and hosting of migratory birds.

A two-month study of avian diversity conducted in a plantation in Bintulu, Sarawak, in 2010 showed a positive correlation between the number of birds and proximity to secondary forest. The study also suggested that the presence of buffer zones in the plantation (in the form of riparian reserves, unplanted areas, road reserves or other areas where natural habitats can exist) benefits birds, as they constitute foraging and breeding habitats for birds.

Understand the problems

How effective would the solutions offered in the manual be in ensuring or regaining biodiversity in plantations? Reza pointed out that there is no hard and fast answer, but offered the Kinabatangan plantations as a good example of what can be done.

“You got the continuum of your starting point, and you also have a continuum of what your landscape and your neighbouring landscape actually look like,” he said. “Say, if my plantation is in Damansara (in Selangor), I’m surrounded by housing development, factories, so the overall state of my natural environment is pretty low. If you were to implement some of these ideas (in the manual), what you’re actually doing is creating little natural refuges for biodiversity, and you may be encouraging natural biodiversity. You’re also reducing your environmental foorprint. But should you expect to see tigers popping up? Or hornbills? No, because your palette, your neighbourhood, is pretty developed.”

He said the idea is to understand the problems occurring, and to plan for a different form of development for the future, while modifying practices at the same time.

“I wouldn’t say that this (manual) is going to stop the problems. But if you’re armed with this knowledge and you think about where you want to open a plantation next, and it stops you from doing it in a highly biodiverse area, then I think this book has done its job.”

The manual can be downloaded at oilpalm.wildasia.org/1657/launch-biodiversityplantation-landscapes-manual/.

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Malaysia: 'Pedu land clearing will affect 400 species'

New Straits Times 14 Jan 13;

ALOR STAR: The habitats of some 400 species of animals, including the rare plain-pouched hornbills, are being threatened by the Pas-led state government's agro-tourism project near Pedu Dam.

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) research officer S. Mageswari feared that the animals' habitat would be affected by land clearing taking place on a 358ha site near the area.

"During a research conducted on the Pedu forest with the World Wide Fund for Nature two years ago, we spotted a plain-pouched hornbill.

"We feared that the habitat of the hornbill, which is an endangered species, would be destroyed by the development works," she told the New Straits Times.

The land clearing was done to make way for a mango plantation to promote agro-tourism in the state. Mageswari said the absence of the animals would affect the ecosystem in the area.

"SAM is not choosing sides as we will not gain anything by doing so. However, we strongly believe that the state government should consider relocating the project."

State Wildlife and National Parks Department director Rozidan Md Yasin said the animal habitats would be affected by the land clearing.

It was reported that around 12,000 people who were taken for a tour at the site were shocked by the deforestation. The land clearing also irked 60,000 padi farmers, who urged the state government to scrap the project, which they claimed would affect their yield.

A Forestry Department spokesman said the project developer had been instructed to ensure that the land clearing did not trigger soil erosions and landslides.

On claims that rivers in the area had become murky and polluted, he said the department had taken water samples for testing.

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Indonesia: Javanese panther enters residential area in Banten

Antara 14 Jan 13;

Lebak (ANTARA News) - A female Javanese panther (Panthera pardus melas) that entered the residence area of Baduy in Kanekes village, Lebak Regency, Banten, was recently caught in a trap.

Photo of Javanese panther (Panthera pardus melas). (ANTARA/Musyawir)

"I predict that the panther caught in the trap was foraging," said Usep Suparno, an officer from the Forestry and Plantation Sub-official of Lebak, here on Monday.

He added that the weight of the animal was some 80 kilograms, and its body length was 1.5 meters.

The coat colour of the endemic panther, including endangered and protected species, is dark yellow, stated Usep.

"Their habitat in Mount Halimun-Salak National Park has been disturbed because of illegal logging activities, which have led to a decrease in the number of prey, such as warthogs and small deer," remarked Usep.

He admitted that panthers usually only enter villages or plantations in Lebak as a result of a damaged habitat.

He has urged residents to preserve the forest and this endangered animal since the forest area in Lebak is a habitat for the endemic panther.

"We urged the people not to kill the endangered species," said Usep.

According to him, the institution has cooperated with other agencies such as the Natural Resources Conservation Agency, the Forestry Police, and people around the national park to avoid the extinction of the species.

The institution has also provided counselling for the local residents and has encouraged discourse to protect the animal.

"This creature`s population could be a source of scientific information about our ancestors," he noted.

The Head Villager of Kanekes, Daenah, remarked that he had reported the finding to the relevant sub-official and agency.

