A spate of all but unrestrained development projects across SE Asia – from Burma to Vietnam to Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos – is spelling doom for the region’s tropical forests and the uniquely rich ecosystems they support.

Near Mong La, Burma. Pic: Isabel Esterman (Flickr CC)

What’s replacing these forests varies: agricultural projects like coffee and palm plantations, outright deforestation for timber and paper, mining and infrastructure projects like roads or hydropower plants. Some of the deforestation is legal and some illegal. The results are the same: the loss of carbon sinks coupled with the release of astronomical amounts of CO2, the displacement of local peoples, habitat destruction and a staggering loss of biodiversity.

From the Guardian and Yale 360:

The scope of the forest loss was highlighted earlier this month by the conservation group WWF, which noted that from 1973, near the end of the Vietnam War, to 2009, the greater Mekong region lost nearly one-third of its remaining forest cover. Vietnam and Thailand suffered the most forest destruction, each losing 43 percent of their forest cover, according to an analysis of satellite imagery by WWF.

In Indonesia’s Aceh province, home to the largest range of biodiversity in the Asia-Pacific region, a proposal to transform protected forestland into areas for development has met with a global outcry and a petition to save the forests.

From the Jakarta Post:

Data from the Coalition of Aceh Rainforest Movements said that the new spatial planning rules would allow the conversion of around 1.2 million hectares of Aceh’s existing 3.78 million hectares of protected forests into non-forest areas, production forests as well as roads.

Although development in Asia does look to be unstoppable no matter what the cost, there are ways to mitigate deforestation, species loss and humanitarian crises while bolstering conservation. Petitions like the above are one such effort. Supporting conservation groups is another. Pressuring companies like Asia Pulp and Paper does seem to have some effect.

From Australia’s ABC News:

It is partly this thinking which led the Indonesian business Asian Pulp and Paper (APP) to boldly announce in February that it would be ending all deforestation within its supply chain. The announcement came after Greenpeace and other NGOs had undertaken an international campaign focused on their environmental performance and particularly their role in exploiting the habitat of charismatic fauna such as the Sumatran Tiger, Orangutan and rare Sumatran Rhino. While keeping a watchful eye on how the policy is implemented, Greenpeace has now called off the campaign.

In an age of business dominated by image and branding, at least consumers and activists still have some tactics that can influence the practices of giant corporations.

Ulu Masen forest, Aceh, Indonesia. Pic: Abbie Trayler-Smith / Panos Pictures / Department for International Development (DFID)

Worldwide, 32.4 million people were displaced by natural disasters in 2012, according to a report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC). That’s roughly twice the number of displacements that occurred the previous year.

Monsoon flooding in Assam, India. Pic: Dominique Feron EU/ECHO 2012

In 2012, 14 out of 20 largest natural disasters in terms of displacement were in Asia.

Over the past five years, 81% of global displacement happened in Asia. It should come as no surprise that the two countries with the largest populations – India and China – also lead the world in displacements due to natural disasters.

From the Voice of America:

India suffered the world’s largest displacement in 2012 due to repeated and relentless flooding, which was further compounded again by inter-communal tensions. So in India we saw six-point-nine million people displaced by monsoon floods in the northeast.

–Clare Spurrell, chief spokesperson for the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center

This event was also the 4^th largest of the past five years.

China, however, saw double India’s number of nature-driven displacements from 2008 through 2012. Natural hazards in China have forced 50 million people from their homes over the past five years – 35% of the global total. The two largest events occurred on Chinese soil: 2010’s monsoon floods (15.2 million people) and the 2008 Sichuan earthquake (15 million).

Jundao, Sichuan after 2008 earthquake. Pic: Miniwiki (Wikimedia Commons)

Extreme weather events accounted for 98% of last year’s 32.4 million displacements in China.

From China Dialogue:

More recent events have also wreaked havoc in China, notably a string of severe summer storms in 2012 which collectively broke a number of extreme weather records. The worst of them, Typhoon Haikui, displaced more than 2 million people in eastern China in August after destroying more than 4,400 homes in Zhejiang province alone.

According to the IDMC, deaths associated with major weather events are falling, but displacements are expected to continue to rise. The increase is attributed to a mix of population growth, rapid urbanization and an increase in both the severity and frequency of extreme weather due to climate change.

The world’s top five displacements due to natural disasters from 2008-2012:

1. 2010 China: monsoon floods 15.2 million
2. 2008 China: Sichuan (Wenchuan) earthquake 15.0 million
3. 2010 Pakistan: monsoon floods 11.0 million
4. 2012 North-east India: monsoon floods – 6.9 million
5. 2012 Nigeria floods 6.1 million

(Source: internal-displacement.org)

Access the entire IDMC report here.

Everest glacier, pic: NASA/GSFC/Kimberly Casey

But the consequences of melting glaciers in the Himalayas are far more serious than Everest’s changing topography. Millions – perhaps even billions – of people downstream depend on glacial melt for drinking water, irrigation and hydropower. A loss in melt water could be catastrophic, especially during the dry season.

From National Geographic:

The towering ranges surrounding the Tibetan Plateau give rise to many of Asia’s great rivers—including the Yangtze, Yellow, Mekong, and Ganges. These rivers provide critical water for as many as two billion people—almost one-third of Earth’s population.

The research, presented by Sudeep Thakuri of the University of Milan in Italy, who is also a resident of Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley, did not establish a link between the ice melt and the usual suspect: greenhouse gases. Nevertheless he and his colleagues suspect a connection.

From CBS News:

In order to track the temperatures and precipitation rates, his team used hydro-meteorological data from the Nepal Climate Observatory and Nepal’s Department of Hydrology. They found that the area has had a 1.08-degree-Fahrenheit increase in temperatures and 3.9-inch decrease in precipitation since 1992.

[That’s a 0.6 Celsius increase in temperature and a precipitation decrease of 100mm.]

Mountain climbers have long observed a decrease in ice and snow cover on Everest. Though their observations are only anecdotal, they have noticed the snowline move higher over the years. Climbers have also noted similar losses in ice cover on other peaks in the Himalayan region, such as Cho Oyo.

The findings of Thakuri’s team were presented on May 13th at the Meeting of the Americas conference in Cancun, Mexico, an event organized and co-sponsored by the American Geophysical Union.

Village of Ghat on the Dudh Kosi River, Nepal. Pic: John Pavelka (Flickr CC)

From the Deccan Chronicle:

In subsequent research, Thakuri plans on exploring the climate-glacier relationship further with the aim of integrating the glaciological, hydrological and climatic data to understand the behavior of the hydrological cycle and future water availability.

Local residents have also noted changes over the years. They use the extent of ice to gauge when to plant potato crops, for example. There is little debate in Nepal as to the validity of global warming or climate change.

A two-year moratorium on deforestation is set to expire and you can be sure that the palm oil, paper and timber industries are paying close attention. Some members have already vocally opposed any continuation of the deal. Fortunately, signs are pointing to president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signing an extension. The government’s head of forestry sector reform also supports extending the ban.

