Great Barrier Reef: warmer waters helping coral-eating starfish thrive

The survival chances of crown-of-thorns starfish increase by as much as 240% if sea-surface temperatures rise 2C, say Australian researchers
Joshua Robertson The Guardian 12 Feb 15;

Warmer seas are creating an additional threat to the Great Barrier Reef, with new research suggesting rising temperatures are helping a key coral predator thrive.

Crown-of-thorns starfish that eat coral are more likely to survive with rising sea-surface heat levels, according to a study by the Australian Institute of Marine Science (Aims).

An Aims scientist, Sven Uthicke, said a study largely carried out at the institute’s marine laboratory in Townsville showed a 2C rise in sea temperature increased the starfish’s chances of survival by up to 240%.

“Warmer sea temperatures were found in this study to enhance COTS [Crown-of-thorns starfish] survival along with other, cumulative pressures on the reef,” he said.

“Given that the most moderate climate change scenarios predict a 1C-2C increase in average sea temperatures, the present study further demonstrates the value of taking a holistic, multi-variable approach to understand better how cumulative factors affect the survival of species such as COTS.”

Outbreaks of the starfish, also known as Acanthaster planci, have been instrumental in coral cover on the reef halving between 1985 and 2012, a range of previous studies indicated. Scientists attributed 40% of that overall decline to the starfish.

Warmer seas also kill coral through bleaching. Extensive bleaching can be triggered by as little as six weeks at temperatures of 1C-1.5C above the long-term summer maximum, according to the federal environment department.

Uthicke said scientists could better understand starfish outbreaks by recognising the synergies of sea-surface temperatures and increased nutrient flows that feed starfish larvae.

For the study, Uthicke and other scientists used the institute’s national sea simulator, which enables them to manipulate environmental factors to conduct large, long-term experiments on the impact of complex environmental changes.

The study was published on Thursday in the online peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports.

Unesco’s world heritage committee is due to publish a draft report on the Great Barrier Reef in mid-May, and a decision on whether the site should be listed as “in danger” is to be made later this year.

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Australia: Dugong poachers face fines of up to $1 million; funding approved for threatened animals like bandicoots and quolls

Bridget Brennan ABC News 12 Feb 15;

Illegal poachers of dugongs and turtles in far north Queensland are about to face tougher penalties, as the Federal Government announces new measures to protect threatened species.

New laws passed in the Senate have increased the hunting fines to up to $1 million in Commonwealth marine areas.

Environment Minister is Greg Hunt said it was important legislation.

"I am determined to wipe out any residual practice of poaching of dugongs and turtles," he said.

"I think what we find is that these are majestic creatures."

Traditional owners welcomed the move. Gavin Singleton, a project officer at the Dawul Wuru Indigenous Corporation in the Cairns region, said poaching was an insidious practice in far north Queensland.

"We do have a lot of people who are taking those kinds of marine resources," he said.

"It's unsustainable."

Mr Singleton said he hoped the tougher fines would deter poachers while native title holders should still be able to hunt dugongs.

Under the Native Title Act of 1993, Indigenous people with native title rights can hunt marine turtles and dugong for personal, domestic or non-commercial communal needs.

"For traditional owners, within the traditional sea country area, that's where there's a bit of uncertainty," he said.

Dugongs are among many Australian species under serious threat.

A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences said 21 per cent of Australian mammals were threatened.

Co-author Dr John Woinarski, a conservation professor at Charles Darwin University, warned the situation for threatened mammals was "catastrophic".

The Federal Government has announced it would give an additional $743,000 to boost the work of 11 conservation projects around the country.

Mr Hunt said the Government was already investing $50 million towards threatened species research and protection.

Some of the conservationists that would benefit from a boost in funding were working to save animals like the eastern barred bandicoot in Victoria and the western quoll in South Australia.

Mr Hunt said another of the projects had been crucial to the survival of the eastern bettong in the ACT.

"It's being reintroduced into the mainland, there are real things happening that are making a big difference," Mr Hunt said.

Dr Woinarski said the new investment was a good step but there were many more animals facing what he deemed an "extinction calamity".

"The extent of the problem is huge and the extent of resources committed to it is nowhere near sufficient at this stage," he said.

"Many of those species have declined drastically over the last decade or so and they do need our help badly."

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China tiger farms put big cats in the jaws of extinction

Neil Connor AFP Yahoo News 12 Feb 15;

Harbin (China) (AFP) - A fearsome tiger snarled as a doomed chicken flapped helplessly in its mouth -- but campaigners say such "entertainment" in China is putting big cats further in the jaws of extinction.

"How ferocious, he doesn't let anyone come near him," said one visitor over the sound of crunching bones, as she recorded the grisly scene on her smartphone.

Buying chickens to feed the exhibits at the Siberian Tiger Park in northeast China's Harbin city costs 60 yuan ($10) -- though the menu has plenty of other choices, even cows are available to serve up.

But wildlife protection campaigners allege such parks, along with the dedicated tiger breeding centres or "farms" dotted around the country, actually make their big money selling on body parts from the big cats when they die -- a practise which potentially further threatens the endangered species.

Global tiger numbers have plummeted from 100,000 a century ago to only 3,000 in the wild today, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which classes them as endangered, with poaching and habitat loss primary threats to their survival.

China's tiger farm industry says the trade in captive animals helps to relieve the pressure on wild felines, but wildlife groups argue it reduces the stigma around buying the animals or their body parts, and could create new markets for them.

Debbie Banks, head of the London-based NGO the Environmental Investigation Agency, said that such sales of the body parts of captive tigers was "stimulating demand and sustaining the poaching pressure".

"Raising a tiger to maturity in captivity costs more than poaching a tiger in the wild," she told AFP.

"Wild tigers, leopards and snow leopards are targeted as a cheaper alternative to skins of captive bred tigers."

Figures from TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, show that from the turn of the millennium, at least 1,590 tigers were poached around the world up to April 2014 -- an average of two a week.