According to him, the panther had been trapped for two days since Friday night (Jan 11) and was released on Sunday (Jan 13) after it broke out of the net in which it was trapped.

Daenah affirmed that the nocturnal species had suffered no injuries.

"I believe the panther had no injuries since we did not find any fallen fur," pointed out the Head Villager.
(Uu.B019/INE/KR-BSR/A014)

Editor: Priyambodo RH

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Thailand: Nets, poachers threaten sea cow extinction

The Nation 15 Jan 13;

Trang's 150 sea cow population faced extinction in a few years from now, as trawlnets were still being used and gang hunting of the dugongs had been revived, a local activist warned yesterday.

He said dugong heads were selling for medicine-making at Bt15,000 a piece on the overseas black market.

Koh Libong Community's Tourism for Conservation Club head, Isma-an Bensa-ard, said 17 dugongs died last year and 11 carcasses had been found buried to harvest the bones. Most dugong deaths came from illegal fishing tool usage as seen in Kang Tang and Had Samran districts, while state agencies were not acting effectively due to work redundancies and negligence. At the same time orders from overseas for dugongs were prompting gangsters to hunt them, he said.

Andaman Marine and Coastal Resource Research and Development Centre official Kongkiat Kittiwattanawong agreed the dugong situation was in crisis and last year saw confirmed dugong deaths in Trang and one in Phuket.

They resulted mostly from dugongs being trapped in trawlnets, he said.

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China pollution anger spills into state media

Neil Connor (AFP) Google News 15 Jan 13;

BEIJING — Public anger in China at dangerous levels of air pollution, which blanketed Beijing in acrid smog, spread Monday as state media queried official transparency and the nation's breakneck development.

The media joined Internet users in calling for a re-evaluation of China's modernisation process, which has seen rapid urbanisation and dramatic economic development at the expense of the environment.

Dense smog shrouded large swathes of northern China at the weekend, cutting visibility to 100 metres (yards) in some areas and forcing flight cancellations. Reports said dozens of building sites and a car factory in the capital halted work as an anti-pollution measure.

Doctors at two of the city's major hospitals said the number of patients with respiratory problems had increased sharply in the past few days, state media reported.

"Now it has been dark with pollution for three days, at least people are starting to realise how important the environment is," said one posting on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo.

At the height of the smog Beijing authorities said readings for PM2.5 -- particles small enough deeply to penetrate the lungs -- hit 993 micrograms per cubic metre, almost 40 times the World Health Organisation's safe limit.

Experts quoted by state media blamed low winds, saying fog had mixed with pollutants from vehicles and factories and had been trapped by mountains north and west of Beijing. Coal burning in winter was also a factor, they added.

In an editorial Monday the state-run Global Times called for more transparent figures on pollution and urged the government to change its "previous method of covering up the problems and instead publish the facts".

Officials in China have a long history of covering up environmental and other problems.

Earlier this month a chemical spill into a river was only publicly disclosed five days after it happened, and authorities were widely criticised for initially denying the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003.

Official PM2.5 statistics have only been released for China's biggest conurbations since the beginning of last year, and expanded to cover 74 cities earlier this month.

The tightly-controlled media has previously raised concerns over health problems linked to industrialisation. Observers say the statistics' increasing availability has forced them to confront the issue more directly.

The Xinhua state news agency criticised the "pollutant belt" that had spread across the country and warned that the authorities' stated goal of building a "beautiful China" was in jeopardy.

"A country with a brown sky and hazardous air is obviously not beautiful," it said.

"The environmental situation facing the country will be increasingly challenging," it said. "There is no reason to be too optimistic."

On Monday the Ministry of Environmental Protection announced measures to tackle the problem.

It pledged to limit vehicle exhaust emissions and promote the use of clean energy as well as step up the development of public transport systems in urban areas, state news agency Xinhua said.

The environmental watchdog also asked local authorities to increase their analysis of air pollution and publicise the results quickly as part of an early warning system for air quality, Xinhua reported.

Smog levels eased in the capital Monday, with the national monitoring centre putting the PM2.5 AQI figure at 183, or "light pollution", in the evening -- although the US embassy gave it a "hazardous" 335.

Levels remained high in many parts of China, with PM 2.5 AQI standing at 405 in Zhengzhou south of Beijing and 342 in Xian to the southwest.

Share prices of environment-related companies surged, with face mask producer Shanghai Dragon soaring by its 10 percent daily limit.

The smog dominated discussion on Sina Weibo. "This pollution is making me so angry," said one user, posting a picture of herself wearing a face mask.

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