Best of our wild blogs: 29 Jan 10

A world without
from The annotated budak

Pulau Hantu Dive Blog Log: 17 January 2010
from Pulau Hantu and 24 January 2010.

Pulau Semakau: Glimpse of the past in NewspaperSG
from wild shores of singapore

Red-legged Crake and earthworms
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Playing hide n’ seek with the clouds
with bird calls from Black Dillenia

Water Competitions for Students in Singapore
from Water Quality in Singapore

Cotton Pygmy-goose breeding in Peninsular Malaysia?
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Crunch time for the cosy cousin?
Conserving biodiversity uncontroversial? from BBC NEWS blog by Richard Black

Will it be possible to feed nine billion people sustainably?
from Mongabay.com news

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Punggol to get green makeover

New estate will be first eco-town in Singapore, says Mah Bow Tan
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 29 Jan 10;

THE former sleepy fishing village of Punggol is to undergo a green makeover that will transform it into Singapore's first 'eco-town'.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said on Wednesday that the northern coastal town is to serve as a testbed for innovative green technologies.

Testing such technologies at Punggol will allow the Housing and Development Board (HDB) to lower the implementation cost of these solutions and to replicate them across other towns, he added.

The HDB sees Punggol, one of Singapore's younger towns, as being ideally placed to undergo the planned transformation.

It is already home to HDB's first green housing project, Treelodge@Punggol, which features solar panels and rainwater recycling.

A waterway is being built at Punggol that will feature green landscapes and bring nature closer to residents.

The town has small, intimate estates featuring common green areas, accessible amenities and a well-integrated public transport network.

The HDB hopes the town's green living environment will raise awareness of environmental sustainability.

To bring about Punggol's revamp, it will be working with government agencies and private sector firms in the areas of energy, waste and water management.

The HDB is adopting a three-pronged approach to the development of the eco-town.

This will involve implementing effective urban planning designs that encourage residents to adopt greener lifestyles, using green technologies and educating residents through grassroots events.

Speaking to a 500-strong audience yesterday at an HDB-hosted housing conference at Suntec City, chief executive Tay Kim Poh said the HDB viewed such investment as being in line with its goal of providing a higher quality of life for residents.

'As the largest developer in Singapore, we have the responsibility to promote environmental sustainability,' he said.

He added that in recent years the HDB had been driving a number of initiatives to combat climate change.

It is introducing solar systems at four precincts - Tampines, Bukit Panjang, Tanjong Pagar and Marine Parade - with a combined capacity of 600 kilowatt-peak that will be used to offset the energy consumption of the towns.

Mr Tay underlined the importance of constantly rejuvenating ageing towns, and said HDB intends to extend to all towns its Remaking Our Heartland urban rejuvenation programme for public housing estates.

Over the next 20 to 30 years, this massive programme will revitalise older towns and estates, he said.

First eco-town in Punggol, solar panels in more HDB precincts
Ting Kheng Siong, Channel NewsAsia 28 Jan 10;

SINGAPORE: Plans are underway to turn Punggol into Singapore's first eco-town as part of the sustainable development blueprint.

The aim is that over the next five years, energy consumption in public areas will go down by up to 30 percent while energy use in households is targeted to decrease by 10 percent.

HDB said that as a new town, Punggol is perfect as a test bed for green technologies. These include facilities in carparks for people to power up their electric cars, and solar panels to generate electricity.

HDB CEO, Tay Kim Poh, said: "We will provide a lot more greenery in the town in terms of park, green connectors, roof gardens. Buildings will be designed so there is good cross-ventilation, and they don't really have to use their air-con."

A pilot scheme in Serangoon and Sembawang estates to use solar power has also seen energy consumption drop by 40 percent.

It will soon be extended to Tampines, Marine Parade, Tanjong Pagar and Bukit Panjang estates.

The aim is to install solar panels at 30 housing estates over five years.

- CNA/ir

HDB to turn Punggol into eco-town
Area will test ideas and tech promoting sustainable devt
Emilyn Yap, Business Times 29 Jan 10;

THE Housing and Development Board (HDB) has identified Punggol as Singapore's first eco-town, and the area is set to become a 'living laboratory' for ideas and technologies promoting sustainable development.

HDB announced this yesterday, together with plans to install solar panels at Tampines, Bukit Panjang, Tanjong Pagar and Marine Parade.

