Donsol, Philippines, Apr.8 (WWF): An extremely rare megamouth shark was caught by Filipino fishermen, marking only the 41st time the species has been seen in the 33 years since its discovery and giving new insight into the elusive shark’s behaviour.
Fishermen based in Donsol were trawling for mackerel along the eastern coast of Burias Isle on the morning of 30 March when they caught a large shark from a depth of approximately 200 meters.
The shark was brought to shore in Barangay Dancalan in Donsol, Sorsogon and WWF Donsol Project Manager Elson Aca immediately arrived to assess the haul and identified it as a megamouth shark – considered the world’s rarest shark.
Megamouth 41, as the Florida Museum of Natural History has named the Donsol shark, measured four meters and weighed an estimated 500 kg.
Last week’s megamouth encounter underscores the importance of the Donsol-Masbate region – part of the Coral Triangle – as a haven for rare marine life, according to WWF Philippines.
The discovery follows last month’s rescue by WWF of a 38 cm baby whale shark – considered the world's smallest of its kind ever discovered.
"The presence of two of the world's three filter feeding sharks warrants special attention for the Donsol-Masbate region," Aca said. "Whale and megamouth sharks, manta rays, dolphins and other charismatic giants indicate that the region's ecosystem is still relatively healthy.”
“By protecting megafauna, we help maintain the dynamic balance of our seas, and ensure the entire ecosystem's resilience and natural productivity,” Aca said.
WWF works with a host of partners to protect the megafauna of the Coral Triangle which is considered a major center for marine biodiversity.
WWF's satellite tagging initiatives have already shown that pelagic filter feeders such as whale sharks and manta rays regularly prowl through the region.
The megamouth (Megachasma pelagios) is a fairly recent scientific discovery, with only 40 recorded encounters worldwide until the latest find.
The first specimen was caught off Oahu, Hawaii in 1976. The discovery led to the creation of an entirely new family and genus - prompting the scientific community to hail it as the 20th century's most significant marine find and rivaling the rediscovery of the coelacanth in 1938.
The megamouth shark is so named for its enormous maw - almost a meter
wide and lined with a brilliant silver band to attract planktonic prey. It has been found roaming throughout the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Males average four meters while females - which give birth to live young – can grow to five meters long.
Relatively little was known of their habits until researchers fitted a megamouth – the sixth one discovered – with a pair of ultrasonic transmitters and tracked it for two days in 1990. The research indicated that the sharks spend the daytime in waters up to one kilometre deep and surface only at night to feed on plankton, small fish and jellyfish - usually at a depth of around 15 meters.
Eight megamouth sharks, a full fifth of all recorded encounters, have been caught in Philippine waters. Four were caught in Cagayan de Oro and one each in Negros, Iloilo and Cebu. Megamouth 41 is the first megamouth shark to have been caught in Luzon, which is the Philippines’ largest island.
Sadly and despite protests from Aca, the megamouth shark caught near Donsol was later butchered and eaten. Its stomach contents revealed it was feeding on shrimp larvae.
For more than a decade, WWF has worked in Donsol to establish community-based whale shark eco-tourism, transforming the once sleepy town into one of the Bicol region's busiest revenue generators.
Current initiatives funded by WWF-Denmark and supported by the local government include researching whale shark migration routes and numbers through state-of-the-art photo-identification and satellite tagging techniques.
The waters around Donsol are part of the Sulu-Sulawesi Seas ecoregion, one of WWF's Global 200 ecoregions — a science-based global ranking of the world's most biologically outstanding habitats and the regions on which WWF concentrates its efforts. The also make up part of the Coral Triangle, a major area of marine biodiversity.
Leaders of the six nations that make up the Coral Triangle – Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor Leste –will meet on May 15 in Manado, Indonesia for the World Oceans Conference where they will announce a comprehensive set of actions to protect ecosystems and food security in the region.
Showing posts with label Emissions Trading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Emissions Trading. Show all posts
Turtles no longer turn to souvenirs in Dominican Republic
Gland, Switzerland/Washington, US (Mar.25) — WWF: Critically endangered hawksbill turtles are no longer being sold as tourist souvenirs in the Dominican Republic after a powerful government campaign cracked down on shops illegally trading such items. More than 99 percent of these souvenirs have been withdrawn or confiscated the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC reports.
A 2006 survey carried out by TRAFFIC found more than 23,000 items made from hawksbill turtles for sale. A February revisit of the same locations revealed a dramatic reduction with only 135 shell items.
The success has been achieved thanks to a widespread government-led action launched in November 2008. The Dominican Republic has encouraged the trade of alternative products such as cow horn or bone to present an alternative to shops trading with these turtles.
“We warmly congratulate the Government of the Dominican Republic on their decisive action that has virtually eliminated the blatant illegal souvenir trade in hawksbill turtle shells,” said Adrian Reuter, TRAFFIC’s Representative in Mexico.
“This sets an important conservation example for the region, showing that there are solutions that benefit wildlife and people, especially local communities that rely on tourism.”
Hawksbills are one of three marine turtle species that nest on beaches in the Dominican Republic. Over the last century, millions have been killed for the tortoiseshell markets of Europe, the United States and Asia. Today they are preyed upon by poachers mainly for their shells, which are made into souvenirs and sold to tourists, millions of whom visit the country, mostly from North America and Europe.
Hawksbills are classified by IUCN as Critically Endangered and facing an extremely high risk of global extinction. They are listed in Appendix I of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) along with other marine turtles, which prohibits their international trade.
“With marine turtles around the world being threatened with extinction, we need to maximize every effort to save these species, not least because they are worth infinitely more alive as tourist attractions than dead,” said Carlos Drews, WWF’s regional co-ordinator for marine turtle conservation in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“The good news from the Dominican Republic is that it demonstrates to fellow nations that a real difference can be made to reduce illegal trade.”
A 2006 survey carried out by TRAFFIC found more than 23,000 items made from hawksbill turtles for sale. A February revisit of the same locations revealed a dramatic reduction with only 135 shell items.
The success has been achieved thanks to a widespread government-led action launched in November 2008. The Dominican Republic has encouraged the trade of alternative products such as cow horn or bone to present an alternative to shops trading with these turtles.
“We warmly congratulate the Government of the Dominican Republic on their decisive action that has virtually eliminated the blatant illegal souvenir trade in hawksbill turtle shells,” said Adrian Reuter, TRAFFIC’s Representative in Mexico.
“This sets an important conservation example for the region, showing that there are solutions that benefit wildlife and people, especially local communities that rely on tourism.”
Hawksbills are one of three marine turtle species that nest on beaches in the Dominican Republic. Over the last century, millions have been killed for the tortoiseshell markets of Europe, the United States and Asia. Today they are preyed upon by poachers mainly for their shells, which are made into souvenirs and sold to tourists, millions of whom visit the country, mostly from North America and Europe.
Hawksbills are classified by IUCN as Critically Endangered and facing an extremely high risk of global extinction. They are listed in Appendix I of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) along with other marine turtles, which prohibits their international trade.
“With marine turtles around the world being threatened with extinction, we need to maximize every effort to save these species, not least because they are worth infinitely more alive as tourist attractions than dead,” said Carlos Drews, WWF’s regional co-ordinator for marine turtle conservation in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“The good news from the Dominican Republic is that it demonstrates to fellow nations that a real difference can be made to reduce illegal trade.”
Antarctic marine biodiversity data now online
An efficient network of specialists, data and tools to explore and safeguard Antarctica formed as legacy of IPY
The International Polar Year (IPY) concluded in March 2009 with a tangible legacy in the form of a network of databases on marine biodiversity that will serve as clearinghouse for all biodiversity-related data gathered since the very first Antarctic research expeditions. The network gathers data describing the species themselves as well as information about their collection history, allowing scientists and conservationists to access the first rigorous census of Antarctic marine life. Created by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research's (SCAR), an inter-disciplinary committee of the International Council for Science, the Marine Biodiversity Information Network (SCAR-MarBIN) is a collaborative web portal that provides free and open access to information on Antarctic marine biodiversity (www.scarmarbin.be). The portal started as a major Belgian contribution to the IPY, but grew into an international collaborative effort, with hundreds of scientists from around the world joining forces to build this unique web-based tool, enabling the community to share and publish information that is critical for research but also for conservation purposes.
Initiated by Drs. Claude De Broyer and Bruno Danis, SCAR-MarBIN is based at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels, Belgium. SCAR-MarBIN is home to the first complete Register of Antarctic Marine Species (RAMS), an authoritative list of species occurring in the Antarctic seas. RAMS is an online, interactive species list that contains information on more than 15,000 taxa and is constantly updated by more than 70 experts worldwide. RAMS data is shared with the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) that contains about 122,500 validated marine species names. Using the latest available visualization and database technologies, SCAR-MarBIN makes it possible to instantly download data and map the occurrence and abundance of polar marine organisms.
Huw Griffiths of the British Antarctic Survey said, "SCAR-MarBIN is a unique tool that allows over a hundred international datasets to be searched and shown on one map. This is the first time such a huge amount of Antarctic biodiversity information has been brought together and is leading to a much better understanding of how and where life in this frozen ocean exists. »
Since the data are standardized, a seamless exchange of information can take place with other online marine database networks, including the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) or the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).
SCAR-MarBIN is the information partner of the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML), one of 17 projects of the Census of Marine Life. This partnership provided the mechanism to incorporate data generated by 18 CAML-flagged expeditions during IPY, but also laid the foundation for new synergies, which are serving to increase knowledge and understanding of marine life in the Southern Ocean.
If global climate change induces responses in Antarctic ecosystems, SCAR-MarBIN constitutes the best available data resource for assessment and documentation of any ecosystem response, and the identification of areas that may require further investigation or protection. On March 31, SCAR-MarBIN is releasing a new (beta) version of its data portal that will improve its usefulness for science, conservation and sustainable management.
Professor Andrew Clarke of the British Antarctic Survey said, "The best international science relies on effective communication. Given the remoteness of Antarctica and the many nations contributing to its study, a mechanism for ensuring fast and effective information flow is essential. SCAR-MarBIN provides that mechanism in an exemplary way. Since its inception SCAR-MarBIN has rapidly established itself as an invaluable tool for allowing a global community not only to gain access to data, but also to analyse and visualize it in innovative and powerful ways. Without doubt, SCAR-MarBIN is now the most important tool for marine ecologists and oceanographers working in the southern polar regions, and its newest version will, without question, increase its value to the scientific community."
With few resources, but a tremendous amount of support from the scientific community, SCAR-MarBIN has surpassed its objectives for the end of IPY. It now serves as repository for scientific information on Antarctic marine biodiversity, and proudly represents SCAR's contribution to the global effort to explore and preserve Antarctica as "a natural reserve, devoted to peace and science".
The International Polar Year (IPY) concluded in March 2009 with a tangible legacy in the form of a network of databases on marine biodiversity that will serve as clearinghouse for all biodiversity-related data gathered since the very first Antarctic research expeditions. The network gathers data describing the species themselves as well as information about their collection history, allowing scientists and conservationists to access the first rigorous census of Antarctic marine life. Created by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research's (SCAR), an inter-disciplinary committee of the International Council for Science, the Marine Biodiversity Information Network (SCAR-MarBIN) is a collaborative web portal that provides free and open access to information on Antarctic marine biodiversity (www.scarmarbin.be). The portal started as a major Belgian contribution to the IPY, but grew into an international collaborative effort, with hundreds of scientists from around the world joining forces to build this unique web-based tool, enabling the community to share and publish information that is critical for research but also for conservation purposes.
Initiated by Drs. Claude De Broyer and Bruno Danis, SCAR-MarBIN is based at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels, Belgium. SCAR-MarBIN is home to the first complete Register of Antarctic Marine Species (RAMS), an authoritative list of species occurring in the Antarctic seas. RAMS is an online, interactive species list that contains information on more than 15,000 taxa and is constantly updated by more than 70 experts worldwide. RAMS data is shared with the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) that contains about 122,500 validated marine species names. Using the latest available visualization and database technologies, SCAR-MarBIN makes it possible to instantly download data and map the occurrence and abundance of polar marine organisms.
Huw Griffiths of the British Antarctic Survey said, "SCAR-MarBIN is a unique tool that allows over a hundred international datasets to be searched and shown on one map. This is the first time such a huge amount of Antarctic biodiversity information has been brought together and is leading to a much better understanding of how and where life in this frozen ocean exists. »
Since the data are standardized, a seamless exchange of information can take place with other online marine database networks, including the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) or the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).
SCAR-MarBIN is the information partner of the Census of Antarctic Marine Life (CAML), one of 17 projects of the Census of Marine Life. This partnership provided the mechanism to incorporate data generated by 18 CAML-flagged expeditions during IPY, but also laid the foundation for new synergies, which are serving to increase knowledge and understanding of marine life in the Southern Ocean.
If global climate change induces responses in Antarctic ecosystems, SCAR-MarBIN constitutes the best available data resource for assessment and documentation of any ecosystem response, and the identification of areas that may require further investigation or protection. On March 31, SCAR-MarBIN is releasing a new (beta) version of its data portal that will improve its usefulness for science, conservation and sustainable management.
Professor Andrew Clarke of the British Antarctic Survey said, "The best international science relies on effective communication. Given the remoteness of Antarctica and the many nations contributing to its study, a mechanism for ensuring fast and effective information flow is essential. SCAR-MarBIN provides that mechanism in an exemplary way. Since its inception SCAR-MarBIN has rapidly established itself as an invaluable tool for allowing a global community not only to gain access to data, but also to analyse and visualize it in innovative and powerful ways. Without doubt, SCAR-MarBIN is now the most important tool for marine ecologists and oceanographers working in the southern polar regions, and its newest version will, without question, increase its value to the scientific community."