Pic: Patrick Barry (Flickr CC)

From Reuters:

The world’s biggest producer of palm oil imposed a two-year moratorium on forest clearing in May 2011 under a US$1 billion (S$1.2 billion) climate deal with Norway aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation, covering 65 million hectares of forests, but this is due to expire on May 20.

Greenpeace, which has been instrumental in slowing the destruction of forests in Indonesia, had this to say (from the Guardian):

Extending the moratorium for another two years in Indonesia is good news for the climate and for increasingly endangered species such as the orangutan and Sumatran tiger. Indonesia’s rainforests need protection from relentless exploitation by palm oil, and pulp and paper companies.

– John Sauven, executive director, Greenpeace UK

Preventing further mass deforestation in Indonesia is not only crucial for the habitats of orangutans and Sumatran tigers, but also in terms of climate change. Deforestation is a major contributor of greenhouse gases, not only from clearing them – especially with slash and burn techniques – but also due to the fact that dense tropical forests absorb so much CO2. When cleared, these carbon sinks can transform into major sources of ghg emissions, as in the case of peat forests, which when drained release huge amounts of CO2 as well as acidify rivers and streams.

Pic: Tambako The Jaguar (Flickr CC)

Illegal deforestation is already a huge problem for tigers, orangutans and the entire world due to its contribution to climate change. We don’t need sanctioned mass deforestation to compound the nightmare.

In light of what the International Animal Rescue (IAR) has revealed to be taking place West Kalimantan on Indonesian Borneo, we know that orangutans simply cannot tolerate more of their habitat being destroyed. Sign this petition to lend your voice to the fight for conservation and against orangutan habitat destruction.

Most of China’s lead pollution comes from metal refineries, but it has also been linked to the poorly regulated e-waste recycling industry. Lead poisoning can cause nerve and kidney damage as well as mental and cognitive problems in children, who are especially vulnerable. Children often come into contact with lead by playing in soil that has been contaminated by nearby processing plants.

A factory on the Yangtze with what looks to be terraced rice farms behind. Pic: eutrophication&hypoxia (Flickr CC)

A joint study by the National Resources Defense Council, several Chinese Universities and regional government departments in Yunnan province measured lead levels in the soil of school grounds located downwind from a smelting plant and mine in the northeast of the province. Researchers found lead at 2 to 7 times that of nationally acceptable levels.

From China Dialogue:

The failings in preventing and dealing with lead pollution were clear: emission controls were inadequate or not implemented; there was no adequate buffer zone between the smelter plant and residential areas; monitoring was limited and patchy; and emissions were effectively going unmonitored. Serious soil pollution was going untreated.

Poisoning of workers and children as well as a lack of compensation for the victims of lead pollution has lead to some serious backlashes. In 2011 a mob invaded a battery factory in eastern China, smashing up their offices after discovering the firm had ignored safety standards, resulting in the poisoning of villagers. Tests revealed that 233 adults and 99 children had lead concentrations in their blood of up to seven times that of accepted safety levels. Unfortunately this case is far from unique.

Recently, dangerous lead has been found in rice exported from Asia. The highest levels (up to 60 times US safety standards for children) were found in rice from China and Taiwan, with dangerous levels also found in rice originating in India, Bhutan and Thailand. Significant amounts of lead were not only found in Asian rice, but also in exports from Italy and the Czech Republic.

From the Daily Mail:

Infants and children consuming the rice would be exposed to lead levels 30 to 60 times higher than the tolerable safety limits set by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said the study authors.

For Asian children, who consume more rice, exposures could be up to 120 times higher.

For adults, daily exposure levels were 20 to 40 times higher than the FDA guidelines.

Rice exports from other countries, including Pakistan and Brazil, have yet to be analyzed.

A factory in Chonqing, pic: Leo Fung (Flickr CC)

Residents of these areas are vulnerable to a variety of climate- and weather-related problems. Those who live in coastal areas are experiencing a large increase in salinity in their water supplies – a direct result of climate change. 

pic: Eleanor Church/ CAFOD, October 2012

From the Thomas Reuters Foundation:

Experts expect the struggle to find potable water to intensify during the summer. Shareful Hassan, a consultant on geographic information systems and a researcher on the World Bank study, says surface water sources have already dried up in many parts of the country, which will have a heavy impact on access to drinking water, sanitation and ecosystems.

Stresses on groundwater in Dhaka are also causing seawater to leak into the city’s aquifers. Rainfall has become less predictable and halved overall over the past five years. Lack of drinking water is one of the complaints being levelled regarding how sweatshop workers, like the ones who recently perished in Dhaka, are treated. Though this was down to unfair labor conditions, a general fresh water crisis means that those at the bottom of the social ladder will suffer even more.

While there is little hope of preventing climate change from further escalating dangerous conditions in Bangladesh, strategies are focusing on adaptation. Extreme weather events are expected to worsen in the coming years and poor nations like Bangladesh do not have the capacity to cope with them.

Under the leadership of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina a National Climate Change Trust Fund of US$350 million has been established – a paltry sum for a country so large facing a threat so severe.

At the 2013 Community Climate Adaption Summit in Dhaka, Hasina expressed her frustration with the limited aid Bangladesh has received from developed nations, whose long time industrialization has been the historical driver of climate change.

She is quoted in Responding to Climate Change:

The rich countries must demonstrate their leadership in this matter. More delay in mitigation will mean greater need for adaptation and more suffering for the communities and the poor of the world.

It’s difficult for the people of many countries like Bangladesh to face the double burden of poverty and impacts of climate change. It’s not only difficult for us, but also unfair and unjust.

For the sake of sustainability of environment and development, we need to act now without delay, individually, locally, nationally, regionally and globally. This needs to be addressed at the highest priority.

–PM Sheikh Hasina

pic: Md. Abdul Quayyum/Oxfam

And cracking down means working together. After all what’s the point of stepping up efforts in South Africa if Zimbabwe and Mozambique, which share a huge transnational park with their neighbor, don’t up their efforts as well? While South Africa is home to most of the rhinos and therefore the majority of poaching, their security is also tighter than, say, Mozambique. After a group of 15 rhinos recently crossed from South Africa into Mozambique they were promptly poached, effectively wiping out the last rhinos left in the Southeast African nation. Mozambique is more lenient against poachers and reportedly has lax security. Park rangers are also paid less than in South Africa and are therefore more easily corrupted by poachers.

Healthy rhinos in Kruger Park, South Africa. Pic: Brian Scott (Flickr CC)

That’s the supply side, now what about demand? China and particularly Vietnam have been singled out for their consumption of illegal rhino horn. Demand in these countries is growing along with the burgeoning middle classes. Among a certain section of affluent Chinese and Vietnamese, rhino horn is considered a status symbol, aphrodisiac and cancer cure. A recent WWF campaign points out that rhino horn is made of the same stuff as human nails (keratin) and is just as effective as a medicine, i.e., not effective at all.

