Cambodia seizes smuggled snakes, turtles

Yahoo News 1 May 08;

Cambodian authorities have seized nearly half a tonne of live pythons and turtles that were being smuggled from Thailand to Vietnam, a wildlife conservationist group said on Thursday.

The animals, which included 11 reticulated pythons, 13 Burmese pythons and 257 turtles, were confiscated on Monday in Battambang province, about 300 kilometres (180 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, the Wildlife Alliance said.

Most of the animals had been "illegally collected (in Cambodia) and had been moved to a large-scale holding facility in Thailand before eventually being shipped to Vietnam through Cambodia," the group said in a statement.

Weighing 418.5 kilogrammes, the haul of creatures included Asian box turtles, Malayan snail-eating turtles, black marsh turtles, 12 threatened yellow-headed temple turtles, and two red-eared slider turtles.

Yellow-headed temple turtles, which are depicted on the walls of the famed Angkor temples, are of special cultural significance in Cambodian folklore and legend.

"They are depicted as divine creatures of royalty. Yet their numbers steadily decrease each year due to habitat loss and the illegal wildlife trade," the group said.

The animals were confiscated from a Chevrolet pick-up truck with military licence plates, the group said, adding that a 32-year-old military lieutenant was being questioned.

Wildlife Alliance officials said most of the animals were released on Wednesday into their natural habitats, including in the kingdom's Tonle Sap lake.

The illegal wildlife trade flourishes in Cambodia, fuelled by corrupt authorities and weak legislation.

Most of the trafficked animals feed the regional demand for exotic pets or traditional medicines, although a growing number are ending up in small private zoos throughout Cambodia.

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Some companies in Singapore seen to be 'greenwashing'

Channel NewsAsia 28 Apr 08;

SINGAPORE: According to some market-watchers, some companies are 'greenwashing' or claiming to be promoting green initiatives when they are not.

Some said the proportion of companies that are seen to be greenwashing could be as high as 30 to 40 percent in Singapore.

Adjunct Associate Professor Bob Fleming, NUS Business School, said: "I think one of the biggest dangers is that they are not being transparent in their operations. If they are overly greenwashing, there is an issue of corporate governance as well."

There are costs associated with going green and not all companies are willing to bear the additional burden.

Industries such as oil, chemical and pharmaceutical are seen as the ones more likely to be guilty of greenwashing due to the high level of waste generated in these sectors.

But the benefits of going green can outweigh the costs, and the key is to think long term.

Another market-watcher, Neil Falkner, said: "This is where we really need to shift our thinking about green initiatives. These aren't costs. At the end of the day, these are investments.

"So we shouldn't see these as social costs, but simply as a way for us to invest in communities and the environment which sustain our business. This is really looking down ten years into the future."

With concerns about the environment in the limelight, this is something that companies just cannot ignore as global investors call for greater transparency on companies' green initiatives.- CNA/so

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Scientist rediscovers rare plant unseen since 1985

Cheryl Wittenauer,Associated Press Yahoo News 1 May 08;

A scientist with the Missouri Botanical Garden has rediscovered and identified a rare parasitic plant that hasn't been seen by botanists in more than 20 years.

A single specimen of the plant was found in Mexico in 1985, but the plant wasn't seen again until St. Louis botanist George Yatskievych and a colleague found it in a pine oak forest in Mexico's mountains.

The plant, which he is identifying and naming for the first time, is not a classic beauty. The odd, orange-brown, fleshy-stemmed plant — which will have the formal Latin name for the "little hermit of Mexico" — has a pine cone-shaped dense cluster of flowers and juicy celery-like stalks.But to Yatskievych, it's "weird and wonderful."

"I've always been interested in plants that don't conform to our preconceived notion of what a plant should be," he said. "Beauty is in the beholder's eye and this plant is wonderful in so many ways.

"You can't call it ugly, but on the other hand, I recognize it's not everyone's cup of tea."

Wayt Thomas, scientist at the New York Botanical Garden, was looking for other plants in Mexico when he encountered a single specimen of the plant in 1985.

He cut a piece of it, and kept a dried, pressed specimen at his institution. He sent queries and photos of it to fellow botanists, but no one recognized or claimed it, he said, not even the late Larry Heckard who was the leading North American expert on parasitic plants. It went unrecognized because parasitic plants, when dried, don't maintain their color and structure well.

"It sat around for a long, long time," Thomas said.

But by luck, he met an Austrian botanist who referred him to Yatskievych, who is writing text for the encyclopedic "Flora of North America," on the very family of flowers he believed the Mexican plant was in. Plants in the family Orobanchaceae attach as parasites on the roots of host plants.

Photosynthesis, the process by which plants use sunlight and water to create energy in the form of sugar, is hard work, Yatskievych said, and these parasitic plants have developed a way to "steal their food" and hence survive in habitats that otherwise might be inhospitable.

When Yatskievych received Thomas' specimen in 2005, his response was, "What the heck is this?" He traveled to Guerrero, Mexico, the following year to meet with the same guide who helped Thomas two decades earlier.

