Best of our wild blogs: 28 Apr 11

4 May (Wed): Talk on the Singapore Wild Marine Mammal Survey (SWiMMS) from wild shores of singapore

Should we ban or allow kayaking in mangroves?
from kayaking asia

Orgy on our reefs: Coral spawning 2011
from wild shores of singapore

marvellous katydid @ Sg Buloh 23Apr2011
from sgbeachbum

Lineated Barbet feeding chick
from Bird Ecology Study Group

The Tiny Boxer Mantis
from Macro Photography in Singapore

Butterfly Portraits - Fluffy Tit
from Butterflies of Singapore

Checking out the water quality at Singapore's iconic (but mostly forgotten) landmark: Chinese Garden from Water Quality in Singapore

A Decade of Biodiversity Conservation and Discoveries in Singapore from Raffles Museum News

Visiting Chek Jawa with 2 of my school friends on 23 Apr 2011
from Soaring c-eagle

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Eagles nest on executive condo site

Developer CDL will do biodiversity study on land before starting construction
Grace Chua Straits Times 28 Apr 11;

The white-bellied sea eagles were spotted last week by Choa Chu Kang resident Boris Chan and his family, after which he posted some photographs of them taken by his 10-year-old son on Facebook. It is not a rare species, says the Nature Society. -- PHOTO: COURTESY OF BORIS CHAN

A PAIR of eagles have built a nest in a tree in Choa Chu Kang Drive, on a site slated for building an executive condominium.

Pictures of the breeding pair of white-bellied sea eagles, posted on Facebook, have raised a flutter on citizen journalism website Stomp, with a number of netizens asking what will become of the eagles when the piling starts.

The birds were spotted last week by Choa Chu Kang resident Boris Chan, 47, and his family, after which the software engineer posted some photographs of them taken by his 10-year-old son on social networking site Facebook.

The 189,335 sq ft patch of land, which is mostly grass, between the Al-Khair Mosque and the upcoming Mi Casa condominium project, was awarded to property developer City Developments Limited (CDL) last month.

Legal transfer of the plot is still in progress, a CDL spokesman said, so the land is at the moment still owned by the Housing Board.

As to the question of what - if anything - can be done about the birds, Dr Wee Yeow Chin, who coordinates the bird ecology study group for the Nature Society here, said that as it is a common species, it would depend on how passionate one is about birds.

'The loss of one nest is no big deal, because a high percentage of nests fail naturally, as a result of the work of predators, for example,' he said.

He added that passionate bird-watchers would obviously ask for the housing development to be delayed until the chicks fledge and leave the nest, which would take about four months.

'But this is not a rare species,' he said.

The Nature Society, a non-profit group dedicated to the appreciation, conservation, study and enjoyment of the natural heritage here and in the surrounding region, said the white-bellied sea eagle tends to return to the same nest year after year during breeding seasons.

Online resources say the eagle, which appears on Singapore's $10,000 bill, stands at about 1m tall and is one of the largest raptors in South-east Asian skies.

On its part, CDL said it usually engages independent consultants to conduct biodiversity studies of building sites rich in plant and animal life, so it can be mindful of the species that may need conservation or relocation ahead of its development projects, said its spokesman.

For example, it did so for the upcoming Tree House condominium project in Chestnut Drive, which sits between the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and Zhenghua Park; it will do the same for the Choa Chu Kang Drive land parcel.

The property developer said via e-mail: 'In consultation with relevant experts and animal conservation groups, we will explore the best alternative for the nesting eagles on the site.'

Mr Chan said: 'We've seen the eagles for many years in the sky. We just didn't know where the nest was.

'I just hope something can be done to protect them.'

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Sharing Nature’s Wealth Can Help End Poverty: Expert

Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 27 Apr 11;

Better management of natural resources could be the key to poverty alleviation, but will require government support to develop, experts and officials said on Wednesday.

Pavan Sukhdev, former special adviser and head of the United Nations Green Economy Initiative, said the current poverty alleviation paradigm was not hitting its target.

“Most developing countries are actually thinking in terms of improving the lives of the poor, but all they’re doing is improving the lives of the rich,” he said at Business for the Environment (B4E) summit in Jakarta.

“So they’re improving opportunities for making profit. And most developing countries’ governments think that by improving the lives of the rich, somehow a trickle-down [effect] will happen. But I can tell you in my country of India, I don’t see any trickle-down, so I wonder why governments in Asia still believe in trickle-down and still make it easy for the rich.”

Sukhdev said one of the real keys to poverty alleviation was to ensure that the poor benefited just as much as the rich from a country’s natural resources.

“We should make sure that what the poor get from the nature, which is free, doesn’t stop, which means they’re able to have access to the forests or to harvest timber or to get fuel for their cooking or to get the benefits of water and soil from the forests,” he said.

“These benefits should not stop even if they’re free and even if they add to GDP, because these parts of nature are part of the daily sustenance of the poor.”

