Huge haul of rare anteater scales seized in Hong Kong

AFP Yahoo News 18 Jun 14;

Hong Kong customs officials have seized $2 million-worth of scales from the endangered pangolin, or "scaly anteater", authorities said Tuesday, in their biggest such haul in five years.

Officials intercepted two shipments bound for Southeast Asia containing three tonnes of pangolin scales from Africa around the end of last month, amid a rise in illegal smuggling of the species.

Pangolin scales are prized as an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine while the rare anteater's tough, scaly skin is also used in fashion accessories in Asia.

Prices on the black market have surged in recent months as illegal trade has boomed, partly to meet growing demand from mainland China, according to activists.

"The seizure was the largest in five years for Hong Kong," a customs spokeswoman told AFP, adding that the raids uncovered 3,300 kilos (8,160 pounds) of the scales, worth about HK$17 million (USD$2.19 million).

"Customs officers selected a shipment arriving from Kenya for inspection and found about 1,000 kilos of pangolin scales. With subsequent intelligence gathered... customs officers found about 2,340 kilos of pangolin scales," a customs statement said.

One man has been arrested in connection with the haul.

The larger shipment originated from Cameroon disguised as sawn timber.

Pangolins are small, insect-eating mammals covered nearly entirely with keratin scales -- the same protein that makes up human hair.

The scales are used in Chinese traditional medicine to treat allergies and boost male virility, while the meat is also considered a delicacy in China and Vietnam.

But activists say it is a myth that pangolin has medicinal properties.

"There are still many people in Asia, notably in Vietnam and China, who mistakenly believe that consuming pangolin scales or rhino horn can cure cancer and other illnesses. It cannot," Alex Hofford, a Hong Kong-based consultant to the charity WildAid, told AFP.

"The increase in the price of pangolin scales reflects the spiralling price of rhino horn, as pangolin is often used as a substitute for rhino horn," he said.

Prices per kilo have risen to HK$5,000 from HK$2,000 five years ago, the South China Morning Post quoted an unnamed government source saying.

Trade in pangolins is banned by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

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Australia sees chance of El Nino at 70 percent, some signs ease

Colin Packham PlanetArk 18 Jun 14;

Australia's weather bureau said on Tuesday the chance of an El Nino forming over the next few months remains at 70 percent, though the agency said some key indicators associated with the weather pattern had eased in recent weeks.

"We still believe an El Nino is likely," Andrew Watkins, Supervisor Climate Prediction at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, said.

"The recent observations may suggest a later El Nino and it has perhaps reduced the chance of very strong El Nino like we saw in 1997/1998."

The bureau said ocean warming had leveled off, counter to typical observations prior to previous El Nino events when temperatures continued to rise.

The agency also said it had observed a recent positive value for the Southern Oscillation Index - a measure of large-scale fluctuations in air pressure occurring between the western and eastern tropical Pacific. A positive value is linked to abnormally cold ocean waters across the eastern tropical Pacific associated with an opposite La Nina weather event.

However, despite the easing of some indicators, the Australian bureau said it continued to expected an El Nino in the southern hemisphere's 2014 spring.

El Nino - a warming of sea temperatures in the Pacific - affects wind patterns and can trigger both floods and drought in different parts of the globe, hitting crops and food supply.

U.S. and Japanese weather forecasters also expect an El Nino to develop.

(Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Ed Davies)

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World's energy systems vulnerable to climate impacts, report warns

Generators from nuclear reactors to coal-fired power plants will feel the brunt of the weather changes
Fiona Harvey theguardian.com 18 Jun 14;

Rising sea levels, extremes of weather and an increase in the frequency of droughts and floods will all play havoc with the world's energy systems as climate change takes hold, a new report has found.

Energy companies are more often cited as part of the problem of climate change, generating the lion's share of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, amounting to around 40% of the total. But they will also suffer as global warming picks up pace, as generators – from nuclear reactors to coal-fired power plants – feel the brunt of the weather changes.

Many large plants are particularly at risk from droughts, because they need water to cool their facilities, and floods, because they lack protection from sudden storms. Electricity distribution networks are also likely to be affected.

The vulnerability of energy systems to natural shocks was shown starkly when the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan had to be closed down following the 2011 tsunami, which prompted governments around the world to review their nuclear policies.

