Global "Green" Energy Stimulus Hits $200 Bln: Bank

Timothy Gardner, PlanetArk 25 Feb 09;

NEW YORK - Governments around the world have committed more than $200 billion toward technologies to cut dependence on fossil fuels, which should help keep green development moving despite the global economic crunch, an analyst for Deutsche Bank said on Tuesday.

Governments in the United States, Europe and Asia have also developed more than 250 policies since July last year that support alternative energy such as solar and wind power and climate-change mitigation.

"The activity shows that governments are very serious about continuing to tackle issues around renewable energy and climate change," Mark Fulton, the bank's global head of climate change investment research, told reporters in a teleconference about a report on green energy the bank released on Tuesday.

"We believe this trend ... will provide crucial support to climate change industries during the current global economic downturn, helping to offset the impact of weaker debt markets over time," he added.

In the United States, some $106 billion, or nearly 14 percent, of the $787 billion stimulus package President Barack Obama signed to help revive the economy is for green energy including tax breaks, loan guarantees and incentives. About $18 billion of the green investments in the package will help improve mass transit systems.

In the European Union, some $60 billion in stimulus packages will go to green measures, including more than $17 billion for energy efficiency and nearly $19 billion for clean cars.

Fulton said green mandates, such as requirements in U.S. states that utilities generate some of their electricity from renewable sources, and strong policies for solar power, such as feed-in tariffs in France, have been driving renewable markets in the short term.

"We think these mandates are very important in these difficult markets," Fulton said.

Twenty-eight U.S. states have adopted so-called renewable portfolio standards and environmentalists and many politicians also favor a national program.

In addition, loan guarantees for renewable energy in the U.S. stimulus package should help the markets develop despite the credit crunch, Fulton said.

In the long term the world's developing carbon markets should support green energy as companies invest in ways to reduce their emissions of gases blamed for warming the planet, he said.

(Editing by Christian Wiessner)

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World CO2 Market Volume Seen Up, Value Down In '09

Nina Chestney PlanetArk 25 Feb 09;

LONDON - The volume of carbon dioxide traded globally this year will increase by 20 percent to 5.9 billion metric tons from 4.9 billion in 2008, research group Point Carbon said on Tuesday.

But the global carbon market's value will drop 32 percent to 62.6 billion euros ($79.76 billion) from 92 billion last year, due to the falling prices of carbon emissions permits, the group forecast in a report.

The price of carbon permits called European allowances (EUAs) traded at 9.39 euros a metric ton on Tuesday.

EUAs have lost over two thirds of their value since July 2008 and have almost halved in price since January 1 as participants have monetized assets in the economic downturn.

In January, research group New Carbon Finance forecast the market's value at $150 million in 2009, in spite of the gloomy world recession backdrop.

The European Union's emissions trading scheme will continue to dominate the global market, with volume rising 24 percent to 3.8 billion metric tons over the past year, mostly due to increased spot trade. But its value will shrink by 33 percent to 45.2 billion euros in 2009, Point Carbon forecast.

The U.S. market is likely to grow, however. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) will grab a 6 percent share of the global carbon market by the end of the year, as auctioning volume and secondary market activity grow, the report said.

RGGI is a group of 10 states in the U.S. Northeast and mid-Atlantic which formed a cap-and-trade market. Its second carbon permit auction in December pulled in nearly $107 million for clean energy projects.

"The economic downturn will hit the value of global carbon markets as a whole but the U.S. looks set to buck this trend and show healthy growth," Endre Tvinnereim, senior analyst, said.

(Editing by Keiron Henderson)

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Best of our wild blogs: 24 Feb 09

Hantu Dive!
more spectacular sightings on the pulau hantu blog with video clip of carpet eel blenny

last trip down to labrador park
on the labrador park blog

Labrador in black and white
on the wonderful creation blog

BIG fish at Pulau Semakau - photos finally
on the wild shores of singapore blog

Hairy Monster on the loose!
on the Psychedelic Nature blog

Ubin Highest Point
on Ubin.sgkopi

Discovery @ Bukit Timah Nature Reserve
on the Where Discovery Begins blog

“Fun With Nature” encounters laughingthrushes
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Crow mobbing White-bellied Sea Eagle
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Massive dredging off Cyrene Reef continues until Aug 09
on the wild shores of singapore blog

National Sustainability Conference Day 3
on the Just Across the Horizon blog

Read more!

