Jakarta under constant threat of flooding and rising sea levels

Sukristiono Sukardjo Jakarta Post 23 Jan 13;

Jakarta, with its booming population, is facing a challenge from anthropogenic climate change. The city represents an exceptional concentration of 10 million people located close to the sea’s edge and therefore vulnerable to rising sea levels.

Greater Jakarta is a delta city that has constantly been at risk of flooding. During the Indonesia Delta Forum held in Semarang in October 2010, the unabated flood problems beleaguering Jakarta were discussed, and 13 rivers running from Mount Gede, Mt. Pangrango and Mt. Salak in West Java were identified as permanent threats to the capital city.

The quality of all river catchment areas has been degraded due to disposal of solid and domestic waste, continuing illegal development activities and other environmental encroachments have complicated rising sea level mitigation and adaptation efforts.

Jakarta, West Java and Banten mangrove forests occupied 44,453 hectares in 1996-1998, accounting for 0.66 percent of Java’s north coast. In 2009 the forest cover had declined to only 11,370 hectares.

These mangroves support Jakarta bay fisheries, provide coastal protection against typhoons and storms, reduce erosion, stabilize sediments, control flooding and pollution, and serve as habitats for many forms of biota.

Jakarta’s mangroves grow in narrow, discontinuous strips along the seaward face of the stretch from Kapuk Naga to Muara Angke and help Jakarta withstand the tides. Kapuk Naga mangroves, however, have been vastly diminished, while the 25 hectares of mangrove forest in Muara Angke sanctuary are coming under attack from pollutants.

Nature reserves in Penyaliran Barat (18.41 hectares) and Penyaliran Timur (19.50 hectares) as well as fishponds cannot recover despite rehabilitation activities. The Jakarta mangroves have been degraded environmentally and structurally, their natural water regime has been disturbed, rendering them unable to protect the coasts from rising tidal floods.

Meanwhile, forested areas in Mt. Salak, Mt. Gede and Mt. Pangrango and 13 catchment areas are environmentally degrading at an alarming rate as a result of development and other human encroachments. The upland areas are the target of developers hungry for land.

Uncontrolled development of upland regions and the growing wealth of Jakarta’s citizens lead to new high quality residential areas at the expense of small lakes, putting the city under permanent risk of flooding.

The 1993 Kapuk Naga reclamation program, along 30 kilometers of coastline, affects some 4,000 hectares of seashore. This reclamation will fundamentally change the contours of the coastal zones in Jakarta bay and the gradual interface between land and water will be replaced by an abrupt separation of land from the marine environment.

The choice to change the use of shallow coastal zones and build new residential areas to meet demand from the growing population will bring new catastrophes in its tide.

It is now only a matter of time before mangroves are totally erased from the map of Jakarta — a victim of unbridled urbanization and industrialization programs initiated by the government, which, in the same breath, pronounces its concern about Jakarta’s ecological balance. Mangrove forest loss will certainly lead Jakarta to total flooding from tides and from upland, which will rank among the most devastating natural disasters in the contemporary history of the city.

A number of field surveys and scientific studies show a decline in tree density in the three mountains south of Jakarta, reducing their capability to mitigate water runoff during heavy rain. These trees need to be managed for survival and growth as flood mitigation elements against climate change.

Hydrological regimes are justified on the basis of claims that the dense trees of mountain forests have provided protection against flood. Increasing tree density will enhance the mitigation effects of mountain forests. To mitigate the impact of climate change mountain forests, catchment areas and mangroves in the northern Java coastline are important and must be protected for their multifunctions.

In 1923, the mangroves encircling parts of a 50 kilometer-long area along the then Batavia coastline, extending between 2 and 7 kilometers inland, especially from Muara Aluran and Muara Angke, mitigated tidal floods. The amount of mitigation was documented in historical records, but it may soon be reduced to a mere memory.

Tree-planting campaigns to rehabilitate catchment areas and reforest cleared mountain areas are the keys in mitigating flood impact. Attempts to bridge a gap between science and policy can materialize by presenting and synthesizing information on catchment area and forest protection drawn from empirical studies, simulations and mathematical models.

I personally suggest that 13 catchment and coastal areas be rehabilitated as soon as possible. Squatters along the catchment areas in Jakarta, West Java and Banten should also be properly educated to ensure conservation and eco-friendly environments. The 13 rivers with sediment-garbage loads and tree-felling are examples of human egoism.

Not only do floods damage the infrastructure, but also cause humanitarian problems. Jakarta is at risk of global warming, rising sea levels and climate change, therefore it needs mountain forests, mangroves and associated healthy rivers to provide natural protection from hazards. Mountain forests and mangroves, however, are a source of conflict among Jakarta, West Java and Banten. The point is Jakarta needs well stocked upland forests, mangrove belts, urban forest renewal and improvement to 13 catchment areas and the coastal environment to anticipate floods and climate change.

Many environmentalists, ecologists, moralists and sociologists recount how Jakarta’s rapid increase in population gives rise to a demand for housing, living space and other human necessities, without paying attention to social ethics. Jakarta floods can be regarded as a moral issue. Too many talk about the flooding, but are Jakarta, West Java and Banten government officials, councilors and development planners listening to the voices speaking up for the diminishing upland forests, mangroves and 13 unhealthy rivers?

The writer is a professor of mangrove ecology with the Research Center for Oceanography at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

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700 dolphins slaughtered in Solomons money row

Campbell Cooney ABC 24 Jan 13;

A remote village in the Solomon Islands has slaughtered at least 700 dolphins, saying it is in retaliation for a breached agreement with a conservation group.

The village of Fanalei in South Malaita, caught and killed the animals in protest over non-payment of funds promised by the Earth Island Institute to forego their traditional hunting practice.

The chairman of Fanalei Honiara-based association, Atkin Fakaia, has defended the slaughter, saying the villagers resumed their normal dolphin hunt to earn an income.

"The village says the slaughter was held because the conservation group has breached a memorandum of understanding which facilitated it providing money for project development," he said.

"(The agreement) ensured it and other villages have not held their traditional hunt for the past two years."

But the Earth Island Institute's director Lawrence Makili disputes the claim, saying the money has been provided to village representatives, who cannot account for how it was spent.

"The communities used that for an excuse for them to do what they were doing," Mr Makili said.

Last year the Solomon Islands banned the live export of dolphins.

Solomon Islands villagers kill 900 dolphins in conservation dispute
Islanders claim Berkely-based Earth Island Institute failed to fulfill deal to pay $400,000 to stop hunt
Suzanne Goldenberg guardian.co.uk 24 Jan 13;

Villagers in the Solomon Islands have slaughtered up to 900 dolphins in the course of a dispute with a conservation group, Earth Island Institute.

Accounts of the dispute vary. The islanders say the Berkeley-based conservation group failed to pay them, as agreed, for stopping the traditional hunt. Earth Island says the slaughter was the work of a "renegade group" trying to sabotage conservation work.