The World Energy Council (WEC), which compiled the study along with Cambridge University and the European Climate Foundation, urged generators to examine their vulnerability to climate change, saying that with suitable adaptations – such as protecting power plants from water shortages and building resilience into power networks – the worst of the problems could be avoided.

Christoph Frei, secretary general of WEC, said governments must play a key role in ensuring the world's vital infrastructure is protected: "Climate change is certain to impact the energy sector. We need robust and transparent policy frameworks to unlock the long-term investments that are urgently needed to deliver the future we want. Leadership will be required at all levels."

Despite efforts to increase energy efficiency, the amount of energy used globally is still set to rise. But the effects of this could be mitigated if companies invest in renewable and low-carbon forms of energy, such as windfarms and nuclear power.

Another key focus must be energy distribution networks – grids – according to the report, as new technology can be used to make grids "smarter", saving energy by distributing energy from generators to users in more intelligent ways than has been the case with existing grid infrastructure technology, much of which is now decades old.

"The time has come to get real about the challenges facing the energy sector," Frei said.

Hundreds of billions of pounds will be needed to invest around the globe in making energy systems more resilient in the coming decade, but most of this is money that must be spent anyway, just to keep the current systems going. If that investment is directed towards lower carbon fuels and greater efficiency, this could cut carbon dioxide emissions in the longer term, the study found. Switching to low-carbon energy would also reduce air pollution and bring health benefits, the authors said.

However, there is little sign so far that energy companies around the world have taken up this message. Fossil fuels continue to dominate new investments in energy generation capacity, according to the International Energy Agency. Attempts to create a global price on carbon emissions, that could help to reverse this trend, have largely foundered.

Philippe Joubert, executive chairman of WEC's global electricity initiative, and former president of Alstom Power, said large companies were taking note. "Leading businesses in this sector increasingly realise that business as usual is no longer possible or acceptable."

The report, released at the Asian Clean Energy Forum on Wednesday in Manila, was based on the latest findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which predicted that the effects of climate change would become vastly more apparent in the coming decades, if no, or inadequate, action was taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

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Climate change threatens tourism as ski slopes thaw, seas rise

Alister Doyle PlanetArk 18 Jun 14;

Climate change is a growing threat to tourism, from thawing ski resorts to coral reefs hit by warmer seas, and the industry itself should do more to curb its soaring greenhouse gas emissions, a study showed on Tuesday.

Tourism's greenhouse gas emissions, on current rising trends buoyed by ever more travel, are set to reach about 10 percent of the world total by 2025 from between 3.9 and 6 percent now, it said.

"The tourism industry will be severely impacted by climate change," according to the study by Cambridge University's Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and its Judge Business School and the European Climate Foundation.

Coral reefs, for instance, contributed $11.5 billion a year to tourism earnings and are under threat from warmer sea temperatures, rising sea levels and an acidification caused by a build-up of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it said.

And warmer winters are shortening winter sports seasons and threatening the viability of some ski resorts, according to the report which distils findings about tourism from studies this year by the U.N. panel of climate scientists.

Ski resorts can try to adapt by attracting summer hikers, for instance, or buy more snow making machines. "But it is hard to tell a positive story around ski resorts," Eliot Whittington, climate change director at CISL, told Reuters.

ALASKA WINS

A few areas of the world might benefit from a shift in tourism, such as Alaska or northern Europe. And elsewhere, seasons may shift.

The report said the Costa Brava region of Spain's Mediterranean coast, for instance, was trying to draw tourists outside the summer months, responding to a lack of water and high temperatures during the high season.

The study also said there was some evidence of people traveling to new destinations at risk of vanishing in a warming world, such as glaciers, the Arctic, Antarctica or coral atolls.

"However, the opportunities presented by such 'last-chance' tourism will, by definition, be short-lived," the report said.

It also said that an increase of 1 meter (3 feet) in sea level rise this century - the upper bound of scenarios by the U.N. panel - would damage up to 60 percent of resort properties in the Caribbean and swamp many airports and ports.

"Every part of the industry needs to ... think about what more can be done to adapt to climate change, as well as how to continue the process of reducing the impact of their operations on the environment," Stephen Farrant, director of the International Tourism Partnership, said in a statement attached to the report.

Travel accounts for about 75 percent of tourism's greenhouse gas emissions. More efficient planes, vehicles and greener fuels could help curb emissions, it said.

