Oil spill at Changi East: What impact of dispersants?
from wild shores of singapore
Tanah Merah CleanUp - 05June2010
with update of shore on the day after from sgbeachbum
Lyssa zampa, the tropical swallowtail moth, returns
from Habitatnews and otterman speaks
Snakes, seascapes, and the value of nature
from BBC NEWS blog by Richard Black
A Message From Sylvia Earle on World Oceans Day
from MarineBio Blog
Janice Tai Straits Times 10 Jun 10;
MORE than 30 tonnes of dispersant were used to break up oil into globules in the recent oil spill off the Changi coast.
In the Gulf of Mexico, experts have deployed about five million litres of the substance on a massive slick that has been gushing out of a ruptured undersea well for the past two months.
But some experts are beginning to press for more efficient methods to deal with oil spills. They argue that the dispersion method, which has been in use for decades, drives some of the oil undersea and threatens marine life.
'Chemical dispersants merely visually 'remove' oil from the water because we cannot see the smaller oil particles. The oil still remains in the water column or on the seabed,' Associate Professor Tan Soon Keat of the Division of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) told The Straits Times.
Dispersants are chemicals with an active ingredient called surfactants.
Surfactants bind well with either water or oil, reducing the tension between them and breaking up oil into droplets.
The application of dispersants is one of the four main ways used to clean up oil spills, the others being soaking up, scraping off and burning.
Dispersion is the only method that uses chemicals, and the substances may be toxic to marine life like mussels, clams, crabs, eels and shrimp.
Furthermore, dispersants do not get rid of all the oil.
Some of it will remain in the water. Plumes can also form undersea, depleting the water's oxygen content - which some scientists say is what is happening in the tainted waters in the Gulf of Mexico.
'I'm afraid that a lot of damage is being done below the surface where the majority of oil is,' said Assistant Professor Prosanta Chakrabarty of Louisiana State University, an expert on fish and marine life.
While the dispersion method is far from ideal, there are few alternatives.
'The strategy to combat oil spills has remained largely unchanged over the last 30 to 40 years. The oil is either dispersed, collected or burned,' said Mr Ho Yew Weng, operations manager of Oil Spill Response.
The Singapore-based company has been involved in the clean-up of the spills in both Changi and the Gulf of Mexico.
Still, the experts note that more efficient and environment-friendly types of dispersants have emerged over the years.
Prof Tan cites the use of gases like ozone instead of the usual chemical dispersants.
'The oil is removed in an environmentally friendly manner as the ozone converts the oil into carbon dioxide and water,' he said.
The ozone gas is saturated in water and it is sprayed on oil slicks or bubbled through seawater filled with oil globules.
Less toxic dispersants have also been developed.
'Dispersants now are much less toxic and are quite similar to dishwashing liquids,' said Mr Ho.
Five people have each been caught four times and served three CWOs
Amresh Gunasingham Straits Times 10 Jun 10;
FOUR male smokers in their 20s and a woman in her 50s - who thrice threw urine out of her window - are Singapore's worst litterbugs, according to National Environment Agency (NEA) statistics provided to The Straits Times.
Each was caught on four separate occasions and did the most corrective work orders (CWOs) for littering, based on data collated over the past four years.
All five - including the urine thrower, whose offence is an anomaly, says NEA - served three CWO sentences each. This means each of them served between eight and 17 hours in total for their offences.
In addition to cleaning up public spaces, the five were slapped with fines totalling $4,000.
Under the law, for minor littering, first-time offences are punishable with a $300 fine, while repeat offenders will be served with CWOs and can be fined up to $5,000.
But rather than the norm, re-offenders like the five are an exception. Only about 5 per cent, or 1,954, of the 41,392 offenders caught last year were repeat offenders. In 2008, 3 per cent of the 33,164 caught were recalcitrants. Most of the re-offenders were young male smokers.
Along with the increase in the number of litterbugs caught, NEA figures also showed a surge in the number of CWOs served - from 1,163 in 2008 to 2,537 last year.
NEA said the increase in numbers is partly due to more enforcement officers prowling the streets.
Foreign residents, bringing with them different social norms, also contributed to the high numbers - about a third of those caught were foreigners.
The perennial littering issue is back in focus this week following the first tweak made to the CWO system since it was first initiated in 1992, to make enforcement more effective.
