Environment

• Wednesday, December 9th 2015 - 08:42 UTC

  Renowned conservationist Doug Tompkins dies during kayak accident in Chilean Patagonia

  

  Douglas Tompkins, 72, the renowned conservationist and co-founder of The North Face, died on Tuesday in a kayaking accident in Lake General Carrera, on the Chilean side of Patagonia. He reportedly capsized in the water and suffered severe hypothermia. A source from Conservacion Patagonica, the non-profit founded in 2000 by his wife Kristine McDivitt Tompkins, confirmed his death.

• Thursday, December 3rd 2015 - 07:48 UTC

  Argentina will have a state of the art fisheries research vessel in 2017

  

  Argentina's Fisheries Research and Development Institute, INIDEP, has signed the contract for the construction of a new fisheries and oceanographic research vessel to be built at the Armon shipyard in Vigo, Spain. The financing for the vessel and refurbishing of INIDEP's offices and labs comes from the Inter-American Development bank with a 30m dollars loan.

• Wednesday, December 2nd 2015 - 12:38 UTC

  Brazil's worst mining disaster will stress test 'king iron' Vale's resources

  

  Brazil's deadly mining disaster could cost Vale SA at least US$443 million, but it is too early to put a price tag on what it expects to be a long clean-up from the pollution spilled when the toxic dam burst.

• Wednesday, December 2nd 2015 - 12:21 UTC

  Largest whale stranding, 337 Sei specimens, reported in extreme south Chile

  

  A total of 337 sei whales have been found beached in the extreme south of Chile in what scientists state is one of the biggest whale stranding ever recorded. Biologist Vreni Häussermann made the discovery along with other scientists in June during an observation flight over fjords in Chile's southern Patagonia region.

• Monday, November 30th 2015 - 07:03 UTC

  What I expect from the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris

  

  By Ban Ki-Moon (*) - For the nearly nine years that I have been Secretary-General, I have travelled the world to the front-lines of climate change, and I have spoken repeatedly with world leaders, business people and citizens about the need for an urgent global response

• Sunday, November 29th 2015 - 09:51 UTC

  Brazil plans to sue mining companies US$ 7.2bn on toxic mud spill

  

  Brazil's federal and state governments plan to sue the owners of the Samarco iron ore-miner for 20 billion Reais ($7.2 billion) in damages caused by the burst of a tailings dam, Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira told reporters on Friday.

• Friday, November 27th 2015 - 11:07 UTC

  Australia's BHP denies UN report on 'toxic' mine spill from collapsed dam in Brazil

  

  Australian mining giant BHP says mud spilled by the devastating collapse of a dam at a Brazilian mine is not toxic. On Thursday the UN said the dam burst at the Samarco mine unleashed a flood equivalent to “20,000 Olympic swimming pools of toxic mud”.

• Thursday, November 26th 2015 - 17:39 UTC

  UK's Cammell Laird will build BAS new £200 million polar research ship

  

  The Birkenhead shipyard Cammell Laird said it saw off competition from Europe and beyond including Korea and Singapore to be selected as the preferred bidder to build a new vessel for the UK-funded Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). The contract was signed last week and it is expected that full production will start in June next year, and on completion the vessel will be operated by NERC’s British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

• Friday, November 20th 2015 - 10:16 UTC

  BHP Billiton and Vale face civil lawsuit of US$ 3.69bn over dam collapse in Brazil

  

  A BHP Billiton and Vale joint venture in Brazil is facing its first civil lawsuit over the dam collapse at its iron ore mine on November 5 that buried a town and contaminated the region's main river.

• Friday, November 13th 2015 - 09:23 UTC

  Mine disaster: Brazil fines BHP Billiton and Vale; expects companies to pay cleanup costs

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has slapped preliminary fines worth 250 million Reais ($94 million) against a BHP Billiton-Value owned mine in Minas Gerais state where two dams burst, killing at least seven people.