(Reporting By Alister Doyle, editing by Louise Heavens)

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Obama to expand marine reserves and crack down on seafood black market

President vows to 'protect our most precious marine landscapes' as Leonardo DiCaprio pledges $7m to 'meaningful' ocean protection
Suzanne Goldenberg The Guardian 17 Jun 14;

Barack Obama used his executive powers as president on Tuesday to create the world's largest marine sanctuary, banning commercial fishing, mining and oil exploration in a vast expanse of the Pacific.

The move – which saw Obama once again bypass an unwilling Congress to advance his environmental agenda – could potentially put nearly 800,000 sq miles in the south-central Pacific off-limits to commercial exploitation.

In a related measure, the White House announced a new task force to crack down on illegal fishing operations and black market seafood making its way to US supermarkets.

"We can protect our oceans for future generations," Obama said in a brief video address to an international ocean summit at the US State Department.

Seeking to deflect an anticipated Republican backlash against his use of his executive authority, Obama said he was following the lead of earlier presidents by expanding an existing protection zone.

“Like Presidents Clinton and Bush before me I am going to use my authority as president to protect some of our most precious marine landscapes, just like we do for mountains and rivers and forests,” Obama told the summit.

The marine sanctuary under consideration would vastly expand the areas protected around the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, which was originally established by George Bush.

The area, around seven uninhabited islands and atolls under US control, contains some of the most pristine marine environments in the world, the White House said in a statement.

The statement said Obama would decide on the final geographic scope of the protection zone after consulting scientists, conservation experts, and fishing interests.

But the Washington Post which had an early look at the announcement, said the sanctuary could extend up to 780,000 square miles, doubling the area of ocean under protection.

Obama was also convening a task force to fight unreported and illegal fishing, the White House said.

Officials said rogue trawlers undermine government's efforts to manage fish stocks. Scientists estimate about one of every five fish is caught illegally, robbing up to $23bn a year from legitimate commercial fishing operations around the world.

The task force would work on coming up with a comprehensive strategy to end pirate fishing by the end of 2014, the White House advisor, John Podesta, said.

In addition to the economic and environmental costs, he said rogue fishing operations were a security threat – “vectors for criminals who traffic in guns, drugs and other human beings”.

The task force will look at requiring fishing vessels to install transponders to track their movements at sea and the source of seafood that ends up in US supermarkets. “Customers will know exactly who caught it, where and when,” the secretary of state, John Kerry, told the summit.

The twin announcements from the White House were intended to spur action from government officials, business leaders and environmental groups attending the ocean summit. “For this effort to succeed, it has to be bigger than any one country,” Obama said.

Moments after his video address, the actor Leonardo DiCaprio told the summit he would donate an additional $7m over the next two years to “meaningful” ocean protection. The actor had earlier given about $2m to the Oceana conservation group.

On Monday, Kiribati's president, Anote Tong, said the Pacific island nation would close off an ocean area the size of California to commercial exploitation by the end of this year. Tong said the ban on commercial fishing in the 157,630-sq-mile area protected area would help speed the recovery of tuna and other fish stocks.

The marine protection area Obama was proposing was originally envisaged by Bush. In his last two weeks in the White House, Bush used his executive powers as president to set up marine sanctuaries in three areas in the Pacific.

Obama was now considering expanding one of those areas, near Wake Island and six other uninhabited atolls.

The Pew Charitable Trusts estimated the move could potentially expand the area Bush protected by a factor of nine to some 780,000 sq miles.

Expanding other sanctuaries designated by Bush, such as the Northern Mariana Islands, would increase the area to 1.5m sq miles, according to Pew.

But the move was in some ways symbolic. Because the islands are uninhabited, there is very little fishing in the area Obama proposes to protect, and no indication mining or drilling is imminent.

However, scientists say bigger marine sanctuaries are easier to enforce and allow more species to recover.

More than 350 scientists this week signed on to a letter to the White House urging Obama to expand marine sanctuaries to up to 20% of each ocean region under US control.

Conservation groups praised Obama's move, as well as his proposals for tracking seafood.

Scientists believe as much as a third of the wild-caught seafood sold in US is landed by illegal fishing trawlers, undermining efforts to sustainably manage stocks

The Oceana conservation group said the task force was “a historic step forward” to stop illegal fishing and seafood fraud.