With few resources, but a tremendous amount of support from the scientific community, SCAR-MarBIN has surpassed its objectives for the end of IPY. It now serves as repository for scientific information on Antarctic marine biodiversity, and proudly represents SCAR's contribution to the global effort to explore and preserve Antarctica as "a natural reserve, devoted to peace and science".
New breakthrough in global warming plant production
Researchers at the universities of Leicester and Oxford have made a discovery about plant growth which could potentially have an enormous impact on crop production as global warming increases.
Dr Kerry Franklin, from the University of Leicester Department of Biology led the study which has identified a single gene responsible for controlling plant growth responses to elevated temperature.
Dr Franklin said, "Exposure of plants to high temperature results in the rapid elongation of stems and a dramatic upwards elevation of leaves".
"These responses are accompanied by a significant reduction in plant biomass, thereby severely reducing harvest yield. Our study has revealed that a single gene product regulates all these architectural adaptations in the model plant species, Arabidopsis thaliana."
The work has been published in Current Biology and was funded by the Royal Society and the BBSRC.
Dr Franklin added, "This study provides the first major advance in understanding how plants regulate growth responses to elevated temperature at the molecular level. This discovery will prove fundamental in understanding the effects of global climate change on crop productivity".
"Identification of the mechanisms by which plants sense changes in ambient temperature remains a Holy Grail in plant biology research. Although the identity of such 'temperature sensors' remains elusive, the discovery of a key downstream regulator brings us closer to addressing this important question."
The study has shown that mutant plants, deficient in the regulatory protein PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR 4 (PIF4) do not display the dramatic stem elongation and leaf elevation responses observed in wild type plants upon exposure to elevated temperature. The study has further shown PIF4 to regulate a pathway involving the plant hormone auxin. The PIF4 gene product was previously identified as a co-regulator of light-mediated elongation growth, suggesting plants integrate light and temperature signalling pathways through converged regulation of the same target proteins.
Dr Kerry Franklin, from the University of Leicester Department of Biology led the study which has identified a single gene responsible for controlling plant growth responses to elevated temperature.
Dr Franklin said, "Exposure of plants to high temperature results in the rapid elongation of stems and a dramatic upwards elevation of leaves".
"These responses are accompanied by a significant reduction in plant biomass, thereby severely reducing harvest yield. Our study has revealed that a single gene product regulates all these architectural adaptations in the model plant species, Arabidopsis thaliana."
The work has been published in Current Biology and was funded by the Royal Society and the BBSRC.
Dr Franklin added, "This study provides the first major advance in understanding how plants regulate growth responses to elevated temperature at the molecular level. This discovery will prove fundamental in understanding the effects of global climate change on crop productivity".
"Identification of the mechanisms by which plants sense changes in ambient temperature remains a Holy Grail in plant biology research. Although the identity of such 'temperature sensors' remains elusive, the discovery of a key downstream regulator brings us closer to addressing this important question."
The study has shown that mutant plants, deficient in the regulatory protein PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR 4 (PIF4) do not display the dramatic stem elongation and leaf elevation responses observed in wild type plants upon exposure to elevated temperature. The study has further shown PIF4 to regulate a pathway involving the plant hormone auxin. The PIF4 gene product was previously identified as a co-regulator of light-mediated elongation growth, suggesting plants integrate light and temperature signalling pathways through converged regulation of the same target proteins.
Climate change fears for deadly virus outbreaks in livestock
Global warming could have chilling consequences for European livestock, warned Professor Peter Mertens from the Institute for Animal Health, at this week's meeting of the Society for General Microbiology in Harrogate, United Kingdom.
Since 1998, rising temperatures have led to outbreaks of bluetongue (BT) across most of Europe, which have killed over 2 million ruminants (mainly sheep). The outbreak (the largest on record) caused by Bluetongue virus serotype 8 (BTV-8), which started in the Netherlands and Belgium during 2006, has since spread to most European countries, including the UK in August and September 2007. This outbreak, the first ever recorded in northern Europe, was not an isolated event. There are also fears that related viruses, such as African horse sickness virus, which can have a fatality rate of more than 95% and shares the same insect vectors as bluetongue, could also be introduced.
Bluetongue is spread by the biting midge, Culicoides imicola, which has recently colonised the northern Mediterranean coast, leading to outbreaks in affected regions. However, BT outbreaks have also been spread by other novel vector species of midge (C.pulicaris and C obsoletus groups), which are abundant across the whole of central and northern Europe. In experiments, a single bite from a fully infected midge can transmit the virus and as midges are blown across Europe "like aerial plankton" it is almost impossible to prevent them getting to the United Kingdom.
Warmer weather increases the rate of infection and virus replication in the midge itself, and increases their activity in more northern areas. Indeed, the 2006 outbreak started in the Netherlands when temperatures were six degrees higher than previously recorded. Mild winters may also play a significant part in the problem, as the midges that are not killed by the cold (in the absence of frosts) may survive in sufficient numbers to maintain a reservoir of the disease. It is clear that BTV-8 can also be transmitted directly between cattle, providing an overwintering mechanism for the virus to survive from one midge season to the next.
"We have seen outbreaks caused by twelve strains, from nine distinct serotypes of bluetongue virus, which have arrived in Europe via at least four different routes since 1998", said Professor Mertens, "This indicates that there has been a fundamental shift in bluetongue epidemiology, linked to climate change. In 2008 the UK vaccinated over 10 million sheep and cows against BTV-8 and was the only country in Europe to successfully suppress the disease outbreak. However different BT virus types have subsequently arrived in northern Europe which represent further threats to the UK for 2009 and beyond."
"These events demonstrate that the whole region is now at risk from further incursions of BT virus, as well as other insect transmitted viruses, many of which can also affect humans. Although the vaccines against BT virus currently available for use in northern Europe are relatively crude, as they are made from inactivated virus grown in tissue culture cells, it is clear that they can work against BTV-8. However, more advanced vaccines, made from the protein-subunits of the virus, along with diagnostic tests that can distinguish vaccinated from infected animals, are urgently needed. Vaccines are also needed for other related viruses, including African horse sickness virus, and potentially both Epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus and Equine encephalosis virus."
Since 1998, rising temperatures have led to outbreaks of bluetongue (BT) across most of Europe, which have killed over 2 million ruminants (mainly sheep). The outbreak (the largest on record) caused by Bluetongue virus serotype 8 (BTV-8), which started in the Netherlands and Belgium during 2006, has since spread to most European countries, including the UK in August and September 2007. This outbreak, the first ever recorded in northern Europe, was not an isolated event. There are also fears that related viruses, such as African horse sickness virus, which can have a fatality rate of more than 95% and shares the same insect vectors as bluetongue, could also be introduced.
Bluetongue is spread by the biting midge, Culicoides imicola, which has recently colonised the northern Mediterranean coast, leading to outbreaks in affected regions. However, BT outbreaks have also been spread by other novel vector species of midge (C.pulicaris and C obsoletus groups), which are abundant across the whole of central and northern Europe. In experiments, a single bite from a fully infected midge can transmit the virus and as midges are blown across Europe "like aerial plankton" it is almost impossible to prevent them getting to the United Kingdom.
Warmer weather increases the rate of infection and virus replication in the midge itself, and increases their activity in more northern areas. Indeed, the 2006 outbreak started in the Netherlands when temperatures were six degrees higher than previously recorded. Mild winters may also play a significant part in the problem, as the midges that are not killed by the cold (in the absence of frosts) may survive in sufficient numbers to maintain a reservoir of the disease. It is clear that BTV-8 can also be transmitted directly between cattle, providing an overwintering mechanism for the virus to survive from one midge season to the next.
"We have seen outbreaks caused by twelve strains, from nine distinct serotypes of bluetongue virus, which have arrived in Europe via at least four different routes since 1998", said Professor Mertens, "This indicates that there has been a fundamental shift in bluetongue epidemiology, linked to climate change. In 2008 the UK vaccinated over 10 million sheep and cows against BTV-8 and was the only country in Europe to successfully suppress the disease outbreak. However different BT virus types have subsequently arrived in northern Europe which represent further threats to the UK for 2009 and beyond."
"These events demonstrate that the whole region is now at risk from further incursions of BT virus, as well as other insect transmitted viruses, many of which can also affect humans. Although the vaccines against BT virus currently available for use in northern Europe are relatively crude, as they are made from inactivated virus grown in tissue culture cells, it is clear that they can work against BTV-8. However, more advanced vaccines, made from the protein-subunits of the virus, along with diagnostic tests that can distinguish vaccinated from infected animals, are urgently needed. Vaccines are also needed for other related viruses, including African horse sickness virus, and potentially both Epizootic haemorrhagic disease virus and Equine encephalosis virus."
Food security for leaf-cutting ants
Workers and their fungus garden reject endophyte invaders
New diseases directly affect human survival and food security, especially as population density climbs. Leaf-cutting ants, one of a few groups of social insects to cultivate crops, have harvested plant material to fertilize their underground fungal gardens for 50 million years. New results from the Smithsonian show that both the ants and their fungal crop actively combat fungi coming into the nest inside leaves, thus ensuring the health of their mutualism.
"When you look at a healthy tropical plant, you think you're seeing just one organism, but each leaf can have dozens of fungal species growing inside, some of which may protect the plant by excluding pathogens," explains Sunshine Van Bael, post-doctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The fungi growing inside leaves without causing disease to the plant are called endophytes: endo-, inside, and –phyte, plant.
"We knew that leaf cutter ants practice phenomenal garden hygiene. But we wondered if the fungi in leaves might make them less attractive to ants, and thereby protect the plant from leaf cutter ant invasion. Also, since most leaves in nature have endophytic fungi, we wondered how the ants' leaf preparation process might affect the passage of endophytes into the nest."
Van Bael and colleagues used laboratory colonies of one leaf cutter ant species, Atta colombica, to test the ants' response to leaves from a tropical vine, Merremia umbellata, in which they had experimentally manipulated the densities of one fungal endophyte species, Glomerella cingulata, in order to present the ants with leaves containing either high or low levels of fungus. They also pitted 32 additional endophytic fungal strains against cultures of the garden cultivar in Petri plates to find out if they would restrict each others' growth.
Ants cut leaves that contained both high or low levels of fungi, but they took longer to cut leaves from the high endophyte treatment. Moreover, the leaf preparation process by the ants significantly lowered the amount of fungi in leaf pieces before they were placed into the fungal garden. The Petri plate experiment also showed that the garden fungus reduced the growth rate for 28 of the 32 endophytic fungal strains that were tested, with a stronger effect for more rapidly growing endophyte strains. This suggests that, apart from the hygiene practiced by the ants, the garden itself can compete with incoming microbes.
"Fungi in the leaves were not welcome in the leaf cutter ants' garden," concluded Van Bael.
New diseases directly affect human survival and food security, especially as population density climbs. Leaf-cutting ants, one of a few groups of social insects to cultivate crops, have harvested plant material to fertilize their underground fungal gardens for 50 million years. New results from the Smithsonian show that both the ants and their fungal crop actively combat fungi coming into the nest inside leaves, thus ensuring the health of their mutualism.
"When you look at a healthy tropical plant, you think you're seeing just one organism, but each leaf can have dozens of fungal species growing inside, some of which may protect the plant by excluding pathogens," explains Sunshine Van Bael, post-doctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The fungi growing inside leaves without causing disease to the plant are called endophytes: endo-, inside, and –phyte, plant.
"We knew that leaf cutter ants practice phenomenal garden hygiene. But we wondered if the fungi in leaves might make them less attractive to ants, and thereby protect the plant from leaf cutter ant invasion. Also, since most leaves in nature have endophytic fungi, we wondered how the ants' leaf preparation process might affect the passage of endophytes into the nest."
Van Bael and colleagues used laboratory colonies of one leaf cutter ant species, Atta colombica, to test the ants' response to leaves from a tropical vine, Merremia umbellata, in which they had experimentally manipulated the densities of one fungal endophyte species, Glomerella cingulata, in order to present the ants with leaves containing either high or low levels of fungus. They also pitted 32 additional endophytic fungal strains against cultures of the garden cultivar in Petri plates to find out if they would restrict each others' growth.
Ants cut leaves that contained both high or low levels of fungi, but they took longer to cut leaves from the high endophyte treatment. Moreover, the leaf preparation process by the ants significantly lowered the amount of fungi in leaf pieces before they were placed into the fungal garden. The Petri plate experiment also showed that the garden fungus reduced the growth rate for 28 of the 32 endophytic fungal strains that were tested, with a stronger effect for more rapidly growing endophyte strains. This suggests that, apart from the hygiene practiced by the ants, the garden itself can compete with incoming microbes.
"Fungi in the leaves were not welcome in the leaf cutter ants' garden," concluded Van Bael.
NASA Scientists Find Clues to a Secret of Life
NASA scientists analysing the dust of meteorites have discovered new clues to a long-standing mystery about how life works on its most basic, molecular level.
"We found more support for the idea that biological molecules, like amino acids, created in space and brought to Earth by meteorite impacts help explain why life is left-handed," said Dr. Daniel Glavin of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "By that I mean why all known life uses only left-handed versions of amino acids to build proteins." Glavin is lead author of a paper on this research appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences March 16.
