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The department's investigation found that Centennial Coal's long wall coal mining operations on the Newnes Plateau, near Lithgow, New South Wales, had caused a significant impact on the endangered Temperate highland peat swamps on sandstone ecological community.

The Australian Government secured a legally enforceable $305,000 pledge from plantation timber company Hancock Victorian Plantations Pty Ltd to repair damage done to a critically endangered grassland in south western Victoria

An enforceable undertaking has been agreed to by the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities to the sum of $80,400 after Coppercats Pty Ltd and Gallivantour Super Pty Ltd were found to have wrongfully cleared vegetation.

An enforceable undertaking was accepted on 31 October 2012 from Goodman Property Services following an incident in early 2011 where work at the company's Bungarribee Industrial Estate cleared 3.4 hectares of a critically endangered ecological community

An enforceable undertaking was accepted on 31 October 2012 from Marloelle Pty Ltd following clearing between late 2008 and mid 2011.

A quarry owner will pay $100,000 in compensation after clearing eight hectares of habitat for listed black cockatoos at Nowergup in Western Australia without authorisation.

SENG are in Canberra at the National Conference in September

SENG Victoria Newsletter - September 2013

Previously unknown fish, Hemiscyllium halmahera, uses its fins to move along the sea bed in search of crustaceans

A species of shark that uses its fins to "walk" along the bottom of the ocean floor has been discovered off the coast of Indonesia. The shark, Hemiscyllium halmahera, uses its fins to wiggle along the seabed and forage for small fish and crustaceans, scientists from Conservation International said on Friday.

The shark, which has wide horizontal stripes, grows to a maximum length of just 30in and is harmless to humans.

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Massacres of civilians are being exploited for narrow geopolitical competition to control Mideast oil, gas pipelines

On 21 August, hundreds - perhaps over a thousand - people were killed in a chemical weapon attack in Ghouta, Damascus, prompting the US, UK, Israel and France to raise the spectre of military strikes against Bashir al Assad's forces.

The latest episode is merely one more horrific event in a conflict that has increasingly taken on genocidal characteristics. The case for action at first glance is indisputable. The UN now confirms a death toll over 100,000 people, the vast majority of whom have been killed by Assad's troops. An estimated 4.5 million people have been displaced from their homes. International observers have overwhelmingly confirmed Assad's complicity in the preponderance of war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Syrian people. The illegitimacy of his regime, and the legitimacy of the uprising, is clear.

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Under the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth Recovery Project, the Australian Government has approved more than $162.8 million in projects to preserve the region’s unique ecological character as a wetland of international importance.

The Australian Ramsar site nomination guidelines are the 4th module of the Australian National Guidelines for Ramsar Wetlands - Implementing the Ramsar Convention in Australia.

The Australian Government has released a series of new wetland factsheets that were developed with the assistance of the Wetlands and Waterbirds Taskforce

World Wetlands Day is celebrated internationally each year on 2 February. In 2013 the theme is ‘Wetlands take care of water’.

On 21 December 2012, Piccaninnie Ponds Karst Wetlands in South Australia was designated as a Ramsar site under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat.

Environmental water is being deliver to a range of inner-floodplain native plant communities in the marshes such as reed beds and water couch meadows while supporting migratory waterbirds and native fish and keeping waterbird colony sites healthy.

SENG SA Chapter News and Events

August site visit - Green Beacon Brewery Co

Fracking boom sucks away precious water from beneath the ground, leaving cattle dead, farms bone-dry and people thirsty

Beverly McGuire saw the warning signs before the town well went dry: sand in the toilet bowl, the sputter of air in the tap, a pump working overtime to no effect. But it still did not prepare her for the night last month when she turned on the tap and discovered the tiny town where she had made her home for 35 years was out of water.

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The Commonwealth Environmental Water Office does not currently anticipate trading allocations or entitlements (excluding zero dollar transfers) in the first half of 2013-14.