The original site of the plant, near an old camping spot in the mountains west of Acapulco, had been destroyed. But days of searching finally led them to a 60-foot tree that was host to the parasitic plant. Starting as a cancer on the side of the underground root, it grew into a fleshy stem that had pushed 18 inches through rocky soil so it could flower. Yatskievych said his reaction was one of "overriding relief." He traveled to Mexico again in 2007 to gather information on the host tree and see the plant's fruits.

In the hierarchy of plant classification, a "species" is a collection of individuals, and "genus" is a collection of species. A collection of "genera" is a "family."

The "little hermit" is both a new species and a new genus because it is so unusual and distinct that it cannot be included in any of the existing genera in the plant family Orobanchaceae. No other populations have been found in the host tree's zone which spans from central Mexico to Costa Rica.

That could change in time, when Yatskievych's research is published in the next year.

Thomas said the find is significant because there's no field guide for the world of plants. He said describing a new genus is quite rare.

The plant is at risk of extinction as roads, logging and conversion to pasture destroy its habitat, Yatskievych said.

Yatskievych plans to present his findings this summer at a joint conference of the Botanical Society of America and the Canadian Botanical Society meeting in Vancouver, B.C.

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Campaign to stop Greenland seabird slaughter

Paul Eccleston, The Telegraph 1 May 08;

Conservations groups have launched a campaign to end the annual slaughter of seabirds on Greenland.

They say thousands of birds will be killed this Spring because the government has caved in to hunters.

Greenland's government agreed an extra month of shooting despite a huge fall in bird numbers.

The RSPB, Audubon in the US and two Canadian conservation groups have appealed to Greenland to restore the ban on hunting in March - imposed by law in 2001 - to give birds like kittiwakes, eider ducks and Brünnich's guillemots chance to recover their numbers.

Greenland boasted 100,000-strong seabird colonies 40 years ago but they are now down to just a few thousand because of intensive hunting and egg collecting.

In Iceland the decline to endangered status of Brünnich's guillemot is blamed on Greenland's hunters.

ºThe first meeting of a special taskforce involving politicians, conservationists and hunters is due to take place on May 1 to try and find a solution which is acceptable to all groups.

Hunting is a tradition on Greenland with more than one-tenth of the 56,000-strong population involved in the sport. About 2,000 make a living from the sale of seabird meat at town and city markets. The vast majority hunt for pleasure but the use of powerful speedboats and semi-automatic guns is decimating bird populations.

Graham Wynne, Chief Executive of the RSPB in a letter to Greenland's Cabinet, said: "Indigenous peoples worldwide pride themselves on their ability to live sustainably with nature and I see your Government's aim is sustainability.

"But I am afraid the record of seabird protection in Greenland shows a very different story. It is a story of the destruction of nature through an unwillingness to manage hunting, resulting in seriously damaged populations of many seabird species."

Under Greenland's 2001 Bird Protection Act, the country's first legislation promoting the sustainable use of wildlife, hunting between February 15 and the autumn was banned.

But in each of the seven years since hunters have lobbied for restrictions to be relaxed and politicians relented in 2004 and again this year.

They rushed through their decision on February 29 allowing the hunting of kittiwakes and eiders throughout March. The government claimed birds numbers had risen sufficiently to withstand the extra month's hunting.

Eider ducks have declined by as much as 80 per cent in 40 years and the 150,000 Brünnich's guillemots, seen at a breeding colony in Uummannaq, northern Greenland 60 years ago, have gone completely.

Hasse Hedemand, of the Greenland conservation group Timmiaq, said: "Seabird numbers are no-where near the level you could call sustainable and the decision this year to allow more birds to be killed is a tragedy.

"Greenland is a unique and special place but our international reputation is being tarnished by this unsustainable hunting. Most of the shooting is recreational involving people who do not depend on it for their livelihoods.

"There is a long tradition for hunting in Greenland, but with increasing numbers of people, fast boats and firearms, it is the politicians' responsibility to ensure that the hunting is sustainable."

"Thousands of tourists come to Greenland for our landscapes, our icebergs and our wildlife but many are returning home disappointed and disillusioned. Our wildlife is in a sorry state compared to 50 years ago. This shouldn't have been allowed to happen."

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The great organic myths: Why organic foods are an indulgence the world can't afford

The Independent 1 May 08;

They're not healthier or better for the environment – and they're packed with pesticides. In an age of climate change and shortages, these foods are an indugence the world can't afford, argues environmental expert Rob Johnston

Myth one: Organic farming is good for the environment

The study of Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) for the UK, sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, should concern anyone who buys organic. It shows that milk and dairy production is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs). A litre of organic milk requires 80 per cent more land than conventional milk to produce, has 20 per cent greater global warming potential, releases 60 per cent more nutrients to water sources, and contributes 70 per cent more to acid rain.

