Coral Restoration Foundation

CRF is a non-profit conservation organization dedicated to to develop coral nurseries and reef restoration programs for critically endangered Acroporid corals at the local, national and global level. Their mission is to develop affordable, effective strategies for protecting and restoring coral reefs and to train and empower others to implement those strategries in their coastal communities.

mongabay.com

Twenty years of research has led Dr. Graham Jones of Australia’s Southern Cross University to discover a startling connection between coral reefs and coastal precipitation. According to Jones, a substance produced by thriving coral reefs seed clouds leading to precipitation in a long-standing natural process that is coming under threat due to climate change.

“Coral reefs produce a volatile substance called dimethylsulphide or DMS which oxidizes in the atmosphere to produce cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). These are tiny sulphur aerosol particles around which water vapor condenses to form clouds,” Jones explained to mongabay.com, adding that, “water vapor cannot form clouds without these tiny aerosol particles being present.”

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Yet, in his studies, Jones has discovered that even a slight rise in ocean temperatures could affect this natural process, making climate change a significant threat to clouds (and precipitation) seeded by coral reefs.

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Jones says that the Australian government has a number of policies in place to protect coral reefs, but “what we don’t have is funding of basic reef processes such as this one, which significantly can affect regional climate in the Great Barrier Reef.”

Research into how ecosystems, such as coral reefs and forests, may be involved in regional climate patterns has been gaining steam over the years. Two Russian scientists have published a number of studies on a controversial theory that forests actually ‘pump’ rain from the coast to continent’s interiors.

If such theories withstand the test of time, and science, they could have widespread implications for the conservation of both forests and coral reefs, adding a new and vital ecosystem-service provided by these two threatened environments: the ‘makers’ and ‘movers’ of precipitation.

reefvideo.net

coralsforconservation.com

Coral Gardening from Jonathan Clay on Vimeo.

Many reef aquarium owners get their corals by trading them with nearby reefkeepers. Once corals get to a certain size it’s pretty easy to propagate (or frag) them by cutting off a branch here or a a few polyps there. It’s usually cheaper and easier than buying from a local dealer and the corals tend to do much better in the long run, because they haven’t gone through so much shipping stress. It’s also a good way to “insure” your corals because if anything ever happens to a coral you in your aquarium, you can just go back to your friend and ask him to cut you off a piece of the coral you gave him. The hobby has begun to depend on tank raised corals so much that many places that sell corals are beginning to change their stock to include more corals that are grown inside aquariums.

In this video by Jonathon Clay, locals and resort owners who live around large reefs are propagating corals in a similar fashion as reef hobbyists. A group called Corals for Conservation teaches people to preserve declining reefs and fish populations by coral gardening. The idea is that by preserving and regrowing reefs, fish will come back to the area and help replenish areas that have been over-fished.

The methods they use are very similar to that of the common aquarium keeper. The main difference is that it is on a larger scale and they use the ocean as their aquarium. It is a genius idea, promotes conservation, educates, creates jobs and supports the local community. Hopefully we will see more of these projects popping up throughout the world.

This is a sequence from the film “Fragile Paradise“, part of the BBC’s documentary series “South Pacific.“

BBC

The world’s most important coral region is in danger of being wiped out by the end of this century unless fast action is taken, says a new report.

The international conservation group WWF warns that 40% of reefs in the Coral Triangle have already been lost.

The area is shared between Indonesia and five other south-east Asian nations and is thought to contain 75% of the world’s coral species.

It is likened to the Amazon rainforest in terms of its biodiversity.

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“In the last 40 years in the Coral Triangle, we’ve lost 40% of coral reefs and mangroves – and that’s probably an underestimate. We’ve fundamentally changed the way the planet works in terms of currents and this is only with a 0.7 degree change in terms of temperature.

“What’s going to happen when we exceed two or four or six?”

Climate change consequences

Avoiding a worst-case scenario would need significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and better controls on fishing and coastal areas, says the report.

The Coral Triangle covers 1% of the earth’s surface but contains a third of all the world’s coral, and three-quarters of its coral reef species.

If it goes, an entire eco-system goes with it – and that, says Prof Hoegh-Gudberg, has serious consequences for its ability to tackle climate change.

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Indonesia is hosting the World Ocean Conference this week because, it says, oceans have been neglected so far in global discussions on climate change.

