According to the most recent count in the Falklands, the number of Gentoo penguin breeding pairs has doubled when compared with the number counted during the last census in 2005. Rockhopper penguin numbers are reported to be stable.
The Royal Navy’s Antarctic patrol ship HMS Protector had to punch her way through ice to first deliver, then pick up a team of scientists as the pack ice threatened to trap them – and the ship.
Greenland’s ice sheet is more sensitive to global warming than previously thought, according to Spanish and German researchers. The ice sheet may lose its ability to grow once warming reaches 1.6 degrees, a study published in Nature Climate Change found.
Chilean Minister of Economy Pablo Longueira announced on Sunday that Punta Arenas in the extreme south of the country which recently suffered a barrage of flash floods will be declared “catastrophe zone”.
A Brazilian court barred 17 executives from Chevron and Transocean from leaving Brazil, pending criminal charges related to a high-profile oil spill last November. A second oil spill detected last week further complicated the situation.
Royal Navy helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious is in the midst of NATO Exercise Cold Response, based in the Arctic. Illustrious is the command ship for Major General Ed Davis, Commandant General Royal Marines, who, with his Commander Amphibious Forces staff, is directing the movements of allied warships.
Foreign ministers from the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) reaffirmed their support for Argentina over the Malvinas Islands sovereignty dispute at the annual meeting held in Asunción, Paraguay.
United States stated that it maintains its “neutral position” over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands dispute between Argentina and UKand hopes for an agreed solution, an official source of the US government assured after the three day visit of British Prime Minister David Cameron which included several meetings at the White House
EU trade ministers agreed on Friday to approve a free trade pact with Colombia and Peru that could boost European car and chemical exports and lift food and mineral exports from the South American countries.
European Parliament has backed a deal that will increase EU imports of beef from the US and Canada and help European food exporters. A row over growth hormones used on North American cattle ranches led to a trade war lasting more than 20 years.