High plastic usage in Malaysia

Hilary Chiew, The Star 24 Feb 09;

There is no solution in sight for the plastic menace as the material is still freely issued, then carelessly discarded, each day.

THE pink bag in the heap of garbage clogging a drain catches your eye instantly. Another one clings to a tree branch in a mangrove swamp. Yet another is blown across across the street as cars pass by.

These are the plastic bag menace that many Malaysians can identify with. Although they are an undisputed modern day convenience, the clarion call to do away with plastic bags have echoed around the world for environmental reasons. Several countries have banned the use of plastic bags or levied a tax on them.

Last year, China which uses three billion plastic bags a day, banned the production of ultra-thin plastic bags. In 2002, Ireland introduced a tax on plastic bags, reducing their use by 90%.

In some countries where the central government has not acted, communities have taken unilateral action to outlaw the bags. San Francisco became the first American city to ban plastic bags from large supermarkets in 2007 and the state of California requires large stores to take back plastic bags and encourage their reuse.

In Malaysia, the call to ban its use has been mooted now and then with little success. The latest is the Subang Jaya Municipal Council’s plastic-free campaign launched last August with a declared aim of turning the Selangor municipality into the first place in the country to eliminate the use of plastic bags by 2010. The public is encouraged to switch to paper bags, biodegradable carriers or their own shopping bags.

Punching bag

“It’s not the bag that is the problem but what you do with it after that,” argues Malaysian Plastic Manufacturers Association chairman Lim Kok Boon, who felt that the humble bag has been made a punching bag for anyone who professes to be a greenie.

“You want to be seen as green, you go after the plastic bag, nobody will disagree with you,” he says, acknowledging that plastic bags, being free, does encourage the “throw away” mentality.

Frustrated by the negative public perception of plastic bags, the industry under the umbrella body Malaysian Plastics Forum is trying to address the problems associated with plastic waste by asking Malaysians to re-examine their attitudes towards the bags. The other Forum members are the Malaysian Petrochemicals Association and Plastic Resins Producers Group.

They launched a month-long campaign at the end of 2007 with six hypermarkets in the Klang Valley to kick-start its 3R (reduce, reuse, recycle) programme. During the campaign, shoppers were encouraged to maximise the use of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) grocery bags in a bid to reduce the numbers dispensed at check-out counters. Each hypermarket assigned one outlet for this pilot scheme.

Employees were told to pass on the message of the campaign to shoppers in the hope that they would support the drive. Customers could also drop off unused plastic bags of all sizes and colours into recycling bins provided by five participating recyclers.

At the end of the month-long campaign, four out of six outlets registered a 25% to 36% decline in dispersion of plastic bags. However, figures shot up for two outlets by 25% to 51%. Overall, a 6% increase was recorded, while 14,630 pieces of bags were collected from the outlets.

Lim explains that the outcome was influenced by the festive shopping period which generally sees an increase of 50% in sales, hence the 6% increase (in bags dispersed) actually marks the success of the campaign.

He is also satisfied with the 2.4% (of the 609,000 bags given out) return rate of plastic bags as he reckons many shoppers will keep the bags for secondary uses, particularly as bin liners.

Still, the bin liners will eventually find their ways into the landfills, where they will remain and not degrade.

Plastics waste

Lim argues that the degradable issue is grossly misunderstood by many.

“Studies in the United States discovered that paper does not degrade at a substantially faster rate than plastic as nothing completely degrades in modern landfills due to the lack of water, light and oxygen that are necessary for the process to be completed. Researchers have pulled out an intact piece of newspaper buried three decades ago in an Arizona landfill,” he says in reference to a project undertaken by the University of Arizona.

Lim is also sceptical of statistics that highlight the menace posed by plastics in landfills. He says the official figures that plastics constitute 24% of landfill volume, the second highest after food waste, is questioned even by two waste management concessionaires, which have recorded lower figures.

The National Solid Waste Management Department recognises the discrepancy in the figures and hopes to clear the doubt under the 10th Malaysian Plan with better data collation system.

“It’s equally important for us to get the right picture so that we can have an effective waste management plan,” says department director-general Dr Nadzri Yahya.

Lim also says distinction must be made on biodegradable plastic – those made from organic material like corn starch, and those that use petroleum like the normal plastics but with an additive that speeds up disintegration.

Ideally, both types of “compostable” plastics should be treated in specialised industrial facilities rather than sending them to landfills. But there isn’t such a facility in this country and bio-degradable plastics are not widely used.