Also, organically reared cows burp twice as much methane as conventionally reared cattle – and methane is 20 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2. Meat and poultry are the largest agricultural contributors to GHG emissions. LCA assessment counts the energy used to manufacture pesticide for growing cattle feed, but still shows that a kilo of organic beef releases 12 per cent more GHGs, causes twice as much nutrient pollution and more acid rain.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) relates food production to: energy required to manufacture artificial fertilisers and pesticides; fossil fuel burnt by farm equipment; nutrient pollution caused by nitrate and phosphate run-off into water courses; release of gases that cause acid rain; and the area of land farmed. A similar review by the University of Hohenheim, Germany, in 2000 reached the same conclusions (Hohenheim is a proponent of organic farming and quoted by the Soil Association).

Myth two: Organic farming is more sustainable

Organic potatoes use less energy in terms of fertiliser production, but need more fossil fuel for ploughing. A hectare of conventionally farmed land produces 2.5 times more potatoes than an organic one.

Heated greenhouse tomatoes in Britain use up to 100 times more energy than those grown in fields in Africa. Organic yield is 75 per cent of conventional tomato crops but takes twice the energy – so the climate consequences of home-grown organic tomatoes exceed those of Kenyan imports.

Defra estimates organic tomato production in the UK releases almost three times the nutrient pollution and uses 25 per cent more water per kg of fruit than normal production. However, a kilogram of wheat takes 1,700 joules (J) of energy to produce, against 2,500J for the same amount of conventional wheat, although nutrient pollution is three times higher for organic.

Myth three: Organic farming doesn't use pesticides

Food scares are always good news for the organic food industry. The Soil Association and other organic farming trade groups say conventional food must be unhealthy because farmers use pesticides. Actually, organic farmers also use pesticides. The difference is that "organic" pesticides are so dangerous that they have been "grandfathered" with current regulations and do not have to pass stringent modern safety tests.

For example, organic farmers can treat fungal diseases with copper solutions. Unlike modern, biodegradable, pesticides copper stays toxic in the soil for ever. The organic insecticide rotenone (in derris) is highly neurotoxic to humans – exposure can cause Parkinson's disease. But none of these "natural" chemicals is a reason not to buy organic food; nor are the man-made chemicals used in conventional farming.

Myth four: Pesticide levels in conventional food are dangerous

The proponents of organic food – particularly celebrities, such as Gwyneth Paltrow, who have jumped on the organic bandwagon – say there is a "cocktail effect" of pesticides. Some point to an "epidemic of cancer". In fact, there is no epidemic of cancer. When age-standardised, cancer rates are falling dramatically and have been doing so for 50 years.

If there is a "cocktail effect" it would first show up in farmers, but they have among the lowest cancer rates of any group. Carcinogenic effects of pesticides could show up as stomach cancer, but stomach cancer rates have fallen faster than any other. Sixty years ago, all Britain's food was organic; we lived only until our early sixties, malnutrition and food poisoning were rife. Now, modern agriculture (including the careful use of well-tested chemicals) makes food cheap and safe and we live into our eighties.

Myth five: Organic food is healthier

To quote Hohenheim University: "No clear conclusions about the quality of organic food can be reached using the results of present literature and research results." What research there is does not support the claims made for organic food.

Large studies in Holland, Denmark and Austria found the food-poisoning bacterium Campylobacter in 100 per cent of organic chicken flocks but only a third of conventional flocks; equal rates of contamination with Salmonella (despite many organic flocks being vaccinated against it); and 72 per cent of organic chickens infected with parasites.

This high level of infection among organic chickens could cross-contaminate non-organic chickens processed on the same production lines. Organic farmers boast that their animals are not routinely treated with antibiotics or (for example) worming medicines. But, as a result, organic animals suffer more diseases. In 2006 an Austrian and Dutch study found that a quarter of organic pigs had pneumonia against 4 per cent of conventionally raised pigs; their piglets died twice as often.

Disease is the major reason why organic animals are only half the weight of conventionally reared animals – so organic farming is not necessarily a boon to animal welfare.

Myth six: Organic food contains more nutrients

The Soil Association points to a few small studies that demonstrate slightly higher concentrations of some nutrients in organic produce – flavonoids in organic tomatoes and omega-3 fatty acids in organic milk, for example.

The easiest way to increase the concentration of nutrients in food is to leave it in an airing cupboard for a few days. Dehydrated foods contain much higher concentrations of carbohydrates and nutrients than whole foods. But, just as in humans, dehydration is often a sign of disease.

The study that found higher flavonoid levels in organic tomatoes revealed them to be the result of stress from lack of nitrogen – the plants stopped making flesh and made defensive chemicals (such as flavonoids) instead.

Myth seven: The demand for organic food is booming

Less than 1 per cent of the food sold in Britain is organic, but you would never guess it from the media. The Soil Association positions itself as a charity that promotes good farming practices. Modestly, on its website, it claims: "... in many ways the Soil Association can claim to be the first organisation to promote and practice sustainable development." But the Soil Association is also, in effect, a trade group – and very successful lobbying organisation.

