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Arctic 30: Russia releases Greenpeace ship
Russian authorities have released the Arctic Sunrise, which was involved in a high-profile protest against Arctic oil drilling
The Greenpeace icebreaker confiscated by Russia after activists tried to board a Gazprom oil rig has been released. But it could take two months before the Arctic Sunrise leaves Murmansk harbour, according to the campaigning group.
The ship was boarded by the Russian coast guard and towed 500 miles from the Pechora Sea to the northern Russian port of Murmansk in September 2013. Thirty activists, including six Britons, were arrested and accused of hooliganism and piracy.
Tasmanian Giant Crab Fishery
Scientists warn against China's plan to flatten over 700 mountains
Environmental consequences of removing hills to create more land for cities not considered, academics say in Nature paper
Scientists have criticised China's bulldozing of hundreds of mountains to provide more building land for cities.
In a paper published in journal Nature this week, three Chinese academics say plan to remove over 700 mountains and shovel debris into valleys to create 250 sq km of flat land has not been sufficiently considered “environmentally, technically or economically.”
Continue reading...Jamaica's rare wildlife – in pictures
The Portland Bight protected area is home to the iconic Jamaican iguana
and 20 other endangered species. Its fragile coastal ecosystem and
wildlife faces the risk of being lost for ever as Jamaica approves a
Chinese company to build a port. Photographs by Robin Moore
Water Recovery Strategy for the Murray-Darling Basin released
SENG National Newsletter - June 2014
Invitation to comment on an ecological community listing
Northern Territory Trepang Fishery
Northern Territory Trepang Fishery
Public consultation: draft assessment bilateral agreement between the Commonwealth and Western Australia
2012-13 data added to the National Pollutant Inventory
Whale killed by cruise ship near New York amid upsurge in cetacean strikes
• Sei whale carcass dragged into Hudson River
• Strike is third in north-east waters in recent weeks
A cruise ship heading for New York this month struck and killed a whale and dragged it into the Hudson River, part of a higher-than-usual rate of strikes along the eastern seaboard for this time of year, a federal agency said.
There were three whale strikes recently, including one in which a cruise ship hit a sei whale and did not discover it until it reached port, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
Continue reading...Fracking in Tunbridge Wells: 'Where is it going to stop?'
Residents in the Kent Weald react with mixture of fear and enthusiasm to news of shale oil reserves and plans to change the law to allowing fracking without clearance
Residents of Kent have reacted angrily to a government announcement that fracking companies will no longer need to ask permission before drilling beneath their homes.
In Tunbridge Wells, Sue Reddick, a local housekeeper, said she was shocked to learn the government was preparing to amend trespass laws to allow companies to operate beneath homes without first asking the owner’s permission.
Continue reading...Sloth baby surprises keepers at London zoo
A pair of sloths have speeded up their usual slow courtship to produce London zoo's first baby sloth – to the surprise of their keepers.
Keepers at London zoo were shocked to discover two-toed sloth Marilyn was pregnant as they were unaware she had mated with male partner Leander, who arrived from Germany in 2012 to be paired with her.
Continue reading...Meet the top 10 newly discovered species of 2014
• 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.
Continue reading...New issue of the ecological communities newsletter available
Western Australian Beche-de-mer Fishery
Return of the European bison
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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