Managing these resources better would also help create much-needed jobs, Sukhdev said.

“That’s why I think the green economy will be good for poverty [alleviation] and should be tried here,” he said.

“The whole idea is to improve the lives of the poor, not to improve the profits of the rich.”

He also said the government needed to be more involved in the stewardship of natural resources, rather than delegate the task to the private sector.

“Private companies will only invest in making a profit, that’s their job,” Sukhdev said.

“We’re talking about public benefits that are the wealth of the nation. These are not privately owned things. You don’t own the air or the ocean.”

Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta, speaking at the same event, agreed that better management of natural resources, or the green economy, was necessary for the full attainment of sustainable development.

“The green economy should be managed in the context of development that is pro-poor, pro-jobs, pro-growth and pro-environment,” he said.

“Hence the green economy needs to be translated as an inclusive policy that aims for resource efficiency, poverty eradication, job creation and ensured sustainable economic growth.

“In this regard, Indonesia has adopted the green economy concept into its long-term national development plan for 2005-2025, which includes the goal of a ‘green and everlasting Indonesia.’ ”

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WWF warns of massive forest loss

UPI 27 Apr 11;

JAKARTA, April 27 (UPI) -- More than 568 million acres of forest worldwide will disappear by 2050 if no action is taken, a new WWF report warns.

The report calls on governments and businesses to unite around a goal of zero net deforestation and forest degradation, or ZNDD, by 2020 as a global benchmark to avoid dangerous climate change and reduce biodiversity losses.

"We are squandering forests now by failing to sort out vital policy issues such as governance and economic incentives to keep forests standing," said Rod Taylor, WWF International Forests director, in a statement.

The two goals of ZNDD and meeting global demand for materials and energy pose both challenges and business opportunities for the forest products sector, the "Living Forests" report notes.

"Forest products are renewable and, when sourced from well-managed natural forests and plantations, tend to have a lower footprint than alternatives like steel, concrete and plastic based on fossil sources," it states.

The loss of natural or semi-natural forest now stands at 32 million acres a year, WWF says.

Maintaining near zero forest loss in the longer term will require responses to rising pressures on forests due to demand for food, materials and fuel for a growing population, which WWF says is expected to hit 9 billion people by 2050.

WWF released a portion of the report Wednesday to coincide with the opening of the Business 4 Environment Global Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia.

"The need for a careful balance between development and environmental stewardship is increasingly obvious, as is the need to involve the private sector in attaining that balance," said Suryo Sulisto, chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, speaking on the sidelines of the summit.

Indonesia, for its part, aims to cut emissions by 26 percent by 2020 but President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said that with international climate aid, emissions could be reduced by 42 percent.

Resource-rich Indonesia is one of the world's largest suppliers of coal, palm oil and timber. It boasts the world's third-largest tropical forest but has the second-highest deforestation rate in the world after Brazil.

Continued deforestation and rising carbon emissions plague the country as it struggles to balance environmental preservation with economic growth that topped 6 percent last year.

Indonesia ranks as the fifth largest carbon emitter in the world, with deforestation and forest degradation accounting for more than 80 percent of its emissions.

World to lose forest area 27 times as big as Austria
Yahoo News 27 Apr 11;

VIENNA (AFP) – The world stands to lose 230 million hectares of forest by 2050 with drastic consequences for the climate, biodiversity and the global economy, the WWF wildlife campaign group said on Wednesday.

"Those responsible -- policy-makers and industry -- are sawing away at the branch we're all sitting on," WWF's head of forests, Philipp Goeltenboth, said in a statement, noting that the area projected to be lost is 27 times the size of Austria.

The current rate of deforestation is 35 football fields per minute worldwide, according to the organisation.

Its new WWF Living Forests report advocates a "Zero Net Deforestation and Forest Degradation (ZNDD)" by 2020.

ZNDD is defined as "no net forest loss through deforestation and no net decline in forest quality through degradation," WWF said.

Nevertheless, that does not mean WWF was in favour of no forest clearing anywhere, under any circumstances.

ZNDD recognised, for example, peoples' right to clear some forests for agriculture, or the value in occasionally "trading off" degraded forests "to free up other land to restore important biological corridors, provided that biodiversity values and net quantity and quality of forests are maintained."

"Achieving ZNDD will stem the depletion of forest-­based biodiversity and ecosystem services, and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions," it said.

Governments, business must unite in joint action to stop forest loss
WWF 27 Apr 11;

Policymakers and business leaders must quickly back a bold target to stop forest loss as part of efforts to conserve biodiversity and fight climate change, according to a new WWF report.

The first chapter of WWF’s Living Forests Report, released today, examines the drivers of deforestation and identifies the opportunities to shift from business as usual to a new model of sustainability, which can benefit government, business and communities.