So the NGOs are doing their bit in places like Vietnam, Thailand and China, where the conservation effort has received a helping hand in the form of former NBA star Yao Ming. But what about the governments of these countries?

Vietnam, at least, may be starting to finally get its act together. A recent seizure of seven kilos of rhino horn by customs officials may not sound like much, but seven kilos means two rhinos were killed. And at $5,000 a gram, that’s a considerable amount of product that will never enter the market – two rhino horns that could never be of any use to anyone except the rhinos who were killed for them.

From AFP:

The two horns, believed to have come from Africa and worth an estimated $365,000, were found hidden in the luggage of a passenger who arrived in Ho Chi Minh City on a flight from Doha on Sunday, the southern city’s Phap Luat newspaper reported.

Vietnam has also agreed to cooperate with the principal source country for illegal rhinoceros horn, South Africa. The two will exchange names of registered hunters in order to stop smugglers posing as trophy hunters. Why South Africa doesn’t simply ban the trophy hunting of Rhinos as well is another question, but I think the answer lies in the bulging pockets of a small collection of game wardens and politicians.

From another AFP report:

Records of rhino hunting permits show Asians are the largest group of applicants.

Thirteen out of 41 permits granted in KwaZulu-Natal province from 2009 to 2011 went to Vietnamese.

The countries’ cooperation plan includes setting up a gene bank and DNA analysis training to track confiscated horns.

Again, pretty straightforward stuff. South Africa should just ban the hunt and they then won’t have to worry about racially profiling Vietnamese trophy hunters or conducting expensive DNA analyses to distinguish legal trophies from poached horn.

Read more on that story here.

A victim of poaching in Kruger Park. Pic: John Karwoski (Flickr CC)

In April poachers shot and killed the last 15 rhinos in Mozambique’s portion of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. The poachers are believed to have been working with corrupt park rangers. These were the last rhinos left over from an original population of 300 that roamed the park when it was founded just over 10 years ago. This recent event has prompted South Africa to discuss fencing off their section of the park. The poached rhinos are believed to have crossed into Mozambique from South Africa.

A rare survivor of a poaching attack, Kariega Game Reserve, pic: Alcuin TK Lai

According to conservationists, demand for rhino horn as a traditional medicine and aphrodisiac in Asia, coupled with the low wages of the parks game wardens (the very people entrusted to protect the rhinos), created a perfect storm for the loss of these rare animals. Punishments for poaching in Mozambique are also much more lenient than in neighboring South Africa and security is reportedly far more lax.

From the Telegraph:

The trade in rhino horn has seen the numbers of rhino killed spiral in recent years. Over the border in Kruger, the South African part of the transfrontier park, 180 have been killed so far this year, out of a national total of 249. Last year, 668 rhino were poached in South Africa, a 50 per cent increase over the previous year.

According to a SAPA report, this year’s total for poached rhinos in South Africa stands a bit higher at 273. Despite ramping up efforts to fight poaching, with poachers also increasing their efforts the 2013 death toll is set to surpass last year’s.

Efforts to curb poaching include an ad campaign in Vietnam (a major consumer of illegal rhino horn) portraying rhinos with human hands or feet instead of horns (both human nails and rhino horns are made of keratin). Another novel technique used by private game reserve Sabi Sand is injecting the horns with a pink dye and chemicals that would make a person sick if he or she were to ingest them.

Read more from AP.

The state of Asia’s rhinoceros population offers a glimpse into the future of their African counterparts. Javan rhinos number around 50 and only survive in Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park. This pitifully small population of Javan rhinos is threatened by poachers and invasive sugar palm trees, which are replacing the plants that the rhinos depend on for grazing. The Ujung Kulon Indonesia Foundation (Yukindo) is fighting to conserve the remaining rhinos in the park by planting suitable food for the rhinos, and weeding out sugar palm trees.

From the Jakarta Post:

Other Yukindo activities include local empowerment programs for people living in the Ujung Kulon National Park by inviting them to contribute in the Javan rhino conservation effort.

So much bloodshed (both rhino and human), money and effort for a product that has absolutely no medical or sexual benefits.

Example of WWF/Traffic anti rhino horn campaign for social media, pic: wwf.panda.org

Professor John McCauley, director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Influenza at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research in London, is quoted in the Guardian:

The cases are going up daily – about 20% have died, 20% have recovered and the rest are still sick. The WHO considers this a serious threat. We’re on an alert and we’re developing diagnostics and vaccines specifically against the virus.

Chickens in Nanjing, pic: Nemetz33 (Flickr CC)

Taiwan is increasing health security measures due to the large amount of visitors from mainland China during the Chinese April 29-May 1 holiday break.

From the China Post/ANN:

Nearly half of the group tourists come from the areas under Taiwan’s Level 2 travel advisory. Those areas are now classified as outbreak zones of the avian virus. The advisory asks travelers to exercise extreme caution and take strong protective measures if they have to visit the Chinese provinces of Jiangsu, Henan, Zhejiang, Anhui, Shandong, Fujian, Jiangxi and Hunan, or the cities of Shanghai and Beijing.

Taiwan’s Center for Disease Control has urged all visitors from mainland China who are coming down with fever and other flu-like symptoms to return home for immediate treatment, despite there being no evidence that the virus can be transferred from human to human.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong authorities are increasing the amount of tests for H7N9 on locally raised chickens. So far tests have focused on “imported” (mainland) birds in Hong Kong, since local chickens receive regular tests for bird flu throughout their lives. So far Hong Kong pigeons have tested negative, though their mainland counterparts have been found to carry the virus. 

Some quick facts on the new bird flu strain:

• People infected with H7N9 experience “severe” pneumonia and sometimes blood poisoning and organ failure.
• So far the virus cannot be spread from human to human, with nearly all infections being traced back to victims coming in contact with poultry.
• The animals themselves are not at risk of death from contracting the virus.
• H7N9 is considered a “new” virus partly because there appears to be no immunity, even among older age groups.
• The last major bird flu episode, 1997’s H5N1, killed over 300 people.

Read more on the H7N9 bird flu outbreak on BBC News

A chicken and duck meat seller in Shanghai, pic: Remko Tanis (Flickr CC)

Threats to the Great Barrier Reef include climate change, overfishing, pollution (mostly the agricultural runoff of fertilizer and pesticides), coral-eating crown of thorns starfish, tropical cyclones and the shipping industry, in the form of oil spills and coastal development.

Australia's coal ports, several of which are on the Great Barrier Reef, pic: Zouillon (Wikimedia Commons)

Much of the Reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, in which shipping, fishing and tourism are “regulated”. Yet oil spills still happen within its limits.

At a time when the GBR is more vulnerable than ever (over half has been lost in the last 27 years), the threats posed by Australia’s growing fossil fuel and mining industries are taking center stage in the fight to save the Reef.

From the Independent:

The United Nations’ World Heritage advisory body recently expressed serious misgivings aboutplans to export uranium across the Reef. Unesco also warned earlier this year that the world heritage-listed site could be declared in danger if Australia failed to guard against gas, mining and port developments.