What is clear, however, is that a misunderstanding between the villagers and Earth Island has resulted in one of the worst cases of dolphin slaughter in the Solomon Islands for some time, and delivered a huge setback to conservation efforts in a world "hot spot" for the dolphin trade.

The Solomon Islands were notorious among conservationists as a source of live dolphins for sea aquariums in China and Dubai. A captive dolphin sells for up to $150,000.

"We are very very disappointed," said David Phillips, who oversees international dolphin protection efforts for Earth Island. "This is a tragedy. It's bad for dolphins. It's bad for the community. It's bad for the Solomon Islands as a nation to have this blot on the record."

Earth Island had been working with islanders of Malaita for two years to try to stop the hunt. The islanders' account, which was aired by Australian broadcasting, accused the conservation group of failing to live up to a deal to pay up to $400,000 to people in the village of Fanalei, to stop the dolphin hunt. The villagers said they received barely a third of the promised funds before the money dried up.

Atkin Fakaia, a community leader now living in the capital, Honiara, told Radio Australia the disillusioned Fanalei villagers had gone back to hunting when the money did not come in.

"The issue of them going back fishing for and killing dolphins was on the understanding that Earth Island had been reluctant to pay the agreed amount that was due to the community," he said. "They were just disappointed and dissatisfied over the attitude of Earth Island."

Phillips said the causes of the dispute were far more complicated – although he did not dispute the charge villagers in Fanalei had not seen the money they were expecting. Under the agreement, funds were supposed to be paid out as small grants for community projects in the village, and for income generating efforts. However, Phillips said villagers living in the capital had seized control of the funds, and had not distributed the money.

"The renegade group grabbed funds that were supposed to go to the community and that resulted in a lot of the discord," he said. "In our view there are proper charges of corruption in what has happened in the community."

Phillips said the conservation group was still working with two other villages on the island, and hoped to resolve the dispute with the people of Fanalei. Fakaia told Australia radio the dispute would now likely end up in court.

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Best of our wild blogs: 23 Jan 13;

LTA's proposed Cross Island Line (CRL) cuts through the Central Catchment Forest Reserve
from Habitatnews

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Exhumation at Bukit Brown cemetery deferred

Lip Kwok Wai Channel NewsAsia 22 Jan 13;

SINGAPORE: The registration deadline for exhumation of graves at Bukit Brown cemetery has been extended till April.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said as of 21 January 2013, LTA has received 1,216 applications to claim unmarked graves.

Authorities have also said the exhumation date has been pushed back as some graves have not been claimed. Documentation work of over 3,000 graves is nearly complete.

The exhumation comes as the Land Transport Authority will construct a new dual four-lane road by 2016 in Bukit Brown to alleviate congestion along Lornie Road and the PIE during peak hours.

Users of Android smartphones or tablets can now turn to an app, developed by the Working Committee and Centre of Social Media Innovations for Communities, to seek information about selected graves.

For a start, there will be information on 23 graves and more graves will be included later. There are also plans to document exhumation-related rituals.

Leader of the working committee for Bukit Brown cemetery, Dr Hui Yew Foong, said: "Usually we look out for interesting rituals that are performed before exhumation. Or if we suspect there are interesting artefacts buried with the deceased, we will ask the family for permission to document the exhumation itself.

"One recent case involved a family that came from China. They came from China, to go through the exhumation process, claim the remains of their ancestors, went for the cremation. Then they brought ashes back to China, so we did the documentation of the whole process."

- CNA/ck

Many yet to claim graves at Bukit Brown
Exhumation to begin after Qing Ming; documentation work close to completion
Grace Chua Straits Times 25 Jan 13;

STUDENT Toh Zheng Han and his family will be conducting Qing Ming Festival rituals at the Bukit Brown cemetery this year for the first - and last - time.

His maternal great-great-grandaunt's grave is among 3,746 that will be exhumed to make way for a new road.

The 25-year-old's family claimed the grave last September after finding the burial record in a family genealogy book.

But some two-thirds of the graves affected by the new dual four-lane road, meant to ease peak-hour congestion in Lornie Road and the Pan-Island Expressway, remain unclaimed.

The cemetery, in existence since 1922 and closed to burials since 1973, has some 100,000 graves in all.

Heritage buff and cemetery guide Raymond Goh said the unclaimed graves may be Qing-dynasty ones moved from other parts of the country or those belonging to Hokkiens and Straits Chinese.

Other dialect groups such as the Cantonese and Teochews had other cemeteries in the past so fewer of them are likely to be buried at Bukit Brown, added Mr Goh, who has been helping descendants locate graves.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has said the deadline for relatives to claim graves has been extended till after the Qing Ming period in late March and early April. Exhumation will begin after that.

The LTA will pay for the cost of exhumation, the cremation of remains and the storage of ashes in a government crematorium and columbarium. Ashes from unclaimed graves will be scattered at sea after three years.

The LTA's tender to build the new road closed last October and has not yet been awarded.

Meanwhile, documentation work on the affected graves is almost complete, though the data has not yet been analysed, said Dr Hui Yew-Foong of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, who is leading the process.

It was commissioned by the authorities after heritage groups spoke of the need to commemorate the history of the place.

Dr Hui said the deadline extension may help those who, for one reason or other, have not made claims.

"Sometimes, claimants may not have come forward because they think other relatives may be claiming. The extension also gives families more time for closure," he added.

But Mr Goh pointed out that some may not even know they have relatives buried in Bukit Brown.

Polytechnic administrator Gan Su-Lin, 46, realised she had kinfolk buried there only after she checked the LTA's burial register.

Her family had the remains of her grand-uncle and his wife - who she thought were buried in Malaysia - exhumed privately in October.

"I'm vexed that we rushed his disinterment, believing that the public exhumations would begin before Qing Ming 2013," Dr Gan said.

"Many of us who arranged for private exhumations did so because we wanted to do right by our ancestors and ensure they were resettled properly and with dignity."

To view the Bukit Brown burial register and find out details on how to go about claiming graves, visit http://app.lta.gov.sg/exhumation.asp.

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Indonesia: Green turtle smuggling into Bali continues

Luh De Suriyani Jakarta Post 21 Jan 13;

The smuggling of the endangered green turtle into the island of Bali is mostly conducted to meet the continuing demand for turtle meat for human consumption. The Balinese consider turtle meat to be a delicacy.

The Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSD) stated that the smuggling of 80 green turtles into Bali had been foiled in 2012.

Soemarsono, chairman of BKSD, shared with Bali Daily on Friday morning that: “The modes of turtle smuggling are similar with the use of water transportation and port entry, but the smugglers were clever enough to stop at different ports, especially smaller ones and traditional fishing ports, across Bali.”

He said that turtle meat was still in high demand among the Balinese and that some food stalls and restaurants serving turtle meat were still operating in Jimbaran in Badung regency and in Gianyar regency.

Green turtles are strictly protected under a decree as their population is under threat from over-harvesting of both eggs and adults, as well as from accidental mortality in fishing nets.