'As the largest developer in Singapore, we have the responsibility to promote environmental sustainability,' said HDB CEO Tay Kim Poh at the International Housing Conference at Suntec Singapore.

As an eco-town, Punggol will become home to more environmentally friendly buildings. New developments along the waterway passing through the town are likely to have higher Green Mark ratings.

Punggol will also have facilities such as cycling paths and spaces for car sharing services, to encourage residents to adopt more environmentally-friendly ways of getting around.

When it comes to testing new technologies in energy, waste and water management, Punggol will be taking the lead. More importantly, HDB will look at lowering implementation costs and replicating these solutions in other towns.

HDB will also be working with advisers, town councils and grassroots leaders to encourage residents in Punggol to adopt a greener lifestyle. For instance, there will be outreach programmes to educate them about the eco-town's environment and design.

Other towns will be getting their share of action in promoting environmental sustainability. Following the successful trial installation of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels at Serangoon and Wellington,

HDB will be testing the technology in Tampines, Bukit Panjang, Tanjong Pagar and Marine Parade.

This move is part of HDB's $31 million plan to test solar PV panels in 30 HDB precincts by 2015. Last week,

HDB agreed to collaborate with the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore on two projects.

In the meantime, HDB will continue to rejuvenate older towns and estates through the Remaking Our Heartland programme. It plans to extend the programme to all other towns, after Punggol, Yishun and the Dawson estate, Mr Tay said.

Solar power for four more precincts
Today Online 29 Jan 10;

SINGAPORE - It started with two precincts last year. And now that the solar photovoltaic (PV) panels have provided sufficient electricity for common usage, four more estates are set to get more eco-friendly.

The "successful trial" at Serangoon and Wellington precincts has allowed the Housing and Development Board (HDB) to "carry out a wider-scale test-bedding of solar PV to build up solar capabilities", it said yesterday in a statement.

The four precincts - Tampines, Bukit Panjang, Tanjong Pagar and Marine Parade - will be equipped with 600 kilowatt-peaks (kWp) solar PV on rooftops.

How many and which blocks will be selected has yet to be finalised. And even as solar power slowly establishes a foothold in public housing estates here, the caveat for now is that it is too soon to say how much cost savings have been achieved.

What the pilot project found is that the panels at Serangoon and Wellington generate about 220 kWh a day, enough to meet electricity requirements for the common services of one block.

Installation costs amounted to about $250,000 per precinct, but this figure could vary for the latest precincts, depending on how many panels will be required.

Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council property manager Lawrence Toh said the installation at Bukit Panjang will complement its existing efforts to go green. Some of its multi-storey carparks and landscape lighting are already powered by solar power.

The HDB also affirmed yesterday that recent green initiatives in Punggol are pointing to one goal: Creating Singapore's own Eco-Town, to serve as a "living laboratory" for sustainable development and living.

The town already has Singapore's first Built-To-Order eco-precinct, Treetops@Punggol, which has flats fitted with water-saving devices, rooftops planted with greenery and water harvesting systems as well as solar panels for common areas. There will also be recycling chutes within the blocks.

Coming up will be cycling paths, charging stations at carparks and spaces for car sharing to encourage "clean commuting".

HDB said it will test-bed more solutions for energy, water and waste management in the estate. Lin Yanqin

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$50m boost for urban development research

Esther Teo, Straits Times 29 Jan 10;

SUSTAINABLE urban development research has received a $50 million shot-in-the-arm with the announcement that the National Research Foundation (NRF) is to help fund five research projects.

Four of the research programmes are from Nanyang Technological University, while the fifth is the brainchild of National University of Singapore academics.

The money will go towards pushing the knowledge frontier forward in areas such as sustainable urban waste management, efficient sunlight harvesting and engineering biofuels.

The grant is part of NRF's Competitive Research Programme (CRP) funding scheme, which attracted 68 preliminary proposals submitted by researchers from local universities, polytechnics, public research bodies and private companies.

Twelve were selected to be developed into full proposals for international peer review, with five finally recommended for funding by the International Evaluation Panel (IEP).

The CRP funding scheme provides up to $10 million per proposal over a period of three to five years and funds a broad range of research programmes.

The initiative is credited with strengthening internationally competitive high-impact science and technology here.

NRF chief executive Francis Yeoh said that the CRP grants had built up a sizeable body of researchers working on cutting-edge issues, and that this greatly enriched the breadth and depth of the research landscape.