Based on a new global analysis showing that more than 230 million hectares of forest will disappear by 2050 if no action is taken, the report proposes that policymakers and businesses unite around a goal of zero net deforestation and forest degradation (ZNDD) by 2020 as a groundbreaking global benchmark to avoid dangerous climate change and curb biodiversity loss.

“We are squandering forests now by failing to sort out vital policy issues such as governance and economic incentives to keep forests standing,” said Rod Taylor, WWF International Forests Director.

Business and governments need forests

The first chapter of the report comes as business and political leaders meet this week in Jakarta, Indonesia, for the Business 4 Environment Global Summit (B4E). The conference will be addressed by His Excellency Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President of the Republic of Indonesia.

“The dual imperatives of ZNDD and meeting global demand for materials and energy pose both challenges and business opportunities for the forest products sector,” the report states. “Forest products are renewable and, when sourced from well-managed natural forests and plantations, tend to have a lower footprint than alternatives like steel, concrete and plastic based on fossil sources.”

On the first day of the conference, businesses from the forestry, mining and palm oil sectors operating on the nearby island of Borneo will meet as part of WWF’s Heart of Borneo Green Business Network.

At the summit, WWF will call on forestry companies to join the organization’s Global Forest & Trade Network, and also on other business sectors to support our goal in achieving certification of 75% of key global commodities in the region by 2020. More than 40% of the island’s forests are under concession to the private sector, with around 23% (6 million hectares) under management by the forestry industry.

Carrefour, a leading retailer in Indonesia is answering this call by endorsing WWF’s Global Forest & Trade Network (GFTN). Today, the group’s two biggest suppliers for tissue paper in Indonesia, PT Graha Kerindo Utama and PT Graha Cemerlang Paper Utama are pledging to implement sustainable business under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

"Our ambition is both simple and strong: to become the preferred retailer. This can only be achieved by managing our retail business in a responsible and sustainable manner," said RM Adji Srihandoyo, the Corporate Affair Director PT CARREFOUR

Heart of Borneo – a model for collaboration

More businesses than ever before are working toward sustainable forest management, and governments are strengthening land use criteria and developing groundbreaking economic and fiscal incentives on the island, one of the most forest-rich places on the planet.

On the ground, WWF and its local partners are developing pilot projects to demonstrate the feasibility of these approaches.

“In the Heart of Borneo, tangible examples of how these systems work are emerging. WWF-Indonesia acknowledges that sustainability does not occur overnight. We call on the business sector to join with us as we make the first steps on the road to a green economy and low carbon future, not just in Borneo, but in Sumatra and Papua as well – step by step,” said Dr. Efransjah, WWF-Indonesia CEO.

Right now on the island of Borneo in a 220,000km2 area designated for conservation and sustainable development called the Heart of Borneo, these are the ideas being put into practice.

ZNDD no barrier to sustainable forest-based business

Zero net deforestation and forest degradation by 2020 means no overall loss of forest area or forest quality, so a new monoculture plantation does not offset the loss of primary natural forest. The target requires the loss of natural or semi-natural forest to be reduced to near zero, down from the current 13 million hectares a year, and held at that level indefinitely.

To understand what this would mean in practice, WWF developed the Living Forests Model with the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), which forms the basis for the Living Forests Report.

The Living Forests Model projects that by “doing nothing” we could lose more than 230 million hectares between now and 2050.

“The Living Forests Model shows that conserving our forests is possible – and urgent. But it won’t be easy,” said Taylor.

Making a difference now and towards 2050

“Better governance and economic incentives will enable sound stewardship of forests and more productive use of already- degraded land,” Taylor said. “This would ensure enough farming land, timber plantations and well-managed forests to meet current global demand for wood and food without further forest loss.”

The report concludes that maintaining near zero forest loss in the longer term will require responses to rising pressures on forests due to demand for food, materials and fuel for a growing population, expected to hit 9 billion people by 2050.

“In the short term, halting deforestation is all about better governance,” said Taylor, “But as we get out towards 2050 and the population passes 9 billion, we will need to cut over-consumption and waste of food and energy, and boost productivity of farms and forestry to keep forest loss at near zero.”

More to come

Held in partnership with WWF, Global Initiatives and the Government of Indonesia, the B4E Summit hopes “to generate collaborative solutions to address the most urgent environmental and climate issues facing the world today.”

Additional chapters of the Living Forest Report will be released throughout the year to form a comprehensive analysis of the choices and decisions that must be made to secure a forested future for people and nature.

WWF Seeking Ambitious Curbs on Deforestation
Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 28 Apr 11;

The World Wildlife Fund unveiled on Tuesday its plan for halting deforestation rates worldwide and maintaining forest cover.

The group’s goal of Zero Net Deforestation and Forest Degradation by 2020 would require the loss of natural or secondary forest to be trimmed to near zero, down from the current 13 million hectares a year worldwide, and held at that level indefinitely.