A government-commissioned survey of 4,500 people found that the shame of having to pick up trash - under the public eye while wearing a bright orange vest - was a strong deterrent.
Therefore, CWOs will now be carried out in shopping malls, Little India and the barbecue pits at East Coast Park, areas with a high density of human traffic and rubbish, to raise the embarrassment factor.
Previously, many CWOs, which are done for a maximum of three hours in a day, were in quieter housing estates or parks.
Sociologist Paulin Straughan, who led the year-long study that surveyed families, secondary school students and other young people, feels that punitive measures such as fines and CWOs have been effective as a short-term measure.
But the problem continues to arise because of the limited reach of enforcement officers at any one time.
So the NEA has contracted out the work to some 100 uniformed officers to complement its team of around 420 environmental health officers who work the streets.
Often, they are dressed in plain clothes to add an element of surprise to their operations.
From this week, these uniformed officers will also make the rounds twice weekly, not just once.
Some $9 million is spent each year on such manpower costs and Associate Professor Straughan suggested that changes in attitude are the only realistic way to bring about a long-term change - apart from spending even more money on stepping up enforcement.
She said: 'In the long run, our society needs to attain a higher level of maturity that looks beyond the gains to one's self and embraces more intrinsic values such as pride in a country and the importance of the aesthetics of the environment.'
Teaching not to litter (again)
Straits Times Editorial 10 Jun 10;
CORRECTING a bad habit is harder than learning not to pick it up in the first place. On this understanding, the renewed anti-littering drive started this week will have a better chance of success if the young are taught the correct habits early, besides reforming the ways of offending adults. Much of the new emphasis is based on the findings of a year-long behavioural study for which the National Environment Agency (NEA) interviewed 4,500 people. Despite 50 years of state-sponsored campaigns and public education, the lesson has essentially not been taught well where it matters most - within the family. Two generations of people have grown up being taught in school not to litter, but they have been spotty about passing on the right values to their offspring.
So, of the three groups of people the NEA is targeting, parents - especially mothers - are the most important. The survey found a person was 2.4 times more likely to follow the bad example of family members. While most mothers recognise their responsibility, the campaign has far to go. At foodcourts, parents are known to stop their children from clearing up after a meal or picking up tissue paper and scraps blown off the table. They tell the young it is the cleaner's job. This is a disgrace, a social disease. Lessons conceivably would be learnt the hard way by these youngsters in adulthood, through fines and community work orders (CWOs).
Even in trying to get the message through to young people, another of its target groups, the NEA may find the task daunting. More than two-thirds of 1,500 students surveyed said they littered. Nearly a quarter of these said nothing would stop them from doing so. It is the same with smokers: Nine out of 10 litterbugs apprehended in the past five years were caught throwing cigarette butts on the ground. More than a third of smokers admitted they littered. Smokers seem past the stage where preventive education could do some good. Enforcement and punitive measures are the only option.
Yet, the value of shaming - especially through CWOs which will be made more onerous and visible - is questionable. Instead of changing behaviour, being shamed publicly can build resentment in some adults and harden bad attitudes. The NEA is right to step up enforcement and align penalties with other environment-related agencies, but it should realise the limitations. As a practical step, more bins in busy public spaces will certainly reinforce the message. Usually, these are too few and too hard to find. When the contents spill over, overflowing bins are not emptied promptly. NEA, take note.
Start them young on no-littering habit
Straits Times 10 Jun 10;
I REFER to Monday's report, 'Tougher now for litterbugs to escape'. While I agree stiffer penalties and stepped-up enforcement action will help curb the mess caused by litterbugs in the short term, it will not eliminate the problem.
As enforcement officers cannot be everywhere all the time, Singapore can be clean and litter-free only if the people are educated to be responsible owners and users of common space. If they do not treat public places as such, no amount of enforcement and penalties can bring about the desired results.
In Japan, I noticed teenagers did not throw litter into drains or onto flower beds. They kept their litter in their pockets or bags. They would then empty them into litter bins they chanced upon as they moved on with their activities. It was only then that I realised having a litter bin at every corner in Singapore was a luxury. Yet, we often hear and read about the dearth of litter bins.
Since the authorities are going to spend millions in the coming years to solve the litter problem, it is not too late to send some of our teachers to Japan to learn how their education system imparts the value of caring for public places to their students.
Good habits have to start from young.