Furthermore, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority warned against the development of a coal port, identifying “seven risks with an extreme consequence rating”. Yet government bungling and collusion with industry are clouding the waters of environmental responsibility.

The idea that industry – any industry – can be trusted to act responsibly and protect the natural environment must be abandoned. It does not matter if protecting the Reef is in the interest of Australia’s tourism and fishing industries – they will invariably go for the fast buck, what to speak of mining and fossil fuel corporations. This is largely because an “industry” is not a monolithic entity, but composed of various competing companies, which have limited life spans. According to data on US firms, companies exist for an average of 15 years, down from 67 in the 1920s. This means that corporations are more fly-by-night than ever. In short, despite all the talk of sustainable industry, it is generally not in the interest of individual corporations to do anything but make as much money as they can in the shortest amount of time – and they know it. 

In short, what may be in the long-term interest of an industry is not by any means necessarily in the interest of the individual companies that make up the industry.

In Australia, as in the rest of the world, the government is in bed with corporations. Saving the GBR is therefore down to direct action environmental groups like Greenpeace and campaigns like the one started by Steve Irwin’s father, which are taking up protecting the Reef where government initiatives are falling short.

Aerial shot of a portion of the Great Barrier Reef, pic: Nickj (Wikimedia Commons)

Then there was the 2011 spill in the Bohai Sea, a cooperative move by a US private oil company and the Chinese public sector. It created an oil slick of 840 square km (324 sq mi). People only found out about that one after a micro blog leaked information about the spill some 2.5 weeks after it occurred.

So it takes so-called netizens to get the word out and eventually (hopefully) affect environmental policy. Transparency is progressing, but largely because the government has no choice. People care more, they have cameras, phones, blogs and social networking sites – things that help drive the Chinese economy, but also public awareness. I touched on this last week regarding the influence of people power via social media on China’s clean air policy.

Coal mine in Inner Mongolia, pic: Herry Lawford (Flickr CC)

The problem is that people are simply not aware about what is happening in their own country. But they are starting to know – more and more. For example, check out this audio slide show from environmental photo-journalist Lu Guang in cooperation with Greenpeace. It shows the extent of some of these spills, plus other little-known ecological disasters. For example, open cast coal mining in Inner Mongolia is creating deserts. Mining operations drain the water from already-arid lands in order to get at the coal seams. What’s left is wasteland. What’s more is that coal dust blows all over the surrounding fields, poisoning plant and animal life, such as sheep. I don’t know if netizens can solve that problem, but I hope these photographs can help stop this ridiculously destructive practice.

Now for the good news. Yes, there is good news!

China is set to sign up to the Montreal Protocol, which would see them phase out the use of HCFCs. HCFCs have the double environmental destructive power of both depleting ozone and being potent greenhouse gases. By signing up China receives US$385m from the protocol’s Multilateral Fund.

From a press release by the Environmental Investigation Agency:

HCFCs are chemicals used mainly in air conditioning, refrigeration, foam blowing and solvents. They are also used as feedstock for other products such as Teflon. [F]eedstock use of HCFCs is not regulated by the Montreal Protocol as it is deemed that the HCFCs are entirely consumed in the process and not emitted to the atmosphere. However, the production of HCFC also results in the unwanted production of HFC-23, a super greenhouse gas 14,800 times more damaging to the climate than CO₂. While destruction of HFC-23 is easily done and inexpensive, some Chinese plants allow HFC-23 by-product to be vented, resulting in growing atmospheric concentrations.

HCFCs as feedstock? You mean animals eat refrigerants. 

Anyway, according to NASA satellite data, atmospheric ozone levels in 2011 were close to the lowest in the “modern instrumental era”.

China’s HCFC phase out is scheduled to take effect over the next 17 years.

Arctic ozone cover, March 19, 2011, pic: NASA Earth Observatory

According to Greenpeace the action was to call attention to the fact that Australia is set to double its coal exports within the next 10 years. The environmental activist organization is attempting to stifle Australia’s booming coal industry, the country’s  “greatest contribution to climate change”.

From the Greenpeace website:

Right now there is no political solution to this problem because all the major political parties have committed to doubling and trebling our coal exports. So, in the absence of any action being taken by our political leaders, Greenpeace is calling on all Australians to join it in physically preventing the expansion of coal, through peaceful civil disobedience.

The activists boarded the cargo ship from inflatable boats Wednesday morning while it was still in the Australian waters of the Coral Sea. They then delivered a letter to the captain informing that they have set up camp at the ship’s bow.

Parramatta, NSW. Australia has seen a wave of anti-coal sentiment. pic: Lock the Gate Alliance (Flickr CC)

Greenpeace claims that the expansion in coal exports is a serious threat to the Great Barrier Reef, not only because of warming temperatures, but also from shipping-related issues. From the Guardian:

Greenpeace say the coal export expansion planned in Queensland will further threaten the Great Barrier Reef through dredging, coastal construction and increased shipping.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, already threatened by multiple factors, is considered one of the “seven natural wonders of the world”. It is home to 400 coral species, 1,500 species of fish and 240 bird species.

Australian Coal Association CEO Nikki Williams responded to Greenpeace’s actions in the following statement (as quoted by Reuters):

We need to ensure that our sector remains internationally competitive to ensure that Australia benefits from the sustainable development of its coal resources. The Australian people have not given Greenpeace a veto over its economic future.

Likewise, an editorial in The Australian by a pair of economists at RMIT University focuses on the supposed employment and economic benefits of coal expansion, including that it keeps the countries electricity generators going.

Phasing out coalmining means turning off the lights, while phasing out coal exports means turning off other people’s lights and economic growth.

So even just phasing out coal would not only mean that Australians would be without electric light, but they would also be robbing poor Asians of the chance to light their own homes. 

That’s a bit weak. Everyone knows that there are individuals and groups that stand to make a lot (or a little, depending on who you are) of money off of coal’s expansion. That is the only real pro-coal argument, is it not? Saying that cutting coal in favor of renewables will catapult both Australia and Korea into some sort of pre-industrial Dark Age insults the intelligence of anyone with half a brain. It also ignores every single environmental and human health issue connected to coal.

Anti coal station rally, Victoria, pic: Takver (Flickr CC)

The main gist of the documentary is that the koala’s habitat has been drastically reduced since the European colonization of Australia, something that continues to take place at a disturbing pace. Koalas need room to roam and enough eucalyptus forest to eat and take shelter in. If they have to cross open fields and roads they are extremely vulnerable to cars, predators (mainly domestic and feral dogs) and even cattle, who don’t like the sight of koalas traipsing on their turf.

A koala living on a reserve on Phillip Island, pic: Justin Otto (Flickr CC)

Check out these photos of a “confused” koala who was apparently expecting his home forest range to still be there, but arrived to find that it had been logged.

Koalas would have been moved out of their homes in preparation for planned logging activities. It is common for koalas to roam back to their home range afterwards and become confused to find nothing there. A worker noticed a koala had been sitting stationary in broad daylight on top of wood piles for over an hour.