Green turtles are widely harvested for their meat in many tropical countries, including Indonesia, which has banned its trade and consumption since 1996.

According to data from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an estimated 100,000 green turtles are killed in Indonesian and Australian waters every year. Green turtle consumption in Bali reached its peak in the late 1970s, when more than 30,000 green turtles were landed every year. In 2002, landings were estimated at 684 green turtles every year.

Despite protests by animal welfare groups and a tourist boycott of the island, turtle meat remains a delicacy among the Balinese.

Illegal and legal turtle traders in Bali often justify their activities on the grounds that turtles and turtle meat are important elements in various Hindu rituals. However, the influential Hindu High Council (PHDI) issued a bhisama (religious decree) on Aug. 31, 2005 stipulating that other animals or symbols, drawings or cakes in the forms of those animals could satisfy the ritual requirements for endangered species, including turtles, eagles, tigers and other protected animals.

The bhisama was considered a significant breakthrough for the conservation of endangered species used in religious rituals.

Soemarsono said that to maintain the green turtle population, there were several turtle breeding and conservation centers on the island, including at Serangan Island near Benoa.

“There is an unregistered turtle conservation and breeding center belonging to a British national at Lovina Beach in Buleleng regency, north Bali. We will monitor its activity,” he said. In those breeding and conservation centers, BKSD has tagged and installed microchips in 200 green turtles for identification and tracking purposes. BKSD is currently active in conducting special monitoring activities in several areas, allegedly centers of the turtle trade.

“It has been quite difficult for us to get real evidence from food establishments selling turtle meat. Sometimes, we could only find dishes made of other meats,” Soemarsono said.

BKSD also received a report from Pro Fauna animal conservation organization saying that some souvenir and handicraft shops were selling items made from turtles.

A local journalist shared his experience of visiting a restaurant selling turtle meat on Jl. Bypass Ida Bagus Mantra in Gianyar. “Some government officials asked me to accompany them eating turtle meat dishes at the restaurant.”

BKSD has launched a number of programs and strategies to protect and conserve turtle hatchings, with centers in Perancak village in Pemuteran (Buleleng, north Bali), Kuta, Tegal Besar and other locations across Bali.

Illegal turtle trade returns to old scheme
Muliarta Jakarta Post 25 Jan 13;

The illegal green turtle trade in Bali has returned to an old style, the smuggling and trading of living animals, environmental activists claimed.

Wayan Wiradnyana, chairman of the Bali Sea Turtle Society, said in a meeting in Denpasar on Thursday that the newest mode of alleged illegal trading of turtles was smuggling and trading living turtles onto the island.

“In the past few years, the turtles were slaughtered and cut into pieces to trade the meat on the black market, but since the last year, the trend has returned to its original illegal scheme — trafficking living turtles,” maintained Wiradnyana.

He elaborated that trading turtles in the form of cut meat was aimed at cheating the authorities. “They [the police and the authorities] would find it hard to recognize whether it was turtle meat or cuts of fish meat,” he said.

Now, the trend had changed. Turtles were being smuggled alive as the price was very high on the black market, he said. Moreover, sellers were suspicious that the cut up turtle meat was mixed with fish or other animal meat, he added.

Generally, a green turtle of 30 to 40 centimeters length in the carapace will be sold for Rp 1 million (US$103.50).

“We have also found that the turtles were being trafficked from the island of Sumbawa in West Nusa Tenggara. Previously, the turtles were mostly procured from Sulawesi, Maluku and Kalimantan,” he added.

Wiradnyana said that he presumed that Sumbawa had abundant green turtles.

“If this illegal traffic of turtles continues, we are afraid that the population of the animals will be
endangered,” he said.

Green turtles are strictly protected under a decree as their population is under threat from over-harvesting of both eggs and adults, as well as from accidental mortality in fishing nets.

The green turtles are widely harvested for their meat in many tropical countries, including in Indonesia, which has banned its trade and consumption since 1996.

The smuggling of the endangered green turtles onto the island of Bali has been ongoing to meet the demand for their meat. Traditionally, the Balinese people consumed turtle meat as a delicacy.

Legal and illegal turtle traders in Bali have claimed that their activities were an important part of religious rituals.

Some rituals in Bali required offerings using the meat of turtles and other protected species, such as eagles and tigers. However, the influential Indonesian Parishada Hindu Council (PHDI) issued a religious decree in August 2005 stipulating that other animals or symbols, drawings or cakes in the forms of those animals, could satisfy ritual requirements.

Meanwhile, Made Arjaya, chairman of Commission I of Bali Legislative Council, stated that people illegally trading in turtles should not use ritual activities as an excuse for such illicit practices. “I am hoping that the authorities have imposed strict punishments and sanctions against those committing such illegal activities,” the legislator said.

Wiradnyana said that turtle trade in Bali had sharply dropped by around 90 percent from 1999’s figure when around 27,000 to 30,000 turtles were traded annually.

According to data from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an estimated 100,000 green turtles are killed in Indonesian and Australian waters every year. Green turtle consumption in Bali reached its peak in the late 1970s.

Sr. Adj. Com Handoyo Supeno from Bali’s water police said that the number of cases of illegal green turtle smuggling had been falling significantly.

“There were a few people who provided the animals and the demand has been decreasing,” he said.

Last December, Bali’s water police foiled an attempt to smuggle 33 green turtles.

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Buying 'funny fruit' will help feed the world: UN

Nina Larson (AFP) Google News 23 Jan 13;

GENEVA — Make a shopping list and buy "funny fruit" to cut food waste and help the world "shape a sustainable future," two UN agencies urged on Tuesday.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Food and Agriculture Organzation (FAO) and partners unveiled a campaign dubbed "Think-Eat-Save Reduce Your Foodprint" to change global practices that result in the loss of 1.3 billion tonnes of food each year.

The programme is aimed primarily at consumers, food retailers and the hotel and restaurant industry, and is based on three recommended actions: think, eat, and save.

"In a world of seven billion people, set to grow to nine billion by 2050, wasting food makes no sense - economically, environmentally and ethically," a statement quoted UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner as saying.

"We're doing something that is completely irrational," he lamented to reporters in Geneva, before adding that he hoped the campaign would "literally mobilise tens of millions of people to become part of the solution."

FAO Director General Jose Graziano da Silva pointed out that in industrialised nations, around 300 million tonnes of food are wasted each year, "because producers, retailers and consumers discard food that is still fit for consumption."

That is more food than is produced in sub-Saharan Africa, and is enough to feed the estimated 830 million people who now go hungry worldwide, he added.

The programme estimates the overall cost of wasted food at about $1.0 trillion (751 billion euros) per year, with most losses occurring in production stages -- such as harvesting and distribution -- and blamed on problems from storing food in difficult climatic conditions to unreliable harvests.

It is retailers and consumers, whoever, who are usually guilty of wasting food.

Consumers can participate in a global effort by respecting a few simple recommendations, the UN agencies said.