Soh Ah Yuen
Straits Times 10 Jun 10;
TWO Malaysians have been caught and jailed for a month each for trying to smuggle in more than 1,000 birds by hiding them among boxes of grasshoppers and crickets being brought in legally.
The chirps of the birds gave the game away. Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers were checking the consignment of 5,000 grasshoppers and 5,000 crickets at Woodlands Checkpoint on Tuesday morning when they found six crates of live birds hidden below the crickets.
The haul of 140 mata puteh and 1,000 munia constituted the largest haul of birds at the checkpoints since 2006, said the ICA and the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority yesterday.
ICA officers arrested Lee Sung, 44, whose cargo clearance permit covered only the import of the insects. His motorcycle, on which the crates were loaded, was seized.
When his accomplice Ho Kwee Ping, 56, showed up a while later on his motorcycle, he too was arrested. His link to Lee was suspected when documentation for a previous consignment of grasshoppers and crickets named the same importer and exporter as the one on Lee's import papers. Another document to bring in six more such consignments by Northern Aquarium was found with Ho.
Investigations showed that Lee and Ho were to be paid $250 and $150 respectively by a Malaysian called Ah Meng for delivering the birds to someone in Ang Mo Kio that morning.
The pair pleaded guilty to importing the birds without a licence. They could have been fined up to $10,000 and/or jailed for up to 12 months under the Animals and Birds Act.
Chirps that saved their day
Today Online 10 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE - It was an unexpected burst of song from a stack of crates on a motorcycle which gave the game away - and led to the biggest seizure of smuggled birds at the checkpoints since 2006.
In a joint statement, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said that a motorcyclist had pulled up at the Woodlands Checkpoint in the early hours of Tuesday and produced an AVA permit to import some 10,000 insects: 5,000 grasshoppers and 5,000 crickets.
While inspecting the crates on the rear of the motorcycle, the ICA officers thought they heard chirps which did not sound like crickets.
They then uncovered six crates of live birds concealed below the consignment of crickets.
Altogether, 1,000 Munias and 140 Mata Putehs (Oriental White Eyes) were seized. Five minutes later, another motorcycle pulled into the checkpoint - the rider had an AVA permit to import grasshoppers and crickets - but he did not have any consignment with him.
On being questioned, the first motorcyclist, a 45-year-old Malaysian, admitted he was offered $250 to smuggle the birds into Singapore.
The second rider, a 56-year old man, was to oversee the bootlegging attempt.
The two were convicted yesterday and jailed for a month each for violating the Animals and Birds Act.
ICA foils attempt to smuggle over 1,000 birds into Singapore
Mustafa Shafawi Channel NewsAsia 9 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE : An attempt to smuggle more than 1,000 birds into Singapore was foiled at the Woodlands Checkpoint on Tuesday.
The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said it was the largest seizure of birds at the checkpoint since 2006.
A motorcyclist had pulled up at the border crossing in the early hours of Tuesday and produced an AVA permit, authorising the importation of 10,000 insects - 5,000 grasshoppers and 5,000 crickets.
While inspecting the crates stacked on the rear rack of the motorcycle, the ICA officers heard chirping sounds which aroused their suspicion.
They uncovered six crates of live birds concealed below the consignment of crickets. Altogether 1,000 Munias and 140 Mata Putehs were seized from the crates.
Barely five minutes later, another Malaysia-registered motorbike which had just pulled into the checkpoint was subjected to a check.
Officers found an AVA permit authorising the importation of grasshoppers and crickets in his possession even when he was not conveying any consignment.
This aroused the officers' suspicion. They decided to interview the second Malaysian Chinese rider. He too was involved in the attempt to smuggle the birds into Singapore.
The 45-year-old Malaysian Chinese who had attempted to bring in the birds illegally admitted to the smuggling activity.
He claimed that a Malaysian man by the name of Ah Meng had offered him S$250 for the delivery and instructed him to meet up with the second rider at a carpark near the checkpoint after the immigration and customs clearance.
The second rider, a 56-year-old man, corroborated the account of the first rider and added that his role was to oversee the bootlegging attempt.
The two were convicted in court on Wednesday afternoon and sentenced to one month's jail.
The importation of live birds without an AVA permit is a violation of the Animals and Birds Act. It carries a maximum penalty of S$10,000 and one year imprisonment.