“Tracking where, when and how our seafood is caught, and ensuring that this basic information follows the product through each step in the supply chain, will help to eliminate seafood fraud and the illegal fishing it can disguise,” the group said in a statement.

Other environmental groups praised the action on illegal fishing, but urged Congress to implement a treaty that would put identification numbers on all fishing vessels and curb landings of illegal fish catches.

“As one of the top seafood importers in the world, the US has a responsibility to ensure that every fish bought in our stores, markets, and restaurants is fully traceable to where it was legally caught,” the World Wildlife Fund said.

Expansion of US marine protected zone could double world reserves
Matt McGrath BBC News 17 Jun 14;

The US plans to create the world's biggest marine protected area (MPA) in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The White House will extend an existing protected area, known as the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument.

Fishing and drilling would be banned from an area that could eventually cover two million sq km.

The extended zone would double the world's fully protected marine reserves.

Rare species

The Pacific Remote Islands Area is controlled by the US and consists of seven scattered islands, atolls and reefs that lie between Hawaii and American Samoa.

Essentially uninhabited, the waters that surround these remote islands are home to a wide range of species including corals, seabirds, sharks and vegetation not found anywhere else in the world.

In 2009, President Bush declared the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument, giving the islands the same level of protection as statues or cultural sites.

Now President Obama has signalled that he will extend the area that will be off limits to fishing and mineral exploitation to the limit of US economic control - some 200 nautical miles around the islands.

The White House said the final size of the protected zone would depend on consultations with scientists, fishing and conservation organisations.

The Washington Post reported that this would eventually cover up two million sq km.

"This area contains some of the most pristine tropical marine environment in the world," said White House senior counsel John Podesta, who made the announcement.

"These tropical coral reefs and associated ecosystems are among the marine environments facing the most serious threat from climate change and ocean acidification."

Financial incentives
Speaking ahead of the announcement, President Obama said that protecting marine areas wasn't just a good idea for the environment, it made good economic sense as well.

"If we ignore these problems, if we drain our oceans of their resources, we won't just be squandering one of humanity's greatest treasures, we will be cutting off one of the worlds major sources of food and economic growth," he said.

Last year, attempts to create huge marine reserves in Antarctica failed when Russia blocked plans by the US and others for a third time.

Ocean campaigners have welcomed the new US plan as an important step.

"This is incredibly significant and shows global leadership from the US on this issue" said Karen Sack from the Pew Charitable Trusts.

"There is an amazing array of biodiversity around these islands, there are sea mount systems with a lot of deep sea species, all types of marine mammals."

Marine Protected Areas currently make up around 2.8% of the world's oceans - but Karen Sack says the areas that have a full ban on fishing, drilling and other activities are much smaller, which increases the significance of the US move.

"Less than 1% of the global ocean is fully protected," she said.

"While this area may be far away from anywhere the designation adds to the part of the ocean that is protected in this way which is critical."

Conserving marine species isn't just the preserve of large nations like the US.

In recent days the tiny Republic of Kiribati announced that the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, will close to all commercial fishing by the end of 2014.

This fishing zone, which is close to the newly extended US MPA, is within a region that is home to the largest remaining stocks of tuna on Earth.

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The unsustainability of organic farming

RICHARD CORNETT Today Online 17 Jun 14;

“Sustainable” has become one of the buzzwords of the 21st century. Increasing numbers of universities offer courses or even programmes in sustainability and many large companies boast substantial departments devoted to the subject. In April, many of the iconic multinational companies in the agriculture/food sector were represented at a three-day Sustainable Product Expo convened by Wal-Mart — the largest retailer in the United States — at its Arkansas headquarters.

But, as with many vague, feel-good concepts, sustainability contains more than a little sophistry. For example, sustainability in agriculture is often linked to organic farming, whose advocates tout it as a sustainable way to feed the planet’s rapidly expanding population.

But what does sustainable really mean and how does it relate to organic methods of food production?

LOW YIELDS OF ORGANIC PRODUCTION

The organic movement’s claims about the sustainability of its methods are dubious.

For example, a recent study found that the potential for groundwater contamination can be dramatically reduced if fertilisers are distributed through the irrigation system according to plant demand during the growing season. However, organic farming depends on compost, the release of which is not matched to plant demand. Moreover, though composting receives good press as a “green” practice, it generates a significant amount of greenhouse gases (and is often a source of pathogenic bacteria in crops).