Planning meals, making shopping lists and avoiding impulse buying helps, as does staying alert "to marketing tricks that lead you to buy more food than you need."

Another good idea is to "buy funny fruit" or vegetables that would otherwise be thrown out because their size, shape or colour do not meet market standards.

Tristram Stuart of the Feeding the 5,000 campaign told reporters in Geneva: "Wonky fruit and vegetables are very often left on farms across Europe and North America simply because they don't meet the cosmetic standards of retailers, and they are left on fields to rot."

People, he insisted, must "adopt the value that food is simply too good to waste."

Paying attention to expiry dates and "zeroing down your fridge" with recipes that use up food set to go bad helps, the UN agencies said, as does freezing food, asking restaurants for smaller portions, eating leftovers, composting food or donating it to food banks, soup kitchens and shelters.

Retailers can offer discounts for food that is nearing its sell-by date, standardise labels and donate more food.

Restaurants were urged to "limit menu choices and introduce flexible portioning," to audit how much food they waste, and to set up "staff engagement programmes."

Finally, an Internet site, thinkeatsave.org is to serve as a global platform for sharing information on other initiatives that people come up with.

For the campaign to work, everyone has to get involved -- families, supermarkets, hotel chains, schools, sports and social clubs, company CEOs, city mayors, and national and world leaders, the Rome-based FAO said.

According to the Britain-based not-for-profit organisation WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme), which is offering its expertise to the FAO for the campaign, the average British family could save £680 ($1,090, 815 euros) per year by tackling food waste.

Throwing away good food wastes the land, water, fertilizers and efforts used to grow it, Steiner said, while the transport involved generates excess greenhouse gases.

European Commissioner for Environment Janez Potocnik told reporters via videolink that he was "delighted" with the campaign against food waste.

Food production and consumption "must be one of the most inefficient uses of global resources," Potocnik said, insisting: "We must stop taking our resources for granted before it is simply too late."

Think, Eat, Save: FAO, UNEP and partners launch global campaign on food waste
Consumers, industry, government can all help to reduce 1.3 billion tonnes of yearly waste and losses
FAO 22 Jan 13;

22 January 2012, Geneva/Rome - Simple actions by consumers and food retailers can dramatically cut the 1.3 billion tonnes of food lost or wasted each year and help shape a sustainable future, according to a new global campaign to cut food waste launched today by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and partners.

The Think.Eat.Save. Reduce Your Foodprint campaign is in support of the SAVE FOOD Initiative to reduce food loss and waste along the entire chain of food production and consumption - run by the FAO and trade fair organizer Messe Düsseldorf - and the UN Secretary General's Zero Hunger Initiatives. The new campaign specifically targets food wasted by consumers, retailers and the hospitality industry.


The campaign harnesses the expertise of organizations such as WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme), Feeding the 5,000 and other partners, including national governments, who have considerable experience targeting and changing wasteful practices.


Think.Eat.Save. aims to accelerate action and provide a global vision and information-sharing portal for the many and diverse initiatives currently underway around the world.


Worldwide, about one-third of all food produced, worth around $1 trillion, gets lost or wasted in food production and consumption systems, according to data released by FAO. Food loss occurs mostly at the production stages - harvesting, processing and distribution - while food waste typically takes place at the retailer and consumer end of the food-supply chain.


"In a world of seven billion people, set to grow to nine billion by 2050, wasting food makes no sense - economically, environmentally and ethically," said UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

"Aside from the cost implications, all the land, water, fertilizers and labour needed to grow that food is wasted - not to mention the generation of greenhouse gas emissions produced by food decomposing on landfill and the transport of food that is ultimately thrown away," he added. "To bring about the vision of a truly sustainable world, we need a transformation in the way we produce and consume our natural resources."

"Together, we can reverse this unacceptable trend and improve lives. In industrialized regions, almost half of the total food squandered, around 300 million tonnes annually, occurs because producers, retailers and consumers discard food that is still fit for consumption," said José Graziano da Silva, FAO Director-General. "This is more than the total net food production of Sub-Saharan Africa, and would be sufficient to feed the estimated 870 million people hungry in the world."

"If we can help food producers to reduce losses through better harvesting, processing, storage, transport and marketing methods, and combine this with profound and lasting changes in the way people consume food, then we can have a healthier and hunger-free world," Graziano da Silva added.

Sustainability

The global food system has profound implications for the environment, and producing more food than is consumed only exacerbates the pressures, some of which follow:

More than 20 per cent of all cultivated land, 30 per cent of forests and 10 per cent of grasslands are undergoing degradation;
Globally 9 per cent of the freshwater resources are withdrawn, 70 per cent of this by irrigated agriculture;
Agriculture and land use changes like deforestation contribute to more than 30 per cent of total global greenhouse gas emissions;
Globally, the agri-food system accounts for nearly 30 per cent of end-user available energy;
Overfishing and poor management contribute to declining numbers of fish, some 30 per cent of marine fish stocks are now considered overexploited.

Part of the trigger for the campaign was the outcome of the Rio+20 Summit in June 2012, in which Heads of State and governments gave the go-ahead for a 10-Year Framework of Programmes for Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) Patterns. Developing an SCP programme for the food sector must be a vital element of this framework, given the need to sustain the world's food production base, reduce associated environmental impacts, and feed a growing human population.

"There can be no other area that is perhaps so emblematic of the opportunities for a far more resource-efficient and sustainable world - and there is no other issue that can unite North and South and consumers and producers everywhere in common cause," said Mr. Steiner.

According to FAO, roughly 95 per cent of food loss and waste in developing countries are unintentional losses at early stages of the food supply chain due to financial, managerial and technical limitations in harvesting techniques; storage and cooling facilities in difficult climatic conditions; infrastructure; packaging and marketing systems.


However, in the developed world, the end of the chain is far more significant. At the food manufacturing and retail levels, large quantities of food are wasted due to inefficient practices, quality standards that over-emphasize appearance, confusion over date labels, and consumers being quick to throw away edible food due to over-buying, inappropriate storage and preparing meals that are too large.


Per-capita waste by consumers is between 95 and 115 kg a year in Europe and North America/Oceania, while consumers in sub-Saharan Africa, south and south-eastern Asia each throw away only 6 to 11 kg a year.

According to WRAP, the average UK family could save £680 per year ($1,090) and the UK hospitality sector could save £724 million ($1.2 billion) per year by tackling food waste.


"In the UK, we have shown how tackling food waste through engaging with consumers and establishing collective agreement with retailers and brands, reduces environmental pressures and aids economic growth," said Dr. Liz Goodwin, CEO of WRAP. "With a rising population, even more pressure is going to be put on resources, and we are excited to be a partner in UNEP and FAO's Think. Eat. Save. campaign, which is a great start to tackling food waste on a global scale."

In a similar vein for other parts of the world, the European Union is looking into the issue of food waste, and the European Commission has lent its weight to the new initiative.

"In the EU we have set ourselves a target to halve edible food waste by 2020 and to virtually eliminate landfilling by 2020; the Commission is planning to present ideas next year on the sustainability of the food system which will have a strong focus on food waste," said Janez Potočnik, European Commissioner for the Environment.