Rod Taylor, the WWF international forest director, said the Living Forests Model, developed by WWF and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, was aimed at finding ways to attain that goal.

“The Living Forests Model projects that by ‘doing nothing,’ we could lose more than 230 million hectares between now and 2050,” he said at the launch of the ZNDD on Tuesday.

“The Living Forests Model shows that conserving our forests is possible — and urgent. But it won’t be easy.”

Taylor said that better governance and economic incentives would enable sound stewardship of forests and more productive use of already degraded land.

“This would ensure enough farming land, timber plantations and well-managed forests to meet current global demand for wood and food without further forest loss,” he said.

“In the short term, halting deforestation is all about better governance. But as we get out toward 2050 and the population passes nine billion, we will need to cut overconsumption and waste of food and energy, and boost productivity of farms and forestry to keep forest loss at near zero.”

WWF says the Living Forests Model explores various global land-use scenarios for forests. It also calculates the effect of forces such as population growth and consumer demand, and describes possible consequences on key issues such as food production, climate change, biodiversity, commodity prices and economic development.

Nazir Foead, policy director at WWF Indonesia, said the Forestry Ministry had implemented a similar model with its “land swap” program, where a development project that required the clearing or exploitation of forests would have to make up for the loss by providing a replacement forest area.

However, the program treats monoculture estates, such as oil palm plantations, as forest area. Under the ZNDD, Nazir said, this would not happen because forest quality was just as important as forest area.

He also said the ZNDD would allow for development in areas with low ecological, conservation or cultural value, rather than in primary forests or peatlands.

“Under the ZNDD, total forest area doesn’t decline because there’s always a replacement,” Nazir said. 

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Four Sumatran elephants found dead in Bengkulu

Antara 27 Apr 11;

Bengkulu (ANTARA News) - Four Sumatran elephants (elephas maximus Sumatrae) have been found dead within one month in an oil palm plantation area of PT Alno in Putri Hijau, North Bengkulu district, an environmental activist said.

"We obtained the information from a ProFauna activist who stayed around the Sablat Elephant Training Center. Based on the information, the four elephants were found dead in the Alno plantation area," Representative of ProFauna Bengkulu Radius Nursidi said here on Wednesday.

He said that the four elephants were believed to have died of poison, but the result of the autopsy had not yet been officially published.

Radius said that human-elephant conflict which caused the death of the animal almost occurred every year.

He said that in the period of 2004-2011, there were 14 elephants who were found dead but the causes of their death were not known.(*)
(A014/HAJM/A014)

Editor: Ruslan Burhani

Bengkulu`s BKSDA urged to probe four Sumatran elephant deaths
Antara 28 Apr 11;

Bengkulu (ANTARA News) - ProFauna, an animal protection charity in Indonesia, has urged Bengkulu`s Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) to investigate the death of four Sumatran elephants at an oil palm plantation owned by PT Alno in North Bengkulu.

"The BKSDA and police must investigate this case because elephant deaths happen almost every year but the perpetrators are never punished," Bengkulu ProFauna spokesman Radius Nursidi said here Thursday.

He said four Sumateran elephants were found dead at an oil palm plantation in the past month. Although the results of an official autopsy were not yet known, it was strongly believed the animals were poisoned to death.

The fact that elephant deaths by unnatural causes occurred almost every year indicated that the government was not seriously handling wildlife conservation, he said.

According to data collected by ProFauna, seven elephants were found dead in the same region in the period 2004-2007. In 2009 there were two such cases and in 2010 one.

Overall, a total of 14 elephants had died by unnatural causes within seven years from 2004 to 2011.

"Ironically, none of the cases was processed legally. This is something that needs to be explained by the BKSDA and police," he said.

PoroFauna also urged BKSDA to close the road used by PT Alno Agro Utama to transport oil palm fruits because this road was possibly used by elephant hunters to enter the animals` habitat.
(Uu.KR-FNY/HAJM/A014)

Editor: Priyambodo RH

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Recent Deadly Storms Fueled By Lingering La Niña

Brett Israel LiveScience.com Yahoo News 28 Apr 11;

For the second day in a row, deadly storms hammered Arkansas and the rest of the South. A lingering La Niña pattern may be behind the steady march of storms across the region in recent days.

Monday's storms killed 10 people in Arkansas and another round of storms on Tuesday killed another person. The bad weather spilled into the rest of Dixie Alley and four people were killed in Mississippi over the past two days. The latest round of intense storms are unloading today (April 27) on Arkansas as the storm system slowly marches eastward, during what is a potentially record-breaking month for tornadoes.

"Fortunately, it does look like the last round for a couple of days," said Chris Buonanno, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Little Rock, Ark.

Across the country, this spring's severe weather seems to be rapidly reloading between storms. That could be due to a La Niña pattern that has persisted over the last few months, said Grady Dixon, a climatologist and meteorologist at Mississippi State University in Starkville. This opposite phase of El Niño features abnormally cool equatorial waters in the central Pacific Ocean.