–Leanne Taylor, General Manager for Australia’s Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service (WIRES)

Of course these threats are on top of normal, natural phenomena that regularly occur in Australia such as droughts and wildfires, which are now widely believed to be exacerbated by man-made climate change.

Despite not being considered nationally endangered (they are threatened or “vulnerable” in Queensland and New South Wales), the koala’s population has been extremely reduced.

Two more serious threats to the koala have come in the form of sexually transmitted diseases: chlamydia and Koala retrovirus (KoRV), a koala HIV equivalent. In some areas of Australia, as much as 90% of koala populations are infected with chlamydia. On its own chlamydia can cause blindness, infertility, infections and death. When coupled with an immune system-compromising virus like KoRV, it is far deadlier.

From the Guardian:

In some areas such as south-west Queensland – once home to Australia’s largest inland koala population – the effects of disease and other factors have been so profound that numbers have dropped from an estimated 60,000 in 1990 to 11,000 last year – with some 4,000 koalas dying annually nationwide.

Fortunately scientists have been making considerable progress in their understanding of the koala’s immune system.

Read more and listen to the audio report on PRI’s The World.

pic: Michael Fontenot (Flickr CC)

The fact is that China is full of green innovations, environmentall- minded investment and a growing eco-consciousness. I read about that stuff pretty often. But it tends to get overshadowed by things like deadly levels of pollution, the rampant trade in endangered wildlife and rivers full of dead pigs.

Let’s face it: the problem is capitalism, whether it’s scary Chinese “communist” style or wrapped up in tasty Western liberalism. You want industrialization and economic growth (and all the powers of the world do, pretty much everywhere and in any way possible) you’re going to get serious environmental problems, in both the short term (pollution) and long term (climate change), what to speak of forever (extinctions).

Shanghai, pic: Kartika Angkawijaya (Flickr CC)

China is also outgrowing its status as a “developing nation”. Sure, it’s still developing. China is enormous and no matter how many megalopolises they’ve made in the past decade, there are still oodles rudimentary villages and urban poor. But those megalopolises… they’re larger, more developed, modern and high-tech than anything in any other so-called developing nation. They’re downright science fiction-y.

As cliché and eye-roll inducing as it may sound to some, public opinion as expressed on social media is making a difference in China’s environmental policy.

From CNN:

At the beginning of 2011, when the government revised its air quality standards, it stated in the first draft that PM 2.5 would not be monitored or disclosed. And then people made such an outcry over the Internet, especially through the microblogs. Eventually, the government changed its policy by the end of the year.

–Author and environmentalist Ma Jun

The next step would be to actually reduce the air pollution that is claiming as many as 700,000 to 1.4 million lives per year.

But transparency is a start. From the non-profit development organization the Asia Foundation’s In Asia news site:

2008 and 2009 were milestone years for environmental law in China. The work of IPE and others has shown that public disclosure of the sources and types of pollution in China can lead to real changes, whether by placing direct pressure on polluters or, in the case of manufacturers, by providing citizens and civil society organizations with information they can use to encourage multinational corporations to pressure their suppliers to clean up. And, encouragingly, the PITI [Pollution Information Transparency Index] score (averaged across all 113 cities) has improved each year since 2009.

So: baby steps in transparency, addressing pollution and climate change among giant leaps in industry, economic development (including “green” industries) and and all the pollution and climate change that goes with it.

See this piece from the Guardian and China Dialogue for perspectives on China’s role on the international environmental stage.

Qingdao, pic: Franco Rabazzo (Flickr CC)

According to the US Geological Survey, 30% of the Earth’s untapped gas reserves and 13% of its undiscovered oil are located in the Arctic region.

From Reuters:

By mid-century, the quickest way to get goods from Asia to the U.S. East Coast might well be right over the North Pole, according to a University of California-Los Angeles study.

Arctic Sea Ice Hits Smallest Extent In Satellite Era, pic: NASA/Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio

Icelandic president Olafur Ragnar Grimsson thinks emerging Asian economies, particularly those with an interest in Arctic oil and new shipping lanes, should play a larger role in the region’s policy because, “There is no country that will escape the consequences, either through rising sea levels or extreme weather patterns.”

From the Guardian:

Grimsson told an audience at the National Press Club that in every meeting with Asian leaders this year, from China, South Korea, Singapore and India, his counterparts had sought observer status on the Arctic Council.

Maybe Grimsson is being more politically pragmatic than idealistic. Climate change is happening and we are not doing enough to even slow it down.

China and Iceland have recently negotiated a free trade agreement. Iceland will sell more fish to China. China’s motivation is obviously resource exploitation and future shipping routes. All thanks to global warming.

Arctic ice. Pic: Pink floyd88 a (Wikimedia Commons)

Climate change is also opening up more Arctic waters to fishing, areas that have never been regulated because they have been impossible to fish in. Fish have always lived there, but under cover of ice. Until now. Though regulation is necessary from a conservation standpoint, any new agreement will principally be a way to carve up fish stocks (and limit catch) between those countries with political and economic clout to fish in Arctic waters.

From the New York Times:

Talks are scheduled for later this month among diplomats and fisheries officials from Norway, Denmark, Canada, the United States and Russia. Most concern is focused on newly ice-free waters above the Bering Strait, above the exclusive economic zones of Russia and the United States, and now accessible to trawler fleets from hungry Pacific Ocean nations like China and Japan.

Dwindling resources, growing population, climate change, global industrialization… Not sure I see much of a bright spot in any of these developments. The silver lining of less emissions due to shorter shipping routes is probably grasping at straws, right?

But there is one Iranian scientist who might. You see, he’s invented a “time machine” that can predict the future. And no, it’s not also a hot tub.

Tehran scientist Ali Razeghi’s device can fit into a computer case. But a “time machine” is a bit of an unfair moniker, but that’s the media for you. Razeghi’s machine is not for jetting into the future and fighting morlocks or going back to poison Hitler’s bratwurst. By predicting the next eight years of an individual’s life, it’s more of a short-term silicon Nostradamus – who incidentally wasn’t that good at predicting the future.

Statue of Nostradamus in the Museum of Tabriz, Iran, pic: Babak Farrokhi (Flickr CC)

From the Telegraph:

Razeghi says Iran’s government can predict the possibility of a military confrontation with a foreign country, and forecast the fluctuation in the value of foreign currencies and oil prices by using his new invention.

Sounds a bit like a piece of probability software, albeit in a hardware package. Unfortunately we don’t have much more information than that, especially in light of Iran’s state-run Fars News Agency deleting the original story. It was in Farsi anyway.

For more on the possibilities and issues with time travel, quantum leaping and all that, check out this piece in National Geographic.

In other far-out, science fiction-y news, the search for Big Foot has come to Asia. Yes, the Animal Planet series Finding Bigfoot has filmed segments in Vietnam.