'Early results have been promising - we look forward to significant research breakthroughs coming out of this programme that will result in major economic or societal benefit,' he said.

IEP chair and former director of the United States National Science Foundation Rita Colwell said that as a small, densely populated nation, Singapore was well-placed to develop solutions to the global challenges of urbanisation faced by mega-cities around the world.

'The theme was an excellent choice. The awarded R&D projects are very impressive,' Dr Colwell said.

'I hope the results of their research will help Singapore and other cities in the world deal with the complex challenges of rapid urbanisation in a way that will allow large urban centres to achieve an even higher standard of living.'

CRP grant calls are announced twice a year and, to date, 25 awards totalling about $250 million have been disbursed over the past five rounds.

Past research projects funded by the grants have led to a range of discoveries, such as the generation of antibodies used to detect tuberculosis.

NRF said that it is planning a review of the scheme before any further grant calls so that it can evaluate its effectiveness and implement improvements.

NRF hands out $50m worth of grants
Today Online 29 Jan 10;

SINGAPORE -The National Research Foundation (NRF) has awarded $50 million worth of grants to five research programmes on sustainable development, with the lion's share going to Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

Four NTU proposals won up to $40 million of funds from NRF's Competitive Research Programme (CRP) Funding Scheme.

They were for proposals involving the development of new biofuels, the development of an underwater city, sustainable urban waste management, and the harvesting of sunlight to create chemical energy.

The other award went to the National University of Singapore for a proposal to convert urban organic wastes into value-added products.

This is NRF's fifth call for proposals under the CRP Funding Scheme - launched in April 2007 - which awards up to $10 million for each successful research proposal, over three to five years. The theme this year was Sustainable Urban Systems.

The NRF also awarded research fellowships to 11 young top scientists to conduct cutting-edge research in Singapore. They were selected out of 221 applications received from around the world, and bring the total number of NRF Research Fellows to 29.

Each of the research fellowship - started in 2007 - provides the recipient with up to US$1.5 million ($2.06 million) in research funding support over three years, with the possibility of a second round of three-year funding. These scientists are currently doing research as post-doctoral fellows in top universities such as Harvard, Cambridge, Caltech and Keio.

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50 electric charging stations to come up in Singapore this year

Christopher Tan, The Straits Times Asia One 28 Jan 10;

A $20 MILLION initiative to put the first fleet of electric cars on Singapore roads this year is picking up pace, with the Government calling a tender soon for a network of charging stations.

The Energy Market Authority (EMA) said the tender will be out this quarter, and that the network will be up by the third or fourth quarter of this year.

EMA deputy chief executive David Tan said: 'We envisage that there will be at least one charging station for each electric vehicle being tested.'

The Straits Times understands that there will be around 50 stations, with three being quick-charge kiosks. The latter can recharge an electric vehicle in about half an hour, versus the usual six to eight hours that a regular station manages.

The stations, which are likely to use a smartcard-based payment system, will be sited at or near the premises of parties involved in test-driving Singapore's maiden fleet of battery-powered cars.

The multimillion-dollar trial is meant to study the robustness, cost-effectiveness and environmental impact of electric vehicles in a tropical setting.

Individuals who want to be part of the test, however, are likely to be disappointed. There will not be enough cars for them.

Mr Tan explained that priority is being given to companies and organisations, as 'there are limited electric vehicles available'.

Participants are required to buy the electric cars for the three-year trial. Although they will be exempt from taxes such as the certificate of entitlement fee and the Additional Registration Fee (ARF), the cars will not come cheap.

For instance, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV subcompact, expected to be the first to arrive in July, will cost $85,000 to $90,000 each - the price of a big family sedan.

Mr Alvyn Ang, general manager at Mitsubishi agent Cycle & Carriage, said he expects to bring in 20 to 50 cars initially.

'The number depends on how many parties sign up for the trial,' he said. 'We are supplying them at close to cost price.'

So far, about 50 organisations have attended informal forums held by EMA and Cycle & Carriage, including an 'electric road show' held last Friday at Cycle & Carriage's Alexandra Road showroom.

These include Sentosa Development Corporation, NTUC Income Car Co-op, courier giant DHL, power companies Singapore Power and Kyushu Electric Power, and a number of learning institutions and government-linked bodies.

Sentosa Development Corp corporate planning director Chan Mun Wei said preserving the 'greenness' of the 500ha resort island 'is of great importance to us', adding that Sentosa is looking to change its fleet of diesel transit buses to hybrids.