Along with creating dry weather in the Southwest and contributing to the historic wildfires in Texas, La Niña tends to guide the jet stream north through the Pacific Northwest and Great Lakes, trapping cold air on the northern side and the warm, humid air needed for thunderstorms on the southern side.

That means that the South stays wet because cold fronts that would normally dry out the atmosphere are blocked, Dixon said. So the hits keep coming, one after the other as the storm slowly moves east.

In Arkansas, a cold frontal boundary should sweep through today (April 27), drying out the atmosphere and stopping the storms for a time, Buonanno told OurAmazingPlanet.

Not all La Niña events are associated with highly active severe weather seasons, Dixon said, but some years with similar La Niña characteristics are also historic tornado years, including 1974, 1999 ? which saw an EF-5 tornado devastate Moore, Okla. ? and 2008. (The EF5 tornado is in the strongest category of the Enhanced Fujita Scale, with winds of over 200 mph.)

When all the damage is analyzed, April 2011 could set a record for the number of tornadoes in the month. April has also had a spike in killer tornadoes. The tornado season is only two months old, but the death toll from this year's tornadoes — 45 as of April 25 — has already matched the death toll from all of last year, but is well below that of other historic tornado years.

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Best of our wild blogs: 27 Apr 11

Pop pop pop - Coral babies in the making
from Psychedelic Nature

Little egret - breeding plumage
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Hundreds of new Singapore biodiversity discoveries, a new website and more! from Celebrating Singapore's BioDiversity!

Volunteers speak about the Mega Marine Survey
from Mega Marine Survey of Singapore

Singapore's mangroves and marine life on ARKive and EOL
from wild shores of singapore

10 Ways to Go Seriously Green [Casaubon's Book]
from ScienceBlogs Select

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Food price rises in Asia threatening growth

Straits Times 26 Apr 11;

MANILA: Sharp rises in food prices are threatening economic growth in Asia and could push millions more into extreme poverty, the Asian Development Bank said in a report released yesterday.

Food prices in Asia have increased an average of about 10 per cent so far this year, which the bank calculated could force an additional 64 million people in Asia below the poverty income threshold of US$1.25 (S$1.50) per person a day, if prices remain at current levels.

If food prices go up by more than 30 per cent over the year, then the poverty number will swell by 193 million.

There are currently about 903 million Asian people living in poverty, out of a total population of 3.3 billion.

'Whenever we say that Asia's growth rate is booming and Asia is a new global growth centre, people misunderstand the point,' said Professor Changyong Rhee, the chief economist of the bank, which is financed by governments and helps fund infrastructure projects around the region, among other activities.

'Asia is home to two-thirds of the world's poor. There is still a long way to go,' the South Korean added.

Asia is both a major contributor to global inflation and vulnerable to its effects.

Growth in China and India is blamed for pushing up prices of many commodities. Yet Asia's population density and uneven income distribution make people in the region especially susceptible to spikes in food prices, Prof Rhee said.

The poor in Asia are much harder hit by rising food prices as they typically spend about two-thirds of their income on food, much higher than in developed countries.

Poor countries that are net food importers are the most vulnerable to the increases, Prof Rhee said, citing Bangladesh, the Philippines, India and Sri Lanka as examples.

A bigger concern is that local food prices for certain staples are rising faster than global prices. For example, between June last year and February, global rice prices increased by 16.8 per cent. However, domestic rice prices went up by 21.4 per cent in Bangladesh, 21.6 per cent in Indonesia, and 36.7 per cent in Vietnam.

A continued rise in prices for food and fuel could leave the region's consumers with less disposable income to spend on electronics, clothing and other products.

Inflation could also lead central banks to further raise interest rates.

Taken together, these factors could slow down economic growth of Asian nations, with Singapore projected to suffer the highest gross domestic product (GDP) drop by as much as 1.5 percentage points this year, based on the bank's estimation of 10 Asian countries.

If the trend continues, Singapore's GDP would drop by 0.8 percentage points next year.

The average dip in GDP across Asian countries is estimated to be around 0.6 percentage points.

Food price inflation has already risen by double-digit figures in countries such as China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Bangladesh.

The rapid increases in the cost of food are a serious setback for the region, which has rebounded rapidly from the global economic crisis.

Much depends on whether global food prices continue to climb.

Last month, food prices dropped for the first time in eight months, although experts said this could be a slight pause before prices shoot up again.

On Monday, Barclays Capital, a securities firm, reported that food prices in Vietnam, one of the countries in the region that have been hit worst by inflation, rose 24 per cent this month over the past 12 months, the fastest pace in more than two years.

But Ms Prakriti Sofat, the analyst at Barclays who wrote the report, predicted that prices in Vietnam, especially of rice, would fall in the coming months as farmers who had been hoping for even higher prices sell off their stocks before the arrival of a new harvest.