From the Philippine Star:

The team journeys to exotic Vietnam in search of the Wildman, a large, bi-pedal ape similar to Bigfoot in its ability to elude man. Although little is known about this creature, the country’s leading expert on the subject guides the team to Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, where they brave the dangerous jungle and stumble upon some unexpected surprises. When local villagers come forward with stories of their own encounters, the team narrows in on a potential hotspot and breaks out a popular bigfooting technique to prove that the Vietnamese Wildman is more than just folklore.

Sound stupid?

Well, renowned chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall finds the whole Bigfoot/Sasquatch/Yeti legend interesting enough and she’s pretty clever, right? Read more about that here.

Could Bigfoot be a remnant of an ancient genus of ape called Gigantopithecus, which stood as high as 3 meters (10 feet) tall and reached a weight of 540 kg (1,200 pounds)? They also lived in Vietnam. It’s about as plausible as the Loch Ness Monster being a dinosaur I suppose, although I always thought Scotland was a bit cold for dinosaurs. I mean, if there were any plasiosaurs left in the world, surely they’d choose somewhere warmer… like Vietnam.

Irrefutable proof of Big Foot, pic: Gnashes30 (Wikimedia Commons)

Scientists estimate that there are only 3,000 – 4,500 members of Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus in existence, so the discovery by conservationists of an additional 200 of the rare orangs in a 140-square km (54 sq mi) area near Batang Park in Sarawak was a welcome surprise.

Male pongo pygmaeus, pic: Eleifert (Wikimedia Commons)

From a press release of the World Conservation Society:

Upon confirmation that the area had a globally significant population of the rare sub-species, the Government of Sarawak officially indicated the need to protect this area in perpetuity. It is already a High Conservation Value Forest, considered to have an area of high biological, cultural, economic and livelihood significance.

Asia’s unique great apes, orangutans only exist in Indonesia and Malaysia and only on the shared Indonesian/Malaysian island of Borneo and the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The vast majority of orangutans live on Borneo, while the uniquely Indonesian Sumatra orangutans are the most threatened (though numbering slightly higher than Borneo’s Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus). Sumatran orangutans are in grave danger of extinction due to rampant deforestation driven by palm plantations as well as the paper and tropical hardwood industries.

The WCS praised the efforts of the Malaysian government and the state of Sarawak towards orangutan conservation. Around half of all Pongo pygmaeus pygmaeus orangutans live in Sarawak’s Batang Ai National Park and Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary

From Science World Report:

This new population discovery is huge for the future of these rare orangutans, though. Since the area has such a significance of the population of this sub-specie, the Government of Sarawak officially indicated the need to protect the area in perpetuity. Government officials plant to hold a dialogue with local communities and other stakeholders in order to discuss options for the location.

Despite this spot of good news, things remain perilous for the surviving members of the Earth’s orangutan population. Recent video footage and photographs illustrates the desperate situation of orangs in West Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo.

See more photos here.

Tanjung Puting National Park, Kalimantan Tengah, Borneo, pic: Russ Watkins (Flickr CC)

Still, 103 minke whales must be more than sufficient for one year’s research, right? Wrong. The minister is deeply upset.

And what about Japan’s mass slaughter and capture of dolphins in Taiji? I’ll wager that anyone who has seen The Cove wants it to end. Unfortunately it has barely been shown in Japan, where people most need to see it. Japanese press coverage of the film and what goes on in Taiji has also been minimal. Compare 103 minke whales with the estimated 23,000 dolphins and porpoises killed each year in dolphin drive hunting, in which the cetaceans are herded into a cove and butchered.

Anti dolphin slaughter protest in Australia. Pic: Newtown grafitti (Flickr CC).

New killing methods supposedly designed to be more humane, but probably motivated more by the fact that they cause less unsightly blood flow into the water, have been criticized by international researchers and conservation groups.

From a press release by Whale and Dolphin Conservation regarding a newly-published scientific paper on the slaughter:

WDC continues its call for an immediate end to the dolphin drive hunts on welfare grounds alone.  This scientific analysis underscores the fact that the killing methods used in the drive hunts are unacceptable by any country’s standards, including even Japan’s own humane slaughter guidelines. WDC believes that such suffering is intolerable in any civilized society, and the methods currently employed at Taiji are breathtakingly and exceptionally cruel and should solicit worldwide condemnation.

Andrew Revkin of the New York Times discusses the Taiji dolphin slaughter in his Dot Earth blog and includes questions he posed to one of the authors of the paper, psychology professor and expert on dolphin behavior and cognition Dr. Diana Reiss. Here is an excerpt from one of Reiss’ answers:

Dolphins are a cognitively and socially complex species that exist in their own societies in the seas. To see any animal treated in this way is shocking. Given what we know scientifically about the awareness, sensitively, cognitive and social prowess of dolphins, this treatment is unjustifiable and unacceptable and needs to be stopped immediately. In the larger context of human and non-human animal relations, the methods used to herd dolphins and then kill them is off-the chart in terms of any concern for animal welfare.

Apparently what happens in Taiji occurs somewhat in secret and is not well known inside Japan. Both dolphin and whale hunts continue to be sources of shock and bafflement for countless people around the globe. Yet they are at the same time unapologetically and vigorously defended by the Japanese government.

See this press release from the dolphin activist group AtlanticBlue for more on the Taiji slaughter.

Still from 2011 footage of Taiji dolphin slaughter, pic: www.atlanticblue.de

Malaysia, the number two producer and largest exporter of palm oil, has a commitment to maintain the natural forest cover of 50% of its land. This commitment, along with the increased development of “sustainable” palm oil production (Malaysia produces 50% of the world’s RSPO-Certified Sustainable Palm Oil) has in recent years kept excessive deforestation relatively in check.

Read the PDF on the criteria for Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) here.

In contrast, Indonesia, the largest producer, is responsible for 35% of the world’s CSPO and has experienced extreme rapid growth within the industry. Yet even signatories to the RSPO have been found to violate its guidelines, as was publicized last week by International Animal Rescue, Indonesia.

Capture from IAR Indonesia film showing rescue of starving orangutan mother and baby in West Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo

The economic advantages of palm oil are clear, but so are its social and environmental disadvantages. Plantations provide jobs, but sometimes at the expense of established indigenous communities in both Malaysia and Indonesia. Working conditions of laborers have also been called into question. Environmental issues include greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss and habitat destruction through deforestation. High profile endangered species such as the Sumatran Tiger, Asian rhino and orangutan have been gravely affected by the palm industry.

So how do you know if the products you are buying contain palm oil and if so, is it sustainably sourced? It’s not always easy, since CSPO is not always labelled and as we have seen, even those claiming to produce sustainably may not always be doing so. Even so, we’ve got to try. Here is a quick guide:

• First, check the label. Again, not so easy. Palm oil products can be referred to by a multitude of names, from the fairly obvious words containing “palm” (palmate, palmitate, palmityl alcohol, etc.) to the vague (vegetable oil) to the esoteric (glyceryl stearate, sodium kernelate, elaeis guineensis). See this website for more names and clues.

• Here is a helpful list of palm-free, certified organic or certified sustainable palm products from Ethical Consumer. Most look to be European or UK products, so they may not be available in your area. The page nonetheless contains more helpful information and links to other related articles.