It wants the issue to have a bigger profile at UN climate talks later this year.

biologicaldiversity.org

The federal National Marine Fisheries Service today took the first steps towards protecting critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act for the Cook Inlet beluga whale in Alaska. In October 2008 the Fisheries Service listed the whale as endangered. The listing occurred following petitions and litigation by the Center for Biological Diversity and other organizations.

However, rather than designate critical habitat for the beluga at the time of listing as required by the Endangered Species Act, the Fisheries Service stated that it would defer habitat protection for a year. The Fisheries Service finally began the overdue process of protecting Cook Inlet beluga critical habitat by publishing a notice in the Federal Register requesting public comment on what areas should be protected. The Fisheries Service has stated that the habitat rule will be finalized by October 22, 2009.

Studies have shown that species with critical habitat are twice as likely to be recovering as species without any habitat designated.

“If we quickly act to designate and protect the critical habitat of the Cook Inlet beluga, this highly imperiled whale has a real chance of recovery,” said Brendan Cummings, oceans program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Unfortunately, the federal government has been lackadaisical about protecting the beluga, while the state of Alaska has been outright hostile to the species.”

In January, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin announced that the State of Alaska would sue the federal government to overturn endangered species protections for the beluga. That lawsuit has yet to be filed.

The Cook Inlet beluga whale is a genetically distinct and geographically isolated population whose numbers have plummeted in recent decades. Recent surveys show the Cook Inlet beluga whale’s population now hovers around 375 animals, down from an estimated population of approximately 1,300 whales in the 1980s. The Cook Inlet beluga whale is one of five populations of beluga, or white whales, in Alaska.

The original decline of the Cook Inlet beluga was likely caused by overhunting, but the population has failed to rebound since hunting was curtailed in 1999, indicating that other factors are interfering with its recovery. Most likely the whale is being harmed by noise and pollution from industrial activities in Cook Inlet.

Cook Inlet is the most populated and fastest growing watershed in Alaska, and is subject to significant proposed offshore oil and gas development in beluga habitat. Additionally, the proposed Knik Arm Bridge, a billion-dollar boondoggle that would provide little benefit other than to shorten the governor’s commute from Wasilla to Anchorage, will directly affect some of the whale’s most important habitat. Port expansion and a proposed giant coal mine and coal export dock would also destroy key beluga habitat.

A recently completed Conservation Plan for the beluga specifically identified essential habitat areas for the beluga, as well as threats to that habitat, and will likely form the basis for the critical habitat designation.

“If we do what is necessary to protect the critical habitat of the Cook Inlet beluga whale, by extension we will also be protecting water quality, salmon fisheries, and the health of the entire Cook Inlet ecosystem,” added Cummings.

More information on the Cook Inlet beluga whale can be found at http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/Cook_Inlet_beluga_whale/index.html

AP

A hatchling of a rare reptile with lineage dating back to the dinosaur age has been found in the wild on the New Zealand mainland for the first time in about 200 years, a wildlife official said Thursday.

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Tuatara are the last lizard-like descendants of a reptile species that walked the Earth with the dinosaurs 225 million years ago, zoologists say.

There are estimated to be about 50,000 of them living in the wild on 32 small offshore islands cleared of predators, but this is the first time a hatchling has been seen on the mainland in about 200 years.

The New Zealand natives were nearly extinct on the country’s three main islands by the late 1700s due to the introduction of predators such as rats.

Empson said the hatchling is thought to be about one month old and likely came from an egg laid about 16 months ago. Two nests of eggs — the size of pingpong balls — were unearthed in the sanctuary last year and tuatara were expected to hatch around this time.

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The youngster faces a tough journey to maturity despite being in the 620-acre (250 hectare) sanctuary and protected by a predator-proof fence. It will have to run from the cannibalistic adult tuatara, and would make a tasty snack for the morepork (native owl), kingfisher and weka (New Zealand’s endemic flightless rail), Empson said.

“Like all the wildlife living here, he’ll just have to take his chances” Empson said.

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About 200 tuatara have been released since 2005 into the Karori Sanctuary, which was established to breed native birds, insects and other creatures.

Tuatara have unique characteristics, such as two rows of top teeth closing over one row at the bottom and a pronounced parietal eye — a light-sensitive pineal gland on the top of the skull that gives the appearance of a third eye.

Yahoo News

Scientists thought it would take a decade for Southeast Asia’s coral reefs to heal after 2004’s deadly tsunami but they said Friday that Indonesia’s reefs have bounced back with surprising speed, restoring livelihoods to countless small communities.