Every year, news outlets report the Soil Association's annual claim of a big increase in the size of the organic market. For 2006 (the latest available figures) it boasted sales of £1.937bn.

Mintel (a retail consultantcy hired by the Soil Association) estimated only £1.5bn in organic food sales for 2006. The more reliable TNS Worldpanel, (tracking actual purchases) found just £1bn of organics sold – from a total food sector of £104bn. Sixty years ago all our food was organic so demand has actually gone down by 99 per cent. Despite the "boom" in organics, the amount of land being farmed organically has been decreasing since its height in 2003. Although the area of land being converted to organic usage is scheduled to rise, more farmers are going back to conventional farming.

The Soil Association invariably claims that anyone who questions the value of organic farming works for chemical manufacturers and agribusiness or is in league with some shady right-wing US free-market lobby group. Which is ironic, considering that a number of British fascists were involved in the founding of the Soil Association and its journal was edited by one of Oswald Mosley's blackshirts until the late 1960s.

All Britain's food is safer than ever before, In a serious age, we should talk about the future seriously and not use food scares and misinformation as a tactic to increase sales.

Rob Johnston is a doctor and science writer

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Asia tourism, airlines 'complacent' on climate change

Elizabeth Gibson, Yahoo News 30 Apr 08;

Asian airlines and tourist firms are too complacent about the urgent need to address global warming, industry leaders warned at a conference on climate change.

Westerners rather than Asians dominated the first Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) conference on climate change, held in the Thai capital, organisers said.

"As far as Asian faces, there weren't necessarily as many as we would have liked," PATA president Peter de Jong said. "Not everyone is ready to commit time to this yet."

Of the more than 200 delegates who met to discuss ways to make the tourism industry greener, regional airlines were noticeably under-represented at the conference, which wrapped up Wednesday.

Another senior PATA official, who did not want to be named, said the organisation invited more Asian companies but faced overwhelming disinterest.

"Climate change is a duck-and-hide thing for them," he said.

As world leaders attempt to work out a new accord to succeed the Kyoto Protocol on slashing greenhouse gases, industry and green groups estimate air travel accounts for between two and four percent of global carbon emissions.

Planes emit into the atmosphere the harmful gases responsible for climate change, a global problem which UN scientists warn could put millions of people at risk by century's end.

However, industry experts said a lack of government action as well as a more profit-oriented business culture have allowed Asia to remain complacent.

"You talk to Thai or north Asian carriers and climate change is not even on the radar," Peter Harbison, chairman of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, told AFP.

"They're preoccupied with a whole lot of other stuff going on like making a profit."

Harbison said he expected airlines with connections to Europe and Australia to start putting peer pressure on other Asian countries.

Eventually, he said, the big incentive in the region would probably come from rising fuel prices and young Asian travellers who have learned about climate change in school.

But those motivations aren't strong enough yet, Harbison said.

Industry leaders said the Asian carriers who attended the summit were conspicuously quiet, even conference sponsor Thai Airways International.

A Thai Airways representative denied Asia was apathetic.

"Of course we are concerned with climate change," spokeswoman Preyanan Mongkolsri said.

People from China, India and the Philippines are slightly more worried about climate change than Europeans but feel less empowered to do anything about it, according to a 2007 study by polling organisation GlobeScan.

Global warming is a much more prominent factor in the Western business world, industry experts said, with the European Union, proposing a ban on airlines that don't work to offset their carbon footprints with green projects.

"You just spend a couple minutes in the UK and you understand the pressure we're under," said Barry Humphreys, director of external affairs for Virgin Atlantic Airways.

PATA's conference was designed to spread some of the concern felt in Europe and to showcase green initiatives by industry leaders such as Virgin Atlantic, Qantas and Cathay Pacific Airways.

Virgin Atlantic president Richard Branson has pledged millions to green technology research, and the company tested a biofuel-powered jet in February with a flight from London to Amsterdam.

Qantas, meanwhile, has started including the cost of environmentally-friendly projects in tickets. Passengers have to uncheck a box when booking if they don't want to take part.

Hearing about these initiatives was an educational experience, said Udom Metatmrongsiri, a representative for the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

"I don't know much about global warming," he told reporters. "But after listening to the panelists today I see that it is very critical."

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Best of our wild blogs: 1 May 08

Reefs at our schools!
The roving IYOR exhibition is making its rounds on the singapore celebrates our reefs blog

Hantu Dive
more encounters shared on the hantu blog

1994 sighting of the Great Hornbill remembered
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

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SMRT introduces new 'green' Euro V bus

Channel NewsAsia 30 Apr 08;

SINGAPORE : SMRT will add the new Euro V bus to its fleet of buses, in a move that marks the transport company's latest initiative to go green.

The new bus, which produces less pollutants, was launched by Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Transport Ministry Teo Ser Luck on Wednesday.

The Euro V bus is the first of its kind in the region and will be plying on Singapore's roads from May 14. This model produces 42 percent less nitrous oxide pollutants than its predecessor - the Euro IV.