Proteins are the workhorse molecules of life, used in everything from structures like hair to enzymes, the catalysts that speed up or regulate chemical reactions. Just as the 26 letters of the alphabet are arranged in limitless combinations to make words, life uses 20 different amino acids in a huge variety of arrangements to build millions of different proteins. Amino acid molecules can be built in two ways that are mirror images of each other, like your hands. Although life based on right-handed amino acids would presumably work fine, "you can't mix them," says Dr. Jason Dworkin of NASA Goddard, co-author of the study. "If you do, life turns to something resembling scrambled eggs – it's a mess. Since life doesn't work with a mixture of left-handed and right-handed amino acids, the mystery is: how did life decide – what made life choose left-handed amino acids over right-handed ones?"
Over the last four years, the team carefully analysed samples of meteorites with an abundance of carbon, called carbonaceous chondrites. The researchers looked for the amino acid isovaline and discovered that three types of carbonaceous meteorites had more of the left-handed version than the right-handed variety – as much as a record 18 percent more in the often-studied Murchison meteorite. "Finding more left-handed isovaline in a variety of meteorites supports the theory that amino acids brought to the early Earth by asteroids and comets contributed to the origin of only left-handed based protein life on Earth," said Glavin.
All amino acids can switch from left-handed to right, or the reverse, by chemical reactions energised with radiation or temperature, according to the team. The scientists looked for isovaline because it has the ability to preserve its handedness for billions of years, and it is extremely rarely used by life, so its presence in meteorites is unlikely to be from contamination by terrestrial life. "The meteorites we studied are from before Earth formed, over 4.5 billion years ago," said Glavin. "We believe the same process that created extra left-handed isovaline would have created more left-handed versions of the other amino acids found in these meteorites, but the bias toward left-handed versions has been mostly erased after all this time."
The team's discovery validates and extends the research first reported a decade ago by Drs. John Cronin and Sandra Pizzarello of Arizona State University, who were first to discover excess isovaline in the Murchison meteorite, believed to be a piece of an asteroid. "We used a different technique to find the excess, and discovered it for the first time in the Orgueil meteorite, which belongs to another meteorite group believed to be from an extinct comet," said Glavin.
The team also found a pattern to the excess. Different types of meteorites had different amounts of water, as determined by the clays and water-bearing minerals found in the meteorites. The team discovered meteorites with more water also had greater amounts of left-handed isovaline. "This gives us a hint that the creation of extra left-handed amino acids had something to do with alteration by water," said Dworkin. "Since there are many ways to make extra left-handed amino acids, this discovery considerably narrows down the search."
If the bias toward left-handedness originated in space, it makes the search for extraterrestrial life in our solar system more difficult, while also making its origin a bit more likely, according to the team. "If we find life anywhere else in our solar system, it will probably be microscopic, since microbes can survive in extreme environments," said Dworkin. "One of the biggest problems in determining if microscopic life is truly extra-terrestrial is making sure the sample wasn't contaminated by microbes brought from Earth. If we find the life is based on right-handed amino acids, then we know for sure it isn't from Earth. However, if the bias toward left-handed amino acids began in space, it likely extends across the solar system, so any life we may find on Mars, for example, will also be left-handed. On the other hand, if there is a mechanism to choose handedness before life emerges, it is one less problem prebiotic chemistry has to solve before making life. If it was solved for Earth, it probably has been solved for the other places in our solar system where the recipe for life might exist, such as beneath the surface of Mars, or in potential oceans under the icy crust of Europa and Enceladus, or on Titan."
The research was funded by the NASA Astrobiology Institute, the NASA Cosmochemistry program, and the NASA Astrobiology: Exobiology, and Evolutionary Biology program.
"We found more support for the idea that biological molecules, like amino acids, created in space and brought to Earth by meteorite impacts help explain why life is left-handed," said Dr. Daniel Glavin of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "By that I mean why all known life uses only left-handed versions of amino acids to build proteins." Glavin is lead author of a paper on this research appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences March 16.
Proteins are the workhorse molecules of life, used in everything from structures like hair to enzymes, the catalysts that speed up or regulate chemical reactions. Just as the 26 letters of the alphabet are arranged in limitless combinations to make words, life uses 20 different amino acids in a huge variety of arrangements to build millions of different proteins. Amino acid molecules can be built in two ways that are mirror images of each other, like your hands. Although life based on right-handed amino acids would presumably work fine, "you can't mix them," says Dr. Jason Dworkin of NASA Goddard, co-author of the study. "If you do, life turns to something resembling scrambled eggs – it's a mess. Since life doesn't work with a mixture of left-handed and right-handed amino acids, the mystery is: how did life decide – what made life choose left-handed amino acids over right-handed ones?"
Over the last four years, the team carefully analysed samples of meteorites with an abundance of carbon, called carbonaceous chondrites. The researchers looked for the amino acid isovaline and discovered that three types of carbonaceous meteorites had more of the left-handed version than the right-handed variety – as much as a record 18 percent more in the often-studied Murchison meteorite. "Finding more left-handed isovaline in a variety of meteorites supports the theory that amino acids brought to the early Earth by asteroids and comets contributed to the origin of only left-handed based protein life on Earth," said Glavin.
All amino acids can switch from left-handed to right, or the reverse, by chemical reactions energised with radiation or temperature, according to the team. The scientists looked for isovaline because it has the ability to preserve its handedness for billions of years, and it is extremely rarely used by life, so its presence in meteorites is unlikely to be from contamination by terrestrial life. "The meteorites we studied are from before Earth formed, over 4.5 billion years ago," said Glavin. "We believe the same process that created extra left-handed isovaline would have created more left-handed versions of the other amino acids found in these meteorites, but the bias toward left-handed versions has been mostly erased after all this time."
The team's discovery validates and extends the research first reported a decade ago by Drs. John Cronin and Sandra Pizzarello of Arizona State University, who were first to discover excess isovaline in the Murchison meteorite, believed to be a piece of an asteroid. "We used a different technique to find the excess, and discovered it for the first time in the Orgueil meteorite, which belongs to another meteorite group believed to be from an extinct comet," said Glavin.
The team also found a pattern to the excess. Different types of meteorites had different amounts of water, as determined by the clays and water-bearing minerals found in the meteorites. The team discovered meteorites with more water also had greater amounts of left-handed isovaline. "This gives us a hint that the creation of extra left-handed amino acids had something to do with alteration by water," said Dworkin. "Since there are many ways to make extra left-handed amino acids, this discovery considerably narrows down the search."
If the bias toward left-handedness originated in space, it makes the search for extraterrestrial life in our solar system more difficult, while also making its origin a bit more likely, according to the team. "If we find life anywhere else in our solar system, it will probably be microscopic, since microbes can survive in extreme environments," said Dworkin. "One of the biggest problems in determining if microscopic life is truly extra-terrestrial is making sure the sample wasn't contaminated by microbes brought from Earth. If we find the life is based on right-handed amino acids, then we know for sure it isn't from Earth. However, if the bias toward left-handed amino acids began in space, it likely extends across the solar system, so any life we may find on Mars, for example, will also be left-handed. On the other hand, if there is a mechanism to choose handedness before life emerges, it is one less problem prebiotic chemistry has to solve before making life. If it was solved for Earth, it probably has been solved for the other places in our solar system where the recipe for life might exist, such as beneath the surface of Mars, or in potential oceans under the icy crust of Europa and Enceladus, or on Titan."
The research was funded by the NASA Astrobiology Institute, the NASA Cosmochemistry program, and the NASA Astrobiology: Exobiology, and Evolutionary Biology program.
Arctic nations take important first step towards saving polar bears
Tromso, Norway, Mar.19 (WWF): Five nations committed by treaty to conserve polar bears have come up with a resolution linking the future of the species to urgent global action on climate change.
“We are very encouraged by the final declaration from this meeting,” says Geoff York, polar bear coordinator for WWF International’s Arctic Programme.
“We were concerned that some countries were lagging behind the others in their commitment to dealing with climate change, but ultimately, the parties recognized climate change as the primary threat to the future well-being of polar bears. They also recognized formally “the urgent need for an effective global response that will address the challenges of climate change”, to be addressed at fora such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change”.
The five Arctic nations signed a binding 1973 Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears that includes provisions to protect polar bears and their habitat.
The Norwegian government played a key role in bringing the parties together, and in setting high expectations for the meeting. Erik Solheim, Environment Minister of Norway told Norwegian television. “It would be an amazing crime against future generations if we did not save the polar bear.”
The meeting made some other important advances. It has agreed to come up with a circumpolar action plan for the management of bears, and to formally designate the Polar Bear Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as the scientific advisory body to the Agreement. These were both measures proposed by WWF in advance of the meeting.
“Although we are generally very pleased with the meeting outcome, this is by no means the end of the story- it is the start on the path to polar bear survival,” says York. “The real proof of this new commitment to taking urgent and effective action on climate change is what leaders of these nations will commit to later this year. Ministers from these five countries are meeting in this same town toward the end of April at a meeting of the Arctic Council, and have a golden opportunity then to outline their national commitment to climate change.”
Ultimately, the polar bear nations must join with other countries at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 to sign an effective global deal on climate change that will save the polar bears’ Arctic sea ice habitat, along with the entire ice ecosystem.
“We are very encouraged by the final declaration from this meeting,” says Geoff York, polar bear coordinator for WWF International’s Arctic Programme.
“We were concerned that some countries were lagging behind the others in their commitment to dealing with climate change, but ultimately, the parties recognized climate change as the primary threat to the future well-being of polar bears. They also recognized formally “the urgent need for an effective global response that will address the challenges of climate change”, to be addressed at fora such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change”.
The five Arctic nations signed a binding 1973 Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears that includes provisions to protect polar bears and their habitat.
The Norwegian government played a key role in bringing the parties together, and in setting high expectations for the meeting. Erik Solheim, Environment Minister of Norway told Norwegian television. “It would be an amazing crime against future generations if we did not save the polar bear.”
The meeting made some other important advances. It has agreed to come up with a circumpolar action plan for the management of bears, and to formally designate the Polar Bear Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as the scientific advisory body to the Agreement. These were both measures proposed by WWF in advance of the meeting.
“Although we are generally very pleased with the meeting outcome, this is by no means the end of the story- it is the start on the path to polar bear survival,” says York. “The real proof of this new commitment to taking urgent and effective action on climate change is what leaders of these nations will commit to later this year. Ministers from these five countries are meeting in this same town toward the end of April at a meeting of the Arctic Council, and have a golden opportunity then to outline their national commitment to climate change.”
Ultimately, the polar bear nations must join with other countries at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 to sign an effective global deal on climate change that will save the polar bears’ Arctic sea ice habitat, along with the entire ice ecosystem.
APP’s forest clearing linked to 12 years of human and tiger deaths in Sumatra
Pekanbaru, Indonesia, Mar.18 (WWF): Most violent incidents between people and tigers in Sumatra’s Riau Province in the past 12 years have occurred near forests being cleared by paper giant Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) and associated companies, according to a new analysis of human-tiger conflict data.
The analysis, conducted by the group Eyes on the Forest, found that since 1997, 55 people and 15 Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) have been killed during conflict encounters in Riau Province. Another 17 tigers have been captured and removed from the wild.
By overlaying the locations of these conflicts with government maps of pulpwood plantation concessions, Eyes on the Forest found a direct correlation between tiger conflict and the unsustainable forest practices of APP, its holding company Sinar Mas Group, and other associated companies that supply pulpwood to APP’s mills.
At least 147 of 245, or 60 percent, of all conflicts in Riau occurred in the Senepis area, where APP/SMG-associated companies have expanded their natural forest clearance operations in five concessions, mainly since 1999. Three of those concessions were expanded without proper license from the Ministry of Forestry.
Eyes on the Forest is a coalition of 25 environmental organizations in Riau, Sumatra, Indonesia. They include WWF-Indonesia, Jikalahari (Forest Rescue Network Riau) and Walhi Riau (Friends of the Earth Indonesia) and several other NGOs. The coalition was launched in December 2004 to investigate forest crimes and conflict in the central Sumatran province.
Sumatra is home to some of the most biodiverse forests in the world, however, half of the forest remaining in 1985 has since been lost.
“With so much forest loss, the tigers have nowhere to go” said Ian Kosasih of WWF-Indonesia, “In the last month alone, four tigers have been killed in Riau. There are fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers estimated to remain in the wild and every tiger killed is a significant loss to the population of this critically endangered subspecies.”
APP is responsible for more natural forest clearance in Sumatra – the only habitat for the Sumatran tiger – than any other company. Since it began operations in the 1980s, APP is estimated to have pulped more than 1 million hectares (approximately 2.5 million acres) of natural forests in Riau and Jambi provinces in Sumatra.
Currently, NGOs are concerned about APP’s involvement in forest destruction in Senepis, Kerumutan, Kampar and Bukit Tigapuluh forest blocks in these provinces. Eyes on the Forest calls on APP/SMG-associated companies to stop natural forest clearance immediately.
“APP/SMG-associated companies’ activities in Senepis are legally questionable and environmentally reckless,” said Jhonny Mundung, of Walhi Riau. “APP has recently made ridiculous public claims that it is leading tiger conservation in the area, when in fact it is jeopardizing the safety of local communities and pushing the tigers closer to local extinction. Global paper buyers should not be fooled: APP destroys forests and wildlife.”
Cleared areas around the Kerumutan forest have become a new hotspot for tiger conflict, with three incidents recorded already this year. Large area of this deep peat forest have been licensed for APP/SMG-associated companies and some sections have been cleared in recent years by them in what Eyes on the Forest believes is legally questionable logging.
In 2007, the Riau Police and the Indonesian National Police probed 14 companies as part of a widespread illegal logging case. Half of those cases were APP/SMG-associated companies, including one concession in Kerumutan (PT. Bina Duta Laksana) where one human-tiger conflict happened in February.