- CNA/al
Straits Times 10 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE imports as much as 80 per cent of its rice from Thailand, but importers here are not worried about supply shortages - just yet.
The Singapore General Rice Importers Association says there would be minimal impact on suppliers and consumers here if there is a reduction in Thai rice exports.
Mr Andrew Tan, who is the association’s chairman, says there are enough safeguards in place here to ensure sufficient supply of rice.
'The government has a policy of stockpiling supplies which would assure consumers of sufficient rice in the market,' he said.
In the unlikely event that stocks from Thailand run dry, existing supplies would last four to five months.
Singapore also has other suppliers.
Aside from Thailand, the rest of the rice in Singapore is imported from countries such as Vietnam, Myanmar and China.
Last year, trade promotion body IE Singapore announced that it would enhance its rice supply monitoring system to counter the possibility of a price increase caused by shortfalls in imports from Thailand.
KEVIN TAN
Thai drought may hit price of rice
Output could drop to less than half of earlier forecast
Straits Times 10 Jun 10;
BANGKOK: The world's largest rice exporter, Thailand, is facing major losses to its next crop of rice and a water crisis because of the worst drought in nearly two decades.
Mr Chanchai Rakthananon, president of the Thai Rice Mills Association, said rice output for the next crop cycle which ends in August could fall to as little as two million tonnes from a previously forecast five million tonnes.
'It didn't rain when it needed to rain,' said Mr Angsumal Sunalai, director-general of the Thai Meteorological Department.
Mr Chalit Damroengsak, director-general of the Royal Irrigation Department, said there would normally be three to four monsoon storms a year during the annual rainy season, 'but farmers will be lucky if there is one this year'.
Thailand produces about 20 million tonnes of rice annually in two to four crop cycles, exporting about nine million tonnes and consuming the same amount.
The government keeps a rice reserve of about 10 per cent of output, mostly as a way of stabilising prices, so the drought will not cause food shortages.
But Thailand will face a water crisis if reserves are not refilled and demand for water continues to soar, said Mr Chalit.
The agricultural sector consumes 70 per cent of the nation's water supply, he said, while human consumption accounts for only 4 per cent.
Water levels in medium- to large-sized reservoirs nationwide are at 15 per cent of total capacity. In some regions, local officials have asked farmers to postpone rice planting by one month for fear of depleting the reserves.
The Meteorological Department predicts heavy rain for the next three months, but that poses more of a problem than a solution for rice farmers, because flash floods can wipe out planted seedlings.
Farmers, like Ms Jundang Rintorn, 46, in the north-eastern province of Si Sa Ket, feel squeezed.
'Too much rain would mean losing money. We have to learn to adapt to this new pattern,' she said, speaking of the irregular weather.
Although the government implemented a price guarantee scheme last month to insure farmers against prices falling below a minimum, profit margins are shrinking because of higher production costs.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva asked the Agriculture Ministry to find ways to avoid the drought-induced problems next year.
Lower Thai rice production could have an impact on the world price of the staple, said Mr Rex Estoperes, a spokesman for the National Food Authority of the Philippines, which is the world's biggest rice importer.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Channel NewsAsia 9 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE : Singaporeans see adoption as serving a useful function in society, according to a nationwide study conducted by the Department of Social Work at the National University of Singapore.
The benchmark study aimed to understand the attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and opinions towards adoption held by Singaporeans.
What the researchers found was that an overwhelming number of Singaporeans consider adoption as an alternative way to create a family.
Adopting a child is viewed the same as having one's own child.
But when it comes to attitudes towards adoption, the perception is mixed.
While they approve adoption and consider it to serve as an alternate form of family formation, they consider adoption to be the second best solution.
They also hold negative attitudes towards the biological parents who place their children for adoption.
The researchers were surprised to find that only 69 per cent of the respondents believed that adopted children should be told that they are adopted.
They should be told this at the age of 16.
This is inconsistent with advice by adoption workers for adoptive parents to tell the child at an early age of around 3 to 4 years old as it relates to the healthy development and psychological well-being of the child.
72 per cent of respondents also thought that adoptive parents should not tell their friends, neighbours or community about their child's adoption status.
The researchers said these findings highlight the need to raise awareness among the public about the importance of child adoption and provision of support.
The researchers believe that the findings of this study can help the relevant agencies implement appropriate policies, services, intervention programmes and awareness campaigns.
