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Swine fever has made its way into China, home to half the world’s pigs. Farmers in Estonia are already counting the cost

Ott Saareväli, the owner of a pig farm in Lääne county in Estonia, is starting all over again. In September last year, government vets diagnosed an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in a section of the farm where pregnant sows are held ahead of farrowing. It made no difference that the outbreak had been limited to one area – all seven thousand of his pigs would have to be slaughtered immediately.

“We have the strictest biosecurity measures here, and still no one is quite sure how the disease got in – it may have been a truck that wasn’t washed properly after visiting an infected farm,” says Saareväli. “But if you find just one pig, then everything has to go.”

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An Asian sheepshead wrasse, wild dogs and a pygmy goby are just a few of animals featured in the photos shortlisted for this year’s competition

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Business has given up on the Coalition and is now looking to the states and federal Labor to move forward on climate and energy policy, and even maintain some of the better aspects of the NEG.

The post Business gives up on Coalition, turns to Labor and states on energy, climate appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Specialist power and water consulting firm Entura will join the Tasmanian Premier and senior public officials on a trade mission to China this month.

The post Trade mission exports Tassie smarts, drives investment in Australian renewables appeared first on RenewEconomy.

At a glittering awards ceremony at the Adelaide Convention Centre Friday night, SA-owned Suntrix won a NECA Excellence Award for its 100kW floating solar system at East Lismore’s Sewage Treatment Plant.

The post Suntrix Wins 2018 NECA-SA excellence award for Australia’s biggest floating solar system appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Amateur palaeontologists dig up marine fossils; dry weather forces feral camels south; and horses and high fashion at the Louth country race meeting.

How is it that California can decarbonise its electricity grid so much more efficiently and cheaply than in Australia? Why is California’s wholesale electricity price only about half that in Australia?

The post California – a world beater at big grid electricity decarbonisation appeared first on RenewEconomy.

The 3rd edition of this popular Lucid Key contains both new and updated content.

The 3rd edition of this popular Lucid Key contains both new and updated content.

Concerns around project delays temporarily buoyed renewable certificate market, while concerns the Coalition is intent on abolishing the SRES saw STC prices tumble.

The post Renewable energy market report: The ups and downs of political ructions appeared first on RenewEconomy.

New round of UN climate talks in Bangkok this week will focus on politically and technically complex issues of creating a "rule-book" for the Paris climate treaty.

The post Bangkok Climate Talks: time to deliver on Paris rulebook appeared first on RenewEconomy.

Photographic artist Paul Harmon visits the floodplains of the drought-stricken Murray-Darling basin in north-west New South Wales to showcase the preciousness of water and the attempts to harness it. The catchment, which has supported humans for tens of thousands of years, has made way for agriculture with monumental ramifications, Harmon says. His innovative series ‘documents a severe and majestic beauty created by water and the excessive and ill-conceived demands we are currently making on it’

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Melbourne Fashion Week is Australia’s first carbon neutral certified fashion event.

RenewEconomy page views break through one million for calendar month for first time, as One Step Off the Grid also grows, and we launch our electric vehicle website, TheDriven.io.

The post RenewEconomy page views top one million in August, up 66% on last year appeared first on RenewEconomy.

NFU chief says there has been little action from the environment secretary

Struggling farmers have called on Michael Gove to honour his promise of assistance after the summer drought.

The first half of this year’s summer was the driest in the UK since 1961, with harvests suffering as a consequence of the hot weather.

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Years of drought across New South Wales and Queensland force graziers to question their future

Nearly 40km from Augathella (population 450), Doug and Rachelle Cameron load supplements for their cattle. The day is typical for an Australian drought, still and silent as if the landscape has gone to sleep.

Their children Stirling, 11, Ella, 8 and Grace, 6 jump out of the ute and kick around the dust and cow pats as their cattle mill around the water troughs. Muffy the overgrown grey poddy calf comes up to watch. A bird’s nest sits in the struts of a disused windmill.

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Splitting the energy and environment portfolios might sound like a backward step, but here's why it could work. Mike Young, Reseach Chair, Water and Environmental Policy, University of Adelaide Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.

The sunfish, normally found in the tropics, was recorded off Skye and Ardnamurchan last week.

Environmentalists accuse government of using withdrawal of EU controls to weaken regulation

Ministers are “deliberately weakening” the green watchdog that will hold the government to account after Britain leaves the EU, according to Labour’s shadow Brexit minister.

Theresa May pledged last January to create a “world-leading, independent, statutory body” to ensure ministers stick to their commitments – replacing the power of the European commission to take governments to the European court of justice (ECJ) for not fulfilling their obligations.

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Exclusive: Marine Park Authority scaled back surveys in 2017, when mass bleaching occurred in successive years for first time

The Australian government-funded Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority drastically scaled back surveys of coral bleaching in the middle of an unprecedented two-year marine heatwave, as its monitoring program almost ran out of money.

The authority’s field management program conducted more than 660 in-water surveys of reefs in 2016, during the first of two consecutive mass bleaching events. The program’s annual report said those surveys “played a key role in determining the extent of mortality caused”.

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