Among the 13 countries with native tiger populations, numbers are increasing in India and Nepal, which do not have tiger farms, said Banks. But in Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and China, where tigers can legally be bred for commercial purposes, wild populations are struggling.

At the same time captive tiger numbers are soaring in China, with up to 6,000 -- twice the global wild population -- in about 200 farms across the country.

- Wanted dead or alive -

Used for entertainment when the tigers are alive, what happens to the skins and bones of animals that die in captivity is a murky issue.

Tiger bones have long been an ingredient of traditional Chinese medicine, supposedly for a capacity to strengthen the human body.

China banned trade in tiger bones in 1993, but the law is regularly flouted, campaigners say. Legislation is also unclear on whether cats bred in captivity are considered endangered in China, and there is little regulation around what needs to be declared when they die.

The animal is considered a symbol of prestige for many in China, with tiger pelt rugs sought-after luxury items, along with tiger bone wine -- bottles labelled with tiger images sell for nearly 5,000 yuan ($800) at the park shop in Harbin.

In December, a wealthy Chinese businessman who bought, slaughtered and ate three tigers was jailed for 13 years.

The gang involved had killed 10 tigers in total, domestic media reported, some of them smuggled in alive "from Southeast Asian countries".

The tigers cost them 200,000 to 300,000 yuan ($48,000) each, and they reaped profits of more than 100,000 yuan per animal, reports said.

Chinese tiger purchases came under scrutiny at an anti-poaching conference in Nepal last week attended by around 100 experts, government and law officials from tiger habitat nations.

Campaigners say that the mere availability of "farmed" tiger products fuels the demand, which Mike Baltzer, leader of the WWF Tigers Alive Initiative, described as "so huge that it's very difficult to address the issue".

"When you have a cultural perception among wealthy people in China that owning a tiger is a matter of prestige, you can't change it overnight," he said.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei insisted that Beijing was taking action to tighten laws against poaching, adding: "We have adopted a recovery plan on China’s wild tigers and work to improve the habitats of wild tigers."

- Big cat in a bottle? -

There are only about 45 wild tigers in China, according to EIA. But there are more than 1,000 at the Siberian Tiger Park, which was launched in 1986 with just eight animals.

Park representatives have repeatedly been quoted saying that the trade in captive-bred tiger products reduces pressure on wild animals, and that they hope to reintroduce some of their creatures into the wild.

But repeated requests by AFP for comment on whether they sell on the dead animal parts or use them in products went unanswered.

In the park's souvenir shop "bone strengthening wine" is sold in elaborate bottles adorned with tigers.

A shop assistant denied to a foreign visitor that tiger bone was an ingredient.

But when AFP telephoned the shop an employee gave a different impression, saying: "In order to avoid the penalties for selling tiger-bone wine, the name was changed from 'tiger bone wine' to 'bone strengthening wine.'"

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Coastal communities dumping 8m tonnes of plastic in oceans every year

China ranked top polluter as figures suggest total plastic litter ending up in the seas could rise tenfold by 2025
Ian Sample The Guardian 12 Feb 15;

Coastal populations put about 8m tonnes of plastic rubbish into the oceans in 2010, an annual figure that could double over the next decade without major improvements in waste management efforts, scientists warn.

The mountain of plastic litter, including bags, food packaging and toys, was equivalent to five full shopping bags of debris for every foot of coastline bordering nearly 200 countries the team studied.

Though researchers have known about plastic waste in the oceans for 40 years, the latest report, published in the journal Science, is the first to attempt a detailed estimate of how much plastic made on the planet finds its way into the oceans.

The figures suggest that about 10 to 30 times more plastic debris ends up in the oceans than surveys have found floating about on the surface. In one recent survey, an international team reported more than 5 trillion pieces of plastic are floating in the world’s oceans, collectively weighing nearly 269,000 tonnes.

In the latest study, researchers at the University of Georgia and the Sea Education Association in Massachusetts calculated the amount of waste plastic generated in 192 countries with coastlines on the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, and the Mediterranean and Black seas. From data on regional manufacturing and waste management practices, they worked out that 4.8m to 12.7m tonnes of plastic rubbish wound up as ocean debris in 2010.

“This input of plastic waste to the oceans is several orders of magnitude more than we can see, which means there’s a lot of plastic out there that we are not finding,” said Jenna Jambeck, the first author of the study at the University of Georgia.

Some countries still dump plastic litter into watercourses that carry the material out to sea. But much of the plastic made on land becomes marine debris because it is not properly disposed of in landfills or at recycling plants. Left in piles in coastal areas, the waste can easily blow into waterways or be carried out to sea by flood water.

Once plastic reaches the oceans it forms floating waste, washes up on coastlines, and accumulates on sea floors. Larger items like bags, wrapping and fishing gear can entangle dolphins, turtles and even whales. Small pieces are eaten by fish, turtles and seabirds. Over time, the material weathers down into tiny particles that can be ingested even by small marine animals. The pollution is extremely difficult to remove from the environment or trace back to its source.

In the study, Jambeck and her colleagues ranked the 20 countries responsible for the most waste plastic ending up in the oceans. The greatest sources were not only the major plastic producers, but generally those nations with the worst waste management practices.

China topped the table with 1.32 to 3.53m tonnes of plastic reaching the oceans in 2010. Indonesia followed, where 83% of waste was mismanaged, added 0.48 to 1.29m tonnes of marine plastic to the seas that year. The US ranked 20th, where only 2% of waste was badly handled, and 0.04 to 0.11m tonnes of plastic found its way to the ocean. Sixteen of the top 20 polluters are middle income countries where fast economic growth is not accompanied by major improvements in waste handling.

According to the report, the cumulative amount of plastic in the seas will soar tenfold by 2025 if nothing is done to slash waste generation or manage it more effectively. The current annual rate of 8m tonnes put into the oceans could also double by 2025 without action.