“It’ll be silly and self-defeating if we dump something that is supposedly biodegradable into the landfill but it doesn’t live up to its claim,” he warns.

MPMA is also worried that should biodegradable bags gain popularity, it would pose a serious challenge to recycling of the standard HDPE plastic bags.

“The polymer compositions are different and if they are mixed, it could jeopardise the recycling process,” Lim explains. To prevent the anticipated contamination, he is seeking the co-operation of retailers to adopt the plastic coding system on their plastic bags to ease identification in support of the 3R programme.

“The retailers, especially the big hypermarts, can instruct their respective (plastic bag) suppliers to print the code on the bags. They can even go one step further by enhancing the visibility of the recycling logo on the bags to drive home the message to the public,” he adds.

Nevertheless, the intention of the 3R campaign begs a question: Why would the industry support a programme that will surely affect the bottomline of plastic manufacturers?

Lim says the industry expects to see between 20% and 30% drop in business but the campaign has the support of all 900 members, who account for 80% of the country’s total production of plastic products. The plastic bags industry is worth RM1.8bil of which 80% are exported. The local market consumes the remaining 20% valued at RM360mil.

Lim says the industry is helmed by third generation managers who are educated and are aware of the environmental impact of their business.

“They know that it makes business sense to do the right thing, rather than have plastic bags blamed disproportionately, resulting in a ban that will mean the end of the business,” he says, adding that Malaysian Plastic Manufacturers Association will take its campaign beyond the Klang Valley this year.

Well, don’t take the industry’s word for it. Take it up on its challenge – recycle your plastic bags!

Read more!

Would bushfires similar to those in Australia ever happen in Singapore?

Clear and present danger
Cigarette butts andcharcoal stoves some ofthe causes of recent blazes
Ong Dai Lin, Today Online 24 Feb 09;

WOULD bushfires similar to those in Australia ever happen in Singapore?

In releasing figures that showed that, just two months into the new year, some 339 bushfires have already been reported, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) is “concerned” and mindful of the possibility” of such an occurrence, said Colonel Anwar Abdullah, director of its Operations Department.

That is why there is a Wildfire Task Force Committee to look into the maintenance of the island’s forested area, he said, with the National Parks Board and Singapore Land Authority “engaged” to ensure that Singapore’s vegetated area is well-kept within a safe limit and being attended to.

The SCDF also said that in January, there were 182 such fires — the highest number for that month in a decade. Dry weather aside, almost all the fires were caused by a “dropped light” — the careless disposal of flammable items such as lit cigarette butts, matches and even charcoal stoves.

The SCDF also said that other measures taken to prevent bushfires include the creation of “land buffers” — areas that have been trimmed in a way that prevents any fire from spreading.

It has also extended existing hydrant main systems into large vegetated areas for firefighters to access water more conveniently when fighting a fire.

And though bushfires have occurred all over Singapore, SCDF said some parts are more prone to them because of greater areas of unbuilt and forested lands there.

The Tampines Expressway, Punggol Way, Punggol Field, Sengkang, Durban Road, Yishun Ring Road, Yishun Ring Avenue, Woodlands and Marsiling have emerged as leading hotspots. The Kranji Expressway, SungeiTengah Road and Tampines IndustrialAvenues 1 and 12 are also susceptible areas.

95% of vegetation fires to date caused by human-related activities
Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid/Janice Ng, Channel NewsAsia 23 Feb 09;

SINGAPORE : Dry and windy weather conditions are not entirely to blame for the 339 vegetation fires so far this year.

In January, a record of 182 vegetation fires were attended to - the highest for that month in the last 10 years.

In February alone, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) has responded to another 157 fires.

It said some 95 per cent or 321 cases were caused by human-related activities.

In the aftermath of a recent fire at Bukit Batok, investigators found cigarette butts and combustible items illegally dumped in the area.

Over at Sengkang East Drive recently, officers found discarded rubbish and a charcoal stove while fighting a fire - the size of two football fields. Such items provided an additional source of fuel for the fires to sustain further.

With February known to be the driest month of the year, SCDF is urging the public to be proactive to reduce such fires.

The public should avoid throwing lighted materials or matches onto grass patches or rubbish dumps. Homeowners with grass compounds should also keep grass trimmed and watered, while dead leaves should be properly disposed.

Incense papers should only be burnt in proper burners and not constructed illegally in the forested areas.

