Project NOAH sunk!
Details of the second dialogue on the project to 'build a reef' at
Hantu on
the hantu blog
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/news/pulauhantu/2006/05/update-project-noah-sunk.h\
tml
and habitatnews blog
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/index.php?entry=/marine/20060526-noah_sunk.txt

Dive Hantu this weekend! 28 May (Sun)
Due to last-minute pull-outs, there are lots of places left on the
dive trip. See Hantu's amazing marine life for yourself.
Sign up and more details on http://www.pulauhantu.org/

BWV celebrates 1,000th visitor to reefwalk
-------------------------------------------
Congratulations! This volunteer effort has certainly made a big
difference! more on the reefwalk blog
http://reefwalk.blogspot.com/2006/05/more-than-1000-visitors-to-reef.html

Mynah-and-horse
photos and more about this fascinating relationship
on the bird ecology blog
http://besgroup.blogspot.com/2006/05/myna-horse-relationship.html

Puff-faced water snakes fighting over a fish
action shots on Kwok Wai's wildlife singapore website
http://www.wildsingapore.per.sg/discovery/articles/Puff-faced_Action1.htm

New blog! Sustainable Singapore
-------------------------------
Dickie blogs about issues relating to being a sustainable city,
which means "improving the quality of life in a city.. without
leaving a burden on future generations" He is especially looking to
hear your views on these issues. So leave a comment on his blog!
http://sustainablesingapore.blogspot.com/

Articles in this post
1. More about baby turtles at East Coast: why did they go astray?
2. ASEAN wildlife crime-busting units set up
3. Sipadan damage minimal; foreign media told to stop exaggeration
4. Migrant birds in UK seriously declined: BirdLife report
5. Tropical Timber: protection not enough
6. Global warming ad misleading

More about baby turtles at East Coast
-------------------------------------
Rollerbladers rescue baby turtles at East Coast
by Radha Basu The Straits Times 26 May 06
full article http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/20060506/060525-2.htm

Turtle expert Diong Cheong Hoong of the National Institute of
Education explained that the tiny creatures, which would naturally
follow 'the light in the distant horizon' out to the sea, had
become 'disoriented' by the glare of lights from the beach.

The turtles were eventually released at the nearby much darker
Changi Reclamation Beach, and swam with the tide out into the open
sea.


ASEAN wildlife crime-busting units
----------------------------------
Southeast Asia Plans Wildlife Crime-Busting Units
PlanetArk 26 May 06
full article http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/20060506/060526-2.htm

BANGKOK - Special wildlife crime-busting units will form the core of
Southeast Asia's first coordinated effort against the multi-billion-
dollar illegal trade in animals and plants, officials said on
Thursday.

Plans for the task forces were agreed during a two-day meeting in
Bangkok of police, customs and wildlife officials from the 10-nation
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"They will go after the big guys," Steve Galster, director of
WildAid Thailand, which will help train the units, told Reuters.

The task forces are part of the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network,
launched in December, which aims to target traffickers and criminal
syndicates in a region that accounts for a quarter of the global
illegal wildlife trade.


Sipadan damage minimal
----------------------
Minister: Damage To Corals Near Sipadan Island Minimal;
Foreign Media Told To 'Stop the Exaggeration'
The Underwatertimes 24 May 06
full article http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/20060506/060518-5.htm

Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat said Wednesday the
damage to corals at Sipadan Island caused by a barge on May 14
was "very minimum" but was blown out of proportion by the foreign
media.

Speaking to reporters after briefing the cabinet on the Sipadan
issue, here Wednesday, Chong who is also the State Minister of
Tourism, Culture and Environment said the damage was not
substantial, where only 0.1 per cent of Sipadan's 208 hectares of
ecosystem was affected by the incident.

The whole Sipadan Island ecosystem or coral reef surrounding the
island is about 208 hectares and the island (land area) itself is
only about 13.5 hectares.

"We thank them (foreign media) for their concern. But stop the
exaggeration. Be rational. Malaysians and Sabahans especially are as
concerned as anybody (else) in the world when it comes to
conservation and preservation of the environment.

According to Chong, what angered the government was that the
contractor was not honest when using a large barge to transport
their building materials to the island instead of using the "kompit"
(small boat) which was stated in their application and approved by
the authorities.

