Sumatra elephant faces extinction in 30
years: WWF
Published on Jan 25, 2012
This file photo taken in Sep 2011 shows a mahout deployed as a forest ranger under the Conservation Response Unit bathing
his elephant on a river in the Ulu Masen forest in Aceh province, on western Indonesia's Sumatra island. Less than 3,000
Sumatran elephants, indigenous to Indonesia, remain in the wild and are in danger of extinction in less than 30 years, the
World Wildlife Fund said. -- PHOTO: AFP
JAKARTA (AFP) - Sumatran elephants in the wild face extinction in less than 30 years unless there is an
'immediate moratorium' on destruction of the animals' habitat, environmental group World Wildlife Fund
(WWF) warned on Tuesday.
There are now between 2,400 and 2,800 of the elephants left in the wild on the Indonesian island of
Sumatra, which means the population has halved since 1985, said the WWF.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has also changed its classification of the
Sumatran elephant from 'endangered' to 'critically endangered' on its list of threatened species, said the
WWF.
The elephant joins a growing list of critically endangered species on Sumatra, including the orang utan and
rhino.
'An immediate moratorium on habitat conversion is needed to secure a future for Sumatran elephants,' the
WWF warned in a statement.
'Scientists say that if current trends continue, Sumatran elephants could be extinct in the wild in less than
30 years.' It attributed the decline largely to habitat being deforested and converted for agricultural
plantations.
The IUCN said it changed its classification because the creature, the smallest Asian elephant, has lost
nearly 70 per cent of its habitat and half of its population in one generation.
Despite the elephant being protected under Indonesian law, 85 per cent of its habitats are not safeguarded
as they are outside officially protected areas, according to the IUCN.
This means they are likely to be converted for other uses, said the IUCN.
Elephant numbers in Sumatra's Riau province alone have declined by 80 per cent in less than 25 years due
to rapid deforestation by pulp and paper industries and oil palm plantations, the WWF said.
'The Sumatran elephant joins a growing list of Indonesian species that are critically endangered, including
the Sumatran orang utan, the Javan and Sumatran rhinos and the Sumatran tiger,' said Carlos Drews,
director of WWF's global species programme.
Obama vows no backing down on clean
energy
Published on Jan 25, 2012
President Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged that he would not back down on efforts to boost clean energy, warning that the
United States risked being left behind by China and Germany. -- PHOTO: AP
WASHINGTON (AFP) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged that he would not back down on
efforts to boost clean energy, warning that the United States risked being left behind by China and
Germany.
But in a nod to political realities, Mr Obama acknowledged in his annual State of the Union address that
the deeply divided Congress would not approve comprehensive legislation to fight climate change.
Mr Obama cast himself as a supporter of all forms of energy. He vowed 'every possible action' to develop
natural gas and pledged support for 'fracking,' the controversial technology that extracts gas from rock
deep under the soil.
'This country needs an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every available source of American
energy - a strategy that's cleaner, cheaper and full of new jobs,' Mr Obama said, bringing a sustained
ovation from lawmakers in the joint session of Congress.
But Mr Obama challenged Congress to support him on developing clean energy, demonstrating his point
by bringing to the chamber a laid-off worker who found new work with Michigan-based wind turbine
manufacturer Energetx.
'The differences in this chamber may be too deep right now to pass a comprehensive plan to fight climate
change. But there's no reason why Congress shouldn't at least set a clean energy standard that creates a
market for innovation,' Mr Obama said.
'I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany because we refuse to make the
same commitment here. We have subsidised oil companies for a century. That's long enough,' Mr Obama
said.
Specifically, Mr Obama urged Congress to renew tax credits for clean energy, with incentives for wind
power set to expire at the end of 2012. He also renewed calls to end subsidies to oil companies, saying they
were already profitable.
Mr Obama also set a goal of powering three million homes through renewable energy on public lands, the
latest effort by his administration to expand areas of potential use for solar, wind and green technologies.
The rival Republican Party has hammered Mr Obama over a US$535 million (S$677.6 million)
government loan for Solyndra, a solar firm that went bankrupt, and his administration's rejection of the
controversial Keystone XL pipeline project from Canada.
The Republicans, oil industry and Canadian government say that the Keystone project would boost the
economy and provide reliable energy from an ally. A US State Department analysis said the pipeline
would create 5,000 to 6,000 jobs in construction for two years.
But environmentalists led a protest campaign to press Mr Obama to reject the pipeline as it would go
through sensitive lands in Nebraska and bring oil from tar sands, causing much higher emissions of carbon
blamed for global warming.
'The extremism that stifles the development of homegrown energy, or cancels a perfectly safe pipeline that
would employ tens of thousands, or jacks up consumer utility bills for no improvement in either human
health or world temperature, is a pro-poverty policy,' said Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, who delivered
the Republican response to Obama's address.
House Speaker John Boehner, referring to Canadian threats to sell oil to China, said that Mr Obama was
'shipping American energy security to the Chinese' and 'selling out American jobs for politics.'
Mr Obama did not refer directly to Republican criticisms but, in a likely allusion to Solyndra, he said:
'Some technologies don't pan out; some companies fail.' Legislation backed by Mr Obama to fight climate
change died in the US Senate in 2010 amid staunch opposition from Republicans, many of whom question
scientists' view that carbon emissions are behind rising temperatures.