If changes are made, they could have a huge impact, the scientists claim. Reducing mismanaged plastic waste by 50% in the top 20 ranked countries would cut the pile of plastic likely to end up in the oceans by 41% in 2025. More stringent caps on plastic in waste streams, and better disposal in the top ten-ranked countries could reduce the amount of new marine plastic to 2.4 to 6.4m tonnes annually by 2025.

Though the greatest gains would come from better waste processing in regions where waste management is the poorest, Jambeck stressed that substantial improvements were possible even in countries with effective waste disposal. “It’s not just about improving the infrastructure in other countries.” she said. “There are things we can do in our daily lives to reduce the amount of waste plastic we all produce.”

In December, a team led by Lucy Woodall at the Natural History Museum in London, found “microplastic” debris had accumulated in deep sea sediments, with some as deep as 3000m.

“Marine litter appears to be a much more serious phenomenon than previously thought with studies from the last six months suggesting this pollutant is all pervasive in our oceans and is present in much larger quantities than previously thought,” Woodall said.

“The world’s oceans cover such a large surface area and by nature are remote from much of human habitation, therefore it is unsurprising that every new study adds to our understanding how serious this issue is. This environmental challenge is one entirely of human making, but we can all help by starting to value, reduce, recycle and reuse plastic products.”

World's oceans clogged by millions of tons of plastic trash
Will Dunham Reuters Yahoo News 13 Feb 15;

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The world's oceans are clogged with plastic debris, but how much of it finds its way into the seas annually? Enough to place the equivalent of five grocery bags full of plastic trash on every foot (30 cm) of every nation's coastline around the globe.

That's according to scientists who released research on Thursday estimating that a staggering 8 million metric tones of plastic pollution enter the oceans each year from the world's 192 coastal countries based on 2010 data.

Based on rising waste levels, they estimated that more than 9 million tons would end up in the oceans in 2015.

Experts have sounded the alarm in recent years over how plastic pollution is killing huge numbers of seabirds, marine mammals, sea turtles and other creatures while sullying ocean ecosystems.

China was responsible for the most ocean plastic pollution per year with an estimated 2.4 million tons, about 30 percent of the global total, followed by Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Egypt, Malaysia, Nigeria and Bangladesh.

The United States was the only rich industrialized nation in the top 20, and it ranked No. 20. Coastal EU nations combined would rank 18th.

The trash encompasses just about anything imaginable made of plastic including shopping bags, bottles, toys, food wrappers, fishing gear, cigarette filters, sunglasses, buckets and toilet seats.

"In short, you name it and it is probably somewhere in the marine environment," said Kara Lavender Law, a research professor of oceanography with the Massachusetts-based Sea Education Association.

The estimates were based on information including World Bank data for trash generated per person in all nations with a coastline, coastal population density, the amount of plastic waste countries produce and the quality of their waste-management practices.

"I think this is a wake-up call for how much waste we produce," said University of Georgia environmental engineering professor Jenna Jambeck.

The researchers calculated that 275 million tons of plastic waste was generated in the 192 coastal countries that year, with an estimated 8 million tons entering the ocean and a possible range between 4.8 million and 12.7 million tons.

"The most pressing need is to capture plastic waste to prevent it from entering the environment," Law said. "This means investing in waste management infrastructure, especially in those countries with rapidly developing economies."

"In high-income countries, we also have a responsibility to reduce the amount of waste, especially plastic waste, that we produce," she added.

The research was published in the journal Science.

(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Plastic waste heading for oceans quantified
Jonathan Amos BBC 12 Feb 15;

About eight million tonnes of plastic waste find their way into the world's oceans each year, say scientists.

The new study is said to be the best effort yet to quantify just how much of this debris is being dumped, blown or simply washed out to sea.

Eight million tonnes is like covering an area 34 times the size of New York's Manhattan Island to ankle depth.

The details were released at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Dr Jenna Jembeck, the study’s lead author from the University of Georgia, had another way to try to visualise the scale of the problem.

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“The quantity entering the ocean is equal to about five plastic grocery bags full of plastic for every foot of coastline in the world,” she told BBC News.

Unseen pollution

Researchers have for some time now reported on the mass of plastic caught up in ocean currents, just going round and round.

What is slightly shocking about this new study, also published in Science Magazine, is that it helps quantify all the plastic in our oceans - not just the material seen floating on the sea surface or sitting on beaches.

The newly published estimate is 20 to 2,000 times greater than the reported mass of plastic trapped in high concentration in ocean gyres.

It is clear now that large quantities of debris must be hidden on the seafloor or have been weathered into tiny fragments that are just not apparent to casual surveys. The latter are being ingested by marine animals with unknown consequences.

In doing its analysis, the team pulled together international data on population, waste generation and management (and mismanagement). The group then modelled scenarios for the likely sums of plastic getting into the ocean environment.

For 2010, the estimated range runs from 4.8 to 12.7 million tonnes. Eight million tonnes is the mid-scenario. It is a few percent of the total plastic waste generated that year.

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That lower bound of 4.8 is roughly equal to the size of the global tuna fishery.

"In effect we're taking out the tuna and we're putting in plastic," commented co-author Kara Lavender Law from the Sea Education Association at Woods Hole.

Eight million tonnes is the mid-scenario, though. It is a few percent of the total plastic waste generated each year.

The scientists have compiled a list of the nations they find to be responsible for most of this wayward plastic.

These top 20 countries account for 83% of all mismanaged material available to enter the ocean.

China is at the top, producing more than a million tonnes of marine debris on its own.

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But the team cautions against making simple judgements because this position is a result in the main of the Asian nation’s immense population, a large fraction of which lives along an extensive coastline.

Likewise, the United States, makes an entry at 20th on the list. It too has large coastal communities. It also has much better waste management practices. But what pulls its performance down is the sheer volume of waste produced by each individual citizen – and some of this inevitably finds its way into the ocean.

(The EU is considered as a bloc but would appear 18th in the list if treated as a single nation).

The team says various solutions are required.