According to the SCDF, there are currently 11 hotspots where vegetation fires are likely to occur frequently. These include forested and vacant areas at Sungei Tengah Road, Tampines Industrial Avenue 1 and Lim Chu Kang Lane 6.

The SCDF has also been working with related agencies to adopt preventive measures at the respective lands under their jurisdiction.

It has also set up two dry hydrant systems to provide water supply at other hotspots such as Tampines Avenue 12 and Fort Road. - CNA /ls

Carelessness behind 95% of bush fires
Cigarette butts, stoves and altar candles spell trouble for firefighters
Esther Tan, Straits Times 24 Feb 09

BLAME man for the record number of bush fires here this year.

Blame careless smokers who toss lit cigarette butts into vegetation.

Blame those who leave behind lit candles and burnt offerings at makeshift altars.

Blame those who decide to cook out in the open using charcoal stoves.

They accounted for 95 per cent of the 339 bush fires so far this year.

There were 182 such fires last month, compared to 24 in January last year, a 'very alarming' situation, according to the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

Unthinking actions, coupled with the dry season, have resulted in a huge waste of firefighting resources, said the SCDF's director of operations, Colonel Anwar Abdullah.

The remaining 5 per cent of bush fires are caused naturally - when dry grass rub and trigger sparks, leading to spontaneous combustion, or when they are hit by lightning.

How easy it is to put out a fire depends on the thickness of the vegetation, the gradient of the land and how windy it is.

The more an area is covered in vegetation, the more deep-seated is the fire, said Col Anwar.

If it is burning on a hill, that also makes it tougher for firemen, as they have to haul water hoses up the slope, he said.

It could take an hour to bring under control a fire that has spread over an area the size of two or three football fields.

The SCDF has drawn up a list of more than 15 'hot spots' for bush fires.

The 'hottest' areas encompass Punggol Way, Punggol Field and Sengkang, and stretch along the Tampines Expressway near Punggol Road. The expressway area near Punggol Way and Punggol Field has been scorched 38 times.

But even confined strips of vegetation located on expressway road dividers, along the Kranji Expressway for example, have been razed by fire.

Col Anwar said the SCDF has been working with government agencies such as National Parks Board, the HDB and the Singapore Land Authority to put in place measures to curb the spread of bush fires.

The SCDF is looking at extending the existing hydrant main systems into large vegetated areas to shorten the distance between bush fires and the water supplies needed to put them out for firefighters.

In addition, it has created land buffers - by trimming short the vegetation - along the periphery of some residential areas, near forests, to prevent the spread of fires.

But the cause of fire by human activities remains the main concern of the SCDF.

It advises the public to avoid throwing lighted materials, such as cigarette butts and matches, on grass patches and fields.

It also warns against dumping trash on vacant land, as this can provide an additional source of fuel in the event of a fire.

Read more!

Government building capabilities to tap on new media at next General Elections

Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia 23 Feb 09;

SINGAPORE : The Singapore government is set to actively engage and leverage on the new media at the next General Election due in 2012.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the government is already building up some capabilities. But he added there is still a place for traditional media to be the trusted source of information.

He was speaking exclusively to Channel NewsAsia's chief editor Debra Soon, on the evolving media landscape, ahead of the channel's 10th anniversary in March.

Citing the US as an example, Mr Lee noted that US President Barrack Obama's team not only put out messages on the Web during his campaign, but also operated on the Web as a means of working together, organising and raising money.

Noting that that is the way the new generation operates, Mr Lee said it is going to happen in politics too.

Already, the Singapore government has announced initiatives to relax rules governing new media.

For example, it is actively trying to engage citizens online through portals such as REACH, the government's feedback arm, as well as new media outlets such as Facebook.

Moving forward, Mr Lee said what is needed are young MPs who are comfortable with the new media landscape.

He said: "We are still learning. It is not easy to make this transition. It is like going from sea to land or vice versa, you are changing your medium and you need to get comfortable with it. But we are working hard at it."

However, Mr Lee noted there will always be a role for traditional media to present trusted, unbiased and informed opinions - even if some may feel that information generated by traditional media is rather tame compared to what is out there online.

He noted that the traditional media has seen an increase in viewership and readership, despite growth of the new media.

Mr Lee said: "Well, there is a place called the Wild West and there are other places which are not so wild. And the new media - some of it are Wild West and anything goes and people can say anything they want, and tomorrow take a completely contrary view. And well, that is just the way the medium is.