SMRT said it has bought 66 Euro V buses to replace its old fleet, and the new buses will be rolled out between August and December this year.

The Euro V bus costs about S$300,000 and SMRT expects to reap greater financial rewards by going green.

SMRT's CEO, Saw Phaik Hwa, said: "Going green is not something (we should do)... generations later, (after) something goes wrong... Even when we choose Euro IV for our vehicles and CNG (compressed natural gas) for our taxi drivers, (these will help) save on energy costs.

"So there is a business case for them. We hope that by making these choices, which is good for the environment, it will also be good for them."

That is why SMRT will be buying an additional 130 Euro V buses in the next two years.

The company will also add 300 new environmentally-friendly taxis to its fleet later this year. These include 200 that use compressed natural gas (CNG), and 100 taxis that meet the Euro IV standards.

Also going green is Singapore's other big transport provider, ComfortDelGro, which launched the country's first Euro IV buses in November 2007.

ComfortDelGro said it currently has 148 Euro IV busses and this will go up to 500 by the end of the year. It added that when it placed its orders for the Euro V buses in 2006, they were still not commercially available. But the company will consider bringing in the Euro V buses where appropriate.

ComfortDelGro has also converted 2,600 of its taxis with engines that emit less pollution. - CNA /ls

Greener is better with SMRT's new bus
It's kinder to the environment, the elderly and disabled, and won't hurt your pocket
Maria Almenoar, Straits Times 1 May 08;

PUBLIC transport firm SMRT unveiled a new bus yesterday designed to be kind to the environment and accessible to disabled passengers.

Singapore is the first country in South-east Asia to get the Mercedes-Benz buses, which cost about $300,000 each.

The German-engineered vehicles release fewer greenhouse gases than standard buses and can be lowered to kerb level, making it easier for elderly and wheelchair-bound commuters to board.

The first bus will hit the road from May 14 and another 66 will be rolled out between August and December.

The vehicles exceed the Land Transport Authority's current environmental standards, which require 40 per cent of all buses to be less polluting by 2010. SMRT's new bus beats the guidelines on greenhouse gas emissions by over 40 per cent.

With the new buses, harmful emissions are mostly converted to nitrogen and water vapour.

Asked why SMRT decided to go a step further than required, SMRT chief executive Saw Phaik Hwa said: 'We found that the technology that we wanted was very close to the higher standard. It's cleaner and better.'

Yesterday, SMRT also announced its introduction of 200 new Hyundai Azera taxis which will run on compressed natural gas (CNG), which is cleaner than diesel. Another 100 clean-running taxis will also join SMRT's 3,000-strong fleet by the second half of this year.

Currently, only two of the other five taxi companies, Smart and Prime Taxis, have CNG-powered cabs.

ComfortDelGro, which operates the majority of the bus routes here, said it was considering adding buses like those used by SMRT. It already has 148 buses that meet the LTA's newest environmental standard.

Spokesman Tammy Tan added that the company had 3,500 taxis which have similar emission levels to the CNG-run cabs.

For SMRT, the total investment for all these new vehicles will come up to $500 million, but it has assured the public that the cost will not be passed on to commuters.

SMRT debuts green fleet
Ng Jing Yng, Today Online 1 May 08;

THE push to make public transport the choice mode of travel got a green fillip yesterday as SMRT announced that commuters will soon be riding on the greenest buses in South-east Asia.

And 300 new energy-friendly SMRT taxis will also be plying the roads in the later half of the year — all part of the company's $50-million investment in new vehicles.

The first green Euro V bus will be making its regional debut here on May 14. It is said to reduce harmful emissions of nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas, by about 42 per cent from the earlier model, the Euro IV, according to European emissions standards.

Currently, the emission levels set by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) for other diesel vehicles is based on the Euro IV standard. Plans for the new green bus and taxis were unveiled at the "SMRT Is Green" event yesterday.

These new buses — with 66 more to be added to the fleet from August — will feature disabled-friendly features such as an open area behind the driver for wheelchair-bound passengers.

The buses are also equipped with brushless air-conditioner blowers that generate no carbon dust and are quieter.

As for the new fleet of SMRT's green taxis, 200 will run on compressed natural gas (CNG). The SMRT's remaining 100 Chrysler taxis will meet Euro IV emissions standards.

Speaking at the event's launch, Mr Teo Ser Luck highlighted the importance of environmental sustainability in the transport sector, given that it accounts for 19 per cent of the total carbon dioxide emissions here.

"We have to ensure that our transport sector is as 'green' as possible, if our city is to remain liveable," said the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.

And to ensure that "we have a city in a garden, and not a city in a car park", Mr Teo said there is a need to encourage more Singaporeans to take public transport.

While some commuters Today spoke to welcomed SMRT's efforts to develop an eco-friendly public transport system, they also pointed to the need to improve quality standards to get more people to use public transport.