'It is likely that we will take part in the test,' he said, even though Sentosa will not benefit from the tax-exempt status of the trial electric cars as its current fleet of petrol vehicles are already tax-exempt.

ITE College West principal Yek Tiew Ming said the school is keen to get on board the trial, too.

'We want to be part of it to understand the technology better,' he said, adding that the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) will offer a course on maintenance and repair of electric vehicles once they become more widely used.

Besides Mitsubishi's i-MiEV, which is already in use in Japan, two other manufacturers have confirmed their participation in the trial.

They are Renault, whose electric Fluence and Kangoo models are expected here by early next year, and Nissan, whose Leaf electric hatchback will arrive between mid- and late-2011.

But Renault will be sporting a small fleet of electric cars during the Youth Olympics here, which runs from Aug 14 to 26.

Other makes which are looking to participate in the trial include Mercedes- Benz and BMW. If they join up, they are likely to do so with the electric Smart and Mini E, respectively.

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Keppel plans to expand its Tembusu power plant

Other players also raising capacity as stalled petrochem projects are revived
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 29 Jan 10;

WITH the market rebound and petrochemical investments once again returning to Jurong Island, a 'power battle' is shaping up at the island's greenfield Tembusu sector.

Following last November's move by Tuas Power - now under China Huaneng Group - to build a mega $2 billion clean coal/biomass cogen plant there, local player Keppel Corp is also looking to expand its Tembusu cogeneration plant to supply utilities there.

'We are currently planning the capacity expansion of Keppel Merlimau Cogen and look forward to the planting,' Ong Tiong Guan, managing director of Keppel Energy, told BT, but gave no further details.

Still, this is the first firm indication in a while by Keppel Energy of its plans for the 500-megawatt Keppel Merlimau Cogen station which first started operations in 2007.

With a licensed capacity of 1,400 MW, Keppel Energy had indicated to the Energy Market Authority as far back as 2006 that it planned to add a 450 MW combined cycle plant this year, followed by another similar sized unit in 2011. But it has kept mum on these plans till now.

Each 450MW plant investment could cost upwards of $400 million, going by industry indications.

BT understands that natural gas feedstock needed for the cogen expansion 'is not an issue', especially since Keppel Energy has a $3 billion-plus deal with Petronas covering the import of 115 million standard cubic feet of gas daily for 18 years.

The Tembusu sector is where Germany's Lanxess is starting to build its $800 million synthetic rubber plant.

Other investors are also trying to restart stalled projects, with Jurong Aromatics Corporation, which is planning a US$2 billion petrochemical complex, also understood to be negotiating its utilities supplies.

Local power players like KepCorp and Sembcorp had earlier indicated that they would prefer to secure customers first before embarking on plant expansions, although by so doing, they face the prospect of losing out to early movers like Tuas Power.

Sembcorp, which has an 815-MW cogen plant on Jurong Island, earlier indicated that it would make an investment decision by end-2009 on another utilities plant, this time using waste-to-steam technology, at Tembusu.

It has missed that deadline, but BT understands that the project is still very much on the cards. A Sembcorp spokeswoman said yesterday that 'we are still exploring doing the investment'.

Meanwhile, new cogen capacity, including from PowerSeraya - now under Malaysia's YTL Group - is coming on stream.

The 3,100 MW PowerSeraya embarked on an aggressive expansion into cogeneration in 2007 - to provide other utilities like steam and cooling water, asides from just power - on Jurong Island.

Its $800 million investment to build a new 800 MW cogen plant plus conversion of two 750 MW combined cycle gas turbines into cogen units are scheduled for completion around this time, which will make PowerSeraya the largest cogen player on Jurong Island with a total 1,550 MW of cogen capacity.

Tuas Power said that in tandem with customer demand, its clean coal/biomass cogen project at Tembusu will be carried out in two phases, with part of the cogen plant ready in 2012 and the rest by 2014.

The facility will produce 180 MW of electricity and about 900 tonnes of steam per hour. It includes a 20 million gallons per day desalination plant and wastewater treatment facility.

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Multi-sector green flight by CAAS, SIA

Nisha Ramchandani, Business Times 29 Jan 10;

THE Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Singapore Airlines (SIA) will be working together to conduct the world's first multi-sector demonstration green flight, a move to mark CAAS' entry to the Asia and Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions (Aspire) programme as of Feb 1.

