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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.

SENG wishes you a safe and happy festive season 2013

Recent modelling conducted by the Treasury and the former Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (now the Department of the Environment) indicates the amount of emissions reductions required to...

The Australian Heritage Council is assessing whether Quinkan Country, and Saltwater Country of the Groote Eylandt Archipelago meet any of the National Heritage criteria.

The Environment Minister agreed to remove 25 species from the Threatened Species List effective 14 December. The species are: Acanthiza iredalei iredalei Aphanes pentamera Arenga australasica Argentipallium spiceri Austrobryonia...

Third independent review of the Product Stewardship (Oil) Act 2000

The government is reviewing the scientific basis underpinning the reserves and undertaking further community consultation. The management plans prepared in March 2012 have now been set aside and new plans will be prepared following the review.

Nausea, headaches and nosebleeds, invasive chemical smells, constant drilling, slumping property prices – welcome to Ponder, Texas, where fracking has overtaken the town. With the chancellor last week announcing tax breaks for drilling companies, could the UK be facing the same fate?

Veronica Kronvall can, even now, remember how excited she felt about buying her house in 2007. It was the first home she had ever owned and, to celebrate, her aunt fitted out the kitchen in Kronvall's favourite colour, purple: everything from microwave to mixing bowls. A cousin took pictures of her lying on the floor of the room that would become her bedroom. She planted roses and told herself she would learn how to garden.

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Up to an additional 40,000 ML of Commonwealth environmental water, subject to water availability within the connected Southern Basin catchments, has been made available for use to provide base flows and freshes in the Goulburn River between January and June 2014.

Quarterly Update of Australia's National Greenhouse Gas Inventory: June 2013

Did you know the smallest protected area in Australia is only five square metres? It’s Waubadebars Grave Historic Site in Tasmania. The largest terrestrial reserve is the Southern Tanami Indigenous Protected Area at over 10.1 million hectares. ...

10 December 2013 Commonwealth environmental water has been made available for use by the Nature Foundation South Australia between December 2013 and June 2016 at multiple sites along the South Australian River Murray.