"Less food waste would lead to more-efficient land use, better water resource management, more sustainable use of phosphorus, and it would have positive repercussions on climate change. Our work fits perfectly with the launch of this initiative," he added.


For the campaign to reach its huge potential, everyone has to be involved - families, supermarkets, hotel chains, schools, sports and social clubs, company CEOs, city Mayors, national and world leaders.

The campaign website (http://www.thinkeatsave.org/) provides simple tips to consumers and retailers, will allow users to make food waste pledges, and provides a platform for those running campaigns to exchange ideas and create a truly global culture of sustainable consumption of food.

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Best of our wild blogs: 22 Jan 13

Green Drinks: Environment & Sustainability Career Pathways
from Green Drinks Singapore

Nudis Galore! Tozeuma shrimp and leaf-like sponge
from Pulau Hantu

Grey-headed Fish-eagle mobbed by Osprey
from Bird Ecology Study Group

hawk-cuckoo @ labrador park - Jan 2013
from sgbeachbum

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Malaysia: Updates on Pengerang petrochemical project

Pengerang fishermen to get RM12mil grant
The Star 22 Jan 13;

JOHOR BARU: A RM12mil allocation to upgrade fishing boats in Pengerang here is expected to be disbursed to eligible fishermen by year's end.

“There are about 520 fishermen in Pengerang who have been affected by the US$20bil (RM60bil) Petronas Refinery and Petro-chemical Integrated Development (Rapid) project.

“We hope that the allocation will enable these fishermen to upgrade their boats to venture further out to the sea,” said Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Committee chairman Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi.

He said this to reporters after delivering his New Year message to officials from the state Agriculture Department at the Glulam Gallery here yesterday.

Abdul Aziz said the Fisheries Department had submitted a working paper on the allocation.

On a separate matter, he dismissed allegations that the fish and seafood supply in Johor would be affected by the Rapid project.

“Only 3% of the fishermen in the state conduct fishing activities in Pengerang and they are traditional fishermen who only travel two to three nautical miles off the coast,” he said.

He said the only major issue for the fishermen would be the relocation of the main jetty.

“This has caused some inconvenience but the Government has already allocated RM33mil to relocate the jetty from Sg Renggit to Sg Musuh,” he said.

Abdul Aziz added that the new location was a distance from the Rapid project.

The Rapid project is poised to make Pengerang a major oil and gas hub in the Asia-Pacific region.

The first phase of the project covers 2,428ha and will need about 40,000 contract workers.

Once completed, the two refineries will be able to process 450,000 barrels of oil per day.

BASF, Petronas scrap plans to deepen partnership
Reuters 21 Jan 13;

* End plans for joint site in Pengerang, Malaysia
* BASF says both remain committed to Kuantan site
* Deals blow to BASF's quest to boost Asia business (Adds background)

FRANKFURT, Jan 21 (Reuters) - BASF and Malaysian state-owned oil and gas firm Petronas have decided not to pursue an extension of their partnership to a second specialty chemicals plant after failing to agree on terms.

"Petronas and BASF concluded that it would be in their mutual interest to terminate the HoA (Heads of Agreement) as both parties were unable to come to an agreement on the terms and conditions," the German chemicals group said on Monday.

The two companies scrapped their plans to build a new plant in Pengerang, Johor, Malaysia, but they remain committed to the expansion of an existing joint site in Kuantan, also Malaysia, BASF added.

Both expansion projects combined would have cost BASF 1 billion euros ($1.33 billion) in investments, but the company declined to say how much it would have spent just on the Pengerang facility.

"We expect BASF to look into other Asian markets (perhaps even more in China) to look for alternative investments, as the overall Asian chemical markets remains the key growth region for the next decade," said Baader Bank analyst Norbert Barth.

The company is seeking to lift its proportion of sales from emerging markets to 45 percent from 34 percent by 2020 but has said that finding suitable takeover targets in Asia was difficult.

About 40 percent of global chemicals production takes place in Asia, more than in any other world region. But the region accounts for only 20 percent of BASF's sales and the group aims to lift that proportion to 25 percent by 2020.

BASF aims for sales from Asian customers to grow 8 percent per year through 2020, eyeing faster growth there than the 4.5 percent expected in Europe and 5.5 percent in North America.

The group was more successful on Monday in its bid to shore up its nutrition business to reduce its reliance on the business cycle as it won over enough Pronova shareholders to secure control over the Norwegian fish-oils maker. ($1 = 0.7524 euros) (Reporting by Frank Siebelt and Ludwig Burger; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters)

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Malaysia: Birder's instinct pays off

Chuah Bee Kim New Straits Times 22 Jan 13;


A flock of Asian Openbill Storks spotted in a padi field in Teluk Rimba, Muar, Johor, on Sunday. Pic courtesy of Vincent Chow

FIND OF A LIFETIME: Nature society chairman chances upon rare storks in padi field

MUAR: A MALAYSIAN Nature Society (MNS) Johor member who has been on the trail of the Asian Openbill Storks since a pair was spotted in Johor Baru recently, scored big when he came across more than 140 of the rare bird species at Teluk Rimba here on Sunday.

MNS Johor chairman Vincent Chow said he was on the way to the Johor National Park in Gunung Ledang when his instincts prompted him to make a left turn instead of right at the junction to Gunung Ledang.

The detour led him to Teluk Rimba, where Chow said he saw a group of Asian Openbill storks frolicking at a padi field there.

Chow said he had been carrying out research on the birds (Anastomus oscitans) since the first pair of Asian Openbill was spotted in Johor Baru.

"Hundreds of the species had been spotted in Kuala Gula, near Taiping, and Penanti, Penang, on Jan 8 and the Batang Tiga padi fields in Malacca the following day.

"The species was first sighted in Ulu Dedap, Perlis, in March 2008.

"I knew there would be more of the birds in Johor. Since there are numerous padi fields in Muar, I decided to check the place out.

"True enough, the birds have found their natural habitat which included lakes, marshes and padi fields," Chow told the New Straits Times yesterday.

He said the Asian Openbill was the smallest of the nine species of storks found in Southeast Asia.

"In Peninsular Malaysia, we have the Lesser Adjutant, Milky Stork, Painted Stork and the rarer Storm's Stork. Sightings of the Asian Openbill in such a large group is unprecedented and a very important entry for the record of our local natural history as it is not found here," said Chow.

He estimated the flock in Muar to number more than 140.

"To a regular person, they may just be a flock of birds. But birders will drop everything in an instant to come here because they know that it is a rare occurrence and once these migratory birds fly off, birders would have missed the opportunity of a lifetime."

He said the Asian Openbill was so named as the beak was arranged in such a way that a gap was seen in the closed mandibles in adult birds. This feature was not developed while at the juvenile stage.

"They serve to accommodate the snails that they feed on and this rather usual feature gave them the name of 'openbill'.