They also suggest that given the mixed findings, voluntary welfare organisations and governmental organisations should sensitise the public on child adoption.
The study was conducted among 1,200 Singapore citizens and permanent residents within the age group of 18-60 years.
Face-to-face interviews of study respondents were conducted between March and April. - CNA /ls
Adopt a kid? Why not, say Singaporeans
Study shows eight in 10 approve of adoption but many frown on those giving up their children
Ang Yiying Straits Times 10 Jun 10;
SINGAPORE citizens and permanent residents are open to adoption as a way of setting up a family, but are also likely to be disdainful of those who give up their children to be raised by others.
A study which polled 1,200 people here aged 18 to 60, mostly not adoptive parents, found eight in 10 saying they approved of adoption.
When asked what they thought of people on the 'supply side' of the adoption equation, nearly half - 45 per cent - said those who gave up their children were selfish, irresponsible or careless.
In the study done in March and April, the first on attitudes towards adoption here, respondents had to indicate their level of agreement with 128 statements or how they would respond to a given scenario from a range of possible answers.
It was conducted by Dr Jayashree Mohanty from the National University of Singapore's social work department and Dr Srinivasan Chokkanathan, who teaches gerontological management at Temasek Polytechnic and has experience with studies on the family and tracking attitudes.
They are due to present their findings at a conference in Hong Kong which starts today.
Figures from the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) indicate the annual number of adoptions in the last three years has been quite stable at around 400. MCYS did not reveal the number of adoption applications it received for those years, but said there has been no noticeable increase.
But adoption services report a rising awareness and interest in adoption.
For instance, Mr Low Soo Meng who runs Greenhouse Adoption Services said he used to get about 10 queries a month five years ago; now he gets twice that.
The study comes at a time when the Government is putting in place procreation measures out of concern over the falling number of births - the total fertility rate is at an all-time low of 1.23.
Dr Mohanty said the study, which will produce baseline numbers, can be replicated down the road so the nation's views towards adoption can be charted.
The researchers wanted to get started on the work, she said, in view of adoption being an alternative family arrangement that can be explored because of the low fertility rate.
Dr Mohanty predicts that adoption will gain pace here, like in the United States and Canada, given that people here are getting married later and finding it more difficult to conceive.
The researchers, concerned that almost half the respondents were judgmental of those who give up their children for adoption, reckon from this that most of them feel it is the parents' responsibility to bring up their child.
This came through in their responses when they were asked how they would advise an unmarried pregnant friend: Almost six in 10 said they would counsel her to keep the child.
One surprising result: Only seven in 10 believe adopted children should be told about their parentage, with 16 being the average age they believed the child should be told. The researchers and those in the adoption sector disagree. They think children should be told - and told early - instead of being shocked later.
Senior manager Teo Seok Bee of Touch Adoption Services, which counsels openness, said: 'A child can sense something is not right when parents lie or hide. Parents may end up telling more lies if they do not (tell the child)... and may live in constant fear of the child finding out.'
An MCYS spokesman said the ministry requires adoptive parents to attend 'disclosure workshops', but leaves the decision to them on whether or when to tell the child.
Freelance counsellor Chang Chee Siah, 40, told her adopted Indonesia-born daughter, now seven, before the girl was two. The child was then told about her two mothers - her 'Indonesian mummy' and her 'forever mummy'.
Ms Chang and her husband, who had tried unsuccessfully for a child until the adoption, have since had two children of their own, now aged six and nine months.
New Zealander Monique Ciochetto, 47, who runs a part-time service providing information to those interested in adoption - and is herself an adoptive parent - can vouch for the positive light in which people view her adopted Malaysia-born girls, aged three and two.
She said people say the girls are lucky to have found a home with her and her husband: 'They are very positive about it. Our daughters are Indian, I'm Caucasian. I've never had negative comments.'
Mr Eugene Lo, 40, an executive in a non-profit organisation, and his wife are parents of triplets aged three after in-vitro fertilisation, and they know what it is like to want children badly. Like the majority of respondents, they do not see why anyone would give up a child.
He said: 'If you talk about the old days when people were having 10 or 11 kids, it may be understandable. But nowadays, people may be too materialistic or selfish.'