"But even in the Internet, there are places which are more considered, more moderated where people put their names down and identify themselves. And there is a debate which goes on and a give and take, which is not so rambunctious but perhaps more thoughtful. That is another range."

On the role of a news broadcaster like Channel NewsAsia, which is marking its 10th year on-air, Mr Lee said there is a need for a channel which is not wearing what he termed "Western spectacles".

He said: "We felt there was scope for perspective from Asian eyes. Not to put over an ideology or a doctrine, but just present the facts, less the Western spectacles. And I think that is what Channel NewsAsia has tried to do and with some reasonable success."

The challenge, said Mr Lee, is to be able to boil down information and present news neutrally out of Singapore. - CNA/ms

Viewers can catch more of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's interview on Channel NewsAsia at 9.30pm on Tuesday. There will be repeats on Wednesday, February 25 at 12.30pm (SIN/HK/MNL); Thursday, February 26 at 4.30pm (SIN/HK/MNL); and Friday, February 27 at 6.00pm (SIN/HK/MNL).

Don't count traditional media out yet: PM
Government is making use of new media to actively engage Singaporeans
Chuang Peck Ming, Business Times 24 Feb 09;

IT may be less 'wild' compared to its online counterparts, but Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong thinks there is still a place for old media to be the trusted source of information.

He told Channel NewsAsia in an interview that traditional media would always have a role to play in presenting trusted, unbiased and informed opinions.

Despite the new media's growth, Mr Lee noted, traditional media has seen a rise in viewership and readership.

'Well, there is a place called the Wild West and there are other places which are not so wild,' Mr Lee said.

'And the new media - some of it are Wild West and anything goes and people can say anything they want. And tomorrow take a completely contrary view and well, that is just the way the medium is.'

Even on the Internet, he said there are places which are 'more considered, more moderated, where people put their names down and identify themselves'.

'And there is a debate which goes on and a give and take, which is not so rambunctious but perhaps more thoughtful. That is another range,' Mr Lee said.

Speaking on the evolving media landscape, he said the government is already building up some capabilities.

Mr Lee noted that US President Barack Obama's team not only put out messages on the Web during his campaign, but also worked together, organised and raised money on the Web.

Indicating that this is the way the new generation operates, he said it would happen in politics too.

Already, the Singapore government is relaxing rules governing new media. It is actively trying to engage Singaporeans online through portals such as REACH, the government's feedback arm, as well as new media outlets such as Facebook.

Moving forward, Mr Lee said what is needed are young members of parliament who are comfortable with the new media landscape.

'We are still learning. It is not easy to make this transition. It is like going from sea to land or vice versa, you are changing your medium and you need to get comfortable with it. But we are working hard at it.'

Read more!

Critical protection sought for Australia's big blue backyard

WWF 23 Feb 09;

Perth, Australia - Nine out of 10 marine species found off Australia’s south-west coast are found nowhere else on earth but less than one per cent of this globally significant region is protected.

A new report found a series of globally significant “hotspots” for marine life in the region, home to a far greater proportion of unique marine life than the Great Barrier Reef, and recommends the creation of large sanctuaries to secure its future.

Protecting Western Australia’s big blue backyard was prepared by the Australian Conservation Foundation for a new collaboration of key Australian and international conservation groups formed to secure the future of Australia’s south-west marine environment.

WWF-Australia is a key member of “Save our Marine Life”, which also includes the Conservation Council of Western Australia, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Wilderness Society, the Australian Marine Conservation Society, the Nature Conservancy and the Pew Environment Group.

The report highlighted Perth Canyon, one of only two known sites in Australian waters where the endangered blue whale comes to feed, and the Diamantina Fracture Zone, Australia’s largest mountain range submerged in its deepest stretch of water at 7,400 metres and thought to host unique species not yet known to science. The report also identified the importance of creating large marine sanctuaries to Western Australia's tourism and whale watching industry.

At the launch in Perth today Professor Jessica Meeuwig of the Centre for Marine Futures at the University of Western Australia said: “Many economically important marine species, such as rock lobster, dhufish and baldchin groper are under threat.

“Large marine sanctuaries are critical to maintaining the health of the marine environment, helping fish stocks recover and securing the future of commercial and recreational fishing in the region.”

Read more!

Conservation plan would keep islanders in exile

Fred Pearce, New Scientist 23 Feb 09;

ECO-IMPERIALISM is stalking the high seas. Conservationists in the US and UK stand accused of trying to grab waters that their governments have no right to.