"The bird ranges from India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and are occasionally seen as a vagrant in Malaysia as records indicate.

"I spent an hour watching the Asian Openbill here and confirmed that they were the real McCoys.

"I also talked to the farmers in the area and they confirmed that they have never seen these birds at the padi field before.

"I don't know what the birds are doing here, but let us welcome them with open arms as their presence will certainly boost the tourism sector."

Avitourism is a multi-billion industry, with birders from Singapore willing to pay as much as RM16,000 to local guides who can help them find a particular species of bird.

However, MNS Johor has called on the relevant authorities to step up efforts to train more nature guides if the Iskandar Regional Development Authority was serious in developing the lucrative niche market.

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Malaysia: Nature lovers trail after poachers in bid to deter illegal hunting

Natalie Heng The Star 22 Jan 13;

Volunteers are reclaiming the wilderness from poachers through recreation.

IN THE fading light, Muna Noor’s 4WD is hurtling down the tarmac. The road is long and narrow, and dramatic limestone karst formations rise up on either side of us.

It will take at least five hours to get from Kuala Lumpur to Taman Negara Sungai Relau in Merapoh, Pahang, but Muna does this drive as often as she can because when she’s at home, all that she can think about is, the jungle.

“I just keep thinking that every week, if I don’t do it, there could be poachers out there. Every time we go into the forest, we make a difference. What we do, it really counts.”

Our destination is the Sungai Yu Tiger Corridor, an important but unprotected stretch of forested land, 15km south of the entrance to Taman Negara Sungai Relau. Tigers pass through this area when they move between two of Malaysia’s great tiger landscapes – the forests of the Main Range and Greater Taman Negara.

Rich in wildlife, the area is vulnerable to poaching because it is surrounded by stateland forest which anyone can enter without a permit.

This spot has never been frequented by hikers as there are no attractions, such as waterfalls, nearby. Neither do the orang asli, who live further away, frequent it – which leaves the forest nice and quiet for poachers.

“The idea is that if we can get more people to use these forests for recreation, this will deter poachers from setting up traps there,” explains Muna.

A friend had introduced her to the Cat (Citizen Action for Tigers) Walks which she now leads. Formerly the editorial director of a new media publishing house, her life has always been fast-paced. After leaving the company and before starting her new job, she had time to spare and so dived head first into the world of tiger conservation.

Started by the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (Mycat), Cat Walks are made for people like Muna – urban dwellers who feel helpless and frustrated with news of the forest being drained of its wildlife by illegal hunters. Instead of just giving their cheques to the conservation body of their choice, and wondering how much money will go towards administration costs, they can get out into the field, and make a direct impact.

The walks take place along jungle routes that are quiet and secluded, and so, preferred by poachers. Many of those who hunt in the Sungai Yu corridor are thought to be opportunistic.

Therefore, the idea is that if they know they are being watched, they would be deterred from poaching. The Cat Walks have made a difference, because every time trekkers encounter suspicious activities, they make a report to the Wildlife Crime Hotline (019-356 4194 / report@malayantiger.net). In 2011, such reports resulted in raids, arrests and the removal of snares.

Mycat senior programme officer Ashleigh Seow is the guy who identifies potential Cat Walk trails. To do so, he says, you have to think like a poacher. He finds new routes by driving up and down the road, exploring potential access points, and studying maps. Once he has found a good track, he maps it out on the GPS for the next Cat Walk.

Cat Walkers are made up of volunteers. Any reasonably fit member of the public can join the leisurely, weekend hike. And it’s cheap.

“Usually, people have to pay a lot of money for guides and experts like Ashleigh, who has so much knowledge and motivation,” Muna points out.

Volunteers often carpool from Kuala Lumpur (or some other departure point), or take the bus or train. “All you really need to pay for is petrol and accommodation, which, if you stay in the hostel at Taman Negara, costs about RM15 a night.”

All walks of life

When we pull up at our destination in Taman Negara Sungai Relau, night has fallen, so we grab a quick Milo and then it’s time for bed. The next morning, we meet the rest of the volunteers. Six employees of pewter company Royal Selangor are on the company’s second trip, organised under its corporate social responsibility programme. Product designer Tan Jooi Chong, 59, is the most experienced of the group. A nature guide with the Malaysian Nature Society, he first heard about Cat Walks through a fellow guide, Seow. He then put forward the idea of incorporating Cat Walks into his company’s campaign, and now they plan to do one company Cat Walk every three or four months.

Also in the group is David Chin, 55, who learnt about Cat Walks from The Star’s Do Good. Volunteer campaign. Chin has done two walks and now that he has retired from working in the welfare industry, he hopes to lead some walks in the future. Both Tan and Chin are relatively experienced nature walkers, but there are some in the group who aren’t. For Hilda Rozali, a communications retail executive who usually spends her free time curled up with a book, this will be her very first time in the jungle. It is the diverse mix of people – students, travellers, retirees and managing directors – that make Cat Walks fun.

After breakfast, we load ourselves into a convoy of jeeps. We drive past breathtaking landscapes before pulling up into a small track off the road, where Muna gives us a prep-talk. She started off as a Cat Walker, before attending a Cat Walk trip leader workshop, where she learned to read maps, use a GPS, identify animal tracks and potential snare and trap sites, as well as what to do if a trapped animal is encountered. This will be the second Cat Walk that she is leading.

“Animals you are most likely to encounter: leeches. Your best friend? Mud … (it) gives you a much better chance of spotting animal tracks. And if we encounter an elephant, remember, NO flash photography. We don’t want to accidentally startle them and risk being charged at.”

Following instructions, everyone sets off up a steep slope, diligently making sure the person behind us is visible at all times. As soon as we make it to flat ground again, we find our first trap – a small, inconspicuous loop of string that tightens like a noose when set off by small animals. Muna whips out her GPS, and starts taking down the coordinates to be submitted later to the Wildlife Crime Hotline.

Alias, an orang asli from a local Batek tribe who is guiding us, has keen eyes, and soon spots dozens more traps up ahead. One was tightened around a small bone – Seow suspects it to be that of a great Argus pheasant, a large ground bird.

“The first time we visited the trail up ahead, we found an Argus feather, so we named the logging road the Feather Trail. And then we found this side trail, and lots of bird traps, so we called this place, Bird Valley.”

The traps keep appearing, and soon we find something more chilling – a metal wire snare, along with the dug-out hole it had probably been set up at.

“Wire snares suggest hunters are looking for big, strong animals,” explains Seow.

The number of traps we discover along this route surprises even Muna, who says this is more traps than she’s encountered on any Cat Walk thus far. Most of the traps have already been deactivated, possibly by a Mycat researcher who has previously been through. Seow thinks the Bird Valley trail might have actually been created by poachers, because it doesn’t go anywhere.

“There is no village around here, the trail just leads to an old logging road.”

The Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) has since sealed the logging road off, preventing jeeps from driving in via the road.