'We believe rice prices should taper off as the spring harvest begins in May,' Ms Sofat said.

Prof Rhee also expects a moderation in food prices later this year, but he fears it could lull governments into inaction. 'It's time for us to talk about long-term investments in food to make sure this problem is not recurring,' he said.

The report stated: 'New farming techniques and crop varieties need to be developed and transferred to farmers to adapt to farming conditions that have increasingly become even more challenging, especially in the face of dwindling resources (such as agricultural land and water) and the adverse effects of climate change.'

NEW YORK TIMES, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Poor are worst hit by rising food prices

16.8%

Increase in global rice prices between June last year and February.

21.4%

Increase in domestic rice prices in Bangladesh.

21.6%

Increase in domestic rice prices in Indonesia.

36.7%

Increase in domestic rice prices in Vietnam.

Impact on Singapore: What the report says

SINGAPORE will be the hardest hit among 10 Asian nations, if food and fuel prices continue to soar, according to a report by the Asian Development Bank.

The report projects that the Republic's gross domestic product (GDP) could dip by as much as 1.5 percentage points if global food prices and oil prices both rise by 30 per cent throughout the whole of the year.

And if the 30 per cent rise persists through to next year, Singapore's GDP will go down another 0.8 percentage point, it predicted.

Singapore is highly vulnerable to inflation because the country must import almost all of its food and fuel.

The Republic's Trade and Industry Ministry's figures show that Singapore's economy grew by 14.5 per cent last year and it grew by another 8.5 per cent in the first three months of this year.

Rising food prices 'a threat to Asia'
They may push another 64m into extreme poverty and cut growth: ADB
Business Times 26 Apr 11;

(HONG KONG) World food prices that surged 30 per cent in the first two months of the year threaten to push millions of Asians into extreme poverty and cut economic growth, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said yesterday.

The surging prices translated into domestic food inflation of 10 per cent on average in many Asian economies, while international prices were up more than 30 per cent in annual terms, the Manila-based bank said in a report.

A sustained rise in domestic food prices at that level could push an additional 64 million people - or nearly 2 per cent of Asia's 3.3 billion people - below the poverty line of US$1.25 a day.

The ADB added that the high prices will also erode the living standards of families already living in poverty.

Food prices have been driven higher by surging oil prices, production shortfalls due to bad weather and export restrictions by several food-producing countries.

'Fast and persistent increases in the cost of many Asian food staples since the middle of last year, coupled with crude oil reaching a 31-month high in March, are a serious setback for the region which has rebounded rapidly and strongly from the global economic crisis,' the ADB report said.

If higher food and oil prices persist for the rest of the year, they could shave as much as 1.5 percentage points from economic growth in developing Asian countries, the report said.

'Food prices have become highly volatile, and the Asian food system's vulnerability to price shocks and natural calamities has increased significantly,' the report said.

Some countries will be hit harder than others. Singapore is highly vulnerable to inflation because the tiny city-state must import all its food. On the other hand, South Korea, where food accounts for a relatively small part of the consumer price index, will get off lightly.

While countries had taken short-term measures such as cuts in import duties or sales taxes, subsidies and aid programmes, the ADB said the frequency of food price shocks highlighted the need for long- term solutions such as more investment and higher agricultural productivity to secure food supplies.

Poor families in Asia are hit much harder by food price inflation because they spend as much as 60 per cent of their income on food, a much higher proportion than in developed countries. In contrast, people in the United States and other developing countries spend 10 per cent or less of their income on food.

And a lot of the food sold in wealthy countries is processed, so manufacturing costs account for a bigger share of the final price.

Global food prices jumped 34.2 per cent in February over a year ago following a 28.4 per cent rise in January, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) benchmark index. Surging cereal, edible oil and meat prices were behind the increases.

The FAO warned that 29 countries in Africa, Asia, Middle East and Latin America and the Caribbean would need food assistance.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are among those that will face severe food shortages in part due to factors such as social unrest and ethnic conflicts. Cambodia and Laos also face unfavourable prospects for crops due to delayed and erratic rains. -- AP, Reuters

Food prices could push millions into poverty-ADB
Reuters 26 Apr 11;

MANILA, April 26 (Reuters) - Surging food prices could push millions of people in Asia into extreme poverty and threaten the durability of the region's world-leading economic recovery, the Asian Development Bank said on Tuesday.

Domestic food price inflation in developing Asia averaged about 10 percent in the first two months of 2011, while international prices were up more than 30 percent in annual terms, the Manila-based ADB said in a report.

A sustained 10 percent rise in domestic food prices could push an additional 64 million people -- or nearly 2 percent of Asia's 3.3 billion people -- below the poverty line of $1.25 a day.

"Fast and persistent increases in the cost of many Asian food staples since the middle of last year, coupled with crude oil reaching a 31-month high in March, are a serious setback for the region which has rebounded rapidly and strongly from the global economic crisis," the ADB report said.