The Pew Environment Group, a US organisation, has joined forces with UK conservationists to protect the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean. While the push to protect the environment looks like a laudable goal, especially given the environmental damage to Diego Garcia, the largest island and home to a US military base, the plan could permanently exile thousands of Chagossians.

This is despite a British promise to hand the area, currently the British Indian Ocean Territory, to Mauritius once Diego Garcia is no longer needed as a US base. The inhabitants of the islands were removed by the UK in the late 1960s to make way for the base. Today, most Chagossians live in Mauritius, the Seychelles and the UK. Polls show half of them still want to return to the islands.

Last year, the islanders published detailed proposals for resettlement. But the Chagos Conservation Trust, chaired by William Marsden, a former senior British diplomat, objected. It said the proposed airport and tourist facilities were "incompatible with conservation".

Next month the trust, advised by Charles Sheppard, a marine scientist at the University of Warwick, UK, and the Pew Environment Group, will publish its own proposals. The Pew group bankrolled and was key in promoting one of George W. Bush's last acts as US president. Despite protests from local island leaders, Bush declared the Mariana trench in the Pacific Ocean a national monument, even though it extends 80 kilometres beyond US territorial waters.

Sheppard hopes the British government will back the Chagos plan and that Pew will fund it. He says the coral atolls are among the planet's most pristine marine ecosystems. "Britain is sitting on an extraordinary site," he says.

If successful, the plan is likely to ban all construction, prevent ships anchoring in coral-rich areas, and keep out fishing boats that currently take sea cucumbers and sharks. Diego Garcia will be outside the conservation zone and left to the Americans.

Peter Sand of the Institute of International Law in Munich, Germany, sees the plan as part of a "new wave of unilaterally declared environmental protection zones in oceans beyond national territorial waters".

The Chagos Conservation Trust justifies the plan because, it says, the islands "belong" to the UK. But, as Sand told New Scientist, "since 1983, the UK government has repeatedly and solemnly declared" that the islands will be "ceded" to Mauritius. "Needless to say, neither the Chagos islanders nor the Mauritians have been asked what they think," he says.

Last month, Sand claimed that the US military is responsible for environmental damage around Diego Garcia, including "large-scale coral mining, the introduction of alien plant species, continuous transit of nuclear material and unreported major fuel spills" (Journal of Environmental Law, DOI: 10.1093/jel/eqn034).

Read more!

Shocking pink tubes help to save albatrosses

Andy Coghlan, New Scientist 23 Feb 09;

Gaudy strips of pink fluorescent tubing are helping to save albatrosses from extinction. They frighten the birds away from baited hooks on fishing lines, which attract, snag and drown some 100,000 albatrosses and petrels a year.

In South African waters in 2008, 85% fewer albatrosses died this way than a year earlier, thanks to the introduction of the pink strips on vessels fishing there for tuna and swordfish.

Flapping in the wind, the strips frighten the birds away from fishing vessels reeling out the lines.

"They form a visible deterrent and a no-go zone close to the bait and fishing gear as it's reeled out," explains Graham Madge of the UK Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, which co-launched the Albatross Task Force in 2006 with BirdLife International to stop albatrosses being snagged on hooks and drowning as they try to steal bait.

The lines trail for around 150 metres behind the ships. Beyond that, the birds are no longer at risk, as the bait rapidly sinks to depths of up to 60 metres, way beyond the reach of the albatrosses.
Not all at sea

Since the launch of the task force in 2006, the sponsors have built up a team of a dozen specialist instructors who accompany fishing fleets and advise crews on how to deploy the curtains of pink strips.

They also advise on other simple measures to safeguard the birds, such as applying weights to sink lines more rapidly and efficiently, sinking lines at night when albatrosses are less active, and painting bait blue to make it less visible to birds.

Madge says that once they realise that the measures cost very little – just $200 or so per ship – and do not interfere with the fishing process or deplete hauls, fishing crews are very willing to adopt them.
Going global

Now the task force is being extended to cover six other countries, including Ecuador, which has jurisdiction over waters hunted by the critically endangered waved albatross.

As well as persuading crews to implement the measures, the sponsors have been urging governments to change the law to make bird conservation a legal obligation. Last year, for example, South Africa introduced a law specifying that fishing licenses would be withdrawn from any vessels killing 25 or more albatrosses or petrels in a year.