• Palmoilaction.org.au also has a shopping guide aimed at those in Australia and New Zealand.

• Major corporations driving Asia’s palm oil industry include Burger King, Cargill, Nestle, Kraft, Procter & Gamble, ADM and Unilever.

• Deforestation in Indonesia is not limited to palm oil plantations. The paper and tropical hardwoods industries are also guilty. Non-palm products include tropical plywood, rayon and hardwoods like teak, sandalwood, ebony and ironwood. Go to orangutan.com for more.

Deforestation for palm oil growth in Indonesia, pic: Hayden (Wikimedia Commons)

Despite being a member of the RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil), Bumitama Gunajaya Agro violated the rules of the organization by depriving orangutans and other endangered species of their homes and food through deforestation. International Animal Rescue and conservation staff from the Indonesian government have already rescued four starving orangutans from the palm oil plantation. They will be moved to areas of forest with more food.

Starving orangutan, Indonesian Borneo, pic: IAR Indonesia

From a press release by International Animal Rescue (IAR):

We know that there are more orangutans isolated in small patches of forest in this plantation along with other protected wildlife such as proboscis monkeys. All the animals in this plantation are under threat and therefore this company should stop all land clearing immediately, carry out habitat assessments and develop strategies to protect all the endangered wildlife in their estate.

–Adi Irawan, Program Director, IAR Indonesia

Footage of the rescue operation shows the shocking condition of the starving orangutans.

In related news, conservation officials rescued two Sumatran orangutans in a village in Aceh. Many orangutans have been pushed out of their habitat in the Rawa Tripa peatland region of Aceh due to the construction of palm oil plantations.

From the Jakarta Globe:

Under such conditions, the orangutans can’t find sufficient amounts of food, so they starve to death. Sometimes, they are even murdered by locals or plantation workers.

–Ian Singleton, director, Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program

Despite laws designed to protect the species, much of the struggle seems to depend on NGOs and volunteer conservationists. One such group is the Orangutan Project, founded by Australian Leif Cocks, who, together with local volunteers and other orangutan groups, patrols the jungles of Sumatra and Borneo in order to “deter wildlife poaching, illegal logging and land clearing in Indonesia”. This is a dangerous job and according to Cocks, a member of his team dies in the line of duty nearly every year. Read more on that story on news.com.au.

The growth of palm oil plantations is largely fuelled by the biodiesel, food and cosmetic industries, owned by multinational corporations like Nestle and Unilever, who pump palm into every product they can.

Check out similar stories of starving and abused orangutans from Science Daily and the Daily Mail.

Orangutan family in Tanjung Puting National Park, Kalimantan, Borneo. Pic: Russ Watkins (Flickr CC)

Despite local concerns and international opposition from neighboring Vietnam and Cambodia (as well as the US) citing the ecological repercussions and resulting humanitarian crises the hydropower project could usher in, construction of the Xayaburi dam has gone ahead.

From China’s Global Times:

Construction of the dam started late last year and is now 10 percent complete, but it has been the source of concern for various environmental groups, NGOs, and governments. These groups have argued against the construction of the dam because of a perceived potential for a negative impact on the migratory paths for the Mekong’s many fish species and the impacts on sediment flows down the river which provide fertile soil for agriculture along the river.

Xayaburi Dam construction, pic: International Rivers (Flickr CC)

The Lao government and the heads of the Xayaburi project argue in favor of the benefits the dam will bring. Laos, a poor country, sees hydropower as its cash cow. It will export electricity generated by the dam to neighboring Thailand. Project directors also claim that they have addressed many of the environmental and humanitarian concerns and that Vietnam and Cambodia no longer object to the dam’s construction.

(READ MORE: Little, landlocked Laos: Pawn or pivot in Asia’s future?)

However, a recent meeting of scientists in the Thai capital has affirmed that dams, including hydropower plants, are the largest threat to the fisheries of the Mekong, which support the livelihoods of tens of millions of people. Dams also intensify the negative effects of climate change on the Mekong. Read more on that from Voice of America.

Compared with most of its neighbors, Laos is poor and still undeveloped. This also means it has relatively large areas of unspoiled nature. As is the case in other countries (like Burma) largely Chinese investment into infrastructure and business projects is changing the landscape of Laos, literally and economically.

From China Dialogue (go to link for images):

In recent years, Chinese companies have poured billions of dollars into roads, dams and other infrastructure projects. The most notable is a US$7 billion, 400-kilometre high speed railway line, announced last year, that will run from the southern Chinese city of Kunming to the Laos capital of Vientiane and on to ports in Thailand. It is one of several projects aimed at improving access of Chinese goods to markets in Laos and beyond.

Speaking out against these projects can be dangerous, as environmental activists and NGO members have recently discovered.

(READ MORE: Will Laos bend to EU pressure on Sombath Somphone?)

Mekong River, Laos, pic: 松岡明芳 (Wikimedia Commons)

India's Malabar flying frog, pic: കാക്കര (Wikimedia Commons)

Though I’d seen plenty of videos of flying squirrels, flying fish and even one or two of gliding snakes and flying lemurs, I didn’t know frogs could fly.

And they can’t, really. But they can glide. It seems the standards we set for “flying” are considerably lower when it comes to non-avian species. What defines a flying frog is if they can descend at a less than 45° away from a totally horizontal position. As far as I can find they are all species of tree frogs, which have developed certain physical characteristics that enable their “flight”. These include enlarged, fully webbed feet, skin flaps on their limbs and a flight-friendly body weight distribution.

Most flying or gliding frogs seem to inhabit Southeast Asia, but there are some species in China and India, such as the relatively well-known Malabar gliding frog of the Western Ghats mountain range.

A new species of flying frog was recently discovered by an Australian-led research team in a lowland forest in Vietnam, not far from Ho Chi Minh City.

The leader, Jodi Rowley of the Australian Museum in Sydney, named it after her mother, Helen.

These diminutive creatures have gone unnoticed because they live in the forest canopy, away from view.

Rowley is quoted by AFP:

What’s rare about this discovery in particular is the fact that I found the lone individual less than 90 kilometres from the middle of Ho Chi Minh City, one of the biggest cities in Southeast Asia.

Rowley apparently has a knack for discovering new flying frogs in Vietnam. A couple of years ago she found the vampire flying frog, named after its ability to fly (duh) and the small black fangs found on the species’ tadpoles.

From National Geographic:

Tadpoles normally have mouthparts similar to a beak. Instead, vampire tree frog tadpoles have a pair of hard black hooks sticking out from the undersides of their mouths—the first time such fangs have been seen in a frog tadpole.

So far I haven’t been able to track down any videos showing flying frogs in flight. Any suggestions?

Chinese gliding frog, pic: Ianaré Sévi (Wikimedia Commons)

I guess 16,000 bloated hog corpses would overshadow the discovery of a measly 1,000 dead ducks in another Chinese river, this time in Sichuan Province. Nonetheless, Chinese National Radio reported that officials found 50 woven bags full of the dead water foul in the Nanhe River on Tuesday. At least the Nanhe isn’t used for drinking water, unlike the Huangpu (“pig soup”) River.

