Focus on Arts and Ecology

Purpose of the articles posted in the blog is to share knowledge and occurring events for ecology and biodiversity conservation and protection whereas biology will be human’s security. Remember, these are meant to be conversation starters, not mere broadcasts :) so I kindly request and would vastly prefer that you share your comments and thoughts on the blog-version of this Focus on Arts and Ecology (all its past + present + future).

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Mekong Delta proactively responds to climate change

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Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue, head of the Steering Committee for the Southwestern Region, has requested sectors and agencies at all levels to be aware of climate change and take proactive adaptation in the Mekong Delta region. The Mekong Delta is a key economic region of special significance to the country; however, it is facing a lot of challenges, most seriously the impacts of rising sea water and increasing saline intrusion as a result of climate change as well as the dependence on upstream countries in management and exploitation of water resources. At a recent symposium on adaptation to climate change and water resource management in the Mekong Delta region under the chair of Deputy PM Hue, participants agreed on the need to apply synchronous and overall solutions, facilitate the engagement of the entire political system and promote the role of each locality, each residential community and especially the people. The deputy PM insisted on the continuous update of detailed climate change scenarios for each subregion and locality, on that basis, renovating the work of strategy building and planning – from the master planning on socio-economic development to the planning on infrastructure development, use of land and water resources, exploitation of groundwater and agricultural restructuring. He also directed the continuous application of legal and diplomatic measures with upstream countries of the Mekong River Basin in a spirit of cooperation to harmoniously, effectively and sustainably exploit and use water resources for mutual benefits, ensuring national interests and accordance with international practice for a cross-country river. Hue asked for solutions concerning policies and institutions in water resource management, biodiversity, land use and groundwater exploitation, and those on restructuring, urban development and industrialization in the Mekong Delta region; acceleration of communication among businesses and people aiming to raise awareness and proactively adapt to challenges in the time ahead; and proactively research suitable plant seeds and livestock breeds for each subregion. He assigned the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) to research and propose proper measures on the integrated management of water resources in the Mekong Delta; requested the Ministries of Planning and Investment, and Finance to review and distribute resources for adaptation to climate change in localities across the region; and asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and MONRE to closely follow and give timely updates and assessments of the water source situation and saline intrusion in the 2016-2017 dry season, thereby instructing localities on ways to respond to minimise possible damages.
Localities in the Mekong Delta region were tasked with updating the issues and challenges relating to climate change, and include them in their respective socio-economic development plans and programmes.
Government's Website – October 25 - http://news.chinhphu.vn/Home/Mekong-Delta-proactively-responds-to-climate-change/201610/28772.vgp
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The Devil Ray’s Advocate

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13 SEPTEMBER 2016

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Saving devil rays from the international gill plate trade
Devil rays get their name from the fins on either side of their head (known as cephalic fins) which curve upward, giving the ray the appearance of having horns. But don’t be mistaken – devil rays are actually quite shy, and tend to avoid interaction with humans. Although devil rays are smaller than manta rays, they can still grow to between 3-12 feet from wingtip to wingtip. They are known for their incredible acrobatics, sometimes referred to as “flying,” but these antics can include jumps, twists and bellyflops as well!
Unfortunately, devil rays are harvested by the thousands for their gill plates – the part of the body they use to filter food from the water. The devastating impacts of the international trade in this product has led 23 countries to propose listing all nine species of devil ray under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) at the upcoming conference of the Parties.

Trade in Gill Plates

The international trade in devil ray gill plates has been on the rise due to an increase in demand for these items. Gill plates are highly valued, particularly in China where they can sell for up to $250 per pound. The gill plates are often used in traditional medicines, but have no proven scientific benefits. It is likely that, in addition to fishermen in Southeast Asia, fishermen in South America, Europe, African and the Middle East are also catching devil rays.
Certain species of devil rays are caught specifically for their gill plates. In fact, some fisheries that used to catch devil rays only by accident have converted into fisheries that directly target these species due to their commercial value. But once the gill plates have been removed from the animals, it is incredibly difficult to tell which species it came from. To truly stem this trade and put a stop to the immense damage it is causing to devil rays, we need to protect all of the species equally.

International Regulation

HELP STOP DEADLY WILDLIFE CRIME

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In just three years, the numbers of devil ray gill plates on the market have tripled. Unregulated trade will only continue to drive the populations down. These species are in desperate need of international trade regulation. By listing them under CITES, we can get them those much needed protections, and make sure that if trade continues, it is sustainable. Defenders is proud that the United States is one of the countries co-sponsoring such an important proposal at CITES. Our team has been working hard to garner support and enthusiasm for this proposal, and we hope to see it succeed. Keep your fins crossed for devil rays!