"Even as we move towards being environmentally-friendly, the comfort of passengers has to be improved as the current frequency of bus trips is unable to meet growing demand," said student Vanessa Lim, 22.

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Mekong nations to form Opec-style rice cartel: Thai PM

Business Times 1 May 08;

(BANGKOK) Thailand's prime minister said yesterday his country had agreed in principle to form a rice price-fixing cartel with Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia as costs of the staple grain rocket.

The grouping of Mekong nations would be similar to the oil cartel Opec, and would be called the Organisation of Rice Exporting Countries (Orec).

'I have talked with Myanmar and invited them to join the rice exporting countries cartel, which will include Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, to fix the price,' Premier Samak Sundaravej told reporters.

He said Myanmar's Prime Minister General Thein Sein, in Thailand for an official visit, had agreed to join, even through the military-ruled nation was not currently a large rice exporter.

'Thailand will help them in terms of technical support to improve their production for export,' Mr Samak said.

Mr Samak said Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia had also agreed to join, and Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said Orec should begin meeting soon.

Thailand is the world's largest rice exporter, and shipped an estimated 9.5 million tonnes of rice overseas last year.

World rice prices have soared this year, a trend blamed on higher energy and fertiliser costs, greater global demand, droughts, the loss of rice farmland to biofuel plantations, and price speculation.

International demand for Thai rice has soared after other top exporters Vietnam and India imposed limits on exports to ensure domestic supply.

Thailand has repeatedly insisted it will not limit exports, but on Tuesday the government announced it was releasing its stockpile of 2.1 million tonnes into the domestic market to keep prices stable.

The benchmark Thai variety, Pathumthani fragrant rice, was priced last Wednesday at US$998 per tonne for export, up from US$512 a tonne in January this year, the Thai Rice Exporters Association said in a price survey. -- AFP

Thailand seeks Opec-style rice cartel with neighbours
Straits Times 3 Mar 08;

THE world's biggest rice exporter, Thailand, said yesterday it wants to form an Opec-style cartel with four South-east Asian neighbours so that together they have more control over international prices of the commodity.

Thai Commerce Minister Mingkwan Saengsuwan plans to talk with counterparts in Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam about forming a cartel to gain more influence over prices, a government spokesman said.

'Though we are the food centre of the world, we have had little influence on the price,' the spokesman said. 'With the oil price rising so much, we import expensive oil but sell rice very cheaply and that's unfair to us and hurts our trade balance.'

Laos Foreign Ministry spokesman Yong Chanthalansy said yesterday the Laotian government would 'seriously consider' the idea of creating a cartel as it would give the five countries 'bargaining power'.

Cambodia, which has championed the rice cartel idea before, also welcomed the latest proposal and said it was a 'necessity' given the current global food crisis.

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, who brought up the idea of a grouping modelled after Opec - which sets oil prices - during his discussions in Bangkok on Wednesday with Myanmar's Prime Minister, Lieutenant-General Thein Sein, said Myanmar supported the idea.

Officials in Vietnam are studying the idea.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

An Opec-style rice cartel?
Thailand wants to join neighbours to influence price of rice
Today Online 3 May 08;

BANGKOK —- Thailand, the world's biggest rice exporter, said on Friday that it wants to form an Opec-style cartel with four South-east Asian neighbours so that together they have more control over international prices of the commodity.

Thai Commerce Minister Mingkwan Saengsuwan plans to talk with his counterparts in Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam about forming a cartel to gain more influence over prices, said government spokesman Vichienchot Sukchokrat. The price of rice has more than tripled since January.

"Though we are the food centre of the world, we have had little influence on the price," Mr Vichienchot said. "With price of oil rising so much, we import expensive oil but sell rice very cheaply and that's unfair to us and hurts our trade balance."

In the Philippines, the world's top rice importer, Senator Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, said he feared the potential that a small group of producers could control a food staple.

Laos Foreign Ministry spokes-man Yong Chanthalansy however said his country would "seriously consider" the idea of creating a cartel because it would give the five countries "bargaining power".

Cambodia, which in the past has championed the rice cartel idea, also welcomed the latest proposal and said it was a "necessity" given the current global food crisis.

Mr Vichienchot, the Thai government spokesman, confirmed that Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej brought up the idea of a grouping modeled after the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec).

Mr Samak said on Wednesday that Myanmar supported the idea, while Vietnamese officials have said they are studying it and could possibly support it.

Mr Chookiat Ophaswongse, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said he was against the idea. He said it would have difficulty influencing markets because it would still exclude big producers like India and Pakistan. It would also be difficult to control the seasonal rice farmers. — AP

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Vietnam conquers poverty with rice

With 70% of the population still living in the countryside, a successful rural economy is still the key to financial progress
Peter Collins, Business Times 1 May 08;

NOTHING illustrates Vietnam's remarkable economic turnaround better than its farm sector. In the mid-1980s, with farm collectivisation going horribly wrong, the country was on the brink of famine. But by the early 2000s Brazil, the world's largest exporter of robusta coffee, was astounded to find itself being overtaken by a country most of its people had barely heard of. More recently, Vietnam has surpassed India as the world's second-largest rice exporter after Thailand.