From Al Jazeera:

We have arranged personnel to fish out dead ducks at the site immediately according to our emergency measures to make a comprehensive cleanup. After that, (we disposed of the dead ducks) with harmless treatment under the guidance of the livestock bureau and relevant technology requirements.

–Zhang Mingzhe, director of flood control office in Pengshan County

Read more about it on BBC News.

Chinese squid is "the bomb". Pic: Oskari Kettunen (Flickr CC)

Though not an environmental crime per se – at least not a recent one – a bomb weighing around 3 lbs (1.5 kilos) was discovered in the belly of a squid by a fishmonger in Guangdong Province. The bomb was old and rusty, but still live and could have gone off. The fishmonger, Mr. Huang, alerted authorities who took the bomb away and performed a controlled detonation.

This sort of squid lives close to the shore and normally makes a meal of small fish and prawns. Perhaps he thought the bomb was his favourite food and gulped it down. He certainly had a big belly when he was caught.

–M.r Huang

Read more on that story in the Telegraph and for a picture of the bomb, check out this article in the Guangzhou Daily.

The final story in food-related freaky news from China is for those who like their Waldorf salad extra crunchy. Apparently, some inventive scammers have been stuffing old walnut shells with lumps of cement and paper before gluing them closed again and selling them to unsuspecting dupes. I’ve no idea how genuine this story is or if this is any kind of widespread practice. I suspect it’s just a smal- time scam practiced by a few shady walnut vendors.

See this entry on Weird Asian News (including video) for more.

So if you’re in China, be careful what you eat because it may explode and/or break your tooth, and I’m not referring to the thousands of chemically enhanced exploding watermelons. That was way back in 2011.

Walnuts for sale in Shaanxi, probably totally fine. Pic: Sheep"R"Us (Flickr CC)

It’s clear that desperate times require desperate measures as the death rate of rhinos in South Africa is on track to exceed the birthrate. Last year 668 rhinos were killed by poachers, while this year has already seen at least 158 deaths. Minister Edna Molewa believes that private owners “humanely” dehorning rhinos and selling their horns as a regulated product would supply the Asian demand for rhino horn products while undercutting the illegal profits of poaching.

White rhino and young, South Africa, pic: Hein Waschefort (Wikimedia Commons)

One vocal supporter of this plan is (of course) South Africa’s largest private owner of rhinos, who has 800 – around 5% of the nation’s rhino population.

He is quoted in the Guardian:

I am very pleased with the ministers’s response and feel that it is high time that the government adopted this stance. I sincerely hope that our government makes a decision to trade in rhino horn very soon and that they take such a proposal forward vigorously and intensively. Our rhinos are rapidly running out of time and the current poaching onslaught is truly devastating. We strongly feel that legalising the trade in rhino horn is the only way to go in order to save the rhino.

– John Hume, South Africa’s biggest private rhino owner

Conservation groups are naturally opposed to legalizing the rhino horn trade, which has been banned under CITES for 30 years.

The arguments against legalization are pretty straight forward:

• First of all it would sanction the morality of “farming” a critically endangered species.
• It would also legitimize the bogus use of rhino horn as a medicine or sexual tonic, exploiting the erroneous and dangerous beliefs of those who think it might cure their cancer or help them in the bedroom, thereby perpetuating both legal and illegal markets.
• Furthermore, a recent study by the Environmental Investigation Agency found that China’s legal farming of tigers for their skins feeds the illegal trade in “medicines” made from tiger bones.
• Finally, it would highlight a hypocrisy in the very bodies that are meant to preserve rhinos as a species.
• The last two are in a way already happening through the legitimized trophy hunting of rhinoceros in Southern African game parks.

But there is research that supports Minister Molewa’s proposal or something similar. Some researchers support humanely shaving rhino horn, mostly due to the fact that both the global ban on rhino horn trade and campaigns in Asia to discredit its efficacy as a medicine have failed to stem poaching. Hard to argue with that motivation.

Another possibility is that state and international institutions simply aren’t doing their job well enough to combat illegal trade in terms of fighting corruption and curbing demand. Rather than throwing up their hands and legalizing rhino horn, perhaps a better tactic would be to strengthen information on how buying it as a medicine is a waste of money and a serious health risk. China has appealed to the sensibilities of its populace regarding conservation and cruelty, but have they taken this approach? Has Vietnam?

For more information and perspectives see the following articles: 

The Guardian – Rhino horn: Vietnam’s new status symbol heralds conservation nightmare

Japan Times – World faces rhino horn dilemma

Rhino mother and young killed by poachers, South Africa, pic: Hein Waschefort (Wikimedia Commons)

Though first discovered in a Chinese-American patient named Johnny Chen in a hospital in Vietnam, SARS was traced back to southern China – Chen was in fact a resident of Shanghai. China experienced the majority (85%) of the worldwide 8273 SARS cases if you include Hong Kong, where the disease reached pandemic proportions. Nearly 10% of all SARS cases proved to be fatal.

* These statistics come from the WHO via Wikipedia. Other sources have/had different statistics, especially regarding fatalities, such as this BBC report which cites both the WHO and local authorities.

image: Strickla (Wikimedia Commons)

From Time Magazine:

An emerging infectious disease like SARS pulls back the curtain on our world and demonstrates just how interconnected we all are, in more ways than just the global economy or international air travel. SARS, like most new diseases, started in an animal before jumping across the species barrier to human beings. The original reservoir for SARS was actually a bat, and it’s still not clear how the virus managed to cross from them to us, though the anything-goes standards of the live markets of southern China, where wild animals of all sorts are available for consumption and where the SARS outbreak began, definitely played a role.

Besides the dead pigs in Shanghai, what makes SARS so haunting 10 years after is the discovery of another, similar disease (coronavirus) in Saudi Arabia a few months ago. The virus has been observed spreading around the Middle East, even from person to person.

But it seems that health officials, researchers and professionals have learned from the now 10-year-old SARS outbreak, are now more prepared, and consequently risk of infection has so far remained low, according to this piece in the Observer.

Another aspect relating to SARS was the media-inspired panic, especially in hard-hit Hong Kong. A total of about 775 people world-wide died of SARS during the scare – a tragedy in and of itself, but in fact dwarfed by the half million who died of influenza the same year. 

From BBC News:

But these facts were not known until the disease had come under control in the summer. In March and early April of 2003, as the epidemic seemed to spiral out of control, Hong Kong was a city gripped by fear. Surgical masks became hot commodities and the city’s usually crowded shopping malls, restaurants and mass transport emptied. Expats fled, schools closed and those who could worked from home.

Whether it inspired panic or caution due to awareness, Hong Kong’s media received praise for its transparent journalistic coverage of SARS, in contrast to mainland China’s hush-hush policy, which it still seems to be following in the wake of “dead pig gate”.

SARS memorial park in Hong Kong, pic: sfgamchick (Flickr CC)