He said the contractor had of course been summoned by the Sabah
Parks, and had apologised and admitted that they were in the wrong.

On immediate action to be taken, Chong said the contractor that had
been awarded a RM5 million contract to build public facilities like
sewerage, a clubhouse and toilets for tourists and divers, had been
directed to carry out cleaning works on the affected corals.

Chong said the basic facilities were important to avoid human waste
being directly dumped into the sea, adding that all works on the
island were being suspended as instructed by Chief Minister Datuk
Seri Musa Aman.

Perspective: The Sipadan Saga
-----------------------------
Tony Wu shifts through the debate and gets to the heart of the
matter on the finsonline blog
http://www.finsonline.com/blog/fins/?p=55#more-55


Migrant birds seriously declined
--------------------------------
Migrant Birds From Africa in Serious Decline - Study
PlanetArk 26 May 06
full article http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/20060506/060526-1.htm

SOUTH AFRICA: May 26, 2006 JOHANNESBURG - Several bird species that
make annual migrations between Africa and Europe have experienced
drastic population declines and scientists are not exactly sure why,
conservationists said on Friday.

The findings were revealed in a study by the Britain-based Royal
Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and BirdLife
International.

"Scientists fear that their dwindling numbers -- well over 50 per
cent down in some cases -- may be a warning of widespread
environmental damage, which could soon affect man as well," the RSPB
said in a statement. "Climate change, drought and desertification in
Africa, and massive pesticide use on African farmland may all be to
blame for the declines of once common UK birds such as the spotted
flycatcher, wheatear, wood warbler and turtle dove," it said.

Tropical Timber
---------------
Tropical Timber is Better Protected, Not Safe - Report
Story by Jeremy Lovell PlanetArk 26 May 06
full article http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/20060506/060526-3.htm

LONDON - Developing nations have got far better at protecting rain
forests over the past two decades but are a long way short of doing
enough to save the crucial global resource, a new report said on
Thursday.

While the area of tropical timber under sustainable management has
surged to 36 million hectares from less than one million in 1988,
that represents less than 5 percent of all tropical forests, the
International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) said.

Rain forest under sustainable management is roughly the size of
Germany, but an area a third of that magnitude is being cleared each
year for timber or crops, the ITTO said in a report that took four
years to compile.

Poore praised Malaysia for its long-standing legal framework for
managing forests in a sustainable way and said Bolivia, Peru, Congo
Republic, Gabon and Ghana had made good progress.

"There has been a huge increase in the amount of illegal logging --
which undermines the price of timber that is legally and sustainably
logged," Poore told Reuters in an interview.

"The only way to get proper policing is to persuade governments that
their forests are worth protecting," Poore said. "They must make
forests managed sustainably for timber worth more than clearing them
for crops."


Global warming ad misleading
----------------------------
TV ads that doubt climate change are 'misleading'
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington The Independent 25 May 06
full article http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/20060506/060518-3.htm

A senior scientist has condemned as "a deliberate effort to mislead"
a series of television adverts produced by an oil industry-funded
lobbying group that seeks to portray concern over global warming as
alarmism.

The adverts, produced by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI),
seek to argue that despite widespread agreement about the growing
evidence of climate change, other evidence suggests the opposite.
The adverts catchphrase says: "Carbon dioxide - they call it
pollution, we call it life."

Green campaigners have long accused the CEI of producing misleading
and inaccurate claims about global warming and the role of mankind's
use of fossil fuels.

In reality, there is a broad scientific consensus that the planet is
warming and that human activity is an important factor in this
change.

The CEI has powerful friends. The organisation has received more
than $1.5m (£800,000) in funding from ExxonMobil, the world's
biggest oil company, to help fund its efforts to question the
evidence of climate change.

Last year The Independent revealed how one of the CEI's officials
was behind a lobbying effort to undermine support for the Kyoto
treaty among European nations. The plan sought to bring together
corporations, academics, commentators and lobbyists to undermine EU
support for the treaty.

The official, Chris Horner, met with representatives from a number
of leading companies including Lufthansa, Ford Europe and the German
utility giant RWE. Mr Horner said his approaches failed to interest
the corporations.

Myron Ebell, CEI's director of global warming policy - who was
censured by the House of Commons last year after criticising the
Government's chief scientist - defended the adverts and
said "alarmists were swamping the ability to have a reasonable
debate".