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Rosa Indenbaum, International Policy Analyst

Rosa’s primary focus is developing and expanding the international legal work at Defenders of Wildlife, including work with CITES, CMS and the Endangered Species Act. She works on US-Latin America wildlife trafficking issues and endangered migratory marine species.
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Climbing for Owls

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06 SEPTEMBER 2016

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Midnight hikes through the wilderness may help answer important questions about how Mexican spotted owls are recovering.
We knew that we had about a 50-50 chance of seeing what we came to see. But still, we were determined to climb through the night, 2,000 feet straight up the side of a mountain, to find the threatened Mexican spotted owl.
Nobody knows how many of these owls are left in the wild, or what exactly is threatening their survival. But our team at Defenders of Wildlife, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the U.S. Forest Service are doing everything we can to find out.

Mexican Spotted Owls and Wildfire – It’s Complicated

FWS listed the Mexican spotted owl as threatened in 1993, citing habitat destruction caused by logging and wildfires. But the species’ population continued to decline. By 2000, experts determined that the owl’s numbers had gone down by more than 30% in the national forests of Arizona and New Mexico, with population declines as high as 40% in New Mexico. In 2012, the Service revised species’ recovery plan, identifying the primary threat as stand-replacing wildland fire, meaning fires so intense that they kill most or all of the trees in the area.
Yet there are still legitimate questions about what truly constitutes the greatest threat to this owl. Is it really fire? Fires have always been a natural occurrence in the southwest, and it’s likely that Mexican spotted owls adapted to this threat as they evolved alongside it.
In fact, monitoring data for the Mexican spotted owl during recent, high-severity fires shows that the owls return to their nest sites after the fire, and even increase reproduction. This information indicates that these owls actually thrive in a post-fire environment. Their rate of reproduction in severely burned areas is higher than in others, even seven years after the fires.
If natural wildfire patterns aren’t the greatest threat to Mexican spotted owls, what is? Some experts wonder if humans’ widespread manipulation of the forest, often to change fire behavior, could be the larger issue. Forest managers have the authority to do nearly anything they deem necessary to prevent uncharacteristic fires in the owl’s habitat. But when does forest thinning — the cutting down of smaller trees and burning the leftover needles and branches that are most likely to burn — become a threat to the cool, closed-canopy forests and big trees the owl seems to prefer for nesting and roosting? Unlike the impact of wildfires, there is literally no empirical data on how forest thinning and other mechanical forest treatments may impact Mexican spotted owls.
Mexican Spotted Owl, ©USFS
On top of that, it’s hard to gauge how the species is faring if we don’t know how many owls there are now, if their numbers are growing or falling, and if they are spreading to new places or not. If land managers are going to contribute to the recovery of this rare owl, and if our team is going to help them do that, then this is information that we’re going to need to find out.
We are coordinating with the U.S. Forest Service to help get some answers — and that sometimes requires a sturdy pair of hiking boots.

Taking Our Questions to the Field

Earlier this summer, I joined Karl Malcolm, PhD, Regional Wildlife Ecologist for the Southwestern Region of the U.S. Forest Service, and two very fit biological technicians from the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies in a long night of hiking. Our destination was a one-square-kilometer survey grid on the very top of the Sandia Mountains, high above the metropolis of Albuquerque. The site was deep inside the boundaries of the Sandia Mountain Wilderness, and it would take us 2 ½ hours to reach it. And since the biologists would need to begin their owl-calling just after dark, we began our trek as the light was fading.
Bird Calling Device, ©USFS
The two young bio-techs left us in their dust straightaway, disappearing into the growing darkness. The young men had been hiking many, many miles all summer as part of a long-term occupancy survey. We found them about two hours later along the crest trail, far above the glimmering city lights. They had started their digital bird-calling device and were patiently awaiting owl responses.
We gazed over the lights below while the bio-techs delighted us with stories from recent surveys where owls had flown in and perched just feet from their device. According to their survey results, we had about a 50-50 chance of calling in the Mexican spotted owl. Sadly, there was no such luck that night. But even that, in and of itself, was a valuable result.
As we staggered back down the trail with our headlamps, I thought about the Mexican spotted owl and all the questions we have about what presents the greatest threat to their recovery and what it will take to protect the species. I returned to my vehicle at 2 AM with no certain answers, but pleased with the knowledge that at least we’re taking steps to get them. It may take some time, but Defenders of Wildlife will be there along the way to ensure spotted owls are around for the next generation.



