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The Minister has extended the listing assessment timeframes for the following ecological communities: Hinterland sand flats forest and woodland; Posidonia seagrass meadows; and Eucalypt woodlands of the Western Australian Wheatbelt.

The Department is seeking public comment on the Green Army Draft Statement of Requirements, which sets out important features of the programme and outlines the proposed services required by the Australian Government to deliver the programme.

The international theme for World Wetlands Day 2014 is Wetlands and Agriculture: Partners for Growth. This year is also the 40th anniversary of the designation of the world’s first Ramsar site – Cobourg Peninsula, Northern Territory, 8 May 1974.

The Australian Government is seeking public comment on its draft survey guidelines for Australia’s Threatened Orchids: guidelines for detecting orchids. The public comment period closes at 5pm on 28 March 2014.

The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder today released the Trading Framework that outlines the requirements and standards for Commonwealth activity in the water market.

The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder today announced up to 10 gigalitres of water allocation will be available for sale in the Gwydir valley. This is the first time the Water Holder has traded environmental water since its inception in 2008.

We’re looking for your best beautiful and striking weather-related photos. From cloudy skies to glorious sunshine, share your pictures of this week’s weather and we’ll choose a selection to be printed in the paper

From heatwaves in Australia, to snow in the US and Middle East, to storms and flooding in the UK, you’ve shared some dramatic images with the Guardian. But the weather doesn’t have to be extreme to make a great picture. Wherever you are in the world, we’d love to see your most striking photos of this week’s weather.

In your description, please tell us where you took the photo (it can be anywhere in the world) and the date you took it (it should be in the last week).

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Extermination of large predators such as wolves and bears has a cascading effect on delicate ecological balance

A plea to restore populations of some of the world's most dangerous animals has been made by scientists who claim the loss of large carnivores is damaging ecosystems.

More than three-quarters of the 31 species of large land predators, such as lions and wolves, are in decline, according to a new study. Of these, 17 species are now restricted to less than half the territory they once occupied.

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The twins were found alive by fishermen on the Baja California peninsula but lived only a few hours

Fishermen in Mexico have found rare conjoined grey whale calves that died shortly after being born.

Benito Bermudez, a marine biologist, says the whales were found alive in the Ojo de Liebre lagoon in the Baja California peninsula but lived only a few hours.

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Four Christmas Island species have been included on the Threatened Species list and one has been transferred to a higher category. Cyrtodactylus sadleiri - listed as endangered Lepidodactylus listeri - transferred from vulnerable to...

The bluefin tuna auctioned off this weekend in Japan was comparatively 'cheap', but the price can't be used as a yardstick for its conservation status

Each January for the last several, we have celebrated the New Year with unlimited excess—not only the gluttonous, gammony kind, but the excess which heralds the year's first auction of a gargantuan bluefin tuna at the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, Japan. Each time, one fish, whose flesh is prized as an expensive delicacy in sushi restaurants, becomes a symbol of the New Year in this way.

Last January's tuna sold for a record-breaking £1.1 million (155.4 million yen), more than double the price it claimed in 2012, upholding a tradition that has seen that initial coveted bluefin growing increasingly expensive each year.

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The shepherds' ancient foe is back in numbers – and now packs are breeding a mere 40 miles from Madrid

A twig snaps, a crow calls, but nothing moves in the dense pine forests of Spain's Guadarrama mountains. Vultures and eagles soar over the snowcapped peaks and wild boars roam the valleys below, as they have for centuries. But for the farmers who work this land, a threatening and worrying comeback is taking place in this timeless landscape, home to Spain's newest national park.

After an absence of 70 years, the wolf is back in the Guadarrama hills and breeding just 40 miles from Madrid.

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Commentators say plight of MV Akademik Shokalskiy shows global warming is exaggerated – the truth is not that simple

To most people the prolonged stranding of the MV Akademik Shokalskiy in thick pack ice off the coast of Antarctica is an unfortunate incident that provided passengers with rather static scenery for their Christmas and New Year celebrations.

But to some climate change contrarians, repeated attempts to free the vessel from the ice are proof that the theory of climate change is flawed or, at best, exaggerated. After all, a warming planet has no ice at all, right?

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Seaham, Durham: Almost a century after the bottleworks closed, the sea still returns the waste glass that was routinely dumped into sea

When Dawdon pit closed and the sea dumping of colliery waste ended, Blast beach resembled the surface of an alien planet – so much so that it was chosen as the location for the opening sequences of the 1992 movie Alien 3. Since then a massive clean-up campaign has transformed the shore into a pleasant place for a Christmas-morning walk, graced today with dazzling sunshine. At the bottom of the cliffs there are still traces of industrial archaeology: some topsy-turvy geology with boulders brought to the surface from strata below the magnesian limestone cliffs; colourful mineral incrustations; a faint whiff of sulphur. But with every tide the sea erases a little more of the decades of industrial abuse, and also delivers small, sought-after gifts.

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The Threatened Species Scientific Committee is currently seeking comments on: Coastal Upland Swamps in the Sydney Basin Bioregion ecological community assessment. The period for comment closes on 16 February 2014.

The Government has released the Emissions Reduction Fund Green Paper outlining its preferred design options for the Emissions Reduction Fund

The Government has released the Emissions Reduction Fund Green Paper outlining its preferred design options for the Emissions Reduction Fund

The Minister has approved the Galilee Coal and Rail project subject to 49 strict conditions to avoid, mitigate and manage impacts to matters of national environmental significance, including water resources.