Rich nations need to reduce their consumption of single-use, disposable plastic items, like shopping bags; and developing nations must improve their waste management practices.

It is evident from the list that a relatively small number of middle-income, rapidly developing countries are having acute difficulties.

Dr Jembeck commented: “Economic growth is coupled with waste generation. Now, economic growth is a positive, but what you often see in developing countries is that waste management infrastructure is put to one side. And rightly so to some extent; they are looking more closely at getting clean drinking water and improving sanitation.

"But from a waste perspective, I don't want them to forget about this management issue because if they do, the problems are only going to get worse."

The study suggests that, left unchecked, 17.5 million tonnes a year could be entering the oceans by 2025. Cumulatively, that is 155 million tonnes between now and then.

And with global "peak waste" unlikely to be reached before 2100, according to World Bank calculations, the situation becomes ever more pressing.

Co-author Roland Geyer, from the University of California at Santa Barbara, said it was not feasible to clean the oceans of plastic; "turning off the tap" was the only solution," he told BBC News.

"How could you even collect plastics from the ocean floor given that the average depth is 14,000ft? We need to prevent plastics entering the oceans in the first place. Lack of formal waste management systems causes high plastic waste inputs into the ocean. So, helping every country to develop a sound solid waste management infrastructure is a top priority."

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US faces worst droughts in 1,000 years, predict scientists

Climate change is likely to cause decade-long mega-droughts across US south-west and Great Plains, new study shows
Suzanne Goldenberg The Guardian 12 Feb 15;

The US south-west and the Great Plains will face decade-long droughts far worse than any experienced over the last 1,000 years because of climate change, researchers said on Thursday.

The coming drought age – caused by higher temperatures under climate change – will make it nearly impossible to carry on with current life-as-normal conditions across a vast swathe of the country.

The droughts will be far worse than the one in California – or those seen in ancient times, such as the calamity that led to the decline of the Anasazi civilizations in the 13th century, the researchers said.

“The 21st-century projections make the [previous] mega-droughts seem like quaint walks through the garden of Eden,” said Jason Smerdon, a co-author and climate scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Researchers have long known that the south-west and Great Plains will dry out over the second half of the 21st century because of rising temperatures under climate change.

But this was the first time researchers found those droughts would be far worse even than those seen over the millennia.

The years since 2000 give only a small indication of the punishment ahead. In parts of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, 11 of those years have been drought years.

As many as 64 million people were affected by those droughts, according to Nasa projections.

Those conditions have produced lasting consequences. In California, now undergoing its fourth year of drought – and the worst dry spell in 1,200 years, farmers have sold off herds. Growers have abandoned fields. Cities have imposed water rationing.

But future droughts could be even more disruptive, because they will likely drag on for decades, not years.

“We haven’t seen this kind of prolonged drought even certainly in modern US history,” Smerdon said. “What this study has shown is the likelihood that multi-decadal events comprising year after year after year of extreme dry events could be something in our future.”

The study, Unprecedented 21st-Century Drought Risk in the American Southwest and Central Plains, was published in a new online journal Science Advances.

The researchers said the effects of drought would likely be exacerbated by population growth in the south-west and rising demands for water.

Already current demands for water – for agriculture and for daily life – have drastically reduced groundwater sources in California and across the south-west.

Under the current warming trajectory, the south-west and Great Plains could expect to see chronic water shortages, making it impossible to carry out farming and ranching under current methods.

“Given the likelihood of a much drier future and increasing water resources demand, groundwater loss and higher temperatures will likely exacerbate the impacts of future droughts, presenting a major adaptation challenge,” the paper said.

The researchers used data derived from tree rings, whose growth patterns show the effects of dry and wet years, sampled across North America, and soil moisture, rainfall and evaporation records, and 17 climate models to study the effects of future temperature rise on the region.

Study sees even bigger longer droughts for much of US West
SETH BORENSTEIN Associated Press Yahoo News 12 Feb 15;

SAN JOSE, California (AP) — As bad as recent droughts in California, the Southwest and the Midwest have been, scientists say far worse "megadroughts" are coming — and they're bound to last for decades.

"Unprecedented drought conditions" — the worst in more than 1,000 years — are likely to come to the Southwest and Central Plains after 2050 and stick around because of global warming, according to a new study in the journal Science Advances on Thursday.

"Nearly every year is going to be dry toward the end of the 21st century compared to what we think of as normal conditions now," said study lead author Benjamin Cook, a NASA atmospheric scientist. "We're going to have to think about a much drier future in western North America."

There's more than an 80 percent chance that much of the central and western United States will have a 35-year-or-longer "megadrought" later this century, said study co-author Toby Ault of Cornell University, adding that "water in the Southwest is going to become more precious than it already is."

Megadroughts last for decades instead of just a few years. The 1930s Dust Bowl went on for more than 35 years, Ault said.

The study is based on current increasing rate of rising emissions of carbon dioxide and complex simulations run by 17 different computer models, which generally agreed on the outcome, Cook said.

The regions Cook looked at include California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, northern Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, most of Iowa, southern Minnesota, western Missouri, western Arkansas, and northwestern Louisiana.

Looking back in records trapped in tree ring and other data, there were megadroughts in the Southwest and Central Plains in the 1100s and 1200s that lasted several decades, but these will be worse, Cook said. Those were natural and not caused by climate change, unlike those forecast for the future, Cook said.

Because of changes in the climate, the Southwest will see less rain. But for both regions the biggest problem will be the heat, which will increase evaporation and dry out the soil. The result is a vicious cycle: The air grows even drier, and hotter, Cook said.

Scientists had already figured that climate change would increase the odds of worse droughts in the future, but this study makes it look worse and adds to a chorus of strong research, said Jonathan Overpeck, co-director of the Institute of the Environment at the University of Arizona.

"These results are not surprising, but are eye-opening nonetheless," said Overpeck, who wasn't part of the research, in email.

