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An online survey for the independent review of Commonwealth Marine Reserves opens today. The survey builds on the call for submissions that is already underway.

The Minister has approved the inclusion of Shale Sandstone Transition Forest of the Sydney Basin Bioregion and Hunter Valley Weeping Myall (Acacia pendula) Woodland, both in the critically endangered category.

The Australian, state and territory governments today released the Packaging Impacts Decision Regulation Impact Statement.

Land-sharing model of conservation is helping large predators thrive in the wild – and even the British countryside could support big carnivores, study finds

The forests – and suburbs – of Europe are echoing with the growls, howls and silent padding of large predators according to a new study which shows that brown bears, wolves and lynx are thriving on a crowded continent.

Despite fears that large carnivores are doomed to extinction because of rising human populations and overconsumption, a study published in Science has found that large predator populations are stable or rising in Europe.

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Proposal to declare an approved Wildlife Trade Operation for the incidental harvest of smooth hammerhead sharks. Call for comments open from 19 December 2014 until 21 January 2015

The successful projects from the 20 Million Trees Programme Competitive Grants Round One 2014-2015 have now been announced.

A Request for Tender process for the Service Provider component of the 20 Million Trees Programme is currently open and will close 2pm (AEDT) 6 February 2015.

EU decision to increase allowed catches in most areas good news for British fishermen, but conservationists are dismayed

Britain’s fishermen will be allowed to increase their catch of cod and other key fish species next year after late-night wrangling between EU ministers in Brussels resulted in a new set of fishing quotas that flout scientific advice.

The quota for cod catches for 2015 will increase by 5% on last year, though scientific advice suggested that it should be cut by 20%.

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Next year the Belo Monte dam will flood vast swathes of Amazon rainforest. Indian tribes living on the river have lost their fight to halt the project – now they await the floods that threaten their entire way of life

By the Great Bend of the Xingu river in the depths of Amazonia, the Juruna tribe is being drowned by what seems at first sight to be a flood of TV game-show prizes.

There’s a shiny new motorboat moored by the old canoe, the latest four-wheel drive parked beside a chicken coop, satellite dishes outside every home and wide-screen plasma TVs inside.

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The Department has released a new spatial information metadata catalogue and search tool Find Environmental Data (FED) to replace Discover Information Geographically (DIG). FED will allow integration with other Commonwealth services such as Australian Government’s spatial data catalogue FIND and data.gov.au.

Find out the latest updates on the Commonwealth Marine Reserves Review.

Proposals too weak to keep global warming to the agreed limit of two degrees above pre-industrial levels

Frustrated climate campaigners have claimed that the world was on course for an unsustainable four-degree rise in temperatures, as two weeks of negotiations for a climate change agreement headed for an unsatisfying conclusion.

The proposals, still under discussion on Saturday, a day after the talks were scheduled to end, were too weak to keep global warming to the agreed limit of two degrees above preindustrial levels, setting the world on course to a climate disaster, according to developing countries at the summit.

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Best Wishes this Festive Season from SENG

SENG Victoria News - December 2014

Culture ministry says it will press charges against activists for damage to world heritage site as UN climate talks began in Lima

Greenpeace has apologised to the people of Peru after the government accused the environmentalists of damaging ancient earth markings in the country’s coastal desert by leaving footprints in the ground during a publicity stunt meant to send a message to the UN climate talks delegates in Lima.

A spokesman for Greenpeace said: “Without reservation Greenpeace apologises to the people of Peru for the offence caused by our recent activity laying a message of hope at the site of the historic Nazca lines. We are deeply sorry for this.

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Over five trillion pieces of plastic are floating in our oceans says most comprehensive study to date on plastic pollution around the world

• Microplastic deposits found deep in world’s oceans

More than five trillion pieces of plastic, collectively weighing nearly 269,000 tonnes, are floating in the world’s oceans, causing damage throughout the food chain, new research has found.

Data collected by scientists from the US, France, Chile, Australia and New Zealand suggests a minimum of 5.25tn plastic particles in the oceans, most of them “micro plastics” measuring less than 5mm.

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The Government is proposing a new set of rules to support the operation of the Emissions Reduction Fund: the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Rule 2015 (the Rules). Comments close 19 December.

The Government is proposing a new set of rules to support the operation of the Emissions Reduction Fund: the Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Rule 2015 (the Rules). Comments close 19 December.

Vietnamese are protesting plans to build a cable car through remote Phong Nha-Ke Bang national park that could carry 1,000 visitors an hour to Son Doong cave

Plans for a cable car in Vietnam’s Unesco-listed Phong Nha-Ke Bang national park would open up the world’s largest cave to mass tourism. But Vietnamese are protesting the project, and experts warn the environmental impact could be devastating.

Quang Binh province announced in October that resort developer Sun Group would build a $212m (£135m) cable car system through the national park, which occupies a remote, mountainous swathe of central Vietnam. The 10.6km route would connect Son Doong Cave, so large it could house an entire 40-story building, with other caves in the area as part of a planned “tourism, service and resort complex”.

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Global livestock industry produces more greenhouse gas emissions than transport but fear of a consumer backlash is preventing action, says Chatham House report

Curbing the world’s huge and increasing appetite for meat is essential to avoid devastating climate change, according to a new report. But governments and green campaigners are doing nothing to tackle the issue due to fears of a consumer backlash, warns the analysis from the thinktank Chatham House.

The global livestock industry produces more greenhouse gas emissions than all cars, planes, trains and ships combined, but a worldwide survey by Ipsos MORI in the report finds twice as many people think transport is the bigger contributor to global warming.

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