The Riau Police abruptly shut down their investigation in December 2008. However, authorities continue to investigate one company -- an APP/SMG-associated company, PT. Ruas Utama Jaya, which has concessions in Senepis.
“The Riau Police should continue probing the legality of natural forest clearing, including APP/SMG-associated companies’ activities, to ensure respect for the law, especially provisions that safeguard the environmental and social rights of Riau communities,” said Susanto Kurniawan from Jikalahari.
In February, the national Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) pledged to resume the cases of 13 companies and the House of Representatives’ Law Commission (III) supports this move.
Besides being critical habitat for tigers, Senepis, Kerumutan, Kampar Peninsula and other Sumatran peat forests in Riau are a globally significant carbon store; the carbon-rich peat soil is so deep that simply cutting the trees or disturbing the soil releases enough carbon emissions to impact global climate change.
Of all the natural forest lost from 1982 until 2007 in Riau, 24 percent was replaced by or cleared for industrial pulpwood plantations and 29 percent was replaced or cleared for industrial palm oil plantations.
The analysis, conducted by the group Eyes on the Forest, found that since 1997, 55 people and 15 Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae) have been killed during conflict encounters in Riau Province. Another 17 tigers have been captured and removed from the wild.
By overlaying the locations of these conflicts with government maps of pulpwood plantation concessions, Eyes on the Forest found a direct correlation between tiger conflict and the unsustainable forest practices of APP, its holding company Sinar Mas Group, and other associated companies that supply pulpwood to APP’s mills.
At least 147 of 245, or 60 percent, of all conflicts in Riau occurred in the Senepis area, where APP/SMG-associated companies have expanded their natural forest clearance operations in five concessions, mainly since 1999. Three of those concessions were expanded without proper license from the Ministry of Forestry.
Eyes on the Forest is a coalition of 25 environmental organizations in Riau, Sumatra, Indonesia. They include WWF-Indonesia, Jikalahari (Forest Rescue Network Riau) and Walhi Riau (Friends of the Earth Indonesia) and several other NGOs. The coalition was launched in December 2004 to investigate forest crimes and conflict in the central Sumatran province.
Sumatra is home to some of the most biodiverse forests in the world, however, half of the forest remaining in 1985 has since been lost.
“With so much forest loss, the tigers have nowhere to go” said Ian Kosasih of WWF-Indonesia, “In the last month alone, four tigers have been killed in Riau. There are fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers estimated to remain in the wild and every tiger killed is a significant loss to the population of this critically endangered subspecies.”
APP is responsible for more natural forest clearance in Sumatra – the only habitat for the Sumatran tiger – than any other company. Since it began operations in the 1980s, APP is estimated to have pulped more than 1 million hectares (approximately 2.5 million acres) of natural forests in Riau and Jambi provinces in Sumatra.
Currently, NGOs are concerned about APP’s involvement in forest destruction in Senepis, Kerumutan, Kampar and Bukit Tigapuluh forest blocks in these provinces. Eyes on the Forest calls on APP/SMG-associated companies to stop natural forest clearance immediately.
“APP/SMG-associated companies’ activities in Senepis are legally questionable and environmentally reckless,” said Jhonny Mundung, of Walhi Riau. “APP has recently made ridiculous public claims that it is leading tiger conservation in the area, when in fact it is jeopardizing the safety of local communities and pushing the tigers closer to local extinction. Global paper buyers should not be fooled: APP destroys forests and wildlife.”
Cleared areas around the Kerumutan forest have become a new hotspot for tiger conflict, with three incidents recorded already this year. Large area of this deep peat forest have been licensed for APP/SMG-associated companies and some sections have been cleared in recent years by them in what Eyes on the Forest believes is legally questionable logging.
In 2007, the Riau Police and the Indonesian National Police probed 14 companies as part of a widespread illegal logging case. Half of those cases were APP/SMG-associated companies, including one concession in Kerumutan (PT. Bina Duta Laksana) where one human-tiger conflict happened in February.
The Riau Police abruptly shut down their investigation in December 2008. However, authorities continue to investigate one company -- an APP/SMG-associated company, PT. Ruas Utama Jaya, which has concessions in Senepis.
“The Riau Police should continue probing the legality of natural forest clearing, including APP/SMG-associated companies’ activities, to ensure respect for the law, especially provisions that safeguard the environmental and social rights of Riau communities,” said Susanto Kurniawan from Jikalahari.
In February, the national Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) pledged to resume the cases of 13 companies and the House of Representatives’ Law Commission (III) supports this move.
Besides being critical habitat for tigers, Senepis, Kerumutan, Kampar Peninsula and other Sumatran peat forests in Riau are a globally significant carbon store; the carbon-rich peat soil is so deep that simply cutting the trees or disturbing the soil releases enough carbon emissions to impact global climate change.
Of all the natural forest lost from 1982 until 2007 in Riau, 24 percent was replaced by or cleared for industrial pulpwood plantations and 29 percent was replaced or cleared for industrial palm oil plantations.
Protection of marine resources can help people adapt to climate change: Ministers
Mar.13 (WWF): Senior ministers from Timor Leste, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea have described climate change as the biggest threat to their region and have called for better management of fisheries and marine resources to help protect coastal communities.
At a meeting of the six-nation Coral Triangle Initiative in the PNG capital Port Moresby this week, ministers from East Timor, Solomon Islands and PNG said climate change was an alarming threat to Pacific island nations dependent on marine resources, and needed to be urgently addressed through mutual political cooperation.
“Climate change, food security, marine and coastal resources are closely linked and policies must reflect this reality and must be mutually accommodating,” said Timor Leste Economic and Development Minister HE Joao Mendes Goncalves.
“The sustainable management of our fisheries is important for our ability to survive climate change and as a pre-requisite for the implementation of the Coral Triangle Initiative’s plan to protect marine environments and livelihoods at both national and regional levels.”
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste collectively make up the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI), introduced by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the APEC leader’s meeting in September 2007.
This week’s meeting was the final ministerial forum before Coral Triangle leaders gather in Manado, Indonesia on May 15 to announce details of a plan to protect marine ecosystems and food security in the region.
Solomons Islands Environment Minister for Conservation and Meteorology Hon Darcy Lilo said the Coral Triangle Initiative was an important corner stone of his country’s decision to develop, manage and conserve coastal reefs and fisheries resources.
“It is critical that we conserve and manage our marine resources widely so that these can contribute effectively to improving the livelihoods of our people,” Mr Lilo said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister for Papua New Guinea, Hon Puka Temu said PNG needed to develop new government systems and processes that would support effective solutions to issues such as climate change and increasing land based population.
“It is critical that we manage this initiative carefully and move forward with a sense of urgency,” Mr Temu said.
“If we are to take advantage of the enormous opportunity that our healthy marine environment provides we need to manage it carefully in the face of many development pressures, including climate change.”
He said strengthened aid mechanisms and partnerships with key stakeholders were essential to achieving the aims of the Coral Triangle Initiative.
The World Ocean Conference and the Coral Triangle Initiative Summit will be held from May 11 to 15 in Manado, Indonesia, and are expected to result in the Manado Ocean Declaration, a definitive statement on oceans and climate change.
The Coral Triangle is recognised as an area of global environmental significance, with the greatest marine biological diversity on the planet. Seventy five per cent of the world’s known coral species, one third of the world’s coral reef area, and more than 3,000 species of fish can be found in the region.
“Marine resources in the Coral Triangle directly sustain more than a 120 million people and so with climate change threatening to alter habitats in the region, it is even more critical to manage marine ecosystems for ongoing food security of coastal communities as well as for the survival of many species,” said Dr Pet Soede.
At a meeting of the six-nation Coral Triangle Initiative in the PNG capital Port Moresby this week, ministers from East Timor, Solomon Islands and PNG said climate change was an alarming threat to Pacific island nations dependent on marine resources, and needed to be urgently addressed through mutual political cooperation.
“Climate change, food security, marine and coastal resources are closely linked and policies must reflect this reality and must be mutually accommodating,” said Timor Leste Economic and Development Minister HE Joao Mendes Goncalves.
“The sustainable management of our fisheries is important for our ability to survive climate change and as a pre-requisite for the implementation of the Coral Triangle Initiative’s plan to protect marine environments and livelihoods at both national and regional levels.”
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste collectively make up the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI), introduced by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the APEC leader’s meeting in September 2007.
This week’s meeting was the final ministerial forum before Coral Triangle leaders gather in Manado, Indonesia on May 15 to announce details of a plan to protect marine ecosystems and food security in the region.
Solomons Islands Environment Minister for Conservation and Meteorology Hon Darcy Lilo said the Coral Triangle Initiative was an important corner stone of his country’s decision to develop, manage and conserve coastal reefs and fisheries resources.
“It is critical that we conserve and manage our marine resources widely so that these can contribute effectively to improving the livelihoods of our people,” Mr Lilo said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister for Papua New Guinea, Hon Puka Temu said PNG needed to develop new government systems and processes that would support effective solutions to issues such as climate change and increasing land based population.
“It is critical that we manage this initiative carefully and move forward with a sense of urgency,” Mr Temu said.
“If we are to take advantage of the enormous opportunity that our healthy marine environment provides we need to manage it carefully in the face of many development pressures, including climate change.”
He said strengthened aid mechanisms and partnerships with key stakeholders were essential to achieving the aims of the Coral Triangle Initiative.
The World Ocean Conference and the Coral Triangle Initiative Summit will be held from May 11 to 15 in Manado, Indonesia, and are expected to result in the Manado Ocean Declaration, a definitive statement on oceans and climate change.
The Coral Triangle is recognised as an area of global environmental significance, with the greatest marine biological diversity on the planet. Seventy five per cent of the world’s known coral species, one third of the world’s coral reef area, and more than 3,000 species of fish can be found in the region.
“Marine resources in the Coral Triangle directly sustain more than a 120 million people and so with climate change threatening to alter habitats in the region, it is even more critical to manage marine ecosystems for ongoing food security of coastal communities as well as for the survival of many species,” said Dr Pet Soede.
Tuna spawning grounds can help Coral Triangle nations get better deal on fishing
Mar.10 (WWF): Asia Pacific fishing nations could use the presence of tuna spawning grounds to negotiate better prices and fairer fishing arrangements with foreign fishing nations, WWF said today.
The proposal was put forward as ministers started meeting in the Papua New Guinea capital Port Moresby this week to finalise a plan to protect marine environments and food security in the Coral Triangle region, covering waters between Indonesia, the Philippines, and the Pacific.
The area provides spawning grounds and migratory routes for tuna caught in the Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans, which make up around 70 per cent of the world’s tuna catch.
“The region’s spawning grounds are essential to the world’s multi-billion dollar tuna industry and the world should be prepared to support their protection and effective management,” said Dr Lida Pet Soede, leader of WWF’s Coral Triangle Program.
“This can help Coral Triangle countries negotiate fairer prices and fairer fishing arrangements with non-Coral Triangle nations, who also fish in these waters.”
Dr Pet Soede said it was fitting the final meeting be held in Papua New Guinea as PNG has taken a leading role in efforts to bring more sustainability to the region’s tuna fisheries, which are critical to the food security of millions.
Managing Director of Papua New Guinea’s National Fisheries Authority, Sylvester Pokajam, warned of a collapse of the big eye tuna fishery unless fishing nations operating in the Coral Triangle introduced measures to make the fishery more sustainable.
“We can see a crash coming for tuna and this will be disastrous for many coastal communities in the Coral Triangle, where millions of people depend on healthy tuna stocks for food and livelihoods,” Mr Pokajam said.
“Here in PNG we have introduced fishing measures within our own zones in an effort to address the issue of overfishing, in particular where it comes to overfishing big eye tuna, but the success of these measures depends entirely on the willingness of other non-Coral Triangle nations to introduce similar measures.”
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste collectively make up the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI), introduced by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the APEC leader’s meeting in September 2007.
This week’s meeting is the final ministerial forum before Coral Triangle leaders gather in Manado, Indonesia on May 15 to announce details of a plan to protect marine ecosystems and food security in the region.
The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission will meet in Bali at the end of this month to consider among other things a set of recommendations by its scientific committee to reduce fishing pressure on yellowfin tuna, which it says is likely to have reached an overfished state.
The World Ocean Conference and the Coral Triangle Initiative Summit will be held from May 11 to 15 in Manado, Indonesia, and are expected to result in the Manado Ocean Declaration, a definitive statement on oceans and climate change.
“With climate change threatening to alter habitats in the region, it is even more critical to manage marine ecosystems for the ongoing food security of the region and for the survival of many species that depend on the Coral Triangle’s unique marine environment,” said Dr Pet Soede.
The proposal was put forward as ministers started meeting in the Papua New Guinea capital Port Moresby this week to finalise a plan to protect marine environments and food security in the Coral Triangle region, covering waters between Indonesia, the Philippines, and the Pacific.
The area provides spawning grounds and migratory routes for tuna caught in the Indian, Pacific and Southern Oceans, which make up around 70 per cent of the world’s tuna catch.
“The region’s spawning grounds are essential to the world’s multi-billion dollar tuna industry and the world should be prepared to support their protection and effective management,” said Dr Lida Pet Soede, leader of WWF’s Coral Triangle Program.
“This can help Coral Triangle countries negotiate fairer prices and fairer fishing arrangements with non-Coral Triangle nations, who also fish in these waters.”
Dr Pet Soede said it was fitting the final meeting be held in Papua New Guinea as PNG has taken a leading role in efforts to bring more sustainability to the region’s tuna fisheries, which are critical to the food security of millions.
Managing Director of Papua New Guinea’s National Fisheries Authority, Sylvester Pokajam, warned of a collapse of the big eye tuna fishery unless fishing nations operating in the Coral Triangle introduced measures to make the fishery more sustainable.