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Bryan Bird, Southwest Program Director

Bryan oversees Defenders work in the Southwest, where he has spent 23 years working on wildlife conservation. His efforts are focused on maintaining and enhancing vital wildlife habitat, and on protecting imperiled species, such as Mexican gray wolves, jaguars, desert tortoises and California condors, in the face of a changing climate, drought, and increasing development.
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Wild & Weird: The Eating Habits of Coral

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Coral polyps

Reef-building corals can get their food in two distinct ways. The first is through a unique relationship with tiny algae called zooxanthellae that live inside coral polyps; using sunlight, these algae create sugar that transfers to and nourishes the host. In turn, the coral provides the algae with a protective home and carbon dioxide.

Coral polyps can also eat by using stinging tentacles to pull zooplankton into their mouths. Polyps' stomach cavities are interconnected, so food obtained by one polyp can be passed to other polyps in the colony. Coral polyps excrete their waste through their mouths.

Watch our new time-lapse video showing polyp "mouths" munching on zooplankton onFacebook or YouTube.
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Save These Ocean Beauties From Extinction -- Take Action

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Often called living fossils because of their striking resemblance to ocean creatures from half a billion years ago, chambered nautiluses are a delight to behold. They have up to 90 separate tentacles, and their fractal shell design is a mathematical wonder. Sadly they're being drastically overfished for the international shell trade.

But there's good news: 182 nations just ratified a decision to rein in the nautilus trade through an extensive permitting system.

And in response to a Center petition, the National Marine Fisheries Service has said Endangered Species Act protection may also be warranted. Our petition seeks to curb imports of nautilus shells and calls for the U.S. government to encourage the Philippines, Indonesia and other Indo-Pacific countries to enforce their environmental laws and stop unsustainable harvest.

Act now and urge the Fisheries Service to protect the nautilus before it's too late.
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49 Hawaiian Plants, Animals Thrown Lifeline

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Good news for a long list of Hawaiian species on the brink of extinction: Under the Center's landmark 757 species agreement, the Fish and Wildlife Service just protected an impressive 49 Hawaiian plants and animals under the Endangered Species Act. They're threatened by habitat destruction, invasive species and climate change. The Center petitioned to protect 19 of them in 2004.

The newly protected species include the band-rumped storm-petrel; the orange-black Hawaiian damselfly; an anchialine pool shrimp; seven species of yellow-faced bees; and 27 plants, including a gardenia and loulu palm.

Hawaii is on the front lines of the extinction crisis, with more listed species than any other state.

So far 177 species have received protection as a result of the Center's 2011 settlement, and another 22 are proposed for safeguards.

Read more in The Huffington Post.
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Lawsuit Filed to Protect Rare Cats From Government Killing

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The Center for Biological Diversity and Animal Welfare Institute this week sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to stop endangered ocelots from being inadvertently killed as part of the long-running program targeting coyotes, bears, bobcats and other wildlife in Arizona and Texas. USDA's "Wildlife Services" program kills tens of thousands of animals in these two states alone every year using traps, snares and poisons.

Ocelots -- whose name comes from an Aztec word meaning "field tiger" -- are spotted, big-eyed, night-hunting cats living in Texas, Arizona, Mexico, and Central and South America.

"With fewer than 100 ocelots remaining in the United States, we're trying to make sure none will suffer and die in traps set for other animals targeted by Wildlife Services," said the Center's Collette Adkins.

Read more in the Arizona Daily Star.
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Tonnes of fish die in Ha Noi's West Lake

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Over 10 tonnes of fish have died in the West Lake in Ha Noi due to lack of oxygen according to local authorities. The mass fish deaths were seen from October 1 near the Trich Sai, Lac Long Quan, and Thanh Nien streets where environment workers had collected hundreds kilograms. The dead fish, mostly tench and tilapia, have been floating along the shore of the lake, which is the largest in Ha Noi and also a popular recreation area. According to chairman of Ha Noi People's Committee, Nguyen Duc Chung, the total dead fish by late Sunday was estimated at over 10 tonnes. "Initial test results from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment showed that the fish died from lack of oxygen," Chung said.
DTI News – October 3 – http://dtinews.vn/en/news/017004/47421/tonnes-of-fish-die-in-hanoi-s-west-lake.html


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Viet Nam province scraps coal plant over environmental concerns