A gruesome find

As we continue walking, everyone is excited to find bear claw marks up a tree. But as we round the corner, things take a dark turn. Lying on the ground is a foot-long skull, tinged green with algae. All around it are bones and what look like large, curved, cat claws. Silence falls as the group collects around the area and Seow asks Muna to send pictures via her Blackberry to alert the Wildlife Crime Hotline, which would then inform Perhilitan. Everyone seems a little shaken, most of all Muna. This is precisely why she is so committed to doing Cat Walks, to deter poachers from going in there and setting up traps.

Perhilitan officers arrived at the scene about two hours later. They note the location so that they can investigate further. The Cat Walkers move on, filled with conviction.

The rest of the three-day trip was full of fun activities – lunch and a swim by the river, an excursion to a cave, and camera-trap maintenance, with opportunities to check out the amazing footage (there were tigers, elephants and panthers).

We ended the trip exhausted, but filled with memorable experiences. But most of all, we left knowing that what we had encountered in the forest was proof that what Muna said was true: What we do counts.

(After studying pictures of the skull, Mycat thinks it could be that of a black leopard. It says poachers could have intentionally left the animal to rot, in order to attract a bigger predator, such as the tiger.)

To join a Cat Walk, go to facebook.com/the malayantiger or malayantiger.net or contact Wong Pui May at may@malayantiger.net or 03-7880 3940.

Local threat

RESEARCH by the Malaysian Conservation Alliance for Tigers (Mycat) has revealed the disturbing absence of tiger prey species such as the sambar deer, in the Sungai Yu Tiger Corridor. It says the locals generally know who the poachers are. While conducting research, Mycat was told where the poachers live, and that wild meat could be found in restaurants along Federal Route 8 (Gua Musang Highway).

“When Mycat conducted school outreach programmes in Sungai Yu, we found that the children are familiar with snares and know how and where they are set,” said Mycat general manager Dr Kae Kawanishi.

The local poachers are opportunistic, and are likely to stop if they know they are being watched, according to Kawanishi. Though the Wildlife and National Parks Department has previously raided a restaurant and houses in the area, people tend to start poaching again once the fear has dissipated because most of the time, illegal activities go undetected.

MYCAT wants the Pahang Forestry Department to gazette the stateland forests in the corridor as Permanent Reserved Forests. “The importance of the corridor has been recognised as it has been identified as Primary Linkage 1 in the Central Forest Spine Masterplan,” Kawanishi adds.

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Philippines says salvaging U.S. ship should not damage reef

Rosemarie Francisco PlanetArk 22 Jan 13;

Philippine President Benigno Aquino has given instructions not to allow the U.S. navy to salvage its grounded USS Guardian minesweeper without Philippine involvement, in order to minimise damage to coral reefs, a senior official said on Monday.

The ship, which is stuck on a reef at the Tubbataha natural marine park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, had just completed a port call at Subic Bay in the western Philippines when the grounding occurred last Thursday.

Officials said there were no reports of fuel leaking from the vessel. U.S. ships regularly dock in the Philippines for refuelling.

Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya said any salvage operation should be vetted by the Philippines government.

"He (the president) wanted to make sure that we would be proactive on this, we minimise damage," Abaya told reporters when asked about Aquino's reaction to the incident.

"We should have close coordination with the Americans that we shouldn't just allow them to conduct their salvage operations on their own," Abaya said.

A salvage plan may involve draining fuel from the ship before it is moved to prevent the possibility of a major oil, he said.

The international conservation group World Wildlife Fund has said that a quick inspection showed that at least 10 meters (30 feet) of the minesweeper's hull had damaged the reef.

The World Bank said in a 2005 report that the Philippines' coral reefs contribute at least $1 billion annually to the local economy via tourism and sustainable fisheries.

(Reporting by Rosemarie Francisco; Editing by Michael Perry)

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Can oil save the rainforest?

When another new oil field was found beneath the Amazon jungle, campaigners feared the worst. But a radical and daring plan to ransom the drilling rights could save the planet's most biodiverse area
John Vidal The Guardian 20 Jan 13;

American biologist Kelly Swing thwacks a bush with his butterfly net and a dozen or so bugs and insects drop in. One is a harvester, or daddy-long-legs, another a jumping spider which leaps on to a leaf where two beetles are mating.

This is the Tiputini research station, on the edge of the Yasuni national park in Ecuador, where the foothills of the Andes meet the Amazonian rainforest right on the equator. Swing and I are searching for unidentified creatures and within a minute or two of looking we may well have found several. The daddy-long-legs, the spider, possibly the beetles on the leaf, even the bee that, disturbed, flies out of the undergrowth to bite Kelly on the neck, may well be unnamed by science, says Swing. Yasuni is terra incognita, one of the beastliest, lushest, most fecund, abundant but unknown places on earth. Up to 100 people from two tribes of warlike Huaorani Indians live there in voluntary isolation and, within a kilometre of where we are standing, it has been estimated, live 150 frog, 120 reptile, 600 bird and 200 mammal species, including nearly 100 species of bat. To give a sense of scale, there are only 18 bat and six reptile species in the whole of Britain.

Yasuni has astonished biologists, who say it could have the greatest concentration of species on the planet, having been a refuge during the last ice age. So far, nearly 1,500 species of plants and 400 fish species have been found in the 1.2m sq km national park. More species of frogs and toads have been recorded than are native to the US and Canada combined; more birds than in all of Europe. But when it comes to insects, says Swing, Yasuni is world class. "There are perhaps 10 million insect species in the world, of which one in 10 could be living here. It would take a team of scientists possibly 400 years just to identify them all, and a book of 10,000 pages to record them in," he says.

A walk in this Garden of Eden is revelatory, like going to the supermarket via the chemists' and the zoo. These berries make soap, those plants are good contraceptives, this leaf is good for kidney and heart diseases. There are troops of spider and woolly monkeys, frogs smaller than a fingernail, tapirs the size of horses, as well as ants which taste of lemon and berries so poisonous you could die in seconds if you ate one. Most amazing is the "walking tree" which follows the light, hitches up its roots and moves 7m or more.

Last month, some Yale University undergrads stumbled across a mushroom capable of eating polyurethane plastic. It could revolutionise landfills. "Frankly," says Swing, "no one knows what is here."

It wasn't until he and a colleague from San Francisco University in Quito paddled their way here 20 years ago to set up the science research station that anyone really understood the true abundance of life in Yasuni.

And it wasn't until 2007, when 960m barrels of oil were discovered in one part of the Yasuni park, that people realised that the most biodiverse place on earth could be totally destroyed. The oil under Yasuni, it was calculated, would earn Ecuador $7bn but would last the world just 10 days.

Ecuador's first barrel of oil sits in a corner of the Temple of Heroes in a military museum in Quito, alongside the bones of fallen combatants in old independence wars, British machine guns and German torpedoes. It is surprisingly small. It was discovered by the Gulf and Texaco oil company on 29 March 1967. Five years later, when the area was exploited, Ecuador's military dictatorship paraded this barrel through the streets. Old film footage shows people trying to touch it for luck.