The study also found that “intensive organic agriculture relying on solid organic matter, such as composted manure that is mixed into the soil prior to planting, resulted in significant down-leaching of nitrate” into groundwater. Increasing nitrate levels in groundwater is hardly a hallmark of sustainability, especially with many of the world’s most fertile farming regions in the throes of drought.

A fundamental reason that organic food production is far less sustainable than many forms of conventional farming is that organic farms, though possibly well adapted for certain local environments on a small scale, produce far less food per unit of land and water. The low yields of organic agriculture — typically 20 to 50 per cent below conventional agriculture — impose various stresses on farmland, especially on water consumption.

A British meta-analysis published in 2012 identified some of the stresses that were higher in organic agriculture. For example, it found that “ammonia emissions, nitrogen leaching and nitrous oxide emissions per product unit were higher from organic systems”, as were “land use, eutrophication potential and acidification potential per product unit”.

Lower crop yields in organic farming are largely inevitable, owing to the arbitrary rejection of various advanced methods and technologies. Organic practices afford limited pesticide options, create difficulties in meeting peak fertiliser demand and rule out access to genetically engineered varieties. If organic production were scaled up significantly, the lower yields would lead to greater pressure to convert land to agricultural use and produce more animals for manure, to say nothing of the tighter squeeze on water supplies — all of which are challenges to sustainability.

WHY CONVENTIONAL FARMING IS MORE SUSTAINABLE NOW

Another limitation of organic production is that it works against the best approach to enhancing soil quality — namely, the minimisation of soil disturbance (such as that caused by plowing or tilling), combined with the use of cover crops. Such farming systems have many environmental advantages, particularly with respect to limiting erosion and the run-off of fertilisers and pesticides. Organic growers do frequently plant cover crops, but in the absence of effective herbicides, they often rely on tillage (or even labour-intensive hand weeding) for weed control.

At the same time, organic producers do use insecticides and fungicides to protect their crops, despite the myth that they do not. More than 20 chemicals (mostly containing copper and sulphur) are commonly used in growing and processing organic crops — all acceptable under US rules for certifying organic products.

Perhaps the most illogical and least sustainable aspect of organic farming in the long term is the exclusion of genetically engineered (also known as genetically modified) plants — but only those that were modified with the most precise techniques and predictable results. Except for wild berries and wild mushrooms, virtually all the fruits, vegetables and grains in European and North American diets have been genetically improved by one technique or another — often as a result of seeds being irradiated or undergoing hybridisations that move genes from one species or genus to another in ways that do not occur in nature.

The exclusion from organic agriculture of organisms simply because they were crafted with modern, superior techniques makes no sense. It not only denies farmers improved seeds, but also denies consumers of organic goods access to nutritionally improved food, such as oils with enhanced levels of omega-3 fatty acids.

In recent decades, conventional agriculture has become more environmentally friendly and sustainable than before. But this reflects science-based research and old-fashioned technological ingenuity on the part of farmers, plant breeders and agribusiness companies, not irrational opposition to modern insecticides, herbicides, genetic engineering and “industrial agriculture”.

PROJECT SYNDICATE

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Henry Miller, a physician and molecular biologist, was founding director of the United States Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Biotechnology and is a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Richard Cornett is communications director for the Western Plant Health Association, a California-based nonprofit agricultural trade group.

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Best of our wild blogs: 17 Jun 14

Sat 21 & Sun 22 June ’14: 3 Guided Walks
from a.t.Bukit Brown. Heritage. Habitat. History.

Beting Bronok still slowly dying
from wild shores of singapore

Cyrene Reef (15 June 2014)
from teamseagrass

MacRitchie Nature Reserve
from My Nature Experiences

Black Bittern’s neck fully stretched
from Bird Ecology Study Group

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El Nino fear fuels water-saving moves

Carolyn Khew My Paper AsiaOne 17 Jun 14;

SINGAPORE - Many are battening down their hatches to prepare for the upcoming El Nino weather phenomenon, which is expected to lead to hotter and drier months ahead.

There will be no water fountains, or excessive watering of vegetables. Instead, from fish farms to hotels, various measures have been put in place to conserve water.

Last month, the Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) predicted the possibility of a weak to moderate El Nino - the abnormal warming in the Pacific Ocean - developing over the next few months.