Initiated by the US Federal Aviation Administration, Airways New Zealand and Airservices Australia in 2008, Aspire is a partnership of air navigation service providers (ANSP) that aims to promote best practices on key Asia and Pacific routes to reduce aviation emissions globally. The Japan Civil Aviation Bureau joined Aspire last October.

Yap Ong Heng, CAAS' director-general, said: 'This Aspire flight is a collaborative effort requiring a high level of cooperation among three ANSPs in the US, Japan and Singapore, and SIA, to demonstrate that an aircraft flying on its most optimal route can achieve significant reductions in fuel consumption and carbon emissions.'

While SIA already adopts practices such as washing the engine regularly and keeping strict tabs on aircraft weight to improve fuel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions, it will step up its measures throughout the demonstration green flight to increase fuel efficiency. At the same time, it will ensure that the aircraft flies through optimum air traffic conditions.

'For this particular flight, on top of these regular measures, we will employ real-time updates of weather conditions to chart the most efficient routing for the aircraft instead of flying a predetermined route,' said SIA's senior executive vice-president (operations and planning), Bey Soo Khiang.

The exercise aims to save about 10,000 kg in fuel and 31,300 kg in carbon dioxide emissions, translating to fuel savings of more than 5 per cent of total fuel burn. SQ11, a Boeing 747-400 aircraft, will depart Los Angeles International Airport on Jan 31 and reach Tokyo Narita International Airport the next day. It will then leave Tokyo the same day and arrive in Singapore on Feb 2.

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Editorial: Higher-tech is the way to go in energy

Business Times 29 Jan 10;

FEARS of a double-dip recession notwithstanding, so far, it has been more up than down as far as investments go for Singapore's energy and power sector. That is reassuring, if not promising, compared to the doom and gloom this time last year when projects were being dropped left and right. While it's still wait-and-see for some investors concerned about whether global economies would in fact continue strengthening, for others confident enough about the current economic rebound, it is time to revive projects they had earlier put on hold.

Just as China is leading the global recovery, new Chinese players here are also very much in the investment forefront. The country's biggest coal-fuelled power producer, China Huaneng Group, which bought Tuas Power, is investing a further S$2 billion to build a clean coal/biomass cogeneration facility on Jurong Island. It made the move last November just as the economy was stirring, clearly wanting to be first mover at the greenfield Tembusu sector to provide utilities such as power, steam and cooling water. By so doing, its project will also be a catalyst in helping draw new petrochemical investors there. And just this month, it has decided to proceed with another S$400 million 'repowering' of an older oil-fired plant into a more efficient, and environment-friendlier gas-firing unit.

Another is Singapore Refining Company (SRC) - owned by Chevron and its new partner, Chinese oil giant PetroChina - which has kick-started detailed engineering design, ahead of construction of its earlier-stalled US$300-400 million 'green' gasoline plant. This is not surprising given that oil prices are up again at US$70-80 a barrel - or double what they were this time last year. With a faster-than-anticipated market rebound, especially in China, Germany's Lanxess is also restarting its earlier-stalled US$575 million synthetic rubber investment here which will incorporate its latest second-generation (2-G) production process. It is a beneficiary of Jurong Island's 'plug-and-play' infrastructure, as Lanxess will be able to tap Shell's new US$3 billion petrochemical complex (starting up this quarter) for raw materials.

As for minuses, two earlier alternative energy investments here have unfortunately hit snags. Natural Fuel, a first-generation biodiesel plant here, was adversely affected by rising palm oil prices and has been wound up. And Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems, a US$100-200 million project, ran into technical issues and has gone back to the drawing board.

More positively, a 2-G biodiesel plant - the S$2.4 billion Neste Oil facility, which will be the largest such facility in the world - will start up here later this year. The Finnish refiner claims the advantage of having advanced technology that no one else has so far, which means it has no competitor.

It will be this climb up the technological ladder - exemplified by the 2-G plants of Neste and Lanxess, as well as the advanced new Shell and ExxonMobil petrochemical crackers - which the energy/chemicals sector here will have to count on for future growth.

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Environmentalist suggests fund that pays Indonesian farmers to stop burning forests

'Make firms pay for clear skies'
Victoria Vaughan, Straits Times 29 Jan 10;

THE seasonal haze in Singapore will be history if environmental pioneer Dorjee Sun has his way.