Science Advances: http://www.scienceadvances.org

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'Climate intervention' strategies unlikely to work

AFP Yahoo News 11 Feb 15;

Miami (AFP) - Attempts to curb climate change by capturing carbon underground or geo-engineering to help the Earth better reflect incoming sunlight are nowhere near ready for use, a US panel of scientists said.

"There is no substitute for dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate the negative consequences of climate change," said the National Research Council in a two-part report on proposed climate-intervention techniques.

"If society ultimately decides to intervene in Earth's climate, any actions should be informed by a far more substantive body of scientific research, including ethical and social dimensions, than is presently available."

The panel urged against "albedo-modification technologies, which aim to increase the ability of Earth or clouds to reflect incoming sunlight," saying they "pose considerable risks and should not be deployed at this time."

Such techniques "would only temporarily mask the warming effect caused by high CO2 concentrations, and present serious known and possible unknown environmental, social, and political risks, including the possibility of being deployed unilaterally," said the report.

Carbon dioxide removal is better understood "but current technologies would take decades to achieve moderate results and be cost-prohibitive at scales large enough to have a sizeable impact," it added.

"Direct air capture of carbon is an immature technology with only laboratory experiments carried out to date and demonstration projects in progress," the report said.

"Technologies for storing the captured carbon are at an intermediate stage, but only prototypes exist and are not at the scale required for significant sequestration."

Other techniques such as forest restoration and low-till agriculture are "mature, readily deployable technologies with well-known environmental consequences," the report said.

It also warned against ocean-based approaches to accelerate natural removal of carbon dioxide, saying they "carry significant environmental and socio-political risks."

The study was sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences, the US intelligence community, the US space agency NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Department of Energy.

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Best of our wild blogs: 12 Feb 15

Sighting of Lesser Adjutant
from Bird Ecology Study Group

3 things you can do today on food waste
from Green Future Solutions

Illegal logging contributed to deadly Malaysian floods, according to government minister
from Mongabay.com news by Morgan Erickson-Davis

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Elephant Patrols Seek to Protect Indonesia’s Rainforests

Agence France-Presse Jakarta Globe 11 Feb 15;

Trumon, Indonesia. Indonesian men ride on Sumatran elephants as they patrol though dense jungle in the west of the tropical archipelago, warriors on the front line of the fight against illegal logging and poaching.

They trek alongside rivers, over rough terrain and deep into the rainforest in an area that is home to numerous endangered species, from orangutans to tigers, but which has suffered devastating deforestation in recent years.

The sprawling Indonesian archipelago has large swathes of tropical forest but vast tracts are being felled to make way for palm oil and pulp and paper plantations, destroying biodiverse habitats and adding to greenhouse gas emissions.

Much of the logging that takes place is illegal as it happens outside concessions granted to companies, but it is hard for authorities to keep track. Poaching of endangered species is also common, with elephants killed for their ivory and tigers for their pelts.

The elephant patrol project, run with communities in the Trumon district of Aceh province, on Sumatra island, aims to give a helping hand.

It employs local men as “mahouts”, or elephant-keepers, who keep a lookout for illegal logging and poaching and report it to authorities to follow up.

Hendra Masrijal, 33, quit his job as a food vendor to become a mahout. He is among a group of around about 25 keepers involved in the scheme, including former separatists who fought against the central government until a peace deal was struck a decade ago.

“It makes me sad when I see pictures of elephants killed by poachers for their tusks,” Masrijal told AFP. “Their habitat is also being encroached [on] by farmers and villagers.”

The patrols deep into the jungle last between two and seven days, with mahouts normally spending 15 to 20 days a month on expeditions.

The initiative covers a vast area of 27,000 hectares called the “Trumon Wildlife Corridor”, which is wedged between two conservation areas. Authorities are currently trying to push through legislation to give it protected status.

As well as keeping a watch for logging and poaching, the program has staff who conduct training in local communities and develop eco-tourism to give villagers who have traditionally lived off illegal practices an alternative livelihood.

Tisna Nando, a spokeswoman for USAID, which has funded the expansion of the project over the past year, said communities were “enthusiastic” about the initiative.

“They see that they can actually benefit economically from protecting the forest in the area, rather than cutting it down,” she told AFP.

A study last year published in the journal Nature Climate Change showed that Indonesia had for the first time surpassed Brazil in its rate of tropical forest clearance, despite a moratorium on new logging permits imposed several years ago.

Agence France-Presse

Arrested poachers killed six Sumatran elephants: police
Antara 11 feb 15;

Pekanbaru, Riau (ANTARA News) - The eight poachers who were detained on Tuesday evening had killed six Sumatran elephants in two provinces, the Riau Provincial Police said.

"They belong to a cruel syndicate; they shot the elephants in their heads for their tusks. I strongly suspect they are part of a syndicate because they operated in different provinces, i. e. in Riau and Jambi," Senior Commissioner Y. S. Widodo, who is the head of the criminal investigation unit of the Riau police, stated here on Wednesday.

The local police detained the eight poachers and seized weapons and a pair of two-meter-long tusks on Tuesday evening.

They admitted that the tusks were taken from a male Sumatran elephant killed in Mandau, Bengkalis district, Riau province.

"During interrogation, the suspects confessed to have killed three elephants in Tesso Nilo National Park in Riau, three days ago. The elephants that were poached comprised a female and two males," he noted.

In September 2014, they had also killed two elephants in Jambi, and had sold their tusks at a price of Rp8 million, Widodo revealed.

The poachers names were announced by their initials as FA (50), HA (40), R (37), MU (52), S (30), R (30), I (25), and AS (50). FA was the main perpetrator behind the illegal hunting activities.

They face a five-year term in prison and are liable to pay a fine amounting to Rp200 million.

These arrests were the first of their kind after four years, despite several poaching incidents having been reported.

The WWF had recorded 43 cases of poaching of Sumatran elephants in Riau, but no arrests had been made. In 2012, 15 such cases had been reported, but no arrests had been made. In 2013, there had been 14 cases of elephant deaths, of which 13 were found dead in Tesso Nilo National Park.

