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Experts pick most striking creatures – including a carnivorous raccoon – from over 18,000 species identified in the last year

• See a gallery of top 10 species here

A tree-living raccoon from the cloud forests of the Andes, a sea anenome that burrows into Antarctic glaciers and ultra-hardy bacteria that thrive in supposedly sterile clean rooms are all among the top 10 newly discovered species of 2014.

The list, as selected by an international panel of experts from the 18,000 new species revealed in the last 12 months, aims to highlight the undiscovered richness of life on Earth at a time when human activities are driving species extinct at a rate unprecedented since a giant meteorite strike wiped out the dinosaurs.

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Issue 18 of Communities for Communities is now available

Agency application on ecological sustainability - comments close 23 June 2014

Europe's largest beast is to roam the forests of Romania after 200 years. Adam Vaughan witnesses the buzz as a herd of 17 is released in the Carpathian mountains

The crowd surges forward against the barrier, cameraphones are held aloft, children are hoisted on to shoulders. The celebrities, the first European bison about to set their hooves in this remote Romanian valley in the southern Carpathian mountains for two centuries, wait in the shadows of a huge trailer.

The forest, already home to bears and packs of wolves, is the final destination for 17 of Europe's largest land mammal, some of whom have been travelling hitched to lorries for five days from as far as Sweden. It will be their first time out of captivity.

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From Statue of Liberty to Fort Monroe, a string of national monuments and heritage sites are becoming vulnerable to rising seas, floods and wildfires according to a report from the Union of Concerned Scientists

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Beachcombers and beach cleaning equipment reduce shell numbers and endanger some organisms

You might think twice next time you snag a seashell from the beach and drop it into your pocket: you might be altering the seaside environment.

In a study more than 30 years in the making, researchers have found that the removal of shells from beaches could damage ecosystems and endanger organisms that rely on shells for their survival.

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Australian Heritage Council today announced this year’s recipient of the Sharon Sullivan National Heritage Award.

The overarching focus of the Review is to consider whether the Water Act is delivering on its objectives effectively and with the minimum necessary regulatory burden imposed on the water industry, water managers and irrigators. Submissions close Friday 4 July 2014.

National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (Measurement) Amendment Determination 2014 - consultation draft - Comments close 5 June 2014

National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (Measurement) Amendment Determination 2014 - consultation draft - Comments close 5 June 2014

Application to vary methodology determination Native forest protection (Avoided deforestation) - comments close 25 June 2014

The National Waste Policy Implementation Report 2012 and 2013 sets out progress against the National Waste Policy’s five-year implementation plan.

On 29 April 2014, Ministers signalled their intention to vary the National Environment Protection (Ambient Air Quality) Measure for particles reflecting the latest scientific understanding on health risks arising from particle pollution. The...

The Environment Portfolio Budget Statements for 2014-15 were released on May 13 2014.

The Department is seeking public comment on a draft assessment bilateral agreement with the Queensland. Comments close 13 June 2014.

The cocaine byproduct is just one of the many traces of pharmaceutical compounds and other contaminants found in our water – and new contaminants are discovered all the time. But should we really be worried?

According to various headlines this weekend, we Brits use so much cocaine that traces of the drug have been found in our water supply. A study by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) aimed at assessing the danger from pharmaceutical compounds in drinking water revealed that even after intensive purification treatment, minute quantities of benzoylecgonine – the metabolised form of cocaine – were found at four sites in Britain. So are we a nation of coke-heads? And does the presence of something related to a class-A drug in the water we drink actually matter?

The answer to the first question, says Sue Pennison of DWI, the independent body that ensures the water companies supply water fit to drink, is not clear. Benzoylecgonine, she notes, "is also an ingredient in a popular muscle-rub, and there's no way of telling which it came from".

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Harvard study shows neonicotionoids are devastating colonies by triggerring colony collapse disorder

The mysterious vanishing of honeybees from hives can be directly linked to insectcide use, according to new research from Harvard University. The scientists showed that exposure to two neonicotinoids, the world's most widely used class of insecticide, lead to half the colonies studied dying, while none of the untreated colonies saw their bees disappear.

"We demonstrated that neonicotinoids are highly likely to be responsible for triggering 'colony collapse disorder' in honeybee hives that were healthy prior to the arrival of winter," said Chensheng Lu, an expert on environmental exposure biology at Harvard School of Public Health and who led the work.

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Islamist militancy in Nigeria is being strengthened by western and regional fossil fuel interests

The kidnapping of over 200 Nigerian school girls, and the massacre of as many as 300 civilians in the town of Gamboru Ngala, by the militant al-Qaeda affiliated group, Boko Haram, has shocked the world.

But while condemnations have rightly been forthcoming from a whole range of senior figures from celebrities to government officials, less attention has been paid to the roots of the crisis.

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The Emissions Reduction Fund exposure draft legislation is now open for public comment. Comments close 23 May 2014.

The Emissions Reduction Fund exposure draft legislation is now open for public comment. Comments close 23 May 2014.