Environment

• Tuesday, January 3rd 2017 - 10:08 UTC

  Wildfire burns home and forces evacuation of hundreds in Valparaiso

  

  A wildfire ravaged woods and burned 100 homes in the hilly Chilean port city of Valparaiso, where authorities evacuated hundreds of people. At least 19 people were reported hurt after the fire broke out on the outskirts of the historic port city, the government said.

• Wednesday, December 28th 2016 - 04:32 UTC

  Falklands a century ago, record prices for exports: wool and whale oil

  

  The Penguin News with background information from the Jane Cameron National Archives has published an interesting article about the Falkland Islands, economy and trade, a century ago in the midst of the First Great War. Wool from a flock of almost 700.000, and whale oil were the Islands main exports in 1916, while coal with soaring prices the main import. A century ago there were 61 births and 17 marriages.

• Tuesday, December 27th 2016 - 08:56 UTC

  Only 7.100 cheetahs left in the world, fears of quick extinction

  

  The sleek, speedy cheetah is rapidly heading towards extinction according to a new study into declining numbers. The report estimates that there are just 7,100 of the world's fastest mammals now left in the wild.

• Monday, December 26th 2016 - 14:33 UTC

  Falklands government secures environmental planning contract with Aedis

  

  The Falkland Islands Government have secured the services of Tees Valley based building control firm Aedis. The contract will see Aedis delivering a raft of professional consultancy services based upon their building control expertise. This includes providing a remote plan checking service to help the Falkland Islands Environmental Planning Department ensure all new building work complies with the necessary building regulations.

• Monday, December 26th 2016 - 04:05 UTC

  Uruguayan government fights climate change: only official met forecasts are to be reported

  

  The Uruguayan government seems to have found the clue to climate change phenomena: it is looking into the legal aspects of limiting weather information, forecasts and warnings, to the official reports from the national Met Office, Inumet (veiled censorship?), which has on several occasions missed to anticipate some serious climate events.

• Friday, December 23rd 2016 - 05:42 UTC

  China ready to work with Argentina as Supreme Court halts constructions of two dams

  China is ready to to join forces with Argentina after the construction of two hydroelectric dams in the province of Santa Cruz was put on hold by the Supreme Court over environmental concerns, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.

• Friday, December 23rd 2016 - 00:54 UTC

  Scientific circumnavigation of Antarctica takes off from South Africa

  

  An international scientific voyage, comprising 60 researchers from 30 different countries (including Argentina), has set off from South Africa on a three-month tour of the Antarctic to study the extreme environment and impact of climate change on the Southern Ocean.

• Friday, December 23rd 2016 - 00:25 UTC

  Greek present for Trump: Obama and Trudeau ban offshore oil and gas drilling in Atlantic and Arctic waters

  

  In the final stretch of his term President Barack Obama is implementing new environmental protections that stand to thwart Donald Trump's agenda on oil and gas extraction in ways that may prove difficult for the president-elect to roll back. The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it will place an indefinite ban on offshore oil and gas drilling across large swaths of Atlantic and Arctic waters.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2016 - 19:37 UTC

  Argentine scientists arrive at Antarctica's Belgrano II Base to study climate change

  

  Twenty-one Argentine experts who will investigate climate change have arrived at the country's southernmost Antarctic Belgrano II Base, it was reported.

• Wednesday, December 21st 2016 - 18:50 UTC

  Fireworks market explosion kills at least 31 in Mexico

  

  A huge explosion on Tuesday at the San Pablito fireworks market outside Mexico City has killed at least 31 people, according to the latest reports, while scores were injured. It was said that there were around 300 tonnes of fireworks on site at the time of the explosion, but that is yet to be confirmed.