This could cause rainfall in Singapore to drop 10-40 per cent below average over the coming south-west monsoon season, which runs until September.

The average daily temperature is also expected to be about 1 deg C above average.

Fish farmers are not taking any chances this time.

Following the dry spell in February this year, which made about 5 per cent of his fish "sick", Malcom Ong, chief executive of The Fish Farmer, said that he would spend about $100,000 to increase his fish farm's capacity.

The money would be used to buy more pumps for aeration, solar panels and to upgrade the water-monitoring system.

"If the water is still, the fish will die (due to a lack of oxygen)," said the 51-year-old.

His fish farm produces 700 tonnes of fish a year.

"Our supply has to be consistent. We can't say, 'Sorry, we don't have fish for the next four months'."

Philip Lim, the chairman of the Singapore Marine Aquaculture Cooperative, said: "We are monitoring water conditions every day, but my advice (to farms) is not to import any more fish for now."

Landscaping firm Nature Landscapes will drench the roots of its plants to avoid "root burn" and water its plants more frequently.

To save water, vegetable farm Green Circle in Lim Chu Kang will hand-water its plants using its catchment water, instead of using sprinklers.

The co-owner of the eco-farm, Evelyn Eng-Lim, said that hand-watering would save at least 50 per cent of water consumption. She said: "It's more targeted. Using sprinklers is more efficient, but sometimes they spray off target."

Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) is also looking to conserve water.

During the dry spell in March this year, water features in the RWS and CapitaLand properties were turned off.

Winston Chow, an assistant professor at the Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, said that if an El Nino occurs, it would have a "strong influence" in lowering average rainfall in South-east Asia.

"We're still in an inter-monsoon period - which explains the current rainy weather - but with the transition in season to the south-west monsoon later this month, we should expect drier (if not warmer) conditions to manifest," he said.

Ivy Singh-Lim, who owns vegetable farm Bollywood Veggies, said that her ponds would have sufficient water to last her for four months.

"Too much rain is not good. When there's no rain, my fruit trees do even better," she said.

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Air quality 'moderate' as NEA begins daily haze updates

Channel NewsAsia 16 Jun 14;

SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency (NEA) has started posting daily updates on the haze situation. It says the overall air quality for the next 24 hours is expected to be in the moderate range.

An advisory posted on NEA's website says as of 6pm on Monday (June 16), the 24-hour PSI was 'moderate', at between 52 to 54. This is despite 114 hotspots being detected in Sumatra, with visible smoke plumes from hotspots in Indonesia's Riau Province.

Thundery showers are expected in parts of Singapore on Tuesday morning.

Last week, NEA had announced that it would provide daily updates on haze conditions. It said dry conditions from the onset of the Southwest Monsoon season would increase the possibility of transboundery haze.

The Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) also forecast the possibility of haze affecting Singapore. It had said it expects weak to moderate El Nino conditions to develop in the next few months, which could make for hotter and drier weather.

More information is available at nea.gov.sg and haze.gov.sg.


- CNA/ly

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Philippines: Planted mangrove sustained worst ‘Yolanda’ damage

Inquirer.net 17 Jun 14;

May I place in proper perspective the study of the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (“Gov’t study shows ‘Yolanda’ damage to mangroves bigger than reported,” News, 6/2/14).

1. The reported mangrove damage applies only to plantations—which confirms our earlier findings of widespread mangrove mortality only in planted “bakhaw” (Rhizophora ) areas. In contrast, natural stands of “piapi” (Avicennia marina), “pagatpat” (Sonneratia alba) and other species are recovering. The greater damage in planted mangroves reported by the ERDB compared to our study (1,700 hectares vs 100-200 hectares) may in part be due to more sampling sites covered by the former.

2. Most bakhaw (Rhizophora stylosa, R. apiculata and R. mucronata) along the seafront are the wrong species planted in the wrong sites. The scientific community has been pointing this out for over two decades now—since the 1990s. Yet bakhaw are favored over piapi and pagatpat.

3. Dozens of scientific papers and also gray literature from NGOs and other reports provide evidence of the ecological incorrectness of these practices. Even the very low seedling counts reported by the ERDB in the bakhaw zones (83-195/ha) show their nonsuitability and poor site adaptation compared to the natural stands (475/ha) in Palo, Leyte. We found even higher average densities of 6,000-18,000 seedlings/ha in the natural mangroves in Eastern Samar.