Vietnam's farmers have become important competitors in all sorts of agricultural produce, from nuts to peppers to rubber. They are even selling tea to the Indians. Its fishermen and foresters are also doing well by feeding the world's growing demand for seafood and timber (though not always sustainably). Vietnam's exports of farm, forest and fisheries produce rose by 21 per cent last year, to US$12.5 billion, and further growth is expected.

The success of Vietnam's economic transformation is often measured by the falling share of agriculture in the country's gross domestic product. Industry and services are indeed growing even faster than farming and absorbing its surplus labour.

Agriculture, forestry and fisheries now provide barely half of all jobs in Vietnam, compared with over two-thirds only 10 years ago. Even so, over 70 per cent of the population still live in the countryside, so a successful rural economy will remain the key to maintaining Vietnam's impressive progress on cutting poverty.

Vietnam's agricultural miracle was achieved by a simple but powerful device: the invisible hand of Adam Smith's free market. Having snatched the land from the people in the disastrous collectivisation, the government gave it back to them (evenly shared among households) on longish leases, starting in the late 1980s.

This was similar to China's agricultural reforms around the same time, which also greatly reduced poverty by giving small farmers exclusive rights to work their plots. However, in China the freehold of the land remains vested in local collectives, without a clear indication of who represents them. That allows unscrupulous local officials to sell land to developers from under the feet of farmers. In Vietnam the freehold remains with the central government, so such problems are rarer.

Creating large-scale and equitable land ownership - one of the biggest privatisations yet seen - was one of several steps that freed Vietnamese farmers to conquer the world, explains Vo Tri Thanh of the Central Institute for Economic Management in Hanoi. Another was the stabilisation of the economy in the mid-1980s, bringing inflation down from a hair-raising 1,000 per cent or so.

A third was the gradual liberalisation of farm prices. Also important, says Mr Thanh, was Vietnam's increasingly open trade policy.

None of this would have happened had Vietnam not had fertile soil and plentiful rains, with large tracts of coastal plain and river deltas ideal for cultivation. But Vietnam's experience shows that economics is as important as geography for agricultural success.

One reason why the remaining pockets of poverty in Vietnam are concentrated in the forested highlands is that the market-based agricultural reforms have been slowest to reach those parts. Some of the country's diverse ethnic minorities depend on foraging in the forests and until fairly recently were regarded by the authorities as wreckers rather than guardians of the woodlands.

In truth, say academics, plantation owners migrating from the lowlands have been more of a threat to the trees. The solution, being worked on rather slowly, is to give minority communities patches of forest to tend.

Until now the government and the international agencies advising it wanted farmers to move away from bulk commodities and diversify their crops faster. However, says Ajay Chhibber, the World Bank's boss in Vietnam, the recent recovery in commodity food prices should prompt a rethink. Perhaps, with the world crying out for just the sort of staples Vietnam is good at growing, it should stick to them.

In February President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines, which is struggling to feed its growing population, publicly asked Vietnam to guarantee its supplies of rice. The Vietnamese government is beginning to worry that diversification may have gone too far, with many rice growers in the Mekong Delta having switched to shrimp farming.

In Ba village, in the central province of Quang Ngai, Bach Ngoc Re, a 61-year-old farmer, is more than happy to go on growing rice on the two small plots that he and his wife were given in the land redistribution.

Standing barefoot in one of them, measuring just 810 square metres (8,700 square feet), he says he now comfortably gets 200kg of rice in each of the year's two harvests. And the price has been rising for four years. He got 3,000 dong (S$0.25) a kilo for his last crop, against 2,500 dong a year earlier.

The local officials who managed the land redistribution tried to share out the best and worst land fairly, so families often got several tiny scattered plots. Mr Re is lucky to have only two; in northern Vietnam the average family has six or seven. More recent land reforms have aimed to consolidate holdings to improve productivity: Vietnam's output may be impressive, but it takes far more input of labour than in neighbouring countries

Scott Robertson, an economist at Dragon Capital, says that time will solve the problem, because the children of today's farmers are getting an education and will find better jobs off the land. Moreover, many leases will come up for renewal in the next decade - Mr Re has only nine years left on his - which will provide opportunities for consolidation. A further leap in productivity will be needed just to maintain the current output because industrialisation is chewing up farmland on the edges of towns.

Vietnam's free-trade policies have increasingly exposed farmers to volatile world markets. They might enjoy more bargaining power if they clubbed together in producer cooperatives, says Atsuko Toda of the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development, but farmers are resisting the idea because it reminds them of the failed collectivisation of the past.

Farmers in Vietnam are vulnerable not only to price swings but also to floods, drought and other natural disasters, yet attempts by insurance companies to create policies for them have not gone far. Their best insurance policy might be to diversify into non-farm cottage industries. Vietnam's government, like Thailand's, has been promoting 'craft villages' specialising in homespun products. The country's booming tourism industry could bring hordes of rich customers eager to buy such things.