He wants to set up a mechanism through which Singapore companies planning to buy carbon credits - to make up for their carbon emissions - can make donations towards a community fund which will pay Indonesian farmers to stop setting tracts of forests on fire.

The farmers' slash-and-burn way of clearing forests for planting has been the source of a choking haze that blankets the skies in Singapore and Malaysia around the dry season in September, triggering breathing problems in the young, elderly and infirm, and affecting tourism.

Mr Sun, 32, thinks that by contributing towards the transboundary haze fund, Singapore companies will see a direct link between their donations and an easing of the haze problem.

He says: 'I want to reach out to the community and ask people for contributions - people who have children who feel they are breathing in the smog through no fault of their own.'

After all, why should companies in Singapore buy carbon credits from wind farms in China when they can do something to improve the air here, he asks.

He has moved his company, Carbon Conservation, to Singapore from Sydney, and has started meeting leaders of environmental groups and the Government.

One of Time magazine's Heroes of the Environment last year, he is no stranger to innovative pro-environment ideas. For instance, he brokered the world's first project that prevented deforestation in Indonesia's Aceh province.

He did this by getting investment bank Merrill Lynch to pay for the protection of 770,000ha of jungle on the premise that it could one day make a profit out of selling 'credits' in the form of the carbon locked in the trees.

He is convinced this will potentially yield billions for investors like Merrill Lynch.

Mr Sun, an Australian of Chinese-Tibetan descent, is also behind the Meatless Monday movement, which pushes the idea of skipping meat one day a week to reduce the pollution created by meat farming.

He hopes to encourage big companies, government agencies and the army, for example, to join the movement.

He says: 'Vegetarianism is traditionally terribly unsexy. MTV could do it much better, so I'll be talking to them about it and getting restaurants involved in producing meatless menus one day a week.'

The company also wants to set up Carbon Conversations - a project to get people talking about issues and solutions online, at events and possibly via a TV programme.

The business, which employs 10 people, is currently based in Orchard Boulevard, but will be moving to the planned 55ha CleanTech Park in Jalan Bahar, the first phase of which will be completed by next year.

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Don't cop out on chance to save nature

Nirmal Ghosh, Straits Times 29 Jan 10;

It sounds simple, and the world should have been able to do it by now: reduce the destruction of nature and conserve large enough areas to serve as gene pools for the millions of species that make up the true infrastructure of life on Earth.

But as with climate change, commercial interests from fisheries to pharmaceuticals have hampered real action to halt the extinction of species, or at least replace outright plunder with sustainable use.

2010 is the United Nations Year of Biodiversity. As with the climate change conference in Copenhagen last month, various parties are girding themselves for battle ahead of a major environmental conference.

This time it's the 10th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Convention on Biodiversity. It will be held in October in Nagoya, Japan.

In Johannesburg in 2002, the signatories to the Convention pledged to aim for a 'significant reduction' in the rate of biological diversity loss by 2010. But apart from a few scattered successes, that has not happened.

A major objective at Nagoya will be the adoption of an international protocol on 'access and benefit sharing' or ABS - an acronym the public will soon be hearing more of.

But many rich countries oppose an international legal framework for the use of biological resources. Poor countries - especially tropical nations rich in biodiversity - want to protect their resources but retain the right to exploit them.

The failure of the Copenhagen talks to deliver a binding agreement on curbing greenhouse gas emissions means there is now a greater need for a legal agreement on curbing biodiversity loss.

'If climate change is a problem, biodiversity is at least part of the solution,' says Mr Ahmed Djoghlaf, secretary-general of the Convention on Biodiversity, recently in Copenhagen.

'The loss of biodiversity is compounding the climate change agenda. The science and technology will not replace the forests, oceans, peatlands and wetlands. Nature is a major contributor to climate stabilisation. So it is our duty, it is a survival issue, to protect nature.'

Biodiversity is thus sandwiched between twin threats - human exploitation and climate change. Before the end of the century, around 30 per cent of all known species may disappear because of climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said.

Some 1.9 million species have been catalogued, but it is estimated that the total number of species, excluding microbes, on Earth is between 20 million and 30 million.

Since the population explosion of modern humans, the rate of extinction of species is estimated to have increased to 20,000 to 30,000 species a year - a far greater rate than any since the mass extinction of the dinosaurs.