“We can see a crash coming for tuna and this will be disastrous for many coastal communities in the Coral Triangle, where millions of people depend on healthy tuna stocks for food and livelihoods,” Mr Pokajam said.
“Here in PNG we have introduced fishing measures within our own zones in an effort to address the issue of overfishing, in particular where it comes to overfishing big eye tuna, but the success of these measures depends entirely on the willingness of other non-Coral Triangle nations to introduce similar measures.”
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Timor Leste collectively make up the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI), introduced by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the APEC leader’s meeting in September 2007.
This week’s meeting is the final ministerial forum before Coral Triangle leaders gather in Manado, Indonesia on May 15 to announce details of a plan to protect marine ecosystems and food security in the region.
The Indian Ocean Tuna Commission will meet in Bali at the end of this month to consider among other things a set of recommendations by its scientific committee to reduce fishing pressure on yellowfin tuna, which it says is likely to have reached an overfished state.
The World Ocean Conference and the Coral Triangle Initiative Summit will be held from May 11 to 15 in Manado, Indonesia, and are expected to result in the Manado Ocean Declaration, a definitive statement on oceans and climate change.
“With climate change threatening to alter habitats in the region, it is even more critical to manage marine ecosystems for the ongoing food security of the region and for the survival of many species that depend on the Coral Triangle’s unique marine environment,” said Dr Pet Soede.
Polar bear states obliged to take action on climate change at historic meeting
Mar.13 (WWF): An agreement signed in 1973 obliges the five Arctic states with polar bear populations to take action on climate change at a meeting next week, WWF said today.
For the first time in more than 25 years, the Contracting Parties to the 1973 international Agreement for the Conservation of Polar Bears and Their Habitats - Canada, Russia, US, Greenland/Denmark, and Norway - will come together for a formal meeting under the agreement. The meeting, which is hosted by the Norwegian government, will take place in Tromsø, Norway, 17-19 March.
The original historic agreement focused on threats especially from heavy hunting practices that had decimated polar bear populations worldwide. It also committed the states to preservation of the bears’ habitat. Sea ice is a critical part of that habitat, providing a platform for the bears to hunt seals.
WWF urges delegates next week to acknowledge that preserving this Arctic icon will depend on addressing today’s main threat -- climate change. Two-thirds of the world's 20 to 25,000 polar bears will be lost during the next 50 years because of climate change, according to recent comprehensive analyses by the U.S. Geological Survey and the World Conservation Union.
“You cannot protect polar bears without addressing global warming,” says WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. “It is widely accepted that we need to keep the global temperature increase below 2 degrees in order to avoid irreversible climate change. The most important action we can take to help preserve polar bears is to slow the rate of climate change, and ultimately to stop it so that their habitat does not entirely disappear.”
Arctic sea ice is disappearing at an alarming rate during the summers, and scientists say the summer ice may disappear entirely sometime between 2013 and 2040.
WWF has worked around the world’s Arctic regions for over 30 years and its polar bear work is led by experts in the field. WWF is the only environmental NGO active in all of the Arctic countries and is a permanent observer to the Arctic Council.
“Delegates at the Tromsø meeting must agree to push their respective countries to commit to urgent and effective climate change action. Anything less would be an abdication of the responsibilities of these nations under the polar bear agreement,” emphasizes York.
WWF expects the representatives of these five polar bear nations to formally call for urgent global actions to significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases produced, and show strong leadership internationally to help achieve a fair, effective and science based global climate change agreement in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009.
They also must agree to integrate the current and likely future impacts of climate change in all management and planning mechanisms affecting polar bears and their key habitats, and commit to sustainable and long term financing mechanisms for polar bear research and management.
WWF will present at next week’s meeting a draft range-wide Action Plan for polar bears, highlighting the necessary conservation measures that will help polar bears without hurting people who live with the bears, and has encouraged the states to adopt this plan.
“The meeting in Tromsø is an historic and time-limited opportunity to take action to address the rising challenges that face the Arctic today,” says York. “The trend can be turned if governments act now to ensure wise and proactive management of these ecosystems on which both polar bears and we depend.”
The Arctic may be the single most important region on Earth given the key role it has in regulating the world’s climate and storing carbon. The polar bear is the top predator of a fragile ecosystem where small changes can have dramatic consequences far beyond the region itself.
For the first time in more than 25 years, the Contracting Parties to the 1973 international Agreement for the Conservation of Polar Bears and Their Habitats - Canada, Russia, US, Greenland/Denmark, and Norway - will come together for a formal meeting under the agreement. The meeting, which is hosted by the Norwegian government, will take place in Tromsø, Norway, 17-19 March.
The original historic agreement focused on threats especially from heavy hunting practices that had decimated polar bear populations worldwide. It also committed the states to preservation of the bears’ habitat. Sea ice is a critical part of that habitat, providing a platform for the bears to hunt seals.
WWF urges delegates next week to acknowledge that preserving this Arctic icon will depend on addressing today’s main threat -- climate change. Two-thirds of the world's 20 to 25,000 polar bears will be lost during the next 50 years because of climate change, according to recent comprehensive analyses by the U.S. Geological Survey and the World Conservation Union.
“You cannot protect polar bears without addressing global warming,” says WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. “It is widely accepted that we need to keep the global temperature increase below 2 degrees in order to avoid irreversible climate change. The most important action we can take to help preserve polar bears is to slow the rate of climate change, and ultimately to stop it so that their habitat does not entirely disappear.”
Arctic sea ice is disappearing at an alarming rate during the summers, and scientists say the summer ice may disappear entirely sometime between 2013 and 2040.
WWF has worked around the world’s Arctic regions for over 30 years and its polar bear work is led by experts in the field. WWF is the only environmental NGO active in all of the Arctic countries and is a permanent observer to the Arctic Council.
“Delegates at the Tromsø meeting must agree to push their respective countries to commit to urgent and effective climate change action. Anything less would be an abdication of the responsibilities of these nations under the polar bear agreement,” emphasizes York.
WWF expects the representatives of these five polar bear nations to formally call for urgent global actions to significantly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases produced, and show strong leadership internationally to help achieve a fair, effective and science based global climate change agreement in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009.
They also must agree to integrate the current and likely future impacts of climate change in all management and planning mechanisms affecting polar bears and their key habitats, and commit to sustainable and long term financing mechanisms for polar bear research and management.
WWF will present at next week’s meeting a draft range-wide Action Plan for polar bears, highlighting the necessary conservation measures that will help polar bears without hurting people who live with the bears, and has encouraged the states to adopt this plan.
“The meeting in Tromsø is an historic and time-limited opportunity to take action to address the rising challenges that face the Arctic today,” says York. “The trend can be turned if governments act now to ensure wise and proactive management of these ecosystems on which both polar bears and we depend.”
The Arctic may be the single most important region on Earth given the key role it has in regulating the world’s climate and storing carbon. The polar bear is the top predator of a fragile ecosystem where small changes can have dramatic consequences far beyond the region itself.
Study Finds Hemlock Trees Dying Rapidly, Affecting Forest Carbon Cycle
New research by US Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) scientists and partners suggests the hemlock woolly adelgid is killing hemlock trees faster than expected in the southern Appalachians and rapidly altering the carbon cycle of these forests. SRS researchers and co-operators from the University of Georgia published the findings in the most recent issue of the journal Ecosystems.
"The study marks the first time that scientists have tracked the short-term effects hemlock woolly adelgid infestations are having on the forest carbon cycle," said Chelcy Ford, SRS ecologist and co-author of the paper.
Eastern hemlock, a keystone species in the streamside forests of the southern Appalachian region, is already experiencing widespread decline and mortality because of hemlock woolly adelgid (a tiny non-native insect) infestation. The pest has the potential to kill most of the region's hemlock trees within the next decade. As a native evergreen capable of maintaining year-round transpiration rates, hemlock plays an important role in the ecology and hydrology of mountain ecosystems. Hemlock forests provide critical habitat for birds and other animals; their shade helps maintain the cool water temperatures required by trout and other aquatic organisms in mountain streams.
Scientists conducted the study in mixed hardwood forests along the edges of two streams at the SRS Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, a 5,600-acre research facility and experimental forest in the Nantahala Mountain Range of western North Carolina.
Researchers compared rates of decline of adelgid-infested hemlock trees to a small number of girdled (severely wounded the bark of a tree to initiate tree mortality) trees that were not infested. Researchers tracked changes in the carbon cycle of these hemlock stands over a three year period. Scientists measured components of the forest carbon cycle – including tree growth, leaf litter and fine root biomass, and soil respiration – over the three year period.
"While we expected that girdled trees would decline quickly, we were surprised to find that hemlock declines just as quickly from adelgid infestation," said Ford. "This research shows that hemlock woolly adelgid infestation is rapidly impacting the carbon cycle in these tree stands. The study also supports the widely held belief that adelgid-infested hemlock trees in the South are declining much faster than the reported nine year decline of some infested hemlock trees in the North-east."
The study showed, among other things, that very fine roots in the girdled and hemlock woolly adelgid-infested plots declined by 38 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively, during the three year period. In addition, in the first year after girdling and infestation, researchers found soil respiration was approximately 20 per cent lower than they expected.
The authors suggest that infrequent frigid winter temperatures in the southern Appalachians may not be enough to suppress adelgid populations. The authors believe this could be one explanation of why infested hemlocks appear to be declining faster in the South than in the Northeast. The authors also point out that other tree species are quick to occupy the space given up by their dying hemlock neighbours.
"Perhaps because of increased light in the canopy and reduced competition for soil nutrients and water, other species are already increasing their growth," said Ford. "We'll continue to monitor this, but, it's still too early to predict just how different these forests will look 50 or 100 years from now."
"The study marks the first time that scientists have tracked the short-term effects hemlock woolly adelgid infestations are having on the forest carbon cycle," said Chelcy Ford, SRS ecologist and co-author of the paper.
Eastern hemlock, a keystone species in the streamside forests of the southern Appalachian region, is already experiencing widespread decline and mortality because of hemlock woolly adelgid (a tiny non-native insect) infestation. The pest has the potential to kill most of the region's hemlock trees within the next decade. As a native evergreen capable of maintaining year-round transpiration rates, hemlock plays an important role in the ecology and hydrology of mountain ecosystems. Hemlock forests provide critical habitat for birds and other animals; their shade helps maintain the cool water temperatures required by trout and other aquatic organisms in mountain streams.
Scientists conducted the study in mixed hardwood forests along the edges of two streams at the SRS Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, a 5,600-acre research facility and experimental forest in the Nantahala Mountain Range of western North Carolina.
Researchers compared rates of decline of adelgid-infested hemlock trees to a small number of girdled (severely wounded the bark of a tree to initiate tree mortality) trees that were not infested. Researchers tracked changes in the carbon cycle of these hemlock stands over a three year period. Scientists measured components of the forest carbon cycle – including tree growth, leaf litter and fine root biomass, and soil respiration – over the three year period.
"While we expected that girdled trees would decline quickly, we were surprised to find that hemlock declines just as quickly from adelgid infestation," said Ford. "This research shows that hemlock woolly adelgid infestation is rapidly impacting the carbon cycle in these tree stands. The study also supports the widely held belief that adelgid-infested hemlock trees in the South are declining much faster than the reported nine year decline of some infested hemlock trees in the North-east."
The study showed, among other things, that very fine roots in the girdled and hemlock woolly adelgid-infested plots declined by 38 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively, during the three year period. In addition, in the first year after girdling and infestation, researchers found soil respiration was approximately 20 per cent lower than they expected.
The authors suggest that infrequent frigid winter temperatures in the southern Appalachians may not be enough to suppress adelgid populations. The authors believe this could be one explanation of why infested hemlocks appear to be declining faster in the South than in the Northeast. The authors also point out that other tree species are quick to occupy the space given up by their dying hemlock neighbours.
"Perhaps because of increased light in the canopy and reduced competition for soil nutrients and water, other species are already increasing their growth," said Ford. "We'll continue to monitor this, but, it's still too early to predict just how different these forests will look 50 or 100 years from now."
Great Lake's Sinkholes Host Exotic Ecosystems
Researchers are exploring extreme conditions for life in a place not known for extremes.
As little as 20 metres (66 feet) below the surface of Lake Huron, the third largest of North America's Great Lakes, peculiar geological formations—sinkholes made by water dissolving parts of an ancient underlying seabed—harbour bizarre ecosystems where the fish typical of the huge freshwater lake are rarely to be seen. Instead, brilliant purple mats of cyanobacteria, cousins of microbes found at the bottoms of permanently ice-covered lakes in Antarctica, and pallid, floating pony-tails of other microbial life thrive in the dense, salty water that's hostile to most familiar, larger forms of life because it lacks oxygen.
Groundwater from beneath Lake Huron is dissolving minerals from the defunct seabed and carrying them into the lake to form these exotic, extreme environments, says Bopaiah A. Biddanda of Grand Valley State University, in Muskegon, Mich., one of the leaders of a scientific team studying the sinkhole ecosystems. Those ecosystems are in a class not only with Antarctic lakes, but also with deep-sea, hydrothermal vents and cold seeps.
"You have this pristine fresh water lake that has what amounts to materials from 400 million years ago … being pushed out into the lake," says team co-leader Steven A. Ruberg of the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The researchers describe this little-known underwater habitat and their ongoing investigations of it in the current issue of Eos, the newspaper of the Earth and Space Sciences, published weekly by the American Geophysical Union (AGU). AGU is the world's largest organisation of Earth and space scientists.