In total, 153 albatrosses and petrels were reported dead by long-line fishing fleets operating in South African waters last year, but this was 85% lower than the 2007 toll, before introduction of the measures.

"It's not down to zero, but by working with governments and fisheries, we've made it so it becomes much less of a threat to albatrosses and petrels," says Madge.

Read more!

Government clears forest in Wallacea line: Study

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 23 Feb 09;

Most of the tropical forest covering the Wallacea Line in eastern Indonesia have been cleared in the last half century, thanks to government programs.

A recent study found that besides clearing forests, the government-sponsored transmigration program had put dozens of rare bird, mammal and amphibian species in danger of extinction.

A study by Conservation International found that the remaining forest currently measured only 50,774 square kilometers, down from an initial 338,494 square kilometers.

“A deforestation problem that is somewhat unique to this region was caused by the transmigration program,” the study, titled “Warfare in Biodiversity Hotspots” and published on Saturday, read.

The transmigration program, launched during former president Soeharto’s era, was aimed at tackling overcrowding on densely populated islands by moving large numbers of people to sparsely inhabited areas.

The report said there were currently about 1,500 endemic species of plants, 49 of threatened birds, 44 of mammals and seven of threatened amphibians in the Wallacea area.

The Wallacea line, named after naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace who explored the area between 1854 and 1862, runs between Bali and Lombok to Borneo and Sulawesi.

The world’s largest lizard, the Komodo dragon, is restricted to the islands of Komodo, Padar, Rinca and Flores in the Wallacea hotspot.

The area is one of 23 hotspots to have experienced “warfare” in the second half of the 20th century, said the study published in the scientific journal Conservation Biology.

The study identified a hotspot as a region containing at least 1,500 species of vascular plants as endemics, which has lost at least 70 percent of its original habitat. There are 34 hotspots around the globe.

The study said more than 80 percent of the world’s major armed conflicts, resulting in more than 1,000 deaths from 1950 to 2000, occurred in regions with the most biologically diverse and threatened places, from the Himalayas in Asia to the coastal forests of East Africa.

Conflicts often play out in the hotspots as fighters take advantage of the cover provided by deep forests and high mountains.

The use of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons has increased their impact on the environment.

The study said that during the US war in Vietnam, the use of the defoliant Agent Orange by the US had destroyed forest cover. Timber harvesting also funded war chests in Liberia, Cambodia and Congo.

“In those and countless other cases, the collateral damage of war harmed both the biological wealth of the region and the ability of people to live off of it,” the report said.

It also found that refugees from wars in and around biodiversity hotspots could add to the problem by hunting for food, cutting trees for firewood and building camps in the endangered environments.

“This astounding conclusion — that the richest storehouses of life on earth are also the regions of the most human conflict — tells us that these areas are essential for both biodiversity conservation and human well-being,” Russell A. Mittermeier, Conservation International president, said in its statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

“Millions of the world’s poorest people live in hotspots and depend on healthy ecosystems for their survival, so there is a moral obligation — as well as political and social responsibility — to protect these places and all the resources and services they provide.”

Indonesia, the world’s third largest forest nation with about 120 million hectares of rainforest, has long been under pressure to protect the forest and its biodiversity.

Read more!

IUCN and UNEP urge governments to use biodiversity science in policy decisions

IUCN 19 Feb 09;

The need to create a scientific panel on biodiversity and ecosystems services, was one of the hot topics disscussed by delegates at the UNEP Gouverning Council in Nairobi this week.

According to the majority of the Environmental Ministers attending the session, such a platform will ensure credibility, legitimacy and saliency of emerging scientific findings and recommendations on biodiversity and ecosystem services making them available in a coherent way to policy decision makers.

“IUCN is extremely supportive of the establishment of a scientific panel that will provide credible, legitimate and relevant scientific data and information for policy and decision makers” said Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Director General, in her intervention yesterday in Nairobi. She offered IUCN’s networks and its capacity to convene multiple stakeholders from the scientific and policy communities available to move forward in this dialogue.

Currently, the provision of scientific information on biodiversity and ecosystem services to the different policy fora is done by a multitude of mechanisms, instruments and platforms in an uncoordinated and untimely way. Delegates to the UNEP Gouverning Council agree on the need and support in general the establishment of such a platform but have not yet decided on how to present and operate it.

The Council runs from 16 to 20 February and aims to implement new initiatives to monitor and reduce significant impacts on the environment, such as greenhouse gas emissions, waste products and water usage.