The connection is inescapable: The data proves that the planet's sixth mass extinction episode is taking place under our 'stewardship'. Over the past century, the building blocks of our survival have been at first steadily, then rapidly, reduced.

Humans can eat around 3,000 plant species, but only around 20 provide more than 80 per cent of our food. Worldwide, around half our population depends on plant-based medicine for primary health care. Tropical forests remain an enormous and largely unknown repository of plants with potential medicinal value.

The surge in human population, and a consumption- and demand-driven economic model, has ravaged natural systems and depleted our food banks from land and sea. Mining, and the conversion of diverse natural ecosystems to industrial-scale agriculture, plantations, industry and urbanisation, has destroyed country-sized areas of previously productive ecosystems and the organisms that lived in them.

Mr Pavan Sukhdev, a former Deutsche Bank economist who now works for the UN Environment Programme, notes that when banks began losing their capital value in 2008-09, it made front-page headlines. But far greater, ongoing and more fundamentally critical losses in capital value in our natural ecosystems scarcely warrant an occasional report.

In recent memory, food and oil price shocks have underlined our vulnerability to our supply chain - not supermarket supply chains, but the supply chains of the natural ecosystem, the basis of life. Forests - which include grasslands, peat swamps and wetlands often dismissed by governments and corporations as of little use - are key components of that system.

The loss of forests alone is estimated to have been worth up to US$2 trillion to US$4.5 trillion (S$2.8 trillion to S$6.3 trillion) a year over the last 25 years, says Mr Sukhdev. Two of the worst deforesters are in this region - Indonesia and Malaysia.

Mr Djoghlaf says the aim for Nagoya is to have a new strategic plan and a new target for 2020. 'Each country will be called to integrate this new vision into their national priorities to make it effective, and they will also be asked to come up with their own national targets. The objective is to mainstream biodiversity into the economic sector.'

In the run-up to Nagoya, there are worrying similarities to the climate change talks. The draft of an agreement to protect the planet's biodiversity is huge and littered with square brackets marking points that are still contentious. And the real challenge remains that of stalling the juggernaut of destruction.

Again the multilateral, consensus-based decision-making mechanism of the UN will be put to the test, that it failed in Copenhagen. If it fails again, the only hope will lie in national, political and economic policies. Influential tropical countries like India, Brazil and South Africa may bear an even greater responsibility at Nagoya than at Copenhagen. Says Mr Djoghlaf: 'What is at stake is the capacity of the planet to carry its goods and services. So what is at stake is our lives.'

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Activists against Indonesia's tiger adoption program

Oyos Saroso H.N, The Jakarta Post 29 Jan 10;

Environmental activists have strongly criticized the government’s plan to allow Sumatran tigers to be adopted by wealthy citizens and the private sector.

The activists said the adoption plan, which they suspected as being politically motivated, was not the best solution to save the animal and could escalate poaching.

The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) Sumatra region campaign manager, Mukri Friatna, said that in line with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s first 100-day program, all the ministers in the new cabinet were trying to improve their image.

“That’s the political motive behind the tiger adoption program. We want to emphasize that Walhi opposes the plan since it is the wrong way to save the tiger,” he said.

“If we wish to save the Sumatran tiger, the government should be serious in stopping illegal logging and poaching, not issuing tiger adoption permits.”

On the sidelines of the National Nature Conservation Day event at the presidential palace in Jakarta on Jan. 22, Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said his office was studying plans to issue tiger adoption licenses to wealthy Indonesian citizens and corporations.

Zulkifli said the ministry has so far been successful in protecting the Bali starling, which was earlier on the verge of extinction, by allowing residents to help breed the bird through a program.

In the program, the bird breeders are later obliged to hand over one of three hatchlings to be later released to their original habitat.

A similar method will be used to save the Sumatran tiger.

Under the plan, to be able to adopt the rare and protected animals, the adoptive parents must pay US$100,000 or Rp 950 million as collateral.

They must also provide enclosures and prepare an area spanning 60,000 square meters and sign an agreement that the tigers remain as state property and their condition and presence can be monitored by the state at any moment.

The tiger adoption program will follow the Sumatran tiger conservation program at the Tambling Nature Wildlife Conservation (TNWC) in the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (TNBBS) in West Lampung.

In the last two years, TNWC had released four tigers from Aceh and one from Jambi, which were trapped by residents for attacking humans.