The scientists report that some deep sinkholes act as catch basins for dead and decaying plant and animal matter and collect a soft black sludge of sediment topped by a bacterial film. In the oxygen-depleted water, cyanobacteria carry out photosynthesis using sulphur compounds rather than water and give off hydrogen sulphide, the gas associated with rotting eggs. Where the sinkholes are deeper still and light fails, micro organisms use chemical means rather than photosynthesis to metabolise the sulphurous nutrients.
Biddanda, Ruberg, and their team are probing the origins of ancient minerals flowing in from beneath this fresh inland sea, striving to understand how long ago the minerals were deposited that are now entering the lake and how fast the salty brew containing them is arriving. The scientists also plan to chart transitions from light, oxygen-rich, fresh water near the lake's surface to dark, anoxic, salty soup down inside the sinkholes.
The sinkhole research—funded by the National Science Foundation and NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration and Research—may shed light on how similar microbial communities can arise in environments as disparate as Antarctic lakes, deep-sea vents, and freshwater-lake sinkholes, the scientists say. Biddanda adds, "It might also lead to the discovery of novel organisms and previously unknown biochemical processes, furthering our exploration of life on Earth."
As little as 20 metres (66 feet) below the surface of Lake Huron, the third largest of North America's Great Lakes, peculiar geological formations—sinkholes made by water dissolving parts of an ancient underlying seabed—harbour bizarre ecosystems where the fish typical of the huge freshwater lake are rarely to be seen. Instead, brilliant purple mats of cyanobacteria, cousins of microbes found at the bottoms of permanently ice-covered lakes in Antarctica, and pallid, floating pony-tails of other microbial life thrive in the dense, salty water that's hostile to most familiar, larger forms of life because it lacks oxygen.
Groundwater from beneath Lake Huron is dissolving minerals from the defunct seabed and carrying them into the lake to form these exotic, extreme environments, says Bopaiah A. Biddanda of Grand Valley State University, in Muskegon, Mich., one of the leaders of a scientific team studying the sinkhole ecosystems. Those ecosystems are in a class not only with Antarctic lakes, but also with deep-sea, hydrothermal vents and cold seeps.
"You have this pristine fresh water lake that has what amounts to materials from 400 million years ago … being pushed out into the lake," says team co-leader Steven A. Ruberg of the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The researchers describe this little-known underwater habitat and their ongoing investigations of it in the current issue of Eos, the newspaper of the Earth and Space Sciences, published weekly by the American Geophysical Union (AGU). AGU is the world's largest organisation of Earth and space scientists.
The scientists report that some deep sinkholes act as catch basins for dead and decaying plant and animal matter and collect a soft black sludge of sediment topped by a bacterial film. In the oxygen-depleted water, cyanobacteria carry out photosynthesis using sulphur compounds rather than water and give off hydrogen sulphide, the gas associated with rotting eggs. Where the sinkholes are deeper still and light fails, micro organisms use chemical means rather than photosynthesis to metabolise the sulphurous nutrients.
Biddanda, Ruberg, and their team are probing the origins of ancient minerals flowing in from beneath this fresh inland sea, striving to understand how long ago the minerals were deposited that are now entering the lake and how fast the salty brew containing them is arriving. The scientists also plan to chart transitions from light, oxygen-rich, fresh water near the lake's surface to dark, anoxic, salty soup down inside the sinkholes.
The sinkhole research—funded by the National Science Foundation and NOAA's Office of Ocean Exploration and Research—may shed light on how similar microbial communities can arise in environments as disparate as Antarctic lakes, deep-sea vents, and freshwater-lake sinkholes, the scientists say. Biddanda adds, "It might also lead to the discovery of novel organisms and previously unknown biochemical processes, furthering our exploration of life on Earth."
Internet Wildlife Trading Comes Under the Spotlight
Parties to CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Wild Species of Fauna and Flora, meet this week to discuss the growing use of the internet for trading wildlife.
In 2004, TRAFFIC first drew attention to the use of internet auction sites for trading ivory in the United States through its seminal report Tackling the ivories: The status of the US trade in elephant and hippo ivory.
According to the report, between February and May 2004, an average 1,000 elephant ivory items per week were advertised on the internet.
In 2008, following the advice of TRAFFIC and others, well-known internet auction site eBay announced a ban on all ivory sales, because of difficulty in policing the trade.
“One of the key issues the Vancouver meeting will discuss is how to separate legitimate from illicit wildlife internet trade,” said Ernie Cooper, Canadian National Representative, for TRAFFIC North America.
“However, at some point, illegally traded items need to be physically transported to the buyer. It doesn’t matter how high-tech the dealing is, catching trade violations still requires old fashioned enforcement work.”
Cooper will be presenting results of TRAFFIC’s research into e-commerce. They include an eight-month study of the Chinese-language internet that found more than 4,200 advertisements offering illegal wildlife products in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
“Even accounting for the proportion of adverts that will be bogus, the extent of wildlife being offered for sale over the internet in apparent contravention of international and national laws is alarming,” said Cooper.
An investigation into the sale of Kaiser’s Spotted Newts revealed 10 websites claiming to stock the species. One Ukrainian company claimed to have sold more than 200 wild-caught specimens in a single year.
The salamanders are found only in Iran and are Critically Endangered, believed to number fewer than 1,000 individuals.
“If trade is happening at that kind of level, the future for Kaiser’s Spotted Newt is very bleak indeed,” commented Cooper.
According to TRAFFIC, buyers should ensure their internet purchases are legal, and governments and other agencies should co-operate more to police the international sale of all wildlife items, not just those listed in CITES, across the internet.
In 2004, TRAFFIC first drew attention to the use of internet auction sites for trading ivory in the United States through its seminal report Tackling the ivories: The status of the US trade in elephant and hippo ivory.
According to the report, between February and May 2004, an average 1,000 elephant ivory items per week were advertised on the internet.
In 2008, following the advice of TRAFFIC and others, well-known internet auction site eBay announced a ban on all ivory sales, because of difficulty in policing the trade.
“One of the key issues the Vancouver meeting will discuss is how to separate legitimate from illicit wildlife internet trade,” said Ernie Cooper, Canadian National Representative, for TRAFFIC North America.
“However, at some point, illegally traded items need to be physically transported to the buyer. It doesn’t matter how high-tech the dealing is, catching trade violations still requires old fashioned enforcement work.”
Cooper will be presenting results of TRAFFIC’s research into e-commerce. They include an eight-month study of the Chinese-language internet that found more than 4,200 advertisements offering illegal wildlife products in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
“Even accounting for the proportion of adverts that will be bogus, the extent of wildlife being offered for sale over the internet in apparent contravention of international and national laws is alarming,” said Cooper.
An investigation into the sale of Kaiser’s Spotted Newts revealed 10 websites claiming to stock the species. One Ukrainian company claimed to have sold more than 200 wild-caught specimens in a single year.
The salamanders are found only in Iran and are Critically Endangered, believed to number fewer than 1,000 individuals.
“If trade is happening at that kind of level, the future for Kaiser’s Spotted Newt is very bleak indeed,” commented Cooper.
According to TRAFFIC, buyers should ensure their internet purchases are legal, and governments and other agencies should co-operate more to police the international sale of all wildlife items, not just those listed in CITES, across the internet.
Elephants Under Threat as Illegal Ivory Price Soars in Viet Nam
Indochina’s few surviving elephants are under increasing threat from booming illegal ivory prices in Viet Nam, according to a new market analysis released today by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network and joint programme between IUCN and WWF.
An assessment of the illegal ivory trade in Viet Nam said Vietnamese illegal ivory prices could be the highest in the world, with reports of tusks selling for up to USD1500/kg and small, cut pieces selling for up to USD1863/kg.
Most of the raw ivory was said to originate from the Lao Peoples’ Democratic Republic, with small amounts from Viet Nam and Cambodia.
“This is a worrying trend that indicates even more pressure is being put on already fragile Asian Elephant populations,” said Azrina Abdullah, Director of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia.
According to IUCN figures, no more than 1,000 elephants are believed to survive in Lao PDR, while in Viet Nam, fewer than 150 are believed to exist. In December 2008, TRAFFIC released a report that found evidence of widespread smuggling of live Asian Elephants and their ivory from Myanmar.
Mammoth ivory from Russia was also used in small quantities, but no African raw ivory was found, although it was still being illegally imported into Viet Nam up to at least 2004.
Trade in ivory was outlawed in Viet Nam in 1992, but a major loophole in the legislation exists because shops can still sell ivory in stock dating from the prohibition. This allows some shop owners to restock illegally with recently-made carved ivory.
In 2008, TRAFFIC surveyed 669 retail outlets across Viet Nam and found 73 (11 per cent) selling a total of 2,444 ivory items. Whilst the scale of the ivory market was smaller than in previous surveys, there were signs of increasing demand and overall numbers of craftsmen had increased since 2001. Ho Chi Minh City had the most retail outlets (49) and ivory items (1,776), but Ha Noi, with only 10 outlets, had the highest number of craftsmen.
“Although fewer ivory items were seen in 2008 than in 2001, worked ivory is increasingly being sold directly to buyers through middlemen or on the Internet, bypassing retail outlets,” said Abdullah. “Continued demand for illegal ivory is driving the prices so high."
Recent seizures in and outside Viet Nam also suggest that most raw ivory is being supplied to China.
The main buyers of ivory were from China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan) and Thailand, local Vietnamese, American-Vietnamese and Europeans, in that order.
“This insidious illegal trade is further threatening the highly endangered elephants of Asia and must be stopped,” said Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of the Species Programme for WWF-International.
The report recommends that Viet Nam should comply with its obligations under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), particularly regarding the reporting of ivory seizures, that national regulations and their enforcement should be tightened and offenders prosecuted, and that ivory for sale in retail outlets should be confiscated by the government and destroyed.
The report also recommends better training for wildlife law enforcement officers and continued participation in the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN) and similar initiatives that aim to control the illicit trafficking of ivory and other wildlife products in the region.
The investigation into ivory trade in Viet Nam was supported by WWF-Netherlands, and the publication of the report, An assessment of the illegal ivory trade in Viet Nam, was supported by the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation.
An assessment of the illegal ivory trade in Viet Nam said Vietnamese illegal ivory prices could be the highest in the world, with reports of tusks selling for up to USD1500/kg and small, cut pieces selling for up to USD1863/kg.
Most of the raw ivory was said to originate from the Lao Peoples’ Democratic Republic, with small amounts from Viet Nam and Cambodia.
“This is a worrying trend that indicates even more pressure is being put on already fragile Asian Elephant populations,” said Azrina Abdullah, Director of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia.
According to IUCN figures, no more than 1,000 elephants are believed to survive in Lao PDR, while in Viet Nam, fewer than 150 are believed to exist. In December 2008, TRAFFIC released a report that found evidence of widespread smuggling of live Asian Elephants and their ivory from Myanmar.
Mammoth ivory from Russia was also used in small quantities, but no African raw ivory was found, although it was still being illegally imported into Viet Nam up to at least 2004.
Trade in ivory was outlawed in Viet Nam in 1992, but a major loophole in the legislation exists because shops can still sell ivory in stock dating from the prohibition. This allows some shop owners to restock illegally with recently-made carved ivory.
In 2008, TRAFFIC surveyed 669 retail outlets across Viet Nam and found 73 (11 per cent) selling a total of 2,444 ivory items. Whilst the scale of the ivory market was smaller than in previous surveys, there were signs of increasing demand and overall numbers of craftsmen had increased since 2001. Ho Chi Minh City had the most retail outlets (49) and ivory items (1,776), but Ha Noi, with only 10 outlets, had the highest number of craftsmen.
“Although fewer ivory items were seen in 2008 than in 2001, worked ivory is increasingly being sold directly to buyers through middlemen or on the Internet, bypassing retail outlets,” said Abdullah. “Continued demand for illegal ivory is driving the prices so high."
Recent seizures in and outside Viet Nam also suggest that most raw ivory is being supplied to China.
The main buyers of ivory were from China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan) and Thailand, local Vietnamese, American-Vietnamese and Europeans, in that order.
“This insidious illegal trade is further threatening the highly endangered elephants of Asia and must be stopped,” said Dr Susan Lieberman, Director of the Species Programme for WWF-International.
The report recommends that Viet Nam should comply with its obligations under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), particularly regarding the reporting of ivory seizures, that national regulations and their enforcement should be tightened and offenders prosecuted, and that ivory for sale in retail outlets should be confiscated by the government and destroyed.
The report also recommends better training for wildlife law enforcement officers and continued participation in the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN) and similar initiatives that aim to control the illicit trafficking of ivory and other wildlife products in the region.
The investigation into ivory trade in Viet Nam was supported by WWF-Netherlands, and the publication of the report, An assessment of the illegal ivory trade in Viet Nam, was supported by the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation.
Box Turtles Face Knockout
Unregulated trade, at 10 to 100 times legal levels, has caused South-east Asian Box Turtles almost to vanish from parts of Indonesia where they were once common, according to a new report by the wildlife trade monitoring network, TRAFFIC.
The turtles are used for meat and in Traditional Chinese Medicine, with major markets in Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Malaysia, mostly supplied from Indonesia. Box turtles are also in demand as pets in the US, Europe and Japan.
The study found at least 18 traders operating in Java, Sulawesi, Sumatra and Kalimantan deal illegally in South-east Asian Box Turtles.
Each trader handled an average of just under 2,230 turtles a week, adding up to a combined total of 2.1 million South-east Asian Box Turtles per year. The vast majority is destined for export, although Indonesia’s official annual export quota for this species is just 18,000 turtles, a figure set without a scientific basis.