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Mapping Southeast Asia’s vulnerability to climate change

Imelda V. Abaño, The Business Mirror 23 Feb 09;

THERE is mounting evidence that climate-related disaster events are having an impact on developing countries in Southeast Asia, home to more than 570 million people. While researchers and scientists reveal that climate change is set to reverse decades of social and economic progress, the international climate change spotlight has not yet fallen on Southeast Asia as attention is focused more on the industrializing giants China, India and Brazil.

Multiple stresses make most of Southeast Asian countries highly vulnerable to environmental changes, and climate change is likely to increase this vulnerability. These impacts include drought, sea-level rise, cyclones, desertification, deforestation, forest degradation, coral bleaching, the spread of diseases and impacts on food security.

“Millions of people in the region tend to suffer most from the catastrophic impacts of global warming coupled with recurring food, oil and financial crisis,” said Herminia Francisco, director of the Singapore-based Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (Eepsea).

Typically, according to Francisco, these will be the poorest people and the most vulnerable communities who may have little information about impending hazards and are often the least able to rebuild their lives and livelihoods after having suffered a setback.

“The threats posed by climate change are real and it is widely recognized that developing countries need help to prepare for the disasters that climate change is likely to bring. Some countries are already experiencing climate change-related catastrophes,” Francisco said.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Sumatra and Indonesia are among the countries identified as climate change “hotspots”—countries particularly vulnerable to some of the worst manifestations of climate change, such as the increase in extreme drought, flooding, sea-level rise, landslide and cyclones expected in the coming decades. This, according to a new report of Eepsea funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), an international organization public corporation created in 1970 to support research in developing countries.

The report titled, “Climate Change Vulnerability Mapping for Southeast Asia” conducted by Francisco and economist Arief Anshory Yusuf from Indonesia, is expected to be highly valuable to policymakers, as well as external donors in better targeting their support on climate-change initiatives in the region.

“Climate change will greatly complicate efforts to manage political, social, demographic, economic and security challenges in Southeast Asia. IDRC is embarking on a research program on climate change in the region to guide and assist policymakers and donors in framing their adaptation and mitigation actions,” said Richard Fuchs, IDRC regional director for Southeast and East Asia.

Fuchs told the BusinessMirror this vulnerability assessment is an essential step to better understand the potential impacts of climate change on the region, and move toward more effective and adaptive management.

The report, inspired by the IDRC’s series of climate-change workshops for the media, policy-makers and researchers held last year, will be launched on March 6 at the Manila Golf Club in Makati. It will also be launched in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

To draw up the climate-change map report, Fuchs said the authors averaged three factors, namely, normalized indicators of exposure (multiple hazard risk exposure), sensitivity (human and ecological), and adaptive capacity.

According to the report, the Philippines, unlike other countries in Southeast Asia, is not only exposed to tropical cyclones, especially in the northern and eastern parts of the country, but also to many other climate-related hazards, especially floods (such as in Central Luzon and Southern Mindanao), landslides (due to the terrain of the country) and droughts.

The National Capital Region (NCR), Southern Luzon, Bicol region and the northern regions of Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and Cordillera Administrative Region were found to be the most vulnerable regions in the Philippines susceptible to multiple climate hazards, especially cyclones and floods.

Francisco explained that the results of their study did not come to them as a surprise, as the Philippines’ vulnerability to climate change due the number of tropical cyclones had long been a “commonly held suspicion.” State weather forecasters say the country is hit by about 20 to 22 typhoons annually.

However, while the entire stretch of the Philippine territory has been considered prone to changes in climate, it is not the most vulnerable in the region. Jakarta in Indonesia came out as the top most vulnerable region in Southeast Asia. Central Jakarta ranks first in the overall vulnerability assessment even though it has the highest adaptive capacity index.

“This is because this district is the intersection of all the climate-related hazards, except tropical cyclones. It is frequently exposed to regular flooding but, most important, it is highly sensitive because it is among the most densely populated regions in Southeast Asia,” the report said.

The study also reveals that Kelantah and Sabah in Malaysia, Vietnam’s Mekong River Delta, Cambodia, North and East Laos and Bangkok are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

The results were drawn up by considering each area’s exposure to disasters and its ability to adapt to such threats, and comparing those findings with the vulnerability assessment framework of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“The most effective interventions to reduce vulnerability are to strengthen the response capacity of the government institutions and to empower local communities in mitigation and adaptation response strategies,” Francisco said.

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