Most Singaporeans support adoption to start a family
Business Times 10 Jun 10;
Some say it may encourage having out-of-wedlock kids
AN overwhelming 91.2 per cent of people in Singapore view adopting a child as a perfectly viable way of starting a family, according to a survey funded by the National University of Singapore.
However, on the other hand, the nationwide survey of 1,200 Singapore citizens and permanent residents also found that 45 per cent view adoption as a 'second best solution' and that adoptive parents are not 'real parents', while 41.3 per cent also said that the prevalence of adoption may encourage the idea of having out-of-wedlock children.
The survey was conducted by Jayashree Mohanty from the National University of Singapore Department of Social Work and Srinivasan Chokkanathan from Temasek Polytechnic's Gerontological Management Studies Department.
The researchers said the findings would help policymakers and social workers learn about public attitudes towards adoption so that they could implement appropriate policies, services, intervention programmes and awareness campaigns.
These findings have led to suggestions that Voluntary Welfare Organisations and governmental organisations should sensitise the public on child adoption.
The study also found that 69 per cent believed that adopted children should be told about their status and the average accepted age of those to be told so would be 16 years.
This is inconsistent with social workers' advice to tell children at ages three or four in order to optimise their psychological well-being.
Dr Mohanty and Dr Chokkanathan said that given the decrease in the rates of marriage and low fertility rate, adoption may play a crucial role in family formation in Singapore.
They added that there is a need to raise awareness among the public about the importance of child adoption.
Scientists present the first ever Atlas of Biodiversity Risk
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres, EurekAlert 9 Jun 10;
Brussels/ Halle/Saale: Political decisions are among the main driving forces that influence the survival of biodiversity. They have a direct impact on decisions in key areas of man's interaction with nature and the countryside, e.g. through agriculture, traffic or infrastructure policies. These decisions also influence many relevant socio-economic processes underlying human activities, writes an international team of scientists in the "Atlas of Biodiversity Risk", the first of its kind to be published.
The political framework and policy arrangements should focus increasingly on reducing the pressure on biodiversity while integrating recommendations made by scientists and academics. These recommendations should also help politicians to become more aware of the role of policy as a factor in biodiversity loss. To achieve this, more emphasis needs to be placed on the economic, cultural and intangible resources provided by biodiversity.
The Atlas combines the key results of the major European research project ALARM (68 partner organisations in 35 countries in Europe and other continents) with some core outputs of numerous other research networks. In total, 366 authors from more than 180 institutions in 43 countries contributed to the 280-page Atlas. The publication was presented on Thursday at the Green Week conference 2010 in Brussels, to which the European Commission invited around 4,000 participants.
The new "Atlas of Biodiversity Risk" is the first of its kind to summarise the major factors leading to the loss of biodiversity on a European and global level. The main risks are caused by global climate and land use change and environmental pollution. The loss of pollinators and the impact of biological invasions are particularly relevant factors which are given special attention. The impact and consequences of biodiversity loss are described with a strong focus on socio-economic factors and their effects on society. "In all these efforts, it must remain clear that no single policy measure will rescue biodiversity - there is no silver bullet. Instead, a systematic review of all policy fields is necessary to incorporate biodiversity," says Dr. Josef Settele of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), who heads the atlas publication team. "Research results should therefore be used to continuously update programs and develop policies for the long term."
The "Atlas of Biodiversity Risk" makes use of three different scenarios for the forecast of effects and the elaboration of potential mitigation options: a) the growth applied strategy (GRAS), b) a Business-As-Might-Be-Usual scenario (BAMBU) and c) a Sustainable European Development Goal (SEDG). "It is important to understand that scenarios are not predictions," says Dr. Joachim H. Spangenberg of SERI (Sustainable Europe Research Institute) Germany, who headed the socio-economic part of the ALARM project. "Scenarios provide a set of reasonable assumptions to help one's thinking about possible futures and the impact of current decisions on future development. They illustrate what could be the consequences of human decisions." The principles underlying these scenarios are explained and the effects have been modelled and are illustrated and tested in a series of consistent narratives. The Atlas is divided into eleven chapters which deal with the pressures on biodiversity, backed up by more than 100 case studies.