Businessman Tomy Winata set up the TNWC in 2003. It is managed by PT Adiniaga Kreasindo, Winata’s subsidiary company. Winata had initially obtained a concession permit to manage tens of thousands of hectares of forest in TNBBS. He currently holds a forest concession area for tiger conservation spanning 45,000 hectares.

Mukri said the tiger adoption permits could be misused for the global carbon trade if the plan was not reviewed carefully.

“A Sumatran tiger needs a habitat spanning 20 square kilometers. A person adopting a tiger could request a concession area of 20 square kilometers, meaning the forest would be divided into lots, and only those who were rich could adopt the tigers,” he said.

The tiger population has dropped to more than 50 percent within the period of 20 years, from more than 1,000 in the 1970s to only around 500 left remaining in the 1990s. Its number is estimated at between 200 and 400 now.

In the period between 1985 and 1997, Sumatra had lost 60 percent of its low-plain forests, considered the best habitat for Sumatran tigers and other wildlife species.

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Leatherback turtles return to Phuket

Phuket Gazette 28 Jan 10;

MAI KHAO, PHUKET: Sirinat National Park and a local conservation organization have set up watches to protect leatherback turtles returning to lay eggs on Mai Khao Beach this nesting season.

Nonthawit Chaturabandit, chief of Sirinat National Park, said that in the past many leatherback turtles nested on beaches inside the park.

Local residents used to set up camps by the beach and go on ‘turtle walks’ to watch the enormous reptiles clamber ashore and lay their eggs.

In recent years, however, the turtles have for the most part stopped coming to Mai Khao, a fact that has been attributed in part to coastal development in the area.

But now the leatherbacks seem to be staging a comeback.

“We were very pleased to find that two leatherback turtles had come to lay eggs in January. The two nests had a total of around 145 eggs. We expect more to come in February,” Mr Nonthawit said.

Sirinath National Park, together with local villagers and the Mai Khao Beach Turtle Conservation Group, have set up watches to remain on the lookout for more leatherbacks coming to lay eggs, and to protect any eggs from being stolen and eaten. Officers will be spread over the whole beach,” he added.

Mr Nonthawit warned anyone wanting to come and watch the turtles not to make loud noises or light fires on the beach. Leatherbacks are very careful when choosing a nest site and will not come ashore if there are noises and lights, he explained.

Leatherback turtles are classed as critically endangered.

Egg theft, environmental destruction and harmful fishing practices have all contributed to the decline in their appearances at Mai Khao, experts say.

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Indonesia Hopes to Complete Climate Action Plan Next Month

Fidelis E. Satriastanti, Jakarta Post 28 Jan 10;

Indonesia will complete its national plan of action for emission cuts before February 20, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajarsa said on Thursday.

During last year’s G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made a pledge to cut the country’s emissions by 26 percent by 2020 and said that with international assistance the country would aim to reduce its emissions by 41 percent.

“We are determined that this should be finalized before February 20 to show that Indonesia is very serious about its emission plans,” said Hatta, who is also the deputy head of the National Council on Climate Change.

He added that the council had a detailed breakdown on how to reach the 26 percent target from each sector.

“We have all the details, such as what the forestry sector and energy sector need to do, and how much it will cost,” he said, adding that the government would also be preparing for the nation’s emissions to be able to be measured and verified as being in agreement with those from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Meanwhile, Rachmat Witoelar, executive head of the Council, said Indonesia will send its notification to be a part of the Copenhagen Accord following December’s international climate talks, but will deliver emission details at a later date.

“The submission deadline on the Accord is a soft deadline, we’ll say that we associate with the accord but details will follow later,” he said, adding that developing countries are not obliged to submit any details concerning their emission cuts.

Eka Melissa, deputy chair of a working group on international negotiations at the council, said that there were no sanctions if parties were not able to submit anything by the January 31 deadline.

“Based on the Accord, developed countries are supposed to submit their targets for emission cuts, while developing countries only have to submit their action plans for mitigation, called NAMAs,” Eka said.

“However, we have just finished meeting with the coordinating ministers and just got the national plans from Bappenas (the National Development Planning Board), so it will take time to coordinate with each sector (about the details to be provided to the UNFCCC).”

She said that they will try to submit on the due date, but still need the approval of cabinet before submitting to the UNFCCC.

“We are also still pursuing the UNFCCC on the mechanisms of this submission, but we’re serious (about the emission cuts). However, we won’t be giving that many details to the UNFCCC,” she added.

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