According to reports, 14 wild elephants were found dead under unnatural circumstances in 2014.

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Police Nab 8 Hunters for Killing Elephant in Riau
Jakarta Globe 11 Feb 15;

Ivory can fetch up to $800 a kilogram on the international black market. (Reuters Photo/Bobby Yip)

Jakarta. The Riau Police on Tuesday arrested eight alleged ivory hunters who are suspected of having shot an elephant to cut off its tusks.

Officers confiscated two two-meter-long pieces of ivory, modified hunting rifles, six 7.6-millimeter bullets, blades and an axe.

The hunters allegedly told the police that they had been hunting for wild boars in the acacia woods of Bengkalis when an elephant walked past them. They proceeded to shoot the animal.

“The suspects are guilty of taking part in an illegal hunt,” Riau Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Guntur Aryo Tejo told Tempo.co, a news portal.

Police say the ivory is worth approximately Rp 10 million ($780) per kilogram on the international black market.

If found guilty of having violated the 1990 law on natural resources conservation, the hunters could face up to five years in jail and a fine of Rp 200 million.

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StarHub signs 3-year sponsorship deal for School Green Awards

Kamini Devadass Channel NewsAsia 12 Feb 15;

SINGAPORE: StarHub will be the title sponsor for the Singapore Environment Council's (SEC) School Green Awards (SGA), starting this year, after a Memorandum of Agreement was signed between the two parties on Thursday (Feb 12) in conjunction with the launch of the SGA 2015 at MINDS Fernvale Gardens School.

With this partnership, the awards will now be called the SEC-StarHub School Green Awards.

The info-communications company will provide S$150,000 in cash annually for the duration of their title sponsorship.

"Through the School Green Awards, StarHub hopes to empower the youth in Singapore to proactively take care of our planet," said Mr Tan Tong Hai, chief executive officer of StarHub.

"The School Green Awards will allow the corporates to harness the ideas from youths. What StarHub hopes to do is to publicise the ideas so that corporates will look at it and hopefully adopt such ideas," he added.

Ms Isabella Loh, chairman of the Singapore Environment Council, said that the sponsorship was an "important milestone". She noted: "We have now formed a more sustained sponsorship, cooperation. That would mean that there is a more sustained impact on how we can leverage on creative ideas to influence, as well as act as an influencer and idea generator for the public."

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, witnessed the ceremony and also launched the programme to kick-start the annual environmental awards programme for schools.

The awards recognise schools which address issues such as waste minimisation and resource conservation. Students work in teams and submit a report of their school's environment standards.

The SEC received 344 submissions for the awards last year, with about 435,500 students participating.

One of those who participated in last year's awards is Mr Danniel Khor from ITE College East. He shared about what his team did to promote recycling in his school: "In school, we used recycled materials - for example, plastics, plastic bottles, cans, steels - and used them to form our own personal Vivo Green mascot."

- CNA/av/ac

StarHub plants $450,000 to grow 'green' students
Audrey Tan The Straits Times AsiaOne 15 Feb 15;

Telco StarHub will give $450,000 over the next three years to plant the seeds of environmental conservation among students.

The funds will be used to sponsor the School Green Awards, an annual initiative of the Singapore Environment Council (SEC), now in its 15th year.

Yesterday, SEC chairman Isabella Loh and StarHub chief executive Tan Tong Hai signed an agreement at the MINDS Fernvale Gardens School.

Under this deal, StarHub will give the council $150,000 each year for the SEC-StarHub School Green Awards.

The awards are meant to recognise schools for their efforts in areas such as waste management and the limiting of energy use.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, was guest of honour at the signing.

He said: "It is noteworthy that this year is the 15th year of the awards, and that it has grown over the years... I think this is something to be celebrated."

The School Green Awards, usually given out in November, received 344 submissions last year, up from the 28 it got during its inaugural run in 2001.

Mr Tan said: "Through the School Green Awards, StarHub hopes to empower youth in Singapore to proactively take care of our planet."

He said the funds, to be administered by the SEC, could be used to extend the programme to more schools.

It was expanded last year to include institutes of higher learning such as universities, polytechnics and Institute of Technical Education.

SEC's Ms Loh said this expansion would mean reaching out to about 70,000 more students. Last year, about 435,000 students took part.

She added: "StarHub's support will enable the School Green Awards to strengthen its outreach and education to students at all levels of education, and this sponsorship clearly highlights StarHub's commitment to the environmental cause in Singapore."

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Indonesia: The danger of floods becoming routine

Rizqy Amelia Zein Jakarta Post 11 Feb 15;

Every time the rainy season hits, flooding, landslides and tropical disease outbreaks occur like annual routines.

As a vast archipelago located on a very risky piece of earth, we can hardly avoid the fact that natural calamities are deeply embedded in our daily lives.

This week alone, severe flooding has struck twice in consecutive days and the Jakarta authorities declared a flood emergency.

Though many studies have confirmed flooding is Jakarta’s “geographical fate”, it is not entirely natural: a complex social and political process has made the city more vulnerable to disaster.

Disaster-mitigation and risk-awareness are far away from our mindset in dealing with environmental risks. Worse, commitment to harming the environment as little as possible or to generate positive impact for environmental sustainability, is barely practiced. The number of victims and the amount of material loss rises almost every time the flooding comes.

Let’s distinguish between hazard and risk. Hazard is anything that can harm people and the environment. Hazard is objective (manifested) or subjective (contains a systematic evaluation that makes the outcome more tolerable).

We all agree that the tsunami and earthquakes in Aceh and Nias were harmful, but construction of a nuclear reactor might produce diverse views regarding the danger. Environmental disasters are mostly hazards, not risks in themselves.

In Jakarta, the flood, or the hazard itself, is starting to be oddly perceived as something very ordinary, something that happens routinely every rainy season.