Food and fuel prices have added to price pressures in Asian economies, and earlier this month the ADB said some emerging economies were showing signs of overheating. [ID:nL3E7F60B1]

The ADB said if a 30 percent increase in global food prices persisted in 2011, growth in some food-importing countries could be cut by up to 0.6 percentage points. It also said if the level of oil and food price increases seen early this year continues, growth in developing Asia in 2011 "could be reduced by up to 1.5 percentage points."

"Food prices have become highly volatile, and the Asian food system's vulnerability to price shocks and natural calamities has increased significantly," the report said.

While countries had taken short-term measures such as cuts in import duties or sales taxes, subsidies and aid programs, the ADB said the frequency of food price shocks highlighted the need for long-term solutions such as more investment and higher agricultural productivity to secure food supplies. (Editing by John Mair and Richard Borsuk)

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Electric vehicle trial set to start in June

First cars have arrived, charging stations likely to be up by next month
Christopher Tan, Straits Times 26 Apr 11;

THE electric vehicle trial is expected to be plugged in by June, after a delay of about a year.

But the initial fleet of battery-powered cars may be far smaller than planned because of supply disruptions in Japan.

The first fleet of five Mitsubishi i-MiEVs has been delivered to Singapore, a spokesman for the Energy Market Authority (EMA) told The Straits Times.

The battery-powered cars are part of a $20 million trial announced by the EMA in 2009 to test the durability and viability of electric vehicles in a tropical city.

The trial is open only to institutions, government bodies and corporations.

Of the five cars, two - owned by the the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) - have been registered for use.

Ms Low Peck Kem, divisional director of MOM's national human resources division, said the ministry was invited to take part in the electric-vehicle trial. The ministry agreed as the cars would help 'in our efforts in environmental protection', she added.

The two i-MiEVs will be used mainly for site inspections, she said. Although they have been registered for a number of weeks now, they will not be put to use until June, when the charging points are up.

Under initial plans announced in 2009, 50 i-MiEVs were expected to be delivered to Singapore this year. But the figure was later halved to 25 for unknown reasons.

The Straits Times understands that only 10 might be available this year - five have arrived.

The EMA spokesman said: 'Delivery of the next batch has yet to be confirmed in the light of production delays in Japan arising from the recent earthquake.'

Another reason, sources said, was that parties keen to buy the cars are waiting for the charging infrastructure to be up before ordering them.

One company, vehicle rental firm Smart Automobiles, has changed its mind about buying electric cars for its fleet.

'It has taken too long to happen,' said Smart managing director Johnny Harjantho. 'Customers who were keen to rent these cars have lost interest.'

At the moment, buyers have only one choice: the i-MiEV. Other car-makers with electric models have yet to import them, although Renault is expected to do so by the end of the year or early next year.

The lithium-powered i-MiEV hits 100kmh in about nine seconds and has a top speed of 140kmh. Under ideal conditions, it has a range of 160km between charges.

German components maker Bosch, which clinched the deal to set up the charging network, said it is ready to roll out 25 stations by next month.

The stations will charge a vehicle fully within eight hours. There will also be a quick charging station which gives a full charge in 45 minutes. But as of last week, none of the stations had been installed. The company would not say more.

The EMA spokesman, responding to queries from The Straits Times, said preparations were under way for the first batch of six charging stations to be set up by June.

Singapore-based Greenlots, an electric vehicle charging systems company, is supplying Bosch with the tamper- and weather-proof chargers - which are made completely here.

The chargers incorporate smart features, such as controlling power supply to prevent brown-outs in the building where the chargers are installed; and storing usage history.

Mr Oliver Risse, managing director of the three-year-old company, said each charger costs around $4,000 to $5,000.

Besides the electric vehicle trial, he said several property developers - including Australia's Lend Lease and Singapore's CDL Group - are also in talks with Greenlots to install about 100 chargers in 40 to 50 buildings here.

One of the biggest road humps to ready adoption of this greener form of mobility is cost, observers said.

Despite being exempt from taxes and the certificate of entitlement scheme, the i-MiEVs assigned for the EMA-led trial cost around $90,000 each - approximately the cost of a Toyota Corolla sedan, a substantially bigger car.

If an individual were to buy one with the existing green vehicle rebate accorded to eco-friendly vehicles such as compressed natural gas and hybrid cars, it would easily cost more than twice that.

Tesla of America, which had hoped to be part of the test-bed, packed up and left Singapore in February after it failed to secure tax exemption for its cars.

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New miniature frog found in Borneo

Scientist discovers new frog species
Japan Times 27 Apr 11;

KYODO: A Japanese biologist has discovered a new species of miniature frog in the Malaysian part of Borneo Island, while refuting the "discovery" there last year of a pea-size new species that was billed as "the Old World's smallest frog," according to a newly published scientific paper.