The Atlas is written for a wide range of readers. Academics will find summaries of methods, approaches and case studies. Conservationists and policy-makers will use the easy-to-understand recommendations based on academic findings. Lecturers and teachers will find examples to illustrate the major challenges in our century of global environmental changes. "Ultimately everyone concerned about the environment will find the Atlas a strong weapon in their struggle to save biodiversity on our planet," says Lyubomir Penev, one of the co- editors. "We very much hope that the present Atlas will find its way into many organisations, into the public at large, and into decision making processes of the policy sphere," adds Josef Settele, who, together with his eight co-editors from Germany, Slovenia and Bulgaria, firmly believes that biodiversity conservation will not be achieved in an unsustainable society, just as sustainability in society cannot be achieved without safeguarding biodiversity for future generations.
The Star 10 Jun 10;
KUALA TERENGGANU: The Fisheries Department will ask the Terengganu Government to gazette Pantai Geliga in Kemaman as a turtle sanctuary.
Its director Zakaria Ismail said this was important as Pantai Geliga had the highest number of turtle landings in Terengganu.
“Gazetting it as a sanctuary will protect the turtle nests and eggs.
“The two existing turtle sanctuaries are at Ma’daerah in Kemaman and Rantau Abang in Dungun,” he told Bernama here on Monday.
Zakaria said 21,480 turtle eggs were collected up to last month, of which 3,028 were hatched and the hatchlings returned to the sea.
The department hoped to hatch 300,000 eggs and expected 10,000 visitors to the Turtle Information Centre at Rantau Abang this year. — Bernama
Corals fishers caught out
James Cook University, Science Alert 10 Jun 10;
A new study focusing on a group of islands in the Philippines by Dr Michael Fabinyi of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and James Cook University has highlighted the pressures being experienced by tens of millions of subsistence fishers in the region bounded by Australia, the Pacific and Southeast Asia.
“The Calamianes islands in the Philippines are fairly typical of what is happening throughout the region,” Dr Fabinyi said.
“Until recently they had relatively pristine coral reefs and healthy levels of fish stocks – but the impact of overfishing, including dynamite fishing and cyanide fishing, to feed the hungry markets of China and Asia have caused extensive degradation to the reefs and declines in the fish that depend on them.
“In Southeast Asia it is commonly assumed that tourism development will provide some of the answers by employing people who can no longer fish for a living – but in my study I did not find that,” he said.
“Instead it became clear that what was spoken of as eco-tourism was, in reality, often coastal resort development – and it was pushing many coastal families off their land as well as squeezing them out of their fishing areas.
“It has certainly created jobs for some former fishers – but by no means for all, and this wider social impact needs to be taken into account when thinking about the future livelihoods of the tens of millions who have, until now, drawn their living from the sea.”
Dr Fabinyi said that the creation of Marine Protected Areas in some parts of the Philippines and Coral Triangle had proved beneficial both for fishers and genuine ecotourism, although it has also restricted the area that fishers rely on for their livelihood.
“In the Calamianes, for example, I found that most fishers were working longer hours, over greater distances, for fewer fish caught – which is a clear sign that the fishery is continuing to decline. At the same time resort developers were pressuring them to give up their land on the coast, without creating sufficient livelihoods to compensate for the loss on land and at sea.”
Tourism development is often seen as a ‘silver bullet’ solution to poverty in underdeveloped regions, he says, but studies on the ground indicate the picture is more mixed – while some livelihoods are created, others are being destroyed. Also tourism is less reliable than fishing, being subject to booms and busts and the cost of world air travel.
“The people who are affected by these forces of environmental degradation, fish stock decline and coastal development are so numerous throughout the region that this is emerging as a very serious social issue for all the countries in the Coral Triangle as well as those which border it – like Australia,” Dr Fabinyi says.
New Straits Times 10 Jun 10;
KOTA KINABALU: A potential female partner for Malaysia's only male Sumatran rhino in captivity has been detected in the jungles of Sabah.
Images of a female rhino caught by a remote sensing camera have given fresh hopes to the authorities, who are looking to pair it up with Kertam or Tam, the male rhino at the Tabin Wildlife Reserve.
It was the second series of images released by the Sabah Wildlife Department and Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia. The first set of images released on April 21 were of a pregnant female rhino.
Sabah Wildlife Department director Laurentius Ambu said yesterday the images showed that although the species was on the verge of extinction, it was not too late to save it.
"It is a different rhino from the one whose photo we captured a few weeks ago in another area. This particular female rhino will be caught as a mate for Tam."
The Sabah Wildlife Department is taking the lead with support from Borneo Rhino Alliance, WWF-Malaysia and Sime Darby Foundation, among others.