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The Mekong province wants to harness its wind potential, despite a lack of pricing support. The Mekong Delta's Bac Lieu Province scrapped plans for a coal-fired thermal power plant to pursue clean-energy options, last week. The provincial government has requested permission to withdraw from the project to build wind turbines. Bac Lieu is currently home to one of Viet Nam’s three wind power plants, the other two are located in Binh Thuan Province just north of the tourist town Mui Ne. Authorities in Bac Lieu expressed a desire to reserve local water resources for seafood farms, since thermal power plants require lots of water for cooling. The Viet Nam Sustainable Energy Alliance (VSEA) has released studies on coal plants in Hai Phong and Quang Ninh Province that discharge from their cooling systems measured nine degrees (centigrade) hotter than the temperatures in the surrounding waters. Bac Lieu's change of plans drew support from the central government and has been hailed by energy experts as a breakthrough in the country's pursuit of dirty coal-fired power. Viet Nam scrambled to develop a new network of coal-fired plants after news of droughts and damage attributed to hydropower dams circulated widely in the media. Beyond popular discontent with the dams, experts say the country has already tapped every available hydrological resource for power.  The country spent more than $600 million importing 9.7 million tons of coal in the first eight months of the year, significantly exceeding its annual projections of a mere 4 million tons. Officials have ascribed the spike in imports to urgent power needs. The government has announced plans to build and operate 14 coal-fired power plants in the Mekong Delta by 2030, adding a total capacity of around 18,000 megawatts to the power-hungry south. The scuttled plant in Bac Lieu was projected to contribute 2,600 of those megawatts. However, the VSEA has warned that the 14 plants will discharge around 70 million cubic meters of 40°C water, posing significant risk to an aquatic ecology that sustains 20 million people. Major concerns about the plants' carbon dioxide emissions have also raised concerns about community health, experts said. Last year, a joint study produced by Green Peace and Harvard University estimated that air pollution created by coal-fired power plants kills around 4,300 people in Viet Nam each year; the study estimated that toll would rise to 25,000 per year if the Mekong Delta plants went into operation. Bac Lieu’s green power ambitions may prove far-fetched given a lack of pricing support for clean power development. The government’s pricing rules require the state-owned Electricity of Viet Nam to pay wind power plants 7.8 U.S. cents a kWh - a rate roughly equivalent to the average retail price in the country. Bui Van Thinh, Vice Chairman of the Binh Thuan Province Wind Power Association, told the Sai Gon Times Online that the current wind price isn't high enough to draw needed investment. The association has called on the government to raise wind prices to 10 U.S. cents this year and 12 U.S. cents in 2017. Last year, officials in Binh Thuan and the neighboring province of Ninh Thuan revoked investment licenses for several projects that had stalled due to a lack of capital.

E.vnexpress.net – September 29 – http://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/vietnam-province-scraps-coal-plant-over-environmental-concerns-3476051.html
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Lao Cai strives to mitigate climate change impact

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The northern mountainous province of Lao Cai is exerting every effort to minimise the impacts of climate change. In addition to raise public awareness of the role of nature, the province has taken concrete actions to protect the environment and develop the economy sustainably.  The whole area of forest and forestry land has been managed systematically while protective forests have been protected and developed with a total area of over 156,000 hectares, including 101,000 hectares of natural forest. Lao Cai has formed and put into use special-use forests such as the Hoang Lien National Park, Hoang Lien – Van Ban Natural Park and Bat Xat Natural Park with a combined area of 64,000 hectares and more than 2,000 kinds of flora, including valuable species like Van Sam, Bach Xanh, Thong Tre, Dinh Tung and Po Mu. Furthermore, the province has constructed wood processing plants along with material areas while enhancing the win-win cooperation between enterprises and local people.  It has piloted a project to allow State-owned businesses to manage protective forests and encouraged the growing of trees in families, residential clusters and urban areas. Thanks to these efforts, Lao Cai’s forest coverage rate increased to 53 percent in 2015. Climate change has caused heavy losses for Lao Cai province over the past years. According to Luu Minh Hai, Director of the province’s Hydro-meteorology Centre, the average temperature in the province has been increasing, even hitting 40 degrees Celsius in summer, while hails, whirlwinds and flash floods have been more frequent. Between 2003 and 2015, there were 20 flash floods and landslides in Lao Cai, killing 261 people and injuring 218 others. Nearly 2,000 houses and 12,000 ha of rice and crops were damaged while more than 1,300 irrigational works and other facilities were destroyed, resulting in an estimated economic loss of thousands of billions of VND.  Only two storms in August this year cost the province 680 billion VND. Since July 2016, about 20 locals have been killed by whirlwinds, lighting, flash floods and landslides.  The prolonged frosty winter has resulted in the death of around 15,000 cattle each year while severe droughts have occurred in many areas.
Viet Nam Plus – September 27 – http://en.vietnamplus.vn/lao-cai-strives-to-mitigate-climate-change-impact/99614.vnp
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