Vietnamese farmers have concentrated so hard on quantity that they may be neglecting growing concerns about food quality and hygiene among rich-country consumers. Mr Nguyen of Indochina Capital, which is keen on investing in agribusiness, predicts that Vietnamese agriculture will soon face a 'quality-control crunch'. Consumer pressure will force farmers and food processors to make it easier to trace foodstuffs and use fertilisers and antibiotics more sparingly.

In the longer term, however, another, far bigger risk looms. Climate change could devastate Vietnam. Most of its farmland and population are near sea level and there is evidence that the sea is rising. The latest forecast by the UN climate-change panel envisages a 28-58cm rise in the sea along Vietnam's coast by 2100 but does not rule out a 100cm rise.

Vietnamese scientists say that would submerge one-eighth of Vietnam's land area, as well as making extreme (and crop-destroying) weather more common. -- The Economist

The writer is The Economist's South-east Asia correspondent

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Singapore developers vie for top 'green' honours

Keppel Land wins its first platinum for Ocean Financial Centre, slated for completion in 2011
Chew Xiang, Business Times 1 May 08;

THE battle for the Green Mark platinum award is heating up.

Last year, City Developments fired the first salvo, claiming two of the seven platinums, the highest rating given out by the Building and Construction Authority for environmental friendliness.

But this year, rival developer Keppel Land has bagged its first platinum for Ocean Financial Centre, a massive 43-storey office block to be built on the site of the present Ocean Building and Ocean Towers. This is also the first given for an office tower, said Tan Swee Yiow, chief executive officer of Singapore Commercial at Keppel Land.

City Developments had won two platinums last year and three more this year - two condominium projects, Cliveden and Solitaire, and the Tampines Grande office building.

But because of its more complex energy needs, getting the Ocean Financial Centre certified platinum was more difficult than for a similar residential tower or commercial building, Mr Tan said in an interview.

'If you want to talk about energy savings, probably the easiest way is to build a lot of concrete walls up. But the challenge is how to make an iconic architectural statement and at the same time achieve energy savings,' he said.

The green features that helped Keppel Land clinch the platinum award could add '5 to 10 per cent' to development cost, said Mr Tan, declining to be more specific because tenders have yet to be called. While the features will not come cheap, Mr Tan said that 'at this moment we can't say that we can charge a premium for its greener features'.

'To us it's a necessity. This is a historical site, so it's very visible and the extra cost is justifiable. Our client mix will also appreciate the features,' he added.

The Ocean Financial Centre is slated for completion in 2011 and will offer 850,000 sq ft of prime office space. It will be a redevelopment of Ocean Building and Ocean Towers, now on the same site.

Ocean Building has already been torn down; some of the debris will be recycled for use in the new building. Ocean Towers will be demolished later to make way for a five-storey car park and grand plaza integrated into the entire Ocean Financial Centre complex.

Mr Tan said that among its extensive energy-saving features was a 400-sq-m roof-mounted solar panel array. Along with efficient lighting panels and air conditioning, this would save nine megawatt hours a year, enough to power a 50,000-sq-m office space.

The complex will also have a roof-top garden and rainwater-harvesting features which could save 42 million litres of water a year, Mr Tan said, enough to fill 21 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

As well, a small chute running down the middle of the tower can be used for waste paper disposal, he said, adding this was an 'in-house' innovation probably not replicated elsewhere as yet, adding there would be sprinklers and safeguards so that a carelessly discarded cigarette butt would not cause an inferno.

The company is aiming to achieve at least Green Mark gold or gold plus ratings for all future projects, he said.

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Two new flu strains expected to hit Singapore

Tan Hui Leng, Today Online 1 May 08;

TWO new strains of the flu bug are expected and together with a prevailing strain, they have been identified by the World Health Organisation as being the most likely to cause the flu this year.

On Tuesday, GlaxoSmith-Kline announced that its updated vaccine for the circulating flu strains this year had arrived in Singapore.

This is just as 15,761 cases of acute upper-respiratory infections were reported at polyclinics last week — the second week in a row that the number has breached the warning level.

General practitioners (GPs) told Today they have seen more patients down with the flu recently but attributed it to the seasonal surge. Still, not all patients come down with just a cough and runny nose.

"My impression is that more patients are getting flu complications," said Dr Chong Yeh Woei who has been a GP for 13 years. "The strains seem to be getting stronger in recent years."

The complications include tracheal inflammation, sinusitis, dizziness and, in rare instances, the paralysis of vocal chords due to nerve damage.

Usually, there is an annual flu surge here from April to July and from November to January. Infectious disease doctor Wong Sin Yew said that high-risk patients — the very young, the elderly and the chronically ill — should be vaccinated as they are prone to more serious flu complications.

"This is especially important now as two out of the three influenza strains in this new vaccine are new and those patients vaccinated a year ago would need to be re-vaccinated," he added.

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