"WWF-Malaysia loaned the camera that captured these new images," said Raymond Alfred, head of WWF-Malaysia Borneo species programme.
Bernama 10 Jun 10;
KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's environmental agenda under the Tenth Malaysia Plan (10MP) will be protecting the environment while harnessing economic value from the process.
To reach the goal, the government is placing focus on operationalising the National Policy on the Environment (2002), the National Green Technology Policy (2009) and the National Climate Change Policy (2009).
According to the 10MP tabled in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday, the key to sustainability is a proper valuation of our environmental resources.
It states that the biggest risk to sustainability arises from the underpricing of resources, particularly oil and gas as well as water.
Thus, during the 10MP period, the energy policy will move towards market pricing of gas by 2015 while the water tariff will be restructured towards full cost recovery.
Similarly, there are significant opportunities in monetising or creating value from environmental endowments.
The report states that initiatives to finance and promote sustainability measures include introducing Feed-in Tariff (FiT) to help finance renewable energy investments, promoting projects eligible for carbon credits and promoting funding for green technology investments.
As a first step in creating a comprehensive ecosystem for environmental sustainability, the government has introduced the Affirm framework.
Affirm, which is the acronym for awareness, faculty, finance, infrastructure, research and marketing, is an outline of the government's approach toward the effort.
The two main areas of environmental focus under the 10MP is developing a road map for climate-resilient growth and enhancing conservation of the nation's ecological assets.
The report says that to brace the impact of climate change, Malaysia will adapt strategies to protect economic growth and development factors, as well as mitigate strategies to reduce emission of greenhouse gases.
Meanwhile, to reduce greenhouse gas emission, the government has embarked on several programmes which focus on five areas:
* creating stronger incentives for investments in renewable energy, which includes the introduction of a one per cent FiT
* promoting energy efficiency to encourage productive use of energy
* improving solid waste management
* conserving forests
* reducing emissions to improve air quality. This includes emissions from motor vehicles, industries as well as preventing haze pollution from land and forest fires.
In the bid to protect biodiversity and habitats, the Central Forest Spine of 4.32 million hectares across Malaysia will be implemented under the 10MP.
-- BERNAMA
Caps on investment in healthcare, transport to go up
Business Times 10 Jun 10;
(JAKARTA) Indonesia will open up its agricultural sector to foreigners and raise the level of foreign investment allowed in sectors including healthcare and transport, according to a presidential decree seen by Reuters on Monday.
Indonesia needs billions of dollars in investment to support its target of 7 per cent economic growth by 2014 and has struggled to attract foreign direct investment in recent years in the face of competition from regional rivals including Vietnam and China.
Foreigners will be allowed to have a maximum ownership of 49 per cent in plantations for staples such as rice, a move which could potentially encourage foreigners to invest in one of the government's priority projects, the vast Merauke food estate in remote Papua, in easternmost Indonesia.
However, the decree shows that Indonesia will keep a ban on investment in telecommunication towers despite pressure from foreign investors to open up that sector.
State-controlled Telekomunikasi Indonesia is in talks with Singapore Telecommunications to buy out SingTel's part-ownership in about 9,000 telecom towers because of the rules, in a deal that could be worth US$1.2 billion.
There has been fierce resistance from local vested interests to proposals to open up strategic sectors, and the presidential decree - which serves as law - likely reflects a compromise between these interests and reformers within the government.
In transportation, the government has overwritten previous conflicting legislation and will allow foreign ownership of up to 49 per cent in land, sea and air transport.
In healthcare, foreign investors will now be allowed to hold up to 67 per cent in hospitals across Indonesia.
Previously, foreign ownership was 65 per cent and restricted to a few provincial cities such as Surabaya in east Java, and Medan in north Sumatra.
The level of foreign ownership in education will remain unchanged at 49 per cent, after proposals to raise it to 51 per cent ownership.
Firms such as Singapore's Raffles Education and private healthcare provider Parkway Holdings are looking to expand regionally, while private equity firms are eyeing sectors from food to transport to tap consumer demand.
Investors have poured money into Indonesia's bonds, rupiah currency and stock market in the past year, encouraged by the strong economic growth and increased political stability.
But investors in fixed assets often complain about obstacles such as red tape, widespread corruption and a shaky legal system. -- Reuters
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