It was touted as the start of a new era of development: Ecuador joined Opec and borrowed massively. In the first years, oil built hospitals, schools and roads. But 45 years later, Ecuador has just half of its reserves left – 4.5bn barrels, of which 20% lies below Yasuni.

Albert Acosta was the oil and mines minister when the Yasuni find was made. Today he is a radical ecologist, and will stand as a presidential candidate for a group of leftwing parties in next month's election.

"The reality is that oil has not brought development," this charismatic academic tells me, when we meet in his office at Flacso university, Quito. "It has helped our infrastructure, but it has brought us immense contamination and environmental destruction. Oil has not solved the problems of Ecuador."

While most politicians would have immediately sent for the drillers, Acosta hesitated. He knew that the find presented the country with perhaps its last chance to develop in the traditional way, but he also knew it would push the oil frontier deeper into the Amazon, release 400m tonnes of climate-changing gases and make the destruction of a vast and pristine area inevitable. To extract oil from Yasuni would need wells, ports, pipelines, roads and villages. "And because this is a particularly heavy crude oil," he adds, "vast amounts of water will have to be injected back into the earth, inevitably leading to pollution.

"I knew the oil industry. I used to work in it. I could see the monster from the inside. I began to think we were poor because of our resources. I called it the curse of abundance."

Working with NGOs and academics, Acosta prepared two options – "Plan A", as it became known, was a revolutionary scheme to leave the oil in the ground in perpetuity in return for half of its value (around $3.6bn). Plan B was to send in a Chinese company. For the first time in history, a nation seriously considered not exploiting oil.

"We should be an intelligent country," says Acosta. "Oil is unsustainable. We must see it in the long term. Climate change is a limit and we can't continue to keep burning oil. Perhaps we must change our model of life. We cannot live without nature but nature can live without us."

Plan A has received overwhelming support, with polls showing 95% of Ecuadoreans want Yasuni preserved as a jewel of nature, like the Galapagos, and in 2010 president Rafael Correa guaranteed not to extract its oil if the world gave Ecuador $3.6bn over 13 years. The UN has now set up the Yasuni fund and, led by a $50m donation from Germany, more than $300m has been offered or received from national, regional and local governments, individuals, companies and institutions in Europe, Japan and the US. This alternative "aid" money is not touched by Ecuador's government, but is administered by a trust to develop renewable energy projects and conservation.

And it seems to be working. "So far, so good," says Ivonne Baki, secretary of state for the Yasuni initiative and Ecuador's former ambassador to the US, when I ask her how the project is going. "The world is watching. If this succeeds it may open a new era of conservation. If it fails, it will discourage developing countries from adopting bold climate measures."

To see what could happen to Yasuni if the oil there is exploited, I travel to Lago Agrio, Texaco's base camp in the 1970s, now an oil-rush town. The great primary forests have long gone. Waves of settlers have moved in and Lago Agrio and the area around it is a social and ecological disaster zone, after the company allegedly spilled nearly 17m gallons of crude oil and dumped 20bn gallons of drilling wastewater between 1964 and 1990. Guerilla groups, drug traffickers and criminal gangs pour over the nearby Colombian border into what is now an industrialised landscape; pipelines snake within feet of houses; companies flare gas night and day from refineries; and the pollution, while far better than it was in the 1970s, continues.

I meet Luis Yanza, a local community leader who was 16 when his family moved to Lago Agrio from the pristine south of Ecuador. "It was the wild west, just oil and prostitutes when it started," he tells me. "It was like going to hell. We would see huge smoke clouds – they used to spill the oil into pits and when they were full set fire to them. The water smelled of oil. We had an oil pipeline right by our house, which was close to the main Texaco camp, and we all had spots on our faces." Yanza is one of a number of residents who has spent 20 years suing Texaco (bought by Chevron in 2001) to clean up the forests, through the Ecuadorean and US courts. Last year the communities won $18bn damages, but Chevron has refused to pay, claiming corruption in the Ecuadorean courts.

My guide round the oil fields is Diego, a half-Huaorani, half-Kechwa man in his 40s. He is distraught at the changes he has seen in 30 years. There is little primary forest left and most of the land is farmed. Roads built though the forest by the oil companies have allowed in waves of settlers, farmers, timber companies and bushmeat hunters. New oil wells are still being drilled, and villages that only a decade ago were little more than a few houses are now small towns with street lighting, parks, restaurants and shops.

We reach Shushufindi, a town of 30,000 where Texaco used to dump oil and which is now the site of a refinery, billowing black smoke and flames. "Look," says Diego. "I remember this when it was forest. Now it's wrecked. Even years ago the pollution was terrible – we used to swim in oil. Now, we can't breathe because of the air pollution." He does not want to stop the car for fear the refinery guards will try to arrest him.

Like many indigenous people in Ecuador, Diego was educated by evangelical missionaries from the American Summer Institute of Linguistics (Sil) who came in 1952 to "convert" the forest tribes and translate the Bible into their languages. The military dictatorship gave them charge of all Huaorani health and education but it was later claimed that the missionaries were collaborating with the oil companies to pacify and then relocate the Indians out of the oil-rich forest. Sil was expelled from Ecuador in 1980 at the request of the indigenous peoples.

Although Diego has heard the stories that his teachers worked with the oil companies, he won't hear a word against them. "When you are young you do not know these things. What I know is that they were good people." His godmother, he tells me, was Rachel Saint, the sister of Nate Saint, one of five missionaries attacked and speared by the Huaorani in 1956 after entering Huaorani territory. Rachel forgave them and then set up a "protectorate" for them where she lived until she died in 1994. Ironically, her work allowed Texaco to build a road deep into the forest and resulted in a flood of people moving in and destroying more than 2m hectares (4.94m acres) of forest.

Diego loves, but fears for, Yasuni. "I spend up to five months at a time there. When I am alone, I see all the animals. I walk quietly. I take a small kayak, I see electric eels, dolphins. The real treasure of Yasuni is not the oil, but the forest itself. I don't want to think about oil coming to Yasuni. It would be a catastrophe. There will be money in the short term. But there will be no more Yasuni jungle."

Back in the deep forest at the Tiputini research station the primatologists tell me they now hear oil company planes flying overhead and say that the animals show signs of fear. Opinions at Tiputini are divided over whether Yasuni will be sooner or later exploited. The station's resident director, biologist Diego Mosquera, fears it cannot hold out for long. "Who owns the oil has the power," Mosquera tells me. "Oil is 100 times bigger than anything else in Ecuador. Honestly, I don't think the companies can be stopped."

But Kelly Swing is more optimistic. "Yes, we are very nervous that all this will be lost and that Yasuni will become like Lago Agrio," he says. "But this time we have a unique chance to save a lot of nature for very little. If we can't justify saving a place that has more species per square inch than anywhere else on the planet, then what hope is there for anything? What then do we keep? What then can we save?"

Donations to the Yasuni initiative can be made at mptf.undp.org/yasuni

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