As a resident of Petogogan, Kebayoran Baru said, when the water level reaches 50 centimeters, he isn’t surprised. It is appalling that people are getting used to floods, as they no longer see flooding as something threatening.

Meanwhile, constant exposure to hazards can lead to greater and more damaging future risks. Jakarta faces the possibility of serious landslides and rising sea levels. The banality of environmental disaster also indicates that a hazard is socially constructed.

Despite dead bodies, damaged houses and disrupted daily lives, understanding risk requires undergoing a process that is at once social, political and cultural.

Unlike hazards, understanding risks at least incorporates two layers; probability and effect. Risk indicates the likelihood of certain diabolical events happening in the future causing massive destruction.

As Ulrich Beck argues in his book, Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity, risk is “the dark side” of modernity, a logical consequence of the growing scientific and technological developments leading to excessive exploitation.

Risk thus has grown beyond time, space and social class. In a risk society, Beck adds, everyone can be vulnerable.

Beck expresses his concern regarding the transition from traditionalism to modernity, which he claims was unhealthy. Modernization has produced individualism, liberal democracy and overt belief in science, which are principles subsequently transformed into greed and negligence.

Environmental risks, Beck says, are the negative outcomes of modernization. It thus has a different nature from other risks, in particular ways. Firstly, it is very complex, uncertain, comprises causal correlation and produces multiple consequences.

Thus, it is a combination of manufactured (human-caused) and external (nature-caused) risks. Jakarta flooding is not only caused by the fact that Jakarta is a delta city, but also by poor city planning and people’s negligence regarding environmental issues.

Secondly, environmental risks are a combination of individual wrongdoings and long-term contact with various hazards. Yet people constantly blame the government, while disregarding their littering and other environmentally destructive behaviors.

As the impact of risks are often delayed, such behavior remains. Thus, mitigation is almost impossible without everyone’s willingness to act.

Lastly, as Beck emphasizes, like wealth, risks are not evenly distributed. The ones who suffer the most are not necessarily the same people contributing to the risks. In Jakarta, the construction of shopping malls, apartments, large business areas, etc. are not properly regulated. The poorest are left to deal with the aftermath.

Alas, the public discourse with regard to environmental disaster focuses on debate over who is to blame and whether a disaster is a national or local responsibility.

The most shameful reactions involve politicizing the disaster. We are still reluctant to discuss disaster-mitigation, promoting pro-environmental behavior or reforming city planning.

We may need to ponder Beck’s “reflexive modernization” idea — a modest premise that embodies the spirit of reform rather than exploitation. Science and technology are no longer solely used as tools for exploiting natural resources, but more as instruments to politically and economically manage risk.

Science and technology can be harnessed for adaptation, sustainability and precautionary principles instead.

Building more canals, floodgates, etc. is useless if people continue to litter, or if Jakarta officials have no commitment to reforming their urban-planning policies.

There is no instant solution for Jakarta flooding. Mother Nature is fighting back; if we do not move and take action, something nastier is waiting ahead for us.

The writer, a graduate of the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh is a researcher at Crisis and Community Development Center, faculty of psychology Airlangga University in Surabaya.

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Indonesia: Forest protection up in smoke

Adisti Sukma Sawitri Jakarta Post 11 Feb 15;

In his first 100 days in office, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo seemed to want to show the public he is simple and direct — though the opposite is true concerning his dithering on whether to appoint graft suspect Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan as National Police chief.

But there is a thin line between simplicity and ignorance — as seen in the case of Jokowi’s trimming of institutions and regulations related to forests. Within three months, the administration has shown that its only interest is in capitalizing on the country’s most coveted resources.

While merging and disbanding a number of institutions related to law enforcement in forestry, Jokowi has effectively halted attempts to end illegal deforestation and reckless business practices that have contributed to land conflicts and paralyzing haze in the region. His merger of the former environment and forestry ministries was initially considered in line with his no-nonsense approach to end cross-sectoral issues regarding problematic forest-clearing policies.

There were already concerns that the new Environment and Forestry Ministry would not continue lawsuits against agroforestry companies allegedly involved in producing haze.

The merger was later followed by the dissolving of two organizations that had been the backbone of forest governance: the Presidential Working Unit for the Supervision and Management of Development (UKP4) and the REDD+ Management Agency (BP REDD+), which in the last months of 2014 had progressed significantly in forestry law enforcement, a surprising relief under former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s otherwise decade of inaction.

The UKP4 had started audits on local administrations and agroforestry companies in Riau — the main area of forest fires during the dry season. The BP REDD+ was progressing in establishing forest reference emission levels (FREL), a requirement in carbon-credit assessment in the REDD+ system that the government had tried to establish under funding from Norway.

The ministry, through a ministerial regulation, has also transferred the authority of 35 forestry-related permits to the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM). This might speed up issuing of licenses — but the real problem of the transfer is that issuing a permit is not merely paperwork in forestry.

The permits transferred to the BKPM, for example, include various forms of logging licenses (IPK) for all forests, including natural forests. These permits usually coexist with other permits. An oil-palm plantation, for instance, should possess an IPK permit, location permit or land use rights, Environmental Impact Analysis (Amdal) and recommendations at various stages of local administrations.

A permit issuance also relates to forest spatial planning in regions, which the government has not made clear until today. The government has yet to realize the One Map policy, a single reference for the spatial planning of regions, due to differences across forest-related institutions, including the ministry. The failure in producing the single map proves the government has no clear reference on what is happening in the forests. Thus giving up the authority to the BKPM means transferring uncertainty to new investors.

The complicated licensing for forest production under the previous forestry ministry was puzzling and was a major source of corruption; but eliminating the process entirely may trigger new conflicts among companies, local administrations and residents.

Trading environmental assessment for faster permit issuance, for example, also means being less careful in handling environmental problems, including haze.

Reluctance to address haze problems means following in the footsteps of Yudhoyono.