The findings came as communities across the Indian Ocean remembered the disaster that struck Dec. 26, 2004 with prayers, songs and tears. About 230,000 people were killed in a dozen countries when a magnitude 9.0 earthquake triggered the tsunami.

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Scientists from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society, working with the Indonesian government and the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, said their examination of 60 sites on 497 miles (800 kilometers) of coastline along Indonesia’s Aceh province showed the reefs were bouncing back.

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Healthy coral reefs are economic engines for Acehnese communities, Campbell added, supplying fish to eat and sell as well as tourism dollars from recreational diving.

The tsunami decimated coastlines across the Indian Ocean, wiping out villages, killing entire families and crippling the economies in parts of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The United Nations estimated that Aceh alone lost $332.4 million ($1,599/ha) from the loss of its reefs to the destructive waves.

But four years on, the multibillion dollar rebuilding process is almost complete with more than 120,000 homes built in Aceh alone and the reconstruction of tourist hotels and restaurants along Thailand’s Andaman coast.

Thousands gathered Friday to celebrate the progress but to also remember the dead and reflect on a tragedy that turned their lives upside down.

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The healing trend embraced by those devastated by the tsunami has extended to the reefs with communities responding to calls to protect them from illegal fishing, pollution and coastal development.

Campbell said citizens have been particularly responsive in Aceh where fishermen have stopped using illegal techniques like dynamite and villagers have transplanted corals into areas that were hardest hit.

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“Left alone, these things can quickly grow back into what looks like a coral reef in a short time,” he said. “We are seeing similar things around the southern Great Barrier Reef where reefs that experience major catastrophe can bounce back quite quickly.”

John Bruno, a reef expert from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, agreed saying it shows coral reefs are able to recover after severe disturbances.

“There has been so much bad news about coral decline lately, and the threats to corals seem to increase every year. It is important to recognize that these invaluable ecosystems are not lost,” he said in an e-mail interview. “We just have to implement some common sense policies locally and substantially reduce emissions of greenhouse gases at a global scale.”

Conservation International

High soy and cattle prices may have contributed to the rise in illegal logging

bbc

The destruction of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil has accelerated for the first time in four years, Brazilian officials say.

Satellite images show 11,968 sq km of land was cleared in the year to July, nearly 4% higher than the year before.

The government said the figure was unsatisfactory but could have been a lot worse if it had not taken action against illegal logging.

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Mr Camara said, “There was a lot of burning on the ground in the second half of 2007, which could have led to a much greater increase in deforestation.”

In late 2007 and early 2008 there were signs that deforestation was on the rise again – with land said to be in demand for cattle and soya at a time when commodity prices were high, says the BBC’s Garry Duffy in Sao Paulo

In response the government announced a series of measures to clamp down on illegal logging, including a major operation involving police and environmental inspectors known as the “Arc of Fire”.

Brazil’s Environment Minister, Carlos Minc, said that without actions like this, the figures could have been much higher.

“Many had expected an increase of 30-40% and we managed to stabilise it,” Mr Minc told a news conference.

But he said that the government was still not satisfied.

Environmental groups will be watching the situation carefully to see if the resolve and the resources they say are needed to protect the Amazon region are in place, our correspondent says.

1st Borneo Rhino caught on camera

WWF

An image of a second wild Borneo rhino has been captured by scientists in Malaysia using a motion-triggered camera.

Only 25-50 Borneo rhinos, a subspecies of the critically endangered Sumatran rhino, are thought to exist. They are found in the interior Heart of Borneo forests of Sabah, Malaysia.

It was just two years ago that the first-ever still photo of a Borneo rhino was captured by WWF, who last year also produced a video using a camera trap showing a male rhino eating, walking to the camera and sniffing the equipment.

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Rhino monitoring and protection efforts are aimed at conserving and boosting the number of Sumatran rhinos in Sabah through prevention of poaching, securing habitat from further degradation and illegal encroachment.

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Last month WWF officials, along with a team of rangers, veterinarians and experts from Sabah Wildlife Department rescued the Borneo rhino that was captured on video last year. It had been found injured and wandering in an oil palm plantation. The rescue operation took nearly two weeks and the animal was then transferred to a reserve.

Only the second-ever still image of a Borneo rhino, captured by Andrew Hearn and Joanna Ross of the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit in the UK
© Ross & Hearn