4. Therefore we ask: Did “Yolanda” cause the devastation of the 1,700-hectare bakhaw-planted areas (per ERDB report); or were the bakhaw already dying six months, or one or two years, or more before Yolanda?

5. Even in areas still to be planted, it will do no good to plant bakhaw all over again on seagrass beds. Based on our January/March 2014 survey, the natural stands along Eastern Visayas coastlines are dominated by piapi and pagatpat, as are those in Western and Central Visayas and the archipelago. Bakhaw can be found behind the piapi-pagatpat zone and in more protected sites such as tidal creeks and rivers. The nursery protocols for A. marina and S. alba are described in the “Community-based Mangrove Rehabilitation Manual” (2012).

6. Assuming, for the sake of discussion, that the 1,700-hectare plantations were devastated by Yolanda, these represent only 6 percent of the total—the more or less 28,000-hectare mangroves-occupied shorelines at various landfall sites—from Eastern Samar to Palawan (Rollon et al., May 2014 Tacloban Workshop presentation). Meaning that 94 percent of mangroves (representing natural stands, as observed in our January/March 2014 surveys) sustained zero to only partial damage, and that our original statement remains valid—that the mangroves in the Yolanda-affected provinces are recovering and need “protection” rather than planting.

This should guide the wise use of the P1 billion and other funds earmarked for mangroves by the government, NGOs and international development agencies.

—J.H. PRIMAVERA, PhD,
Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation,
cochair, IUCN Mangrove Specialist Group,
chief mangrove scientific advisor,
Zoological Society of London,
jurgennep@yahoo.com

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Vietnam: Rising sea levels could affect one-fifth of HCM City by 2100

VietNamNet Bridge 16 Jun 14;

Twenty percent of the HCM City’s area could be covered with water by the end of the 21st century, when sea levels are expected to rise by one meter. And by 2050, nearly 10 percent of the city could be underwater.

Dr. Le Huy Ba, Head of the Institute for Science, Technology and the Environment Management, noted that climate change was “abnormal” this year because the city faced three big problems, high tides, prolonged heat and more rainfall.

The maximum and minimum temperatures have fluctuated more sharply this year. In previous years, it began raining in May but this year it was later. Meanwhile, it was still very hot in June this year, while there was also a high possibility of hail.

More worryingly, Ba said, the tides increased unexpectedly this year. The high tide measured at the Phu An Station on the Saigon River in early June was 1.53-1.54 meters.

While sea water levels ein Vung Tau City rose by 0.8 cm per annum, the water level at the rivers and canals in HCM City has gone up by 1.5 cm a year, causing a 50-year record-high peak in tides.

Ho Long Phi, Director of the Water Management and Climate Change Research Center, an arm of the HCM City National University, said climate change has had an obvious impact on HCM City as the average rainfall has increased by 0.7 mm. Meanwhile, the city terrain has become lower. Some places in the city are just 0.5-1 meter higher than sea water levels.

Phi said that floods caused by climate change are unavoidable, and added that the most urgent and effective measure for now is building a system of sewers to control the floods.

However, Phi said the designed system cannot bring effects because of technical problems. He believes that with the approved technical parameters, the system can show limited effects, allowing them to fight against floods no more than one time a year.

HCM City’s Mayor Le Hoang Quan said the city had been taking many measures to handle with climate change. Many projects have been approved which aim to improve sanitation conditions, reduce carbon emissions, reduce consumption of fuel and enhance afforestation or develop greenery.

The city has spent big money to improve the environment of the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe and Tau Hu-Ben Nghe canals; build three waste treatment complexes; and buy new buses that can meet new standards on emissions.

Phi suggested that it is necessary to apply both “hard” and “soft” solutions to deal with climate change. “Hard” solutions include technical measures to control high tides and build water reservoirs to regulate water levels.

Meanwhile, “soft” solutions would include designing, programming and building urban areas with green spaces to help ease greenhouse emission effects.

Scientists have forecasted that by 2050, sea water levels could rise by 30 cm, which would put 10 percent of the city’s area under water, and the average temperature in the city would increase by 1 degree C.

Chi Mai

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U.S. Officials: Wildlife products may finance terrorism

VERENA DOBNIK Associated Press Yahoo News 17 Jun 14;

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. government is stepping up its crackdown on the illegal trafficking of wild animal products across the nation's borders, saying some may be linked to terrorists, federal officials said Monday.