Despite pioneering commitment in emission reduction by announcing the government’s willingness to reduce emissions by 26 percent to 41 percent in 2019, Yudhoyono remained weak in law enforcement, resulting in rampant forest fires that have spread haze in the region for the past few years. Hundreds of residents particularly in Riau, Malaysia and Singapore have suffered respiratory problems. People cannot go to work and children cannot go to school. Numerous flights have been delayed; land travel also has poor visibility.

Public interest should become a top government priority, beyond economic interests.

Punishing irresponsible companies that have allowed or intentionally carried out slash-and-burn practices is the government’s moral obligation. It should not be taken as a barrier for business but rather a way to save and protect citizens.

Singapore has introduced a law to prosecute companies that cause haze — regardless of the origin of the forest fires. The haze bill was criticized by businesspeople. But Singapore kept a firm stance, considering the menacing effects of haze.

The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, the Norway Pension Fund, has pulled its funds from palm-oil companies engaging in deforestation. Several banks have also announced zero tolerance to ensure environmental sustainability for palm-oil companies.

A recent report from the US-based Climate and Land Use Alliance reported that BNP Paribas often seeks independent verification by civil society organizations before approving financing in the palm-oil industry. Last year, Deutsche Bank divested from the Bumitama Group in response to the company’s alleged deforestation activities. HSBC withdrew banking services from Sarawak, Malaysia, due to concerns about money laundering and deforestation. Against such global pressure on the palm-oil sector, Jokowi seems to lead an orchestra of his own. Appearing more lenient in a sector swamped in graft and poor business practices does not make the sector more appealing, let alone improve the investment climate.

As the world’s largest crude palm oil producer and consumer, Indonesia can be a game changer in global efforts to save rainforests, not only by appearing supportive at the UN climate conference, but by bringing about strong law enforcement to reduce deforestation and promote good business practices in forestry.

So, has Jokowi simplified or ignored forestry issues? Either way he should not ask Yudhoyono for better advice.

The author is a staff writer at The Jakarta Post

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In China, a fight to save a forest tests toughened environment law

Sui-Lee Wee PlanetArk 11 Feb 15;

In China, a fight to save a forest tests toughened environment law Photo: REUTERS
A man looks at a contaminated river in Cangnan county of Wenzhou, Zhejiang province in this July 24, 2014 file photo.
Photo: REUTERS

A lawsuit filed against four Chinese mining executives accused of destroying a stretch of forest is shaping up as a test of China's strengthened environmental law and the ability of green groups to make companies more accountable for their actions.

Environmentalists hope the case will prompt a wave of legal action across China, where discontent is rising over a growth-at-all-costs economic model that has spoiled much of the country's water, skies and soil.

The miners hired workers to clear about two hectares (five acres) of forest on Hulu Mountain in southern Fujian province in 2008 in a bid to extract granite from the mountaintop without a license, according to two environmental groups who filed the suit and Chinese state media reports.

The plaintiffs sued the executives under amendments to the environmental protection law, which took effect on Jan. 1, demanding they fund restoration of the forest to its natural state.

Three of the mining executives were jailed last year for between 14 and 18 months after being convicted of illegally occupying agricultural land. The fourth was not charged in that case but Reuters was unable to contact the executive. It was unclear if the four had lawyers.

The environmental lawsuit, filed at a Fujian court in early January, was the first to be accepted under the new law. A court in eastern Shandong province has since accepted two similar cases.

Liu Xiang, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told Reuters he expected the Hulu Mountain lawsuit, which has attracted wide publicity in China, to be heard in March.

"We have a good starting point now. I can use (this law) as a tool to exercise my right of oversight," said Ma Yong, deputy director of the All-China Environment Federation, a body controlled by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The federation is not a plaintiff in the Hulu Mountain lawsuit, but is involved in the other two cases.

The amendments, the first changes to China's environmental legislation in 25 years, enshrined tougher punishment for polluters as part of China's declared war on pollution. They also apply to acts committed before the changes took effect.

Among the measures, government-registered organisations that meet certain criteria can sue polluters.

In addition, China's Supreme Court said last month it would give environmental groups the power to sue before any pollution had occurred if they could show that a particular activity could threaten the public interest.

The court also said a plaintiff's litigation costs, including legal fees, could be borne by the defendant.

NAKED PEAK

Wu Anxiang, a second lawyer for the plaintiffs, said there was enough evidence to show the executives were responsible for the forest's destruction.

Photographs obtained by Reuters from one of the plaintiffs, Fujian Green Home, show a naked peak and slabs of stone stacked along one of its ridges. The other plaintiff is Friends of Nature, a Beijing-based group.

The executives worked for Hulu Mountain Sand Base Hengxing Stone Factory, according to Friends of Nature and Chinese state media. It was not possible to contact the factory, which has no website nor publicly available phone number.

Chinese courts have previously rejected many environmental lawsuits because there was no framework to clarify who was eligible to sue. In 2013, courts turned down 10 lawsuits filed by Friends of Nature and the All-China Environment Federation.

The courts said the law didn't specify whether they belonged to the "relevant" organisations that could sue, said Zhang Bojun, director of Friends of Nature.

PARTY AWARE OF DISCONTENT

Environmentalists say they believe the amendments were passed because the ruling Communist Party is aware of the growing public anger over pollution. Environmental protection is likely to be a major topic at next month's annual parliament session.

"I think based on the current political viewpoint, we should be successful," said Liu, the lawyer.

Liu said it could cost 1 to 2 million yuan ($160,061 to $320,123) to restore the forest based on an assessment from an ecological expert.

Ge Feng, head of the Friends of Nature legal team, said she hoped the case would spur other environmental organisations to file public interest lawsuits.

Despite the changed legal parameters, local governments are likely to pressure courts not to go hard on industries that drive their economies, some experts said.

"The fundamental problem is how to make the courts stop being selective about what cases they accept," said Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a non-governmental organization.

"In terms of using the judiciary to solve China's environmental problems, we still have a long way to go."

(Additional reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Dean Yates)

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