“The number of South-east Asian Box Turtles currently traded is certainly ten times the official export quota, and probably nearer 100 times it,” said Dr Sabine Schoppe, author of the new report, “Status, trade dynamics and management of the South-east Asian Box Turtle Cuora amboinensis in Indonesia”.
Thirteen of the 18 traders investigated were registered for some trade in reptiles, but not in box turtles, with the provincial offices of the Government’s Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation (PHKA), which is required to inspect such businesses regularly. TRAFFIC has previously presented the results of the study to PHKA.
Collectors in Riau and Sulawesi reported huge falls in South-east Asian Box Turtle numbers in the wild, and registered pet traders said they had experienced difficulties in obtaining turtles compared to a decade ago.
“The current level of illegal exploitation will result in South-east Asian Box Turtles being systematically wiped out across Indonesia, indications of which are already obvious at collection and trade centres, ”said Schoppe.
In 2000, the South-east Asian Box Turtle was listed in Appendix II of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), a measure intended to regulate its international trade. However, the report found that following CITES-listing, trade in the box turtles had increased, with the largest numbers being smuggled through the ports of Makassar, Medan, Pekanbaru, Tembilahan and Banjarmasin.
“Authorities should concentrate on eradicating illegal trade, and in setting realistic limits on what numbers can safely be harvested,” said Chris R. Shepherd, Senior Programme Officer with TRAFFIC South-east Asia.
Weak enforcement of existing laws is a key problem, caused through a combination of factors including non-inspection of shipments, falsification of CITES export permits, and lack of training amongst enforcement officers.
The report recommends better training and more co-operation between Indonesian enforcement authorities and those in importing countries to tackle illegal wildlife trade, for example through initiatives like the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN), and research into populations of box turtles.
The turtles are used for meat and in Traditional Chinese Medicine, with major markets in Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Malaysia, mostly supplied from Indonesia. Box turtles are also in demand as pets in the US, Europe and Japan.
The study found at least 18 traders operating in Java, Sulawesi, Sumatra and Kalimantan deal illegally in South-east Asian Box Turtles.
Each trader handled an average of just under 2,230 turtles a week, adding up to a combined total of 2.1 million South-east Asian Box Turtles per year. The vast majority is destined for export, although Indonesia’s official annual export quota for this species is just 18,000 turtles, a figure set without a scientific basis.
“The number of South-east Asian Box Turtles currently traded is certainly ten times the official export quota, and probably nearer 100 times it,” said Dr Sabine Schoppe, author of the new report, “Status, trade dynamics and management of the South-east Asian Box Turtle Cuora amboinensis in Indonesia”.
Thirteen of the 18 traders investigated were registered for some trade in reptiles, but not in box turtles, with the provincial offices of the Government’s Directorate General of Forest Protection and Nature Conservation (PHKA), which is required to inspect such businesses regularly. TRAFFIC has previously presented the results of the study to PHKA.
Collectors in Riau and Sulawesi reported huge falls in South-east Asian Box Turtle numbers in the wild, and registered pet traders said they had experienced difficulties in obtaining turtles compared to a decade ago.
“The current level of illegal exploitation will result in South-east Asian Box Turtles being systematically wiped out across Indonesia, indications of which are already obvious at collection and trade centres, ”said Schoppe.
In 2000, the South-east Asian Box Turtle was listed in Appendix II of CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), a measure intended to regulate its international trade. However, the report found that following CITES-listing, trade in the box turtles had increased, with the largest numbers being smuggled through the ports of Makassar, Medan, Pekanbaru, Tembilahan and Banjarmasin.
“Authorities should concentrate on eradicating illegal trade, and in setting realistic limits on what numbers can safely be harvested,” said Chris R. Shepherd, Senior Programme Officer with TRAFFIC South-east Asia.
Weak enforcement of existing laws is a key problem, caused through a combination of factors including non-inspection of shipments, falsification of CITES export permits, and lack of training amongst enforcement officers.
The report recommends better training and more co-operation between Indonesian enforcement authorities and those in importing countries to tackle illegal wildlife trade, for example through initiatives like the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN), and research into populations of box turtles.
Most Wars Occur in Earth's Richest Biological Regions
Conflict threatens both nature and people in biodiversity hotspots
In a startling result, a new study published by the scientific journal Conservation Biology found that more than 80 per cent of the world's major armed conflicts from 1950-2000 occurred in regions identified as the most biologically diverse and threatened places on Earth.
Titled "Warfare in Biodiversity Hotspots," the study by leading international conservation scientists compared major conflict zones with the Earth's 34 biodiversity hotspots identified by Conservation International (CI). The hotspots (www.biodiversityhotspots.org) are considered top conservation priorities because they contain the entire populations of more than half of all plant species and at least 42 per cent of all vertebrates, and are highly threatened.
"This astounding conclusion, that the richest storehouses of life on Earth are also the regions of the most human conflict, tells us that these areas are essential for both biodiversity conservation and human well-being," said Russell A. Mittermeier, president of Conservation International (CI) and an author of the study. "Millions of the world's poorest people live in hotspots and depend on healthy ecosystems for their survival, so there is a moral obligation, as well as political and social responsibility, to protect these places and all the resources and services they provide."
The study found that more than 90 per cent of major armed conflicts, defined as those resulting in more than 1,000 deaths, occurred in countries that contain one of the 34 biodiversity hotspots, while 81 per cent took place within specific hotspots. A total of 23 hotspots experienced warfare over the half-century studied.
Examples of the nature-conflict connection include the Vietnam War, when poisonous Agent Orange destroyed forest cover and coastal mangroves, and timber harvesting that funded war chests in Liberia, Cambodia and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In those and countless other cases, the collateral damage of war harmed both the biological wealth of the region and the ability of people to live off of it.
In addition, war refugees must hunt, gather firewood or build encampments to survive, increasing the pressure on local resources. More weapons means increased hunting for bush meat and widespread poaching that can decimate wildlife populations – such as 95 per cent of the hippopotamus slaughtered in DRC's Virunga National Park.
"The consequences extend far beyond the actual fighting," said lead author Thor Hanson of the University of Idaho. "War preparations and lingering post-conflict activities also have important implications for biodiversity hotspots and the people who live there."
In total, the hotspots are home to a majority of the world's 1.2 billion poorest people who rely on the resources and services provided by natural ecosystems for their daily survival. Environmental concerns tend to recede or collapse in times of social disruption, and conservation activities often get suspended during active conflicts. At the same time, war provides occasional conservation opportunities, such as the creation of "Peace Parks" along contested borders.
"The fact that so many conflicts have occurred in areas of high biodiversity loss and natural resource degradation warrants much further investigation as to the underlying causes, and strongly highlights the importance of these areas for global security," Mittermeier said.
The study concluded that international conservation groups, and indeed the broader international community, must develop and maintain programs in war-torn regions if they are to be effective in conserving global biodiversity and keeping ecosystems healthy. It also called for integrating conservation strategies and principles into military, reconstruction and humanitarian programs in the world's conflict zones.
"We encourage support for local conservationists and protected area staff during conflict periods, but we in no way suggest intentionally putting people in harm's way," the study said. "Local staff often remains in conflict areas precisely because those areas are their homes, making continued support both an ethical imperative and a good.
In a startling result, a new study published by the scientific journal Conservation Biology found that more than 80 per cent of the world's major armed conflicts from 1950-2000 occurred in regions identified as the most biologically diverse and threatened places on Earth.
Titled "Warfare in Biodiversity Hotspots," the study by leading international conservation scientists compared major conflict zones with the Earth's 34 biodiversity hotspots identified by Conservation International (CI). The hotspots (www.biodiversityhotspots.org) are considered top conservation priorities because they contain the entire populations of more than half of all plant species and at least 42 per cent of all vertebrates, and are highly threatened.
"This astounding conclusion, that the richest storehouses of life on Earth are also the regions of the most human conflict, tells us that these areas are essential for both biodiversity conservation and human well-being," said Russell A. Mittermeier, president of Conservation International (CI) and an author of the study. "Millions of the world's poorest people live in hotspots and depend on healthy ecosystems for their survival, so there is a moral obligation, as well as political and social responsibility, to protect these places and all the resources and services they provide."
The study found that more than 90 per cent of major armed conflicts, defined as those resulting in more than 1,000 deaths, occurred in countries that contain one of the 34 biodiversity hotspots, while 81 per cent took place within specific hotspots. A total of 23 hotspots experienced warfare over the half-century studied.
Examples of the nature-conflict connection include the Vietnam War, when poisonous Agent Orange destroyed forest cover and coastal mangroves, and timber harvesting that funded war chests in Liberia, Cambodia and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In those and countless other cases, the collateral damage of war harmed both the biological wealth of the region and the ability of people to live off of it.
In addition, war refugees must hunt, gather firewood or build encampments to survive, increasing the pressure on local resources. More weapons means increased hunting for bush meat and widespread poaching that can decimate wildlife populations – such as 95 per cent of the hippopotamus slaughtered in DRC's Virunga National Park.
"The consequences extend far beyond the actual fighting," said lead author Thor Hanson of the University of Idaho. "War preparations and lingering post-conflict activities also have important implications for biodiversity hotspots and the people who live there."
In total, the hotspots are home to a majority of the world's 1.2 billion poorest people who rely on the resources and services provided by natural ecosystems for their daily survival. Environmental concerns tend to recede or collapse in times of social disruption, and conservation activities often get suspended during active conflicts. At the same time, war provides occasional conservation opportunities, such as the creation of "Peace Parks" along contested borders.
"The fact that so many conflicts have occurred in areas of high biodiversity loss and natural resource degradation warrants much further investigation as to the underlying causes, and strongly highlights the importance of these areas for global security," Mittermeier said.
The study concluded that international conservation groups, and indeed the broader international community, must develop and maintain programs in war-torn regions if they are to be effective in conserving global biodiversity and keeping ecosystems healthy. It also called for integrating conservation strategies and principles into military, reconstruction and humanitarian programs in the world's conflict zones.
"We encourage support for local conservationists and protected area staff during conflict periods, but we in no way suggest intentionally putting people in harm's way," the study said. "Local staff often remains in conflict areas precisely because those areas are their homes, making continued support both an ethical imperative and a good.
Strong Impact Made on the Amazonia by its Economic Growth Model
The report, Environment Outlook in the Amazonia: GEO Amazonia, uncovers a revealing panorama of accelerated ecosystem transformation and a marked environmental degradation in this vast region of the South American humid tropics - shared by Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela - which is also the planet's most extensive forest zone. The study, prepared by the eight Amazonian countries, with the support of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation (ACTO), is a new publication in UNEP's series of integrated environmental assessments, also known as GEO (Global Environment Outlook) reports, and on which more than 150 experts, researchers, academics and scientists in the countries of the assessed region participated.
During the preparation of this report, the principal stakeholders from the eight Amazonian countries met to discuss the future outlook of the regional environment. They reached a consensus, clearly expressed in the text: "Our Amazonia is changing at an accelerated rate with very profound modifications in its ecosystems".
After more than two years of analysis, the experts affirm that a joint action of the Amazonian governments in the following areas could enable the region to face the challenges (of the changing environment) – construction of an integrated environmental vision for Amazonia, and definition of a role of the region in national development; harmonisation of environmental policies on regionally relevant themes; design and application of instruments for integrated environmental management; regional strategies that allow sustainable utilisation of Amazonian ecosystems; insertion of risk management in the public agenda; strengthening of Amazonian environmental institutions; increased effort on environmental information production and dissemination in the region; promotion of studies and the economic value of Amazonian environmental services; and designing of a monitoring and evaluation system of policies, programmes and projects.
So far, the effort of the Amazonian countries concerning the management of environmental problems has primarily been reflected in progress related to the development of national instruments for planning and management of Amazonia.
Figures to be considered
In essence, the publication points out that the growing environmental degradation in the Amazonia can be seen by the advance of deforestation, the loss of biodiversity, and localised climate change impacts.
The way in which economic activities, infrastructure construction, and the establishment of human settlements are changing Amazonian land use has resulted in an accelerated transformation of the region's ecosystems. By 2005, accumulated deforestation in Amazonia was 857,666 km2, reducing the region's vegetation cover by approximately 17 per cent. This is equal to two-thirds of Peruvian or 94 per cent of Venezuelan territory.
The loss of biodiversity is expressed in an increased number of endangered species. GEO Amazonia, however, points out that, while local information is available on the different countries' biodiversity, there are no statistics or any general cartography available showing the updated information about this problem for the whole region.
Concerning water resources, note is taken of the importance of the Amazonia because of its value in the continental and global water balance, but the publication reports that limited action is taken on the basin's integrated management. The volume of water captured by the Amazonia basin-from 12,000 to 16,000 km3 a year-represents about 20 per cent of the world's total fresh water.
The availability of surface water in the Amazonia basin depends to a large extent on it being properly used and managed in each of the basin countries. These waters are being affected by different anthropogenic activities that damage its quality: mine waste, hydrocarbon spills, use of agrochemicals, cities' solid wastes, and wastes resulting from processing illicit crops such as coca.
The demands of international markets are putting pressure on the region's economic-productive dynamics, which leads to the intensive use of its natural resources. This results in exploiting timber and non-timber forest products (chestnut in particular) and hydrocarbons, and in expanding mining, agriculture and cattle raising to meet the demands for commodities by globalised markets and encouraging the adoption of a production model which, for the most part, takes no account of sustainable use criteria.
The publication mentions that growing populations, expanding economic activities and building infrastructure have led to a significant change in the region's land use, causing ecosystem fragmentation, deforestation and loss of biodiversity. For example, over a 30-year period (1975-2005), in Brazilian Amazonia the road network multiplied by 10, thus encouraging the establishment of human settlements. The study comments that increased biofuel production could accelerate this land use change.
