Here’s a good one: WWF is claiming that deforestation is behind increased levels of tiger attacks on Sumatra. So then, by the clear logic of ecosystem services, this is a great reason to keep the forest in tact. You approach the government, show them a chart based on the health care costs associated with all the tiger attacks, and blam – a monetary value on the forest. The Minister of Environment then gives you a funny look, picks up the phone, and instructs the local forest manager to (1) go ahead with the oil palm plantation, but (2) make sure any tigers remaining in the area are killed first. Oooooops.

Let’s get everyone back up to speed. Here’s part 1, through December 15.

• Bush did, indeed, change some rules in the ESA, but it’s probably not as bad as it could’ve been.
• It’s time to re-read the Lorax.
• Otters are moving back into towns and cities in England.
• Snow geese eggs may become a larger part of polar bears’ diet. Do you smell a Red List upgrade (downgrade)?
• Remember the Laotian rock rat that was discovered in a market in Laos? WWF has released a report (PDF) on its findings in the Mekong, with more than 1,000 new species described.
• An Inspector General report of the Bush-era Interior Department was released. It’s not pretty.

• Yusof Basiron, CEO of the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, asks (ON HIS BLOG) that scientists compare the biodiversity of palm oil plantations to other agricultural habitats, not the rainforest they’re actually destroying. Corey’s not happy.
• Spending time in nature is “like a vacation for the prefontal cortex.” Duuude.
• Here’s an interesting piece from Fortune about the increasing ties between big NGOs (WWF, CI, Sierra Club) and Fortune 500 companies (Clorox, Coca Cola). On the one hand, it’s great that large companies seem to think that consumers want “greener” corporations. On the other hand, many NGOs are worried that taking donations from big companies may make them “run the risk of letting money cloud our judgment.”
• Some amazing photographs from a European Wildlife Photography award (beware severed monkey heads).
• Interesting thoughts on the unintended consequences of the ESA from ESABlawg. I wonder if ESA reform will happen in the next eight years.

• Remember how Indonesia just promised to save the remaining forests of Sumatra? It’s not going so well. A consortium of NGOs under the name “Eyes on the Forest” have revealed that Asia Pulp & Paper has built a 45 km “legally questionable” paved logging highway right through the middle of tiger habitat. Whoops! How on earth do you miss something like this? More on the importance of the Sumatran peat forests over here.
• “The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species, or TIGER, near Miami, claims to have overcome the problem by encouraging both tigers and humans to swim together in a specially adapted pool.” Oh yeah, this will definitely end well.
• The 40 remaining Amur leopards are going to get a little more habitat, thanks to WWF and logging company concessions.
• An open letter to the next president, from Michael Pollan. [via Kelly Lab]

• WWF and the People’s Bank of China have released a report, Towards Sustainable Development: Reform and (the) Future of China’s Banking Industry. In it, they suggest that commercial banks in China use their regulatory powers to drive sustainable development.
• Twelve fish species have gone extinct in a lake near Istanbul due to pollution.
• Even if you recycle 100% of your waste (my fair city’s goal), a couple of airplane trips a year will completely wipe out any carbon gains you may have made. A new report shakes a finger at all you environuts who think you can make a difference: those most environmentally oriented tend not to recognize the true cost of all their actions. Tsk tsk. [Note: To you Americans, when they say "rubbish," they mean "trash." As in "stereotyping people by saying 'there is this middle class environmentalism where being green is part of the desired image. But another part of the desired image is to fly off skiing twice a year' is complete rubbish."]
• Over at ConservationBytes, Corey Bradshaw’s introduced a new feature today: “Spotlights,” in which he focuses on conservation luminaries, starting with Norman “Hotspots” Myers. If you want more from Dr. Myers, there’s an extensive interview with him over at YT.
• Finally, if you don’t already read “The Big Picture,” (rss) the Boston Globe’s captivating blog of high res photojournalism, you ought to take a look. A few days ago they featured some beautiful pictures of India (scroll down for the tiger jumping off a boat in the Sunderbans, the pair of turtles and the astounding tiger dance).

• TNC, WCS and WWF have signed an agreement to collaborate on preserving the world’s largest in tact grassland — Mongolia’s Eastern Steppe. Although I’ve never been there, I have a great affection for this place. One of the many threats facing the grassland is the (legal!) exportation of Saker falcons to Middle Eastern sheikhs for falconing (falknering?). Welcome to the weird world of globalism.
• Chris Darimont and collaborators at UBC have discovered the wolves in western Canada prefer salmon to deer when it’s in season.
• Here’s a roundup of current news in the endangered species world from Plenty Magazine’s Extinction Blog. Did you know bottlenose dolphins near the British Isles kill other dolphins and porpoises in competition for food?
• Revkin pushes back against the news that the Arctic is now an island.

• Sumatran tigers and elephants will soon enjoy an additional 48,000 hectares of forest in Tesso Nilo National Park. Global NGOs (WWF, WCS) are working to reduce human-elephant conflicts in the area by planting buffer crops that elephants don’t like and patrolling the borders with domesticated elephants. According to the technical assessment by Save the Tiger Fund, Tesso Nilo was a Class III Tiger Conservation Landscape: a “landscape that has habitat to support some tigers, but with moderate-high levels of threat, and minimal conservation investment.” However, depending on where the additional land has been gazetted, the park may be able to support a much higher number of tigers.
• This one seems to be making the rounds on the web. Unobtainium: “Engineers have long (since at least the 1950s) used the term unobtainium when referring to unusual or costly materials, or when theoretically considering a material perfect for their needs in all respects save that it doesn’t exist.” May I suggest we start referring to umbrella species as Unobtainium elegantis?

• Fish & Wildlife de-lists the Virginia Northern Flying Squirrel
• WWF believes that the “EU is losing its role as a climate leader to a range of developing countries and creative players such as Norway, Switzerland, Mexico, South Korea and India as well as the tiny Pacific island of Tuvalu.”
• With 2010 being declared “The Year of Biodiversity” by the UN, the 10 ASEAN member nations are gathering for a workshop on the state of their conservation efforts.

• BirdLife International has proposed a classification of conservation terms to create a common language among scientists. This was first published in the August issue of Conservation Biology. The IUCN has signed on to use the lexicon in its Species Information System, and it looks like (judging by the authors) WCS, WFF, ZSL, NatureServe and probably a host of other NGOs have agreed to try it out — well, with WCS, at least a subset of their scientists will…
• Who’s psyched for the Society of Conservation Geographic Information Systems (SCGIS) annual meeting?! I’ll be there tomorrow and Thursday, hopefully live-blogging up a storm.