Kyoto University professor and amphibian specialist Masafumi Matsui, who has long been conducting fieldwork in Borneo, described the new species of narrow-mouthed frog of the genus Microhyla in a report in the latest edition of the academic journal Zootaxa.

Matsui gave the scientific name Microhyla malang to the new species, which inhabits the western part of Sarawak state and the western part of Sabah state.

In the same report, he provided detailed scientific evidence to invalidate the widely reported finding of the Old World's smallest frog, named M. nepenthicola, showing that it is in reality M. borneensis, an earlier described species of Microhyla frog with the unique habit of breeding in pitcher plants on the forest floor.

Matsui said M. malang and M. borneensis, closely related species that coinhabit Mount Serapi in Kubah National Park, are very similar in appearance but can be distinguished by body size, color pattern and extent of toe webbing.

Last year, Indraneil Das, a Malaysian scientist at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, and his German colleague, Alexander Haas from Hamburg University's Zoological Museum, published a paper in Zootaxa in which they described the smaller form of what had long been regarded by taxonomists as M. borneensis as a new species, considering the larger form to be true M. borneensis.

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Caterpillar Outbreaks In Indonesian Not Connected, Experts Say

Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 26 Apr 11;

Experts said on Monday that the multitude of reported caterpillar outbreaks in the country were not related incidents.

Millions of hairy caterpillars were first reported to have invaded at least five subdistricts in Probolinggo, East Java, eating up mango trees and invading fields and homes.

More caterpillar appearances were later reported in other regions, including in Jakarta.

“With Probolinggo, it was an explosion of a single species. Meanwhile, the other regions just experienced small breakouts,” said Hermanu Triwidodo, an entomologist with the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB). He suggested any subsequent outbreaks would continue to decrease in size.

Experts have attributed the cause of the Probolinggo caterpillar outbreak to the declining population of the pest’s natural predators and climate change.

Hermanu called on people not to overreact to the appearance of caterpillars in their area. “They are just domestic pests and not an outbreak,” he said.

Hari Sutrisno, an entomologist from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said that despite the complexity and size of the Probolinggo outbreaks, they were not caused by a new insect species, a new invasive species or an act of terrorist engineering.

“We need to be clear on this because there are lots of irrational ideas circulating out there,” Hari said.

“Based on the results of our identification, there were four species found on the site that have already been recorded near Tengger Mountain in East Java since 1948.”

Syakir, who leads the Agriculture Research and Development Agency at the Agriculture Ministry, said the agency had suggested ways to handle the caterpillars if people believed the insects were beginning to negatively affect their lives.

“We’ve recommended that people handle these insects in natural ways, starting from collecting and burning them or burying them in the ground, installing light traps, preserving their natural predators such as ants and birds, and using natural insecticides — made from tobacco, for instance,” Syakir said.

He said chemicals could be used as needed but suggested insecticides with low toxic levels so as not to disturb the caterpillar’s natural predators or pollute the environment.

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Indonesian government committed to keeping Papua`s forest regions intact

Antara 27 Apr 11;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said his ministry remains committed to keeping Papua`s primary forest regions intact and not letting them be exploited by forest concession holders.

The minister made the statement in a media dialogue on forestry policies held by ANTARA News Agency here on Tuesday.

He said there had been requests for opening the forest regions in Papua for non-forestry activities but the government was resolved to keep intact the 7.3 million hectares of primary forests in the province.

"Some 26 million hectares of forest areas in the country are already controlled by forest concession holders. We intend to keep this as it is, there will be no expansion of the forest concession area. Should there be parties intending to sue (the government for not issuing new permits), they are free to do so," Minister Hasan said, adding the non-expansion policy was being implemented nationwide including in Papua.

Hasan said there has also been a proposal for the appropriation of 1.3 million hectare of forest area for the development of the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) in Papua but the government has approved for only 600,000 hectares.

On the approval given to the MIFEE project or industrial forest estates, Minister Hasan said priority is given to such projects because the government focuses on enhancing food resilience in accordance with the economic development corridor as directed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

In addition to MIFEE, he said, there are 19 other proposals in Papua on the exploitation of industrial forest and forest areas for non-forestry activities. However, many have withdrawn their proposals after having been given explanation that such activities could not be carried out in primary forest areas.

"They can`t use the thickly forested areas, they instead can use the logged over areas but then they chose to withdraw," said Minister Hasan.

The government, he added, hopes that the remaining proposals would not be withdrawn because there are at least 40,000 hectares (logged over areas) can be utilized for supporting the sugar self-sufficiency program.

For industrial estate forest, Hasan said the treatment is the same for proposal on oil palm plantation and other non-forestry needs. For such purposes, the activities can take areas outside primary forest or peat land areas.

At least Indonesia has 12 million hectares of deserted forest or logged over forest areas, the minister disclosed.(*)

Editor: Aditia Maruli

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