Amazonia has also experienced accelerated and unplanned urbanisation. Of the population of 33.5 million, approximately 21.3 million, 63.6 per cent of the total population, live in urban areas, indicating how important urbanisation is to the region's sustainable development strategy.
Climate change and extreme events are putting pressure on the Amazonian ecosystems and making it more vulnerable. The region has been affected by a rise in average temperature, although the extent differs depending on the zone. The level of precipitation has also changed although the trends are not very clear.
GEO Amazonia maintains that deforestation in the zone may be having an affect on the regional climate. If the loss of forests exceeds 30 per cent of the vegetation cover, then rainfall levels will decrease; this will produce a vicious circle that favours forest burning, reduces water vapour release, and increases smoke emissions into the atmosphere, resulting in further reduced precipitation. Because of deforestation, Amazonia is progressively becoming a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
The publication brings together the results of the Nepstad (2007) study projecting that 55 per cent of the humid Amazonian forest will have been lost by 2030 with the subsequent conversion of a large part of Amazonia into a savannah before the end of the 21st century.
Scenarios
The study considers four possible scenarios for 2026 which, along general lines, show that the development style chosen by the Amazonian countries and their citizens is limiting both the options for the region's future sustainable development and the hope of creating an alternative future for the Amazonia. The publication points out that while it will be impossible to entirely conserve the integrity of the Amazonian ecosystems, the different decisions taken today will be of fundamental importance in determining to what degree citizens of the Amazonia would accept exchanging environmental degradation for socio-economic development.
Lines of Action
The publication suggests different ways of proceeding, based on joint action by the Amazonian governments, to allow them to confront the challenges posed by the region. Its main challenges are: have an integrated Amazonian vision and define the region's national development role; harmonise environmental policies on themes relevant to the region; design and implement integrated environmental management instruments; design and implement regional strategies that allow sustainable use of the Amazonian ecosystems; include risk management in the public agenda; strengthen efforts in the region to produce and disseminate environmental information; promote economic valorisation studies and action on Amazonian environmental services; and design a monitoring and assessment system on the impact of policies, programmes and projects.
How countries respond
The governments of Amazonian countries have also made efforts to manage environmental problems. In fact, some progress has been made on national instruments designed for the region's management. In general, the countries have sustainable development plans, sub-national development strategies, ecological economic zoning instruments, as well as sub-national programmes and projects for the Amazonian part of their territory. In all Amazonian countries, the Constitution includes an article on the right to a healthy environment, with a clear mandate as to how the environment should be used and managed.
Countries in the Andean Community of Nations (CAN), including Andean-Amazonian countries like Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, have adopted different agreements on the environment, and on promoting national strategies in their respective countries.
In addition, Brazil has a project on monitoring Amazonian deforestation that is one of the world's most advanced on real-time deforestation monitoring. Also to be highlighted is the establishment of the Amazonian Fund with regulations on investing in action to prevent, monitor and combat deforestation.
As far as water is concerned, ACTO has begun a process to discuss and design, together with UNEP, GEF and OAS, a programme to tackle the challenge of regional water resources management.
During the preparation of this report, the principal stakeholders from the eight Amazonian countries met to discuss the future outlook of the regional environment. They reached a consensus, clearly expressed in the text: "Our Amazonia is changing at an accelerated rate with very profound modifications in its ecosystems".
After more than two years of analysis, the experts affirm that a joint action of the Amazonian governments in the following areas could enable the region to face the challenges (of the changing environment) – construction of an integrated environmental vision for Amazonia, and definition of a role of the region in national development; harmonisation of environmental policies on regionally relevant themes; design and application of instruments for integrated environmental management; regional strategies that allow sustainable utilisation of Amazonian ecosystems; insertion of risk management in the public agenda; strengthening of Amazonian environmental institutions; increased effort on environmental information production and dissemination in the region; promotion of studies and the economic value of Amazonian environmental services; and designing of a monitoring and evaluation system of policies, programmes and projects.
So far, the effort of the Amazonian countries concerning the management of environmental problems has primarily been reflected in progress related to the development of national instruments for planning and management of Amazonia.
Figures to be considered
In essence, the publication points out that the growing environmental degradation in the Amazonia can be seen by the advance of deforestation, the loss of biodiversity, and localised climate change impacts.
The way in which economic activities, infrastructure construction, and the establishment of human settlements are changing Amazonian land use has resulted in an accelerated transformation of the region's ecosystems. By 2005, accumulated deforestation in Amazonia was 857,666 km2, reducing the region's vegetation cover by approximately 17 per cent. This is equal to two-thirds of Peruvian or 94 per cent of Venezuelan territory.
The loss of biodiversity is expressed in an increased number of endangered species. GEO Amazonia, however, points out that, while local information is available on the different countries' biodiversity, there are no statistics or any general cartography available showing the updated information about this problem for the whole region.
Concerning water resources, note is taken of the importance of the Amazonia because of its value in the continental and global water balance, but the publication reports that limited action is taken on the basin's integrated management. The volume of water captured by the Amazonia basin-from 12,000 to 16,000 km3 a year-represents about 20 per cent of the world's total fresh water.
The availability of surface water in the Amazonia basin depends to a large extent on it being properly used and managed in each of the basin countries. These waters are being affected by different anthropogenic activities that damage its quality: mine waste, hydrocarbon spills, use of agrochemicals, cities' solid wastes, and wastes resulting from processing illicit crops such as coca.
The demands of international markets are putting pressure on the region's economic-productive dynamics, which leads to the intensive use of its natural resources. This results in exploiting timber and non-timber forest products (chestnut in particular) and hydrocarbons, and in expanding mining, agriculture and cattle raising to meet the demands for commodities by globalised markets and encouraging the adoption of a production model which, for the most part, takes no account of sustainable use criteria.
The publication mentions that growing populations, expanding economic activities and building infrastructure have led to a significant change in the region's land use, causing ecosystem fragmentation, deforestation and loss of biodiversity. For example, over a 30-year period (1975-2005), in Brazilian Amazonia the road network multiplied by 10, thus encouraging the establishment of human settlements. The study comments that increased biofuel production could accelerate this land use change.
Amazonia has also experienced accelerated and unplanned urbanisation. Of the population of 33.5 million, approximately 21.3 million, 63.6 per cent of the total population, live in urban areas, indicating how important urbanisation is to the region's sustainable development strategy.
Climate change and extreme events are putting pressure on the Amazonian ecosystems and making it more vulnerable. The region has been affected by a rise in average temperature, although the extent differs depending on the zone. The level of precipitation has also changed although the trends are not very clear.
GEO Amazonia maintains that deforestation in the zone may be having an affect on the regional climate. If the loss of forests exceeds 30 per cent of the vegetation cover, then rainfall levels will decrease; this will produce a vicious circle that favours forest burning, reduces water vapour release, and increases smoke emissions into the atmosphere, resulting in further reduced precipitation. Because of deforestation, Amazonia is progressively becoming a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
The publication brings together the results of the Nepstad (2007) study projecting that 55 per cent of the humid Amazonian forest will have been lost by 2030 with the subsequent conversion of a large part of Amazonia into a savannah before the end of the 21st century.
Scenarios
The study considers four possible scenarios for 2026 which, along general lines, show that the development style chosen by the Amazonian countries and their citizens is limiting both the options for the region's future sustainable development and the hope of creating an alternative future for the Amazonia. The publication points out that while it will be impossible to entirely conserve the integrity of the Amazonian ecosystems, the different decisions taken today will be of fundamental importance in determining to what degree citizens of the Amazonia would accept exchanging environmental degradation for socio-economic development.
Lines of Action
The publication suggests different ways of proceeding, based on joint action by the Amazonian governments, to allow them to confront the challenges posed by the region. Its main challenges are: have an integrated Amazonian vision and define the region's national development role; harmonise environmental policies on themes relevant to the region; design and implement integrated environmental management instruments; design and implement regional strategies that allow sustainable use of the Amazonian ecosystems; include risk management in the public agenda; strengthen efforts in the region to produce and disseminate environmental information; promote economic valorisation studies and action on Amazonian environmental services; and design a monitoring and assessment system on the impact of policies, programmes and projects.
How countries respond
The governments of Amazonian countries have also made efforts to manage environmental problems. In fact, some progress has been made on national instruments designed for the region's management. In general, the countries have sustainable development plans, sub-national development strategies, ecological economic zoning instruments, as well as sub-national programmes and projects for the Amazonian part of their territory. In all Amazonian countries, the Constitution includes an article on the right to a healthy environment, with a clear mandate as to how the environment should be used and managed.
Countries in the Andean Community of Nations (CAN), including Andean-Amazonian countries like Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, have adopted different agreements on the environment, and on promoting national strategies in their respective countries.
In addition, Brazil has a project on monitoring Amazonian deforestation that is one of the world's most advanced on real-time deforestation monitoring. Also to be highlighted is the establishment of the Amazonian Fund with regulations on investing in action to prevent, monitor and combat deforestation.
As far as water is concerned, ACTO has begun a process to discuss and design, together with UNEP, GEF and OAS, a programme to tackle the challenge of regional water resources management.
Threats to Biodiversity Rise in the World's Mediterranean-Climate Regions
In the first systematic analysis of threats to the biodiversity of the world's Mediterranean-climate regions, scientists at The Nature Conservancy and UC Davis report that these conservation hotspots are facing significant and increasing pressure. The study, which appears in this week's edition of the journal Diversity and Distributions, is part of a global conservation assessment of the rare Mediterranean biome.
"Throughout human history, the mild climates of Mediterranean regions have fostered growth of major urban centres, vast agricultural zones and dense human populations, all in the midst of some of the rarest biodiversity on Earth", says Dr Rebecca Shaw, a scientist with The Nature Conservancy's California program and the leader of the global assessment.
Mediterranean climates, characterised by dry summers and wet winters, are extremely rare, found on only two per cent of the Earth's land surface, portions of California/Baja California, South Africa, Australia, Chile, and the Mediterranean Basin. Increasing the pace and scale of conservation in Mediterranean regions is critically important to biodiversity protection, because these regions contain 20 per cent of the world's plant species.
"If we are to reduce rates of biodiversity loss, then understanding patterns and trends in threats is of paramount importance," says lead author Dr Emma Underwood, a research scientist at the Information Centre for the Environment at the University of California, Davis.
To this end, scientists from The Nature Conservancy and U. C. Davis analysed changes in land use and population density in the world's five Mediterranean-climate regions.
Overall, population density and urban areas increased in these regions by 13 per cent from 1990 to 2000, while agricultural areas spread by one per cent. Population grew by over 34 million people from 1990 to 2000, twice the population of Chile. Urban areas expanded by 2,110 square miles (5,480 square kilometres), an area about half the size of the nation of Lebanon. The greatest increase in urban area was in California, USA and Baja California, Mexico. Loss of natural habitat to agriculture was greatest in southwest Australia.
Underwood said that urban expansion is worrisome in that it is not only impacting lowlands, which have been the historic urban centres, but is spreading into intact foothills, especially those within commutable distances to major cities. For example, this trend is seen in California's Sierra Nevada foothills and the Sierra de Guadarrama region near Madrid in Spain.
The researchers also analysed the relationship between these threats and the number of at-risk plants and animals. For example, they found that numbers of threatened plant and mammal species increased as the size of the urban footprint and population density grew. These findings indicate the need to accelerate conservation action to outpace threats in the Mediterranean biome. "This information can help support decisions about how best to invest scarce conservation resources," says co-author Kirk Klausmeyer, a scientist with The Nature Conservancy.
"Throughout human history, the mild climates of Mediterranean regions have fostered growth of major urban centres, vast agricultural zones and dense human populations, all in the midst of some of the rarest biodiversity on Earth", says Dr Rebecca Shaw, a scientist with The Nature Conservancy's California program and the leader of the global assessment.
Mediterranean climates, characterised by dry summers and wet winters, are extremely rare, found on only two per cent of the Earth's land surface, portions of California/Baja California, South Africa, Australia, Chile, and the Mediterranean Basin. Increasing the pace and scale of conservation in Mediterranean regions is critically important to biodiversity protection, because these regions contain 20 per cent of the world's plant species.
"If we are to reduce rates of biodiversity loss, then understanding patterns and trends in threats is of paramount importance," says lead author Dr Emma Underwood, a research scientist at the Information Centre for the Environment at the University of California, Davis.
To this end, scientists from The Nature Conservancy and U. C. Davis analysed changes in land use and population density in the world's five Mediterranean-climate regions.
Overall, population density and urban areas increased in these regions by 13 per cent from 1990 to 2000, while agricultural areas spread by one per cent. Population grew by over 34 million people from 1990 to 2000, twice the population of Chile. Urban areas expanded by 2,110 square miles (5,480 square kilometres), an area about half the size of the nation of Lebanon. The greatest increase in urban area was in California, USA and Baja California, Mexico. Loss of natural habitat to agriculture was greatest in southwest Australia.
Underwood said that urban expansion is worrisome in that it is not only impacting lowlands, which have been the historic urban centres, but is spreading into intact foothills, especially those within commutable distances to major cities. For example, this trend is seen in California's Sierra Nevada foothills and the Sierra de Guadarrama region near Madrid in Spain.
The researchers also analysed the relationship between these threats and the number of at-risk plants and animals. For example, they found that numbers of threatened plant and mammal species increased as the size of the urban footprint and population density grew. These findings indicate the need to accelerate conservation action to outpace threats in the Mediterranean biome. "This information can help support decisions about how best to invest scarce conservation resources," says co-author Kirk Klausmeyer, a scientist with The Nature Conservancy.
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