"Poaching in Africa is funding terrorist groups," U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman told a news conference at Kennedy International Airport.

He said such illegal trade is a threat to global security because it's driven by criminal elements, including terrorists using profits from items such as rhinoceros horns and elephant tusks to finance their activities.

On display in an airport cargo warehouse operated by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection was a collection of wildlife products seized at Kennedy — from ivory disguised to look like a wooden statue and the stuffed heads of a lion and leopard to handicrafts, artworks and musical instruments hiding animal parts.

The single priciest item was a rhino horn. It fetches $30,000 per pound — or about 30 percent more than its weight in gold.

Paul Chapelle, the agent in charge of New York for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said one horn case resulted in 16 arrests, including that of a mobster from Ireland now serving 13 months behind bars.

A dead elephant is worth about $18,000 — mostly from the tusk. Also seized was a small rhino horn libation cup worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Kennedy handles the largest cargo volume of any U.S. airport, about $100 billion a year, said Patrick Foye, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airport.

And the wildlife element plays an especially powerful role in national security, said Froman, the chief U.S. trade negotiator and adviser to President Barack Obama.

More than 20,000 elephants were killed last year along with about 1,000 rhinos, meeting a rising world demand resulting in declining populations across Africa, according to officials with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

This treaty was signed by more than 170 countries to protect animals that end up as contraband including live pets, hunting trophies, fashion accessories, cultural artifacts and medicinal ingredients.

U.S. trade officials believe that groups benefiting from the poaching include the militant Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda and South Sudan, the Janjaweed comprised of Sudanese Arab tribes, and al-Shabab, a jihadist group based in Somalia.

In February, Obama approved a new strategy for fighting trafficking through enforcement, as well as partnerships with other countries, communities and private industry. For the first time, U.S. officials are asking trading partners to agree to conservation measures for wildlife and the environment in return for signing agreements.

Kennedy customs officials are reaching out to local businesses, plus auction houses like Christie's and Sotheby's and even Carnegie Hall to alert them to illegally traded valuables that may come their way.

U.S. using trade agreement negotiations to fight poaching
Noreen O'Donnell PlanetArk 17 Jun 14;

U.S. using trade agreement negotiations to fight poaching Photo: Gary Cameron
United States Trade Representative Michael Froman testifies before the Senate Finance Committee on President Barack Obama's 2014 Trade Policy Agenda on Capitol Hill in Washington May 1, 2014.
Photo: Gary Cameron

The United States is using negotiations on trade agreements to combat illegal international wildlife trafficking, which it regards as a threat to national security, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said on Monday.

"Poaching is funding corruption, it's funding terrorist groups, and a lot of it is making its way around the world into Asia and into the United States," Froman said at a news conference at John F. Kennedy Airport.

To meet the threat, the United States is emphasizing the environmental component of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement that the United States is negotiating with 11 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, he said.

Similar efforts are also part of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership agreement with the European Union.

In May, Judith Garber, an acting assistant secretary of state told Congress that, although it was difficult to determine the extent to which terrorist organizations took part in trafficking, it was believed that the Lord's Resistance Army, the Janjaweed and al-Shabaab were at least partly involved.

There was evidence that some insurgent groups were directly involved in poaching or trafficking, trading wildlife products for weapons or safe havens, she added.

Froman spoke next to a table displaying intricate carvings made of elephant tusks and rhino horns, tiger and leopard skins and snake skins, and the skull of an orangutan.

More than 20,000 African elephants were poached in 2013, according to a report from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Some 1,000 rhinoceros were killed, according to Froman. Rhino horn sells for $30,000 a pound, authorities said.

The report said that, although the sharp upward trend in illegal elephant killing since the mid-2000s was leveling off, alarmingly high poaching continued to exceed the natural growth rates of the elephant population, resulting in a further decline across Africa.

"The high demand for wildlife products is having a devastating impact, with iconic species like elephants and rhinos facing the risk of significant decline or even extinction," Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said in a statement.

"The president's strategy to combat wildlife trafficking, including decreasing demand at home and abroad, is important to strengthen our nation's leadership on countering the global security threat posed by the criminal markets that encourage poaching and illegal trade."

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Andre Grenon)

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